Skip to main content

ST JACQUES BERTHIEU, PRIEST AND MARTYR - 8 JUNE

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JUNE

Saints celebrated on the 8th 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 JACQUES BERTHIEU, PRIEST AND MARTYR

St Jacques Berthieu... was born in 1838 in France. His childhood was spent working and studying surrounded by his family.

St Jacques entered the minor and then the major seminary of the Diocese of Saint-Flour, and was ordained a priest on May 21, 1864. His Bishop named him vicar in Roannes-Saint-Marie, where he replaced an ill and aged priest. The years went by and St Jacques began to feel attracted to religious life. He received permission from his Bishop to pursue that calling, entering the Jesuit novitiate in Pau.

THE MISSION FIELD

While under training he asked his superiors to send him to the mission field. In a letter of July 28, 1875 St Jacques confided to one of his friends: ‘I have been designated as a future apostle to the Malagasy (Madagascar); am supposed to leave here at the end of August, and then Marseilles and France on September 26, probably never to return, which is fine with me.’

"... PROBABLY NEVER TO RETURN, WHICH IS FINE WITH ME"

He arrived in Tamatave on December 10, 1875, only to be informed that the Superior of the Mission had appointed him to the island of Sainte-Marie. He began language study and his initiation into missionary life. The decrees of 1880 were applied, forbidding members of unauthorised religious congregations to remain in French territories, and the Jesuits were forced to leave Saint-Marie. St Jacques was sent to Ambohimandroso, being in the far reaches of the Betsileo and Bara regions. However, in June of 1883, the first Franco-Hova war forced him to go to Mananjary. He had to go on foot, which was often a forced march.

"RENOUNCE YOUR NASTY RELIGION"

Various community disorders saw St Jacques moving around often, trying to undertake his missionary work for God and the Church with different groups of people. A rebellious group, who disliked the fact that many locals had abandoned ancestor worship in favour of Christianity, came to the place where St Jacques was ministering. This gang said to St Jacques, ‘Renounce your nasty religion, and stop leading the people astray. We’ll make you our chief and counsellor, and we won’t kill you.’ St Jacques fell to his knees and replied, ‘I absolutely cannot do such a thing; I would rather die.’ A few minutes later St Jacques was shot, the second bullet, fired at point-blank range, proving fatal. St Jacques’ body was then thrown into the river.

"I PREFER TO DIE RATHER THAN RENOUNCING MY FAITH"

In his homily at the Canonisation Mass, Pope Benedict described St Jacques as ‘a tireless pastor on the island of Saint-Marie, then in Madagascar, he struggled against injustice while bringing succour to the poor and sick. The Malagasies thought of him as a priest come down from heaven…he died, saying ‘I prefer to die rather than renouncing my faith’. May his example aid many Christians of today persecuted for their faith! In this Year of Faith, may his intercession bring forth many fruits for Madagascar and the African Continent! May God bless the Malagasy people.’

(From: Spiritual Thought from Father Chris)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

WELCOME

  Please pick your saints: January - Saints by date  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17   18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29    30    31   February - Saints by date  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17 18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29   March - Saints by date: 1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17   18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29    30    31   April - Saints by date: 1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17   18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29    30   May - Saints by date: 1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17   18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29    30   

ST JOHN BERCHMANS, RELIGIOUS - 13 AUGUST

  ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST Saints celebrated on the 13th of August WELCOME! SAINT JOHN BERCHMANS, RELIGIOUS   (Patron Saint of Altar Servers.) The eldest boy of a poor cordwainer, in a small Belgian town, John was ever a dutiful, prayerful, and studious child. Our Lord called him when but young to leave his father and his father’s house, to serve Him in the Society of Jesus.  And because he was so good a son, it cost his father much to give him up to God; but he was too good a Christian to refuse outright.  HE WAS SENT TO ROME John had hardly taken his religious vows when he was sent to the centre of Christendom, the holy city of Rome. His modesty, his purity, shone out as great virtue always does; and the young laymen who attended the lectures would come to gaze upon his beautiful and holy face, and go away the better for the sight. GREAT VIRTUE Three short years, and his last sickness found him sighing for heaven, and three days before the great feast of Mary’s Assumption in 1

ST LAURA OF CORDOBA, WIDOW AND MARTYR - 19 OCTOBER

  WELCOME! SAINT LAURA OF CORDOBA, WIDOW AND MARTYR   Laura, a widow and martyr of Cordoba in Spain, is mentioned in the Spanish martyrology of Tamajode Salazar, who refers to Luitprand, where it says the following: St Laura is said to have been of a noble family, and  according to the wishes of her parents she married an equally noble man and gave birth to two daughters.  After the death of her husband and her daughters, she went to the monastery of St Aurea, named St-Maria de Cuteclara, and after her martyrdom led the same for nine years as her successor.  After she had made wonderful progress in all virtues, she was finally summoned to renounce the faith before a Saracen judge. But since she remained steadfast, she was first beaten very cruelly and then thrown into a bath of boiling pitch, where she remained in praise of God for three hours and then flew to heaven on October 19, 864.   St Laura is of the 48 Martyrs of Cordoba. PRAYER: Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that we who