From: trudie.Miller@cox.net   
      
   February 27th - Bl. Maria Caridad Brader   
      
   (Also known as    Mother Caritas; Caritas Brader; Karolina Brader Zahner; Maria   
   Josefa Carolina Brader; Mary Charity of the Love of the Holy Spirit; Mary   
   Josephine Caroline; María Caridad of the Holy Spirit; María Charitas of the   
   Holy   
   Spirit)   
      
   The only child of Joseph Sebastian Brader and Maria Anna Carolina Zahner.   
   Raised   
   in a pious family, she was known as a highly intelligent child, and received   
   the   
   best education her parents could provide. There were high expectations for the   
   girl's future, but instead of continued study she felt a call to the religious   
   life. Mary Josephine joined the Franciscan convent at Maria Hilf, Alstatten 1   
   October 1880, taking the name Mary Charity of the Love of the Holy Spirit, and   
   making her final vows on 22 August 1882.   
      
   She was initially assigned as a teacher. When it became possible for cloistered   
   nuns to work as missionaries, Sister Caritas volunteered to be one of the first   
   six sisters to work in Chone, Ecuador in 1888. She worked for five years as a   
   teacher and children's catechist. In 1893 she was transferred to Tùquerres,   
   Colombia where conditions were rough but where she taught the faith to the poor   
   and outcast.   
      
   To prepare additional missionaries she founded the Congregation of the   
   Franciscan Sisters of Mary Immaculate in Tuquerres, Colombia on 31 March 1893.   
   Initially composes of young Swiss girls with a call to missionary work, they   
   were soon joined by Colombian and other local women. Caritas served as Superior   
   General for the Congregation from 1893 to 1919, and again from 1928 to 1940.   
   The   
   Sisters emphasized good education for themselves and their charges, and deep   
   prayer lives for everyone. They received papal approval in 1933, and today work   
   in Central and South America, Mexico, Switzerland, Mali, Romania and the United   
   States.   
      
   Born   
       14 August 1860 in Kaltbrunn, Switzerland as Maria Josefa Carolina Brader at   
   Kaltbrunn, Saint Gallen, Switzerland   
      
   Died   
       27 February 1943 in Pasto, Colombia; her grave immediately became a site   
   for   
   pilgrimage and popular devotion   
      
   Venerated   
       29 June 1999 by Pope John Paul II   
      
   Beatified   
       23 March 2003 by Pope John Paul II   
      
   Canonized   
       pending; if you have information relevant to the canonization of Blessed   
   Marie contact:   
          Hermanas Franciscanas de Maria Inmaculada   
          Carrera 79, N. 40A-20   
          Barrio Modelia, Aptdo. 98892   
          Bogotá, COLOMBIA   
      
   Additional Information   
       L'Osservatore Romano   
      
   Readings   
   It is His will   
      
   The better educated, the greater the skills the educator possesses, the more   
   she   
   will be able to do for our holy religion and the glory of God, especially when   
   virtue is the vanguard of her knowledge. The more intense and visible her   
   external activity, the deeper and more fervent her interior life must be.   
      
   See God's will in everything, and to do His will with joy, out of love of Him.   
   -Blessed Caritas   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   "One who wishes to become truly holy ought not, except in a few unusual cases,   
   to excuse himself, although that for which he is blamed be not true. Jesus   
   Christ acted thus. He heard Himself charged with evil which He had not done,   
   but   
   said not a word to free Himself from the disgrace.   
   -St. Philip Neri   
      
         The Empress Leonora was treated by her mother always with harshness, and   
   without any appearance of affection. For the smallest things that were observed   
   by no one else, her mother reproved her sharply at every turn, and frequently   
   struck her. The good child remained always in silence, with her eyes cast down,   
   uttering not a word in her defense, still less complaining or weeping. Often   
   when the tempest had passed, she would kneel and kiss her mother's feet, asking   
   her pardon and promising amendment.   
      
   (Taken from the book "A Year with the Saints". February - Humility)   
      
   Bible Quote   
   And the centurion, making answer, said: Lord, I am not worthy that thou   
   shouldst   
   enter under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed. For   
   I also am a man subject to authority, having under me soldiers; and I say to   
   this, Go, and he goeth, and to another Come, and he cometh, and to my servant,   
   Do this, and he doeth it. And Jesus hearing this, marveled; and said to them   
   that followed him. Amen I say to you, I have not found so great faith in   
   Israel.   
   (Matt 8:8-10)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   PROMISE PRAYER   
      
   Our Lord told St. Gertrude the Great that the following prayer would release   
   1,000   
   Souls from Purgatory each time it is said. The prayer was later extended to   
   include   
   living sinners as well.   
      
   "ETERNAL FATHER, I OFFER THEE THE MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD OF THY DIVINE SON,   
   JESUS, IN UNION WITH THE MASSES SAID THROUGHOUT THE WORLD TODAY, FOR ALL THE   
   HOLY SOULS IN PURGATORY, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal   
   Church,   
   those in my own home and within my family. Amen."   
      
   APPROVAL AND RECOMMENDATION: M. Cardinal Pahiarca at Lisbon, Portugal, March 4,   
   1936   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)