June 2, 2020
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Visions of the Sacred Heart
For two years between 1673 and 1675, a Visitation nun by the name of Margaret Mary Alacoque had multiple visions. In one of those visions, she said Jesus gave her 12 promises to those who venerated the Sacred Heart.
They include the promise to give them graces they would need in life, bring peace to their families, comfort them in their trials, give them a secure refuge during life and in death, bless their undertakings, bring mercy to sinners, make lukewarm souls more fervent, allow fervent souls to grow in holiness and perfection, bless every place where the image of Sacred Heart is shown, and give priests the gift of influencing hardened hearts, honor in the Sacred Heart those who honor it, and provide eternal happiness. Not everybody believed her, and Margaret Mary endured a lot of skepticism, which is somewhat understandable. Some of the other nuns were hostile to her, theologians who came to visit suggested she was delusional, but she stuck to her guns and eventually they came around.
Born in France in 1647, she served as novice mistress and assistant superior, until her death in 1690, at the age of 43. While being anointed, she said: “I need nothing but God, and to lose myself in the heart of Jesus.”
She was canonized in 1920.
The Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is celebrated on the eighth day of the Feast of Corpus Christi, nineteen days after Pentecost Sunday. You’ll have to look that up.
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We get a little newsletter from a troupe of characters called, "Nuns 4 Fun." They are most famous for their silly plays about growing up Catholic. You may remember, "Late Nite Catechism" or "Bible Bingo" or "Mother Superior's Ho-Ho-Holy Night." They are saterical and funny, and each month they mail us their "St. of the Month," and their "Like 'nun' other"... I thought I would share....
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March: Saint Patrick?
Ok, so maybe Patrick would be the obvious one... but let's read a story of Pi, or PIE or ...well, just read this:
What is Pi Day?
Is there a Patron Saint for That?
Pi Day, not pie day, is so named because of its date: 3/14. Those happen to be first three digits of the ratio between a circle’s circumference and its diameter.
It’s a math thing. So say you don’t really get math. That’s okay. You can pray on it. Look no farther than St. Hubert, the patron saint of mathematicians, hunters, opticians, and metalworkers. We've talked about St. Hubert before. He's also the patron saint of werewolves, but this isn't the month to talk about that. You'll just have to look that up.
If praying still doesn’t help you with understanding Pi, then just do what so many others do. Enjoy a treat that day.
Why do people eat pie on Pi Day? There are obvious reasons. Pi sounds just like pie, and most pies are circular. So it sort of makes sense, until you really look at this.
March is a terrible month for making pies. There are no summer fruits easily available, unless you’re willing to spend a lot on imported fruit. Yes, fruit from far away lands is perfectly fine, but really, it's just not as good as the stuff you get in the summer harvest. So no berries for a nice Pi pie.
Then what? Well, look at custard and cream pies. Perfectly good, but you’ve been eating for six months already all the sweets and rich foods imaginable. Candy for Halloween, turkey dinner for Thanksgiving, Christmas treats, January leftovers, February candy for St. Valentine’s Day...
Do you really want another month of eating that butterfat and egg yolks?
No, the answer is to NOT eat pie, but to look at other foods that start with the P and the I. Like, pierogis!
Yes, Pierogi starts with Pi!
And There’s a Patron Saint!Here’s why the pierogi is the perfect thing to eat on Pi Day. They are delicious. Need we say more? Some of you might be asking: What is a pierogi?
The easiest answer is this: it’s sort of like a Polish or Eastern European ravioli; or like a Jewish kreplach; or a Chinese dumpling. It’s all dough with meat or vegetables inside, and sometimes fruit.
Just ask St. Hyacinth, a Dominican priest and missionary who helped to spread Catholicism throughout his native Poland. He also ate a lot of pierogis.
Hyancinth was born in 1185 in the Castle of Lanka, in southwestern Poland. Because he had money, he got around. And he knew people. A relative of Blessed Ceslaus, he studied at prestigious institutions in Krakow, Prague and Bologna, eventually earning the title Doctor of Law and Divinity.
He later traveled to Rome and witnessed a miracle performed by Saint Dominic. That impressed him (who wouldn’t be impressed) and he entered the first Dominican monastery in the city.
Hyacinth went back to Poland to spread the word and there’s a great legend around him. It’s told that he visited a small village about 20 miles northeast of Krakow. The year was 1238, and it so happened that an epic hailstorm destroyed the crops in town, leaving the people hungry and poor.
As the story goes, Hyacinth told them to pray to God so they may be saved from certain starvation, and on the next day new crops rose from the Earth. That’s a good miracle. To show their appreciation, the townsfolk treated Hyacinth to fresh pierogi made from the newly sprouted wheat. A few years later, he supposedly fed an entire village with pierogi during a famine caused by the invasion of Tatars.
There’s an old saying in Poland. When you are in dire need of help, pray to St. Hyacinth. You say, “Saint Hyacinth with Pierogi!”
One of the major miracles attributed to Hyacinth came about from a Mongol attack on Kiev. As the friars prepared to flee the invading forces, Hyacinth went to save the ciborium containing the Blessed Sacrament from the tabernacle in the monastery chapel, when he heard the voice of Mary, the mother of Jesus, asking him to take her, too.
Hyacinth lifted the large, stone statue of Mary, as well as the ciborium. He was easily able to carry both, despite the fact that the statue weighed far more than he could normally lift. Thus he saved them both. For this reason he is usually shown holding a monstrance (though they did not come into use until several centuries later), and a statue of Mary.
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Like 'nun'-other: Sister Clare of Assisi
The daughter of a count and countess, Clare was destined for a different life when she met St. Francis of Assisi while he was preaching in the streets. At the age of 15, she had refused to be married. Taken with this man, Clare began actively following his teachings. They became fast friends. One day she confided that she had a desire to live for God.On Palm Sunday in 1212, her bishop presented Clare with a palm, which she took as a sign. In the middle of the night, when she was 18 years old, Clare ran away from her palace home and entered religious life.
She eventually took the veil from St Francis at the Church of Our Lady of the Angels in Assisi, Italy.
After that, Clare founded the Order of Poor Ladies, and led it for 40 years. She wrote their Rule of Life, the first set of monastic guidelines known to have been written by a woman.
Everywhere the Franciscans established themselves throughout Europe, the Poor Clares joined them, eventually opening orders in several countries. Leading lives of prayer and silence, they had no money, and relied upon charity to get by.
To this day, the Poor Clares are a cloistered order of nuns.
Clare died at the age of 59 in 1253, after a long illness. After her death, her followers changed their name from the Order of Poor Ladies to the Poor Clares. Here’s an interesting tidbit. Apparently, when she was too ill to attend Mass, Clare could see and hear Mass on the wall of her bedroom. Remember, this was in 1253.
So when this new-fangled medium of television was invented, Pope Pius XII needed a patron saint, so he turned to Clare. She could see and hear Mass on her wall? Sounded like television to those Vatican researchers. That’s why St. Clare is the patron saint of television [and as time moved on, also the computer and internet].