Monthly Archives: October 2020

St. Callistus, a Roman by birth, was a slave of a Christian master early in life.  He panicked and fled after inadvertently losing some of his master’s money.  He was captured and cast into a dungeon.  His master freed him and hoped that his honest and intelligent slave would be able to make some money and give back what he had lost.  While trying to do just this, he was accused as a Christian and condemned to the Sardinian mines.  His release was obtained and he was taken into the service of Pope Victor.  The Pope was impressed with him especially by his devotion to the Sardinian martyrs.  He became a deacon and later secretary to Pope Zephyrinus.  He was put in charge of the Christian cemetery on the Appian Way.  After Zephyrinus’ death, Callistus was chosen to be Pope and governed the Church for five years and two months.    During the reign of Emperor Alexander Severus, Christians were able to build churches for the public exercise of their religion.  Callistus was a wise and firm shepherd.  He instituted the fast on Ember Days, decreed that ordinations     take place during Ember Weeks, established the practice of absolution of all sins, including those which rigorists considered irremissibly.  He founded the Church of St. Mary Beyond the Tiber and provided for the burial of martyrs.  He was martyred, probably at the hands of a mob, in 222.

FEAST DAY:  October 14

HOLY WATER FONTS

Responsorial Psalm

Let your mercy come to me, O Lord.

QUIZ

Yesterday’s Answer-

False

Today’s Question-

Sin hurts human nature and human community

True or false

St. Gerald was born into a noble family.  He was born in 855, and succeeded his father as Count of Avergne when he died.  He inherited a considerable estate and gave much of his revenue away to the poor.  He avoided all extravagance and worldly pomp.   He was filled with love of God and lived a simple and prayerful life.  He fulfilled all his duties as a wealthy nobleman and dealt with everyone fairly.  Rather than the worldly pursuits, he prayed and meditated and rose at two o’clock every morning, recited a portion of the Divine Office and heard Mass.  He founded a Benedictine monastery at Aurillac after he returned from a pilgrimage to Rome.  He was persuaded not to join the monastery by St. Gausbert, Bishop of Cahors, who said that his true vocation lay in working in the world for the glory of God.  He was afflicted with blindness seven years before his death which he bore with Christian resignation.  He died in 909.  St. Odo of Cluny wrote his biography and St. Gerald became known throughout France.

FEAST DAY:  October  13
PATRON OF:  Disabled people

ST. RAPHAEL ARCHANGEL

Responsorial Psalm

Blessed be the name of the Lord forever.

QUIZ

Yesterday’s Answer-

Justice

Today’s Question-

A person is not responsible for an evil action if misled by the bad example of another?

True or false?

Born in 634 in Northumberland, he was educated at Lindisfarne.  He spent some time in Lyons and Rome.  He returned to England and was elected Abbot of Ripon in 658.  There he introduced the Roman rules and practices in opposition to the Celtic ways of Northern England.  The definitive victory of the Roman party at the Conference of Whitby in 664, was due to his efforts.  He founded many monasteries of the Benedictine Order.  In order to prevent the subdivision of his diocese by St. Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, he had to appeal to Rome.  He was forced to go into exile while waiting for the case to be decided.  While in exile he worked hard and long to evangelize the heathen south Saxons until his recall in 686.  Again in 691, he had to retire until Rome once again vindicated him.  He resigned his post in 703 and retired to his monastery at Ripon and spent his remaining time in prayer and penitential practices.  He died in 709.  St. Wilfrid was an extremely capable person and possessed unbounded courage.  He remained firm in his convictions despite running afoul of civil and ecclesiastical authorities.

FEAST DAY:  October 12

JEWELRY

Responsorial Psalm

I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

QUIZ

Yesterday’s Answer-

False

Today’s Question-

What virtue disposes us to respect the rights of others?

a) prudence; b) justice; c) fortitude; d) temperance

Although the dates of the birth and death of St. Firminus are not known, we know that he was the third Bishop of Uzes, Gaul.  He took part in the Council of Orleans in 541.  In 552 he attended the Council of Paris.  He was a disciple of St. Caesarius of Arles and he and other Bishops signed his Rule for Holy Virgins.  He, in conjunction with Cyprian of Toulon and others, wrote the first book on St. Caesarius’  “Life” after his death in 543.  The Roman poet, Arator, praised St. Firminus as a “venerable priest able to feed his people with the gold of dogma; his praise reaches to the ends of  Italy and his name possesses a glory outside his own country.”

FEAST DAY:  October 11

STATUES

Responsorial Psalm

The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.

QUIZ

Yesterday’s Answer-

1. a) cardinal virtues

Today’s Question-

When left alone, conscience always discerns the right choice.

True or false?

Originally, St. Ghislain lived his life as a hermit in a forest of Hainault, Belgium in a forest.  He realized that others were desirous of serving God in this way.  He founded a monastery in honor of Sts. Peter and Paul.  He spent the rest of his life directing those who came to live this life.  As the Abbot for thirty years, he was a model of sanctity and prudence.  He was a bulwark of strength for every member of his community.  He encouraged all who came into contact with him.  He encouraged St. Waldetrudis to found a convent at Mons where his first hermitage was.  Her sister, St. Aldegondis, established a convent at Maubeuge.  After a lifetime of labors in God’s service, he was worn out and died in 680.
FEAST DAY:  October 10

CLERGY APPAREL

Responsorial Psalm

The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.

QUIZ

Yesterday’s Answer-

True

Today’s Question-

Special human virtues which play a key role and around which the other virtues are grouped are called ____________.

a) cardinal virtues; b) theological virtues; c) moral virtues

Born in Valencia in 1526.  When he was eighteen he joined the Dominicans and was ordained in 1547.  For thirty years he served as master of novices.  He became an outstanding preacher.  He met St. Teresa of Avila in 1557 and encouraged her in her proposed reform of the Carmelites.  He did heroic work in Valencia during the plague of 1557 and in 1562 he went to Columbia as a missionary.   He converted thousands while traveling throughout the Caribbean area and tried to secure better treatment for the Indians.  He became known for his prophecies, miracles and gift of tongues. He spent the rest of his life in Valencia as prior of several houses and in training preachers.  He died October 9 and was canonized in 1581.

FEAST DAY:  October  9

BOOK ON MIRACLES

Responsorial Psalm

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he has come to his people.

QUIZ

Yesterday’s Answer-

False

Today’s Question-

Talents need not be distributed equally for a just social order.

True or false?

Many legendary tales are connected to this saint.  History says St. Pelagia was a devout Christian.  She lived in Antioch at the end of the 3rd and at the beginning of the 4th century.  When she was fifteen, about the year 305, the local persecutor of the Church learned of her Christianity.  He sent a group of soldiers to bring her to him for examination.  St. Pelagia was quite aware of the outrages Christ’s  virgins suffered.  When the soldiers came to her home, she declared she had to put on her bravest apparel and excused herself from the room.  She swiftly made the way to the roof of her house and flung herself headlong to the ground below in order to preserve her richest prize-the virginity she had vowed to Jesus.  St. Ambrose and St. John Chrysostom, both Doctors of the Church, knew of her action and concurred that it was a noble example of love of chastity.  She is classified as a Virgin and Martyr by the Church.

FEAST DAY:  October 8

THEOLOGY OF THE BODY

Responsorial Psalm

Go out to all the world, and tell the Good News.

QUIZ

Yesterday’s Answer-

b) subsidiarity

Today’s Question-

We enter the world equipped with all that we need for bodily and spiritual development. 

True or false?

Don Juan of Austria gained his famous naval victory over the Turks at Lepanto on October 7, the first Sunday of the year 1571.  He attributed his victory to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary through the recitation of the rosary.  St. Pius instituted an annual feast under the title of Our Lady of Victory.  Pope Gregory XIII changed the title to Our Lady of the Rosary.  He granted this Office to all churches which had an altar dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary.  A remarkable victory over the Turks near Belgrade was gained by the army of Emperor Charles VI in 1716 on the Feast of Our Lady of the Snows.  In Rome, members of the Society of the Holy Rosary were praying the rosary at this time.  The Turks then raised the siege of Corcyra.  In memory of this, Clement XI extended the feast of the Most Holy Rosary to the Universal Church.  Benedict XIV had an account of all this inserted into the Roman Breviary, and Leo XIII raised it to the rank of second class feast.  He added to the Litany of Loreto the invocation:  Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, pray for us.  The title of this feast became Our Lady of the Rosary in 1961.   Venerable tradition reveals that the devotion of the Holy Rosary was revealed to St. Dominic by the Blessed Virgin Mary.

FEAST DAY:  October 7

ROSARIES

Responsorial Psalm

Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.

QUIZ

Yesterday’s Answer-

False

Today’s Question-

What principle requires that the state not interfere in matters able to be achieved by individuals or intermediate bodies?

a) prudence; b) subsidiarity; c) rule of law

St. Bruno was born at Cologne, Germany about the year 1033.  St Cunibert, Bishop of that city, looked after his education.  For a while he was a Canon of the Cathedral but then went to France to continue his studies at Rheims.  Ordained about 1056, he taught theology at Rheims for twenty years.  Archbishop Gervasius shared the government of the diocese with him.  After the death of Gervasius, people expected St. Bruno to become the Archbishop but he refused.  He had conceived of a project of retreat with ten friends.  St. Hugh, Bishop of Grenoble gave his advice on using the desert of Chartreuse as their abode.  There they began to imitate the lives of the early solitaries, laying the foundation of the Carthusian Order, where the mother house still exists.  After six years, St. Bruno was summoned to Rome by Pope Urban.  After some time at Rome, he got permission to leave and founded a second monastery in Calabria.  He spent the rest of his life there.  He died on October 6, 1101.

FEAST DAY:  October 6
PATRON OF:  Those possessed

DVDS & VIDEOS

Responsorial Psalm

The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.

QUIZ

Yesterday’s Answer-

a) we deceive ourselves

Today’s Question-

A person doesn’t necessarily need to live in society.

Born in France about the year 1309.  Was a devout child and refused the  attempts of her parents to get married.  In 3124, she entered the Priory of Beaulieu of the Hospitaller nuns of St. John of Jerusalem.  Many difficult trials were encountered and some of her religious sisters made fun of her.  This produced a depressed state in her.  God granted many unusual and mystical favors to her.  On the feast of All Saints she fell into ecstasy and took no food until three weeks later.  While meditating on the Holy Spirit on another occasion, she was  lifted four feet from the ground and hung in the air in full view of many onlookers.  She seemed to be pierced with the arms of our Lord’s Cross, which caused blood to flow at times from her side and at others, from her mouth.   She was blessed with prophetic knowledge of matters which could only have come from God.  She remained humble and rendered wise counsel to all who came to her because of her holiness and spiritual discernment.  She died in 1347 and many miracles were worked at her tomb.

FEAST DAY:  October 5

CROSSES & CRUCIFIXES

Responsorial Psalm

The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.

QUIZ

Yesterday’s Answer-

True

Today’s Question-

If we say we have no sin, ___________

a) we deceive ourselves; b) we are free of guilt; c) we are saved