May 8th in the midst of Marian devotion

 

The eighth (8^th) of May has deep Marian connections in three titles:

1). The Virgin of Lujan, who is the patroness of Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Officially declared in 1930 by Pope Pius XI, she is a 17th-century terracotta statue representing the Immaculate Conception. This particular localized devotion took on more significance or prominence with the election of Cardinal Bergoglio from Argentina as Pope Francis!

2). “Mother of Fairest Love”

“Fairest Love” is a title derived from Sirach 24:24. It states, “I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope.” Pope Saint John Paul II wrote of this title in his 1994 Letter to Families, paragraph 20. St. Josemaria Escriva had a devotion to Our Lady under this title.

The "Fairest Love" devotion aligns with the Franciscan focus on her spotless nature, often celebrating her as "all fair" and without blemish. St. Bonaventure, a revered Doctor of the Church, beautifully encapsulated this devotion in his Psalter of Mary, highlighting her as the fount of clemency and sweetness of piety, adorned with the beauty of chastity, justice, and truth. Franciscans traditionally honor Mary through the "Franciscan Crown," a 7-decade rosary meditating on the Seven Joys of Mary, recognizing her as the source of "fair love" and joy.

3).  “Mediatrix of Grace”

This title speaks of Mary’s powerful intercession and mediation of heavenly grace. There is a long Franciscan tradition acknowledging Mary’s role as such.

The decree Lumen Gentium of Vatican II would caution against the title of "Mediatrix" that: "This, however, is to be so understood that it neither takes away from nor adds anything to the dignity and efficaciousness of Christ the one Mediator." And as recently as November 2025, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith of the Catholic Church declared that the use of the titles Mediatrix, Mediatrix of all graces, and Co-Redemptrix "have limits that do not favor a correct understanding of Mary’s unique place".

A long Franciscan tradition holds that Our Lady’s unique role in the redemption is worthy of this special feast. Mary herself was redeemed by Christ, her Son. Then through her powerful intercession, she obtains for us the graces that God wishes to bestow on the human race. In the 15th century, the Franciscan friar, St Bernardine of Siena wrote: “I do not hesitate to say that she (Mary) has received a certain jurisdiction over all graces… They are administered through her hands to whom she pleases, when she pleases, as she pleases, and as much as she pleases.” In the Constitution on the Church, Vatican II states: “In the work of the Saviour, she (Mary) cooperated in an altogether singular way, by her obedience, faith, hope and burning love, to restore supernatural life to souls.”

The connection to the Immaculate Conception, a concept that was championed by Franciscan theologians, is apparent through the combination today with Our Lady of Lujan, a statue of the Immaculate Conception. In most common depictions, rays of grace emanate from the hands of Mary, and you can see in one of the following illustrations how that grace is being passed on to Mary from Jesus. 

April 30-St. Joseph Benedict Cottolengo: Franciscan & Vincentian

 St. Joseph Benedict Cottolengo

1786-1842, April 30

In some ways Joseph exemplified St. Francis’ advice, “Let us begin to serve the Lord God, for up to now we have made little or no progress.”

            Joseph was the eldest of 12 children. Born in Piedmont, he was ordained for the diocese of Turin in 1811.  Frail health and difficulty in school were obstacles he had to overcome to reach ordination.

            During Joseph’s lifetime Italy was torn by civil war while the poor and the sick suffered in neglect. Inspired by reading the life of St. Vincent de Paul and moved by the human suffering all around him, Joseph rented some rooms to nurse the sick of his parish and recruited young women of the area to staff it.

            In 1832 at Voldocco Joseph founded the House of Providence, which served many different groups (the sick, the elderly, students, the mentally ill, the blind). All of this was financed by contributions. Popularly called “the University of Charity,” this testimonial to God’s goodness was serving 8000 people by the time of Joseph’s beatification in 1917.

            To carry on his work, Joseph organized two religious communities, the Brothers of St. Vincent de Paul and the Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul. Joseph, who had joined the Secular Franciscans as a young man, was canonized in 1934.

QUOTE: “Almighty, eternal, just and merciful God, grant us in our misery that we may do for your sake alone what we know you want us to do, and always want what please you; so that, cleansed and enlightened interiorly and fired with the ardor of the Holy Spirit, we may be able to follow in the footsteps of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and so make our way to you, Most high, by your grace alone.” (St. Francis, in a Letter to a Chapter)

COMMENT: How do you know God’s will for us? Is God’s will static? Only 21 years after his ordination did Joseph begin the work for which he is most famous. Years of praying and searching certainly kept Joseph alert to God’s call. However well we have responded to our neighbor’s need in the past, God is surely calling us to greater generosity. That must have been what Francis meant when he said, “Let us begin to serve the Lord God.”

 

McCloskey, Patrick. Franciscan Saint of the Day. St. Anthony Messenger Press, 1981.

April 28th and the beginnings of the Third Order

Blessed Luchesio and Buonadonna

d.1260 on April 28

Luchesio and his wife Buonadonna wanted to follow St. Francis as a married couple. They thus set in motion the Secular Franciscan Order. Luchesio and Buonadonna lived in Poggibonzi where he was a greedy merchant. Meeting Francis—probably in 1213—changed his life. He began to perform many works of charity.

At first Buonadonna was not as enthusiastic about giving so much away as Luchesio was. One day after complaining that he was giving everything to strangers, Buonadonna answered the door only to find someone else needing help.  Luchesio asked her to give the poor man some bread. She frowned but went to the pantry anyway. There she discovered more bread than had been there the last time she looked. She soon became as zealous for a poor and simple life as Luchesio was. They sold the business, farmed enough land to provide for their needs and distributed the rest to the poor.

In the 13^th century some couples, by mutual consent and with the Church’s permission, separated so that the husband could join a monastery or a group like that of Francis and his wife could go to a cloister. Conrad of Piacenza (February 19) and his wife did just that.  This choice existed for childless couples or for those whose children had already grown up. Luchesio and Buonadonna wanted another alternative, a way of sharing in religious life, but outside the cloister.

To meet this desire, Francis set up the Secular Franciscan Order. Francis wrote a simple Rule for the Third Order (Secular Franciscans) at first; Pope Honorius III approved a more formally worded Rule in 1221.

The charity of Luchesio drew the poor to him, and like many other saints, he and Buonadonna seemed never to lack the resources to help these people. One day Luchesio was carrying a crippled man he found on the road. A frivolous young man came up and asked, “What poor devil is that you are carrying on your back?” “I am carrying my Lord Jesus Christ,” responded Luchesio. The young man immediately begged Luchesio’s pardon.

Luchesio and Buonadonna both died on April 28, 1260. He was beatified in 1273. Local tradition refers to Buonadonna as “blessed” though the title was not given officially.

QUOTE: Francis used to say, “Whoever curses a poor man does an injury to Christ, whose noble image he wears, the image of him who made himself poor for us in this world.”          (I Celano, #76)

COMMENT: It’s easy to mock the poor, to trample on their God-given dignity. Mother Teresa of Calcutta has referred to poverty as Christ’s “distressing disguise.” Since it is so easy to make people feel unwanted—the poor, the sick, the mentally or physically handicapped, the aged, the unemployed—resisting the temptation indicates the level of generosity in our lives. If the followers of Francis see Christ in the poor as Luchesio and Buonadonna did, they enrich the Church and keep it faithful to its Lord.

McCloskey, Patrick. Franciscan Saint of the Day. St. Anthony Messenger Press, 1981.

April 23 St. George Day and two notable Franciscans

April 23rd is predominantly St. George Day. Precisely the feast day on which Brother Giles sought out St. Francis at the Portiuncula and joined the Little Brothers. And in a synchronistic twist, also the date of Giles' death 54 years later!

BLESSED Brother Giles of Assisi

c.1190-1262

April 23

Giles, one of the first followers of St. Francis, was a very simple and prayerful man.

            Giles the farmer distributed his goods to the poor and became one of Francis’ first disciples on April 23, 1208. The Poverello introduced Giles to the others saying, “Here is a good brother God has sent us! Let us sit down to table and celebrate his coming.”

            Early in his life as a Franciscan, Giles went on pilgrimages to Rome, to the Holy Land and to the famous shrine of St. James at Compostella, Spain.  His 1219 preaching mission to the Moslems of Tunis was cut short when Christians there, fearing he would cause trouble for them, put him on the boat back to Italy.  In 1234 he retired to Monte Ripido near Perugia to pursue a contemplative life. Giles lived there until his death.

            Giles always worked for his day’s bread even if he was a guest someplace. Once when he was staying with a cardinal, the morning brought a hard rain. The cardinal happily thought Giles would miss a day’s work and have to accept his charity. The ingenious friar, however, went to the kitchen of the palace and spent the day helping the cook clean it and prepare the evening meal!

            When St. Bonaventure came to Perugia, Giles asked him if an ignorant person could love God as much as a scholar. Bonaventure, one of the leading theologians from the University of Paris and at the time minister general of the friars, responded, “A little old woman can love God even more than a master of theology.” Giles immediately ran out, met an old woman and told her, “O poor little old woman, though you are simple and uneducated, just love the Lord God and you can be greater than brother Bonaventure.”

            Pope Gregory IX, the former Cardinal Hugolino and a great admirer of St. Francis, once brought Giles to Viterbo in order to experience his holiness firsthand.  They began speaking of heaven, and Giles twice went into ecstasy for long periods of time. The pope was convinced. Another time the pope asked Giles for some advice about fulfilling the duties of a pope. Giles told him that he should have two eyes in his soul: one to contemplate heavenly things and the other to direct earthly things.

            As the pope and Bonaventure agreed, Giles was a master of the spiritual life. The Golden Saying of Brother Giles records some of his most memorable quotes.

            One of the last of Francis’ early followers to die, Giles denounced any relaxation of discipline in the Rule of St. Francis. He was particularly worried that some of the young friars being educated at the University of Paris would develop the intellectual pride so foreign to St. Francis. Giles was beatified in 1777.

QUOTE: “The birds of the air and the beasts of the earth and the fishes of the sea are satisfied when they have enough food for themselves. But since humans are not satisfied with the things of this world and always long for others, it is clear that humans were not made primarily for them, but for the Other. For the body was made for the sake of the soul, and this world for the sake of the other world.” (Golden Sayings)

COMMENT: We are created for a purpose. Giles knew that our goal is life with God and happily prepared himself for it.

 

St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen

1578-1622

April 24

Fidelis gave up a profession he considered too dangerous and then died a martyr!

            Born when the Reformation had already taken firm root in Germany, Holland, France and Switzerland, Fidelis came from a leading family in Sigmaringen, Germany. After receiving doctorates in philosophy and in law (canon and civil) at the University of Freiburg in Breisgau, he became a lawyer. When he saw how many lawyers were corrupted by greed, however, he began to fear for his soul and joined the Capuchins.

            The superior’s words to him at profession of vows, “Remain faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev 2:10), proved prophetic. After ordination Fidelis began a preaching career which was interrupted by his appointment as guardian at Feldkirch and in several other places. In one place Fidelis distinguished himself by nursing soldiers felled by an epidemic.  Insisting on strict poverty, Fidelis was an inspiration to the friars.

            In 1622, the newly-established Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Propaganda Fide) named Fidelis to head a mission to the Calvinists in Switzerland. He converted a fair number of them. Killed while preaching in the church at Seewis, Fidelis is considered the first martyr of the Propaganda. Fidelis, the patron of lawyers, was canonized in 1746.

QUOTE: “Action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world fully appear to us as a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the gospel or, in other words, of the Church’s mission of redemption of the human race and its liberation from every oppressive situation (Synod of Bishops, Justice in the World, 1971).

COMMENT: Fidelis can inspire us in two ways: to work for justice on behalf of the poor and to work for the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ. His reservation about practicing law was not shared by St. Ivo of Britanny (May 10) or St. Thomas More (June 22).

            Fidelis used to pray that he might never be halfhearted in his service of Jesus; the same temptation is present for us. Working for justice is dangerous work and is sometimes mistakenly considered an “extra” in the following of Jesus. Without championing any one political party or system, the followers of Jesus must help all peoples realize their God-given dignity.

 

SOURCE (for both biographies): McCloskey, Patrick. Franciscan Saint of the Day. St. Anthony Messenger Press, 1981.

April 16th-"profession day" a special Franciscan date

APRIL 16th: Saint Francis of Assisi had written a very short Rule of Life (Regula Primitiva, “Primitive Rule”) that was verbally approved by Pope Innocent III on April 16, 1209. This first Rule was little more than some Scripture passages strewn together, the text of which has been lost. However, this marks the founding of the Order of Friars Minor in 1209.

Due to the decrees of the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, Saint Francis, like all other religious orders, had to update their Rules in accord with the directives of the Roman Church. In 1221 Saint Francis rewrote the Rule for the Friars. Due to its lack of canonical form and lengthy exhortations, it was never approved, but the text is available.

In 1223 Saint Francis took Br. Leo and Br. Bonizzio to the Friary in Fonte Columbo. There, he wrote the final and definitive Rule of the Friars Minor.

If you are interested in reading the final Rule of 1223, it can be found on this website:

https://www.porziuncolaproject.com/the-rule-of-saint-francis

On this date then, many Franciscans renew their vows or welcome new members into the Orders on "profession day"!

In synchronicity on this date, a perfect example of Franciscan devotion to poverty and the poor is found in this Third Order individual:

Benedict Joseph Labre was truly eccentric, one of God’s special little ones. Born in France and the eldest of 18 children, he studied under his uncle, a parish priest. Because of poor health and a lack of suitable academic preparation he was unsuccessful in his attempts to enter the religious life. Then, at age 16, a profound change took place. Benedict lost his desire to study and gave up all thoughts of the priesthood, much to the consternation of his relatives.

He became a pilgrim, traveling from one great shrine to another, living off alms. He wore the rags of a beggar and shared his food with the poor. Filled with the love of God and neighbor, Benedict had special devotion to the Blessed Mother and to the Blessed Sacrament. In Rome, where he lived in the Colosseum for a time, he was called “the poor man of the Forty Hours devotion” and “the beggar of Rome.” The people accepted his ragged appearance better than he did. His excuse to himself was that “our comfort is not in this world.”

On April 16, 1783, the last day of his life, Benedict dragged himself to a church in Rome and prayed there for two hours before he collapsed, dying peacefully in a nearby house. Immediately after his death, the people proclaimed him a saint.

Benedict Joseph Labre was canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1881.

Reflection

In a modern inner city, one local character kneels for hours on the sidewalk and prays. Swathed in his entire wardrobe winter and summer, he greets passersby with a blessing. Where he sleeps no one knows, but he is surely a direct spiritual descendant of Benedict, the ragged man who slept in the ruins of Rome’s Colosseum. These days we ascribe such behavior to mental illness; Benedict’s contemporaries called him holy. Holiness is always a bit mad by earthly standards.

Saint Benedict Joseph Labre is the Patron Saint of unhoused persons.

 

retrieved from:

https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-benedict-joseph-labre/

An Introduction to Franciscan Spirituality

Now that Lent is over, I turn our attention to the Franciscan Jubilee Year, which began January 10, 2026, and will continue until January 10, 2027. It commemorates the 800^th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi in 1226. I will especially be highlighting the weekly occurrence of Franciscan Saints and Beatifieds, which reveal the Franciscan charism at work throughout the centuries.

There are three (3) traditional Orders of Franciscans:

1.     1. First Order are the priests and brothers, founded in 1209. They are divided into three branches: Order of Friars Minor (OFM), OFM Conventual (OFM Conv.), and OFM Capuchin (OFM Cap.).

2.     2. Second Order are the Poor Clare Sisters (OSC) who are cloistered nuns, dedicated to contemplative prayer.

These two orders are religious men and women who take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

3.     3. Third Order or tertiaries are secular or regular Franciscans, founded in 1221. Includes both religious congregations living in communities (Third Order Regular) and “lay” men and women who follow the Franciscan rule in their daily lives (Secular Franciscans).

There are also Franciscan Youth organizations for children and adolescents.

The Franciscan motto is Pax et Bonum (Peace and Good).

Franciscans are mendicant, one of several Roman Catholic religious orders whose members assume a vow of poverty and support themselves by work and charitable contributions. The mendicant orders surviving today are the four first recognized by the Second Council of Lyon (1274): Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinians (Augustinian Hermits), and Carmelites; as well as Trinitarians, Mercedarians, Servites, Minims, Hospitallers of St. John of God, and the Teutonic Order (the Austrian branch), for a total of ten. The ideal of poverty in some of these has been mitigated or even abrogated.

The Franciscan School of Theology at the University of San Diego provides this definition of Franciscan Spirituality & Core Beliefs:

“The Rule and Life of the Lesser Brothers is this: to observe the Holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ.” –St. Francis’ Rule

In following the teachings of St. Francis, Franciscan Catholics believe that God is generous and loving and that we are all created in God’s image, with a responsibility to care for all creation.

A simple explanation of St. Francis’ life and legacy might describe him as:

• ·       A saint of peace and the poor
• ·       A saint with a great love for all God’s creatures
• ·       Respectful of each person’s God-given uniqueness and dignity

American Sports Culture: College Basketball

MARCH MADNESS

In mid March the tournament begins to determine the national champion among the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) schools in the USA. In 2015 the Final Four play on April 4th and the national championship game is on April 6th. 

Especially on the internet this has given rise to a number of elimination tournaments to pick "The Best Of..." something, be it favorite Muppet or Star Wars character, for example.