Happy Feast Day of St. Pius X!

Joyfully, we started the day with the dawn procession in honor of St. Pius X! Twenty three happy people processed, praying 15 decades of the Rosary and singing hymns.

Then we had the annual raffle draw of prayers and good works for the priests of the District of Asia and sat together for the bread and coffee while presenting our song compositions for the "10 Commandments". Judith was the only one who presented a full song, the others were not able to present a full composition... so, by popular demand, we are extending the songfest until we can all present a memory song to be used for teaching the Ten Commandments to children.

Today was also our deadline for the chapel garden landscaping. We brought a Red Rose plant, 3 red carnations, 4 White Angels, and 2 little pink and orange Piti-Mini Rose plants. May our garden bloom with heavenly grace.

And today we are happy to present the namesake saints of the clan members. This is a nice time of discovery for us members, as our parents did not think of saints when giving us names, so to find out that we have namesakes is a very happy event!

Ate Maricar, whose real name is "Maria Caridad", presented the story of St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier, who joined the "Refuge of Our Lady of Charity at Tours on October 20, 1814 (Ate Maricar celebrates her birthday every October 20!) and later founded the large congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd of Angers. How beautiful! To read the life story of her namesake saint, click on http://magnificat.ca/cal/engl/04-24.htm

Kuya Patrick presented the story of St. Patrick, the Patron Saint of Ireland, credited with the conversion of Ireland to Christianity. He was a Roman Briton kidnapped by pirates and brought to Ireland. There he worked as a slave and learned the language and the beliefs of the people. When he came back to preach the Gospel, he addressed the people in the Irish tongue and his holy life and the miracles that God sent during his preaching converted the pagans.

Ate Judith happily shared her discovery of St. Judith who lived in the 13th century in Thuringia, now central Germany, who wanted to imitate St. Elizabeth of Hungary. She was married to a wealthy nobleman. She persuaded him to live and dress more simply in order that they would have more to give to the poor. Her husband died while on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and she raised her children alone. When they grew up she gave away everything she had and lived as a hermit where people would not know she was from a wealthy family. She cared for weary travelers who passed by her hut, and prayed for non-Christians and newly baptized Christians. She once said, "Three things can lead us to God: painful physical suffering, being in exile in a foreign land, and being poor by choice because of love for God."

Ate Yolly, whose full name is "Yolly Eileen", related the story of Blessed Yolanda of Poland also known as Helen of Hungary, who was a daughter of King Bela IV of Hungary and was married to Duke Boleslaus of Greater Poland, and who was devoted to works of charity and became a Poor Clare nun when widowed. A summary of her life is available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jolenta_of_Poland

....we will continue the reporting after the classes.... please visit our blog again.

September 4: Thank you for following our blog!

Kitz discovered last night that there is a Saint Kizito! And tonight he shared the story of St. Kizito from Uganda whose name had a close resemblance to his. St. Kizito was born in 1849 in the village of Waluleetato in Bulemeezi county, to Lukomera (father) and Wangabira (mother). He was a Muganda and he belonged to the Mamba (lungfish) clan. Kizito was 14 years old and he served as a page (servant) in the inner courts of King Mwanga II. Though he was a young boy, fellow pages admired him greatly because he was very hard working and loved Jesus Christ very much. He was baptised on May 26, 1886 by Charles Lwanga and martyred on June 3, 1886 because he and other Christian men refused to denounce Jesus Christ. Kabaka Mwanga was annoyed and ordered that they be burnt to death. St Kizito became the patron of children and primary schools.

Please keep posted for the reports of Kuya Wilmar (St. Wulmar), kuya Godwin (St. Godwin), Wilfredo (St. Wilfred), and Rogel (St. Roger).

September 5
The name Rogelius is nearer to Rogel than Roger so....

Tonight Rogel shared with us the story of his saint,Saint Rogelius....A monk Fr Rogelius, from a village near Granada, together with a Syrian pilgrim, whose name in Latin is Servus Dei, entered the mosque in Cordoba. To the horror of the Muslim worshippers present, they preached the truth of the Gospel and the falsehood of Islam. Saved by the authorities from death at the hands of the irate crowd, the two were sentenced to a grisly punishment: their hands and feet were cut off before they were beheaded and their bodies were then cremated. One of the first official actions of the new emir, Abderrahman’s son, Muhammad I, was to purge the Cordoban bureaucracy of Christians. He must have been pleased with the apparent effect of this change in policy: the next nine months passed without incident. But again, as the following summer approached, a new parade of martyrs stepped forth. By the way, if you still don't know, Rogel is from Cotabato City and he had lived in some villages in Sultan Kudarat Province too. So it's not hard for him to imagine what happened to St. Rogelius.

September 6

Kuya Wilmar presented the story of St. Wulmar, a Benedictine abbot who died in the year 689. He was born near Boulogne, Picardy, France. He was actually married but was separated from his wife and entered the Benedictines as a lay brother. He must have had an exemplary attitude because he was eventually ordained and became the founder of the monastery of Samer near Boulogne, which he served as Abbot. There is not much known about his life, but the fact that the abbey was named Saint-Vulmaire in his honor tells us that he must have been an exceptional personality. Kuya Wilmar will continue to search for more details regarding the life of St. Wulmar, who is also known as Vulmar, Ulmar, and Vilmer.