Friday, March 15, Fourth Week of Lent
Second from left, Louise and St Vincent de Paul; center, Louise enshrined in the Paris church of the Miraculous Medal;
second from right, founder's statue in St. Peter's Basilica.
ST. LOUISE DE MARILLAC (France 1591-1660)
Widow; Founder, Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul; Patron of Social Workers
Born out of wedlock to a French aristocrat, she grew up among the elite. She always wanted to be a nun, but at 22, she entered an
arranged marriage with a man who was secretary to Queen Marie de Medicis. She came to love her husband and they had a son. But
her husband fell ill and she nursed him till he died in 1625. Two years earlier, Louise had a mystic experience which convinced
her that she was destined to serve a greater purpose. At this time, her spiritual counselors were the future saint, Francis de Sales,
and her local bishop. Around the time of her husband's death, she came to know the future saint, Vincent de Paul, who had already
established his Confraternities of Charity to help the poor. After four years of correspondence, he asked her to work with him.
She was 42. Beginning her work with four aristocrat friends helping out at Paris's main hospital, she eventually learned to recruit
average women whom she instructed in her way of 'ora et labora', balancing activity and prayer, as Vincent de Paul himself
advocated. They would eventually become the Daughters of Charity. She travelled throughout France to propagate their work, and
by the time she died in 1660, the Daughters had at least 40 houses in France, although they were not officially recognized as a
congregation until 1655. Vincent de Paul died six months later. Louise was canonized in 1934, and in 1960, John XIII declared
her the patron saint of social workers. Her remains are venerated at the Church of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Paris.
Readings from today's Mass: www.usccb.org/bible/readings/031513.cfm
AT THE VATICAN TODAY
Pope Francis met with the entire College of Cardinals, including the non-electors, at the Sala Clementina
of the Apostolic Palace, at which he expressed his gratitude to them and to everyone who has followed
recent events with their prayers, as well as to Benedict XVI, about whom he said the following:
I extend an especially affectionate thought, filled with gratitude, to my venerable predecessor, Benedict XVI, who, during the years of his pontificate enriched and invigorated the Church with his teaching, his goodness, guidance, faith, humility, and his meekness, which will remain the spiritual patrimony of all.
The Petrine ministry, lived with total dedication, found in him a wise and humble interpreter with his gaze always fixed on Christ, the Risen Christ, present and alive in the Eucharist. Our fervent prayer will always accompany him, our eternal memory, and affectionate gratitude.
We feel that Benedict XVI lit a flame in the depth of our hearts, a flame that continues to burn because it will be fanned by his prayers that will continue to sustain the Church on its spiritual and missionary journey...
He referred to him again in stating his main message for the day:
As Pope Benedict XVI reminded us so many times in his teachings and, finally, with that courageous and humble gesture, it is Christ who guides the Church through His Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church, with His life-giving and unifying strength. Of many He makes a single body – the mystical Body of Christ. Let us never give in to pessimi.."sm, to that bitterness that the devil tempts us with every day. Let us not give into pessimism and let us not be discouraged..
The Vatican also released the text of a telegram sent by Pope Francis to the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Riccardo Di Segni.
In 2005, likewise, Benedict XVI's first official message as Pope was sent to Rabbi Di Segni.
Finally, at his news briefing today, Fr. Federico Lombardi said "it must be clearly and firmly denied" that
Pope Francis, while Archbishop of Buenos Aires, had failed to protect priests who challenged the dictatorship
earlier in his career, during the 1976-1983 "dirty war", and that he has said too little about the complicity
of the Church during military rule. He attributed the reports to "anti-clerical left-wing elements that are used to attack the Church".
Is the Vatican finally learning to stand up for the Pope?
Benedict XVI never got this kind of corrective yet necessary denial from the Vatican press office or Secretariat of State for any of the personal accusations against him in the media, from the day of his election when a leading UK newspaper identified him in its headline as 'former Hitler Youth'. Not in the autumn of 2005 when the BBC first aired its slanderous documentary accusing Cardinal Ratzinger of having personally ordered all the bishops of the world to cover up sex crimes by priests, nor in 2006 when the same documentary was re-broadcast in Italy to great media furor. And least of all, not a single peep from the Vatican when MSM heavyweights in the summer of 2010 published a succession of reports sinking to link him personally to a cover=up of such abuses while he was Archbishop of Munich and as CDF Prefect.]
One year ago today...
Benedict XVI met with the Greek Melkite Patriaarch of Antioch Gregorius III (who has since died); US bishops
on ad limina visit, led by Cardinal DiNardo of Galveston-Houston. and Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, president of
the German bishops' conference... He also named a lay couple from the Focolari movement to prepare the meditaitons
and prayers for the 2012 Via Crucis at Rome's Colosseum.
In Havana, the official newspaper of the Communist Party, Granma, published an editorial welcoming Benedict XVI
on his visit to Cuba March 26-28.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 16/03/2013 15:22]