MEMORIAL OF SAINT FRANCIS DI GIROLAMO, PRIEST AND SAINT MAMMERTUS, ARCHBISHOP OF VIENNE: ~ FEAST DAY MAY 11TH Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Francis di Girolamo, Priest and Saint Mammertus, Archbishop of Vienne. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for justice, peace, love and unity in our families and our world. We also pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, for the sick and dying, for the poor and needy and Christians all over the world.
SAINT FRANCIS DI GIROLAMO, PRIEST: St. Francis di Girolamo (1642-1716), also known as Francis de Geronimo was the eldest of eleven children born to honorable and virtuous parents in Naples, Italy in 1642. As a child he was drawn to God and a life of prayer. After making his first Communion at the age of 12, he went to live with a community of priests in his town. They could clearly see that he was special, and began to entrust to him greater roles in the congregation, including teaching the catechism and he received the tonsure at 16. He later went to Naples in order to learn canon and civil law and was ordained a priest in 1666, receiving a special dispensation because he was under 24 years old. For four years, St. Francis taught in the Jesuit Collegio dei Nobili; Realizing his vocation to Holy Orders, at the age of 28, he joined the Society of Jesus. After successfully completing a difficult year in the novitiate, his superiors sent him to help the preacher Father Agnello Bruno in his mission work among the peasants of Otranto. After three years of diligent work, St. Francis was recalled to Naples to finish his theological studies and complete his profession as a Jesuit. He became a renowned public preacher due to his distinguished and eloquent voice. His sermons were short and vigorous, and he touched many hearts. He was described as “a lamb when he talks, and a lion when he preaches.” He had a heart for the missions after his patron St. Francis Xavier, but instead of traveling to distant lands he accepted his hometown of Naples, Italy. He is known as the Apostle to Naples because that is where he spent most of his time and energy. He was a successful and effective preacher. He conducted at least 100 missions in the provinces.
St. Francis Di Girolamo went as a missionary priest into country towns and villages for open-air preaching in the streets. He was tireless in working to convert sinners and reaching out to the poor, winning many people to greater faith. He sought to convert sinners wherever they were—in brothels, prisons, hospitals, asylums and galleys of ships — on one Spanish ship, he is said to have converted 20 Turkish prisoners. One of his most notable penitents was a Frenchwoman, Mary Alvira Cassier, who had murdered her father and fled to the Spanish army, impersonating a man. Under St. Francis, she repented and became very devout. He converted a number of Muslim or Moorish and Turkish prisoners of war to the Christian faith, rescued chidren from dangerous and degrading situations, and opened a pawn shop for charity. Organized laymen into a group called Oratio della Missione to help fellow Jesuit missioners. St. Francis de Girolamo relentlessly sought out sinners on their own turf and won many to the faith. The fruit of his labor was abundant. He converted many souls, even hardened sinners, and made them virtuous. He is said to have converted 400 hardened sinners every year. Everyone knew him for his holiness and zeal. St. Francis was credited with many miracles in his lifetime, but he humbly attributed numerous cures to the intercession of Saint Cyrus, to whom he had a special devotion. He also had a reputation for being a miracle worker during his lifetime and after his death. After spending 40 years in apostolic labor in Naples, he died of a painful illness from which he suffered greatly without complaint on May 11, 1716 at the age of 74. His coffin was thronged by the people of Naples during his funeral procession. He was beatified by Pius VII, on the feast of St. Joseph in 1806, and canonized by Gregory XVI, on Trinity Sunday 1839. A few of his letters have survived, but no sermons. He’s the Patron Saint of Grottaglie, Italy. His feast day is May 11th.
“Blessed is the man who perseveres when he is tempted, for when he has been proven he will receive the crown of life.” (Jas 1:12)
“If we wish to be saved, let us lose our lives to the world as those who have been crucified with Christ. Let us glory in the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ.” ~ St Francis
PRAYER: Glorious St Francis, help me to become more selfless so that I may live as one who is given up to Christ, Amen. Almighty, eternal God, You dedicated the joy of this day to the glorification of St. Francis. Mercifully grant that we may always strive to retain and complete by our works that Faith which he continually proclaimed with unwearying zeal… Amen🙏🏽
SAINT MAMMERTUS, ARCHBISHOP OF VIENNE: St. Mammertus, also known as Mamertius, Mamertus was born near Lyons, France. He was Archbishop of Vienne in Gaul – present day France, during the 5th century. He’s a Theologian and Writer, a prelate renowned for his sanctity, learning, and miracles. He instituted in his diocese the fasts and supplications called the Rogations, during the three days before the Ascension, to remedy the neglect of religion which brought down on ancient Gaul many chastisements. His primary contribution to ecclesiastical practice was the introduction of litanies prior to Ascension Day as an intercession against earthquakes and other disasters, leading to “Rogation Days.” Rogation days are days of prayer and fasting in Western Christianity. They are observed with processions and the Litany of the Saints. The major rogation is held on April 25th, the minor rogations are held on Monday to Wednesday preceding Ascension Thursday. The word rogation comes from the Latin verb rogare, meaning “to ask”, which reflects the beseeching of God for the appeasement of His anger and for protection from calamities. A miracle worker, he is reported to have ended an urban disaster – through prayer he stopped a fire that was destroying the city of Vienne one Easter night.
Almighty God, to punish the sins of the people, had visited them with wars and other public calamities and awakened the city of Vienne in particular from spiritual lethargy by the terrors of earthquakes, fires, and ravenous wild beasts, which were sometimes seen in the very market place. These evils were ascribed by the impious to blind chance, but religious and prudent persons considered them as tokens of the divine anger, which threatened their entire destruction. Amid these scourges, Saint Mammertus received a pledge of the divine mercy. A terrible fire broke out on Easter night in the city of Vienne, which baffled the efforts of men; but by the prayers of the good bishop the fire suddenly went out. This miracle strongly affected the minds of the people. It was on this occasion that the holy prelate conceived the project of restoring the Rogations, which had fallen into oblivion. The Church of Auvergne, where Saint Sidonius Apollonarius was bishop of Clermont, also adopted this pious institution before the year 475, and in a very short time it became a universal practice. His pious reform was received by all the churches of France after the first Council of Orleans under Clovis the Great, and then by the Church of Rome under the authority of Leo III. Saint Mammertus died about the year 477 in Vienne, France of natural causes but his body was transported to Orleans, France and placed in its cathedral. There, until the 16th century, it remained in great veneration, then was burnt by enemies of the Church. Relics burned by Huguenots in the 16th century. His feast day is May 11th, the first of the Ice Saints.
Saint Mammertus, Archbishop of Vienne ~ Pray for us🙏🏽
PRAYER: Saint Mammertus, holy shepherd and reformer, you turned disaster into opportunity for grace. Help us in our own time to recognize God’s call amid trials and to respond with repentance, hope, and intercession. Through your example and prayers, may we be protected from both physical and spiritual calamities. Amen. 🙏🏽