SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY: MAY 19TH

MEMORIAL OF SAINT PETER CELESTINE, POPE; SAINT PUDENTIANA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR AND SAINT YVES OF BRITTANY (IVO OF KERMARTIN), PRIEST AND LAWYER ~ FEAST DAY: MAY 19TH: As we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost today, we also celebrate the Memorial of Saint Peter Celestine, Pope; Saint Pudentiana, Virgin and Martyr and Saint Yves of Brittany (Saint Ivo of Kermartin), Priest and Lawyer. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for justice, peace and love in our world. We pray for all lawyers and those in authority. We pray for the sick and dying, especially those suffering from terminal diseases and for the safety and well-being of 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 PETER CELESTINE, POPE: St. Peter (1221- 1296) was born Pietro Angelerio in about 1221, also known as Pietro da Morrone, Peter of Morrone, and Pope Celestine V. He was the eleventh of the twelve children of a poor Italian farmer in Apulia, in the Neapolitan province of Moline. His parents, Angelo Angelerio and Maria Leone were very virtuous, and charitable to the poor to the uttermost of their abilities. As a child, Peter had visions of our Blessed Lady, Angels and Saints. His heavenly visitors encouraged him in his prayers and chided him when he fell into any fault. After his father’s death, his mother, though only a poor widow, seeing his extraordinary inclination to piety provided him with a literary education, she sent him to school, feeling sure that he would one day be a Saint. He retired into the desert when he was hardly an adolescent. His virtues soon drew disciples around him. This was the origin of the branch of the Benedictine order known as the Celestines. He became a Benedictine monk at the age of seventeen and was eventually ordained priest at Rome. His love of solitude led him first into the wilderness of Monte Morone in the Abruzzi, whence his surname, and later into the wilder recesses of Mt. Majella. He was strongly influenced by the life of John the Baptist, and took him as his model in his religious life. His hair-cloth was roughened with knots, he wore a chain of iron encompassing his emaciated frame, and he fasted every day except for on Sunday. Each year he kept four Lents, passing three of them on bread and water only, and he consecrated the entire day and a great part of the night to prayer and labour. At twenty years of age he left the schools, and retired to a solitary mountain of Apulia, where he made himself a little cell under ground, but so small that he could scarce stand or lie down in it. Here he lived three years in great austerities, during which he was often assailed by violent temptations and assaulted by evil spirits; but these he overcame by the help of such practices and austerities as the grace of God suggested to him. He was consoled by the visits of Angels. After this his seclusion was invaded by disciples who refused to be sent away; and the rule of life which he gave them formed the foundation of the Celestines, a branch of the Order of Saint Benedict. Angels assisted in the church which St. Peter built; unseen bells rang peals of surpassing sweetness, and heavenly music filled the sanctuary when he offered the Holy Sacrifice; he had consented to be ordained, to find in the Holy Eucharist assistance against temptation.

Suddenly the poor anchorite found himself torn from his loved solitude, having been named by acclamation to the Papal throne, which had remained vacant for twenty-seven months. Resistance was of no avail. He took the name of Celestine, to remind him of the heaven he was leaving and for which he sighed. He was seventy-two years old. He was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States for five months from July 5th to December 13, 1294. St. Peter judged himself unfit for the office, and summoning the cardinals to his presence, he solemnly resigned his trust. During the remaining three years of his life he worked many and great miracles. On the day after his abdication, his blessing after Mass healed a lame man. Saint Peter left the palace, desiring seclusion, but was brought back by the papal guards, for his successor feared a schism; crowds had followed Saint Peter. Lest he be prevailed upon to take back his office, he was put under surveillance at Anagni. Content, he remarked: I desired nothing but a cell, and a cell they have given me. And there he enjoyed his former loving intimacy with the Saints and Angels, and sang the Divine praises almost continually. At length, on Pentecost Sunday he told his guards he would die within the week, and immediately fell ill. He received the Last Sacraments, and the following Saturday, as he finished the concluding verse of Lauds, Let every spirit bless the Lord! he closed his eyes to this world and opened them to the vision of God. He died on May 19,1296 and was Canonized May 5, 1313 by Pope Clement V. He’s the Patron Saint of Aquila, Italy; bookbinders; Papal resignations, Urbino, Molise, Sant’Angelo Limosano.

Saint Peter Celestine, Pope ~ Pray for us🙏

SAINT PUDENTIANA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR: St. Pudentiana of Rome was Virgin, Martyr, Friend to the Apostles. She was the sister of St. Praxedes, and daughter of Pudens a Roman senator, who was converted to the faith by the apostles SS. Peter and Paul. They cared for Christians and buried their bodies during the persecutions of Marcus Antoninus. A traditional Christian saint and martyress of the 2nd century who refused to worship the Roman Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Antoninus Pius as deities. She gave away her wealth to the poor, aided the burials of Christians, and consecrated herself wholly to Christ and died in the year 160 when she was sixteen. Her church in Rome is esteemed the most ancient that is known in the world. It was in the first ages called the church of the Pastor, and is said to have been the palace of Pudens, in which St. Peter lodged and celebrated the divine mysteries.

According to an ancient tradition, St. Peter was the guest of the senator Pudens during his stay in Rome. Pudens had two daughters, Pudentiana and Praxedes, virgins who dedicated themselves wholly to acts of charity. After the death of their parents, Pudentiana and her sister Praxedes distributed their patrimony to the poor. The fact that Puden’s entire household of some 96 persons were baptized by Pope Pius I (d. 154) is ascribed to their zealous activities. When Christian services were forbidden by the Emperor Antoninus Pius, Pius I celebrated Mass in their home. The saints were buried next to their father in the catacomb of St. Priscilla. One of Rome’s most ancient stational churches is dedicated to St. Pudentiana. Despite being in the Tridentine Missal and having a church dedicated to her in Rome, she was removed from the Roman Martyrology, 2001. Her uncertain status is the result of not being listed in the earliest martyrologies.

St. Pudentiana of Rome was Virgin, Martyr ~ Pray for us🙏

SAINT YVES OF BRITTANY, PRIEST AND LAWYER: St. Yves also known as Ives or Ivo of Kermartin (1253–1303) worked hard for justice both as a civil and canon lawyer, often working without charge for the poor. He worked to help the less fortunate, building hospitals, orphanages, and helping widows and the poor. St. Yves was born to a noble family at Kermartin, near Tréguier, Brittany, France on October 17, 1253. He was the son of Helori, lord of Kermartin, and Azo du Kenquis. The lessons his pious mother instilled in the heart of the boy through Christian training, preserved him amid the grave dangers to which he was exposed during his student years at Paris and Orleans. In 1267 at the age of 14, St. Yves was sent by his landowning father to Paris to receive a higher education, he went to the University of Paris, where he graduated in civil law. He went to Orléans in 1277 to study canon law and at the end of ten years he had gained distinction in Philosophy, Theology, and Canon Law, as well as Civil Law. He went on to practice law for many years in both the civil and ecclesiastical courts. On his return to Brittany he was appointed a diocesan judge, first to the Bishop of Rennes and later to the Bishop of Treguier. In this capacity, he carried out his duties with equity, incorruptibility, and concern for the poor and lowly. St. Yve’s fame quickly spread and he became known as “the poor man’s advocate.” He pleaded for the poor in other courts, going so far as pay their expenses and even visiting them in prison while they awaited trials; his constant concern was to obtain justice for all. Accordingly, he constantly tried to reconcile quarreling parties and have them arrive at an amicable agreement without incurring the cost of unnecessary lawsuits. St. Yves also practiced a life of asceticism; he wore a hairshirt under his clothing, fasted regularly, and became a Franciscan Tertiary. These spiritual disciplines aided him in his practice of virtue in the courtroom: he fought the State in court on behalf of the rights of the Church, and became a diocesan judge who was unable to be tempted by bribes. St. Ivo eventually resigned from practicing law and joined the priesthood.

In 1284, St. Yves became a priest and having been ordained he was appointed to the parish of Tredrez in 1285 and eight years later to Louannee, where he died. From 1287 onward  he devoted himself to parish work. But he made his legal knowledge ever available to any of his parishioners who needed it. He lived frugally and unassumingly, instructed the people in both spiritual and temporal matters, and preached the Word of God with power. He is noted as being a great preacher and arbitor. He built a hospital with his own money, providing for the sick poor. He is known as a miracle worker, with an instance of feeding hundreds from a single loaf of bread. Saint Yves of Brittany’s labors and his strict life sapped all his energy. He was hardly fifty years old when he felt his end nearing. Fortified with the last sacraments, he commended his soul to the hands of his Creator and died with a smile on May 19, 1303, this “attorney who was a holy man” appeared before the Ultimate Judge to receive his reward. St. Yves died at Louannee, May 19, 1303 and was buried in Tréguier. He was canonized in 1347 by Pope Clement VI. He’s the Patron Saint of abandoned people; advocates; attorneys; bailiffs; barristers; Brittany; canon lawyers; canonists; judges; jurists; lawyers; notaries; orphans.

PRAYER: God, You taught Your Church to observe all the heavenly commandments in the love of God. Help us to practice works of charity in imitation of Your Priest, St. Yves, and merit to be numbered among the blessed in Your Kingdom. Amen🙏