From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The Father's portrait in the Son   
      
   "By means of this image the Lord showed Philip the Father. Yes, he who   
   looks on the Son sees, in portrait, the Father. Notice what kind of   
   portrait is spoken of. It is truth, righteousness, the power of God.   
   It is not silent, for it is the Word. It is not insensible, for it is   
   Wisdom. It is not vain and foolish, for it is power. It is not   
   soulless, for it is the life. It is not dead, for it is the   
   resurrection."   
    by Ambrose of Milan(excerpt from ON THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 1.7.50)   
      
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   May 1st - St. Richard Pampuri   
   (1897-1930)   
      
   The Old Testament Book of Sirach pays an important tribute to   
   physicians. “Hold the physician in honor,” Sirach says, “for he is   
   essential to you, and God it was who established his profession”   
   (38:1). St. Paul calls St. Luke the Evangelist a “beloved physician”   
   (Col, 4:14). In our own time another saintly medical doctor has been   
   canonized to whom God has communicated some of his healing power. He   
   is St. Richard Pampuri, M.D.   
      
   Dr. Pampuri, the 10th of the 11 children of Innocenzo and Angela   
   Pampuri, was born in the province of Pavia, northern Italy, on August   
   2, 1897, and baptized Erminio Filippo. His mother, in poor health,   
   died when he was only three. Thereupon, his maternal grandparents   
   offered to raise the youngster in their village. The grieving father   
   accepted their kindly offer.   
      
   Growing up in the household of his grandfolks his Aunt Maria and her   
   husband Dr. Carlo, the village physician, Erminio had the great   
   blessing of being raised in an atmosphere of devout and loving   
   Christianity. From the outset, he proved to be a winsome child   
   naturally disposed to do the right thing. Though not physically   
   strong, nevertheless, when he started to go to school, he did not   
   allow the long walks to and from the schoolhouse, in weather fair or   
   foul, to interfere with his perfect attendance. His teachers in   
   elementary and secondary school all spoke of him as “outstanding under   
   every aspect”.   
      
   When Erminio was ten, his father was killed in a traffic accident.   
   Even as a lad young Pampuri had wanted to become a missionary priest,   
   but he was dissuaded from that vocation because of his delicate   
   health. Instead, he fell more and more under the influence of his   
   uncle Carlo, a country doctor whose generosity and good example   
   impressed him with the ministry of healing. Carlo also paid his way   
   through schools and college. He must have been gratified when Erminio   
   told him that he had enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine at Pavia.   
      
   The impression he made on teachers and fellow students while in   
   college and medical school continued to be very positive. His quiet   
   excellence in behavior and study made him a natural leader. Despite   
   the anticlerical milieu of the university, he calmly attended daily   
   Mass and received Holy Communion regularly. He was active in the   
   student Catholic Actions groups, and attracted large numbers of his   
   fellow students to these apostolates.   
      
   When Italy entered World War I, Erminio Filippo was conscripted into   
   the Medical Corps. After a brief course in field medicine he was sent   
   to the front. Most of his work seems to have been in field hospitals,   
   but he was nevertheless shocked by the brutality of war. “What a   
   stupid waste of human life,” he wrote. “So many wounded, so many   
   broken bodies!” He outdid himself in serving these casualties. A   
   companion said of him, “He was always very kind to the wounded   
   soldiers, particularly those with the gravest wounds. He was always on   
   hand to comfort them and was concerned that they should receive the   
   Sacraments.” Personally he always carried the New Testament and the   
   Imitation of Christ in his pocket, to be read in the brief moments of   
   leisure. By the end of the war he had been promoted to Second   
   Lieutenant, Medical Corps.   
      
   When the war ended in 1918, Erminio returned to the Medical School of   
   Favia. On July 6,1921, he graduated at the top of his class in   
   medicine and surgery. In 1922 he completed his internship with high   
   honors, and was appointed to practice at Morimondo in the Province of   
   Milan. Now he practiced medicine to the hilt. But he also found time   
   to organize the parish youth, to serve as secretary of the parochial   
   missionary society, and arrange retreats for adolescents and farmers.   
   Don Alesina, pastor of the parish, called him “my lay curate”.   
      
   Now that he was a physician, Pampuri was able to prove to himself that   
   his profession was indeed a “ministry”. “I always see Jesus in my   
   patients,” he wrote to his sister, a missionary in Egypt, “so it is He   
   whom I cure, comforting Him who suffered and died to expiate our   
   sins.” Since most of his patients were poor, he gave them free   
   medicine and money, food, clothing and blankets as needed.   
      
   Dr. Pampuri still felt an attraction to the religious life. After six   
   years at Morimondo, on the advice of his spiritual director, he   
   decided to join the Hospitallers of St. John of God, a religious order   
   of nursing brothers. The Brothers were happy to receive him. He   
   entered the Order officially in 1927, received the religious name   
   “Riccardo” (Richard) and took his first vows in 1928. His new   
   companions quickly agreed that Brother Richard was in every way an   
   authentic son of St. John of God.   
      
   Unfortunately, Pampuri, while in the armed services, had suffered a   
   bout with pleurisy. That ailment struck him anew in August 1929, and   
   degenerated into bronchial pneumonia. He died in the Order’s hospital   
   in Milan on May 1, 1930, aged only 33.   
      
   The speed with which he was beatified and canonized testifies to the   
   reputation for high holiness that this admirable young man had   
   acquired. Pope John Paul II declared him blessed in 1981 and   
   proclaimed him a saint in 1989. In a day when many physicians seem to   
   ignore their Hippocratic oath to do patients no harm, it is good to   
   have ranked among the saints one who saw Jesus in those whom he sought   
   to cure.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   He would never come and knock at the door unless He wished to enter;   
   if He does not enter, it is we who are to blame.   
   --St. Peter Julian Eymard   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   but no human being can tame the tongue--a restless evil, full of   
   deadly poison.   [James 3:8] RSVCE   
      
      
   <><><><>   
    An Appeal to the Divine Judge   
      
   9 O righteous God,   
   who searches minds and hearts,   
   bring to an end the violence of the wicked   
   and make the righteous secure.   
   10 My shield [b] is God Most High,   
   who saves the upright in heart.   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)