Padre Pio

 St Pio of Pietrelcina - 1887-1968

St. Pio of Pietrelcina, better known as "Padre Pio", is one of the most popular Saints of the 20th Century. I'm just going to do a quick overview today. There is just too much information available on Padre Pio's life to do it justice.

He was born in the town of Pietrelcina in Southern Italy and was baptized Francesco in honor of St. Francis of Assisi. By the time he was 5 years old, he had already made the decision to dedicate his life to Christ. When he was 10, his family was looking into how he could become a Capuchin Friar. His father traveled to the United States to find work so they could pay for a private tutor so that Francesco would meet the academic requirements to enter the order. 

He entered the Capuchins at the age of 15. As a Novice, he was given the name Pio (Pius) in honor of Pope Pius I. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1910. In 1916, he moved to the Capuchin Friary of Our Lady of Grace in San Giovanni Rotondo, where he spent the rest of his life - except for a period of military service. In 1913, at the age of 26, he was asked by his Spiritual Directors to take on spiritual direction of others. As a Spiritual Director, he developed his five rules for spiritual growth: weekly confession, daily communion, daily spiritual reading, meditation, and examination of one's own conscience. 

On September 20, 1918, while praying in a church, Padre Pio received the Stigmata (the wounds of Christ on his hands, feet and side). He described having a profound mystical vision of Christ before discovering the wounds on his body. He found the wounds to be a burden and a form of redemptive suffering. Although he tried to hide the wounds, this was impossible when he celebrated Mass and it soon became well known. Many treated the manifestation of the Stigmata with skepticism and his superiors and Vatican officials levied sanctions on him, including forbidding him from saying Mass or hearing confessions for a time. Through all of this he was humble and obedient. He was submitted to many medical examinations before the Church came to recognize his Stigmata as genuine. 

Padre Pio's stigmata is likely the most well documented case in history. It is recorded that he lost about a cup of blood every day through his wounds and that the blood smelled of roses (referred to as the "odor of sanctity"). The wounds remained for the rest of his life - 50 years - until disappearing, without any trace or scarring, upon his death on September 23, 1968.

Although Padre Pio may be best known for the Stigmata, he had other supernatural gifts as well including visions, the ability to read souls, the gift of healing, bilocation and prophecy. He was known to spend 12-15 hours a day in the confessional and was able to tell some penitents the sins they were neglecting to confess. One young Polish priest came to see Padre Pio in 1947. During this meeting, Padre Pio told the young priest that he would one day ascend to "the highest post in the church." This young man would later become Pope St. John Pau II.

There is so much more that could be said about this amazing Saint, but I don't have the time or space to relate it all here. If you question whether miracles still happen, I encourage you to do some more research on your own.

St. Pio of Pietrelcina's feast day is September 23. Padre Pio, pray for us.

Elizabeth of the Trinity

 St. Elizabeth of the Trinity - 1880-1906

Elizabeth was born in France in 1880. Her father was a captain in the French army and he died when she was 7. She had a younger sister, Guite, and the two girls and their mother were very close. As a child, Elizabeth was known to be very precocious with a quick temper. After receiving her First Communion, she was able to exhibit more self control and was noticeably calmer. She also gained a profound understanding of the Trinity and cultivated a life-long devotion. 

There was a Carmelite Monastery very near their home and Elizabeth became interested in joining that order. At the age of thirteen, she made a vow of virginity. Although her mother advised against her Vocation at first, on her 21st birthday, she gave Elizabeth permission to follow her call. 

Shortly after entering Carmel, Elizabeth fell ill. She suffered for five years from a stomach ailment, now though to have been Addison's disease. Her suffering was both physical and spiritual, but it drew her closer to Christ. She desired to offer these sufferings to him. Her spirituality is sometimes compared to that of her contemporary and fellow Carmelite, Therese of Lisieux; the two share a zeal for contemplation and the salvation of souls. 

Elizabeth shared her sister's joy when she married and rejoiced with her as she became a mother. Elizabeth wrote a retreat for her sister called, "Heaven in Faith." She did not see motherhood as an excuse to avoid the depths of prayer in the midst of everyday life. 

Elizabeth dies of her illness on November 9, 1906 at the age of 26. Her writings, including "Heaven in Faith" are still available. I also recommend a book about St. Elizabeth by Clair Dwyer called "This Present Paradise." Elizabeth's Feast Day is November 9.

St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, pray for us.

Lucien Botovasoa

Blessed Lucien Botovasoa - 1908-1947

Lucien Botovasoa was bornin 1908 in Madagascar, the first of 9 children of a non-Christian family. He was baptized as a young teen in 1922. He earned his teaching diploma in 1928 and married his wife, Suzanna, in 1930 and they began a family. Three of their eight children died young. 

Lucien worked as the village teacher and served in the local parish, becoming the director of the parish choir. He loved to read his students stories of the Saints. He was also a polyglot, knowing five languages in addition to his native Malagasy. A religious sister once commented that he would have made a fine priest. He responded by telling her that, as a lay person, he was able to reach people that she could not. 

Around 1940, Lucien discovered the Third Order Franciscans. He was happy to have a way to offer himself more fully to Christ while still living out his Vocation as husband, father and teacher. He began living a Franciscan spiritualty, which he expressed by giving up the traditional teacher's clothing and dressing all in khaki with a rope belt in an imitation of the Franciscan habit.

In 1947, there was a native uprising in Madagascar against the French Colonial rulers. Catholics were suspected of collaborating with the colonial powers and were subject to increasing levels of persecution. During Holy Week, priests and religious were rounded up and Churches were burned. Lucien remained steadfast in the face of the persecution and he led a prayer service in the forest on Easter Sunday. But he was also aware of the danger he faced. He prepared his wife and family for what he knew was coming.

On the evening of April 17, 1947, he was escorted to the king or leader of the rebel group. He was sentenced to death and beheaded while praying for his executors. His body was thrown in the river. 

Bl. Lucien Botovasoa's feast day is April 14. Blessed Lucien, pray for us. 

Sara Salkahazi

 Blessed Sara Salkahazi - 1899-1944

Sara Salkahazi was born in Hungary to an upper-class family. She trained as a teacher because, in that time and place, it was one of the few occupations open to intellectual women. Her classroom exposed her to the plight of the working class and she became their champion, writing newspaper articles about their struggles. She then decided to learn more through first hand experience. She became a book binder's assistant, where she was given the hardest and dirtiest work. After learning that trade, she went to work in a millinery shop, all the time continuing to write articles for the newspaper. Her fight for the poor led her to the Socialist Party and she enjoyed the freedom of a bohemian lifestyle as a Socialist Journalist - smoking cigarettes, using coarse language and hanging out in coffee shops with her Socialist friends. 

Joining a religious order was not on the radar for Sara until a friend invited her to attend a meeting led by the Sisters of Social Service. Hearing one of the sisters speak at the meeting awakened a sense of calling in the brash young woman. However, when she applied to join the order, the sisters were reluctant to accept her. This loud, coarse, chain-smoking woman just didn't seem to fit the mold of a vowed religious. Sara gave up smoking, with great difficulty (it took her a year to do so), and when she applied to the sisters again she was accepted. She took as her motto, "Here I am, send me!" (Is 6:8b)

Sara still didn't seem to fit and the sisters delayed allowing her to take vows and wear the habit, but she persevered. She worked with Catholic Charities, published a Catholic women's periodical, ran a bookstore, supervised a shelter for the poor and taught. The bishops entrusted her with the organization of the National Girls' Movement. She built the first Hungarian College for working girls, opened homes for working girls and organized training courses. 

Sara was eager to go to China or Brazil to work with the missions, but World War II intervened. As the Hungarian Nazi party gained strength and started persecuting the Jews, Sara opened the Working Girls' Homes to shelter the Jews. She personally is credited with saving 100 Jews from deportation to death camps and her community is credited with saving 1000 lives. 

On December 27, 1944, Sara gave a reflection to her fellow sisters on the topic of Martyrdom. She then went out to visit another Girls' Home. On the way back to the Home where she was living, she saw Nazi soldiers standing in front of the house. She had time to escape, but as the director she felt that her place was at the Home. Upon entering the house, she was taken tot he air raid shelter where the Nazis were checking the papers of the 150 residents - including many Jews with false papers. A few of the IDs were found to be suspicious. Sara and those with the suspicious paperwork were arrested on the spot. On the way out of the house, Sara stopped at the chapel and Genuflected before being dragged out with the other prisoners. They were taken to the river, stripped and shot and their bodies were thrown into the river. Sara's body was never found. 

Sara Salkahazi was posthumously declared Righteous Among the Nations by the Nation of Israel. Her feast day is December 27.

Blessed Sara Salkahazi, pray for us.

Leopold Mandic

 St. Leopold Bogdan Mandic (Mandich) - 1866-1942

Bogdan Mandic was of Croatian descent, born in the town of Herceg Novi in what was then the Austrian Empire. He was the twelfth child of devout Catholic parents. A community of Capuchin Friars had served in that town for two centuries and the young boy was drawn to that way of life. Despite his many health issues - he was malformed and delicate, only 4' 5" tall, suffered from stomach ailments and had a stutter - he was accepted into the novitiate at the age of 18, where he took the religious name of Leopold. 

(Side note: I think I may be too healthy to become a Saint. So many of the Saints I read about suffered from some ailment or other.)

Leopold was sent to study in Padua and Venice and was ordained to the priesthood on September 20, 1890. His dream for his Vocation was to work among the Orthodox to heal the Great Schism. To this end, he studied the Slavic languages so that he could serve in Eastern Europe. He made avow to serve the Eastern Christians and prayed consistently for unity. However, his superiors saw fit to keep him in Italy for most of his life. His voice was not strong enough to preach. He was given household duties and taught patristics to the clerics of his province, but was most known for his work in the confessional. 

Brother Leopold would often spend 13-15 hours a day hearing confessions. Penitents flocked to his confessional because he was a compassionate and merciful confessor. When he was accused of being to lenient, he said, " Am I too forgiving? Who was forgiving? It was the Lord who was the first to do so: it was not me who died for our sins, but the Lord." When he gave light penances to his people, it was not because he did not recognize the seriousness of sin, but because he was overwhelmed by the greatness of God's mercy. He did not want people to feel like they had to earn that mercy, so he took on extra penances himself. 

Leopold suffered from cancer of the esophagus which eventually led to his death at the age of 79. He collapsed while preparing for Mass and was taken to his cell, where he was given the last rites. His brother friars gathered at his bed and sang the Salve Regina. Leopold died as they sang, "O clement, o loving, o sweet virgin, Mary."

St. Leopold Mandic was never able to work for his dream of uniting the Catholic and Orthodox Churches in this life. Let us pray for his intercession for the blessing of Christian Unity.

His Feast Day is May 12. St. Leopold Mandic, pray for us.

Maria Bertilla Boscardin

 St. Maria Bertilla Boscardin 1888-1922

This humble Saint was born in Italy in 1888 and named Ann Francesca. She was from a peasant family where life was hard. Her father was jealous, violent and often drunk. She was often needed to work at home or in the fields, and so her attendance at school was infrequent. She was considered unintelligent and was often the target of jokes and insults from the other students. Her parish priest recognized her piousness and allowed her to receive her First Eucharist at the age of 8, but he, too, did not think much of her talents, calling her a goose.

When, at 16, she expressed the desire to become a religious sister, the priest did not encourage her. He did not think she had much of a chance of being accepted. When she was accepted by the Sisters Teachers of Saint Dorothy Daughters of the Sacred Heart, taking the name Maria Bertilla, even the young novice herself did not think much of herself. She told the Mother Superior, "I can't do anything. I'm a poor thing, a goose. Teach me. I want to be a saint."

Not knowing what to do with a poorly educated, awkward young sister, the Superior initially put her to work in the kitchen or the laundry. She was then sent to Treviso to learn nursing in the hospital there. When she completed her training, she was put to work in the children's ward. This is where her real gifts began to shine. She was a gifted nurse and her presence had a calming effect on the sick children, their parents and even the doctors. During World War I when an air raid threatened the hospital, she elected to stay with the patients who were too ill to be moved. Her devotion to her duty prompted praise from hospital authorities, but caused jealousy in some of her fellow sisters. 

Sister Maria Bertilla developed a painful tumor that eventually caused her to need an operation, which she did not survive. In spite of her pain, she continued to work up to five days before her death. She died on October 20, 1922 at the age of 34. Because of her difficult childhood and her care for the neglected, she is recognized as patroness of the rejected and abused.

St. Maria Bertilla's feast day is October 20. St. Maria Bertilla, pray for us.

Luigi Versiglia

 St. Luigi Versiglia - 1873-1930

Luigi was born in Pavia, Italy in 1873. His parents sent him to school at one of the oratories that the Salesians of Don Bosco managed. His childhood dream was to become a veterinarian. About 1887, St. Don Bosco saw something in the boy and told him that he would like to meet with him and tell him something important. Unfortunately, Don Bosco died before the meeting could take place. What was it that he wanted to tell the boy? Could it be that he foresaw the saint that Luigi would eventually become?

Luigi soon entered the Salesian Order himself and was ordained to the priesthood in 1895 (by special dispensation since he was under the canonical age for ordination). He served as Novice Master for the Salesians in Rome for about 10 years. In 1906, he led the first expedition for Salesian missionaries into China. He was to fulfill a dream that Don Bosco had had about the Church in China. Bosco had dreamt of a chalice filled with sweat and another filled with blood of Salesians. 

Luigi established the Motherhouse of the order in Macau, China. He and his fellow missionaries founded a school and an orphanage. They also established aged care homes and leper colonies. When he heard that the area in which he served was going to be made a vicariate, he wrote to his superiors asking that he not be made a bishop. But he was named the bishop anyway. He refused to let his new office keep him from serving his people and spent much of his time traveling to every corner of his diocese. 

On February 25, 1930, Luigi was traveling with another priest, St. Callisto Caravario, by boat to visit a mission along the river. Communist pirates boarded the boat. When they realized that the pirates planned on abducting an enslaving three young women who were also traveling on the boat, the priests shielded the women and tried to fight the pirates off physically. The pirates knocked them unconscious and bound them. The priests came to their senses and, while watching the pirates rummaging through their luggage, they heard each other's confession. They were dragged off the boat into the thicket, and both were shot. Their bodies were found two days later and the girls who had been captured were released within a week. They never forgot how their spiritual Fathers fought and laid down their lives for them.

His feast day, shared with his brother priest St. Callisto, is February 25. St. Luigi and St. Callisto, pray for us.