From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   May 26th - St. Philip Neri   
      
   Saint Philip, one of the glories of Florence, was born of an illustrious   
   Christian family in that city of Tuscany, in 1515. His parents lived in the   
   fear of God and the observance of His commandments, and raised their son to   
   be obedient and respectful. Already when he was five years old, he was   
   called good little Philip. He lost his mother while still very young, and it   
   seemed he should have died himself when he was about eight or nine years   
   old. He fell, along with a horse, onto a pavement from a certain height.   
   Though the horse landed on top of him, he was entirely uninjured. He   
   attributed his preservation to a special intervention of God, destined to   
   permit him to dedicate his life to the service of God.   
      
   He fled from a prospective inheritance to Rome, where he desired to study,   
   and there undertook to tutor the two sons of a nobleman who offered him   
   refuge. He led so edifying a life that word of it reached Florence, and his   
   sister commented that she had never doubted he would become a great Saint.   
   He studied philosophy and theology, and after a short time seemed to need to   
   study no longer, so clear were the truths of God in his mind. He always kept   
   the Summa Theologica of Saint Thomas Aquinas near him for consultation; this   
   and the Holy Bible were his only books.   
      
   Saint Philip seemed surrounded by a celestial splendor, the effect of his   
   angelic purity, which he never lost in spite of the many dangers that   
   surrounded him; he came victorious from every combat, through prayer, tears   
   and confidence in God. He often visited the hospitals to serve the sick and   
   assist the poor. At night he would go to the cemetery of Saint Callixtus,   
   where he prayed near the tombs of the martyrs.   
      
   He attracted a number of companions who desired to perform these devotions   
   with him. He loved young boys most of all; he wanted to warn them against   
   the world's seductions and conserve their virtue in all its freshness. He   
   would wait for them and talk to them after their classes; and many whom his   
   examples impressed consecrated themselves to God. Assisted by his excellent   
   confessor, he founded a Confraternity of the Most Holy Trinity for the   
   relief of the poor, convalescents, and pilgrims who had no place of refuge.   
   He gave lodging to many in the great jubilee year of 1550, even receiving   
   several complete families in the houses he had obtained.   
      
   At the age of 36 he was not yet a priest, and his confessor commanded him   
   under obedience to receive Holy Orders, which he did in the same year of   
   1551. He joined a society of priests and heard many confessions. Saint   
   Ignatius of Loyola called him Philip the Bell, saying he was like a parish   
   church bell, calling everyone to church, but remaining in his tower - this   
   because he influenced so many souls to enter into religion, without doing so   
   himself. He himself was about to follow Saint Francis Xavier's renowned   
   examples, by going to India with twenty young companions, but was advised by   
   an interior voice to consult a saintly priest. He was then told that the   
   will of God was that he live in the city of Rome as in a desert.   
      
   The famous Society of Saint Philip, called The Oratory, began when a group   
   of good priests joined him in giving instructions and conferences and   
   presiding prayers; for them he drew up some rules which were soon approved.   
   He became renowned all over Italy for the instances of bilocation which were   
   duly verified during his lifetime. Many holy servants of God were formed in   
   the Oratory, a society of studious priests, made ready by ten years of   
   preparation in the common life for a service founded on sacerdotal   
   perfection. Saint Philip died peacefully in 1595 on the Feast of Corpus   
   Christi at the age of 80, having been ill for only one day. He bears the   
   noble titles of Patron of Works of Youth, and Apostle of Rome.   
      
   Reflection. Philip wished his spiritual children to serve God, like the   
   first Christians, in gladness of heart. He said such was the true filial   
   spirit, expanding the soul, giving it liberty and perfection in action,   
   power over temptations, and aid towards its final perseverance.   
      
   Source: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin   
   (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 5.   
      
      
   Saint Quote   
   "Resist your impatience faithfully, practicing, not only with reason, but   
   even against reason, holy courtesy and sweetness to all, but especially to   
   those who weary you the most"   
   --St. Francis de Sales   
      
   (Taken from the book "A Year with the Saints".  May - Meekness)   
      
   Bible Quote   
   19 And the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into   
   heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God. 20 But they going forth   
   preached every where: the Lord working withal, and confirming the word with   
   signs that followed.   (Mark 16:19-20)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   PRAYER TO OBTAIN THE GRACE OF ALL THE   
   WORLD'S MASSES   
      
   Eternal Father we humbly offer Thee our poor presence   
   and that of the whole of humanity from the beginning to   
   the end of the world at all the Masses that ever have or   
   ever will be prayed. We offer Thee all the pains, suffering,   
   prayers, sacrifices, joys and relaxations of our lives, in   
   union with those of our dear Lord Jesus here on earth.   
   May the Most Precious Blood of Christ, all His blood and   
   wounds and agony save us, through the sorrowful and   
   Immaculate Heart of Mary.  Amen! (This prayer should be   
   prayed daily, and Made known.)   
      
   Dear St. Philomena pray for us for that purity of mind and   
   heart which lead to the Perfect Love of God!   
      
   God Must be pursued and the more you chase Him the   
   More you catch Him.   (Maimonedes)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   A prayer to Saint Phillip Neri, to obtain the virtue of purity:   
      
   O glorious Saint Phillip, thou who didst ever preserve intact the lily of   
   chastity to such a degree that the splendor of this fair virtue shone forth   
   in thy eyes, and so transformed thy whole body that it gave forth a   
   delightful fragrance that consoled and inspired to devotion everyone who   
   came into thy presence, obtain for me from the Holy Spirit that grace which   
   thou didst obtain for so many of thy spiritual children, the grace for   
   defending, preserving and increasing within me that virtue which is so   
   great, so fair, so necessary.   
      
   Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be...   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)