Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque. Virgin. Feast Day, Today, 17 October.

Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque.
Virgin.
Feast Day 17 October.

Double.

White Vestments.

English: Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque.
Catholic Parish Church of Saint Gordian and Saint Epimachus,
Merazhofen, Germany. Sculptor: Peter Paul Metz, 1896.
Deutsch: Margaretha Maria Alacoque. Kath. Pfarrkirche St. Gordian und Epimachus, Merazhofen, Stadt Leutkirch im Allgäu, Landkreis Ravensburg. Chorgestühl, 1896, Bildhauer: Peter Paul Metz.

Polski: Małgorzata Maria Alacoque. Rzeźba z kościoła parafialnego pw. św. Gordona i Epimachusa w Merazhofen (Niemcy). Autor dzieła: Peter Paul Metz, 1896.

Photo: May 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: Andreas Praefcke.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, V.H.M. (French: Marguerite-Marie Alacoque) (1647-1690), was a French Roman Catholic Nun and Mystic, who promoted Devotion to The Sacred Heart of Jesus in its modern form. [Editor: The Order of The Visitation of Holy Mary (V.H.M.), or The Visitation Order, is a Roman Catholic Religious Order for Women. Members of The Order are also known as The Salesian Sisters, or, more commonly, as The Visitandines.]

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque was born in 1647, in L'Hautecour, France, now part of the Commune of Verosvres, then in the Duchy of Burgundy, the only daughter of Claude Alacoque and Philiberte Lamyn, who had also several sons. From early childhood, Margaret was described as showing intense love for The Blessed Sacrament, and as preferring silence and Prayer to childhood play.

After her First Communion, at the age of nine, she practised, in secret, severe corporal mortification, until rheumatic fever confined her to bed for four years. At the end of this period, having made a Vow to The Blessed Virgin to Consecrate herself to Religious Life, she was instantly restored to perfect health. In recognition of this favour, she added the name "Mary" to her Baptismal name of "Margaret". According to her later account of her life, she had visions of Jesus Christ, which she thought were a normal part of human experience, and continued to practice austerity.

English: Apses of the Basilica of Paray-le-Monial, France.

Français: Paray-le-Monial, les apsides.

Photo: 17 August 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: Jan Sokol.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque lost her father at a young age, and the family's assets were held by a relative, who refused to hand them over, plunging her family into poverty. During this time, her only consolation was frequent visits to Pray before The Blessed Sacrament in the local Church. When she was seventeen, however, the family regained their fortune and her mother encouraged her to go out into society, in the hopes of her finding a suitable husband. Out of obedience, and believing that her childhood Vow was no longer binding, she began to accompany her brothers in the social events of her society, attending Dances and Balls.

One night, however, she returned home, dressed in her finery, from a Ball for a Carnival, when she experienced a vision of Christ, scourged and bloody, in which He reproached her for her forgetfulness of Him, and of how His Heart was filled with love for her, due to her promise. As a result, she determined to fulfill her Vow, and entered, when almost twenty-four years of age, The Visitation Convent at Paray-le-Monial, on 25 May 1671, intending to become a Nun.

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque was subjected to many trials to prove the genuineness of her vocation. She was "Admitted to Wearing The Religious Habit" on 25 August 1671, but was not allowed to make her "Religious Profession" on the same date of the following year, which would have been normal. Finally, she was admitted to "Profession" on 6 November 1672.

English: Painting of Jesus appearing to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque.

The Church of San Michele, Cortemilia, Italy.

Italiano: Cortemilia. Chiesa Parrocchiale di San Michele. Rodolfo Morgari:

Santa Margherita Maria Alacoque e la devozione al Sacro Cuore.

Photo: 6 June 2008.

Source: Own work.

Author: User:Giovanni Destefanis.

(Wikimedia Commons)

In this Monastery, Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque received several private revelations of The Sacred Heart, the first on 27 December 1673, and the final one eighteen months later. The visions revealed to her the form of the Devotion, the chief features being reception of Holy Communion on The First Friday of each month, Eucharistic Adoration during a "Holy Hour" on Thursdays, and the Celebration of The Feast of The Sacred Heart. She stated that, in her vision, she was instructed to spend an hour every Thursday night to meditate on Jesus' Agony in The Garden of Gethsemane. The Holy Hour practice later became widespread among Catholics.

On 27 December 1673, The Feast of Saint John (Apostle and Evangelist), Saint Margaret Mary reported that Jesus permitted her to rest her head upon His Heart, and then disclosed to her The Wonders of His Love, telling her that He desired to make them known to all mankind and to diffuse The Treasures of His Goodness, and that He had chosen her for this work.

Initially, discouraged in her efforts to follow the instruction she had received in her visions, Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque was eventually able to convince her Superior, Mother de Saumaise, of the authenticity of her visions. She was unable, however, to convince a group of Theologians of the validity of her apparitions, nor was she any more successful with many of the Members of her own Community, and suffered greatly at their hands.

English: Painting of Blessed Mary of The Divine Heart, and

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, in Adoration of The Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Deutsch: Andachtsbild: Jesus offenbart sein Herz (Herz Jesu) der sel. 

Maria Droste zu Vischering und der hl. Margaretha Maria Alacoque.

Photo: 4 March 2008.

Source: Own work.

Author: Bremond.

(Wikimedia Commons)

She eventually received the support of Saint Claude de la Colombière, S.J., The Community's Confessor for a time, who declared that the visions were genuine. In 1683, opposition in The Community ended when Mother Melin was elected Superior and named Saint Margaret Mary as her Assistant. She later became Novice Mistress, and saw the Monastery observe The Feast of The Sacred Heart, privately, beginning in 1686. Two years later, a Chapel was built at the Basilica of Paray-le-Monial to honour The Sacred Heart. Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque died on 17 October 1690.

After Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque's death, the Devotion to The Sacred Heart was fostered by The Jesuits and was the subject of controversies within The Church. The practice was not officially recognised until seventy-five years later.

The discussion of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque's own mission and qualities continued for years. All her actions, her revelations, her spiritual maxims, her teachings regarding the Devotion to The Sacred Heart, of which she was the chief exponent, as well as the Apostle, were subjected to the most severe and minute examination, and, finally, The Sacred Congregation of Rites passed a favourable vote on the Heroic Virtues of this "Servant of God".

English: Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque contemplating The Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Italiano: Santa Margherita Maria Alacoque contempla il Sacro Cuore di Gesù.

Polski: Św. Małgorzata Maria Alacoque adoruje Najświętsze Serce Jezusa.

Date: 1765.

Source: Lib-Art.com.

Author: Giaquito Corrado.

(Wikimedia Commons)

In March 1824, Pope Leo XII pronounced her Venerable and, on 18 September 1864, Blessed Pope Pius IX declared her Blessed. When her tomb was Canonically opened in July 1830, two instantaneous cures were recorded to have taken place. Her incorrupt body rests above the Side Altar in The Chapel of The Apparitions, located at The Visitation Monastery in Paray-le-Monial, and many striking Blessings have been claimed by Pilgrims attracted there from all parts of the World.

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque was Canonised by Pope Benedict XV in 1920, and, in 1929, her Liturgical Commemoration was included in The General Roman Calendar for Celebration on the day of her death, 17 October.

In his 1928 Encyclical, Miserentissimus Redemptor, Pope Pius XI affirmed The Church's position, regarding the credibility of her visions of Jesus Christ, by speaking of Jesus as having "manifested Himself" to Saint Margaret Mary and having "promised her that all those who rendered this honour to His Heart would be endowed with an abundance of Heavenly Graces".

The Vision of The Sacred Heart of Jesus
to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque.

Artist: Antonio Ciseri (1821–1891).

Date: 1888.

Current location: Florenz, Chiesa del Sacro Cuore, Italy.

Source/Photographer: http://www.kunst-fuer-alle.de/deutsch/kunst/kuenstler/
kunstdruck/antonio-ciseri/8632/2/132040/die-vision-des-herzens-jesu-der-
seligen-marguerite-marie-alacoque/index.htm.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque's short Devotional Writing, La Devotion au Sacré-Coeur de Jesus (Devotion to The Sacred Heart of Jesus), was published posthumously by J. Croiset in 1698, and has been popular among Catholics.

"And He [Christ] showed me that it was His great desire of being loved by men, and of withdrawing them from the path of ruin, that made Him form the design of manifesting His Heart to men, with all the treasures of Love, of Mercy, of Grace, of Sanctification and Salvation, which it contains, in order that those who desire to render Him and procure Him all the honour and love possible, might themselves be abundantly enriched with those Divine Treasures, of which His Heart is the source." — from "Revelations of Our Lord to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque".

In James Joyce's Short Story, "Eveline", part of his "Dubliners", a "coloured print of the promises made to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque" is mentioned, as part of the decorations of an Irish home at the turn of the 20th-Century, testifying to Saint Margaret Mary's enduring popularity among Irish Catholics.

English: Stained-Glass Window in the Church of Our Lady of Vertus, Aubervilliers, France, depicting Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque seeing Our Lord's Sacred Heart.

Deutsch: Bleiglasfenster in der katholischen Pfarrkirche Notre-Dame-des-Vertus

in Aubervilliers, Darstellung: hl. Margareta Maria Alacoque.

Photo: 31 March 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: GFreihalter.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The following Text is from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.

Margaret Mary Alacoque was born at Vérosvres, in the Diocese of Autun, France, in 1647. While still young, she Consecrated herself to Jesus Christ by a Vow of perpetual Virginity. At the age of twenty-three, she entered the Convent of The Visitation Order at Paray-le-Monial.

The Mysteries of The Sacred Heart were revealed to her in three special manifestations, all unknown to her Community. Saint Margaret Mary spent the last years of her life in spreading this Devotion. She died on 17 October 1690, at the age of forty-three years. Her body was buried under a slab, close to the grille in the Nuns' Chapel, on the spot where she was kneeling when Our Lord appeared to her.

She was Beatified by Pope Pius IX, in 1864, and Canonised by Pope Benedict XV on The Feast of The Ascension 1920. Pope Pius XI extended her Feast to the whole Church on 28 June 1929.

In order to live in the spirit of The Liturgy (which is also the spirit of The Church), and Consecrate The First Friday Of The Month to The Sacred Heart (as The Church does by granting Indulgences), let us adapt this Devotion to the different Feasts of The Cycle. It will thus give a greater variety, both in its material object (The Sacred Heart of Jesus born at Christmas, dying on Good Friday, rising again at Easter), and in its formal object, the love of Jesus in His Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries.

Mass: Sub umbra illíus.

THE SAINT ANDREW DAILY MISSAL

THE SAINT ANDREW DAILY MISSAL

Available (in U.K.) from

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Your Thanksgiving After Holy Communion. Offering Of All Masses In The World.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.

Illustration: THE POWER OF THE HOLY EUCHARIST

THANKSGIVING AFTER HOLY COMMUNION.

Offering Of All Masses In The World.

To be said, devoutly, after your Holy Communion.

"I unite myself with every Mass, which,
at this time, is being offered throughout the World.

"I place them in the hands of Mary, The Mediatrix Of All Graces,

that she may obtain,
by this Presentation of The Blood of Christ to The Most Holy Trinity,

the deliverance of Souls from Purgatory,

relief for the sick and the dying,

the conversion of infidels and sinners,

and the perseverance of all The Faithful."

Alma Redemptoris Mater (Loving Mother Of Our Saviour). Diego Ortiz. 16th-Century Maestro Di Capella, Chapel Royal Of Naples.

The Virgin of the Lilies

(La Vierge au lys).

Date: 1899.

Source: PaintingHere.com

Author: William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905).

(Wikimedia Commons)

Alma Redemptoris Mater,

by Diego Ortiz.

Performed by Cantar Lontano.

Director: Marco Mencoboni.

Available on YouTube at

http://youtu.be/iVT9sxyr2I0.

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.

Alma Redemptoris Mater (English: Loving Mother of Our Saviour) is a Marian Hymn,
written in Latin hexameter, and one of four Seasonal Liturgical Marian Antiphons
sung at the end of The Office of Compline (the other three Antiphons being
Ave Regina Cælorum, Regina Caeli and Salve Regina).

Hermannus Contractus (also called Herman the Cripple, 1013–1054) is said to have
composed the Hymn, based on the writings of Saints Fulgentius, Epiphanius and
Irenaeus of Lyon. Alma Redemptoris Mater is mentioned in "The Prioress's Tale",
one of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Formerly, it was recited at Compline only
from The First Sunday in Advent until The Feast of The Purification (2 February).

Diego Ortiz (1510 – 1570) was a Spanish composer and musicologist, in service to the
Spanish Viceroy of Naples, and, later, to King Philip II of Spain. Ortiz published influential
treatises on both instrumental and vocal performance.

Portrait of Diego Ortiz

from the Title Page of his

"Trattado de Glosas" (1553).

This File 19 June 2009.

User: Capmo.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Saint Hedwig. Patroness of Silesia, Poland. Feast Day, Today, 16 October.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.

Saint Hedwig.
Widow.
Feast Day 16 October.

Semi-Double.

White Vestments.

State Flag of Poland with Coat of Arms.

Symbolic version. Based on Image: Flag of Poland.svg and Image:Herb Polski.svg.

Note: the Coat-of-Arms used here is not the official, accurate, version.

Date: 26 June 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: Aotearoa, Wanted.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Basilica of Saint Hedwig,

Trzebnica, Poland.

This File: 25 May 2007.

User: Merlin.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Hedwig, of royal birth, and still more illustrious by the innocence of her life, was the daughter of Berthold, Prince of Carinthia, and aunt, on the mother's side, of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary.

Having married Henry, Duke of Poland, she fulfilled her duties as wife in so holy a fashion that The Church compares her to the strong woman, whose portrait is drawn for us by The Holy Ghost in today's Epistle.

She had three sons and three daughters. She macerated her body, both by Fasting and Watching [Editor: Prayer before The Blessed Sacrament], and by the roughness of her clothes. She was very charitable to the poor, whom she served at table.

Her husband, the Duke, having died, Hedwig, like the merchant mentioned in the Gospel, gave away all her riches to acquire the precious pearl of eternal life.

After Praying earnestly, and under Divine inspiration, she generously exchanged worldly pomp for The Life of The Cross (Collect), entering the Cistercian Monastery of Trebnitz, where her daughter was Abbess.

She died on 15 October 1243, and Poland honours her with special Veneration as her Patroness.

Mass: Cognóvi.

Saint Hedwig Church in Legnickie Pole, Poland.

Source: http://www.poczta-polska.pl/mw/.

Author: Marek i Ewa Wojciechowscy.

Permission: GFDL

Attribution: © Marek and Ewa Wojciechowscy / Trips over Poland / 

CC-BY-SA-3.0, 2.5, 2.0, 1.0 &; GDFL.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Polski: Kościół św. Jadwigi w Legnickim Polu pierwotnie stanowił kościół przyklasztorny benedyktynów, stąd jest wpisany na listę zabytków wspólnie z dawnym zespołem klasztornym. Obecnie jest zwykłym kościołem parafialnym.

English: The Church of Saint Hedwig, in Legnickie Pole, used to be part of the Benedictine Monastery and therefore it shares the inscription in the cultural monuments registry with the buildings of the former Monastery. Today, it is an ordinary Parish Church.

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.

The Basilica of Saint Jadwiga (English: Hedwig), in Trzebnica, Poland, is a Convent for Cistercian Nuns, situated in Trzebnica (German: Trebnitz), North of Wrocław, in Silesia, Poland, Founded in 1203.

After a few decades of abandonment in the 19th-Century, it is an now an Abbey of The Sisters of Mercy of Saint Borromeo, since 1889.

The Abbey was established by the Silesian Piast, Duke Henry I (The Bearded), and his wife, Saint Hedwig of Andechs (Polish: Święta Jadwiga Śląska), confirmed by Pope Innocent III.

The image of Saint Hedwig is

taken from the web-site of

Saint Hedwig Parish,

872, Brunswick Avenue,

Trenton, New Jersey NJ 08638,

United States of America.

www.sainthedwigparish.com

The legend of its Foundation relates that Duke Henry, when out hunting, fell into a swamp, from which he could not extricate himself. In return for his rescue from this perilous position, he vowed to build the Abbey. With Hedwig's consent, her brother, Ekbert of Andechs, then Bishop of Bamberg, chose the first Nuns that occupied the Convent.

The first Abbess was Petrussa, from Kitzingen Abbey; she was followed by Gertrude, the daughter of Hedwig. The Abbey was richly endowed with lands by Duke Henry. When Hedwig became a widow in 1238, she went to live at Trzebnica and was finally buried there.

The Church of Saint Hedwig,

Legnickie Pole, Poland.

Source: http://www.poczta-polska.pl/mw/.

Photo: 2007.

Author: Marek i Ewa Wojciechowscy.

Permission: GFDL.

Attribution: © Marek and Ewa Wojciechowscy / Trips over Poland /

CC-BY-SA-3.0, 2.5, 2.0, 1.0 and GDFL.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Up to 1515, the Abbesses were First Princesses of The Piast dynasty and. afterwards, members of the nobility.

It is said that, towards the end of the 13th-Century, the Nuns numbered 120. The Abbey also became a mausoleum of many Rulers of the fragmented Silesian Piasts. In 1672, there were thirty-two Nuns and six Lay Sisters; in 1805, there were twenty-three Nuns and six Lay Sisters. At the Protestant Reformation, most of the Nuns were Poles, as were the majority until the 18th-Century.

English: Saint Hedwig of Andechs Church, 

Ząbkowice Śląskie, Poland.

Polski: Zabytkowy kościół 

parafialny p.w. św. Jadwigi w dawnym Sadlnie,

obecnie części Ząbkowic Śląskich.

Photo: July 2011.

Source: Own Work.

Author: 99kerob (Paweł Borkowski)

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Abbey of Trebnitz suffered so greatly during The Thirty Years War (1618 - 1648), that the Nuns fled across the Border onto the territory of the mostly-unaffected Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, as they did again in 1663, when the Turks threatened Silesia.

In 1742, in the aftermath of The First Silesian War and the Treaty of Breslau, Trebnitz found itself under the governance of Protestant Prussia and started to suffer from political discrimination.

The last Abbess, Dominica von Giller, died on 17 August 1810, and, on 11 November 1810, the Abbey was suppressed and Secularised, by Order of King Frederick William III. The building, which was extensive, was sold later and turned into a cloth factory.

English: Saint Hedwig of Andechs Church, 

Ząbkowice Śląskie, Poland.

Polski: Wnętrze zabytkowego kościoła 

parafialnego p.w. św. Jadwigi w dawnym Sadlnie,

obecnie części Ząbkowic Śląskich.

Photo: July 2011.

Source: Own Work.

Author: 99kerob (Paweł Borkowski)

(Wikimedia Commons)

In the 19th-Century, the ruined Abbey was bought by The Knights Hospitaller and, later, by The Order of Sisters of Saint Charles Borromeo, as a hospital.

The Church, a Basilica, has Pillars in the Late-Romanesque Style, to which Baroque additions were made from 1741. It features several paintings with scenes from the life of Saint Hedwig by Michael Willmann. After the Secularisation of the Abbey, it became the Trebnitz Parish Church.

English: The Basilica of Saint Hedwig, Trzebnica, Poland.

Polski: Trzebnica, kościół, ob. par. p.w. śś. Bartłomieja i Jadwigi, 2 poł. XIII.

Photo: 29 June 2008.

Source: Own work.

Author: Barbara Maliszewska.

(Wikimedia Commons)

English: The Basilica of Saint Hedwig, Trzebnica, Poland.

Polski: Trzebnica, kościół, ob. par. p.w. śś. Bartłomieja i Jadwigi, 2 poł. XIII

Photo: 8 April 2006.

Source: Own work.

Author: Barbara Maliszewska.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The grave of Saint Hedwig is located in a Chapel, to the Right of The High Altar, donated by her grandson, Archbishop Ladislaus of Salzburg, in 1267. The grave of Duke Henry I, her husband, is in front of The High Altar.

Among those buried in the Church, are: Henry I (The Bearded), Duke of Silesia-Wrocław, 1238; Saint Hedwig of Andechs, widow, 1243; Konrad von Feuchtwangen, Grand Master of The Teutonic Knights, 1296; Karolina of Legnica-Brieg, last scion of The Silesian Piasts, 1707.

Bogurodzica ("Mother of God"). The Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen Of Poland.

Zephyrinus is grateful to Bones, at THAT THE BONES YOU HAVE CRUSHED MAY THRILL

for the Text of this Article.

Coat-of-Arms of Poland.

Date: 22 November 2012.

Source: Own work.

Author: TRAJAN 117.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Bogurodzica - najpiękniejszy hymn Polski.

Available on YouTube at

https://youtu.be/ziJjXO-Bu50

Bogurodzica ("Mother of God") is a Polish Catholic Hymn dating back to between the 10th-

and 13th-Centuries, which has since then been sung in battle or facing an oppressor.

Bogurodzica dziewica, Bogiem sławiena Maryja,

U twego syna Gospodzina Matko zwolena, Maryja !

Zyszczy nam, spuści nam.

Kyrie eleison !

Twego dziela Krzciciela, bożycze,

Usłysz głosy, napełń myśli człowiecze.

Słysz modlitwę, jąż nosimy,

A dać raczy, jegoż prosimy:

A na świecie zbożny pobyt,

Po żywocie rajski przebyt.

Kyrie eleison !

It is sung in times of Peace, too, to commemorate those times when

The Blessed Virgin Mary has protected Poland,

of which she remains the only Queen.

Virgin, Mother of God, God-famed Mary !

Ask Thy Son, Our Lord, God-named Mary,

To have mercy upon us and hand it over to us !

Kyrie eleison !

Son of God, for Thy Baptist's sake,

Hear the voices, fulfill the pleas we make !

Listen to the Prayer we say,

For what we ask, give us today:

Life on Earth free of vice;

After life: paradise !

Kyrie eleison !

Let us also Pray it for the Polish Bishops.

Beata Es Virgo (Blessed Is The Virgin). Diego Ortiz, 16th-Century Maestro Di Capella Of The Chapel Royal Of Naples.

The Annunciation.

Artist: Paolo de Matteis.

Date: 1712.

Current location: Saint Louis Art Museum,

Missouri, United States of America.

Source/Photographer: Saint Louis Art Museum official site.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Portrait of Diego Ortiz

from the Title Page of his

"Trattado de Glosas" (1553).

This File 19 June 2009.

User: Capmo.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Diego Ortiz (1510 – 1570) was a Spanish composer and musicologist, in service to the Spanish Viceroy of Naples, and, later, to Philip II of Spain. Ortiz published influential treatises on both instrumental and vocal performance.

The following YouTube rendition, of Beata Es Virgo, is taken from Vespers,

for all Feasts of The Blessed Virgin Mary, in Naples in 1565.

The Versicle, Deus in aduitorium,

is followed by

the Antiphon, Ave Maria,

then Psalm 109, Dixit Dominus,

then the Motet, Beata Es Virgo.

Beata Es Virgo,

by Diego Ortiz.

Sung by Cantar Lontano.

Director: Marco Mencoboni.

Available on YouTube at

http://youtu.be/7O2WGAQBkAo.

Saint Teresa Of Ávila (Saint Teresa Of Jesus). Virgin. Doctor Of The Church. Feast Day, Today, 15 October.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.

Saint Teresa.
Virgin.
Feast Day 15 October.

Double.

White Vestments.

Saint Teresa of Ávila (Saint Teresa of Jesus)

(1515-1582).

Illustration: UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY

Saint Teresa was born at Ávila, Spain. From her earliest childhood, she ardently desired to die a Martyr. At the age of eighteen, she entered The Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and Consecrated herself to Christ, whom she chose for her spouse (Epistle).

[The Order of Mount Carmel, which spread over The East in Apostolic times, penetrated into The West in the 13th-Century. Illustrious Members of this Order, of much by their Sanctity, rank, or writings, are very numerous. Several have filled the greatest dignities in The Church.]

Her heart was so inflamed with Divine Love that she wrote: "How the enraptured Soul feels in this body its captivity and the misery of life ! It considers itself a slave sold in a foreign land; and, what is most bitter, is to see everywhere men's passionate love for this life, and so few banished ones who sigh like itself and Pray for the end of their exile." [Her autobiography, Chapter XXI.]

English: Saint Teresa Of Ávila (Saint Teresa Of Jesus).

One of the four female Doctors of The Church.

Deutsch: Hl. Therese von Avila.

Artist: Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640).

Date: 1615.

Current location: Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria.

Source/Photographer: [1]

(Wikimedia Commons)

Counselled by Jesus, she made the difficult Vow of always doing what she judged most perfect.

She attained through Prayer the highest degree of Mystical Life, and there found such enlightenment concerning Divine things (Collect), that her works earned for her, from Popes Gregory XV and Urban VII, the august Title of Doctor of The Church, which has been given to no other woman.

[Editor: This last comment was dated 1945 in The Saint Andrew Daily Missal. Since then, three other women have gained the Title of Doctor of The Church. They are: Saint Thérèse of Lisieux (Thérèse de Lisieux (Saint Therese of The Child Jesus and of The Holy Face)); Saint Catherine of Siena; Saint Hildegard von Bingen. Wikipedia states that Saint Teresa of Ávila was given the Title of Doctor of The Church, by Pope Paul VI, in 1970.]

Saint Catherine of Siena.

One of the four female Doctors of The Church.

The Church of Santa Maria del Rosario in Prati, Roma, Italy.

Source: http://www.tanogabo.it/religione/santa_caterina_siena.htm

Author: Anonymous.

(Wikimedia Commons)

"The best Prayer," she wrote, "and the most pleasing to God, is that which brings on improvement, showing itself in good works, and not the enjoyment which only serves for our own satisfaction." [Letter to the Bishop of Ávila.]

The influence of this humble Virgin, who converted thousands of Souls, manifestly proves the supreme importance of The Contemplative Life, addressing itself, directly, as it does, to God, The Author of All Good.

She died of Divine Love on 5-15 October. 1582. [Pope Gregory XIII, in order to reform The Roman Calendar, had ordered the suppression of ten days of the year 1582; the day after 4 October was to be called the 15th of the same month. It was during this historic night, of the 4th to the 15th, that Saint Teresa died.]

Mass: Dilexísti.

Hildegard von Bingen's musical compositions.

Chant for The Feast of Saint Ursula.

Sung by Anonymous 4

Saint Hildegard von Bingen is one of the

four female Doctors of The Church.

Available on YouTube at

https://youtu.be/n9uMd1ap51A?list=RDn9uMd1ap51A

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux.

One of the four female Doctors of The Church.

English: Detail of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus

in the photograph taken in the courtyard of the

Monastery of Lisieux, Easter Monday, 15 April 1894.

Español: Detalle de Santa Teresa del Niño Jesús en la fotografía tomada en

el patio del monasterio de Lisieux el Lunes de Pascua, 15 de abril de 1894.

Français: Détail de Sainte Thérèse de l'Enfant Jésus dans la photographie

prise dans la cour du monastère de Lisieux lundi de Pâques, 15 Avril, 1894.

Italiano: Particolare di Santa Teresa del Bambino Gesù nella fotografia

scattata nel cortile del monastero di Lisieux Lunedi di Pasqua, April 15, 1894.

Date: 3 September 2014.

Source: 

Archivos del Carmelo de Lisieux.

Author: 

Celine Martin (Sor Genoveva de la Santa Faz).

(Wikimedia Commons)

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia.

Teresa of Ávila, also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, baptised as Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada (28 March 1515 – 4 October 1582), was a prominent Spanish Mystic, Roman Catholic Saint, Carmelite Nun, author during The Counter Reformation, and Theologian of Contemplative Life through Mental Prayer. She was a Reformer of The Carmelite Order and is considered to be a Founder of The Discalced Carmelites along with John of The Cross.

In 1622, forty years after her death, she was Canonised by Pope Gregory XV, and, on 27 September 1970, was named a Doctor of The Church by Pope Paul VI. Her books, which include her autobiography (The Life of Teresa of Jesus) and her seminal work El Castillo Interior (The Interior Castle), are an integral part of Spanish Renaissance literature as well as Christian Mysticism and Christian Meditation practices. She also wrote Camino de Perfección (The Way of Perfection).

After her death, Saint Teresa's cult was known in Spain during the 1620s, and for a time she was considered a candidate to become a National Patron Saint. A Santero image of Our Lady of The Conception, said to have been sent by Saint Teresa with one of her brothers to Nicaragua, is now Venerated as the Country's National Patroness at The Shrine of El Viejo. Pious Catholic beliefs also associate Saint Teresa with the esteemed religious image called Infant Jesus of Prague, with claims of former ownership and devotion.

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