Venerable John Baptist Danei -Brother of St Paul of the Cross
Venerable John Baptist Danei- The brother of St Paul of the Cross and the second foundation stone of the Passionist Congregation by Glenn Dallaire
Ven. Father John Baptist Danei (John Baptist of St Michael the Archangel) was the brother and inseperable companion of St Paul of the Cross. Born in Ovada on April 4, 1695, only one year after Paul, they breathed the same family atmosphere, were constant companions, growing together in spirituality, praying together and doing penance together, almost as "one heart and one mind", although from a human perspective they did in fact have quite different personalities. While Paul was more outgoing and dynamic, John Baptist was more collected, reserved and quiet, preferring to remain in the “sidelight” of his holy brother Paul.
Nevertheless, his holiness became quite well known amongst the people, especially after the foundation of the Passionists congregation in which he helped to found together with his brother. In his humility he had a strong desire to remain hidden, and he begged the Lord to disappear to avoid veneration by the faithful. And outside of a few exceptions, God answered his prayer, both in life, and in death. For example, although he was initially buried in the Passionist church of Vetralla, his body was later hidden elsewhere for fear of sacrilegious desecration by soldiers during the French occupation of the Papal States. The author of concealment took with him to the grave the secret of the new burial location. Subsequent research, though accurate, has never yielded any results.
John Baptist completed his first studies in Ovada Cremolino, and it seems also in Campo Ligure in Genoa. While teenagers he and Paul fell into the river Tanaro, and nearly drowned before being miraculously saved by the Blessed Virgin Mary. He spent his adolescence and youth in penance and prayer, sleeping on bare boards, performing night vigils; his food was poor and frugal. He often traveled barefoot and wore rough, uncomfortable clothes, and his prayer, while kneeling, lasted for hours. His parents had to intervene against both him and Paul to reduce their excessive thirst for penance.
In 1720, his brother Paul of the Cross decided to travel alone to visit the Pope to seek the approval of the holy Congregation that he was being called to found. John the Baptist felt called to accompany him, but for some reason Paul denied him. John the Baptist replied prophetically: 'Go, but you will not stay long, nor have peace without me.’ And so it was; Paul made a fruitless journey to Rome, meeting obstacles at every turn, and he soon fell prey to profound sadness. Reflecting upon the situation, he then remembered the words of his holy brother, and he thus immediately returned home.
On November 28, 1721, together with Paul in the habit of a hermit, the two brothers make their first “retreat” together in the hermitage of Santo Stefano in Castellazzo Bormida (Alessandria). Then then travelled to Argentario in the hermitage of the Annunciation, where they remain for a few months, then they travel to Gaeta, Itri, Naples and Foggia. In 1726, they begin assisting the sick and the poor in S. Gallicano Hospital in Rome. On June 7, 1727, both brothers are together ordained priests in the Vatican Basilica by Pope Benedict XIII.
In February 1728, drawn and led by the Holy Spirit, they leave their charity work at the hospital and return to Monte Argentario in the hermitage of San Antonio. At this time they live in a rustic barn, and are deprived of everything, completely entrusted to the providence of God, and guided by the Holy Spirit. Here the holy brothers together express their ardent love for God. Concerning this time in the barn, Paul later writes “It often rained upon us, yet we were very happy."
It is Father John Baptist who directs the work to build the first house of the new religious congregation (Passionists) on Mount Argentario, near the hermitage in which he and Paul are living. Given its location on a mountain, there was no water to be found in that place. John the Baptist prayed, then began searching, and miraculously discovers a spring of water needed for the new building, Soon afterwards, St. Michael the Archangel appears to protect the new building by a few individuals have come at night to destroy it. In gratitude to the Archangel St Michael for his protection, John the Baptist takes the name “John the Baptist of St Michael the Archangel” and he dedicated the altar in the new church (monastery) to the Holy Archangel. And so through these events of the founding and establishment of the Passionist Congregation, we can see that John the Baptist was indeed a pillar of the congregation, who in his quiet humility has managed to remain quite often in the shadows.
In April, 1741, Paul finally obtained the approval of the rule and religious vows for the Passionist Congregation, which grew in number under the holy guidance of Paul and John Baptist. In 1744, John the Baptist was given the task of caring for the new retreat (monastery) in Vetralla (Viterbo), where along with being the General Consultor of the Congregation, confessor and spiritual director of his brother Paul, he was also primarily responsible for the education of young people. He stayed there for 21 years until his death.
Together with his brother Paul, Father John Baptist Danei was in great demand for giving Spiritual Exercises to Priests and Nuns, and Missions to the people. A most knowledgeable and humble man, John Baptist preached in simple “meat and potatoes” style, free from exaulted language, going straight to the heart of the matter. In the congregation, he was nicknamed Elijah for his extraordinary zeal and fervor in preaching the Word of God. In fact, the Word of God in Scripture was his food since he was young boy, and quite often the subject of his daily meditations. Concerning his knowledge of Holy Scripture his biographer writes: "He often quoted the appropriate Scriptures so well and with such accuracy that it became obvious that he knew them by heart”. He also knew very well the Fathers of the Church, and the doctrines of Councils. Always eager to avoid congratulations of any kind, he constantly strived to return to the monastery immediately upon completion of the missions, to return to his solitude and loving contemplation of God.
For us today, his penances seem incomprehensible. The rugged solitude and quiet of the monasteries at Monte Argentario and Vetralla (Viterbo) were often torn by
his scourges with which he disciplined his body. His fasts, night vigils and other mortifications were very severe. However, while with himself he was strict and uncompromising, with everyone else he was always accommodating, caring and friendly, especially with the young students and seminarians who said he was "a real affectionate father”. All the harsh austerity was reserved for himself alone, but for his subjects he was very meek and mild. The one exception was with his brother Paul, whom he was very strict in regards to penances and sacrifices.
Spiritual director and confessor of St Paul of the Cross and General Consultor of the new Passionist Congregation
Throughout his entire Priestly life he was Paul’s spiritual director and confessor, and with his intimate knowledge of his holy brother, he was Gods instrument in directing Paul to the extraordinary degree of holiness to which he was called to. Additionally, Paul elected him the General Consultor of the Congregation, making him the “spiritual Father” of the fledgling Congregation during its difficult time of its foundations and early growth, along with the later foundation of the Passionist nuns.. He was for everyone a safe and prudent adviser. Paul had a deep admiration for his brothers austere holiness and spirituality and entrusted him not only with his own spiritual growth (as spiritual director and confessor) but also as the true guide for the whole Congregation during its difficult early years. At his death, in his great loss and anguish St Paul said "I am now an orphan and alone, without a father. Who will correct me now? Who will notify me of my faults? ".
The holy gift of tears
Courageous and strong, Father John Baptist Danei did not succumb to human respect in regards to duty or sin. Once, he criticized the Priest secretary of a bishop for not wearing his vestments of a Priest. One would think that through his extreme penances, austerities and mortifications that he would be primarily a strict disciplinarian, however more often than not one would see and experience his compassionate and caring demeneanor. Giovanni Battista Danei had the gift of ecstasy and tears, weeping especially for the sins and moral evils of the clergy and the Church, for which his brother Paul says "he cried bowls of tears and the constant cry has furrowed his cheeks ... he has as two canals in his cheeks.” Those tears to express the feeling of his heart, eyewitnesses claimed that the morning his pillow was soaked with tears, made during the night. Father John Baptist had the gift of ecstasy and the singular gift of tears. He cried for the hardness of heart of stony men's lack of love of the Crucified One. He cried at the continuing difficulties of the nascent Congregation. He cried because he feels compassion and is overwhelmed by the love of a God crucified. St Paul of the Cross writes: "I see John Baptist crying constantly and sometimes I see him hiding to avoid being seen by me. But even streaked with tears his face retains the most amiable serenity of paradise.”
The holy death of Father John Baptist Danei
In July 1765 he developed a disease that appeared not to be serious, but he had the feeling that it will lead to his death. And Paul was enlightened by God during the Celebration of Mass of impending death of his brother. Paul and all the members of the Congregation assisted Father John Baptist with loving care and affection. Paul stayed especially close to him, as the two slept in adjoining rooms. However, more often than not it was Paul who was comforted by John Baptist, because Paul was heartbroken at the thought of the loss of his dear brother, inseparable companion, confessor and spiritual guide. On August 27, he received the last sacraments with fervor and he blesses the Congregation. On Friday August 30 at 10:00pm Father John the Baptist dies a holy death surrounded by the religious community. Paul immediately sings the Salve Regina joined in by all the religious accompanying him. The next morning in the celebration of Mass Paul is overwhelmed by tears at the great loss of his holy brother. It became necessary to place attendants to guard the body to keep watch over the crowd who greatly desired a relic of the holy Priest. Paul wrote a summary of his holy life and placed it on the tomb.
Immediately after the death of Father John Baptist people came forward with graces and miracles obtained through his intercession, especially through the contact with his relics objects that belonged to him. Perhaps because of his great humility, reserve, and constant desire to remain in the background, the process for canonization began only much later.
Concerning the great esteem of his brother St Paul of the Cross writes “That holy man of my brother was so spiritual, that he never needed an incentive to run along the path of the divine commandments. I am not worthy to be called his brother ". The Passionist brethren loved him and venerated him as a "living mirror of all virtues" and an authentic model of Passionist spirituality and asceticism. Between the two brothers there was perfect agreement even if the characters were not equal; ,they were in fact complementary---Outgoing and friendly Paul with the collected and reserved John the Baptist. A singular brotherhood of blood and of spirit!
Father John Baptist of St Michael the Archangel was the spiritual guide and model of the new Passionist Congregation. He has always been considered the "second foundation stone”. Trying to establish which of them was more important in the foundation of the Passionist Congregation is like trying to determine which is most important in a building—the foundations or the walls.
Concerning him we are left with the comforting testimony of Paul.- “With a holy death
corresponding to his holy life, my holy brother flew from his poor mattress to sing in paradise. Father John Baptist is a saint, and I know. " Indeed holiness is something that Paul himself knew about.
John Baptist Danei’s cause for canonization was introduced on December 10, 1930. He was declared "Venerable" on August 7, 1940 by Pope Pius XII. The feastday of Ven John Baptist Danei is August 30.
~Venerable John Baptist Danei, pray for us!
Ven. Father John Baptist Danei (John Baptist of St Michael the Archangel) was the brother and inseperable companion of St Paul of the Cross. Born in Ovada on April 4, 1695, only one year after Paul, they breathed the same family atmosphere, were constant companions, growing together in spirituality, praying together and doing penance together, almost as "one heart and one mind", although from a human perspective they did in fact have quite different personalities. While Paul was more outgoing and dynamic, John Baptist was more collected, reserved and quiet, preferring to remain in the “sidelight” of his holy brother Paul.
Nevertheless, his holiness became quite well known amongst the people, especially after the foundation of the Passionists congregation in which he helped to found together with his brother. In his humility he had a strong desire to remain hidden, and he begged the Lord to disappear to avoid veneration by the faithful. And outside of a few exceptions, God answered his prayer, both in life, and in death. For example, although he was initially buried in the Passionist church of Vetralla, his body was later hidden elsewhere for fear of sacrilegious desecration by soldiers during the French occupation of the Papal States. The author of concealment took with him to the grave the secret of the new burial location. Subsequent research, though accurate, has never yielded any results.
John Baptist completed his first studies in Ovada Cremolino, and it seems also in Campo Ligure in Genoa. While teenagers he and Paul fell into the river Tanaro, and nearly drowned before being miraculously saved by the Blessed Virgin Mary. He spent his adolescence and youth in penance and prayer, sleeping on bare boards, performing night vigils; his food was poor and frugal. He often traveled barefoot and wore rough, uncomfortable clothes, and his prayer, while kneeling, lasted for hours. His parents had to intervene against both him and Paul to reduce their excessive thirst for penance.
In 1720, his brother Paul of the Cross decided to travel alone to visit the Pope to seek the approval of the holy Congregation that he was being called to found. John the Baptist felt called to accompany him, but for some reason Paul denied him. John the Baptist replied prophetically: 'Go, but you will not stay long, nor have peace without me.’ And so it was; Paul made a fruitless journey to Rome, meeting obstacles at every turn, and he soon fell prey to profound sadness. Reflecting upon the situation, he then remembered the words of his holy brother, and he thus immediately returned home.
On November 28, 1721, together with Paul in the habit of a hermit, the two brothers make their first “retreat” together in the hermitage of Santo Stefano in Castellazzo Bormida (Alessandria). Then then travelled to Argentario in the hermitage of the Annunciation, where they remain for a few months, then they travel to Gaeta, Itri, Naples and Foggia. In 1726, they begin assisting the sick and the poor in S. Gallicano Hospital in Rome. On June 7, 1727, both brothers are together ordained priests in the Vatican Basilica by Pope Benedict XIII.
In February 1728, drawn and led by the Holy Spirit, they leave their charity work at the hospital and return to Monte Argentario in the hermitage of San Antonio. At this time they live in a rustic barn, and are deprived of everything, completely entrusted to the providence of God, and guided by the Holy Spirit. Here the holy brothers together express their ardent love for God. Concerning this time in the barn, Paul later writes “It often rained upon us, yet we were very happy."
It is Father John Baptist who directs the work to build the first house of the new religious congregation (Passionists) on Mount Argentario, near the hermitage in which he and Paul are living. Given its location on a mountain, there was no water to be found in that place. John the Baptist prayed, then began searching, and miraculously discovers a spring of water needed for the new building, Soon afterwards, St. Michael the Archangel appears to protect the new building by a few individuals have come at night to destroy it. In gratitude to the Archangel St Michael for his protection, John the Baptist takes the name “John the Baptist of St Michael the Archangel” and he dedicated the altar in the new church (monastery) to the Holy Archangel. And so through these events of the founding and establishment of the Passionist Congregation, we can see that John the Baptist was indeed a pillar of the congregation, who in his quiet humility has managed to remain quite often in the shadows.
In April, 1741, Paul finally obtained the approval of the rule and religious vows for the Passionist Congregation, which grew in number under the holy guidance of Paul and John Baptist. In 1744, John the Baptist was given the task of caring for the new retreat (monastery) in Vetralla (Viterbo), where along with being the General Consultor of the Congregation, confessor and spiritual director of his brother Paul, he was also primarily responsible for the education of young people. He stayed there for 21 years until his death.
Together with his brother Paul, Father John Baptist Danei was in great demand for giving Spiritual Exercises to Priests and Nuns, and Missions to the people. A most knowledgeable and humble man, John Baptist preached in simple “meat and potatoes” style, free from exaulted language, going straight to the heart of the matter. In the congregation, he was nicknamed Elijah for his extraordinary zeal and fervor in preaching the Word of God. In fact, the Word of God in Scripture was his food since he was young boy, and quite often the subject of his daily meditations. Concerning his knowledge of Holy Scripture his biographer writes: "He often quoted the appropriate Scriptures so well and with such accuracy that it became obvious that he knew them by heart”. He also knew very well the Fathers of the Church, and the doctrines of Councils. Always eager to avoid congratulations of any kind, he constantly strived to return to the monastery immediately upon completion of the missions, to return to his solitude and loving contemplation of God.For us today, his penances seem incomprehensible. The rugged solitude and quiet of the monasteries at Monte Argentario and Vetralla (Viterbo) were often torn by
his scourges with which he disciplined his body. His fasts, night vigils and other mortifications were very severe. However, while with himself he was strict and uncompromising, with everyone else he was always accommodating, caring and friendly, especially with the young students and seminarians who said he was "a real affectionate father”. All the harsh austerity was reserved for himself alone, but for his subjects he was very meek and mild. The one exception was with his brother Paul, whom he was very strict in regards to penances and sacrifices.
Spiritual director and confessor of St Paul of the Cross and General Consultor of the new Passionist Congregation
Throughout his entire Priestly life he was Paul’s spiritual director and confessor, and with his intimate knowledge of his holy brother, he was Gods instrument in directing Paul to the extraordinary degree of holiness to which he was called to. Additionally, Paul elected him the General Consultor of the Congregation, making him the “spiritual Father” of the fledgling Congregation during its difficult time of its foundations and early growth, along with the later foundation of the Passionist nuns.. He was for everyone a safe and prudent adviser. Paul had a deep admiration for his brothers austere holiness and spirituality and entrusted him not only with his own spiritual growth (as spiritual director and confessor) but also as the true guide for the whole Congregation during its difficult early years. At his death, in his great loss and anguish St Paul said "I am now an orphan and alone, without a father. Who will correct me now? Who will notify me of my faults? ".
The holy gift of tears
Courageous and strong, Father John Baptist Danei did not succumb to human respect in regards to duty or sin. Once, he criticized the Priest secretary of a bishop for not wearing his vestments of a Priest. One would think that through his extreme penances, austerities and mortifications that he would be primarily a strict disciplinarian, however more often than not one would see and experience his compassionate and caring demeneanor. Giovanni Battista Danei had the gift of ecstasy and tears, weeping especially for the sins and moral evils of the clergy and the Church, for which his brother Paul says "he cried bowls of tears and the constant cry has furrowed his cheeks ... he has as two canals in his cheeks.” Those tears to express the feeling of his heart, eyewitnesses claimed that the morning his pillow was soaked with tears, made during the night. Father John Baptist had the gift of ecstasy and the singular gift of tears. He cried for the hardness of heart of stony men's lack of love of the Crucified One. He cried at the continuing difficulties of the nascent Congregation. He cried because he feels compassion and is overwhelmed by the love of a God crucified. St Paul of the Cross writes: "I see John Baptist crying constantly and sometimes I see him hiding to avoid being seen by me. But even streaked with tears his face retains the most amiable serenity of paradise.”
The holy death of Father John Baptist Danei
In July 1765 he developed a disease that appeared not to be serious, but he had the feeling that it will lead to his death. And Paul was enlightened by God during the Celebration of Mass of impending death of his brother. Paul and all the members of the Congregation assisted Father John Baptist with loving care and affection. Paul stayed especially close to him, as the two slept in adjoining rooms. However, more often than not it was Paul who was comforted by John Baptist, because Paul was heartbroken at the thought of the loss of his dear brother, inseparable companion, confessor and spiritual guide. On August 27, he received the last sacraments with fervor and he blesses the Congregation. On Friday August 30 at 10:00pm Father John the Baptist dies a holy death surrounded by the religious community. Paul immediately sings the Salve Regina joined in by all the religious accompanying him. The next morning in the celebration of Mass Paul is overwhelmed by tears at the great loss of his holy brother. It became necessary to place attendants to guard the body to keep watch over the crowd who greatly desired a relic of the holy Priest. Paul wrote a summary of his holy life and placed it on the tomb.
Immediately after the death of Father John Baptist people came forward with graces and miracles obtained through his intercession, especially through the contact with his relics objects that belonged to him. Perhaps because of his great humility, reserve, and constant desire to remain in the background, the process for canonization began only much later.
Concerning the great esteem of his brother St Paul of the Cross writes “That holy man of my brother was so spiritual, that he never needed an incentive to run along the path of the divine commandments. I am not worthy to be called his brother ". The Passionist brethren loved him and venerated him as a "living mirror of all virtues" and an authentic model of Passionist spirituality and asceticism. Between the two brothers there was perfect agreement even if the characters were not equal; ,they were in fact complementary---Outgoing and friendly Paul with the collected and reserved John the Baptist. A singular brotherhood of blood and of spirit!
Father John Baptist of St Michael the Archangel was the spiritual guide and model of the new Passionist Congregation. He has always been considered the "second foundation stone”. Trying to establish which of them was more important in the foundation of the Passionist Congregation is like trying to determine which is most important in a building—the foundations or the walls.
Concerning him we are left with the comforting testimony of Paul.- “With a holy death
corresponding to his holy life, my holy brother flew from his poor mattress to sing in paradise. Father John Baptist is a saint, and I know. " Indeed holiness is something that Paul himself knew about.
John Baptist Danei’s cause for canonization was introduced on December 10, 1930. He was declared "Venerable" on August 7, 1940 by Pope Pius XII. The feastday of Ven John Baptist Danei is August 30.
~Venerable John Baptist Danei, pray for us!
How to be Holy in the words of St Paul of the Cross
Summary of Christian Holiness in the words of Saint Paul of the Cross
THE PASSION
The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ is the shortest way to perfection. The life of Christ was but a continuous cross. God confers a great honor on us when He calls us to walk the same path as His only Son.
If you correspond to the designs of God, He will make a saint of you. Be generous, and remember that we ought to walk in the footsteps of Jesus crucified. The servant of God who is not crucified
with Jesus Christ, what is he? He is unworthy of divine contemplation who has not fought and conquered some great temptation. God has suffered much for me ; ought I not suffer something for Him?
THE EUCHARIST
Holy Communion is the most efficacious means of uniting the soul to God. The best preparation for the divine banquet is to keep ourselves well purified, and to watch over our tongue, which is the first member that touches the sacred Host. On the day that we receive Holy Communion we should endeavor to keep our hearts as living tabernacles of our eucharistic Jesus, and then visit
Him often with acts of adoration, love, and gratitude; this is what divine love will teach us.
When a prince sends one of his ministers to a distant country, he provides him with all that is necessary for safely reaching his destination: the Lord, my God and my Father, has given me, as
my viaticum (food for the journey), His only Son.
PRAYER
Prayer is the sure way that leads to holiness. Alas! we easily enter on the road to perdition when we neglect prayer. The prayer which humbles the soul, which inflames her with love and excites her to the practice of virtue, is never subject to illusion.
In prayer the soul is united to God through love, He who, on account of the duties of his state of life, cannot devote much time to prayer, need not be troubled; the exact fulfilment of his duties, with a pure intention, having only God in view, is an excellent prayer.
THE PRESENCE OF GOD
By habitually thinking of the presence of God, we succeed in praying twenty-four hours a day.
The continual remembrance of the presence of God engenders in the soul a divine state.
SIN
How can we sin with the cross of Jesus before our eyes!
FAITH
Walk in faith. The true way of holiness is the way of faith. He who walks in pure faith abandons himself into the hands of God, as a child in its mother's arms.
HOPE
Hope is obligatory. I must, then, hope for my salvation. When our sins frighten us, and we fear lest we should be damned, let us think of the merits of Jesus crucified, and hope will reanimate our spirit. Let us firmly trust that, through the infinite merits of Christ's Passion and the dolors of Mary, we shall forever sing the mercies of the Most High.
CHARITY TOWARDS GOD
The love of God is a jealous love. One atom of irregular affection for creatures suffices to ruin everything. He who would become a great saint must labor that God alone may live in him. He will have attained this end when he performs all his actions for the love of God, in union with those of Christ, Who is our way, our truth, and our life. The heart of the true servant of God ought to be an altar whereon is daily offered the gold of charity, the incense of continual and humble prayer, and the myrrh of incessant mortification.
In hell, never to see God, ever to be deprived of God,! Oh, what a dreadful necessity to hate Him eternally, Who has loved us from all eternity! Always keep the fire of charity burning on the altar of your heart.
CHARITY TOWARDS OUR NEIGHBOR
He who considers, in the light of faith and in the Heart of our divine Redeemer, the priceless value of souls, spares neither labor, nor suffering, nor perils, to aid and help them in their spiritual needs.
Let your heart be full of compassion for the poor, and lovingly assist them, because the name of Jesus is engraven on their countenance. When you have not the means of helping your neighbor, recommend him fervently to God, Whose sovereign dominion holds all creatures in His hand.
Counsels gently given heal every wound, but given with sharpness only serve to aggravate it tenfold.
Be gentle in your actions; speak with a peaceful mind and in a calm tone, and you will succeed better. Poverty is good, but charity is better.
POVERTY
Poverty, so much abhorred by the world, is a precious pearl, and in the sight of God contains all wealth. Oh, what happiness we find in a community life! A precious treasure is enclosed in a community life.
My crucified Jesus, I protest that I desire not the things of the earth; for Thou alone suffice for me, Thou alone, my God and my All!
CHASTITY
In order to preserve holy purity it is necessary to love it much, to distrust one's self, to be cautious with all -in a word, it is necessary to fear and to fly. To him who loves holy purity conversations with persons of the opposite sex always appear long and fatiguing, however short they be.
Prayer, pious reading, the frequentation of the sacraments, and, especially, the shunning of idleness, are the guardians of holy purity. He who does not mortify his palate will neither know how to mortify his flesh.
How pure and stainless should be the heart on which is written the most holy name of Jesus!
OBEDIENCE
When there is question of obeying, we must bow our head. Let us put ourselves so entirely into the hands of our superiors that they can do with us what they will, provided they enjoin nothing
opposed to the divine law. Unless we act thus, we can never taste the sweetness of God's service.
Desire, as the deer panting for the waters, to have your will broken, and regard that day as lost on which you have not subjected your will to that of another.
The more obedient you are, the more tranquil and indifferent will you be as to employments that may be assigned to you. He who is truly obedient will be better disposed and more capable to aid, by his prayers, holy Church and the religious order to which he may belong; for Jesus hears the prayer of those who are obedient.
HUMILITY
The least grain of pride is sufficient to overturn a mountain of holiness; allow yourself, therefore, to be penetrated by a deep sense of your own misery. Be dead to all that is not God; keep yourself detached from every creature, in perfect interior solitude. All this will be easy to you if you make yourself little, for God loves childlike souls, and teaches them that exalted wisdom which is hidden from the wise of this world.
THE WILL OF GOD
Let us desire nothing so much as the good pleasure of God. As soon as we know the will of God,
we ought to follow it without delay. When our pious undertakings meet with little success, let us not be troubled; when God wills anything to be done for His glory He will not fail to urge on the work until it is accomplished.
CONFIDENCE IN GOD
If our salvation depended only on ourselves, we should have much to fear; but as it is in the hands of God, we can tranquilly repose in Him. He that rises after his falls, with confidence in God and profound humility of heart, will become, in God's hands, a proper instrument for the accomplishment of great things; but he who acts otherwise can never do any good.
Let us never despair of the divine help; we would thereby do a serious injustice to the Father of mercies.
We must watch over ourselves. We must have the most filial confidence in Our Saviour, in our blessed Mother, in the angels and saints; but as for men, we must avoid them: this is the advice
of the angel to St. Arsenius. Have courage; be assured that God will never abandon you, but will always assist you and give you what is needful.
Look at St. Teresa: obstacles served only to inflame her ardor in the establishment of her monasteries; opposition was to her a preview of the glory that works thus combated give to
God.
LOVE OF SUFFERINGS
The soul is a seed which God sows in the field of the Church; to produce fruits, it must die under the strokes of pains, sorrows, contradictions, and persecutions.
The greater our cross, the greater is our gain; the more deprived suffering is of consolation, the purer is it; the more creatures are against us, the more closely united are we to God.
He who truly loves God regards as little what he suffers for God's sake.
In your trials, have recourse to Mary, and She will remedy them.
Do you know why God subjects you to so many miseries? That He may bestow on you the riches of heaven.
Suffering is brief; joy will be eternal.
Let us fear more to be deprived of sufferings than a miser fears to lose his
treasures.
Sufferings are the pearls of Jesus crucified....It happens sometimes that the lightning rends a mountain and discloses therein a mine of treasures. So, also, the thunderbolts of adversity bring forth a gold-mine in certain souls.
DETACHMENT FROM SELF
Happy the soul that is detached from self-satisfaction, from her own will, from her own sentiments!
Self-love is a dragon with seven heads; it seeks to insert them everywhere; hence we must always fear it, and guard ourselves agamst it. Esteem what belongs to another, and despise what belongs to yourself.
We must persuade ourselves that we are nothing, that we can do nothing, that we know nothing. To have nothing, to be able to do nothing, to know nothing! and God will cause to spring from this nothingness the work of His greatest glory.
DEATH
Whenever death inspires me with fear, I dissipate it immediately in the Passion of my Redeemer.
In reality, to die is sweet, rather than bitter. Death is but the deprivation of life, which is taken from us by the same God Who gave it.
I accept death willingly. He who is guilty of high treason should die; I am guilty, therefore it is just that I die.
After a momentary suffering, divine mercy reserves for you endless joy. Tell me: what would you like to do if you were you to die at this moment? Would you have lived in luxury, which usually leads to grievous sins, and be cast into hell, or would you rather have led a poor life, and then wing your flight to heaven?
THE PASSION
The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ is the shortest way to perfection. The life of Christ was but a continuous cross. God confers a great honor on us when He calls us to walk the same path as His only Son.
If you correspond to the designs of God, He will make a saint of you. Be generous, and remember that we ought to walk in the footsteps of Jesus crucified. The servant of God who is not crucified
with Jesus Christ, what is he? He is unworthy of divine contemplation who has not fought and conquered some great temptation. God has suffered much for me ; ought I not suffer something for Him?
THE EUCHARIST
Holy Communion is the most efficacious means of uniting the soul to God. The best preparation for the divine banquet is to keep ourselves well purified, and to watch over our tongue, which is the first member that touches the sacred Host. On the day that we receive Holy Communion we should endeavor to keep our hearts as living tabernacles of our eucharistic Jesus, and then visit
Him often with acts of adoration, love, and gratitude; this is what divine love will teach us.
When a prince sends one of his ministers to a distant country, he provides him with all that is necessary for safely reaching his destination: the Lord, my God and my Father, has given me, as
my viaticum (food for the journey), His only Son.
PRAYER
Prayer is the sure way that leads to holiness. Alas! we easily enter on the road to perdition when we neglect prayer. The prayer which humbles the soul, which inflames her with love and excites her to the practice of virtue, is never subject to illusion.
In prayer the soul is united to God through love, He who, on account of the duties of his state of life, cannot devote much time to prayer, need not be troubled; the exact fulfilment of his duties, with a pure intention, having only God in view, is an excellent prayer.
THE PRESENCE OF GOD
By habitually thinking of the presence of God, we succeed in praying twenty-four hours a day.
The continual remembrance of the presence of God engenders in the soul a divine state.
SIN
How can we sin with the cross of Jesus before our eyes!
FAITH
Walk in faith. The true way of holiness is the way of faith. He who walks in pure faith abandons himself into the hands of God, as a child in its mother's arms.
HOPE
Hope is obligatory. I must, then, hope for my salvation. When our sins frighten us, and we fear lest we should be damned, let us think of the merits of Jesus crucified, and hope will reanimate our spirit. Let us firmly trust that, through the infinite merits of Christ's Passion and the dolors of Mary, we shall forever sing the mercies of the Most High.
CHARITY TOWARDS GOD
The love of God is a jealous love. One atom of irregular affection for creatures suffices to ruin everything. He who would become a great saint must labor that God alone may live in him. He will have attained this end when he performs all his actions for the love of God, in union with those of Christ, Who is our way, our truth, and our life. The heart of the true servant of God ought to be an altar whereon is daily offered the gold of charity, the incense of continual and humble prayer, and the myrrh of incessant mortification.
In hell, never to see God, ever to be deprived of God,! Oh, what a dreadful necessity to hate Him eternally, Who has loved us from all eternity! Always keep the fire of charity burning on the altar of your heart.
CHARITY TOWARDS OUR NEIGHBOR
He who considers, in the light of faith and in the Heart of our divine Redeemer, the priceless value of souls, spares neither labor, nor suffering, nor perils, to aid and help them in their spiritual needs.
Let your heart be full of compassion for the poor, and lovingly assist them, because the name of Jesus is engraven on their countenance. When you have not the means of helping your neighbor, recommend him fervently to God, Whose sovereign dominion holds all creatures in His hand.
Counsels gently given heal every wound, but given with sharpness only serve to aggravate it tenfold.
Be gentle in your actions; speak with a peaceful mind and in a calm tone, and you will succeed better. Poverty is good, but charity is better.
POVERTY
Poverty, so much abhorred by the world, is a precious pearl, and in the sight of God contains all wealth. Oh, what happiness we find in a community life! A precious treasure is enclosed in a community life.
My crucified Jesus, I protest that I desire not the things of the earth; for Thou alone suffice for me, Thou alone, my God and my All!
CHASTITY
In order to preserve holy purity it is necessary to love it much, to distrust one's self, to be cautious with all -in a word, it is necessary to fear and to fly. To him who loves holy purity conversations with persons of the opposite sex always appear long and fatiguing, however short they be.
Prayer, pious reading, the frequentation of the sacraments, and, especially, the shunning of idleness, are the guardians of holy purity. He who does not mortify his palate will neither know how to mortify his flesh.
How pure and stainless should be the heart on which is written the most holy name of Jesus!
OBEDIENCE
When there is question of obeying, we must bow our head. Let us put ourselves so entirely into the hands of our superiors that they can do with us what they will, provided they enjoin nothing
opposed to the divine law. Unless we act thus, we can never taste the sweetness of God's service.
Desire, as the deer panting for the waters, to have your will broken, and regard that day as lost on which you have not subjected your will to that of another.
The more obedient you are, the more tranquil and indifferent will you be as to employments that may be assigned to you. He who is truly obedient will be better disposed and more capable to aid, by his prayers, holy Church and the religious order to which he may belong; for Jesus hears the prayer of those who are obedient.
HUMILITY
The least grain of pride is sufficient to overturn a mountain of holiness; allow yourself, therefore, to be penetrated by a deep sense of your own misery. Be dead to all that is not God; keep yourself detached from every creature, in perfect interior solitude. All this will be easy to you if you make yourself little, for God loves childlike souls, and teaches them that exalted wisdom which is hidden from the wise of this world.
THE WILL OF GOD
Let us desire nothing so much as the good pleasure of God. As soon as we know the will of God,
we ought to follow it without delay. When our pious undertakings meet with little success, let us not be troubled; when God wills anything to be done for His glory He will not fail to urge on the work until it is accomplished.
CONFIDENCE IN GOD
If our salvation depended only on ourselves, we should have much to fear; but as it is in the hands of God, we can tranquilly repose in Him. He that rises after his falls, with confidence in God and profound humility of heart, will become, in God's hands, a proper instrument for the accomplishment of great things; but he who acts otherwise can never do any good.
Let us never despair of the divine help; we would thereby do a serious injustice to the Father of mercies.
We must watch over ourselves. We must have the most filial confidence in Our Saviour, in our blessed Mother, in the angels and saints; but as for men, we must avoid them: this is the advice
of the angel to St. Arsenius. Have courage; be assured that God will never abandon you, but will always assist you and give you what is needful.
Look at St. Teresa: obstacles served only to inflame her ardor in the establishment of her monasteries; opposition was to her a preview of the glory that works thus combated give to
God.
LOVE OF SUFFERINGS
The soul is a seed which God sows in the field of the Church; to produce fruits, it must die under the strokes of pains, sorrows, contradictions, and persecutions.
The greater our cross, the greater is our gain; the more deprived suffering is of consolation, the purer is it; the more creatures are against us, the more closely united are we to God.
He who truly loves God regards as little what he suffers for God's sake.
In your trials, have recourse to Mary, and She will remedy them.
Do you know why God subjects you to so many miseries? That He may bestow on you the riches of heaven.
Suffering is brief; joy will be eternal.
Let us fear more to be deprived of sufferings than a miser fears to lose his
treasures.
Sufferings are the pearls of Jesus crucified....It happens sometimes that the lightning rends a mountain and discloses therein a mine of treasures. So, also, the thunderbolts of adversity bring forth a gold-mine in certain souls.
DETACHMENT FROM SELF
Happy the soul that is detached from self-satisfaction, from her own will, from her own sentiments!
Self-love is a dragon with seven heads; it seeks to insert them everywhere; hence we must always fear it, and guard ourselves agamst it. Esteem what belongs to another, and despise what belongs to yourself.
We must persuade ourselves that we are nothing, that we can do nothing, that we know nothing. To have nothing, to be able to do nothing, to know nothing! and God will cause to spring from this nothingness the work of His greatest glory.
DEATH
Whenever death inspires me with fear, I dissipate it immediately in the Passion of my Redeemer.
In reality, to die is sweet, rather than bitter. Death is but the deprivation of life, which is taken from us by the same God Who gave it.
I accept death willingly. He who is guilty of high treason should die; I am guilty, therefore it is just that I die.
After a momentary suffering, divine mercy reserves for you endless joy. Tell me: what would you like to do if you were you to die at this moment? Would you have lived in luxury, which usually leads to grievous sins, and be cast into hell, or would you rather have led a poor life, and then wing your flight to heaven?
"Oh Jesus, my Sovereign Good, what were the sentiments of Your most holy Heart when You were scourged? Oh dear Spouse of my soul, how greatly did the sight of my sins and my ingratitude afflict Thee! my Love! I wish that I could die for Thee!" -St Paul of the Cross
Rome-Vatican-Pope reaches out to Anglicans on the feast of St Paul of the Cross
The Catholic Church reaches out to Anglicans on the Feast of St Paul of the Cross, October 20, 2009
A discussion of the timing of the offer of reconciliation from the Pope to the Anglican Church.
In a extraordinary offer to the members of the Anglican Communion, the Vatican announced on Tuesday Oct 20, the Feast of St Paul of the Cross, that it is establishing a special arrangement that will allow Anglicans to join the Catholic Church while preserving much of their liturgy and spiritual heritage, including an open invitation to its priests who are currently married.
The Anglican Church was formed in 1534, when England's King Henry VIII was denied a marriage annulment, and proceeded to initiate a formal break from the Catholic Church. In more recent times, Anglicans and Catholics have made attempts to reconcile, but Tuesday's move is an extraordinary leap in the reunion of the Anglican Communion with the Catholic Church.
In establishing the new structure offered to the Anglicans, Pope Benedict XVI is responding to "many requests" from individual Anglicans and Anglican groups -- including "20 to 30 bishops," said Cardinal William J. Levada, head of the Vatican's Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith.
The timing of the offer
The official declaration was on October 20, the feast day of Saint Paul of the Cross, as celebrated in the USA (Oct 19th in the Universal Church). Though Saint Paul spent his life in Italy, the Catholic Encyclopedia entry for St Paul of the Cross states that "For fifty years he prayed for the conversion of England, and left the devotion as a legacy to his sons."
In 1720 St Paul of the Cross made a 40 day private retreat alone in preparation for beginning his religious life. During this time of extraordinary fasting and prayer Paul made some entries in a prayer journal (diary) concerning his prayer intentions at this time.
On December 26, the feast of St Stephen, he prayed "for the people of England and its neighboring Kingdoms".
Three days later, on December 29, the feast of St Thomas Becket of Canterbury (The extraordinary Archbishop of Canterbury England who was martyred by the followers of King Henry VIII in the Canterbury Cathedral) St Paul wrote:
"I had a particular impulse to pray for the conversion of England, especially because I want the standard of the holy Faith to be erected, so that there will be an increase of devotion and reverence, of homage and love, and frequent acts of adoration for the Blessed Sacrament, the ineffable mystery of God's most holy love..."
In the Catholic Enclyclopedia entry for the Passionists we read that the Passionists were the first Religious Community to arrive in England after the Anglican break and reformation:
"Father Dominic [Barberi] and his companions came in the spirit of Apostles without gold or silver, without scrip or staff or shoes or two coats.....They took possession of Aston Hall, near Stone, Staffordshire, [England] on 17 Feb., 1842, and there established the first community of Passionists in England. At the time of the arrival of the Passionists there were only 560 [Diocesan] priests in England and the distressful state of the Church there may be learned from the Catholic Directory of 1840.
The Passionists with Father Dominic at their head soon revived without commotion several Catholic customs and practices which had died out since the Reformation. They were the first to adopt strict community life, to wear their habit in public, to give missions and retreats to the people, and to hold public religious processions. "They gloried in the disgrace of the Cross, were laughed at by Protestants, warned by timid Catholics, but encouraged always by Cardinal Wiseman. Their courage became infectious, so that in a short time almost every order now in England followed their example."
In conclusion, perhaps the timing of Pope Benedict's offer to the Anglicans was unintentional, simply a coincidence, but its appropriateness on the feast of St Paul of the Cross is nonetheless remarkable and fitting.
A discussion of the timing of the offer of reconciliation from the Pope to the Anglican Church.
In a extraordinary offer to the members of the Anglican Communion, the Vatican announced on Tuesday Oct 20, the Feast of St Paul of the Cross, that it is establishing a special arrangement that will allow Anglicans to join the Catholic Church while preserving much of their liturgy and spiritual heritage, including an open invitation to its priests who are currently married.
The Anglican Church was formed in 1534, when England's King Henry VIII was denied a marriage annulment, and proceeded to initiate a formal break from the Catholic Church. In more recent times, Anglicans and Catholics have made attempts to reconcile, but Tuesday's move is an extraordinary leap in the reunion of the Anglican Communion with the Catholic Church.
In establishing the new structure offered to the Anglicans, Pope Benedict XVI is responding to "many requests" from individual Anglicans and Anglican groups -- including "20 to 30 bishops," said Cardinal William J. Levada, head of the Vatican's Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith.
The timing of the offer
The official declaration was on October 20, the feast day of Saint Paul of the Cross, as celebrated in the USA (Oct 19th in the Universal Church). Though Saint Paul spent his life in Italy, the Catholic Encyclopedia entry for St Paul of the Cross states that "For fifty years he prayed for the conversion of England, and left the devotion as a legacy to his sons."
In 1720 St Paul of the Cross made a 40 day private retreat alone in preparation for beginning his religious life. During this time of extraordinary fasting and prayer Paul made some entries in a prayer journal (diary) concerning his prayer intentions at this time.
On December 26, the feast of St Stephen, he prayed "for the people of England and its neighboring Kingdoms".
Three days later, on December 29, the feast of St Thomas Becket of Canterbury (The extraordinary Archbishop of Canterbury England who was martyred by the followers of King Henry VIII in the Canterbury Cathedral) St Paul wrote:
"I had a particular impulse to pray for the conversion of England, especially because I want the standard of the holy Faith to be erected, so that there will be an increase of devotion and reverence, of homage and love, and frequent acts of adoration for the Blessed Sacrament, the ineffable mystery of God's most holy love..."
In the Catholic Enclyclopedia entry for the Passionists we read that the Passionists were the first Religious Community to arrive in England after the Anglican break and reformation:
"Father Dominic [Barberi] and his companions came in the spirit of Apostles without gold or silver, without scrip or staff or shoes or two coats.....They took possession of Aston Hall, near Stone, Staffordshire, [England] on 17 Feb., 1842, and there established the first community of Passionists in England. At the time of the arrival of the Passionists there were only 560 [Diocesan] priests in England and the distressful state of the Church there may be learned from the Catholic Directory of 1840.
The Passionists with Father Dominic at their head soon revived without commotion several Catholic customs and practices which had died out since the Reformation. They were the first to adopt strict community life, to wear their habit in public, to give missions and retreats to the people, and to hold public religious processions. "They gloried in the disgrace of the Cross, were laughed at by Protestants, warned by timid Catholics, but encouraged always by Cardinal Wiseman. Their courage became infectious, so that in a short time almost every order now in England followed their example."
In conclusion, perhaps the timing of Pope Benedict's offer to the Anglicans was unintentional, simply a coincidence, but its appropriateness on the feast of St Paul of the Cross is nonetheless remarkable and fitting.
St Paul of the Cross on sickness & suffering
Taken from the book "Flowers of the Passion -Thoughts of St Paul of the Cross" gathered from the letters of the Saint, published in 1893 and availible for free viewing on Google Books here.
In his letters, St Paul of the Cross writes:
"One day the Lord caused me to hear these words at the foot of the tabernacle:
'My son, he who embraces Me embraces thorns.'
-Oh, what a grace! Oh, what a gift!"
*
"Meditation on Jesus Christ crucified is a precious balm which sweetens all our pains."
*
"What an honor God confers on us, when He calls us to travel the same road as His divine Son!"
*
"Be thankful for your precious trials, both interior and exterior; it is thus that the garden of Jesus is adorned with flowers, that is, with acts of virtue!"
*
"The more deeply the cross penetrates, the better; the more deprived of consolation that your suffering is, the purer it will be; the more creatures oppose us, the more closely shall we be united to God."
*
"Believe me, afflictions, fears, desolations, dryness, abandonment, temptations, and other persecutions make an excellent broom, which sweeps from your soul all the dust of hidden imperfections."
*
"Have you ever noticed rocks in the sea, beaten by the tempest? A furious wave dashes against the rock, another and yet another does likewise, yet the rock is unmoved. But look at it after the storm has subsided, and you will see that the flood has but served to wash and purify it of the defilement it had contracted during the calm.
From now on I wish you to be as a rock. A wave dashes against you? Silence! It assails you ten, a hundred, a thousand times? Silence! Say, at most, in the midst of the storm, "My Father,
my Father, I am all Thine! 0 dear, o sweet will of God, I adore Thee !"
*
"The statue must be chiselled with very sharp tools before it is fit to be placed in' the grand gallery."
*
"The holy gospel tells us that unless the grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains but a grain of wheat, and does not bear fruit. But the poor grain by being sown, how much must it not suffer to die and fructify! It must endure rain, snow, wind, and sun. The soul is a seed that God sows in the field of holy Church; to fructify, it must die by dint of pain, contradiction, and persecution."
*
"I wish that all men could understand the great favor that God grants them when, in His goodness, He sends them suffering, and especially suffering devoid of all consolation; for then the soul, like gold which is purified in the fiery crucible, is cleansed, made beautiful, detached from earthly things, and united to the Sovereign Good, without even being conscious of it."
*
"Remember that true holiness is accompanied by pains and tribulations from within and without, by attacks of visible and invisible enemies, by trials of body and mind, by desolations and prolonged dryness; "and all that will live in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Tim. 3:12) -that is to say, all sorts of trials from demons, from men, and from our rebellious flesh."
*
"Sickness is a great grace of God; it teaches us what we are; in it we recognize the patient, humble, and mortified man. When sickness weakens and mortifies the body, the soul is better disposed to raise herself up to God."
*
"Regarding your bodily health, obey the orders of the physician. Tell him sincerely what you suffer, in modest, clear, and concise language; after having said all that is necessary, be silent and let him act. Do not refuse remedies, but take them in the loving chalice of Jesus, with a pleasant countenance. Be grateful to the person who nurses you; take whatever she offers you. In brief, act as a child in the arms of its mother. Remain in your bed as on the cross. Jesus prayed for three hours on the cross, and His was a truly crucified prayer, with no comfort from within or without.
Oh God! what a grand lesson! Beg God to imprint it on your heart. Oh, what a subject for meditation!"
*
"There could not be a surer sign of God's love for you than this pain which He has sent you. Adore the divine will. You were in good health when you were in the world, but you were not then as dear to God as you are now. He loves you as a daughter, as a cherished spouse: this is why He treats you so generously.
Long illnesses are the greatest favors that God confers on souls whom He loves most. . . . Repose peacefully in the arms of your heavenly Spouse, Who loves you much; hold yourself on the cross of sickness as tranquilly and silently as is possible. If the cause of your illness be the wound of divine love which embalms yO,ur soul, it is well if you die under such a stroke: yours will be a death more precious than life."
*
"In your pains and trials say: 'May Thy holy will be done, Oh my God! I welcome thee, afflictions! Beloved sufferings, I press you to my heart! Ah! dear hand of my God, I bless Thee! Blessed be the holy rod that strikes me with so much love! Oh, tender Father, it is good for me to be humbled!'
"Sickness is a good discipline and a rough hair-cloth. Oh, how pleasing to God are the disciplines which He sends us!" -St Paul of the Cross
St Paul of the Cross feast day & memorial
An explanation of the feast dates of the memorial of St Paul of the Cross
On the Passionists.ning.com website, Father Michael Hoolihan CP kindly gave me an excellent explanation for the feast dates for the memorial of St Paul of the Cross. Here is his explanation:
"Comment by Fr. Michael Hoolahan CP :
Dear Glenn,
The original date for the celebration of St. Paul's feast was April 28th. When I joined the Passionists in 1954 we celebrated on this date. After the Vatican Council the saints celebrations were transferred if possible to the date of their deaths. For Paul that was October 18th. However, this was the feast of Saint Luke. Therefore the universal church chose October 19th. This is the date that it is currently celebrated. However, in the USA the bishops required the celebration of the North American martyrs. Therefore, the US Passionists asked to celebrate the feast on October 20th in the USA.
Hope that clears it up. fr. Mike Hoolahan CP"
________________________________________
So, the universal Church feast (memorial) of St Paul of the Cross is celebrated worldwide on October 19th. In the USA it is celebrated on October 20, because of the memorial of the North American Martyrs on the 19th.
On the Passionists.ning.com website, Father Michael Hoolihan CP kindly gave me an excellent explanation for the feast dates for the memorial of St Paul of the Cross. Here is his explanation:
"Comment by Fr. Michael Hoolahan CP :
Dear Glenn,
The original date for the celebration of St. Paul's feast was April 28th. When I joined the Passionists in 1954 we celebrated on this date. After the Vatican Council the saints celebrations were transferred if possible to the date of their deaths. For Paul that was October 18th. However, this was the feast of Saint Luke. Therefore the universal church chose October 19th. This is the date that it is currently celebrated. However, in the USA the bishops required the celebration of the North American martyrs. Therefore, the US Passionists asked to celebrate the feast on October 20th in the USA.
Hope that clears it up. fr. Mike Hoolahan CP"
________________________________________
So, the universal Church feast (memorial) of St Paul of the Cross is celebrated worldwide on October 19th. In the USA it is celebrated on October 20, because of the memorial of the North American Martyrs on the 19th.
Words & Quotes of St Paul of the Cross
Sayings of Saint Paul of the Cross
Thanks to a friend I discovered an extraordinary treasure of words and sayings of St Paul of the Cross on various subjects. It is a 106 year old book entitled "Flowers of the Passion -Thoughts of St Paul of the Cross" gathered from the Letters of the Saint by Rev Louis Th de Jesus Agonisant C.P. , published by Benzinger Brothers, 1893. Thankfully, the entire book is availible online for free through Google books here:
http://books.google.com/books?id=Dq0VAAAAYAAJ&dq=Flowers%20of%20the%20Passion%20St%20Paul%20of%20the%20Cross&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q=&f=falseHere are some of these "flowers" of St Paul taken from his letters:
"In times of aridity arouse your spirit gently, by acts of love; then rest in the will of God. It is thus that the soul gives the strongest proof of her fidelity to God. Make a bouquet of the sufferings of Jesus, and place it on the bosom of your soul, as I have told you. You can from time to time call them to mind, and say sweetly to your Saviour: 'Oh good Jesus, how swollen, bruised, and defiled with spittle do I behold Thy countenance! Oh my Love! why do I see Thee all covered with wounds? Oh Infinite Sweetness! why are Thy bones laid bare? Ah, what sufferings! what sorrows! O my God! for what are Thou all wounded! Ah, dear sufferings! dear wounds! I wish to keep you always in my heart'."
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"When you are alone in your room, take your crucifix, kiss its five wounds reverently, tell it to
preach to you a little sermon, and then listen to the words of eternal life that it speaks to your heart; listen to the pleading of the thorns, the nails, the precious Blood. Oh, what an eloquent
sermon!"
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"On awaking, keep your heart under control, by the remembrance of God, your Love, your only Good. When God inspires you with a sentiment of love, stop and taste it, as the bee sips the
honey.... Ah! when I reflect that my soul is the temple of God, that God dwells in me, how my heart rejoices! All sufferings and afflictions appear to me sweet and light.... What a fruitful source of meditation!
Live in the joy and the peace of the divine Majesty. Live lost in divine love. Live for divine love and of divine love. Oh cherished cross! Through thee my most bitter trials are replete with
graces!"
honey.... Ah! when I reflect that my soul is the temple of God, that God dwells in me, how my heart rejoices! All sufferings and afflictions appear to me sweet and light.... What a fruitful source of meditation!
Live in the joy and the peace of the divine Majesty. Live lost in divine love. Live for divine love and of divine love. Oh cherished cross! Through thee my most bitter trials are replete with
graces!"
__________________________________________________________
"The Mass is the most favorable occasion to speak with the eternal Father, because then we
offer Him His only Son as a victim for our salvation. Before celebrating, reflect on the sufferings of your Redeemer, commune peaceably with Him, even in the midst of dryness; carry to the altar the needs of the entire world."
offer Him His only Son as a victim for our salvation. Before celebrating, reflect on the sufferings of your Redeemer, commune peaceably with Him, even in the midst of dryness; carry to the altar the needs of the entire world."
"The feast of the Blessed Sacrament is the feast of love. Oh, what great love! what immense charity! The moth is drawn to the light, and burns itself in it. May your soul likewise draw near to the divine Light! May it be reduced to ashes in that sacred flame, particularly during this great and sweet octave of Corpus Christi. Ah! eat, drink, run, sing, rejoice in honor of your divine Spouse."
"How wonderful are the treasures which are enclosed in the divine Eucharist! I exhort you, even though you live in the world, to receive Communion often, but with piety. Holy Communion is the most efficacious means of uniting one's self to God. Always prepare yourself well for this
sacred banquet. Have a very pure heart, and watch over your tongue, for it is on the tongue that the Sacred Host is laid. Carry Our Lord home with you after your thanksgiving, and let your heart be a living tabernacle for Jesus. Visit Him often in this interior tabernacle, offering Him your homage, and the sentiments of gratitude with which divine love will inspire you. Preserve carefully the sentiments of love with which you are filled after Communion."
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"My heart breaks when I think of the sorrows of the most holy Virgin. Oh tender Mother, unutterable was Thy grief in finding Thyself deprived of your dear Son, and then in beholding Him dead in Thy arms! Ah! who can realize the sadness of Mary when She returned to Bethany
after the burial of her Son? Jesus expires on the cross! He is dead that we may have life. All creation mourns: the sun darkens, the earth trembles, the rocks burst, and the veil of the temple is rent in twain; my heart alone remains harder than a rock!
All I say to you now is, console the poor Mother of Jesus. It is a miracle that She does not die; She is absorbed in the sufferings of Jesus. Imitate Her, and ask the Magdalen and the beloved disciple St. John what are their sentiments."
after the burial of her Son? Jesus expires on the cross! He is dead that we may have life. All creation mourns: the sun darkens, the earth trembles, the rocks burst, and the veil of the temple is rent in twain; my heart alone remains harder than a rock!
All I say to you now is, console the poor Mother of Jesus. It is a miracle that She does not die; She is absorbed in the sufferings of Jesus. Imitate Her, and ask the Magdalen and the beloved disciple St. John what are their sentiments."
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"From this valley of tears, turn your gaze continually to God, ever awaiting the moment when you will be united to Him in heaven. Often contemplate heaven, and fervently exclaim:
'What a beautiful abode there is above! It is destined for us!'
"Sigh longingly after its possession. Sometimes say, while your eyes are moist with tears:
'Nothing in this world pleases me; I no longer care for anything but my God. Yes, I hope, yes, I wish to possess Him, and I hope this of the mercy of God, through the merits of my Saviour's Passion and the sufferings of my good Mother Mary.'
'Nothing in this world pleases me; I no longer care for anything but my God. Yes, I hope, yes, I wish to possess Him, and I hope this of the mercy of God, through the merits of my Saviour's Passion and the sufferings of my good Mother Mary.'
"When you behold a beautiful landscape, say: 'Heaven is more beautiful than that! Above there are true delights and holy pleasures!'
"Let us live, then, absorbed in the thought and the desire of
that immense ocean of felicity which we are to enjoy in heaven."
that immense ocean of felicity which we are to enjoy in heaven."
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"Oh my God! teach me how to express myself. I wish that I were all aflame with love! More than that: I wish that I could sing hymns of praise in the fire of love, and extol the marvellous mercies that uncreated Love has bestowed on us! Is it not truly a duty to thank God for His gifts? Yes, for sure, but I know not how. I wish to do so, and I know not how. To faint away with the desire to love this great God more and more is little. To consume ourselves for Him is little. What shall we do? Ah! we shall live for that divine Lover in a perpetual agony of love. But, do you think that I have said enough? No; I would say more if I knew how.
Do you know what consoles me somewhat? To know that our great God is an infinite good, and that nobody is capable of loving and praising Him as much as He deserves."
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"Beginners in the service of God sometimes lose confidence when they fall into any fault. When you feel so unworthy a sentiment rising within you, you must lift your heart to God and
consider that all your faults, compared with divine goodness, are less than a bit of tattered thread thrown into a sea of fire.
Suppose that the whole horizon, as far as you can see from this mountain, were a sea of fire; if we cast into it a bit of tattered thread, it will disappear in an instant. So, when you have committed
a fault, humble yourself before God, and cast your fault into the infinite ocean of, charity, and at once it will be effaced from your soul; at the same time all distrust will disappear."
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"Have you ever noticed rocks in the sea, beaten by the tempest? A furious wave dashes against the rock, another and yet another does likewise, yet the rock is unmoved. But look at it after
the storm has subsided, and you will see that the flood has but served to wash and purify it of the defilement it had contracted during the calm. Hereafter I wish you to be as a rock.
A wave dashes against you? Silence! It assails you ten, a hundred, a thousand times? Silence! Say, at most, in the midst of the storm, "My Father, my Father, I am all Thine! Oh dear,
O' sweet will of God, I adore Thee !"
"The statue must be chiselled with very sharp tools before it is fit to be placed in the grand gallery."
"Build an oratory within yourself, and there have Jesus on the altar of your heart. Speak to Him often while you are doing your work. Speak to Him of His holy love, of His holy sufferings and of the sorrows of most holy Mary"
-St Paul of the Cross writing a reply on Jan 9, 1760 to a busy married woman who felt that she couldn't seem to find enough time to pray.
"If, during life, we have been kind to the suffering souls in purgatory, God will see that help be not denied us after death." -St Paul of the Cross
St Paul of the Cross versus the devil
St. Paul of the Cross, and his battle with the demons
God gave Paul a mission to be a fisher of souls. For decades, he tirelessly preached throughout Italy, converting sinners and drawling countless souls to God. The devil, angered by the loss of so many of his subjects seemed to declare open war upon Paul. On many occasions throughout Paul's life he was fiercely assaulted by the devils. God allowed this, it seems, for two reasons: firstly, to test and purify Paul, thereby increasing his union with God, and secondly for all those who were edified and drawn into a deeper holiness by witnessing Paul's triumph over the demons, always through the grace of God.
As a young man, Paul was given remarkable visions and through them he was called in an extraordinary way to form a congregation that would be devoted to the passion of Jesus and to preaching missions for the conversion of souls. As the day approached for him to be vested in the habit of the new congregation, he was strongly discouraged by the devil. Concerning these years he later wrote: "I experienced interior desolation, depression and doubts. It seemed to me that I would never be able to persevere in my vocation. The devil suggested to me that I was deceived, but I could serve God in some other way, but this was no kind of life for me, etc, and other such things, but I pass over in silence. To crown my misfortune, all devotion had vanished. I felt dry, and was tried in every way. Even the sound of church bells disturbed me. Everyone seemed happy except me. I can never hope to explain these fierce assaults, and I was more strongly attacked by them. When I was about to be vested in the habit and to leave my poor home. "
On many occasions in the morning, his companions would find him red and bruised all over his body as if he had been beaten from head to foot. At other times, the demons sought to disrupt his prayer life by making strange noises in his room in an effort to disrupt his prayers or his sleeping. He stated that off and the demons would appear to him under dreadful forms and knock the furniture about in his room in which screech like cats and grunt like pigs in an infernal concert aimed at distracting and discouraging him.
In the year 1770, he came down with a strange illness. The physicians were unable to discover its source. Remedies were prescribed, but the prescriptions only made him worse. Concerning this strange illness, Paul said: “mine is not a medical case, for my illness is caused by the devils.” During another illness when he was confined to his bed, a devil came into his room and dragged him out of the bed and after having beat him dreadfully, said: “There now, you have come to disrupt me, and you have robbed me of many souls; take that for your labors!” and then disappeared for a time.
During his last illness, seven devils came into his room, appearing as physicians. They examined him in a professional manner, and then gave unanimous opinion stating that he would not live more than a few more days. They also added that his brother, Father John Baptist, had appeared to a holy soul the night before and had stated the same thing. (His holy brother had died many years before –editor). They thought, it seems, that the announcement of his approaching death would cause him to despair, and they had chosen this precise moment because it was a moment in which his spirit was in the darkest state of desolation- a desolation willed by God to purify his soul. Realizing the attempted deceit of the enemy, Paul calmly replied that his own physician might have told him the same, and that he did not see the necessity of such a quorum of gentlemen coming there uninvited. This answer confounded the demons and they disappeared instantly.
Once, when the Saint was returning to his monastery at Monte Argentario, a whole squad of devils met him and tormented and beat him almost to death. On several occasions when people who were thought to be possessed were brought to him, he would take his rosary, and place it around their neck saying that the devil would flee from the rosary of the Blessed Virgin.
Jesus once said to St Paul of the Cross: “I desire that you be walked on by the devils” and on another occasion he was told "I desire for you to be another Job". While on the surface this sounds like God was angry at Paul, it is in fact just the opposite, foe "Gods ways are not our ways, as the Holy Scripture tells us. The purpose of God's actions here is to use the devil to purify Paul, and draw him ever closer to Himself. At times, not only does God draw us closer to Himself through trials and sufferings, but we see in the lives of the Saints that God uses even the Devil to fulfill His purposes.
God gave Paul a mission to be a fisher of souls. For decades, he tirelessly preached throughout Italy, converting sinners and drawling countless souls to God. The devil, angered by the loss of so many of his subjects seemed to declare open war upon Paul. On many occasions throughout Paul's life he was fiercely assaulted by the devils. God allowed this, it seems, for two reasons: firstly, to test and purify Paul, thereby increasing his union with God, and secondly for all those who were edified and drawn into a deeper holiness by witnessing Paul's triumph over the demons, always through the grace of God.
As a young man, Paul was given remarkable visions and through them he was called in an extraordinary way to form a congregation that would be devoted to the passion of Jesus and to preaching missions for the conversion of souls. As the day approached for him to be vested in the habit of the new congregation, he was strongly discouraged by the devil. Concerning these years he later wrote: "I experienced interior desolation, depression and doubts. It seemed to me that I would never be able to persevere in my vocation. The devil suggested to me that I was deceived, but I could serve God in some other way, but this was no kind of life for me, etc, and other such things, but I pass over in silence. To crown my misfortune, all devotion had vanished. I felt dry, and was tried in every way. Even the sound of church bells disturbed me. Everyone seemed happy except me. I can never hope to explain these fierce assaults, and I was more strongly attacked by them. When I was about to be vested in the habit and to leave my poor home. "
On many occasions in the morning, his companions would find him red and bruised all over his body as if he had been beaten from head to foot. At other times, the demons sought to disrupt his prayer life by making strange noises in his room in an effort to disrupt his prayers or his sleeping. He stated that off and the demons would appear to him under dreadful forms and knock the furniture about in his room in which screech like cats and grunt like pigs in an infernal concert aimed at distracting and discouraging him.
In the year 1770, he came down with a strange illness. The physicians were unable to discover its source. Remedies were prescribed, but the prescriptions only made him worse. Concerning this strange illness, Paul said: “mine is not a medical case, for my illness is caused by the devils.” During another illness when he was confined to his bed, a devil came into his room and dragged him out of the bed and after having beat him dreadfully, said: “There now, you have come to disrupt me, and you have robbed me of many souls; take that for your labors!” and then disappeared for a time.
During his last illness, seven devils came into his room, appearing as physicians. They examined him in a professional manner, and then gave unanimous opinion stating that he would not live more than a few more days. They also added that his brother, Father John Baptist, had appeared to a holy soul the night before and had stated the same thing. (His holy brother had died many years before –editor). They thought, it seems, that the announcement of his approaching death would cause him to despair, and they had chosen this precise moment because it was a moment in which his spirit was in the darkest state of desolation- a desolation willed by God to purify his soul. Realizing the attempted deceit of the enemy, Paul calmly replied that his own physician might have told him the same, and that he did not see the necessity of such a quorum of gentlemen coming there uninvited. This answer confounded the demons and they disappeared instantly.
Once, when the Saint was returning to his monastery at Monte Argentario, a whole squad of devils met him and tormented and beat him almost to death. On several occasions when people who were thought to be possessed were brought to him, he would take his rosary, and place it around their neck saying that the devil would flee from the rosary of the Blessed Virgin.
Jesus once said to St Paul of the Cross: “I desire that you be walked on by the devils” and on another occasion he was told "I desire for you to be another Job". While on the surface this sounds like God was angry at Paul, it is in fact just the opposite, foe "Gods ways are not our ways, as the Holy Scripture tells us. The purpose of God's actions here is to use the devil to purify Paul, and draw him ever closer to Himself. At times, not only does God draw us closer to Himself through trials and sufferings, but we see in the lives of the Saints that God uses even the Devil to fulfill His purposes.
"Our affairs are still as much embroiled as ever ; we are summoned to appear in court, but we shall not defend ourselves, because the poor cannot afford to go to law. The devil is always on the watch to discover some loophole by which
to enter and ruin the work. Recommend us and all the congregation to God, for our wants are extreme, and my necessities urgent. I am, however, secure of this, that the congregation will flourish when I shall be no more." -St Paul of the Cross
St Paul of Cross & conversion of sinners
St Paul of the Cross and his zeal for the conversion of souls
The Passion of Jesus moved Paul with a fervent desire to reach out to others because its message had deeply penetrated his own heart. The remembrance of the Passion of Jesus was for him a special way of encountering and approaching God. In his extraordinary love for God, he fervently desired to bring souls to Him. On the Cross, Jesus cried out "I thirst" ...it was not a physical thirst, but a thirst for the conversion of souls that came forth from the loving heart of our Jesus! And through his special devotion and union with Jesus in His Passion, Paul too "thirsted" for the conversion of sinners.
One day the Saint was at the foot of the crucifix, pleading for the salvation of sinners, whose souls were specially dear to him. Long and fervent were the sighs of that loving heart, as he reminded his Lord of all that He had suffered, and besought Him not to let His sufferings be in vain. He was so thoroughly absorbed in this prayer for souls, that he forgot all about himself. After a long period of prayer and contemplation he said: "Oh, Lord, I pray for others, yet my own soul is only fit for hell." Scarcely had he spoken, when he heard his crucified Lord said to him, "Thy soul is in my heart."
The crucifix which he used in his missions, and which may be seen at present in the room in which the Saint died in the Basilica of SS. John and Paul in Rome, was the instrument of many miracles. Once he passed by a farmer ploughing in the field who was cursing and swearing at a yoke of oxen which were not sufficiently obedient to his wishes. The Saint reproved him, saying that cursing could not improve either man or beast. The man was not at all in the mood for being preached to at the time, so he took up a gun which lay beside him, and leveled it at Paul. The Saint raised his crucifix, and said, "Since you will not obey the voice of God, nor respect His image, let us see if these poor brutes will not." At that very moment the oxen fell to their knees. -Oh, the power of God as revealed through His saints! The man lowered the gun in utter shock and disbelief, and understandably the word of this miracle spread throughout the surrounding towns like wildfire.
In his Diary on December 4, 1720 St Paul writes:
“At holy Communion I had much sweetness. My dear God gave me infused knowledge of the joy which the soul will have when we see him face to face, when it will be united with him in holy love. Then I felt sorrow to see him offended and I told him that I would willingly be torn to pieces for a single soul. Indeed, I felt that I would die when I saw the loss of so many souls who do not experience the fruit of the Passion of Jesus.”
Reaching out to those who were not experiencing the love of God, the fruit of the Passion of Jesus, would be an essential mission of the Passionists. Paul believed that God wanted this new community to be founded so that His love could touch the hearts of those who felt cut off from him. In his diary on December 7, 1720 Paul wrote:
"I had likewise great fervor mingled with tears in praying for the conversion of poor sinners; I kept telling God that I could no longer bear to see him offended. I had also special tenderness in imploring God in his mercy to found the holy Congregation quickly, and to send forth some people for His greater glory and for the good of their neighbors - this with great desire and fervour. I asked Him to accept me as the least and lowest servant of his poor, and it seemed to me that I was utterly unworthy (as indeed I am) to serve Him as a slave."
St. Paul would prepare for his missions with prayer, fasting and many sacrifices. Although not generally accepted today, Paul often used the discipline (lash) as a means of obtaining graces for the conversion of sinners . When giving a mission in the year 1750, a local resident discovered his method of preparing for a sermon. As it was near the time for the sermon, the gentleman was sent to the saints room to retrieve him. Peering through the door, he called Paul and discovered that Paul had been kneeling on an iron plate studied over with short, sharp spikes. It was with these and other penances that Paul obtained the necessary graces from God for the conversion of sinners during the mission.
A Canon (Priest) of St. Lorenzo delle Grotte, in the Diocese of Montefiascone named Don Giuseppe Paci gives the following account of one of Father Paul's mission sermons. The Saint asked him to come on the platform and hold his missionary crucifix while he preached. "As soon as the sermon began" he said "I heard a voice and could not tell what it was like a scene like the voice of a prompter. And I distinctly observe that every word, father Paul spoke. I had heard already be few moments earlier by the "prompting" voice. This circumstance, exceedingly surprised me as nothing of this kind has ever or occurred to me before or since. I then began to try and find where the voice was coming from. There was no one on the platform, except Father Paul and myself, and there was no one near enough to be able to be heard in a whisper such as I heard the voice. It must have come from God, and it continued throughout the sermon, for no human words could produce such affects. There was not even one person present, who did not weep abundantly; and well they did, for the words of the missionary would have softened a heart of flint."
"I felt most fervent during the night and even shed some tears when praying to the Lord for holy Church and for sinners." -St Paul of the Cross
The Passion of Jesus moved Paul with a fervent desire to reach out to others because its message had deeply penetrated his own heart. The remembrance of the Passion of Jesus was for him a special way of encountering and approaching God. In his extraordinary love for God, he fervently desired to bring souls to Him. On the Cross, Jesus cried out "I thirst" ...it was not a physical thirst, but a thirst for the conversion of souls that came forth from the loving heart of our Jesus! And through his special devotion and union with Jesus in His Passion, Paul too "thirsted" for the conversion of sinners.
One day the Saint was at the foot of the crucifix, pleading for the salvation of sinners, whose souls were specially dear to him. Long and fervent were the sighs of that loving heart, as he reminded his Lord of all that He had suffered, and besought Him not to let His sufferings be in vain. He was so thoroughly absorbed in this prayer for souls, that he forgot all about himself. After a long period of prayer and contemplation he said: "Oh, Lord, I pray for others, yet my own soul is only fit for hell." Scarcely had he spoken, when he heard his crucified Lord said to him, "Thy soul is in my heart."
The crucifix which he used in his missions, and which may be seen at present in the room in which the Saint died in the Basilica of SS. John and Paul in Rome, was the instrument of many miracles. Once he passed by a farmer ploughing in the field who was cursing and swearing at a yoke of oxen which were not sufficiently obedient to his wishes. The Saint reproved him, saying that cursing could not improve either man or beast. The man was not at all in the mood for being preached to at the time, so he took up a gun which lay beside him, and leveled it at Paul. The Saint raised his crucifix, and said, "Since you will not obey the voice of God, nor respect His image, let us see if these poor brutes will not." At that very moment the oxen fell to their knees. -Oh, the power of God as revealed through His saints! The man lowered the gun in utter shock and disbelief, and understandably the word of this miracle spread throughout the surrounding towns like wildfire.
In his Diary on December 4, 1720 St Paul writes:
“At holy Communion I had much sweetness. My dear God gave me infused knowledge of the joy which the soul will have when we see him face to face, when it will be united with him in holy love. Then I felt sorrow to see him offended and I told him that I would willingly be torn to pieces for a single soul. Indeed, I felt that I would die when I saw the loss of so many souls who do not experience the fruit of the Passion of Jesus.”
Reaching out to those who were not experiencing the love of God, the fruit of the Passion of Jesus, would be an essential mission of the Passionists. Paul believed that God wanted this new community to be founded so that His love could touch the hearts of those who felt cut off from him. In his diary on December 7, 1720 Paul wrote:
"I had likewise great fervor mingled with tears in praying for the conversion of poor sinners; I kept telling God that I could no longer bear to see him offended. I had also special tenderness in imploring God in his mercy to found the holy Congregation quickly, and to send forth some people for His greater glory and for the good of their neighbors - this with great desire and fervour. I asked Him to accept me as the least and lowest servant of his poor, and it seemed to me that I was utterly unworthy (as indeed I am) to serve Him as a slave."
St. Paul would prepare for his missions with prayer, fasting and many sacrifices. Although not generally accepted today, Paul often used the discipline (lash) as a means of obtaining graces for the conversion of sinners . When giving a mission in the year 1750, a local resident discovered his method of preparing for a sermon. As it was near the time for the sermon, the gentleman was sent to the saints room to retrieve him. Peering through the door, he called Paul and discovered that Paul had been kneeling on an iron plate studied over with short, sharp spikes. It was with these and other penances that Paul obtained the necessary graces from God for the conversion of sinners during the mission.
A Canon (Priest) of St. Lorenzo delle Grotte, in the Diocese of Montefiascone named Don Giuseppe Paci gives the following account of one of Father Paul's mission sermons. The Saint asked him to come on the platform and hold his missionary crucifix while he preached. "As soon as the sermon began" he said "I heard a voice and could not tell what it was like a scene like the voice of a prompter. And I distinctly observe that every word, father Paul spoke. I had heard already be few moments earlier by the "prompting" voice. This circumstance, exceedingly surprised me as nothing of this kind has ever or occurred to me before or since. I then began to try and find where the voice was coming from. There was no one on the platform, except Father Paul and myself, and there was no one near enough to be able to be heard in a whisper such as I heard the voice. It must have come from God, and it continued throughout the sermon, for no human words could produce such affects. There was not even one person present, who did not weep abundantly; and well they did, for the words of the missionary would have softened a heart of flint."
"I felt most fervent during the night and even shed some tears when praying to the Lord for holy Church and for sinners." -St Paul of the Cross
St Paul of the Cross devotion to Eucharist
Saint Paul of the Cross and devotion to the Eucharist
"The desire to die as a martyr, especially for the Blessed Sacrament in some place where people do not believe, does not leave me." -St Paul of the Cross
Connected with Paul's love for Jesus in His Passion was his love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, which continues the mystery of the Passion at every Mass. Paul's close friend Rosa Calabresi puts it this way:
"From the devotion which he had towards the Passion of Jesus Christ, was born that other devotion towards the most holy Sacrament of the altar, in which is made a most special memory of the holy Passion of Jesus Christ. His devotion towards Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament was very inspiring to behold, more like a Seraph than a man. He told me, moreover, with great fervor and love, that all his hope was grounded in the most holy Sacrament, that all his hopes were placed in It, that the most holy Sacrament was that which sustained him, that at times, when because of his sicknesses and depression he could not get out of his bed, his fervor and the desire which he had to celebrate the Mass filled him with fresh vigor. He told me with great impetus of spirit, 'Oh what a treasure is the most holy Sacrament! It is paradise on earth. Oh what a promise!'
In his Diary for Dec 8, 1720 Paul writes:
"At holy Communion I was particularly recollected, especially in a sorrowful and loving remembrance of the sufferings of my Jesus. This high favor which the good God grants me at such a time I know not how to explain because I cannot. You must know that in recalling the sufferings of my dear Jesus, sometimes when I have only recalled one or two,I have to stop because the soul can say no more and feels that it is melting away. It remains thus languishing with the greatest sweetness mingled with tears, with the sufferings of the Spouse infused into it; or to explain it more clearly it is immersed in the Heart and in the sorrows of its beloved Spouse, Jesus. Sometimes it understands them all, and remains thus in God, in this loving and sorrowful contemplation. It is very difficult to explain; it always seems to me to be something new?"
Again in his Diary on Wednesday, Jan 1, 1721 he writes:
“Through the infinite love of our dear God I was raised up in spirit to great recollection and many tears especially after holy Communion during which I felt keenly the sweetness of holy love. It seemed to me that I was melting away in God. When serving Mass, I had such a deep light on the great love which God displays towards me, and on my misery, my ingratitude, my whole life, that I did not venture even to raise my eyes to look upon the picture of Mary - and always with abundance of tears mingled with great sweetness especially on seeing my Spouse, Jesus, present in the Blessed Sacrament.”
During the century in which St Paul of the Cross lived, frequent reception of the Eucharist was not very common. Paul however was a very strong advocate of frequent Communion, even encouraging daily Communion amongst his friends and religious bretheren. At that time most people only received Communion once a year during Easter time. Because St. Paul encouraged frequent Communion this unfortunately won for him numerous enemies, especially among those who supported the heresy called Jansenism.
Like many of the saints, Paul of the Cross experienced some of the greatest graces of his life during holy Communion. For example, in the summer of 1720 after receiving holy Communion, Jesus appeared to St. Paul in a vision. In the vision, he saw himself clothed in a long black garment with a white Cross on his breast and below the Cross the holy name of Jesus was written in white letters. He writes, “shortly afterwords, I saw in spirit the black tunic presented to me with the holy name of Jesus and a Cross all in white. But the tunic was black. I pressed the tunic joyfully to my heart.” We can see in this early vision how Jesus was guiding and preparing Paul to eventually found the Passionist Congregation.
To Priests St. Paul writes:
"Do not neglect to make due preparation for the Holy Sacrifice; always make your thanksgiving; watch day and night over the interior tabernacle, that is, the heart of the worthy priest. He who acts thus will not fail to enkindle within himself the fire of divine love. Guard cautiously this living tabernacle, and keep always burning there the lamps of faith and charity. May it be ever adorned with virtues! Imitate the perfect dispositions of your Saviour. Since the Mass is the renewal of the Sacrifice of the Cross, enter into the sentiments of compunction and of love which animated the Blessed Virgin, St. John, Joseph of Arimathea, and Nicodemus. The heart of the priest ought to be the sepulchre of Christ. As the tomb in which He was laid after death was new, so ought your heart be pure, animated with a lively faith, a firm confidence, an ardent charity, a fervent desire for the giory of God and the salvation of souls. The Mass is the most favorable occasion to speak with the eternal Father, because then we offer Him His only Son as a victim for our salvation. Before celebrating, reflect on the sufferings of your'Redeemer, commune peaceably with Him, even in the midst of dryness; carry to the altar the needs of the entire world."
In a letter to a spiritual daughter he writes:
"I exhort you, though you live in the world, to receive Communion often, but with
piety. Holy Communion is the most efficacious means of uniting one's self to God.
Always prepare yourself well for this sacred banquet. Have a very pure heart, and watch over your tongue, for it is on the tongue that the Sacred Host is laid. Carry Our Lord home with you after your thanksgiving, and let your heart be a living tabernacle for Jesus. Visit Him often in this interior tabernacle, offering Him your homage, and the sentiments of gratitude with which divine love will inspire you. Preserve carefully the sentiments of love with which you are filled after Communion."
Other short sayings on the Eucharist from his letters-
"Everyday make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, and when the duties of your state of life prevent you, visit Him in spirit."
"Do not let pass a single day without visiting God in the tabernacle; in His presence grieve for the irreverences that He receives from bad Christians, who repay His love with sacrileges and basest ingratitude. In reparation for so many outrages, the loving soul ought to offep herself as a victim, consume herself in the fire of divine love, offer her praises to Jesus on the altar, visit Him for those unhappy souls who fail to do so, visit Him especially at hours when nobody else gives Him homage."
"It is no time to speak to creatures when we are before the Eucharistic throne where dwells the Lord of lords, the Master of the world."
"The hermits of old, those great servants of God, received Communion rarely; but because they prepared themselves carefully they received such special graces that, in a short time, they arrived at perfection."
"May the Blessed Sacrament on all the altars of the world be praised and adored by all" -St Paul of the Cross
St Paul of the Cross devotion to the Passion of Jesus
St Paul of the Cross and devotion to the Passion
St Vincent Mary Strambi, a fellow Passionist and friend of Paul’s in the last few years of his life wrote the first Biography of Paul only 11 years after his death. He stated that the “God raised up Paul of the Cross to help people find God in their hearts”. It was Paul’s deep lifelong conviction that God is most easily found by us in the Passion of Jesus. He saw the Passion as being the most overwhelming sign and pledge of God’s infinite love for us, and at the same time the door to union with Him. Thus Paul’s life was devoted to bringing this message of God’s love as revealed in the Passion to all, and to founding a Congregation devoted to the Passion of Jesus and spreading its message of love.
Through extraordinary mystical graces God gave Paul a deep experience of the Passion. Rosa Calabresi, a spiritual friend of Paul’s tells it this way: "His devotion to the most holy Passion of Jesus Christ was so singular that I never heard him speak of it without being deeply moved interiorly. His words, especially when he spoke of the Passion, seemed to be fiery darts. He managed to speak of it on all occasions, and further he exhorted others with great ardor and effectiveness to speak of it always and meditate on the most atrocious sufferings of Jesus to move hearts to compassion. He did this with such an abundant flow of tears, with a countenance so lighted up, with such lively expressions, that it seemed that he wanted to stamp it on the hearts of all.”
"One day he confided to me in deepest secrecy that one Good Friday while he was at prayer before the holy sepulchre, that Jesus deigned to stamp and impress on his heart His most holy Passion. Three of his ribs near the heart raised. 'If they had not been raised,' he said to me, 'I could not have endured it or stayed alive. All all the instruments of his Passion were carved in my heart, and in the midst was the most holy sign, the Passion of Jesus Christ. Along with His own Passion, He printed on my heart the sorrows of His dear Mother. Daughter, he said to me, oh what sorrows I experienced, oh what love! A mixture of extreme pain and excessive love.' "
St Paul also told her of another beautiful experience he had of Jesus crucified. While meditating on the Passion of Jesus, he remained in prayer at the foot of a large Crucifix. He said to the Lord, 'Lord, hide me in Your wounds, because I cannot stand without showing the sorrow.' Then the most holy Crucifix before which I was praying, detached His arm from the cross and embraced me closely, very closely and put me in His most holy Side where He held me for three hours, and it seemed to me that I was in paradise.’
For his Canonization, a large picture of this miracle was painted, showing Paul raised in mid-air before Jesus on the Cross, with Jesus embracing him and holding him with one arm, and drawing him to the wound in His sacred side. Also in the picture, the holy Angels are all around, holding the instruments of the Passion.
Truly, what means could be more efficacious than devotion to the Passion of our Redeemer? In contemplating His infinite sufferings, when His every member and every sense was horribly afflicted, do we not find our own senses and perceptive faculties sympathizing with Him? What is more capable of moving our hearts than the consideration of another undergoing pain for our sakes, and pleading for a return of love in every pang which afflicts Him? This is the message that Saint Paul of the Cross felt himself sent for, and the history of his life shows us how he fulfilled his mission. It is for us to reflect on his life and devotion to the Passion, for it is precisely this that will be most powerful in persuading us to follow his example.
Concerning our own sufferings, in his diary on Dec 21, 1720 Paul writes:
“I would like to make everyone understand the great grace that God in his mercy bestows when he sends us suffering, especially suffering de¬void of consolation. Then indeed the soul is purified like gold in the furnace; without knowing it. It becomes radiant and is set free to take flight to its Good, that is to the blessed transformation. It carries the cross with Jesus and knows it not ... I understand that this is a great and fruitful way of suffering most pleasing to God, because the soul thereby becomes indifferent to such an extent that it no longer thinks of sorrow or joy but solely of remaining conformed to the holy will of its beloved Spouse, Jesus.”
Going back to the subject of God’s infinite love for us as revealed in His Passion, in his diary Paul writes-
“I know that I also held colloquies on the sorrowful Passion of my beloved Jesus. When I speak to Him of His sufferings, for example, I say: 'Ah, my Supreme Good. What were the sentiments of your Sacred Heart when you were scourged? My beloved Spouse, how greatly did the sight of my grievous sins and my ingratitude afflict You! Oh, my only Love, why do I not die for You? Why am I not overwhelmed with sorrow? And then I feel that sometimes my spirit can say no more but remains thus in God with His sufferings infused into the soul- and sometimes it seems as if my heart would break.” -Diary of St Paul of the Cross, Nov 26, 1720
This loving and sorrowful contemplation was the core of his spirituality and the means by which the Congregation was to accomplish its mission. In the Rule for the Poor of Jesus, Paul had written:
“Dearly beloved, you must know that the main object in wearing black (according to the special inspiration that God gave me) is to be clothed in mourning for the Passion and Death of Jesus. For this purpose let us never forget to have always with us a constant and sorrowful remembrance of Him. And so let each of the Poor of Jesus take care to instill in others meditation on the suffering of our Jesus.” -St Paul of the Cross
St Vincent Mary Strambi, a fellow Passionist and friend of Paul’s in the last few years of his life wrote the first Biography of Paul only 11 years after his death. He stated that the “God raised up Paul of the Cross to help people find God in their hearts”. It was Paul’s deep lifelong conviction that God is most easily found by us in the Passion of Jesus. He saw the Passion as being the most overwhelming sign and pledge of God’s infinite love for us, and at the same time the door to union with Him. Thus Paul’s life was devoted to bringing this message of God’s love as revealed in the Passion to all, and to founding a Congregation devoted to the Passion of Jesus and spreading its message of love.
Through extraordinary mystical graces God gave Paul a deep experience of the Passion. Rosa Calabresi, a spiritual friend of Paul’s tells it this way: "His devotion to the most holy Passion of Jesus Christ was so singular that I never heard him speak of it without being deeply moved interiorly. His words, especially when he spoke of the Passion, seemed to be fiery darts. He managed to speak of it on all occasions, and further he exhorted others with great ardor and effectiveness to speak of it always and meditate on the most atrocious sufferings of Jesus to move hearts to compassion. He did this with such an abundant flow of tears, with a countenance so lighted up, with such lively expressions, that it seemed that he wanted to stamp it on the hearts of all.”
"One day he confided to me in deepest secrecy that one Good Friday while he was at prayer before the holy sepulchre, that Jesus deigned to stamp and impress on his heart His most holy Passion. Three of his ribs near the heart raised. 'If they had not been raised,' he said to me, 'I could not have endured it or stayed alive. All all the instruments of his Passion were carved in my heart, and in the midst was the most holy sign, the Passion of Jesus Christ. Along with His own Passion, He printed on my heart the sorrows of His dear Mother. Daughter, he said to me, oh what sorrows I experienced, oh what love! A mixture of extreme pain and excessive love.' "
St Paul also told her of another beautiful experience he had of Jesus crucified. While meditating on the Passion of Jesus, he remained in prayer at the foot of a large Crucifix. He said to the Lord, 'Lord, hide me in Your wounds, because I cannot stand without showing the sorrow.' Then the most holy Crucifix before which I was praying, detached His arm from the cross and embraced me closely, very closely and put me in His most holy Side where He held me for three hours, and it seemed to me that I was in paradise.’
For his Canonization, a large picture of this miracle was painted, showing Paul raised in mid-air before Jesus on the Cross, with Jesus embracing him and holding him with one arm, and drawing him to the wound in His sacred side. Also in the picture, the holy Angels are all around, holding the instruments of the Passion.
Truly, what means could be more efficacious than devotion to the Passion of our Redeemer? In contemplating His infinite sufferings, when His every member and every sense was horribly afflicted, do we not find our own senses and perceptive faculties sympathizing with Him? What is more capable of moving our hearts than the consideration of another undergoing pain for our sakes, and pleading for a return of love in every pang which afflicts Him? This is the message that Saint Paul of the Cross felt himself sent for, and the history of his life shows us how he fulfilled his mission. It is for us to reflect on his life and devotion to the Passion, for it is precisely this that will be most powerful in persuading us to follow his example.
Concerning our own sufferings, in his diary on Dec 21, 1720 Paul writes:
“I would like to make everyone understand the great grace that God in his mercy bestows when he sends us suffering, especially suffering de¬void of consolation. Then indeed the soul is purified like gold in the furnace; without knowing it. It becomes radiant and is set free to take flight to its Good, that is to the blessed transformation. It carries the cross with Jesus and knows it not ... I understand that this is a great and fruitful way of suffering most pleasing to God, because the soul thereby becomes indifferent to such an extent that it no longer thinks of sorrow or joy but solely of remaining conformed to the holy will of its beloved Spouse, Jesus.”
Going back to the subject of God’s infinite love for us as revealed in His Passion, in his diary Paul writes-
“I know that I also held colloquies on the sorrowful Passion of my beloved Jesus. When I speak to Him of His sufferings, for example, I say: 'Ah, my Supreme Good. What were the sentiments of your Sacred Heart when you were scourged? My beloved Spouse, how greatly did the sight of my grievous sins and my ingratitude afflict You! Oh, my only Love, why do I not die for You? Why am I not overwhelmed with sorrow? And then I feel that sometimes my spirit can say no more but remains thus in God with His sufferings infused into the soul- and sometimes it seems as if my heart would break.” -Diary of St Paul of the Cross, Nov 26, 1720
This loving and sorrowful contemplation was the core of his spirituality and the means by which the Congregation was to accomplish its mission. In the Rule for the Poor of Jesus, Paul had written:
“Dearly beloved, you must know that the main object in wearing black (according to the special inspiration that God gave me) is to be clothed in mourning for the Passion and Death of Jesus. For this purpose let us never forget to have always with us a constant and sorrowful remembrance of Him. And so let each of the Poor of Jesus take care to instill in others meditation on the suffering of our Jesus.” -St Paul of the Cross
About me & this website devoted to St Paul of the Cross
Who I am and about this website devoted to St Paul of the Cross
My name is Glenn Dallaire and I live in Bristol, Connecticut, USA. I am very happily married to my best friend Brenda, and together we have seven wonderful children. I am a computer support help desk analyst, and have worked in the Information Services and Technology field since 1993. I am a devout Catholic who endeavors always to be faithful to the Catholic Church and its teachings. With and in my family I love God, our blessed Mother Mary and the Saints, especially Saint Gemma Galgani. Out of devotion to her I put together an extensive website in her honor- http://www.stgemmagalgani.com/
Through my devotion to Saint Gemma (who is a Passionist Saint) I came across the extraordinary life of St Paul of the Cross, mystic and founder of the Passionist Congregation. Inspired by his heroic life of love and sacrifice for God, I felt called to create this website devoted to him.
I hope and pray that through this website others may be inspired by St Paul's heroic love and devotion to God, and that we may obtain a greater love for Jesus by contemplating His love for us, as revealed in His Passion. And through our contemplation of the Passion, may we draw ever closer to our loving God.
In closing, I enjoy receiving emails and comments from others, so please feel free to leave comments on any of the webpages or you can email me at gdallaire1@gmail.com
St Paul of the Cross, pray for us!
St Gemma Galgani, pray for us!
"Oh Love, oh fire of charity; how powerful You are!" -St Paul of the Cross
St Paul of the Cross devotion to Mary
The devotion of St Paul of the Cross to the Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary
"At the cross Her station keeping, stood the mournful Mother weeping, close to Jesus to the last. Through Her heart, His sorrow sharing, all His bitter anguish bearing, now at length the sword has passed." (Stabat Mater prayer)
The Passion of Jesus was a the source and center of devotion in the life of St Paul of the Cross. The only devotion that could equal the devotion he had to the Passion was the tender devotion that he had towards our Blessed Lady. He began everything with Her blessing. Nearly all his greatest favours were received on Her feasts, and he was blessed with many beautiful visions of Her glory. The part of Her life that had the greatest attraction for him was Her sufferings at the foot of the Cross.
"At the cross Her station keeping, stood the mournful Mother weeping, close to Jesus to the last. Through Her heart, His sorrow sharing, all His bitter anguish bearing, now at length the sword has passed." (Stabat Mater prayer)
The Passion of Jesus was a the source and center of devotion in the life of St Paul of the Cross. The only devotion that could equal the devotion he had to the Passion was the tender devotion that he had towards our Blessed Lady. He began everything with Her blessing. Nearly all his greatest favours were received on Her feasts, and he was blessed with many beautiful visions of Her glory. The part of Her life that had the greatest attraction for him was Her sufferings at the foot of the Cross.
Paul knew that his devotion to the Passion of Jesus would not be complete without its counterpart: -devotion to the sorrows of the Blessed Virgin. His thoughts nearly always brought him to Mount Calvary; and who can ascend this mountain of bitterness without giving a thought to Her who stands transfixed with grief at the foot of the Cross? At times he would say, "Whoever goes to our crucified Lord will find His Mother with Him--where the Son is, there is the Mother." And in explaining the words of Jeremiah, "Great as the sea is thy sorrow," he used to say, "The sorrow of Mary is like the Mediterranean Sea, from which one passes into the boundless ocean of the Passion of our Lord." And he would often add: "The soul can always become rich by fishing for the pearls of the virtues of Jesus and Mary."
When speaking of Our Lady, he generally came to Her sorrows, and then he would exclaim, as if he felt those sorrows himself, "Ah, poor mother! poor mother! "
He said one day to the students (the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was not then defined),-
"This doctrine (Immaculate Conception) has not been declared an article of faith by holy Church, but I would give my blood and sacrifice my life in torments in defence of it; and if by doing this I did not become a martyr, I am sure I should give great glory to this august Lady. Oh I happy me, if this might take place."
He said one day to the students (the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was not then defined),-
"This doctrine (Immaculate Conception) has not been declared an article of faith by holy Church, but I would give my blood and sacrifice my life in torments in defence of it; and if by doing this I did not become a martyr, I am sure I should give great glory to this august Lady. Oh I happy me, if this might take place."
As he was often beset by illness and troubles he used to say,-"These are the times when the Blessed Virgin comes in to help." He never pronounced the name of Mary without bowing his head, or taking off his cap, after he began to wear one.
An interior voice and a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary
One day, in the summer of 1720, St Paul was returning home, after having been to Holy Communion in the church of the Capuchins, when he had the following vision:
He was wrapped up in ecstasy, and saw himself clo thed in a long black tunic, with a whi te cross upon the breast of it, and the Sacred Name of JESUS in white letters written under it. He heard an interior locution, and the voice said:
One day, in the summer of 1720, St Paul was returning home, after having been to Holy Communion in the church of the Capuchins, when he had the following vision:
He was wrapped up in ecstasy, and saw himself clo thed in a long black tunic, with a whi te cross upon the breast of it, and the Sacred Name of JESUS in white letters written under it. He heard an interior locution, and the voice said:
"This is to signify how pure and spotless should be the heart which bears engraven upon it the Sacred Name of Jesus." Before the ecstasy ceased, the tunic was presented to him, and he embraced it joyfully. He then felt a burning desire to collect companions, and found, with the approbation of the Church, a congregation, he thought its name should be “The Poor of Jesus".
The habit of the Passionists
However, shortly after, when engaged in prayer, he saw the Blessed Virgin, who showed to him the same habit, but to the word JESU were added XPI PASSIO, which means, "The Passion of Jesus Christ". Paul wrote out a full account of those visions, and gave it to the Bishop, who simply looked at it and was silent. The Saint, unsure of himself because of the Bishops silence, began to hesitate a little, wondering as to whether he might not have been deluded, when again the Blessed Virgin appeared to him, in the same black habit, with the badge upon it, exactly as the Passionists wear it to the present day. She said "My son, you see that I am clothed in mourning. This is because of the sorrowful passion of my Son Jesus. Therefore, you are to clothed likewise, and are to found a congregation in which the members will be also be clothed in the same manner, and they are to mourn continually for the Passion and Death of my dear Son”.
When thinking of this vision many years later Paul exclaimed “Oh how beautiful!” In the first preface to the rules he wrote: "When I saw the holy tunic presented to me, I did not see any corporeal form; I saw it in God, that is, that is the soul knows that it is God, because He makes it understand this, by an intelligence infused into the soul."
His devotion to the sorrowful heart of Mary
Rosa Calabresi, a close friend of Paul’s later in his life, narrates an interesting vision that Paul had with the Blessed Virgin Mary concerning Her participation in the Passion. This is what Paul told her:
"One day after Mass I was making my thanksgiving when I heard a call from the image of the Sorrowful Mother which I had on my altar in Rome, and I seemed to see that image. Suddenly I saw visibly the Most Holy Mother with a sword in Her breast and with tears in Her eyes. She gave me a great awareness of her sorrows with words that would have broken rocks. She told me in particular that Her sorrows were most atrocious because of the great love she bore for Her Son, and because of the imcomparable breadth of her spirit, capable of holding a sea of sufferings."
Rosa Calabresi, a close friend of Paul’s later in his life, narrates an interesting vision that Paul had with the Blessed Virgin Mary concerning Her participation in the Passion. This is what Paul told her:
"One day after Mass I was making my thanksgiving when I heard a call from the image of the Sorrowful Mother which I had on my altar in Rome, and I seemed to see that image. Suddenly I saw visibly the Most Holy Mother with a sword in Her breast and with tears in Her eyes. She gave me a great awareness of her sorrows with words that would have broken rocks. She told me in particular that Her sorrows were most atrocious because of the great love she bore for Her Son, and because of the imcomparable breadth of her spirit, capable of holding a sea of sufferings."
"I asked the Most Holy Mother that She would let me know what had occasioned the greatest martyrdom for Her at the time of the Passion of Her Son. She answered me that the greatest pain that pierced Her heart was to hear Jesus accused of leading people astray and Herself reproached as if the She had not given Him a good upbringing."
While often beset by the crowds who gathered to hear his preaching, occasionally people would come or bring to him those who were oppressed or possesed by the demonic. In his devotion to our blessed Mother, St Paul of the Cross used to put a rosary around the neck of those persons oppresed by the demonic, and while doing so he would say to the bystanders "Don't worry. He/she is safe from the demons now. If we pray to Her, our blessed Mother will protect him." Later, if need be, he would assist in freeing the person through the ordinary means of the Church.
The lesson that St Paul was giving of course was to pray the Rosary to our blessed Mother, asking for Her protection and help in our spiritual battles.
St Paul of the Cross and devotion to Mary -taken from his letters:
"Meditate frequently on the sorrows of the Mother of God-sorrows inseparable from those of her beloved Son. If you go to the crucifix, you will there find the Mother, and, on the other hand, wherever the Mother is, there also is the Son."
*
"My heart breaks when I think of the sorrows of the most holy Virgin. Oh tender Mother, unutterable was Thy grief in finding thyself deprived of Your dear Son, and then in beholding Him dead in Thy arms! Ah! who can realize the sadness of Mary when she returned to Bethany after the burial of Her Son? Jesus expires on the cross! He is dead that we may have life. All creation mourns: the sun darkens, the earth trembles, the rocks burst, and the veil of the temple is rent in two; my heart alone remains harder than a rock!"
*
"All I say to you now is, console the poor Mother of Jesus. It is a miracle that She does not die; She is absorbed in the sufferings of Jesus. Imitate her, and ask Magdalen and the beloved disciple St. John what are their sentiments."
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"Oh my good God, how gentle You are, how sweet You are! Oh dear Cross, I embrace you and press you to my heart." -St Paul of the Cross
The holy death of St Paul of the Cross
The death of a Saint
In early 1775, Paul began to grow weaker and from day to day the aged Saint lingered on, growing weaker in body, however continually stronger in soul; for it seemed from the spirit of his conversations that as the bonds of his earthly tenement were being loosened, his soul was becoming the more free to give itself to thoughts of heaven.
Father John Mary returned from his mission on the 7th October, and the Saint welcomed his confessor with the affection which the benefit he was to be to him inspired. He confessed on the same evening, and prepared himself to receive the sacrament of Extreme Unction on the next day. His end was evidently approaching, but somehow he contrived always to receive the rites of the Church on feasts of our Lady, and the illness itself seemed to conform itself in its attacks to the gratifying of these pious wishes.
The 8th October, 1775 was the Feast of the Maternity of our Lady, and he arranged that he should be anointed after vespers, when the whole community might, without inconvenience, be present. He recalled his confessor to request him to recommend his soul when in the last agony, and to give him absolution. On the morning of the 8th he called the Venerable Vincent Strambi (now a Saint -editor) to his room, and begged him to prepare him for the sacrament he was about to receive by recalling to his mind its efficacy and fruits.
When the sacrament was being administered, the Saint remained immovable with his hands joined before his breast, and totally absorbed in the great action in which he was engaged. As soon as the religious left his cell, he requested Brother Bartolomeo "I will allow nobody to visit him except the fathers and brothers; because he wishes to be alone with God and his brethren during the time that is yet remained to him." For some days he suffered intensely, but the calm and heavenly repose of his exterior gave no index of the pains he endured.
On the Feast of S. Luke, October 18th, 1775, he asked for holy communion, and received it fasting. He wished to have no strangers admitted on that day; but the lay-brother thought he should make an exception in favour of the Bishop of Scala and Rovello, and a monk of S. Gregory who was accompanied by a gentleman from Ravenna. To these the Saint spoke a few words, gave a little brass crucifix, and pointed to it with a peculiar expression-for he would preach Christ crucified to the last. When the monk was retiring from his visit, he said, "That face breathes sanctity. Happy those religious-they have a saint. Yes, truly he is a saint."
Monsignor Stuzzieri, Bishop of Todi, and once our Father Thomas of the Side of Jesus, wrote a few days before this date, requesting the Saint not to die until he saw him. When he heard the letter read, he said, with a smile, "Yes, write to him to say that I shall wait for him." The Bishop arrived about midday, a few hours before the Saint breathed his last, When he came, he went straight to the cell of the sick man, who, feeble as he was, would have tried to show the external marks of respect which were due to the Episcopal character, had he not been prevented by his spiritual Son's kissing his hand. The Saint said, "I am delighted to see you in such good health," and then he gave expression to the affection with which he always regarded the zealous Bishop. When his lordship left the room, the Saint called the Rector, and told him to see that he and his attendants were treated with all attention.
About the time for vespers he began to feel the chill of death. He then asked to he turned in the bed, so that his face could be towards the crucifix. Then he said, "Call Father John Mary to assist me, for I am very near death." The brother said that the doctors had given a favourable opinion of him that morning, and that there was no appearance of immediate death. He replied, "Yes, there is; please call Father John Mary." The brother was still unconvinced; he sat down beside the bed, and rejoined, "But, Father, do you not die cheerfully for the love of God?" The Saint calmly but earnestly answered:
"Yes, I die most readily to fulfill the Divine will." He put out his hand then, and, pointing to the crucifix and the picture of our Lady of Dolors, said, "In these are all my hopes--the Passion of Jesus Christ and the Sorrows of Our Blessed Lady." The brother remained until vespers were over, and then he called the Father Consulter to judge of the real state of the patient. As soon as he entered the room, he said, "Let them come and assist me, for my death is at hand." The Consultor, not thinking that the chilliness he felt was the harbinger of death, said to him, " Perhaps you are cold on account of the change in the weather." He replied, "No, no; I am dying; let them come and assist me." His confessor was then sent for, and next came Mgr. Struzzieri; then the whole community came straight from choir to his cell. When they were all assembled, and a few privileged seculars with them, the Father Rector commenced the prayers for a departing soul from the Ritual, and those present responded. The Bishop and the Confessor suggested to him various acts of virtue, which he mentally accompanied. The Confessor seeing that death was approaching, gave him absolution, and this was followed by the papal blessing in articulo mortis, and the blessings of the various scapulars, by special delegation from the Pope, and the Generals of the Orders to which the scapulars belonged.
While all the religious were engaged in these beautiful prayers, the Saint was casting his eyes alternately from the crucifix to the picture we have spoken of-our Lady of Dolors, and his countenance was marked with joy and tenderness. His last words, as far as we can gather from the circumstances -for they are not given exactly-seem to have been, "Read me the Passion of our Lord." The Rector began the reading of the Passion, and the Saint lost the use of speech. The impressiveness of the scene before the religious, and the profound calm suffused over the holy patient, made the reading of the simple gospel narrative more touching than usual. All was still, all was quiet, and everyone was waiting for the last agony. Suddenly a glow of celestial brightness lit up the countenance of the dying Saint; he beckoned with his hand as if motioning to somebody to approach, and then closed his eyes never to open them again.
Persons versed in spiritual things said it must have been a heavenly vision, and that when he once had a sight of messengers from heaven he could no more endure to look upon earthly objects. This opinion was confirmed by a vision which a holy soul was honoured with after the Saint's death, in which he was pleased to say that shortly before his death our Lord, His Blessed Mother, St. Paul, St. Luke, St. Peter of Alcantara, Father John Baptist, his brother, the other departed members of the Order, and a multitude to whose salvation he had been instrumental in his ministry, came to escort him to his throne of glory. When his eyes were closed, that expression of happiness which his countenance wore was brightened up by every word of the Passion of Christ according to St. John, which the Rector was reading.
The Bishop could not help feeling the importance of the moment, and the long and deep love which he had for the Order, which taught him the way of virtue and nursed him for the position he held in the hierarchy, made him put forth a petition for its interests, He said to Father Paul- "when you are in Paradise, remember the congregation which has cost you so many labours, and pray for us your poor children." The Saint made signs to express how gladly he should comply with the request.
The countenance of the man of God assumed a placid calm appearance; he seemed gradually to lose every faculty except that of thinking of heaven, and as the words sublevatis oculis in coelum were read from the Gospel, his soul sweetly departed and went to its rest. He died towards the evening of the 18th October, 1775, at the age of eighty-one years, nine months, and fifteen days. Thus passed out of this world the soul of the holy founder of the Passionists. His life teaches us how to live, and his death animates us to a holy death.
All present, with one voice, exclaimed, "Well, we have now seen how the Saints die." And although the religious were sorrowful at the prospect of losing him, as soon as he was departed, the joy which accompanied his soul seemed to communicate itself to all who were present at its happy passage.
A messenger was dispatched at once to bring tidings of his death to the Pope, who, when he heard of it; clasped his hands, and exclaimed, "Oh, how happy he! Happy he! He has died on a beautiful day; for we read of St. Luke that he bore in his body the mortification of the cross, and this servant of God has been eminently his imitator." He then ordered that his body should not be interred in the common burial ground; but that a special sepulchre should be prepared, and coffins of lead and wood; and, moreover, that he would defray all the expenses of the funeral himself.
The body was then clothed in the religious habit, a stole placed about the neck, and a crucifix in the hands; it was then placed upon some bare boards, with a few bricks under it, and ashes sprinkled upon the head, according as the Rule [of the Passionists] directs.
News of his death soon reached the city, and although the Retreat is a considerable way out in the suburbs, crowds came to pay their devotions before the body of one they regarded as a saint. Only a few special friends were allowed to see the venerated body on the first evening, as it could not be removed into the church until about midnight. The religious prayed and watched by the bier all night. It was placed before the high altar in the church in the manner we have mentioned, and four lighted candles were placed around. No sooner were the church doors opened than a crowd assembled, which, in a short time, left scarcely standing-room for a single person in that large basilica. Nobles and plebeians, ecclesiastics and laics, religious and seculars, came with eagerness to approach the corpse, kiss the hands, or take away with them portions of his habit or hair as relics, The devotion and enthusiasm of the faithful would have stripped the body altogether, did not a German cavalier, a great friend of the Saint's, make a barricade with benches, and stand inside to touch the body with objects of devotion, such as rosaries and medals etc., and give such relics as he judged expedient.
Masses were said by the fathers and various priests all through the morning, and at ten o'clock the Requiem was sung, at which Cardinal Boschi, titular of the church, the Cardinal Vicar, and several dignitaries assisted. There was a perpetual stream of people flowing through the church all the day long, who wept and prayed alternately as they looked upon the placid corpse, which showed an angelic beauty that made all exclaim, "He was a saint; and oh, how beautiful he is in death!"
On the evening of the 19th, a cast was taken from his countenance, and it was with difficulty, as the day closed, that the Vicar of Rome could clear the church. The venerated remains were then placed in a coffin and carried to a little room at the bottom of the basilica, near the door on the left, where the bones of Cardinal Macchi are now laid. There, in the presence of a notary, who read the act of recognition, the body was stripped of the habit, and it and the linen which touched the sacred remains were cut into pieces, and distributed amongst the people. The body was found to be as flexible as when he was alive, a fragrant odour was emitted from it, and the sacred name of Jesus was found engraven over the heart. All were struck by the beauty of his countenance- it was like nothing they ever saw; it was something heavenly. The body was then clothed in another habit, enclosed in the coffin, with a few bricks under the head and a brass crucifix upon the breast; with it was enclosed a sealed phial covered with lead, containing a Latin inscription, and a short account of the Saint's life. The lid was then screwed down and sealed with six seals-four of the vicegerent's, and two of the congregation's. The room of sepulture was then shut, and the key consigned to the vicegerent.
On the following morning the church was again crowded, and great was the disappointment of the people at finding the body had been removed. Even the Pope, when he heard the coffin was sealed up, appeared displeased, and said they were too much in a hurry about it. It was his intention, it seems. to have the precordia removed; but the fathers, not being aware of this, did not think it right to deviate from the usual custom. Throngs were still seen to come and spend hours before the room in which they knew him to be buried, and when they could get nothing which belonged to him, they cut chips off the door, and treated them as relics.
On the evening of October 21, Mgr. Marcucci and the vicegerent supervised the removal of the coffin into a leaden case, which was sealed like the first. It was then placed in another case of wood, and deposited in a room beneath the spot where an inscription was made in his honor. The sacred remains of St Paul of the Cross remained there until his beatification was decreed in 1852. It was then exhumed and the remains taken to an artist-expert who assembled them and placed a wire gauze mask over the skull. They were then clothed in the Passionist habit and placed under a special altar that was dedicated to him in the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Rome.
Father John Mary returned from his mission on the 7th October, and the Saint welcomed his confessor with the affection which the benefit he was to be to him inspired. He confessed on the same evening, and prepared himself to receive the sacrament of Extreme Unction on the next day. His end was evidently approaching, but somehow he contrived always to receive the rites of the Church on feasts of our Lady, and the illness itself seemed to conform itself in its attacks to the gratifying of these pious wishes.
The 8th October, 1775 was the Feast of the Maternity of our Lady, and he arranged that he should be anointed after vespers, when the whole community might, without inconvenience, be present. He recalled his confessor to request him to recommend his soul when in the last agony, and to give him absolution. On the morning of the 8th he called the Venerable Vincent Strambi (now a Saint -editor) to his room, and begged him to prepare him for the sacrament he was about to receive by recalling to his mind its efficacy and fruits.
When the sacrament was being administered, the Saint remained immovable with his hands joined before his breast, and totally absorbed in the great action in which he was engaged. As soon as the religious left his cell, he requested Brother Bartolomeo "I will allow nobody to visit him except the fathers and brothers; because he wishes to be alone with God and his brethren during the time that is yet remained to him." For some days he suffered intensely, but the calm and heavenly repose of his exterior gave no index of the pains he endured.
On the Feast of S. Luke, October 18th, 1775, he asked for holy communion, and received it fasting. He wished to have no strangers admitted on that day; but the lay-brother thought he should make an exception in favour of the Bishop of Scala and Rovello, and a monk of S. Gregory who was accompanied by a gentleman from Ravenna. To these the Saint spoke a few words, gave a little brass crucifix, and pointed to it with a peculiar expression-for he would preach Christ crucified to the last. When the monk was retiring from his visit, he said, "That face breathes sanctity. Happy those religious-they have a saint. Yes, truly he is a saint."
Monsignor Stuzzieri, Bishop of Todi, and once our Father Thomas of the Side of Jesus, wrote a few days before this date, requesting the Saint not to die until he saw him. When he heard the letter read, he said, with a smile, "Yes, write to him to say that I shall wait for him." The Bishop arrived about midday, a few hours before the Saint breathed his last, When he came, he went straight to the cell of the sick man, who, feeble as he was, would have tried to show the external marks of respect which were due to the Episcopal character, had he not been prevented by his spiritual Son's kissing his hand. The Saint said, "I am delighted to see you in such good health," and then he gave expression to the affection with which he always regarded the zealous Bishop. When his lordship left the room, the Saint called the Rector, and told him to see that he and his attendants were treated with all attention.
About the time for vespers he began to feel the chill of death. He then asked to he turned in the bed, so that his face could be towards the crucifix. Then he said, "Call Father John Mary to assist me, for I am very near death." The brother said that the doctors had given a favourable opinion of him that morning, and that there was no appearance of immediate death. He replied, "Yes, there is; please call Father John Mary." The brother was still unconvinced; he sat down beside the bed, and rejoined, "But, Father, do you not die cheerfully for the love of God?" The Saint calmly but earnestly answered:
"Yes, I die most readily to fulfill the Divine will." He put out his hand then, and, pointing to the crucifix and the picture of our Lady of Dolors, said, "In these are all my hopes--the Passion of Jesus Christ and the Sorrows of Our Blessed Lady." The brother remained until vespers were over, and then he called the Father Consulter to judge of the real state of the patient. As soon as he entered the room, he said, "Let them come and assist me, for my death is at hand." The Consultor, not thinking that the chilliness he felt was the harbinger of death, said to him, " Perhaps you are cold on account of the change in the weather." He replied, "No, no; I am dying; let them come and assist me." His confessor was then sent for, and next came Mgr. Struzzieri; then the whole community came straight from choir to his cell. When they were all assembled, and a few privileged seculars with them, the Father Rector commenced the prayers for a departing soul from the Ritual, and those present responded. The Bishop and the Confessor suggested to him various acts of virtue, which he mentally accompanied. The Confessor seeing that death was approaching, gave him absolution, and this was followed by the papal blessing in articulo mortis, and the blessings of the various scapulars, by special delegation from the Pope, and the Generals of the Orders to which the scapulars belonged.
While all the religious were engaged in these beautiful prayers, the Saint was casting his eyes alternately from the crucifix to the picture we have spoken of-our Lady of Dolors, and his countenance was marked with joy and tenderness. His last words, as far as we can gather from the circumstances -for they are not given exactly-seem to have been, "Read me the Passion of our Lord." The Rector began the reading of the Passion, and the Saint lost the use of speech. The impressiveness of the scene before the religious, and the profound calm suffused over the holy patient, made the reading of the simple gospel narrative more touching than usual. All was still, all was quiet, and everyone was waiting for the last agony. Suddenly a glow of celestial brightness lit up the countenance of the dying Saint; he beckoned with his hand as if motioning to somebody to approach, and then closed his eyes never to open them again.
Persons versed in spiritual things said it must have been a heavenly vision, and that when he once had a sight of messengers from heaven he could no more endure to look upon earthly objects. This opinion was confirmed by a vision which a holy soul was honoured with after the Saint's death, in which he was pleased to say that shortly before his death our Lord, His Blessed Mother, St. Paul, St. Luke, St. Peter of Alcantara, Father John Baptist, his brother, the other departed members of the Order, and a multitude to whose salvation he had been instrumental in his ministry, came to escort him to his throne of glory. When his eyes were closed, that expression of happiness which his countenance wore was brightened up by every word of the Passion of Christ according to St. John, which the Rector was reading.
The Bishop could not help feeling the importance of the moment, and the long and deep love which he had for the Order, which taught him the way of virtue and nursed him for the position he held in the hierarchy, made him put forth a petition for its interests, He said to Father Paul- "when you are in Paradise, remember the congregation which has cost you so many labours, and pray for us your poor children." The Saint made signs to express how gladly he should comply with the request.
The countenance of the man of God assumed a placid calm appearance; he seemed gradually to lose every faculty except that of thinking of heaven, and as the words sublevatis oculis in coelum were read from the Gospel, his soul sweetly departed and went to its rest. He died towards the evening of the 18th October, 1775, at the age of eighty-one years, nine months, and fifteen days. Thus passed out of this world the soul of the holy founder of the Passionists. His life teaches us how to live, and his death animates us to a holy death.
All present, with one voice, exclaimed, "Well, we have now seen how the Saints die." And although the religious were sorrowful at the prospect of losing him, as soon as he was departed, the joy which accompanied his soul seemed to communicate itself to all who were present at its happy passage.
A messenger was dispatched at once to bring tidings of his death to the Pope, who, when he heard of it; clasped his hands, and exclaimed, "Oh, how happy he! Happy he! He has died on a beautiful day; for we read of St. Luke that he bore in his body the mortification of the cross, and this servant of God has been eminently his imitator." He then ordered that his body should not be interred in the common burial ground; but that a special sepulchre should be prepared, and coffins of lead and wood; and, moreover, that he would defray all the expenses of the funeral himself.
The body was then clothed in the religious habit, a stole placed about the neck, and a crucifix in the hands; it was then placed upon some bare boards, with a few bricks under it, and ashes sprinkled upon the head, according as the Rule [of the Passionists] directs.
News of his death soon reached the city, and although the Retreat is a considerable way out in the suburbs, crowds came to pay their devotions before the body of one they regarded as a saint. Only a few special friends were allowed to see the venerated body on the first evening, as it could not be removed into the church until about midnight. The religious prayed and watched by the bier all night. It was placed before the high altar in the church in the manner we have mentioned, and four lighted candles were placed around. No sooner were the church doors opened than a crowd assembled, which, in a short time, left scarcely standing-room for a single person in that large basilica. Nobles and plebeians, ecclesiastics and laics, religious and seculars, came with eagerness to approach the corpse, kiss the hands, or take away with them portions of his habit or hair as relics, The devotion and enthusiasm of the faithful would have stripped the body altogether, did not a German cavalier, a great friend of the Saint's, make a barricade with benches, and stand inside to touch the body with objects of devotion, such as rosaries and medals etc., and give such relics as he judged expedient.
Masses were said by the fathers and various priests all through the morning, and at ten o'clock the Requiem was sung, at which Cardinal Boschi, titular of the church, the Cardinal Vicar, and several dignitaries assisted. There was a perpetual stream of people flowing through the church all the day long, who wept and prayed alternately as they looked upon the placid corpse, which showed an angelic beauty that made all exclaim, "He was a saint; and oh, how beautiful he is in death!"
On the evening of the 19th, a cast was taken from his countenance, and it was with difficulty, as the day closed, that the Vicar of Rome could clear the church. The venerated remains were then placed in a coffin and carried to a little room at the bottom of the basilica, near the door on the left, where the bones of Cardinal Macchi are now laid. There, in the presence of a notary, who read the act of recognition, the body was stripped of the habit, and it and the linen which touched the sacred remains were cut into pieces, and distributed amongst the people. The body was found to be as flexible as when he was alive, a fragrant odour was emitted from it, and the sacred name of Jesus was found engraven over the heart. All were struck by the beauty of his countenance- it was like nothing they ever saw; it was something heavenly. The body was then clothed in another habit, enclosed in the coffin, with a few bricks under the head and a brass crucifix upon the breast; with it was enclosed a sealed phial covered with lead, containing a Latin inscription, and a short account of the Saint's life. The lid was then screwed down and sealed with six seals-four of the vicegerent's, and two of the congregation's. The room of sepulture was then shut, and the key consigned to the vicegerent.
On the following morning the church was again crowded, and great was the disappointment of the people at finding the body had been removed. Even the Pope, when he heard the coffin was sealed up, appeared displeased, and said they were too much in a hurry about it. It was his intention, it seems. to have the precordia removed; but the fathers, not being aware of this, did not think it right to deviate from the usual custom. Throngs were still seen to come and spend hours before the room in which they knew him to be buried, and when they could get nothing which belonged to him, they cut chips off the door, and treated them as relics.
On the evening of October 21, Mgr. Marcucci and the vicegerent supervised the removal of the coffin into a leaden case, which was sealed like the first. It was then placed in another case of wood, and deposited in a room beneath the spot where an inscription was made in his honor. The sacred remains of St Paul of the Cross remained there until his beatification was decreed in 1852. It was then exhumed and the remains taken to an artist-expert who assembled them and placed a wire gauze mask over the skull. They were then clothed in the Passionist habit and placed under a special altar that was dedicated to him in the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Rome.
On January 7, 1777, the process of Canonization was opened, remarkably only 2 years after his death. On December 22, 1778, the first of many biographies of Paul of the Cross was written by Passionist friend Vincent M. Strambi (now a Saint). On February 18, 1821, the Formal proclamation of Paul's' heroic virtues were declared, thereby being officially listed as "servant of God". On May 1, 1853, the formal Beatification was declared by Pope Pius IX. On June 29, 1867, St Paul of the Cross is formally Canonized by Pope Pius IX, only 92 years after his holy death. On April 25, 1880, the holy relics of St. Paul of the Cross are transferred in a Solemn procession to a special chapel dedicated to him in the basilica of Saints John and Paul, Rome.
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