September 25

Spiritual Bouquet: Neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the growth. I Cor. 3:7

SAINT VINCENT STRAMBI
Passionist Priest, Bishop of Macerata and Tolentino
(1745-1824)

Born in 1745 at Civitavecchia near Rome, the son of a wealthy businessman, Saint Vincent Strambi never showed any inclination for any occupation other than the service of God. He found his vocation when after his ordination as a deacon in 1767, he made a retreat amid the Passionists of Monte Fogliano, where Saint Paul of the Cross, their founder, was residing at the time. The Passionist houses are called retreats, and by their Rule must be situated outside cities. Saint Paul of the Cross told his brethren on his deathbed, as he had taught them during his active years, to conserve always the spirit of prayer, solitude and poverty; in that way the apostolic success of their works would also be conserved. The life of contemplation, essential formation for any fruitful works, was what Saint Vincent Strambi already desired.

It was formally declared by his last secretary, Monsignor Catervo Serrani, that “it would not be temerity to believe that he knew by heart all the works of Saint Thomas Aquinas.” The same might have been said of his knowledge of Sacred Scripture. His studies of religion, ever an inexhaustible wealth, continued throughout his lifetime, yet his preaching was so simple that all could easily grasp his thought. He never used notes, but taught according to the needs of his listeners, which he always discerned with exactitude after praying intently at the foot of the crucifix. As he studied, he seemed to see around his desk the faces of his spiritual children, waiting for “the bread of life” he was destined to break for them. This method of study has been preserved among his followers in the Order; the Passionists think of, and pray for, their future spiritual children before they study.

Saint Vincent became a bishop after many years of preaching missions all over Italy. But never could he forget his Order, though he had to put aside its habit. Saint Paul of the Cross on his deathbed had said to him several times: “Padre Vincenzino, I recommend to you the poor Congregation.” When Saint Vincent asked what he wished him to do, Saint Paul replied: “You will do great things! You will do great good! I recommend to you this poor Congregation!”

As bishop of Macerata and Tolentino, he continued whenever possible to rise at midnight for the divine office, and regretted being unable to dedicate more than five hours to prayer each day. He called in the poor and gave them alms; he visited the hospitals and the prisoners, blessed, embraced and helped them. He visited every religious house of his diocese, then the Canons and the parish priests. He preached for his clergy a beautiful mission, then organized specialized services for the various professions of the laity, saying, “the lawyers need different instruction and different sowings than the merchants or the physicians, for example; to each his own portion of the truth!” His table was very frugal; never did he permit more than two dishes. He reduced expenditures to a minimum, to be able to give more to the poor.

He wished to resign as bishop at the age of seventy-eight, and Pope Leo XII ceded to his wish, but asked him to come to Rome as his counselor. That his life was soon to end was revealed to him, and when the Holy Father was about to die that same year, he offered his life to save that of the Vicar of Christ. He did not say so directly, but told everyone not to be anxious, because the Pope would live. Someone he knew had offered his life for him, he added. The prayer was answered on the very day he said this, December 24^th; the Pope rose, suddenly cured. Three days later Saint Vincent was struck by apoplexy, and died on January 1, 1824. He was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1950.

Source: Saint Vincent-Marie Strambi, Passioniste, by Maria Winowska (Éditions Passionistes: Nantes, 1951).

SAINT FIRMIN
First Bishop of Amiens and Martyr
(† Beginning of Second Century)

Saint Firmin, son of a senator, was a native of Pampeluna in Navarre. With his father he was taught the Christian faith by Honestus, a disciple of Saint Saturninus, the bishop of Toulouse, himself the disciple of Saint Peter the Apostle.

Saint Firmin, who had been confided by his father to Honestus for his education and had accompanied him on his apostolic journeys, was eventually consecrated bishop by Saint Honoratus, successor to Saint Saturninus at Toulouse. Firmin received the mission to preach the Gospel in the remoter parts of the Occident, or Gaul; thus he preached in the regions of Agen, Angers, and Beauvais. In what is now Clement-Ferrand, after long discussions with two ardent idolaters, he won them over. Error, wherever he passed, seemed to flee before him, as if the infernal powers feared to undertake a combat with this formidable adversary who was sure to defeat them.

He had not yet suffered persecution. Desiring martyrdom, he decided to go to a center of paganism in the north, in what is now Normandy, near Lisieux. There he was arrested and imprisoned for a time by the pagans. When delivered, he continued on towards the north, to a region where Saint Denys of Paris had baptized many. He confirmed the Christians in their faith, and went wherever a soul might have need of him. The Roman authorities heard of him and arrested him; the Saint generously confessed Jesus Christ in their presence. Again he was imprisoned, but released when the prefect and his successor both died suddenly. He was obliged, however, to flee secretly.

When he arrived at Amiens, he placed his residence there and founded a large church of faithful disciples. Amiens conserves the memory of the day he arrived and preached fearlessly there beside a temple of Jupiter, at a site where now the Basilica of Our Lady stands. He taught aloud the salutary doctrine of Christianity to all who came to listen. Many conversions followed, even among the authorities of the city, including the senator. He continued his preaching in that region for a number of years, while the pagan temples became literally deserted. And then two Roman officials, Longulus and Sebastian, heard of him and came to the city.

The pagan priests saw their opportunity, when all the city residents were convoked to appear before the visitors. The two officials explained that the capital penalty was decreed for those who did not obey the imperial edicts, not offering incense to the gods and honoring them. The pagan priests then told them of one who always refused to do so, and Saint Firmin, after an eloquent defense of the religion of Christ, was imprisoned. He finally saw his most ardent desire fulfilled when certain soldiers decided on their own to accomplish the imperial orders, and came with swords to his prison at night, where they decapitated the bishop. He died, filled with joy at their coming. This occurred under the reign of Trajan in the first years of the second century. The holy bishop remains in the greatest honor in the city of Amiens.

Source: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 11.

SAINT FINBARR
Bishop of Cork
(† Sixth Century)

Saint Finbarr, who lived in the sixth century, was a native of Connaught, Ireland. He founded a monastery or school at Lough Eire, to which great numbers of disciples flocked, changing, as it were, a desert into a large city. This was the origin of the city of Cork, built chiefly upon stakes on marshy little islands formed by the river Lea.

The baptismal name of our Saint was Lochan; the surname Finbarr, or Barr the White, was afterwards given him. He was Bishop of Cork for seventeen years, and died in the midst of his friends at Cloyne, fifteen miles from Cork. His body was buried in his own cathedral at Cork; his relics were put into a silver reliquary a few years later and kept in the great church, which bears his name to this day. “Saint Finbarr’s cave”, or hermitage, used to be shown in a monastery situated to the west of Cork, which tradition affirms was established by the holy bishop.

Source: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler’s Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894).