MEMORIAL OF SAINT MARIA GORETTI, VIRGIN AND MARTYR; SAINT GODELIEVE, MARTYR; SAINT GOAR OF AQUITAINE, PRIEST AND HERMIT; AND BLESSED MARIA THERESA LEDÓCHOWSKA, RELIGIOUS ~ FEAST DAY: JULY 6TH Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Maria Goretti, Virgin and Martyr; Saint Godelieve, Martyr; Saint Goar of Aquitaine, Priest and Hermit and Blessed Maria Theresa Ledochowska, Religious. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the safety and well-being of children all over the world and victims of rape. We pray for the sick and dying, especially those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases and diseases of the throat. We pray for the poor, the needy and most marginalized, for peaceful marriages, for justice, peace and unity in our families and our world. 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 MARIA GORETTI, VIRGIN AND MARTYR: St. Maria Goretti (1890–1902), a young virgin and martyr whose life is an example of purity and mercy for all Christians. St. Maria Goretti is best known for her commitment to purity and the courageous defense of her faith at the young age of eleven that made her willing to undergo death rather than participate in a sin against God. She is also remarkable for the forgiveness she willingly granted her attacker as she lay on her deathbed. St. Maria was born in Corinaldo, Italy on October 16, 1890 to a humble farming family. Her father, a farmer, died of malaria when she was young, at about the age of 9, leaving the family destitute and her mother had to work to support their six children. Her mother and older siblings worked in the fields while Maria managed the household chores and cared for her younger siblings. St. Maria prayed the Rosary every night for the repose of her father’s soul. She grew in grace and maturity, and her cheerful obedience and piety were noticed by those around her. She received First Communion at eleven and strove to do better each day. On July 5, 1902, one summer day while the family was in the fields, St. Maria was attacked by their neighbor, a 19-year-old boy named Alessandro (Alexander) Serenelli, who attempted to rape her. St. Maria wasn’t yet 12 years old. The Goretti family shared a home with the partner of their father and his son, Alessandro (Alexander), a wicked-minded youth who began making sinful advances toward St. Maria on several prior occasions, he had harassed St. Maria with impure advances, all of which she had vehemently rejected. She repelled them immediately but said nothing about them for he threatened to kill her and her mother if she did. This time, he locked her in a room and tried to force himself upon her. She fought against him, shouting, “No! It is a sin! God does not want it!” and warning him that this was the path towards hell. When St. Maria declared that she would rather die than submit to this sin, Alessandro angrily grabbed her and stabbed her 14 times with a knife. St. Maria was found bleeding to death and rushed to the hospital at Nettuno and surgeons worked feverishly to save her life, without anesthesia but it soon became evident that nothing could be done. The next morning she was given Communion but first queried about her attitude toward Alessandro. She verbally forgave Alessandro for the crime he had committed against her, saying, “Yes, for the love of Jesus I forgive him…and I want him to be with me in Paradise.” She offered her suffering to God. Although the doctors tried to save her, on July 6, 1902, this saintly maiden died and went to meet her heavenly Spouse for Whose love she had been willing to give her life. She died while holding a crucifix, only eleven years old.
Alessandro was sentenced to 30 years in prison. He remained unrepentant until one night, eight years into his prison term, when St. Maria appeared to him, dressed in white, gathering lilies in a garden. She smiled, turned towards Alessandro, and offered him the flowers. She placed 14 white lilies, one at a time, into his hands; one for each of the times he stabbed her. Each lily he took transformed into a white flame. Then St. Maria disappeared. This stunning experience of forgiveness brought him to repentance, and Alessandro was converted and found peace. He repented of his crime and changed his life and was released from prison three years early. Upon leaving prison he sought reconciliation and begged forgiveness from the church and St. Maria’s mother, which she duly granted. Alessandro called St. Maria “his little saint” and prayed to her daily. Alessandro moved to a Capuchin monastery and joined the Franciscans as a lay brother, working in the garden as a tertiary for the remainder of his life, until his death in 1970. Alessandro was one of the witnesses who testified to St. Maria’s holiness during her cause of beatification, citing the crime and the vision in prison. He sat next to St. Maria’s mother at the beatification. Alessandro also attended her canonization Mass in 1950 and St. Maria’s mother, brothers and sisters were present at her canonization, a unique event in the history of the Church, the first time a parent was present for a child’s canonization. Many miracles were attributed to Maria Goretti after her death. On July 25, 1950, she was canonised by Pope Pius XII, becoming the youngest Roman Catholic saint officially recognised by name. St. Maria Goretti is the Patron Saint of children, youth, young girls, children of Mary, young women, the poor, martyrs, purity, poverty, chastity, rape victims, against impoverishment, against poverty, loss of parents, martyrs, rape victims; young people in general and forgiveness. Her feast day is celebrated by the Church on July 6th.
On her feast day in 2003, Pope John Paul II spoke about St. Maria Goretti at his Sunday Angelus, noting that her life provides an exemplary witness of what it means to be “pure of heart.” “What does this fragile but christianly mature girl say to today’s young people, through her life and above all through her heroic death?” asked the Pope. “Marietta, as she was lovingly called, reminds the youth of the third millennium that true happiness demands courage and a spirit of sacrifice, refusing every compromise with evil and having the disposition to pay personally, even with death, faithful to God and his commandments.” “How timely this message is,” the Holy Father continued. “Today, pleasure, selfishness and directly immoral actions are often exalted in the name of the false ideals of liberty and happiness. It is essential to reaffirm clearly that purity of heart and of body go together, because chastity ‘is the custodian’ of authentic love.”
PRAYER: God, Author of innocence and Lover of chastity, You conferred on St. Maria Your handmaid the grace of martyrdom at a youthful age. Through her intercession grant us constancy in Your commandments, You Who gave the crown to a virgin who fought for You. Amen🙏🏽
SAINT GODELIEVE, MARTYR: St. Godelieve is a Flemish saint, martyred wife, strangled by her husband Bertolf of Ghistelles, a Flemish lord. Accepting an arranged marriage as was the custom, her husband and family turned out to be abusive, whereas she behaved with charity & gentleness to all. Eventually he had her strangled by his servants.
St. Godelieve was born in 1052, County of Boulogne. She was pious as a young girl, and became much sought after by suitors as a beautiful young woman. St. Godelieve, however, wanted to become a nun. A nobleman named Bertolf of Gistel, however, determined to marry her. He successfully invoked the help of her father’s overlord, Eustace II, Count of Boulogne. Berthold’s servants were ordered to provide only bread and water to the young bride. St. Godelieve shared this food with the poor. St. Godelieve managed to escape to the home of her father, Hemfrid, seigneur of Wierre-Effroy. Hemfrid, managed to have Bertolf restore St. Godelieve to her rightful position as his wife. In July 1070, St. Godelieve returned to Gistel. Soon after, at the order of Bertolf, she was strangled by two servants. Then she was thrown into a pool, to make it appear as if she had died a natural death. St. Godelieve died on July 6, 1070 at Gistel, Belgium. She’s Patron Saint of weather; peaceful marriage and invoked against throat trouble. Feast: July 6th; July 30th
Saint Godelieve, Martyr ~ Pray for us🙏🏽
SAINT GOAR OF AQUITAINE, PRIEST AND HERMIT: Saint Goar (d. 575) was a priest and hermit of the seventh century. He was offered the position of Bishop of Trier, but prayed to be excused from the position. St. Goar is noted for his piety and is revered as a miracle-worker. Saint Goar was born in the time of Childebert I, son of Clovis, of an illustrious family in Aquitaine. From his youth he was noted for his earnest piety, and having been raised by his bishop to sacred orders, he converted many sinners by the force of his example and the fervor of his preaching against all the contemporary disorders. But wishing to serve God entirely unknown to the world, he went into a region where he would be unidentified, and settling in the neighborhood of Trier in Germany, he built a small church and a hermitage, then retired into prayer. He came forth after a time and began preaching in the area to the pagans, who opened their eyes to the truth of the Gospel. Miracles seconded his teaching; he cured the sick and the lame by prayer and the sign of the cross. Saint Goar reached so eminent a sanctity as to be esteemed the oracle and miracle of the whole country. He practiced hospitality to the poor and to pilgrims, lodging them in his hermitage which he enlarged for that purpose; hospitality is the particular virtue for which he is and was then known.
Nonetheless certain jealous persons calumniated him as a hypocrite, and the bishop of Trier sent for him. When he entered the episcopal palace, Saint Goar mistook a ray of sunshine for a coat hook and suspended his cloak upon it. The bishop took this for a sign he was a magician. He excused himself for the miracle he had not even noticed. He told his bishop that if sometimes he had served an early breakfast on the days when fasting was not obligatory, he had done so out of charity for his guests, not by intemperance. And he added that it was a great error to place all perfection in fasting and abstinence, since the greatest Saints have always recognized that charity is to be preferred. The King of Austrasia, Sigebert, learning of the sanctity of Saint Goar, wished to have him consecrated a bishop, and for that purpose summoned him to court. The Saint had already offered to do penance for seven years for a fault of the bishop of Trier which had become known. Saint Goar feared the responsibilities of the episcopal office and prayed that he might be excused, saying that his role was a different one. He was seized with a fever, from which he suffered as an invalid for seven years before he died in 575. A city in Germany is named for him, near Coblentz.
Saint Goar of Aquitaine, Priest and Hermit ~ Pray for us🙏🏽
BLESSED MARIA THERESA LEDÓCHOWSKA, RELIGIOUS: Bl. Maria Theresa was a Polish Roman Catholic Religious Sister and missionary, who founded the Missionary Sisters of St. Peter Claver, dedicated to service in Africa. Mary Theresa, led by the Holy Spirit, enlisted “auxiliary missionaries” and placed her work under the patronage of the Spanish Jesuit missionary, St. Peter Claver, whose life ministry earned him the title of Apostle to the Slaves. Blessed Maria Theresa Ledóchowska was the eldest of seven children. She was born in Austria on April 29, 1863, to a Polish noble, Count Anthony, and his wife, Josephine. From her parents Maria Theresa inherited not only their noble blood, but also a heart sensitive for the needy. Even though she grew up in a very religious family, Bl. Maria Theresa did not hear much about the missions in her youth. In 1885 Maria Theresa became a lady-in-waiting to the Grand Duchess Alice of Tuscany. In the midst of the glamour of court life, she was exposed for the first time to the needs of the missionary world. Two Franciscan Missionaries of Mary came to Salzburg to seek financial help for their missionary work. The lady-in-waiting listened raptly as the two women religious shared their experiences of working with the lepers in Madagascar. “I don’t know of anything more beautiful than to co-operate with God in the salvation of souls.” ~Bl. Mary Theresa Ledochowska. This spark of interest in missions was fueled to a full flame when Bl. Maria Theresa read a pamphlet on Cardinal Lavigerie’s anti-slavery campaign. The prelate of Africa called for the women of Europe to support his crusade against slavery. His call bore fruit in Bl. Maria Theresa, who would one day say, “I myself would not be here before you today, and I would probably still be a lady-in-waiting at a court in Austria, if by chance I had not seen a pamphlet by Cardinal Lavigerie, which gave me the incentive to devote myself to the missions.”
As Bl. Maria Theresa’s involvement with the missions grew, she began a mission page in a Catholic periodical. These mission features, called Echo From Africa, were based on correspondence from African missionaries. The page of letters evolved into a monthly magazine, which made its debut in 1889, even though the nineteenth century was not ready for a woman publisher. “It is a grace to understand the essence of the missionary ideal and to work for it.” ~Bl. Mary Theresa Ledochowska. The magazine soon became a full-time job, and Emperor Franz Joseph personally released Mary Theresa from her court duties in 1891 so that she could devote all of her time and energy to the missions. Soon the work of promoting and supporting the needs of missionaries in Africa could no longer be considered one’s woman effort. Bl. Maria Theresa, led by the Holy Spirit, enlisted “auxiliary missionaries” and placed her work under the patronage of the Spanish Jesuit missionary, St. Peter Claver, whose life ministry earned him the title of Apostle to the Slaves. Bl. Maria Theresa’s vision took shape gradually, emerging in wonderful form. First on April 29, 1894, Pope Leo XVIII formally blessed Maria Theresa’s enterprise, deeming the St. Peter Claver Sodality a pious association, which gradually developed into a religious community. On September 8, 1897, Bl. Maria Theresa and her first companion professed their final vows as Missionary Sisters of St. Peter Claver.
For the next twenty-five years, the Foundress roamed Europe, enlisting people of all walks of life to help her congregation’s support for evangelization in Africa. Realizing that the missionaries were in urgent need of books in local languages, she expanded her work, producing everything from Bibles and hymnals to dictionaries in local languages. Pope St. Pius X gave his final approval to the constitutions in 1910. The lady-in-waiting’s dream blossomed into an international mission aid network. Her reward came when the recipients of her generous support offered gratitude for the assistance, calling Bl. Maria Theresa “Mother of the Africans.” The grueling schedule of appearances and editing took its toll on Bl. Maria Theresa. Despite suffering from tuberculosis, she worked to the very end, passing away on July 6, 1922. The thousands of missionaries she had supported through prayers, encouragement and material help felt as though they had lost a mother. Bl. Maria Theresa Ledochowska was beatified by Pope Paul VI, on October 19, 1975, Mission Sunday. The Holy Father cited her selfless, creative response to Jesus’ command to “go and teach all nations.” In advance of Vatican II, Bl. Maria Theresa proclaimed that every Christian is a missionary by means of Baptism. She left her spiritual daughters with the responsibility of informing all Catholics of their duty to bring the Good News of God’s love to the whole world. “God must reign everywhere and His Gospel must be proclaimed to the ends of the earth.”
Blessed Maria Theresa Ledóchowska ~ Pray for us🙏🏽
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