From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Idlers   
      
   He who is sluggish in prayer, and slothful and negligent in serving   
   his brethren and in performing other holy tasks, is explicitly called   
   an idler by the apostle, and condemned as unworthy even of his bread.   
   For St. Paul writes that the idler is not to have any food (cf. 2   
   Thess. 3:10); and elsewhere it is said that God hates idlers, that the   
   idle man cannot be trusted, and that idleness has taught great evil   
   (cf. Ecclus. 33:27). Thus each of us should bear the fruit of some   
   action performed in God's name, even if he has employed himself   
   diligently in but one good work. Otherwise he will be totally barren,   
   and without any share in everlasting blessings.   
   --St. Symeon Metaphrastis   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   17 June – St Albert Chmielowski T.O.S.F.   
      
     (The 19th-century Polish saint who was influenced by St. Francis of   
   Assisi later influenced Pope St. John Paul II.) (20 August 1845 at   
   Igoalomia (Aigolonija), Poland as Adam Hilary Bernard Chmielowski – 25   
   December 1916 at Krakow, Poland, of natural causes). Canonised on 12   
   November 1989 by Pope John Paul II at Saint Peter’s Square, Rome.   
   Professed religious of the Third Order of St Francis and the founder   
   of both the Servants of the Poor and Sisters Servants of the Poor.   
   Also known as:  Adam Chmielowski, Adam Hilary Bernard Chmielowski,   
   Brat Albert, Brother Albert, Brother of Our Lord, Brother of Our God,   
   Our God’s Brother.   
      
    Patronages – Painters, Servants of the Poor, Sisters Servants of the   
   Poor, Franciscan tertiaries, Soldiers ,Volunteers, Harvests,   
   Travellers, Puławy, Diocese of Sosnowiec. Attributes – priest’s attire   
   or Franciscan robe.   
      
   Adam Chmielowski was born into an aristocratic family in Igołomia, a   
   village outside of Krakow, in 1845. Then, Poland formally didn’t exist   
   – the once-mighty Polish state was partitioned between Austria,   
   Prussia and Russia in 1772, 1773 and 1795. Yet the Polish people   
   refused to accept this and many rebelled against the oppressors.   
      
   One such upheaval was the January Insurrection of 1863-1864, directed   
   against the Russian Empire, in which the Poles fought bravely yet were   
   brutally suppressed. Not yet 18, Adam took part. During one battle, a   
   Russian grenade killed Adam’s horse and badly damaged his leg, which   
   was amputated. Adam, however, didn’t take pity on himself; he   
   stoically taught himself to function with a wooden limb and offered up   
   the dismemberment to God for the cause of Polish independence.   
      
   After the uprising, Adam decided to pursue a career in painting and   
   was accepted at the prestigious Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, where   
   he studied with many famous Polish painters. Upon returning to Poland,   
   Adam worked as a painter 1870-1885. In total, he produced 61   
   paintings. He quickly became one of the most feted Polish artists,   
   living briefly in Warsaw and then in artsy, intellectual Krakow.   
   Adam’s social circle consisted of the best-known Polish artists,   
   actors and writers.   
      
   Yet Adam Chmielowski wasn’t happy with this glitzy life of celebrity.   
   At one point, he was even hospitalized for depression. Adam remained a   
   devout Catholic and his paintings — including his masterpiece, the   
   unfinished Ecce Homo, which depicts the mocked Christ — often dealt   
   with religious themes.   
      
   He knew that he needed to grow closer to God. Adam briefly thought of   
   becoming a Jesuit but his enthusiasm fizzled after entering the   
   novitiate. He kept asking God what he wanted of him.   
      
   19th-century Krakow was a city of social inequality. In Adam’s day,   
   more than a fifth of its population consisted of the unemployed, who   
   were frequently homeless. The filthy, lice-infested city homeless   
   shelter had terrible sanitary conditions. The Church in Krakow,   
   especially the Vincentians and other orders, aided the poor. However,   
   this was insufficient. At this time, Adam became increasingly   
   attracted to St. Francis of Assisi. This medieval champion of the   
   poor’s ministry resonated with Krakow’s socioeconomic problems.   
   Eventually, Adam welcomed the homeless into his own apartment. In   
   1887, Adam Chmielowski became a Third Order Franciscan and took vows   
   at the hands of Krakow Archbishop Cardinal Albin Dunajewski, taking   
   the name Albert. He began to call himself “Brother Albert” and wore a   
   gray habit.   
      
   The following year, Brother Albert realized that to bring Krakow’s   
   poor lasting change, the city’s homeless shelter would need reform. He   
   negotiated an agreement with the city government, making him the   
   institution’s caretaker. To finance the improvements, Brother Albert   
   auctioned off his paintings. In addition to improving the material   
   conditions, he banned alcohol in the shelter. He asked the poor to   
   work (making exceptions for the elderly and those with disabilities),   
   teaching them practical skills and lectured on the Catechism and the   
   Gospels.   
      
   Eventually, Brother Albert founded two religious orders, the Albertine   
   Brothers and Sisters, devoted to the poor. They set up homes for the   
   poor, sick and elderly in 20 Polish cities. Brother Albert worked to   
   help as many poor persons as possible until his death in 1916, amidst   
   World War I. During that bloody conflict, he sent Albertine Brothers   
   and Sisters to the trenches to aid war invalids. After his death,   
   thousands of Kracovians visited his tomb, convinced that he died a   
   saint.   
      
   Today, the Albertines run homes for the poor and sick all over the   
   world. Visitors to Krakow can make a pilgrimage to the Albertine-run   
   Ecce HomoShrine, which features a museum devoted to St. Albert and the   
   famous titular painting.   
      
   St. Albert Chmielowski greatly inspired St. John Paul II. In 1938,   
   when Karol Wojtyła started his studies in Polish literature at the   
   Jagiellonian University, he was a young, promising actor, playwright   
   and poet. Yet his calling to serve God and the Church was stronger   
   than his love for the arts. In this, he found inspiration in his   
   fellow artist St. Albert Chmielowski.   
      
   In 1949, the young Father Karol Wojtyła wrote a play about him titled   
   Our God’s Brother. A Kracovian urban legend had it that Brother Albert   
   met Vladimir Lenin (who lived in Krakow after being expelled from   
   Russia) and debated him on how to best alleviate poverty. The play   
   features imagined dialogues between the saint and the communist   
   revolutionary (called “the Stranger”), powerfully showing the   
   difference between the Christian and Marxist approach: The former   
   argues that poverty can be overcome by seeing God’s image in the   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)