Subj : =?UTF-8?Q?August_28th_=E2=80=93_Saint_Joaquina_Vedruna_Vidal_de_Mas?= To : All From : rich Date : Tue Aug 27 2019 08:56:56 From: rich August 28th =E2=80=93 Saint Joaquina Vedruna Vidal de Mas Also known as Joachina de Vedruna, Joachima de Vedruna =C2 =E2=80=A2 Joaquima de Vedruna Vidal de Mas =C2 =E2=80=A2 Joaquina of Saint Francis of Assisi died 1854 at Vic, Barcelona, Spain of cholera Born 1783 into an aristocratic family in Barcelona, Spain, Joachima was 12 when she expressed a desire to become a Carmelite nun. But her life took an altogether different turn at 16 with her marriage to a young lawyer, Theodore de Mas. Both deeply devout, they became secular Franciscans. During their 17 years of married life they raised eight children. The normalcy of their family life was interrupted when Napoleon invaded Spain. Joachima had to flee with the children; Theodore, remaining behind, died. Though Joachima reexperienced a desire to enter a religious community, she attended to her duties as a mother. At the same time, the young widow led a life of austerity and chose to wear the habit of the Third Order of St. Francis as her ordinary dress. She spent much time in prayer and visiting the sick. Four years later, with some of her children now married and younger ones under their care, Joachima confessed her desire to a priest to join a religious order. With his encouragement she established the Carmelite Sisters of Charity. In the midst of the fratricidal wars occurring at the time, Joachima was briefly imprisoned and, later, exiled to France for several years. Sickness ultimately compelled her to resign as superior of her order. Over the next four years she slowly succumbed to paralysis, which caused her to die by inches. At her death in 1854 at the age of 71, Joachima was known and admired for her high degree of prayer, deep trust in God and selfless charity. Comment:=C2 Joachima understands loss. She lost the home where her children grew up, her husband and, finally, her health. As the power to move and care for her own needs slowly ebbed away, this woman who had all her life cared for others became wholly dependent; she required help with life's simplest tasks. When our own lives go spinning out of control, when illness and bereavement and financial hardship strike, all we can do is cling to the belief that sustained Joachima: God watches over us always. Saint Quote: It behooves thee to be very careful, for thou livest under the eyes of the Judge who beholds all things. -- St. Bernard Bible Quote: Let your manners be without covetousness, contented with such things as you have. For he hath said: I will not leave thee: neither will I forsake thee.=C2 [Hebrews 13:5] DRB <><><><> LATE HAVE I LOVED YOU By St Augustine Late have I loved You, Beauty so ancient and so new, late have I loved You! Lo, you were within, but I outside, seeking there for You, and upon the shapely things You have made I rushed headlong =E2=80=93 I, misshapen. You were with me but I was not with You. They held me back far from You, those things which would have no being, were they not in You. You called, shouted, broke through my deafness. You flared, blazed, banished my blindness. You lavished Your fragrance, I gasped and now I pant for You; I tasted You and now I hunger and thirst; You touched me and I burned for Your peace. --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .