16th Week
July 27
Blessed Novellone of Faenza, OFS
Secular Franciscan Order
Son of a craftsman. Layman cobbler who led a dissolute life in his youth and early married life. However, a serious illness at age 24 caused him to re-evaluate his life; he had a conversion experience, repented his early life, and dedicated himself to God, penance and prayer. He became a member of the Secular Franciscan Order, and converted his wife to an active faith. His charity to the poor nearly ruined his business. Pilgrim to many holy sites, and made the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela eleven times. He is buried in Faenza Cathedral, Italy and beatified in 1817.
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July 28
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July 29
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July 30
Blessed Solanus Casey, OFM Cap.
(1870-1957)
Barney Casey became one of Detroit’s best-known priests even though he was not allowed to preach formally or to hear confessions!
Barney came from a large family in Oak Grove, Wisconsin. At the age of 21, and after he had worked as a logger, a hospital orderly, a streetcar operator and a prison guard, he entered St. Francis Seminary in Milwaukee—where he found the studies difficult. He left there and, in 1896, joined the Capuchins in Detroit, taking the name Solanus. His studies for the priesthood were again arduous.
On July 24, 1904, he was ordained, but because his knowledge of theology was judged to be weak, Father Solanus was not given permission to hear confessions or to preach. A Franciscan Capuchin who knew him well said this annoying restriction “brought forth in him a greatness and a holiness that might never have been realized in any other way.” During his 14 years as porter and sacristan in Yonkers, New York, the people there recognized him! as a fine speaker. “For, though he was forbidden to deliver doctrinal sermons,” writes his biographer, James Derum, “he could give inspirational talks, or feverinos, as the Capuchins termed them” (18:96). His spiritual fire deeply impressed his listeners.
Father Solanus served at parishes in Manhattan and Harlem before returning to Detroit, where he was porter and sacristan for 20 years at St. Bonaventure Monastery. Every Wednesday afternoon he conducted well-attended services for the sick. A co-worker estimates that on the average day 150 to 200 people came to see Father Solanus in the front office. Most of them came to receive his blessing; 40 to 50 came for consultation. Many people considered him instrumental in cures and other blessings they received.
Father Solanus’ sense of God’s providence inspired many of his visitors. “Blessed be God in all his designs” was one of his favorite expressions.
The many friends of Father Solanus helped the Capuchins begin a soup kitchen during the Depression. Capuchins are still feeding the hungry there today.
In 1946 in failing health, he was transferred to the Capuchin novitiate in Huntington, Indiana, where he lived until 1956 when he was hospitalized in Detroit. He died on July 31, 1957. An estimated 20,000 people passed by his coffin before his burial in St. Bonaventure Church in Detroit.
At the funeral Mass, Father Gerald, the provincial, said: “His was a life of service and love for people like me and you. When he was not himself sick, he nevertheless suffered with and for you that were sick. When he was not physically hungry, he hungered with people like you. He had a divine love for people. He loved people for what he could do for them —and for God, through them.”
In 1960 a Father Solanus Guild was formed in Detroit to aid Capuchin seminarians. By 1967 the guild had 5,000 members—many of them grateful recipients of his practical advice and his comforting assurance that God would not abandon them in their trials. He was declared Venerable in 1995. www.americancatholic.org
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July 31
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August 1
Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
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August 2
Feast of the Portiuncula
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August 3
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August 4
Eighteenth Sunday
St. John Vieny, OFS
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August 5
Memorial of the Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome
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August 6
Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord
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August 7
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August 8
Feast of Saint Dominic (in the Franciscan Order, this is a Feast Day)
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August 9
Memorial of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, virgin and martyr
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August 10
Feast of Saint Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr
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Nineteenth Sunday
August 11
Feast of St. Clare of Assisi
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August 12
Memorial of Saint Jane Frances de Chantal, religious
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August 13
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August 14
Memorial of Saint Maximilian Kolbe
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August 15
Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
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August 16
Memorial of Saint Stephen of Hungary
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August 17
St. Roch of Montpellier, OFS
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August 18
Twentieth Sunday
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August 19
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August 20
Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church
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August 21
Memorial of Saint Pius X, OFS
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August 22
Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
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August 23
Memorial of Saint Rose of Lima, virgin
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August 24
Feast of Saint Bartholomew, Apostle
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Twenty-First Sunday
August 25
St. Louis IX, King of France, OFS
Secular Franciscan
1215-1270
Patron of the Secular Franciscan Order
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August 26
Bl. María del Tránsito Cabanillas, OFS
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August 27
Memorial of Saint Monica
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August 28
Memorial of Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
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August 29
Memorial of the Passion of Saint John the Baptist
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August 30
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August 31
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September 1
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September 2
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September 3
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September 4
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September 5
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September 6
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September 7
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September 8
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September 9
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September 10
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September 11
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September 12
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September 13
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September 14
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September 15
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September 16
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September 17
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September 18
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September 19
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September 20
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September 21
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September 22
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September 23
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September 24
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September 25
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September 26
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September 27
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September 28
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September 29
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September 30
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October
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October
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October
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October
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October
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October
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October
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October
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