May 7th - St. Agostino Roscelli (AC)
Born at Casarza Ligure, Italy, July 27, 1818; died May 7, 1902; beatified
May 7, 1995. Canonized
10 June 2001 by Pope John Paul II
Agostino Roscelli was not blessed with worldly wealth or rank. Instead God
gave him virtuous parents, intelligence, and sup****tive friends.
Surrounded
by the silence of the mountains as he watched his family's sheep,
Agostino's
soul was opened to prayer and his heart drew close to God. But it was not
until a parish mission in May 1835 (age 16) that he recognized he was
being
called to the priesthood. Most peasants would have found it impossible to
answer that call without divine and human intervention; however,
Agostino's
vocation was sup****ted by his own prayer life and the financial aid of
generous people.
Following his studies at Genoa, Roscelli was ordained in 1846. His first
appointment was in the parish of Saint Martin d'Albaro. Eight years later
he
was given the care of the parish Church of Consolation, where he spent
endless hours hearing confessions.
In Genoa he established a residential school to train young women without
families, who were in danger of starvation or falling into prostitution
because they had no sup****t. In 1876, he founded the Institute of Sisters
of
the Immaculata to run this and other residential centers he had
established.
In addition to this work of charity, in 1874, Father Agostino was
appointed
chaplain of the provincial orphanage. While continuing this work for 22
years, he also served as prison chaplain, wherein he cared particularly
for
those condemned to death (L'Osservatore Romano).
Pope John Paul II at the canonization of St Agostino Roscelli:
3. With affection I turn now to you, pilgims from various regions to
participate in the canonization of St Agostino Roscelli, founder of the
"Sisters of the Immaculate". I greet the Archbishop of Genova, Cardinal
Dionigi Tettamanzi, Cardinal Giovanni Canestri, the Bishop of Chiavari,
the
clergy, men and women religious, and the faithful. The new saint exercised
his priesthood with great dedication, carrying out an apostolate that was
productive of good. He followed the model of an austere evangelical life,
in
which he was outstanding in the love of God and neighbour. The indivisible
love of God and neighbour constitutes the fundamental and distingui****ng
characteristic of his spirituality, in which action and contemplation feed
each other. He loved to repeat: "Prayer helps to act well, and action,
done
as it should be done, helps to pray well".
I am happy to remember the words of my venerated Predecessor John Paul I,
when he was Bishop of Vittorio Veneto, caught the ascetical features of St
Agostino Roscelli: "He knew how to join together in the best way the
business of modern life with a deep interior life" (cf. Litt. Post., p.
16,
n. 14). The spiritual stature of the "poor priest", as he liked to call
himself, released a prophetic force capable of arousing and charming even
today. In a simple way, he re-presented the Gospel values that one must
recover and live with conviction at the start of the third millennium: the
value of humility and sobriety, of silence and the sense of the presence
of
God which directs history, of prayer and of a charity which never says,
that's enough, because it is as immense as is the God from whom it comes.
St Agostino Roscelli reminds his spiritual daughters and all believers
that
the results of pastoral action do not depend mostly on our own strength,
but
on the help of God, to whom we must always turn in prayer.
Saint Quote:
The best perfection is to do ordinary things in a perfect manner.
Constant
fidelity in little things is a great and heroic virtue.
-St. Bonaventure
Bible Quote
1 And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all
together in one place: 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as
of
a mighty wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were
sitting.
3 And there appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat
upon every one of them:
(Acts 2:1-3)
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Four Obligations of Mass
Honor & Praise Our Lord
O my God, I adore You, and acknowledge You as my Lord, and Master of my
soul. I protest that all I am, and all I have, are willingly acknowledged
by
me to be from You. And since Your supreme majesty deserves infinite honor
and homage, while I am but a poor, helpless being, utterly incapable of
paying so great a debt, I offer up to You the humiliation and the homage
which Jesus renders to You on the altar. That which Jesus does I purpose
also to do. I humble, I abase myself, together with Him, before Your
Majesty. I adore You with the same humiliation which Jesus practices, and
rejoice and am glad that blessed Jesus should give to my behalf,
infinite honor and homage. - Amen.
Beg Forgiveness for Our Sins
Behold, my God, this traitor who has so many times rebelled against You. I
am pierced with grief, how I deplore and detest my heavy sins, while I
offer
for them that same satisfaction which Jesus offers on the altar. I offer
to
You all the merits of Jesus, all Jesus himself, God and man, Who now, as
an
unbloody Victim, pleads anew for me, His bloody sacrifice on the cross. I
offer all that He does on that altar as my Mediator and Advocate,
imploring
You to pardon me through His most Precious Blood. I unite myself with the
cry of that loving Blood, and I ask You to have mercy on me for my sins,
so
grievous and so many. The Blood of Jesus cries for mercy; my pierced heart
cries for mercy!
Dear God, if my tears do not move You, let the groans of my Jesus move
You;
that mercy which He obtained for the whole human race on the cross, why
shouldn't He obtain it for me on this altar? Yes; I hope that, in virtue
of
that most Precious Blood, You will pardon all my most grievous
transgressions, for which I shall persevere in weeping to the last breath
of
my life. - Amen.
Thanksgiving
See me, my most beloved God, laden with the blessings, both general and
particular, which You choose to give me in time, and to store up for me in
eternity. I know that Your mercies toward me have been and are infinite,
but
yet I am ready to repay You all, even to the last cent.
I thank and repay You by this most Precious Body, this Divine Blood, this
Innocent Victim, which I present to You by the hands of Your priest. I am
certain that this offering which I make is sufficient to repay all the
gifts
You have given to me. This gift of infinite value is by itself worth all
the
gifts which I have received, which I receive now, and am yet to receive
from
You.
Holy Angels, and all you beloved ones in Heaven, help me to thank my God,
and to offer Him, in thanksgiving for such benefits, not only this but all
the M***** which are being celebrated throughout the whole world in order
that His loving beneficiaries may remain fully recompensed for so many
graces which He has given to me, which He is now about to give, and will
give throughout eternal ages.
Dear ones, my very holy advocates, thank for me the goodness of my God, so
that I may not live and die without utterance of my gratitude. Ask Him to
accept the impulse of my heart, and to have regard to the loving thanks
offered by my Jesus for me in this Mass. - Amen.
Petition for Graces and Favors
O my dearest God, too well I recognize myself as unworthy of Your favors.
I
confess my supreme unworthiness, and that because of so many and so
grievous
sins I deserve not to be heard. But how will You be able to refuse
attention
to Your Divine Son Who prays for me on this altar, and offers to You, in
my
behalf, His Life and His Blood?
My God, my most beloved, hear the prayer of this my great Advocate, and
for
His sake grant me all the graces which You know to be necessary for
accompli****ng the great affair of my eternal salvation. And now that I
take
heart to ask of You a general pardon of all my sins, and the grace of
final
perseverance, I also ask of You, my God, trusting in the merits and
intercession of my Jesus, all virtues in a heroic degree, and all the aids
efficacious for making me a true saint. I ask You for the conversion of
all
unbelievers and of all sinners, and particularly of those who belong to me
by the ties of blood or by spiritual affinity. I beg of You the
liberation,
not of one soul only, but of all the souls in purgatory. Oh, bring them
all
out, so that, through the efficacy of this Divine Sacrifice, that prison
where they are being rendered pure may become empty. Convert also all the
souls of the living; may this miserable world become a paradise of delight
for You, where, loved, reverenced, and praised in time by all of us, we
may
come afterward to praise and bless You for all eternity. - Amen.
- Saint Leonard of ****t Maurice
Adapted from "The Hidden Treasure Holy Mass"
Tan Books and Publishers
P.O. Box 424
Rockford IL 61105
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