BL. ELENA AIELLO - 19 JUNE

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JUNE

Saints celebrated on the 19th of June

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

BL. ELENA AIELLO, VIRGIN

After losing her mother in 1906 when she was eleven years old, Elena Aiello, of Montalto Uffugo, Italy, assisted her father in his tailoring shop.

A DEEPLY PIOUS GIRL

A deeply pious girl, she entered the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood at the age of twenty-five, but health problems compelled her to return to her family nine months later.

FASTING AND OTHER PENANCE

Homebound, Elena went out only to receive Holy Communion several times a week. Upon receiving it, she mortified herself with fasting and other penances.

THE STIGMATA

On Friday, March 2, 1923, Elena was meditating upon the Passion of Christ when she received the stigmata of the crown of thorns and the bloody sweat of Gethsemane, a mystical experience that lasted three hours.

From then on, to the end of her life, she received the stigmata annually on each Friday of Lent, and most intensely on Good Friday. She experienced not only the thorn wounds and bloody sweat, but also the wounds of the hands and feet, accompanied by visions of Christ, the Blessed Virgin, and the saints.

THE SISTERS MINIMS OF THE PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

Elena later became the foundress of a new congregation, the Sisters Minims of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Mother Elena died on June 19, 1961.

“Our God is love, and all his saints

his image bear below;

the heart inspired with love for God

with love for all will glow.”