May 16th - St. Andrew Hubert Fournet

May 16th - St. Andrew Hubert Fournet, Founder (RM)

Born in Maillé (near Poitiers), France, on December 6, 1752; died at La Puye,
France, on May 13, 1834; beatified in 1926; canonized in 1933; feast day
formerly on May 13.
Instead of honoring his mother's desire for him to be a priest, Andrew's early
life was devoted to frivolity. He was bored by religion, and apparently by life
in general. As a student of law and philosophy at the university at Poitiers, he
was idle and simply enjoyed himself. He did not even learn to write properly.
After failing at several jobs, his parents sent him to live with an uncle who
was a priest in a very poor parish.

Inspired by his uncle's work, he became a protector of the poor, returned to his
native town, studied theology, was ordained, and became his uncle's assistant.
Then he was appointed as parish priest to his home town church at Maillé. He
completely changed his comfortable lifestyle and exchanged it for one of
austerity and simplicity.

During the French Revolution he refused to take the oath of civil constitution
of the clergy and was asked by his bishop to go to Spain for his own safety. He
lived there five years but, ashamed by his lack of courage, he clandestinely
returned to his flock in 1797 and remained at the risk of his life.

On one occasion he was forced to evade the bailiffs by impersonating a corpse.
He leapt onto a bed, the lady of the house covered him with a ***, surrounded
him by mourning women and candles, and they deceived the authorities. Another
time he was saved by a canny woman, who, when bailiffs came into the room, boxed
him on the ears, chided him for not rising at their entrance, and angrily sent
him out the back door. He commented later that she hit him so hard that he saw
stars.

Once Andrew was in fact captured by the authorities on Good Friday, 1792. They
put him in a carriage to take him to prison. The saint, insisting on walking,
for he observed: "From the day that Jesus Christ carried his cross it has
behooved his followers to travel on foot."

When Napoleon allowed the church back openly into France after the revolution
(1807), Andrew was once again officially the parish priest at Maillé. He labored
as a missionary, preacher, and confessor, and with Saint Elizabeth (Agnes)
Bichier (d. August 26) founded the congregation of the Daughters of the Cross,
dedicated to nursing and teaching. Andrew retired from his parish in 1820, but
continued to direct the sisters until his death, at which time the order had
over sixty convents in Poitou. Prayers to Saint Andrew were said to have
miraculously increased food supplies for the nuns and their charges when they
were in need (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, White).

This Version taken from:
http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/ss-index.htm

Saint Quotes:
What was God to do in the face of the dehumanizing of mankind-this universal
hiding of the knowledge of Himself? So burdened were men with their wickedness
that they seemed rather to be brute beasts than reasonable men, reflecting the
very likeness of the Word. What, then, was God to do? What else could He
possibly do, being God, but renew His Image in mankind, so that through it men
might once more come to know Him? And how could this be done save by the coming
of the very Image Himself, our Savior Jesus Christ?... Men had turned from the
contemplation of God above, and were looking for Him in two opposite directions,
down among created things, and things of sense. The Savior of us all, the Word
of God, in His great love took to Himself a body and moved as Man among men,
meeting their senses, so to speak, half-way. He became Himself an object for the
senses, so that those who were seeking God in sensible things might apprehend
the Father through the works which He, the Word of God, did in the body.
[Continued]
-St. Athanasius, The Incarnation of the Word of God

Bible Quote
1 And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together
in one place: 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind
coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 And there
appeared to them parted tongues as it were of fire, and it sat upon every one of
them:
(Acts 2:1-3)


<><><><>
Daily Thoughts and Prayers for Our Beloved Dead

"Have pity on me, have pity on me, at least you my friends, because the hand of
the Lord hath touched me" Job. 19-21.


TWENTY-FIFTH DAY

One of the saddest facts of life is that the living so soon forget the dead. We
forget when we live: we are forgotten when we die. St. Monica, on her deathbed,
pleaded with her son, St. Augustine: "Lay my body anywhere, only this I beg of
you: remember me at the altar of God."

Prayer: Our Father, Three Hail Marys, Gloria, De Profundis.

De Proffundis

Out of the depths, I have cried to Thee, O
Lord, Lord, hear my voice.
Let Thine ears be attentive to the
voice of my supplication.
If Thou, O Lord, shalt mark my iniquities,
O Lord, who shall stand it?
For with Thee there is merciful
forgiveness: and by reason of Thy
law I have waited for Thee, O Lord.
My soul hath relied on His word; my soul
hath hoped in the Lord.
From the morning watch even until
night; let Israel hope in the Lord.
Because with the Lord there is mercy; and
with Him plenteous redemption.
And He shall redeem Israel from
all its iniquities.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and
let perpetual light shine upon them:
May they rest in peace. Amen.

Most merciful Jesus, lover of Souls. We pray Thee, by the agony of Thy most
Sacred Heart, and by the sorrows of Thy Immaculate Mother, wash with Thy Blood
the Souls in Purgatory. Deliver them from their pains, that they may join the
Heavenly Chorus in praising Thee and interceding for us at the hour of need.




.