Saint Joseph Catholic Church

Today is the Memorial of St. Catherine of Siena (1347-1380). She was born Catherine Benincasa in Siena at a date that remains uncertain, was favored with visions from the age of seven. Becoming a tertiary of the Dominican Order, she acquired great influence by her life of prayer and extraordinary mortifications as well as by the spread of her spiritual writings. Her continual appeals for civil peace and reform of the Church make her one of the leading figures of the fourteenth century. Worn out by her mortifications and negotiations she died in Rome on April 29, 1380.

Today the Church celebrates the Optional Memorial of St. Peter Chanel (1803-1841). St. Peter was born in France in 1802. He was ordained a priest in 1827, and engaged in the parochial ministry for a few years; but the reading of letters of missionaries in far-away lands inflamed his heart with zeal, and he resolved to devote his life to the Apostolate. He joined the Society of Mary (Marists), and in 1836 he embarked for Oceania. He died a martyr's death on the island of Futuna, Melanesia. He is called the apostle of Oceania where he spread the Gospel.

Today is the traditional feast of Our Lady of Montserrat. Monserrat is located in the region of Catalonia in Spain. Legend relates that the original sculpture was carved by St. Luke and brought to Montserrat by St. Peter in 50 A.D. St. Ignatius of Loyola, a former Crusader, decided to become a missionary after having prayed before this image of Mary.

Jesus said: "The shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger, they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers." Christ Himself is the Good Shepherd, who knows each one of His sheep, who gives His life for them and snatches them from the jaws of the marauding wolf. He is the true shepherd who fulfills Ezechiel's prophecy foretelling for Israel a shepherd from the end of time who was to deliver his people.

Today is the Feast of St. Mark, the Evangelist, the author of the second Gospel, was the son of Mary whose house at Jerusalem was the meeting place of Christians, where St. Peter sough refuge after having been freed from prison. He was baptized and instructed by St. Peter. He accompanied St. Paul and his own cousin St. Barnabas in the evangelization of Cyprus before he became the companion and secretary of St. Peter in Rome about the year 42 A.D.. He wrote his Gospel about the year 50 A.D. His Gospel is a record of St. Peter's preaching about Our Lord and pays special attention to the head of the Apostles, and emphasizes the miraculous powers of the Savior. The Gospel was written for Roman Gentile converts. It rarely quotes the Old Testament, and is careful to explain Jewish customs, rites and words. It excels in portraying the emotions and affections of both Christ and His hearers. St. Mark preached in Egypt, especially in Alexandria and was martyred there by the heathen.

Today is the Optional Memorial of St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Priest and Martyr (1577-1622). Fidelis was born at Sigmaringen in Swabia in 1577. He practiced at first as a lawyer and so took to heart the cause of the needy that he was known as the poor man's lawyer. Then he joined the Capuchin Friars Minor and was sent by the Holy See to the Grisons in order to bring back the inhabitants of this canton from Protestantism to the Catholic faith. His great influence earned him enemies; he was murdered at Seewis on April 24, 1622.

The Universal Church celebrates the Optional Memorial of St. George, Martyr (d. 304), although England celebrates St. George with a Solemnity. Little is known of him except that he was a soldier and martyr. Veneration of St. George comes from the east, probably from Palestine where he was held in high honor as a martyr. Regarded as the patron of Christian armies, he is venerated under this title by the Latins as well as by the Greeks. He is included as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.

The Roman Martyrology commemorates two pope saints, Soter and Caius, separated by a century. Pope St. Soter (d. 175) was the twelfth pope, and succeeded Anicetus as Pope in 166. He died a martyr in 175, under Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Pope St. Caius (d. 296) was the 28th pope. Caius governed the Church from 283 until he died on April 22, 296. The popes of the first centuries suffered the heavy anxiety of the persecutions which continually threatened their flocks; the pontificate of Caius, however, was marked by a long period of peace, some ten years before the terrible persecution under Emperor Diocletian.

The Church celebrates the Optional Memorial of St. Anselm (1033-1109), who was born in Aosta, Italy, and died in Canterbury, England. St. Anselm's services to the Church are principally the following: First, as Archbishop of Canterbury he defended the rights and liberties of the Church against the encroachments of the English kings, who plundered the Church's lands, impeded the Archbishop's communications with the Holy See, and claimed the right to invest prelates with ring and crosier, symbols of the Church's spiritual jurisdiction. Second, as a philosopher and theologian he developed a method of reasoning which prepared the way for the great thinkers of the Middle Ages. Third, he had a great devotion to Our Lady and was the first to establish the feast of the Immaculate Conception in the West.