From: rich <
richarra@gmail.com>
January 25th - Bl. Teresa Grillo Michel
Bl. Teresa Grillo Michel was born in Spinetta Marengo (Alessandria),
Italy, on 25 September 1855. She was the fifth and last child of
Giuseppe, the head physician at the Civil Hospital of Alessandria, and
of Maria Antonietta Parvopassau, a descendent of an illustrious family
of Alessandria. At Baptism she was given the name of Maddalena.
After the death of her father, the family moved to Turin, where
Maddalena attended elementary school and her mother supervised the
university studies of Francesco, her elder brother. When Maddalena
finished elementary school, she was sent to a boarding school run by
the Ladies of Loretto in Lodi, where she passed her final exams at the
age of 18.
After leaving school, she returned to Alessandria, where, under her
mother's guidance, she was introduced to society. It was here that she
met her future husband, Giovanni Michel, a cultured and brilliant
captain of the Bersaglieri.
After their wedding on 2 August 1877, they moved first to Caserta,
then to Acireale, Catania, Portici and, lastly, Naples.
After her husband died of sunstroke during a Naples parade in 1891,
Teresa sank into a depression which bordered on total despair. Her
sudden, almost unexpected recovery, due to reading the life of the
Ven. Cottolengo and to the help of her cousin, Mons. Prelli, led her
to embrace the cause of the poor and needy.
Teresa began to open the doors of her family home to poor children and
people in need. At the end of 1893, seeing that the numbers of the
poor continued to grow, she sold the Michel family home and purchased
an old building on Via Faa di Bruno. Here she began her work of
rebuilding, adding an upper floor and buying some modest dwellings
nearby. Thus began the "Little Shelter of Divine Providence". The work
Teresa had begun was certainly not without difficulties, which came
not only from the authorities but especially from friends and
relatives. Nevertheless, the solidarity and affection of the poor, of
generous persons and of the women who worked with her were evident.
Following many requests to the ecclesiastical authorities, on 8
January 1899 Teresa Grillo was clothed with the religious habit in the
small chapel at the Little Shelter, together with eight of her
co-workers, and founded the Congregation of the Little Sisters of
Divine Providence.
In her remaining 45 years, her primary concern was to spread and build
up the institute. In fact, immediately after its foundation, her
community opened houses at various places in Piedmont, and soon spread
to the Veneto, Lombardy, Liguria, Apulia and Lucania. On 13 June 1900
the institute was extended to Brazil, and in 1927, at the request of
Bl. Luigi Orione, she also established houses in Argentina.
Sparing no effort, Teresa inspired and encouraged her sisters with her
caring and charismatic presence in the community. As many as 8
times she crossed the ocean to visit Latin America, where at her
request numerous foundations sprang up with nurseries, orphanages,
schools, hospitals and homes for the elderly. She made her eighth
voyage in 1928, at the age of 73.
On 8 June 1942 the Holy See granted the Congregation of the Little
Sisters of Divine Providence apostolic approval.
Bl. Teresa Grillo died in Alessandria on 25 January 1944, at the age
of 89. By then her institute had 25 houses in Italy, 19 in Brazil and
7 in Argentina.
http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/doc_view.cfm?recnum
369
Saint Quotes:
St. Vincent de Paul was not contented, as so many are, with knowing
and loving virtues, but he applied himself continually to the practice
of them. It was his maxim that labor and patience are the best means
of acquiring and planting them firmly in our hearts and that virtues
acquired without effort or difficulty can be easily lost, while those
which have been beaten by the storms of temptation and practiced amid
the difficulties and repugnances of nature, sink their roots deep into
the heart. And so, on such occasions, instead of being sad he appeared unusually cheerful. When a certain person was lamenting a mischance
which had recently occurred as likely to give bad opinion of his
community and give rise to comments injurious to himself, he replied,
"This is good, for it will give us a more favorable occasion to
practice virtue."
By this same sentiment, St. Philip Neri encouraged his penitents not
to grieve when they suffer temptations and trials, telling them that
when the Lord intends to confer on anyone some particular virtue, He
is accustomed to permit him to be first assailed by the contrary vice.
St. Francis de Sales illustrated the firmness of virtue in this
manner: "if' said he, "the world comes to attack me, I will treat i=
t
as I would a viper: I will trample it underfoot, and obey none of its suggestions. If Satan arms his powers, I will not fear them at all. I
am stronger than he. God is my Father, and He will have compassion on
me, and will fight for me." Here is a fine example of virtue, and of
the way to exercise it.
("A Year with the Saints". January - Perfection)
Bible Quote
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according
to his great mercy hath regenerated us unto a lively hope, by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,=C2 (1 Peter 1:3)
<><><><>
Seek God early in the day
Seek God early in the day, before He gets crowded out by life's
problems, difficulties, or pleasures. In that early quiet time gain a
calm, strong confidence in the goodness and purpose in the universe.
Do not seek God only when the world's struggles prove too much and too
many for you to bear or face alone. Seek God early, when you can have
a consciousness of God's spirit in the world. People often only seek
God when their difficulties are too great to be surmounted in any
other way, forgetting that if they sought God's companionship before
they need it, many of their difficulties would never arise.
--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
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