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St. Therese Quote
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St. Teresa of Avila Quote
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First Friday Devotion Promises from Jesus to St. Margaret Mary
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Today is the Feast of Bl. Anne of St. Bartholomew, Companion and Secretary to St. Teresa of Avila
Blessed Anne was one of the first nuns of the newly formed Discalced Carmelites, a zealous pioneer who was instrumental in the spread of the new order and its spirit. This humble and dedicated soul was born Anne Garcia in Almendral, Spain, on October 10, 1549. She was graced with mystical experiences throughout her life. Our Lord first revealed Himself to Blessed Anne in a divine ray of light when she was only three years old, and kept appearing to her as a child, seeming to grow along with her. From these encounters, she kept a lifelong awareness of God’s sanctity and greatness.
Anne was a poor shepherdess who felt a call to enter the first monastery of Discalced Carmelites (the Carmel of St. Joseph in Avila, Spain). She had been directed to enter this monastery by Our Lord in a dream, and even recognized it when she first saw it. Her family was very opposed to this desire, however, and soon after they voiced their opposition, Anne became very sick. Her health miraculously returned when she made a pilgrimage to the hermitage of St. Bartholomew on August 24, 1570. It is interesting to note that the foundation date of the Discalced Carmelites was also August 24. That same year, 1570, she entered the Carmel of St. Joseph in Avila, taking the habit as Sister Anne of St. Bartholomew (in gratitude for her cure), the first Discalced Carmelite lay Sister. She made her profession there on August 15, 1572.
(Bl. Anne, right, with St. Teresa of Avila)
Sister Anne was very dearly loved by Our Holy Mother St. Teresa of Jesus, the foundress of the Order, becoming Mother’s travel companion, and eventually her secretary as well, after St. Teresa ordered her to learn to read and write. She was also St. Teresa’s nurse, and it was in Sister Anne’s arms that St. Teresa drew her last breath on October 4, 1582, as the Saint had wished.
After St. Teresa’s death, Sister Anne helped found other Carmelite monasteries in Spain, and then, in 1604, she set out with Blessed Anne of Jesus and four other nuns to introduce the Teresian Carmel into France. In their first French monastery, which was founded in Paris, she was forced under obedience to accept the black veil of a choir nun, which paved the way for her being elected Prioress of two of the newly-founded French Carmels. She then went on to found a monastery in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1612. Through her fervent prayers, on two occasions she saved the city from almost certain occupation by enemy forces, and this intervention won her the gratitude and esteem of the local people. She died in Antwerp on June 7, 1626, the Feast of the Holy Trinity.
Throughout her life, Blessed Anne sought to fulfill God’s Will, and humbly submitted to it even in difficult circumstances. She mystically experienced events in Our Lord’s life, such as His Passion. She wrote a book of Meditations on the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in which the reader can see her great love for Our Lord. In the following passage from this book, she also speaks of the beauty of silence: “What infinite love burned in that Sacred Heart of Yours, Lord Jesus! Without uttering a single word You spoke to us; without a word You worked the mysteries You came to accomplish – teaching virtue to the ignorant and blind.” The Carmelite strives to imitate this silence that Blessed Anne extols in Our Lord, and to imitate her ardent love and prayer, which united her to the Holy Trinity.
The feast day of Blessed Anne of St. Bartholomew is celebrated by the Carmelite Order on June 7th.
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Links to read the life of Bl. Anne of St. Bartholomew:
You can read the autobiography of Bl. Anne of St. Bartholomew HERE. Or get her autobiography in book from from Amazon HERE.
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Office of Readings for Feast of Bl. Anne of St. Bartholomew
June 7
Bl. Anne of St. Bartholomew, Virgin
OCD Memorial
Ana Garcia was born at Almendral, Castille, in 1549. In 1572 she made her profession as a Carmelite in the hands of St. Teresa, at St. Joseph’s, Avila. The saint later chose her as her companion and nurse, and she subsequently brought the Teresian spirit to France and Belgium, where she proved herself, like Teresa, a daughter of the Church in her great zeal for the salvation of souls. She died at Antwerp in 1626.
Office of Readings
Second Reading
A reading from the “Meditations on the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ” by
Bl. Anne of St. Bartholomew:
According to St. Bernard it is the person who keeps silent and says nothing when things go wrong who is really humble. It is very virtuous, he says, to keep silent when people are talking about our true faults; but more perfect when we are slighted or accused without having committed any fault or sin.
And though it is virtuous indeed to bear this in silence, it is more perfect still to want to be despised and thought mad and good-for-nothing, and to go on, as our Lord Jesus Christ did, wholeheartedly loving those who despise us.
If Jesus kept silent, it was not because He hated anyone. He was simply saying to His eternal Father what He said on the cross:
‘Lord, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’ What infinite love burned in that sacred heart of yours, Lord Jesus! Without uttering a single word You spoke to us; without a word You worked the mysteries You came to accomplish– teaching virtue to the ignorant and blind. What our Lord did was no small thing. Where should we get patience and humility and poverty and the other virtues, and how could we carry the cross for one another, if Christ had not taught us all this first, and given Himself as a living model of all perfection?
Blessed silence! In it You cry out and preach to the whole world by Your example. Volumes could be written about Your silence, Lord! There is more wisdom to be learned from it by those who love You than from books or study.
Our Lord became a spring for us, so that we should not die of thirst among all the miseries that surround us. How truly He said in the Gospel that He came to serve and not to be served! What tremendous goodness! Can we fail to be shamed by Your words and deeds, and the patience You show with us every day? How truly, again Lord, did You say: ‘Learn from Me for I am meek and humble of heart.’
Where can we obtain this patience and humbleness of heart? Is there any way to achieve it except by taking it from Christ as He taught it to us with those other virtues we need–faith, hope and charity? Without faith we cannot follow that royal road of the divine mysteries. It is faith that opens our eyes and makes us see the truth; and where faith is wanting there is no light, and no way leading to goodness.
Prayer
Father, Rewarder of the humble, You blessed Your servant Anne of St. Bartholomew with outstanding charity and patience. May her prayers help us, and her example inspire us, to carry our cross and be faithful in loving You and others for Your sake. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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More on Bl. Anne of St. Bartholomew’s Feast for June 7th
While today is the feast day of St. Bartholomew, I would like to honor that by talking a little bit about a Carmelite Blessed who was named after him – Blessed Anne.
Anne was born in a small town near the old Castille in Spain and received great friendship with the Lord from a very young age. When she was old enough her parents sent her to the fields to tend the flocks and it was there she began her communion with the Lord. Recollected in the greatness of God she would be in constant prayer admiring His great nature and the splendor of His created Earth. She was in such great love with God that at the age of 7, she had declared “because I fear to commit sin, and would rather die.”
Anne’s parents died when she was not yet of age and so she and her older siblings managed their little farm as best they could. Her brothers had grown anxious to marry her off, but she was determined not to settle for anything less than her beloved Jesus. She fell ill and this was probably because she was so worried they would force her into marriage, but also because she had been accosted by a demonic barrage. Masses were offered for her but she found no relief.
It was near the feast of Saint Bartholomew and there was a holy little hermitage dedicated to him near their village. People had great devotion to Bartholomew in this area and she begged to go on a pilgrimage to this place and make a novena. Her family was to accompany her to the hermitage and she barely made it there. In fact, she collapsed in a paralysis just before entering the chapel. It seemed all was lost, but then she was carried into the sanctuary. At that moment, all malady which held her in its grip left her.
Eventually, through more trials and battles with the evil one, Anne was able to join the Carmelites under the reform of their Holy Mother, Teresa of Avila. Teresa quickly recognized the great humility and favored prayer life enjoyed by Anne and the Saint took her to be her constant companion.
The story of Anne of Bartholomew continues on for her life was filled with adventure for the Lord. Taking care of Holy Mother Teresa and holding her during her final breathes on earth and then founding new monasteries herself in France and Belgium. Her story is beautiful. But let me give you some of Anne’s words as she was about to enter the novitiate at the Carmel of St. Joseph, Saint Teresa’s first reformed Carmel. The passage come from her Autobiography which was translated from French…
“Scarcely had I passed a few days in the Monastery of t. Joseph than it pleased our Lord to hid Himself from me and leave me in darkness. My desolation was great. I said to this Adorable Master: “how is this? Why have you abandoned me? If I did not know you, I would think you had deceived me, and if I had known you would go away I would not have come to the monastery.”
This abandonment lasted ruing the entire year of novitiate. At the end of the year I entered one day the hermitage of Christ at the Pillar to pray. Scarcely had I knelt down than I became supernaturally recollected, and our Lord appeared to me fastened to the cross. The first words He addressed to me were in reply to a desire I had to know whether the thirst He experienced on the cross was a natural thirst. he said to me: “my thirst was only a thirst for souls. From henceforth you must apply yourself to the consideration of this truth, and you must walk in a different path from that you have followed until now.” As if He has said to me, “child, no longer seek Me.” He then caused me to see all virtues in their perfection; they were exquisitely beautiful. I was the more impressed when I realized how far I was from their beauty and perfection. After having favored me with this light, the Divine Master disappeared, leaving my heart deeply wounded with His love, as well as by seeing Him on the cross so deeply wounded with the love of souls. This grace remained so indelibly impressed in my souls that it was with me day and night; my heart was with my Adorable Master, and my Adorable Master was in my heart; this was my usual state. Wherever I might be I experienced a zeal beyond expression for the salvation of souls and for the acquisition of those virtues that the Divine Master had shown me in the vision I have just related. He told me that it was by the way of the cross I would acquire them.”
Images below from the Carmel of Antwerp.
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Prayer to Bl. Anne of St. Bartholomew, Carmelite nun
PRAYER TO BL. ANNE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW
Father, rewarder of the humble, you blessed your
servant Anne of Saint Bartholomew with outstanding
charity and patience. May her prayers help us, and her
example inspire us, to carry our cross and be faithful
in loving you, and others for your sake. We ask this
through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God,
forever and ever. Amen.
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St. Therese Quote
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Read the “Autobiography of Blessed Anne of St. Bartholomew”– Ebook online
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Today is the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
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St. Teresa of Avila Quote
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St. Therese Quote
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Carmelite nuns having fun!
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First Saturday Devotions
THE 5 FIRST SATURDAY DEVOTION:
1) Going to confession.
2.) receiving holy communion.
3.) reciting 5 decades of the Rosary.
4.) spending 15 minutes with Our Lady meditating on mysteries of the Holy Rosary – all with intention of making reparations to her
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June 12th – Memorial of Bl Alphonsus Maria Mazurek, Carmelite Priest
Joseph Mazurek was born March 1, 1891, in Baranowka, Poland. He attended the Minor Seminary of the Discalced Carmelites and in 1908, received the Carmelite habit and the name Alphonsus Mary of the Holy Spirit. He was ordained a priest in July, 1916. Because of his ability as an organizer and educator, Father Alphonsus was made prefect and professor at the minor seminary he had attended as a youth. He continued at the seminary until 1930 when he was elected prior (superior) of the Carmelite monastery at Czerna. It was at this monastery that he would work and live until his death. The new prior threw himself into his new responsibilities. Although the monastery was far from town, Father Alphonsus rekindled the apostolic work of the group. He also organized Carmelite devotions. The prior impressed all with his zeal and dedication to his priestly and religious vocation.
The Nazis had begun occupying the area in 1939, but this did not stop the Carmelites from living their religious lives to the full. In spite of the threat of retaliation, the Carmelites continued to accept novices into their community and helped the refugees as best they could. In August of 1944, one of the Carmelite novices was shot. Shortly afterwards, the Nazis forced the friars to another village to dig war trenches. Father Alphonsus Mary was separated from his community and forced into a car where he was assaulted. When the car finally stopped Father Alphonsus was pushed out and told to start walking. Soldiers fired at him and the priest fell. When the murderers realized he was not dead, they filled his mouth with dirt, put his body in a horse drawn carriage and drove to a nearby cemetery.
Providentially, the carriage passed the other friars on their way to dig the trenches. One of his brother priests was able to give Father Alphonsus absolution before he died. Throughout his torture and death, the priest had a rosary clutched in his hands. The Carmelites buried their prior and despite the curfew, many people attended the funeral. Father Alphonsus was murdered on August 28, 1944, at the age of fifty-three. In a letter to Carmelites throughout the world, the Superior General of the Carmelite order calls Father Alphonsus’s martyrdom the “crowning of a life of fidelity”. Father Alphonsus himself, in his writings states: “All our sanctity and perfection consists in conforming ourselves to the will of God, which is the sole and supreme rule of perfection and of holiness.”
For his fellow Carmelites and the people of the surrounding area, Father Alphonsus was immediately revered as a martyr. In September, 1945, the Carmelites at Czerna built a monument over the spot where Father Alphonsus was shot. On the monument it says, in part, “…We do not pray for you; because the enemy has snapped the thread of an innocent’s life; since, when the earth bled, the Lord looked for the victim who had overcome hatred by love.” Father Alphonus Mary was one of the one hundred eight Polish martyrs beatified in 1999.– Biography from the Discalced Carmelite Generalate
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Bl. Hilarion Janusewski, Carmelite Priest and Martyr
Bl Hilarion Janusewski
June 12th
Bl. Hilarion Janusewski
Priest and Martyr
Hilary Januszewski was born on 11 June 1907 in Krajenki (Poland). He attended the college in Greblin (where his family lived from 1915), and then continued his studies at the Institute of Suchary, but had to abandon these due to economic difficulties of the family. He took up other studies and in 1927 entered the Order of Carmel. He was ordained priest on 15 July 1934. He obtained his lectorate in theology and the prize for the best students of the Roman Academy of St. Thomas and in 1935 returned to Poland to the monastery in Cracow. On his return to Poland he was appointed professor of Dogmatic Theology and Church History at the institute of the Polish Province in Cracow. On 1 November 1939, Fr. Eliseus Sánchez‑Paredes, Provincial, appointed him prior of the community. At that time, Poland had already been occupied by the Germans a few weeks earlier. One year later, the invaders decreed the arrest of many religious and priests. On 18 September 1940 the Gestapo deported four friars from the Carmel in Cracow. In December, when other friars were arrested, Fr. Hilary decided to present himself in exchange for an older and sick friar. In April 1941 to the concentration camp of Dachau. There he was a model of prayer life, encouraging others and giving hope for a better tomorrow. Together with the other Carmelites, among whom was Blessed Titus Brandsma, they often joined in prayer. To help the sick, 32 priests presented themselves to the authorities. A couple of days later, Fr. Hilary Januszewski spontaneously joined the group. His apostolate lasted 21 days because, infected by typhus, he died on 25 March 1945, a few days before the liberation of the concentration camp. His body was cremated in the crematorium of Dachau. Fr. Hilary Januszewski was beatified by John Paul II on 13 June 1999, during his apostolic visit to Warsaw (Poland). On this occasion the Pope beatified 108 Polish martyrs of the Second World War, victims of Nazi persecution.
Text from http://www.carmelites.ie
O. Carm: Memorial
From Common of Martyrs
Prayer
All-powerful ever-living God, you gave Blessed Hilary the courage to witness to the Gospel of Christ even to the point of giving his life for it. By his prayers, help us to endure all suffering for love of you and to seek you with all our hearts, for you alone are the source of life. We make this prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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St. Therese Quote
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What a Carmelite Nun Does Every Second of Every Day…..
embrace her Spouse!
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St. Therese’s “Story of a Soul”, Chapter XI
“Yes, my Beloved, it is thus that my life’s brief day shall be spent before Thee. No other means have I of proving my love than to strew flowers; that is, to let no little sacrifice escape me, not a look, not a word, to avail of the very least actions and do them for Love. I wish to suffer for Love’s sake and for Love’s sake even to rejoice; thus shall I strew flowers. Not one shall I find without shedding its petals for Thee…and then I will sing, I will always sing, even if I must gather my roses in the very midst of thorns – and the longer and sharper the thorns the sweeter shall be my song.”
- Story of A Soul, Chapter XI
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Quote by St. Therese
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