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Fr. C
From the Franciscan Family:
We celebrate the May 4th feast of our Blessed Ceferino G. Malla, SFO. Blessed Ceferino was the first gypsy ever to be beatified a martyr and a Secular Franciscan. Blessed Ceferino was born in Spain and had a wife and no children. However, they adopted a niece. Ceferino was well known to all. He attended Mass frequently and was known for his generosity to the poor. During the Spanish Civil War, he was arrested for defending a priest who was to be killed for having had a rosary. As the firing squad prepared to kill Ceferino, he called out, “Long live Christ the King,” while clutching his own rosary.
In 1997, on the 4th of May, at Ceferino’s beatification, Pope John Paul II said, “His life shows how Christ is present in various people and races, and how they are called to holiness by keeping His Commandments, and remaining in His Love.” Blessed Ceferino shows us that God’s love is unlimited to race or to culture. His feast day is May 4th. Amen!
A Few Words of Interest from our Pope Benedict XVI, when he said:
St. Francis is a model of dialogue and respect for Creation. He said that our 13th Century saint offers a very clear demonstration that “the saints are the best interpreters of the Gospel for people of every age.” Our Holy Father asks our priests to get on line and spread the Gospel. That they must live what they preach and avoid charism. Also, that Christian faith without love cannot live and that Catholic teaching is not a list of “No’s.” We thank our Pope Benedict for sharing his words of interest with us, and for sharing with us the words of our Holy Father St. Francis. Amen!!
Erma
In 1997, on the 4th of May, at Ceferino’s beatification, Pope John Paul II said, “His life shows how Christ is present in various people and races, and how they are called to holiness by keeping His Commandments, and remaining in His Love.” Blessed Ceferino shows us that God’s love is unlimited to race or to culture. His feast day is May 4th. Amen!
A Few Words of Interest from our Pope Benedict XVI, when he said:
St. Francis is a model of dialogue and respect for Creation. He said that our 13th Century saint offers a very clear demonstration that “the saints are the best interpreters of the Gospel for people of every age.” Our Holy Father asks our priests to get on line and spread the Gospel. That they must live what they preach and avoid charism. Also, that Christian faith without love cannot live and that Catholic teaching is not a list of “No’s.” We thank our Pope Benedict for sharing his words of interest with us, and for sharing with us the words of our Holy Father St. Francis. Amen!!
Erma
Month of Mary
The month of May is the "month which the piety of the faithful has especially dedicated to Our Blessed Lady," and it is the occasion for a "moving tribute of faith and love which Catholics in every part of the world [pay] to the Queen of Heaven. During this month Christians, both in church and in the privacy of the home, offer up to Mary from their hearts an especially fervent and loving homage of prayer and veneration. In this month, too, the benefits of God's mercy come down to us from her throne in greater abundance" (Paul VI: Encyclical on the Month of May, no. 1).
This Christian custom of dedicating the month of May to the Blessed Virgin arose at the end of the 13th century. In this way, the Church was able to Christianize the secular feasts which were wont to take place at that time. In the 16th century, books appeared and fostered this devotion.
The practice became especially popular among the members of the Jesuit Order — by 1700 it took hold among their students at the Roman College and a bit later it was publicly practiced in the Gesu Church in Rome. From there it spread to the whole Church.
The practice became especially popular among the members of the Jesuit Order — by 1700 it took hold among their students at the Roman College and a bit later it was publicly practiced in the Gesu Church in Rome. From there it spread to the whole Church.
The practice was granted a partial indulgence by Pius VII in 1815 and a plenary indulgence by Pius IX in 1859. With the complete revision of indulgences in 1966 and the decreased emphasis on specific indulgences, it no longer carries an indulgence; however it certainly falls within the category of the First General Grant of Indulgences. (A partial indulgence is granted to the faithful who, in the performance of their duties and in bearing the trials of life, raise their mind with humble confidence to God, adding — even if only mentally — some pious invocation.
Excerpted from Enchiridion of Indulgences.
Excerpted from Enchiridion of Indulgences.
Prayer for May
An Act of Consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary
Holy Mary, Mother of God and Virgin, I choose thee this day for my queen, patron, and advocate, and firmly resolve and purpose never to abandon thee, never to say or do anything against thee, nor to permit that aught be done by others to dishonor thee. Receive me, then, I conjure thee, as thy perpetual servant; assist me in all my actions, and do not abandon me at the hour of my death. Amen. —
St. John Berchmans
An Act of Consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary
Holy Mary, Mother of God and Virgin, I choose thee this day for my queen, patron, and advocate, and firmly resolve and purpose never to abandon thee, never to say or do anything against thee, nor to permit that aught be done by others to dishonor thee. Receive me, then, I conjure thee, as thy perpetual servant; assist me in all my actions, and do not abandon me at the hour of my death. Amen. —
St. John Berchmans
