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Ordinary Time: October 9th

Optional Memorial of St. Denis, bishop and martyr and companions, martyrs; St. John Leonardi, priest

Daily Readings for: October 09, 2012
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: Oj God, who sent Saint Denis and his companions to preach your glory to the nations and strengthened them for their mission with the virtue of constancy in suffering, grant, we pray, that we may imitate them in disdaining prosperity in this world and in being undaunted by any trial. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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O God, giver of all good things, who through the Priest Saint John Leonardi caused the Gospel to be announced to the nations, grant, through his intercession, that the true faith may always and everywhere proper. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

RECIPES

• Initial Cookies
• Linzer Torte
• Sacher Torte
• Saint Denis Tartlets

ACTIVITIES

• Fourteen Holy Helpers
• Namedays
• Religion in the Home for Elementary School: October
• Religion in the Home for Preschool: October
• What is a Nameday?

PRAYERS

• Litany of the Fourteen Holy Helpers

LIBRARY

• Faith and Private Judgment | John Henry Newman
• John Leonardi: Ecclesial Renewal and Fidelity to Christ | Pope Benedict XVI
• Newman and the Drama of True and False Conscience | Cardinal George Pell
• Newman Belongs to the Great Teachers of the Church | Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
• Newman Refutes Contemporary Liberal Theologians | Fr. Edward J. Berbusse S.J.
• Newman: Laity, Priesthood, And Holiness | Fr. C. John McCloskey III
• Newman's Spiritual Legacy to the Catholic Priest | William R. Lamm S. M.
• The Meaning of National Apostasy: a Note on Newman’s Apologia | John R. Griffin
• The Mystery of Newman | John F. Crosby
• The Newman of New England | James Likoudis

» Enjoy our Liturgical Seasons series of e-books!

Old Calendar: St. John Leonardi, confessor; Saints Denis, Rusticus and Eleutherius, martys

St. John Leonardi (1543-1609), a zealous Italian apostle, founded the congregation of the Mother of God, whose priest-members traveled throughout Tuscany urging the people to a stronger interest in their religion. Fr. John Leonardi longed to convert pagans, but his spiritual director, St. Philip Neri, told him to remain in Italy. So instead he founded a seminary in Rome to train young men for the priesthood from all the mission lands.

St. Denis, a third-century apostle of Gaul, and now one of the "Fourteen Holy Helpers" became first bishop of Paris. He suffered martyrdom there, together with his priest Rusticus and his deacon Eleutherius.

These feasts are celebrated today both in the Ordinary Form and the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

Bl. John Henry Cardinal Newman
John Henry Newman, one of the great Christian intellectuals of the nineteenth century, was born in London in 1801. His spiritual quest having begun in adolescence, he later went on to study theology at Oxford University. Subsequently he became an Anglican pastor, a fellow of Oriel College, and leader of the Oxford Movement which studied the Catholic roots of the faith in England. In 1842, while writing his "Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine", he began to mature his conversion to Catholicism. He was admitted into the Catholic Church in 1845 and ordained a Catholic priest in Rome on 1 June 1847. Following his ordination, and with the encouragement of Pope Pius IX, he founded the first Oratory of St. Philip Neri in England. In 1852 he was appointed rector of the Catholic University of Dublin, Ireland, a post he held until 1854. Pope Leo XIII made him a cardinal in 1879 and he died in 1890 at the Oratory of Edgbaston. The process for his beatification began in 1958. Newman's miraculous intercession in the cure of dean Jack Sullivan, who suffered a serious complaint of the spinal column, was officially recognised and approved by Benedict XVI in July 2009.

Things to Do:

• Read more about Bl. John Henry Cardinal Newman here.

St. John Leonardi
St. John Leonardi was born in Tuscany, Italy in 1541, during the time of upheaval in the Church due to Martin Luther. He studied to be a pharmacist, then became a priest. As a young priest he devoted himself to teaching catechism to youths. In 1574, he founded the Order of the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God of Lucca, a congregation of diocesan priests. He suffered many tribulations for this work, including exile. His contemporary, St. Philip Neri, was a great friend and spiritual guide, and helped him particularly in his time of exile.

Gradually his influence as a champion of the Catholic faith against Protestantism became known throughout Italy. He later founded in Rome what became the Institute De Propaganda Fide (Society for the Propagation of the Faith) and the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine for the promotion of the Catholic Faith and the formation of missionaries. St. John Leonardi died at Rome, in 1609, the victim of his devoted care for the sick and plague-stricken.

Symbols: book (to symbolize rules of Congregation he founded); the coat of arms of the order is azure (blue), Our Lady Assumed into Heaven; and its badge and seal the monogram of the Mother of God in Greek characters.

Things to Do:

• St. John promoted the teaching of the Catholic faith. We should study our faith, perhaps by reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church a little each day.

• Try to understand more deeply the historical context during St. John's life — he was fighting the effects of the Lutheran Reformation of the Church. Could we refute the teachings of Luther?

St. Denis
St. Denis was born in Italy. In 250 he was sent to France with six other missionary bishops by Pope Fabian. Denis became the first bishop of Paris. He was beheaded in 258 with the priest Rusticus and the deacon Eleutherius at Catulliacum, now Saint-Denis. One of the many legends about his torture and death was that his body carried his severed head some distance from his execution site. St. Denis is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers who were invoked particularly in the Middle Ages against the Black Plague. See August 8 for more information.

Patron: against frenzy; against strife; headaches; against diabolical possession; France; Paris, France.

Symbols: beheaded bishop carrying his head — sometimes a vine growing over his neck; mitered head in his hand or on book; white chasuble; tree or stake; sword; Our Lord with chalice and host.

Things to Do:

• Learn more about the Fourteen Holy Helpers and their historical context.

• Bake a French (or Parisian) pastry. Cooking with the Saints by Ernst Schuegraf has 3 recipes for St. Denis — St. Denis Turnovers, Saint Denis Tartlets and Brioche Saint-Denis (Praline Cake).

• Read in The Golden Legend for some of the legends or stories about St. Denis.