Renewal in Christ

[Rich]

Renewal in Christ

"Old age has its many complaints: coughing, shaking, failing eyesight,
anxiety, and weariness. The world is old, and it too is full of
pressing tribulations.

Do not refuse to regain your youth in Christ who says: The world is
passing away. Do not fear. Your youth shall be renewed."
--St. Augustine--Sermon 81, 8

Prayer: You, O Lord, who always are, both before we were and before
the world was, have become a refuge for us, within which we turn to
you.
--St. Augustine--Commentary on Psalm 89, 3

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4 June – St Filippo Smaldone

 (1848-1923)
Priest and Founder of the Salesian Sisters of the Sacred Hearts,
Preacher, Catechist, Apostle of Eucharistic Adoration and Our Lady,
Apostle of Charity and especially of orphans, the blind and the deaf,
Spiritual Advisor and Director

Born on 27 July 1848 in Naples, Italy and died on 4 June 1923 in
Lecce, Italy from a combination of diabetes and a heart condition.  St
Filippo is best known for his extensive work with the deaf, the blind
and orphans, during his lifetime.  Father Smaldone was a gifted
preacher known for his commitment to proper Catechesis and to the care
of orphans and the mute, which earned him civic recognition.
Patronages: Salesian Sisters of the Sacred Hearts, Deaf people, Mute
people. He was Beatified in 1996 by St John Paul and Canonized by Pope
Benedict XVI on 15 October 2006 in St Peter’s Square.

Filippo Smaldone was born in Naples on 27 July 1848, at a time of
political and social turmoil in Italy as well as for the Church.
Notwithstanding the social, political and religious unrest that
surrounded him, he decided to dedicate himself to the service of the
Church and become a priest.

While he was still a philosophy and theology student, he became
involved in helping the many marginalized people and deaf-mutes in
Naples, who at the time were without appropriate forms of assistance.
His dedication to the apostolate did not leave him much time to study
and it was with difficulty that he passed the examination for Minor
Orders.

After a period of time in what is today known as the Archdiocese of
Rossano-Cariati, where he could concentrate on his studies, he
returned to the Archdiocese of Naples in 1876. There he continued to
study and to work with deaf-mutes and was ordained a priest on 23
September 1871.

Fr Smaldone dedicated himself to the priestly ministry through evening
catechism classes and visiting the hospitalised and homebound sick.
During a plague epidemic he too caught the contagion but he was
miraculously cured through intercession to Our Lady of Pompeii, for
whom he cherished a special, lifelong devotion.

In addition to his parish ministry he continued his pioneer work in
the education of deaf-mutes;  however, he met many obstacles during
his work and became discouraged, at one point wanting to change
ministries and head for the foreign missions.

But it was his wise confessor who convinced him that his true mission
was in Naples among the people who needed him most. Thus, he gave
himself without reserve to this apostolate and made it the principle
object of his mission.

Armed with the great experience he had acquired through the years, Fr
Smaldone went to Lecce, Italy, on 25 March 1885, where he founded an
institute for deaf-mutes with Fr Lorenzo Apicella and a group of
Sisters, he had specially trained. This was the basis for the
Congregation of the Salesian Sisters of the Sacred Hearts, which
rapidly took root and flourished.

After founding the Lecce institute, which became the Motherhouse of
the Congregation he founded, in 1897 Fr Smaldone opened other
institutes in Rome and Bari, Italy. Due to the great need, Fr Smaldone
soon expanded his work to include blind children, orphans and the
abandoned in his institutes.

Signs of the great work he accomplished for love of God and neighbour
were both external and internal trials. In fact, one of his favourite
sayings was:  “The Lord sends us trials and tribulations to settle our
debt to Him”.

From without he had to defend himself against the anti-Church
municipal council;  from within, he had to deal with the departure of
the first superior of the new Congregation he founded, which provoked
a long apostolic visit on the part of the Holy See. The crucible of
trials thus tried this holy man of God and found him and his works
worthy. He continued to strive, with fatherly affection, to educate
his deaf-mute students and to give the Salesian Sisters a complete
religious formation.

Fr Smaldone also served as confessor and spiritual director to
priests, seminarians and various religious communities. He founded the
Eucharistic League of Priest Adorers and Women Adorers, and was
superior of the Congregation of the Missionaries of St Francis de
Sales. He was appointed a canon of Lecce Cathedral and at one point
was awarded a commendation by the civil Authorities.

Fr Filippo Smaldone died of a serious diabetic condition with heart
complications on 4 June 1923 at the age of 75; he was in Lecce and
surrounded by the affection of the Sisters and many of the needy whom
he had served throughout his life.

St Filippo’s canonization cause commenced in an informative process
that opened in 1964 under Pope Paul VI and concluded its business
sometime after this. The introduction to this process titled him as a
Servant of God. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints validated
this process in Rome on 23 May 1989 and received the Positio in 1989
which allowed for theologians to approve it on 3 February 1995 and the
C.C.S. to likewise approve the cause on 16 May 1995. St Pope John Paul
II declared Smaldone to be Venerable on 11 July 1995 after the pope
confirmed that the priest had indeed lived a model Christian life of
heroic virtue.

The miracle needed for beatification was investigated and then
validated on 7 May 1993 while a medical board later approved it on 1
June 1995. Theologians also assented to this miracle on 27 October
1995 as did the C.C.S. on 12 December 1995. St John Paul II issued
formal assent needed and deemed that the healing was a miracle
attributed to Smaldone’s intercession on 12 January 1996 while later
presiding over Smaldone’s Beatification on 12 May 1996.

The process for a second miracle spanned from 2000 to 2002 at which
point it received validation on 4 April 2003 before receiving the
assent of the medical board on 3 February 2005;  theologians assented
to it on 17 May 2005 as did the C.C.S. on 17 January 2006. Pope
Benedict XVI approved this on 28 April 2006 and Canonised Smaldone in
Saint Peter’s Square on 15 October 2006.


Reflection:
The "world" rejected Jesus and his disciples can expect the same
treatment. Jesus leaves no middle ground for his followers. We are
either for him or against him, for his kingdom of light or for the
kingdom of darkness. Let us stay in the light of Jesus and not in the
kingdom of darkness.

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Prayer to Defeat the Work of Satan

O Divine Eternal Father, in union with Thy Divine Son
and the Holy Spirit, and through the Immaculate Heart of
Mary, I beg Thee to destroy the Power of Thy greatest
enemy--the evil spirits.

Cast them into the deepest recesses of hell and chain
them there forever! Take possession of Thy Kingdom
which Thou hast created and which is rightfully Thine.

Heavenly Father, give us the reign of the Sacred Heart
of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

I repeat this prayer out of pure love for Thee with every
beat of my heart and with every breath I take. Amen