St. Kateri Relic To Be Placed In Altar At Shrine

Last month, the Knights of Columbus donated $600,000 for the renovation and upkeep of Our Lady of Martyrs Shrine, the birthplace of St. Kateri Tekakwitha. At the time, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson was presented with a first-class relic of the Native American saint. This relic will be placed in an altar here at the Shrine, as we continue to construct our new worship space.

Kateri Tekakwitha was beatified by Saint John Paul II in 1980, and she was later canonized by Pope-Emeritus Benedict XVI. On the occasion of her beatification, John Paul II said:

All of us are inspired by the example of this young woman of faith who died three centuries ago this year. We are all edified by her complete trust in the providence of God, and we are encouraged by her joyful fidelity to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. In a true sense the whole Church, together with you, declares in the words of Saint Paul: “Glory be to him whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine, glory be to him from generation to generation in the Church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever.”

The Church has declared to the world that Kateri Tekakwitha is blessed, that she lived a life on earth of exemplary holiness and that she is now a member in heaven of the Communion of Saints who continually intercede with the merciful Father on our behalf.

Her beatification should remind us that we are all called to a life of holiness, for in Baptism God has chosen each one of us “to be holy and spotless and to live through love in his presence.” Holiness of life - union with Christ through prayer and works of charity - is not something reserved to a select few among the members of the Church. It is the vocation of everyone.

My brothers and sisters, may you be inspired and encouraged by the life of Blessed Kateri. Look to her for an example of fidelity; see in her a model of purity and love; turn to her in prayer for assistance. May God bless you as he blessed her. May God bless all the North American Indians of Canada and the United States.

The Church actually celebrated St. Kateri’s feast last week. Let us ask her to pray for us, that we may live out our vocations to holiness as she did.

Praying For America

Associated Press, 1979

We thank you, Lord Jesus,

because the Gospel of the Father's love,

with which you came to save the world,

has been proclaimed far and wide in America

as a gift of the Holy Spirit

that fills us with gladness.

We thank you for the gift of your Life,

which you have given us by loving us to the end:

your Life makes us children of God,

brothers and sisters to each other.

Increase, O Lord, our faith and our love for you,

present in all the tabernacles of the continent.

Grant us to be faithful witnesses

to your Resurrection

for the younger generation of Americans,

so that, in knowing you, they may follow you

and find in you their peace and joy.

Only then will they know that they

are brothers and sisters

of all God's children scattered

throughout the world.

You who, in becoming man,

chose to belong to a human family,

teach families the virtues which filled with light

the family home of Nazareth. 

The Apostle of California

Very often, at crucial moments in human affairs, God raises up men and women whom he thrusts into roles of decisive importance for the future development of both society and the Church. Although their story unfolds within the ordinary circumstances of daily life, they become larger than life within the perspective of history. We rejoice all the more when their achievement is coupled with a holiness of life that can truly be called heroic. So it is with Junípero Serra, who in the providence of God was destined to be the Apostle of California, and to have a permanent influence over the spiritual patrimony of this land and its people, whatever their religion might be. This apostolic awareness is captured in the words ascribed to him: “In California is my life and there, God willing, I hope to die.” Through Christ’s Paschal Mystery, that death has become a seed in the soil of this state that continues to bear fruit “thirty - or sixty - or a hundred-fold.”

-Saint John Paul II, 1987

Blessed Junípero Serra, soon to be canonized, please pray for us on this day of your feast!

The Popes In The City Of Brotherly Love

Coverage from Saint John Paul II's 1979 visit to the
United States is featured in our permanent exhibit.

Last week, Pope Francis officially announced his intention to visit the United States! The Holy Father will join the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia next fall. Details for his trip will not be released until spring or summer of 2015, but the Pope will most likely participate in the meeting’s closing events.

Saint John Paul II started the World Meetings of Families, and he was also the last pope to visit Philadelphia. More than a million people came out to see him during his visit in 1979. In his homily at Logan Circle, the late Holy Father said:

How then can a Christian, inspired and guided by the mystery of the Incarnation and Redemption of Christ, strengthen his or her own values and those that are embodied in the heritage of this nation? ...These values are strengthened: when power and authority are exercised in full respect for all the fundamental rights of the human person, whose dignity is the dignity of one created in the image and likeness of God; when freedom is accepted, not as an absolute end in itself, but as a gift that enables self-giving and service; when the family is protected and strengthened, when its unity is preserved, and when its role as the basic cell of society is recognized and honored.

During his time in Philadelphia, St. John Paul II spoke of the importance of the family. Next fall, Pope Francis will do the same.

Please join us in saying this prayer as we prepare for the eighth World Meeting of Families. Let us also ask the meeting’s co-patron, St. John Paul II, and Blesseds Luigi and Maria Quattrocchi on this day of their feast, to pray for us.

These Champions Of The Faith

Today is the feast of the Martyrs of Paraguay, three South American Jesuit saints killed in the mid-seventeenth century for their missionary work among native peoples. In his homily for their canonization, Saint John Paul II said:

Neither the obstacles of the wilderness, the misunderstanding of people, nor the attacks of those who saw their evangelizing activity as a threat to personal interests, could intimidate these champions of the Faith. Their unreserved self-offering led them to martyrdom.... The entire life of (Roch) Gonzalez de Santa Cruz and his companion martyrs was completely characterized by love: love for God and, in him, for all people, particularly the most needy, those who did not know Christ’s existence or had not yet been liberated by his redeeming grace…the fruits did not take long in coming. As a result of their missionary activity, many people abandoned pagan worship to open themselves up to the light of the true faith.

Saints Roch Gonzalez, Alphonsus Rodriguez, and John de Castillo, please pray for us on this day of your feast, that we may be fearless in proclaiming the Gospel.

Information from Matthew and Margaret Bunson’s John Paul II’s Book of Saints.

The American St. Thérèse

Today we are overjoyed to celebrate the first beatification to ever be held in the United States! Soon-to-be blessed Miriam Teresa Demjanovich will be beatified today at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, New Jersey.

The “American St. Thérèse” died in 1927 at the age of 26. Her life was short, but she lived it with great love. She prayed often, served much, and she wrote and taught as a Sister of Mercy.

Blessed Miriam Teresa is a beautiful model for young people attempting to discern God’s will, and so we ask her to pray for those who seek the Lord’s guidance, that they may hear His call and have the courage to follow it.