A Community of Love, Unity and Service

St. Michael Garicoits

Saint Michael Garicoits was born in 1797 on a small farm in the south of France, near thetown of Ibarre, not far from Lourdes and from Betharram, an ancient pilgrimage site. Later the mother house of the Congregation which he founded, the Priests of the SacredHeart of Betharram, was established at that site.

He was ordained a priest at Bayonne in 1823, and spent two years as Assistant in theparish of Cambo, where he established the devotion and confraternity of the SacredHeart. He was summoned to the Major Seminary of Betharram to serve as a professor ofphilosophy and theology in 1825, and he became Superior there in 1831.

In 1832 he made a retreat based on the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius, whichstrengthened in him his desire to found a new Society of Priests, a desire confirmed byhis superiors’ approbation. He had been greatly impressed by the poverty he had seenpracticed by a holy Foundress of a Congregation of Sisters, herself compared to SaintTeresa of Avila, who during her lifetime saw 99 houses of her Congregation establishedin several countries. Saint Michael desired the same practice of poverty for his priests, ashe had seen instituted under the direction of Saint Elizabeth Bichier des Ages, whofounded the Daughters of the Cross, or Sisters of Saint Andrew. Saint Elizabeth was, bya singular disposition of Providence, later canonized the same day as Saint Michael. Both Saints taught the importance of the interior life as the unique and irreplaceablesource of any serious apostolate.

In his early efforts as founder, the fervent priest was faced with the opposition of hisbishop, who desired that the new Institute be placed more specifically under diocesanauthority than under that of its religious Superiors. Saint Michael, devoted to the Will ofGod, the point of departure to attain sanctity, remained in submission for long years. In1875, after a wholly supernatural intervention which occurred in the nearby Convent ofPau through the intermediary of the Arab Carmelite, Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified, theInstitute as he conceived it was approved in Rome under Leo XIII. This occurred afterthe holy Founder had already been called to his reward in 1863.

  Miracles by the dozens had followed his death, and the Priests of the Sacred Heart ofBetharram spread in the lands of South America, as well as in France, England and Italy,where they direct teaching activities.

At the canonization, Pius XII exhorted the religious of the Institute of the Sacred Heartand the Daughters of the Cross, present at the canonization of their respective Founders,to maintain the primitive spirit of their Congregations, saying: “Be deaf to the temptationto sacrifice your religious life and personal sanctification to the apostolate. That wouldbe similar to gathering beautiful flowers from a tree to form a bouquet, and afterwardswanting to find fruit on barren branches.”

St. Pachomius

In the beginning of the fourth century, great levies of troops were made throughout Egyptfor the service of the Roman emperor. Among the recruits was Pachomius, a youngpagan, then in his twenty-first year. On their way down the Nile the recruits disembarkedat a village near the Thebaid, whose inhabitants gave the strangers food and money. Marveling at this kindness, Pachomius inquired who they were; he was told they wereChristians, who hoped for remuneration only in the life to come. He then prayed God tomake the truths of that wondrous faith known to him, and promised in exchange to devotehis life to His service.

When he was discharged, he went to a Christian village in the Thebaid, where there was achurch; he joined the group of catechumens, was instructed and baptized. Desiring toconsecrate his life to God, he sought out Palemon, an aged solitary, to learn from him thepaths to perfection, and with great joy embraced the most severe austerities. Their foodwas bread and water, once a day in summer, and once every two days in winter;sometimes they added herbs, but mixed ashes with them. They slept only one hour eachnight, and this short repose Pachomius took while sitting upright without support.

Three times God revealed to him that he was to found a religious order at Tabenna. AnAngel then gave him a rule of life for a monastery which would require fewer corporalausterities, to accommodate persons whose fear of those practices prevented them fromadopting religious life. Trusting in God, he built a monastery, although he had nodisciples; but vast multitudes soon flocked to him, and he trained them in perfectdetachment from creatures and from self.

Pachomius opposed vanity and vainglory in all its manifestations. One day one of themonks, by dint of great exertions, contrived to make two mats instead of the one whichwas the usual daily task, and set them both out in front of his cell, that Pachomius mightsee how diligent he had been. But the Saint, perceiving the motive which had promptedhis act, said, “This brother has taken a great deal of pains, from morning till night, only togive his work to the devil.” Then, to cure him of his delusion, Pachomius imposed onhim as a penance to keep to his cell for five months, under a very severe regime.

The visions and miracles of the Saint were innumerable, and he read all hearts. His holydeath occurred in 348.

Sts. Peter and Dionysia, martyrs

In the Decian persecution of the year 250 the blood of the Christians flowed atLampsacus, a city of Asia Minor. A young Christian named Peter was the first to be ledbefore the proconsul; he was told to sacrifice to the goddess Venus. His energeticcondemnation of impurity and his defense of his God, the king of all ages, caused him tobe condemned to die for the name of Christ, and he went joyfully to his torments. Hewas bound to a wheel by iron chains and his bones were broken, but he raised his eyes toheaven with a smiling countenance and said, “I give Thee thanks, O Lord Jesus Christ,because Thou hast given me patience, and made me victorious over the cruel tyrant.” Theproconsul saw how little the tortures availed, and ordered the martyr to be beheaded.

About the same time, the same proconsul who condemned Peter was on his way to Troas,when three Christians were brought to him; the first two, Andrew and Paul, werescourged and imprisoned, after being condemned to be stoned to death in a short time. The third of these apostatized. But a Christian virgin named Dionysia showed a greatwillingness to suffer, and by it gained the crown which the unfortunate apostate lost. Hishistory shows us that those who abandon Christ to avoid suffering with Him, lose all. With the other spectators Dionysia saw him undergo torture, and heard him cry out, withthe strength that was left to him, “I never was a Christian! I will sacrifice to the gods!” Thereupon he was untied, and he offered sacrifice. But he immediately becamepossessed by the devil, and fell to the earth in a fit, bit out his tongue, and expired. “Wretched man!” Dionysia cried; “Why, in exchange for one hour of life, have youchosen eternal and indescribable pains?” She was seized and led away to be exposed tooutrage, but her Guardian Angel appeared by her side and protected the spouse of Christ.

While Andrew and Paul were under execution, Dionysia heard the commotion made bythe crowd of spectators and began to weep; and having escaped from those who guardedher, ran to the place where they were. Upon seeing them, she cried out, “That I may livewith you eternally in heaven, I will die with you on earth.” And Christ, who is the crownof virgins and the strength of martyrs, gave her the desire of her heart; the proconsulcommanded that she be decapitated.

St. John-Baptist de LaSalle

Complete dedication to what he saw as God’s will for him, dominates the life of JohnBaptist de LaSalle. Founder of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, or ChristianBrothers, he was canonized in 1900. In 1950 Pope Pius XII named him patron ofschoolteachers.

Saint John Baptist was born of the nobility of Rheims in 1651, and after a very piousyouth was ordained a priest at the age of 27, becoming at once a Canon of the Cathedralthere. It was said that to see him at the altar was sufficient to give an unbeliever faith inthe Real Presence of Our Lord. The people would wait for him to come from the churchto consult him. His life was marked by a rule he set for himself, to maintain perfectregularity in all his duties.

He became interested in the creation of gratuitous schools for poor and abandonedchildren. He himself was invited to help in their education; and after directing theteachers for four years, decided to join them. In this he was opposed by most of the city,for whom such a life was very humiliating for a Canon of the Cathedral. His spiritualdirector, a virtuous Franciscan Minim priest, encouraged him, saying that for teachers,whose vocation is to aid the poor to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, the only suitableinheritance is the poverty of the Saviour.

Saint John Baptist divested himself of the patrimonial wealth he still controlled, then tookreligious vows with his co-workers. His tender and paternal charity soon sanctified thehouse and the labors; peace reigned, and the members of the new society loved oneanother sincerely. The Institute developed and spread amid a thousand difficulties andpersecutions; these, by humiliating its members, brought down graces on them and madethe Providence of the Lord more evident.

The blessed Founder died in 1719; a religious superior said of him that “his humility wasuniversal; he never acted without taking counsel, and the opinion of others alwaysseemed better to him than his own. He listened to others in conversation, and was neverheard to say any word tending to his own advantage...” Indeed it is God who elevatesthose who take the last place for themselves, to place them among the first.

St. Dionysia

In the Decian persecution of the year 250 the blood of the Christians flowed atLampsacus, a city of Asia Minor. A young Christian named Peter was the first to be ledbefore the proconsul; he was told to sacrifice to the goddess Venus. His energeticcondemnation of impurity and his defense of his God, the king of all ages, caused him tobe condemned to die for the name of Christ, and he went joyfully to his torments. Hewas bound to a wheel by iron chains and his bones were broken, but he raised his eyes toheaven with a smiling countenance and said, “I give Thee thanks, O Lord Jesus Christ,because Thou hast given me patience, and made me victorious over the cruel tyrant.” Theproconsul saw how little the tortures availed, and ordered the martyr to be beheaded.

About the same time, the same proconsul who condemned Peter was on his way to Troas,when three Christians were brought to him; the first two, Andrew and Paul, werescourged and imprisoned, after being condemned to be stoned to death in a short time. The third of these apostatized. But a Christian virgin named Dionysia showed a greatwillingness to suffer, and by it gained the crown which the unfortunate apostate lost. Hishistory shows us that those who abandon Christ to avoid suffering with Him, lose all. With the other spectators Dionysia saw him undergo torture, and heard him cry out, withthe strength that was left to him, “I never was a Christian! I will sacrifice to the gods!” Thereupon he was untied, and he offered sacrifice. But he immediately becamepossessed by the devil, and fell to the earth in a fit, bit out his tongue, and expired. “Wretched man!” Dionysia cried; “Why, in exchange for one hour of life, have youchosen eternal and indescribable pains?” She was seized and led away to be exposed tooutrage, but her Guardian Angel appeared by her side and protected the spouse of Christ.

While Andrew and Paul were under execution, Dionysia heard the commotion made bythe crowd of spectators and began to weep; and having escaped from those who guardedher, ran to the place where they were. Upon seeing them, she cried out, “That I may livewith you eternally in heaven, I will die with you on earth.” And Christ, who is the crownof virgins and the strength of martyrs, gave her the desire of her heart; the proconsulcommanded that she be decapitated.

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