Post by Séamus on Mar 2, 2020 12:24:49 GMT
I always find it intriguing that,in a secular climate that seems to encourage a more comfortable version of Catholicism,things like being smeared with ash and spending Christmas day in a state of exhaustion due to a strange desire to greet the day from midnight can actually be drawcards,even to non-regular church-goers.
Some people this year may have noted the commemoration of St Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows in the days following Ash Wednesday 2020, someone who blends in with the season,as a member of a congregation dedicated to Our Lord's Passion,which has produced fairly recent missionary saints for both Ireland (Charles) and England (Dominic);the Passionists can also claim a former-anglican member,now considered for beatification,related to the Earls Spencer (and the current Duke of Cambridge)
I find the devotion that St Gemma Galgani had for this saint rather curious. The teenage Gabriel was known as The Dancer or The Ladie's Man;'party boy' is probably anachronistic- I'm sure such gatherings were more family based and innocent in his time;it contrasts with Gemma's mystical and austere lifestyle,despite his being a professed religious and minor cleric and her dying as a secular laywoman (albiet who always desired the Passionist habit).
Perhaps it's a good example of deSales' maxim that all the different plants and fruits were meant to come forth. I always find it of interest that it was the saint's former girlfriend,of all people, who first considered Gabriel to be someone of extraordinary holiness.
A 1950s book of Marian devotion that I've come across recently noted that the Immaculate Heart badge, erroneously but commonly called the green scapular,claims inspiration from a Daughter of Charity who,like Catherine Labouré kept her mysticism secret,but "in contrast to Sister Labouré's oblivious retirement , Sister Justine Bisqueburu was to head military hospitals in Paris and Algiers,she was to be seen spending three days and three nights on the battlefield of Mentana,she organised ambulance corps in Rome..."
Obviously in service to the Papal States,I wonder did she meet Balbriggan's Major William O'Rielly and his St Patrick division ?
"...and she would accompany Pius IX on walks in his private garden" (cf Stephen Breen ,recent apparitions)
Perhaps both types of penitential witness are necessary- those who humbly avoided any attention and those who could have had the distracting world in their attendance but humbly soldiered on.
Some people this year may have noted the commemoration of St Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows in the days following Ash Wednesday 2020, someone who blends in with the season,as a member of a congregation dedicated to Our Lord's Passion,which has produced fairly recent missionary saints for both Ireland (Charles) and England (Dominic);the Passionists can also claim a former-anglican member,now considered for beatification,related to the Earls Spencer (and the current Duke of Cambridge)
I find the devotion that St Gemma Galgani had for this saint rather curious. The teenage Gabriel was known as The Dancer or The Ladie's Man;'party boy' is probably anachronistic- I'm sure such gatherings were more family based and innocent in his time;it contrasts with Gemma's mystical and austere lifestyle,despite his being a professed religious and minor cleric and her dying as a secular laywoman (albiet who always desired the Passionist habit).
Perhaps it's a good example of deSales' maxim that all the different plants and fruits were meant to come forth. I always find it of interest that it was the saint's former girlfriend,of all people, who first considered Gabriel to be someone of extraordinary holiness.
A 1950s book of Marian devotion that I've come across recently noted that the Immaculate Heart badge, erroneously but commonly called the green scapular,claims inspiration from a Daughter of Charity who,like Catherine Labouré kept her mysticism secret,but "in contrast to Sister Labouré's oblivious retirement , Sister Justine Bisqueburu was to head military hospitals in Paris and Algiers,she was to be seen spending three days and three nights on the battlefield of Mentana,she organised ambulance corps in Rome..."
Obviously in service to the Papal States,I wonder did she meet Balbriggan's Major William O'Rielly and his St Patrick division ?
"...and she would accompany Pius IX on walks in his private garden" (cf Stephen Breen ,recent apparitions)
Perhaps both types of penitential witness are necessary- those who humbly avoided any attention and those who could have had the distracting world in their attendance but humbly soldiered on.