ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN OCTOBER
Saints celebrated on the 11th of October
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 JOHN XXIII., POPE
Pope John XXIII was born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli on November 25, 1881, the fourth of fourteen children, in the small country village of Sotto il Monte, Lombardi, Italy. His family worked as sharecroppers. In 1904 Angelo completed his doctorate in theology and was ordained a priest. In 1905 the new bishop of Bergamo appointed Fr Angelo as his secretary.
HE WAS NAMED AS SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR OF THE SEMINARY
During World War I, Fr Angelo was drafted into the Royal Italian Army, serving in the medical corps as a stretcher bearer and chaplain. After being discharged from the army Fr Angelo was named as spiritual director of the seminary.
In 1921 Fr Angelo travelled to Rome, where the Pope appointed him as the Italian President of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. In 1925 Fr Angelo was made an Archbishop and appointed by the Pope as Apostolic Visitor to Bulgaria.
Then in 1934 the Pope appointed Archbishop Angelo as Apostolic Delegate to Turkey and Greece. Archbishop Angelo later used this office to help the Jewish underground in saving thousands of refugees in Europe.
HE HELPED IN SAVING THOUSANDS OF REFUGEES
In 1944 the Pope appointed Archbishop Angelo as the Apostolic Nuncio to France. In 1953 Archbishop Angelo was appointed as the Patriarch of Venice and raised to the rank of Cardinal.
Following the death of Pope Pius XII on October 9, 1958, Cardinal Angelo bought a return ticket for the train journey to the Vatican.
HE HAD BOUGHT A RETURN TICKET
During the subsequent ballots Cardinal Angelo was elected Pope and chose the name John XXIII. Because of his advanced age many thought John XXIII had been elected as ‘stopgap’ pope.
John XXIII became the first Pope since 1870 to make pastoral visits in his Diocese of Rome, visiting children’s hospitals, and the prisons. His frequent habit of sneaking out of the Vatican late at night for a walk around the streets earned him the nickname ‘Johnny Walker’.
HE CALLED FOR AN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL
Far from being a ‘stopgap’ pope, John XXIII called for an ecumenical council. From this Second Vatican Council came the changes that reshaped the face of Catholicism: a comprehensively revised liturgy, a stronger emphasis on ecumenism, and a new approach to the world. On September 23, 1962 Pope John XXIII was diagnosed with stomach cancer.
Pope John XXIII helped to mediate between President Kennedy and Nikita Khrushev during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Both men applauded him for his deep commitment to peace. Time magazine later chose Pope John XXIII as their ‘Man of the Year’.
"AN ENVIRONMENT OF PEACE FOR ALL HUMANKIND"
Pope John XXIII died of peritonitis caused by a perforated stomach on June 3, 1963. He was posthumously awarded the American Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon Johnson, America’s highest civilian award. The citation for his medal reads: ‘His Holiness Pope John XXIII, dedicated servant of God. He brought to all citizens of the planet a heightened sense of the dignity of the individual, of the brotherhood of man, and of the common duty to build an environment of peace for all humankind.’
(From “Spiritual Thought From Father Chris)
Comments
Post a Comment