A Community of Love, Unity and Service

St. Bademus

Bademus was originally a rich and noble citizen of Bethlapeta in Persia, who sold his richpossessions to follow Christ, then gave the greater part of the proceeds to the poor. He reservedjust enough to found a monastery near that city, to which he retired with several other persons,and then governed it with great sanctity. He conducted his religious in the paths of perfectionwith sweetness, prudence, and charity.

To crown his virtue, God permitted him, with seven of his monks, to be apprehended by thefollowers of King Sapor in the thirty-sixth year of that king’s persecution. He lay four months ina dungeon, loaded with chains, and during this lingering martyrdom received every day a cruelflagellation. But he triumphed over his torments by the patience and joy with which he sufferedthem for Christ.

At the same time a prince named Nersan, who was a Christian, was cast into prison and his goodsconfiscated because he refused to adore the sun. At first he seemed resolute, but at the sight oftortures his constancy failed him, and he promised to conform if he could be delivered. The king,to test whether his change was sincere, ordered Bademus to be brought where Nersan was kept inthe royal palace, and sent word to Nersan that if he would slay the abbot, he would be restored tohis liberty and former dignities. The apostate accepted the condition; a sword was put into hishand, and he advanced to plunge it into the breast of the abbot. But being seized with a suddenterror, he stopped short, and remained some time unable to lift up his arm to strike; he had neithercourage to repent, nor heart to accomplish his crime.

Finally he hardened himself and continued with a trembling hand to aim at the martyr’s sides. Fear, shame, remorse, and respect made his strokes forceless and unsteady; and so great was thenumber of his victim’s wounds that the bystanders were in admiration at his invincible patience. Saint Bademus reproached his executioner, saying, “What will you do on the day when you willhave to render an account of your actions, and hear the sentence of your condemnation? I offermyself willingly to die for the glory of my Lord Jesus Christ, but I would prefer to die by anotherhand than yours!” The pagans themselves were horrified at the cruelty of the king, the longmartyrdom, and the perfidious acts of the apostate.

Saint Bademus suffered on the 10^th of April in the year 376. His body was cast out of the city, butsecretly carried away and interred by the Christians. A short time afterwards Nersan fell intopublic disgrace, and perished by the sword. The disciples of the Saint were released from theirchains four years later, at the death of King Sapor.

St. Fulbert

St. Michael de los Santos

Saint Michael was born in Spain in 1591 of parents notable both for their piety and their probity. Their son from his early childhood made a vow of perpetual chastity; his father, when he heard ofit, one day with a smile proposed to him, to test him, a fine marriage. The child began to weepand hurried to an altar of the Blessed Virgin to renew his vow. At the age of six he fled to a caveto meditate on the Passion of Our Lord. When his father sent out a search party, he was obligedto return, but continued to live only for heaven, keeping himself constantly in the presence ofGod. He chose Saint Francis of Assisi for his model and practiced extreme mortifications toimitate Jesus crucified.

At the age of twelve he presented himself at the novitiate of the Trinitarians of Barcelona, whoadmitted him. He made his perpetual vows in 1607, and assisted in the reform of the Order, inprogress at that time. He never ceased to practice the primitive rule of the Institute. SaintMichael never had more than one tunic; beneath it he wore rude hair shirts. He practiced aperpetual fast and imposed constant disciplines on his flesh.

He was ordained a priest, and then it was at the altar that he received the most signal favors fromheaven and inspired in those in attendance a most remarkable devotion. Twice Saint Michael wasnamed Superior of the houses where he resided, yet he never became inflated with pride; on thecontrary he believed himself worse than the demons. It seemed that heaven envied the earth in thepossession of this Saint; he died at the age of thirty-three. Miracles followed at his tomb, and hewas canonized in 1862 by Pope Pius IX.

St. Leo the Great

Saint Leo was born in Rome. He embraced the sacred ministry, was made Archdeacon of theRoman Church by Pope Saint Celestine, and under the same Vicar of Christ and Saint Sixtus III,had a large share in governing the Church. On the death of Sixtus, Leo was chosen Pope, andconsecrated on Saint Michael’s day, 440, amid great joy.

It was the time of terrible trial which preceded by thirty years the definitive fall of the RomanEmpire. Vandals and Huns were wasting the provinces of the empire, and Nestorians, Pelagians,and other heretics wrought still more grievous havoc in souls. While Leo’s zeal was makingheadway against these perils, there arose the new heresy of Eutyches, who confounded the twonatures of Christ. At once the vigilant pastor proclaimed the true doctrine of the Incarnation inhis famous “tome”; but fostered by the Byzantine court, the heresy gained a strong hold upon theEastern monks and bishops. After three years of unceasing toil, Saint Leo brought about itssolemn condemnation by the Council of Chalcedon, the Fathers all signing his tome, andexclaiming, “Peter has spoken by Leo.”

Soon after, Attila with his Huns broke into Italy, and marched through its razed cities upon Rome. Leo went out boldly to meet him, and prevailed on him to turn back. His chieftains wereastonished to see the terrible Attila, the “Scourge of God,” fresh from the sack of Aquileia, Milanand Pavia and with the rich prize of Rome within his grasp, turn his great host back to the Danubeat the Saint’s word. They asked him why he had acted so strangely. He told them he had seentwo venerable personages — who are generally supposed to be Saints Peter and Paul — standingbehind Saint Leo; and impressed by this vision, he withdrew. Two years later the city fell a preyto the Vandals, but Leo saved it again from total destruction. He died in 461 after having ruledthe Church for a little over twenty years.

St. Gemma Galgani

Saint Gemma Galgani was born at Camigliano in Tuscany, Italy, in 1878. Her mother died whenshe was seven years old, and from that time on her life was one of continuous suffering. Herafflictions were caused by ill-health, by the poverty into which her family fell, by the scoffing ofthose who took offense at her practices of devotion, and finally, by the physical attacks of thedevil. Through it all, however, she remained at peace and enjoyed constant communion with ourLord, who spoke to her as if He were bodily present. She earnestly desired to be a Passionist nun,but was not accepted because of her physical infirmities.

She was the subject of various extraordinary supernatural phenomena — visions, ecstasies,revelations, supernatural knowledge, conversations with her visible Guardian Angel, prophecy andmiracles. Her director verified that letters which she wrote and committed to the care of her goodAngel were infallibly delivered. Saint Gemma had periodically occurring stigmata between 1899and 1901. At one time during her sufferings, she was asked: “If Jesus gave you the choicebetween two alternatives, either going immediately to heaven and having your sufferingsdisappear, or else remaining here in suffering to procure still more glory for the Lord, whichwould you choose?” She answered: “I prefer to remain here rather than going to heaven, when itis a question of suffering for Jesus and His glory.” She died on Holy Saturday in 1903 and wascanonized in 1940.

Daily Mass