Butler's Lives of the Saints Read online

  Entering a Passionist monastery at the age of eighteen, he exchanged his given name for Gabriel of the Sorrowful Mother. Humility and obedience became driving forces in his life. But the thing others noticed most about him was his cheerfulness. Even in the monastery he was enjoyable to be around.

  Tuberculosis took Gabriel’s life when he was only twenty-four. Great numbers of people continue to visit his shrine.

  FEBRUARY 28

  Romanus and Lupicinus (d. ? 460)

  Spiritual seeking

  Romanus was thirty-five when he went alone into the forested Jura Mountains on the border of France and Switzerland. He took with him Cassian’s Lives of the Desert Fathers, some seeds, and a few garden tools. In a remote spot where the Bienne and the Alière rivers come together, Romanus began a life that somewhat parallels that of David Thoreau at Walden Pond. He filled his days with reading, observing nature, gardening, and prayer. Most of his visitors were woodland creatures and an infrequent hunter. With the passage of time other similarly inclined religious individuals began to camp near him. One of them was his brother, Lupicinus. Eventually their sister and some other women also arrived.

  The two brothers decided to build monasteries to accommodate the growing crowd. Their monks devoted much time to manual labor, wore primitive clothing and wooden shoes, and subsisted on a simple diet.

  Romanus died about the year 460, and Lupicinus lived another twenty years.

  MARCH 1

  David of Wales (d. ca. 600)

  Simple living

  David (or Dewi, or Dafydd) is our first Welsh saint. He lived in the sixth century and very little is known about him. As a monk, he was nicknamed “Aquaticus” because he preferred water to wine or beer. He devoted himself to acts of mercy and stringent personal austerities.

  David founded a monastery at Mynyw where the brothers lived in extreme simplicity and prayed constantly, even while working. Unnecessary talking was discouraged, and rather than harnessing animals, tey used their own muscles to pull the plow.

  Shakespeare notes a curious and unexplained tradition on St. David’s Day that prompts the Welsh people to wear leeks or daffodils.

  MARCH 2

  Teresa Verzeri (1801–52)

  Fresh interpretation

  The early nineteenth century was a time of social and religious unrest in Italy. The recent French revolution had sent shudders of new enlightenment through all of Europe. It was in these stimulating times that Teresa Verzeri was born.

  As a youngster, Teresa entered the Benedictine Monastery in Bergamo. When she was thirty, she helped found the Institute of the Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Her desire was to interpret Christianity in a new way for a new time. People were looking for rational explanations regarding matters of faith, but Teresa wanted them to rediscover, rather, a loving and trusting relationship with God. To accomplish this, she built schools and educated a wide spectrum of society, focusing on this approach of love and trust in God.

  Overworked, Teresa Verzeri was only fifty-one when she died. Her mission continues today on four continents. The Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus have a ministry for street children in Central Africa, a mission for the poor in India and in the Amazon jungle in Brazil, and a ministry for abused women in the suburbs of Rome.

  MARCH 3

  Katherine Drexel (1858–1955)

  Dedication of Resources

  Sometimes a person who inherits a fortune finds a way to get rid of all of it by helping others. Katherine Drexel was born to a wealthy Philadelphia banking family. At a young age, though, it became clear to her that no amount of money would protect anyone from suffering and death.

  When she vacationed with her family in the western United States she observed the pitiful living conditions on the reservations for Native Americans. She was strongly motivated to do something to help.

  While traveling in Europe, Katherine asked Pope Leo XIII to send more missionaries to the United States. She was startled when he asked, “Why don’t you become a missionary?” Returning home, she did exactly that.

  In 1913, she used her inheritance to establish the “Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.” She spoke openly against injustice and racial discrimination. She worked tirelessly for the educational and spiritual needs of American minorities. Ignoring personal risk, she traveled widely before the years of convenient transportation. She opened the first mission school for Native Americans in New Mexico in 1894. Additional schools for Native Americans west of the Mississippi and schools for blacks in the South soon followed.

  Eventually known as “Mother Drexel,” she established Xavier University in New Orleans in 1915. This was the first black university in America. When the Second World War began she had set up black schools in thirteen states and fifty mission schools for Native Americans in sixteen states. Segregationists opposed much of her work and burned one school she built in Pennsylvania.

  When she was seventy-six, she had a cerebral hemorrhage and needed to retire from active administration. Her prayer-saturated life continued until she was ninety-seven. When she died in Philadelphia in 1955, her pallbearers represented several races.

  MARCH 4

  Casimir of Poland (1458–84)

  Brevity of life

  Called “the Peacemaker,” Casimir was born to royalty in 1458. The Polish prince responded positively to religious instruction as a child. He began to pray fervently early in life and seemed conscious of the presence of God. He was a cheerful and pleasant young man. Expressing his faith, Casimir began works of charity for the poor while still in his youth.

  After a futile attempt to lead an army as a teenager, Casimir determined that war was a waste of effort and resources. He devoted the remainder of his short life to study, meditation, and prayer while sometimes functioning briefly as viceroy in Poland when his father was out of the country. Never married, he died of tuberculosis in his early twenties. At his request, he was buried with a copy of his favorite hymn beneath his head.

  MARCH 5

  Adrian and Eubulus (d. 308)

  Martyrs

  Corrupting power has always produced ruthless persons of authority. Responsible to no one, political leaders in all times and places have acted in shameless ways that often go unreported. Adrian and Eubulus became victims of such a leader.

  Diocletian, after distinguished service in the army, became Roman Emperor in 284. An autocrat, he viewed the Christian Church as an organization that he could not control. Early in the fourth century, Diocletian’s persecution of Christians opened the way for his governors in distant places to disregard the human rights of anyone professing faith in Christ.

  Two young men became innocent victims of this persecution: Adrian and Eubulus. They departed their home in Magantia to visit the Christians in Caesarea. Guards stopped them at the city gate and asked what they were doing. Naively, they told the truth.

  The guards seized them and carried them to the governor, who had them tortured and put in line to be thrown to the lions. Two days later, the Caesareans held a public festival. Adrian was the first casualty. A lion clawed and chewed him, but did not kill him. The crowd expressed boredom and Adrian was murdered with a sword.

  Eubulus soon received the same treatment, except this time there was an offer of mercy if he would make a sacrifice to pagan idols. Eubulus preferred to die. He became the last Caesarean martyr in a persecution that had lasted twelve years under three Roman governors.

  MARCH 6

  Colette (1381–1447)

  Determination

  A carpenter’s daughter, Colette Boilet was born in Picardy, France. She had a natural inclination for prayer and meditation. Both of her parents died when Colette was seventeen. Though not the sort of person one might expect to do such a task, she became interested in revitalizing the barefoot “Poor Clares.” After a personal struggle, living eight years as a Franciscan hermit, Colette accepted the assignment. She wrote, “I dedicate myself in health, in illness, in my life, in
my death, in all my desires, in all my deeds so that I may never work again except for your glory, for the salvation of souls, and toward the reform for which you have chosen me.”

  Though she met with resistance, Colette successfully strengthened the order, establishing new convents in France, Flanders, and Savoy. A visionary, Colette once saw a multitude of souls falling away from God. They reminded her of snowflakes in a winter storm. She began to pray daily for lost sinners. By personally guiding individuals, Colette managed to bring many back into a life of faith.

  MARCH 7

  Angela of the Cross (1846–1931)

  Prayer and labor

  The cook and the laundress who worked in the convent of the Trinitarian Fathers in Seville, Spain, had fourteen children, eight of whom died early. They named the one born in 1846 “Maria of the Angels” and called her “Angelita.” Her parents set excellent examples of morality and piety.

  Angelita had only a modest amount of formal education and as a young girl went to work in a shoe shop. Even the atmosphere of this place contributed to her religious stimulation and growth. The employees gathered daily to pray and read the lives of the saints. At sixteen, Angelita came under the sensitive spiritual direction of Jose Torres Padilla.

  By the time she was nineteen, Angelita was sure she wanted to commit herself to a religious life. She applied to the Carmelites in Santa Cruz, but they refused to accept her because of her poor health. Meanwhile, a cholera epidemic was spreading in Seville, and her spiritual director encouraged her to start caring for its needy victims.

  In her early twenties, still in poor health, Angelita applied again to enter a convent. The Daughters of Charity of Seville accepted her in 1868. Unable to find any relief from her illness, she soon had to leave the convent and return to the shoe shop. Here her prayer life deepened.

  During a time of prayer in 1871, Angelita perceived an empty cross in front of the chapel’s crucifix. She interpreted this to mean that God was asking her to accept the empty cross, to “be poor with the poor in order to bring them to Christ.”

  Continuing to support herself at the shoe shop, she organized a community with three other women and began a vital ministry to the poor. The “Sisters of the Company of the Cross” rented a room in Seville and devoted all of their spare time to the contemplative life. It was their policy that the poor and the dying could always interrupt their time of prayer and silence. Others began to call Angelita, “Mother Angela of the Cross,” and more affectionately, “Mother of the Poor.” The sisters thought of themselves as “angels” who were available to give loving assistance to those who would have been overlooked by the world.

  When she died, there were twenty-three convents of the Sisters in Spain.

  MARCH 8

  John of God (1495–1550)

  Repentence

  John was a Portuguese soldier who experienced a life-changing conversion. At the age of about forty, he was overwhelmed with a desire to give his life to God. The advice he received was to look for God in ordinary daily life.

  On a visit to neighboring Spain, John responded to a sermon by John of Avila (May 10). In response, he decided to repent of his sins by a public demonstration of self-flagellation. This resulted in his arrest and confinement in an institution for the mentally ill.

  John of Avila heard of his misfortune and went to visit him. Knowing the prisoner was misguided rather than insane, John advised him to begin caring for the needy rather than punishing himself. This quieting influence of John of Avila made a dramatic difference.

  John of God opened a house to take care of sick indigents. He worked tirelessly, with the utmost devotion, for his patients, and his attractive devotion generated support. Benefactors contributed funds to finance his ministry. When the archbishop of Granada summoned John after hearing complaints that his hospital was open to prostitutes and tramps, John replied, “The Son of man came for sinners, and we must seek their conversion. I would be unfaithful to my vocation if I neglect this. I don’t know of any bad person in my hospital other than myself.” The archbishop became one of John’s most ardent supporters.

  Falling ill after rescuing a drowning man from a flooded river, John of God died on his knees before the altar in his hospital’s chapel on March 8, 1550.

  MARCH 9

  Frances of Rome (1384–1440)

  Christian service

  Frances listened to her parents rather than her heart. At the age of thirteen she married Lorenzo de’ Ponziani and began housekeeping in Rome. It was 1397, and though she would have preferred to become a nun, she became a good wife, bearing Lorenzo three children.

  Her sister-in-law shared her interest in prayer and Christian service to others. Their husbands encouraged them to be active among the poor with acts of faith and charity. Frances ministered to the victims of epidemics and wars. In 1409, Lorenzo was exiled for political reasons. When he returned, a broken man, five years later, Frances cared for him. Adding to their grief, the plague killed two of their three children.

  Frances, who had been born to Roman aristocracy, sold all her possessions to raise funds for caring for the sick. She organized a society of Roman women to help her ministry of self-denial and service. Her husband died after they had enjoyed forty years of happy marriage. Frances lived her remaining years with her community. Her life reminds us that not all of us are expected to live a holy life in a specifically religious setting. We may serve God in the ordinary tasks of daily living.

  MARCH 10

  John Ogilvie (ca. 1580–1615)

  Stressful times

  At the turn of the seventeenth century, many Scottish families were a mixture of Catholic and Presbyterian. John Ogilvie grew up Presbyterian. During this time, as a student in France, he enjoyed participating in the heated religious discussions of his day. These intellectual debates among Protestants and Catholics permeated academic life. By the time John was seventeen he had decided to be Catholic. More than a decade later, in 1610, he became a Jesuit priest.

  John Ogilvie returned to Scotland as a missionary, but found the political stresses at home extremely confining. For their personal safety, most Catholics kept their faith a secret. Church and state issues had become matters of life and death in Great Britain.

  In Edinburgh, Ogilvie tutored the son of William Sinclair and visited Catholics in prison. In the cruel environment of his time and place, James I had him arrested and tortured, and placed him on trial for high treason. Ogilvie declared his allegiance to the king, but refused to grant spiritual authority to worldly power. The result was his condemnation. He was given an opportunity to recant, but he refused. His death was by hanging.

  MARCH 11

  Maximilian (d. 295)

  Standing firm

  Today we would call Maximilian a “conscientious objector.” In 295 a Roman proconsul sailed to Algeria to recruit soldiers for the legion stationed in that area. Most were volunteers, but there was an obligation of service for sons of veterans. Maximilian was twenty-one when his father presented him to the recruiter. Tall and strong, he appeared to be an excellent candidate for the army. Unfortunately, pagan ceremonies were an integral part of Roman military life, and Maximilian did not think a Christian should participate. Over his objection, he was measured (5’10”) and then handed a soldier’s badge.

  A trustworthy document faithfully records the conversation that took place. A modern paraphrase of a portion of it follows.

  He said, “My army is the army of God, and I cannot fight for this world. I won’t do it.”

  The proconsul asked him why he was being so stubborn. “What has put these ideas into your head?”

  “My conscience and the One who has called me.”

  The Roman turned to Maximilian’s father. “Speak to your son!”

  His father replied, “He knows what he believes. He should do what he thinks is best for him.”

  The proconsul spoke sharply to Maximilian. “Agree to serve. Take the military seal.”

>   “I will not accept the seal. I already have the seal of Christ my God. Your seal is worthless. I cannot wear a piece of lead around my neck after I have received the saving sign of Jesus Christ my Lord, the Son of the living God.”

  After threatening the punishment of death again, the proconsul attempted to reason with Maximilian. “Military service is a proper thing for young men. There are soldiers who are Christian who serve as bodyguards to our leaders.”

  “They know what is best for them. I am a Christian and my conscience forbids me to serve in your army.”

  “Then I will send you to your Christ right now.”

  “I can think of nothing better. I shall not perish, and if I do depart from this world, my soul shall live with Christ, my Lord.”

  Maximilian’s name was struck from the roll and he was condemned for disloyalty. As the guards were preparing him for execution, he encouraged his companions to be brave and instructed his father to give his new clothes to the executioner.

  MARCH 12

  Luigi Orione (1872–1940)

  Sharing gifts

  Some of us get a great start in life because of positive religious influences. Luigi Orione was born in 1872 to a devoutly religious Italian mother. By the time he was ten, the example and guidance of his community’s excellent priests had given him a strong desire for a religious vocation. Until he was thirteen, he worked with his father, paving streets.

  Luigi’s teen years were a mixture of formal studies and hard work. He supported himself as a custodian at the cathedral in Tortona. Confident that God was directing him to become a priest, he kept his eye on that goal while growing into adulthood. By the age of twenty he began to teach and care for others.

  Luigi Orione received ordination in 1895. The Sons of Divine Providence which he founded began extended missionary work in Brazil in 1913. He understood that God was an essential participant in his work, and he practiced a life of steady prayer. He established an extensive network of schools, churches, shrines, and homes for the poor and needy. Respected for his mature insight and good judgment, Orione was often responsible for resolving difficult community and ecclesiastical problems.