Subj : January 28th - Bl. Mary of Pisa To : All From : rich Date : Sun Jan 27 2019 08:03:19 From: rich January 28th - Bl. Mary of Pisa (Died 1436) More often than not, the women saints that the Church venerates have been cloistered virgins. Blessed Mary of Pisa also founded a religious order, but like St. Elizabeth Seton, she did so as a widow. Unlike our American saint, she had been married twice and borne many children. Catherine Mancini belonged to a distinguished family in Pisa, Italy, in the days when the great Italian cities were engaged in civil war against each other. The story is told of her that when she was only five, she had a sort of vision of the torturing of one Peter Gambacorta. He had been accused of political conspiracy and sentenced to be hanged. The legend says that the child, on experiencing the vision, prayed so hard for Peter that the rope by which he was being hanged broke, whereupon the judges commuted his death penalty. Our Lady then appeared to Catherine, the story continues, and told her to say seven Our Fathers and Hail Marys for Gambacorta every day, for he was going to become her benefactor in the years to come. He did just that, as we shall see. Despite this early mystical experience, Catherine was married when she was twelve (not unusual in those days). She bore her husband two children. He died when she was only 16. Family pressure persuaded her to remarry. She bore her second husband five children. He died at the end of eight years of marriage, nursed by Catherine lovingly through his last illness. Her children all seem to have died young. Infant mortality was very high in those times. The family wanted Catherine to take yet another husband. This time she refused. Instead, the young double-widow turned her house into a hospital. Here she took personal care of the patients. One time a sick stranger came to seek her aid. Nursing him demanded great self-control because of the condition of his disease, but she felt such sweetness in denying herself in favor of this patient that she really believed he was Christ himself come to test her devotion. At this time she was received as a member of the Third Order of the Dominicans. Soon she became acquainted with St. Catherine of Siena. A letter of St. Catherine's remains, addressed to =E2=80=9CMadame Catarina and Mada= me Orsola and the other women of Pisa.=E2=80=9D For all her married experience, Catherine remained a mystic at heart. Sometimes she would go into an ecstasy of prayer while walking along the street. Once when she paused in prayer, a mule knocked her down. (Prayer can be rather dangerous!) Eventually Catherine entered a convent. It was the Dominican convent of Santa Croce at Pisa, which badly needed reform. She took over the task of making the nuns more devout. In that she succeeded. By now Sister Mary (that was the name she had taken when entering Santa Croce) aspired to live a still more austere devotional life. She and her companion, (Blessed) Clare Gambacorta, left to found another convent. The man who built this convent was Sister Clare's father, = the same Peter Gambacorta for whom Catherine Mancini had prayed daily since childhood! Her new convent won a widespread reputation for its holiness. Here Mary Mancini died on December 22, 1436. Bl. Mary of Pisa is a good reminder that God can call to holiness whomever He chooses, no matter what their careers, unworldly or worldly, good or bad. You and I should be reassured by that. Saint Quote: =E2=80=9CBy virtue of love is the lover transformed in the beloved and the beloved transformed in the lover.=E2=80=9D --Blessed Angela of Foligno Bible Quote: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort: Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we also may be able to comfort them who are in all distress, by the exhortation wherewith we also are exhorted by God. [2 Corinthians 1:3-4] DRB <><><><> This is another one of the five hymns composed by St. Thomas in honor of Our Lord present in the Most Blessed Sacrament, for the Feast of Corpus Christi which was instituted by Pope Urban IV, in 1264: <><> Hidden God, devoutly I adore Thee, Truly present underneath these veils: All my heart subdues itself before Thee, Since it all before Thee faints and fails. Not to sight, or taste, or touch be credit, Hearing only do we trust secure; I believe, for God the Son has said it- Word of truth that ever shall endure. On the cross was veiled Thy Godhead's splendor, Here Thy manhood lies hidden too; Unto both alike my faith I render, And, as sued the contrite thief, I sue. Though I look not on Thy wounds with Thomas, Thee, my Lord, and Thee, my God, I call: Make me more and more believe Thy promise, Hope in Thee, and love Thee over all. O memorial of my Savior dying, Living Bread, that gives life to man; Make my soul, its life from Thee supplying, Taste Thy sweetness, as on earth it can. Deign, O Jesus, Pelican of heaven, Me, a sinner, in Thy Blood to lave, To a single drop of which is given All the world from all its sin to save. Contemplating, Lord, Thy hidden presence, Grant me what I thirst for and implore, In the revelation of Thy essence to behold Thy glory evermore. Amen. --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .