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Gravity of the sin of heresy Heresy is a sin because of its nature it is destructive of the virtue of Christian faith. Its malice is to be measured therefore by the excellence of the good gift of which it deprives the soul. Now faith is the most precious possession of man, the root of his supernatural life, the pledge of his eternal salvation. Privation of faith is therefore the greatest evil , and deliberate rejection of faith is the greatest sin.

A sin , therefore, is the greater the more it separates man from God. But infidelity does this more than any other sin , for the infidel unbeliever is without the true knowledge of God : his false knowledge does not bring him help, for what he opines is not God : manifestly, then, the sin of unbelief infidelitas is the greatest sin in the whole range of perversity.

It is a more serious sin not to perform what one has promised than not to perform what one has not promised. In answer it suffices to remark that two of the most evident truths of the depositum fidei are the unity of the Church and the institution of a teaching authority to maintain that unity.

That unity exists in the Catholic Church , and is preserved by the function of her teaching body: these are two facts which anyone can verify for himself. In the constitution of the Church there is no room for private judgment sorting essentials from non-essentials: any such selection disturbs the unity, and challenges the Divine authority, of the Church ; it strikes at the very source of faith.

The guilt of heresy is measured not so much by its subject-matter as by its formal principle, which is the same in all heresies: revolt against a Divinely constituted authority. Origin, spread, and persistence of heresy Origin of heresy The origin, the spread, and the persistence of heresy are due to different causes and influenced by many external circumstances. The undoing of faith infused and fostered by God Himself is possible on account of the human element in it, namely man's free will.

The will determines the act of faith freely because its moral dispositions move it to obey God , whilst the non-cogency of the motives of credibility allows it to withhold its consent and leaves room for doubt and even denial. The non-cogency of the motives of credibility may arise from three causes: the obscurity of the Divine testimony inevidentia attestantis ; the obscurity of the contents of Revelation; the opposition between the obligations imposed on us by faith and the evil inclinations of our corrupt nature.

To find out how a man's free will is led to withdraw from the faith once professed, the best way is observation of historical cases. Pius X , scrutinizing the causes of Modernism , says: "The proximate cause is, without any doubt , an error of the mind. The remoter causes are two: curiosity and pride. Curiosity, unless wisely held in bounds, is of itself sufficient to account for all errors. But far more effective in obscuring the mind and leading it into error is pride , which has, as it were, its home in Modernist doctrines.

Through pride the Modernists overestimate themselves. We are not like other men. If from moral causes we pass to the intellectual , the first and most powerful is ignorance. They extol modern philosophy. Their system, replete with so many errors , had its origin in the wedding of false philosophy with faith " Encycl.

So far the pope. If now we turn to the Modernist leaders for an account of their defections, we find none attributing it to pride or arrogance, but they are almost unanimous in allowing that curiosity--the desire to know how the old faith stands in relation to the new science --has been the motive power behind them. In the last instance, they appeal to the sacred voice of their individual conscience which forbids them outwardly to profess what inwardly they honestly hold to be untrue.

Loisy, to whose case the Decree "Lamentabili" applies, tells his readers that he was brought to his present position "by his studies chiefly devoted to the history of the Bible , of Christian origins and of comparative religion ". Tyrrell says in self-defence: "It is the irresistible facts concerning the origin and composition of the Old and New Testaments; concerning the origin of the Christian Church , of its hierarchy , its institutions, its dogmas ; concerning the gradual development of the papacy ; concerning the history of religion in general--that create a difficulty against which the synthesis of scholastic theology must be and is already shattered to pieces.

In his 'Rules for the discernment of Spirits'. Ignatius of Loyola says. A study of the personal narratives in "Roads to Rome" and "Roads from Rome" leaves one with the impression that the heart of man is a sanctuary impenetrable to all but to God and, in a certain measure, to its owner. It is, therefore, advisable to leave individuals to themselves and to study the spread of heresy, or the origin of heretical societies. Spread of heresy The growth of heresy, like the growth of plants, depends on surrounding influences, even more than on its vital force.

Philosophies , religious ideals and aspirations, social and economic conditions, are brought into contact with revealed truth , and from the impact result both new affirmations and new negations of the traditional doctrine. The first requisite for success is a forceful man, not necessarily of great intellect and learning, but of strong will and daring action.

Such were the men who in all ages have given their names to new sects. The second requisite is accommodation of the new doctrine to the contemporary mentality, to social and political conditions.

The last, but by no means the least, is the support of secular rulers. A strong man in touch with his time, and supported by material force, may deform the existing religion and build up a new heretical sect.

Modernism fails to combine into a body separate from the Church because it lacks an acknowledged leader, because it appeals to only a small minority of contemporary minds , namely, to a small number who are dissatisfied with the Church as she now is, and because no secular power lends it support.

For the same reason, and proportionately, a thousand small sects have failed, whose names still encumber the pages of church history , but whose tenets interest only a few students, and whose adherents are nowhere.

All the early Eastern sects fed on the fanciful speculations so dear to the Eastern mind, but, lacking the support of temporal power, they disappeared under the anathemas of the guardians of the depositum fidei. Arianism is the first heresy that gained a strong footing in the Church and seriously endangered its very nature and existence.

Arius appeared on the scene when theologians were endeavouring to harmonize the apparently contradictory doctrines of the unity of God and the Divinity of Christ. Instead of unravelling the knot, he simply cut it by bluntly asserting that Christ was not God like the Father, but a creature made in time. The simplicity of the solution, the ostentatious zeal of Arius for the defence of the "one God" , his mode of life, his learning and dialectic ability won many to his side.

In particular he was supported by the famous Eusebius of Nicomedia who had great influence on the Emperor Constantine. He had friends among the other bishops of Asia and even among the bishops , priests , and nuns of the Alexandrian province. He gained the favour of Constantia, the emperor's sister, and he disseminated his doctrine among the people by means of his notorious book which he called thaleia or 'Entertainment' and by songs adapted for sailors, millers, and travellers.

Addis and Arnold, "A Catholic Dictionary", 7th ed. The Council of Nicaea anathematized the heresiarch, but its anathemas , like all the efforts of the Catholic bishops , were nullified by interference of the civil power. Constantine and his sister protected Arius and the Arians , and the next emperor, Constantius, assured the triumph of the heresy: the Catholics were reduced to silence by dire persecution. At once an internecine conflict began within the Arian pale, for heresy, lacking the internal cohesive element of authority, can only be held together by coercion either from friend or foe.

The Emperor Valens lent his powerful support to the Arians , and the peace of the Church was only secured when the orthodox Emperor Theodosius reversed the policy of his predecessors and sided with Rome. Within the boundaries of the Roman empire the faith of Nicaea, enforced again by the General Council of Constantinople , prevailed, but Arianism held its own for over two hundred years longer wherever the Arian Goths held sway: in Thrace, Italy , Africa , Spain , Gaul.

The conversion of King Recared of Spain , who began to reign in , marked the end of Arianism in his dominions, and the triumph of the Catholic Franks sealed the doom of Arianism everywhere. Pelagianism , not being backed by political power, was without much difficulty removed from the Church.

Eutychianism , Nestorianism , and other Christological heresies which followed one upon another as the link, of a chain, flourished only so long and so far as the temporal power of Byzantine and Persian rulers gave them countenance.

Internal dissension, stagnation, and decay became their fate when left to themselves. Passing over the great schism that rent East from West , and the many smaller heresies which sprang up in the Middle Ages without leaving a deep impression on the Church , we arrive at the modern sects which date from Luther and go by the collective name of Protestantism.

The three elements of success possessed by Arianism reappear in Lutheranism and cause these two great religious upheavals to move on almost parallel lines. Luther was eminently a man of his people: the rough-hewn, but, withal sterling, qualities of the Saxon peasant lived forth under his religious habit and doctor's gown; his winning voice, his piety, his learning raised him above his fellows yet did not estrange him from the people: his conviviality, the crudities in his conversation and preaching, his many human weaknesses only increased his popularity.

Peter's Basilica in Rome , opposition arose on the part of the people and of both civil and ecclesiastical authorities. Luther set the match to the fuel of widespread discontent. In all probability Luther started on his crusade with the laudable intention of reforming undoubted abuses. But his unexpected success, his impetuous temper, perhaps some ambition , soon carried him beyond all bounds set by the Church. By , that is within four years from his attack on abuse of indulgences , he had propagated a new doctrine; the Bible was the only source of faith ; human nature was wholly corrupted by original sin , man was not free, God was responsible for all human actions good and bad; faith alone saved; the Christian priesthood was not confined to the hierarchy but included all the faithful.

The masses of the people were not slow in drawing from these doctrines the practical conclusion that sin was sin no longer, was, in fact, equal to a good work. With his appeal to the lower instincts of human nature went an equally strong appeal to the spirit of nationality and greed. He endeavored to set the German emperor against the Roman pope and generally the Teuton against the Latin; he invited the secular princes to confiscate the property of the Church.

What is greater than the Mother of God? What more glorious than she whom Glory Itself chose? This the declaration of the correct faith proclaims everywhere. And concerning this utterly stupid argument. It is God, then, who has given it. But it has been given by our Lord Jesus Christ. Francis of Assisi was preaching in Cortona around and, having attracted some followers, established with these new friars a hermitage near the town.

This hermitage, called Le Celle, still exists and functions today. At the time Margaret came to Cortona the Friars Minor also had a convent in the town center. Then they directed Margaret to a priest who, after listening to her story, sent her to Fr.

Giunta Bevegnati of the Franciscan friars, a venerable priest known for his doctrine and holiness. Giunta, she experienced for the first time in many years a profound peace. She took St. Mary Magdalene as a model, St.

Francis of Assisi as a patron, and Fr. Giunta as a spiritual guide. She cut her beautiful long hair, disguised her beauty, and renounced all sensual and pleasurable things.

She lived on bread and water with some vegetables and fruit, wore a harsh cilice, and chastised her body with bloody disciplines, among many other penances and austerities. Loathing her beauty which had led her and others into sin, she even wanted to cut her face but Fr. One Sunday she went to her native Laviano, where, in the church where everyone was assembled, dressed as a penitent with a rope around her neck, she begged on her knees the forgiveness of the people for her sins and the public scandal she had caused.

She spent her days in prayer and working, be it spinning wool, helping and assisting women who just gave birth, etc. The people of Cortona and later of all Tuscany marveled at seeing her heroic penances and virtues, and came to consider her a saint.

Margaret was from the beginning imploring the Friars to let her become a Franciscan tertiary. The Third Order of St. Francis had by then, less than 50 years after his death, spread to every part of Europe. From then on she lived in a small room she called her little cell, stopped eating even the vegetables and fresh figs as if they were a luxury, slept on the hard floor, and spent a large part of the nights often all night in prayer and meditation of the Passion of Our Lord.

She would only leave her cell to go to Mass early morning at the conventual church of St. Francis and, when needed, to attend the sick and poor to whom she gave her services freely. Crucifix that spoke to St. Margaret Basilica of St. Margaret, Cortona. Her first supernatural communication from Jesus happened while she was contemplating the crucifix at the church of St. I want you to be a light for those sitting in the darkness of vice; I want the example of your conversion to preach hope to desperate sinners and be for the repentant ones like the morning dew for the plants exhausted by the heat of the sun; I want, lastly, that coming centuries be convinced that I am always willing to open the arms of my mercy to the prodigal son who, sincerely and with all his heart, returns to me.

The following day Margaret experienced her first public ecstasy. While she was attending to a sick woman, she retired to a corner for a few moments to pray and, as the present witnesses testified, her face became illuminated, her eyes fixed to an invisible object in front of her, and her body rose from the ground and remained in the air while she was immersed in a loving communication with her Creator. As Margaret began receiving these extraordinary graces from God, the devil also began assaulting her with force, appearing to her at times as an angel of light and at others as either himself or a horrid animal or even a fire-breathing dragon.

At times he tempted her by making her remember the lavish and pleasurable time at Montepulciano in stark contrast with the privations of her current life, and by insinuating that the life of extreme penance she took upon herself was going to be too difficult to bear and persevere in. Margaret never hesitated a moment before rejecting the temptations, only for the devil to return later tormenting her with blasphemies, impure images, or by telling her she was condemned to eternal fire.

In response to this Margaret, from the window of her cell, started loudly and publicly confessing her past sins by which she had so offended God and caused so much scandal to the people. At this the devil fled, not being able to suffer an act of such humility. This left painful doubts in her mind but they were soon dispelled first by Fr.

Bevegnati and then by Jesus Himself. These assaults of the devil lasted for the remainder of her life; the greater the graces God lavished on her, the stronger and more vicious was the hatred and persecution of Satan. In Margaret founded, with the generous donations of noble families of Cortona, a home and hospital for the sick and elderly poor.

Shortly thereafter she founded an institute of Franciscan Tertiary Sisters who would help her attend the sick and the poor.

It was the first charitable institution of this kind in the Middle Ages. One of the extraordinary graces God gave to Margaret was that of the spiritual nuptials.

He also gave her the gift of discernment of souls, of prophecy, and of miracles. Her biographers, including Fr. Bevegnati, narrate many of these miracles. Perhaps the most famous of them was her bringing back to life a dead child of Cortona at the pleading of his desperate mother. Francis, having received the previous day a revelation from Jesus that she would experience a mystic crucifixion.

This was witnessed, until 3pm when she seemed to expire along with the Redeemer, by many inhabitants of Cortona who were present at the church. People from all these lands came to see her, ask her advice, beg her intercession, or seek consolation. She could read the souls of men, seeing both the hidden sins of the guilty ones and the fears and preoccupations of the just. Included among them was an infamous chief of the Ghibellines, who, converted by Margaret, spent the rest of his life in austerity and penance in a Franciscan convent.

During Lent of Margaret was shown, in a vision, the horrible state of the sinful world, the unfaithful Christians, the evil of the Jews, the desecration of the Holy Land by the Mohammedans, and the offenses and outrages against Jesus. Seeing this, heartbroken, she offered herself to God as a victim of expiation.

Her offer was accepted; a few days later, on March 25, she saw, after Communion, a luminous cross coming down from Heaven, on which she was to be crucified. Her Crucified Spouse appeared to her, telling her she would be crucified with Him, not in her flesh but in her heart. At that very moment a fiery arrow pierced her heart.

The Redeemer also showed her a remote and miserable hermitage on a hill outside of Cortona where she was to retire and live in solitude. It was difficult for her to leave her poor and the hospital, as well as the Friars who had been directing her spiritually, and the church of St.

Francis where she daily attended to religious services. There she would spend the last 9 years of her life, living as a recluse. Next to the hermitage was the ruined oratory of St. Basil which Margaret, with the material help of the town of Cortona, brought back to life. Once she began her hermit existence the divine favors and special gifts were withdrawn by God, and she was deprived not only of the presence of people but also of all supernatural consolations, feeling abandoned and rejected by God Who was thus purifying her soul.

This spiritual desolation lasted for more than a year, with the next 8 years being a mixture of loving contemplation and sufferings.

The people of Cortona, who before had admired and esteemed her, now turned against her, seeing her at best as useless and lacking constancy, and at worst as a charlatan and crazy. A cross harder for the saint to bear was the separation from her spiritual director Fr. Bevegnati who was, in , transferred to Siena.

Mary Magdalene, and animated sinners to do likewise. In these years the penances and mortifications to which she subjected her body became even more severe, and she fasted almost permanently. Jesus, in several visions, promised Margaret that she would obtain everything she asked the Heavenly Father in His name. Under obedience the saint was informing her Franciscan spiritual directors about the supernatural graces and divine conversations God had granted her.

Our Lord told her that she would die in Cortona and that He would grant the town a special privilege that would make it famous in all corners of the world referring, most likely, to her incorrupt body. Margaret also received from Jesus many prophecies regarding the Franciscan Order to which she was so closely linked. Clare of virginity. Margaret is a model and helper of all sinners who should invoke her and ask her intercession that they may follow her path of repentance, penitence and burning love of God.

Margaret had a great devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. Once she became a Franciscan tertiary Fr. Bevegnati authorized her to receive Holy Communion daily. In order to receive Jesus into as pure and loving a heart as possible, she was preparing for Communion from midnight with meditations.

Before 6am she went to the church of St. After Communion she would remain for a long time, in a sort of ecstasy, contemplating, adoring and loving Him.

The secret of the prodigious abnegation, sacrifice and charity that marked her life from the time of her conversion until her death was the Holy Communion. The Eucharist gave her the strength, constancy and light she needed to support her life of penance and sacrifice; it was the source of her fast progress in virtue and love.

She told Fr. What would I not do for the love of my Jesus? Margaret never tired of proclaiming to everyone the marvelous effects of Holy Communion, and the importance of receiving it worthily.

She points to us the Tabernacle and invites us to go to Him Who is love and life Himself, in all our sufferings, difficulties and battles, to become strengthened by the source of all grace and virtue, the very heaven on earth. Bevegnati came back to Cortona by the end of Years earlier when he was sent to Siena God revealed to Margaret that he would come back and be present at her death.

On January 3, , her guardian angel announced to her that she would, on February 22, change her exile for the triumphal joy of her heavenly homeland. Bevegnati brought her daily in these last days of her life. Completely detached from all earthly things she now lived solely for Heaven.

The whole town desired to see her in these last moments of her life, and she directed to each of them words of counsel and heavenly wisdom. On February 21 she received the extreme unction before passing the entire night in contemplation. She was 50 years old. At the very moment she died a holy contemplative saw her soul in the form of a fiery globe flying to Heaven accompanied by a multitude of souls freed from Purgatory by her prayers and sacrifices. The news of her death spread instantly and the inhabitants of Cortona rushed to see and venerate the body of their saint.

And what a marvel — her face had, at death, recovered the freshness and angelical beauty of her youth, and from her body emanated a perfume similar to that of alabaster. Acclaimed by the people as a saint, her body was translated to the church in a triumphal procession. After a solemn Mass the body was taken to the oratory of St. Basil the one adjacent to her hermitage, which she had restored and placed, inside an iron coffin, into a niche in the wall.

There it remained, exposed for public veneration, even before her official canonization. The unanimous voice of the people called Margaret the new Mary Magdalene, title later ratified by Papal authority. From the moment Margaret died her tomb became the scene of the most spectacular miracles. The dead brought back to life, the sick cured instantly, the maimed and paralyzed made whole, those in peril of life escaping miraculously, not to mention the countless spiritual favors. These were carefully recorded and examined by church authorities, as well as, among others, medical doctors.

Rich and poor, young and old, noble and peasants… the records of all the instant cures of incurable and terminal illnesses would fill entire volumes. Incorrupt body of St. Margaret Basilica di S. Margherita, Cortona. The man thus brought back to life declared immediately that he owed his resurrection to the intercession of Margaret.

The saint has continued to intercede for those who have invoked her over the course of centuries. One day before the novena was finished, Margaret appeared, radiant and dressed in her habit of the Third Order, to the priest and all the assembled Indians, promising to give a recompense for his zeal in promoting her glory.

This left such an impression on the Indians that they too became devoted to her, invoking her in all their needs. The oratory of St. Basil immediately became the center of pilgrimage not only for the people of Italy but other parts of Europe as well.

The church soon became too small to accommodate the pilgrims, and Cortona decided to build a new sanctuary in her honor, to house her precious relics. The Oratory of St. Basil came, in , into the care of the Observant Franciscans.

Thus came true the prophecy of Margaret that, as it had taken care of her soul, the Seraphic Order would later, after some time had passed, take care of her mortal remains. He approved her cultus, authorized the celebration of her feast in the diocese of Cortona, and issued new indulgences to those who made the pilgrimage to her tomb. Cortona made her a patron of the city around the same time. In the 17th century it was placed in a crystal urn that allows people to contemplate her face.

Her sanctuary has been enlarged several times over the centuries. The current church owes its origins to a vote done by the inhabitants of Cortona in when Italy was being devastated by a cholera epidemic.

Cortona lost, in a matter of a few months, a third of its population. Their prayers were heard and accepted, for from that day not a single more person fell victim to the epidemic. The people kept their promise and in the new sanctuary was opened. The flow of pilgrims received new life as people from all corners of Europe came to the tomb of the Magdalene of the Seraphic Order.

Graces obtained by her intercession are particularly abundant when it comes to the cure of bodies and souls, as well as to women giving birth, and the conversion of sinners. Life and Revelations of St. Margaret of Cortona Fr. Giunta Bevegnati — pdf, text, epub, kindle format. Cuthbert — pdf, text, kindle format. The Life of St.

Margaret of Cortona A. Giovagnoli — pdf, text, epub, kindle format. Margaret of Cortona F. Mauriac — pdf, text, epub, kindle format. During my travels and visits to the sanctuaries and shrines of Italy I was especially looking forward to seeing the places connected with St.

Leonard of Port Maurice. This saint, whom St. Alphonsus de Liguori rightly called the greatest missionary of the 18th century, was one of the most famous mission preachers in the history of European Christendom.

Leonard converted innumerable souls to God during his life — and he continues to do so even today. I owe a special gratitude to this holy Franciscan whose famous sermon was instrumental in my own conversion nearly a decade ago. Today, when so many souls are in desperate need of conversion, St. If this post can help to remedy this neglect in some small way, it will have fulfilled its purpose.

His father, a ship captain, was a man of faith; five of his six children went on to become religious.

When the boy who would become St. Leonard was 13 he went to study at the Roman College in Rome, the city where his uncle lived. He thought of entering the medical profession but God had other plans for him, wanting to make him a doctor of souls.

One day he happened to visit the church connected with the Franciscan convent of St. Bonaventure on the Palatine hill just as the friars were chanting Compline. Convent church of San Bonaventura al Palatino, Rome. He took his habit in , taking the name of Leonard. After making his novitiate at Ponticelli he completed his studies at the principal house of the reform branch at San Bonaventura al Palatino in Rome.

Leonard longed to go to China as a missionary, for it was his great desire to convert souls for Christ and to shed his blood for the Faith. However, he was soon seized with a severe gastric hemorrhage, becoming so ill that he was sent to his native Porto Maurizio in the hope that he might recover his health. During his illness he had promised that, should his prayers for recovery be granted, he would devote his life to the conversion of sinners.

And he kept his promise, spending 44 years preaching popular missions, covering every section of Italy and the island of Corsica. Leonard at one time felt certain distaste for mission work but, after his superiors laid this duty upon him, he understood it to be the Will of God, and he consecrated himself whole-heartedly to it, becoming one of the greatest missionaries and apostles in the history of the Church.

He chose as the patron of his missions the great Dominican saint, preacher and miracle worker St. Vincent Ferrer whose picture he also used to bless the sick. The power of his words coupled with his holiness and extraordinarily austere and penitential life made a deep impression on even the most hardened sinners. Leonard used to preach to many thousands in open squares in every town where he went; the churches were too small to contain the multitudes.

Entire towns flocked to hear his sermons so that it was not uncommon to see crowds of 15 to 20 thousand gathering to listen to the saint. Miraculous conversions followed his preaching everywhere. Leonard preached several times a day, heard confessions for countless hours, gave advice, established peace between warring factions — all without neglecting his prayers including three hours of mental prayer each day , celebrating daily Mass with great devotion and precision, and saying the Divine Office on his knees.

The saint stressed the importance of the practice of maintaining oneself in the presence of God at all times. In he founded the Solitude of St. The religious would withdraw there in turn, to then return to their convents and missionary labors filled with renewed zeal to work for the glory of God and salvation of souls. Crucifix St. Leonard used to take on missions S. Bonaventura al Palatino. Leonard was the superior in Florence and Prato for over 20 years before returning to Rome in to become Guardian of the convent of St.

He was an austere, reserved and silent man, but also kind and patient in his treatment of others. It was St. It is to St. Leonard we owe the devotion of the Stations of the Cross. Wherever he went he promoted the Via Crucis. While St.

The theme was most often the Passion of Christ. It would bring people back in touch with reality, rearrange their priorities, and put everything into proper perspective, causing them to grow in love for Christ. He called this the most important cause in the world, because every other good depended on it: peace, happiness, triumph over heresies, triumph of the Church. He urged prelates to petition Rome for this. The strains of his missionary labors and severe mortifications completely exhausted St.

After his missions in Lucca and Bologna he was stricken by fever but nevertheless journeyed back to Rome in obedience to the wishes of Pope Benedict XIV who made him promise he would not die in any other city but Rome. On Nov 26, , St. Leonard arrived at his beloved monastery of St. Bonaventure in Rome, dying that same evening at 11pm, at the age of Great crowds came to see and venerate his body.

God glorified him in life but still more after his death by numerous miracles. His still partially incorrupt body was kept at the high altar of the church of San Bonaventura at Palatino until when it was transferred to his native town.

There it can be seen, in a glass urn, at the cathedral of Imperia Porto Maurizio. Only a relic of one of his ribs remains at the church of St. Bonaventure in Rome. Leonard was beatified by Pius VI in Blessed Pius IX, a Franciscan tertiary, canonized him in He was named the patron saint of parish missionaries by Pius XI.

His sermons, letters, ascetic and devotional writings have been preserved but only a small part has been translated to English. Bonaventura, Rome. Life of St. Leonard of Port Maurice Fr. Devas — pdf, text, epub, kindle format. Alapont — pdf, text, epub, kindle format. Leonard — pdf, text, kindle format. It is easily accessible by bus and train from Florence as well as Rome and other Italian cities.

Siena, famous for being the birthplace of the 14th century mystic Caterina Benincasa, or Saint Catherine of Siena, is also one of a dozen or so places where one can, to this day, see a continuous Eucharistic miracle. To learn more about the life, mystical gifts, visions and miracles of St. Catherine of Siena, as well as her role in bringing to end the Great Western Schism, have a look at this wonderful article: catholicism.

Home-Sanctuary of St. The Benincasa family home, where Catherine one of 25 children was born and raised, was converted into a sanctuary not long after her death. Part of the sanctuary is the church of the Sacred Crucifix, built in the 16th century in the place of the former garden to house the miraculous crucifix from which St. Catherine received the stigmata in Various rooms of the original Benincasa house have been converted into small oratories.

The Basilica of St. Dominic is an imposing Dominican Order church dating back to the 13 th century. Catherine herself was a Dominican tertiary. The basilica houses her relics — most notably her incorrupt head and right thumb, as well as artworks depicting her life. Crucifix of the stigmata Casa Santuario di S. Catherine died in Rome in , at the age of When her body was — after reports of numerous miracles — transferred from the cemetery to the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Blessed Raymond of Capua, St.

The rest of her incorrupt body lies beneath the main altar in the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome except for her left hand which is in the monastery church of Madonna del Rosario in Rome, and her right foot which can be seen in the Basilica of Saints John and Paul in Venice. Eucharistic miracle of Siena Basilica di S. Francesco, Siena.

Siena is also home to a Eucharistic miracle which is one of the longest ongoing miracles in the world. On August 14, , thieves broke into the Church of St. Francis and stole a ciborium containing consecrated hosts. The bishop asked for prayers and reparations as civil authorities searched for the missing ciborium and hosts.

On August 17, a parishioner in the Church of St. Mary noticed a bright light coming from a collection box. When the box was opened a large number of hosts was discovered covered by dust and cobwebs. Counted and examined, these were determined to be the same hosts whole hosts and 6 halves that were stolen.

On August 18, the archbishop of Siena, in a magnificent procession, carried the hosts placed in a ciborium back to the Church of St. A huge crowd of people from all walks of life and social classes followed the archbishop and the clergy of Siena along streets which had been decorated for the joyous occasion. Normally the priests would have consumed these hosts but since the dust and dirt could not be entirely removed from them it was decided to let them decompose naturally, something that should have taken a few weeks.

But the hosts did not decompose. They have remained as fresh and as pleasant smelling as on the day they were first baked. Over the years various examinations and tests have been performed that authenticate this miracle. The first official investigation took place in The hosts were examined and tasted, and confirmed to be fresh and incorrupt. Further investigations by special commissions were done in , and During the examination the archbishop had several unconsecrated hosts placed in a sealed box which was then kept under lock in the chancery office.

When it was opened, several years later, the hosts were found disfigured and extremely deteriorated. There appears to several errors in the. The first error occurs on page The page is not able to be displayed. Further errors occur. However the details of his thought, to avoid misunderstanding need to understand the right his thought without any mistaken.

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