From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   April 8th - Blessed Mary Assunta, Franciscan Missionary   
      
   (1878-1905)   
      
   Saint Pius X promulgated his decree Quam Singulari, recommending frequent   
   Holy   
   Communion for all and early First Communion for children, just two years   
   after   
   the death of Blessed Mary Assunta. This holy young nun, especially devoted   
   to   
   the Blessed Sacrament in her youth, though she could not yet benefit from   
   the   
   decree, is a living proof to the wisdom of his decision. Saints among   
   children   
   and youth, whom he foretold would multiply, have always had such devotion,   
   and   
   thus God shows us that it is not the number of years that counts. Rather it   
   is   
   intensity of love, and the practice of spiritual childhood, in the spirit of   
   Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, which please God.   
      
   Maria Assunta Pallotta was born in Italy in 1878, during the octave of the   
   Assumption. The oldest of five children, she was always calm, gentle,   
   peaceful,   
   never seen to have fits of anger or caprice, never disobedient. Her parish   
   priest would say later: "Every Sunday afternoon, when the church was   
   deserted,   
   we would find little Assunta kneeling there, praying"; then she would go to   
   the   
   catechism lessons and help him to instruct the youngest little ones.   
   Frequent   
   visits to the Blessed Sacrament marked all the years of her youth. At the   
   age of   
   fifteen she already had the maturity of an adult, being very serious and   
   hard-working; she was wearing a hair shirt often, and fasting three times a   
   week, even sleeping on stones.   
      
   To answer the call of the Lord which she heard while still young, she   
   perhaps   
   would not have been able to free herself from the many duties involved in   
   the   
   life of a poor family, had not a kind prelate, when he visited her village,   
   taken her cause in hand. He obtained her admission without a dowry to the   
   Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, whose mother house was in Rome. She was   
   twenty   
   years old at that time.   
      
   Always smiling and cheerful, she became a subject of edification for all.   
   She   
   scarcely knew how to read and write and was assigned to very humble tasks:   
   with   
   love she cared for the animals and did the laundry. Ever more humble, she   
   would   
   often go to ask for permission to do supplementary penances "to expiate her   
   sins", which permission was ordinarily refused. But she would return again   
   to   
   ask, and she made a vow to do everything for love of God, consecrating   
   herself   
   to His Sacred Heart.   
      
   One day in 1904 she requested of her Mother General to remember her when   
   there   
   would be a mission to the lepers, to whom her institute devoted itself. She   
   was   
   sent to China in that same year, to the mission where seven of her Sisters   
   had   
   already shed their blood for Christ four years before. Her beautiful   
   resolutions   
   prove her sanctity: "I came to the convent to become a Saint: to what   
   purpose   
   would I live a long time if I did not attain my goal? I will therefore not   
   pass   
   up anything profitable for my soul, though the whole world be given me in   
   exchange." "Never will I excuse myself, never speak of myself, imitating the   
   Most Blessed Virgin in humility and charity toward God and neighbor."   
      
   Soon the cross re-appeared in the peaceful halls of the orphanage, in the   
   form   
   of a typhus epidemic; and in March of 1905 three of the six newly-arrived   
   Sisters were ill. Two departed for their heavenly reward, including the   
   youngest   
   of them all, and Sister Mary Assunta was the third to fall ill. She   
   immediately   
   asked for the Last Sacraments, saying she would die in a few days. Her   
   condition   
   afterwards seemed to improve, but after a week of severe sufferings, she too   
   expired in peace. An odor of flowers was noted shortly before her death; it   
   soon   
   filled the room and the entire house. The Sisters were impressed, and when   
   her   
   body was exhumed in 1913 it was found virtually intact, though the robe was   
   disintegrating. Miracles followed, and Mary Assunta was beatified by Pope   
   Pius   
   XII in November, 1954.   
      
   Source: Soeur Marie-Assunta, Franciscaine Missionnaire de Marie, by the   
   Sisters   
   of her Community, Paris, 1924.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   "God wishes that there should be poor in this world, so that the rich may   
   atone   
   for their sins"   
   -St. Augustine (Doctor, 354-430) - "Instructions On Christian Morality"   
      
   Bible Quotes:   
   "And God provideth for him that sheweth favour: he remembereth him   
   afterwards,   
   and in the time of his fall he shall find a sure stay"  (Ecclesiasticus 3:)   
      
   "For the poor you have always with you"  (Matt 26:11)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   An Office of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ   
      
   At that time, Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers platted a   
   crown of thorns, and put it on His head, and they put on him a purple robe,   
   and said, "Hail, King of the Jews." And they smote Him with their hands. And   
   they spat upon Him, and took the reed, and smote Him on the head.   
      
   And the soldiers took Jesus, and He, bearing His Cross, went forth into a   
   place called the place of the skull, where they crucified Him, and two   
   others with Him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.   
      
   After this, Jesus, knowing all things which should come to pass, said, "I   
   thirst." And they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and   
   put it to His mouth.   
      
   And when He had tasted thereof, He would not drink, but said, "It is   
   finished." And He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost.   
      
   And immediately the earth did quake, and the sun was darkened. And the veil   
   of the Temple was rent, and the rocks rent, and the graves were opened, and   
   those who slept arose. Which things, when the centurion saw, he said,   
   "Truly, this was the Son of God."   
      
   At length one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith   
   came thereout blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and we know   
   that his record is true.   
      
   V. The Lord be with you.   
      
   R. And with thy spirit.   
      
   Let us pray   
      
   Lord Jesus Christ, who for us sinners didst place Thy hands and Thy feet and   
   Thy whole body upon the wood of the Cross; and didst bear the crown of   
   thorns, set upon Thy head by the soldiers in dishonor of Thy most holy body;   
   and hanging upon the Cross didst suffer five wounds for the sake of us   
   sinners, and hast redeemed us by Thy sacred Blood, grant us we beseech Thee,   
   O Lord, this day, and every day, the practice of penitence, abstinence,   
   patience, humility, and chastity, and light, sense, understanding, and   
   knowledge of the truth, even unto the end. Through Thee, Jesus Christ,   
   Saviour of the world, King of glory, who, together with the Father and the   
   Holy Spirit, livest and reignest God, world without end. Amen.   
      
   POPE JOHN XXII   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Ecce Homo   
      
   Protect me, great power of God.   
   Let the strength of Jesus' faith be with me.   
   Let the purification be with me.   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)