Feast Day: May 26^th | Priest, Second Apostle of Rome, Founder of Oratories of Secular Clergy | Imagery: Priestly garb, especially “Neri Style” Chasuble; Looking up to Heaven, Surrounded by saints, or children, White beard, Heart aflame, Holding lilies, Book, or Cruficix  | Patronage: Laughter, Comedians, Artists, Writers

Fr. Philip Neri’s final day was pretty typical for him: hearing confessions, celebrating Mass, engaging visitors in banter as well as spiritual conversation, living with brother priests in one of the oratories that he founded. And, it was Corpus Christi, the day on which the whole Church celebrates the Body and Blood of Christ! He had begun his walk after the Lord as the Council of Trent was radically calling all Christians, especially priests, back to holiness and a faithfulness to the truths of the faith. Philip was not yet a priest, but had already begun to meet with ardent laymen and women, talking about the faith, assisting the poor, going on excursions outside of Rome to visit the ancient churches (he restored the tradition of walking between the 7 most ancient of the cities churches, which stretched back to the first seven deacons of that city) and enjoy each other’s company over picnics and singing and praying together (he began the famous 40-hour devotions that continue to our day, when people sign up for shifts over an entire weekend to accompany Our Lord in Adoration of His presence in the Eucharist!)

He would bring this ardor, and joy, to his ministry as a priest as well. Often called the “Second Apostle of Rome” (after St. Peter himself, though of course St. Paul had also finished his life in the Eternal City), by his example and candor, Philip had brought so many people back to the practice of their faith, and a joyful practice of the faith, that he earned this astonishing title! One famous story comes to my mind that illustrates these characteristics and indicates his holiness.

As persecution against the Church raged in England (following Henry VIII’s defection from the Church having been refused an annulment of his valid marriage to Catherine of Aragon; though probably at the time of this story the persecution continued under Queen Elizabeth I), Fr. Philip would sit outside of his oratory greeting those that walked by, and each day the seminarians who had fled England to receive their formation elsewhere, and who were preparing in Rome to return to their persecuted homeland, would walk past on their way to class. The every-cheerful Philip would call out to the plucky young men “Salvete flores martyrum!” The phrase literally means “Greetings flowers of the martyrs!”, and I suspect would remind each of them the seriousness of their vocation! (The holy Philip had been asked by one of the first to go back to England for his blessing before that new priest strode into the jaws of death and apparently he took it as his work there in Rome to encourage the young men in the preparations for such a fate.)

That story is actually passed onto us by St. John Henry Newman, who would convert from Anglicanism to Catholicism some 300 years later in England, experiencing a very different kind of persecution there, one, at least, that didn’t lead to his death. It reminds me that each of us is given the precise grace we need to be God’s instrument in our lives. Philip didn’t head off to England to die a martyr’s death – God didn’t ask that of him – but perhaps those young priests that were called to the ultimate sacrifice, received just enough grace each morning to stay faithful each day to the Lord’s call to them.

– Fr. Dominic was ordained a priest on May 26^th, St. Philip Neri’s feast day. Many of the days while he was studying in Rome he walked past the Church where St. Philip is buried, Chiesa Nuovo and recalled one or more of the many wonderful stories told about the great saint. One final tale: to a person who confessed the sin of gossip, Philip asked for their penance that they tear open a feather pillow from the Church’s belltower … and then go and try to collect all the feathers. Detraction is similarly impossible to reverse! 

In February 2006, I stepped foot into a seminary for the first time.  I was attending a priesthood discernment retreat at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis with nearly 40 other young men.  There were many graces from that retreat, but one in particular comes to mind as I think back on that memorable weekend.  It happened on Friday night, the first night of the retreat.  After dinner, we went to the main chapel of the seminary for a time of Eucharistic Adoration.  What I did not realize at the time was that we were gathering to mark the beginning of a special devotion known as the 40 Hours Devotion.

The 40 Hours Devotion involves adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for 40 continuous hours, breaking only for the celebration of daily Mass.  We know that 40 is a significant number when it comes to our faith, so it is a fitting number of hours for this devotion.  During those hours, the men in the seminary would sign up in groups of two to spend an hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament, meaning that prayer was being offered that entire time.  The thought of that really struck me, and it was such a blessing to be able to stop in the chapel during the retreat to see Jesus present on the altar with two young men kneeling in front of Him in adoration.

Once I entered the seminary, this tradition continued.  My first year, one of my friends mentioned that he was going to sign up for a time in the middle of the night.  I thought that sounded a little difficult, but I decided to do likewise.  I went to bed early and rose with my alarm ten or so minutes before I needed to be in the chapel.  Myself and the other seminarian signed up for the 2 AM slot entered in and took our places.  I looked up at Jesus who was right in front of me and entered into the silence.  Before I knew it, I heard the footsteps of the next pair, coming to replace us!  The time flew by in a way that I had never experienced before.  From that point on, I tried to be one of the first in line to sign up for a slot so that I could claim one of those hours in the middle of the night.

From my experience of the 40 Hours Devotion while in seminary, I had always hoped this would be something that I could bring to a parish to which I would be assigned in the future.  I am happy to say that we hosted a 40 Hours Devotion two years ago in the days leading up to Pentecost.  After taking last year off, we are planning to bring 40 Hours back for the days leading up to the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, better known as Corpus Christi from June 9-11.  During that time, we will be inviting you to consider signing up for an hour with the Lord.  We will begin on Friday, June 9 with an Opening Mass at 5:15 PM and conclude with the celebration of the 10 AM Mass on Sunday, June 21, which will include a Eucharistic Procession in the nearby streets.  If you are trying to do the math, with breaks for Mass, that will leave us just short of 40 hours technically, but with daily masses being just 30 minutes, and the Sunday 7 AM usually not taking more than 45 minutes, we will be pretty close to 40 hours.

I plan to write more about 40 Hours in the next couple of weeks as we prepare for this beautiful devotion, but in the meantime, please mark your calendars for those days.  Beginning next weekend, we will have volunteers available after the masses so you can sign up.  We will also be sending out an email with information about how to sign up.

One final thing – do you remember how I asked the parish to add a 4^th Hail Mary during this Eucharistic Year?  Perhaps you can particularize that intention in these days, asking Mary’s intercessions that many will come to encounter her Son in this beautiful devotion.

Feast Day: May 17^th | Lay Franciscan Brother | Imagery: Robed as a Franciscan, Carrying or Worshipping the Eucharist, Surrounded by Sheep,

Poverty doesn’t guarantee you will become a saint, but Jesus was poor, and a whole lot of saints have learned sanctity in the school of scarcity. St. Paschal was one of them. He was born on the feast of Pentecost in 1540 to peasant parents in the Kingdom of Aragon in Spain. At that time, children were often given names based on the feast day on which they were born, and so, being born on the culmination of the season after Easter, the Baylón baby was named “Paschal”.

He would be a shepherd for most of his early life, spending much of his life out in the hills guiding and protecting his family’s flock. During those hours, having been given the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary (a collection of psalms, prayers, and hymns similar to the Divine Office that all priests and religious promise to pray), whenever he came across someone who could read, he would ask them to teach him another word or phrase, slowly learning how to pray the prayers that he carried with him everywhere. Already, he was noted to have a supernatural generosity, giving away part of his food to feed those poorer than himself, and an integrity and humility beyond that of his fellow shepherds.

Gradually these virtues allowed him to hear the gentle call of Christ to religious life. He was directed towards a number of well-endowed monasteries but having come to know Christ in his early poverty, Paschal knew to reject the attraction/temptation of a more comfortable road, not wanting to neglect where Christ had already been working in his heart. At the age of 25 he entered the Reformed Franciscans, discerning during his novitiate that the Lord was not calling him to priesthood but to the simple life of a Franciscan Lay Brother. He would spend a number of his years humbly manning the door, waiting for people to come by and attending to their needs. (Several saints held this same role in their communities!: Andre Bessette, John Masias, Charles of Sezze, Didacus of Alcala, Alphonsus Rodriguez, Benito Solana Ruiz, Bonaventure of Barcelona, and Bl. Solanus Casey. Don’t think that holding the door for someone or picking up the phone is not a path to sainthood!)

However, he was also entrusted with quite arduous labors, including a mission to the Calvinist and Huguenot heretics, attempting to renew in them their belief in Christ’s presence in the Blessed Sacrament. One could questions whether he was successful at this – given the mob that formed and almost killed him – but it seems that his measure of success was not that of this world, but perhaps that of God, because his own generosity, humility, and devotion to prayer before the Tabernacle, were undaunted by the rejection. He died of an illness in 1592, only 52 years old, and without many accomplishments that the world would count important – caring for sheep, praying for hours, kindness to all?? – but he was immediately acclaimed a saint, miracles were rampant at his tomb, and he is a patron saint of Eucharistic Congresses and Eucharistic Devotion. May he pray for us as we seek renewal in our own Eucharistic love! It seems that we probably should start with some kind of poverty…

– Fr. Dominic often looks for consolation in food. Example at hand: a piece of dark chocolate and a few tablespoons of peanut butter went into the composition of this article… But holiness is not going to be found there! St. Paschal points us towards the importance of feeling hungry at times – whether physically or in other ways – and then directing our hunger, our poverty, towards the Bread of Life. If we aren’t ever hungry, we won’t adequately appreciate Christ’s gift, and if we don’t fill our hunger with Heavenly Food, we’re apt to be stuck with chocolate and peanut butter for all eternity. (Which, I promise, will not satisfy us for very long.)