St. Nicholas of Tolentino, Confessor and Religious Founder
Born at Sant’ Angelo, near Fermo, in the March of Ancona, around the year 1246, Saint Nicholas Tolentino was devoted to the devout life. He is often depicted in the black habit of the Hermits of St. Augustine –a star above him or on his breast, a lily, or a crucifix garlanded with lilies, in his hand. Sometimes, instead of the lily, he holds a vial filled with money or bread. His parents, said to have been called Compagnonus de Guarutti and Amata de Guidiani (these surnames may merely indicate their birth-places), were pious folk, perhaps gentle born, living content with a small substance. Nicholas was born in response to prayers, his mother a model of holiness.
He excelled so much in his studies that even before they were over he was made a canon of St. Savior’s church; but hearing a sermon by a hermit of St. Augustine upon the text: “Nolite diligere mundum, nec ea quae sunt in mundo, quia mundus transit et concupiscentia ejus”, he felt a call to embrace the religious life. He besought the hermit for admittance into his order. His parents gave a joyful consent. Even before his ordination he was sent to different monasteries of his order, at Recanati, Macerata etc., as a model of generous striving after perfection.
He made his profession before he was nineteen. After his ordination he preached with wonderful success, notably at Tolentino, where he spent his last thirty years and gave a discourse nearly every day. Towards the end diseases tried his patience, but he kept up his mortifications almost to the hour of death. d. 10 September, 1306.He possessed an angelic meekness, a guileless simplicity, and a tender love of virginity, which he never stained, guarding it by prayer and extraordinary mortifications. He died around the age of 60 on this date in 1306. He was canonized by His Holiness Pope Eugene IV one hundred and forty years after his death in 1446. His tomb at Tolentino is held in veneration by the faithful.
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EPISTLE / GOSPEL
EPISTLE: 1 Corinthians 4: 4,19
Lesson from the Epistle of Blessed Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians
Brethren, we are made a spectacle to the world and to angels and men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ: we are weak, but you are strong: you are honorable, but we without honor. Even unto this hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no fixed abode, and we labor working with our own hands. We are reviled, and we bless: we are persecuted, and we suffer it: we are blasphemed, and we entreat: we are made as the refuse of this world, the offscouring of all, even until now. I write not these things to confound you, but I admonish you as my dearest children in Christ Jesus our Lord.
GOSPEL: Luke 11: 32-34
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples; Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
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Novena for Most Holy Name of Mary – Day 7
O Holy Child Mary of the royal house of David, Queen of the angels, Mother of grace and love, I greet thee with all my heart. Obtain for me the grace to love the Lord faithfully during all the days of my life. Obtain for me, too, a great devotion to thee, who art the first creature of God’s love.
Ave Maria
Ave Maria gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.
O heavenly Child Mary, who like a pure dove was born immaculate and beautiful, true prodigy of the wisdom of God, my soul rejoices in thee. Oh! Do help me to preserve the angelic virtue of purity at the cost of any sacrifice.
Ave Maria
Ave Maria gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.
Hail, lovely and holy Child, spiritual garden of delight, where, on the day of the Incarnation, the tree of life was planted, assist me to avoid the poisonous fruit of vanity and pleasures of the world. Help me to engraft into my soul the thoughts, feelings, and virtues of thy divine Son.
Ave Maria
Ave Maria gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.
Hail, admirable Child Mary, Mystical Rose, closed garden, open only to the heavenly Spouse. O Lily of paradise, make me love the humble and hidden life; let the heavenly Spouse find the gate of my heart always open to the loving calls of His graces and inspiration.
Ave Maria
Ave Maria gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.
Holy Child Mary, mystical dawn, gate of Heaven, thou art my trust and hope. O powerful advocate, from thy cradle stretch out thy hand, support me on the path of life. Make me serve God with ardor and constancy until death and so reach an eternity with thee.
Ave Maria
Ave Maria gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.
Let us pray
Blessed Child Mary, destined to be the Mother of God and our loving Mother, by the heavenly graces thou hast lavished upon us, mercifully listen to my supplications. In the needs which press upon me from every side and especially in my present tribulation, I place all my trust in thee.
O holy Child, by the privileges granted to thee alone and by the merits which thou hast acquired, show that the source of spiritual favors and the continuous benefits which thou dispense are inexhaustible, because thy power with the Heart of God is unlimited.
Deign through the immense profusion of graces with which the Most High has enriched thee from the first moment of thy Immaculate Conception, grant me, O Celestial Child, my petition, and I shall eternally praise the goodness of thy Immaculate Heart.
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