From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   July 16th - St. Mary Magdalen Postel (RM)   
    (also known as Julia Frances Catherine Postel)   
      
   Born at Barfleur, Normandy, France, November 28, 1756; died at   
   Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, July 16, 1846; canonized 1925.   
      
   Julia Frances Catherine Postel was educated at the Benedictine convent at   
   Valognes. At age 18, she opened a girls' school at Barfleur in France. When   
   the   
   French Revolution broke out, the revolutionaries closed the school and she   
   became a leader in the underground Church. Under the stairs of her home, she   
   created a secret chapel where priests could say Mass for those who refused   
   to   
   recognize the 'constitutional' clergy imposed by the state. During that time   
   she   
   was (like other women elsewhere under abnormal conditions) given charge of   
   the   
   reserved Eucharist and allowed to minister it to the sick.   
      
   Only when the pope made a concordat with Napoleon in 1801 could Julie take   
   up   
   teaching again as her life's work. Then, at the age of 51, she decided to   
   set up   
   a group of religious women to teach the young, inspire them to love God, and   
   help the poor in their misery.   
      
   In 1807, Julie and three other teachers took religious vows before Abbé   
   Cabart,   
   who had encouraged her in her work. Julie also took a new name, Mary   
   Magdalen   
   Postel. Sister Mary Magdalen reopened her school at Cherbourg, which became   
   the   
   foundation of the Sisters of the Christian Schools of Mercy. She was named   
   superior of the community.   
      
   Within three years 200 girls were being educated. For some time Sister Mary   
   Magdalen Postel and her nine fellow teachers lived in great poverty in a   
   barn   
   next to their schoolroom. These earlier years were discouraging but Sister   
   Mary   
   Magdalen refused to give up. The community was forced to move several times   
   before it settled at Tamersville in 1815.   
      
   Whatever work they could find-as farm-laborers, seamstresses, etc.-was   
   eagerly   
   seized so that they could carry on with their teaching. But their tenacity   
   triumphed. In 1830, they moved into an abandoned, derelict abbey at   
   Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte near Coutances. The congregation was formally   
   recognized seven years later.   
      
   Mary Magdalen died at the age of 90, having seen the ruined abbey rebuilt   
   and   
   her community spreading the Christian Gospel ever farther afield. She is   
   venerated for her holiness and miracles (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley,   
   Delaney, Encyclopedia).   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   Our own evil inclinations are far more dangerous than any external enemies.   
   --St. Ambrose   
      
   Bible Quote   
   And the ruler of the synagogue (being angry that Jesus had healed on the   
   sabbath) answering, said to the multitude: Six days there are wherein you   
   ought   
   to work. In them therefore come, and be healed; and not on the sabbath day.   
   And   
   the Lord answering him, said: Ye hypocrites, doth not every one of you, on   
   the   
   sabbath day, loose his ox or his ass from the manger, and lead them to   
   water?   
   And ought not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these   
   eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day? And when he   
   said   
   these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced   
   for   
   all the things that were gloriously done by him.  (Luke 13:14-17)   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   This is the Traditional Gradual for the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel:   
      
   O Virgin Mary, blessed and venerable art Thou: who without blemish to thy   
   maidenhood, didst become the Mother of God.  He whom the whole world   
   availeth   
   not to contain, enclosed Himself in thy womb, being made man.   
      
   Alleluia, alleluia.  V. Through thee, O Mother of God, is the life we had   
   lost   
   given back to us: for, from heaven receiving Him who became thy son, thou on   
   the   
   world hast bestowed its Savior.   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   Covetousness   
      
   "Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth   
   not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth" (Luke 12:15).   
      
   "He that hateth covetousness shall prolong his days" (Proverbs 28:16).   
      
   "Be content with such things as ye have" (Hebrews 13:5).   
      
   "Having food and raiment let us be therewith content" (1 Timothy 6:8).   
      
   "He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in   
   this world shall keep it unto life eternal" (John 12:25).   
      
   "So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he   
   hath, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:33).   
      
   "But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your   
   consolation" (Luke 6:24).   
      
   "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall   
   come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are   
   motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them   
   shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were   
   fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days" (James   
   5:1-3).   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)