On the Examples of the Holy Fathers (II)

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On the Examples of the Holy Fathers (II)

How countless and constant were the trials endured by the Apostles,
Martyrs, Confessors, Virgins, and all those others who strove to
follow in the footsteps of Christ. These all hated their lives in this
world, that they might keep them to life eternal (John 12:35). How
strict and self-denying was the life of the holy Fathers in the
desert! How long and grievous the temptations they endured! How often
they were assaulted by the Devil! How frequent and fervent their
prayers to God! How strict their fasts! How great their zeal and ardor
for spiritual progress! How valiant the battles they fought to
overcome their vices! How pure and upright their intention towards
God!
--Thomas à Kempis ---Imitation of Christ Bk 1, Ch 18

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October 5th – Bl. Francis Xavier Seelos

Francis Xavier Seelos was born on January 11, 1819 in Fussen, Bavaria,
Germany. He was baptized on the same day in the parish church of St.
Mang. Having expressed a desire for the priesthood since childhood, he
entered the diocesan seminary in 1842 after having completed his
studies in philosophy. Soon after meeting the missionaries of the
Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists), founded for
the evangelization of the most abandoned, he decided to enter the
Congregation and to minister to the German speaking immigrants in the
United States. He was accepted by the Congregation on November 22,
1842, and sailed the following year from Le Havre, France arriving in
New York on April 20, 1843. On December 22, 1844, after having
completed his novitiate and theological studies, Seelos was ordained a
priest in the Redemptorist Church of St. James in Baltimore, Maryland,
U.S.A.

After being ordained, he worked for nine years in the parish of St.
Philomena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, first as assistant pastor with
St. John Neumann, the superior of the Religious Community, and later
as Superior himself and for the last three years as pastor. During
this time, he was also the Redemptorist Novice Master. With Neumann he
also dedicated himself to preaching missions. Regarding their
relationship, Seelos said: “He has introduced me to the active life”
and, “he has guided me as a spiritual director and confessor.”

His availability and innate kindness in understanding and responding
to the needs of the faithful, quickly made him well known as an expert
confessor and spiritual director, so much so that people came to him
even from neighboring towns. Faithful to the Redemptorist charism, he
practiced a simple lifestyle and a simple manner of expressing
himself. The themes of his preaching, rich in biblical content, were
always heard and understood even by everyone, regardless of education,
culture, or background. A constant endeavor in this pastoral activity
was instructing the little children in the faith. He not only favored
this ministry, he held it as fundamental for the growth of the
Christian community in the parish. In 1854, he was transferred from
Pittsburgh, to Baltimore, then Cumberland in 1857, and to Annapolis
(1862), all the while engaged in parish ministry and serving in the
formation of future Redemptorists as Prefect of Students. Even in this
post, he was true to his character remaining always the kind and happy
pastor, prudently attentive to the needs of his students and
conscientious of their doctrinal formation. Above all, he strove to
instill in these future Redemptorist missionaries the enthusiasm, the
spirit of sacrifice and apostolic zeal for the spiritual and temporal
welfare of the people.

In 1860 he was proposed as a candidate for the office of Bishop of
Pittsburgh. Having been excused from this responsibility by Pope Pius
IX, from 1863 until 1866 he dedicated himself to the life of an
itinerant missionary preaching in English and German in the states of
Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

After a brief period of parish ministry in Detroit, Michigan, he was
assigned in 1866 to the Redemptorist community in New Orleans,
Louisiana. Here also, as pastor of the Church of St. Mary of the
Assumption, he was known as a pastor who was joyously available to his
faithful and singularly concerned for the poorest and the most
abandoned. In God’s plan, however, his ministry in New Orleans was
destined to be brief. In the month of September, exhausted from
visiting and caring for the victims of yellow fever, he contracted the
dreaded disease. After several weeks of patiently enduring his
illness, he passed on to eternal life on October 4, 1867, at the age
of 48 years and 9 months.

His Holiness Pope John Paul II, proclaimed Father Seelos Blessed in
St. Peter's Square on April 9th of the Solemn Jubilee Year 2000.


Saint Quote:
Look at gold: the more you melt it, the better it becomes; you could
melt it until you had destroyed in it every imperfection. Thus does
fire work on material things. The soul cannot be destroyed in so far
as it is in God, but in so far as it is in itself it can be destroyed;
the more it is purified, the more is self destroyed within it, until
at last it is pure in God.
-- Saint Catherine of Genoa

Bible Quote:
Which of you shall convince me of sin? If I say the truth to you, why
do you not believe me? 47 He that is of God, heareth the words of God.
Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God. (John
8:46-47)  DRB


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Seelos' Top 10 Practical Guide to Holiness

1. Go to Mass with deepest devotion.
2. Spend a half hour to reflect upon your main failing & make
resolutions to avoid it.
3. Do daily spiritual reading for at least 15 minutes, if a half hour
is not possible.
4. Say the rosary every day.
5. Also daily, if at all possible, visit the Blessed Sacrament; and
toward evening, meditate on the Passion of Christ for a half hour.
6. Conclude the day with evening prayer & an examination of conscience
over all the faults & sins of the day.
7. Every month make a review of the month in confession.
8. Choose a special patron every month & imitate that patron in some
special virtue.
9. Precede every great feast with a novena, that is, nine days of devotion.
10. Try to begin & end every activity with a “Hail Mary.”