Thecla observing, saw the rock opened to as large a degree as that a man might enter in; she bravely fled from the vile men and went into the rock, which instantly closed, the men catching hold of only her veil and tearing off a piece. SAINT THELCA ... Feast day currently September 23, in the past we celebrated it on the 24th. "We fools esteemed their life madness, and their end without honor. Behold how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the Saints..." Wisdom 5:4 This month the featured Saint is one who lived during the time of the apostles. She was only 18 years old and betrothed to Thamyris, a principal person of Iconium, where she lived, when she heard St. Paul preach. Her family was also considered of importance and they were pleased of the future marriage with Thamyris. When her family accused her of being a Christian, she fortified herself with the sign of the cross and explained that she wanted to remain a virgin for Christ. Nevertheless the governor summoned Thecla, and said, "why do you not, according to the law of the Iconians, marry Thamyris?" After constant rejecting of Thamyris she was condemned to be burnt and fire was prepared for the occasion. She was then ordered to go upon it; which she did, first making the sign of the cross. The flames did not touch her and a cloud from above came to pour down great quantities of rain and hail. Also an earthquake occured and many were in great danger, Thecla was allowed to escape unharmed. While Thecla and St. Paul gathered in Antioch to preach the Gospel, a certain magistrate who lusted after her, and when refused became angry. He then led her to the governor where she was condemned to be thrown among the beasts for having ridiculed the magistrate. Thecla being placed among the wild lions, bulls and bears prayed to God and the beasts refused to attack her; she then saw a pit of water and desiring to be baptized threw herself into the water fearing not the sea calves destruction of herself. Thecla was not harmed by any of the wild beasts or sea animals and the governor called for her to explain. She explained by claiming to be a servant of God, and a believer on Jesus Christ his Son, in whom God is well pleased; and for that reason none of the beasts could touch her. When the governor heard these things he released her. Thecla was then inspired by God to enlighten many people by her example and word, she was also inspired to go into a mountain away from the city where she lived many, many years while working miracles, and curing the sick who came to visit her. She was so well known that the physicians of Seleucia the nearby city, grew envious and the devil suggested to them a plan of evil against her. These physicians from the city arranged for some evil men to prey upon Thecla in her mountain home and when this evil came to her, blessed Thecla observing, saw the rock opened to as large a degree as that a man might enter in; she bravely fled from the vile men and went into the rock, which instantly closed, the men catching hold of only her veil and tearing off a piece. This miracle of the opening of the rock for St. Thecla happened at the age of ninety years and she was not seen again. St.Thecla Virgin and Martyr who having heard the words of St.Paul at the tender age of 18; determined to leave her worldly gifts of beauty and fame behind her in order to follow Christ and His teachings....pray for our youth today. St. Thecla preferring instead a life of suffering and solitude....pray for our elderly who often suffer pain and loneliness. Pray for us ALL that we too, like yourself will someday see the face of God.

Holy Mother Church celebrates the feast day of St. Gerard Majella, Confessor on October 16. He was born in the South of Italy in a small town called Muro on the sixth of April. It was in the year 1726. His father, Domenico, was a tailor. His mother, Benedetta, had already born three daughters. Gerard was the youngest - the only son. By the time Gerard was twenty-one he had a fair business: at least he could support his mother. He gave her a third of all his earnings. Another third went to the poor of Muro. The rest was for Masses for the Poor Souls. As for himself . . . God would provide. Not too practical to a hard-headed businessman, but he was more than just a small town tailor. He wanted to be a saint. No matter what was ado about the cathedral, Gerard was there. He attended all the Sunday Masses, the May devotions, the tridua. In fact, he often spent the whole night locked up in church. One of the missionaries, Father Paul Cafaro, made a deep impression on Gerard Majella. "I must join these men as a lay-brother," he decided. Each day the resolution grew more insistent in his heart. He even gave away all his worldly goods. When his mother discovered his plan to join the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer she was frantic. His three sisters wept aloud, pleading with him to stay. "Mother needs you at home", they insisted; but Gerard stood firm. He was going to Iliceto to become a Redemptorist! The days of Brother, Gerard's novitiate were drawing to a close. He had tried the Redemptorist Rule and found it to his liking. His various superiors had Tried him in many ways and found that he passed their tests. Anyone who observed him in chapel knew he was a man of prayer. On the feast of Our Lady's Visitation in 1752 Brother Gerard commenced his fifteen day retreat in preparation to make his vows as a Redemptorist. On July sixteenth, the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, he knelt in the chapel at Iliceto and pronounced in the presence of his community, the vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience, and the oath of Perseverance until death. Brother Gerard Majella was a professed member of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. Two months later, with the consent to his Director, he made a fifth vow: To do always that which was most pleasing to God. Gerard was gifted with God's grace and was therefore instrumental in regaining souls to Christ. There was one man, especially, who, despite the urging of the lay brother, refused to make a good confession. One evening Gerard obtained permission to go up to the man's room. He carried a large crucifix, and before the man could open his mouth, "Look at these wounds!" he told him, "Your evil deeds have made the blood to flow." Red blood began oozing from the nails of the crucifix. "For you He was born in a stable", Gerard continued. Suddenly the trembling man beheld the Infant Jesus in Gerard's arms! "If you persist in your sins, you will be damned . . ." The brother made a gesture and a soul from hell appeared in the room writhing in torment! After that there was no need for words. At once the man ran down the stairs two at a time to one of the confessors and confessed his sins. He told what he had seen and asked that the whole incident be made public for the instruction of all. After 6 years of religious life, working miracles and bringing people to God, Gerard grew weak and frail. Upon recovering several times but growing weaker all along of this same illness, Gerard was resigned and his last request was that a small white placard be tacked to his door with the inscription: Here the Will of God is done, as God wills, and as long as God wills. Just before his death on October 15, he tried to sit up, crying to his confreres, "Look! Look! It is the Madonna!" and fell into a sudden ecstasy of love. That evening he died at age twenty-nine. To recount the happenings after his death in 1755 would demand a large book. Because of the numerous miracles performed through the saint's intercession, proceedings for his canonization were instituted shortly after his death. In 1893 he was beatified. Eleven years later on December the eleventh, 1904, Pope Pius X proclaimed his solemn canonization at St. Peter's in eternal Rome. Brother Gerard of Muro and Materdomini was now Saint Gerard of heaven and the whole world. Many ask Why is St. Gerard known as the Saint of Mothers and for the privilege of Motherhood? The title is gven him by popular acclaim. On several occasions duirng his life, his prayer saved the life of a mother and her new-born child. Or a deeper reason might be that God brings into the spotlight some saint to contradict it by the spectacular practice of the opposite virtue. Today it could well be that God trains His spotlight on St. Gerard Majella to contradict an age that has lost trust in God's providence. For one of today's most vicious and concerted attacks is that which seeks to set at naught the eternal law of marriage, home and acceptance of abortion. Prayer to St. Gerard for Motherhood O good St. Gerard, powerful intercessor before God and Wonderworker of our day, I call upon thee and seek thy aid. Thou who on earth didst always fulfill God's designs, help me to do the holy Will of God. Beseech the Master of Life, from Whom all paternity proceedeth, to render me fruitful in offspring, that I may raise up children to God in this life and heirs to the Kingdom of His Glory in the world to come. Amen

The Saint of the Month is Saint Gertrude the Great. Today searching on the internet you may notice she is confused with the abbess of her order, and natural sister of St. Mechtildes who were born of an llustrious family; confused because they had the same name. Even the above picture of St. Gertrude is no doubt mistaken for the Gertrude abbess because of the crosier, a symbol of authority, however this is the picture she is known by today. Our Saint Gertrude was never an abbess and Holy Church has distinguished her from all others of her sex by adding to her name the honorable title, "the Great." She is the queen-flower of the Benedictine Order, the most beautiful lily among the holy virgins who flourished during the glorious middle ages. One thing is particularly remarkable in the life of St. Gertrude, the like of which cannot be found in the life of any other saint: it is the extraordinary promises made to her by our Savior in favor of those who venerate her. Gertrude was confided to the care of St. Mechtilde, mistress of the alumnate and sister of the Abbess Gertrude. From the first she had the gift of winning the hearts, and her biographer gives many details of her exceptional charms, which matured with advancing years. Gertrude entered the cloistered convent of Helfta at the early age of 5 years old. Because of her abandonment there her birthplace, parentage and ancestry have remained shrouded in obscurity. When however, Gertrude had reached the proper age, she answered the call of heaven which beckoned her to the venerable Order of St. Benedict. Gertrude's heart sought God alone, and found Him everywhere. To please Jesus in all things was the one aim of her life. Her life became daily more supernatural; at times she received Divine directions and profound illuminations, whose inspiration seemed to carry her spirit into the fathomless depths of the Divinity; again she was transported into heaven to anticipate its delights, to enjoy its beauty. Blind trust in God's mercy, unlimited confidence in His love, is one of the secrets to obtain sanctity. The Holy Fathers have always taught that the measure of our hope and confidence is the measure of the graces which we receive from heaven. They have realized that, through our unreserved confidence, God is most honored and glorified. Nothing will be denied to an unlimited confidence. Our Lord revealed: "It is impossible that anyone should not receive all that he has believed and hoped to obtain. It gives Me real pleasure when men hope great things from Me and I will always grant them more than they expect." In all things, Gertrude had recourse to Jesus as a child has to its mother. Nothing, in her eyes, was too trivial to be recommended to Him. On one occasion, having lost a needle in a pile of straw, she besought Him to find it for her. "O dear Jesus," she said, "vainly, indeed, would I search for this needle. It would be lost time. Please get it for me Thyself." Extending one hand, and turning away her head, she immediately found the needle between her fingers. Again and again, Our Lord encouraged this confidence so dear to Him. In all Gertrude's writings, we find but one passage breathing the spirit of severity to men seeking Him in the Eucharist. It refers to those communicants who permit their tongue to be stained by sins of uncharitableness and criticism. One day after Holy Communion, as St. Gertrude was thinking with what care she should use her tongue, honored and sanctified as it was above all the members of her body by the Body of Christ being laid thereon in Holy Comunion, Our Lord instructed her thus: - "One who does not abstain from vain, idle, or sinful discourses, and who approaches Holy Communion without repentance, is like a person who gathers a heap of stones at the threshold of his door to throw at his guest when he comes to visit him, or beats him cruelly on the head with a rod." Our Savior frequently impressed upon St. Gertrude the exceeding value our sufferings acquire when united to those of His life and Passion. "Whoever in his trials aned adversities unites himself with My sufferings, and strives to imitate My patience and resignation, will truly repose on My Heart and participate in all the merits of My life." It was not till 1677 that the name of Gertrude was inscribed in the Roman Martyrology and her feast was extended to the universal church, which now keeps it on 15 November, although it was at first fixed on 17 November, the day of her death, on which it is still celebrated by her own order. In compliance with a petition from the King of Spain she was declared Patroness of the West Indies; in Peru her feast is celebrated with great pomp, and in New Mexico a town was built in her honour and bears her name.

This month Seat of Wisdom will honor Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini who is pictured above; we celebrate her feast day on December 23. Not many people know that Mother Cabrini was booked for the maiden voyage of the Titanic. God obviously had a hand in the "business matter" that caused the little saint to have to change her plans, and allowed her to work seven more years for the Church in America. Francesca, the thirteenth child of Agostino and Stella Cabrini, first saw the light of day on July 15, 1850, in the Italian village of Saint'Angelo. Her older sister Rosa was her teacher and mentor in her early years, after which she attended school with the Sisters in Arluno. The desire to be a missionary, and bring the knowledge of Jesus to the Chinese children, was with her from her childhood, but whenever she mentioned it, her listeners discouraged her, telling her she did not have the health for the strenuous life. After receiving her teaching certificate, she spent two years teaching in a village school. Then her pastor and bishop asked her to bring order to the House of Providence, a local orphanage. Francesca learned much through the trials she underwent here as a subject, and after her profession, as a superior. In the end, the House was suppressed, and her bishop told her to found a missionary order. She answered simply, "I will look for a house." Several of her companions from the House of Providence remained with her to become the first Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. The Congregation received diocesan approval in 1880. Over the next several years, the little congregation spread rapidly. By 1886 the Sisters had five houses in Lombardy. Francesca's director told her that the diocesan approval was all she needed, but her zeal urged her to seek broader horizons. In 1887 she set out for Rome to seek the approval of the Pope for her Congregation; this she received after six months, during which time of waiting she established two convents in the Eternal City. There were always plenty of orphans to be cared for and children to be taught! During the next two busy years, Mother Cabrini received invitations to come to America. She still cherished the thought of going to China, but Pope Leo XIII had the final word: "Not to the East, but to the West. Your mission will be in America..." On the feast of St. Joseph in 1889, Mother Cabrini and her Sisters sailed for America along with 1500 Italian immigrants. This was just the beginning of travels for the valiant Foundress. Back and forth across the ocean she went, founding orphanages, schools and eventually hospitals, too. After three trips from Italy to New York, where she established two foundations, Mother Cabrini was off to Latin America. Back in the States, New Orleans beckoned to her, then Chicago, South America, Denver, Los Angeles, Seattle. She truly took to heart the words of her great friend, Leo XIII, "Let us work, Cabrini! After this, there is Paradise." Ever constant amid storms and successes, no obstacle seemed to bother her as she calmly proceeded to "turn the city upside down," if need be, to achieve her goals. "When we contemplate this frail little woman, in the short space of two score years, recruiting an army of 4,000 women under the banner of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, dedicated to a life of poverty and self-sacrifice, fired by the enthusiasm of the crusaders of old, burning with love of their fellowmen, crossing the seas, penetrating into unknown lands, teaching them and their children by word and example to become good Christians and law-abiding citizens, befriending the poor, teaching the ignorant, washing the sick - all without hope of recompense or reward here below - tell me, does not all this fulfill the concept of a noble woman?" (Cardinal Mundelien at her beatification). Mother Cabrini died on December 22, 1917, leaving behind 67 houses of her Institute to continue her work for the Sacred Heart.

Our Monthly Featured Saint for January is, St. Anthony of Egypt, Abbot, Patriarch of Monks. Concerning Anthony of Egypt we have more knowledge than of any other saint of this early period (356), thanks to the biography written by his friend, St. Athanasius. Anthony (Antony) was born in 251 at Coma, Egypt. He grew up sheltered from pagan literature and read no language but his own. He was left a very large estate upon the death of his parents and also the responsibility of his young sister. Placing his sister in a Christian nunnery and distributing his money to the needy he left the world to become a hermit. While living a recluse life the devil constantly assailed him by pointing out the joys of family life, the good works he might have done in the world with his money, and the futility of the hermits's existence. Later the devil harassed him night and day with gross and obscene thoughts, and loud noises. Once, Athanasius says, he was so grievously beaten that when his friend arrieved with a little bread for him, he lay almost dead. As Antony came to himself, he called out to the devils, "See, here I am! Do your worst! Nothing shall separate me from Christ my Lord." It was a common practice at this time for fervent Christians to lead retired lives in penance and contemplation on the outskirts of towns, and in the desert, while others practiced their austerities without withdrawing from their fellow men. In even earlier times we hear of these ascetics. Origen, about 249, wrote that they abstained from flesh, as the disciples of Pythagoras did, Antony lived in his tomb near Coma until about 285. Then, at the age of thirty-five, he set out into the empty desert, crossed the eastern branch of the Nile, and took up his abode in the ruins of an old castle on the top of a mountain. There he lived for almost twenty years, rarely seeing any man except the one who brought him food every six months. By the time Antony was 55 years of age he came down from his mountain and founded monasteries. He taught his monks to have eternity always present to their minds and to perform every act with all the fervor of their souls, as if it were to be their last. In the year 311, during the persecutions under Maximian, Antony hoped he might be one of those chosen for martyrdom. He went down to Alexndria and made himself conspicuous by encouraging the Christians already imprisoned, and also those who were standing before the judges and at the places of execution. He wore his white hermit's habit openly, within sight of the governor, yet he did nothing provocative and did not come forward and accuse himself, as some impetuous ones did. A year later he made another trip to Alexandria, expressly to refute the Arians, and went about preaching that Christ the Son was not a creature, but of he same eternal substance as the Father; and that the impious Arians, who called Him a creature, did not differ from the heathen, "who worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator." When Belacius, the military commander in Egypt, was savagely persecuting the Christians, Antony wrote warning him to leave the servants of Christ in peace. Belacius tore up the letter, spat and trampled on it, and threatened to make Antony his next victim. But five days later, as he was riding with Nestorious, governor of Egypt, the commander"s horse began to curvet and prance and crashed against the other. Belacius was thrown and his horse then turned and bit his thigh. In three days he was dead. St. Antony of Egypt once fortold that a time would come when monks would be fond of living in cities and in stately buildings and eating at dainty tables, and would be distinguished from the people of the world solely by the habits they wore. Only a few would then rise to the heights of perfection though the crowns these few received would be so much the more resplendent since they had attained virtue amid the contagion of bad examples. St. Antony died about the year 356, on January 17, the day on which most ancient martyrologies commemorate him, and which the Greek Church kept as a feast. He had lived to the remarkable age of 105, without sickness, his sight unimpaired, his teeth still sound. Two disciples interred Antony's remains according to his instructions, beside his cell. About 561, in the reign of Justinian, they are said to have been carried to Alexandria, and later, when the Saracens overran Egypt, to Constantinople. During the Crusades they were brought to Vienne, France, by Joscelin, a native of that region, to whom the Emperor at Constantinople had given them. The Bollandists report numerous miracles wrought by Antony's intercession, in particular, the cures of persons suffering from St. Anthony's Fire, an epidemic which raged violently in France and other parts of Europe in the eleventh century.