Today's Saint: Saint John of the Cross

By Fr. James Cabike at Apostleship of Prayer:



John of the Cross (San Juan de la Cruz) (24 June 1542 – 14 December 1591), born Juan de Yepes Álvarez, was a major figure of the Counter-Reformation, a Spanish mystic, Catholic saint, Carmelite friar and priest, born at Fontiveros, Old Castile. (Wikipedia)

Kahilis for St. Damien Changed

If you had witnessed the "return" of Fr. Damien to the Cathedral, you might have noticed that the two kahilis placed on both sides of the reliquary were not the "reel kine." What that means is that they were not authentic -- though very good ones -- because they were made of ribbons and not feathers.

This past Sunday, August 15, the day Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace celebrated its 167th anniversary, just before the 12n Mass, was the installation of kahilis made with feathers.

Enjoy some of the pics I took that day:

Joe, a parishioner, opening the ceremony

procession of new kahilis

after the change

a Hawaiian brother standing beside the reliquary
while a woman prays

Celebrating St. John Vianney, a Priest

St. John Mary Vianney

St. John Mary Vianney was born in Lyons in 1786. He was an ordinary man with an extraordinary calling. Unwilling to yield to God's call because of numerous trials and challenges he was faced with, God persisted to prod him to get him to finally give his fiat. With God's grace he became a priest, and was entrusted with a parish in the town of Ars in the Diocese of Belley. He cared for the people in his parish in many a marvelous way by his preaching, his mortification, prayer, and good works. He became a renowed priest so much so that people from many regions came to Ars seeking his counsels. He died in 1859.

Today we pray to Our Most High Priest Jesus Christ, with the intercession of St. John Mary Vianney, to bless all our priests, especially those in our respective dioceses. May God bless each one of them, fill them with his strength and wisdom that in their times of trials and challenges, they many never give up but be inspired to be the priest God calls them to be. We pray for our seminarians that they will continue to persevere in their studies. We ask this of the Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Today's Saint was a Priest

If you have seen this picture but didn't know whose, now you do. He's St. Peter Julian Eymard who joined the Marists in 1839, and in 1856, founded the Blessed Sacrament.

"In addition to those changes, Peter Julian coped with poverty, his father's initial opposition to Peter's vocation, serious illness, a Jansenistic striving for inner perfection and the difficulties of getting diocesan and later papal approval for his new religious community.

His years as a Marist, including service as a provincial leader, saw the deepening of his eucharistic devotion, especially through his preaching of Forty Hours in many parishes. Inspired at first by the idea of reparation for indifference to the Eucharist, Peter Julian was eventually attracted to a more positive spirituality of Christ-centered love. Members of the men's community, which Peter founded, alternated between an active apostolic life and contemplating Jesus in the Eucharist. He and Marguerite Guillot founded the women's Congregation of the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament.

Peter Julian Eymard was beatified in 1925 and canonized in 1962, one day after Vatican II's first session ended."

More here.


We pray for all priests that they, too, may always have the perseverance to pursue what it is they need to accomplish in their church or parish, or missionary work. May poverty not bring them down, but fill them with strength as they live a life more dependent on God. We pray in the name of our Eucharistic Lord and Savior. Amen.

A Saint for the Spiritual Mothers of Priests

Giovanni di Paolo
Christ Gives Communion to St. Catherine of Siena
Third quarter of 15th century
Metropolitan Museum of Art Source

Saint Catherine Siena