From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   July 9th - St. Veronica Giuliani, Visionary   
      
   Today we go to 17th century Italy to meet Ursula Giuliani, daughter of   
   Francesco   
   Giuliani and Benedetta Mancini. She was born December 27, 1660 at   
   Mercatello, in   
   Urbino, Italy. Her father was a financier.   
      
   At an early age she showed signs of devotion to God. At six years of age she   
   was   
   concerned with giving her own food to the poor and clothing to the needy.   
   She   
   would be angry if others did not follow her lead until she saw in a dream or   
   vision, her own heart made of steel.   
      
   When her father received a promotion she greatly enjoyed all the pomp and   
   celebration this entailed. Later she greatly reproached herself for this   
   prideful attitude.   
      
   It is believed that after seeing the Blessed Mother in a vision, she   
   determined   
   to become a nun. Her father staunchly opposed this and presented many   
   suitors in   
   an attempt to get her to marry. Ursula became very ill and subsequently her   
   father gave in and in 1677 she entered the Capuchin Poor Clares at Citta di   
   Castello, taking the name of Veronica.   
      
   Her religious life was marked with many trials, especially the severe   
   discipline   
   of her superiors. But she accepted all with a smiling gentleness. She had   
   experienced several visions of Our Lord and after much interior struggle,   
   she   
   accepted the sufferings of the stigmata, in 1693. She was subjected to many   
   medical treatments which were of no avail.   
      
   The bishop, in an effort to rule out the possibility of fraud, subjected her   
   to   
   many more trials. She was not allowed to be alone for one moment and she was   
   forbidden to receive Holy Communion. She was not allowed to talk with any of   
   the   
   sisters except those assigned to watch over her, and she was not allowed to   
   communicate with the outside world. Her hands were put into gloves with the   
   fastenings sealed with the bishop's signet.   
      
   Eventually Veronica's patient endurance and gentle spirit won out and she   
   was   
   allowed to resume a normal life in the cloister. She was novice mistress for   
   thirty-four years and abbess eleven years, before her death. She, like   
   Teresa of   
   Avila, had a common-sense approach to life. She would not allow her novices   
   to   
   read any of the advanced mystical writers. She believed they needed to learn   
   a   
   practical way to lay a good foundation of humility, obedience and charity   
   for   
   their monastic life and growth.   
      
   Her abbacy was marked by practical improvements to the monastery. She had a   
   piped in water supply installed, and repaired and enlarged the buildings.   
   She   
   died at the age of 66, on July 9, 1727.   
      
   St. Veronica's life was one of obedience, patience, humility and love.   
   Although   
   she struggled interiorly at times, she always accepted with patience and   
   gentleness all that was asked of her. Her life was one of a total "YES" to   
   God.   
      
   We don't understand why some people receive the stigmata. But, like the   
   martyrs   
   who give up their lives to profess their belief in God, these heroic people   
   who   
   suffer the pains of stigmatism are an example to us of total, unconditional   
   love. May they encourage us to accept the pains and struggles of life,   
   especially those we are innocently burdened with, in a spirit of patience   
   and   
   gentleness.   
      
      
   Quote:   
   Do not reason about afflictions and contradictions, but receive them with   
   patience and sweetness, feeling that it is enough to know that they come   
   from   
   the hand of God.   
   -St. Francis de Sales   
      
   Bible Quote   
   7 Deal thy bread to the hungry, and bring the needy and the harbourless into   
   thy   
   house: when thou shalt see one naked, cover him, and despise not thy own   
   flesh.   
   8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy health shall   
   speedily   
   arise, and thy justice shall go before thy face, and the glory of the Lord   
   shall   
   gather thee up.  (Isaias 58:7-8)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Greetings to the Blessed Virgin, of St. Francis of Assisi:   
      
   Hail, Lady and Queen,   
   holy Mary, Mother of God,   
   Virgin who became the Church,   
   chosen by the Father in Heaven,   
   consecrated by His beloved Son   
   and His Ghost, the Comforter:   
   in thee was and remains,   
   the whole fullness of grace   
   and everything that is good.   
      
   Hail, His palace,   
   hail, His tabernacle,   
   hail, His dwelling,   
   hail, His robe,   
   hail, His handmaid,   
   hail, His mother!   
      
   O holy Mother,   
   sweet and fair to see,   
   for us beseech the King,   
   thy dearest Son,   
   our Lord Jesus Christ,   
   to death for us delivered:   
   that in His pitying clemency,   
   and by virtue of His most Holy Incarnation   
   and bitter death,   
   He may pardon our sins.   
      
   Holy Virgin Mary, among all the women of the world,   
   there is none like thee.   
   Thou art the daughter and handmaid of the most high King, Father of heaven.   
   Thou art the mother of our most holy Lord Jesus Christ.   
   Thou art the bride of the Holy Ghost.   
      
   Pray for us, with Saint Michael the Archangel,   
   and all the powers of Heaven and all the Saints,   
   to thy most Holy and Beloved Son, our Lord and Master.   
   Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)