PRAYER ON UKRAINE'S NATIONAL FEAST DAY

 

“Today we join our Ukrainian brothers and sisters who, with the spiritual initiative ‘World Prayer for Ukraine’, ask the Lord to give peace to their martyred country,” Leo said while speaking to St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican.

With a heart wounded by the violence that ravages your land, I address you on this day of your national feast.

I wish to assure of my prayer for the people of Ukraine who suffer from war – especially for all those wounded in body, for those bereaved by the death of a loved one, and for those deprived of their homes.

May God Himself console them; may He strengthen the injured and grant eternal rest to the departed. I implore the Lord to move the hearts of people of good will, that the clamor of arms may fall silent and give way to dialogue, opening the path to peace for the good of all.”.

Ukraine’s Independence Day, celebrated annually on Aug. 24, commemorates the country’s 1991 declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.

PROBLEMS IN PARADISE!

 

DUE TO CIRUMSTANCE BEYOND MY CONTROL (IE. TECHNOLOGY PROBLEM) THERE WILL BE LIMITED BLOGS. THANKS TO ALL MY READERS. 

Art by my Australian friend Tricia Reust

HOLY DOCTOR

 

We are into another month and so many new saints- or those whose lives are presetly being studied. Our next saint reminds me of one of my favorites, St. Giuseppi Moscata: Doctor to the Poor (I can't believe I have not done a Blog on him, but have in past mentioned the wonderful film about him, which can be viewed on Youtube.)   

ST. RICARDO PAMPURI (born Erminio Filippo Pampuri) in 1897 in Trivolzio, Italy,  was an Italian medical doctor and a veteran of World War I who later became a professed member of the Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God. He worked as a field doctor on the battlefield during the Great War and was discharged in 1920 when he was able to resume his medical studies, becoming a doctor where he tended to the poor without charge. He became a member of the Third Order of Saint Francis as "Antonio" while founding the Band of Pius X, which he dedicated to the medical care of poor people.

He did not have the easiest beginning, as when he was three years old his mother died and he was then taken into the home of his mother's sister, at Torrino, a village near Trivolzio. In 1907 his father died in a traffic accident in Milan.

He went to two primary schools at nearby villages and then attended a junior high school in Milan. He completed his high school studies as a boarder at Augustine's College, Pavia, where after graduation, he enrolled in the Medical Faculty of Pavia University.

Between the years 1915 and 1920, he was in the fighting zone of World War I. He served firstly as a sergeant and later went into training as an officer in the Medical Corps. In 1921, he graduated top of his class in Medicine and Surgery at Pavia.  After a three years experience with this doctor uncle, and for a short time as temporary assistant in the medical practice at Vernate, he was appointed to the practice of Morimondo (Milan). In 1922 he passed his internship with high honors at the Milan Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. In 1923 he was registered at Pavia University as a General Practitioner of Medicine and Surgery. He began to figure a way to  incorporate his work in medicine with Christian ideals. Even as a young boy he wanted to become a missionary priest, but was dissuaded from this on account of his delicate health. While living in the midst of the world, he openly and consistently professed the Gospel message and practised works of charity with generosity and devotion. He loved prayer and kept himself constantly in close union with God, even when he was kept very busy. He had a great devotion to the Euchrist and would spend long periods before the tabernacle. He also had a devotion to the Blessed Mother and prayed the Rosary often more than once a day. He was an active member of Pavia University's Severino Boezio Club for Catholic Action. He also belonged to the St. Vincent de Paul Society and the Third Order of St. Francis. Since his boyhood he was involved in Catholic Action so when he arrived at Morimondo to practice medicine, he gave valuable assistance to the parish priest, helping him to set up a musical band and a Catholic Action Youth Club of which he was the first president.  He organised regular retreats for the Youth Club, farm laborers and local workers, at the Jesuit Fathers' "Villa del Sacro Cuore" at Triuggio, generally paying their expenses. He used to invite his colleagues and friends to come along as well. He was generous, charitable and very concerned for his patients,  visiting them both by day and night, never sparing himself. Since most of his patients were poor, he gave them medicines, money, food, clothing, and blankets. His charity extended to the poor rural workers and needy folk in and around Morimondo and even going further afield to other towns and districts. When eventually he was to leave his practice in six years time, to become a religious, the grief at having lost the "holy doctor" was so greatly felt everywhere, that even the daily press took up the story. Dr. Pampuri joined the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God so as to follow the way of evangelical holiness more closely and at the same time to be able to carry on his medical profession so as to alleviate the suffering of his neighbor. He joined the St. John of God Brothers at Milan on 22 June 1927. He did his novitiate year at Brescia and when it was over, made his profession of religious vows on 24 October 1928. He was then appointed Director of the dental clinic attached to the St. John of God Brothers' Hospital at Brescia. This was mostly frequented by working people and the poor. Brother Richard untiringly gave himself fully to serving them with such wonderful charity that he was admired by all. Throughout his life as a religious, Brother Richard was, as he had always been before he became a St. John of God Brother, a model of virtue and charity: to his Brothers in the Order, the patients, the doctors, the paramedics, the nurses, and all who came into contact with him. Everybody agreed upon his sanctity. He suffered a fresh outbreak of pleurisy, which he first contracted during his military service, and this turned into broncal pneumonia. On 18 April 1930 he was taken from Brescia to Milan, where he died  on 1 May at the age of 33 years: "leaving behind, the memory of a doctor who knew how to transform his own profession into a mission of charity; and a religious brother who reproduced within himself, the charism of a true son of St. John of God" (Decree of heroic virtue, 12 June 1978). After his death, his reputation of sanctity which he demonstrated throughout his life, greatly expanded throughout Italy, Europe and the entire world. Many of the faithful received significant graces from God, even miraculous ones, through his intercession. The two required miracles were accepted and he was beatified by St. John Paul II on 4 October 1981. Later on, a miraculous healing through the intercession of Blessed Richard Pampuri, took place on 5 January 1982 at Alcadozo (Albacete, Spain). This was approved as a miracle and so, on the feast of All Saints, 1 November 1989, he was solemnly canonized. "The brief, but intense life, of Brother Richard Pampuri is a stimulus for the entire People of God, but especially so for youth, doctors and religious brothers and sisters. He invites the youth of today, to live joyfully and courageously in the Christian faith; to always listen to the Word of God, generously follow the teachings of Christ's message and give themselves to the service of others. He appeals to his colleagues, the doctors, to responsibly carry out their delicate art of healing; vivifying it with Christian, human and professional ideals, because theirs is a real mission of service to others, of fraternal charity and a real promotion of human life. Brother Richard recommends to religious brothers and sisters, especially those who quietly and humbly go about their consecrated work in hospital wards and other centres, to hold fast to the original charism of their Institute in their lives, loving both God and their neighbour who is in need" (Homily, 4 October 1981). St. Richard Pampuri's body is in the Parish Church of Trivolzio (Pavia, Italy). His feastday is celebrated on 1 May.

MOTHER TERESA OF PUERTO RICO

Sometimes I forget that Puerto Rico is an unincorporated U.S. territory and while our next saint to be hails from there, she did a lot of work in mainland USA. 

ISOLINA FERRE AGUAYO was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, in 1914. She belonged to a Christian family with substantial financial resources. Among these relatives was her brother, Luis A. Ferré, founder of the Ponce Museum of Art, the New Progressive Party, and later governor of Puerto Rico (PR). She was also the aunt of writer Rosario Ferré and businessman Antonio Luis Ferré, founder of the newspaper El Nuevo Día in Puerto Rico. 

Although Isolina was part of a well-off family, both economically and socially, she chose a somewhat different path. A dream of serving others was brewing within her. Her interest led her to drop out of college, and at 21, she moved to the United States, where she joined the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity.

 Sister Isolina stood out for her humanitarian work. She worked in poor communities in the United States. By the late 1950s, she had settled in New York City. There, she completed a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Joseph's College for Women (1957) and a Master of Arts degree with a specialization in Sociology from Fordham University (1961). She also served on the faculty of Blessed Trinity College in Philadelphia (1959–1962). Upon graduation, she returned to New York. There, she directed the Dr. White Community Center in Brooklyn, which provided education and various community services. Sister Isolina focused primarily on intervention between rival gangs, particularly among Black and Puerto Ricans.

 Her humane perspective allowed her to work hand in hand with communities plagued by crime, addiction, and poverty. Her strategy was to restore self-respect and dignity to their inhabitants, following the belief that if we are all children of God, we are also brothers and sisters and, therefore, equal. Sister Isolina treated everyone as equals: rich and poor, wise and ignorant, black and white.

 Upon returning to Puerto Rico in 1968, after years of steady work in the United States, she began a new life in the land of her birth. She was assigned to Ponce Beach, a neighborhood in her hometown where the residents were predominantly poor and where crime had risen to alarming levels. Here, she began a community regeneration project that took the community's interests and needs into consideration. In other words, to improve the community's social and economic situation, residents must be given the necessary tools to achieve their own improvement.

Over the years, she wanted to bring this concept of community action to other communities on the island. This is how the Sor Isolina Ferré Centers emerged . There are five in Ponce and other towns in Puerto Rico, such as Guayama and San Juan. The mission of these centers was to revitalize the low-income communities where they are located through education and social, economic, and spiritual support.

In Ponce, she also founded Trinity College of Puerto Rico, an educational institution that prepares low-income youth for short-term careers; and the Artesanías Tabaiba cultural center, also located in the Tabaiba district of Ponce Beach, where artists gather to create works about the island, which are sold to raise funds.

For her humanitarian work, Sister Isolina Ferré has received numerous honors and awards. More than ten educational institutions have awarded her honorary doctorates, including the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico, the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico in San Germán, Saint Francis College in Brooklyn, NY, the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón in Santurce, Yale University in Connecticut, St. Joseph's College in Brooklyn, and Loyola University in New Orleans.

In the 1980s, he won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Puerto Rican National Coalition, the Alonso Manso Cross from the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico, the Alexis Tocqueville Award from Fondos Unidos, the Albert Schweitzer Humanitarian Award from Johns Hopkins University, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bill Clinton.

Sister Isolina Ferré passed away on August 3, 2000. Currently, the Centers operate forty community programs and provide assistance to more than 12,000 people annually

Sister Isolina, with the help of nuns from her congregation, missionaries from other churches, and private donations, created counseling and educational programs in Ponce and Cabo Rojo, including an industrial sewing school, childcare, sports-related activities, and photography workshops, among others. She created an official community publication called "El Playero."

ENFLESHMENT OF THE BEATITUDES

 

Our next American, hopefully one day to be canonized, was a woman of many talents. EILEEN EGAN was an American journalist, Catholic activist, and co-founder of the Catholic peace group American PAX Association and its successor Pax Christi USA, the American branch of Pax Christi.

Born in Wales in 1912, she moved with her family to New York City in 1926 and completed her secondary education at Cathedral High School. She later graduated from Hunter College in 1933 and began a career as a freelance journalist.

In 1943 she joined the staff of the U.S. Bishops' War Relief Services (later known as Catholic Relief Services, or CRS) as its first professional layperson. Her first assignment was in Mexico, where she worked with displaced  Polish war refugees. The following year she was posted to Barcelona, where she ministered to victims of the Holocaust. She then headed the CRS office in Lisbon, Portugal.

She was a longtime friend of Dorothy Day and  (St.) Mother Teresa, whose biography she wrote, Such A Vision: Mother Teresa, the Spirit, and the Work. Eileen arranged for Mother Teresa’s first trip to the United States to speak to a group of Catholic laywomen, and spent the next 17 years as Mother Teresa’s global traveling companion.  

Back in New York briefly in 1945, she was out of the office the July day a B-25 crashed into the CRS headquarters on the seventy-ninth floor of the Empire State Building. Ten fellow staff members were killed. The following year, Eileen was back in Europe helping to resettle waves of displaced persons. Writer Mike Aquilina observed that "...these works of mercy might involve carefully planned news leaks, sifting through propaganda or misinformation campaigns, or even ... using Chicago's Polish vote to protect Polish refugees." She later received the highest honor awarded civilians by both the French and German governments.

In the course of her work, Eileen visited Palestinian refugees in Gaza, Chinese exiles in Hong Kong, and displaced civilians in Pakistan, Korea and Vietnam. In 1955 she met Mother Teresa in Calcutta. She was Mother Teresa's official biographer and helped introduce the latter's work in the West.

Eileen combined CRS's practical work of providing economic assistance, food, housing, and transportation to war victims with speaking, writing and demonstrating against the causes of war. In 1962 she co-founded the American Pax Society, which under her leadership evolved into Pax Christi USA in 1972.

She marched with Martin Luther King Jr. at Selma, Alabama, had a major, behind-the-scenes hand in framing the "peace" statements of Vatican II, and promoted the work of Jean and Hildegard Goss-Mayr, (nominated for the Nobel Peace prize three times), crucial to the peaceful ouster of Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines.

One of her major achievements was the 1987 recognition of conscientious objection as a universal human right by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (resolution 1987/46). She first coined the term "seamless garment" to describe the unity of Catholic teaching that all human life is sacred and should be protected by law.

She traveled widely with Dorothy Day, introducing her to Mother Teresa in 1970, and was with Dorothy picketing for farm workers in California in 1973 when Dorothy was arrested for the final time. In 1973 she brought Mother Teresa to Washington, DC, where the nun served the first bowl of soup at Zacchaeus Community Kitchen, run by Community for Creative Non-Violence founder J. Edward Guinan and Kathleen Guinan.

Eileen Egan was awarded the Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award in 1989. It was named after a 1963 encyclical letter by Pope John XXIII that calls upon all people of good will to secure peace among all nations. Pacem in terris is Latin for 'Peace on Earth'.

Eileen did not consider herself a pacifist. She did not care for the term "pacifist" because of its misleading echo in the word "passivity". She said that she used the term "gospel nonviolence, or "gospel peacemaking" instead. She argued that the so-called just war concept was an alien graft on the gospel of Jesus.

In 1992 at age 80, Eileen was mugged on the way to Mass and had to go to a New York hospital with a broken hip and several fractured ribs. Her response to her attacker was one of care and forgiveness. She refused to testify against her assailant, a homeless man with mental illness, and often she checked on his well-being when he was incarcerated.  

She died on October 7, 2000, aged 88.   The homilist at her funeral Mass called her “the enfleshment of the Beatitudes.”

Books by Eileen Egan:

Peace Be With You: Justified Warfare or The Way of Nonviolence

Such a Vision of the Street: Mother Teresa, The Spirit and the Work

For Whom There Is No Room: Scenes from the Refugee World

Prayer Times with Mother Teresa: A New Adventure in Prayer

Suffering Into Joy: What Mother Teresa Teaches About True Joy (with Kathleen Egan, OSB)

Blessed Are You: Mother Teresa and the Beatitudes (with Kathleen Egan, OSB).

VIVI IN ROME

 

Our intern, Vivi , soon heads to Rome for a weeklong Jubilee celebration for young Catholics.

Half a million young people are expected to pour into Rome for the biggest event of the 2025 Holy Year.

Officials said  the highlight of the celebration is the Aug. 2-3 vigil service, outdoor overnight slumber party and morning Mass presided over by Pope Leo XIV, the first massive gathering for history’s first American pope. It’s being held on the same dusty field on the outskirts of Rome where St. John Paul II led the 2000 World Youth Day, an even larger gathering of some 2 million young Catholics in that millennial Jubilee year.

With temperatures next weekend expected between 90F to 93F, organizers have lined up five million bottles of water, 2,660 drinking water stations and 70 giant water cannons that are normally used for dust control during building demolitions to spritz the young pilgrims to try to keep them cool.

Bishop Robert Barron will deliver a keynote address to more than 3,500 young American pilgrims at a special event in Rome on July 30, part of the global Jubilee of Youth celebrations. There will be a procession with relics of 12 saints and blesseds significant to the American Church and Catholic youth. We know Vivi takes us with her in her heart, as she prays for family, friends and the Church militant.

DOCTOR WITH A HEART

Is there any end to holy doctors in our modern times?  In all fields, they are an example to other physicians that it is not impossible to be brilliant in their area of expertise and holy at the same time. Our next man being considered for canonization was Italian but spent much of his young life in the USA.

SERVANT OF GOD GIANCARLO RASTELLI was born in 1933 in Pescara, Italy. He received his medical degree from the University of Parma, where he graduated with honors.  He met his wife to be, Anna Anghileri, in 1959 when she was 19 years old. In 1961 he won a NATO scholarship and went to Rochester, Minnesota to work at the famous Mayo Clinic.  While in America, he continued to correspond with Anna almost daily. On August 11, 1964, Giancarlo returned to Italy and one day later they married.

They traveled to the United States where they settled, raising a happy, loving family. Anne and Giancarlo had one aughter, Antonella, who was 4 when her father died. She became a doctor.

A few days after the honeymoon, Doctor Rastelli was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. He made no mention of his illness to anyone, not even his parents. To his wife he said: "Believe in God and in the Mayo", then he quickly left whistling Mozart and Beethoven.

 

After only a few years, he was appointed head of Cardiovascular Research at the Mayo. Giancarlo had an interesting and productive profession, and the future looked extremely promising. He developed a classification of atrioventricular canal and a novel surgical procedure that revolutionized the management of children with congenital heart disease. His work was ahead of its time and laid the foundation for the treatment of complex congenital cardiac anomalies.

These discoveries earned him three gold medals in Washington, the dual Italian-American citizenship and the name of Rastelli I and Rastelli II to his two methods of operating techniques .

He died at the Methodist Hospital in Rochester on February 2, 1970 at the age of 36 years. On September 30, 2005, the Holy See granted permission to start the cause of beatification of Giancarlo Rastelli.

He was known to always have at the center of his thoughts the dignity of  the sick, treating them as if they were Christ. 

Around the world departments of hospitals and schools, were dedicated to him as well as a road to Parma.  In the Mayo Clinic is a large plaque with the inscription: "In memory of Giancarlo Rastelli by the surgeon residents who considered him highly as a surgeon , creative artist, teacher and friend ". 

He was buried with honor in the university chapel of the cemetery of Parma. On the tablet is written "Vita mutatur, non tollitur" (life is changed, not ended).