Catholic Fire

The saint of the day is St. Jeanne Jugan (1792 – 1879) , also known as Sister Mary of the Cross. During the 19th century, she founded the Little Sisters of the Poor with the goal of imitating Christ's humility through service to elderly people in need. Born on Oct. 25, 1792 in a port city of the French region of Brittany, Jeanne Jugan grew up during the political and religious upheavals of the French Revolution. Four years after she was born, her father was lost at sea. Her mother struggled to provide for Jeanne and her three siblings, while also providing them secretly with religious instruction amid the anti-Catholic persecutions of the day. Jeanne worked as a shepherdess, and later as a domestic servant. At age 18, and again six years later, she declined two marriage proposals from the same man. She told her mother that God had other plans, and was calling her to "a work which is not yet founded." At age 25, the young woman joined the Third Order of St. John ...

The saint of the day for April 3 is St. Luigi Scrosoppi . St. Luigi Scrosoppi’s life bears witness to a great trust in Divine Providence. He was born in the year 1804 in Udine, Italy and entered the diocesan seminary at 12 years old. He was ordained at age 23. The famine and poverty in Udine inspired Fr. Luigi to care for those most in need. With other priests and a group of young teachers, he dedicated himself to educating poor and abandoned girls in the practical skills of sewing and embroidery, as well as in reading, writing and arithmetic. Nine of these girls decided to take their vows as the first sisters of the Congregation of the Sisters of Providence, which Fr. Luigi founded in 1837. The congregation grew, and eventually he opened 12 houses of sisters. Furthering his priestly vocation, Fr. Luigi entered the Congregation of the Oratorian Fathers, founded by St. Philip Neri, at the age of 42. He continued to guide the Sisters of Providence, dedicating his life to social ...

Pope Francis has certainly won my heart. I could tell he was a humble man, when I first saw him on EWTN. Everything we have been reading about him in Catholic news reports points to his humility and love for God and the poor. Then, just the other day, my husband shared this with me , which opened my heart to him. He reminds me of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta in many ways. Mother Teresa opened a home in America for AIDS patients and she urged the destitute and dying to come to her for care, even when they had been rejected by their own families. Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of AIDS patients in Argentina. There is much that I could say about him, but you can learn so much about him just by watching him interact with people and listening to him. March 17, 2013. (Romereports.com) It seemed like there was no more room in St. Peter's Square or along surrounding streets. Hundreds of thousands of people came to hear the first Angelus of Pope Francis. Early ri...