by Wyatt North
“A single instant passed under simple obedience is immeasurably more valuable in the sight of God than an entire day spent in the most sublime contemplation.”
– St. Mary Magdalene de’Pazzi
Sister Mary Magdalene was embarrassed by the attention she received as a result of her mystical experiences. She tried to hide her suffering and her penances from others even as she fulfilled her ever-increasing responsibilities within the monastery. She eventually concluded that although she would have preferred a “hidden life,” God wanted something different from her. As mistress of novices, she shared her wisdom with the young women under her supervision, often quite bluntly. She saw no reason to sugarcoat the truth when she thought a sister’s spiritual life was endangered. For example, when a novice asked permission to feign impatience so as not to be prideful of the respect her fellow novices accorded her, Mary Magdalene told her, “They don’t respect you nearly as much as you like to think.” She was equally honest, with herself and with others, about her own challenges and failings, acknowledging that the greatest penance for her was pretending to like something she didn’t like, though the pretense provided the additional benefit of allowing her to do penance without anyone knowing she was doing it. It was one way in which she was able to enjoy the hidden life she craved.
“You will be consoled according to the greatness of your sorrow and affliction; the greater the suffering, the greater will be the reward.”
– St. Mary Magdalene de'Pazzi
Sister Mary Magdalene spent her last three years as a bedridden invalid, suffering extreme physical pain until her death in 1607, at the age of 41. During her lifetime, there were several instances of bilocation, as she appeared to people far from the monastery she never left, and there were reports of healing miracles before and after her death. She was also said to have been able to discern the unspoken thoughts of others and to predict future events. The process of beatification began only three years after her death and was completed sixteen years later, in 1626. She was canonized in 1669 by Pope Clement IX. St. Mary Magdalene de’Pazzi is well-known in Italy, particularly in her native Florence and among Carmelites throughout the world. The lesson to be learned from her life is one of love and its role in uniting the soul to God.
“Good example is the most efficacious apostolate. You must be as lighted lanterns and shine like brilliant chandeliers among men. By your good example and your words, animate others to know and love God.”
– St. Mary Joseph Rossello
Benedetta Rossello, born in 1811 in a small seaport in Liguria, Italy, spent seven years working for a wealthy couple before making the decision to enter a convent. Her lack of a dowry was an impediment to entering the convent, one her childless employers were reluctant to remove because they loved her and had hoped to make her their heir. She became a Franciscan tertiary at 16 and gained a reputation for instructing young girls in the Catholic faith. In 1837, the bishop of Savona enabled Mary Joseph (Benedetta’s religious name) and three companions to found a community in Savona by purchasing a house and equipping it as a school. Mary Joseph, remembering her own difficulties due to the lack of a dowry, did not require one for young women entering the Institute of the Daughters of Our Lady of Mercy, which was devoted to the education of poor young women, caring for the sick, and other charitable works. Mother Mary Joseph served as superior of the community for forty years, establishing 68 foundations before her death in 1888.
“The soul is regenerated in the sacred waters of baptism and thus becomes God's child.”
– St. Maximilian Kolbe
Raymund Kolbe’s childhood was unremarkable except for one significant event that foreshadowed his ultimate martyrdom at the hands of the Nazis. As a boy of 12, he had a dream in which Our Lady offered him the choice of two crowns: one white and one red. She asked which he was willing to accept, the white one meaning a life of purity or the red one that meant he would become a martyr. His answer was that he would accept both, and his life reflected that choice. Torn between military and religious life, he became a spiritual warrior. He maintained a lifelong devotion to the Blessed Virgin, actively promoting the Immaculate Virgin Mary and organizing the Militia Immaculata, or Army of the Immaculate One, working for the conversion of Freemasons and other enemies of the church through the intercession of Mary. Even when he knew his death was imminent, he led his fellow prisoners in Auschwitz in prayers to Our Lady. His devotion to Mary earned him the title the Apostle of Consecration to Mary.
“In all things let us not forget to repeat with the Lord Jesus: ‘Not my will but Thine be done’… Let us not forget that Jesus not only suffered, but also rose in glory; so, too, we go to the glory of the Resurrection by way of suffering and the Cross.”
– St. Maximilian Kolbe
As a Polish Conventual Franciscan friar, Raymund Kolbe, who took the religious name Maximilian, accomplished much in the years before his imprisonment by the Nazis. He earned doctorates in both philosophy and theology, funded a monthly magazine called “Knight of the Immaculate,” ran a religious publishing operation and founded a new Conventual Franciscan monastery in Niepokalanow, Poland, as well as one in Nagasaki, Japan and one in India. Poor health forced him to return to Poland, and he would be one of the few brothers to remain in the monastery after the German invasion. Maximilian did whatever he could to relieve suffering during the war, including establishing an infirmary, providing shelter for 2,000 Jews, and publishing anti-Nazi materials. When the Nazis shut down the monastery in 1941, he was arrested, imprisoned for three months in Pawiak, and then transferred to Auschwitz, where the final chapter of his life would unfold.
“The most deadly poison of our times is indifference. And this happens, although the praise of God should know no limits. Let us strive, therefore, to praise Him to the greatest extent of our powers.”
– St. Maximilian Kolbe
After only a few weeks Maximilian, prisoner #16670, witnessed ten men being taken from his barracks, chosen to die by starvation as punishment for another prisoner’s escape and to serve as an example to all. Maximilian offered to take the place of one of the men who had a family, knowing that he would face weeks of suffering before he died. He ministered to the other starving prisoners until, after three weeks of agony, he and the three others still living were executed by injections of carbolic acid. Franciszek Gajowniczek, the man whose place Maximilian had taken, survived five years in Auschwitz and was present in St. Peter’s Square in 1982, when the man who had saved his life was declared St. Maximilian Kolbe by Pope John Paul II.
“Some passions pertain to the soul's incensive power, and others to its desiring aspect. Both kinds are aroused through the senses. They are aroused when the soul lacks love and self-control.”
– St. Maximos the Confessor
Maximos, born around 580 (probably near Constantinople), gave up his political life as an aide to the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius to enter a monastery. An avid student of philosophy, he was drawn into a theological controversy that pitted the view that Christ has two natures (human and divine) but only one will, a divine one (monothelitism) against the view that Christ has two natures and two wills, both human and divine (dyothelitism). Maximos supported the latter position, and for that he was persecuted. As punishment, he suffered mutilation of his tongue and right hand and was exiled.
“When you are insulted by someone or humiliated, guard against angry thoughts, lest they arouse a feeling of irritation, and so cut you off from love and place you in the realm of hatred.”
– St. Maximos the Confessor
There are few confirmed facts about the life of Maximos prior to his involvement in the political and theological controversy over whether Christ’s two natures, human and divine, meant that He had both human and divine wills. It is likely that he spent his youth near Constantinople because of his exceptional education. It is also likely that he was born into an aristocratic family because by the age of 30 he had attained a position of tr
ust as an aide to the Byzantine Emperor. That would probably not have been the case if he had been low-born. Among the few autobiographical details included in his writings are the facts that he never studied rhetoric and took his monastic vows at the monastery of Phillippicus, where he later served as abbot. The Persian conquest forced Maximus to flee to a monastery near Carthage, where he continued his theological studies and writing. He became a popular figure there and was called upon unofficially to provide political and spiritual advice to leaders in North Africa.
“’Shun evil and do good’ (Ps. 34:14), that is to say, fight the enemy in order to diminish the passions, and then be vigilant lest they increase once more. Again, fight to acquire the virtues and then be vigilant in order to keep them. This is the meaning of ‘cultivating’ and 'keeping’ (cf. Gen. 2:15).”
– St. Maximos the Confessor
Maximos was in Rome during the height of the controversy over the nature and will of Christ. The newly elected Pope Martin I convened a council attended by 105 bishops who condemned monothelitism, the view that Christ possessed both divine and human natures but only divine will. It was a bold move given the emperor’s support of the Monothelite doctrine. The emperor ordered the arrest of both Pope Martin and Maximos, who may have authored the council’s condemnation of monothelitism. Pope Martin was condemned without a trial but died before his sentence could be carried out. Maximos was returned to Constantinople and was tried for heresy in 658. Among the accusations against him was the claim that he aided the Muslims in their conquests in Egypt and North Africa, which Maximos denied vehemently. He was sent into exile for his refusal to repudiate the Dyothelite doctrine.
“When the intellect is stripped of passions and illuminated with the contemplation of created beings, then it can enter into God and pray as it should.”
– St. Maximos the Confessor
In 662, four years after first being exiled, Maximos was once again tried for and convicted of heresy. His tongue was then mutilated to silence his voice against the view that Christ had only a divine will, though his nature was both divine and human. His right hand was also severed, so that he couldn’t express his views in writing either. Soon after his exile and imprisonment in a fortress in what is now Georgia, Maximos died.
“When the body dies, it is wholly separated from the things of this world. Similarly, when the intellect dies while in that supreme state of prayer, it is separated from all conceptual images of this world. If it does not die such a death, it cannot be with God and live with Him.”
– St. Maximos the Confessor
Shortly after Maximos died in 662, in present-day Georgia, the Third Council of Constantinople upheld his theology, which was based on the view that Christ has both human and divine natures and human and divine wills. Monothelitism was made heresy and Maximos was posthumously exonerated of all charges, as was Pope Martin I. Maximos was venerated as a saint shortly after his death. He bears the title “Confessor” because he suffered for his Christian faith through the mutilation of his tongue and right hand, though he was not directly martyred. He is also known as Maximos the Theologian and Maximos of Constantinople and is recognized as a Father of the Church.
“I have my room, some books and a nearby chapel. That is complete happiness.”
– St. Miguel of Ecuador
Upon entering the Brothers of the Christian Schools, more commonly called the La Salle Brothers, Francisco Luis-Cordero y Munoz took the name Miguel. From his birth in Ecuador in 1854, he was disabled with no use of his legs. He was cured at age five when he received a vision of the Mother of God. The Brothers of the Christian Schools had recently opened its first school in Ecuador, which Francisco entered as a nine-year-old boy. In 1868, he became the first Ecuadoran to join the order and assumed the name “Miguel.” Brother Miguel taught in Quito for more than 30 years, publishing several textbooks, some of which were adopted by the Ecuadoran government for nationwide use. He gained an international reputation as an educator and writer, while still conducting religious retreats and catechizing children.
“The heart is rich when it is content, and it is always content when its desires are fixed on God.”
– St. Miguel of Ecuador
Brother Miguel never left Ecuador until he was sent to represent his order at the 1888 beatification of its founder, John Baptist de la Salle. In 1905 he would again travel to Europe, this time to Belgium, to translate French texts into Spanish. Three years later he was transferred to Barcelona and continued his work until his death in 1910 from pneumonia. After confirmation of a miraculous healing that occurred through his intercession in 1935, he was beatified in 1977. He was canonized in 1984 by Pope John Paul II after confirmation of another miraculous healing. St. Miguel of Ecuador is the patron of the Brothers of the Christian Schools.
“Son, nothing in this world now affords me delight. I do not know what there is now left for me to do or why I am still here, all my hopes in this world being now fulfilled.”
– St. Monica (on her deathbed, to her son, St. Augustine of Hippo)
Born into a Christian family in North Africa in 331, Monica was given in marriage to a wealthy Roman pagan named Patricius. Though he didn’t share her beliefs, he respected them. However, he would not permit their children to be baptized. It was one of the great joys of her life that through her prayers and example she successfully converted him, along with his short-tempered mother, a year before Patricius died. When Augustine rejected Christianity and became a Manichaean, she drove him from her home before a vision prompted her to reconcile with him. She spent 17 years trying to convert him, and with the help of St. Ambrose, she was able to do so. Augustine was baptized, and mother and son were on their way back to North Africa to spread the Word of God when Monica died. The words she shared with her son as she lay dying confirmed that she had accomplished her mission in life—bringing her loved ones into the Church. Her epitaph, written by St. Augustine, reads in part, “Serving the heavenly laws of peace, you taught the people entrusted to you with your character.”
“Nothing is far from God.”
– St. Monica
Monica, mother of St. Augustine of Hippo, was traveling with her sons, about to embark on a ship in the Roman seaport of Ostia to return home to Tagaste, North Africa (present-day Algeria) when she fell ill. Realizing that she was close to death, they asked her if she feared dying so far from home, as she had previously expressed her desire to be buried beside her husband in Tagaste. The words she uttered in response, “Nothing is far from God,” were a simple expression of the deep faith that had sustained her throughout her life. St. Monica was buried at Ostia, where she died. Her relics are now in a chapel within the Basilica di Sant’Agostino in Rome, built to honor her son, St. Augustine of Hippo.
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“The giver of every good and perfect gift has called upon us to mimic God’s giving, by grace, through faith, and this is not of ourselves.”
– St. Nicholas of Myra
St. Nicholas, who is believed to have lived from roughly 280 to 343, was born in what is now Turkey. Little is known for certain about his life other than that he lost both parents when he was a young man and used his inheritance to help those in need and that he served as bishop of Myra, now the city of Demre. His kindness and generosity gave rise to many legends from which the fictional Santa Claus evolved. One such legend describes how Nicholas came to the aid of a family that was so poor that the three daughters faced the prospect of having to prostitute themselves or face starvation if they didn’t marry, and there was no money for dowries. When he heard of their plight, he tossed a bag of gold through the window one night, enabling the first daughter to marry. He did the same a second time, and the second daughter married. Each time, Nicholas was able to keep the source of the gift anonymous. The third time, however, the father saw Nicholas as he ran away, and the story of Nicholas’ generous gifts spread quickly.
“Unwittingly you have pursued falsehood thinking it to be the tru
th. If you had been taught the truth first you would have been found effortlessly tending toward salvation, just as you now effortlessly lean toward perdition.”
– St. Norbert, to the people of Antwerp
St. Norbert spent the second part of his life making up for the first part. He was born into wealth in the Rhineland around 1080. He indulged in earthly pleasures even after he entered the worldly German court, where he accepted holy orders as a canon to boost his status and gain financially, but he drew the line at becoming a priest. His life changed forever when he fell from a horse and lay unconscious in the rain for an hour. When he came to, he spoke aloud: “Lord, what do you want me to do?” The answer he heard in his heart was to “Turn from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it.” Norbert returned to his hometown, prepared for the priesthood, and was ordained at the age of roughly 35. He gave all his possessions to the poor and became an itinerant preacher. He lived the remainder of his life in the strictest obedience to the will of God, forming a community of canons living under an ascetic regimen and advancing in the Church. Three attempts were made on his life for the reforms he tried to bring. He was appointed archbishop of Magdeburg shortly before his death in 1134. St. Norbert was canonized in 1582.