St Anthony’s Bread (Jun 2018)
Blessed Mariano Roccacasale (1778-1866)
Mariano was born to a peasant family in Roccacasale in Italy. One day, tired and thirsty while caring for his sheep on a rugged hillside, he fell asleep and had a dream in which a Franciscan friar showed him where to find water. When he awoke, he removed a stone beneath his head, untapping a vigorous stream, which runs to this day.
When he was twenty-three, he joined a Franciscan community in Arisquia, where he remained for twelve years, dividing his time between prayer and simple labor. But he felt something was lacking. Eventually he received permission from his community to visit Bellagra, where many holy friars had established hermitages. He ended up remaining there for the next forty-years, serving as doorkeeper – an office that afforded opportunities to greet pilgrims, travellers, and the poor who made their way to his door. Welcoming each guest with the Franciscan greeting, “Peace and Good,” he would offer food, a place to rest, and his own spiritual counsel. This was his path to holiness.
He died on May 31, 1866. He was beatified in 1999.
Saint Baptista Varano (1458-1524)
Camilla Varano was the daughter of a powerful Italian prince and his mistress. Raised by the father and his lawful wife, she was groomed for a life in this highest circles of society. For many years she embraced this world of “music, dancing, dress, and other worldly amusements.” She could “not bear” the sight of monks or nuns. Then one day she heard a sermon that hit her like a thunderbolt. In response to prayer she received the gift of “three lilies”: hatred of the world, a sense of unworthiness, and a willingness to suffer. Gradually she found herself attracted to religious life.
Her father did everything he could to thwart her vocation – even to the point of locking her up. But after two years, when she was twenty-three, he relented and allowed her to enter the Poor Clares, where she took the name Baptista. She likened the experience to crossing the Red Sea to escape from slavery under Pharoah.
In the newfound freedom of the cloister, Baptista began to experience vivid mystical visions, including colloquies with St. Clare. In another case, two winged angels held her aloft to contemplate the bleeding feet of Christ on the cross. She composed several books describing the inner suffering of Christ, as well as offering spiritual instructions.
Baptista died on May 31, 1524, and was canonized in 2010.
Source : The Franciscan Saints (Franciscan Media)
Saint Mariana of Quito (1618-1645)
Mariana de Paredes, the patron saint of Ecuador, was born in Quito to aristocratic parents. As a child, she dreamed of joining a convent, or even carrying the Gospel to Japan. But after her parents died, she moved in with her sister and brother-in-law, and there, under the direction of a Jesuit confessor, spent the rest of her life. Upon receiving the habit of a Franciscan tertiary, she took the name of Mariana of Jesus.
It is painful to read of the austerities she imposed on herself: extreme fasting, long vigils, and a crown of thorns. As a reminder of death, she spent each Friday night sleeping in a coffin. In exchange of these sacrifices, she received many spiritual favors, including the gift of prophecy and the power to effect miraculous healings.
In 1645, Quito was struck by a series of earthquakes, followed by a terrible epidemic that claimed over fourteen hundred lives. When a preacher proclaimed that these sufferings were a result of people’s sins, Mariana publicly offered herself as a victim. Immediately the earthquakes ceased. But Mariana fell mortally ill and died on May 26, 1645, at the age of twenty-six. Hailed as a savior of her city, she was mourned by all of Quito. She was canonized in 1950.
Source : The Franciscan Saints (Franciscan Media)
Venerable Maria of Jesus of Agreda (1602-1665)
Maria of Jesus spent her entire life within the confines of her family castle in Agreda, Spain, which her mother – when Maria was only twelve – had converted into a convent for herself and her daughters. In this Franciscan Convent of the Immaculate Conception of Agreda, Maria eventually served as abbess, renowned for her mystical writings and her ardor in prayer.
And yet, in the spiritual realm, she was anything but a stay-at-home nun. In her early twenties, she found herself repeatedly transported in prayer to the Indian settlements in New Spain, particularly to a tribe of hunter-gatherers called the Jumanos in present-day New Mexico. In the course of what she reckoned were five hundred trips, she was able to communicate with the Indians in their own language, instructing them in the faith, and urging them to seek baptism. This remarkable story gained credence when friars in New Spain encountered just such a tribe who requested baptism and claimed they had met frequently with a Lady in Blue (just like Maria).
These reports were taken seriously enough to justify a trip to Agreda by the Franciscan superior for New Mexico. Maria was also subjected to two inquiries by the Inquisition, resulting in no action. (Her defenders included King Philip IV of Spain.)
She died on May 24, 1665. Ten years later, she was declared venerable by Pope Clement X.
Source : The Franciscan Saints (Franciscan Media)