August 9th
Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)
1891 - 1942
Patroness of the Benedicta Institute for Women®
"The world doesn't need what women have, it needs what women are." -St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
The life of St. Catherine of Genoa confirms that spiritual renewal, virtue, holy reflection, and spiritual direction lead to wisdom and discernment. Born into an illustrious Italian family that was connected to two popes, Catherine was known as a quiet and pious child, being both prayerful and obedient. She expressed an interest in the convent at the age of thirteen but she was turned away because she was too young.
August 27th
Saint Monica of Hippo
331 - 387
Most of us are familiar with Saint Monica, the mother of the great Saint Augustine. As the story goes, Monica had a wayward child in her son Augustine. He was a great success, but he wasn't living a moral life and he wasn't growling in holiness. In fact, his behavior was leading him away from holiness and away from God altogether. Back at home, his mother, Monica, prayed fervently for the conversion of her son, Augustine. Not only was St. Monica's prayer time consumed with the conversion of her son, but also with the conversion of her husband, who was known to be adulterous and abusive to Monica. St. Monica persisted in prayer. God would reward this beautiful Saint for her endless petitions with the answer to prayer she had sought for so long!
St. Gianna Beretta Molla, is not only a contemporary saint, but a saint for the contemporary woman! This was a woman who loved God, loved her husband, loved her children and raising them, and even had time to devote herself to charity and a profession, a physician no less! What an inspiration St. Gianna is to us modern-day women, who also try to juggle faith, family, and work. On top of that, she is always seen with a smile on her face, evidence of the true joy she experienced from living this ordinary life for the Lord!
A woman born into stature and a faith-filled home, raised to be a social figure in society based on the wealth and philanthropy of her family, groomed with kindness and a love of God and neighbor, turns the tables on what was supposed of her, what was expected of her, turns her life, and fortune, over to God!
A recent Facebook post shared this urgent prayer intention by one outspoken priest:
"The police are afraid to be police The priests are afraid to be priests The Christians are afraid to be Christians The Americans are afraid to be Americans God, grant us the gift of fortitude to stand up against our oppressors."
St. Catherine of Siena would probably agree with his sentiment. She once declared, “We’ve had enough of exhortation to be silent! Cry out with a hundred thousand tongues. I see that the world is rotten because of silence.”
In January, I picked up my old, dusty, worn-out copy of the book, Victories of the Early Martyrs by St. Alphonsus Liguori and have been so inspired by the faith and zeal of our brothers and sisters who lived in the earliest centuries of the Church.
This Saturday is the Feast of Sts. Perpetua and Felicity, both Roman martyrs. Their story was recorded by Perpetua's own hand in an account known as The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity.
