Saint John Berchmans

"Let us go full of confidence to Our Lady, because She has brought us to God, and is in a certain way an aqueduct from which we will easily draw the heavenly water of Christ to our gardens; She is a very rich and generous queen. What safer place than in the wounds of Jesus, and the arms of the Queen of Angels?" (Saint John Berchmans).

This ancient Hispanic rite was part of the group of Latin language liturgies that were constituted in the West between the fifth and seventh centuries.Saint John Berchmans was born in Belgium on March 13, 1599, to a good catholic family. He was one of five children, 3 of whom consecrated themselves to the Lord. He always behaved well at home, helping his mother as much as he could. He studied at the seminary in Mechelen and then entered the Jesuit novitiate of the same city. John was distinguished by his charity, study and piety. He had a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin whom he wanted to love with a very affectionate love, not wanting to stop until he achieved such love. He always lived under the gaze of this sweet Mother. During his life he was a defender of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, and in the last year of his life, John had committed himself, signing with his own blood, to "affirm and defend the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception wherever it is found". He wanted to practice all the virtues and made an effort to observe perfectly his obligations, without excuses. He took advantage of his daily crosses, worked passionately for the glory of God, did everything by supernaturalizing the intention. He said "when you have to pray, pray with all love; when you have to study, study with all interest; when you have to practice a sport, practice it with all enthusiasm." He wanted to do things always with more love. He studied thinking about the future apostolate he would have and the souls he would meet. He died young saying that his greatest consolation was never having broken, in his religious life, any rule or order of his superiors and never having committed a venial sin. Before dying he pressed close to his chest a crucifix, a rosary and the book of the Rules, saying "these are my three most beloved garments, with them I die happy." He died on August 13, 1621. His last words were: Jesus, Mary.

Saint Catherine Labouré

"This globe which you see represents the whole world, especially France, and each person in particular. These rays symbolize the graces I shed upon those who ask for them. The gems from which rays do not fall are the graces for which souls forget to ask" (Our Lady to Saint Catherine Labouré).

Saint Catherine was born in France in 1806. Her mother passed away when Catherine was 9 years old. This made her entrust herself to the Virgin Mary in a special way so that She would be her Mother. Since a young age, Catherine desired to dedicate her life to God in the religious life. Her father resisted her going because there was no one to attend to the duties at home. Disconsolate, she begged the Lord insistently to grant her what she desired: to become a religious. One night in a dream, she saw an elderly priest who said to her, "One day you will help me take care of the sick." When she was 24, she visited her sister and saw in the convent Saint Vincent de Paul's portrait. She recognized the elderly priest from her dream and understood that she had to dedicate her life there. After insisting a great deal, she obtained permission and was accepted by the community. On November 27, 1830, she was praying in the convent's chapel when the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to her, completely radiant and shedding beautiful rays of light from her hands to the earth. She entrusted Catherine the making of an image of the apparition and a medal. On one side, the medal would have the Virgin Mary's initials--m and a cross--with the quote, "Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee." The medal was made, and through it many miracles and special graces were obtained for those who wore it and prayed the prayer on it. From 1830 until 1876, when she died, Catherine lived in the convent and no one thought that she was the one the Virgin Mary had appeared to. Eight months before her death, Catherine told her new superior about all of the apparitions in detail, and it was known who was the one who had seen and heard the Virgin Mary. Pope Pius XII declared her a saint in 1947.

Liturgical text of the Hispanic Mozarabic rite

"Innate and supreme Father, You bestowed countless and great gifts upon the glorious Virgin Mary, enriching her by your word with the message of the angel, immaculately conceiving your Son in her by your Spirit, covering her with your divinely powerful shadow and instructing her with the pure spring of your knowledge of how she was to give birth to the Savior. Being by your will virgin before the birth, after the birth she remains virgin by your power. Her pure chastity responds to your word. Her immaculate virginity is a miracle of yours. In her favor turn your eyes to our want, pull us out of our frivolities and deliver us from our vicious tendencies" (Liturgical text of the Hispanic Mozarabic rite).

This ancient Hispanic rite was part of the group of Latin language liturgies that were constituted in the West between the fifth and seventh centuries.

Saint Maravillas of Jesus

“I have taken the Most Blessed Virgin as Mother in a special way, and She is the one who is also in charge of preparing me, protecting me, and sheltering me. How good is this sweetest of Mothers!” – St. Maravillas of Jesus

St. Maravillas of Jesus was born in Madrid, Spain, on November 4, 1891. The desire to consecrate herself to God existed in the heart of Maria de las Maravillas de Jesús since childhood. She entered the Carmel of El Escorial on October 12, 1919, attracted by the spirituality of St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross and stirred by a great love for the Virgin Mary.

In 1924, she founded a monastery of Discalced Carmelites in El Cerro de los Angeles next to the monument to the Sacred Heart in Madrid. There, the Carmelites prayed and offered themselves for the Church and for Spain.

During the religious persecution in Spain, Mother Maravillas demonstrated a great spirit of fortitude and her great serenity and trust in the Lord was shown forth.

Her desire to faithfully live the rule of St. Teresa led her to found another ten Carmels, recovering the traditional places of St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross. She was prioress for many years, during which she taught her Sisters the virtues, above all, by her own example.

She was known for her mystical life, apostolic zeal, and for uniting goodness and firmness. She died in the Carmel of La Aldehuela on December 11, 1974, while saying, “How happy I am to die a Carmelite!”
She was beatified on May 10, 1998 and canonized on May 4, 2003.

Blessed Bartolo Longo

"Just as two friends, frequently in each other's company, tend to develop similar habits, so too, by holding familiar convsersation with Jesus and the Blessed Virgin, by meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary and by living a life of communion, we can become, to the extent of our lowliness, similar to them and can learn from these supreme models a life of humility, poverty, hiddenness, patience and perfection" (Blessed Bartolo Longo).

Bartolo Longo was born in Latiano, a province of Brindisi, Italy, on February 10, 1841. He went to Naples in 1863 to finish his education and got involved in spiritism because of professors and bad company. He completely abandoned the Catholic Faith in which he had been educated. Discontent, assaults from the devil and deep sadness led him to search for help, which he found in a Catholic professor. The words of the professor were a shock for Bartolo: "You're going to die in a lunatic asylum and be condemned for eternity!" Later he went to a Dominican, Fr. Alberto Radente. On the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1865, he went to Confession and returned to the Church. This caused great joy in his family, which had not ceased to beg God for his conversion since he had gone astray. After Bartolo's conversion, a thought tormeneted him: "How could he be saved after the life he lived in the past? He felt a voice inside of him say, "If you spread the Rosary you will be saved." He understood that his vocation was to spread the Rosary and devotion to Our Lady of the Rosary. In his lifetime he saw several works in favor of this mission and its extension throughout the world. A large church would be erected in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary. He did not limit himself to this mission alone, but also helped in different works of Christian charity directed especially toward orphans and the poor. He died on October 5, 1926, and was beatified by Pope John Paul II on October 26, 1980.

Blessed Charles de Foucauld

"My good Mother, Mother of Perpetual Help, to whom I confide and consecrate myself to you now as I did some years ago, you have helped me so much by faithfully guarding and leading me. My dearest Mother, keep me always close to you... I entrust myself to your care as a helpless little child… I abandon myself to you like a baby in your arms... Guard me, guard my heart, and grant that night, day and always, both myself and those whom Jesus has entrusted to us here, may...share unceasingly your love, your contemplation, your adoration in our Lord."

Charles de Foucauld was born on September 15, 1858, in Strasbourg, France. At the age of six, he was left an orphan. He and his sister were taken care of by his grandfather. Between 1872-1875, he studied with the Jesuits in Nancy and Paris. In 1876, he joined the military academy. He was sent as an officer to Setif, Algeria in 1880, to be dismissed only a year later for improper conduct. He learned Arabic and Hebrew, and in 1883 went on an expedition to the Moroccan desert. Afterwards, he explored Algeria and Tunisia, later returning to Paris in 1886 to work on his book about Morocco. It was during that time, in 1886, that he underwent a deep conversion. Having reflected on Islam and its followers, he thought that they took their faith seriously. He, on the other hand, had left his faith, squandering money and going on adventures. It was then that he began to pray, “Lord, if you exist, let me come to know you.” One of his friends took him to Fr. Huvelin, who ordered him to confess. He obeyed and came out a new man. He said, “As soon as I believed in God, I understood that I could not do otherwise than to live for Him alone. My religious vocation dates from the same moment as my faith: God is so great.” From that moment on, he lived a very simple life, sleeping on the floor and praying for many hours each day. He joined the Trappist monks but ended up leaving because his heart and his calling was in Africa, where the people still did not know Christ. He went to the Holy Land and afterwards returned to France to study for the priesthood. He was ordained on June 9, 1901. At the end of the same year, he went to live in Oran Sur, near Morocco to establish an order to evangelize Moroccans. In 1902, he began to buy slaves in order to free them. In 1904, he dedicated himself to the evangelization of Tuaregs. Eventually, he settled in the Saharan Desert in Tamanrasset in Hoggar, Algeria. In 1909, he founded the “Union of the Little Brothers and Sisters of the Sacred Heart” to evangelize the French colonies of Africa. He was shot and killed on December 1, 1916. He was beatified on November 13, 2005.