Catholic devotions for the 5th October
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Saint of the DayReading of the Martyrology
Dedication of the Month
Dedication of the Day
Rosary
Five Wounds Rosary in Latin
Seven Sorrows Rosary in English
Latin Monastic Office
Reading of the Rule of Saint Benedict
Celebration of Mass
Reading from the School of Jesus Crucified
Feast of Blessed Raymond of Capua
The so called second founder of the Dominican Order. Born at Capua, Italy, in 1330, Raymond delle Vigne entered the Dominicans while attending the University of Bologna and subsequently held several posts, including prior of the Dominican house in Rome and lector in Florence and Siena. While at Siena, he made the acquaintance of St. Catherine of Siena, serving as her spiritual director from 1376 and becoming her closest advisor. Through the years he was connected with most of Catherine's important undertakings, including the call for a Crusade against the Turks, the negotiation of peace between the papacy and Florence, and the plea made to Pope Gregory XI to depart Avignon and return to Rome. Raymond also worked to bring aid and comfort to the victims of a plague which struck Siena, and when he fell sick with the disease, Catherine nursed him back to health. Upon the start of the Great Western Schism in 1378, both Raymond and Catherine gave their support to Pope Urban Vi against antipope Clement Vll. Raymond traveled to France in an unsuccessful bid to win the support of that kingdom; during the sojourn he was nearly killed by overzealous partisans of Clement VII. He continued to strive for a peaceful settlement of the crisis in the Church, even after Catherine's death in 1380, and was elected master general of the Dominicans As head of the order until his death at Nuremnberg, he brought reforms to its houses and demanded the strict adherence to the rules laid down by St. Dominic. He also wrote biographies of Catherine of Siena and St. Agnes of Montepulciano.
The Reading from the Martyrology
This Day, the Fifth Day of October
At Messina, in Sicily, the birthday of the holy martyrs Placidus, monk, disciple of the blessed abbot Benedict, and of his brothers Eutychius and Victorinus, and Flavia, virgin, their sister; also of Donatus, Firmatus, deacon, Faustus, and thirty other monks, who were murdered for the faith of Christ by the pirate Manuchas.
The same day, the birthday of blessed Thraseas, bishop of Eumenia, who ended his career by martyrdom at Smyrna.
At Treves, the holy martyrs Palmatius and his companions, who suffered martyrdom in the persecution of Diocletian, under the governor Rictiovarus.
The same day, under the emperor Diocletian and the ex-consul Domitius, St. Charitina, a virgin, who was exposed to the fire and thrown into the sea; but escaping uninjured, she had her hands and feet cut off, her teeth plucked out, and finally she yielded her
spirit in prayer.
At Auxerre, the departure from this life of the saintly deacon Firmatus and the virgin Flaviana, his sister.
At Ravenna, St. Marcellinus, bishop and confessor.
At Valence, in France, St. Apollinaris, a bishop, who was renowned in life for virtues, and in death for miracles and prodigies.
The same day, St. Attilanus, bishop of Zamora, who was ranked among the saints by Urban II.
At Leon, in Spain, St. Froilanus, bishop of that city, renowned for his zeal in spreading the monastic life, for his liberality to the poor and other virtues, and for miracles.
At Rome, St. Galla, widow, daughter of the consul Symmachus, who, after the death ofher husband, remained many years near the Church of St. Peter, applying to prayer, almsgiving, fasting, and other pious works. Her most happy death has been described by Pope St. Gregory.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Omnes sancti Mártyres, oráte pro nobis. ("All ye Holy Martyrs, pray for us", from the Litaniae Sanctorum, the Litany of the Saints)
October is the Month of the Most Holy Rosary
Rosary Martyr
August 4 is the feast day of Blessed Ceferino Giménez Malla (1981-1936), Martyr, Dominican tertiary, and first Gypsy to be beatified by the Church. In his beatification homily, Pope John Paul II proclaimed, "His life shows how Christ is present in the various peoples and races, and that all are called to holiness which is attained by keeping his commandments and remaining in his love.
Ceferino Giménez Malla was born into a gypsy family of the Romani (a nomadic people who moved from place to place). Born at Benevent de Lérida, his parents practiced Catholicism and had him baptized at Fraga. The family moved consistently throughout his childhood, generally supporting themselves through selling baskets they weaved. While he never received formal education, and was possibly illiterate, Ceferino’s intelligence, wisdom, and sound judgment was obvious to all he encountered. He was valued by his community as a peacemaker and wise arbiter, settling disputes and disagreements. He also demonstrated a consistent faith, practicing charitable works, modeling the love and patience of Christ.
In accordance with tradition, Ceferino married at a young age, and together with his wife continued the nomadic life. He worked as a horse trader, and was recognized by all for his honesty and fair practices. The couple never had children, but took in a niece and assumed responsibility for raising her. Ceferino attended Mass every day, and received the Holy Eucharist as frequently as possible. On many days, Ceferino would gather the local children he encountered—gypsy and non-gypsy together—and teach them the Bible through stories and basic prayers.
Ceferino’s wife died in 1922, and his niece married, leaving him in solitude. At this time, Ceferino grew in his contemplation and love of the Lord, and entered the Franciscan Order as a tertiary. He spent most evenings in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and eventually became a member of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul.
When the Spanish Civil War broke out, there was much anti-Catholic sentiment, and many were being persecuted. Ceferino defended a priest who was being taken to prison, and was arrested and imprisoned alongside him. While in prison, Ceferino clung to his Rosary, praying constantly. Offered freedom if he would renounce his faith, he declined and was eventually taken to a cemetery and executed by firing squad. Even in death, he maintained his prayer, holding his Rosary aloft and proclaiming, “Viva Cristo Rey!” (“Long live Christ the King!”). His body was buried in a common, unmarked grave and never recovered.
O God our Father, great and good,
through the light and power of your Spirit
the gypsy Ceferino,
the proto-martyr of his people,
was united to the sufferings of Jesus.
We thank you that you have thus in your love
honored all the traveling people of the world.
We pray that you will raise up holy missionaries
among these people and in the whole Church.
Help us to follow the example of this true believer
who loved you intensely and was a good Samaritan to others.
You strengthened him through the Eucharist
and through Mary's intercession;
in the same way lead us to be true Christians,
ready to walk the way of the cross
in the hope of sharing in your glory forever.
Amen.
Thursday is the Day dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament
On Thursdays, many Catholics make "Holy Hour," that is, they spend an hour in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament as an aspect of devotion to the Sacred Heart. On the fifteen consecutive Thursdays before the May 22, many Catholics make the "Fifteen Thursdays of St. Rita" devotion, which can be read about off the page about The Feast of St. Rita of Cascia.
Saint Peter Julian Eymard on Adoration
Adoration is the first form of the Eucharistic service of Jesus Christ. Let us begin by understanding its greatness and its excellence.
1. Greatness and excellence of the service of Adoration.
I. Adoration is the highest act of the virtue of religion; consequently, it surpasses all the other acts of piety and virtue.
The adoration of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament, is the end of the Church Militant, just as the adoration of God in His glory is the end of the Church Triumphant. A holy rivalry, a concert of prayer, a harmony of divine service should exist between the heavenly court and the Eucharistic court here below, between the adorer and his mother the Church.
II. Eucharistic adoration is the greatest triumph of faith, for it supposes the entire and perfect surrender of man's reason to God. It is adoration by all the Christian truths at once, by all the mysteries of the life of Jesus Christ; for every truth, every virtue of Jesus Christ prepares, establishes or perpetuates the reign of the Divine Eucharist. All the rays come from the sun or lead back to it; in like manner, every truth comes from Jesus Christ and leads to Him. And so the Most Holy Eucharist is the last grace and perfection of truth; for it is the last form of love Jesus has taken, which He will leave only when the time comes for Him to judge man and manifest His glory to him.
III. Eucharistic adoration is the greatest act of holiness on earth. It is prayer according to the four ends of the sacrifice, a prayer which brings into play all the virtues, of which it is a summary. It is the perfect homage of man, of his body and of his soul, of his freedom and of his heart, of his works and of his thoughts at the Eucharistic service of Jesus Christ; it is the holocaust of the entire man.
Adoration is the summary of all the virtues.
Humility adores its God reduced to nothing as it were, and it wants to lower and abase itself to honor and join Him in His state of abasement.
Gratitude adores its sovereign Benefactor and, borrowing the voice and love of every creature, the thanksgiving of the Church, of the heavenly court, of Mary His Mother, it offers to Jesus Hostia a universal homage of gratefulness and love. Furthermore, eager to make its thanksgiving infinite like the gift it received, it takes the Divine Eucharist and offers it to God the Father—the source of every perfect gift—as the most perfect homage He can receive, since it is Jesus Christ Himself.
The virtue of penance also adores this divine Victim Who is in a state of immolation for the redemption of man and, from the four corners of the earth and wherever it has an altar, asks forgiveness and mercy for sinners.
But as Jesus, the adorable Host, can no longer suffer or die, He needs a substitute victim that completes Him, that suffers in His place, and to that purpose He unites Himself with the penitent soul. Jesus will always be the ransom price of infinite value, and the faithful soul will, by its actual suffering, complete this new Calvary. This atoning soul weeps over the ingratitude of men, their crimes against the God of the Eucharist, Who is ignored, despised, and outraged by the majority of men and even by the closest and most honored friends of His Heart. It weeps over its own sins, which must be particularly displeasing to a Savior from Whom it receives only goodness and love.
But the soul is not content with reparation; it wants complete reconciliation with God, the triumph of mercy over justice, the salvation of sinners, the conversion of the persecutors and executioners of Jesus Christ, and hopes thus to see renewed the repentance and pardon of Calvary.
Charity adores the God of love on His throne of grace and pleads with Him to pour upon all men the blessings and gifts of His Infinite Goodness. The adorer assumes the office of mediator for all the needs of his brethren. He exposes with an eloquence born of confidence all the miseries of the poor children of the Cross of Jesus. He unfolds them for this inexhaustible mercy to set. He opens the wounds of the Savior to draw therefrom treasures of grace on each one of these miseries. He thus brings joy to the Heart of Jesus by giving Him the occasion to exercise His goodness and mercy.
Prostrate at the foot of the Eucharistic throne, he prays with filial devotion for the Church his mother, that God may sustain her in her struggles, protect her against her enemies, prosper her in her works, and sanctify her in all her children.
Zeal for the glory of God urges him to pray above all for priests, through whom Jesus Christ gives Himself anew to men; for priests who should be the light of the world, the salt of the earth, other Jesus Christs.
He delights in praying for the religious orders, a family dear to the Church, consecrated to a life of prayer and penance, and thereby so powerful in bringing about the triumph of right. For a soul of prayer is worth more than a soul all afire with zeal; an interior soul gives more glory to God than one busy with external works; one perfect soul is sufficient to obtain the conversion, the sanctification of an entire nation.
He prays for the powers of this world that they may fulfill their mission faithfully towards Jesus Christ and His Church, and, above all, establish the reign of Him by Whom kings rule and command; that they may be the soldiers of His glory and the defenders of His Church, who is the divine mother of all nations, the heavenly foster-parent of all the children of God
He prays for all the masters of this world that they may use their authority and power over their families and servants to secure the observance of the law of God and of His Church, the love of God and of neighbor.
The adorer does not limit his charity to this world. He visits the poor suffering souls in purgatory, brings them the help of his prayers, of his indulgences, of the Holy Sacrifice. He pours a few drops of Divine Blood on their pain, on their sins yet to be atoned for, in order to comfort them and open sooner to them the gates of their heavenly country.
Thus the adorer at the foot of the Most Blessed Sacrament fulfills a universal and perpetual mission of prayer, continues the divine work of propitiation, offers to God a fervent and unceasing thanksgiving, adores Him with his whole being, with every being that exists, with every possible grace, and thus offers Him the most perfect homage He can receive from a creature.
The Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary are prayed on Thursday
"I would like to remind you that the Rosary is a biblical prayer, all filled with the Holy Scriptures." It is a prayer from the heart, in which the repetition of the Ave Maria directs the thought and affection towards Christ, and thus is made a confident prayer to Him and our Mother. It is a prayer that helps to meditate on the Word of God and assimilate the Eucharistic Communion, on the model of Mary who kept in her heart everything Jesus did and said and even His Presence. "
Benedict XVI
The Rosary in Latin
Chaplet of the Five Holy Wounds of Christ in Latin
Chaplet of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady in English
Latin Monastic Office for today from Le Barroux in France Texts also provided
The Reading of the Rule of Saint Benedict for October 5
51 Septimus humilitatis gradus est, si omnibus se inferiorem et viliorem non solum sua lingua pronuntiet, sed etiam intimo cordis credat affectu,
52 humilians se et dicens cum propheta: Ego autem sum vermis et non homo, opprobrium hominum et abjectio plebis.
53 Exaltatus sum et humiliatus et confusus.
54 Et item: Bonum mihi quod humiliasti me,ut discam mandata tua.
Chapter 7 Humility
51 The seventh step of humility is that he should not only pronounce with his tongue that he is inferior to and more common than all, but also believe it in the intimate sensibility of his heart,
52 humbling himself and saying with the prophet: As for me, I am a worm and no man, shameful among men and an outcast of the people (Ps 22:7).
53 I have been exalted, and cast down and confounded (Ps 88:16).
54 And again: It is good for me that you have humbled me, that I may learn your commandments (Ps 119:71,73).
Today's Celebration of the Mass
St Catherine of Siena receives the Stigmata
Jesus XPI Passio sit semper in cordibus nostris
May the Passion of Jesus Christ be always in our hearts
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