June 4 - Blessed James of Viterbo

Blessed James of Viterbo

Bishop

The life of Blessed James of Viterbo, whom we commemorate today, reminds us of the importance of placing our gifts at the service of others. In this way we find, as he did, the path that leads to our own personal growth and holiness, while at the same time bringing enrichment to others.

The gift you have been given, give as a gift - are the words of Scripture that come alive in the example of Blessed James.

Thought by some historians to be a descendant of the noble Capocci family, James was born in Viterbo, Italy, around 1255. He joined the Augustinians in 1272 at the monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in his native city, and was sent to study theology at the Order's newly opened General House of Studies in Paris. Among his teachers was Giles of Rome who held James in great esteem.

After several years in Italy exercising various responsibilities in the Order, he returned to Paris for additional studies. He obtained his doctorate there in 1293 and, with the election of his former professor, Giles, to the office of Prior General, served as regent of studies until 1299. He then was assigned to Naples, Italy, where he taught and served again as regent. James was named Archbishop of Benevento by Boniface VIII in September, 1302 and the following December was transferred to the Archdiocese of Naples.

During his tenure the cathedral of Naples was constructed. His single most important theological work, De regimine cristiano, is considered the first systematic treatise on the Church. James died in Naples at the end of 1307 or the beginning of 1308, known for his great love for the Church and the teachings of Saint Augustine. Pius X confirmed his cult in 1911.

James was a man endowed with intellectual and pastoral talents which he willingly put at the service of the Order - still in its formative years - and of the Church. At the same time he was a man in whom the grace of humility was also evident, gaining him the admiration and respect of his fellow religious and the people of his archdiocese, who held him in high esteem both in life and after his death.

June 12 - Saint John of Sahagún

San Juan de Sahagún

Priest

There are some individuals of selfless heart who find little satisfaction in life unless they give of themselves continually and without reservation.

Saint John was one such person who repeatedly divested himself of honors and privileges in order to gain the inheritance of eternal happiness. In doing so, he enriched the lives of others by his word and example as well.

John González was born in 1430 of a well-to-do family in Sahagún de Campos, Spain. He studied under the Benedictines in his native city, showing great promise. In 1454 he was ordained priest by the bishop of Burgos and held the office of chaplain at the church of Saint Gadea.

When his bishop died in 1456, John resigned as chaplain and moved to Salamanca to pursue further studies in canon law and theology, obtaining degrees in both. He was named preacher of the city of Salamanca and a member of the University College of Saint Bartholomew. As preacher, he drew large crowds due to his clarity, eloquence and sincerity, while also incurring opposition and criticism for his denunciation of the sins of both nobles and commoners.

On June 18, 1463, John renounced all his offices in order to join the Augustinian Order in Salamanca. He was professed the following year on August 28, and thereafter continued his preaching ministry while exercising various responsibilities in the Order as prior and delegate to various provincial chapters. Because of his renown in the city he became a principle agent of reconciliation between rival groups, thus bring peace to Salamanca. He was also respected as a defender of the rights of workers and the common folk. Characteristic of his personal life was his great devotion to the Eucharist, his humility and simplicity.

John died on June 11, 1479 at the age of 49, was beatified in 1601 and canonized in 1691 by Innocent XII. It was thought by some of his contemporaries that he had actually been poisoned in retaliation for his condemnation of the immoral lifestyle of a public figure. His remains are venerated in the cathedral of Salamanca where he is honored as patron of both the city and the diocese.

Saint John's life bears witness to the necessity of being attentive always to the call of God and generous in responding, regardless of where the summons might lead. There can be no limits placed on one's availability when a person experiences within the force of God's love - whether in one's state of life or in the carrying out of one's responsibilities even at a high price.   

May 22 - Saint Rita of Cascia

Saint Rita of Cascia

Religious

Today we celebrate the feast of one of the most well-known saints of our Order and one of the most popular of the Church. This attractiveness is due in part to Saint Rita's experience of many challenges in life, met always with great confidence in God and exemplary courage.

She thus offers a valid example to people who share her various states of life as spouse, parent, widow and consecrated religious. She reminds us all that nothing is impossible to God.

Rita Lotti was born in 1381 in the little village of Roccaporena, Italy, the only child of a devout and humble Christian couple. She was given in marriage at a young age to Paolo Mancini and together they raised two sons.

When Paolo was murdered as the result of a long-standing family rivalry, Rita was moved to forgiveness because of her strong Christian convictions, but her sons, teenagers by now, were determined to avenge their father's death. Her words were unable to change their hearts, but her prayers to God prevented them from exacting revenge. Both boys died of natural causes, leaving Rita without a family, but not without hope.

After several years and various requests, she succeeded in gaining admittance to the convent of the Augustinian Nuns in Cascia where she lived the remaining forty years of her life in prayer and simple works of charity. At the age of 61, while at prayer on Good Friday before an image of Jesus crowned with thorns, she received the stigmata in the form of a single wound in her forehead. This remained until her death at 76 years of age on May 22, 1457. Rita of Cascia was canonized on May 24, 1900 by Leo XIII who proclaimed her 'The Precious Pearl of Umbria.' Her body is venerated in her basilica in Cascia.

Rita is venerated today as The Peacemaker, not only for her courageous act of forgiveness at her husband's death, but also for the continuous, though futile, encouragement of her sons to follow her example, and the reconciliation of Paolo's family with that of his assassins. This latter was the great 'miraculous deed' that gained her acceptance into the convent. She is also known as the Saint of the Impossible for the many challenges she faced in life and the many graces she has obtained since death.

May 12 - Blessed William Tirry

William Tirry

Priest and Martyr

We celebrate the memory of another martyr today on the Augustinian calendar of saints, William Tirry, an Irish friar who died rather than deny his faith. He was taken prisoner as he was about to celebrate Mass, for it was against the law to be a priest in 17th Century Ireland.

Though offered his freedom if he would renounce his faith, he refused to do so and was led to the gallows, but not before he gave a powerful witness to the Christians around him, Catholic and Protestant alike.

 William was born in Cork, Ireland, in 1608. He entered the Order when he was 18 years old and did his studies at Valladolid, Paris and Brussels. Following ordination to the priesthood he returned to Ireland as a member of the Augustinian community in Cork, a city which became predominantly Protestant with the war of 1641.

Following the arrival of Cromwell in Ireland in August, 1649, and the outlawing of priests throughout the country, William was forced to exercise his ministry in secret. He was betrayed while about to celebrate the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday, 1654, and was taken to the prison at Clonmel. His crime: being a priest in Ireland! He was offered his freedom if he would renounce his Catholic faith, but he refused.

Accused of treason, the court, under pressure of the military, declared him guilty. He was led to the gallows dressed in his Augustinian habit and, from the place of execution, pardoned those who had betrayed him. He asked absolution if there should be a priest in the crowd, thinking that a fellow Augustinian, Fr. Dennis O'Driscoll, the former provincial whose secretary William had been, was present. The day was May 12, 1654. His body was interred at the Augustinian Abbey in Fethard. William was beatified by John Paul II on September 27, 1992 together with sixteen other Irish martyrs.

The tragedy of a Church divided is played out in the lives of people such as Blessed William who suffered for their fidelity to promises made and a faith inspired by heroic love. Love of God and love of neighbor, recommended to us as the first principle of the Rule, is ultimately the final explanation for the courage and steadfastness of Blessed William and others like him.

May 8 - Our Lady of Grace

Our Lady of Grace

Our Lady of Grace is another of the several titles by which Augustinians have traditionally venerated the Blessed Virgin. In fact it is the oldest among these.

From the moment that she received the angel's greeting and gave her consent to God's invitation to become the mother of the Word made flesh, Mary became the bearer of Grace in this world.

This title of 'Our Lady of Grace' is the oldest with which the Order has shown veneration to Mary. The General Chapter of 1284 prescribed the daily recitation or chant of the 'Benedicta Tu' precisely in honor of Our Lady of Grace. The antiphon 'Ave Regina Caelorum', also dating back to the 13th Century, is in honor of this same title as well.

A confraternity with the title 'Lady of Grace' was established at least as early as 1401 in Augustinian friaries of Spain and Portugal, and over the subsequent one hundred years had extended widely throughout the Order. New friaries under this title began to be established in Italy and Latin America. In 1807 Pius VII, at the request of Venerable Joseph Menochio, Papal Sacristan and confessor to the pope, granted the Order the right to celebrate this Feast on June 1st.

The Virgin Mary, greeted by the angel as 'full of grace' became, from that moment, the Mother of Grace. As Mother of the one and only Mediator Jesus, she is Mother of the Author of Grace and dispenser of Grace.   

April 23 - Blessed Helen of Udine

Blessed Helen of Udine

Blessed Helen is one of the several lay women whose memory is celebrated by the Order. She is, thus, a reminder that Augustinian spirituality is not the exclusive possession of religious only.

Our Order has a long and rich tradition of lay men and women walking the same path of Augustinian inspired  values professed by friars, nuns and sisters. We are all called to holiness, and the Augustinian vocation is one proven way of reaching it regardless of one's state of life. 

 Helen Valentini was born in Udine, northern Italy, about the year 1396. She married Antonio Cavalcanti around 1414 and bore him six children. When Antonio died in 1441 of illness contracted during a diplomatic mission to Venice, Helen became an Augustinian Tertiary.

She was greatly influenced by the Augustinian, Angelo of San Severino, to devote her life thereafter to the care of the needy, in works of mercy, and in a life of penance. Her commitment to prayer was nourished by a great love for the Gospel, devotion to the Passion of our Lord and love for the Eucharist.

Above all, she wished to live in imitation of Jesus Christ through a life of sacrifice and service to her neighbor. Helen had a great love for the Order and was a constant visitor to the Augustinian Church of Saint Lucy, as well as one of its most generous benefactors. During the last three years of her life she was confined to bed due to infirmity which she accepted with great patience and resignation. She died on April 23, 1458 and was buried in the Church of Saint Lucy. Since 1845 her remains have been preserved in the Cathedral of Udine. Blessed Pius IX confirmed her cult in 1848. 

Blessed Helen is one of the several lay women whose memory is celebrated by the Order. She is, thus, a reminder that Augustinian spirituality is not the exclusive possession of religious only. Our Order has a long and rich tradition of lay men and women walking the same path of Augustinian inspired  values professed by friars, nuns and sisters. We are all called to holiness, and the Augustinian vocation is one proven way of reaching it regardless of one's state of life. 

April 24 - The Conversion of Saint Augustine

The Conversion of Saint Augustine

The story of a soul's journey to God is what we celebrate today in the feast of the Conversion of Saint Augustine. Or, perhaps, we might also say, the story of God's tireless pursuit of his beloved and the attentiveness and openness of that soul at last to God's love.

Conversion, or the turning to God, is a movement that is possible for us at every moment of our journey - not simply once and forever, but continually and ever more deeply.

During the Easter Vigil, on the night between April 24 and 25, 387, Augustine was baptized by Bishop Ambrose in the Cathedral of Milan together with his son, Adeodatus, and a small group of friends, including the 'brother of (his) heart', Alypius.

Thus was brought to its happy end the long and tiring journey of Augustine's conversion to the Catholic faith. Augustine himself records in Book 8 of the Confessions the climactic moment in which he surrendered to God's grace and was relieved of the doubts and fears which had so long kept him imprisoned. How many things came together now in one moment to bring him freedom: the story of a visiting countryman, the song of a young child, repeating Tolle Lege, Tolle Lege (Take up, read. Take up, read) moving him to pick up St. Paul's Letter to the Romans to find there the response to his heart's longing. 

"How sweet did it suddenly become to me to be free of the sweets of folly: things that I once feared to lose it was now joy to put away. You cast them forth from me, you the true and highest sweetness, you cast them forth, and in their stead you entered in, sweeter than every pleasure...(Conf. 9, 1). 

Certainly the story of Augustine's conversion numbers among the most well-known and most significant of all of Christian history: well-known, through Augustine's own recording of it in his Confessions; significant, not only for the impact which his life of faith - as monk, bishop, and theologian - has had on the Catholic Church ever since, but also on the many men and women of every period whose own personal lives have been altered by reading it. 

April 26 - Our Mother of Good Counsel

Our Mother of Good Counsel

We honor Mary in the Church under many titles. Today's celebration is one particularly dear to Augustinians throughout the world. The tender image of mother and child is at one and the same time so very human and so illustrative of a deep spiritual truth. Mary, mother of her infant son, is also his first and most faithful disciple. He who is her Lord embraces her affectionately as she, his mother, receives from him words of wisdom and counsel. 

Augustinian devotion to Mary under the title of Our Mother of Good Counsel has its origin in the hill-town church of Genazzano, Italy, where the Augustinians have been located since the 13th Century. Originally, their monastery was situated outside the town, but a century they later were invited to take charge of the parish church of Our Mother of Good Counsel in the town-center. When the friars decided to renovate and enlarge the church there occurred an event that came to be considered miraculous, and which drew the attention of great crowds of people. On April 25, 1467, as a side wall was being repaired and a marble figure of the Madonna was removed, there appeared, where the figure had hung, an image of Mary and the Child Jesus. From that moment the title of the church was applied also to the image. According to an old tradition, this very icon, venerated in Albania under the name Our Lady of Scutari or Our Lady of the Albanians, is said to have suddenly disappeared from a church as Albania was being invaded by infidels. Legend says that it floated from the church and was followed by two Albanian men until they reached Genazzano and recognized the image as their own. The news of the "appearance" of the image, coupled with the story of the Albanians, has caused the church, from that time, to be the destination of many pilgrims, including several popes, saints and blesseds. Pope John XXIII was a pilgrim to the shrine on the eve of the Second Vatican Council, and Pope John Paul II visited it before going to Albania to re-establish the hierarchy there following the collapse of communism.  Leo XIII had declared the church a Minor Basilica in 1903 and in April of that year introduced the invocation 'Mother of Good Counsel' to the Litany of Loreto. Blessed Stephen Bellesini was pastor of this church for nine years until his death in 1840. His venerated remains are preserved in a side chapel of the basilica. 

We note the 'good counsel' of Mary in several scenes of the Gospel, especially that of Cana, when the mother of Jesus says, "Do whatever he tells you" (Jn. 2, 5). Saint Augustine reminds us that while Mary is blessed for being the mother of Jesus, she is even more blessed for being his disciple. In fact, as the first disciple of her son she presents him to us as our teacher, our way, our truth and our life - even as he was for her.

March 19 - Saint Joseph, Husband of the Virgin Mary, Protector of the Order

The General Chapter of 1491, celebrated in Rome, decreed: "In all the houses and monasteries of our Order the Office of Saint Joseph, whose feast is the 19th of March, is to be celebrated." In 1722 the Order obtained the faculty of celebrating the patronage of Saint Joseph on the third Sunday of Easter, following the practice of the Recollect and Discalced Congregations of the Order which had obtained this privilege in 1700.

November 29 - Blessed Frederick of Regensburg

Blessed Frederick of Regensburg

Religious

The final commemoration of the Augustinian calendar is reserved to a German lay brother, Blessed Frederick, whose secret to holiness and whose message to us, is one of humble service and generous offering of self for the well being of others.

His life of prayer and devotion to the Eucharist were the food that nourished his spirit and strengthened his daily resolve to live for God and to practice love for his brothers - which is the heart of the Gospel.

Frederick was born in Regensburg (Ratisbon), Germany, and joined the Order there in the Monastery of Saint Nicholas. His life as an Augustinian was marked by humility and generosity, dedication to prayer and great devotion to the Eucharist. His talents served the community principally as carpenter and woodcutter, activities in which he demonstrated his concern for his fellow religious and the needs of the monastery.

Frederick died on November 29, 1329 in Regensburg where devotion to him continued without interruption, and the testimony of miracles attributed to his intercession, were gathered. Frederick is buried at St. Cecelia Church in the city of Regensburg. Pius X beatified him on May 12, 1909. 

History has not left us a great deal of factual information about Blessed Frederick. Perhaps this is an indication of the ‘ordinariness’ of this servant of God, who spent his religious life in fidelity to the daily cycle of prayer and work which characterize so many religious of his day and ours. Frederick reminds us that loyal devotion to one’s state in life, lived in faith, charity, and generosity, is the material of which holiness consists.    

November 13 - All Saints of the Order

All Saints of the Order

As the Church Universal devotes a day of celebration for the countless men, women and children whose pilgrimage on earth has ended and who now enjoy the peace of the everlasting sabbath in heaven, so too, we Augustinians set aside this day to call to mind the many brothers and sisters of our Order who have reached their ultimate goal.

Their memory encourages and inspires us, their prayers assist us and spur us on. United as we have been with them through the bond of our common religious profession, we seek to be united together with them in Christ in the fullness of life.

November 13, 354, is the birth date of Saint Augustine, chosen by the Order as the occasion on which to commemorate, in addition to all the saints and blesseds of the three Augustinian Families recognized by the Church, all our members, of every language, race and nation whose names are inscribed in the Book of Life. In recent years this day has also been observed as a day of prayer for vocations to the Order. 

"Among the religious Orders, the holy Order of the Hermits of Saint Augustine, within the Church, has been and continues to be abundantly fruitful with seeds of virtue, flowering of observance, blossoms of wisdom and fruits of sanctity in its religious, through the grace of God... There are many who perform no miracles, but they are in no way inferior to others who do so..." (Jordan of Saxony).  

November 5 - Blessed Mariano de la Mata

Blessed Mariano de la Mata

Priest

As a “saint of the ordinary,” Father Mariano reminds us that the path to holiness is essentially simple: it consists in living the Gospel message in a spirit of faith, freedom and generosity, loving God and neighbour as Jesus instructed us. Mariano is a modern saint, a saint who lived surrounded by the challenges of our contemporary world, but with the timeless truth and wisdom of the two great commandments.

Mariano was born into a simple Christian family from Barrio de la Puebla de Valdavia (Palencia), Spain, in 1905. Three of his brothers preceded him into the Order of Saint Augustine. He himself studied in Valladolid and La Vid and was ordained in 1930. After two years ministering in Spain, he left for Brazil where he carried out an extensive apostolate in the field of education and especially in the daily care of the poor, the infirm and children. Fr. Mariano may be called ‘a saint of the ordinary.’ He possessed a strong character, but was at the same time a generous and sensitive individual, friendly and approachable with all. He was devoted to the Blessed Virgin, thoroughly committed to his priestly vocation and fervent in his love for the Eucharist. Mariano was diagnosed with cancer in early 1983. He underwent surgery to remove a malignant tumor, but the cancer continued to spread. He died April 5, 1983, and was beatified on November 5, 2006 in the Cathedral of Sao Paulo, Brazil by Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, who said of the new blessed, “Fr. Mariano was poor with the poor, humble among children and compassionate towards the infirm and the elderly. He was conscientious with his students, the faithful and the association of Workshops of Saint Rita (he founded over 200 such workshops which employ people to make affordable clothing for the poor). He was merciful toward his penitents, pure of heart, and a lover of peace in his Augustinian community and in his family, overcoming difficulties through prayer and sacrifice, constantly having recourse to the Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Consolation up until the moment he departed this life.” His body rests beside the altar of his beloved Virgin of Consolation in the Church of Saint Augustine in Sao Paulo. 

One of the friars with whom Mariano had lived for some time was taken back when told that his confrere was to be beatified. He said this was not because there was anything negative about him, "but rather because there were no exceptional, spectacular signs of holiness that drew his attention." Perhaps that says as much about the 'ordinariness' of sanctity as it does the holiness of the other members of the community as well!

October 25 - Saint John Stone

Saint John Stone

Priest and Martyr

The Church in every land has known the witness of martyrs. Today it is the turn of England, one of whose sons, John Stone, accepted death rather than compromise his beliefs. A friar like many others of his day, he stands out from the rest, however, for his extraordinary courage and fidelity to his convictions, all for the sake of the Church's unity and freedom. Here is one man, among many men and women, who honored Jesus' command to "give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God."

Almost everything we know about John Stone regards his imprisonment and death. Presumably he joined the Augustinians at Canterbury, England, where the Order was founded in 1318. In December 1538, a former Dominican, Richard Ingsworth, one of Cromwell’s men, appeared in Canterbury. He closed both the Franciscan and the Dominican houses on December 13th, and the following day appeared at Austin Friars. Each friar had to sign an explicit acknowledgement of Henry VIII as head of the English Church. John refused and made a lengthy attack on Henry’s usurpation of the Church's rights. He was taken prisoner, brought to London to Cromwell, but refused to recant. After a year’s detainment, on October 27, 1539, he was sent to be tried and executed at Canterbury. An eyewitness to his imprisonment testified, “John Stone was invested with the crown of martyrdom at Canterbury. But before that, having poured forth prayers in prison to God and having fasted continuously for three days, he heard a voice, though he saw no one, which addressed him by name and bade him to be of good heart and not to hesitate to suffer death with constancy for the belief which he had professed. From which afterwards he gained such eagerness and strength as never to allow himself by persuasion or terror to be drawn from his purpose.” The date of the execution was probably Saturday, December 27, 1539 amid much publicity. The place of execution was a landmark, called the Dungeon, now renamed Dane John, and from the scaffold John could look down on his former friary. He was hung, but not to death. While still conscious his heart was removed; his head and limbs were severed and parboiled. They were placed over the city gates as a warning to other rebels. John was beatified on December 9, 1886 by Leo XIII. He was canonized by Paul VI with 39 other English martyrs on October 25, 1970. 

Though all of us are called to holiness, the paths we take to get there are very different. Many of those proclaimed as saints are noted for their exceptionally virtuous lives. In others, like John, however, many of life’s virtues are hidden and only the heroism of fidelity shines forth, but to such a degree and to such an end, that its validity cannot be misinterpreted. Greater love no one has than to lay down his own life for a Friend!

October 12 - Blessed Maria Teresa Fasce

Blessed Maria Teresa Fasce

Virgin

The life of the contemplative nun, Blessed Teresa Fasce, whom we commemorate today, though different from that of most of us, nevertheless illustrates the universal Christian virtues of fidelity to God's will at all costs and the practical implementation of the great commandment of love. Though dedicated to the life of the cloister, Blessed Teresa nonetheless accomplished many good things on behalf of those outside the convent and enjoyed the affectionate love of a grateful people.

 Maria Giovanna Fasce was born into a family of means in Torriglia, in the region of Genoa, Italy, on December 27, 1881. As a young girl she received a good education and served as a catechist in her parish church, Our Lady of Consolation, under the care of the Augustinian Friars. Inspired by the example of Saint Rita, she determined to enter religious life and despite many obstacles, entered the convent of Cascia in 1906, taking the name Maria Teresa Eletta. She made her solemn profession in 1912 and served her community as director of novices and vicar. In August, 1920, she was elected abbess and was confirmed in this office nine times throughout the following 27 years until her death. The great ambition of Mother Teresa, which she succeeded in converting into a plan of action, was the enrichment of the religious spirit of her community and of each one of the nuns. Her influence, however, reached far beyond the walls of the cloister by means of the initiatives she undertook to spread devotion to Saint Rita and to promote the well-being of her adopted town. Among these were the publication of the magazine “From the Bees to the Roses”, the establishment of an orphanage for girls, the founding of a seminary for candidates to the Order and the construction of the Basilica as a place of pilgrimage and the fitting resting place of the saint to whom she was so devoted. During the Second World War she courageously protected the convent and defended the rights of the nuns as well as members of the resistance under attack. Throughout her life Mother Teresa suffered many physical ailments, including cancer and a debilitating condition which at times made it difficult for her to walk. All of this she bore with complete resignation and patience and was an example of fortitude and serenity to the nuns and people of Cascia. She died peacefully on January 18, 1947 and was beatified together with Blessed Elías Nieves on October 12, 1997. Her body is venerated in the lower shrine of the Basilica which she made possible. 

Mother Teresa Fasce was a cloistered contemplative nun, not only in name, but also in fact, during the several decades of her religious life. At the same time she was a woman of great vision and action, who had the capacity to inspire others even as she was inspired by the life and message of her patroness, Saint Rita. She reminds us that there is no contradiction between contemplation and service: both are motivated by love and must be expressed in love.