From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

January 22nd - St. Vincent Pallotti
1795-1850

SS. Peter and Paul are accounted Rome's first apostles. St. Philip
Neri (1515-1595) is called the =E2=80=9Csecond apostle=E2=80=9D of the Eter= nal City.
St. Vincent Pallotti, who worked in Rome in the 1800s, is reckoned its
19th century apostle, because of what he did to revive its faith.

Vincenzo's father was a prosperous grocer of noble lineage. The boy
did not do too well when he began grammar school. His teacher said of
him, =E2=80=9CHe's a little saint, but a bit thickheaded.=E2=80=9D =
However, he matured
rapidly enough to be ordained a year early. Soon he won his doctor'=
s
degree in theology and became assistant professor at the Sapienza
University in Rome.

Vincenzo was not called, though, to full-time academic work. He was a
born shepherd of souls. So he eventually resigned his professorship in
order to engage solely in pastoral work. In this, he had the
encouragement of St. Gaspar Del Bufalo and the English priest (and
future Cardinal) Nicholas Wiseman.

What did Vincent do to save souls? Everything he saw necessary. He was appointed pastor of the Neapolitan Church in Rome (and there for ten
years he endured without complaint the petty persecution of the other
priests on the staff who were jealous of him and his zeal). He served
as confessor at several Roman colleges and monasteries. (One of the
monasteries was the Visitation Convent of Our Lady of Humility, which
would eventually be occupied by the North American College.) He was
always in pursuit of sinners as an exorcist or confessor. Once he
dressed up as an old woman in order to get to the bedside of a dying
man who had a gun under his pillow and threatened to shoot the first
priest who tried to approach him. He was, meanwhile, devoted to the
poor, giving away his shoes and his clothing; and more than once he
gave away his bed! (He used a bed very little anyhow, because he spent
long night hours at prayer.) He was, meanwhile, gifted with insight
into souls and often healed the sick.

Not content with the present, St. Vincent also built for the future.
He organized schools for shoemakers, tailors, coachmen, joiners, and
market gardeners. He started night schools for craftsmen. But he also
took an ecumenical view. In 1836, for instance, he inaugurated an
epiphany octave of liturgies in the various Eastern rites. Here,
prayers were offered (and still are) for the reunion of the Eastern
churches with the Holy See.

In 1835 Vincent founded a religious missionary order, the Society of
Catholic Apostolate, better known as the Pallottines. They were not to
be hermits, he said, but apostles to the wide world. =E2=80=9CHoliness,=E2= =80=9D he
told them, =E2=80=9Cis simply to do God's will.=E2=80=9D This world=
wide order also
gave rise to the Pallottine Missionary Sisters (1843). Both the
Italian and the German branch of the Pallottine Fathers are
represented in the United States, where they originally worked among
German and Italian immigrants. St. Vincent, likewise, inspired the
foundation of an English Catholic missionary order, the Mill Hill
Fathers, which, in time, gave rise to an American order devoted to the Apostolate of the Blacks, the Josephite Fathers.

Hailed as a saint when he died, Vincent Pallotti was beatified in
1950, on his 100th birthday, and canonized by Pope John XXIII in 1963.
As a prominent cardinal once said of St. Vincent, =E2=80=9CHe did all he
could; as for what he couldn't do--well, he did that, too.=E2=80=9D =E2=80=93Father Robert


Saint Quote:
We must give ourselves to God altogether; God makes all His own the
soul that is wholly given to Him.
--St. Philip Neri

Bible Quote:
And there was a great battle in heaven, Michael and his Angels battle
with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels, and they did
not prevail, neither was their place found any more in heaven
[Apocalypse 12, 7-8] DR


<><><><>
Angels--Their Queen

Far above Cherubim or Seraphim, very near the Throne of God Himself,
Mary sits enthroned. In her are combined the burning love of the
Seraphim, the knowledge of the Cherubim, the majesty of the Thrones,
the authority of the Dominations. She rules them all in virtue of the
higher perfection of her soul in the order of grace. If they are so
exceedingly beautiful, what must she be? If they are so full of tender
love for man, how much more must she overflow with love and mercy?

What is it that exalts Mary before them all? Not merely her obedience
to the will of God, for this has always characterized them all, but
her obedience in circumstances the most trying, amid suffering the
most intense. She approached in her Compassion most nearly to the
Passion of her Son. None save He ever surpassed her in suffering. She
was the Queen of Martyrs, and therefore is the Queen of Angels. Thus
it is that she has earned a more excellent reward than they. Hence
learn to value suffering for God's sake.

There was yet another reason for Mary's exaltation. She was more
closely united in body and soul to her Divine Son and God than any of
the Holy Angels. When we receive Holy Communion, we are as closely
united to Our Lord as is possible for mortal man. O Jesus! unite me
more and more to Thee, that I may receive more copious graces from Thy
Sacred Heart
--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
* Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)