2013
ASIA : MYANMAR : CLASHES KILL 20 PEOPLEAUSTRALIA : KNITTING FOR ORPHANS IN ROMANIAEUROPE : ANNUAL EASTER PILGRIMAGE WALKAUSTRALIA : KNITTING FOR ORPHANS IN ROMANIA TODAY'S MASS ONLINE : SAT. MARCH 23, 2013HISTORIC MEETING: POPE FRANCIS TRAVELS TO CASTEL GANDOLFO TO MEET WITH BENEDICT XVI (IMAGE SHARE FACEBOOK) Vatican City, 23 March 2013 (VIS) – At noon today, the Holy Father Francis travelled by helicopter to Castel Gandolfo to meet and have lunch with Pope emeritus Benedict XVI. Accompanying Benedict XVI to greet Pope Francis on his arrival were Bishop Marcello Semeraro of Albano, Italy, and Dr. Saverio Petrillo, director of the Pontifical Villas. This is the first time that the Church is experiencing a meeting between the Pope and an Emeritus Pope. Even though the two have spoken by telephone several times since Pope Francis' election as the 266th Pope ten days ago, this is the first time that they are meeting face to face. Although live coverage of the historic event will not be provided, the Press Office of the Holy See has announced that there will be an official photo of the two together in the library of the Castel Gandolfo Apostolic Palace. (When available, the photo will be published on the VIS blogsite at: http://www.visnews-en. After meeting privately and sharing lunch, the Holy Father Francis is scheduled to return to the Vatican this afternoon, again by helicopter. | |||
| POPE FRANCIS ASKS JESUITS TO, WITH COMPLETELY COMMITTED LIFE, BE LEAVEN TO WORLD Vatican City, 23 March 2013 (VIS) – Three days after beginning his pontificate, Pope Francis sent a letter to the Superior General of the Jesuits, Fr. Adolfo Nicolas Pachon. In it the Holy Father responded to the letter that the Superior General had sent to him on learning of the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the first Jesuit in the history of the Society of Jesus to be elected Pope. Following is the complete text of the Roman Pontiff Francis' letter, dated 16 March: “Dear Fr. Nicolas, It is with great joy that I received the kind letter that you sent on behalf of yourself and of the Society of Jesus on the occasion of my election to the See of St. Peter, informing me of your prayers for me and my apostolic ministry along with your complete willingness to continue your unconditional service to the Church and to the Vicar of Christ, according to the precepts of St. Ignatius of Loyola.” “I thank you cordially for this token of appreciation and closeness, which I reciprocate with pleasure, asking the Lord to enlighten and accompany all Jesuits so that—faithful to the charism received and the footsteps of the saints of our beloved Order, by their pastoral activity but above all through the witness of lives entirely devoted to the service of the Church, the Bride of Christ—they may be evangelical leaven to the world, tirelessly seeking the glory of God and the good of souls.” “With these sentiments I ask all Jesuits to pray for me and entrust me to the loving protection of Mary, our Mother in Heaven, while, as a pledge of abundant heavenly favours, I impart with special fondness my Apostolic Blessing, which I also extend to all those who work with the Society of Jesus in their activities, benefit from their good works, and partake of their spirituality.” | |||
| AUDIENCES Vatican City, 23 March 2013 (VIS) – This morning, the Holy Father received His Beatitude Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak, Patriarch of Alexandria of the Copts, in audience.
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ASIA : MYANMAR : CLASHES KILL 20 PEOPLE
ASIA NEWS REPORT
Buddhists set fire overnight to other mosques. To stem the violence, the authorities have imposed a curfew in the city. Clashes were sparked by an argument between a Muslim shopkeeper and Buddhist Burmese.
Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Clashes between Buddhists and Muslims continue in the city of Meikhtila, where a curfew has been in place since yesterday. Overnight Buddhists attacked mosques and Muslim homes. The death toll now stands at 20 people and at least five religious buildings have been set on fire. Several Buddhist monks have apparently prevented the authorities from putting out fires to save people trapped in buildings.
Fighting began after a Muslim gold shop owner and a Buddhist customer got into an argument. The latter had come into the store with his wife to sell a gold brooch.
The two men began to argue over the price, attracting the attention of the crowd. When the argument escalated, it turned into a street brawl that left a trail of death and destruction, especially after a young Buddhist monk got killed.
Witnesses said that officers in anti-riot were at the scene, but did not intervene to contain the violence.
Meikhtila is localted some 550 kilometres north of the countyr's main city of Yangon and has a population of about 100,000 people, about a third Muslim. Before this week's violence, the community had 17 mosques.
Recent clashes between Buddhists and Muslims are further sign of a mounting wave of sectarian tensions across the country.
Last year, violent clashes broke out between Buddhists Arakanese and Rohingya Muslims in the western state of Rakhine.
At that time, the rape and murder of a young Buddhist woman sparked a spiral of terror that left hundreds of people dead and scores of houses destroyed, not to mention thousands of refugees forced to seek refuge abroad.
According to UN estimates, at least 800,000 Rohingya Muslims live in Myanmar, but the Myanmar government considers them illegal immigrants. For this reason, they have become the victims of abuse and persecution.
SHARED FROM ASIA NEWS
Buddhists set fire overnight to other mosques. To stem the violence, the authorities have imposed a curfew in the city. Clashes were sparked by an argument between a Muslim shopkeeper and Buddhist Burmese.
M_0322_-_Poliziotti_(600_x_362).jpg)
Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Clashes between Buddhists and Muslims continue in the city of Meikhtila, where a curfew has been in place since yesterday. Overnight Buddhists attacked mosques and Muslim homes. The death toll now stands at 20 people and at least five religious buildings have been set on fire. Several Buddhist monks have apparently prevented the authorities from putting out fires to save people trapped in buildings.
Fighting began after a Muslim gold shop owner and a Buddhist customer got into an argument. The latter had come into the store with his wife to sell a gold brooch.
The two men began to argue over the price, attracting the attention of the crowd. When the argument escalated, it turned into a street brawl that left a trail of death and destruction, especially after a young Buddhist monk got killed.
Witnesses said that officers in anti-riot were at the scene, but did not intervene to contain the violence.
Meikhtila is localted some 550 kilometres north of the countyr's main city of Yangon and has a population of about 100,000 people, about a third Muslim. Before this week's violence, the community had 17 mosques.
Recent clashes between Buddhists and Muslims are further sign of a mounting wave of sectarian tensions across the country.
Last year, violent clashes broke out between Buddhists Arakanese and Rohingya Muslims in the western state of Rakhine.
At that time, the rape and murder of a young Buddhist woman sparked a spiral of terror that left hundreds of people dead and scores of houses destroyed, not to mention thousands of refugees forced to seek refuge abroad.
According to UN estimates, at least 800,000 Rohingya Muslims live in Myanmar, but the Myanmar government considers them illegal immigrants. For this reason, they have become the victims of abuse and persecution.
SHARED FROM ASIA NEWS
AUSTRALIA : KNITTING FOR ORPHANS IN ROMANIA
ARCHDIOCESE OF MELBOURNE RELEASE
Knitting up a storm at Noble Park
Kairos Volume 24, Issue 4
Words and Picture Rebecca Comini
THE sound of knitting needles and chatter can be heard every Friday morning at St Anthony’s, Noble Park, as a group of up to 30 women band together to knit goods for Romanian orphans.
The St Anthony’s Knitting Group was formed more than seven years ago; at first, knitting scarves and beanies, then expanding to garments for all ages and now concentrating on children’s clothing and knitted toys.
Di Pullin, coordinator of the knitting group, explained the group was born out of a separate parish program to teach English and life skills to young Sudanese mothers. After two years, the Sudanese women felt confident enough for the classes to come to an end, but the five ladies who ran the program wanted to do something else.
Di had been donating to a Christian charity that was looking for volunteers to knit for an orphanage in Moldova, which was in desperate need of blankets and winter clothing to combat the minus 22-degree temperatures.
‘I thought, why don’t we knit simple scarves and beanies and send them over, and it just grew from there,’ Di said. A call went out in the parish bulletin for interested knitters to join.
‘Many of our members were widowed and were sitting at home feeling lonely and isolated. They had all been great knitters when their children and grandchildren were small but now the grandchildren were grown up and knitting was a forgotten skill.
‘When the call came for people to form the knitting group … these ladies responded and were drawn out of that isolation and loneliness. They plucked long-forgotten patterns from the filing systems in their heads and off they went like rockets,’ Di said.
‘One lady’s husband died very suddenly. Because she doesn’t drive, she sat at home and didn’t go anywhere for three years. One of her daughters asked me about the knitting group and we arranged for her to be picked up by her next door neighbour, brought to Mass and the knitting group, then taken home again. Since then, she’s been a regular member every week. She wouldn’t miss it,’ Di said.
While the group originally knitted for one orphanage in Moldova, the goods are now sent to Romanian orphans via Foundations Worldwide, a non-denominational charity based in Melbourne.
The knitting group is multicultural, with members hailing from India, Argentina, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Italy and Australia.
Members are aged from 50 to 94, with those who have reached their 80th birthdays part of an ‘exclusive club’ within the knitting group, known as ‘The Rescued’.
‘One lady said to me one day that “we are going to be called The Rescued because you rescued us from being housebound and lonely”,’ Di said.
The group prays each week for the sick and the elderly of the parish, as well as family and friends.
An offshoot of the knitting group has been the St Anthony’s Prayer Shawl Ministry, which knits shawls in love and prayer for people in need of comfort and to know that God is with them.
Words and Picture Rebecca Comini
THE sound of knitting needles and chatter can be heard every Friday morning at St Anthony’s, Noble Park, as a group of up to 30 women band together to knit goods for Romanian orphans.The St Anthony’s Knitting Group was formed more than seven years ago; at first, knitting scarves and beanies, then expanding to garments for all ages and now concentrating on children’s clothing and knitted toys.
Di Pullin, coordinator of the knitting group, explained the group was born out of a separate parish program to teach English and life skills to young Sudanese mothers. After two years, the Sudanese women felt confident enough for the classes to come to an end, but the five ladies who ran the program wanted to do something else.
Di had been donating to a Christian charity that was looking for volunteers to knit for an orphanage in Moldova, which was in desperate need of blankets and winter clothing to combat the minus 22-degree temperatures.
‘I thought, why don’t we knit simple scarves and beanies and send them over, and it just grew from there,’ Di said. A call went out in the parish bulletin for interested knitters to join.
‘Many of our members were widowed and were sitting at home feeling lonely and isolated. They had all been great knitters when their children and grandchildren were small but now the grandchildren were grown up and knitting was a forgotten skill.
‘When the call came for people to form the knitting group … these ladies responded and were drawn out of that isolation and loneliness. They plucked long-forgotten patterns from the filing systems in their heads and off they went like rockets,’ Di said.
‘One lady’s husband died very suddenly. Because she doesn’t drive, she sat at home and didn’t go anywhere for three years. One of her daughters asked me about the knitting group and we arranged for her to be picked up by her next door neighbour, brought to Mass and the knitting group, then taken home again. Since then, she’s been a regular member every week. She wouldn’t miss it,’ Di said.
While the group originally knitted for one orphanage in Moldova, the goods are now sent to Romanian orphans via Foundations Worldwide, a non-denominational charity based in Melbourne.
The knitting group is multicultural, with members hailing from India, Argentina, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Italy and Australia.
Members are aged from 50 to 94, with those who have reached their 80th birthdays part of an ‘exclusive club’ within the knitting group, known as ‘The Rescued’.
‘One lady said to me one day that “we are going to be called The Rescued because you rescued us from being housebound and lonely”,’ Di said.
The group prays each week for the sick and the elderly of the parish, as well as family and friends.
An offshoot of the knitting group has been the St Anthony’s Prayer Shawl Ministry, which knits shawls in love and prayer for people in need of comfort and to know that God is with them.
SHARED FROM ARCHDIOCESE OF MELBOUNRE
EUROPE : ANNUAL EASTER PILGRIMAGE WALK
IND. CATH. NEWS
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Pilgrims across the country and abroad are making final preparations before the annual Easter journey of the Northern Cross pilgrimage to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, in Northumberland. On their way, they provide those who see them with a reminder of the true meaning behind the Christian festival of Easter.
From March 23 to March 31, up to 60 pilgrims will journey through various parts of Northumberland and the Scottish Borders, in three or four groups, known as 'Legs'. Most legs will walk around 70 – 120 miles during Holy Week; while one leg group for families is based on shorter daily walks. Another leg (for endurance walkers only) is walking unsupported from St Andrews in Scotland.
Each main leg carries a large wooden cross as a sign of Christian witness. They stay in church and village halls along the route, and join in with people of local churches for worship. The legs will gather together on 29 March, Good Friday, to cross the Pilgrims Crossing to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. The dramatic bearing of these crosses over the tidal causeway sands and the arrival onto Lindisfarne on Good Friday morning, will mark the beginning of the pilgrimage's unique celebration of Easter.
Margaret Williams, Overall Coordinator of Northern Cross 2013, said:“Northern Cross is a very unique experience, a week of fellowship that can be tremendously rewarding as we share a common journey of pilgrimage. Participants come from many different backgrounds, denominations and ages, leaving the dull routine of normal life; to enjoy pleasant walking, new friendships, and joyful liturgy. Linked by walking together, we are boosted in many ways through experiencing the beautiful countryside, the local communities and by sharing prayer, worship and song. Ultimately we all have a really good time"
She went on: “You might think of pilgrimage as a medieval concept, yet Christian pilgrimage is alive and well today, as demonstrated each year by the 5 million people who go to Lourdes, or the 200 thousand who walk the Camino di Santiago (as shown in the recent film “The Way”, this is from the Pyrenees to North West Spain). Northern Cross is another example of this. On pilgrimage you are removed from extra possessions, and just require whatever can be carried in a small bag. Cut down to essentials, we are stripped of most trappings of modern living. A pilgrimage is a chance to mirror life, to step back and look to see what the important things are. We can spend the time to look for meanings in life; or to work out things that trouble you, or just to reflect.”
“Northern Cross, and any walking pilgrimage, is a chance to get away from the demands of the world. The destination alone is not solely important – it is a goal – but the important thing is to form a small Christian group of people, travelling together on the road, using each others skills, helping with each other's weaknesses, working as a team to achieve an aim. That community is an important part of experiencing the Easter celebration.”
The pilgrimage began in 1976 and has grown steadily every year. Pilgrims first walked to Lindisfarne from Penrith in 1976, and originally had to carry all their belongings. This evolved to become Carlisle leg (with support vehicles), and subsequently Lanark, Newcastle (then Hexham, now Northumbrian), Haddington, and St Cuthbert’s legs were set up and the routes evolved to those walked today.
On Good Friday morning, 29 March, the groups join up at the tidal causeway to Holy Island and cross the sands to Holy Island at low tide along the ancient pilgrim route, where they celebrate Easter together with the local community. Around 60 or more people will cross the two miles of sands with their wooden crosses.
Legs will start from Lanark, Haddington, Carlisle, and other locations. The pilgrims are linked by their enthusiasm for walking through beautiful countryside (in all weathers), meeting new people in pubs as well as churches, sharing prayer, worship and song, and having a really good time. Chaucer’s pilgrims were a mixed bunch – so is Northern Cross – young and old, from 0 to 70 and above, all walk with us. Most of the route is on small quiet roads, tracks or footpaths and avoids any main roads. Many have walked before and return time and time again. Others walk for the first time this year.
Lindisfarne, a tidal island, was an important centre for the spread of Christianity in the 6th to 8th centuries, and was the home of St Aidan and St Cuthbert. Today the ruined priory, Norman Church and other relics remind us of our Christian heritage, while pilgrims, visitors and the people of Holy Island join together in a joyous celebration of Easter.
Funding support is available to help pilgrims in need, to walk Northern Cross. • Applications to walk can be accepted until the week we start, so it might not be too late to join... contact them now, via the website: www.northerncross.co.uk
or email: northerncross@northerncross.co.uk
See also:
Twitter: www.twitter.com/northerncrossuk or follow
@northerncrossuk or hashtag #nx2013
SHARED FROM IND. CATH. NEWS
TODAY'S MASS ONLINE : SAT. MARCH 23, 2013
John 11: 45 - 56
45Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him;46but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.47So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council, and said, "What are we to do? For this man performs many signs.48If we let him go on thus, every one will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation."49But one of them, Ca'iaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all;50you do not understand that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish."51He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation,52and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.53So from that day on they took counsel how to put him to death.54Jesus therefore no longer went about openly among the Jews, but went from there to the country near the wilderness, to a town called E'phraim; and there he stayed with the disciples.55Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves.56They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, "What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?"
TODAY'S SAINT : MARCH 23 : ST. TURIBIUS DE MOGROVEJO
St. Turibius de Mogrovejo
CONFESSOR, ARCHBISHOP OF LIMA
Feast: March 23
 Information:
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St Toribio, or Turibius Alphonsus Mogrobejo, was second son to the lord of Mogrobejo, and born in the kingdom of Leon, on the 16th of November, in 1538. From his infancy he discovered a strong inclination to piety; and in his childhood it was his delight, at times of recreation, to erect and adorn altars, and to serve the poor. He trembled at the very shadow of sin. One day, seeing a poor peddler woman angry because she had lost something out of her pack, he most movingly entreated and exhorted her that she would not offend God by passion; and, in order to appease her, gave her the value of her loss, which he had begged of his mother for that purpose. He was very devout to the Blessed Virgin, said every day her office and rosary, and fasted every Saturday in her honour. Whilst at school, he usually gave part of his slender dinner to the poor, and was so much addicted to fasting that his superiors were obliged, by strict commands, to compel him to moderate his austerities. He began his higher studies at Valladolid, but completed them at Salamanca. He was introduced early to the notice of King Philip II, honoured by him with several dignities, and made president or chief judge at Granada. This office he discharged during five years with so much integrity, prudence, and virtue that the eyes of the whole kingdom were fixed on him, and his life in the world was a holy noviceship to the pastoral charge. The pressing necessities of the infant church of Peru required a prelate who inherited, in a distinguished manner, the spirit of the apostles; and the archbishopric of Lima falling vacant, Turibius was unanimously judged the person of all others the best qualified to be an apostle of so large a country, and to remedy the scandals which obstructed the conversion of the infidels. The king readily nominated him to that dignity, and all parties concerned applauded the choice. Turibius was thunderstruck at this unexpected news, and had no sooner received the message but he cast himself on the ground at the foot of his crucifix, praying, with many tears, that God would deliver him from so heavy a burden, which he thought absolutely above his strength. He wrote the most urgent letters to the king's council, in which he pleaded his incapacity, and other impediments, and laid great stress on the canons, which forbid laymen to be promoted to such dignities in the church. This humility it was that obtained the succor of heaven by which he performed wonders in the service of souls. Being compelled by obedience to acquiesce, he at length testified his submission by falling on his knees and kissing the ground.
After a suitable preparation, he received the four minor orders on four successive Sundays, the better to dispose himself for the functions of each; and after passing through the other orders, he was consecrated bishop. Immediately after which he set out for Peru, and landed at Lima, in the year 1581, of his age the forty-third. That diocese is extended one hundred and thirty leagues along the coast, comprising three cities and many towns and villages, with innumerable cottages scattered over two ridges of the mountains of the Andes, esteemed the highest and the most rugged in the whole world. Some of the European generals, who first invaded that country were men who seemed to measure every thing by their insatiable avarice and ambition, and had so far lost all sentiments of humanity towards the poor savages, that they deserved the name rather of tyrants and plunderers than of conquerors. Civil wars and dissension completed the misfortune of that country; and covetousness, cruelty, treachery, fraud, and debauchery seemed triumphant. Nor were the repeated orders of the Spanish court able to redress these evils. The sight of these disorders moved the good pastor often to tears, but his prudence and zeal overcame all difficulties, extirpated public scandals, and made the kingdom a flourishing portion of the Christian church. Upon his arrival, he immediately began a visitation of his vast diocese- an undertaking of incredible fatigue, and attended with many dangers. He often crept over the steepest and most rugged mountains, covered with ice or snow, to visit some poor hut of Indians, and give them suitable comfort and instruction. He travelled often on foot, and sometimes barefoot, and by fasting and prayer never ceased to implore the divine mercy for the salvation of the souls committed to his charge. He placed everywhere able and zealous pastors, and took care that no one in the most remote corners of the rocks should be left destitute of the means of instruction and of the benefit of the sacraments. To settle and maintain discipline, he appointed diocesan synods to be held every two years, and provincial synods every seven; and was vigilant and severe in chastising the least scandal, especially of avarice, in the clergy. Without respect of persons, he reproved injustice and vice, and made use of all the means which his authority nut into his hands, to check the insolence of public sinners, and to protect the poor from oppression. Many of the first conquerors and governors of Peru, before the arrival of the most virtuous viceroy Francis of Toledo, were men who often sacrificed every thing to their passions, and for their private ends. From some of these the saint suffered many persecutions, and was often thwarted by them in the discharge of his duty. But by the arms of meekness and patience he overcame all affronts and injuries, and with an invincible constancy he maintained the rights of justice and truth. He showed that many sinners misconstrued the law of God to make it favour their passions; but that, as Tertullian observes, "Christ calls himself the truth, not custom," and will weigh our actions not in the false balance of the world, but in the true scales of the sanctuary. Thus he extirpated the most inveterate abuses, and established with so great fervour the pure maxims of the gospel, as to revive in many the primitive spirit of Christianity. To extend and perpetuate the advantages of religion, which by his zeal he had procured, he filled this country with seminaries, churches, and many hospitals; but would never suffer his own name to be recorded in any of his munificent charities or foundations. When he was at Lima, he every day visited several hospitals, comforted and exhorted the sick. and administered the sacraments. When a pestilence, though that calamity is seldom known in Peru, raged in some parts of his diocese, Turibius distributed his own necessaries in relieving the afflicted: he preached penance, because sins are the cause of chastisements, and infinitely the worst of evils. He walked in the processions, bathed in tears, with his eyes always fixed on a crucifix, and offering himself to God for his flock; fasted, watched, and prayed for them without intermission, till God was pleased to remove the scourge.
Nothing gave the saint so much pleasure as the greatest labours and dangers, to procure the least spiritual advantage to one soul. Burning with the most vehement desire of laying down his life for his flock, and of suffering all things for him who died for us, he feared no dangers. When he heard that poor Indians wandered in the mountains and deserts, he sought them out; and to comfort, instruct, or gain one of them he often suffered incredible fatigues and dangers in the wildernesses, and boldly travelled through the haunts of lions and tigers.1 He spent seven years in performing his first visitation; his second employed him four years, but the third was shorter. He converted innumerable infidels, and left everywhere monuments of his charity. In travelling, he either prayed or discoursed on heavenly things.. On his arrival at a place, it was his custom to repair first to the church to pray before the altar. To catechise the poor, he would sometimes stay two or three days in places where he had neither bed nor any kind of food. He visited every part of his vast diocese, and when others suggested to him the dangers that threatened him from rocks, precipices, marshes, rivers, robbers, and savages, his answer was that Christ came from heaven to save man, we ought not therefore to fear dangers for the sake of immortal glory. He preached and catechised without intermission, having for this purpose learned, in his old age, all the various languages of the barbarous nations of that country. Even on his journeys he said mass every day with wonderful fervour and devotion. He always made a long meditation before and after it, and usually went to confession every morning; though they who best knew his interior testified that they were persuaded he had never in his whole life forfeited his baptismal innocence by any mortal sin. He seemed to have God and the divine honor alone before his eyes in all his words and actions so as to give little or no attention to any thing else; by which means his prayer was perpetual. He retired in private to that exercise often in the day, and for a long time together. In it his countenance seemed often to shine with a divine light. The care with which he studied to disguise and conceal his great mortifications and works of piety, was the proof of his sincere humility. His munificence in relieving the poor of every class, especially those who were too bashful to make their necessities publicly known, always exhausted his revenues. The decrees of his provincial councils are monuments of his zeal, piety, learning, and discretion: they have been ever since esteemed, not only in the new world, but also in Europe, and at Rome itself, as oracles. The flourishing state of the church of Peru, the great numbers of saints and eminent pastors with which it abounded, and the establishment of innumerable seminaries of piety and learning, and hospitals for the poor, were the fruit of his zeal. If he did not originally plant the faith, he was at least the great propagator of it, and the chief instrument of God in removing scandals and advancing true piety in that vast country, which till then had been a land of abominations: whilst Francis of Toledo, the great viceroy, first settled the civil government in peace and tranquillity by salutary laws, which have procured him the title of the Legislator of Peru. St. Turibius, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, in 1606 during the visitation of his diocese, fell sick at Santa, a town one hundred and ten leagues distant from Lima. He foretold his death, and ordered him to be rewarded who should bring him the first account from his physician that his recovery was despaired of. The ardour of his faith, his hope, his love of his Creator and Redeemer, his resignation, and perfect sacrifice of himself, gathered strength in the fervent exercises and aspirations which he repeated almost without ceasing in his illness. By his last will he ordered what he had about him to be distributed among his servants, and whatever else he otherwise possessed to be given to the poor. He would be carried to the church, there to receive the holy Viaticum, but received extreme unction in his sick bed. He often repeated those words of St. Paul, ; and in his last moments he ordered to be sung by his bedside those of the Psalmist, He died on the 23rd of March, repeating those other words of the same prophet,
A pastor of souls must be careful to animate all his exterior actions and labours in the service of his neighbour with the interior spirit of compunction, humility, zeal, charity, and tender devotion. Without this he loses the fruit of all the pains he takes, and by them will often deserve only chastisements in the world to come; so much will his intention and the affections of his heart be infected with self-love, and depraved by various imperfections, and secret sinister desires, even in the most holy functions. Therefore, a fervent noviciate, employed in the exercises of an interior life, ought to be a part of the preparation for this state; and in the discharge of his duties, a person ought always to unite contemplation with action, and reserve to himself sufficient-time for conversing with God and his own soul, and taking a frequent review of his own interior. From his labors he must return frequently to prayer, and constantly nourish in his soul a spirit of fervent devotion, which will thus accompany all his exterior actions and keep his thoughts and affections always united to God. Those who are not faithful in thus maintaining and improving in themselves an interior spirit of piety, and in watching with fear and compunction over the motions of their own hearts, will generally advance very little the kingdom of Christ in the souls of others, and are in great danger of losing their own. This is what St. Bernard feared in his disciple Pope Eugenius III, whom he conjured with tears never to give himself up entirely to the care of others, so as not to live also for himself; so to communicate a spirit of piety to others, as not to suffer it to be drained in his own heart; to be a basin to hold it, not a pipe for it to run through. This lesson is applicable, with due proportion, to other states, especially that of teaching the sciences, in which the exercises of an interior life are so much the more necessary, as the employment is more distracting, more tumultuous, and more exposed to the waves of vanity, jealousy, and other secret petty passions.
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source: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/T/stturibiusdemogrovejo.asp#ixzz1pudK1KRx
