- Saint Jerome was brought Holy Communion as Viaticum at the end of his life, and he prostrated himself in adoration with the words of Elizabeth, “ How is this, that my Lord should come to me?” He then repeated, “Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man.” St. Francis Borgia is famous for the help he gave to St. Teresa of Avila as she was founding her first Carmels. Francis made it a practice to visit the Blessed Sacrament seven times a day. After the death of his wife, Francis joined St. Ignatius of Loyola as one of the first Jesuits.
. Ordinarily, this would be the feastday of St. Therese of the Child Jesus. She once wrote a poem where she declared: I can, in the Holy Sacrifice, gather Jesus to me every morning. My soul is therefore dearer to Him, it is more precious than vessels of gold.
Regarding the faith of our American foundress, Mother Mary Maddalena, one Sister who lived with her declared: Every day she said an Our Father in honor of the guardian angel of the monastery, for she believed that every church and Catholic institution had its special guardian angel. She was wont to invite the nine choirs of angels to accompany her to Holy Communion. The eucharistic faith of the Servant of God (Mother Maddalena) resulted in eucharistic joy for her. (cf. Bentivoglio of the Bentivoglio, p. 207)
Sister Maria Celeste, the daughter of Galileo, wrote to her father on this day in 1633. She mentioned to him that a relative of one of the nuns in her Poor Clare monastery had bequeathed to the nuns a farm which greatly helped the Sisters in their financial distress. As a part of the inheritance, Sister Maria Celeste told her father that they were to offer their Mass for the repose of their benefactor every day for four hundred years. (cf. Galileo’s Daughter, page 312)
“What wonderful majesty! What stupendous condescension! O sublime humility! O humble sublimity! That the Lord of the whole universe, God and the Son of God, should humble Himself like this and hide under the form of a little bread…” – St. Francis
- On this day died Mother Clara Pfander in 1882, foundress of the Franciscan Sisters of Salzkotten, Germany. She had Saint Clare of Assisi for her patron and her inspiration, and the Order she founded included hours of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and prayer, in addition to the works of mercy.
Venerable Franciscan Josefa del Castillo was born on this day in 1671. She came from an illustrious family in Tunja, Columbia, and made her profession in the Santa Clara monastery in 1694. She wrote elegantly in Latin. Her poems are considered works of Spanish literature: “To keep me Thou hast shed / And sealed Thy love, in blood/ And in the Holy Bread/ Prepared my sacred good …”
- The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary commemorates the naval victory over the Moslem navy by the half-brother of king Philip II of Spain, Don Juan of Austria. Juan made sure that each of the soldiers and sailors had a rosary and a crucifix; and Holy Mass was offered before the confrontation with the Turkish forces. This victory is commemorated as the Battle of Lepanto.
. Mother Seraphina of Jesus, foundress of the Poor Clare Missionary Franciscans of the Blessed Sacrament was born on October 7, 1853 in Tossignano, Italy. She was baptized the next day and given the name of Francesca. After Seraphina grew into young womanhood, Francis and Clare were her ideals, and she founded a community in which she professed the Rule of St. Clare, but with a missionary thrust. Her Constitutions emphasize the Liturgy of the Hours, personal prayer, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and meditation.
- “Sister Francesca of the Five Wounds, an Alcantarine [perhaps he meant a branch of the Poor Clares] of Naples, used to visit the Blessed Sacrament in spirit when she could not go the Church, and her face turned to the nearest church, exclaiming, ‘O my Spouse! My Spouse! O joy of my heart! Would that I had the hearts of all men to bless Thee with! Would that my heart were a burning furnace of the fire of love, huge as the great world, to love Thee with!” and she satisfied her love by frequent spiritual communions.” – Father William Faber, The Blessed Sacrament, Book IV
WHO ART IN HEAVEN: in the angels and saints, giving them light to know You, since You, O Lord, are Light. HALLOWED BE THY NAME: may we appreciate the width of Your favors and the length of Your promises to us, as well as the height of Your majesty and the depth of Your judgments. THY KINGDOM COME: that You may rule in us through Your grace. THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN: so that we may love You with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our strength. GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD: Your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. AND FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS: in Your unutterable mercy. AS WE FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS: and what we do not fully forgive, enable us to forgive, so that for Your sake we may truly love our enemies. AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION: hidden, obvious, or unforeseen. BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL: Past, present, and future. Amen.
Pope John XXIII was a Third Order member of the Order of Saint Francis, and was devoted to both St. Francis and St. Clare. Father André Cirino, O.F.M., writes: “[John] did not forget the Poor Clares in Paris, Rome, or Venice… When visiting a monastery where there was adoration day and night, he asked which sister did her adoration at two in the morning, and when they told him, he joyfully exclaimed to her: ‘I, too, will be in prayer with you.’ He explained that he arose at that hour to pray and work because of the silence and peace.” - “Saint John XXIII, Secular Franciscan”
“Every time I hear anyone speak of the Sacred Heart of Jesus or of the Blessed Sacrament, I feel an indescribable joy. It is as if a wave of precious memories, sweet affections and joyful hopes swept over me, making me tremble with happiness and filling my soul with tenderness. These are loving appeals from Jesus, who wants me wholeheartedly there, at the source of all goodness, His Sacred Heart, throbbing mysteriously behind Eucharistic veils.” - St. John XXIII
The Priest prepares himself by a prayer, said quietly, so that he may fruitfully receive the Body and Blood of Christ. The faithful do the same, praying silently Then the Priest shows the faithful the Eucharistic Bread, holding it over the paten or over the chalice, and invites them to the banquet of Christ; and along with the faithful, he then makes an act of humility, using the prescribed words from the Gospels. – GIRM #84
St. Charles of Sezze had a sister who was a Poor Clare in their native city of Sezze, Italy. Her name in Religion was Sister Mary Frances of Jesus. He recounted: “One morning when I was serving Mass, in the fervor of my spirit I began to think of Father Bartholomew of Salutio and I started to ask our Lord as a favor from this servant of His, that he would be pleased to give me some of the love He had given Bartholomew so that I could serve Him better… From the Sacred Host I suddenly felt our Lord speak to me interiorly: ‘May your divine will be done!’ … When a few days had gone by I began to reflect on what our Lord had said to me and what the trials might be that were to come upon me… One day my sister, Sister Mary Frances, wrote and told me that at Sezze a poor man had been murdered; the belief was that my brother and one of our cousins had done this. Though we suffered for a year and a half because of this… I pass it over, since I had something here in which to exercise charity toward others.” - ch. 65 of Autobiography
. (Usually, this day is the Memorial of Saint Teresa of Jesus [Avila]; but this year the day falls on a Sunday.) “As I was going to Communion on her feast, Saint Clare appeared to me in great beauty, and bade me take courage, and go on with what I had begun; she would help me. I began to have a great devotion to St. Clare; and she has so truly kept her word, that a monastery of nuns of her Order in our neighborhood helped us to live; and, what is of more importance, by little and little she so perfectly fulfilled my desire that the poverty which the blessed Saint observes in her own house is observed in this [house], and we are living on alms. – St. Teresa, Autobiography, xxxiii:15
St. Margaret Mary spent several years in her childhood with Urbanist Poor Clares who took in young girls to give them an education. This was a normal arrangement at that time. While at the Poor Clare monastery at Charolles, France, young Margaret made her First Communion at the then-relatively young age of eight-and-a-half years old. She wrote: “After my First communion, our Lord spread such bitterness over all my little enjoyments that I could find relish in none, though I sought them eagerly. But as soon as I thought to take part in them with my companions, I always felt something which called me aside... [In the Chapel, before the Blessed Sacrament] I felt that I was in a place of dearest delights.” Saint Gertrude of Helfta, a Cistercian nun wrote: “I understand that, each time we contemplate with desire and devotion the Host in which Jesus is hidden, we increase our love here on earth.”
- It was toward the end of September, 1651, that Mother Leonor of the Monastery of St. Clare of Macao fell ill. “When she received Viaticum, her face was shining like Moses… Finally, she died very calm, favored and assisted by Our Lord in that hour at one o’clock at night, October 19, 1651. When she was expiring two large lights were seen in the convent, which lit it up as if it were day. Celestial music was heard at her passing away.” - Chronicle of the Monastery of Macao
Saint Paul of the Cross came to Piombino, Italy, to give a retreat to the Poor Clares there in the year 1733. The impact of his preaching was tremendous, and the Sisters were led to great holiness and religious observance. Mother Cherubina Bresciani was one of the nuns present for the spiritual exercises, and under St. Paul’s direction, she led her Community for many years. She later testified at his Beatification process. “I desired that the standard of the holy faith be exalted, so that devotion and respect, homage and frequent adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament, the ineffable mystery of the most holy love of God, may be increased so that His most holy name may be glorified in a most special manner. The desire to die as a martyr, especially for the Blessed Sacrament in those places where they do not believe in It, never leaves me.” - Saint Paul of the Cross
Saint Peter of Alcantara not only counselled the great Reformer of the Carmelites, St. Teresa of Avila, but frequently preached to Poor Clare nuns, offered Holy Mass, and ministered to them in other ways. He started a reform in the Poor Clare Order called the “Alcantarines,” although it only was in a few monasteries. “Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament has His hands full of graces, and He is ready to bestow them on anyone who asks for them.” – St. Peter of Alcantara
The American foundress of the Poor Clares, Mother Maddalena, came to this country in 1875. She endeavored to teach the Sisters in her care how to participate in Holy Mass. One of the nuns who lived with her testified: She instructed us that holy Mass is one of our principal meditations. She constantly instructed us never to use the book or beads, but to talk heart to heart with our Lard as if we were at the foot of Calvary.
Saint Peter of Alcantara often preached to Poor Clare nuns, offered Holy Mass, and served their spiritual needs. He wrote: “Jesus wished to reassure His spouse, [the Church], … that she might traverse joyfully the toiling bitterness of life: and that she might hold as certain this hope of blessedness, He left her this ineffable Treasure as a pledge of all she hopes for.” – Saint Peter of Alcantara, referring to the Blessed Sacrament, found in A Treatise on Prayer, by St. Peter of Alcantara, Part I, ch. 4
This great Franciscan missionary was attentive to the Poor Clares when he was on a preaching tour, often stopping to give conferences to the nuns, asking their prayers. Towards the end of his life, the pope sent Capistran to Bavaria, Austria and parts of Poland to defend the Faith, especially in the Real Presence of Jesus in the blessed Sacrament. He was in Breslau celebrating Mass, and fearlessly spoke out against the heretics who denied the Eucharist. After he left the church, thieves, influenced by the heretics, broke into the church and stole some of the Hosts that Capistran had consecrated. It is thought that the thieves had intended to desecrate the Hosts, which were wrapped in a linen cloth. Before such a thing could happen, they began to bleed profusely. The thieves fled in fear and were later found in the forest when a Polish man rode by on his horse. Finding the blood-soaked Hosts, the man contacted the local priest. They were brought in solemn procession to the Church in Langenwiese.
Saint Anthony Claret, the founder of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Claretians), was considered the most zealous Spanish missionary of the 19th century. He wrote a series of meditations called Fifteen minutes in the Company of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, as an aid for meditation before the Blessed Sacrament. The full text is found in the booklet published by the Congregatio Pro Clericis: EUCHARISTIC ADORATION FOR THE SANCTIFICATION OF PRIESTS AND SPIRITUAL MATERNITY. Please refer to CXPeditor @gmail.com He wrote: Tell Me what interest you; what motives urge you; what you yearn for; what means you wish to take. Confide in Me your failures… I am the Master of all hearts.” (See also August 26th)
BLESSED ANTÔNIO GALVÃO was born in São Paulo, Brazil in 1739 and entered the Friars Minor on April 15, 1760. He made his novitiate and was ordained a priest in 1762. He served most of his life in São Paulo, and he was such a zealous priest that he was called “the saint of charity and peace”. Everywhere he went, he fostered devotion to Mary the Mother of God and to the Blessed Sacrament. A group of holy women lived together and asked Father Galvão to be their guide. He was the confessor of Sister Helena of the Holy Spirit, and she asked Father Galvão to help her found a contemplative community, living the vows and practicing works of charity. He consulted the bishop, who gave his consent. The sisters based their way of life on the Conceptionist-Poor Clare Rule; but they took care of the poor, slaves, and others in distress. The nuns also had uninterrupted adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Antônio de Sant’ Anna Galvão was beatified by Pope John Paul II on October 25, 1998.
- Saint Peter of Alcantara worked in the midst of great reforming movements of the Church, being friends with St. Francis Borgia and St. Teresa of Avila, among others. He started a small reform in the Poor Clare Order called the “Alcantarines,” though it was of limited scope. He wrote: “To understand something of the mystery of the Blessed Sacrament, remember … that no human language can express the magnitude of the love which Christ has for his spouse the Church, and … also for every soul in grace, seeing that each one is also His spouse… Thus it was, He left as a memorial this most Holy Sacrament.” - Treatise on Prayer, Part I, ch. 4
On October 27, 1875, Mother Maddalena Bentivoglio, the foundress of the Poor Clares in the United States, was told by Archbishop Wood of Philadelphia that he could not receive the Poor Clares in his diocese. She wrote in her memoirs: “Turning the corner of 18th Street, we passed the Cathedral, which we had not visited before. We entered to pour out our hearts before our dear Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, humbly entreating Him for light and strength. Looking around us we saw a beautiful painting of our Seraphic Patriarch S. Francis. Going on our knees, we fervently invoked our Blessed Father to aid us by his powerful intercession in heaven. Thus, comforted and strengthened, we left the Cathedral, ready to brave whatever new trials should be in store for us” She was greatly disappointed, and it was several years of searching until a permanent foundation was finally made in Omaha.
On October 28, 2007, Cardinal Saraiva Martins presided over the largest beatification ceremony in the history of the Church, held in St. Peter’s Square. Among those beatified were several Capuchin Poor Clares. Msgr. Vincente Ortí, a Spanish historian based in Rome explained: After 1936, all the main cities, cathedrals, religious communities and parishes church were attacked, ransacked and burned. These persecutions aimed at the erasing of all Catholic tradition in Spain. Hatred for the faith went even beyond murders and found expression in thousands of sacrilegious acts: tabernacles were emptied, consecrated particles were eaten, shot at, strewn in streets and trodden on; churches were used as stables, altars were demolished, priests and nuns were held at gunpoint in the attempt to force them to recant their faith. - Interview in Inside the Vatican, December 2007
In the autumn of 1892, Mother Mary Maddalena, the foundress of the Poor Clares in the United States, was asked by the bishop of Omaha to pray for a renegade priest who had come to that city to preach against the Church. The priest, Doctor Edward McGlynn, was known to Mother Maddalena when she met him in New York. Mother Maddalena assured the bishop that Dr. McGlynn would not speak. She and Mother Mary Constance stayed up all night praying for him before the Blessed Sacrament. The next day, Dr. McGlynn returned the money for the tickets, saying that he could not speak that night. He returned to New York, made his formal apologies to the apostolic delegate, and was reinstated as a priest. (see also September 23rd)
On October 30, 1909, a small group of Episcopalians were received into the Catholic Church. Two friars, five Religious Sisters, and a group of lay people were destined to become Franciscans, members of the Society of the Atonement. This group, stationed in Graymoor, New York, has been actively promoting Church Unity from even before it joined the Church. Father Paul Wattson and Mother Lurana White are considered co-founders. Mother Lurana herself had made a pilgrimage to Assisi and knelt at the tomb of St. Clare, asking her intercession and guidance for the years ahead.
St. Peter of Alcantara served the Poor Clares committed to his care. One wonders if what he published in book form was first given as conferences to his Poor Clare sisters: “Jesus, at the hour of his death, wished to make a testament and leave to His spouse- [the Church] – some resplendent gift; and so He left her the most precious thing He had, and the most useful for her, since, in this gift, He left God to her.”