From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   ON THE TEST OF LOVE   
      
      1. The test of love is sacrifice. Christ met the test in the   
   sacrifice of the Cross, and He demands of those who love Him that they   
   prove their love by the test of the cross. Are we  ready and   
   courageous in showing our love for Christ?   
      2. We can and must make sacrifices in this life. There are   
   thousands of opportunities offered for making small sacrifices for   
   which we need no permission. Let us make them with love and   
   generosity, for it is love that gives value to sacrifice. Each time we   
   deprive ourselves of anything for Jesus' sake, we are thinking of Him   
   and loving Him.  Does He not deserve that much from us?   
      3. One of the noblest acts of sacrifice is the conquest of   
   self-love. Our Lord builds His sanctuary on the ruins of self-love.   
   "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30). But to decrease   
   is not enough in this matter. Self must disappear, so that we can say:   
   "I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me" (Gal 2:20). The secret of   
   sanctity consists in loving much, but this love presupposes interior   
   and daily warfare. Let us be generous, let us be valiant, so that, we   
   may in the end also be victorious by passing the test of love.   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   30 April – Blessed Benedict Passionei of Urbino OFM Cap   
      
   Priest of the Order of the Friars Minor of St Francis, Capuchin,   
   Missionary, apostle of the poor, renowned preacher, doctor of civil   
   and canon law. Born on 13 September 1560 in Urbino, Duchy of Urbino,   
   Papal States (part of modern Italy) as Marco Passionei and died on 30   
   April 1625 in Fossombrone, Pesaro-Urbino, Italy of complications   
   following surgery. Also known as – Benedetto da Urbino, Benito of   
   Urbino. Marco Passionei. Patronage – Missionaries.   
      
   It is most striking today, to see a scion of one of the richest and   
   noblest families of Umbria give himself to strenuous manual work in   
   various Friaries. He was sensitive to the poor and full of compassion   
   for them, without distinction. He wanted to preach only in   
   insignificant little towns. He abounded in piety and devotion, poverty   
   and penance, humility and simplicity. He was indeed a ‘classic’   
   Capuchin friar.   
      
   Marco was born into the noble family of the Passioneis in the duchy of   
   Urbino. He was baptised Marco in 1560. He was orphaned by the age of   
   seven and was put into the care of tutors with his ten brothers and   
   sisters. He received the Doctor of Law at the University of Perugia   
   and then rejoined his family, now living at Fossombrone. He made   
   friends with the Capuchin brother questors and was attracted by their   
   charism. Because of his poor health this was opposed by the local   
   superior but, after waiting a year, the newly elected Provincial   
   allowed him to join in 1584. Named Benedict he soon found his place   
   among the preachers and joined St Lawrence of Brindisi in his   
   missionary work in Bohemia. He thrived on it especially when preaching   
   to the poor. He died in Fossombrone in 1625 and was Beatified by   
   Blessed Pius IX on 15 January 1867.   
      
   Nearly all the information we have for the life of Blessed Benedict   
   derives from a manuscript biography compiled by Brother Ludovico da   
   Rocca Contrada (†1654) immediately after Benedetto’s death. This   
   biography is the one and only actual contemporary witness and was used   
   in the processes necessary for his Beatification. It is has an   
   enormous documentary value thanks to its reliability and the   
   seriousness of the information gathered, from the most direct sources,   
   whom the author often consulted personally. And the author was,   
   moreover, guardian of the Friary of San Giovanni Battista in   
   Fossombrone. He was present for the happenings at the end of his holy   
   confrere’s life and was present at his deathbed. Therefore, his   
   account is very detailed in its telling of Benedetto’s final sickness   
   and death and of the uninhibited expressions of popular piety   
   regarding Benedetto’s body.   
      
   Born on 13 November 1560 in the duchy of Urbino, he was the seventh of   
   the eleven children in the noble family of Domenico Passionei and   
   Maddalena Cibo. He was orphaned while still young and led his life in   
   Cagli where he did his first study at home. At seventeen he then went   
   to Perugia and onto Padua for higher studies. On 28 May 1582, at just   
   twenty two years, he received a degree in Civil and Church law. His   
   career began in the Roman court of Cardinal Pier Girolamo Albani. He   
   found this disagreeable.   
      
   Marco Passionei returned to the Marches and settled in Fossombrone   
   where his family had meanwhile taken up residence. He was nourishing a   
   secret call of the spirit and longed for the humble and austere life   
   of the Capuchins. Above Metauro the Capuchins had built a devout   
   hermitage. However, it was not easy for him to get permission both   
   from the family and from the friars until the new provincial minister,   
   Giacomo da Pietrarubbia who, according to the wish of the chapter,   
   admitted him to the novitiate of San Cristina in Fano. His fragile   
   health made his novitiate year difficult. In fact, after a few months,   
   he became ill to the point that his superiors had him leave Fano to go   
   to the friary in Fossombrone. After three months it was considered to   
   send him home but his indomitable will won out in the end. He said   
   that he had been clothed in the habit to live and to die as a   
   Capuchin: “If they had sent him out from one door he would have come   
   back in again through another.” He entrusted himself to prayer and   
   obtained the grace of healing. And so he was able to make his   
   religious profession at the end of May 1585, much to the consolation   
   of the poor who, on the occasion, benefitted economically. He   
   continued his religious formation in Ancona. By 1590 he was already a   
   Priest, a humble preacher, in various Friaries such as Fano and Ostra.   
      
   In 1600 the General Minister, Girolamo da Castelferretti, included him   
   in the mission band led by Saint Lorenzo da Brindisi to spread the   
   Order in Bohemia and reinforce there the Catholic faith. Although he   
   had not asked to go he was ready to leave immediately. Exemplary and   
   capable men were needed and the General Minister, also from the   
   Marches, knew him well and considered him suitable for the difficult   
   undertaking. Benedetto confided his difficulties to a letter. However   
   he was very obedient under the guidance of Lorenzo da Brindisi. He had   
   to endure many injuries from heretics who hated him. At the end of the   
   triennium (1602) he was called back to the province where he travelled   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)