Day 21 -- Herman the Cripple

What is in a name? Does your name characterize who you are? Are you what your name says you are? Today's saint Herman the Cripple was who his name says he was. When I first read about him, I thought how sad and I couldn't write about him. But then I thought it is people like him, who lived 1000 years ago, an average life, that I want to learn about and read.

But Herman was not average. He was born with a cleft palate, cerebral palsy, and spina bifida to a family on a farm in Swabia (modern Germany) on February 18, 1013. His parents cared for him until he was 7 years old, but then they handed him over to the care of the abbey of Reichenau Island in southern Germany and he spend the rest of his life there. At age 20 he became a Benedictine monk. He was considered a genius and studied and wrote on astronomy, theology, math, history, poetry, Arabic, Greek and Latin. He built musical instruments and astronomical equipment. He later become blind and had to give up his writing. He was the most famous poet of his time. It is said that he is the author of the Alma Redemptoris Mater (click here for a YouTube video) and the Salve Regina. Herman died on September 21, 1054 at the abbey in Germany.

Now those of you who are following me, you will remember about a week ago that I wrote Peter Martinez was the one who penned the Salve Regina, so who really wrote the this prayer? But the main thing is that I was going to pray that prayer everyday to pray if I was going to attend World Youth Day. Well, I signed up on Wednesday, so I need to pray this prayer in preparation for attending this incredible gathering of youth and adults from across the world next August. They are expecting 2 million; in Australia we only had 500,000.

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy. Hail my life, my sweetness and my hope! To you do we cry, poor banished children of Eve! To you do we send up our sighs; mourning and weeping in this vale of tears! Turn, most gracious Advocate, your eyes of mercy toward me, and after this, our exile, show to us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus Christ! Clement, loving, sweet Virgin Mary! Amen.

Day 16 -- Marie Therese of Saint Joseph

There are many saints to choose from for today. Today the Church celebrates the lives of Saint Andrew Kim Taegŏn and his companions from Korea who lived remarkable lives of courage and faith.

But I wanted to write about Blessed Marie Therese of Saint Joseph. She was born in East Prussia (modern-day Poland) on June 19, 1855 with the name of Anna Maria Tauscher van den Bosch. She converted from the Lutheran Church to Catholicism on October 30, 1888. In 1891 she founded a home for neglected children in Berlin, Germany. The young women there then founded the Congregation of the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus. Mother Mary Teresa was known for her prayer and put her faith into action by founding nurseries, homes, and day care centers for children and the aged. She also worked with immigrants, the poor, and abandoned. The work of her Community are found in Europe, Africa, and America. There are three convents in the United States: Wisconsin, Texas, and Missouri. She died on September 20, 1938 in Limburg, Netherlands of natural causes. She was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on May 13, 2006 in the Netherlands and is awaiting canonization.

Reading the story of Blessed Marie Therese of Saint Joseph makes me think of my work for the Diocese of Bridgeport. It has been such a joy the past six months to work with our RCIA Coordinators who work with the adults in our Diocese who have heard the Lord's call and have answered to join the Catholic Church or complete their Sacraments of Initiation. It is many times those who become Catholic as adults give back to the Church for the work. We can see this evident in the life of Blessed Marie Therese--she gave back so much to the universal Catholic Church--where today women are living the Carmel charism because of her.


QUOTES
"To be able to dry tears, to heal wounds of souls from the heights of heaven, this is my ardent wish." (said on her deathbed)

"Prayer and meditation come first; work for God, neighbor or the religious family in between is secondary."

"Let us rest in the Divine Heart like little children in the arms of their father. The greater our confidence, the more will God's goodness be seen in us."

PRAYER
O, God, Our Father, You purified Your Servant Maria Teresa of St. Joseph through suffering and afflictions. Her great faith, her firm trust and unselfish love made her, through Your grace, a pure instrument in Your hand with which You could do great things.
Encouraged by her example and her trust in Your help we ask, through her intercession (name your intention here).
May Your holy will be done Lord. Make our hearts ready to accept what You send. Then we know that we pray in the spirit of Mother Mary Teresa. This we ask through Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Day 13 -- Blessed Hildegard von Bingen

Today I am writing about one of my favorites....Hildegard von Bingen. I remember writing a paper about her in Grad School and making a CD of her music when I had to do research about Benedictines. The picture here to the left is one of my favorites of her as well. It in intrigued me that in the 1100s she was writing major works of theology and about her visions. She lived in a time when women were not respected, but she was often consulted by and advised bishops, popes, and kings. She is the first musical composer whose biography is known. She founded a vibrant convent, where her musical plays were performed. It is such a surprise that she is not canonized, even though many miracles have been attributed to her, she is often mentioned as Saint Hildegard, and her name is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology.

Hildegard was the tenth child born to a noble family and as was customary with the tenth child, which the family could not count on feeding, the child could be considered a tithe and she was dedicated at birth to the Church. At the age of three, Hildegard started to have visions of luminous objects, but soon realized she was unique in this ability and hid this gift for many years. By eight years old, her family sent Hildegard to an anchoress (women who renounce the world in order to spend their lives alone in penance and prayer) to receive a religious education. Her education was elementary and Hildegard never lost the feelings of inadequacy over her lack of schooling. Her knowledge of Latin grammar was never complete and she had to have a secretary write down her visions, but she was capable of constructing complicated sentences which today students still have a challenge reading it.

Hildegard's anchoress, Jutta, lived close to a Benedictine monastery and it is here where Hildegard was exposed to religious services which became the basis for her own musical compositions. Her visions were recorded in icons. Jutta died when Hildegard was 38 and she was elected the head of the convent near the anchorage. With Hildegard head of the convent, they had many aspirants and opened another convent. This was somewhere between 1147 and 1150 and in 1165 another convent opened.

This image here is an illumination from Liber Scivias showing Hildegard receiving a vision and dictating to her scribe and secretary.

She never did doubt the divine origin of her visions and she wanted them approved by the Church. She wrote to Saint Bernard and he took the matter to Pope Eugenius who encouraged Hildegard to finish her writings. With papal imprimatur, after 10 years of writing Hildegard finished her first visionary work Scivias ("Know the Ways of the Lord"). It was through this writing that her fame grew around Germany and beyond. Hildegard wrote explicitly about the natural world as God's creation and how God has entrusted creation to our care, to be used for our benefit and to not be destroyed. This manuscript is an illumination from Scivias.

To listen to her song "O frondens virga" click here.

Hildegard was born in 1098 and died on September 17, 1179.

PRAYER
O God, by whose grace your servant Hildegard, kindled with the fire of your love, became a burning and shining light in your Church: Grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline, and walk before you as children of light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

QUOTES
"Without woman, man could not be called man; without man, woman could not be named woman. Thus woman is the work of man, while man is a sight full of consolation for woman. Neither of them could henceforth live without the other. Man is in this connection an indication of the Godhead while woman is an indication of the humanity of God's Son."

"A human being is a vessel that God has built for Himself and filled with His inspiration so that His works are perfected in it."

This second quote reminds me of what God wants for us and why He put us on this planet. It goes to the questions I ask all the time "What do you want of me Lord?" "Why purpose am I serving on this earth?" "What is God's plan for me?" It reminds me of one of my favorite verses from Scripture from 1 Corinthians 6:19 "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you whom you have from God?" Oh Lord, I pray that You show Your plan for me.