From: rich <
richarra@gmail.com>
April 1st - Bl. Ludovic Pavoni, Founder
Founder --Congregation of Mary Immaculate of Brescia
Don Bosco of Turin, Italy, was well known for his work in educating
poor boys. Less well known is Blessed Ludovic Pavoni, an Italian
priest of the preceding generation. He showed much the same holy
initiative as St. John Bosco in Brescia, a Lombard city of 40,000
population.
Ludovic was born into a Brescian family of property and distinction.
His sister Paulina later said of him, =E2=80=9CLudovic was always a good religious youngster, while I was always the scamp.=E2=80=9D At an early age=
we
find him giving his shirt to a poor man and teaching catechism to his
rural playmates. He had artistic talents that might have led him into
painting or architecture had he chosen that route. Instead, he felt a
call to the diocesan priesthood, to which he was ordained in 1807.
During his early years as a priest, Ludovic showed a special interest
in working with boys, both as instructor and recreational director. At
34 he was named pastor of St. Barnabas Church in Brescia. His living
quarters were in one small corner of a former Augustinian monastery.
(The rest of the building was used by the army for storage.) He soon
began to hope that he might secure possession of the whole monastery
building and turn it into a home and school for destitute youngsters.
For the time being, however, only a small part of the building was
available to him. (He called it =E2=80=9Cthe rat hole.=E2=80=9D) With the p= ermission
of his bishop he initiated his =E2=80=9Cinstitute=E2=80=9D in these restric= ted
quarters, opening a small trade school in which printing was taught.
The printing school got off to a good start. It took years, however,
for him to get a government license for his press, and to obtain
control of the whole building. The main reason for delay was that Austria-Hungary then governed Lombardy, and there was a long tradition
in the Austrian Empire of bureaucratic meddling in any church-related
affairs. Only in 1841 did the city council of Brescia finally hand
over the entire monastery. Then Ludovic was able to set up in it a
grammar school, a school of design, and a school of music. As his
ability became better appreciated, he was given charge of a local
school for boys with hearing problems. The city even asked him to
manage the crowded Brescia orphanage =E2=80=94 the cholera epidemic of 1836
had broken up many families.
Although Canon Pavoni was by nature hot-tempered and impulsive, he
achieved great self-control. This helped him to channel his great
energy into so many undertakings. As an educator, he was both keen and well-balanced. His aim was to make his boys good by making them
well-rounded. He could be strict when necessary, but in general his
approach to them was gentle and loving. If the public spiritual
reading he chose for them was sometimes on the heavy side, he did not
forget that they were still youngsters. To see that they were
well-fed, he personally supervised the kitchen, and even allowed them
a =E2=80=9Cdiscreet measure of wine.=E2=80=9D He also insisted on punctuali=
ty and good
manners. One of the recreations he encouraged was play-acting. He
found it invited them to be creative.
By 1844 Blessed Ludovic saw the need of establishing a religious order
to carry on his work after he was gone. Consequently, he founded the Congregation of Mary Immaculate. He made his own religious profession
in this congregation in 1847, and assumed the role of superior
general. Even now, the Austrian government's meddling delayed the
launching of the new religious order. Kaiser Ferdinand I, the Austrian
Emperor, did value his work enough to confer on him the knighthood of
the Iron Crown. But Ludovic told his associates he would have been
much happier if the Kaiser had sent him a sack of flour to feed his
boys.
In March 1849 political tensions came to the breaking point. Lombardy
revolted against Austrian control, and Brescia became a theater of
war. Pavoni fled with his young students to a rural refuge. He had to
look back on the burning city and see his whole institute aflame. The
shock was too much. He died on April 1, 1849, aged 69. Deeply mourned
by his boys and by all who had known him, Ludovic Pavoni was beatified
by Pope Pius XII in 1947. He had made an important contribution to
modern Catholic methods of educating needy youth.
=E2=80=93Father Robert
Bible Quote:
Golden apples in silver settings
are words spoken at the proper time.=C2 [Prov 25:11]
Saint Quote:
Mary was raised to the dignity of Mother of God rather for sinners than for=
the just,
since Jesus Christ declares that he came to call not the just, but sinners. --St. Anselm
<><><><>
A Lenten Offering
By St Th=C3=A9r=C3=A8se of the Child Jesus
O my God!
I offer Thee all my actions of this Lent
for the intentions and for the glory
of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
I desire to sanctify every beat of my heart,
my every thought,
my simplest works,
by uniting them to Its infinite merits
and I wish to make reparation for my sins,
by casting them into the furnace
of Its Merciful Love.
O my God!
I ask of Thee for myself
and for those whom I hold dear,
the grace to fulfil perfectly Thy Holy Will,
to accept for love of Thee,
the joys and sorrows of this passing life,
so that we may one day
be united together in heaven,
for all eternity.
Amen
--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
* Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)