A Community of Love, Unity and Service

St. Scholastica

Of this Saint but little is known on earth, save that she was the very pious younger sister of thegreat patriarch Saint Benedict, and that, under his direction, she founded and governed anumerous community near Monte Casino. Saint Gregory sums up her life by saying that shedevoted herself to God from her childhood, and that her pure soul rose to God in the likeness ofa dove, as if to show that her life had been enriched with the fullest gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Her brother was accustomed to visit her once every year, before Lent, and “she could not besated or wearied with the words of grace which flowed from his lips.” On his last visit, after aday passed in spiritual conversation, the Saint, knowing that her end was near, said, “My brother,leave me not, I pray you, this night, but discourse with me till dawn on the bliss of those who seeGod in heaven.” Saint Benedict would not break his rule for the sake of natural affection, but hissister bowed her head and prayed, and there arose a storm so violent that Saint Benedict couldnot return to his monastery, and they passed the night as she had prayed, in heavenlyconversation.

Three days later Saint Benedict saw in a vision the soul of Saint Scholastica going up in thelikeness of a dove into heaven. Then he gave thanks to God for the graces He had given her andthe glory which had crowned them. When she died, Saint Benedict as well as her spiritualdaughters, and the monks sent by their patriarch to her conventual church, mingled their tears andprayed, “Alas! alas! dearest mother, to whom dost thou leave us now? Pray for us to Jesus, towhom thou art gone.” They then devoutly celebrated holy Mass, “commending her soul to God;”and her body was borne to Monte Casino, where her brother lay her in the tomb he had preparedfor himself. It was written that “they all mourned her many days.” Finally Saint Benedict said,“Weep not, my sisters and brothers; for assuredly Jesus has taken her, before us, to be our aidand defense against all our enemies, that we may remain standing on the evil day and be perfect inall things.” Her death occurred in about the year 543.

St. Severinus

Saint Severinus, of a noble family in Burgundy, was educated in the Catholic faith at a time whenthe Arian heresy reigned in that region. He forsook the world in his youth and dedicated himselfto God in the monastery of Agaunum, which consisted only of scattered cells until, some timelater, the Catholic King Sigismund built there the great Abbey of Saint Maurice.

Saint Severinus became the holy abbot of Saint Maurice, with its distinct convents for men andwomen, all of whom bore voluntarily the yoke of penance and celibacy without solemn vows. The Abbot had governed his community for many years in the exercise of penance and charity,when, in 504, Clovis, the first Christian king of France, who was lying ill of a fever, sent hischamberlain to conduct the Saint to court. After his physicians had for two years endeavoredwithout success to cure him, Clovis was told that the sick from all parts recovered their health bythe prayers of Saint Severinus. The Abbot therefore took leave of his monks, and told them hewould never see them again in this world.

On his journey he healed Eulalius, Bishop of Nevers, who had been for some time deaf and dumb;he also healed a leper at the gates of Paris. And coming to the palace he immediately restoredthe king to perfect health, by covering him with his own cloak. He cured many other sick personsat the court and in Paris. The king, in gratitude, distributed large alms to the poor and releasedall his prisoners.

Saint Severinus, returning toward Agaunum, stopped at Chateau-Landon in Gatinais, where twopriests served God in a solitary chapel. Foreseeing his imminent death, he asked admittanceamong them, and they received this stranger, whom they soon greatly admired for his sanctity. His death followed shortly after, in 507. This site became the Abbey of Saint Severinus, with abeautiful church dedicated to him. His relics were later scattered, when this church wasplundered.

Our Lady of Lourdes

The first of the eighteen apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the humble Bernadette Soubirous took place at Lourdes on February 11, 1858. On March 25^th, when Bernadette askedthe beautiful Lady Her name, She replied: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” The Church forlong centuries had believed in Her Immaculate Conception, Her exemption from every trace of theoriginal sin which through Adam, our first and common father, separated man from his God. Itwas never proclaimed a dogma, however, until 1854. Mary Herself, in 1830, had asked of a Vincentian Sister at the Rue du Bac in Paris, that a medal be struck bearing Her likeness and theinscription: “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee.” OurLady by Her apparitions at Lourdes in 1858 seems to convey Her appreciation for the formalproclamation of Her great privilege, by Pius IX, in 1854. Countless and magnificent miracles ofhealing have occurred at Lourdes, confirmed by physicians and recorded in the Lourdes shrine“Book of Life.” To name but one: a doctor wrote a book describing the great miracle he hadwitnessed for a dying girl, whom he had observed on the train that was carrying handicappedpersons from Paris to Lourdes. He had not expected her to survive and return home from thesanctuary.

Through the Lourdes Apparitions, the devotion of persons in all parts of the world to theImmaculate Mother of God has been wonderfully spread, and countless miracles have beenwrought everywhere through Her intercession. The Virgin Mother of God is truly the chosenMessenger of God to these latter times, which are entrusted to Her, the chosen vessel of theunique privilege of exemption from original sin. Only with Her assistance will the dangers of thepresent world situation be averted. As She has done since 1858 in many places, at Lourdes, too,She gave us Her peace plan for the world, through Saint Bernadette: Prayer and Penance, tosave souls.

St. Benedict of Anian

Saint Benedict of Anian was the son of Aigulf, Governor of Languedoc, and was born about 750. In his early youth he served as cup-bearer to King Pepin and his son Charlemagne, under themenjoying great honors and possessions. Grace entered his soul at the age of twenty, and heresolved to seek the kingdom of God with his whole heart. Without relinquishing his place atcourt, he lived there a very mortified life for three years; then a narrow escape from drowningmade him vow to leave the world, and he entered the cloister of Saint Seine, near Langres.

In reward for Saint Benedict’s heroic austerities in the monastic state, God bestowed upon himthe gift of tears, and inspired him with a knowledge of spiritual things. As procurator for themonastery, he was very solicitous for the wants of the brethren, and most hospitable to the poorand to guests. Declining to accept the abbacy, he built himself a little hermitage on the Anianbrook, and lived some years in great solitude and poverty.

When the fame of his sanctity drew many souls to him, he was obliged to build a large abbey, andwithin a short time governed three hundred monks. He became the great restorer of monasticdiscipline throughout France and Germany. First, he drew up with immense labor a code of therules of the first Saint Benedict, his patron, which he collated with those of the chief monasticfounders, showing the uniformity of the exercises in each. He enforced by his Penitential theirexact observance; secondly, he minutely regulated all matters regarding food, clothing, and everydetail of life; and thirdly, by prescribing the same regime for all, he precluded jealousies andinsured perfect charity. In a Provincial Council at which he was present, held in 813 underCharlemagne, it was declared that all monks of the West should adopt the rule of Saint Benedictof Anian. He died February 11, 821.

The Seven Holy Servite Founders

Can you imagine seven prominent men of any large modern city banding together, leaving theirhomes and profession, and going into solitude for a life directly given to God? That is whathappened in the cultured and prosperous city of Florence in the middle of the 13^th century. Atthis time, the city was torn with political strife as well as by the heresy of the Cathari; moralswere low and religion neglected.

On the feast of the Assumption in 1233, seven of the members of a Florentine Confraternitydevoted to the Holy Mother of God were gathered in prayer under the presidency of AlessioFalconieri. The Blessed Virgin appeared to the young men and exhorted them to devotethemselves to Her service, in retirement from the world. It was in 1240 that they decided towithdraw together from the city to a solitary place for prayer and the service of God. Their aimwas to lead a life of penance and prayer, but they soon found themselves disturbed by increasingnumbers of visitors. They next retired to the deserted slopes of Monte Senario near Florence,where the Blessed Virgin appeared to them again. There the nucleus of a new Order was formed,called Servants of Mary, or Servites, in recognition of their special manner of venerating theSeven Sorrows of Our Lady.

In 1244, under the direction of Saint Peter of Verona, O.P., this small group adopted a religioushabit similar to the Dominican habit, choosing to live under the rule of Saint Augustine. The newOrder took a form resembling more the mendicant friars than the older monastic Orders. One ofthe most remarkable features of the new foundation was its wonderful growth. Even in thefourteenth century, the Order had more than one hundred convents in several nations of Europe,as well as in India and on the Island of Crete. The Rosary of the Seven Sorrows is one of theirregular devotions, as is also the Via Matris, or Way of the Cross of Mary.

Daily Mass