Friday, March 12
Center photo: Bl. Angela's urn at the Franciscan church in Cracow.
ST. ANIELA (Angela) SALAWA (Poland, 1881-1922), Lay Franciscan
The eleventh of 12th children in a poor family of rural Poland, she received rudimentary education
and by age 15, was working as a domestic for a farm family where she tended children and cows.
Three years later, she moved to Cracow where one of her sisters lived (and died shortly after
she arrived). She began what she would be doing the rest of her life - as a household domestic.
She joined the local Association of St. Zita, the Italian patron of domestics, and helped instruct
other domestic workers. Always very pious, she was an intense reader of the mystics Teresa of
Avila and John of the Cross and was devoted to the Blessed Sacrament. In 1911, she was
diagnosed with an illness which would eventually lead to her death, In 1912, she joined the
Third Order of St. Francis (for laymen). During World War I, she volunteered to care for wounded
soldiers and POWs in Cracow. By the end of the war, her health had deteriorated, so in 1918,
she gave up her last job and retreated to an attic where she lived for another four years, in close
contact with her confessor who encouraged her to write down her mystical experiences. John Paul II
beatified her in Cracow in 1991, when her remains were transferred from the city cemetery to the
Church of the Conventual Franciscans.
Readings for today's Mass: www.usccb.org/nab/readings/031210.shtml
OR today.
Meeting with participants of a Vatican course for confessors,
Pope urges them to preach the mercy of God in the confessional:
'Only those who ask to be forgiven can forgive'
Other Page 1 stories: an essay 'Chinese roulette' looks at China's delicate game of chance between pursuing
internal development and world leadership; the UN reports that almost half of international aid to Africa -
about $200 million last year - is diverted to other purposes including arming rebel groups; a teaser for a
selection of four excerpts in the inside pages from lectures delivered yesterday at the March 11-12 Lateran
University theological convention on the priesthood; and an essay on Indian miniature paintings by the
Rajput warrior culture which opposes the Muslim Mogul dynasties in the 17th-19th centuries.
THE POPE'S DAY
The Holy Father began the day by attending the second Lenten sermon at the Redemptoris Mater chapel by
Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the Pontifical Household.
Later he met with
- Bishops of Sudan (Group 2) on ad-limina visit
- Mons. Robert Zollitsch, Archbishop of Freiburg and president of the German bishops conference
- Participants in the International Theological Convention on the priesthood, sponsored by the
Congregation for the Clergy. Address in Italian.
In the afternoon, he met with
- Cardinal William Joseph Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (weekly meeting)
The Vatican today released this statement on the Pope's summer vacation. So, my surmise was right...
Pope will spend all summer
in Castel Gandolfo
Translated from
March 12, 2010
This summer, the Holy Father will proceed directly to Castel Gandolfo where he will spend the entire season. He appreciates the invitations received this year from Alpine localities to spend a few weeks this summer and has thanked all the bishops who presented these invitations, but this year he prefers to start his summer rest and study period without having to travel beyond Castel Gandolfo.
One obvious advantage and immediate implication of this decision is that his brother will be able to join him earlier for the summer.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 12/03/2010 18:09]