SAINT CAJETAN
SAINT CAMILLUS
SAINT CATHERINELABOURE
SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA-Exemplary
SAINT CLARE-Model 
SAINT CLEMENT
SAINT COLETTE-Inspired


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SAINT CAJETAN-
Ecclesiastical Reformer and Religious Founder/1480-1547/
Feast:Aug.7-#51

fr:Dear Saint,your life and work illumine the secret that Christ is found 
in His sick,and that they can best be cared for by those who love 
Christ and who pray unceasingly to Him.
*You left few letters and no literary works,yet your influence on your 
time was great.
You exhibited great holiness by your tirelessness in prayer and preaching,
your Eucharistic devotion,your ascetic life,
your unflagging charity,and your zealous ministry.

St:Through no merit of mine,God's grace was all around me.
Born into a noble and Christian family of Vicenza,
I studied law and could have followed a brilliant career in the Curia at 
Rome.But I felt like a fish out of water.
I realized that I had a late vocation to the priesthood.
*After ordination at thirty-six years of age,I formed a 
Religious Confraternity.Returning to Vicenza,
I joined another Confraternity,and then went on to Venice to work among 
the sick and destitute.

fr:During this time the thought came to you to found a 
Religious Society of Priests whose members would take the evangelical 
vows.In conjunction with John Peter Caraffa,who later became 
Pope Paul IV,
and two others you founded the Order of Clerks Regular(Theatines).

St:It was the intention of the founders that the members should devote 
themselves to preaching and to hospital work.Above all,they should 
lead the Laity back to the Sacraments and the Clergy back to an ordered 
life of prayer and study -- with emphasis on the Liturgy.

fr:It is clear that you were working for a "reformation" within the 
Church rather than outside it as did the Protestant reformers in your day.
At the same time,you did anything that would help the people's 
shockingly sad state,including establishing a pawnshop -- run not for 
prolfit but for giving help to those in temporary difficulty.

St:God was unbelievably generous toward me.Why,then,should I not use 
my short life on earth to express my gratitude in striving for holiness 
and winning followers for Christ!After all,the Son of God Himself 
chose to become a Servant and to die in sacrifice for all.

pr:Suppreme Father,aid the worh of Your hand.Help me to will nothing 
that You reject and to reject nothing that You will.

fr:Dear Saint,today there are some Catholics who act merely like 
"social workers" or humanists who do not even believe in God.Teach 
us to be true workers of charity for the sick and underprivileged.
*Help us to obtain a spiritual renewal for all those with whom we come 
into contact each day -- by our prayers and our example.In that way we 
will be doing our bit to renew the Church as well.

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SAINT CAMILLUS DE LELLIS-
Good Samaritan and Patron of Hospitals/1550-1614/
Feast:July 14-#56

fr:Dear Saint,you are sometimes called the Red Cross Saint because the 
members of your Congregation wear a black habit with a red cross on 
their breast but even more because you helped revolutionize the care 
of the sick.
You were an innovator in the field of health and are credited with 
introducing open windows in hospitals,medical dieting,and isolation of 
contagious cases.
Above all,you honored the sick as living images of Christ,
and saw service to them as service to Christ.

St:Remember one thing,however.Although I was big in body 
(six feet six inches high and broad in shoulder),
I was small in mind.I entered the Venetian army at seventeen and for 
eight years afterward was a soldier of fortune with an overpowering 
impulse to gamble,which kept me in constant trouble.
*Through the grace of God,
I came in touch with the Capuchins of Abruzzi and became converted 
to Christ.
I wanted to join their Order,but God wanted otherwise and gave me an 
ulcerous leg that barred my being accepted.

fr:You finally went to a Hospital of Incurables in Rome and in time 
became its administrator.
The Lord made you look upon yourself more and more as a servant of 
the sick and you even learned to render the most unpleasant 
and humiliating services to those poor sufferers.
You saw at first hand the shocking state of the hospitals and the gross 
inadequacy of the nursing staff.

St:That is a true picture,and it made me want to help.
At the age of thirty-two I began to learn grammar with children,
for I was still illiterate.
*I learned well enough to be able to be ordained and then with God's help 
I laid the foundation for what came to he called 
"The Congregation of Clerics Regular," 
whose members would take care of the sick.

fr:I know that you had to overcome many obstacles but you had the 
advantage of having Saint Philip Neri as your spiritual director.
And you inspired all by serving and consoling and praying with the 
patients day and night.

pr:0 load,save Your servant whom You have redeemed by Your 
Precious Blood.

fr:Dear Saint,there is still much room in our day for showing 
compassion to the sick.Inspire all who serve the sick 
(doctors,nurses,volunteers) 
to do so not only with the proper care for their patients but also with 
the proper attitude within themselves.
*Let them ever keep in mind the example set forth by our Lord in 
His parable of the Good Samaritan,who not only took care of the 
wounded man but did so unselfishly and at his own expense.Indeed,
let us all learn to see Christ in the sick and to serve Him without reserve.

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SAINT CATHERINE LABOURE-
Humble Instrument of Mary Immaculate/
1806-1876/Feast:Oct.25-#75

fr:Dear Saint,your holy life was completely uneventful from a secular 
point of view.
Yet because of a vision of Mary that was granted you,the lives of many 
Catholics were changed for the better.Unlettered in worldly knowledge 
and unappealing in worldly ways,you were still chosen by God and 
Mary to unveil a new devotion to the world.
*Born in France,you did not attend school and learned to read and write 
only when you had reached adulthood.
After your mother's death,you cared for your father until you became a 
Sister of Charity at the age of twenty-four.In the convent you received the 
series of visions of the Mother of God.

St:Without warning I saw a lady seated at the right hand of the sanctuary.
It was Mary.She told me,pointing to the altar on which 
our Lord was present in the tabernacle,that I would find much 
consolation there.

fr:Saint Bernadette was used by Mary to attract people to the 
"waters of Lourdes" and to her shrine at Lourdes.
You had a rather different task.

St:Mary showed me a medal representing the Immaculate Conception.
As you know,that medal is now called the "Miraculous Medal"--
because it was given miraculously and because it has been the instrument 
for miracles.
*Our Lady told me to spread devotion through that medal.She instructed 
me to find guidance from a spiritual director.I realized how greatly 
I needed direction,for I was only a novice and a person with little 
experience in holy things.

fr:I have noticed that it so frequently happens that those who have 
received a particular commission must consult and obey a spiritual director.
God loves to use weak instruments for teaching matters of Faith and for 
executing a particular work.

St:I therefore transmitted Mary's message to my spiritual director and 
told him what 
I hadseen and heard during three apparitions of our Lady.
He arranged to have the medal struck according to Mary's instructions,
and devotion to our Lady of the Miraculous Medal took root.
The devotion was fostered by Venerable Libermann,a convert from 
Judaism,who dedicated his missionary Congregation to the 
Holy Heart of Mary.
It had for its purpose to bring the Good News to the "most abandoned souls."

fr:But you,dear Saint,insisted on remaining unknown.
Only after death was your name connected with this wondrous devotion.
*You spent the rest of your life in obscurity,working as a portress in the 
poultry yard and serving the aged in the hospice run by your 
Congregation.
What an example of genuine humility.

pr:0 Lord,here I am.Give me whatever You wish!

fr: Dear Saint,you have a marvelous lesson to teach our age.
With God we can do all things,but without Him we can do nothing.
*Inspire us to have true devotion to Mary,because she is an untiring 
advocate for us with her Son and with the Father.Make us repeat often:
"0 Mary,conceived without sin,pray for us who have recourse to you."

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SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA-
Exemplary Mystic and Doctor of the Church/
1347-1380/Feast:Apr.29/-#44

fr:Dear Saint,you are one of the two women  honored with the title of 
Doctor of the Church because of the treasury of spiritual writing found in 
your famous Dialogues and some 400 Letters.
You also received the mark of our Lord's wounds on your body and,
as it were,completed in your life the sufferings of Christ.
*After a childhood made noteworthy by unusual  spiritual gifts,
you became a Dominican tertiary at eighteen and spent fully three years 
in prayer and solitude.

St:I lived in very turbulent times,but I was fortunate to have God's light 
telling me what I had to do.Forty years before my birth the Popes had 
left Rome for Avignon -- to the detriment of the Church.
*I gathered about me a "spiritual family" of Priests,
Nuns,and Laity and we labored to deepen the spiritual life of leaders 
and people.In time I came to see that God wanted to make me a 
peacemaker and bring the Pope back to Rome.

fr:You had to overcome the might of France,the Sacred College,
and the Papal household to convince the Pope (Gregory XI) to return 
to Rome.
Yet with God's help you succeeded,there by repelling the powers of 
evil that threatened to engulf the Church.And you went to your reward 
at the young age of thirty-three.
*What a wonderful simplicity is found in a life like yours.
You remained in union with God while being eminently practical in 
human affairs.
Above all,you practiced much penance and constant prayer.

St:I might point out that my life is a remarkable example of how 
God makes use of the lowly to bring about His purposes.
I never learned to write and I knew no Latin (the language of the Church)
 -- yet 
God deigned to work through me.It is clear that the teachings I professed 
were 
Divinely infused into my soul.Only with God's help did I dictate all 
my Letters and my Dialogues.His alone be the glory!

pr:What more could You give me than Your self!You are the Fire that 
burns without consuming.Your heat dissolves the soul's self-love and 
takes away all cold.
Your brightness illumines me and teaches me all Your truth.
You are the Light above all light which supernaturally enlightens the 
eyes of my mind and Perfectly clarifies the light of faith,that I may see 
that my soul is alive,and in this light receive You --the true Light!

fr:Dear Saint,simplicity is often absent in our modern society.People take 
pride in their self-reliance and independence (even from their Creator),
and then they wonder why they are unsuccessful.
*Make us walk in your footsteps,which are really those of our Lord.
Teach us the simplicity of the children of God,which relies for all things 
on our Father in heaven.

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SAINT CLARE-
Model Religious and Foundress/1193-1253/Feast:Aug.11-#39

fr:Dear Saint,you are known as the patroness of television workers 
and are also invoked against "sore eyes." Indeed,by your exemplary 
behavior you have made many see clearly the great beauty of life 
wholly consecrated to Christ,in poverty,chastity,and obedience.
*You are,as it were,a living broadcast of the sanctity of Christ to the ages.
You are also the splendid counterpart of Saint Francis of Assisi,a man 
who bore tile Stigmata,making people realize how much Christ chose to 
suffer for sinful humanity.

St:It was truly a privilege for me to have been born and to live in Assisi,
a town whose name is forever linked to that wonderful man.Not only did 
Francis so radically leave the world but he also drew countless persons 
to follow him and thus become followers of Jesus Christ,
the Poor Man of Nazareth.
*God used Francis to make me try to do the same.
He first placed me in a Benedictine monastery and,quite naturally,
some of my relatives and friends tried to dissuade me from doing 
"such a foolish thing."

fr:However,you knew the means to persevere.Prayer and mortification 
strengthened your resolution and you saw ever more clearly the value 
of the contemplative life.
It is not a selfish withdrawal from the world but a life in which one 
willingly suffers and prays for the supernatural welfare of all people.
*You leanled to see tile beauty of vicarious satisfaction,"completing in 
yourself the sufferings that are wanting in Cllrist," as Saint Paul dares to 
say.

St:Our Lord used Francis as an instrument to make me cooperate with 
Him in the foundation of the Second Order of Saint Francis.In this way,
my name became attached to an Order of Religious Nuns,
as his name was attached to the Order of Franciscans.

fr:You were also blessed by God with a wonderful faith.Among other 
things,you believed that Christ not only is truly present at the time of the 
Consecration and Holy Communion of the Sacrifice of the Mass but 
remains present in our tabernacles.
*Our churches are thus truly houses of God.
This faith is clearly revealed by the fact that on one occasion you 
brought the monstrance which contained the Sacred Host to a window,
showing it to men who intended to break into your convent and perhaps 
destroy it.They fled in terror.

St:It is perfectly clear that the first Christians believed what you said.
Some brought Holy Communion to the sick,while others were even 
permitted to keep the Blessed Sacrament in their homes for similar 
purposes.

pr:Dear Lord God,Protect this city,for it gives us our living out of love 
for You.

fr:Dear Saint,pray that in the flush of the New Mass people will not forget 
the reverence that is needed in the presence of the Almighty.
And inspire Catholics to visit,adore,and find consolation in the 
Divine Savior Who remains in our churches.
*Help Orders and Congregations to be once more Religious houses 
where Religious are truly happy because they are faithful to their vows 
of poverty,chastity,and obedience.

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SAINT CLEMENT OF ROME-
Roman Missionary and Fourth Pope/c.38-101/
Feast:Nov.23-#12

fr:Dear Saint,we do not know a great deal about you,but all that we do 
know is very good.
You were the third successor of Peter as Bishop of Rome and the first 
of the Apostolic Fathers of the Church.
*Your fame in the Church has rested on a host of books attributed to 
you in antiquity but in reality only one of them--the magnificent 
First Epistle to the Corinthians--has proved to be authentic.

St:I was born in Rome,and you can learn from St.Paul's Letter to the 
Corinthians that I was not a Gentile but of Jewish extraction.
My father's name was Faustinus.

fr:We know you owed your conversion--after God's grace,of course--
to the instrumentality of Sts.Peter and Paul.These,like yourself,
died at Rome.
*Paul in his Letter to the Philippians calls you his "fellow laborer." 
Hence,although you were not one of the Twelve Apostles especially 
chosen by our Lord,you were very close to them.
Tertullian tells us that it was Peter who ordained you as Bishop.

St:After the martyrdom of Peter and Paul in 67,Linus became 
Bishoy of Rome and Head of the Universal Church.
He governed the Church for about ten years and was succeeded by 
Pope Anacletus in 76.After twelve years I,unworthy though I was,
became Pope until my death in 97.

fr:Dear Saint,we have the good fortune to possess your inspiring 
First Epistle to the Corinthians,written to quell a rebellion on the part of 
some Christians against their local Church.
*The letter takes for granted the authority of the Roman Church and her 
right to intervene in such cases,but it exudes peace andcharity while 
encouraging discipline.It was highly esteemed by the primitive 
Christians and was placed next in rank to the Books of Holy Scripture.
It contains the following beautiful prayer.

pr:We beg you,Master,be our help and strength.Save those among us 
who are oppressed,have pity on the lowly,and lift up the fallen.
Heal the sick,bring back the straying,and feed the hungry.
Release those in prison,steady those who falter,and strengthen the 
fainthearted.Let all nations come to know You,the one God,
with Your Son Jesus Christ,and us Your people and the sheep of 
Your pasture.(First Epistle to the Corinthians)

fr:Dear Saint,inspire us with a measure of your missionary zeal.
Millions today are taught the crass falsehood that there is no 
God and no life after death for human beings.They are daily bombarded 
with false maxims and false values.
*Make more and more Christians desire to live as true followers of the 
Divine Master--the perfect example of life lived as willed by God--Whom 
you followed so well.Make more and more Christians willing to die as 
martyrs for the Faith if this is God's will for them.

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SAINT COLETTE-
Inspired Religious and Spiritual Reformer/
1381-1447/Feast:Mar.6-#46

fr:Dear Saint,it is fashionable for men to speak about the "weaker sex" 
but in the spiritual order women often show themselves supremely 
powerful.
This is admirably borne out in your life.
*Born of humble and aged parents at Corbie,France,you seemed to have 
nothing to start with.Your parents died when you were twenty-two,
and many must have thought that history would not even recall your name.
Yet your life and your work will be remenbered for ages to come.

St:Saint Francis of Assisi,whose life prompted me to become a Poor Clare,
inspired me no doubt to begin by living as an anchoress --that is,
to lead a solitary life -- in accord with the Rule of the Franciscan Third Order.
*Accordingly,I prayed much.I meditated on Holy Scripture..I lived and 
worked in loving intimacy with our Lord for four years.
But in 1406 I realized that God desired that some people should live 
according to what we can call "the strict observance of Saint Clare."

Followerl  *You received a wonderful favor.Pope Benedict XIII 
entrusted you with the task of reforming the Third Order.
Bolstered by the knowledge that you were acting in harmony with 
God's will expressed by the Vicar of Christ,you traveled throughout 
France and parts of Belgium,particularly Flanders,reforming Poor Clare 
monasteries and founding others.
*You saw to it that in such monasteries the original Rule was observed.
Poor Clares lived,prayed,and practiced penance for God's glory and the 
spiritual good of souls.

St:I founded a monastery of Poor Clares at Ghent,Fast Flanders,and there 
my earthly life came to an end.It was also my good fortune on one of 
my journeys to encounter the saintly Joan of Arc,at Moulins in 1429.
*What a simple,humble,and self-sacriticing young woman she turned 
out to be.
Her motto was:"Let God be served first!" and she lived it to the full.
For she loved her Crucified Savior "unto her own death" at the stake.

fr:You established fifteen communities and one of them still bears 
your name -- "Colettines." You must have met many difficulties 
during your forty years of travels.

St:Yes--too numerous to mention.But I did not mind.Our Lord sustained 
me through the intercession of Mary,Francis,and Clare.
We can do all things in Him Who strengthens us.

pr:Lord,teach me Who You are and who I am.

fr:Dear Saint,it has frequently happened that Religious changed their 
Rule contrary to the intention of their Founders out of the desire to be 
more up-to-date.
*Bring about the reform of such Orders and Congregations.
May they then receive numerous postulants who are animated by the 
Holy Spirit,
as you were,instead of the spirit of secularism.

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