Saint of the Day Double Duty - St. Elizabeth of Portugal

Today is one of the exciting days in the year when we celebrate not one saint but two! Our second saint today is St. Elizabeth of Portugal.

St. Elizabeth was born in 1271 in Aragon, Spain, the daughter of King Pedro III of Aragon. She was the great-niece of St. Elizabeth of Hungary for whom she was named. Elizabeth was a pious child, who went to daily Mass, prayed the liturgy of the hours, and did frequent penance.

At the age of 12 Elizabeth was wed to King Diniz of Portugal making her the Queen of Portugal. The King's morals were severely lacking and the royal court to which Elizabeth was brought was entirely corrupt. Nevertheless, Elizabeth persisted in her life of piety, continuing her daily prayers and devotions and doing acts of charity. She was known for caring for the poor and sick and even pressing her ladies-in-waiting to accompany her in her works of charity. King Diniz finally repented of his sins late in his life due to the unfailing prayers of St. Elizabeth.

Elizabeth and Diniz had two children, Constantia and Affonso. Affonso so resented the favors that his father granted to his illegitimate sons that Affonso raised an army against his father. Elizabeth became known as peacemaker when she personally rode to the battlefield to reconcile her husband and son.

Upon the death of King Diniz, Elizabeth retired to a Poor Clare convent wishing to live out her life in obscurity, praying and doing works of charity.

She once more earned the title of peacemaker when she journeyed from the convent to the battlefield of Estremoz, Portugal to reconcile Affonso to his son-in-law, the King of Castile, who had been an abusive husband to Affonso's daughter Maria. However, this journey caused her final illness and she died at Estremoz of a fever on July 4, 1336.

She was canonized by Pope Urban VIII on May 25, 1625. Her feast was originally celebrated on July 8 but has since been moved to July 4.

She is the patron saint: against jealousy; of brides; of charitable societies; of charitable workers; of charity workers; of charities; of Coimbra, Portugal; of difficult marriages; of falsely accused people, of peace; of queens; of tertiaries; of victims of adultery; of victims of jealousy; of victims of unfaithfulness; and of widows. She is also invoked in time of war.

Saint of the Day - St. Ulric

St. Ulric was born in 890 A.D. at Kyburg, Zurich, Switzerland. His father was Count Hucpald through whom Ulric was related to the dukes of Alamannia and the imperial family.

A sickly child, it was predicted that Ulric would not live long. However, his life of prayer and study at the monastic school of St. Gall (where he was an excellent student) did more for his health than all the doctors' remedies.

Ulric served as chamberlain to his uncle, Blessed Adalbero, the Bishop of Augsburg, before being appointed Bishop himself. As Bishop, Ulric was fully devoted to his parishioners to whom he offered instruction, comfort, and relief. Butler's Lives of the Saints states "He excused himself from attending the court, knowing of what importance the presence of a bishop is to his flock, for which he is to give a severe account to God." Ulric further devoted himself to building as many churches as possible in order to make the blessings of the Church more accessible to the common people. He was known for a strict adherence to the laws of the Church, which he also demanded of his clergy.

When barbarians attacked his diocese of Augsburg, St. Ulric led the people in prayer which included processions and devotions. Their prayers were answered when the invaders were seized with fear and fled in a panic. They were met and defeated by Emperor Otho.

Ulric passed away on July 4, 973. In his last hours he had ashes strewn on the floor in the shape of a cross and sprinkled with holy water. He was then laid upon this cross on which he died while the clergy sang the litany. He was buried in the Church of St. Afra which he had rebuilt.

St. Ulric was the first saint to be canonized by a pope (Pope John XV) which led to the canonical process which the church uses today to determine sainthood.

He is the patron saint against birth complications and of pregnant women because legend states that pregnant women who drank from his chalice had easy deliveries. Similarly, the touch of his pastoral cross was said to heal those bitten by rabid dogs and earth from his grave is said to repel rodents making him the patron saint against mice and moles. He is also patron saint: against faintness; against dizziness; against fever; against frenzy; against vertigo; of the city and diocese of Augsburg, Germany; of Creazzo, Italy; of happy death; and of weavers.

Saint of the Day - St. Thomas the Apostle

Did you know that in the Church every day is a feast day? That's right, each day of the year is the feast of at least one saint. So I've decided that I'm going to start doing a daily feature on the saint of the day. Today - St. Thomas the Apostle.

St. Thomas is best known as "doubting Thomas," the apostle who told his fellow disciples that he would not believe that Christ had risen and had appeared to them "unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side." A week later, according to the Gospel of John, Christ appeared again to the apostles and instructed Thomas to "put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving but believe."

St. Thomas is mentioned in the Gospels several times prior to this. Catholic Online describes him as a "dedicated but impetuous follower of Christ." This is due primarily to the occasion described in John's Gospel when Jesus informs His followers that He is going to Judea to serve His friend Lazarus, who is ill. The apostles immediately remind Jesus that during their recent stay in Judea the Jews tried to stone him to death. When Jesus is adament that He will go Thomas implores the disciples "Let us also go to die with Him," displaying his love, unto death, for the Lord.

He is mentioned once more in the Gospel of John as the apostle who, at the Last Supper, says to Christ "Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?" In answer to his plea St. Thomas received the "beautiful assurance" from Our Lord that "I am the way, and the truth, and the life."

St. Thomas is mentioned throughout the Gospels as one of the apostles and also as one of those present in the upper room at Pentecost.

Little is known for certain about St. Thomas' later life but tradition holds that he "was sent to evangelize the Parthians, Medes, and Persians; he ultimately reached India, carrying the faith to the Malabar coast, which still boasts a large native population calling themselves 'Christians of St. Thomas.'" He was ultimately martyred circa 72 A.D. when he was stabbed with a spear while in prayer.

St. Thomas is often pictured with a builder's square for several reasons. First, tradition holds that he built the first Church in India with his own hands. The builder's square further represents building a strong spiritual foundation.

St. Thomas is the patron saint: of architects, against blindness, against doubt, of blind people, of builders, of Certaldo, Italy, of construction workers, of Ceylon, of the East Indies, of geometricians, of India, of masons, of Pakistan, of people in doubt, of Sri Lanka, of stone masons, of stonecutters, of surveyors, and of theologians.

The Assault on Women

So apparently today is Women's Equality Day (I think classes should have been cancelled) so it seemed like the perfect day to write this post.

The reason the devil revolted against God was because of pride. He was infuriated that God was going to make him subordinate to these creatures (humans). And the icing on the cake was when God told him that he would have to bow to a human, and not just any human, but a woman, a human of the weaker sex, who God would raise to be the Queen of the Angels, of Heaven and Earth.

From there the devil not only abandoned God but began to actively wage war on Him. And his first attack was on a woman, Eve. He tempted her with the sin he himself had commited, pride, the desire to be greater than God. As we all know, she fell into the trap.

In order to turn the human race back to God, Christ was born and gave Himself as a sacrifice for humanity. To bring His Son into the world God created a woman without sin, the Blessed Virgin Mary, to give birth to the Savior of the World. And this woman was raised above all human beings to be the Queen of the Angels. (As a sidenote, it's kind of ironic that what the devil wanted so much to avoid, a woman being exalted, he brought upon himself. Because if he had never tempted Eve, she would never have sinned, and there would have been no need for a Savior, and therefore no need for a woman without sin. See how God brings good out of evil? If Eve had never sinned we'd have no Mama Mary.)

But the devil has never given up his assault on women, if anything he has become more vicious since the exultation of Our Blessed Mother. Throughout periods of history women have been slaves, have been treated as barely human, as little more than commodities. Then came women's rights. Women gained protection under the law along with the right to vote, etc. But the devil used this to his advantage. In complete opposition to the principles of the original women's rights movement, led by women such as Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, today's feminist movement has not settled for being equal with men but wishes for women both to be superior to men and alike to men. The devil has taken his original fear, the exultation of a woman, and used it to destroy women. The most tragic example of this is how he has made the mutilation of a woman's body and the destruction of human life a "woman's right" through the horror of abortion.

In this morally turbulent time men and women need to watch out for each other. It used to be that women were the safeguards of morals. One of my teachers told me that "women have forgotten how to be women and therefore men have forgotten how to be men." Women need to step up and take their place again as the protectors of morality. Men need to hold women accountable to this standard and treat us as such.

The devil's first enemy was woman. Women, we need to fight him. Men, please help to defend us.

Regina Angelorum pray for us

Note To Self

The devil is the one who is tempting you right now.

The same devil who brought evil into the world.

Because of him your brothers have been exposed to things that hurt them.

Because of him your cousin left the Church.

Because of him your friend has fallen into depression.

Because of him you've been stabbed in the back by people you thought loved you.

Remember how much you hate him for all of that?

You're gonna make him happy if you give in to this temptation.

And you're gonna hurt Jesus.

The Jesus who died on the Cross for you.

The Jesus who got you through all this pain the devil put you through.

If you give in you're gonna hurt Jesus the same way the devil has hurt you.

Health Care

My younger brother has Asperger Syndrome which is a form of autism, a mental disorder. Basically it means that he's socially awkward and has severe anger problems. As you can imagine my parents have had to take him to alot of doctors over the years which means they have had to pay alot of doctor's bills. On top of this my brother also developed a digestive disorder called celiac disease, I have anxiety disorder, and then you throw in all the regular pediatrician, dentist, and orthodontist bills and it adds up to alot. Honestly, I have no idea how my parents have managed to pay all these doctor bills and still keep a roof over our heads. But my dad worked overtime, my mom got a job, they sacrificed alot, and now my brother is on the right medications and his anger is basically under control, as is my anxiety.

Now the government is going to come in and tell us that we have to get on line. We may not be able to see the doctors who have been taking care of us for all these years. We may not be able to get the medications we need.

So why did my parents even bother? It would have saved them alot of money to just ignore our problems. We could've afforded to add on to the house like my mom's always wanted to. We could've gone on more expensive vacations. Honestly, why should they bother spending all that money taking care of us when the government's just gonna come in and tell them we can't get the care anyway?

Oh wait! That's called child abuse. So why is it that when parents deny their children medical care it's called abuse but when the government does it it's called "fairness"?

Thoughts on Sarah

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge Sarah Palin fan. So naturally I was shocked when Sarah announced yesterday that she will be resigning as Governor of Alaska. In the following hours I heard many comments regarding this development from many different people. Some have said don't worry, this means she is gearing up to run for president. Others have said this means she's out of politics for good. However, running through everyone's comments are, why did she really do this?! Simply asking this question has led us to make ridiculous speculations. In doing such we are simply proving Sarah's point when she spoke about the magnet on her parents' refrigerator that states "Don't explain, your friends won't care, and your enemies won't believe you anyway." Politicians and journalists do not believe that Sarah could possibly be resigning for the reasons she stated, the good of her family and the good of the state of Alaska, because Washington has never seen a politician who did not operate out of ulterior motives. Therefore, they can't believe that she doesn't. Yesterday Sarah asked us to trust her with this decision. She has never lied to the American people before, I don't think she's gonna start now.