March 23rd - St. Joseph Oriol, Visionary
(Also known as José Orioli)
Born in Barcelona, Spain, on November 23, 1650; died there on March 23,
1702; beatified by Pope Pius VII on May 15, 1896; canonized in 1909.
Father
Joseph Oriol is remembered for the heroism of his virtues, for the example
he proposes to Christians, and for the singular favors God accorded him.
Joseph is a saint among thousands of saints; but, for more than three
centuries, history and legend together have justified the cognomen his
pari****oners gave him, even before he died: "wonder- worker of Barcelona."
A
saint among thousands of saints; but, for about three centuries, history
and
legend have emphasized the healings, the prophecies, the miracles of all
kinds of which Joseph Oriol was the instrument.
Joseph Oriol was born of a poor family. His good conduct, his particular
devotion to the Blessed Sacrament persuaded his parish priest to prepare
him
for the priesthood. He earned a doctorate in theology. In 1675, he was
ordained and soon Innocent XI granted him a benefice at Santa Maria del
Pino
in his native city. In spite of his attempts and temptations, Joseph Oriol
never left his parish.
Although he hoped to evangelize the infidels, God showed him that he had
another vocation. On his way to Rome, Father Joseph fell ill and
experienced
a vision that outlined his new mission: He was to reinvigorate the faith
of
lukewarm hearts in Barcelona. Thus, Joseph Oriol instructed children,
evangelized soldiers, and prayed and urged others to pray for the living
and
the dead.
He wore a hair-****rt, lived only on bread and water for 26 years, and used
the discipline on himself. Nevertheless, he is not remembered for his
austerity, but rather for his faith, hope, and love of God and neighbor.
He
epitomized the exercise of these virtues to such a high degree of
perfection
that the Devil was worried, persecuted him and even left his imprint on
his
flesh. But only on the flesh. Joseph Oriol remained firm on the path of
justice and God manifested his Power and favors through his servant with
extraordinary gifts. Death finally ended his life on the date he had
announced.
Others would prefer, perhaps, that for the above conventional picture we
substitute the one of the wonder-worker, the image of a veritable
"medium,"
worthy heir of the charlatans of paganism, worthy rival of the sorcerers
of
feti****sm, a conjurer as well as a man contemptuous of natural laws.
But that kind of picture does not deal with holiness. Holiness takes hold
of
man and utilizes him. It takes hold of the conscious and the unconscious,
it
takes hold of the miracle-man who, without holiness, would be less than a
man, the inverted reflection of a saint (Attwater2, Benedictines,
Encyclopedia).
This Version Taken From:
http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0323.htm
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Whoever will come after Me, let him deny himself. (Matthew 16:24)
"If we do not pay great attention to mortifying our own will, there are
many
things that can take from us that holy liberty of spirit, which we seek in
order to be able to mount freely towards our Creator, without being always
weighed down with earth and lead. Besides, in a soul that belongs to
itself,
and is attached to its own will, there can never be solid virtue"
-St. Teresa
St. Mary Magdalen de' Pazzi said one day that she asked nothing of the
Lord
except that He would take her own will from her; for she knew that through
the vivacity of her disposition, she did not advance so much as she
desired
in those virtues which render a soul most pleasing to the Lord. After
saying
this, she raised her eyes to Heaven and fell into an ecstasy, in which she
was shown by God how much harm is done to souls, especially those of
religious, when they are guided by their own will which they once
consecrated to God by vow. In the course of the ecstasy, she took her
Superior by the hand and led her to the oratory, where she knelt and
prayed
the Virgin to enlighten her Superior also, that she might take pains to
despoil her of her will; and after prostrating herself three times upon
the
ground, she recovered from her trance. She was so much in earnest in this
matter that she once said she did not remember ever to have tried, either
secretly or openly, to incline the will of her Superior to her own.
(Taken from the book "A Year with the Saints". March - Mortification)
Bible Quote:
19 Jesus answered, and said to them: Destroy this temple, and in three
days
I will raise it up. 20 The Jews then said: Six and forty years was this
temple in building; and wilt thou raise it up in three days? 21 But he
spoke of the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was risen again from
the dead, his disciples remembered, that he had said this, and they
believed
the scripture, and the word that Jesus had said. (John 2:19-22)
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The fifth sorrowful mystery prayer of the Eucharistic Rosary,
to be offered before the Blessed Sacrament:
The Crucifixion and Death of Our Lord, offered for self-
sacrifice for God, and our neighbor, forgiveness of injuries:
O good and merciful Saviour! Thy love, more than iron nails,
keeps Thee riveted to the cross whereon Thou atonest for our
sins in the midst of unspeakable torments; we find Thee also
riveted by the same love in the Sacrament of the Altar,
continuing Thy sacrifice to the end of ages in order to apply
to us the fruits thereof.
Sweet Lamb, perpetually immolated for us, we adore Thee,
and we beg of Thee, through the intercession of Thy holy
Mother, such a hatred of sin as will make us prefer the death
of the body to the staining of the soul.
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