21 February – Blessed Caterina Dominici/Maria Enrichetta

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21 February – Blessed Caterina Dominici/Maria Enrichetta

Nun of the Sisters of St Anne – whose main charism is the care and
education of street children, Mystic with an extraordinary devotion to
the Blessed Sacrament, close friend and adviser to St John Bosco in
establishing the Rule of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians,
also “lending” two nuns to the new Congregation. During the 1854 Broad
Street cholera outbreak, she cared for and ministered to countless
people. She then went on to serve for over three decades as the
Superior General of her Congregation. Born on 10 October 1829 in Borgo
Salsasio, Carmagnola, Turin, Italy and died on 21 February 1894, aged
64, in Turin, Italy of natural causes. Also known as Mother Maria
Enrichetta (her religious name), Anna Caterina, Maria Henrich
Dominici, Mother Maria Enrica Dominici.

Caterina Dominici was born on 10 October 1829 near Turin, as the
fourth daughter. One brother would become a Priest. She was four when
her parents separated and she went with her mother and siblings to
live with her Priest uncle.

As a child she grew into the habit of regular Confession and Holy
Communion. She moved in 1848 and in November 1850 became a
non-cloistered religious of the Sisters of Saint Anne. She assumed the
name of “Maria Enrichetta.” Pope Pius IX visited Loreto in 1857 and Sr
Maria was present along with St Madeleine Sophie Barat when the Pope
met with the professed religious.
Sr Maria Enrichetta was appointed as the Superior General of her
Congregation and she at first attempted to discourage her fellow
sisters from the appointment.

Now Mother Maria, she founded about thirty houses, reaching Rome and
Sicily. With each term of office confirmed, it did not seem possible
to have another mother general. As a girl she had dreamed of becoming
a missionary to India, now, she could fulfill the vow indirectly,
sending her nuns. In February 1871 six of them left, which the Mother
entrusted to the Holy Trinity of which she was very devoted. Her new
foundation in India opened a path that would bear great fruit. In
October 1879 she went in person to distant India, to Secunderabad, to
visit the Institute’s first Missionary home.

On 14 July 1884 she was received at an audience by Pope Leo XIII.

Her health started to decline from November 1893 and Caterina was
confined to bed. She continued to lead the institute, despite
suffering and pain. She spent her last week in drowsiness and despite
this, she continued to speak in a weak voice to those around her
bedside.

Affable and kind, however, she was reserved and of a few words. She
meditated for hours before the Tabernacle and she obtained permission
from the Holy See, for her nuns to make daily communion.
Her writings, autobiography and copious letters, speak her total
abandonment to God. She wrote: “Oh how happy lives the soul that lives
totally abandoned in God. Oh if everyone knew this happiness …”

Sr Maria Enrichetta died in 1894 and her remains were transferred in
1926 to the chapel of the mother house.

The investigation for a miracle attributed to her intercession,
spanned from 1949 to 1950 and was validated in 1952. Paul VI approved
it in 1977 and Beatified her on 7 May 1978.

There are currently Houses of St Anne in Italy, Switzerland, Cameroon,
Argentina, Peru, Philippines, Mexico, Brazil, USA. In India there are
eighty houses, more than in Italy.

https://anastpaul.com/2021/02/


Saint Quote:
The Word who became all things for us is close to us, our Lord Jesus
Christ who promises to remain with us always. He cries out, saying:
See, I am with you all the days of this age. He is himself the
shepherd, the high priest, the way and the door, and has become all
things at once for us.
-- Saint Athanasius the Great

Bible Quote:
In the multitude of words there shall not want sin: but he that
refraineth his lips, is most wise. (Prov. 10:19) DRB


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Disrespectful behavior in the house of God

Nothing so much scandalizes the very infidels, or shows the decay of
piety and loss of all sense of religion among Christians, as their
disrespectful behavior in the house of God and at the time of prayer.
An awe filled, strict silence, the most profound exterior respect, and
penetrating inward devotion of heart, must essentially accompany our
homages when we present them before the throne of God, in whose
presence the highest Seraphim annihilate themselves.

This silence we must observe not only with our tongues, but also with
our bodies and all our limbs, both out of respect to the presence of
God and his altar, and also not to give the least occasion of
distraction to others. Prayer is an action so sublime and supernatural
that the church in her canonical hours teaches us to begin it by a
fervent petition of grace to perform it well. What an insolence and
mockery is it to join with this petition an open disrespect and a
neglect of all necessary precautions against distractions! We ought
never to appear before God, to tender him our homages or
supplications, without trembling, and without delay to all creatures,
and shutting all our senses to every object that can distract our
minds from God.

Though St. Francis of Sales on the like occasions chose rather to
forego or defer his own private devotions, than not to be ready
immediately to wait on others, in order to give them all the spiritual
advice they desired; at prayer at least he and all truly religious
persons seemed in some degree to rival the heavenly spirits in their
awe and reverence.

Silence at that holy time, or place, has always been esteemed a thing
so sacred, that when the temple of Solomon was building, God commanded
that there should not be heard so much as the sound of a hammer, or
any other instrument. Even when we come from conversing with God, we
ought to appear all penetrated with the Divine presence, and rather as
angels than men. Sanctity, modesty, and the marks of a heavenly
spirit, ought to shine in our exterior, and to inspire others by our
very sight with religious awe and devotion.