September 17, 2019
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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. -
August - Like Nun-other
A few weeks ago, the ABC-TV show, To Tell the Truth, featured a panel of three women. One of them had been a member of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
The center contestant was Toni Ann “Peanuts” Palermo, who played professional baseball as a member of the Chicago Colleens and, later, the Springfield Sallies from 1949 to 1950.
She’s also a School Sister of St. Francis.
Born in in Forest Park, IL, a suburb of Chicago, Sr. Toni Ann began playing professional softball with the Parichy Bloomer Girls at age 11. One year later, she was invited to spring training in Cuba with the (AAGPBL), and at 14 was asked to go on tour with the league. In In 1982, she was inducted into the National Women’s Baseball Hall of Fame and was honored at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
In a recent interview, Sr. Toni Ann reflected on her journey. “God has had his hand guiding me on this journey since day one. If anyone should have never entered the convent, it was yours truly,” she joked. “When we were on tour, my roommate was a staunch Catholic and she would say, ‘Toni, get up, we’re going to Mass’ … most of the time I had to get up because she was forceful.”
Of course, she had her own opinions of the movie, “A League of Their Own,” based on the women’s league. “We were much better players than what was portrayed in the movie; we were skilled,” she said. “But the movie was important because it brought attention to the league."
Prior to entering the convent in 1954, Sr. Toni Ann was invited to play for the South Bend (Indiana) Blue Sox, the reigning league champions. She had gone to spring training in Indiana, but had committed to going to the convent in September of that year because she felt another calling to serve God.
She ended up joining the School Sisters of St. Francis, earned a bachelor’s degree in English, history and math from Alverno College, Milwaukee. From 1956 to 1970, she taught elementary school and high school theology in the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois.
In 1970, she began studies at UW-Madison and received three master’s degrees in psychiatric social work, kinesiology and physical education and educational policy.
She credits her time playing baseball as a strong influence on her ministry.
“Baseball taught me discipline and how to be coachable,” she said. “In life we have to be coachable (or you) just don’t grow. In every sport I’ve been in you have to be coachable; that’s truly how our lives go.”
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May - Like Nun-other
How many nuns do you know who have a bobblehead figure made of their likeness? How many do you know who have TWO bobbleheads?
Meet Sr. Jean Dolores Schmidt, Loyola University’s basketball mascot and biggest fan. Simply known as Sr. Jean, she’s the chaplain for the Loyola Ramblers men's basketball team and a religious sister of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary . This year, as the Ramblers made it to the Final Four in the NCAA (college basketball) tournament, Sr. Jean became a national figure. How many other 99-year-old nuns can say that?Sr. Jean was born on August 21, 1919 in San Francisco and considered becoming a nun while she was in third grade. As a student at St. Paul's High School , she played on the girl’s basketball team. After graduating from high school in 1937, she entered the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary convent in Iowa. After living and teaching in Los Angeles, Sr. Jean moved to Chicago and taught at Mundelein College, which was right across the street from Loyola.She became the Team Chaplain for the Ramblers in 1994, and has been their good luck mascot ever since. Ultimately, Loyola lost to Michigan, but nobody doubts that Sr. Jean won’t be there rooting them on next season!
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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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August: Sisters Rita & Philomena
St. Rita of Cascia is often credited as also being the unofficial patron saint of baseball due to a reference made to her in the 2002 film The Rookie, starring Dennis Quaid. Based on a true story, it’s a baseball tale that opens with a couple of nuns sprinkling rose petals from a basket while praying to St. Rita over the site of an oil well near the little town of Big Lake in west Texas in the 1920s.According to the movie’s narrator, the nuns invested money in an oil well scheme that turned sour. A Catholic priest advised them to pray to St. Rita, the patron St. of the impossible, and sprinkle rose petals on the well site. It eventually worked!During the 21 months it took for the well to start spouting oil, the crew built a baseball field near the well, and some of the members got to be very good ball players.St. Philomena, whose name means "Daughter of Light," is one of the earliest known Christian martyrs. She is also a patron saint of baseball. When she refused to marry the Emperor Diocletian, she was scourged, thrown into a river with an anchor around her neck, and shot through with arrows. Miraculously, she survived! Finally, she was beheaded.So many miracles were attributed to her, she became known as "The Wonder Worker." Hence, the reason she’s the patron saint of baseball. She can work wonders!Her feast day is August 11. -
January: St. Gemma Galgani
Happy New Year! Now, what are you going to do with it? It’s a clean slate, ready for you to do whatever you want. Resolve to make the most of it.What is a New Year's resolution? It’s a tradition in which a person plans to change an undesired trait or behavior, to accomplish a personal goal, or improve their life.The ancient Babylonians are the first people to make New Year's resolutions, some 4,000 years ago. They were also the first to hold recorded celebrations in honor of the new year, although for them the year began not in January but in mid-March, when the crops were planted.
Don’t think you’re alone in wanting to make a plan for the new year. Take a hint from St. Gemma Galgani, an Italian saint, born in 1878. She only lived to be 25, dying of tuberculosis in 1903.
She’s the first saint to live in the 20 th Century. What does a saint resolve to do? On New Year’s eve, as 1895 moved into 1896, she wrote in her diary:
During this new year I resolve to begin a new life. I do not know what will happen to me during this year. But I abandon myself entirely to you, my God. And my aspirations and all my affections will be for You. I feel so weak, dear Jesus, but with Your help I hope and resolve to live a different life, that is, a life closer to You.
You don’t have to do something so lofty, but if a saint can make a resolution, so can you! -
May: Saint Joan of Arc
In 1996, a Paris antiques dealer reported that he thought he had the actual suit of armor worn by St. Joan of Arc. "I couldn't be more sure it's authentic if Joan of Arc herself were standing in it," said Pierre de Souzy.
A metallurgist at the National Center for Scientific Research dated it to the 15th century and said the armor was designed for a woman, not a man.
What's more, it stands just under 5 feet tall, the height of France’s patron saint. And chinks and gashes in the metal correspond to wounds Joan is known to have suffered in battle before the English burned her at the stake in 1431. It’s impossible to actually prove if the armor belonged to Joan, but just reporting it brought her to the attention of the public, who perhaps had not thought of her in a while.May 30 is the feast day of St. Joan of Arc, who died at the tender age of 19. She is the patron saint of soldiers, captives, prisoners, martyrs, rape victims, people ridiculed for their piety, and France—the country she gave her life to save. Today, as young people march and protest for changes in the U.S. and elsewhere, it’s good to look back at how another young person made a difference.She lived a short, but impactful life. At the age of 13, she was said to receive visions from St. Michael the Archangel, St. Catherine of Alexandria, and St. Margaret of Antioch and told to help the King of France reconquer his kingdom, which was being overtaken by England.Can you imagine what Charles VII thought when this girl came into his court and explained her sacred mission? But it worked! She was given a small army, and despite her age and stature, she commanded that army and won important battles in the Hundred Years’ War between France and England. Her victories paved the way for the coronation of Charles VII.Unfortunately, Joan was captured, tried, convicted, and burned at the stake. She asked for a crucifix as she burned, calling out the name of Jesus. Twenty-five years after her execution, Pope Callixtus III called for an examination of her trial, then declared she was innocent. She was canonized in 1920.Joan is proof that not everybody is cut out to be a martyr, and age is no barrier to an accomplishment. Keep that in mind next time you’re watching the news. -
November: Saint Gall (St. Gallus)
Everybody and everything needs a patron saint. Since this is November and it’s the month of Thanksgiving, we thought we’d feature St. Gall, Patron Saint of turkeys.
Okay, he’s also the Patron Saint of chickens and all manner of birds. We’ll explain that in a minute.
First, a little about St. Gall, who lived from the year 550 until 646 in the areas that are now Ireland, France, Switzerland, Austria and Germany.
He was born in Ireland and when he was young he became a monk, and traveled to France, and went all over that area to preach. All that traveling took its toll and he got sick, and decided to rest and restore himself.
Eventually he moved to Switzerland and here’s where things get interesting. Gall joined some other monks living as hermits. He liked to spend time outdoors and birds kept him company.
His most famous miracle involves the exorcism of a woman named Fridiburga, the daughter of a duke. She was engaged to marry Sigebert II, King of the Franks. Right there, you want to know more, right? Well, Fridiburga was possessed by demons. Sigebert had already sent for two bishops to help her, but they couldn’t do anything. Here comes St. Gall. He said a few prayers, laid on some hands, did whatever he needed to do, and then suddenly the demons flew out of Fridiburga's mouth in the form a big black bird.
So now you know why he’s the Patron Saint of birds, including turkeys.
Oh, and what happened to Fridiburga? Well, after Sigebert saw what happened, he decided to pull out of that marriage. She became a nun. Not too bad for both of them.
Another animal miracle is the story of St. Gall’s encounter with a bear in the forest near his monastery. The bear charged him, but St. Gall stopped it. So the bear took off, but then it came back with some firewood it gathered. The bear dropped the wood at the foot of St. Gall, so he and those monks could set a fire. After that, the two stayed fast friends. In fact, the image of St. Gall has him with that bear. We think his name was Hamms, but we're not sure. -
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].