The Traditional Feast of St. Josaphat, Bishop and Martyr

Icon of St. Josaphat, taken from St. Josaphat's Ukrainian Catholic Church
(The following is taken from the "legend" for St. Josaphat from the traditional Roman Breviary, as excerpted in the 14 November entry in Volume XV of the 1983 Marian House edition of the English translation of Dom Prosper Guéranger's 'The Liturgical Year' by the Benedictines of Stanbrook.)

"Josaphat Kuncewicz was born of noble Catholic parents at Vladimir in Volhynia [part of present-day western Ukraine]. When a child, as he was listening to his mother telling him about the Passion of Christ, a dart issued from the image of Jesus crucified and wounded him in the heart. Set on fire with the love of God, he began to devote himself with such zeal to prayer and other works of piety, that he was the admiration and the model of his older companions. At the age of twenty he became a monk under the Rule of St. Basil, and made wonderful progress in evangelical progression....The flower of his chastity, which he had vowed in early youth to the Virgin Mother of God, he preserved unspotted. He soon became so renowned for virtue and learning, that in spite of his youth he was made superior of the monastery of Byten; soon afterwards he became archimandrite of Vilna; and lastly, much against his will, but to the great joy of Catholics, he was chosen archbishop of Polotsk [in present-day Belarus]"

"...He energetically defended Catholic faith and unity, and laboured to the utmost of his power to bring back schismatics and heretics to communion with the See of blessed Peter. The Sovereign Pontiff and the plenitude of his power he never ceased to defend, both by preaching and by writings full of piety and learning, against the most shameless calumnies and errors of the wicked....Incredible was the number of heretics he won back to the bosom of mother Church; and the words of the Popes bear witness how greatly he promoted the union of the Greek and Latin churches...."

"The great progress made by the Catholic faith so stirred up the hatred of wicked men against the soldier of Christ, that they determined to put him to death. He knew what was threatening him; and foretold it when preaching to the people. As he was making his pastoral visitation at Vitebsk [in present-day Belarus], the murderers broke into his house, striking and wounding all whom they wound. Josaphat meekly went to meet them, and accosted them kindly, saying: My little children, why do you strike my servants? If you have any complaint against me, here I am. Hereupon they rushed on him, overwhelmed him with blows, pierced him with their spears, and at length dispatched him with an axe and threw his body into the river. This took place on the twelfth of November, 1623, in his forty-third year of his age. His body, surrounded with miraculous light, was rescued from the waters. The martyr's blood won a blessing first of all for his murderers; for being condemned to death, they nearly all abjured their schism and repented of their crime. As the death of this great bishop was followed by many miracles, Pope Urban VIII granted him the honours of beatification...[In July 1867, now Blessed] Pius IX in the Vatican basilica, in [the] presence of the College of Cardinals, and of about five hundred patriarchs, metropolitans, and bishops of every rite, assembled from all parts of the world, solemnly enrolled among the saints this great defender of the Church's unity, who was the first Oriental to be thus honoured. Pope Leo XIII extended his Mass and Office to the universal Church."

St. Francis de Sales on Our Lady as Theotokos

Mosaic of Our Lady from the Hagia Sophia, taken from The Religion Network
[The following is excerpted from St. Francis de Sales' sermon on Our Lady's Nativity, given on 10 September 1620, and translated by the Nuns of the Visitation in Frederick, Maryland, USA in "The Sermons of St. Francis de Sales on Our Lady," published by TAN Books. 11 October is the feast of Our Lady's Maternity on the traditional sanctoral calendar.]

"The great Apostle St. Paul, who is certainly admirable in all that he said, offered an argument by which we can understand how great is the dignity of the Mother of God: Is there an angel, even a seraphim, to whom the Eternal Father has said: 'This one is My Son'? (Heb. 1:5). Oh no, that applied only to our dear Savior and Master, who was His true and natural Son. And we can add: Is there any creature to whom the Son of God has said, 'My Mother'? No, certainly, that was due to this Virgin [Mary] alone, who had carried him for nine months in her sacred womb. Let us conclude, then following this great saint, that the greatest title that can be given to the Holy Virgin is to name her Mother of God."

One Way to Remember Your Guardian Angel

The Church in the West's feast day for our guardian angels is on 2 October. Here's one prayer from the Christian East that I recently found that really struck me.



Russian Icon of a Guardian Angel, taken from St. George Books
Byzantine Prayer to the Guardian Angel
Holy Angel, overseer of my wretched soul and miserable life, do not abandon me a sinner, do not desert me because of my inconstancy; leave no place for the evil demon to obtain dominion over me by gaining control of this mortal body; strengthen my wretched and feeble hand, and guide me into the way of salvation. Yea, O Holy Angel of God, guardian and protector of my wretched soul and body, pardon me all things whereby I have saddened thee all the days of my life, and whatever sins I have committed this day; shelter me in the coming night and protect me from every abuse of the adversary, that I may not anger my God by any sin; and intercede for me to the Lord, to strengthen me in His fear, and show me to be a worthy servant of His goodness. Amen.

[Taken from Free Republic Religion Forum: The 12 most important things to know about angels.]

Walsingham and The Dowry of Mary (on the Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham)

The Wilton Diptych
(The following from a pamphlet titled "Walsingham: The Shrine of Our Lady - Spiritual Guide," which I obtained on a trip to the shrine of Our Lady in Walsingham, England in September 2004).

"On the Sunday after Corpus Christi 1381 in Westminster Abbey, King Richard II knelt amidst a great throng of his subjects to re-dedicate England to Mary, as her dowry. Westminster was the shrine of St. Edward the Confessor, traditionally held to have been the first to make this dedication and in whose reign Walsingham had been founded. Richard made at least two pilgrimages at this time to Our Lady's Shrine in Walsingham and to that of St. Edmund at Bury. The saintly Edmund, king of East Anglia, where Walsingham was situated, had been martyred for the faith by the Vikings in the 9th century. In the [Wilton] diptych (above) the three "dowry kings," as they are known, are depicted with St. John the Baptist, Richard's special patron. At the end of the Richard's reign Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote: 'The contemplation of the great mystery of the Incarnation has brought all Christian nations to venerate her from whom came the beginnings of Redemption. But we, as the humble servants of her own inheritance and liegemen of her special dower, as we are approved by common parlance, ought to excel all others in favour of our praises and devotion to her.' A hundred years later, the Pynson Ballad centres the spirituality of Walsingham on this same great mystery, seeing the Shrine as the very reason for the title 'dowry of Mary.'"


Statue of Our Lady of Walsingham, in the "Slipper Chapel"
"O England, great cause have you to be glad
Compared to the Promised Land
For you are graced to stand in that degree,
Through this glorious lady's intercession;
To be called in every realm and region
The Holy Land, Our Lady's Dowry
Thus are you called from all antiquity.
And this is the cause, as appears by comparison.
In you is built New Nazareth, a house
To the honour of the Heavenly Empress
And of her glorious Salutation.
First principle and ground of our Salvation,
When Gabriel said at old Nazareth: Ave!
This joy shall be remembered here each day."
(Ballad of Walsingham, c. 1490)

St. Thecla, Protomartyr for Women

Maronite image of Saint Thecla, taken from Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church

(The following is excerpted from the 23 September entry in Volume XIV of the 1983 Marian House edition of the English translation of Dom Prosper Guéranger's 'The Liturgical Year' by the Benedictines of Stanbrook.)

"While honouring the first successor of St. Peter [St. Linus], Rome commemorates the protomartyr of the female sex. Together with holy Church, then, let us unite in the concert of praise unanimously lavished upon [Saint] Thecla by the fathers of east and west. When the martyr pontiff Methodius [Saint Methodius of Olympus] gave his 'Banquet of virgins' to the Church, about the end of the third century, it is on the brow of the virgin of Iconium that he placed the fairest of crowns distributed at the banquet of the Spouse. And justly so; for had not Thecla been trained by [Saint] Paul, who had made her more learned in the Gospel than she was before in philosophy and every science? Heroism in her kept pace with knowledge; her magnanimity of purpose was equaled by her courage; while, strong in the virginal purity of her soul and body, she triumphed over fire, wild beasts, and sea monsters, and won the glory of a triple martyrdom."

"A fresh triumph is hers at the mysterious banquet. Wisdom has taken possession of her, and, like a divine harp, makes music in her soul, which is echoed on her lips in words of wondrous eloquence and sublime poetry. When the feast is over, and the virgins rise to give thanks to the Lord, Thecla leads the chorus, singing: 'For thee, O Bridegroom, I keep myself pure; and with burning lamp I come to meet thee.'"

"'I have fled from the bitter pleasures of mortals, and luxurious delights of life and its love; under Thy life-giving arms I desire to be protected, and to gaze for ever on Thy beauty, O blessed One.'"

"'For Thee, O Bridegroom, I keep myself pure; and with burning lamp I come to meet thee.'"

"'I have contemned union with mortal man; I have left my golden home for Thee, O King; I have come in undefiled robes, that I may enter with Thee into Thy happy bridal chamber.'"

"'For Thee, O Bridegroom, I keep myself pure; and with burning lamp I come to meet thee.'"

"'Having escaped the enchanting wiles of the serpent, and triumphed over the flaming fire and the attacks of wild beasts, I await Thee from heaven.'"

"'For Thee, O Bridegroom, I keep myself pure; and with burning lamp I come to meet thee.'"

"'Through love of Thee, O Word, I have forgotten the land of my birth; I have forgotten the virgins my companions, and even the desire of mother and of kindred; for Thou, O Christ, art all things to me.'"

"'For Thee, O Bridegroom, I keep myself pure; and with burning lamp I come to meet thee.'"

"PRAYER: Grant, we beseech [T]hee, almighty God, that we, who celebrate the festival of blessed Thecla, [T]hy virgin and martyr, may rejoice in her annual solemnity, and make progress by the example of such great faith. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen."

Act of Consecration to Our Lady (150th Post)

How appropriate that the 150th post on Dignare Me Laudare Te, Virgo Sacrata is devoted to Our Lady (on this day which is dedicated to her, as it being a Saturday, the feast of the Queenship of Our Lady on the "new" sanctoral calendar, and the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the traditional one). The following is an act of consecration to Our Lady written by my favorite doctor of the Church, St. Francis de Sales. I found it in a reprint of Father Lasance's "My Prayer Book."


Image of Our Lady of Fatima, taken from The Two Hearts Ablaze blog
Act of Consecration
By St. Francis de Sales
"Most Holy Mary, virgin Mother of God, I (full name), most unworthy though I am to be thy servant, yet touched by thy motherly care for me and longing to serve thee, do, in the presence of my guardian angel and all the court of heaven, choose thee this day to be my queen, my advocate, and my mother, and I firmly purpose to serve thee evermore myself and to do what I can that all may render faithful service to thee."

"Therefore, most devoted Mother, through the precious blood thy Son poured out for me, I beg thee, deign to take me among thy clients and receive me as thy servant forever."

"Aid me in my every action, and beg for me the grace never, by word or deed or thought, to be displeasing in thy sight and that of thy most holy Son."

"Think of me, my dearest Mother, and desert me not at the hour of my death. Amen."

Saint Maximilian Kolbe's 'Secret' Weapon

Cover of the January 1922 issue of St. Maximilian's 'The Knight of the Immaculate' periodical, depicting Our Lady 'flanked by two swords impaling the serpents and propaganda of heresy and Masonry' [taken from Fr. Angelo Mary Geiger's Mary Victrix blog]
[The following is excerpted from "Kolbe: Saint of the Immaculata," edited by Brother Francis M. Kalvelage, FI.]

"Maximilian's secret weapon...is a medal of Mary that is really no secret. It just seems though it is, as it isn't being used and propagated as St. Maximilian would have us use it in bringing souls to Christ."

"The Medal of the Immaculate Conception (popularly known as the Miraculous Medal) figured very prominently from the very beginning of the Militia Immaculatae, in St. Maximilian's mind and actions. In his own words, 'Because...conversion and sanctification are divine graces, the Miraculous Medal will be a first class means for attaining our purpose. For that reason it is a preeminent weapons of the Militia; it is the bullet with which a faithful soldier hits the enemy, that is evil [sin] and thus rescues souls.'"

"The story of the miraculous conversion of the [agnostic] Jew, Alphonse Ratisbonne, related in his seminary days, convinced St. Maximilian of the power of Mary Immaculate working through this sacramental....It seems he never left 'the City of the Immaculate' without being well armed with his 'bullets.' Kolbe, a truly apostolic man, would never consciously let an opportunity go by to win a soul the grace of conversion."

"In Kolbe's mind the Medals were even more than a great aid in bringing about conversions. Besides being a proof of the unwavering trust in Our Lady's powerful role in bringing about a change of heart, members of the Militia were to wear the Medal as a sign of their total consecration to Mary, and to recite daily the invocation circling the image of the Immaculate on the medal, 'Oh Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.' To the last sentence he added, 'especially the Masons and the enemies of the Church.'"

"The [M]edal honors Mary in her great prerogative of the Immaculate Conception, and also depicts Mary as the Mediatrix of all graces....On the opposite side we are reminded by the two Hearts, the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, that the whole purpose of the Militia Immaculatae which...is to establish, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the reign of the Sacred Heart of Jesus throughout the whole world in every soul living and to the end of time- and that 'as soon as possible, as soon as possible!'"