From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Persevere in all that God's guidance moves you to do   
      
   Persevere in all that God's guidance moves you to do. The persistent   
   carrying out of what seems right and good will bring you to that place   
   where you would be. If you look back over God's guidance, you will see   
   that His leading has been very gradual and that only as you have   
   carried out His wishes, as far as you can understand them, has God   
   been able to give you more clear and definite leading. You are led by   
   God's touch on a quickened, responsive mind.   
   --From Twenty-Four Hours a Day   
      
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   September 12th – Bl. Victoria Fornari-Strata, Visionary   
   ( Foundress of The Blue Nuns of Genoa)   
      
   Bl. Mary Victoria was born at Genoa in the year 1562. At the age of 17   
   there was some talk of her becoming a nun, but she deferred to the   
   wishes of her father and married Angelo Strata. They lived together   
   very happily for 9 years, Angelo joining gladly in his wife’s   
   charitable works, and defending her from the adverse criticism of   
   those who wished to see her take more part in social pleasures.   
      
   They had six children, four boys and two girls. When Angelo died in   
   1587 Victoria was for long inconsolable, both for her own sake and for   
   the sake of the children, whom she felt she was incapable of properly   
   looking after alone. A certain nobleman of the city wanted her to   
   marry him and she thought she perhaps ought to for her children’s   
   sake. But her uncertainty was ended by a happening of which she wrote   
   down an account by the direction of her confessor.   
      
   Our Lady appeared in vision and said to her: “My child Victoria, be   
   brave and confident, for it is my wish to take both the mother and the   
   children under my protection; I will care for your household. Live   
   quietly and without worrying. All I ask is that you will trust   
   yourself to me and henceforth devote yourself to the love of God above   
   all things.”   
      
   Victoria now saw clearly what she must do and ceased to be disquieted.   
   She made a vow of chastity and lived in retirement, giving her whole   
   time to God, her children and the poor. She allowed no superfluity or   
   luxury in her home, and set herself a standard of severe   
   mortification:  when, for example, the Church directed a fast she   
   would always observe it on bread and water.   
      
   After her children were all provided for, Victoria put before the   
   archbishop of Genoa a project she had formed for a new order of nuns,   
   who were to be devoted in a special way to our Lady. For a time the   
   archbishop withheld his approval, for there was lack of sufficient   
   funds to support such a foundation. But when one of her friends   
   offered to bear the expense of providing a building, the archbishop’s   
   consent also was forthcoming.   
      
   In the year 1604 Bl. Victoria and ten others were clothed, and   
   professed in the following year. Their object was to honour in their   
   lives and worship our Lady in the mystery of her annunciation and   
   hidden life at Nazareth; each nun added Maria Annunziata to her   
   baptismal name and the rule of enclosure of their convent was   
   particularly strict. By the enthusiasm and zeal of Mother Victoria a   
   second house was founded in 1612, and soon after the order spread to   
   France, but not till an attempt had been made behind the back of the   
   foundress to affiliate the nuns to another order, on the pretense that   
   they were not strong enough to exist on their own. Mother Victoria   
   learned what was happening and appealed for the help of our Lady, who   
   in a vision assured her of her unfailing assistance, and the danger   
   was overcome. Bl. Victoria continued to govern her foundation,   
   encouraging her sisters in their penitential life and setting them an   
   example of complete humility and love, till her death at the age of   
   fifty-five. This took place on December 15, 1617, but today is her   
   feast in the order that she founded. These nuns are distinguished from   
   those of the Annunciation (Annon ciades) founded by St Joan of Valois   
   by the epithet “Sky-Blue”, with reference to the colour of their   
   mantles.   
      
   On the occasion of the beatification of Mary Victoria in 1828, an   
   Italian life was printed with the title Vita della b. Maria Vittoria   
   Fornari-Strata, fondatrice dell’ Ordine della Santissima Annunziata   
   detto “Le Turchine”, in other words, called by Italians “the Blue   
   Nuns”. This life is anonymous, but official. See also a French account   
      
   by Father F. Dumortier, La bse Marie- Victoire Fornari-Strata (1902).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   If you wish to walk securely and be certain of your salvation, if you   
   aspire to a great crown in Heaven that will never fade, love and honor   
   Mary, and strive to make her known, loved, and honored by others.   
   --St. Joseph Cafasso   
      
   Reading:   
   "Ah! Then, before it is too late, let us save ourselves from this   
   terrible misfortune by a humble and sincere confession of our sins--a   
   favor that we will not receive on that day, for, as the Psalmist asks,   
   Who shall confess to thee in hell?" (Ps. 6:6)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   When I pronounce the name of Mary,   
   I feel myself inflamed with such love and joy,   
   that between the tears and happiness   
   which I pronounce this beautiful name,   
   I feel as though my heart might leave my breast.   
   For this sweet name is like a honeycomb dissolving   
   in the innermost recesses of my soul.   
   --Blessed Henry Suso   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)