Subj : =?UTF-8?Q?August_24th_=2D_Saint_Mar=C3=ADa_Micaela?= To : All From : rich Date : Thu Aug 23 2018 10:07:49 From: rich August 24th - Saint Mar=C3=ADa Micaela of the Blessed Sacrament 25 August on some calendars (1809-1865) Maria Soledad Micaela Desmaisieres y Lopez de Dicastillo, often called Madre Sacramento because she founded a religious Order of Sisters consecrated especially to the Blessed Sacrament, was born in Madrid on the first day of January, 1809, during a time of political unrest. From the age of nine to twelve, she was a pupil of the Ursulines of the city of Pau in France. At the age of thirteen, she lost her noble father, a general in the royal army. Her life as she grew older was divided between religious duties, which attracted her, and social ones involving trips, festivals and visits. In 1844, when she visited the Hospital of Saint John of God in Madrid, she saw with compassion the plight of young girls living a disordered life, and in 1845 established a school to re-educate them. She personally took on the direction of the school in January of 1849, and gave it new force. She resolved in 1847 to live for God alone, and in Paris, during the same year on Pentecost, received a mystical grace of union with God. She was drawn to an ardent love for Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, as well as to an apostolate for the feminine youth of Madrid. Until 1856, she dedicated herself entirely to the school she had founded there, and then founded the Institute of Religious Adorer-Slaves of the Most Blessed Sacrament and of Charity. She was directed by Saint Anthony Mary Claret for several years after 1857; and the foundations multiplied. She promoted and animated various apostolic works for the laity--the Conferences of Saint Vincent de Paul, Sunday Schools for public school children; she counseled the Sisters of the Love of God at Zamora, at the request of their founder. Her Institute of the Blessed Sacrament was definitively approved by the Holy See in 1866, a year after the death of the Foundress on August 24, 1865, a victim of her charity for the cholera victims of Valencia. For Madre Sacramento, religious consecration is a service of love. The religious is at the disposition of God to procure His glory; and God gives Himself to her, as she has given herself to Him. For God she loves suffering as a proof of love. The Foundress herself, in the last four years of her life, made the exceptional vow to choose what appeared to her as most perfect, in the practice of her vows of poverty, chastity and obedience; this vow requires a total and heroic gift of self. She was beatified in 1925 and canonized on March 4, 1934 by Pope Pius XI. Saint Quote: Many things seem good and yet are not, because they be not done with a good mind and intention; and therefore our Saviour saith in the Gospel, "If thy eye has naught, all thy body shall be dark." For when the intention is wicked, all the work that follows is naught, although it seemed to be never so good. --St. Gregory the Great Bible Quote: 2. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he was hungry. 3. And the tempter coming said to him: If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4. Who answered and said: It is written, Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:2-4) <><><><> Angel-guardians of men Hymn: Custodes hominum Angel-guardians of men, spirits and powers we sing, Whom our Father hath sent, aids to our weakly frame, Heavenly friends and guides, help from on high to bring, Lest we fail through the foeman's wile. He, the spoiler of souls, Angel-traitor of old, Cast in merited wrath out of his honored place, Burns with envy and hate, seeking their souls to gain Whom God's mercy invites to heaven. Therefore come to our help watchful ward of our lives:Turn aside from the land God to thy care confides Sickness and woe of soul, yea, and what else of ill Peace of heart to its folk denies. Now to the Holy Three praise evermore resound: Under whose hand divine resteth the triple world Governed in wondrous wise: glory be theirs and might While the ages unending run. Amen (Roman Breviary) --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .