June 1

Spiritual Bouquet: I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how distressed I am until it is accomplished! St. Luke 12:50

SAINT ANGELA MERICI
Virgin, Foundress
(1474-1540)

Saint Angela was the youngest of her virtuous parents’ five children; she was born in Italy, near Brescia, in 1474. The grace which filled her soul made her beauty a trial for her, and as a young girl she already rejected all vanities. Every evening at home the parents read to the children from the lives of the Saints, and Angela wished to imitate them. She and her sister made an oratory in their room and retired there every day to pray and sing. She added to this service of God harsh austerities, sleeping on the floor while her sister slept profoundly. “We are the children of the Saints,” she would say to her, “and we must turn all our affection towards the One who dwells in heaven. Oh! what torments, what disgrace and privations the solitaries and virgins have endured, to win the crown of immortality! We must suffer and die to ourselves.”

Saint Angela made a vow of virginity before she was ten years old and persuaded her older sister to do the same. The children soon afterwards lost both their parents. A wealthy uncle took the two little girls into his home, but soon the sister of Angela followed her parents by a sudden death. At the age of thirteen Angela still had not received Holy Communion, according to the regrettable delays of those days. She begged to be admitted to the Holy Table, and as soon as her request was granted, resolved to take this heavenly nourishment often. For that purpose she entered the Third Order of Saint Francis, and then, with her director’s permission, was able to receive her Eucharistic Lord every day.

In 1496 at the age of 22, Angela returned, after the death of her good uncle, to the paternal residence in her native village. There several others began to imitate her pious life. She was persuaded that the ills of society resulted from the scarcity of Christian mothers, and that this in turn was the effect of a lack of good education for young girls. She prayed that God would help her remedy this deficiency, and a heavenly vision assured her that before she died she would establish a Congregation of virgins. She and her companions began to assemble the little girls of the area and teach them Christian doctrine. And with them they visited the poor and the sick, and distributed most of the alms by which they themselves lived. Angela became an angel of consolation for all in the region, and though she had not studied, her mind was so clear that preachers and theologians came to consult her.

It was not until 1535 that Saint Angela was able to establish her Community; she was then 61 years old. During the intervening years, she made pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to Rome. Her devotion to the Passion of our Saviour was always increasing, and her piety inspired that of many others. One night in a vision, however, she saw a severe figure, a lash in His hand, look threateningly at her; it was Jesus, who reproached her for her delay in founding an Order which was destined to do a much-needed good. She asked pardon and immediately began to draw up plans and inform her companions of them. These co-workers were still living each in her own house, but all promised to follow the rules. They visited prisons and hospitals, instructed the poor and assisted them, and all of them brought together young girls in their various houses, for instruction. At first this was a simple association, but soon Angela gave her companions the name of Ursulines, in honor of the virgin martyr of chastity and her companions. Saint Angela encouraged her Ursulines to make a voluntary vow of chastity only. She died in January of 1540. It was in France some sixty years later that the group became a regularized Community under Madame Frances de Bermond; thereafter the Institute spread widely. The Foundress was canonized in 1807 by Pope Pius VII.

Source: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 6.

SAINT JUSTIN
Martyr
(103-167)

Saint Justin was born in about the year 103 of pagan parents at Neapolis or Sichem in Samaria, site of Jacob’s well. He was well educated and applied himself in particular to the study of philosophy, always with one object — that he might come to know God. He sought this knowledge among the contending schools of philosophy, but in vain; and finally God appeased the thirst He Himself had created.

One day, while Justin was walking by the seashore, meditating on the thought of God, a majestic old gentleman met him and questioned him concerning his doubts. When he had made Justin confess that the ancient philosophers taught nothing certain about God, the elderly man told him of the writings of the inspired prophets of Israel, and of Jesus Christ whom they announced. Saint Justin himself relates how he counseled him to seek light and understanding through prayer, “for none can understand these things", he told him, “if God and His Christ do not give him understanding of them.”

The Scriptures and the constancy of the Christian martyrs led Justin from the inadequacy of human reason to the light of faith. His conversion occurred between 132 and 137. In his zeal for the Faith he traveled to Greece, Egypt, Asia Minor and Italy, gaining many to Christ. It is believed he was ordained a priest, or at least a deacon. Saint Justin wrote: “I have resolved that in all I say, my only purpose will be to speak the truth; I will say it without fear or any other consideration, even if I should at the same hour be cut up in pieces.” In Rome he did indeed seal his testimony with his blood with four of his disciples, under Marcus Aurelius.

The account of their interrogation has been preserved, for then as now, court stenographers wrote down the words of judges, witnesses and the accused, and the early Christians paid money for the right to copy the records. “Do you think,” the prefect said to Justin, “that by dying you will enter heaven, and be rewarded by God?” “I do not think,” he replied, “I know.” The five Christians were condemned to be flogged and then beheaded. Certain writings of Saint Justin are still extant and still pertinent: Among them are his Discourse to the Greeks, and his famous Apology addressed to the Roman senate and people, and the emperor Antoninus, concerning the unjust laws against Christians. His Dialogue with Tryphon, a young Jew, in which he cites the Messianic prophecies, is the longest and most popular of his writings.

Reflection. Then, as now, there were many religious opinions, but only one certainty — the certainty of the Catholic faith. This certainty which only the Catholic faith can give, should be the measure of our confidence and our zeal. Let us learn to value the gift of faith which many received only after a long search, having lived in the misery of a world which did not know the true God.

Sources: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler’s Lives of the Saints, and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894; Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud and Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 4.

SAINT PAMPHILUS
Martyr
(†308)

Saint Pamphilus, a scholar and martyr of the early fourth century, born of a rich and honorable family, was a native of Berytus in Phenicia. That city was famous then for its schools, and Pamphilus in his youth pursued studies in all the existing branches of learning; afterwards he went to the renowned Christian school of Alexandria, where he had as master a celebrated Christian philosopher named Pierius. Then he journeyed to Caesarea in Palestine, and was there ordained a priest.

After he began to know Christ, he could relish no pursuit but that of the doctrine of salvation, and he renounced all other occupations to apply himself wholly to the study of Holy Scripture and the practices of virtue. At his own expense, he collected a great library of thirty thousand volumes and bestowed it on the church of Caesarea. The Saint also established there a school of sacred literature open to the public, and to his labors the Church was indebted for a corrected edition of the Holy Bible. This, with infinite care, he transcribed himself.

Nothing was more remarkable in Saint Pamphilus than his extraordinary humility. He distributed his paternal estate among the poor; his behavior towards his servants was always that of a brother or a tender father. He led a very austere life, sequestered from the world and its company, and was indefatigable in his scholarly labors. This virtue was his apprenticeship for the grace of martyrdom.

He was giving public lessons in the city of Caesarea, when the persecution of Maximius Daius interrupted them. In the year 307, Urbanus, the cruel governor of Palestine, had him arrested, and after trying unsuccessfully to win this important personage by promises and flattery, commanded him to be inhumanly tormented. But the iron hooks which tore the holy priest’s sides served only to cover the judge with confusion, for no means could alter his holy convictions. The governor had Saint Pamphilus transported half-dead to a prison, where he remained virtually forgotten for two years, his cruel persecutor himself having been reproved and executed by orders of the Emperor, and another having replaced him.

Finally, with nine other imprisoned Christians, Saint Pamphilus was sentenced to death without burial. But no wild creatures approached the bodies of Saint Pamphilus and the other martyrs who died on the same evening. Their guards were impressed, and finally the faithful were allowed to carry away the blessed martyrs for honorable burial.

Reflection. A multitude of witnesses, a noble army of martyrs, teach us by their constancy to suffer wrongs with patience, and strenuously to resist evil. The daily trials we meet with from others or ourselves are always permitted by God, who sometimes purposely poses difficulties before us in order to reward our victory, and like a wise physician, restores us to health by bitter potions.

Sources: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler’s Lives of the Saints, and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894); Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 5.