Cora Evans: A Californian housewife and mystic on the way to sainthood

Courtesy of coraevans.com

She was known to bi-locate and her children witnessed many of her spiritual gifts.

Born in 1904 in Utah, Cora Evans began life in a Mormon household. However, from the outset it was clear God had a special plan for her.

At the age of 3, Evans experienced a mystical vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary, though at the time she didn’t fully understand it. For the remainder of her childhood she lived according to the Mormon religion and eventually married her husband at the Utah Temple.

Shortly after her wedding Evans started to have doubts about the Mormon faith and began a long road of investigation. She searched and searched, but couldn’t find the religion her heart was longing for.

Then in 1934, while lying sick in bed, she heard a radio program called the “Catholic Hour” and afterward contacted a local Catholic priest. Evans met with the priest on multiple occasions and soon became convinced that God was calling her to be Catholic. A year later Evans, her husband, and two daughters, converted to the Catholic faith.

In 1938 her mystical experiences started again and she dedicated the rest of her life to God. She wrote, “It was necessary for me to live my chosen vocation with him as my companion. By loaning Jesus my humanity for him to govern as well as dwell within would make my life a living prayer, for he was life, living life within me, and my body now dead to me was his living cross, his cross to take to Calvary — Calvary, the door to eternal life.”

After converting to the Catholic faith, Evans and her family were severely persecuted by the local Mormon community, making it impossible for her husband to secure a job. They decided to move to California to find gainful employment.

Once there Evans continued to have heavenly visions of saints and searched for a spiritual director to help bring light to her situation. A Jesuit priest, Father Frank Parrish, agreed to the assignment and guided her through the mystical experiences.

According to the website for her canonization, Evans discovered God’s mission for her; “the Mystical Humanity of Christ, a way of prayer that encourages people to live with a heightened awareness of the indwelling presence of Jesus in their daily lives. It is Eucharistic spirituality, and Jesus promised to foster the devotion.”

Evans wrote about this spirituality and her mystical experiences in a diary. It was a difficult task for her as she had little education and was still rather new to the Catholic faith.

Her intense devotion to God brought with it many spiritual gifts. Our Sunday Visitor reports that Evans “had the stigmata (wounds of Christ), bilocation and the fragrance of roses associated with her presence.” Evans tried to hide these gifts from her family, but her daughter still witnessed the stigmata and was greatly impacted by it.

During her life she was a hidden mystic, unknown to the world besides her family, friends, a few priests and religious. She was a humble housewife who led a beautiful interior life dedicated to God.

Evans died in 1957 and before her death asked God to grant her the same ability as St. Therese of Lisieux — to spend her heaven doing good on earth. Since her death, Evans’ writings have been widely read and are a source of spiritual refreshment for many people.

Her cause for canonization was officially opened in 2012.

https://aleteia.org/2017/10/07/cora-evans-a-californian-housewife-and-mystic-on-the-way-to-sainthood/

See more in our series on the Saints of the United States.

St. Catherine of Alexandria-November 25 – She Defied the Emperor

November 25 – She Defied the Emperor

St. Catherine of Alexandria

Feastday: November 25

St. Catherine of Alexandria, Virgin and Martyr whose feast day is November 25th. She is the patroness of philosophers and preachers.

St. Catherine is believed to have been born in Alexandria of a noble family. Converted to Christianity through a vision, she denounced Maxentius for persecuting Christians. Fifty of her converts were then burned to death by Maxentius.

Maxentius offered Catherine a royal marriage if she would deny the Faith. Her refusal landed her in prison. While in prison, and while Maxentius was away, Catherine converted Maxentius' wife and two hundred of his soldiers. He had them all put to death.

Catherine was likewise condemned to death. She was put on a spiked wheel, and when the wheel broke, she was beheaded. She is venerated as the patroness of philosophers and preachers. St. Catherine's was one of the voices heard by St. Joan of Arc.

Maxentius' blind fury against St. Catherine is symbolic of the anger of the world in the face of truth and justice. When we live a life of truth and justice, we can expect the forces of evil to oppose us. Our perseverance in good, however, will be everlasting.

from Wikipedia

Saint Catherine of Alexandria, also known as Saint Catherine of the Wheel and The Great Martyr Saint Catherine (Greek ἡ Ἁγία Αἰκατερίνη ἡ Μεγαλομάρτυς) is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the pagan emperor Maxentius. According to her hagiography, she was both a princess and a noted scholar, who became a Christian around the age of fourteen, and herself converted hundreds of people to Christianity. Over 1,100 years following her martyrdom, St. Joan of Arc identified Catherine as one of the Saints who appeared to her and counselled her.[⁴]

The Orthodox Church venerates her as a Great Martyr, and celebrates her feast day on 25 November. In the Catholic Church she is traditionally revered as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. In 1969 the Catholic Church removed her feast day from the General Roman Calendar;[⁵] however, she continued to be commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on November 25.[⁶] In 2002, her feast was restored to the General Roman Calendar as an optional memorial.

Life story

According to the traditional narrative, Catherine was the beautiful daughter of the pagan King Costus and Queen Sabinella, who governed Alexandria. Her superior intelligence combined with diligent study left her exceedingly well-versed in all the arts and sciences, and in philosophy etc. Having decided to remain a virgin all her life, she announced that she would only marry someone who surpassed her in beauty, intelligence, wealth, and dignity. This has been interpreted as an early foreshadowing of her eventual discovery of Christ. "His beauty was more radiant than the shining of the sun, His wisdom governed all creation, His riches were spread throughout all the world."[¹] Though raised a pagan, she became an ardent Christian in her teenage years, having received a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ, in which the Blessed Virgin gave Catherine to Jesus in mystical marriage.

As a young adult, she visited her contemporary, the Roman Emperor Maxentius, and attempted to convince him of the moral error in persecuting Christians for not worshipping idols. The emperor arranged for a plethora of the best pagan philosophers and orators to dispute with her, hoping that they would refute her pro-Christian arguments, but Catherine won the debate and succeeded in converting all of them to Christianity, for which the philosophers and orators were executed by an enraged Maxentius. Catherine was then scourged and put in prison, during which time over two hundred people came to see her, including Maxentius' wife the empress, all of whom converted to Christianity and were therefore martyred. [⁷] Upon the failure of Maxentius to make Catherine yield by way of torture, he tried to win the beautiful and wise princess over by proposing marriage to her, at which point in time the Saint declared that her spouse was Jesus Christ, to whom she had consecrated her virginity. The furious emperor condemned Catherine to death on the spiked breaking wheel, an instrument of torture. The wheel was miraculously destroyed, however, in answer to St. Catherine's prayer, and so Maxentius had to settle for beheading her.

Icon of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, with scenes from her martyrdom.

According to a Christian tradition dating to about 800, angels carried her body to Mount Sinai, where, in the 6th century, the Eastern Emperor Justinian had established what is now known as Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai, (in fact dedicated to the Transfiguration of Christ). The main church was built between 548 and 565, and the monastery became a major pilgrimage site for Catherine and the other relics and sacred sites there. Saint Catherine's Monastery survives, a famous repository of early Christian art, architecture and illuminated manuscripts that remains open to tourists and visiting scholars.

Historicity

Donald Attwater characterizes the "legend" of St. Catherine as "the most preposterous of its kind" citing the lack of any "positive evidence that she ever existed outside the mind of some Greek writer who first composed what he intended to be simply an edifying romance."[⁸] Harold T. Davis confirms that "assiduous research has failed to identify Catherine with any historical personage" and has theorized that Catherine was an invention inspired to provide a counterpart to the story of the slightly earlier pagan philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria.[⁹][¹⁰]

The earliest surviving account of St. Catherine's life comes over 500 years after the traditional date of her martyrdom, in the monologium attributed to Emperor Basil I (866), although the rediscovery of her relics at Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai was about 800.,[¹¹] and presumably implies an existing cult at that date (the common name of the monastery developed after the discovery).

Medieval cult

St. Catherine was one of the most important saints in the religious culture of the late middle ages, and arguably considered the most important of the virgin martyrs, a group including Saint Agnes, Margaret of Antioch, Saint Barbara, Saint Lucy, Valerie of Limoges and many others. Her power as an intercessor was renowned, and firmly established in most versions of her hagiography, in which she specifically entreats Jesus at the moment of her death to answer the prayers of those who remember her martyrdom and invoke her name.

The development of her medieval cult was spurred by the reported rediscovery of her body around the year 800 at Mount Sinai, with hair still growing and a constant stream of healing oil emitting from her body.[¹¹] There are a handful of pilgrimage narratives that chronicle the journey to Mount Sinai, most notably those of John Mandeville and Friar Felix Fabri.[¹²] However, the monastery at Mount Sinai was the best-known site of Catherine pilgrimage, but was also the most difficult to reach. The most prominent western shrine was the monastery in Rouen that claimed to house Catherine's fingers. It was not alone in the west, however, accompanied by many, scattered shrines and altars dedicated to Catherine, which existed throughout France and England. Some were better known sites, such as Canterbury and Westminster, which claimed a phial of her oil, brought back from Mount Sinai by Edward the Confessor.[¹³] Other shrines, such as St. Catherine's Hill, Hampshire were the focus of generally local pilgrimage, many of which are only identified by brief mentions to them in various texts, rather than by physical evidence.[¹⁴]

Saint Catherine also had a large female following, whose devotion was less likely to be expressed through pilgrimage. The importance of the virgin martyrs as the focus of devotion and models for proper feminine behavior increased during the late middle ages.[¹⁵] Among these, St. Catherine in particular was used as an exemplar for women, a status which at times superseded her intercessory role.[¹⁶] Both Christine de Pizan and Geoffrey de la Tour Landry point to Catherine as a paragon for young women, emphasizing her model of virginity and "wifely chastity."[¹⁷] From the early 14th century the Mystic marriage of Saint Catherine first appears in hagiographical literature and, soon after, in art. In the Western church, concerns over the authenticity of her legend began to reduce her importance in the 18th century.[¹⁸]

Her principal symbol is the spiked wheel, which has become known as the Catherine wheel, and her feast day is celebrated on 25 November by most Christian churches. However, the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates it on 24 November. The exact origin of this tradition is not known. In 11th-century Kyivan-Rus, the feast day was celebrated on 25 November. Saint Dimitry of Rostov in his Kniga zhyttia sviatykh (Book of the Lives of the Saints), T.1 (1689) places the date of celebration on 24 November. A story that Empress Catherine the Great did not wish to share her patronal feast with the Leavetaking of the feast of the Presentation of the Theotokos and hence changed the date is not supported by historical evidence. One of the first Roman Catholic churches to be built in Russia, the Catholic Church of St. Catherine, was named after Catherine of Alexandria because she was Catherine the Great's patron.

The 1908 Catholic Encyclopedia describes her historical importance as follows:

Ranked with St Margaret and St Barbara as one of the fourteen most helpful saints in heaven, she was unceasingly praised by preachers and sung by poets. It is believed that Jacques-Benigne Bossuet dedicated to her one of his most beautiful panegyrics and that Adam of St. Victor wrote a magnificent poem in her honour: Vox Sonora nostri chori, etc. In many places her feast was celebrated with the utmost solemnity, servile work being suppressed and the devotions being attended by great numbers of people. In several dioceses of France it was observed as a Holy Day of Obligation up to the beginning of the seventeenth century, the splendour of its ceremonial eclipsing that of the feasts of some of the Apostles. Numberless chapels were placed under her patronage and her statue was found in nearly all churches, representing her according to medieval iconography with a wheel, her instrument of torture. Meanwhile, owing to several circumstances in his life, Saint Nicholas of Myra was considered the patron of young bachelors and students, and Saint Catherine became the patroness of young maidens and female students. Looked upon as the holiest and most illustrious of the virgins of Christ after the Blessed Virgin Mary, it was natural that she, of all others, should be worthy to watch over the virgins of the cloister and the young women of the world. The spiked wheel having become emblematic of the saint, wheelwrights and mechanics placed themselves under her patronage. Finally, as according to tradition, she not only remained a virgin by governing her passions and conquered her executioners by wearying their patience, but triumphed in science by closing the mouths of sophists, her intercession was implored by theologians, apologists, pulpit orators, and philosophers. Before studying, writing, or preaching, they besought her to illumine their minds, guide their pens, and impart eloquence to their words. This devotion to St. Catherine which assumed such vast proportions in Europe after the Crusades, received additional éclat in France in the beginning of the fifteenth century, when it was rumoured that she had spoken to Joan of Arc and, together with St. Margaret, had been divinely appointed Joan's adviser.[¹⁹]

Ring of St. Catherine, given to pilgrims visiting Mount Sinai.

Devotion to Saint Catherine remains strong amongst Orthodox Christians. With the relative ease of travel in the modern age, pilgrimages to Saint Catherine's Monastery at Mount Sinai have increased. Pilgrims to her monastery on Mt Sinai are given a ring, which has been placed on the relics of the saint as an evlogia (blessing) in remembrance of their visit.

In art

Catherine is very frequently depicted in art, especially in the late Middle Ages, which is also the time that the account of St. Catherine's Mystical Marriage makes its first literary appearance. She can usually be easily recognised as she is richly dressed and crowned, as befits her rank as a princess, and often holds a segment of her wheel as an attribute, or a martyr's palm. She often has long unbound blonde or reddish hair (unbound as she is unmarried). The vision of Saint Catherine of Alexandria usually shows the Infant Christ, held by the Virgin, placing a ring (one of her attributes) on her finger, following some literary accounts, although in the version in the Golden Legend he appears to be adult, and the marriage takes place among a great crowd of angels and "all the celestial court",[²⁰] and these may also be shown.

She is very frequently shown attending on the Virgin and Child, and is usually prominent in scenes of the Master of the Virgo inter Virgines, showing a group of virgin saints surrounding the Virgin and Child. Notable later paintings of Catherine include single figures by Raphael (National Gallery) and Caravaggio (Madrid, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum).

Da Mihi Animas: Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos

Da Mihi Animas: Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos  go to for short video

The following comes from the Seelos.org site:

Francis Xavier Seelos was born on January 11, 1819 in Fussen, Bavaria, Germany. He was baptized on the same day in the parish church of St. Mang. Having expressed a desire for the priesthood since childhood, he entered the diocesan seminary in 1842 after having completed his studies in philosophy. Soon after meeting the missionaries of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists), founded for the evangelization of the most abandoned, he decided to enter the Congregation and to minister to the German speaking immigrants in the United States. He was accepted by the Congregation on November 22, 1842, and sailed the following year from Le Havre, France arriving in New York on April 20, 1843. On December 22, 1844, after having completed his novitiate and theological studies, Seelos was ordained a priest in the Redemptorist Church of St. James in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.

After being ordained, he worked for nine years in the parish of St. Philomena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, first as assistant pastor with St. John Neumann, the superior of the Religious Community, and later as Superior himself and for the last three years as pastor. During this time, he was also the Redemptorist Novice Master. With Neumann he also dedicated himself to preaching missions. Regarding their relationship, Seelos said: “He has introduced me to the active life” and, “he has guided me as a spiritual director and confessor.”

His availability and innate kindness in understanding and responding to the needs of the faithful, quickly made him well known as an expert confessor and spiritual director, so much so that people came to him even from neighboring towns. Faithful to the Redemptorist charism, he practiced a simple lifestyle and a simple manner of expressing himself. The themes of his preaching, rich in biblical content, were always heard and understood even by everyone, regardless of education, culture, or background. A constant endeavor in this pastoral activity was instructing the little children in the faith. He not only favored this ministry, he held it as fundamental for the growth of the Christian community in the parish. In 1854, he was transferred from Pittsburgh, to Baltimore, then Cumberland in 1857, and to Annapolis (1862), all the while engaged in parish ministry and serving in the formation of future Redemptorists as Prefect of Students. Even in this post, he was true to his character remaining always the kind and happy pastor, prudently attentive to the needs of his students and conscientious of their doctrinal formation. Above all, he strove to instill in these future Redemptorist missionaries the enthusiasm, the spirit of sacrifice and apostolic zeal for the spiritual and temporal welfare of the people.

In 1860 he was proposed as a candidate for the office of Bishop of Pittsburgh. Having been excused from this responsibility by Pope Pius IX, from 1863 until 1866 he dedicated himself to the life of an itinerant missionary preaching in English and German in the states of Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

After a brief period of parish ministry in Detroit, Michigan, he was assigned in 1866 to the Redemptorist community in New Orleans, Louisiana. Here also, as pastor of the Church of St. Mary of the Assumption, he was known as a pastor who was joyously available to his faithful and singularly concerned for the poorest and the most abandoned. In God’s plan, however, his ministry in New Orleans was destined to be brief. In the month of September, exhausted from visiting and caring for the victims of yellow fever, he contracted the dreaded disease. After several weeks of patiently enduring his illness, he passed on to eternal life on October 4, 1867, at the age of 48 years and 9 months.

His Holiness Pope John Paul II, proclaimed Father Seelos Blessed in St. Peter's Square on April 9th of the Solemn Jubilee Year 2000. His Feast Day is October 5.

PURGATORY - ST. CATHERINE OF GENOA

SKY VIEW-PURGATORY

St. Catherine of Genoa's Vision of Purgatory: The Last Great Infusion of Light and Heat

Originally posted as two blogs: "St. Catherine of Genoa's Vision of Purgatory: The Last Great Infusion of Light and Heat.: For All Souls Day the treatise on purgatory by St. Catherine of Genoa is a great source to learn more about this intermediate state between earth and heaven.

“I believe no happiness can be found worthy to be compared with that of a soul in Purgatory except that of the saints in Paradise; and day by day this happiness grows as God flows into these souls, more and more as the hindrance to His entrance is consumed. Sin's rust is the hindrance, and the fire burns the rust away so that more and more the soul opens itself up to the divine inflowing.”

"I see, too, certain rays and shafts of light which go out from that divine love towards the soul and are penetrating and strong enough to seem as though they must destroy not only the body but the soul too, were that possible."

-St. Catherine

Introduction:

The best description and explanation of purgatory is from St. Catherine of Genoa. At least that is my opinion. There have been some Catholic books that have depicted purgatory to be a torture chamber. There is pain there, no doubt. But this partial truth casts a dim light on the subject. The vision of St. Catherine of Genoa on purgatory takes place within the context of God’s fiery love and purity. The soul who is bound for heaven experiences an intense happiness similar to that of paradise. She also undergoes an unprecedented degree of suffering. These two opposite extremes do not mitigate each other. Rather, the integrity of extreme happiness and extreme suffering is fully intact until the imperfections of the soul are purged away.

Memory of Conscience:

Before I get into the details of St. Catherine’s vision, allow me to sketch the parameters by calling your attention to something Pope Benedict XVI said when he was a Cardinal. He had given an address on the “Memory of Conscience” which was based on the writings of Blessed John Henry Newman. He proffered the idea or theory that when God creates each soul there is some sort of contact between God and the soul; a contact that the soul remembers. This memory is not composed of an image of course; it is more like an impression that the Lord imparts. This impression is especially fresh and delicate in the childhood years. But as life unfolds the choices a person makes is either consistent with or a departure from this divine impression within the soul. 

With particular acts, one’s conscience confers peace on the soul when an action is good; and when an action is evil, it imposes guilt. With a guilty conscience, the soul’s memory is essentially saying: “This is not what you were created for; nor is it consistent with the memory you have of God.” And through a peaceful conscience we are reminded that the good deeds we do are a fulfillment of that impression God made at the very beginning.

The Apologetics of Rust and Stains:

Now we come to St. Catherine’s vision of purgatory which begins as such: “This holy Soul found herself, while still in the flesh, placed by the fiery love of God in Purgatory, which burnt her, cleansing whatever in her needed cleansing, to the end that when she passed from this life she might be presented to the sight of God, her dear Love. By means of this loving fire, she understood in her soul the state of the souls of the faithful who are placed in Purgatory to purge them of all the rust and stains of sin of which they have not rid themselves in this life.”

The “rust of sin” which the Saint from Genoa refers to is no man-made doctrine; it comes straight from Scripture. In the New Testament especially, the sacred authors admonish their readers to be found without “spot,” “blemish,” “stain” or “wrinkle.” Here are just a few texts:

“…be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him [God].” (II Peter 3:14)

“…keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (I Timothy 6:14)

“…discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.” (Philippians 1:10)

“…let us cleanse ourselves of every defilement of flesh and spirit, making holiness perfect in fear of God.” (II Corinthians 7: 1)

“...To the one who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished and exultant, in the presence of his glory…” (Jude 24)

These admonitions to be without blemish, stain, defilement and blame when the Lord comes for us presupposes that we can be found with blemish, stain, defilement, and blame. These imperfections are nothing less than the rust of sin (not its guilt but its effect) which holds us back from enjoying the Beatific Vision of God when we die. 

To use another analogy, St. Paul likens the imperfection of the soul to a house built with hay, straw or wood in addition to good material such as gold and silver. The house- a symbol of our life –must withstand the pure and holy fire of God if we are to live in his presence. As is well known, however, straw and wood, which represents those unholy qualities of the soul, will not withstand fire. But in God’s mercy such unworthy building material will be purged away with nothing but gold and silver remaining. The burning of this flammable material will be at a cost; as such, the soul will suffer. As St. Paul said, “But if someone's work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire.”

Not a Torture Chamber:

Now to St. Catherine of Genoa’s vision of purgatory, generally considered: St. Catherine depicts purgatory not so much as a place but rather as a process through which the effects of sin- referred to as the “rust of sin” –are purged away. Although the idea of divine punishment is not to be disregarded in her account, what comes to the fore, nevertheless, is the application of God’s burning love for the soul. This is to be the context in which purgatory is considered. The idea of a torture chamber, portrayed in so many books, is not the main context.

God's Love: Burning Off Imperfections

It is the infusion of this fiery love of God into the soul- so attractive, yet, at the same time, so painfully felt -which burns away the real substantive effects selfishness and other vices leave upon the soul. Scripture refers to these effects as blemishes, spots and defilements. As we garnered from the New Testament already, we are called to be found without these effects when the Lord calls us to heaven. This implies one important truth: it is possible that we, as Christians, can be found with imperfections. Even more importantly, by being baptized into Christ we can purify these imperfections through faith, love and sacrifice. “By kindness and piety guilt is expiated, and by fear of the Lord man avoids evil.” (Proverbs 16:6) “Above all, let your love for one another be intense, because love covers a multitude of sin.” (I Peter 4:8) And to add yet one more passage from the same epistle: “…whoever suffers in flesh has broken from sin.” (4:1) This is why St. Therese the Little Flower could say that when she dies there would be nothing left for her to burn. Her life of love and sacrifice for the Lord would be the holocaust that would make purgatory unnecessary.

Willing To Be There

But for those souls for which purgatory is a necessity upon death, it is curiously not something that is resisted in a way a child resists punishment from his parents; but it is rather something that is desired. As St. Catherine says, “The souls who are in Purgatory cannot, as I understand, choose but be there, and this is by God's ordinance who therein has done justly.” In fact, the soul sees this purification as an act of God’s burning charity and would rather suffer this a thousand times rather than go straight to heaven. Again, she says, “Never can the souls say these pains are pains, so contented are they with God's ordaining with which, in pure charity, their will is united.”

The Beatific Instinct:

Upon death, the soul sees itself as it really is and it sees it in contrast to what it was created to be. And it is the latter, that is, what the soul was created to be, which St. Catherine of Genoa refers to this as the “beatific instinct.” This beatific instinct is the capacity or desire each person was created with to love God; and with each person this beatific instinct varies. For instance, even if I were to be perfect in what God created me to be, my beatific instinct or capacity to love God would never equal that of the Blessed Virgin’s. As stars in the night sky have a different capacity to shine, souls are created with a different capacity to love God in heaven. In any case, the soul in purgatory sees- as if in an instant –his sins and how far away he had fallen from what he was created to be. 

Moving Beyond Sins:

It needs to be said, however, that purgatory is not a state of lamenting sins. According to St. Catherine, focusing on past sins would be a form of imperfection. As such, “They cannot turn their thoughts back to themselves, nor can they say, ‘Such sins I have committed for which I deserve to be here’, nor, ‘I would that I had not committed them for then I would go now to Paradise’, nor, ‘That one will leave sooner than I’, nor, ‘I will leave sooner than he’.” Therefore, after having seen its sins and imperfections upon death, the soul no more considers them. From here on out, the object of the soul’s vision and orientation is the beauty and glory of God.

The Pain: Being Held Back

Similar to the first instant of its creation, the soul’s contact with God in purgatory is profound and an occasion of supreme happiness. But because it cannot possess what it tastes or what it partially beholds, it suffers exceedingly. As St. Catherine reminds us, “Again the soul perceives the grievousness of being held back from seeing the divine light; the soul's instinct too, being drawn by that uniting look, craves to be unhindered.” Yet, these two realities- supreme happiness and intense suffering –exists side by side with each other. “So that the souls in Purgatory enjoy the greatest happiness and endure the greatest pain; the one does not hinder the other.” 

Infusion of God's Fiery Love:

As the soul travels to heaven- as if by the speed of light –God’s consuming fire of love is infused into it. As the shades of sin recede, the soul begins to shine brighter, resembling- little by little -the splendor of God. The book of Wisdom provides the following illustration of these justified souls: “As gold in a furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings, he took them to himself. In the time of their visitation they shall shine, and shall dart about as sparks through stubble.” (3:6-7) St. Catherine continues this thought by saying that day by day happiness increases in the soul as God flows into them. More and more, the rust of sin- the very thing which hinders them from fully possessing God –is burned away by divine love. As such, the soul is better able to open itself up to the divine inflowing. 

She then gives the following analogy: When gold has been purified up to twenty-four carats, it can no longer be consumed by any fire; not gold itself but only dross can be burnt away. Thus the divine fire works in the soul: God holds the soul in the fire until its every imperfection is burnt away and it is brought to perfection, as it were to the purity of twenty-four carats, each soul however according to its own degree. When the soul has been purified it stays wholly in God, having nothing of self in it; its being is in God who has led this cleansed soul to Himself; it can suffer no more for nothing is left in it to be burnt away; were it held in the fire when it has thus been cleansed, it would feel no pain. 

To the Extent We Accept Suffering:

Such is the work of God in purgatory where the imperfections of human love is burned away. However, we are all called to be Saints; to be followers of Christ without these imperfections. Heaven, like purgatory, is a choice. Every soul is created with a certain capacity to love God which, as we said, is referred to as the beatific instinct. To the extent we fill that capacity with love and desire for God, we become Saints. But love and desire for God is tested through and measured by sacrifice and suffering. As with our created capacity to love, God has preordained, for every person, an exact measure of trials and suffering. To the extent we accept with love the trying and difficult circumstances of life- and endure them for his sake –to that extent, our life becomes a holocaust before God. Burning up our personal imperfections, we become like God. And with St. Theresa the Little Flower, we can say that there is nothing left to burn at the hour of our death.

A Saint for Solitude and Silence, St. Hilarion (291-371)

Today, 21 Oct 2011, the Church remembers the life of St Hilarion, one of the great Desert Fathers. He longed for silence and solitude, with which to seek the heart of God, but for much of his life it was denied him. So many miracles accompanied his life on earth that we would be wise to get to know him better and thus seek his powerful intercession from heaven.

St Hilarion was born near Gaza to pagan parents. When the time came for him to be educated, they sent him to Alexandria. Excelling at his studies in this city, he grew in ability and character. Here, as a teenager, Hilarion came into contact with Christianity and was converted. Attracted by the reports of the life of St Antony of Egypt, Hilarion set out to meet him. Still only 15 years old, Hilarion embraced St Antony’s lifestyle whole-heartedly. However far too many people were making their way to implore St Antony’s aid, so Hilarion returned to Palestine, settled his affairs, and began a hermit’s life in the wilderness of Majuma ( a locality on the coast road between Gaza and Egypt).

In this place, St Hilarion through prayer, fasting and self denial battled fierce temptations. Many of these battles were with temptations to lust, so he is someone we can turn to with confidence when we are faced with similar battles. Such a servant of God doesn’t remain hidden for long. Those who came to visit him were healed and set free from demons. Prior to St Hilarion there had been no monks in Palestine, but such were the numbers that came to him that desired to live this harsh life in their quest for God that he trained them, and monasteries sprang up all over the area.

***First Miracle--He had now spent twenty-two years in the wilderness and was the common theme in all the cities ofPalestine, though everywhere known by repute only. The first person bold enough to break into the presence of the blessed Hilarion was a certain woman of Eleutheropolis who found that she was despised by her husband on account of her sterility (for in fifteen years she had borne no fruit of wedlock). He had no expectation of her coming when she suddenly threw herself at his feet. Forgive my boldness, she said: take pity on my necessity. Why do you turn away your eyes? Why shun my entreaties? Do not think of me as a woman, but as an object of compassion. It was my sex that bore the Saviour. Luke 5:31They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. At length, after a long time he no longer turned away, but looked at the woman and asked the cause of her coming and of her tears. On learning this he raised his eyes to heaven and bade her have faith, then wept over her as she departed. Within a year he saw her with a son.


***One of these healings contains so much wisdom that it is worthwhile reviewing. A woman who had been blind for 10 years was brought to St Hilarion. She was now penniless, having spent all she had on physicians. As she came into his presence, he told her “If you had given to the poor what you have wasted on physicians, the true Physician Jesus would have cured you.” Since she was a woman of perseverance, she cried and begged for pity. In response, just like Jesus, St Hilarion made a paste with dirt and spittle and put it on her eyes. The woman was cured instantly. 

***After the holy man had already passed 22 years of his life in this desert, God desired to make him known to the world by miracles. A noble lady of Gaza having heard of the holy hermit, came to him and begged him, with tears in her eyes, to go to her house and visit her three sons who were mortally sick. The Saint refused to comply with her request; but the mother ceased not to weep and entreat him until he had promised to come during the night, which accordingly he did. Saying a short prayer, he laid his hand upon the children, and all three rose from their beds in perfect health. Hardly had this become known in the city, when several sick were carried to him that he might cure them. The Saint, by healing all of them, converted a great many heathens to the true faith. Many also came to him who desired to live piously, and to lead, under his guidance, a solitary life. 

As with many other Desert Fathers, the Lord God underlined how pleasing these lives of radical self denial were by permitting them to live to advanced old age. When the thirst for solitude overwhelmed him, St Hlarion had quite a battle to leave Majuma since no one wanted him to leave. He set out for several lonely places around the Mediterranean, only to be discovered as a holy man time and time again. St Hilarion ended his days in Cyprus, and his faithful disciple St Hesychius managed to smuggle his remains back to Majuma. 

As death came, St Hilarion repeated over and over, “Go forth, what do you fear? Go forth, my soul, why do you hesitate? You have served Christ nearly seventy years, and do you fear death?”

No less a person than St Jerome wrote about the life of St Hilarion. You can find a translation of this document at www.newadvent.org/fathers/3003.htm, and it is so much better than my paltry words. Do yourself a favor and read in it of the miracles worked through St Hilarion and his many words of wisdom.

Prayer to Saint Hilarion

To be a Hilarion, and yet to fear death! If in the green wood they do these things, what shall be done in the dry. O glorious Saint, penetrate us with the apprehension of God's judgments. Teach us that Christian fear does not banish love, but, on the contrary, clears the way and leads to it, and then accompanies it through life as an attentive and faithful guardian. This holy fear was thy security at thy last hour; may it protect us also along the path of life, and at death introduce us immediately into heaven!

St Hilarion, pray for us.  http://catholicdaily.net/societyofsaints/2011/10/21/thirst-for-silence/

American Wonderworker, The Life and Miracles of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos

American Wonderworker, The Life and Miracles of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos

Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos C.Ss.R.By Rev. Carl Hoegerl, C.Ss.R.
“Today we will not study; last night the Blessed Mother told me that I’m to become a missionary in America.” This is how Francis Xavier Seelos told his younger brother Adam that he was going to give up his study of theology at the University of Munich. He was going to become a missionary priest in the United States. He was going to Baltimore to make his novitiate and join the Redemptorists. And so it happened.

Urged on by this Marian experience, Francis set sail for New York on Saint Patrick’s day, 1843. His departure cost him dearly. He loved his family very much and was close to his parents and all his eight brothers and sisters. Saying a last goodbye would be too painful for everyone. So he decided not to go home one last time but, like his namesake St. Francis Xavier, said farewell in a letter and departed for Le Harve and the sailing ship that would bring him to the New World. He had just turned twenty-four.

Francis, or Xavier as he was always called in the family, was bom January I 1, 1819, in Fiissen, a village in southwest Bavaria, on the edge of the Austrian Alps. He grew up in a thoroughly Catholic family and town. In later years he would write home to his mother: “I want to thank you for instilling into us children a great devotion to Mary.” And often in his letters he asked his two unmarried sisters to go to the Shrine of our Lady of the Mountain and pray for him and his missionary work.
During his vacations from school Francis went on long walking trips. Each year he made sure that he visited one of the shrines of Mary that were famous in the region, some close, some not so close. A school companion of his related that when he stood before Mary’s altar, he used to give full voice to his devotion and sing so loud that it filled the whole church. He could not be deterred and insisted on singing all the verses to his beloved Mother.

Once in the States, after thirty-five days on the high seas, matters went quickly for Francis. He made his religious profession as a Redemptorist in Baltimore on May 16, 1844, and was ordained that same year on December 22. The following year he began a nine-year ministry to the German immigrants at St. Philomena Church in smokey Pittsburgh. Here also he began a priestly career that was remarkable for a special gift in the confessional. Penitents flocked to go to Confession to him. They often waited for hours. His confessional, usually the last one at the back of the church, was besieged, even when the other priests had long departed. .

People were convinced that Father Seelos had the gift of reading hearts. Some said that he knew what they were going to say before they said it. Others remarked that he made Confession so very easy, even pleasant and enjoyable. He himself once admitted that he gave his penitents a chance to tell their story and found that this put them at their ease. Above all, he brought great peace to troubled hearts.
His kindness in hearing Confession brought its toll. One of his converts, an elderly lady, took up a lot of time with her Confession. Father Seelos, knowing that there were many others waiting, said to her one day: “There’s a poor gray-headed old woman outside waiting to come in.” “Yes Father,” she replied, “and there’s another gray-headed old woman inside and one gray head has as much right as another.”

As an inexperienced young priest in Pittsburgh, he once had a sick call to someone on the other side of the river. He had to take the ferry to get there. Because he was carrying the Blessed Sacrament, he thought it only proper to kneel down on the deck in adoration of his Divine Lord. Some rough and tough characters gave him a hard time, even hinting at throwing the hated Catholic priest into the river. Luckily a sharp-tongue Irish serving girl came to his rescue and gave a sound verbal lashing to the ruffians. St. John Neumann, his superior, cautioned him about this for the future. Those were the days of much anti-Catholic sentiment.

It was in Pittsburgh, too, that Father Seelos became known as the priest who could heal the sick and the troubled. When the afflicted came to him, he sent them into the church, to the altar of our Blessed Lady. There he prayed with them and gave them a blessing. Many were the cures that were reported through his prayers.
His reputation for the special grace of healing was so widespread that one day a man came to him in the parlor of the priests’ house. He was on crutches. When Father Seelos entered, the man said he wanted to have his legs cured and threw his crutches out the window and said he would stay there until he was cured. Father Seelos, dumbfounded, gave him a blessing, and sure enough the man walked out of the house by himself and unaided.

Father Seelos had a fine opportunity to prove himself a special devotee of Mary in Baltimore where he became pastor of St. Alphonsus Parish in 1854. A Protestant woman, whose husband had fallen from a scaffold while working on the church, asked to become a Catholic. Her minister, finding out that she was under instruction, arranged that he and Father Seelos discussed the Catholic faith in her presence especially its teaching on Mary. Father Seelos defended devotion to Mary so well that she, in effect, dismissed her minister and said she was even more convinced than ever that the Catholic Church was the true one.

While he was pastor of Ss. Peter and Paul Parish in Cumberland, Maryland, and prefect of the Redemptorist seminarians, he often had them sing his favorite hymn to Mary during evening recreation. When some students complained about always singing the same hymn, he calmly said, “Once beautiful, always beautiful.” When one of the students had some reservations about the Assumption of Mary, Father Seelos remarked that, even though not defined by the Church, the faithful had always believed in Mary’s Assumption and that it was always better to believe too much rather than too little.

After some few years as pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in Annapolis, Maryland, and three years as superior of the Redemptorist mission band, Father Seelos fittingly came to St. Mary the Assumption Parish in New Orleans. Here as elsewhere he distinguished himself as a gentle confessor, an inspiring preacher, and a kindly friend of one and all.

Almost a year to the day in New Orleans, Father Seelos contracted yellow fever in September during the great epidemic of 1867. Already affected by the dreaded disease, he insisted on making one last sick call. He came home, went to bed, and never got up again. He lingered until October 4, during which time he admitted to the brother attending him that he had seen the Blessed Mother often. After singing his favorite hymn to Mary, “Gentle Queen,” with his confreres assembled around his bed, he died the death of the just. As a true devotee of Mary, he was buried in the sanctuary of her church, Our Lady of the Assumption.
It was in New Orleans, as well as elsewhere, that witnesses insisted they had seen an aura of light around Father Seelos as he walked down the street or when he visited the sick. Through the years many cures have been attributed to his intercession. Confidence in his power with God has continued to this day around his tomb. The Seelos Center records monthly some of the favors received through his prayers. The Father Seelos and Sanctity bulletin for April 1998 has these remarks from people who prayed to Father Seelos: “my health has greatly improved,” “a favor I prayed for has been granted” “my daughter delivered a beautiful baby boy by c-section, one month early, after a very stressful pregnancy,” “he has obtained many favors and answered my prayers and this for 28 years.”
Fr. Francis Xavier Seelos was a very happy, cheerful and holy man, always smiling or laughing. A contemporary described him this way: “His look was piety, his glance was comfort, his expression was love. Charity glistened in his eyes, and benevolence played around his venerable aspect.”
The secret of his holiness was very simple: he trusted completely in God, he trusted completely in the prayers of Mary. He used to call God his best spiritual director who arranged all the events of his life in order to lead him to holiness. All that he had to do was to follow the lead of God, accept it, be happy with it and everything would go along nicely and he would become holy.
His cause for canonization has been introduced in Rome and is progressing favorably. The “case” for his heroicity of virtue will most likely be presented to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints this spring. If this is approved, the way will be open to present a cure that, it is hoped, will lead to his beatification. A woman of New Orleans had cancer of the liver. Very little of her liver was left. She prayed for the help of Father Seelos. She is still hale and hearty today, thirty-two years later.
If you are interested in knowing more about the Servant of God, Francis Xavier Seelos, C.SS.R., write to: The Father Seelos Center, 2030 Constance Street, New Orleans, LA 70130-5099.

Reprinted with permission from the January-February 1999 issue of Soul Magazine

Saint Pio and the Holy Souls

FROM THE BOOK - HUNGRY SOULS BY VAN DEN AARDWEG
THE BROKEN CANDLES - PAGE 112

Now I want to tell you another story that happened in the church. Every evening after supper all the friars used to come together for a common recreation, and Padre Pio would go with them. Then Padre Pio would go to the oratory and pray by himself.
One evening as Padre Pio was all by himself praying in the oratory, he heard a noise in the church. He thought, It must be the students—the boys who are straightening things up in the church. So he didn't pay any further attention to the incident.
There were candles all around the altar. You would have to use a ladder to get to them. As Padre Pio was praying, he heard a noise like—vroom—and everything came crashing down. He got up from where he was and went to the Communion rail. He saw a young man dressed as a friar. The man was kneeling down. Padre Pio went up to him and said in a loud voice: "Eh, who are you?" The young man said: "I am a Capuchin novice, and I am from Purgatory, doing penance for the lack of diligence in my work in the church."

Padre Pio said, "Well, then! This is a fine way to make reparation— breaking up all the candles! Now listen to me. Go away, and don't you come here any more. Tomorrow my Mass will be for you. In this way you will be liberated. Never come back." The novice thanked him, and Padre Pio left the church. When Padre Pio realized that he had been speaking to a dead man, a cold shiver ran up and down his spine.

While this was happening, Padre Emmanuele was passing by. He said to Padre Pio, "Did you talk with a dead man? I was standing near the Communion rail and I realized that you were talking with a dead man. I got so scared I ran out. I went to get help." He returned with Padre Paolino. Padre Pio was shaking. He said, "I'm cold, I'm cold." Paolino asked him what had happened. He answered, "I was talking to a dead man." After about twenty minutes he said to Emmanuele, "Get a candle and come with me." They went into the church to the main altar. Padre Pio said, "Jump up on the altar."
He did. Then he asked, "Now what do you want me to do?" Padre Pio said, "Look behind the altar. Are there any broken candles there?" At the time the altar had a picture of St. Michael on it. He said, "Look under the picture of St. Michael behind the altar, and see if there are any broken candles." Emmanuele looked and said, "Yes, there are some large candles here. They are all broken. Now what else?"
Padre Pio said, "Now come down. That's enough. No more. Let's get out of here." And they walked out of the church.
Here the apparition left no burn mark, but another concrete, meaningful trace. The poor soul gave a demonstration of the negli¬gent friar he had been and that way attracted Padre Pio's attention. He had to do penance where he had committed his fault.