SAINTS OF THE DAY: FEAST DAY ~ FEBRUARY 15TH

MEMORIAL OF SAINT CLAUDE DE LA COLOMBIÈRE, PRIEST AND SAINTS FAUSTINUS, PRIEST AND JOVITA, DEACON,  MARTYRS: FEAST DAY ~ FEBRUARY 15TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Claude de la Colombière, Priest (Patron Saint of Sculptors and Toy markers, Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus) and Saints Faustinus, Priest and Jovita, Deacon, Martyrs (Patron Saint of Brescia). Through the glorious intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and these saints, we humbly pray and ask, our Lord, that you instill in our hearts the burning passion to spread your word to all even at the hour of our death…Amen🙏

SAINT CLAUDE DE LA COLOMBIÈRE, PRIEST: The Jesuit Priest St. Claude de la Colombiere was the first to believe in the mystical revelations of the Sacred Heart given to St. Margaret Mary in Paray le Monial Convent, France. Thanks to his support, St. Margaret Mary’s superior also believed, and propagation of the devotion to the Sacred Heart was started. St. Claude de la Colombiere (1641-1682) was born to a noble family in France in 1641 and entered the Society of Jesus in Lyons, France, and became a Jesuit priest. He gained widespread fame as an orator and educator in Paris. He was known for his solid and serious sermons and his dedication to observing the rule of his order with exactness. He became the rector of a Jesuit house next to the Monastery of the Visitation. He had great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and, on a visit to the Visitation convent in Paray-le-Monial, he met St. Margaret Mary Alacoque who was given special revelations from the Jesus of His Sacred Heart and he learned of the vision she had been privileged to receive. St. Claude became St. Margaret Mary’s Spiritual Director and he spent eighteen months at Paray-le-Monial acting as her spiritual director and encouraging her to spread the devotion as she had been commanded by our Lord.

Father Claude himself became a zealous promoter and apostle of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, regarding it as the means of revitalizing the Faith among the people. He continued to promote the devotion when in 1676,  he was sent to England to attend the wife of the future King James II, serving at court as preacher and confessor. He preached to the Duchess of York, and succeeded in converting the Duke of York as well as other Protestants. Because of the intense hostility against Catholics at the time, his efforts earned a death sentence. When anti-Catholic persecutions broke out, Claude was falsely accused of being involved in a ‘papist plot’ and was thrown into prison. While there his health suffered due to mistreatment. During the summer of 1681 Father Claude received a commutation of his death sentence. He was preserved from execution and instead banished from England by royal decree. He returned to his native Paray-le-Monial, France where his fragile health continued to deteriorate until he died a few years later. On February 15, 1682, the first Sunday of Lent, towards evening Claude suffered a severe hemorrhage which ended his life. He died at Paray-le-Monial. The day after his death, St. Margaret Mary received supernatural assurance that he needed no prayers, as he was already in heaven. On the June 16, 1929 Pope Pius XI beatified St. Claude La Colombière, and Pope John Paul II declared him a saint on May 31,1992. The Universal Church celebrates his feast day on February 15. His charism, according to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, was that of bringing souls to God along the gospel way of love and mercy which Christ revealed to us. He’s the Patron Saint of Toy makers; turners; Sculptors and Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Quote: “God is in the midst of us, or rather we are in the midst of him; wherever we are he sees us and touches us: at prayer, at work, at table, at recreation.” ~ St. Claude de la Colombiere

PRAYER:  O Holy Saint Claude, intercede for us to be Great Saints in Heaven and may we imitate Our Lord Jesus Christ here on earth; in order to gain our Heavenly Glory which the Lord promised to those who trust and follow His ways until the end…Amen. Saint Claude, bring us closer to the Heart of Jesus!   

Lord, our God, You spoke to St. Claude in the depths of his heart that he might bear witness to Your boundless love. May his gifts of grace illumine and comfort Your Church. Amen🙏

SAINTS FAUSTINUS, PRIEST AND JOVITA, DEACON, MARTYRS: St. Faustinus, a priest and  St. Jovita, a deacon, were brothers, nobly born, and were zealous professors of the Christian religion, which they preached without fear in their city of Brescia in Lombardy, during the persecution of Adrian. Their remarkable zeal excited the fury of the heathens against them, and procured them a glorious death for their faith. According to the tradition of Brescia, they preached Christianity fearlessly while their bishop lay in hiding. Their zeal excited the fury of the heathens against them, then they were apprehended by a heathen lord called Julian. They were commanded to adore the sun, but replied that they adored the living God who created the sun to give light to the world. The statue before which they were standing was brilliant and surrounded with golden rays. Saint Jovita, looking at it, cried out: Yes, we adore the God reigning in heaven, who created the sun. And you, vain statue, turn black, to the shame of those who adore you! At his word, it turned black. The Emperor commanded that it be cleaned, but the pagan priests had hardly begun to touch it when it fell into ashes.

The two brothers, Saints Faustinus and Jovita were tortured and dragged to Milan, Rome and Naples, and then brought back to Brescia. They were sent to the amphitheater to be devoured by lions, but four of those came out and lay down at their feet. They were left without food in a dark jail cell, but Angels brought them strength and joy for new combats. The flames of a huge fire respected them, and a large number of spectators were converted at the sight. As neither threats nor torments could shake their constancy, the Emperor Hadrian, who happened to be passing through Brescia, commended them to be beheaded. Finally sentenced to decapitation, they knelt down and received the death blow at Brescia in the year 120. The city of Brescia honors them as its chief patrons and possesses their relics, and a very ancient church in that city bears their names.

On April 18 the Roman Martyrology names the martyr St. Calocerus, who was an officer in the Roman army under the Roman emperor Hadrian and was stationed in Brescia in Lombardy, Italy. His life and legend are associated with Saints Faustinus and Jovita, and according to tradition, all three saints were soldiers from Brescia. He figures largely in the legendary history of St. Faustinus and Jovita, whose heroic confession he is said to have witnessed when, as a court official, he accompanied Hadrian to his native city Brescia and was present in the amphitheatre. The constancy of the two confessors and the refusal of the wild beasts to touch them brought about his conversion, and he was baptized by Bishop Apollonius with twelve thousand other citizens. He was tortured and imprisoned in several Italian towns notably in Asti, where he instructed St. Secundus who visited him in gaol. Eventually, he was taken to Albanga in Liguria and beheaded on the seashore. Saints Faustinus and Jovita’s  feast is celebrated on February 15th, the traditional date of their martyrdom. They are the Patron Saint of Brescia.

PRAYER: Almighty ever-living God, who gave Saints Faustinus and Jovita the grace of suffering for Christ, come, in your divine mercy, we pray, to the help of our own weakness, that, as your Saints did not hesitate to die for your sake, we, too, may live bravely in confessing you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever… Amen🙏