Meet the Saints

[Spiderman]

Saint Francis of Assisi (Italian: San Francesco d'Assisi; born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, but nicknamedFrancesco ("the Frenchman") by his father; 1181/1182 – October 3, 1226)[1][3] was an Italian Catholicfriar and preacher. He founded the men's Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the Third Order of Saint Francis for men and women not able to live the lives of itinerant preachers, followed by the early members of the Order of Friars Minor, or the monastic lives of the Poor Clares.[1] Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history.

In 1201, he joined a military expedition against Perugia and was taken as a prisoner at Collestrada, spending a year as a captive.

He joined the Crusades in 1204 and on his way the Lord told him in a vision to return to Assissi. He learned that the kind of Knight our Lord wanted him to be was to care for those who were most unlovable particularly lepers and live in poverty and preach detachment from the world, humility, and the Gospel in simplicity which the Church had largely strayed from.

He actually lived in at least one leper colony and it is said that he even hugged and kissed lepers which everyone knew it to be a contagious disease.

Although Saint Francis is not a Protestant he is considered a reformer of the Church. Our Lord told him to rebuild his house for it has fallen into ruin. Saint Francis thought he was talking about rebuilding a nearby Church which had fallen apart. He rebuilt the Church and worked on several others when he realized that what Christ meant was rebuild the Catholic Church.

Although Saint Francis preached against the corruptions within the Church, the Pope recognized great sanctity in the Friar and approved of his rule and order of Friars minor that followed a very radically different rule of life than other orders in the Church. Pope Innocent had a dream in which he saw Francis holding up the Basilica of St. John Lateran (the cathedral of Rome, thus the 'home church' of all Christendom).

The Friars were to stick strictly to Matthew 10:9, in which Christ tells his followers they should go forth and proclaim that theKingdom of Heaven was upon them, that they should take no money with them, nor even a walking stick or shoes for the road. Francis was inspired to devote himself and his followers to a life of poverty.

At first he was thought to be a madman, barefoot, peniless, and a homeless beggar, preaching the Gospel in the streets. When his Father demanded that he pay him back for his goods that Francis gave to the poor, he was taken to court before a Bishop. Francis repented and stripped down naked in front of everyone and gave his clothing to his Father and said something along the lines of " take everything back. My Father is in Heaven".

In 1219, accompanied by another friar and hoping to convert the Sultan of Egypt or win martyrdom in the attempt, Francis went to Egypt where a Crusader army had been encamped for over a year besieging the walled city of Damietta two miles (3.2 km) upstream from the mouth of one of the main channels of the Nile. The Sultan, al-Kamil, a nephew of Saladin, had succeeded his father as Sultan of Egypt in 1218 and was encamped upstream of Damietta, unable to relieve it.

A bloody and futile attack on the city was launched by the Christians on August 29, 1219, following which both sides agreed to a ceasefire which lasted four weeks. During this interlude Francis and his companion crossed the Saracen lines and were brought before the Sultan, remaining in his camp for a few days.

The Sultan was a cool dude and he was very fond of Francis so he let him live and let him visit the holy sites in the Holy land. The Franciscans of the Holy land are there to this day caring for the poor Arabs in the west bank. Francis tried to get peace between the Crusaders and Saracens and failed.

While he was praying on the mountain of Verna, during a forty-day fast in preparation for Michaelmas (September 29), Francis is said to have had a vision on or about September 14, 1224, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, as a result of which he received the stigmata, the visible wounds of Christ.[34]

Brother Leo, who had been with Francis at the time, left a clear and simple account of the event, the first definite account of the phenomenon of stigmata.[3][34] "Suddenly he saw a vision of a seraph, a six-winged angel on a cross. This angel gave him the gift of the five wounds of Christ."[34] Suffering from these stigmata and fromtrachoma, Francis received care in several cities (Siena, Cortona, Nocera) to no avail. In the end, he was brought back to a hut next to the Porziuncola. Here, in the place where it all began, feeling the end approaching, he spent the last days of his life dictating his spiritual Testament. He died on the evening of Saturday, October 3, 1226, singing Psalm 142(141), "Voce mea ad Dominum".

On July 16, 1228, he was pronounced a saint by Pope Gregory IX (the former cardinal Ugolino di Conti, friend of St. Francis and Cardinal Protector of the Order). The next day, the Pope laid the foundation stone for the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi. Francis was buried on May 25, 1230, under the Lower Basilica, but his tomb was soon hidden on orders of Brother Elias to protect it from Saracen invaders.

The most famous quote he is remembered for is "Preach the Gospel always, and when necessary use words".

His feastday is October 4 and is the patron saint Animals, Merchants & Ecology
Francis of Assisi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

he had an obsession and a way with animals and nature and the taming of a vicious wolf that threatened a village was attributed to him.

 

[Shiranui117]

The Prayer of St. Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, harmony;
Where there is error, truth;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

 

[Spiderman]

Padre Pio is to man the Saint Francis of the 2oth Century. His name is Francis Forgione born to Grazio Mario Forgione (1860–1946) and Maria Giuseppa Di Nunzio Forgione (1859–1929) on May 25, 1887, in Pietrelcina, a farming town in the southern Italian region of Campania. His parents made a living as peasant farmers.[4] When he was baptized, he was given the name Francis. He stated that by the time he was five years old, he had already made the decision to dedicate his entire life to God.[3][5] He began taking on penances and was chided on one occasion by his mother for using a stone as a pillow and sleeping on the stone floor.[6] He worked on the land up to the age of 10, looking after the small flock of sheep the family owned. This delayed his education to some extent.[6]

Pietrelcina was a town where feast days of saints were celebrated throughout the year, and the Forgione family was deeply religious. They attended daily Mass, prayed the Rosary nightly, and abstained from meat three days a week in honor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.[5] Although Francesco's parents and grandparents were illiterate, they memorized the Scriptures and narrated Bible stories to their children. His mother said Francesco was able to see and speak with Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and his guardian angel, and that as a child, he assumed that all people could do so.

According to the diary of Father Agostino da San Marco, who was his spiritual director in San Marco in Lamis, the young Francesco Forgione was afflicted with a number of illnesses. At six he suffered from a grave gastroenteritis, which kept him bedridden for a long time. At ten he caught typhoid fever.[citation needed]

As a youth Francesco reported that he had experienced heavenly visions and ecstasies.[3] In 1897, after he had completed three years at the public school, Francesco was drawn to the life of a friar after listening to a young Capuchin friar who was in the countryside seeking donations. When Francesco expressed his desire to his parents, they made a trip to Morcone, a community 13 miles (21 km) north of Pietrelcina, to find out if their son was eligible to enter the Capuchin Order. The friars there informed them that they were interested in accepting Francesco into their community, but he needed more education.[5]

Francesco's father went to the United States[7] in search of work to pay for private tutoring for his son, so that he might meet the academic requirements to enter the Capuchin Order.[3] It was in this period that Francesco received the sacrament of Confirmation on September 27, 1899. He underwent private tutoring and passed the stipulated academic requirements. On January 6, 1903, at the age of 15, he entered the novitiate of the Capuchin friars at Morcone. On January 22, he took the Franciscan habit and the name of Fra (Friar) Pio, in honor of Pope St. Pius I, whose relic is preserved in the Sant' Anna Chapel in Pietrelcina.[5][8] He took thesimple vows of poverty, chastity and obedience....

....Commencing his seven-year study for the priesthood, Fra Pio traveled to the friary of St. Francis of Assisi by oxcart.[5] At 17, he suddenly fell ill, complaining of loss of appetite, insomnia, exhaustion, fainting spells, and terrible migraines. He vomited frequently and could digest only milk and cheese. The hagiographers say that it was during this time, together with his physical illness, that inexplicable phenomena began to occur. According to their stories, monks heard strange noises coming from his room at night – sometimes screams or roars. During prayer, Brother Pio appeared to be in a stupor, as if he were absent. One of Pio's fellow friars claims to have seen him in ecstasy, levitating above the ground.[9]

In June 1905, Fra Pio's health was so weak that his superiors decided to send him to a mountain convent, in the hope that the change of air would do him some good. His health worsened, however, and doctors advised that he return to his home town. But, even there, his health continued to worsen. On January 27, 1907, he still made his solemn profession.

In 1910, Brother Pio was ordained a priest by Archbishop Paolo Schinosi at the Cathedral of Benevento. Four days later, he offered his first Mass at the parish church of Our Lady of the Angels. His health being precarious, he was permitted to remain with his family until 1916 while still retaining the Capuchin habit.[6]

On September 4, 1916, Padre Pio was ordered to return to his community life. He moved to an agricultural community, Our Lady of Grace Capuchin Friary, located in the Gargano Mountains in San Giovanni Rotondo inFoggia. At that time with Father Pius, the community numbered seven friars. He stayed at San Giovanni Rotondo until his death in 1968, except for military service. Padre Pio celebrated the Mass in Latin.

He was drafted into the Italian Military in World War 1 and considered extremely sick and unfit for military service.

On September 20, 1918, while hearing confessions, Padre Pio had his first occurrence of the stigmata: bodily marks, pain, and bleeding in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ. This phenomenon continued for fifty years, until the end of his life. The blood flowing from the stigmata smelled of perfume or flowers, a phenomenon mentioned in stories of the lives of several saints and often referred to as the odour of sanctity. Though Padre Pio would have preferred to suffer in secret, by early 1919, news about the stigmatic friar began to spread in the secular world. Padre Pio’s wounds were examined by many people, including physicians.[4]

People who had started rebuilding their lives after World War I, began to see in Padre Pio a symbol of hope.[13] Those close to him attest that he began to manifest several spiritual gifts, including the gifts of healing, bilocation, levitation, prophecy, miracles, extraordinary abstinence from both sleep and nourishment (one account states that Padre Agostino recorded one instance in which Padre Pio was able to subsist for at least 20 days at Verafeno on only the Eucharist without any other nourishment), the ability to read hearts, the gift of tongues, the gift of conversions, and the fragrance from his wounds.[14]

His stigmata, regarded as evidence of holiness, were studied by physicians whose independence from the Church is not known.[15] The observations were unexplainable and the wounds never became infected.[16][17] His wounds healed once but reappeared.[18] They were examined by Luigi Romanelli, chief physician of the City Hospital of Barletta, for about one year. Dr. Giorgio Festa, a private practitioner, also examined them in 1920 and 1925. Professor Giuseppe Bastianelli, physician to Pope Benedict XV, agreed that the wounds existed but made no other comment. Pathologist Dr. Amico Bignami of the University of Rome also observed the wounds but could make no diagnosis.[19] Both Bignami and Dr. Giuseppe Sala commented on the unusually smooth edges of the wounds and lack of edema. Dr. Alberto Caserta took x-rays of Padre Pio's hands in 1954 and found no abnormality in the bone structure.[20]

Based on Padre Pio's correspondence, even early in his priesthood he experienced less obvious indications of the visible stigmata for which he would later become famous.[26] In a 1911 letter, Padre Pio wrote to his spiritual advisor Padre Benedetto from San Marco in Lamis, describing something he had been experiencing for a year:

Then last night something happened which I can neither explain nor understand. In the middle of the palms of my hands a red mark appeared, about the size of a penny, accompanied by acute pain in the middle of the red marks. The pain was more pronounced in the middle of the left hand, so much so that I can still feel it. Also under my feet I can feel some pain.[26]

His close friend Padre Agostino wrote to him in 1915, asking specific questions, such as when he first experienced visions, whether he had been granted the stigmata, and whether he felt the pains of the Passion of Christ, namely the crowning of thorns and the scourging. Padre Pio replied that he had been favoured with visions since his novitiate period (1903 to 1904). He wrote that although he had been granted the stigmata, he had been so terrified by the phenomenon he begged the Lord to withdraw them. He did not wish the pain to be removed, only the visible wounds, since at the time he considered them to be an indescribable and almost unbearable humiliation.[26] The visible wounds disappeared at that point, but reappeared in September 1918. He reported, however, that the pain remained and was more acute on specific days and under certain circumstances. He also said that he was suffering the pain of the crown of thorns and the scourging. He did not define the frequency of these occurrences but said that he had been suffering from them at least once weekly for some years.[26]

These events are alleged to have caused his health to fail, for which reason he was permitted to stay at home. To maintain his religious life as a friar while away from the community, he said Mass daily and taught at school.

St. John of the Cross describes the phenomenon of transverberation as follows:

The soul being inflamed with the love of God which is interiorly attacked by a Seraph, who pierces it through with a fiery dart. This leaves the soul wounded, which causes it to suffer from the overflowing of divine love.[4]

World War I continued and in July 1918, Pope Benedict XV, who had termed the World War "the suicide of Europe," appealed to all Christians urging them to pray for an end to the World War. On July 27 of the same year, Padre Pio offered himself as a victim for the end of the war. Days passed and between August 5 and August 7, Padre Pio had a vision in which Christ appeared and pierced his side.[4][13] As a result, Padre Pio had a physical wound in his side. This occurrence is considered as a "transverberation" or piercing of the heart, indicating the union of love with God. (On 8 August, the Allies began the Hundred Days Offensive, which led to the armistice with Germany and the end of the war.)

As a side-note, a first-class relic of Padre Pio, which consists of a large framed square of linen bearing a bloodstain from "the wound of the transverberation of the heart" in his side, is exposed for public veneration at the St. John Cantius Church in Chicago.[27]


Sculpture of Pader Pio with Jesus on the cross in Prato, Italy.

A sculpture of Padre Pio in Italy raised October 28, 2006
The occasion of transverberation coincided with a seven-week long period of spiritual unrest for Padre Pio. One of his Capuchin brothers said this of his state during that period:

During this time his entire appearance looked altered as if he had died. He was constantly weeping and sighing, saying that God had forsaken him.[4]

In a letter from Padre Pio to Padre Benedetto, dated 21 August 1918, Padre Pio writes of his experiences during the transverberation:

While I was hearing the boys’ confessions on the evening of the 5th [August] I was suddenly terrorized by the sight of a celestial person who presented himself to my mind’s eye. He had in his hand a sort of weapon like a very long sharp-pointed steel blade which seemed to emit fire. At the very instant that I saw all this, I saw that person hurl the weapon into my soul with all his might. I cried out with difficulty and felt I was dying. I asked the boy to leave because I felt ill and no longer had the strength to continue. This agony lasted uninterruptedly until the morning of the 7th. I cannot tell you how much I suffered during this period of anguish. Even my entrails were torn and ruptured by the weapon, and nothing was spared. From that day on I have been mortally wounded. I feel in the depths of my soul a wound that is always open and which causes me continual agony.[27]

On September 20, 1918, accounts state that the pains of the transverberation had ceased and Padre Pio was in "profound peace."[4] On that day, as Padre Pio was engaged in prayer in the choir loft in the Church of Our Lady of Grace, the same Being who had appeared to him and given him the transverberation, and who is believed to be the Wounded Christ, appeared again; and Padre Pio had another experience of religious ecstasy. When the ecstasy ended, Padre Pio had received the visible stigmata, the five wounds of Christ. This time, the stigmata were permanent. They stayed visible for the next fifty years of his life.[13]

In a letter from Padre Pio to Padre Benedetto, his superior and spiritual advisor from San Marco in Lamis, dated October 22, 1918, Padre Pio describes his experience of receiving the stigmata as follows:

On the morning of the 20th of last month, in the choir, after I had celebrated Mass I yielded to a drowsiness similar to a sweet sleep. [...] I saw before me a mysterious person similar to the one I had seen on the evening of 5 August. The only difference was that his hands and feet and side were dripping blood. This sight terrified me and what I felt at that moment is indescribable. I thought I should have died if the Lord had not intervened and strengthened my heart which was about to burst out of my chest. The vision disappeared and I became aware that my hands, feet and side were dripping blood. Imagine the agony I experienced and continue to experience almost every day. The heart wound bleeds continually, especially from Thursday evening until Saturday. Dear Father, I am dying of pain because of the wounds and the resulting embarrassment I feel deep in my soul. I am afraid I shall bleed to death if the Lord does not hear my heartfelt supplication to relieve me of this condition. Will Jesus, who is so good, grant me this grace? Will he at least free me from the embarrassment caused by these outward signs? I will raise my voice and will not stop imploring him until in his mercy he takes away, not the wound or the pain, which is impossible since I wish to be inebriated with pain, but these outward signs which cause me such embarrassment and unbearable humiliation.[27]

He quoted, "the pain was so intense that I began to feel as if I were dying on the cross."

Because of the unusual abilities Padre Pio was claimed to possess, the Holy See instituted investigations of the related accounts. The local bishop, P. Gagliardi, did not believe Padre Pio’s alleged miracles, suggesting that his Capuchin brothers were making a display out of the monk to gain financial advantage. When Pius XI became pope in 1922, the Vatican became extremely doubtful. Padre Pio was subject to numerous investigations.[16]

The Vatican imposed severe sanctions on Padre Pio to reduce publicity about him: it forbade him from saying Mass in public, blessing people, answering letters, showing his stigmata publicly, and communicating with Padre Benedetto, his spiritual director. Padre Pio was to be relocated to another convent in northern Italy.[29] The local people threatened to riot, and the Vatican left Padre Pio where he was.

Padre Pio became a very well-known priest. Franciscan spirituality is characterized by a life of poverty, love of nature, and giving charity to those in need. Franciscan prayer recognizes God's presence in the wonder of creation. This is seen clearly in St. Francis' Canticle of the Sun. Franciscan spirituality is focused on walking in Christ's footsteps, understanding God by doing what Christ asked, experiencing and sharing God.

Later Padre Pio became a spiritual director. He had five rules for spiritual growth: weekly confession, daily Communion, spiritual reading, meditation, and examination of conscience.[13]

Padre Pio was devoted to rosary meditations and said:[42]

"The person who meditates and turns his mind to God, who is the mirror of his soul, seeks to know his faults, tries to correct them, moderates his impulses, and puts his conscience in order."

He compared weekly confession to dusting a room weekly, and recommended the performance of meditation and self-examination twice daily: once in the morning, as preparation to face the day, and once again in the evening, as retrospection. His advice on the practical application of theology he often summed up in his now famous quote, "Pray, Hope and Don’t Worry". He directed Christians to recognize God in all things and to desire above all things to do the will of God.[13]

The novelist Graham Greene, had two photos of Padre Pio in his wallet after attending one of his Masses. He said that Padre Pio had “introduced a doubt in my disbelief.”[30]

Many people who heard of him traveled to San Giovanni Rotondo in the south of Italy to meet him and confess to him, ask for help, or have their curiosity satisfied.

Padre Pio died in 1968 at the age of 81. His health deteriorated and he died but his movement and teachings and missions continued.

Padre Pio was considered holy even during his lifetime. In 1971 three years after his death, Pope Paul VI said to the superiors of the Capuchin Order about the monk:

“ Look what fame he had, what a worldwide following gathered around him! But why? Perhaps because he was a philosopher? Because he was wise? Because he had resources at his disposal? Because he said Mass humbly, heard confessions from dawn to dusk and was–it is not easy to say it–one who bore the wounds of our Lord. He was a man of prayer and suffering.

Beginning in 1990, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints debated how Padre Pio had lived his life, and in 1997 Pope John Paul II declared him venerable. A discussion of the effects of his life on others followed. Cases were studied such as a reported cure of an Italian woman, Consiglia de Martino, associated with Padre Pio's intercession. In 1999, on the advice of the Congregation, Pope John Paul II declared Padre Pio blessed.

After further consideration of Padre Pio's virtues and ability to do good even after his death, including discussion of another healing attributed to his intercession, the pope declared Padre Pio a saint on June 16, 2002.[37] An estimated 300,000 people attended the canonization ceremony.[3

Pio of Pietrelcina - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Spiderman]

 

[Sultan Of Swing]

The Prayer of St. Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, harmony;
Where there is error, truth;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

I remember singing a hymn based on these words in school, never knew they were from St Francis, nice.

Found this version as well by Sinead O'Connor:

 

[wgw]

The Orthodox regard Francis of Assisi as having been in prelest. More info: A Comparison: Francis of Assisi and St. Seraphim of Sarov

 

[Spiderman]

The Orthodox regard Francis of Assisi as having been in prelest. More info: A Comparison: Francis of Assisi and St. Seraphim of Sarov

OH cool...i didn't know bout that!

Our Lady Of Fatima
Three Portuguese children, Lucia dos Santos, Jacinta Marto, and Francisco Marto, were young and without much education when they reported the apparition of Our Lady of Fátima in 1917. The local administrator initially jailed the children and threatened that he would boil them one by one in a pot of oil. The children were consoled by the other inmates in the jail, and then led the inmates in praying the Rosary.[2][3]

With millions of followers and Roman Catholic believers, the reported visions at Fatima gathered respect. After a canonical enquiry, the visions of Fátima were officially declared "worthy of belief" in October 1930 by the Bishop of Leiria-Fátima.[4] Popes Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI voiced their acceptance of the supernatural origin of the Fátima events. John Paul II credited Our Lady of Fátima with saving his life following an assassination attempt on the Feast of Our Lady of Fátima, May 13 1981. He donated the bullet that wounded him to the Roman Catholic sanctuary at Fátima, Portugal.

In the spring and summer of 1916, nine year old Lúcia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto were herding sheep at the Cova da Iria near their home village of Fátima, Portugal. They claimed to have experienced the visitation of an angel on three separate occasions. The angel taught them prayers to pray, to make sacrifices, and to spend time in adoration of the Lord.[5]

On May 13, 1917, Lúcia described seeing a lady "brighter than the sun, shedding rays of light clearer and stronger than a crystal goblet filled with the most sparkling water and pierced by the burning rays of the sun". While they had never spoken to anyone about the angel, Jacinta divulged her sightings to her family despite Lucia's admonition to keep this experience private. Her disbelieving mother told neighbors as a joke, and within a day the whole village knew.[6] Further appearances were reported on June 13 and July 13. In these, the lady asked the children to do penance and Acts of Reparation and make personal sacrifices to save sinners. According to Lúcia's account, the lady also confided to the children three secrets, now known as the Three Secrets of Fátima.

The children subsequently wore tight cords around their waists, performed self-flagellation using stinging nettles, abstained from drinking water on hot days, and performed other works of penance.[6]

Thousands of people flocked to Fátima and Aljustrel in the following months, drawn by reports of visions and miracles. On August 13, 1917, the provincial administrator Artur Santos[7] (no relation to Lúcia Santos), believing that the events were politically disruptive, intercepted and jailed the children before they could reach the Cova da Iria. The administrator interrogated and threatened the children to get them to divulge the contents of the secrets. Lúcia told him everything short of the secrets, and offered to ask the Lady for permission to tell the Administrator the secrets. They threatened to boil the children in oil.

Prisoners held with them in the provincial jail later testified that the children led them in praying the rosary. That month, instead of the usual apparition in the Cova da Iria on the 13th, the children reported that they saw the Virgin Mary on 15 August, the Feast of the Assumption, at nearby Valinhos.

As early as July 1917 it was claimed that the Virgin Mary had promised a miracle for the last of her apparitions on October 13, so that all would believe. What happened then became known as the "Miracle of the Sun". A huge crowd, variously estimated between 30,000 and 100,000,[9]. The most common figure is 70,000, including newspaper reporters and photographers, gathered at the Cova da Iria.

The incessant rain had ceased and there was a thin layer of cloud. Lúcia, seeing light rising from the lady's hands and the sun appearing as a silver disk, called out "look at the sun". Witnesses later spoke of the sun appearing to change colors and rotate like a wheel.Witnesses gave widely varying descriptions of the "sun's dance". Poet Afonso Lopes Vieira and schoolteacher Delfina Lopes (with her students and other witnesses in the town of Alburita), reported that the solar phenomenon was visible up to forty kilometers away.

"Columnist Avelino de Almeida of O Século (Portugal's most influential newspaper, which was pro-government in policy and avowedly anti-clerical),[6] reported the following: "Before the astonished eyes of the crowd, whose aspect was biblical as they stood bare-headed, eagerly searching the sky, the sun trembled, made sudden incredible movements outside all cosmic laws - the sun 'danced' according to the typical expression of the people."[11] Eye specialist Dr. Domingos Pinto Coelho, writing for the newspaper Ordem reported "The sun, at one moment surrounded with scarlet flame, at another aureoled in yellow and deep purple, seemed to be in an exceeding fast and whirling movement, at times appearing to be loosened from the sky and to be approaching the earth, strongly radiating heat".[12] The special reporter for the October 17, 1917 edition of the Lisbon daily, O Dia, reported the following, "...the silver sun, enveloped in the same gauzy purple light was seen to whirl and turn in the circle of broken clouds...The light turned a beautiful blue, as if it had come through the stained-glass windows of a cathedral, and spread itself over the people who knelt with outstretched hands...people wept and prayed with uncovered heads, in the presence of a miracle they had awaited. The seconds seemed like hours, so vivid were they."[13]

Various explanations have been advanced. Auguste Meessen, a professor at the Institute of Physics, Catholic University of Leuven, points out that looking directly at the Sun is known to cause phosphene visual artifacts and temporary partial blindness. Meessen contends that retinal after-images produced after brief periods of sun gazing are a likely cause of the "dancing" effects, and the colour changes were caused by the bleaching of photosensitive retinal cells.[16]Meessen observes that solar miracles have been witnessed in many places where people have been encouraged to stare at the sun. He cites the apparitions at Heroldsbach, Bavaria, Germany (1949) as an example where exactly the same optical effects as at Fátima were witnessed by more than 10,000 people.[16] Another theory is a mass hallucination stimulated by the religious fervor of the crowd.

Some onlookers reported other phenomena, including luminous mist and the showers of flower petals seen around and above the tree during previous visitations.

While the crowd was staring at the sun, Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta said later they saw images of the Holy Family, Our Lady of Sorrows with Jesus Christ, and then Our Lady of Mount Carmel. They said they saw Saint Joseph and Jesus bless the people.[17]

The "Second Secret" predicted a great sign in the night sky which would precede a second great war.[18][19] On January 25, 1938 (during solar cycle 17), bright lights, an aurora borealis appeared all over the northern hemisphere, including in places as far south asNorth Africa, Bermuda and California.[18][19] It was the widest occurrence of the aurora since 1709[20] and people in Paris and elsewhere believed a great fire was burning and fire departments were called.[21] Lúcia, the sole surviving seer at the time, indicated that it was the sign foretold and so apprised her superior and the bishop in letters the following day.[18][19] Just over a month later, Hitler seized Austria and eight months later invaded Czechoslovakia

The first secret was a vision of hell, which Lúcia describes in her Third Memoir as follows:

"Our Lady showed us a great sea of fire which seemed to be under the earth. Plunged in this fire were demons and souls in human form, like transparent burning embers, all blackened or burnished bronze, floating about in the conflagration, now raised into the air by the flames that issued from within themselves together with great clouds of smoke, now falling back on every side like sparks in a huge fire, without weight or equilibrium, and amid shrieks and groans of pain and despair, which horrified us and made us tremble with fear. The demons could be distinguished by their terrifying and repulsive likeness to frightful and unknown animals, all black and transparent. This vision lasted but an instant. How can we ever be grateful enough to our kind heavenly Mother, who had already prepared us by promising, in the first Apparition, to take us to heaven. Otherwise, I think we would have died of fear and terror.

According to Sister Lúcia, the Virgin Mary promised that the Consecration of Russia would lead to Russia's conversion and an era of peace.[6]

Pope Pius XII, in his Apostolic Letter Sacro Vergente of 7 July 1952, consecrated Russia to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Pius XII wrote,

Just as a few years ago We consecrated the entire human race to the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, so today We consecrate and in a most special manner We entrust all the peoples of Russia to this Immaculate Heart...[29]
In 1952 the Pope said to the Russian people and the Stalinist regime that the Virgin Mary was always victorious. "The gates of hell will never prevail, where she offers her protection. She is the good mother, the mother of all, and it has never been heard, that those who seek her protection, will not receive it. With this certainty, the Pope dedicates all people of Russia to the immaculate heart of the Virgin. She will help! Error and atheism will be overcome with her assistance and divine grace."

The most interesting and unique things about the Fatima message is the prophecies. Two of the children were told they would go to heaven soon and shortly they died. A miracle was promised in advance that got media attention. The miracle may have been mass hallucination but what I find so interesting about that, is very anti religious people that worked for a very anticatholic communist Government wrote about the miracle that they saw which they were certain wouldn't happen and just showed up to mock.

Also, the children prophesied the coming of World War 2 and the rise of Communism in Russia and the spread of Russia's errors throughout the world. How would illiterate sheepherder children make such predictions?

The miracle of fatima got media attention. Here are pictures of the crowds gathered on Oct 13

 

[wgw]

We also regard Our Lady of Fatima to have been a demonic apparition. The only Marian apparition that I have seen Orthodox consider plausible is Our Lady of Guadalupe.

 

[Shiranui117]

I also personally know several Orthodox priests who consider St. Francis of Assisi to have been a Saint, and not a few laymen share that opinion; the idea that he was under not-so-heavenly influences isn't a universal opinion among the Orthodox. From what I've gathered, and I am still an inquirer, it seems that St. Francis is one of the most popular figures from Western Christendom among the Orthodox.

 

[wgw]

I also personally know several Orthodox priests who consider St. Francis of Assisi to have been a Saint, and not a few laymen share that opinion; the idea that he was under not-so-heavenly influences isn't a universal opinion among the Orthodox. From what I've gathered, and I am still an inquirer, it seems that St. Francis is one of the most popular figures from Western Christendom among the Orthodox.

I personally consider St. Francis to have been an extremely good man who had right intentions and did good. The extent of his prelest is simply that he was drivien to painful and unneccessary acts of self-humiliation, left in a state of delusion regarding his sinlessness, and subjected to searing pain to receive the stigmata, which no Saint since St. Paul ever possessed (assuming, and its a big assumption, that Paul was speaking literally, and not referring to scars caused by beatings he had received at the hands of those who rejected his teachings). St. Francis was a really good guy, but no saint before him receive the stigmata, and you can't tell me saints like Ignatius, Polycarp, Athanasius, Basil, Anthony, Macarius, Ambrose, John Chrysostom, Augustine, Benedict Gregory the Great, Maximus the Confessor, and John of Damascus, among others, did not deserve it.

On the basis of his external conduct, St. Francis was a saint. However, he was from the start a monastic living in the world without an abbot; nothing could be more spiritually dangerous. Before undertaking such a project, he should either have spent years of preparation in a monastery learning about spiritual warfare, that is to say, how to discern and resist demonic deception, which is hurled at clerics, especially monastics, or he should have had as his confessor an advanced Benedictine monk. Francis appears to have acted as his own confessor, imposing absurdly horrible penances on himself. this naturally resulted in a certain spiritual pride.

I am willing on the basis of his good deeds to recognize St. Francis as a saint; I do believe our merciful and loving God is prepared to forgive victims of demonic trickery who do great works of charity and who try to follow the gospel, which he clearly did. However, St. Francis belongs in the same category as St. Constantine; someone who was a saint by virtue of their work, but not entirely exemplary.

Now I think St. Dominic had somewht more control, and his work on the refinement of the Rosary led to the development of a Catholic system of prayer comparable to the Jesus Prayer of Orthodoxy. I think imagining the Mysteries of the Rosary while praying it is probably quite dangerous, and should be discouraged rather than encouraged, but I believe the prayer itself, punctuated by the Lord's prayer, is a good devotion, and in fact the Hail Mary prayer is used without modification in the Syriac Orthodox Church, and in two versions in the Eastern Orthodox church (a more ancient version preserved by the Russian Old Believers, and a newer version used everywhere else).

St. Dominic recognized the importance of learning, training, and spiritual discipline. It was hagiographic calumny to suggest he presided over an auto da fe; those had not yet begun in his time. The early Dominicans under St. Dominic saved the souls and the lives of the Albigensians who likely would have later been killed by the Albigensian crusade. It is a tragic his name was associated with the main perpetrators of the evil Inquisition that was to follow, however, there were also Fransican inquisitors.

 

[Spiderman]

Famed visionary of Lourdes, baptized Mary Bernard. She was born in Lourdes, France, on January 7, 1844, the daughter of Francis and Louise Soubirous. Bernadette, a severe asthma sufferer, lived in abject poverty. On February 11, 1858, she was granted a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary in a cave on the banks of the Gave River near Lourdes.

She was placed in consider able jeopardy when she reported the vision, and crowds gathered when she had futher visits from the Virgin, from February 18 of that year through March 4.The civil authorities tried to frighten Bernadette into recanting her accounts, but she remained faithful to the vision. On February 25, a spring emerged from the cave and the waters were discovered to be of a miraculous nature, capable of healing the sick and lame. On March 25, Bernadette announced that the vision stated that she was the Immaculate Conception, and that a church should be erected on the site. Many authorities tried to shut down the spring and delay the construction of the chapel, but the influence and fame of the visions reached Empress Eugenie of France, wife of Napoleon Ill, and construction went forward.

Crowds gathered, free of harassment from the anticlerical and antireligious officials. In 1866, Bernadette was sent to the Sisters of Notre Dame in Nevers. There she became a member of the community, and faced some rather harsh treatment from the mistress of novices. This oppression ended when it was discovered that she suffered from a painful, incurable illness. She died in Nevers on April 16,1879, still giving the same account of her visions. Lourdes became one of the major pilgrimage destinations in the world, and the spring has produced 27,000 gallons of water each week since emerging during Bernadette's visions.

She was not involved in the building of the shrine, as she remained hidden at Nevers. Bernadette was beatified in 1925 and canonized in 1933 by Pope Pius XI.

The Song of Bernadette is a 1943 drama film which tells the story of Saint Bernadette Soubirous, who from February to July 1858 in Lourdes, France, reported eighteen visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was directed by Henry King.

The film was adapted by George Seaton from a novelization of Bernadette's story, written by Franz Werfel. The novel was published in 1941 and was extremely popular, spending more than a year on the New York Times Best Seller list and thirteen weeks heading the list.

Franz werfel was a Jew who never converted to Christianity but when he was hiding from the Nazi's at the shrine, he promised the Our Lady of Lourdes that if she saved his life, he would sing the "song of Bernadette".

Bernadette Soubirous - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Song of Bernadette (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The body of St. Bernadette never decomposed and is on display:

 

[Shiranui117]

St. Benedict of Nursia (March 14th)

Saint Benedict, founder of Western monasticism, was born in the Italian city of Nursia in the year 480. When he was fourteen years of age, the saint’s parents sent him to Rome to study. Unsettled by the immorality around him, he decided to devote himself to a different sort of life.

At first St Benedict settled near the church of the holy Apostle Peter in the village of Effedum, but news of his ascetic life compelled him to go farther into the mountains. There he encountered the hermit Romanus, who tonsured him into monasticism and directed him to live in a remote cave at Subiaco. From time to time, the hermit would bring him food.

For three years the saint waged a harsh struggle with temptations and conquered them. People soon began to gather to him, thirsting to live under his guidance. The number of disciples grew so much, that the saint divided them into twelve communities. Each community was comprised of twelve monks and was a separate skete. The saint gave each skete an igumen from among his experienced disciples, and only the novice monks remained with St Benedict for instruction.

The strict monastic Rule St Benedict established for the monks was not accepted by everyone, and more than once he was criticized and abused by dissenters.

Finally he settled in Campagna and on Mount Cassino he founded the Monte Cassino monastery, which for a long time was a center of theological education for the Western Church. The monastery possessed a remarkable library. St Benedict wrote his Rule, based on the experience of life of the Eastern desert-dwellers and the precepts of St John Cassian the Roman (February 29).

The Rule of St Benedict dominated Western monasticism for centuries (by the year 1595 it had appeared in more than 100 editions). The Rule prescribed the renunciation of personal possessions, as well as unconditional obedience, and constant work. It was considered the duty of older monks to teach the younger and to copy ancient manuscripts. This helped to preserve many memorable writings from the first centuries of Christianity.

Every new monk was required to live as a novice for a year, to learn the monastic Rule and to become acclimated to monastic life. Every deed required a blessing. The head of this cenobitic monastery is the igumen. He discerns, teaches, and explains. The igumen solicits the advice of the older, experienced brethren, but he makes the final decisions. Keeping the monastic Rule was strictly binding for everyone and was regarded as an important step on the way to perfection.

St Benedict was granted by the Lord the gift of foresight and wonderworking. He healed many by his prayers. The monk foretold the day of his death in 547. The main source for his Life is the second Dialogue of St Gregory.

St Benedict’s sister, St Scholastica (February 10), also became famous for her strict ascetic life and was numbered among the saints.