ST JOHN XXIII., POPE - 11 OCTOBER

 

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Saints celebrated on the 11th of October

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SAINT JOHN XXIII., POPE 

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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

PRAYER:

May the intercession of Saint John XXIII commend us to you, so that through his merits we may obtain that which we cannot accomplish by our own. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.