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September 4
St. Rosalia, Virgin:
She was daughter of Sinibald, lord of Roses and
Quisquina, who deduced his pedigree from the imperial
family of Charlemagne. She was born at Palermo in
Sicily, and despised in her youth worldly vanities, made
herself an abode in a cave on Mount Pelegrino, three
miles from Palermo, where she completed the sacrifice of
her heart to God by austere penance and manual labor,
sanctified by assiduous prayer and the constant union of
her soul with God. She died in 1160. Her body was found
buried in a grotto under the mountain in the year of the
jubilee, 1625, under pope Urban VIII, and was translated
into the metropolitical church of Palermo, of which she
was chosen a patroness. To her patronage that island
ascribes the ceasing of a grievous pestilence at the
same time. On her life and miracles, see the disquisitions
of Stilting the Bollandist which fills one hundred and forty
pages.
(Adapted from Fr. Butler's Lives of the Saints)
St. Rosalia, Virgin:
She was daughter of Sinibald, lord of Roses and
Quisquina, who deduced his pedigree from the imperial
family of Charlemagne. She was born at Palermo in
Sicily, and despised in her youth worldly vanities, made
herself an abode in a cave on Mount Pelegrino, three
miles from Palermo, where she completed the sacrifice of
her heart to God by austere penance and manual labor,
sanctified by assiduous prayer and the constant union of
her soul with God. She died in 1160. Her body was found
buried in a grotto under the mountain in the year of the
jubilee, 1625, under pope Urban VIII, and was translated
into the metropolitical church of Palermo, of which she
was chosen a patroness. To her patronage that island
ascribes the ceasing of a grievous pestilence at the
same time. On her life and miracles, see the disquisitions
of Stilting the Bollandist which fills one hundred and forty
pages.
(Adapted from Fr. Butler's Lives of the Saints)
Today's Saint
September 3
St. Pius X, Pope, Confessor:
Pope from 1903 to 1914, Pius X was canonized an May
29, 1954. He was born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, on
June 2, 1835, at Riese, in the province of Treviso, Italy.
He died on August 20, 1914, in Rome, a few weeks after
the outbreak of World War I. Pius Xs reign was marked
by his continuous effort to encourage a renewal of
spiritual devotion, particularly with regard to the Holy
Eucharist. He also directed a vigorous campaign against
the dangers of Liberalism and Modernism in the Church.
St. Seraphia, Virgin and
Martyr:
St. Seraphia was born at Antioch, of Christian parents,
who, flying from the persecutions of Adrian, went to Italy
and settled there. Her parents dying, Seraphia was
sought in marriage by many, but having resolved to
consecrate herself to God alone, she sold all of her
possessions and distributed the proceeds to the poor;
finally she sold herself into voluntary slavery, and
entered the services of a Roman lady named Sabina.
The piety of Seraphia, her love of work and her charity
soon gained the heart of her mistress, who was not long
in becoming a Christian. Having been denounced as a
follower of Christ, Seraphia was condemned to death.
She was at first placed on a burning pile, but remained
uninjured by the flames. Almost despairing of being able
to inflict death upon her, the prefect Berillus ordered her
to be beheaded, and she thus received the crown she
so richly merited. Her mistress gathered her remains,
and interred them with every mark of respect. Sabina,
meeting with a martyr's death a year later, was laid in the
same tomb with her faith servant. As early as the fifth
century there was a church at Rome placed under their
invocation.
(Adapted from Fr. Butler's Lives of the Saints)
St. Pius X, Pope, Confessor:
Pope from 1903 to 1914, Pius X was canonized an May
29, 1954. He was born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, on
June 2, 1835, at Riese, in the province of Treviso, Italy.
He died on August 20, 1914, in Rome, a few weeks after
the outbreak of World War I. Pius Xs reign was marked
by his continuous effort to encourage a renewal of
spiritual devotion, particularly with regard to the Holy
Eucharist. He also directed a vigorous campaign against
the dangers of Liberalism and Modernism in the Church.
St. Seraphia, Virgin and
Martyr:
St. Seraphia was born at Antioch, of Christian parents,
who, flying from the persecutions of Adrian, went to Italy
and settled there. Her parents dying, Seraphia was
sought in marriage by many, but having resolved to
consecrate herself to God alone, she sold all of her
possessions and distributed the proceeds to the poor;
finally she sold herself into voluntary slavery, and
entered the services of a Roman lady named Sabina.
The piety of Seraphia, her love of work and her charity
soon gained the heart of her mistress, who was not long
in becoming a Christian. Having been denounced as a
follower of Christ, Seraphia was condemned to death.
She was at first placed on a burning pile, but remained
uninjured by the flames. Almost despairing of being able
to inflict death upon her, the prefect Berillus ordered her
to be beheaded, and she thus received the crown she
so richly merited. Her mistress gathered her remains,
and interred them with every mark of respect. Sabina,
meeting with a martyr's death a year later, was laid in the
same tomb with her faith servant. As early as the fifth
century there was a church at Rome placed under their
invocation.
(Adapted from Fr. Butler's Lives of the Saints)
September 2
St. Stephen, King of Hungary,
Confessor:
St. Stephen King of Hungary, introduced Christianity into
his native land. Pope
Sylvester II gave him the privilege of having a cross carried
before him like an
archbishop. He did all that an apostle could do for his
country. By his example and his
influence he induced the nobles and the people to
embrace the Catholic Faith; he
gave Christian legislation to the kingdom; he founded and
endowed Episcopal sees,
not only in Hungary but even in Constantinople, Jerusalem,
Ravenna, and Rome.
St. Stephen, seven years before his death, saw his young
and most innocent son
Emerich, an angel of purity and holiness, whom God
glorified by many miracles,
precede him on the way to heaven. He followed him to the
tomb on August 15, 1034,
but Innocent XI appointed his feast to be kept on
September 2, in memory of the victory,
which the Christian army won over the Turks at Budapest
on this day.
(Source: The New Roman Missal, Rev. F. X. Lasance)
St. Stephen, King of Hungary,
Confessor:
St. Stephen King of Hungary, introduced Christianity into
his native land. Pope
Sylvester II gave him the privilege of having a cross carried
before him like an
archbishop. He did all that an apostle could do for his
country. By his example and his
influence he induced the nobles and the people to
embrace the Catholic Faith; he
gave Christian legislation to the kingdom; he founded and
endowed Episcopal sees,
not only in Hungary but even in Constantinople, Jerusalem,
Ravenna, and Rome.
St. Stephen, seven years before his death, saw his young
and most innocent son
Emerich, an angel of purity and holiness, whom God
glorified by many miracles,
precede him on the way to heaven. He followed him to the
tomb on August 15, 1034,
but Innocent XI appointed his feast to be kept on
September 2, in memory of the victory,
which the Christian army won over the Turks at Budapest
on this day.
(Source: The New Roman Missal, Rev. F. X. Lasance)