January 26th – Saint José Gabriel del Rosario Brochero

[Weedy]

January 26th – Saint José Gabriel del Rosario Brochero

Vatican City, Jun 25, 2017 / 01:03 am

If Jose Brochero doesn't sound like a Gaucho name, nothing does.

Last year, Pope Francis canonized Saint Brochero, a fellow countryman
from Argentina also known as the "Gaucho priest."

He was beatified in Sept. 2013 by Pope Francis, who said Fr. Brochero
was a priest who truly "smelled of his sheep." He was canonized Oct.
16, 2016.

Saint Brochero was born Jose Gabriel del Rosario Brochero in Argentina
in 1840, the fourth of ten children to Ignacio Brochero and Petrona
Davila.

St. Brochero entered seminary at the age of 16, and was ordained a
priest at the age of 26 for the Archdiocese of Cordoba.

As a priest, after teaching philosophy at a seminary for a few years,
Fr. Brochero was assigned to the large diocese of St. Albert – 1,675
square miles with 10,000 far-flung parishioners in the rural, Great
Highlands region of Argentina.

Not deterred by altitude, distance or bad weather, Fr. Brochero was
known for riding throughout the countryside of his parish on the back
of a mule to bring his people the sacraments, always wearing a poncho
and sombrero in the style of a gaucho, or Argentinian cowboy.

On muleback, he carried an icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary, his Mass
kit and a prayer book on his travels so that he was always prepared to
offer the sacraments. He established a House of Exercises where his
people could participate in spiritual exercises, and helped found a
school for girls.

He is also credited with building post and telegraph stations, for
building nearly 125 miles of roads, and for helping plan the railroad
in the area.

"Woe if the devil is going to rob a soul from me," he is held to have
said, capturing his determined spirit to be close to his people no
matter what.

Fr. Brochero was known for being particularly close to the poor and
the sick, and helped care for those who contracted cholera during the
epidemic in 1867. Eventually, he contracted leprosy from a leper in
his parish, causing him to eventually become blind and deaf and to
relinquish his parish duties, spending his last few years living with
his sisters at home.

Fr. Brochero died on Jan. 26, 1914. His last words were: "Now I have
everything ready for the journey."

A few days after his death, the Catholic newspaper of Cordoba wrote:
"It is known that Father Brochero contracted the sickness that took
him to his tomb, because he visited at length and embraced an
abandoned leper of the area."

In 2012, Pope Benedict XVI approved a healing miracle attributed to
Fr. Brochero, in which 13-year-old Nicolas Flores, who was in a
vegetative state after a car accident, was cured through the
intercession of the gaucho priest.


Saint Quote:
Obedience is a consecration of the heart, chastity of the body, and
poverty of all worldly goods to the Love and Service of God. Blessed
indeed are the obedient, for God will never permit them to go astray.
--St. Francis de Sales

Bible Quote:
Woe to you that are filled: for you shall hunger. Woe to you that now
laugh: for you shall mourn and weep. (Luke 6:25) DRB


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Stay With Me, O Lord
By Padre Pio (1887-1968)

Stay with me, Lord, for You are my Life
and without You, I am without fervour.
Stay with me, Lord, for You are my Light
and without You, I am in darkness.
Stay with me, Lord,
so that I hear Your Voice and follow You.
Stay with me, Lord,
for I desire to love You very much
and always be in Your company.
Stay with me, Lord,
if You wish me to be faithful to You.
Stay with me, Lord, as poor as my soul is,
I want it to be a place of consolation for You,
a nest of Love.
Stay with me, Jesus, for it is getting late
and the day is coming to a close
and life passes, death, judgement
and eternity approach.
It is necessary to renew my strength,
so that I will not stop
along the way and for that, I need You.
It is getting late and death approaches,
I fear the darkness, the temptations,
the dryness, the cross, the sorrows.
O how I need You, my Jesus, in this night of exile!
Stay with me tonight, Jesus,
in life with all its dangers, I need You.
Let me recognise You as Your disciples did,
at the breaking of the bread,
so that the Eucharistic Communion be the Light
which disperses the darkness,
the force which sustains me,
the unique joy of my heart.
Stay with me, Lord, because at the hour of my death,
I want to remain united to You,
if not by Communion, at least by grace and love.
Stay with me, Lord, for it is You alone I look for,
Your Love, Your Grace, Your Will,
Your Heart, Your Spirit, because I love You
and ask no other reward but to love You more and more.
With a firm love, I will love You
with all my heart while on earth
and continue to love You perfectly, during all eternity.
Amen.