Subj : September 28th - Blessed Bernardino of Feltre To : All From : rich Date : Fri Sep 27 2019 08:32:51 From: rich September 28th - Blessed Bernardino of Feltre Also known as, Bernardine of Feltre, Bernardino of the Pawn Shops, Martin Tomitani (1439-1494) Italy in the 15th century was torn apart by rivalries, and the many petty states into which it was divided were almost constantly at war. The result was a widespread decay of morals and morale. If some sense of moral responsibility was restored, it was due largely to the preaching of home missions by Franciscan missionaries. One of the most notable of this band of Franciscan preachers was Blessed Bernardino of Feltre. Born Martin Tomitani, a brilliant youth of noble background, he encountered the =E2=80=9Cdog-eat-dog=E2=80=9D contemporary world when he= attended the university. Disgusted with the vanity, ambition, and money-grabbing he encountered, he decided in 1456 to enter the =E2=80=9CObservantine=E2=80=9D Franciscans, an austere branch of the Franci= scan friars. Bernardino was not enthusiastic when his superiors assigned him to the preaching of home missions. He found that his shortness of stature was against him (he was very small), and he was by nature timid and inclined to stammer. But when he asked his spiritual director about these failings, the director assured him that God would overcome his defects. God did. Bernardino devoted the rest of his life to preaching missions up and down the Italian peninsula. In all, he preached 3,600 times. He was tremendously popular because he spoke simply and called a spade a spade. The crowds that flocked to hear him were too large for the local churches, so he addressed them in the city squares and the fields. On one occasion the people of Crema were so enthralled by his words that 3,000 of them marched to nearby Lodi so that they could hear him again the next day. In addition to winning souls, he was able to reconcile quarreling groups. He was even invited to make peace between warring communities. Often, however, Bernardino saw that there could be no lasting reform so long as certain social abuses remained. At times, therefore, he urged the passing of legislation to correct public injustices. Of all the reforms that became connected with his name, the =E2=80=9CMonti = di Pieta=E2=80=9D were the most famous. In the Italy of his day, usury =E2=80= =93 that is, the charging of excessive interest for loans =E2=80=93 was rampant. A poor borrower was doomed to greater poverty every time he took out a loan. In 1484, Bernardino set up the first of many =E2=80=9CMonti di Pieta,=E2=80= =9D or =E2=80=9CPious pawnshops.=E2=80=9D At these banks, run by a joint committee= of clergy and laymen, those in need of cash could borrow at a very low rate of interest. Naturally, the professional usurers disliked the Friar's foundations, and used every means to prevent them and to discredit their founder. But some of these =E2=80=9CFunds of Piety=E2=80=9D have cont= inued in operation to our own day. An interesting proof that the Church can be practical as well as theoretical. At the end of each popular mission, Friar Bernardino, like many other missioners of his century, had a vast outdoor bonfire called =E2=80=9Cburni= ng the Devil's stronghold=E2=80=9D. Those who had been bettered by the= retreat were asked to throw into the fire all objects of vanity, occasions of sin, and the like. So they did, enthusiastically: playing cards, dice, pornographic books and pictures, jewelry, wigs, superstitious charms, cosmetics, and so forth. Maybe we could profit today by one of these rousing parish missions. They would not be likely to end in a bonfire of =E2=80=9Cvanities=E2=80=9D,= for times have changed. But if there was a bonfire for empty, worldly objects and for things that are occasions of sin, what would we toss into the flames? =E2=80=93Father Robert Quote: Who is going to save our Church?=C2 Not our bishops, not our priests and religious.=C2 It is up to you, the people.=C2 You have the minds, the eyes, the ears to save the Church.=C2 Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops like bishops and your religious act like religious. --Abp. Fulton J. Sheen Bible Quote =C2 Behold, he cometh with the clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also that pierced him. And all the tribes of the earth shall bewail themselves because of him. Even so. Amen. 8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.=C2 (Apoc. 1:7-8) DRB <><><><> O my Divine Savior, Transform me into Yourself. May my hands be the hands of Jesus. Grant that every faculty of my body May serve only to glorify Thee. Above all, Transform my soul and all its powers So that my memory, will and affection May be the memory, will and affections of Jesus. I pray Thee to destroy in me all that is not of Thee. Grant that I may live but in Thee, by Thee and for Thee, So that I may truly say, with Saint Paul, "I live--now not I--But Christ lives in me. --Saint John Gabriel Perboyre --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .