St. Jacoba (married), February 8
Kathy Rabenstein
Jacoba (Jacqueline) de Settesoli, OFM Tert. ()
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13th century. Jacqueline, friend of St. Francis of Assisi (f.d. October 4),
was born into a noble Italian family descended from the Norman knights
who invaded Sicily. She married well to Gratien Frangipani, a family
renowned for its charity.
When Jacqueline was about 22 (1212), St. Francis came to Rome for an
audience with the pope. While there, he preached so well that he
became famous. When Jacqueline heard Francis praise poverty that
opens wide the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven, she realized that
charity is not dealt with as one would deal with a servant, and that
charity is not a fact, but a state. The next day, Jacqueline sought
Francis's direction.
Francis told her to return home, she could not abandon her family. "A
perfect life can be lived anywhere. Poverty is everywhere. Charity is
everywhere. It is where you are that counts. You have a husband and
two children. That is a beautiful frame for a holy life." And, so,
Jacqueline joined the third order of St. Francis; and because she was
masculine and energetic she was nicknamed "Brother Jacoba."
St. Francis, who was often her guest, had no more devoted follower,
and on his visits to Rome she cared for him like a mother. Jacoba helped
the brothers in many ways: collecting goods, repairing clothes, finding
the house for the Hospice of Saint-Blaise.
To thank her for all the mending she had done, Brother Thomas gave her
a lamb that he had trained to follow him everywhere. Jacqueline
accepted this new friend as a type of little spiritual guide. The lamb
followed her everywhere, especially to Church, and stayed close by her
as she prayed.
When Francis was about to die, he sent for her. "Set out as soon as
possible, if you wish to see me once more. Bring with you what is
necessary for my burial." Jacoba arrived with all that was needed for
his comfort and was with him to the end. She settled at Assisi, so that
she might be near those who loved him, and until she died she helped to
preserve his work.
Jacqueline lived to be about 80. During her life she had taken part in all
kinds of triumphs, vexations, and miracles with the friends of St. Francis,
who were her friends, too. She had the good fortune to care for him
while he lived and was also with him after his death, for she was buried
in the same crypt as St. Francis, facing him, in the basilica of Assisi
(Encyclopedia, Gill).
Other Saints Honored February 8
=================================
+ = celebrated liturgically
+ Jerome Emiliani (Geronimo, Gerolamo Miani) (RM)
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Born in Venice, Italy, 1481; died Somascha, Italy, February 8, 1537;
canonized in 1767, and in 1928 declared patron saint of orphans and
abandoned children; feast day formerly July 20.
Son of a distinguished Venetian family, at age 15 Jerome Emiliani ran
away from home and his mother Eleanor after the death of his father
Angelo. He became a soldier in the army of the Republic and commander
of the League of Cambrai forces at the fortress of Castelnuovo in the
Italian mountains near Treviso. The Venetians took the fortress and
chained Jerome in prison, but he escaped after praying to our Lady,
carrying his chains with him, and--thanking God for this in a church at
Treviso--hung his chains on the church wall in happiness.
His gratitude inspired the rest of his life. He reformed his carefree
lifestyle, became mayor of Treviso because of his brilliant defense of
Castelnuovo, and later returned to Venice to oversee his nephews'
education and to pursue his own theological studies. In 1518, he was
ordained to the priesthood in Venice when the city was suffering an
appalling plague.
Jerome perceived that abandoned children were suffering particularly,
since starvation set them doubly at risk. Taking as many as he could into
his own house, he fed and clothed them, nursed them back to health,
and taught them the Christian faith. At night, he buried the dead who had
collapsed in the streets. He caught the plague (spotted fever) himself,
but was strong enough to recover.
Jerome set up orphanages in six Italian towns (Venice, Brescia,
Bergamo, Como, and two others), a hospital in Verona, and a home for
repentant prostitutes. About 1532 with two other priests, he founded
the Congregation of Somaschi (from the town of Somasca in Lombardy
where they started), a society of clerks regular devoted primarily to the
care and instruction of orphans, although it also instructed young
children and clerics. Jerome is said to have been the first to teach
children Christian doctrine with a question-and-answer technique. The
society gained papal approval in 1540.
His attentive are to the poor of Somascha led them to attribute to him the
gift of healing. He tried to share their lives, even working with them in
the fields while talking to them of God. He continued to care for the sick,
regardless of his own health, until he succumbed a second time to the
plague, which killed him (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney,
Schamoni, White).
In art St. Jerome's emblem is a ball and chain which are always near him.
At times the chain may be in his hand, a child near him, and the Virgin
and Child appearing to him, or he may be shown tending sick children or
delivering a possessed child (Roeder, White). He is venerated in
Somasca, Lombardy (Roeder).
St. Jerome is the patron of orphans and abandoned children (Bentley).
+ John of Matha (RM)
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Born in Faucon, Provence, France, June 23, 1160; died in Rome, Italy,
December 17, 1213; cultus approved in 1655 and 1694. John was
educated at Aix, but on his return to Faucon lived as a hermit for a time.
He then went to Paris where he received his doctorate in theology, was
ordained in 1197, and then joined St. Felix of Valois (f.d. November 20) in
his hermitage at Cerfroid.
John confided in Felix his idea of founding a religious order to ransom
Christian prisoners from the followers of Islam. Late in 1197, the two
went to Rome and received the approval of Pope Innocent III for the
Order of the Most Holy Trinity (the Trinitarians), with John as superior.
They also secured the approval of King Philip Augustus of France. The
order flourished, spread to France, Spain, Italy, and England, sent many
of its members to North Africa, and redeemed many captives. Nothing
else is known about him because his biographies were based on
spurious records. Felix of Valois may be a fictional character, though his
name is generally associated with the real John of Matha (Attwater,
Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Gill).
St. John is always pictured in the Trinitarian habit (white with blue and
red cross on the breast), chains and captives near him, and his miter at
his feet. Generally he is portrayed with St. Felix of Valois (f.d. November
20). The Holy Trinity may be shown giving him the scapular (Roeder).
He is venerated in Faucon, Provence, France (Roeder).
Blessed Stephen Guenot BM (AC)
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Born at Beaulieu, France, 1802; died November 4, 1861; beatified in
1909. Stephen joined the Society of Foreign Missions in Paris and was
sent to Annam. In 1833, he was appointed vicar apostolic of eastern
Cochin-China, receiving episcopal consecration at Singapore. After 15
fruitful years he was one of the first arrested during the outbreak of
persecution in 1861. He died in prison (perhaps of poison) shortly
before the date fixed for his execution (Benedictines).
+ Stephen (Etienne) of Gradmont, OSB, Abbot (RM)
---------------------------------------------------------------
Born in Thiers, Auvergne, France, 1046; died 1124; canonized in 1189 at
the request of King Henry II of England. At age 12, Stephen
accompanied his father, lord of the district, to the tomb of St. Nicholas of
Bari (f.d. December 6). He fell ill at Benevento and remained there to be
educated by Archbishop Milo.
On his return to France, he founded a congregation of Benedictine
hermit-monks at Murat using the model he observed in Calabria. He ruled
them for 46 years but never seems to have become a monk himself.
After his death, the large community migrated to Grandmont, from which
it received the name Grandmontines (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
Sources:
========
Attwater, D. (1983). The penguin dictionary of saints, NY:
Penguin Books.
Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate. (1947). The
book of saints: A dictionary of servants of God canonized
by the Catholic Church extracted from the Roman and other
martyrologies. NY: Macmillan.
Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine Abbey, Ramsgate. (1966). The
book of saints: A dictionary of persons canonized or
beatified by the Catholic Church. NY: Thomas Y. Crowell.
Bentley, J. (1986). A calendar of saints: The lives of the
principal saints of the Christian year, NY: Facts on File.
Delaney, J. J. (1983). Pocket dictionary of saints, NY:
Doubleday Image.
Encyclopedia of Catholic saints, February. (1966).
Philadelphia: Chilton Books.
Gill, F. C. (1958). The glorious company: Lives of great
Christians for daily devotion, vol. I. London:
Epworth Press.
Roeder, H. (1956). Saints and their attributes, Chicago: Henry
Regnery.
Schamoni, W. (1947). The face of the saints. Anne
Fremantle (tr.). NY: Pantheon.
White, K. E. (1992). Guide to the saints, NY: Ivy Books.
-----
Kathy R.
krab...@ana.org
George I. Morrison
> From: Kathy Rabenstein <Krab...@ANA.ORG>
> Subject: St. Jacoba (married), February 8
>
> Jacoba (Jacqueline) de Settesoli, OFM Tert. ()
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> 13th century. Jacqueline, friend of St. Francis of Assisi (f.d. October 4),
>
> audience with the pope. While there, he preached so well that he
>
> Francis told her to return home, she could not abandon her family. "A
> perfect life can be lived anywhere. Poverty is everywhere. Charity is
> everywhere. It is where you are that counts. You have a husband and
> two children. That is a beautiful frame for a holy life."
Just wanted to draw attention to these wisdom-filled words from St.
Francis
.....surely something we could all reflect upon....holiness is not
exclusively in a Church or monastery or convent or in any far away place
on
the planet...it is right where you are now...and within reach of all of
us.
> To thank here for all the mending she had done, Brother Thomas gave her
> a lamb that he had trained to follow him everywhere. Jacqueline
> accepted this new friend as a type of little spiritual guide. The lamb
> followed her everywhere, especially to Church, and stayed close by her
> as she prayed.
o/~ Jacqueline had a little lamb, little lamb
it followed her to Church one day..... o/~
Monk George (Dharma Bum in another lifetime)