Other Passionist Saints

AUGUST 26
BLESSED DOMINIC BARBERI

Dominic Barberi, as a Passionist by title "of the Mother of God," was born of devout farming people in 1792 at Viterbo, Italy. At twenty-two years of age, he experienced the call of God to the apostolate. Leaving his farm work, he entered the Passionists where he manifested extraordinary gifts of mind and heart. After he was ordained to the Priesthood in 1818, he spent himself diligently in teaching, in the ministry of the Word, in the spiritual direction and in writing many philosophical, theological and homiletic works. 

Filled with the spirit of Saint Paul of the Cross, he left Italy and went first to Belgium. There he established the Passionists in 1840,  and went on to England in 1842. He was now responding to a Divine call that had always been with him - to work for unity among God's people in England. 

In the space of eight years he had founded four Passionist Communities and exercised an extensive apostolate by preaching missions and retreats throughout the country. His writings and personal holiness brought many to the faith; most prominent among those he received into the Church was John Henry Newman. 

Broken finally by his labours, he died at Reading on 17th August 1849, at the age of 57. He was enrolled among the Blessed by Pope Paul VI during the Second Vatican Council, on 23rd October 1963.

 PRAYER TO BLESSED DOMINIC Of THE MOTHER Of GOD PASSIONIST APOSTLE Of ENGLAND

O God, Who so lovingly raised Blessed Dominic to the heights of holiness, learning and apostolic zeal, and made him a powerful minister of Thy mercy for the return of many of our separated Brethren to the Catholic Church, grant to us also an abundant share of his virtues, that we too, according to our state, may contribute to the realization of his desire for the union of all Christians in one Fold, under one Shepherd. Deign now, through his intercession, to grant us the particular grace which we humbly ask of Thy mercy . . .
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be (3 times)

Romae 12. viii. 1963, NIHIL OBSTAT

JUNE 12
BLESSED LORENZO SALVI

Blessed Lorenzo Maria of St. Francis Xavier (Salvi) was born in Rome on 30th October 1782. He died in Capranica (Viterbo) 12th June 1856. 

Blessed Lorenzo professed the Passionist Rule 20th November 1802 and was ordained to the priesthood 29th December 1805. As superior he was most prudent in leading the community. Following in the footsteps of Our Founder, St. Paul of the Cross, his principle apostolate was that of itinerant missionary. 

Blessed Lorenzo was also untiring in promoting devotion to the Holy Childhood of Jesus on every occasion by work, example and through his many writings. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II, 1st October 1989. He is buried in the Passionist Church of St. Angelo, Vetralla (Viterbo).

PRAYER

Blessed are Thou, O God our Father, for Thy gift of Blessed Lorenzo Salvi, for his life, his witness and for the love Thou didst give him for the mystery of the Nativity and Infancy of Thy Son Jesus.

We ask Thee to reawaken in Thy Church the awareness of the great gift of the Incarnation and the desire to imitate Jesus with simplicity of heart and total trust in Thy Love and Thy Providence.

We thank Thee for the deep compassion for the suffering Thou didst grant Blessed Lorenzo and for the strength of his prayer to the Infant Jesus.

We believe that he still intercedes for us. We confide to Thee our good desires, for ourselves and for our neighbors, secure to obtain Thy Grace and the protection of Blessed Lorenzo. Amen.
 
Con approvazione ecclesiastica



OCTOBER 6
BLESSED ISIDORE DE LOOR

Blessed Isidore De Loor, known in the Passionist Congregation as Isidore of Saint Joseph, was born 13th April 1881, in the small town of Vrasene, located in the diocese of Gent-Gand, in Eastern Flanders. He was from a family of farmers, and he grew up loving his work in the fields. 

At the age of twenty-six he felt the call to the religious life, and entered the novitiate of the Passionist Congregation in Ere, where he was received as a lay-brother. He professed his religious vows on 13th September 1908. Thereafter he humbly served several communities of the Congregation; to his community service was joined an especially intense life of prayer and penance, in keeping with the spirit of the Congregation. 

His right eye had to be removed in 1911, because of a tumor. Among the religious of the congregation, and among the laity, he was admired for his charity and simplicity, his dedication to work and his spirit of recollection. Having suffered through several months of intense pain, he succumbed to cancer and pleurisy on 6th October 1916. 

Blessed Isidore was only thirty-five years of age, and had lived as a religious for only nine years. Many referred to him as "the good Brother" and "the Brother of the Will of God."  Pope John Paul II, declared him Blessed the 30th September 1984.

BLESSED CHARLES OF MOUNT ARGUS

On January 5th each year Passionists celebrate the Feast of Blessed Charles Houben or as he is also known Blessed Charles of Mount Argus.

Blessed Charles was born in Munstergeleen, Holland in 1821, and joined the Passionists at Ere, Belgium when he was twenty four years of age. He was ordained a priest in 1850 and assigned to the Passionist Community in England. On 6th July 1857 he became a member of the Passionist Community at Mount Argus in Dublin, Ireland. He died in 1893 and is buried in St. Paul's Church, Mount Argus.

During the last week of November 2005 word reached the Passionists that the Vatican Medical Council had expressed unanimously their positive vote regarding the miracle attributed to Blessed Charles. This was the most difficult step on the way to canonization. The way is now clear for his canonization and we await further progress and the timetable to canonization.

The Miraculous Healing of Mr. Dormans 

Mr. J.H.A. Dormans comes from Munstergeleen in Holland, birthplace of Blessed Charles. On March 29"', 1999, his doctor had him taken in to the emergency room of the Maasland Hospital in Sittard. What he had experienced as abdominal pains turned out to be a ruptured appendix. Complications emerged. The oozing acid had damaged the small intestines to such an extent that, every other day, the inside of his abdomen had to be rinsed out under full anesthetic. From the outset Mr. Dormans had surrendered his faith into the hands of Blessed Charles, praying for a positive outcome to his disease, and a blessing on the hands of the physicians who were treating him.

On April 11th his grandson, Simon, was due to make his First Holy Communion. All dressed up, he was brought to see his papa in hospital. On arrival it was discovered that Mr. Dorman's wife, Mia, and the other family members had been sent for. His condition had worsened. The surgical procedure that morning had exposed totally weakened and already porous intestines. Every action taken by the surgeon to improve the situation seemed to have the opposite result. When he wanted to close a hole, a little touch caused the intestines to leek even further. The doctor informed the family that from a medical point of view nothing more could be done and that there was no hope of recovery. His condition was so bad that the attending medical staff had decided not to resuscitate him. The family were advised to prepare themselves for an unpleasant death, within a very short time. With Mr. Dorman's intestines totally destroyed, the surgeon calmly and quietly explained how he had reached the boundaries of what he could do. Medical Science had nothing further to offer. The last sacraments of the Church were administered. The family said their good-byes. Blessed Charles was invoked to guide him through these difficult hours.

But somebody up there had other plans. On a visit a couple of days later, Mr. Dorman's family doctor was looking at him and saying to him: "Father Charles has performed his miracle, now it's up to the medical staff here". His health continued to improve with every passing day. The surgeon said: "It is beyond me that you are sitting here, opposite me, and still alive!" The medical team decided to perform further surgery and reserved a full day in the operating room on October 27. When they went in, however, they found that all they had to do was connect the small intestines and close a little hole. Everything else was already healed in a natural way.

This is the cure that, having passed through stringent medical scrutiny in the Netherlands, has now been given unanimous approval by the even more stringent Vatican Medical Council as a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Charles of Mount Argus. We now await a timetable for the canonization of Blessed Charles.

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