August
11Saints of the Day
August
11
Saints of the Day
In
1805
Canon
Francis de Lucia of Mugnano,
Italy
was in the Treasury of the Rare Collection of Christian Antiquity (Treasury
of Relics) in the Vatican. When he reached the relics of Saint Philomena he
was suddenly struck with a spiritual joy, and requested that he be allowed to
enshrine them in a
chapel
in Mugnano. After some disagreements, settled by the cure of
Canon
Francis following prayers to Philomena, he was allowed to translate the relics
to Mugnano.
Miracles began to be reported at the shrine including cures
of
cancer,
healing of
wounds,
and the Miracle of Mugnano in which Venerable
Pauline Jaricot was cured a severe
heart
ailment overnight. Philomena became the only person recognized as a Saint
solely on the basis of miraculous intercession as nothing historical was
known of her except her name and the evidence of her
martyrdom.
Pope
Leo XII granted permission for the erection of altars and churches in her
honor.
Pope
Gregory XVI authorized her public veneration, and named her patroness of
the
Living Rosary. The cure of
Pope
Pius IX, while
archbishop
of
Imola,
was attributed to Philomena; in
1849,
he named her patroness of the
Children of Mary.
Pope
Leo XIII approved the Confraternity of Saint Philomena, and raised it
to an Archconfraternity.
Pope
Pius X raised the Archconfraternity to a Universal Archconfraternity, and
named Saint
John Vianney its patron.
![[Saint Clare holy card]](stc03009.jpg "??kb jpg Saint Clare holy card, date unknown, artist unknown; if you have information about this image, please email me; please do not write to ask about the image")
Daughters of a
count
and countess. After hearing Saint
Francis of Assisi preach in the streets, she confided to him her desire
to live for God, the two became close friends.
On Palm Sunday
1212,
at 18, she escaped one night from her
mother's palace, was met on the road by
friars carrying torches, and in the poor little chapel called the Portiuncula
received a rough woolen habit, exchanged her jeweled belt for a common rope with
knots in it, and sacrificed the long tresses to Francis’ scissors. He placed her
in a Benedictine convent which her father and uncles immediately stormed in
rage. She clung to the altar of the church, threw aside her veil to show her
cropped hair and remained adamant.
Her cousin Pacifica also ran away with her during the
night.
Sixteen days later her sister Agnes joined her. Others
came.
She eventually took the veil of religious profession
from
Francis
at the Church of Our Lady of the Angels in Assisi.
They lived a simple life of
great poverty, austerity and complete seclusion from the world, according to a
Rule which Francis gave them as a Second Order (Poor Clares). Francis
obliged her under obedience at age 21 to accept the office of abbess, one
she exercised until her death.
Founded the
Order of Poor Ladies
(Poor Clares) at San Damiano, and led it for 40 years.
Everywhere the Franciscans established themselves throughout
Europe,
there also went the Poor Clares, depending solely on
alms,
forced to have complete faith on God to provide through people; a lack of
land-based revenues was a new idea at the time. Clare's
mother
and sisters later joined the order, and there are still thousands of members
living lives of prayer in silence.
Clare loved music and well-composed sermons. She was humble,
merciful, charming, optimistic, and chivalrous. She would get up late at night
to tuck in her sisters who'd kicked off their covers. She daily meditated on the
Passion. When she learned of the Franciscan
martyrs
in Morrocco in
1221,
she tried to go there to give her own life for God, but was restrained. Once
when her
convent
was about to be attacked, she displayed the Sacrament in a monstrance at the
convent
gates, and prayed before it; the attackers left.
Toward the end of her life, when the was too ill to attend
Mass, an image of the service would display on the wall of her
cell;
thus her patronage of
television.
Saints of August 11:
|
|
|
Art Galleries of Religions and Christianity
The Jerome Bible Commentary, book by
book
1,093 prophecies and types of the Old Testament
fulfilled in Jesus and His Church
Other Web Sites of Dr. Dominguez
(over 300 in English and Spanish)
Home-Index E- Mail to: J. Dominguez, M.D