Faith and Mission
As we celebrate International Women’s Day this week it is appropriate to highlight the example of women in fostering the message of the Gospel and their contribution to the Church. The following saints are the patrons of the Year 9 Homerooms.
St Bernadette
Saint Bernadette of Lourdes was a saint born on January 7, 1844, in Lourdes, France. She received several visions from the Virgin Mary starting in 1858. When she reported these visions, civil authorities attempted to force her to recant her accounts. She refused, and word spread about the cave she had found with supposed miracle healing springs. Napolean III’s wife helped her achieve her vision to build a church at the cave. Lourdes emerged as a pilgrimage site for worshippers from around the world.
St Catherine of Siena
Catherine was the youngest of 25 children born to a lower middle-class family; most of her siblings did not survive childhood. Catherine became a member of the Dominican order (1363), joining the Sisters of Penitence of St. Dominic in Siena. She rapidly gained a wide reputation for her holiness. In her early twenties she had a spiritual experience to give her life to Christ and was moved to immediately begin serving the poor and sick, gaining disciples in the process.
St Agnes
Agnes was of a tender age when she was killed. She was just a girl. Tradition says that she was beautiful and wanted to dedicate herself to the Lord, despite numerous men who admired her beauty and wanted to marry her. She was killed for her faith as well as for her steadfastness in refusing to violate her vow of chastity.
St Clare
Saint Clare of Assisi was born into a wealthy Italian family but soon shunned her luxurious upbringing to embrace the life of piety and poverty. Inspired by the words of Francis of Assisi, Clare fled her home and joined Francis, establishing her own religious order. The group became known for their austere and devout lifestyle and for the power of their prayer, which is credited with saving Assisi from invaders twice. After Francis' death, Clare continued his work and broadened her own influence.
St Joan of Arc
Martyr, saint and military leader Joan of Arc, acting under divine guidance, led the French army to victory over the English during the Hundred Years' War. She was a national heroine of France. Joan of Arc began to have mystical visions encouraging her to lead a pious life. Over time, they became more vivid, with the presence of St. Michael and St. Catherine designating her as the savior of France. At age 18 Joan of Arc led the French army to victory over the English at Orléans. Captured a year later, Joan was burned at the stake as a heretic by the English and their French collaborators. She was canonized as a Roman Catholic saint more than 500 years later, on May 16, 1920.
St Theresa of Lisieux
Thérèse was the youngest of nine children, five of whom survived childhood. After her mother died of breast cancer in 1877, Thérèse moved with her family to Lisieux. In the deeply religious atmosphere of her home, her piety developed early and intensively. All four of her elder sisters became nuns, and at the age of 15 she entered the Carmelite convent at Lisieux. Although she suffered from illness and self-doubt she lived a life of piety to perfection and maintained a smiling, pleasant, and unselfish manner. Before her death from tuberculosis, she acknowledged that, because of her difficult nature, not one day had ever passed without a struggle.
The above notes are just a small introduction to these famous women and it is appropriate for our community to become more in touch with their vision for a better world and their mission to be of service in the name of their God.
Sources