Subj : =?UTF-8?Q?March_23rd_=E2=80=93_St=2E_Joseph_Oriol=2C_Visionary?= To : All From : rich Date : Fri Mar 22 2019 08:53:29 From: rich March 23rd =E2=80=93 St. Joseph Oriol, Visionary (Also known as Jos=C3=A9 Orioli) Born in Barcelona, Spain, on November 23, 1650; died there on March 23, 1702; beatified by Pope Pius VII on May 15, 1896; canonized in 1909. Father Joseph Oriol is remembered for the heroism of his virtues, for the example he proposes to Christians, and for the singular favors God accorded him. Joseph is a saint among thousands of saints; but, for more than three centuries, history and legend together have justified the cognomen his parishioners gave him, even before he died: "wonder- worker of Barcelona." A saint among thousands of saints; but, for about three centuries, history and legend have emphasized the healings, the prophecies, the miracles of all kinds of which Joseph Oriol was the instrument. Joseph Oriol was born of a poor family. His good conduct, his particular devotion to the Blessed Sacrament persuaded his parish priest to prepare him for the priesthood. He earned a doctorate in theology. In 1675, he was ordained and soon Innocent XI granted him a benefice at Santa Maria del Pino in his native city. In spite of his attempts and temptations, Joseph Oriol never left his parish. Although he hoped to evangelize the infidels, God showed him that he had another vocation. On his way to Rome, Father Joseph fell ill and experienced a vision that outlined his new mission: He was to reinvigorate the faith of lukewarm hearts in Barcelona. Thus, Joseph Oriol instructed children, evangelized soldiers, and prayed and urged others to pray for the living and the dead. He wore a hair-shirt, lived only on bread and water for 26 years, and used the discipline on himself. Nevertheless, he is not remembered for his austerity, but rather for his faith, hope, and love of God and neighbor. He epitomized the exercise of these virtues to such a high degree of perfection that the Devil was worried, persecuted him and even left his imprint on his flesh. But only on the flesh. Joseph Oriol remained firm on the path of justice and God manifested his Power and favors through his servant with extraordinary gifts. Death finally ended his life on the date he had announced. Others would prefer, perhaps, that for the above conventional picture we substitute the one of the wonder-worker, the image of a veritable "medium," worthy heir of the charlatans of paganism, worthy rival of the sorcerers of fetishism, a conjurer as well as a man contemptuous of natural laws. But that kind of picture does not deal with holiness. Holiness takes hold of man and utilizes him. It takes hold of the conscious and the unconscious, it takes hold of the miracle-man who, without holiness, would be less than a man, the inverted reflection of a saint (Attwater2, Benedictines, Encyclopedia). Bible Quote: 19 Jesus answered, and said to them: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20 The Jews then said: Six and forty years was this temple in building; and wilt thou raise it up in three days? =C2 21 But he spoke of the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was risen again from the dead, his disciples remembered, that he had said this, and they believed the scripture, and the word that Jesus had said.=C2 (John 2:19-22) <><><><> Whoever will come after Me, let him deny himself.=C2 (Matthew 16:24) "If we do not pay great attention to mortifying our own will, there are many things that can take from us that holy liberty of spirit, which we seek in order to be able to mount freely towards our Creator, without being always weighed down with earth and lead. Besides, in a soul that belongs to itself, and is attached to its own will, there can never be solid virtue" --St. Teresa =C2 St. Mary Magdalen de' Pazzi said one day that she asked nothi= ng of the Lord except that He would take her own will from her; for she knew that through the vivacity of her disposition, she did not advance so much as she desired in those virtues which render a soul most pleasing to the Lord. After saying this, she raised her eyes to Heaven and fell into an ecstasy, in which she was shown by God how much harm is done to souls, especially those of religious, when they are guided by their own will which they once consecrated to God by vow. In the course of the ecstasy, she took her Superior by the hand and led her to the oratory, where she knelt and prayed the Virgin to enlighten her Superior also, that she might take pains to despoil her of her will; and after prostrating herself three times upon the ground, she recovered from her trance. She was so much in earnest in this matter that she once said she did not remember ever to have tried, either secretly or openly, to incline the will of her Superior to her own. ("A Year with the Saints".=C2 March - Mortification) --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .