Happiness

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Happiness

"Since happiness is nothing but the enjoyment of the Supreme Good, and
since the Supreme Good is above us, we cannot be happy unless we rise
beyond ourselves. Since we cannot reach above ourselves in our own
strength, we must be helped by supernatural strength, lifted up by a
higher power that stoops to raise us. However much we structure our
inner lives and make progress, it does us no good unless our efforts
are accompanied by help from on high. Divine aid is available for
those who seek it with a devout and humble heart; this is done by
fervent prayer.”
--St. Bonaventure

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30 August – Blessed Giovanni Giovenale Ancina CO

(1545–1604)
Bishop of Saluzzo, member of the Oratory of St Philip Neri, Scholar,
Musician and Composer, renowned Preacher Doctor of Medicine. Commonly
known as Blessed Juvenal Ancina. He served in the Oratorians as a
simple priest for around two decades prior to his Episcopal
appointment which he attempted to elude for five months before
submitting to Pope Clement VIII and accepting the Papal appointment.
He entered his Diocese several months later where he became noted for
his charitable work with the poor and his efforts to better implement
the reforms of the Council of Trent. He was born on 19 October 1545 at
Fossano, Piedmont, Italy and died by poisoning on 30 August 1604 aged
59. Patronages – Fossano and the Diocese of Saluzzo.

Of all the saints and beati of the Oratory, it is Giovanni Juvenal
Ancina who had the privilege of a personal acquaintance with the
Founder and Patron, St Philip Neri. He was born in Fossano in late
1545, the eldest of four children. His early years were devoted to
study and especially study of medicine, which became his chosen
profession after the death of his father. Throughout his early life he
and his brother Giovanni Matteo, who also became an Oratorian, were
conspicuous for their delight in religion--none of St Philip’s
reticence about ‘building little altars’ here.

He became an accomplished musician and man of letters. His talents and
interests coupled with his various connections led him to a wide range
of career options which included a stint as a Professor of medicine at
the Turin college. After his father died he attended a Padua college
where he wrote the Latin poem “The Naval Battle of the Christian
Princes” in 1566 and dedicated this to the Doge of Venice Girolamo
Priuli. The death of Pope Pius V in mid-1572 saw him recite an ode in
public in the late Pontiff’s honour while making the accurate
prediction that the next pope would title himself as “Gregory.” His
mother died while he was in Turin in 1569 and in 1572 the Order of
Saint Augustine invited him to attend their provincial chapter at
Savigliano.

He first became a Doctor and then in 1574 accompanied Count Federigo
Madrucci to Rome as the count’s personal Doctor. It was there in Rome
that Ancina attended the theological lectures that Cardinal Robert
Bellarmine gave and the two became quick friends and soon Juvenal
began his studies in theology under St Robert Bellarmine at the Roman
College. When he took the theological examination required of
candidates for the episcopacy, Pope Clement VIII called him the best
prepared candidate he had ever heard of. Even Baronius, an
intellectual heavyweight in his own right, called Ancina “a new St
Basil.”

Once in Rome, Ancina’s search to deepen his faith and to discern his
vocation brought him to St Philip’s Oratory in 1576. He wrote to his
brother Giovanni Matteo that he “felt urged above all to humility.”
Philip was a great discerner of souls and he took his time nurturing
Ancina’s vocation to the Oratory. In 1578 both Ancina brothers entered
the Oratory; on 9May 1582, Giovenale was Ordained Priest and Matteo
Deacon.

Juvenale Ancina became known for his preaching and teaching in the
Oratory; his impressive handwritten theology lessons are still largely
preserved. Of all of St Philip’s disciples, Ancina is said to have
most closely imitated his spiritual master; his devotion to Philip is
illustrated by the affection expressed in his many letters from
Naples. Philip had sent him to Naples at the request of Tarugi, who
was establishing a new Oratory there. Ancina served in Naples for a
decade with great apostolic zeal and tireless dedication. About 1595,
the year of Philip’s death, Ancina was recalled to Rome to replace
Baronius as provost. The following year, Pope Clement VIII had to fill
three vacant Episcopal sees and Ancina was on the short list. He
literally fled into the hills for five months, seeking to remain a
simple Oratorian Priest but he could not avoid the assignment forever.
In 1602, the Pope ordered him to accept assignment as Bishop of
Saluzzo. At least he had the consolation of being ordained Bishop in
the Chiesa Nuova by Cardinal Tarugi himself.

Once he arrived in Saluzzo, Ancina instituted a Diocesan Seminary,
made a pastoral visit of his Diocese and reached out to heretics; he
is credited for the conversion of a grandson of Calvin, who became a
Carmelite. His tenure as Bishop of Saluzzo is noted for the breadth
and depth of it’s accomplishments in spite of its brevity and
especially for his holiness and simplicity of life. He was content
with three to four hours’ sleep and often slept on the bare floor; he
wore a hair shirt and girdle and wore a coarse linen shirt over his
cassock while choosing coarse food. Ancina was known to sometimes
spend several hours in ecstatic Adoration, unaware of others around
him. He lived a very austere life for a Bishop, retaining only the
luxury of his extensive library.

Ancina made a major goal of his episcopate the implementation of the
directives of the recent Council of Trent. In line with this he
convened a gathering of the episcopate where he laid out the methods
of reform for both those in the priesthood and for the faithful. He
made arrangements to set up a religious educational institute to
provide a higher level of knowledge and dedication in new Priests. He
gave a large emphasis to the instruction of the faithful in the
teachings and beliefs of the faith for which he introduced the use of
the new Catechism that the Council of Trent had drawn up. He
encouraged the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

The Bishop St Francis de Sales had a great admiration for Ancina and
St Francis was later to establish and join an Oratorian house in his
own Diocese. The two often corresponded with each other and Ancina
received a letter from his friend on 17 May 1599 who sent it from
Turin at the time. On 3 May 1603 the Bishop de Sales had invited him
to attend a sermon that he was to give.

Unfortunately, this remarkable Oratorian’s life and work was cut short
when he was murdered by poisoning and died on 30 August 1604. It was
his zeal which eventually led to his death--he was poisoned by a Monk
whom he had felt obliged to discipline for visiting a convent with
less than holy intent. On 20 August the Monk gave him wine laced with
poison under the guise of reconciliation; the Bishop was surprised at
the gesture but drank the contents. The Monk then fled to Genoa under
the false pretence of going to Savona for a pilgrimage. The Bishop
began vomiting and was confined to his bed as his condition worsened
and when suffering overcame him he murmured to himself: “Oh! What
poison! What terrible poison this is!” The Duke of Savoy heard of this
and sent his private Doctor to help Ancina, though nothing could be
done at that stage. He summoned his brother to him and then asked for
his confession to be heard before receiving the Extreme Unction. The
ailing Bishop asked to be laid on the bare floor to die and he invoked
Saint Januarius- whom he fostered a devotion to. His final words were:
“Jesus, sweet Jesus, with Mary give peace to my soul.” He was buried
in the Diocesan Cathedral. In 1620 his remains were exhumed and found
well-preserved but turned into dust upon contact with the air except
for the skull and several bones. Juvenal had known quite well who his
poisoner was but refused to testify against him and died on 30 August
1604, aged 59.

St Francis de Sales attested to Ancina’s saintliness sometime in the
1660s and the Congregation for Rites later validated the informative
and apostolic processes in 1716. The confirmation of Ancina’s life of
heroic virtue allowed for Pope Pius IX to title him as Venerable on 29
January 1870. Pope Leo XIII later approved two miracles attributed to
Ancina’s intercession on 30 May 1889 and so this great disciple of St
Philip, close friend of St Francis de Sales and a holy Bishop was
Beatified in Saint Peter’s Basilica on 9 February 1890.

https://anastpaul.com/2020/08/30/


Saint Quote:
At the resurrection the substance of our bodies, however
disintegrated, will be united. We must not fear that the omnipotence
of God cannot recall all the particles that have been consumed by fire
or by beast, or dissolved into dust and ashes, or decomposed into
water, or evaporated into air.
--St. Augustine, The City of God


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A prayer to be free from a sudden and unprovided death:

O most merciful Lord Jesus, by Thine agony and sweat of
Blood, by Thy precious death, deliver us, we beseech Thee,
from a sudden and unprovided death. O most kind Lord
Jesus, by Thy most sharp and ignominious scourging and
crowning with thorns, by Thy holy Cross and bitter Passion,
by Thy loving-kindness, we humbly pray that Thou wouldst
not suffer us to die unprovided with Thy holy Sacraments.
O dearly beloved Lord Jesus, by all Thy labors and sorrows,
by Thy Precious Blood and sacred Wounds, by those
Thy last words on the Cross: " My God, my God, why hast
Thou forsaken me?" and those other: "Father, into Thy hands
I commend my spirit," we most earnestly beseech Thee to
deliver us from a sudden death. Grant us, we pray, room for
repentance; grant us a happy passing in Thy grace, that so we
may be able to love Thee, praise Thee and bless Thee forever.
Amen.

Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be...