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Post by RYTCHZ MAGIC on Oct 22, 2005 14:44:14 GMT 9
t. Philomena Virgin, Martyr and Wonder Worker
The very name of Philomena contains the words: filia luminis, daughter of light. She is the enlightener of a dark and corrupt age confounding the sneers of materialism. She is the Patroness of the Children of Mary. Her mission today is to draw us to the Immaculate Heart of Mary through imitation of her heroic virtues of purity, obedience and humility. Saint Philomena is an anchor of HOPE in this dark age of despair.
The rude latter days are here. They are clearly and universally marked by occultism, modernism, materialism, spiritism, despair and a general falling away from the Faith. Never have the powers of darkness been so strong, since the beginning of Christianity, as they are today. Saint Philomena is the New Light of the Church Militant! This title was bestowed upon her by St. Jean Marie Vianney, heroic confessor and patron of all parish priests.
Little, indeed, is known historically of Saint Philomena. Her real history commences when her blessed remains were found after having rested in the obscurity of the Catacombs of St. Priscilla for some seventeen hundred years. But God is wonderful in His saints, and Saint Philomena strikingly exemplifies this oft-repeated truth. After allowing her name and memory to be buried with her earthly remains for centuries, He suddenly brought the attention of mankind to this little maiden-martyr, and now works astounding prodigies in her name, as if wishing to show that He wills in this way to recompense the long time He allowed her to remain in obscurity.
Saint Philomena's relics were unearthed at the beginning of the 19th century - on May 24, 1802. Cut on the tomb of the saint were the emblems of a lily and a palm, to indicate her virginity and her martyrdom. There were also an anchor, a scourge, and three arrows, two pointing in opposite directions, and one with a curved line upon it, signifying fire, and intended to symbolize the different torments which the martyr endured in testimony of her faith in and love of Jesus Christ.
Saint Philomena was formally "raised to the Altar" by Pope Gregory XVI in an infallible statement made publicly in the name of Holy Mother the Church for the edification of all the faithful and for the glory of God in time and eternity. The Pope was himself a witness to the miraculous cure of Pauline Jaricot, foundress of the Living Rosary, at Saint Philomena's shrine in Mugnano, Italy
The story of St. Philomena's life is based on private revelations made by the saint in 1863 to three different persons, in answer to the prayers of many of Saint Philomena's clients to let them know who she was and how she met martyrdom. Those favored persons were a young artist of good morals and a pious life, a zealous priest, and a devout nun of Naples, the Ven. Mother Mary Louisa of Jesus. While the Holy See does not guarantee the authenticity of the purported revelations, the Holy Office gave its sanction to their dissemination on December 21, 1883.
Our beautiful Saint Philomena went forth from her mother's arms to die for Christ; the lictors ax cropped the budding lily, and pious hands gathered it up and laid her in the tomb. This true heroine trampled all the vanity of the world under her feet and chose to endure multiplied torments rather than renounce her vow to Our Crucified Saviour. What a model of constancy and of every virtue! Let the youthful take heart and go to her when tried. Let us all with unbounded confidence implore her intercession! Saint Philomena NOVENA PRAYER TO SAINT PHILOMENA
We beseech Thee, O Lord, to grant us the pardon of our sins by the intercession of Saint , virgin and martyr, who was always pleasing in Thy sight by her eminent chastity and by the profession of every virtue. Amen.
Illustrious virgin and martyr, Saint Philomena, behold me prostrate before the throne whereupon it has pleased the Most Holy Trinity to place thee. Full of confidence in thy protection, I entreat thee to intercede for me with God, from the heights of Heaven deign to cast a glance upon thy humble client! Spouse of Christ, sustain me in suffering, fortify me in temptation, protect me in the dangers surrounding me, obtain for me the graces necessary to me, and in particular (Here specify your petition).
Above all, assist me at the hour of my death. Saint Philomena, powerful with God, pray for us. Amen.
O God, Most Holy Trinity, we thank Thee for the graces Thou didst bestow upon the Blessed Virgin Mary, and upon Thy handmaid Philomena, through whose intercession we implore Thy Mercy. Amen.
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Post by RYTCHZ MAGIC on Oct 22, 2005 15:26:21 GMT 9
Present Ecclesial Status
An authentic evaluation of the present ecclesial status of devotion to St. Philomena would be founded upon the following conclusions as previously discussed:
1. The remains of Filumena were designated as belonging to a Christian virgin and martyr by Msgr. Ponzetti, Custodian of the Sacred Relics for the Holy See on May 25, 1802.[65]
2. The public cultus of St. Philomena, virgin and martyr, was approved in a pontifical decree of Pope Gregory XVI on January 30, 1837, with the approval of the office, mass of common of a virgin and martyr and fourth lesson proper in honor of St. Philomena on August 11.[66]
3. Nineteen acts of the Holy See during the pontificates of five popes were issued in positive promotion of popular devotion to St. Philomena, in the forms of liturgical cultus, archconfraternities, plenary and partial indulgences.[67]
4. Numerous saints, blesseds, and venerables have testified to the reality and exceptional intercessory power of St. Philomena, including Ven. Pauline Jaricot, Bl. Anna Maria Taigi, St. Peter Julian Eymard, St. Peter Chanel, St. Madeline Sophie Barat, St. Magdalene of Canossa, Bl. Bartolo Longo, Bl. Pope Pius IX, St. Pius X, and especially St. John Vianney.[68]
5. The archeological conclusions of Marucchi which placed in doubt the authenticity of the remains of St. Philomena have received significant refutation by Bonavenia, De Rossi, and others at the time of the controversy, and more recently by Fr. Antonio Ferrua, S.J., Secretary of the Pontifical Commission of Sacred Archeology.[69]
6. Neither the 1961 directive of the Congregation of Rites to remove St.
Philomena from the calendar, nor her omission in the revised Roman
Martyrology negatively affect the papally established and
ecclesiastically approved popular devotion to St. Philomena that
continues with Church sanction in our own day.[70]
Moreover, if we examine the present Church process of beatification and canonization, we find the following stages: 1. the heroic virtue or martyrdom of the Servant of God must be historically established; when that is accomplished the Servant of God is referred to as “Venerable”; 2. for beatification a miracle must be attributed to the direct intercession of the Servant of God; beatification then permits, by papal decree, restricted public veneration in a particular, limited sphere of the Church such as in particular dioceses, countries or religious communities (usually in the form of a mass and office issued in honor of the blessed); 3. another post-beatification miracle must be attributed to the blessed, which occurred after the process of beatification, whereby public veneration is, by precept, extended to the universal Church by the pontiff.[71] Besides the process of formal canonization, there is also “equivalent canonization,” whereby the formal canonical process has not been introduced, but the Servant of God has received more than one hundred years of public veneration and whose sanctity is recognized by the pope.[72]
If we apply these contemporary criteria for beatification and canonization to the case of St. Philomena in a more speculative manner, we find: 1. the discovery of the blood vial and the palm branch symbol at her loculus, indicating Christian martyrdom, one of the two criteria for the first stage of canonization (which actually constitutes the highest form of heroic virtue); 2. great numbers of documented miracles which took place at the Mugnano Shrine from 1805 to 1837, inclusive of the papally witnessed miraculous cure of Pauline Jaricot, which led to Gregory XVI’s decree granting public liturgical cultus to the particular region of Nola (comparable to the liturgical cultus granted to a “blessed”); and 3. a second great quantity of miracles which were recorded in Church proceedings, both in Mugnano and in Ars, miracles which occurred in a time period following the granting of particular public veneration, and which included the miraculous cure of St. John Vianney.
The papal elevation and extension of the public liturgical cultus of St. Philomena from Nola to other parts of the world, which included the extension of her mass and office to Rome and other dioceses under Bl. Pius IX (Jan. 15, 1857), the erection of the
archconfraternity and granting of plenary indulgences in France by Leo XIII (Sept. 24, 1889), and the extending of the archconfraternity of St. Philomena to the universal Church (Pias Fidelium, May 21, 1912), illustrate papal approval for universal cultus and veneration of St. Philomena, a universal veneration only appropriate, by the Church’s own standards, to the status of a saint. The words of St. Pius X in his apostolic brief which promulgated universal public devotion to St. Philomena through the archconfraternity indicate a papal intention of permanence for that universal veneration of St. Philomena by the Christian faithful throughout the world: “We decree that the present affirmations are and remain always firm, valid, and in effect; in this way, it must be regularly judged; and if anything proceeds in a contrary manner, it will be null and void, whatever its authority may be.”[73]
The norms for beatification and canonization and their implementation during the pontificate of John Paul II also bear relevance to the question of the ecclesial status of St. Philomena. In the 1983 Apostolic Constitution, Divinus Perfectionis Magister, John Paul reiterates through his implementation of norms that either martyrdom or heroic virtue has to be historically established for the process of beatification of the candidate, but not both. Therefore a miracle is no longer required for the beatification of a martyr, but is still required for a non-martyred confessor of faith.[74] Once martyrdom has been historically verified, the candidate can be immediately beatified without further evidence of a miracle or extended historical documentation of an earthly life of heroic virtue. These revised norms would, in themselves, establish Philomena as a blessed solely in virtue of her historically documented martyrdom, with the subsequent requirement of a documented miracle necessary for formal canonization being easily fulfilled in light of her numerous miracles.
Of the four hundred sixty four saints canonized by John Paul II,[75] approximately eighty percent have been martyrs,[76] which shows the pontiff’s concern to offer our contemporary age human witnesses to the primacy of eternity over this life, the transcendence of vision towards Heaven over the immanentism which seems to infect much of our present society of materialism, secularism, and even atheism. Certainly, the witness of a young female martyr, icon of virginal purity and fidelity, would likewise speak to the contemporary need for exemplars of young sanctity and purity, especially for the youth of today.
The origins of the public veneration of the saints in general must also be kept in mind in the assessment of St. Philomena. In the primitive Church, martyrs were immediately recognized as witnessing to the perfection of Christian life on earth, having shown the ultimate proof of their love for Christ by the offering of their lives. By the sacrifice of their lives for Christ, they attained Heaven in eternal glory and were indissolubly united to the Lord, the Head of the Mystical Body. The faithful still under persecution invoked their intercession to obtain the grace to imitate their saintly example. The veneration of the martyrs had, from its historical outset, all essential characteristics
of public veneration, including the placing of the date and place of martyrdom upon a public calendar which was observed and celebrated by the entire Christian community. This was certainly distinguished from the sad memorials upon the death of other Christians, as the martyrs were publicly venerated with joy upon the day of their deaths.[77]
It was only near the end of the Roman persecutions that the public veneration offered to martyrs was then extended to confessores fidei who, while not dying for the faith, had nonetheless defended and suffered for the faith in heroic ways. Still later was public veneration extended to Christians who had exhibited exceptional holiness in charity, penance, evangelical works, or in the elucidation of doctrine.[78]
This pre-eminence of public veneration for the holiness of martyrdom as expressed in the primitive Church must be acknowledged in assessing the public veneration due today to a young female martyr, whose martyrdom is, once again, historically assured by the official criteria of the Holy See, and whose subsequent plethora of miracles offer the supernatural indication and confirmation from God that the Church strictly requires for modern formal canonization. While a comprehensive historical account of a candidate for canonization is legitimate in seeking to establish the heroic virtue required for a confessor, it should not, by primitive as well as contemporary standards, be required for the declaration of the sanctity of a Christian martyr. When historical requirements beyond the establishment of martyrdom are posed as impediments to the public veneration of a martyr as a “saint,” these stray from the ecclesiastical principles for sanctity, both ancient and current. Martyrdom and miracles, not extended personal history, comprise the essence of canonization for those who have shed blood for Christ.
In conclusion, popular devotion to St. Philomena, virgin and martyr, is presently alive and well amidst the People of God, enjoying positive ecclesial status and generously increasing veneration. The wisdom of past popes and saints recognized that the “history” of Philomena’s powerful supernatural intercession for the Church was more important than the “history” of her earthly life. Such is the manifestation of the mysterious ways of God’s salvific design.
The Church today has received from Pope John Paul II the missio for the new evangelization in this third millennium of Christianity.[79] With the recent canonization of St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, thaumaturgus of the twentieth century, how efficacious it would be for the People of God and the successful implementation of the new evangelization to have recourse, through a renewed public liturgical veneration, to St. Philomena, whom Pope Gregory XVI rightly designated as the “Thaumaturga of the nineteenth century.”[80]
May the young virgin martyr, powerful with God, become, once again, a favored patroness of sanctity and purity, particularly for the youth of today.
Mark Miravalle, S.T.D.
Professor of Theology and Mariology
Franciscan University of Steubenville
October 7, 2002
Feast of Our Lady of the Rosaryn.b. Any conclusion, therefore, which seeks to negate popular devotion to St. Philomena on the basis of her omission in the revised Roman Martyrology would be theologically erroneous and contrary to existing ecclesiastically sanctioned devotional practice to the martyr saint. [/b][/center][/color]
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