St. Pio of Pietrelcina (May 25, 1887 to Sept. 23, 1968)

“After my death I will do more. My real mission will begin after my death.”
                                                                (St. Pio of Pietrelcina)

  Every morning, I say I want to emulate the life of a Franciscan or follow the Rule of St. Francis. And, yet, yesterday, when I got home from a long day at work, my reaction to a series of events that happened this week, culminated in behavior more in tune with the devil.
  I thought I would sit down and relax at my picnic table with an afternoon snack of frittata before attending a music event, but when I looked in the refrigerator, there was none to be found (although I did make two huge frittatas the night before).
  Just as this happened, a friend and his 18-year-old son walked into my house without knocking. On top of that, I have house guests for two weeks who were enjoying a day in Newport and I just needed a little downtime.
  So nothing happened as planned. I was upset and exhausted. All I want is eight hours of uninterrupted sleep each night and I’ll be fine.
  St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) once said that the love of God was inseparable from suffering and that suffering all things for the sake of God was a way for the soul to reach God. Maybe I need to incorporate the Roman Catholic Church a little more into my life.
  A family friend, Francesca, was from the same small town in Italy as St. Pio. Somewhere in my late mother’s house is a rosary that Francesca gave her that was blessed by him. Before St. Pio was canonized in 2002, she would tell my mother that he was going to be a saint one day. My mother never lived to see it since she died in 1999.
  St. Pio was born Francesco Forgione on May 25, 1887. At age five, he knew he wanted to live a life devoted to God. He attended daily Mass and prayed the rosary at night. His family abstained from meat three days a week in honor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
  As a young boy, St. Pio told his parents that he communicated with Jesus, Mary,and his guardian angel regularly as though it were something everyone did. When he desperately wanted to become a Capuchin friar, his father found him a tutor from the United States who educated St. Pio in the Capuchin ways.
  St. Pio entered the order on Jan. 6, 1903 and was ordained a priest in 1910. He is said to have had apparitions of the devil who attacked his body and mind. At times, St. Pio received the stigmata and was also able to bilocate.
  He founded a hospital and medical research center called Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza (Home of the Relief of Suffering) in San Giovanni Rotondo. It is near the Sanctuary of Monte Sant’ Angelo sul Gargano, the oldest shrine in Western Europe dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel.
  St. Pio died on Sept. 23, 1968 and his feast day is Sept. 23.

St. Aubert (? to 720)

"The man who has seen the rising moon break out of the clouds at midnight has been present like an archangel at the creation of light and the world."      (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

  Today is the feast of the Archangels: St. Michael, St. Gabriel, and St. Raphael. It's the one day in particular that I believe you can invoke the heavenly spirits of all three simultaneously and receive immediate positive action.
  Think of wishes, hopes, love, romance, work, and peace. Whatever you decide you need answers to or help with, they will intercede. You will feel them nearby and be able to make wise decisions or perhaps witness a miracle.
  They are archangels in Christian, Jewish, and Islamic faiths. To Roman Catholics, they are saints.
  St. Aubert, who lived in the 8th century France, had an amazing encounter with St. Michael. In 708, the archangel appeared in vision and told him to build an oratory on a rock at the mouth of the Couesnon River. This happened three times and St. Aubert took no action.
   Finally, St. Michael is said to have pierced his finger through St. Aubert's skull. The oratory, Mount Saint Michel, was dedicated the following year on Oct. 16.
  St. Aubert became the bishop of Avranches. He died in 720 and his feast day is Sept. 10.
  If you visit Saint-Gervais Basilica in Avranches, you can see the relic of St. Aubert's skull complete with the hole where St. Michael the Archangel pierced his finger through it.

St. Lorenzo Ruiz ( c.1600 to Sept. 29, 1637)

  Everywhere I go, I hear the same thing, one half of a relationship says "I love you," and the other half doesn't.  When I was a naive 24-year-old, I believed that if someone didn't say it, they were just shy. Now, years later, I'm convinced that if a person doesn't say "I love you," it's that simple: they don't.
  This is not an advice column. It's my way of helping people that I encounter along life's way. And since I began this blog, it's been very anonymous. Only a handful of people I've told know that it's me.
  If you are upset about a relationship you are in or want to be in a relationship, just follow your heart and believe. There is someone out there that will give you the love and appreciation you deserve.
  Today's saint is St. Lorenzo Ruiz. He was born in Binondo, Manila, the Philippines c.1600 to a Chinese father and Filipino mother. He was educated by Dominicans.
  St. Lorenzo Ruiz was an altar boy and he later worked as a calligrapher.  Accused of murder, he sought asylum on a ship with three Dominicans. They went to Japan during the Christian persecution and St. Lorenzo Ruiz stayed with missionaries. In Okinawa, it was discovered that he was a Christian and so he was arrested and taken to Nagasaki.
  St. Lorenzo Ruiz was tortured by being hung from the gallows by his feet and dropped into a pit. He died from suffocation on Sept. 29, 1637.
  He was canonized the first Filipino saint in 1987 and his feast day is Sept. 28.

Blessed Jane of Aza (1135 to Aug. 2, 1205)

   It was my plan to write about a Franciscan saint today because that is the order that I would join if I chose to become a nun and not live in sin.  Then, I discovered I have something in common with St. Dominic, founder of the Dominican order. We both lost our mothers on Aug. 2, a day of extreme pain that I wish the calendar would skip over each year.
  Blessed Jane of Aza (also known of Juana de Aza) was born in Castilla la Vieja, Spain in 1135.  It is said that when she was pregnant with St. Dominic she had a dream of giving birth to a black and white dog. The animal carried a flaming torch and barked so loudly that it could be heard around the world.
  Dream interpreters are convinced that it foretold that her child would be a preacher and a great man that would influence the faith of millions of people. The black and white colors she saw are those of the Dominican order.
  All that is known of Blessed Jane of Aza are stories that historians have woven to form a real person, not just a legend.  She was from a noble family and died on Aug. 2, 1205. She was beatified in 1828.
  The painting pictured above is one of the Madonna and Child that I saw at the Basilicia of St. Dominic in Bologna, Italy, his final resting place.
  Blessed Jane of Aza's feast day is Aug. 2.

St. Theresa Couderc (Feb. 1, 1805 to Sept. 26, 1885)

 "Let me live by love,
  Let me die of love,
  And let my last heartbeat be an act of perfect love."
                                      (St. Theresa Couderc)

  I couldn't help but notice this weekend that hotels seem to put people in romantic moods. At a party in a hotel conference room, I watched as a matronly middled-aged woman canvassed each table looking for an available guy. Just so happens that a 63-year-old poet friend welcomed her advances. I guess anything goes these days, since he's in the middle of a divorce and has a steady girlfriend on the west coast who was supposed to join him, but couldn't get the time out of work.
  "I want to be famous, like a rock star," he told me when I picked him up from the airport last year for the same music and poetry festival.
   His wish is coming true. And, as I've mentioned before, hand a guy a guitar or have him read poetry (I find it boring) and no matter how rude or ugly he is, it drives some women wild.
  Of course, love can be more than romantic. I'm certain that St. Theresa Couderc wasn't referring to a guy in the quote above. Her love for God was so strong that she devoted her life to him.
  St. Theresa Couderc was born in Le Mas, France on Feb. 1, 1805. She founded the Congregation of Our Lady of the Retreat in the Cenacle (better known as the Sisters of Cenacle) in 1826. It began as a mountain hostel for women pilgrims in search of a spiritual retreat.
  St. Theresa Couderc resigned as Mother Superior in 1878. She died on Sept. 26, 1885 in Lyon. Canonized: 1970. Her feast day is today.

Venerable Matt Talbot (May 2, 1856 to June 7, 1925)

  I ran into my friend, Stephanie, today and before I could even ask how she was doing, she handed me a gift. Inside the small box was a necklace with a Stella Maris medal, black beads, and a toggle closure in the form of a rosary.
  "It reminded me so much of you," Stephanie said.
  Then, she asked me if I would write about Venerable Matt Talbot.
  Since he is not yet a blessed or a saint, he's considered somewhat obscure.
  Venerable Matt Talbot was born on May 2, 1856 in Dublin, Ireland and had 11 siblings. At age 12, he got a job at a wine bottling store and, as a result, developed an alcohol addiction. This went on until he was 28-years-old. Then, Venerable Matt Talbot went to confession and promised to stop drinking for three months.
  After the time was up, he took a lifelong pledge to give up alcohol and he kept that promise.  He went to Mass daily, worked hard as a laborer, and constantly prayed. Venerable Matt Talbot joined the Franciscan Third Order in 1890.
  His bed was a plank and he used a piece of timber for a pillow. He was known for his piety and charity.  Still, it wasn't until his death on June 7, 1925 from a fatal heart attack that people took notice. Perhaps because penitential chains were found on his body.
  Venerable Matt Talbot is buried in Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Dublin.  He was venerated on Oct. 3, 1975.

St. Mungo (c.518 to Jan. 13, 614)

I won't eat salmon, but I will write about its patron, St. Mungo (also known as St. Kentigern).

He was born c.518 in Culross in Fife, Scotland. His mother was a princess and he was raised by St. Serf in a monastery.
At age 25, St. Mungo started work as a missionary at Cathures (modern day Glasgow). Around 540, he became a bishop. St. Mungo moved to Wales and founded a monastery in Llaneluy. He was friends with St. Columba.
Evenutally, St. Mungo returned to Scotland. He is considered the founder of Glasgow. He died there on Jan. 13, 614. St. Mungo is also the patron saint of Glasgow and his feast day is Jan. 13.

St. Erhard of Regensburg (7th century)

"A pair of shoes can change your life. Just ask Cinderella."
(Anonymous)

   One day while we were at my mother's friend Paula's beach house in Snug Harbor, I met an old woman, who used a walker and could barely speak. When we got home that night, my mother told me that the woman was Paula's mother, Mrs. B. and she had gone to elementary school with my grandfather around 1915.
  Mrs. B. came from a wealthy Protestant family and she rode a horse and buggy to school. She used to make fun of my grandfather because he was an Italian immigrant who didn't have much money. Mrs. B. particularly made fun of his worn shoes.
  My grandfather became a United States citizen in the 1920s and graduated with a degree in architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design. He became a registered architect and a contractor.
  My grandfather was always polite to Mrs. B. even after she became senile and didn't know her own name.  And he never mentioned anything to me about her insulting his worn shoes. But, it always stuck in my mind because even today, people are judged by their appearance. Shoes are something that people tend to notice first. However, when my grandfather was a kid, it was a pretty serious thing.
  Today, at work, a leather strap snapped off a pair of my high heel shoes. Since, I love them, I thought I'd take the to a cobbler. Then, I decided I'd buy a new pair at lunch.
   One might say, I was multi-tasking in the car because I also called my optometrist to make an appointment for later in the afternoon. For the past couple of days, my eyes have been burning.
  Not that my day was so exciting, because I just doing mundane things. Yet, I did discover something pretty cool that makes it easy for me to tie in my days activities. There is a patron saint of cobblers and shoemakers who is also a patron saint against eye problems and eye disease.
   His name is St. Erhard of Regensburg. It is thought that he was born in Ireland in the 7th century, then moved to Germany. He was a missionary bishop. St. Erhard of Regensburg died c.686 and his feast day is January .

St. Germaine Cousin (1579 to 1601)

A newborn baby boy was found naked and shivering in an East Boston trashed-filled alleyway two days ago. Abandoned by his 18-year-old mother, neighbors heard his cries late at night.
Since then, the mother was found and she and baby are recovering in Massachusetts General Hospital.
Police are asking that people not point fingers at the teenager because the case is still under investigation. But, how can one not? What she did was deplorable. And even if she does get psychiatric help and is able to keep the baby, she'd probably abuse him in other ways.
St. Germaine Cousin is the patron saint of abandoned children and abuse victims. She was born in Pibrac, France in 1579. Her mother died when she was a baby and her father remarried.
St. Germaine Cousin was openly abused, beaten, and starved by her step family. She slept on a bed a hay in a stable because she was not allowed in the house.
Like the baby in East Boston, she was treated worse than an animal. In time, St. Germaine Cousin found God. He was her only friend and she asked him to keep her safe and to help her not feel hungry.
As I write this, it makes me feel like a pig to think about the abundance of delicious food that I ate today.
St. Germaine Cousin went to daily Mass and the scraps of food she was given, she shared with beggars. She also tended sheep.
By the time her family realized what a wonderful, loving, and faithful person she was, her father found her dead body in the bed of hay. She was 22-years-old.
Forty years later, in 1641, St. Germaine Cousin's body was exhumed. It was incorrupt. She was canonized in 1867 and her feast day is June 15.

St. Medard (c.456 to June 8, 545)

"There is a harmony in autumn."
(Percy Bysshe Shelley)

It's the autumnal equinox. I especially like this time of year since the days are warm and the nights are cool. It's a feeling that reminds me of picking Macoun apples and finding the biggest pumpkin that I'll save for the next five weeks and carve on Halloween night.
The closest saint to the autumnal equinox that I could think of is St. Medard, the patron saint of harvests. He was born in Salency, Picardy, France c.456. He worked as a preacher and missionary.
St. Medard was named the bishop of Vermandois in 530. The reason he is associated with harvests is that as a young boy while he was out a walk there was a huge rainstorm. Just when he thought there was no place to take shelter, an eagle flew above and covered him like an umbrella.
St. Medard died on June 8, 545 and his feast day is June 8.