Saint Michael Parish
Welcomes You
SAINT OF THE MONTH
From the Seminarian:
One of the projects that Father Lavelle has asked me to do is to share with our community about the life and charism of a saint for each month. I was happy to receive such a request of catechesis, but later on I found myself challenged by this project because there are MANY admirable saints that fill up our liturgical calendar. It was an important reminder for me that we are “surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses” (Heb 12:1) from whom we can learn how to live out our Christian faith.
Secondly, I pray that my sharing about the life of the saints may remind each of us that WE are called and empowered by God, to become saints, NO exceptions! No matter who we are, no matter what has occurred in our past, God actively assists and molds us (Jer 18:6), here and now, into the saints he predestined us to be. Therefore, let us be receptive to God’s grace and calling in our lives, following the example of Mother Mary (Lk 1:38) and all the saints, to live as devoted disciples of the Blessed and Most Holy Trinity.
Daniel LaPolla
For December, I have chosen to share about the life and charism of Saint Francis Xavier, Priest.
Francis Xavier, patron of missionaries, was born in Navarre Spain in 1506. He met Saint Ignatius of Loyola while studying at the College of Saint. Barbara, and was one of the first seven men who took vows and joined the nascent Society of Jesus (Jesuit Order). Three years later, he was asked by Ignatius to accompany another brother to East India as a missionary. While in India, Francis ministered to the material and spiritual needs of the crew members, teaching preaching, caring for the sick in his own room, correcting poor behavior and settling disputes.
Since the Portuguese had already settled in Goa, India when Francis arrived there, he found the Portuguese Christians acting scandalously and alienating the native Indians from accepting the Faith. Therefore, Francis first evangelized to the Portuguese and then to the native Indians. His work included visiting the sick and imprisoned and the catechesis of youth and slaves through singing the truths of the faith along popular song tunes.
His love grew for the native Indian people the more he served them. In a letter to an Indian lay catechist speaking about the mistreatment of the native people, Francis said that their mistreatment was “a permanent bruise on his soul” (Butler Lives of the Saints, 477).
After years of evangelical work in East India, Francis went to Japan. There he went through struggles, first in learning the local language and also from pushbacks from the local lords. Twelve months of work would produce only one hundred converts. Afterward, Francis set out for Nagasaki where he changed his approach to evangelization. Instead of humility, he sought to impress with dignity by dressing in better European clothes, carrying official royal documents and offering European gifts. This method worked and afforded Francis the allowance for peaceful evangelization. At the end of his life, Francis sought to evangelize the Chinese people but died from illness on an island outside mainland China.
Saint Francis Xavier teaches us that evangelization is a necessary gift for everyone, including the already baptized. Recognizing that Jesus Christ is the Father's greatest gift, Francis shared Him through charity, preaching, teaching, and the sacraments.
Today, our evangelization can begin with reintroducing the Gospel to those who are baptized but have drifted from Christ and the Church. In our globalized world, opportunities abound to meet those unfamiliar with Christ—they are our neighbors, coworkers, and friends. Although sharing the Faith can invite rejection, when done out of love, we are empowered to push forward. Let us testify through word and deed that Jesus Christ is our greatest treasure.
Saint Francis Xavier, Pray for us!
For the month of November, I have chosen to share about the life and charism of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Widow.
Saint Elizabeth of Hungary was born in 1207 in Sárospatak, the daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary. At her birth she was promised in marriage to Ludwig, the eldest son of Count Herman of Thuringia. At the age of four she was sent to Herman’s court to be raised until the marriage could take place. Despite pressure from courtiers to find another bride, Ludwig refused and solemnly married Elizabeth in 1221.
Saint Elizabeth was known for her beauty, modesty, fervent prayer, and constant kindness. Though her marriage lasted only six years, it was marked by profound affection and holiness. Her husband supported her life of piety and charity.
Some major examples of her charity include ordering her household’s store of grain be given to the hungry affected by a famine in parts of Germany and laying a leper in her bed and caring for him. Lastly, Saint Elizabeth was known for building hospitals and even built a hospital at the base of the steep hill below her own castle.
Her life changed drastically when Ludwig died from the plague while on the Crusade. Elizabeth, widowed at only twenty, remained faithful to a promise she and Ludwig had made to one another: that neither would remarry if the other died. After Ludwig’s burial she formally renounced the splendor of court life and adopted the simple habit and cord of the Franciscan order.
Once her children were old enough, she left court permanently. In another town she built a small house with an attached hospice. There she embraced a new life of austerity serving the sick and dying. She continued her new life for two more years, laboring tirelessly, even while sick, spinning and fishing to earn money for the needy.
Saint Elizabeth of Hungary died on November 17, 1231, at only twenty-four years of age, having poured out her life in love for Christ and the poor.
The charism Saint Elizabeth teaches us today is the humility to encounter the poor and suffering from our place of privilege. From her comfort and privilege, she descended to personally serve the suffering in the hospitals and hospices she supported. The motivation which led her to humbly serve the neglected of society was from time of prayer with our God who humbled himself to take up our humanity. Brothers and sisters, let us pray for the eyes of faith to see Christ in the poor around us and for the courage to serve them with our resources and our very selves.
Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, Pray for us!
For the month of October, I have chosen to share about the life and charism of Saint Teresa of Avila, Foundress of the Discalced Carmelites.
Saint Teresa was born on March 28, 1515, in Castile, Spain. She was raised in a devout home with holy parents and siblings. Her brother Rodrigo was her early companion in seeking holiness.
At fifteen, Teresa became caught up in worldly desires, influenced by reading romance stories. Her priorities shifted toward outward appearance. Noticing the change, her father placed her in a convent. After leaving due to illness, she resolved to become a nun while recovering, inspired by The Letters of Saint Jerome. At twenty, she secretly entered the Carmelite convent of the Incarnation, as her father opposed her vocation until his death.
As a young nun, Teresa neglected personal prayer. Later, through spiritual direction and reading Saint Augustine’s Confessions, she recommitted to prayer and Christian perfection, withdrawing from worldly distractions. She was blessed with spiritual insights and mystical experiences, including a vision of an angel piercing her heart with a fiery spear, leaving her inflamed with divine love.
Under the guidance of her confessor, she wrote about her experiences and teachings on prayer. Her most famous work is The Interior Castle.
After 25 years in religious life, Teresa saw growing laxity in her convent. She responded by founding a smaller, stricter community, facing and overcoming opposition to gain Church support.
During the papacy of Saint Pius V, apostolic visitors were sent to reform religious orders. Teresa was asked to oversee reform in Avila. When faced with resistance, she humbly told the sisters she only wished to serve them—her humility won their cooperation.
At the end of her life, Teresa fell gravely ill. When the priest arrived with the Blessed Sacrament, she sat up and said, “O my Lord, now is the time that we may see each other!” She died the next day.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, Saint Teresa teaches us that holiness requires sacrifice and humility. Though a nun, she still struggled with distractions and spiritual dryness. It was humility that led her to renewal, and with God’s help, she made the sacrifices needed to stay close to Him.
What in our lives slows our spiritual growth and needs to be offered to God? Perhaps it’s limiting social media, setting aside unnecessary work on Sundays, or taking a few quiet minutes in the morning to pray. The more we give to God, the more He reveals Himself and blesses us (Matt 25:29). May Saint Teresa intercede for us in making God our first priority.
For the month of September, I have chosen to share about the life and charism of Saint Vincent de Paul, Founder of the Congregation of the Mission, the Ladies of Charity and the Sisters of Charity.
Saint Vincent de Paul was born in the humble village of Pouy France in 1581. Vincent and his five other siblings were raised on their small family farm. Saint Vincent was sent to study under a group of Franciscan friars and would complete his studies at the University of Toulouse. Afterwards, he was ordained to the priesthood. While living in Paris, Saint Vincent met a priest who connected him to the Philip de Gondi, Count of Joigny, to tutor his children.
His time assisting the Gondi family would be the providential spark for his future ministry of serving the poor. One day Madam Gondi told Vincent about a fatally ill beggar who was in desperate need of confession because he had committed many mortal sins. After this encounter, both Saint Vincent and Madam Gondi would work hard to alleviate the material and spiritual needs of all around them.
After 1617, Saint Vincent would go back to Paris and assist the spiritual needs of the galley-slaves, men who was forced to row large ships used for trade and war. Later, he would be the chaplain to the galleys and gave a mission for the needs of the galley slaves in Bordeaux in 1622 (142).
In 1633, Saint Vincent established the Congregation of the Mission. This group was made up of secular priests, who made four vows: chastity, poverty, obedience and stability (the vow to stay and live with one specific community for the rest of their life). Their mission would be to serve the poor in towns and villages and help direct seminary formation.
This new congregation of priests were accomplishing much, but Saint Vincent still saw more work to be done. Therefore, he established other confraternities of charity to serve the sick in parishes. It was out of these confraternities that Saint Vincent, assisted by Saint Louise de Marillac, established the institute of the Sisters of Charity, whose “convent is the sickroom, their chapel the parish church, their cloister the streets of the city” (143). Saint Vincent would also form a group of wealthy and kind lay women, knowns as the Ladies of Charity, to help financially assist Saint Vincent’s work.
In the autumn of 1660 he died calmly in his chair. He was canonized by Pope Clement XII in 1737, and by Pope Leo XIII he was proclaimed patron of all charitable societies” (144).*** All information is taken from the “Butler’s Lives of the Saints- Second Edition***
My brothers and sisters in Christ, Saint Vincent de Paul reminds us that ALL Christians are called to make a continued and diligent effort at alleviating the material and spiritual needs of the poor. After his providential encounter of ministering to the dying beggared, Saint Vincent was moved by the Holy Spirit to continue the work of charity for the poor in his town, the neighboring cities and beyond France. Saint Vincent inspired both lay persons and religious, men and women, to see that each of them has a part to play in the work of charity. IF then everyone has a part, we each daily need to prayerfully ask ourselves, what is my part in helping to alleviate the burdens of the poor? Am I the one serving food in the soup kitchen? Am I the one praying with and encouraging the spiritually wounded? Am I the one offering financial help to any Catholic charitable groups? May the Holy Spirit, through Saint Vincent’s intercession, awaken in us the same conviction that the poor are our responsibility and deserve our love!
St. Vincent de Paul, Pray for us!
For the month of August, I have chosen to share about the life and charism of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot and Doctor of the Church. Saint Bernard was born in 1090 AD in the French city of Fontaine. He had six other siblings, four of whom are Blessed’s of the Church. Bernard and his siblings were well taught in their youth. However, Bernard would be the only sibling to carry on in his formal education. While he grew in learning and understanding, Bernard grew more attentive to the inspirations God spoke to his heart. For example, on Christmas Eve, while waiting for his mother to go to church, Bernard fell asleep and saw the Christ-child in the manger. After this moment, Bernard would piously meditate on the love and mercy of God, shown through the humanity of the Son (Butler’s Lives of the Saints, 360).
“Bernard made his appearance in the world with all the advantages and talents which can make it attractive to a young man, or which could make him loved by it. His personal attractiveness and wit, his affability and sweetness of temper, endeared him to everybody; in these very advantages lay his chief danger, and for a time there was serious risk of his becoming lukewarm and indifferent”. (360). He was attracted to religious life, especially, the Cistercian Order, where religious men were called to live a severe and strict life following the Rule of St. Benedict. After a moment of great anxiety, he went into a church and prayed and left the church and determined, with a resolute will, to enter the Cistercian order. His friends tried to persuade him from becoming a monk, but Bernard remained firm; he even convinced his four brothers and his uncle’s (and 31 other men) to join the Cistercian order with him. His ability to eloquently speak was so irresistible that “mothers feared for their sons, wives for their husbands, lest they came under the sway of that compelling voice” (361).
Though Saint Bernard desired to live a holy life, cloistered within the monastery walls, many came to him seeking his wisdom and spiritual guidance. So great were his words that he was nicknamed “the oracle of Christendom” (362). Around 1145 AD, Saint Bernard would travel to a town in Southern France, preaching against the Albigensian heresy. He convinced and persuaded many to return to the Catholic Faith. Later, on Palm Sunday of 1146 AD, Saint Bernard was commissioned by Pope Eugenius to preach a crusade. His preaching left those who heard him with hearts burning with the desire to serve and join the Crusade. So many people had wanted to join, that the supply of badges were running out, so Saint Bernard tore pieces off his habit and gave them to the Crusaders as badges (362). Toward the end of his life, Saint Bernard had fallen ill and on August 20th, 1153, Saint Bernard entered his heavenly home.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, Saint Bernard teaches us that our own privileges and gifts can be transformed and used to glorify God and better His Holy Church. God privileges each of us with many gifts, such as intelligence, education, natural talents, etc. Yet, we tend to forget these are God’s gifts to us. If we desire to grow into the saints God wants us to become, we must look to God for His inspiration and guidance on how the gifts we receive can be materially or spiritually beneficial to our neighbor. Saint Bernard had many advantages and privileges at his disposal. He was on a good track to live a very good life with status and comfort, yet the Lord was moving his heart and mind to a singular devotion and service to His Church. His gifts and privileges didn’t determine the path for him to follow, but elevated and enriched his vocation! By his physical appearance and good nature, he drew people into an encounter. Through his education and intelligence, he then conversated and moved hearts and mind to love God and the neighbor, whether as a monk or as a Crusader. Though many of us may not be called to priesthood or religious life, we are called by God here and now to use the gifts, talents and privileges we possess to better love God and neighbor. For example: the high school athlete can speak to his/her teammates about the life of Faith and its relation to the conditioning and training for their sport. The lawyer, who is well trained in argumentation and logic, could learn more of the Faith and speak to others about the Truth of the Catholic Faith. All our gifts, talents and privileges can be used for the glory of God! May we allow God to use every part of our lives for His Will to be done.