A SAINT WHO SAW LIFE'S TRIALS

On November 3 MOTHER CLELIA MERLONI was beatified in the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome. Her most difficult life is a testimony to us all  that in spite of life’s trials, one can attain sanctity. 

The new blessed was born  in 1861 in Forlì, Italy.  Her mother died in 1864 and her maternal grandmother became her guardian. Her father remarried in 1866 and both her grandmother and stepmother did their best to instill religious values and a love of God in her. Her father became  so engrossed in his work and his rising socio-economic status, that his faith became nonexistent, leading him to become an anti-clerical Freemason.

Despite her frail health her father sought to provide her with the best education  possible in order to prepare her for following him in his business. She attended a private school in her town where she learned basic skills such as reading and mathematics, while also learning sewing and piano skills.

Clelia began to demonstrate signs that her father's business ambitions were not intended for her. Due to this  her father began to grow suspicious of the grandmother and forced her from the home. The situation became aggravated when marriage struggles saw  Clelia's stepmother leave the household to live with other relatives. Clelia often fled to her room to do penance for her father's misdeeds and wore a pebble in her shoe to offer her sufferings for her father's withdrawal from the faith. 

The death of her father in 1865 – who reconciled to the faith before his death – saw his estate left to Bl. Clelia.

She then  joined the Figlie di Santa Maria della Divina Provvidenza – the order that St Luigi Guanella founded , but while there  realized a call to form an order that would be devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She founded that order in 1894 with three friends.

In 1896 a financial disaster, due to her dishonest financial administrator,  bought about great humiliation on the order which in turn led to public opinion turning against them.  Bl. Clelia was soon told that her life was in danger and was advised to leave Viareggio.  She sought refuge with the order based in Broni.

It was to her benefit that she later met the Bishop of Piacenza Bl Giovanni Battista Scalabrini in 1900. He not only approved the rule for her order, but also accepted the profession of  the future blessed and ten other religious. Bl. Clelia  desired that the congregation be extended to the foreign missions and on 10 August 1900 six of the religious departed  for Brazil.  

Bl. Giovanni Battista

In 1902 six sailed on the British ship  "The Vancouver" for Boston to aid the Missionaries of Saint Charles Borromeo, the order  founded by Bl. Giovanni. By 1903 there were 30 houses with 200 sisters.

The death of Bishop Scalabrini 1905 saw the decline of Bl. Clelia's good standing among the congregation and in 1911 the Vatican removed her from the leadership. She withdrew from the public due to this and in 1916 both requested and received a dispensation that would release her from her religious vows. 

During her exile Pope Benedict XV granted the decree of praise of the order in 1921. In 1928 she requested permission to renter the congregation and  was welcomed at the motherhouse in Rome where the order was now based. 

The present  Superior General, Marcellina Vigano issued a circular letter that read: "Our most ardent desires have finally been fulfilled! ... Our beloved Mother Foundress is once again with us all of the seventh of this month. The Sacred Heart has restored her health so that she may now enjoy here in the motherhouse, surrounded by the love of her daughters, that peace and quiet which she needs so much, after so many trials and sorrows".

Bronze by Michael Alfono- Hamden CT

Bl. Clelia Merloni died on 21 November 1930 and she was buried at Campo Verano but was later exhumed and found intact in 1945. Her remains were then transferred to the motherhouse of the order. The order itself now has 1200 members in nations such as Taiwan and Switzerland .

THANKSGIVING BLESSINGS

This is the week of Thanksgiving, and we have much to be thankful for, especially in light of people homeless due to the devastating wild fires in California.

Koko & Bella

It  has been a sad week for us in the monastery as we had to put down our beloved PWD BELLA  Sunday after Mass.- this coming less than 2 months after the death of KOKO  (see Blog on monastery PWDs  1/27/13).

In my grief I pondered the meaning of loss in our lives, and how often I have heard people say:  well, if there is no heaven for my beloved pet, I want no part of it!  To my mind this totally negates the gift of Christ in our lives- it is saying that in the end Jesus is not enough for us!

As we give thanks tomorrow for all we daily receive, let us especially be mindful of the greatest gift of all-  the Eucharist, which nourishes us beyond comprehension!

UPDATE ON FUTURE AMERICAN SAINT

SISTER THEA BOWMAN was  the first African American woman to address the U.S. bishops' conference.  Now, nearly 30 years after her death, Sr. Thea will once again feature at the U.S bishops' conference - but this time, they will be voting to approve the opening of her cause for canonization. (see Blog 10/4/2016)

As a novice-  Franciscans of Perpetual Adoration

 When she spoke to the U.S. bishops in 1989 she told them:.

“We as Church walk together. Don’t let nobody separate you, that’s one thing black folks can teach you, don’t let folks divide you. The Church teaches us that the Church is a family, a family of families, and a family that can stay together. And we know that if we do stay together...if we walk and talk and work and play and stand together in Jesus’ name we’ll be who we say we are, truly Catholic. And we shall overcome - overcome the poverty, overcome the loneliness, overcome the alienation, and build together a holy city, a new Jerusalem, a city set apart where...we love one another.”

Her words are as true to day as they were in her lifetime!

NEW AMERICAN SAINT

On Nov. 8 Pope Francis  approved the beatification (sometime in 2019)  of American Br. James Miller, who was martyred in 1982 in Guatemala.

 American born BROTHER JAMES (SANTIAGO) MILLER, FSC, was born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin in 1944. He first met the Christian Brothers when he attended Pacelli High School there, and he entered the juniorate in Glencoe, Missouri, in September 1959. He began his year of novitiate in 1962, and following his formation years he started teaching.

He coached football, and taught Spanish, English, and religion in a high school in St. Paul, Minn. There his construction and maintenance abilities gained him the nickname "Brother Fix-It."

After professing his perpetual vows in 1969, he was sent to Bluefields, Nicaragua until 1974 when he was sent to Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua.

In July 1979 his superiors directed him to leave the country because the Sandinista revolution was in progress, and they feared he might be at risk. 

In January 1981 he was allowed to return to Central America, this time to Guatemala. He taught at the secondary school in Huehuetenango and worked at the Indian Center where young indigenous Mayans from rural areas studied and trained in agriculture.

The relations between the Brothers at the Indian Center and the Guatemalan military were often strained. To meet its quota of army conscripts, the government often rounded up Indian boys from the streets. Although students were exempt from military service, the boys from the Center were often conscripted into the army. When that happened, a Brother would present proof to the authorities that the boy in questions was a student. The military would then reluctantly release him.

Two days before Brother James was killed, a Mayan pupil was forced into the army. A Brother tried to obtain his release from the authorities, but his petition was refused. By his adamant demands the Brother infuriated these authorities. In the afternoon of February 13, 1982, while he was repairing a wall at the Indian Center where his boarders lived, three hooded men shot Brother James point blank. He died instantly.

Some saw his death as a warning to the Brothers to cease interfering in government affairs. Attempts to identify his assassins were unsuccessful. Brother James’ cause of martyrdom was undertaken by the Diocese of Huehuetenango in 2009.

Brother James’s killing was one in a string of assassinations of priests and religious in the country, including that of Bl. Stanley Rother five months later.

Aware of the danger present to him in Guatemala, in one of his last letters before he died, Brother James wrote: “I am personally weary of violence, but I continue to feel a strong commitment to the suffering poor of Central America. …the Church is being persecuted because of its option for the poor.”

The  Brother James Miller icon  at the top was painted by Nicholas Markell. The gold circular surrounding the head of Brother James Miller is called a “nimbus.” As with most sacred art, the nimbus is symbolic. Unlike the halo in Western spirituality that represents a canonized saint, the nimbus in Eastern spirituality represents the indwelling of Christ in the person.  I love this image as he hold the lamb, representing Christ

BLESSED MONKS of TIBHIRINE

News that the beatification of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, will be Dec. 8, at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Holy Cross in Oran.

The new blesseds “have been given to us as intercessors and models of the Christian life, of friendship and fraternity, of encounter and dialogue. May their example aid us in our life today,” the Algerian bishops wrote.

“From Algeria, their beatification will be for the Church and for the world, an impetus and a call to build together a world of peace and fraternity.”

Bishop Claverie was a French Algerian, and the Bishop of Oran from 1981 until his Aug. 1, 1996 martyrdom. He and his companions were killed during the Algerian Civil War by Islamists.

In addition to Claverie, those being beatified are: Brother Henri Vergès, Sister Paul-Hélène Saint-Raymond, Sister Esther Paniagua Alonso, Sister Caridad Álvarez Martín, Fr. Jean Chevillard, Fr. Alain Dieulangard, Fr. Charles Deckers, Fr. Christian Chessel, Sister Angèle-Marie Littlejohn, Sister Bibiane Leclercq, Sister Odette Prévost, Brother Luc Dochier, Brother Christian de Chergé, Brother Christophe Lebreton, Brother Michel Fleury, Brother Bruno Lemarchand, Brother Célestin Ringeard, and Brother Paul Favre-Miville.

The Monastery

The best known of Bishop Claverie's companions are the SEVEN MONKS of TIBHIRINE , who were kidnapped from their Trappist priory in March 1996. They were kept as a bartering chip to procure the release of several imprisoned members of the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria, and were killed in May. Their story was dramatized in the 2010 French film Of Gods and Men, which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival. I encourage everyone to see this amazingly well done movie.  This beautiful film portrays the life of faith, the religious life, liturgical prayer and the Holy Mass which all contribute to the strength these men would need in the end.

The prior, Christian de Chergé, sought peaceful dialogue with the Muslim population of the area and provided employment, medical attention, and education to the locals. Dom Christian accepted that the current political tensions and violent militias were a threat to his life. According to the Trappist order, he wrote a letter to his community and family, citing the peace felt giving his life to God.  

“If it should happen one day – and it could be today – that I become a victim of the terrorism which now seems ready to engulf all the foreigners living in Algeria, I would like my community, my Church and my family to remember that my life was given to God and to this country,” he wrote.

The seven Cistercian monks of Tibhirine had been abducted in March 1996 in their monastery of Our Lady of the Atlas, 80 km south of Algiers. Their death was announced on May 23 by a statement from the Armed Islamic Group (GIA). The heads of the Trappist monks were found on May 30, 1996, without the mystery of their death being fully clarified.

After the death of the monks of Tibhirine, Bishop Claverie knew his life was in serious danger. A bomb exploded at the entrance of his chancery Aug. 1, 1996, killing him and an aide, Mohamed Bouchikhi.

MORE HOLY NURSES

ST. MARIA BERTILLA BOSCARDIN  was born to a poor peasant family headed by Angelo Boscardin who, by his own account, was a violently abusive drunk. Anna had little education, was simple and innocent, and was considered mentally slow; referred to as the goose (as in, “silly as a….”).  She worked as a house servant in her youth, joining the Sisters of Saint Dorothy, Daughters of the Sacred Heart at Vincenza, Italy in 1904, taking the name Bertilla. After working in the convent‘s kitchen and laundry, she trained as a nurse in 1907.

She began working in a hospital with children suffering from diphtheria. There the young nun seemed to find her true vocation: nursing very ill and disturbed children.  She was a great favorite for her simple, gentle way with the young patients.

Later, when the hospital was taken over by the military in World War I, Sister Maria Bertilla fearlessly cared for patients amidst the threat of constant air raids and bombings. A supervisor, angry at Bertilla’s growing reputation, reassigned her to the hospital laundry. Her congregation’s Mother-general heard of this vindictive treatment, and transferred Sister Bertilla back to nursing, making her the supervisor of the children‘s ward in 1919.

She died in October 1922 of cancer after suffering for many years from a painful tumor. She was canonized by Pope John XXIII in 1961.  Among the many gathered included family members and an unknown number of her patients.

There have been many healing miracles reported at her tomb. Her feast is celebrated  October 20.

BL. ESTHER PANIAGUA ALONSO, born in 1949 in Leon, Spain,  was the daughter of Dolores Alonso and Nicasio Paniagua. Esther joined the Augustinian Missionary Congregation at age 18, making her perpetual vows in August 1970. Trained as a nurse, she was assigned to a hospital in the Bab El Oued neighborhood of Algiers, Algeria where she was especially drawn to handicapped children, and where she came to love the Arab people and culture. Shot three times in the head, she was murdered by members of the Armed Islamic Group while walking to Mass. on Sunday 23 October 1994  with Sister Caridad Álvarez Martín . 

. 

In 1994, faced with the country's civil war situation, when asked if she was afraid of the situation she replied, "No one can take our life because we have already given it. Nothing will happen to us since we are in the hands of God ... and if something happens to us, we are still in his hands. " 

 In spite of the requests of her hierarchy and the Spanish ambassador in Algeria, she refused to leave the country, saying, "At this moment, for me, the perfect model is Jesus: He suffered, He had to overcome difficulties and resulted in the failure of the cross, from which springs the source of life.”

She will be beatified with other Algerian martyrs, including the monks of Tibhirine,  December 8, 2018. (Next Blog)  Her feast day will be October 23.

OTHER HOLY NURSES

 VENERABLE  MARY JANE WILSON  (SISTER MARY of ST. FRANCIS) was born on October 3^rd 1840 in Hurryhur, Mysore, Karnataka, India of English parents.

She was orphaned in childhood and handed over to her aunt who gave her a proper education. Raised an Anglican she converted to Catholicism, joining the Church in France in 1873.

In 1881 she arrived in Madeira, Portugal where she worked as a nurse taking care of an Englishwoman. At the same time, she taught catechism to the local children, looked after the sick and supported education to the young by teaching youngsters across the island.

In 1884, she founded the Franciscan Sisters of Our Lady of Victory who dedicated their lives to caring for children and the sick. During the destructive epidemic of 1907, the Franciscan Sisters worked by her side looking after the victims of smallpox. For this act of bravery she was awarded the"Torre e Espada" (Tower & Sword) by King D. Carlos.

In October 1910, with the republican revolution, the Congregation was extinguished and as a result, Sister Mary Jane Wilson  was expelled to England. After a year of exile she was able to return to Madeira where she gave new life to the congregation she had founded.

She died on October 18^th 1916 in Câmara de Lobos due to natural causes at the age of 76.

She was also dubbed "Good Mother" due to her deep faith and caring of  the poor and the young. Enlightened by her example, the Congregation she founded now has sisters, not only in Madeira, but also in mainland Portugal and the Azores, Mozambique, England, Italy, Germany, Brazil, South Africa, Philippines, Angola, India, Congo, Timor and Tanzania.

She was venerated on 9 October 9^th 2013 by Pope Francis.   There is a lovely sculpture of Venerable Mary Jane by Luís Paixão in the Santa Cruz Municipal Garden, in Madeira.

BL. MARIA EUTHYMIA UFFING, one of eleven children,  was born in Halverde Germany  in 1914. At 18 months, she developed a form of rickets that stunted her growth and left her in poor health the rest of her life. Emma worked on her parents‘ farm as a child, and by her early teens began to feel a call to religious life.

She worked as an apprentice in house keeping management at the hospital in Hopsten, Germany, completing her studies in May 1933.  In 1933 she entered the Sister of the Congregation of Compassion  taking the name Euthymia. At the time of her vows she wrote her mother: "I found Him who my heart loves; I want to hold Him and never let Him go" (cf. Song 3,4).

She was assigned to work at Saint Vincent’s Hospital in Dinslaken. She graduated with distinction from the nursing program in 1939 and worked as nurse through World War II.

In 1943 she was assigned to nurse prisoners of war and foreign workers with infectious diseases. She worked tirelessly for her charges, caring for them, praying for them, and insuring they received the sacraments. She knew that the sick prisoners did not have to contend with physical sufferings alone. Through her warm sympathy and nearness, she instilled in them a feeling of being safe and at home. 

After the war she was given supervision of the huge laundry rooms of the Dinslaken hospital, her order’s mother-house, and the Saint Raphael Clinic in Münster, Germany; what little spare time she had was spent in prayer before the Eucharist. Many who knew her, asked her to intercede for them in her prayers. A serious form of cancer brought Bl. Euthymia to an untimely death after long weeks of illness. She died on the morning of 9 September 1955.

Her feast is September 9.