ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN OCTOBER
Saints celebrated on the 17th 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.
BL. CONTARDO FERRINI
Blessed Condardo Ferrini, O.F.S., was born on April 5, 1859 in Milan. After receiving his First Holy Communion at the age of 12, he joined the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament.
Contardo learned to speak several languages. He entered the University of Pavia at age 17 and, two years later, he was appointed Dean of Students. At the age of 21 he became a Doctor of Law. His thesis, which related Penal Law to Homeric poetry, was the basis of his being awarded a scholarship to the University of Berlin, where he specialised in Roman-Byzantine law, a field in which he became internationally recognised as an expert.
During Contardo’s stay in Berlin, he wrote of his excitement at receiving the Sacrament of Penance for the first time in a foreign land. Upon his return to Italy, he was a lecturer in the universities at Messina, Modena, and Pavia. He received his first professorship aged 26. Contardo attempted to discern a vocation as a secular priest, member of a religious order, or as an unmarried man. He vowed himself to God and became a member of the Third Order of St Francis in 1886.
In 1900, Contardo developed a heart problem. In the autumn of 1902 he went to his country home in order to rest. While there, he became ill with typhus. He died at age 43 on October 17, 1902. Contardo was declared Venerable by Pope Pius XI and Pope Pius XII beatified him on April 13, 1947.
(This article, entitled “Heroes of the Faith” was published in “The Catholic Universe”, paper edition, on Sunday May 19, 2013)
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