| Copyright
1995-2008, Gospel Communications. Host and founder of gospelcom.net
SAINT OF THE MONTH
Blessed Sebastian of
Aparicio
The exact place and date of birth of
this peasant from the Spanish province of Galicia are unknown.
He was born in the early 16th century, probably about 1502.
As a child, he minded sheep and later was an agricultural worker.
He supported his family with this work since they probably had
no land of their own. We don’t know under what circumstances
this peasant boy found himself in a big city, but we do know
what he did there. He was a butler in a rich man’s house
in Salamanca, so most likely he had good manners, basic education
and virtues that enabled him to do this job.
These were the first decades after the discovery
of America. Sebastian embarked on a ship to Mexico. The New
World tempted people with the promise of quick wealth and freedom.
Sebastian took part in the colonization of the Aztec empire,
which had its bloody episodes.
Yet he did not want to use violence and become
rich by plundering. In America, like in Europe, he lived off
hard work. He helped build a road leading north from Mexico
City to Zacatecas, a town in upland Mexico. Later he organized
postal services along the road that serves travelers and exists
to this day. For a long time Sebastian was unmarried and frequently
moved from place to place. He married for the first time at
the age of 60. Soon his wife died and he remarried.
At the age of 72, Sebastian became a widower
for the second time and joined a Franciscan monastery in Puebla
de los Angeles where he lived as a lay brother for 26 years.
Most of this time he collected donations for the monastery.
He was beatified in 1787.
Patron saint of drivers, travelers, and road
builders
Feast day: February 25th
Reference: Ordinary People, Extraordinary
Lives
Bl. Sebastian worked hard to help develop
a region in Mexico. In that country, Frederic C. Cuny started
to help people suffering from the consequences of war and natural
disasters. In the 1960s he built sewage systems in small town
in northern Mexico, improving local sanitary conditions. Later
he helped people in Nigeria, Iraq, Somalia, Bosnia and Herzegovina
and Albania. He mainly helped organize water, food and medical
supplies for the hungry and sick. During the civil war in Yugoslavia
in 1993, he arrived in Sarajevo, at that time surrounded by
the Bosnian Serbs. The attackers had cut off water supplies
and city residents had to take water from the river, where they
were often killed by snipers. Cuny quickly imported all the
necessary equipment and a water purification station from the
U.S. Soon the residents had running water again and many people’s
lives were saved.
Frederic C. Cuny was killed in 1995 in Chechnya
on another humanitarian mission.
SAINT OF THE MONTH
St. Brigid of Kildare
Soon after Christianity was introduced in
Ireland, Brigid was born. Some scholars say her father was a
pagan king and her mother was one of his slaves. Even though
early accounts of Brigid’s life dwell mostly on her miracles
and anecdotes, they still offer insight into her character.
At a young age, Brigid embraced Christianity
and was consecrated a nun by Bishop Mel, a pupil of Patrick’s.
Brigid’s holiness drew other young women toward her, and
with them, she founded a convent on the site of a druid shrine.
Brigid adapted some of the Druid rituals and gave them a new
Christian meaning. She named her convent Kildare after the sacred
oak of the druids and allowed their custom of an eternal flame
to continue burning, but she called it the flame of the Gospel.
Even as a child, Brigid was generous and
compassionate, especially to the poor and hungry. At times,
it is said, she even gave the clothes off her back to the needy.
According to legend, Brigid also performed
several miracles. As a child, she made her cows give milk three
times a day, and she once changed bath water into beer for a
thirsty visitor.
Brigid’s convent, which she served
as abbess, was a double monastery for both men and women. Over
time, Kildare became known throughout Europe as a respected
center for learning, around which a cathedral-city formed. Brigid
eventually added a school of art, which produced magnificent
illuminated manuscripts. For example, The Book of Kildare has
been praised as the finest in Ireland.
A remarkable women of her time, Brigid is
called “the Mary of the Gael.” Hundreds of places
are named for her throughout Ireland, where she is greatly venerated.
Patroness of Ireland, Scholars, Poets, Infants,
Travelers and Others
Feast day: February 1st
Reference: Ordinary People, Extraordinary
Lives
Brigid understood the importance of nurturing
the mind and spirit. Kildare was a refuge for prayer and spiritual
growth, as well as a center of learning.
Today, we need places, such as these where
we can leave our chaotic lives behind and refresh our spirit:
• The Mount Saint Mary House of Prayer
in New
Jersey holds private and directed retreats.
They offer days of recollection for groups, a grief recovery
program and retreats for people in retirement, among others.
• Bethany Retreat House in Indiana has
a day of prayer, weekend retreat or 30-day retreat. They also
provide a women’s spirituality group and an organized
daily prayer program you can do at home, while meeting weekly
for nine months for spiritual direction.
• Serra Retreat Center in California
has weekend group retreats, individual private retreats, days
of recollection and workshops to nurture your faith.
| 
