MEMORIAL OF SAINT JOHN OF KANTY, PRIEST AND SAINT SERVULUS OF ROME, INVALID AND BEGGAR – FEAST DAY ~ DECEMBER 23RD: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint John of Kanty, Priest and Saint Servulus of Rome, Invalid and Beggar.
SAINT JOHN OF KANTY, PRIEST: Also known as St. John Cantius was a Polish priest, scholastic philosopher, physicist and theologian, born in June 1390 in a village, in Polish town of Kanty, the name of which he bears, situated in the diocese of Krakow, Poland. His childhood was passed in innocence under the care of his virtuous parents. After finishing his studies he became professor in the University of Krakow, a position he occupied several years, endeavoring not only to train his pupils in science but also to instill into their hearts the sentiments of piety with which he was himself animated. He was distinguished for his piety and love of neighbor. Having been ordained to the priesthood, St. John distinguished himself by still greater zeal for the glory of God and his own perfection. The carelessness and indifference of so many Christians were for him a great source of affliction. As parish priest, he became a true pastor of souls, severe toward himself and indulgent to others, showing himself the father of his people and their friend when they were in need. After some years he resumed his duties of professor at the University of Cracow, practicing at the same time prayer, love for the poor, and all Christians virtues.
Consumed by the desire of suffering martyrdom, John made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and preached “Jesus Crucified” to the Turks. Four times he made a journey to Rome on foot. On foot he visited the holy places of Rome and Palestine. His sleep was short and taken on the floor; his food barely sufficed to keep him alive. By means of fasting and severe discipline he preserved his purity intact. One day, after robbers had deprived him of all his effects, they asked him whether he had anything more. The saint said no, but hardly had they gone when he remembered having sewn some gold pieces inside his clothing; immediately he followed and overtook them. The robbers, astonished at the man’s sense of truthfulness, refused to accept the money and returned to him the stolen luggage.
To guard himself and his household from evil gossip he wrote upon the wall of his room (after the example of St. Augustine): Conturbare cave, non est placare suave, diffamare cave, nam revocare grave, i.e. “Guard against causing trouble and slandering others, for it is difficult to right the evil done.” His love of neighbor was most edifying. Often he gave away his own clothing and shoes; then, not to appear barefoot, he lowered his cassock so as to have it drag along the ground. During the last thirty years of his life he abstained entirely from meat. Sensing that his death was near at hand, he distributed whatever he still had to the poor and died peacefully in the Lord at an advanced age on December 24, 1473 at Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland. He was canonized in 1767 in Rome by Pope Clement XIII. St. John of Kanty is the Patron Saint of Lithuania, Poland and Jagiellonian University Theology career
REFLECTION: St. John of Kanty is a typical saint: He was kind, humble, and generous, he suffered opposition and led an austere, penitential life. Most Christians in an affluent society can understand all the ingredients except the last: Anything more than mild self-discipline seems reserved for athletes and ballet dancers. Christmas at least is a good time to reject self-indulgence.
PRAYER: Almighty God, help us to follow the example of Your Priest, St. John, in advancing in the science of the Saints. May we show compassion to all who are in need so that we ourselves may obtain Your mercy. Amen🙏
SAINT SERVULUS OF ROME, INVALID AND BEGGAR: Saint Servulus (or Servolo, died c. 590) was a paralyzed beggar, born in the 6th century at Rome, Italy. He was afflicted from birth with a severe palsy that prevented him from ever standing or even sitting unaided. His family carried him to the door of Saint Clement’s church in Rome, Italy so he could beg for alms. He spent all his time praying outside Saint Clement’s Church in Rome. Saint Servulus was a perfect model of submission to the divine Will; it would be difficult to offer a more consoling example to persons afflicted by poverty, illnesses and the other miseries of life. It is Saint Gregory the Great who narrates for us his edifying story: We have seen under the portico of the Church of Saint Clement, a poor man named Servulus, who is known to all the people of Rome as to Us. He was deprived of all the goods of this world; a long illness had reduced him to a pitiful state. From his youth he was paralyzed in all his members. Not only could he not stand up, but he was unable to rise from his bed; he could neither sit down nor turn himself from one side to the other, nor bring his hand to his mouth. Nothing in him was sound except his eyes, ears, tongue, stomach and entrails.
This unfortunate man, who had learned the mysteries of religion, meditated unceasingly on the sufferings of the Saviour, and never did he complain. He was surrounded by the loving care of his mother and brother. Neither the mother nor the children had ever studied, yet the paralytic had pious books bought for himself, in particular the Psalms and the Holy Gospels, and he would ask the religious who came to visit him on his cot to read from them to him. In this way he learned these books by heart; he spent days and part of the nights in singing or reciting them, and meditating them, and he constantly thanked the Lord for having taken him to be a victim associated with the pains and sufferings of Jesus Christ.
Many alms came to the little house of the paralytic, to such an extent that he became rich in his poverty. After having taken from these what was necessary for his subsistence and that of his mother, he gave the rest to the indigent, who often assembled around him to be edified by his words and his virtues. His bed of pain was a pulpit of preaching, from which he converted souls. When the time came which was decreed by God to reward his patience and put an end to his painful life, Servulus felt the paralysis spreading to the vital parts of his body, and he prepared for death. At the final moment, he asked those in attendance to recite Psalms with him. Suddenly he cried out: Ah! Don’t you hear that melody resounding in heaven?’ At that moment his soul escaped from his body, which until his burial gave forth a marvelous fragrance. He died in 590 of natural causes and buried at Saint Clement’s church, Rome, Italy. He’s the Patron Saint against cerebral palsy; disabled people; handicapped people and physically challenged people.
Saint Servulus of Rome, Invalid and Beggar ~ Pray for us 🙏