A Model Disciple and Priest: Memorial of Our Lady of Czestochowa, Monday, August 26, 2019

J.M.J.

I have begun to read, The Radiance of Christ: The Priesthood of Monsignor Kenneth W. Roeltgen (Meadville, Pennsylvania: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc., 2019, Paperback, 146 pages, $19.95) by Margaret Ann Fiore.

This looks to be a very inspiring book about a priest who loved very much the Most Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady, the Mother of Priests. 

Our Blessed Lady, Venerable Fulton Sheen and Islam: Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Thursday, August 22, 2019

J.M.J.

In The World’s First Love (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1952), Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, who is soon to be beatified, dedicated Chapter 17 to “Mary and the Moslems.” His insightful remarks seem apropos to our generation as we seek to understand better Islam and its adherents.

Bishop Sheen began by offering a snapshot of Islam. “Islam is the only great post-Christian religion of the world. Because it had its origin in the seventh century under Mohammed, it was possible to unite within it some elements of Christianity and of Judaism, along with particular customs of Arabia. Islam takes the doctrine of the unity of God, His Majesty and His Creative Power, and uses it, in part, as a basis for the repudiation of Christ, the Son of God. Misunderstanding the notion of the Trinity, Mohammed made Christ a prophet, announcing Him, just as, to Christians, Isaiah and John the Baptist are prophets announcing Christ.” (page 204)

As is well known, the Koran speaks of Our Lady. “First of all, the Koran believes in her Immaculate Conception and, also, in her Virgin Birth. The third chapter of the Koran places the history of Mary’s family in a genealogy which goes back through Abraham, Noah, and Adam. When one compares the Koran’s description of the Birth of Mary with the apocryphal Gospel of the Birth of Mary, one is tempted to believe that Mohammed very much depended upon the latter. Both books describe the old age and the definite sterility of the mother of Mary. When, however, she conceives, the mother of Mary is made to say in the Koran: ‘O Lord, I vow and I consecrate to you what is already within me. Accept it from me.’” (page 206)

Bishop Sheen offered an explanation as to the importance of Our Lady of Fatima and her connection to Islam. “Since nothing ever happens out of Heaven except with a finesse of all details, I believe that the Blessed Virgin chose to be known as ‘Our Lady of Fatima’ as a pledge and a sign of hope to the Moslem people, and as an assurance that they, who show her so much respect, will one day accept her Divine Son, too. Evidence to support these views is found in the historical fact that the Moslems occupied Portugal for centuries. At the time when they were finally driven out, the last Moslem chief had a beautiful daughter by the name of Fatima. A Catholic boy fell in love with her, and for him she not only stayed behind when the Moslems left, but even embraced the faith. The young husband was so much in love with her that he changed the name of the town where he lived to Fatima. Thus, the very place where Our Lady appeared in 1917 bears a historical connection to Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed.” (page 207)

When the Pilgrim Virgin Statue arrived in Africa and India, something unexpected occurred. “Moslems attended the Church services in honor of Our Lady; they allowed religious processions and even prayers before their mosques; and in Mozambique the Moslems, who were unconverted, began to be Christian as soon as the Statue of Our Lady of Fatima was erected.” (page 208)

Bishop Sheen made a prediction. “Missionaries in the future will, more and more, see that their apostolate among the Moslems will be successful in the measure that they preach Our Lady of Fatima. Mary is the advent of Christ, bringing Christ to the people before Christ Himself is born. In any apologetic endeavor, it is always best to start with that which people already accept. Because the Moslems have a devotion to Mary, our missionaries should be satisfied merely to expand and to develop that devotion, with the full realization that Our Blessed Lady will carry the Moslems the rest of the way to her Divine Son. She is forever a ‘traitor’ in the sense that she will not accept any devotion for herself, but will always bring anyone who is devoted to her to her Divine Son. As those who lose devotion to her lose belief in the Divinity of Christ, so those who intensify devotion to her gradually acquire that belief.” (ibid.)

The onetime National Director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith concluded his comments. “Many of our great missionaries in Africa have already broken down the bitter hatred and prejudices of the Moslems against the Christians through their acts of charity, their schools and hospitals. It now remains to use another approach, namely, that of taking the forty-first chapter of the Koran and showing them that it was taken out of the Gospel of Luke, that Mary could not be, even in their own eyes, the most blessed of all the women of Heaven if she had not also borne One Who was the Saviour of the world. If Judith and Esther of the Old Testament were prefigures of Mary, then it may very well be that Fatima herself was a postfigure of Mary! The Moslems should be prepared to acknowledge that, if Fatima must give way in honor to the Blessed Mother, it is because she is different from all the other mothers of the world and that without Christ she would be nothing.” (pages 208-209)

The Holiness of Our Lady Assumed Body and Soul into Heaven Allures: Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Thursday, August 15, 2019

J.M.J.

Our Blessed Lady leads us infallibly to her Divine Son. Her sanctity attracts us. We want to become holier when we encounter Mary.

Ponder those whose names are listed below. Each has a connection to the United States of America, and each is being considered for Canonization.

Five are "Blessed," while seven are "Venerable," and seventeen are the "Servant of God."

BLESSED (5)

1. Father Solanus Casey (1870-1959) . . . born in Wisconsin . . . Franciscan Capuchin . . . priest simplex, that is, he did not enjoy faculties to hear Confessions . . . encouraged thousands of those who came to him for prayer . . . Spiritual Director . . . loved the violin . . . Feast Day: July 30^th

2. Sister Miriam Teresa Demjanovich (1901-1927) . . . born in New Jersey . . . Ruthenian Catholic . . .  Religious . . . Sister of Charity . . . mystic . . . as a novice, she anonymously wrote the spiritual conferences for the professed Sisters . . . her brother was a priest . . . died at age twenty-six . . . Feast Day: May 8^th

3. Carlos Manuel Cecilio Rodríguez Santiago (1918-1963) . . . born in Puerto Rico . . . layman . . . chronically ill from ulcerative colitis . . . excellent student whose health prevented him from continuing in school . . . loved the Sacred Liturgy, especially the Easter Vigil of the night of Holy Saturday, exclaiming, Vivimos para esa noche (“We live for that night”) . . . played the organ during Mass . . . translated some liturgical texts into Spanish . . . practiced poverty, owning only one pair of shoes . . . died at age forty-four from rectal cancer . . . the first Caribbean-born layman to be beatified . . . Feast Day: July 13^th/May 4^th

4. Father Stanley Rother (1935-1981) . . . born in Oklahoma . . . attended Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary . . . diocesan priest who had a mission in Guatemala and was martyred there . . . a relative of his lives in our Diocese . . . Feast Day: July 28^th

5. Father Francis Xavier Seelos (1819-1867) . . . born in Germany . . . Religious . . . Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer . . . ordained a priest in Baltimore . . . lived in Pittsburgh with Saint John Neumann . . . proposed as a candidate for the Office of Bishop but was excused by Pope Blessed Pius IX . . . having cared for the victims of yellow fever, he contracted the disease and died from it at age forty-eight . . . Feast Day: October 5^th

VENERABLE (7)

1. Bishop Frederic Baraga (1797-1868) . . . born in Slovenia . . . ordained a priest in Ljubljana . . . missionary to the United States . . . spoke eight languages fluently . . . grammarian of a Native American language, Ojibway . . . the first Bishop of Marquette, Michigan

2. Bishop Alphonse Gallegos (1931-1991) . . . born in New Mexico . . . Religious . . . Order of Augustinian Recollects . . . Auxiliary Bishop of Sacramento . . . ministered to street gangs . . . “The Bishop of the Barrios” . . . struck by a car and killed  

3. Mother Henriette Díaz DeLille (1813-1862) . . . born in Louisiana . . . Creole . . . a Religious Foundress . . . Sisters of the Holy Family . . . died at age forty-nine in New Orleans during the Civil War when the city was occupied by the Union Army

4. Father Patrick Peyton (1909-1992) . . . born in Ireland . . . lived in the United States for many years . . . Congregation of the Holy Cross . . . promoted the recitation of the Most Holy Rosary . . . “The Family that prays together, stays together” . . . confidant of many in Hollywood

5. Archbishop Fulton Sheen (1895-1979) . . . born in Illinois . . . attended Saint Paul Seminary . . . well-known via books, radio and television . . . encouraged priests to make the daily “Hour Hour” before the Most Blessed Sacrament . . . may be beatified before the end of 2019

6. Pierre Toussaint (1766-1853) . . . born in Haiti . . . lived in New York City . . . a former slave . . . husband to a former slave whose freedom he purchased as well as a father . . . hairdresser . . . attended daily Mass for sixty-six years in Saint Peter Church, New York . . . philanthropist

7. Father Félix Varela y Morales (1788-1853) . . . born in Cuba . . . ordained a priest at age 23 for the Diocese of San Cristóbal de la Habana . . . taught philosophy, physics and chemistry . . . argued for the abolition of slavery in Cuba . . . served as a priest in New York City and later as the Vicar General of the Diocese of New York . . . theological consultant for the U. S. Bishops who wrote the Baltimore Catechism . . . developed severe asthma . . . died in Saint Augustine, Florida

THE SERVANT OF GOD (19)

1. Sister Thea Bowman (1937-1990) . . . born in Mississippi . . . African-American . . . convert from Methodism . . . Religious . . . Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration . . . obtained the Ph.D. in English . . . advocated on behalf of Catholic African-Americans

2. Father Vincent Capodanno (1929-1967) . . . born in New York . . . Maryknoll Missionary . . . U.S. Navy Chaplain assigned to a Marine Corps unit . . . killed in action in Vietnam . . . Medal of Honor and Purple Heart recipient . . . “The Grunt Padre”

3. Father Walter Ciszek (1904-1984) . . . born in Pennsylvania . . . Society of Jesus . . . Missionary . . . imprisoned in the Soviet Union for almost twenty-three years . . . remembered for With God in Russia (1964) and He Leadeth Me (1973)

4. Terence Cardinal Cooke (1921-1983) . . . born in New York . . . Archbishop of New York . . . founded “Courage,” an outreach to men and women with same-sex attraction and promoted the pro-life cause . . . suffered heroically with leukemia

5. Dorothy Day (1897-1980) . . . born in New York . . . wife and mother . . . a “freethinker” who converted to the Church . . . with Peter Maurin founded the Catholic Worker Movement . . . advocated “distributism” as a way between capitalism and socialism

6. Catherine de Heuck Doherty (1896-1985) . . . born in Russia . . . founded “Madonna House” in Ontario . . . cheerfully served the poor . . . friend of Bishop Dudley’s . . . related to the de Heuck Family from Aberdeen

7. Black Elk (1863-1950) . . . (Heȟáka Sápa) . . . born in Montana . . .  second cousin of Crazy Horse’s . . . convert to the Church . . . catechist . . . buried in Saint Agnes Cemetery in Manderson, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Reservation . . . the Cause for Canonization was begun in the Diocese of Rapid City

8. Cora Evans (1904-1957) . . . born in Utah . . . wife and mother . . . convert from Mormonism . . . mystic

9. Monsignor Edward Flanagan (1886-1948) . . . born in Ireland . . . priest in the United States . . . founded “Boys Town” . . . worked with young men in moral danger and those considered “troublemakers” . . . the subject of a famous Hollywood movie

10. Father Demetrius Augustine Gallizten (1770-1840) . . . born in the Netherlands . . . from an aristocratic family . . . traveled throughout the United States . . . was ordained by Archbishop John Carroll of Baltimore . . . honored as “The Apostle to the Alleghenies” 

11. Father John Hardon (1914-2000) . . . born in Pennsylvania . . . Society of Jesus . . . theologian . . . spoke at the Fatima Family Shrine in Alexandria during several summers during the 1990s . . . prolific author . . . his The Catholic Catechism (1975) and Modern Catholic Dictionary (1980) informed many

12. Mother Mary Alphonsa Hawthorne Lathrop (1851-1920) . . . born in Massachusetts . . . the daughter of American author, Nathaniel Hawthorne . . . wife and later widow . . . convert . . . the Foundress of the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne

13. Father Emil Kapaun (1916-1951) . . .  born in Kansas . . . a priest of the Diocese of Wichita . . . U. S. Army Chaplain during World War II and the Korean War . . . died under hostile circumstances in Korea . . . posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor and the Purple Heart . . . had a relative in our Diocese

14. Father Joseph Kentenich (1885-1968) . . . born in Germany . . . Religious . . . Pallottine Fathers . . . Priest . . . founded the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary . . . because of his opposition to Nazism, he was arrested by the Gestapo, eventually interred at Dachau . . . destined to die in the gas chamber but rescued by a S.S. guard . . . founded more branches of Schoenstatt . . . became the parish priest of German speakers in Milwaukee . . . died in Germany on the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows

15. Father Eusebio Kino (1645-1711) . . . born in Italy . . . Religious . . . Society of Jesus . . . Priest . . . missionary to New Spain . . . served in Mexico, Baja, California and present-day Arizona . . . he established 24 missions

16. Mother Mary Lange (1784-1882) . . . born in Cuba in a Haitian community . . . immigrated to the United States . . . Religious and Foundress . . . a member of the first Religious Order in the United States composed of women African descent, the Oblate Sisters of Providence . . . worked to provide girls with a Catholic education

17. Bishop Vincent McCauley (1906-1982) . . . born in Iowa . . . studied at Creighton and Notre Dame . . . Religious . . . Congregation of the Holy Cross . . . Missionary to peoples of Asia and Africa . . . Bishop in Uganda

18. Sister Blandina Segale (1850-1941) . . . born in Italy . . . settled with her family in Cincinnati at age four . . . Religious and Missionary . . . Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati . . . worked for many years in New Mexico

19. Father Augustus Tolton (1854-1897) . . . born in Missouri . . . a former slave . . . the first Catholic priest in the United States known to be black when he was ordained in Rome in 1886 . . . responsible for the development and construction of Saint Monica Church on Chicago’s South Side . . . died at age forty-three in Chicago during the heat wave of 1897