Cristy Li

St. Gregory of Nyssa (330-395)
Image: 1 Timothy 3:15@Twitter

(Franciscan Media) The son of two Saints, Basil the Elder and Emilia of Caesarea young Gregory was raised by his older brother St. Basil the Great and sister, Marcinia in modern day Turkey.

Gregory’s success in his studies, suggested that great things were ahead for him. After becoming a professor of rhetoric, he was persuaded to devote his learning and efforts to the church.

By then married, Gregory went on to study for the Priesthood and become Ordained–that was at a time when celibacy was not a matter of law for priests.

Gregory was elected Bishop of Nyssa in 372, a period of great tension over the Arianism heresy , which denied the Divinity of Jesus Christ. Arrested after being falsely accused of embezzling Church funds, Gregory was restored to his See in 378, an act met with great joy.

It was after the death of Fr. Gregory’s beloved brother Basil, that Gregory really came into his own. Gregory wrote with great effectiveness against Arianism and other questionable doctrines, gaining a reputation as a defender of orthodoxy.

Gregory was subsequently sent on missions to counter other heresies and held a position of prominence at the ‘Council of Constantinople’ his fine reputation stayed with him for the rest of his life but over the centuries it gradually declined as the authorship of his writings became less-and-less certain but thanks to the work of scholars in the 20th century, his stature is once again appreciated.

Indeed, St. Gregory of Nyssa is seen not simply as a pillar of orthodoxy but as one of the great contributors to the mystical tradition in Christian spirituality and to monasticism itself.

More here on St. Gregory of Nyssa from EWTN

St. Angela of Foligno (1248-1309) Image Courtesy: Saints & Martyrs

(Franciscan Media) Some Saints show marks of holiness very early–Not Angela. Born of a leading family in Italy Foligno, she became immersed in the quest for wealth and social position and later as a wife and mother, she continued this life of distraction.

Around the age of 40, Angela recognized the emptiness of her life and sought God’s help in the ‘Sacrament of Penance’ her Franciscan Confessor helped her to seek God’s pardon for her previous life and to dedicate herself to prayer and the works of charity.

Shortly after Angela’s conversion, her husband and children died–selling most of her possessions, she subsequently entered the ‘Secular Franciscan Order’ and became absorbed in meditating on Jesus Christ and in serving the poor of Foligno as a nurse and beggar for their needs, other Women joined her in the religious community.

At Angela’s Confessor’s advice, she wrote her ‘Book of Visions and Instructions’ in it, she recalled some of the temptations she suffered after her conversion–she also expresses her thanks to God, for the incarnation of Jesus Christ. 

This book and her life earned Angela the title ‘Teacher of Theologians’ in 1693 she was Beatified and Canonized by Pope Francis on the 09 October, 2013

More here on Angela of Foligno — Vatican

St. Andre Bessette (1845-1937)
Image Courtesy: uCatholic

(Franciscan Media) St. Andre Bessette, expressed a Saint’s faith by a lifelong devotion to St. Joseph — Sickness and weakness dogged Andre from birth–he was the 8th of 12 children born to a French-Canadian couple near Montreal.

Andre adopted at 12 when both of his parents died, he became a farmhand and various trades followed: Shoemaker, Baker, Blacksmith–all failures. He would become a factory worker in the United States during the boom times of the Civil War.

At the age of 25 Andre applied for entrance into the ‘Congregation of the Holy Cross’ and after a year’s novitiate he wasn’t admitted because of his weak health but with an extension and urging of Bishop Bourget, he was finally received. Andre was given a humble job as the doorkeeper at Notre Dame College in Montreal, with additional duties as Sacristan, laundry worker and messenger.

In Andre’s little room near the door, he would spend much of the night on his knees. On his windowsill facing Mt. Royal, was a small statute of St. Joseph to whom he had been devoted to since childhood. When asked about it, Andre said, “Some day, St. Joseph is going to be honored in a very special way on Mt. Royal.”

Whenever Andre heard that someone was ill, he would visit to bring cheer and to pray with the sick person–Andre would rub the sick person lightly with oil taken from a lamp burning in the college chapel, word of healing powers began to spread.

When an epidemic broke out at a nearby college, Andre volunteered to nurse–not one person died. The trickle of sick people to his door became a flood–his superiors were uneasy, diocesan authorities were suspicious and doctors called him a quack, Andre would say again and again, “I do not cure, St. Joseph cures.” In the end, Andre needed 4 secretaries to handle some 80,000 letters he received each year.

For many years, the Holy Cross authorities had tried to purchase the land on Mt. Royal–Brother Andre and others would climb the steep hill and planted medals of St. Joseph, suddenly the owners yielded and Brother Andre collected two hundred dollars to build a small chapel and he began receiving visitors there–smiling through long hours of listening, applying St. Joseph’s oil and praying, some were cured, some were not. The pile of crutches, canes and leg braces grew.

The Chapel that Brother Andre built also grew and by 1931 there were gleaming walls but money ran out.

“Put a statue of St. Joseph in the middle if he wants a roof over his head, he’ll get it.”

The magnificent Oratory on Mt. Royal took 50 years to build. Brother Andre the sickly boy that couldn’t hold a job died at the age of 92 and was buried at the Oratory and in 1982 was beatified.

At Brother Andre’s canonization in October, 2010 Pope Benedict XVI said, that St. Andre “lived the beatitude of the pure of heart.”

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