Saints celebrated on the 11th 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.
ST ALEYDIS OF SCHAERBEEK, VIRGIN
Saint Aleydis (Alice) was born around 1200 in Schaerbeek in Belgium. She was a frail and friendly child, and from her seventh year she lived in the Cistercian Monastery (Maria Kammeren) just outside Brussels. As an adult she took vows there, and she was a much-liked member of the religious community.
OFFERING HER SUFFERINGS IN UNION WITH OUR LORD'S PASSION FOR THE HOLY SOULS IN PURGATORY
Not long after, she got leprosy, and was henceforth housed in a separate building on the outskirts of the monastery area. Leprosy had come to Europe at the time of the Crusade and was greatly feared. She suffered in silence and faced her physical and mental pain courageously; carrying her cross with great patience, bearing her sufferings in union with our Lord Jesus' Passion for the holy souls in purgatory.
HER CONSOLATION WAS THE RECEIPT OF HOLY COMMUNION
Her only consolation was the receipt of the Communion, which she was given only in the form of bread for fear of contagion. The suffering shaped her into a mystic, and she was strengthened by ecstasies and visions where she saw the souls of the purgatory being set free through her sacrifice. Many miracles were attributed to her intercession.
MANY MIRACLES WERE ATTRIBUTED TO HER INTERCESSION
At the feast of St. Barnabas (June 11), 1249, she suddenly became very ill. She received the last sacraments, but she predicted she would live for another year. During this period she suffered greatly and lost sight of both eyes. She also suffered a series of small strokes and became paralysed. She died as she had predicted on June 11, 1250.
ST ALEYDIS' PRAYERS FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED
[The story of her life is preserved, written down by one at the same time, who was probably Cistercian monk and scribe for the community. St Aleydis is invoked by the visually impaired and the disabled.]
(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)
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