MEMORIAL OF SAINT JOHN BAPTIST DEI ROSSI, PRIEST; SAINT JULIA OF CORSICA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR; SAINT JANE (JOAN) ANTIDE THOURET, RELIGIOUS AND SAINT WILLIAM OF ROCHESTER, MARTYR ~ FEAST DAY: MAY 23RD Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint John Baptist Dei Rossi, Priest; Saint Julia of Corsica, Virgin and Martyr; Saint Jane (Joan) Antide Thouret, Religious and Saint William of Rochester, Martyr. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the sick and dying, particularly pray for those who are terminally ill and those suffering from pathologies of the hands and the feet. We pray for the poor and the needy all over the world. We continue to pray for the Church, the Clergy, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world🙏🏽
SAINT JOHN BAPTIST DEI ROSSI, PRIEST: St. John Baptist Dei Rossi (1698 -1764) known as the “The Apostle of the abandoned” was was an Italian Roman Catholic priest. He was born Giovanni Battista de’ Rossi on February 22, 1698 at Voltaggio, Italy. St. John received an excellent education and was ordained in 1721. Shortly thereafter he was afflicted with epilepsy and devoted his ministry to the poor of the Campagna. For the nest forty years he performed labors that would have taxed the strength of a robust man. He served as the canon of Santa Maria in Cosmedin after his cousin, who was a priest serving there, died. He was a popular confessor despite his initial fears that his epileptic seizures could manifest in the Confessional. St. John Rossi opened a hospice for homeless women not long after his ordination, and he became known for his work with prisoners and ill people, to whom he dedicated his entire ecclesial mission.
St. John ministered to the sick and poor in St. Gall, the night hospice for paupers founded by Celestine III, and in the hospital of the Trinity. Early in the morning and late every night he sought out the cattle-drivers and teamsters in the Roman market, gaining their confidence, instructing them, and preparing them for the Sacraments. Another class of people to whom his pity was extended comprised the homeless women and girls who wandered around begging or walked the streets by night. With the pittance he received in Mass stipends he rented a house behind St. Gall and housed them there. As an assistant priest John spent many hours hearing confessions, especially of the poor and unlearned. On succeeding to the canonry of St. Mary in Cosmedin in 1735, he turned over all income to charitable causes and lived most frugally. He was given the unusual faculties of hearing confessions in any demand for parish missions. Often, he preached five and six times a day in churches, chapels, convents, hospitals, barracks and prisons. Such extraordinary zeal and labor eventually took its toll and Saint’s health broke down. He retired from the hospital of the Trinity, which he had so often frequented, and died of a stroke on May 23, 1764. Since he died without a penny, this “Hunter of souls” was buried at the expense of the hospital. He was “The Apostle of the abandoned.” He’s the Patron Saint of Voltaggio. He was canonized in 1881 by Pope Leo XIII.
PRAYER: Dear St John, you drew people to Jesus through the sacrament of confession. Help me to seek the healing of this sacrament…Amen.🙏🏽
Almighty, eternal God, You dedicated the joy of this day to the glorification of St. John. 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 JULIA OF CORSICA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR: St. Julia, also known as Saint Julia of Carthage, was born in Carthage to a noble family. In 616, the city was conquered by the Vandals and she was captured by the Genseric and sold as a slave to the pagan merchant in Syria, Eusebius. In the most mortifying employments of her station, by cheerfulness and patience she found a happiness and comfort which the world could not give. Whenever she was not employed in household affairs, her time was devoted to prayer and reading books of piety. St. Julia’s beauty, her faithfulness, and abilities as a hard worker proved her worth to her master. Her master, who was charmed with her fidelity and other virtues, thought proper to take her with him on one of his voyages to Gaul. In 620, while traveling to France, Eusebius stopped at a pagan festival. When he reached the northern part of Corsica, he cast anchor and went ashore to join the pagans of the place in an idolatrous festival. Julia was left at some distance, because she would not be defiled by the superstitious ceremonies, which she openly spurned. The governor of the island, Felix, a bigoted pagan, asked who this woman was who dared to insult the gods. The merchant informed him that she was a Christian, and that all his authority over her was too weak to prevail upon her to renounce her religion; nonetheless, he found her so diligent and faithful he could not part with her.
The Governor tried to make Julia sacrifice to their gods but she refused. He even offered to buy her from Eusebius. The governor offered him four of his best slaves in exchange for her. But the merchant, Eusebius replied, “No; all you are worth will not purchase her; for I would lose the most valuable thing I have in the world rather than be deprived of her or lose her.” So while the inebriated merchant, Eusebius was asleep, the governor Felix attempted to compel her to sacrifice to his gods. He offered to procure her liberty if she would comply. The Saint made answer that she was as free as she desired to be, as long as she was allowed to serve Jesus Christ. The pagan, offended by her undaunted and resolute air, in a transport of rage caused her to be struck on the face, and the hair of her head to be torn off. Finally he ordered her to be hanged on a cross until she expired. St. Julia was kidnapped, tortured and crucified by governor Felix. Certain monks from the isle of Gorgon transported her relics there, but in 763 the king of Lombardy transferred them to Brescia, Italy at a Benedictine Abby where her memory is celebrated with great devotion. She’s the Patron Saint of torture victims, pathologies of the hands and the feet, Corsica, France, Brescia and Livorno, Italy.
PRAYER: Jesus, owing to Your death on the cross and Your resurrection, the faithful have a hope for eternal life that lets them boldly counter life hardships. Let the example of Saint Julia be a motivation for us to stay by You forever. You live and reign for ages and ages. Amen. Saint Julia of Corsica, Virgin and Martyr ~ Pray for us🙏🏽
SAINT JANE (JOAN) ANTIDE THOURET, RELIGIOUS: St. Jane also known as Joan Antide or Jeanne-Antide Thouret (1765-1826) was a French Roman Catholic professed religious and the founder of the Thouret sisters. She was a Sister of Charity who worked tirelessly for the faith amidst persecution during the French Revolution. St. Jane Thouret’s life was one of service to children and the ill across France in schools and hospitals – some of which her order established. This active apostolate did not cease when the French Revolution forced her into exile in both Switzerland and the Kingdom of Prussia. St. Jane was born in Sancey, France in the diocese of Besançon on November 27, 1765 to a poor family. Her pious mother died when she was 16 years old. The Saint took on many family responsibilities and cared for younger brothers and sisters. After many hesitations, St. Jane’s father permitted her to enter the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul (Vincentian Sisters) in Paris in 1787 at the age of 22. She worked in various hospitals caring for the sick, until the Revolution in France brought about the dispersion of the Congregations when many religious and priests were killed. She was ordered to abandon her religious habit and return home to a secular life in 1792, but refused and fled the authority; she was struck so violently that she remained for eight months between life and death.
In 1793 she finally returned from Paris to her native village of Sancey on foot, begging her bread; there she cared for the sick and opened a small school for girls on August 15, 1797 until she was forced to flee when times were growing ever more difficult. Sister Thouret again had to depart, this time journeying to Switzerland, where she assisted a French priest who had gone into exile with a few members of his little community. Again she cared for the sick; but the entire group was forced to move once again and go to Germany. She fled to Germany before returning again to Switzerland two years later to the village of Landeron in Switzerland. There she met the Vicar General of Besançon, and he asked her to found a school and a hospital in that city. On August 11, 1799 the foreseen school was opened at Besançon, she founded a new congregation in Besançon called the Institute of the Daughters of St. Vincent de Paul (Thouret’s Sisters). With a few novices the Foundress began work in France again. The community eventually expanded into France and Italy. She wrote a rule for her Daughters of Saint Vincent de Paul, as she called them to distinguish them from the larger group, the Sisters of Charity, of whom they were independent. The Congregation’s members multiplied, as did their works; in 1802 they were given the direction of a house of detention at Bellevaux, sheltering more than 500 prisoners. They opened schools in eastern France and Switzerland. The foundress was invited to go to Naples to take on the direction of a hospital and initiate other works; she accepted this invitation in 1810. She remained in Naples until 1818, obtaining from Pope Pius VII the approval of her Institute in 1819. Problems arising in Besançon caused her many sufferings, when the new bishop there desired to maintain the Community under diocesan authority. Saint Joan Antide died in Naples on August 24, 1826 of natural causes, having left for her Sisters many examples of heroic virtue. She was canonized in 1934 by Pope Pius XI, who invited the French nation to exult with joy on seeing its crown enriched by a new flower of holiness. She’s the Patron Saint of Sisters of Divine Charity.
Saint Jane (Joan) Antide Thouret, Religious ~ Pray for us🙏🏽
SAINT WILLIAM OF ROCHESTER, MARTYR: St. William of Rochester (d. 1201), also known as St. William of Perth, was a Scottish saint born in Perth, Scotland and martyred in England. He was a wild youth who matured into a devoted man of God. He became a baker, and out of his charity he would always set aside bread to feed the poor. One day, while walking into the church for Mass, he found an abandoned baby boy on the church steps. He adopted the child, raised him, and taught him his trade. Years later St. William made a vow to visit the sacred sites of Our Lord’s life on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, along with his adopted son. The two set out on their journey. While traveling through England his son deceived him, slit his throat, and stole the money he had saved for their pilgrimage. St. William’s abandoned body was discovered and mourned over by a mentally deranged woman. She made a crown of flowers and placed it on the head of St. William’s murdered corpse, then afterwards put the garland on her own head. Upon doing this, she was immediately cured of her mental illness. The local monks learned of this miracle and carried St. William’s body to the Rochester cathedral to give him the proper burial of a saint. His shrine later attracted many pilgrims. St. William died in 1201, Rochester, United Kingdom and Canonized in 1256 by Pope Alexander IV. St. William of Rochester is the Patron Saint of adopted children. His feast day is May 23rd.
Saint William of Rochester, Martyr ~ Pray for us🙏🏽