From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

March 23rd =E2=80=93 Bl. Sybillina Biscossi, OP Tert.
(also known as Sibyllina)

Born in Pavia, Italy, in 1287; died 1367; cultus approved in 1853;
beatified in 1854.

"All things work for the good of those who love the Lord and are
called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28). How many of us would
have the faith to trust in God's providence as did this holy woman? As
Mother Angelica has witnessed, true faith is knowing that when the
Lord asks you to walk into the void, He will place a rock beneath your
feet. True faith is to be able to praise God in all things; to say
with Job, "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name
of the Lord" (Job 1:21).

Sybillina's parents died when she was tiny and as soon as she was old
enough to be of use to anyone, the neighbors, who had taken her in at
the time she was orphaned, put her out to work. She must have been
very young when she started to work, because at the age of 12, when
she became blind and could not work any more, she already had several
years of work behind her.

The cause of her blindness is unknown, but the child was left doubly
destitute with the loss of her sight. The local chapter of the
Dominican tertiary sisters took compassion on the child and brought
her home to live with them. After a little while of experiencing their
kind help, she wanted to join them. They accepted her, young though
she was, more out of pity than in any hope of her being able to carry
on their busy and varied apostolate.

They were soon agreeably surprised to find out how much she could do.
She learned to chant the Office quickly and sweetly, and to absorb
their teaching about mental prayer as though she had been born for it.
She imposed great obligations of prayer on herself, since she could
not help them in other ways. Her greatest devotion was to Saint
Dominic, and it was to him she addressed herself when she finally
became convinced that she simply must have her sight back so that she
could help the sisters with their work.

Praying earnestly for this intention, Sybillina waited for his feast
day. Then, she was certain, he would cure her. Matins came and went
with no miracle; little hours, Vespers--and she was still blind. With
a sinking heart, Sybillina knelt before Saint Dominic's statue and
begged him to help her. Kneeling there, she was rapt in ecstasy, and
she saw him come out of the darkness and take her by the hand.

He took her to a dark tunnel entrance, and she went into the blackness
at his word. Terrified, but still clinging to his hand, she advanced
past invisible horrors, still guided and protected by his presence.
Dawn came gradually, and then light, then a blaze of glory. "In
eternity, dear child," he said. "Here, you must suffer darkness so
that you may one day behold eternal light."

Sybillina, the eager child, was replaced by a mature and thoughtful
Sybillina who knew that there would be no cure for her, that she must
work her way to heaven through the darkness. She decided to become a
anchorite, and obtained the necessary permission. In 1302, at the age
of 15, she was sealed into a tiny cell next to the Dominican church at
Pavia. At first she had a companion, but her fellow recluse soon gave
up the life. Sybillina remained, now alone, as well as blind.

The first 7 years were the worst, she later admitted. The cold was
intense, and she never permitted herself a fire. The church, of
course, was not heated, and she wore the same clothes winter and
summer. In the winter there was only one way to keep from
freezing--keep moving--so she genuflected, and gave herself the
discipline. She slept on a board and ate practically nothing. To the
tiny window, that was her only communication with the outside world,
came the troubled and the sinful and the sick, all begging for her
help. She prayed for all of them, and worked many miracles in the
lives of the people of Pavia.

One of the more amusing requests came from a woman who was terrified
of the dark. Sybillina was praying for her when she saw her in a
vision, and observed that the woman--who thought she was hearing
things--put on a fur hood to shut out the noise. The next day the
woman came to see her, and Sybillina laughed gaily. "You were really
scared last night, weren't you?" she asked. "I laughed when I saw you
pull that hood over your ears." The legend reports that the woman was
never frightened again.

Sybillina had a lively sense of the Real Presence and a deep devotion
to the Blessed Sacrament. One day a priest was going past her window
with Viaticum for the sick; she knew that the host was not
consecrated, and told him so. He investigated, and found he had indeed
taken a host from the wrong container.

Sybillina lived as a recluse for 67 years. She followed all the Masses
and Offices in the church, spending what few spare minutes she had
working with her hands to earn a few alms for the poor (Attwater2, Benedictines, Dorcy).


Saint Quote:
Let the whole face wear an air of cheerfulness rather than that of
sorrow, or any other disorderly affection; and if anyone be disposed
to gloominess and melancholy, he must strive by much virtue and
docility to suppress and banish it, and study so much the more to show
a pious cheerfulness.
-- St. Ignatius

Bible Quote:
But he said to him: Son, thou art always with me, and all I have is
thine.=C2 But it was fit that we should make merry and be glad, for this
thy brother was dead and is come to life again; he was lost, and is
found. (Luke 15:31-32) DRB


<><><><>
"Some pursue their own taste and satisfaction in spiritual things in
preference to the way of perfection which consists in denying their
own wishes and tastes for the love of God, If such persons perform
some exercise through obedience, even though it suit their
inclination, they soon lose the wish for It, and all devotion in It,
because their only pleasure is in doing what their own will directs,
which ordinarily would be better left undone. The Saints did not act
thus".
--St. John of the Cross

=C2 The blessed Seraphino, a Capuchin lay-brother, said to a friend that
he would be glad to be in the house of Loretto or at Rome, that he
might serve as many Masses as possible. When it was suggested that he
might ask this favor of the Superiors, who would have readily granted
it, he replied: =E2=80=98=E2=80=98Oh, not that! Any holy desire would be pr= ofaned by
one's own will, and every good intention ought to be subject to
obedience, the only true directress of all holy thoughts."

(Taken from the book "A Year with the Saints".=C2 March - Mortification)

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* Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)