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⛪ Saint of the Day : October

October Saints Calendar - Capuchin Table

October Saints Calendar

Date Saints
October 1
October 2
October 3
October 4
October 5
October 6
October 7
October 8
October 9
October 10
October 11
October 12
October 13
October 14
October 15
  • ✝St. Teresa of Avila
October 16
October 17
October 18
  • ✝St. Luke
October 19
  • ✝St. Isaac Jogues
  • ✝St. John De Brebeuf and companions
October 20
  • ✝St. Paul of the Cross
October 21
October 22
  • ✝Blessed Timothy Giaccardo
October 23
  • ✝St. John Capistrano
October 24
  • ✝St. Anthony Claret
October 25
October 26
  • ✝St. Evaristus
October 27
  • ✝Blessed Contardo Ferrini
October 28
  • ✝St. Simon and St. Jude
October 29
  • ✝St. Narcissus
October 30
  • ✝St. Alphonsus Rodriguez
October 31
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St. Maria Faustina Kowalska

Early Life and Vocation

St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, born as Helena Kowalska on August 25, 1905, in GΕ‚ogowiec, Poland, was the third of ten children in a humble and devout Catholic family. Despite the poverty of her home, young Helena displayed an early sense of piety and a deep desire to devote her life to God. At the age of seven, she first felt the call to religious life, though her parents were initially opposed to her joining a convent.

Helena's education was limited to only three years of schooling, as her family needed her to help with household chores and to work as a servant for wealthier families. Despite this, her deep connection with God continued to grow. At the age of 16, she moved to the nearby city of Łódź to work as a housekeeper, a job that allowed her to support herself while maintaining a life of prayer.

After a profound spiritual experience during a dance at a village party where she felt Christ calling her to leave the world, she made her final decision to follow the religious vocation. Without her parents’ consent, she left home and traveled to Warsaw, where she was accepted into the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in 1925.

Life in the Convent

Upon joining the congregation, Helena was given the religious name Sister Maria Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament. She lived a life of simplicity and humility, performing menial tasks such as cooking, cleaning, and gardening. Though she was an ordinary nun by outward appearances, Sister Faustina was blessed with extraordinary mystical experiences, including visions, revelations, and interior conversations with Jesus.

It was in these encounters that Christ revealed to her His message of Divine Mercy, emphasizing His desire to offer love and mercy to all souls, especially sinners. Jesus asked St. Faustina to be the apostle of His Divine Mercy, a mission she accepted with humility and zeal.

The Message of Divine Mercy

On February 22, 1931, in one of the most significant revelations, Jesus appeared to St. Faustina in her cell, clothed in a white garment with rays of red and pale light streaming from His Heart. He instructed her to have an image painted according to this vision, with the signature, "Jesus, I trust in You." The rays symbolized the blood and water that flowed from His pierced side on the Cross—symbols of His mercy poured out for the world.

The Lord also gave St. Faustina a special mission: to spread the message of Divine Mercy to the world. This message centered on the boundless mercy of God, His forgiveness of sins, and the importance of trusting in His mercy. Jesus instructed Faustina to establish the Feast of Divine Mercy, celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter, which would be a day of extraordinary grace for the forgiveness of sins and the renewal of souls.

In addition to the Divine Mercy image, Jesus gave her the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, a powerful prayer to be said for the world, especially for sinners. This prayer, repeated on rosary beads, emphasizes trust in God’s mercy and seeks His mercy for the world through the Passion of Christ.

Her Diary: "Divine Mercy in My Soul"

St. Faustina kept a detailed record of her mystical experiences and conversations with Jesus in her diary, titled Divine Mercy in My Soul. This spiritual masterpiece became one of the most powerful testimonies to God’s love and mercy. Her writings reveal the depth of her relationship with God, her struggles with spiritual darkness, and her immense trust in God's will.

Through her diary, Jesus also promised extraordinary graces to those who would recite the Divine Mercy Chaplet, especially for the dying, and encouraged the faithful to spread the message of His mercy across the globe.

Illness and Death

Despite her deep interior life, Sister Faustina’s external life was marked by suffering. She endured harsh spiritual trials, doubts, and misunderstandings from others, even within her own community. In addition, she suffered from tuberculosis, which progressively worsened, eventually confining her to bed. Throughout her suffering, she united her pain to Christ’s Passion, offering her trials for the conversion of sinners.

St. Faustina died on October 5, 1938, at the age of 33, in KrakΓ³w, Poland. Although her life was brief and her impact during her lifetime seemed limited, her message of Divine Mercy would go on to touch millions of souls around the world.

Canonization and Legacy

After her death, the devotion to Divine Mercy spread rapidly, especially due to the efforts of her spiritual director, Blessed Michael Sopoćko, and St. Pope John Paul II, who had a profound devotion to St. Faustina and her message. On April 30, 2000, St. Faustina was canonized by Pope John Paul II, making her the first saint of the new millennium. During the canonization, the Pope also officially established Divine Mercy Sunday as a feast for the universal Church, fulfilling the request made by Jesus to St. Faustina.

Spiritual Legacy

St. Faustina’s life and message of Divine Mercy remain a beacon of hope for all people, particularly those who feel distant from God. Her unwavering trust in God's mercy, even in the midst of suffering, is a powerful example for Christians to turn to Jesus with confidence. Her chaplet, feast, and the Divine Mercy image continue to draw millions of believers into a deeper understanding of God's infinite love.

As the "Apostle of Divine Mercy," St. Faustina invites all souls to come to Jesus with humility and trust, relying on His unfathomable mercy to lead them to eternal salvation.

Her feast day is celebrated on October 5.

Quotes:

  • "The greater the sinner, the greater the right he has to My mercy." (Diary, 723)
  • "Jesus, I trust in You." (Inscription on the Divine Mercy image)
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⛪ Saint Remi or Remigius

Saint Remi or Remigius was born in the middle of the fifth century, of noble and pious parents. His mother, Saint Celine, had borne two other sons before him; the eldest, Saint Principius, became the twelfth bishop of Soissons, and the second was the father of Saint Lupus, thirteenth bishop of the same see. Saint Remi was given to his parents many years later, miraculously; a blind hermit named Montanus, afflicted by the state of religion in the churches of Gaul, was told three times, supernaturally, to advise his worthy parents that they would have a son who would be the light of the Francs, and would bring these new conquerors out of the idolatry in which they were plunged.

The child born to them in fulfillment of the prediction, was at the age of twenty-two years acclaimed Archbishop of Rheims, despite his humble doubts as to his competence. He was unusually tall, his countenance manifested a blend of majesty and serenity; his bearing was gentle, humble, and retiring. He was learned and eloquent, and his pity and charity were boundless. In his labors he knew no weariness. His body was the outward expression of a noble and holy soul, breathing the spirit of meekness and compunction. The archbishop received the gift of miracles. When a great fire was threatening the city of Rheims with total ruin, by his presence he arrested it; he faced it with a crucifix and made the sign of the cross, and the flames retired as he advanced. He resurrected a young woman, and his fame continued to increase.

For His predestined servant, God had a particular and great work in store. The south of France was in the hands of Arians, and in the last years of the 5th century the pagan Franks were wresting the north from the Romans. But Saint Remigius was loved by Clovis, the fifth of the Merovingian kings. The king was converted and baptized by him in 496, after winning the famous battle of Tolbiac, to fulfill a promise he had made to adopt the religion of his Christian wife if he repulsed the invading armies. A very large army of invaders, which had cast all of France into panic, fled in disarray when the small army of Clovis attacked, and their leader was slain.

Clovis had married the noble Christian maiden known to us as Saint Clotilda, and these three acting concertedly gained virtually the entire nation to the Christian religion. The army was baptized at the same time as Clovis, by Saint Remi and his assistants. The Saint threw down the altars of the idols, built churches, and appointed bishops. He silenced the Arians and presided at the Catholic First Council of Orleans. Eventually he converted so many that he left France a Catholic kingdom; its king was also the first crowned son of the Church, and at that time the only one. Ever since Saint Remi, Catholic France has rejoiced in its title of eldest daughter of the Church.

After an episcopate of seventy-four years, the longest on record, Saint Remi died in 533, leaving to France his famous Testament, predicting God’s graces of predilection for this blessed kingdom, as long as its Heads remained faithful to Him, with the most severe chastisements if the contrary ensued. The prophecy has already been fulfilled three times, as the nation’s Catholic historians affirm, for the three royal dynasties.

Reflection: Few men have had such natural advantages and such gifts of grace as Saint Remi, and few have done so great a work. Learn from him to comport yourself amid the world’s praise, as well in its scorn, with a lowly and chastened heart.

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⛪ Blessed Angelus of Acri

⛪ Saint of the Day : October 13


'The Commuting Novice'

"Knock Three Times" is the title of a lively American pop song from the 1970s but the title also seems to sum up the crisis that 20 year old Luke Anthony Falcone experienced in the early years of his Capuchin vocation in the late 17th century. Attracted by a charismatic Capuchin preacher, and unshaken by his mother’s tears and other relatives’ pleas to think again, this country boy from Acri in southern Italy made up his mind to join the Capuchins. He knocked on the door of the Dipignano Novitiate for the first time on the 8th of November 1689 and, having been welcomed by the Brothers, was clothed in the Capuchin habit and given a new name Brother Angelus – meaning Angel.

For a while life in the Capuchin fraternity was the closest thing to the angelic life he ever experienced – eyes on the ground, hands on the Rosary beads and heart in Heaven! But it was not just good Angels that young Brother Angelus encountered in the Friary, he also encountered the cunning seductions of the fallen angel – Lucifer! Tempted severely, he threw off his habit and returned home. Life at home, however, left him feeling empty and soon he humbly but courageously went back to the Capuchin Novitiate to knock a second time. And surprisingly, thanks to a special dispensation from the Minister Provincial, the Novitiate Friary door was opened to him once more and, for the second time, he was clothed in the habit of a Capuchin novice. But there is a proverb which says “the habit does not make the monk” and putting on the Capuchin habit once more did nothing to smother Brother Angelus’s old temptations. So soon he was on his way home once more. But hardly he had left the Order this second time, than he began to regret his hasty decision, and returned to the Capuchin Friars once more to knock a third time. So often had he come to the Friary and gone home shortly after that some of the wittier Brothers began to refer to him as the ‘commuting novice’. Imagine their surprise when, against all precedents, the General Minister gave Luke Anthony special permission to begin his novitiate all over again on the 12th of November 1690 and this time he was destined to remain a Capuchin until his death in 1739.

Brother Angelus of Acri was beatified on the 18th of December 1825. But his struggle to live a holy life had not been not an easy one. He himself confessed that even after coming back to the novitiate, it was only by harsh penances and fervent prayer, after the example of the future saint - Brother Bernard of Corleone, that he was able to overcome temptations to leave and so persevere. What were these temptations that plagued him were, we cannot be quite sure – disappointment, perhaps, that, contrary to his expectations, the Brothers’ life of poverty fell far short of the ideal, or frustration at his own vain attempts to overcome temptations against chastity. The latter seems more likely.  He himself confessed that for over twelve years he had to strive to obtain the grace of chastity and overcome his lustful desires. Perhaps it was his own early struggles with temptation that enabled Brother Angelus later in life to be an very empathic spiritual guide for younger Brothers going through similar vocational crises.

Son of Hardworking Parents

This was not the first crisis to confront Brother Angelus, nor was it the last. He had lost his father while still very young and had to be raised by his mother, with the help of a maternal uncle who was a local diocesan priest. He had been born on the 19th of October 1669 in the small town of Acri and baptized Luke Anthony. Luke Anthony was the son of Francis Falcone, a poor goat farmer, and his wife, Diana Enrico, a baker. He grew up in a good-living family, and managed to receive a basic education at a local grammar school. He learned the rudiments of the catechism at home and, with his mother, he would faithfully attend Mass at the local Capuchin Church. 

Preaching the Gospel was his First Love

Brother Angelus made perpetual profession in 1691 and was ordained a priest in 1700.  His first assignment was that of preaching but his first efforts at evangelization were doomed to failure due to his trying to emulate the great preachers of the time with clever turns of phrase and learned references.  He had to learn to be himself and base his simple but effective preaching on prayerful reading of the Word of God, especially the Gospels.  Having come to use plain, easily understood language, he would condemn vice and urge people to repent and experience of the Mercy of God, especially through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. 

Lover of Christ’s Cross, Eucharistic Presence and Sorrowful Mother

The Cross of Christ played a central role in his preaching expeditions, as, indeed, in his own personal response to the call of Gospel. It was from the Cross of Christ that he had received the inspiration to imitate Brother Bernard of Corleone in confronting his temptations and, indeed meditation on Christ’s sufferings was very much part and parcel of his personal prayer life.  He urged his listeners also to engage in daily meditation on the Passion of Jesus and his parish missions would end with a procession of crosses to a local hillside, led by himself. He would plant three wooden crosses on hilltop to remind parishioners of the price the Lord has paid for our salvation and our own need to respond to that gift of salvation by lives of virtue and holiness. Adoration of the Eucharist too was something he promoted in his preaching, which usually included the traditional Capuchin devotion of the ‘Forty Hours Adoration’. His Masses would sometimes last an hour and a half because Brother Angelus would often go into ecstasy contemplating the Mysteries unfolding before him on the Altar. He was also deeply devoted to the Mother of God, especially under the title of Our Lady of Sorrows.  

Servant of his Brothers and Minister of God’s People to the End

Brother Angelus also carried various ministries within the Order, including those of Guardian and Provincial Minister. In his dealing with the Brothers he was affectionate and charitable but at the same time he never hesitated to urge them to keep the Rule of Saint Francis and faithfully observe the Capuchin Constitutions.  Preaching and hearing confessions, however, were, as it were, his first love and Brother Angelus of Acri engaged in these ministries right up until his holy death on the 30th of October 1739.  His remains are enshrined in the Shrine Church of Blessed Angelus, administered by the Capuchins in Acri.

"It is a great grace and a great glory to be Capuchins and true sons of Saint Francis.  But it is necessary to know and always carry round with us five precious gems: austerity, simplicity, exact observance of the Constitutions and the Seraphic Rule, innocence of life and inexhaustible charity." - Blessed Angelus of Acri


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⛪ Blessed Luigi Maria Monti

⛪ Saint of the Day: October 01

 ⛪ Feast: 22 September (Milan)
                : 01 October

Blessed Luigi Maria Monti (24 July 1825 – 1 October 1900) was an Italian Roman Catholic professed religious and the founder of the Sons of the Immaculate Conception. He was referred to as "Father" despite not being an ordained priest. Monti served as a nurse for most of his life and aided the ill in the Santo Spirito hospital in Rome while he was there and also worked to tend to ill people during the Brescia cholera epidemic in 1855. Monti also considered entering the religious life and joined the order of Saint Lodovico Pavoni for a brief period of time though became a religious of his own order later on.

The beatification cause opened under Pope Pius XII in 1941 and he became titled as a Servant of God - the first stage in the process for sainthood. Pope John Paul II named him as Venerable on 24 April 2001 on the account of his heroic virtue and later beatified him at Saint Peter's Square on 9 November 2003 on the account of a 1961 miracle he approved.

Eighth of eleven children. His father died when Luigi was twelve years old. To support the family he made wooden craft items. After hours he gathered other devout craftsmen and farmers at his shop to form the prayer group The Company of the Sacred Heart of Jesus; the locals called them The Company of Friars. The group expanded their ministry to work with the poor and sick, and in 1846 Luigi took private vows of chastity and obedience, dedicating his life to God.

However, Luigi lived in a time of political paranoia. He and the other members of his Company were charged with meeting to conspire against the Austrian forces occupying his village. In 1851 the they were jailed in Milan for ten weeks, finally released when it became obvious they were a religious, not political group.

Joined the Sons of Mary Immaculate, spending six years as a novice. Studied nursing. Worked with the sick in the cholera epidemic in Brescia, Italy in 1855. With the help of Father Luigi Dossi, he founded The Congregation of the Sons of the Immaculate Conception, dedicated to care for the sick. Initially worked with the Capuchin Fathers, who were forming a similar group. Certified as a phlebotomist by the La Sapienza University, Rome, Italy. In 1877, with the help of Pope Blessed Pius IX, Luigi finally founded his Congregation; he worked as its leader the rest of his life. The Sons willingly walked into the worst of epidemics, working in places that others were scared to go, giving their own beds to the sick. Luigi founded small communities throughout the region where men served in hospitals and as travelling nurses to the scattered, impoverished farmers. In 1882 they expanded their mission and founded orphanages with attached schools.

Though a layman all his life, Luigi was known as “Father” by the members of the Congregation and those he helped. He died at the age of 75, nearly blind, completely worn out, and working for the Congregation to the end.

I would spend hours before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, but they were all hours without a drop of heavenly dew; my heart remained arid, cold, and unmoved. I was on the verge of abandoning everything, when, alone in my room, I heard a clear and distinct inner voice saying to me:

“Luigi, go to the choir in church and present your tribulations once again to the Blessed Sacrament.”

I heeded this inspiration and hastened to follow it. I knelt down and after a short time – what wonder! I saw two personages in human form. I recognized them. It was Jesus with His Most Holy Mother, who approached me and in a loud voice said to me:

“Luigi, much indeed will you still have to suffer; other varied and greater battles will you face. Be strong; you will emerge victorious from everything; never lacking to you will be our powerful help. Continue the way you began.”

Thus did they speak and then disappeared. – Blessed Luigi, describing his vision


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