From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   The wind was against them   
      
   "Meanwhile the boat carrying the disciples--that is, the church--is   
   rocking and shaking amid the storms of temptation, while the adverse   
   wind rages on. That is to say, its enemy the devil strives to keep the   
   wind from calming down. But greater is he who is persistent on our   
   behalf, for amid the vicissitudes of our life he gives us confidence.   
   He comes to us and strengthens us, so we are not jostled in the boat   
   and tossed overboard. For although the boat is thrown into disorder,   
   it is still a boat. It alone carries the disciples and receives   
   Christ. It is in danger indeed on the water, but there would be   
   certain death without it. Therefore stay inside the boat and call upon   
   God. When all good advice fails and the rudder is useless and the   
   spread of the sails presents more of a danger than an advantage, when   
   all human help and strength have been abandoned, the only recourse   
   left for the sailors is to cry out to God. Therefore will he who helps   
   those who are sailing to reach port safely, abandon his church and   
   prevent it from arriving in peace and tranquility?"   
   --by Augustine of Hippo (excerpt from SERMON 75.4)   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   15 November – Blessed Mary of the Passion   
   Also known as   
   Marie of the Passion   
   Marie de la Passion de Chappotin   
      
    Religious, Foundress of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary,   
   Missionary – born as Hélène-Marie-Philippine de Chappotin de Neuville   
   on 21 May 1839 in Nantes, Loire-Atlantique, France and died on 15   
   November 1904 in San Remo, Imperia, Italy of natural causes. Patron of   
   the Order she founded. The Franciscan Missionaries of Mary were   
   founded in British India in 1877 and is currently one of the largest   
   religious institutes in the Church.   
      
   Born on 21 May 1839 in Nantes, France, into a noble Christian family,   
   Hélène Marie Philippine de Chappotin de Neuville, in religion Mary of   
   the Passion, showed from childhood eminent natural gifts and a deep   
   faith. In April 1856, during a retreat, she first experienced a call   
   from God to a life of total consecration. The unforeseen death of her   
   mother delayed its realisation. In December 1860, with the consent of   
   the Bishop of Nantes, she entered the Poor Clares whose ideal of the   
   simplicity and poverty of Saint Francis attracted her.   
      
   On 23rd January 1861, while still a postulant, she had a profound   
   experience of God who invited her to offer herself as a victim for the   
   Church and the Pope. This experience marked her for life. A short time   
   after, having become seriously ill, she had to leave the monastery.   
   When she was well again, her confessor directed her towards the   
   Society of Marie Reparatrice. She entered with them in 1864 and on the   
   following 15 August, in Toulouse, she received the religious habit   
   with the name of Mary of the Passion.   
      
   In March 1865, while still a novice, she was sent to India, to the   
   Apostolic Vicariate of Madurai, confided to the Society of Jesus. The   
   Reparatrice sisters there had the task of formation of sisters of an   
   autonomous congregation as well as being involved in other apostolic   
   activities  . It was there, that she pronounced her temporary vows on   
   3 May 1866.   
      
   Because of her gifts and virtues, she was nominated local superior and   
   then, in July 1867, she was named provincial superior of the three   
   convents of the Reparatrice. Under her guidance, the works of the   
   apostolate developed, peace which had been somewhat disturbed by   
   tensions which were already existing in the mission, was   
   re-established and fervour and regularity flourished again in the   
   communities.   
      
   In 1874, a new house was founded in Ootacamund in the Vicariate of   
   Coimbatore, confided to the Paris Foreign Mission Society. However, in   
   Madurai the dissensions became exacerbated to such an extent that, in   
   1876 some religious, among them Mary of the Passion, were driven to   
   leave the Society of Marie Reparatrice, reuniting, at Ootacamund under   
   the jurisdiction of the Vicar Apostolic of Coimbatore, Monsignor   
   Joseph Bardou MEP.   
      
   In November 1876, Mary of the Passion went to Rome to regularise the   
   situation of the twenty separated sisters and, on 6 January 1877,   
   obtained the authorisation from Pius IX to found a new Institute which   
   was to be specifically missionary and was to be called the   
   Missionaries of Mary.   
      
   On the suggestion of the Congregation of Propaganda Fide, Mary of the   
   Passion opened a novitiate in Saint-Brieuc in France, where very soon   
   numerous vocations came along. In April 1880 and in June 1882, the   
   Servant of God went to Rome to resolve the difficulties which were   
   threatening to hinder the stability and growth of the young Institute.   
   This latter journey, on June 1882, marked an important stage in her   
   life, in fact, she was authorised to open a house in Rome and, through   
   providential circumstances, she rediscovered the Franciscan direction   
   which God had indicated to her 22 years previously. On 4 October 1882,   
   in the Church of the Aracoeli, she was received into the Third Order   
   of Saint Francis and thus began her relationship with the Servant of   
   God, Fr Bernardin de Portogruaro, Minister General, who with paternal   
   solicitude would support her in her trials.   
      
   In March 1883, due to latent opposition, Mary of the Passion was   
   deposed from her office of Superior of the Institute. However, after   
   an inquiry ordered by Pope Leo XIII, her innocence was fully   
   acknowledged and at the Chapter of July 1884 she was re-elected.   
      
   The Institute of the Missionaries of Mary then began to develop   
   rapidly. On 12 August 1885 the Laudatory Decree and that of   
   affiliation to the Order of Friars Minor were issued. The   
   Constitutions were approved ad experimentum on 17 July 1890 and   
   definitively on 11 May 1896. Missionaries were sent regularly to the   
   most perilous and distant places overcoming all obstacles and   
   boundaries.   
      
   The zeal of the Foundress knew no bounds in responding to the calls of   
   the poor and the abandoned. She was particularly interested in the   
   promotion of women and the social question – with intelligence and   
   discretion, she offered collaboration to the pioneers who were working   
   in these spheres, which they appreciated very much.   
      
   Her intense activity drew its dynamism from contemplation of the great   
   mysteries of faith. For Mary of the Passion, all led back to the   
   Unity-Trinity of God Truth-Love, who communicates Himself to us   
   through the paschal mystery of Christ. It was in union with these   
   mysteries that, in an ecclesial and missionary dimension, she lived   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)