From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   May 19th - Saint Peter Celestine, Hermit, Pope   
      
   (1221-1296)   
      
   Saint Peter Celestine was the eleventh of the twelve children of a poor   
   Italian   
   farmer. As a child, Peter had visions of our Blessed Lady, Angels and   
   Saints.   
   His heavenly visitors encouraged him in his prayers and chided him when he   
   fell   
   into any fault. His mother, though only a poor widow, sent him to school,   
   feeling sure that he would one day be a Saint.   
      
   At the age of twenty, he left his home in Apulia to live in a mountain   
   solitude.   
   Here he passed three years, assaulted by the evil spirits and beset with   
   temptations of the flesh, but consoled by the visits of Angels. After this   
   his   
   seclusion was invaded by disciples who refused to be sent away; and the rule   
   of   
   life which he gave them formed the foundation of the Celestines, a branch of   
   the   
   Order of Saint Benedict. Angels assisted in the church which Peter built;   
   unseen   
   bells rang peals of surpassing sweetness, and heavenly music filled the   
   sanctuary when he offered the Holy Sacrifice; he had consented to be   
   ordained,   
   to find in the Holy Eucharist assistance against temptation.   
      
   Suddenly the poor anchorite found himself torn from his loved solitude,   
   having   
   been named by acclamation to the Papal throne, which had remained vacant for   
   twenty-seven months. Resistance was of no avail. He took the name of   
   Celestine,   
   to remind him of the heaven he was leaving and for which he sighed. He was   
   seventy-two years old. After a reign of five months, Peter judged himself   
   unfit   
   for the office, and summoning the cardinals to his presence, he solemnly   
   resigned his trust.   
      
   During the remaining three years of his life he worked many and great   
   miracles.   
   On the day after his abdication, his blessing after Mass healed a lame man.   
   Saint Peter left the palace, desiring seclusion, but was brought back by the   
   papal guards, for his successor feared a schism; crowds had followed Saint   
   Peter. Lest he be prevailed upon to take back his office, he was put under   
   surveillance at Anagni. Content, he remarked: "I desired nothing but a cell,   
   and   
   a cell they have given me." And there he enjoyed his former loving intimacy   
   with   
   the Saints and Angels, and sang the Divine praises almost continually.   
      
   At length, on Pentecost Sunday he told his guards he would die within the   
   week,   
   and immediately fell ill. He received the Last Sacraments, and the following   
   Saturday, as he finished the concluding verse of Lauds, "Let every spirit   
   bless   
   the Lord!" he closed his eyes to this world and opened them to the vision of   
   God.   
      
   Reflection. "To the one who withdraws himself from acquaintances and   
   friends,"   
   says the Imitation of Christ, "God will draw near with His holy Angels."   
      
   Sources: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin   
   (Bloud   
   et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 6; Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a   
   compilation based on Butler's Lives of the Saints and other sources by John   
   Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894); Vie des Saints pour tous   
   les   
   jours de l'année, by Abbé L. Jaud (Mame: Tours, 1950).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   The entire Church must formally pray for [vocations] because the purpose of   
   the   
   prayer to gain vocations must concern all the faithful, every Christian who   
   has   
   at heart the good of souls and, in a particular way, the Bishops who are the   
   shepherds of the spiritual flock and to whom souls are entrusted. They are   
   the   
   living Apostles of Jesus Christ today.   
   --Saint Hannibal Mary Di Francia   
      
   Bible Quote   
   14 Now when the apostles, who were in Jerusalem, had heard that Samaria had   
   received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John. 15 Who, when   
   they   
   were come, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost. 16 For   
   he   
   was not as yet come upon any of them; but they were only baptized in the   
   name of   
   the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid their hands upon them, and they received   
   the   
   Holy Ghost.  (Acts 8:14-17)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   The Angelic Trisagion:   
      
   Holy, holy, holy Lord God of hosts! The earth is full of Thy Glory!  Glory   
   be to   
   the Father, Glory be to the Son, Glory be to the Holy Ghost.  Amen.   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Acts of Faith, Hope, and Charity:   
      
   I believe in Thee, because Thou art Truth itself, and, as   
   Thou hast revealed them to her, I believe all the sacred   
   truths which the holy Catholic Church believes and   
   teaches.   
      
   I hope in Thee, because Thou art omnipotent, most   
   merciful, and faithful to Thy promises; I hope to obtain   
   the pardon of my sins, the grace to live a holy life, to die   
   a happy death, and to obtain life everlasting, through the   
   merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer.   
      
   I love Thee with my whole heart, and above all things,   
   because Thou art infinitely good; and for the love of   
   Thee I love my neighbor as myself.   
      
   Imprimatur: +John Farley, Archbishop of New York, Sept 19, 1908.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)