ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY
Saints celebrated on the 30th of January
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 HYACINTHA MARISCOTTI, VIRGIN
Saint Hyacintha Mariscotti, born in 1585, was the daughter of Marcus Antonius Mariscotti, Count of Vignanello near Viterbo, and his wife Octavia Orsini. She was given the name Clarissa at her baptism.
THE STORY OF HER YOUTH IS VERY STRANGE
The story of her youth is very strange. For although she enjoyed a careful and pious upbringing, she had an almost irresistible tendency to vanity, which, despite all admonitions, she indulged in such a way that she took it with her even to the convent. It was, after all, only to go along with her father's suggestion that she had joined the Third Order of the Franciscans at Viterbo in the Papal States.
SHE WAS A NUN WITHOUT ANY REAL SPIRITUAL CONVICTIONS
Immediately after receiving the habit she plainly stated the following to the superior: "I am now a nun, but I want to live as a person of my rank and status." So she was a nun for ten years without any spiritual convictions.
A SERIOUS ILLNESS
A serious illness, into which God had let her fall, and the stern word of a Franciscan that heaven was not made for vain and proud beings like herself, caused her to change her mind.
REPENTANCE
She then fell on her knees before her fellow sisters and begged their forgiveness for the offences she had caused for so long. However, she relapsed into her former ways of life, but only for a short time.
A FIRM PURPOSE OF AMENDMENT
Since sickness and weakness had recently set in, she really became serious about the salvation of her soul. In order to prevent any recurrence in the future, she wanted to renounce all comforts from now on.
MORTIFICATIONS
A bunch of twigs, under which she placed a stone pillow, was her bed; an old worn dress, which she mended from time to time, took the place of her earlier attire. Most of the time she went barefoot.
CONTEMPLATING OUR LORD'S PASSION
Constant vigils, painful mortification, and constant contemplation of the bitter passion and death of Jesus Christ were henceforth her daily practices. Thus divine grace worked its way into the heart of this virgin and soon filled her with feelings of the purest and most undivided love for the divine Redeemer and for his poor brothers on earth.
THE "OBLATES OF MARY"
During a contagious plague, which caused the town of Viterbo to mourn deeply, she founded two charitable associations, one to collect alms for the convalescent, the bashful poor and prisoners, the other to house the old and sick in a hospital. They were given the name "Oblates of Mary".
EXTRAORDINARY GRACES
God then favoured her with several extraordinary graces, the greatest of which was probably that of constant inward prayer. She died on January 30, 1640, at the age of 55, invoking the holy names of Jesus and Mary.
HER FEAST DAYS
Pope Benedict XIII proclaimed her "blessed," and on May 24, 1807, Pius VII put her name in the list of "saints." As such, she occurs in the Roman Martyrology on January 30, and also in the calendar of the Third Order. October 15, April 29, January 31 and February 6 are variously mentioned as her feast day by hagiographers and local breviaries.
HER NAME
[Her name, 'Yάκινϑος in Greek mythology designates the name of a favourite of Apollo, who is said to have been killed by the latter with an unfortunate throw; but then also the name of a flower and a precious stone.]
(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858)
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