A Community of Love, Unity and Service

St. Modestus

Saint Vitus, sometimes called Guy, was a child nobly born, who had the happiness to be instructed in the Faith under the tutelage of his Christian nurse, Crescentia, and Modestus, his preceptor. His father was not aware of his baptism. The boy received the gift of miracles. Before he reached theage of twelve, Valerian came to Sicily representing Diocletian, less to be governor of that islandthan persecutor of Christians. Vitus was denounced to him as one of them, and Valerian sent forhis father, telling him to use his paternal authority to bring his son into line, and have him practicethe religion of the empire. Hylas promised to do so.

Finding Vitus unmoved by his tears and embraces, his warnings of what he would lose if he didnot acquiesce to the emperor’s wishes, and every persuasion based on the grief his son wouldcause him by continuing to adore a man who died on an ignominious cross, Hylas delivered Vitusup to Valerian. The governor in turn could not change this child’s mind; when Valerian askedhim why he resisted his father’s will and did not submit to the emperor’s laws, Vitus answered, “I only disobey the emperors and my father to obey God, my sovereign Lord and first Father.” Hedid not fear chastisement, he said, or death, and would gladly endure all things rather than adoredemons, the sworn enemies of men.

Valerian ordered that he be scourged; but the arms of the executioners grew limp, and even the hand of Valerian, which he had raised to give the command, withered. They accused him of beinga magician, but Saint Vitus cured them, “to show them that the spirit of Jesus Christ is one ofgentleness, and that His true disciples have only love for all their enemies.” Hylas, his father,furious at his son’s refusal to comply with all efforts to change him, resolved to put him to death. But Modestus, his tutor, was told by an Angel to flee with him and his nurse, Crescentia, to Italy.

There all three would win the crown of martyrdom. Diocletian himself, hearing of the miracles of Saint Vitus, sent for him but then imprisoned him, after Vitus had delivered theemperor’s son from a demon, but had refused to deny Jesus Christ. A furious lion would notharm the young Christian, but lay down at his feet and licked them. When he and his twoChristian preceptors were attached to racks and tortured, their protecting Angel released them,but not until after lightning had struck the idol temples and caused them to fall, amidst a terriblestorm. Many idolater among the spectators were converted on this occasion. They were set freeafter this incident, but Saint Vitus prayed that their souls might finally be released also, and hisprayer was answered. They were buried at the place to which they had first come in Italy, in thekingdom of Naples.

St. Vitus

Saint Vitus, sometimes called Guy, was a child nobly born, who had the happiness to be instructed in the Faith under the tutelage of his Christian nurse, Crescentia, and Modestus, his preceptor. His father was not aware of his baptism. The boy received the gift of miracles. Before he reached theage of twelve, Valerian came to Sicily representing Diocletian, less to be governor of that islandthan persecutor of Christians. Vitus was denounced to him as one of them, and Valerian sent forhis father, telling him to use his paternal authority to bring his son into line, and have him practicethe religion of the empire. Hylas promised to do so.

Finding Vitus unmoved by his tears and embraces, his warnings of what he would lose if he didnot acquiesce to the emperor’s wishes, and every persuasion based on the grief his son wouldcause him by continuing to adore a man who died on an ignominious cross, Hylas delivered Vitusup to Valerian. The governor in turn could not change this child’s mind; when Valerian askedhim why he resisted his father’s will and did not submit to the emperor’s laws, Vitus answered, “I only disobey the emperors and my father to obey God, my sovereign Lord and first Father.” Hedid not fear chastisement, he said, or death, and would gladly endure all things rather than adoredemons, the sworn enemies of men.

Valerian ordered that he be scourged; but the arms of the executioners grew limp, and even the hand of Valerian, which he had raised to give the command, withered. They accused him of beinga magician, but Saint Vitus cured them, “to show them that the spirit of Jesus Christ is one ofgentleness, and that His true disciples have only love for all their enemies.” Hylas, his father,furious at his son’s refusal to comply with all efforts to change him, resolved to put him to death. But Modestus, his tutor, was told by an Angel to flee with him and his nurse, Crescentia, to Italy.

There all three would win the crown of martyrdom. Diocletian himself, hearing of the miracles of Saint Vitus, sent for him but then imprisoned him, after Vitus had delivered theemperor’s son from a demon, but had refused to deny Jesus Christ. A furious lion would notharm the young Christian, but lay down at his feet and licked them. When he and his twoChristian preceptors were attached to racks and tortured, their protecting Angel released them,but not until after lightning had struck the idol temples and caused them to fall, amidst a terriblestorm. Many idolater among the spectators were converted on this occasion. They were set freeafter this incident, but Saint Vitus prayed that their souls might finally be released also, and hisprayer was answered. They were buried at the place to which they had first come in Italy, in thekingdom of Naples.

St. Crescentia

Saint Vitus, sometimes called Guy, was a child nobly born, who had the happiness to be instructed in the Faith under the tutelage of his Christian nurse, Crescentia, and Modestus, his preceptor. His father was not aware of his baptism. The boy received the gift of miracles. Before he reached theage of twelve, Valerian came to Sicily representing Diocletian, less to be governor of that islandthan persecutor of Christians. Vitus was denounced to him as one of them, and Valerian sent forhis father, telling him to use his paternal authority to bring his son into line, and have him practicethe religion of the empire. Hylas promised to do so.

Finding Vitus unmoved by his tears and embraces, his warnings of what he would lose if he didnot acquiesce to the emperor’s wishes, and every persuasion based on the grief his son wouldcause him by continuing to adore a man who died on an ignominious cross, Hylas delivered Vitusup to Valerian. The governor in turn could not change this child’s mind; when Valerian askedhim why he resisted his father’s will and did not submit to the emperor’s laws, Vitus answered, “I only disobey the emperors and my father to obey God, my sovereign Lord and first Father.” Hedid not fear chastisement, he said, or death, and would gladly endure all things rather than adoredemons, the sworn enemies of men.

Valerian ordered that he be scourged; but the arms of the executioners grew limp, and even the hand of Valerian, which he had raised to give the command, withered. They accused him of beinga magician, but Saint Vitus cured them, “to show them that the spirit of Jesus Christ is one ofgentleness, and that His true disciples have only love for all their enemies.” Hylas, his father,furious at his son’s refusal to comply with all efforts to change him, resolved to put him to death. But Modestus, his tutor, was told by an Angel to flee with him and his nurse, Crescentia, to Italy.

There all three would win the crown of martyrdom. Diocletian himself, hearing of the miracles of Saint Vitus, sent for him but then imprisoned him, after Vitus had delivered theemperor’s son from a demon, but had refused to deny Jesus Christ. A furious lion would notharm the young Christian, but lay down at his feet and licked them. When he and his twoChristian preceptors were attached to racks and tortured, their protecting Angel released them,but not until after lightning had struck the idol temples and caused them to fall, amidst a terriblestorm. Many idolater among the spectators were converted on this occasion. They were set freeafter this incident, but Saint Vitus prayed that their souls might finally be released also, and hisprayer was answered. They were buried at the place to which they had first come in Italy, in thekingdom of Naples.

St. Germaine Cousin

Saint Germaine Cousin was born in 1579 in Pibrac, a small village not far from Toulouse, France. From her earliest years she was a frail, sickly child, and throughout her life was afflicted withscrofula, a tubercular condition affecting particularly the glands of the neck. In addition, her rightarm and hand were deformed and partially paralyzed. In spite of her many afflictions, theemaciated child possessed a charming, sweet disposition. Germaine endured not only bodilysufferings, but harsh, cruel treatment from her stepmother, who had a deep aversion for the littlegirl. The child was almost starved to death and obliged to sleep in the barn on a pile of leaves andtwigs under the stairway. At break of day, summer and winter, she would drive the sheep into thefields to graze, then watch them until evening. She had to spin during this time, and if the allottedwool was not spun, she was severely punished.

The village children, not sharing the hostility of the adults toward this forlorn child, loved to listen to her speak about the goodness and love of God while she guarded her flock. The onlyinstruction Germaine ever received was the catechism taught after Sunday Mass in the villagechurch, which she attended with joy. During the long hours of solitude she spent in the fields andin the stable at night, she remained in sweet communion with God, and never complained of herhard life.

Every morning she was at Mass, and afterwards went to kneel before Our Lady’s shrine. To reach the church she had to cross what was ordinarily a small stream; but after a heavy rain itwould become a raging torrent. Several times at those moments, the villagers were amazed to seethe rushing waters separate when Germaine approached, and then to watch her cross on dry land. When she left her sheep to go to church, she would place her staff upright in the ground, and thesheep never went far from it. One day the stepmother was seen pursuing Germaine as she drovethe sheep down the road. She was accusing the girl of having stolen some bread and concealing itin her apron. When Germaine unfolded her apron, fragrant flowers, foreign to that region, fell tothe ground.

Germaine died one night in the year 1601, at the age of twenty-one, and was buried as was thecustom in those days, in the village church. Forty-three years later, when a relative was to beburied near her and the stones were removed, the grave-digger found to his amazement, the bodyof a beautiful young girl in a state of perfect preservation. His pick had struck her nose, and thewound was bleeding. Some of the older residents identified the girl as Germaine Cousin. Miracleafter miracle occurred, and in 1867 the neglected little waif of Pibrac was inscribed in the list ofSaints by Pope Pius IX. Annually thousands of pilgrims visit the church of Pibrac, where therelics of Saint Germaine are enshrined.

St. John Francis Regis

Saint John Francis Regis was born at Fontcouverte in Languedoc, in January, 1597, of a nobleCatholic family. From his tenderest years he showed evidence of uncommon sanctity by hisinnocence of life, modesty, and love of prayer; when he was five years old he fainted when heheard his mother speak of the terrible misfortune of being eternally damned. After beingeducated by the Jesuits, when he was nineteen years old he decided, with the approbation of hisconfessor, to enter the Society of Jesus at Toulouse. There he was viewed as a model of everyvirtue, and was called the Angel of the College. He was sent in 1628 to study theology inToulouse, and ordained a priest in 1630. His first ministry in Toulouse was for the victims of theplague. His superiors feared to expose his youth to the contagion, but he pleaded successfully tobe allowed to do so, and God spared His servant for future labors. He was sent to visit his familyfor a time, and began in Fontcouverte to occupy himself first of all with the poor. The numerousconversions effected there made his Superiors decide to assign their young Saint to the missionlands of France.

He began his apostolic work in Montpellier, and spent himself in preaching to the unletteredpeople of Languedoc and Auvergne; in these regions where heresy had made serious inroads, hemade many converts among the Huguenots. He established an association of women to procure aid for prisoners, and founded numerous confraternities of the Blessed Sacrament. The winters he spent in the missions of the mountainous districts, where the people were seen to travel long miles on foot through the snows and across ice, to hear the servant of God and make their confessions. Many of them accompanied him on his journeys from one place to another, leaving all things to hear him. Some fragments of his torn cloak, which a charitable lady repaired for him one day, cured her two sick children. The reputation of the sanctity of the missionary spread everywhere in the mountains.

During the summer he preached in Le Puy, which soon changed its aspect by his catechisms. Upto five thousand listeners crowded in to hear him at the church of the Benedictines of Saint-Pierre-le-Moustiers. He visited hospitals and prisons, preached and instructed, and assisted allwho in any way stood in need of his services.

In November of 1637 the Saint set out for his second mission at Marthes in the mountains. His road lay across valleys filled with snow and over frozen and precipitous peaks. In climbing one ofthe highest, a bush to which he was clinging gave way, and he broke his leg in the fall; nonetheless, with the help of his companion and a staff, he managed to continue his journey for theremaining six miles. Then, instead of seeing a surgeon, he insisted on being taken straight to theconfessional. After several hours, the parish priest found him still seated, and when his leg wasfinally examined the fracture was found to be miraculously healed.

Saint John Francis was so inflamed with the love of God that he seemed to breathe, think, andspeak of Him alone. He offered up the Holy Sacrifice with such attention and fervor that thosewho attended it could not but experience with him something of the fire consuming him. Aftertwelve years of unceasing labor, having taken a wrong turn on a strange road, and havingremained for the night in a cabin open to the wind, he contracted a severe pleurisy and renderedhis pure and innocent soul to his Creator at the age of forty-four. He was mourned, invoked forassistance and then venerated as a miracle-working Saint; his place of sepulcher at Louvesc in themountains is still the site of fervent pilgrimages. He was canonized by Pope Clement XII in 1737.

The Curé of Ars obtained a famous miracle with a medal of our Saint. The orphanage of Ars had no more grain for bread, and the harvest had been so scanty the people could not be asked for anymore aid. The Curé of Ars put a medal of Saint John Francis behind the door of the emptystoreroom, and the next day they could scarcely open that door, so full had the room becomeovernight.

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