Trudie
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 Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 8:17 pm Post subject: August 4th - Blessed Father Frederick Janssoone |
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August 4th - Blessed Father Frederick Janssoone
Franciscan Missionary to Four Continents and miracle worker
Born in 1838 in Ghyvelde, France, of a Flemish family, Father Frederick
Janssoone was the thirteenth and last child. From early youth he aspired to
consecrate his life to God, but his mother's widowhood and subsequent long
illness delayed his plans. He took employment in nearby Hazebrouck, selling
fabrics. When he was 25 years old, his pious mother died, and in the same
year her three youngest sons all decided, independently of one another, to
enter religion. Frederick decided upon the Seraphic Order, whose ideals
corresponded exactly with his own. Strict poverty, sustaining an apostolate
founded on penance and prayer, would always characterize his religious life.
He entered the Franciscan novitiate of Amiens in 1864, and was ordained a
priest in 1870. He served as military chaplain during the brief
Franco-Prussian war, facing undaunted the contagion of a triple epidemic.
In October 1871, with another priest and four Franciscan Brothers, Father
Frederick was named to found a convent of the Order in Bordeaux. He
collaborated with the founder of a magazine, writing articles for the Revue
Franciscaine. He became local Guardian in Bordeaux in 1873, when he was 35
years old. In 1874 he was relieved of the responsibility of Superior to
preach retreats; he also began to found fraternities of the Third Order. In
1876, having a strong desire to labor for his Lord in the Holy Land, and
when his request was granted, he left for Palestine in 1877 with a brother
Franciscan. During his first year in the Orient, he preached retreats for
religious communities in both Syria and Egypt, returning to Jerusalem in
1878, when he was elected to serve as Custodial Vicar. There he could remain
close to the very place where our Saviour's Redemption was effected-the
Basilica which conserves within it the site of Calvary and the Holy
Sepulcher itself. He accompanied pilgrimages to preside over the prayer and
act as guide, and he preached on many formal occasions. He reinstated the
Way of the Cross along the path Our Lord took to Calvary. He took charge of
building activities for the restoration of churches and preparation of
much-needed lodgings for pilgrims. Father Frederick's humility and
Franciscan charity brought about harmony among the various factions of the
Holy City.
Father Frederick came to Quebec City, Canada in 1881 to beg for financial
aid to the Custody, which had begun renovation of the antique Basilica of
Bethlehem. He brought with him relics of the Holy Land, and these, when
venerated or applied to afflicted members of infirm persons, miracles
occurred. The people called the ardent priest a miracle-worker, whereas he
ascribed the miracles to God's love, the efficacy of Our Saviour's
redemptive death on Calvary, and the faith of the people. When he was
recalled to the Holy Land after only eight months in the Province, all the
Canadians who knew him desired his return.
In the summer of that year he came to Trios Rivers, Quebec, as Monsignor
Louis Lafleche, its fervent bishop, had invited him there to establish the
proposed Canadian Holy Land Commissariat. The bishop welcomed him and gave
him land for the proposed edifice.
It was Father Frederick who preached at the dedication of the Shrine of Our
Lady of the Rosary at Cap-de-la-Madeleine on June 22, 1888, foretelling the
future fame of the site. That evening, Our Lady's statue, which had been
moved to the main altar, opened its eyes, in the presence of the parish
Vicar, Father Duguay, Father Frederick, and a parishioner who had come to
pray. Father Frederick never forgot the gaze of the Mother of God, engraved
in his soul. It would inspire all his preaching, when he was placed in
charge of the numerous pilgrimages which would come by boat and train, from
the cities and towns of Quebec and beyond, to the Cape.
During his twenty-eight years in Canada Father Frederick founded a great
many fraternities of the Third Order of Saint Francis. He was the activating
force behind several life-size Ways of the Cross erected in the Province,
one of which is still extant at the Sanctuary of Reparation in Montreal.
The Franciscan crossed the river one winter day on the ice, by horse and
sleigh belonging by a young man who had come to fetch him for a sick call.
The young driver, who intended to drive him back home across the ice, found
by evening that it had melted. Father Frederick told him not to worry, and
to go on home. No one ever knew how he made the return trip. Pictures often
depict him on an ice floe, praying on his knees; over his head the Mother of
Heaven, listening to him. For he said on his return to the rectory, when
Father Duguay did not understand why there was no driver or horse
accompanying him, that "the Mother of God had provided" for his transport.
Father Frederick, after many years of suffering from an illness, went to his
reward on August 4, 1916. Everywhere he labored, his memory remains in
veneration today. His ministry extended to five nations, France, Egypt,
Syria, the Holy Land and Canada. The mortal remains of this son of Saint
Francis have twice been found intact at Trois-Rivieres, in 1948 and 1988.
Favors continue to be recorded by the intercession of this ever-popular
Friar.
Sources: Le Pčre Frédéric de Ghyvelde, series of booklets on the different
phases of his life, by Rev. Mathieu-M. Daunais, O.F.M. (Montreal: 1920's);
An Apostle of Two Worlds, by Romain Legare, O.F.M. (Trois Rivičres, Quebec,
1958).
Quote:
The first requirement of salvation is to keep the standard of the True
Faith.
-Pope St. Adrian II (867-872)
Bible Quote:
2. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he was
hungry. 3. And the tempter coming said to him: If thou be the Son of God,
command that these stones be made bread. 4. Who answered and said: It is
written, Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth
from the mouth of God.
(Matthew 4:2-4)
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Litany in Honor of St. John Vianney
Lord, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven, Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, Have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.
Saint John-Mary Vianney, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, endowed with grace from thine infancy, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, model of filial piety, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, devoted servant of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for
us.
St. John Vianney, spotless lily of purity, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, faithful imitator of the sufferings of Christ, pray for
us.
St. John Vianney, abyss of humility, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, seraph of prayer, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, faithful adorer of the Most Blessed Sacrament, pray for
us.
St. John Vianney, ardent lover of holy poverty, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, true son of St. Francis of Assisi, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, exemplary Franciscan tertiary, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, tender friend of the poor, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, penetrated with the fear of God's judgment, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, fortified by divine visions, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, who was tormented by the evil spirit, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, perfect model of sacerdotal virtue, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, firm and prudent pastor, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, inflamed with zeal, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, faithful attendant on the sick, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, indefatigable catechist, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, who didst preach in words of fire, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, wise director of souls, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, specially gifted with the spirit of counsel, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, enlightened by light from Heaven, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, formidable to Satan, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, compassionate with every misery, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, providence of the orphans, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, favored with the gift of miracles, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, who didst reconcile so many sinners to God, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, who didst confirm so many of the just in the way of
virtue, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, who didst taste the sweetness of death, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, who dost now rejoice in the glory of Heaven, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, who givest joy to those who invoke thee, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, heavenly patron of parish priests, pray for us.
St. John Vianney, model and patron of directors of souls, pray for us.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
V. Pray for us, blessed Jean-Marie Vianney,
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let Us Pray
Almighty and merciful God, Who didst bestow upon blessed John Mary Vianney
wonderful pastoral zeal and a great fervor for prayer and penance, grant, we
beseech Thee, that by his example and intercession we may be able to gain
the souls of our brethren for Christ, and with them attain to everlasting
glory, through the same Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth
with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end.
Amen |
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