From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   February 13th - Blessed Bishop Ambrose Leblanc   
   Franciscan Provincial   
   (1884-1959)   
      
   Bishop Ambrose Leblanc was a prelate and missionary whose truly Franciscan   
   life brings great honor and gives serious inspiration to his beloved Order.   
   Born in 1884, he was the descendant of a deported Acadian family, which   
   later assembled with some fifty others of the exiles, to populate the newly   
   erected parish of Saint Jacques de Montcalm, Quebec. His pious mother,   
   during an epidemic, lost three of her four children in infancy or early   
   childhood, but saved Adolph, as he was then called, by a vow she made to   
   give him to the Franciscans if he survived. Admirable and generous parents,   
   the Leblancs were known for their charity to the poor. They adopted and   
   raised eleven girls, nine of whom became religious. Their unique little boy   
   was already "saying Mass" at a tender age, and making up little sermons for   
   his sisters.   
      
   When this cherished son entered religion in 1906, he chose the Franciscan   
   Order, and five years later was ordained a priest. One of his brothers in   
   religion said of him: "He made constant progress in virtue; to the   
   gentleness of his manners and the excellent education he received at home   
   and in the seminary, he added concern for perfection and a lively ardor for   
   intellectual labors. On the day of his ordination in July of 1911, he   
   already had a priestly mentality, with no other desire than to immolate   
   himself with Christ."   
      
   He soon was destined for the formation of youth; already he had played an   
   important role in the beginnings of his nine sisters' consecration to God.   
   He was a Supervisor for two years in the Seraphic College of Montreal, then   
   director of the same at Three Rivers; he was Master of Novices in Montreal   
   for seven years, then Definitor or Provincial Counselor until 1927. He   
   became the first Franciscan Provincial when the Province of Saint Joseph was   
   erected in Canada, and remained in charge for six years, then in 1936 left   
   for the missions of Japan, as ecclesiastical Superior. When he came back to   
   Canada after gaining firsthand knowledge of the situation, he recommended   
   the transfer of the prefecture to Tokyo.   
      
   He returned to Japan in 1939 as Apostolic Prefect to the Prefecture of   
   Urawa. The Japanese emperor had permitted the Church's establishment on   
   condition the direction soon be confided to native-born Japanese, and in   
   October of 1940 fifteen foreign bishops resigned. The two prefects   
   nonetheless remained in Tokyo. For a year they were not disturbed, but   
   finally all religious were imprisoned in a concentration camp. During this   
   time the Franciscan Superior was occupied like everyone else with garden   
   work, washing floors, and all menial tasks. There were 30 to 40 priests in   
   the camp for two years; a Japanese bishop came to give orders that only one   
   should say Mass each day, the others receive Communion. There were five or   
   six bottles of wine at their disposition during those two years. Bishop   
   Leblanc said to the priests: "A priest has the right to say his Mass every   
   day. Each of you, go ahead and say your Mass every day!" And never did the   
   wine run out. The prisoners considered this a miracle, however sparing the   
   use of the available wine may have been.   
      
   Never did their Superior lose his smile. "Never was there a word of   
   discouragement, criticism or impatience! He was always of an even temper and   
   with a sincere smile." One day, back in Canada, he himself would say: "My   
   life has been a perpetual enchantment." He would labor in Quebec for the   
   spread of devotion to the Virgin of the Smile, who cured little Saint   
   Thérèse of the Child Jesus when her sisters, having lost hope, cried out to   
   their Heavenly Mother for aid. He propagated replicas of the beautiful   
   statue, now known to every Catholic of the Province of Quebec. At the   
   Montreal Chapel Les Buissonnets, named in honor of the home of the Little   
   Flower in Lisieux, the 13th day of every month was consecrated to devotions   
   to the Virgin of the Smile, under the direction of Bishop Leblanc.   
      
   Finally there came for the Bishop "the most beautiful day of my life." As he   
   had composed a poem hymning Thérèse and her invitation to heroic sacrifice,   
   he also wrote an inspiring page addressed to the future day of his death, in   
   which his ardor and love of God overflowed. Here is an extract of this   
   beautiful text: "O blessed day, for me you will have the charm of my First   
   Mass. Until now, as a priest, I have been the sacrificer and Jesus the   
   divine Victim. On the day of my death, I will be the victim, and Jesus the   
   Sacrificer... You will be sweeter than the day of my birth, more joyous than   
   the day of my Baptism, greater than the day of my First Communion, more   
   memorable than the day I received the habit, more solemn than the day of my   
   Profession, more beautiful than the day of my Ordination, more grandiose   
   than that of my First Mass! O blessed Sister Death, do not delay; give me   
   the kiss of departure; lead me to my God, to my Jesus whom I cherish, whom I   
   love... O you who have known me, do not look for me among the dead; I am   
   going to the land of the living! ...Rejoice with me, sing with me the   
   mercies of the Lord, ending in a cry of gratitude the Te Deum which I will   
   intone when I expire!"   
      
   Bishop Leblanc was in an automobile accident on the evening of February 13,   
   1959, when his driver lost control of the car on a slippery road. He expired   
   in the ambulance which transported him to the hospital. Those who loved him   
   could not but rejoice with him, on this most beautiful day of his life.   
      
   Source: Magnificat magazine, Vol. XIX, Nos. 2-3, February-March 1984   
   (Editions Magnificat: St. Jovite)   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "To fast is not a natural cause of sadness except for those who are yet too   
   feebly disposed; for those who desire to contemplate wisdom, fasting is a   
   delight. As long as the disciples were weak, it was wiser to wait until they   
   became stronger. This shows that it was not an invitation to gluttony but a   
   recognition of their weakness."   
   -St. John Chrysostom (Doctor, 347-407) - "An Aquinas Reader",   
      
   Bible Quotes:   
   "And Jesus said to them: Can the children of the bridegroom mourn, as long   
   as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom   
   shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast"  (Matt 9:15)   
      
   "But in all things let us exhibit ourselves as the ministers of God, in much   
   patience, in tribulation, in necessities, in distresses, In stripes, in   
   prisons, in seditions, in labours, in watchings, in fastings"  (2   
   Corinthians 6:4-5)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   THIRTY-ONE DAYS OF PRAYER FOR THE HOLY SOULS   
   FROM THE PURGATORIAN MANUAL   
    (Imprimatur 1946)   
      
   Twenty-First Day   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)