February 18, 2025

Saints

Vatican confirms miracle for new Canadian saint

Mother & Refuge03 mins

On Wednesday, January 24, the Vatican Dicastery of the Causes of Saints officially approved a second miracle that was attributed to the intercession of Bl. Marie-Léonie Paradis. The miracle involved the medically unexplained recovery of a baby girl on November 9, 1986. The baby was born without any signs of life, but after her family prayed for the intercession of Bl. Marie-Léonie, the child began to move and is now a healthy woman. The confirmation of this miracle paves the way for her canonization, after which she will be called a “saint.” Previously she was beatified by St. John Paul II on September 11, 1984, at Jarry Park in Montreal. Who is Bl. Marie-Léonie Paradis? Born to a poor family in 1840 in Quebec, Alodie-Virginie Paradis was drawn to the religious life at an early age. By 13 she joined the Congregation of the Marianites of the Holy Cross and flourished in the convent, taking the name Marie-Léonie. She was known as a great teacher and was sent in 1862 to St. Vincent de Paul Orphanage in New York. Marie remained at her new assignment for several years, until the United States branch of the congregation split and moved to Notre Dame, Indiana. There she taught at St. Mary Academy for a few years, but was then invited back to Canada to help at the College of St. Joseph in Memramcook, New Brunswick. Marie traveled back to Canada and soon enough her joyful example of religious life attracted women who wanted to work with her in a new religious congregation. The Bishop of Montreal heard of Marie and encouraged her to found a new congregation of religious who would aid priests and religious. With the bishop’s support, she established the Little Sisters of the Holy Family on May 31, 1880.  Read more…

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Mama Antula: A new Argentinean saint who inspires the Church

Mother & Refuge07 mins

Pope Francis authorized a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Maria Antonia of St. Joseph, better known as Mama Antula. After the due processes were completed, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints promulgated the decree allowing her canonization. The ceremony will take place on February 11, 2024.   The miracle for the canonization The miracle attributed to her intercession which has made possible her canonization is the healing of a person who suffered an ischemic stroke with hemorrhagic infarction in several areas. The empirical evidence collected after the patient’s admission to an intensive care unit in a coma shows the seriousness of his condition. The effects of the stroke were inexplicably reversed after his family, and many other people as well, turned to Blessed Mama Antula’s intercession on his behalf. The first Argentine saint Mama Antula was born in 1730 in Santiago del Estero, which at that time was part of the territory of the Viceroyalty of Peru (but which today is in northern Argentina). She was baptized under the name María Antonia de Paz y Figueroa. In addition to being the first saint to have been born and died on what is today Argentinean soil, Mama Antula, a consecrated laywoman, is considered by some as a true founder of the Argentinean nation. It’s not because of political activity, but because of her tireless proclamation of the gospel that left its mark on the religious and cultural identity of the Argentines. Promoting the spiritual exercises Coming from a prestigious family, from her youth she dedicated herself to assist the Jesuits both in the promotion of 10-day spiritual retreats and in the realization of charitable works. She lived with other women committed to the cause of God, although they did not opt for convent life. The local indigenous Quechua communities gave her the nickname of Antula.     Among other things, she was also responsible for keeping alive the flame of the spiritual exercises during the time when the Jesuits were exiled from Argentina (1767-1836). She also universalized their scope, calling absolutely everyone to participate, regardless of social class, profession, or any other difference. Mama Antula dedicated herself fully to this mission, and traveled through towns and cities, sometimes even walking barefoot, calling people to participate. Eventually she arrived in Buenos Aires, where she founded the House of Spiritual Exercises. Her influence and prestige was such that the bishop of Buenos Aires consulted with her before ordaining any candidate to the priesthood. Indeed, no one could receive holy orders without first passing through her House of Spiritual Exercises. Her relevance today Bishop Santiago Olivera was the vice postulator of the cause of Mama Antula and is the bishop delegate for the cause of saints of the Argentine Episcopal Conference. Speaking with Aleteia, he explained that despite being a saint of the 18th century, even today Mama Antula’s life and testimony can teach us about Christian life and about life in the Church: Saints are those who have (…) incarnated the Gospel. (…) And for this reason, the saints, who are beacons and light, are also models and who are always relevant and valid. Mama Antula was born in 1730 and died in 1799, and today we are talking about her with the joy and happiness of knowing of her holiness. (…) She reminds us that we must all walk towards holiness. It’s a primary vocation to which we are all called. By offering Mama Antula as an example, he said, the Church “reminds us of that important pastoral work of being an instrument, a bridge, so that people can meet Jesus through the spiritual exercises, which is her fundamental work.” He compares it to the Gospel passage when a group of friends lower a paralyzed man down through the roof in front of Jesus. “When we bring people to the Spiritual Exercises, we make every effort to put them in front of a gaze that cures, a gaze that heals, restores and loves, Jesus’ gaze, so that the men and women of our time may encounter Him.”   Read more…

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The Prophecy of St. Nilus about Our Days

Mother & Refuge06 mins

Realizing that St. Nilus is scarcely known to a large part of the Church, a brief sketch of his life, taken from the Catholic Encyclopedia (1911 copyright edition), is related below: St. Nilus was one of the many disciples and fervent defenders of St. John Chrysostom. He was an officer at the Court of Constantinople, married, with two sons. While St. John Chrysostom was patriarch, before his exile (398-403), he directed Nilus in the study of Scripture and in works of piety. St. Nilus left his wife and one son and took the other, Theodulos, with him to Mount Sinai to be a monk. The Bishop of Eleusa ordained both St. Nilus and his son to the priesthood. The mother and other son also embraced the religious life in Egypt. From his monastery at Sinai, St. Nilus was a well-known person throughout the Eastern Church. Through his writings and correspondence, he played an important part in the history of his time. He was known as a theologian, Biblical scholar and ascetic writer, so people of all kinds, from the Emperor down wrote to consult him. His numerous works, including a multitude of letters, consist of denunciations of heresy, paganism, abuses of discipline and crimes. He also wrote about rules and principles of asceticism, especially maxims on the religious life. He warns and threatens people in high places, Abbots and Bishops, Governors and Princes, even the Emperor himself, without fear. He kept up a correspondence with Gaina, a leader of the Goths, endeavoring to convert him from Arianism. He denounced vigorously the persecution of St. John Chrysostom both to the Emperor Arcadius and to his courtiers. St. Nilus must be counted as one of the leading ascetic writers of the 5th century. His feast is kept on November 12th in the Byzantine Calendar; he is commemorated also in the Roman Martyrology on the same date. St. Nilus probably died around the year 430, as there is no evidence of his life after that. The Prophecy of St. Nilus After the year 1900, toward the middle of the 20th century, the people of that time will become unrecognizable. When the time for the Advent of the Antichrist approaches, people’s minds will grow cloudy from carnal passions, and dishonor and lawlessness will grow stronger. Then the world will become unrecognizable. People’s appearances will change, and it will be impossible to distinguish men from women due to their shamelessness in dress and style of hair. These people will be cruel and will be like wild animals because of the temptations of the Antichrist. There will be no respect for parents and elders, love will disappear, and Christian pastors, Bishops and priests will become vain men, completely failing to distinguish the right-hand way from the left. At that time, the morals and traditions of Christians and of the Church will change. People will abandon modesty, and dissipation will reign. Falsehood and greed will attain great proportions, and woe to those who pile up treasures. Lust, adultery, homosexuality, secret deeds and murder will rule in society. Apostasy At that future time, due to the power of such great crimes and licentiousness, people will be deprived of the grace of the Holy Spirit, which they received in Holy Baptism and equally of remorse. The Churches of God will be deprived of God-fearing and pious pastors, and woe to the Christians remaining in the world at that time; they will completely lose their faith because they will lack the opportunity of seeing the light of knowledge from anyone at all. Then they will separate themselves out of the world in holy refuges in search of lightening their spiritual sufferings, but everywhere they will meet obstacles and constraints. And all this will result from the fact that the Antichrist wants to be Lord over everything and become the ruler of the whole universe, and he will produce miracles and fantastic signs. Read more…

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This is what pleases Jesus best, according to St. Faustina

Mother & Refuge03 mins

hose who do not pray to Jesus in his Passion,” wrote the poet priest Gerard Manley Hopkins, “pray to God, but scarcely to Christ.” We pray with passion when we meditate on the Lord’s Passion.  How crucial to keep the cross at the center of our prayer. St. Leo the Great assures us that “through the cross the faithful receive strength from weakness, glory from dishonor, life from death.” In her Diary, St. Faustina relates:  Jesus told me that I please him best by meditating on his sorrowful Passion, and by such meditation much light falls upon my soul. He who wants to learn true humility should reflect upon the Passion of Jesus. When I meditate upon the Passion of Jesus, I get a clear understanding of many things I could not comprehend before. We can approach Christ’s Passion in prayer with hope and great peace. In the words of Joseph Ratzinger, “What looks down at us from the cross is a goodness that enables a new beginning in the midst of life’s horror.” And St. John Paul II adds, “The cross is like a touch of eternal love upon the most painful wounds of man’s earthly existence.” One practical way to meditate on the Lord’s Passion is to pray before a crucifix, for “the human heart is converted by looking upon him whom our sins have pierced” (CCC 1432). The Imitation of Christ tells us, “If you do not know how to meditate on heavenly things, direct your thoughts to Christ’s Passion and willingly behold his sacred wounds.” Also, of course, is prayerfully meditating on the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary.   Read more…

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15 Secret Tortures of Our Lord|With Meditative Images

Mother & Refuge44 mins

15 Secret Tortures of Our Lord  (Each torture pray 1 Our Father,1 Hail Mary,1 Glory be) The consequent revelation was presented to Pope Clement II (1730-1740), who gave his imprimatur for public release. There are two official translations into English:”My tormentors considered Me as the most wretched man living on earth, that is why:”(1) They fastened My legs with rope and dragged Me over the stepping stones of the staircase, down into the filthy, nauseating cellar;  “(2) They took off My clothing and stung My body with iron joints; “(3) They attached a rope around My body and dragged Me on the floor, and then threw Me from wall to wall; “(4) They hung Me on a wooden beam with a loose knot from which I slipped and fell to the ground. Overwhelmed by this torture, I wept tears of blood. “(4) They hung Me on a wooden beam with a loose knot from which I slipped and fell to the ground. Overwhelmed by this torture, I wept tears of blood. “(5) They tied Me to a post and pierced My body with various tools and weapons; “(6) They struck Me with stones and burnt Me with blazing embers and torches; “(7) They pierced Me with awls; sharp spears tore My skin, flesh and arteries out of My body; “(8) They tied Me to a post and made Me stand barefoot on a heated metal sheet; “(9) They crowned Me with an iron crown and wrapped My eyes with the dirtiest possible rags; “(10) They sat Me on a chair with pointed nails, causing deep wounds in My body; “(11) They poured on My wounds molten lead and tar, and after this torture pressed Me again on the nailed chair, so that the nails went deeper and deeper into My flesh; “(12) To shame and torment Me, they drove needles into the holes of My uprooted beard; “(13) They threw on Me a cross and tied Me so tightly that I could hardly breathe; “(14) When I fell to the ground, they stomped on My head. One of them stepped on My chest, then took a thorn from My crown and drove it into My tongue; “(15) They poured into My mouth the most immodest excretions, as they uttered the most infamous expressions about Me. Then they tied My hands behind My back and led Me out of jail with strikes and blows.”

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