Catholic Fire

Image Source Today is the feast of St. Josephine Bakhita, a Canossian Sister who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Sudan. Bakhita was born in Eastern Sudan around 1869 and was captured by slave traders, who named her Bakhita, which means "the lucky or fortunate one." Bakhita came from a happy, loving tribal family, which consisted of her parents, three brothers, and four sisters. In comparison to other African tribal families, her family was well to do, as her uncle was the village chief and her father owned cattle and large plantations. When Bakhita was about nine years old, slave traders captured her. During the course of her life, she was sold five times. She was subjected to many cruel tortures, some of which included whip lashing, which tore off her flesh, and being tattooed multiple times on her body via incisions with a razor and having salt rubbed into her womb. Despite the cruel treatments, she had no resentment or bitterness in her heart, but prayed...

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, commonly known as "Mother Cabrini", was the first American citizen to be canonized a saint. Born in Lombardy, Italy in 1850, (one of thirteen children), she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart in 1880 and established many hospitals, schools, and orphanages. In 1889, she set out for the United States and arrived in New York, where she and six other Sisters worked with the poor, especially with Italian immigrants. Over the next 28 years, she founded numerous schools, hospitals, and orphanages. Mother Cabrini was not a strong person physically, but she had a great inner strength. She had an unbending belief and trust in God. Throughout her life and in all her many undertakings, she always knew that God would provide for her and the many schools, hospitals, orphanages, and missions which she founded. In 1909 Mother Cabrini became an American citizen. She died in Chicago on December 22, 1917.  Her remains are laid to rest in Mot...

The saint of the day for June 24th is St. William of Vercelli, hermit, abbot, and founder of a religious congregation known as the Hermits of Monte-Vergine. William was born to noble and wealthy parents in Vercelli, Italy in 1085. He lost his father and mother in his infancy and was raised by a relative. At age fifteen, he made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. When he returned, he became a hermit in Naples and lived there on an uninhabited mountain in solitude. However, he became famous after he worked a miracle, curing a blind man. His desire to live a contemplative life and to focus on God was interrupted; consequently, he moved to another mountain. On this mountain, he built a beautiful church in honor of Our Lady. His holiness attracted  many followers and, in 1119, he established the Congregation of Monte Vergine, or Mount of the Virgin. These sons of Our Lady lived in great poverty. Some of the monks began to complain that the rule was too strict and the...

The saint of the day for April 23 is St. George, a soldier of the Roman army who was tortured and beheaded for his Christian faith in the year 303, in Palestine (Lydda). He was most likely born in Cappadocia, of Christian parents. After his father was martyred for his faith, George moved to Palestine with his mother where he joined the military and served as a soldier in the army of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. He demonstrated great courage, rising to the rank of military tribune of the imperial guards. When he refused to sacrifice to pagan gods, he was tortured and beheaded at Nicomedia, a town of Asia Minor on an inlet of the Sea of Marmora. Some say that Saint George was the young Christian who, as Eusebius relates, tore down the Imperial edict of persecution. However, there is no proof of this. St. George is usually depicted in Christian art as a soldier on horseback killing a dragon with a lance. This image is a representation of a popular legend of St. George which first...

The saint of the day for April 7 is St. John Baptist de la Salle, father of modern education and the patron saint of teachers. He is known for promoting and reforming Christian education, especially among the poor. John Baptist de la Salle was born at Rheims in France in 1651. After ordination to the priesthood, he devoted himself to the education of boys and the founding of schools for the poor. He liquidated his personal fortune (about $400,000) and donated it to the poor in the form of bread during the great famine of 1683-1684. He Instituted the process of dividing students into grades and established the first teacher's school. He started high schools and trade schools. John brought his companions together as a religious congregation, founding the order known today as Christian Brothers. He suffered from asthma and rheumatism in his later years and died at Rouen in 1719 on Good Friday. He was canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1900 and named patron of teachers by Pope Pius...

Today is the optional memorial of St. Anselm, bishop and doctor of the Church. St. Anselm (1033-1109) was born in Aosta, Italy, and died in Canterbuy, England. St. Anselm's services to the Church are principally the following: First, as Archbishop of Canterbury he defended the rights and liberties of the Church against the encroachments of the English kings, who plundered the Church's lands, impeded the Archbishop's communications with the Holy See, and claimed the right to invest prelates with ring and crosier, symbols of the Church's spiritual jurisdiction. Second, as a philosopher and theologian he developed a method of reasoning which prepared the way for the great thinkers of the Middle Ages. Third, he had a great devotion to Our Lady and was the first to establish the feast of the Immaculate Conception in the West. You can find my favorite quotes, prayers, and writings of St. Anselm here.