From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   A Physician Who Does Not Charge   
      
   "God sent the human race a physician, a savior, one who healed without   
   charging a fee. Christ also came to reward those who would be healed   
   by him. Christ heals the sick, and he makes a gift to those whom he   
   heals. And the gift he makes is himself!"   
   --St. Augustine--Sermon 156, 2   
      
   Prayer: Lord, you are our Physician, healing the ills of all. You   
   reduce the swelling of pride, renew wasted life, and excise what is   
   superfluous. You preserve what is necessary, restore what has been   
   lost, and cure what has been corrupted.   
   --St. Augustine--Chrisitan Combat 11, 12   
      
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   January 31st - St. Francis Xavier Bianchi   
   d. 1815   
      
   St. FRANCIS BIANCHI was born in 1743 at Arpino, in what was then the   
   kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and was educated as an ecclesiastical   
   student at Naples, receiving the tonsure when he was only 14. His   
   father, however, would not hear of his entering a religious order, and   
   the boy had to pass through a period of great mental anguish in the   
   conflict between duty to his parents and what seemed the call of God.   
   Taking counsel at last with St. Alphonsus Liguori, to whom he found   
   access during one of the saint’s missions, Francis became sure of his   
   vocation, and overcoming all opposition he entered the Congregation of   
   Clerks Regular of St. Paul, commonly called Barnabites. In consequence   
   probably of the ordeal through which he had passed, he then fell   
   seriously ill and suffered acutely for three years, but he recovered   
   eventually, and was able to make great progress in his studies,   
   distinguishing himself particularly in literature and science. He was   
   ordained priest in 1767, and the trust which his superiors reposed in   
   his virtue and practical ability was shown not only by his being   
   deputed to hear confessions at an early age, a rare concession in   
   Italy, but also by his appointment as superior to two different   
   colleges simultaneously, a charge which he held for 15 years.   
      
   Many important offices were conferred upon him in the order, but his   
   soul seems to have felt more and more the call to detach himself from   
   external things, and to devote all his energies to prayer and the work   
   of the ministry. He began to lead an extremely mortified and austere   
   life, spending also long hours, in the confessional, where his advice   
   was sought by thousands. His health suffered, and his infirmities   
   became so great that he could hardly drag himself from place to place   
   nevertheless he persisted, and his unflinching resolution in placing   
   himself at the service of all who needed his help seems to have lent a   
   wonderful efficacy to his words and his prayers, so that he was   
   universally regarded as a saint, At the time when the religious orders   
   were dispersed and driven from their houses in Naples, Father Bianchi   
   was in a most pitiable condition. His legs were terribly swollen and   
   covered with sores, and he had to be carried to the altar. Some   
   advantage, however, came to him from his very afflictions, for he was   
   allowed to retain his habit and remain in the college where, all   
   alone, he lived a life of the strictest religious observance.   
      
   There are many stories of his miraculous and prophetic powers. Two   
   very remarkable cases of the multiplication of inadequate sums of   
   money put aside in a drawer to meet a debt were recounted in the   
   process of beatification, and it was also affirmed that in 1805, when   
   Vesuvius was in eruption, Father Bianchi, at the earnest petition of   
   his fellow townsfolk, had himself carried to the edge of the lava   
   stream, and blessed it, with the result that the flow was stayed.   
   Towards the end of his days the veneration he inspired in Naples was   
   unbounded. “There may have been a Neri (black) in Rome”, the people   
   said, “but we have our Bianchi (white) who is just as wonderful.”   
      
   Many years previously, a penitent of his, now known as St. Mary   
   Frances of Naples, who went to God in 1791, had promised Father   
   Bianchi that she would appear to him 3 days before his death. The good   
   priest was convinced that she would keep her word, and we are told   
   that this visit actually took place 3 days before January 31, 1815,   
   when he breathed his last. He was canonized in 1951.   
      
   See P. Rudoni, Virtu e meraviglie del yen. Francesco S. M. Bianchi   
   (1823) C. Kempf, The Holiness of the Church in the Nineteenth Century   
   (1916), pp. 96-97 Analecta Ecclesiastica, 1893, pp. 54 seq.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son: that   
   whosoever believeth in him may not perish, but may have life   
   everlasting.   
   -- Saint John the Apostle from The Gospel of John 3:16   
      
   Bible Quote   
   10. He hath not dealt with us according to our sins:   
   nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.   
   11. For  according to the height of the heaven above the   
   earth: he hath strengthened his mercy towards them   
   that fear him.   
     (Psalms  102:10-11)   
      
      
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   Tap into The Source of Comfort in affliction...   
      
   "If at times you are in such confusion of mind that you seem totally   
   incapable of calming yourself, have immediate recourse to prayer. And   
   persevere in it in imitation of Christ, Our Lord, Who prayed three   
   times in the garden to show mankind that only in conversation with God   
   can afflicted souls find haven and refuge."   
   --Dom Lorenzo Scupoli, priest and author of the book, 'The Spiritual Combat'   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)