SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 12TH

MEMORIAL OF SAINT JOHN GUALBERT, ABBOT; SAINT VERONICA; SAINTS LOUIS AND ZELIE MARTIN AND SAINTS NABOR AND FELIX, MARTYRS ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 12TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint John Gualbert, Abbot; Saint Veronica; Saints Louis and Zélie Martin and Saints Nabor and Felix, Martyrs. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for all marriages, especially those facing challenges, we pray for those going through difficulties during these challenging times, for the poor and the needy, for peace, love and unity in our families and our world. We pray for the sick and dying, especially those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. And 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 GUALBERT, ABBOT: St. John Gualbert is also known as Giovanni Gualberto (c. 993-1073) was an Italian Roman Catholic abbot and the founder of the Vallumbrosan Order. St. John was born into a noble Florentine family about the year 985. Although he enjoyed the benefits of an early Christians education, his youthful heart was soon attracted to the vanities of the world. St. Gualbert was a predictably vain individual who sought pleasure in vanities and romantic intrigues. A painful incident was the means God made use of to open his eyes. Hugo, his only brother, had been murdered and St. John was so overtaken with grief that he resolved to avenge his death. His father was arranging for him to become a soldier when Hugo, the only other child, was murdered by a relative. Gualbert then set out for revenge of his older brother’s murder. It was Good Friday, and Gualbert, accompanied by an armed escort, met the murderer in a narrow pass in Florence. There was no way to avoid one another. They met, and the murderer, with arms crossed on his breast, threw himself at Gualbert’s feet. Moved by his plea for mercy and the remembrance of Christ’s dying act of forgiveness, he spared the murderer’s life and lifted him up as a brother. St. Gualbert continued his journey. Arriving at the Church of St. Minias, he prayed before a picture of the Crucified which appeared to move its head toward him. Thereupon he determined to dedicate his life to God in spite of his father’s opposition. After this encounter, he went straight to a monastery and begged to join. As a sign of his earnest desire, he shaved off all his hair. The abbot, who had been reluctant to admit St. John because he feared the displeasure of his influential father, agreed and St. John lived in the monastery and took the habit of a monk and soon became a member of the Order of Saint Benedict and in a short time attained such perfection that his life and work were a model for others. He made such great progress in virtue that after the death of the Abbot the monks wished to impose this dignity upon him, but St. John absolutely refused to accept it. Sometimes, later, he left the monastery with one companion in quest of great solitude and strict life.

Discovering that many of the orders that he had looked into joining were tainted with the corruption that was rampant in the Church at the time, he decided that God was calling him to find something new. Having visited the hermitage of Camaldoli, the Saint finally settled at Valle Ombrosa in Tuscany. On a plot of land east of Florence called Vallombrosa, together with men who were equally committed to observing a more austere and stricter following of the primitive Rule of St. Benedict, he founded his own congregation, the Order of Vallombrosa, a humble monastery devoted to contemplation and prayer and care of the poor and sick. He became the founder of the Vallombrosian monks, a branch of the Benedictine family. St. John is renowned for his humility, holiness of life, and his wisdom,  he refused any office of privilege, and declined to receive holy orders of any kind, he would never allow himself to be promoted, even to Minor Orders. His charity for the poor caused him to make a rule that no indigent person should be sent away without an alms. He founded several monasteries, reformed others, and succeeded in eradicating the vice of simony from the part of the country where he lived. St. John condemned nepotism 
and all simoniacal actions and was known for the pureness and meekness of his faith. Even Popes held him in high esteem, and he was often consulted by Popes. He died on July 12, 1073, at about eighty years of age. Miracles were reported at his tomb after his death. Pope Celestine III canonized St. John Gualbert on October 24, 1193. The Vallombrosan Benedictines are still existent today, mainly in the region of Tuscany and Lombardy, and number a handful of monasteries. Saint John Gualbert and his model of forgiveness is well worth reflecting upon today, especially during times of social unrest. St. John Gualbert is the Patron Saint of Forest workers; Foresters; Park services; Park rangers; Parks; Badia di Passignano; Vallumbrosan Order; Italian Forest Corps; Brazilian forests.

PRAYER: Lord, amid the things of this world, let us be wholeheartedly committed to heavenly things in imitation of the example of evangelical perfection You have given us in St. John the Abbot. Amen🙏

SAINT VERONICA: St. Veronica (1st c.) is also known as Berenike, was a woman from Jerusalem who lived in the 1st century AD. St. Veronica is one of the holy women of Jerusalem who accompanied Jesus on the Way of the Cross. Out of her sorrow and compassion, she offered Jesus her veil to wipe the blood and sweat from his face as He carried the cross on the way to His crucifixion. In gratitude for her simple yet gracious act, Jesus left an image of His face on the cloth. According to tradition, when St. Veronica saw Jesus fall beneath the weight of the cross. He carried to His pending crucifixion, she was so moved with pity she pushed through the crowd past the Roman Soldiers to reach Jesus. She used her veil (sometimes called the “sudarium”) to wipe the blood and sweat from His face. The soldiers forced her away from Jesus even as He peered at her with gratitude. She bundled her veil and did not look at it again until she returned home. When she finally unfolded the veil (history does not clarify exactly what kind of material the veil was made from) it was imprinted with an image of Christ’s face. According to tradition, St. Veronica afterwards went to Rome and brought the cloth with her. This piece of cloth, known as Veronica’s Veil, has been venerated as a holy and miraculous image of Jesus Christ ever since. St. Veronica’s veil (the “Veronica”, also called the “Sudarium”) is one of the Vatican’s most treasured relics, kept since ancient times at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican at Rome. Annually on the occasion of the 5th Sunday of Lent, Passion Sunday, St. Peter’s Basilica displays the relics, Veronica’s veil. On the Via Dolorosa (Way of the Cross) in Jerusalem there is a small chapel called the Chapel of the Holy Face that was built on the site of St. Veronica’s home and the location where the miracle took place. Tradition calls this woman “Veronica” but it has been said this might be an attributed name for her work. There are other images reputed to be St. Veronica’s Veil, including the one in Manoppello, Italy.

Some stories have alluded to St. Veronica being present at the beheading of St. John the Baptist. Others claim Veronica (Bernice) was a woman whom Jesus cured from a blood issue before His arrest in Jerusalem. There is no reference to the biography of St. Veronica in the canonical Gospels. St. Veronica’s beautiful act of kindness and charity is commemorated and represented in the Sixth of the Fourteen Stations of the Cross. St. Veronica is believed to be buried in the tomb in Soulac or in the church of St. Seurin at Bordeaux, France. St. Veronica is the Patron Saint of Laundry workers; photographers; images; pictures, Santa Veronica, San Pablo City, Laguna. St. Veronica’s feast day is July 12th.

St. Veronica ~ Pray for us 🙏

SAINTS LOUIS AND ZELIE MARTIN: Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin are best known as the parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux (the Little Flower), but they are models of holiness in their own right. They are only the second married couple to be canonized. Beatified on October 19, 2008 and Pope Francis canonised the couple at a ceremony in Rome on October 18, 2015 during a Vatican synod of bishops which was focusing on pastoral challenges to the family. Though they are best known as the devout parents of St Thérèse of Lisieux, the ‘Little Flower’, Saints Louis and Zélie have come to be regarded as exemplars of the vocations of parenting and family life, introducing their children to a life of holiness and God’s call in their lives. Saints Louis and Zélie are remembered for their unwavering faith even as they encountered many of the struggles families and parents will be familiar with, including cancer, death, financial worries, depression and other challenges.

Louis Martin was born in Bordeaux in 1823 and baptised Louis-Joseph-Aloys-Stanislaus. He grew up in Alençon and after school learned clock-making eventually opening his own watch-making and jewellery business on the rue du Pont-Neuf in Alençon. As a young man he wished to become a priest but it was not to be. Prayer was an important part of his life. He liked reading, fishing and walking in the countryside. His travels included his well-known pilgrimage to Rome in 1887 with his daughters Therese and Celine on the occasion of which Therese—still not fifteen years old—asked Pope Leo XIII for permission to enter Carmel. Zelie Guerin (christened Marie-Azelie) was born in 1831 near Alençon. She had a strong faith. She too wished to embrace the religious life and again it was not to be. Much is written of her great energy and capacity for work. She became a professional and talented maker of Alençon point lace and she also started her own business in Alençon. When Zelie was 26 years old she encountered Louis Martin on the Bridge of St Leonard over the Sarthe River in Alençon and had a premonition that they would marry. Three months later on July 13, 1858 the wedding took place in the Church of Notre-Dame now the Basilica of Notre-Dame in Alençon. The couple lived in Alençon, initially at 15 rue du Pont-Neuf and later at 35 rue Saint-Blaise, where St Therese was born. They had nine children only five of whom survived infancy and early childhood. The surviving children were Marie, Pauline, Leonie, Celine and Therese all of whom embraced the religious life. Marie, Pauline, Celine and Therese became Carmelite Sisters in Lisieux and were known respectively as Sr Marie of the Sacred Heart, Mother Agnes of Jesus, Sr Genevieve of the Holy Face and Sr Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face. Leonie became a Visitantine Sister, in Caen, and was known as Sr Françoise Therese. Therese, their youngest daughter, was only four-year-old when Zelie died in 1877. After this Louis and his five daughters moved to Les Buissonnets in Lisieux. In 1887 Therese asked for and received her father’s permission to enter Carmel which she did in 1888. Saints Louis and Zelie Martin were canonized on October 18, 2015 by Pope Francis during the Synod on the Family at Rome, Italy.

Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin ~ Pray for us 🙏

SAINTS NABOR AND FELIX, MARTYRS: The holy martyrs, Nabor and Felix, suffered in the persecution of Maximian. They were Christian Roman soldiers from Mauretania Caesariensis serving in the army of Emperor Maximian Hercules. Because of their Christian faith they were condemned and tried in Milan and executed by decapitation in Laus Pompeia (Lodi Vecchio) during the Great Persecution under the Roman emperor Diocletian in 303 or 304. Their bodies were interred in Milan (Martyrology). A tomb in Milan is believed to contain their relics. When Emperor Frederic Barbarossa captured Milan in the twelfth century, he gave the sacred relics to Reinald, archbishop of Cologne. Soon after, Reinald transferred the bodies of the holy martyrs to his episcopal see, where they are still venerated in one of the cathedral’s magnificent chapels.

Saint Nabor and Felix, Martyrs ~ Pray for us 🙏