Monday, Oct. 1, 26th Week in Ordinary Time
MEMORIAL OF ST. THERESE OF LISIEUX
Since Therese was born in the latter part of the 19th century, many photographs exist showing the saint from her childhood to her death.
ST. THERESE DE LISIEUX (France, 1873-1897), Carmelite nun, Doctor of the Church, 'Little Flower of Jesus'
Benedict XVI dedicated his catechesis on April 6, 2011 to St Therese
www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20110406...
One of the most popular saints around the world, Therese Martin is by far the youngest Doctor of the Church, only the third woman to earn this title after Teresa of Avila and Caterina of Siena, and the only one of the 34 Doctors of the Church to have written only a single work, her History of a Soul, published one year after her death, and which became one of the most influential Christian books as the world entered the 20th century. A hundred years after her death, John Paul II proclaimed her a Doctor of the Church, for the impact of her teaching on spirituality on the life of the Church. Her story was quite simple - she was the last of nine children born to middle-class parents (Zelie Guerin and Louis Martin, who were beatified in 2009). Always sickly, she entered the Carmelite convent at age 15, where she decided that doing simple ordinary things well, along with prayer and knowing how to endure pain and suffering (including 'dark nights of the soul'), were the way to God. In the last three years of her life, at the request of her sisters (two of them became Carmelite nuns too) and her superior, she wrote the story of her life and called it the "Little Way'. A bad case of tuberculosis caught in 1895 flared up in 1897 and led to her death. Because of her posthumous autobiography, her cult became worldwide almost immediately. She was beatified in 1922, canonized in 1925, and because she had wanted to be a missionary, she was declared co-patron of the missions along with St. Francis Xavier. On her deathbed she said, "I want to spend my heaven doing good on earth".
Readings for today's Mass:
www.usccb.org/bible/readings/100112.cfm
AT THE VATICAN TODAY
The Holy Father returned to the Apostolic Palace before noon today after a three-month residence for
the summer in Castel Gandolfo.
The Press Office announced a news conference tomorrow, Oct. 2, to present the International Conference
be held Oct, 5-6 in Rome, on "Studies of the Second Vatican Council in the light of the Conciliar Fathers'
archives, on the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Council", organized by the Pontifical Committee
on Historical Sciences, in cooperation with the Pontifical Lateran University's Center of Studies and
Research on Vatican II.
On Friday, Mons. Nikola Eterovic, Secretary-General of the Bishops' Synod, will brief newsmen on the coming
XIII General Assembly on Oct. 7-28 on the subject of the New Evangelization.
POPE'S PRAYER INTENTIONS
October 2012
General intention:
That the New Evangelization may progress in the oldest Christian countries.
Missionary Intention:
That the celebration of World Mission Day may result in a renewed commitment to evangelization.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 01/10/2012 16:29]