MEMORIAL OF SAINT MARTIN DE PORRES, RELIGIOUS; SAINT SYLVIA OF ROME; SAINT HUBERT, BISHOP AND SAINT MALACHY D’ARMAGH, BISHOP – FEAST DAY ~ NOVEMBER 3RD: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Martin de Porres, Religious; Saint Sylvia of Rome, Mother of St. Gregory the Great; Saint Hubert, Bishop and Saint Malachy d’Armagh, Bishop, Primate of Ireland.
SAINT MARTIN DE PORRES, RELIGIOUS: St. Martin de Porres Velázquez, O.P. (1579 – 1639), was a Peruvian friar noted for his kindness, his nursing of the sick, his obedience, and his charity. He was born Juan Martín de Porres Velázquez at Lima, Peru, on December 9, 1579, the son of a Spanish noble knight, Don Juan de Porres and a black woman, Ana Velázquez, a freed-slave from Panama, of either African or Native American descent. His parents never married, he was an illegitimate son. St. Martin inherited the features and dark complexion of his mother, and for that reason his noble father eventually turned the boy out of his house. For the first eight years of his life his father did not acknowledge him, and abandoned the family after Martin’s sister was born. Since his mother could not support him, he grew up in poverty with the societal stigma of being mix-raced. As a young man he served as an assistant to a barber-surgeon where he learned medicine and the care of the sick. When he was 15 he joined the Dominican friars at Lima as a helper, eventually becoming a Lay Brother which at the time was forbidden for the children of slaves by Peruvian law. At the Dominican Friary at Lima, he spent his whole life there – as a barber, farm-laborer, almoner, and infirmarian, among other things. He took on the work of nursing the sick in the Dominican infirmary as well as the sick among the townspeople, even giving a sick man his own bed. As an almoner, he distributor of alms and begged money to assist his work with the poor and sick. He founded an orphanage, tended to slaves brought from Africa, and dispensed alms to the needy.
St. Martin de Porres lived a life of fasting, prayer and penance as a Dominican Lay Brother. His prayers and penances were so great that he soon demonstrated miraculous powers. He had a great desire to go off to some foreign mission and thus earn the palm of martyrdom. However, since this was not possible, he made a martyr out of his body, devoting himself to ceaseless and severe penances. In turn, God endowed him with many graces and wondrous gifts, such as aerial flights and bilocation, levitation, hidden knowledge, and the ability to communicate with animals, in addition to healing the sick. St. Martin’s love was all-embracing, shown equally to humans and animals, including vermin, and he maintained a cats’ and dogs’ hospital at his sister’s house. St. Martin had the gift of miracles; and although he had no formal training, he also possessed spiritual wisdom, demonstrated in his solving his sister’s marriage problems, raising a dowry for his niece inside of three days’ time. Word of his sanctity spread and people from all walks of life came to him for spiritual direction. He was often consulted on theological questions by great churchmen of his day, resolving theological problems for the learned of his Order and for Bishops. St. Rose of Lima and Bl. John Massias were among his close friends. This saintly man, St. Martin de Porres, died on November 3, 1639. He was beatified in 1837 by Pope Gregory XVI and canonized on May 6,1962 by Pope John XXIII. St. Martin de Porres is the Patron Saint of African-Americans; bi-racial people and all those seeking racial harmony; against rats; barbers; hair stylists; hairdressers; hotel-keepers; innkeepers; social and inter-racial justice; mixed-race people; African-Americans, mulattoes; paupers; Peru; poor people; public education; public health; public schools; race relations; racial harmony; social justice; state schools; televisions. His feast day is November 3rd.
QUOTES OF SAINT MARTIN DE PORRES:
☆“Compassion, my dear Brother, is preferable to cleanliness. Reflect that with a little soap, I can easily clean my bed covers but even with a torrent of tears, I would never wash from my soul, the stain, that my harshness toward the unfortunate would create.”
☆”Everything, even sweeping, scraping vegetables, weeding a garden and waiting on the sick could be a prayer, if it were offered to God.”
PRAYER: God, You led St. Martin by the way of humility to heavenly glory. Help us to follow the example of his holiness and so become worthy to be exalted with him in heaven. Amen 🙏
SAINT SYLVIA OF ROME: Saint Sylvia (Silvia) (c. 515 – c. 592) was the mother of Saint Gregory the Great. She is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church, which names her a patroness of pregnant women. Apparently she was of a distinguished family as her husband, the Roman regionarius, Gordianus. The Church venerates the sanctity of St. Sylvia and Gordianus (Gordian), the parents of St. Gregory the Great, as well as his two aunts, Tarsilla and Emiliana. St. Sylvia was a native of Sicily while St. Gordian, her husband, came from the vicinity of Rome. They had two sons: Gregory and another whose name did not survive through the ages. St. Sylvia was noted for her great piety, and she gave her sons an excellent education. After the death of her husband around 573, her son Gregory converted their home into a monastery. St. Sylvia was then able to retire to a life of solitude and quasi-monastic life in a small home in close proximity to the Church of Saint Sava (St. Saba) on the Aventine. She devoted herself entirely to religion in the “new cell by the gate of blessed Paul” (cella nova juxta portam beati Pauli). It became St. Sylvia’s custom frequently to send fresh vegetables to her son on a silver platter. One day, when Gregory found himself with no food to give a humble beggar, he gave him the silver platter instead. St. Sylvia is believed to have died in 592. After her passing, St. Gregory, the holy Pontiff had a picture of both his parents depicted in the Church of Saint Andrew.
The veneration of Saint Sylvia is of early date. She was honored by the Romans as a type of a Christian widow. St. Syilvia had built a chapel in her house. In 645, the monks from the monastery of Mar Saba (Palestine) settled in this house, and devoted it to the celebration of Saint Sabas. In the 9th century an oratory was erected over her former dwelling, near the Basilica of San Saba. Pope Clement VIII (1592–1605) inserted her name under November 3, in the Roman Martyrology in the 16th century. Two of her relatives, sisters-in-law Trasilla and Emiliana, are also venerated as saints, as well as her other sister-in-law Gordiana, and her husband Gordianus. She’s the Patron Saint of Pregant Women – she is invoked by pregnant women for a safe delivery.
PRAYER: God, You gladden us each year by the feast of St. Sylvia. Grant that as we honor her in such festivities we may also imitate her example in our conduct. Amen 🙏
SAINT HUBERT, BISHOP: St. Hubert is also known as St. Hubertus (c. 656 – 30 May 727 A.D.) was a Christian saint who became the first bishop of Liège in 708 A.D. He was a married courtier with a passion for hunting. St. Hubert was not initially passionate about his faith. On the death of his wife he left the royal court and immersed himself in hunting. As legend holds, an encounter with a stag with a crucifix between its antlers turned Hubert’s life toward God. Recognized as the 1st bishop of Liege, he was a evangelistic bishop reaching out to the pagans along the Ardennes Forest earning him the title the “Apostle of the Ardennes” Until the cure for rabies was introduced in the early 20th century, people called upon the name of St. Hubert to rid loved ones of this heartless and deadly disease through the use of the traditional Saint Hubert’s Key. Christians often turned to his name in times of trouble during the middle ages. Among sport hunters he is credited as the source of ethical hunting behavior. He was known for his excellent preaching and his generosity to the poor. St. Hubert died in 727 AD in Belgium. He is the patron saint of hunters, dogs, archers, opticians mathematicians, and metalworkers.
Saint Hubert, Bishop ~ Pray for us 🙏
SAINT MALACHY D’ARMAGH, BISHOP: St. Malachy d’Armagh, Primate of Ireland (1094 – 2 November 1148) was an Irish saint and the Archbishop of Armagh of Ireland to whom were attributed several miracles. He was a good friend of St. Bernard of Clairvaux who wrote “he governed it as a living rule and a bright mirror, as a book laid open in which all might learn the true precepts of life.” St. Malachy went about eradicating vices, abolishing barbarous customs, and instill the use of the sacraments, especially confession and matrimony. His most famous possiessions were the “Book of Armagh” and a crozier called “Staff of Jesus” both supposed to have belonged to St. Patrick.
Early in 1139 he journeyed to Rome via Scotland, England, and France, visiting St. Bernard at Clairvaux. He petitioned Pope Innocent for palliums for the See of Armagh and Cashel, and was appointed legate for Ireland. On his return visit to Clairvaux he obtained five monks for a foundation in Ireland, under Christian, an Irishman, as superior: thus arose the great Abbey of Mellifont in 1142. St. Malachy set out on a second journey to Rome in 1148, but on arriving at Clairvaux he fell sick, and died in the arms of St. Bernard, on 2 November. Numerous miracles are recorded of him, and he was also endowed with the gift of prophecy. St. Malachy was canonized by Pope Clement (III), on 6 July, 1199, and his feast is celebrated on 3 November, in order not to clash with the Feast of All Souls. St. Malachy was the first native-born Irish saint to be canonized. His brother was Gilla Críst Ua Morgair, who later became Bishop Christian of Clogher from 1126 to 1138. An account of the relics of St. Malachy will be found in Migne, Patrologiae cursus completus, CLXXXV. The bones of St Malachy remained in France until in 1982 for the most recent renovation of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh, the return of a portion of his remains was negotiated and part of which was placed in the new altar during the ceremony of re-dedication.
Saint Malachy d’Armagh, Bishop ~ Pray for us 🙏