Holy Name

In her motherly concern, the Blessed Virgin came here to Fatima… It is a mother’s sorrow that compels her to speak; the destiny of her children is at stake. For this reason, she asks the little shepherds: “Pray, pray much and make sacrifices for sinners.” —St. John Paul II

Catherine Benincasa, born in Siena at a date that remains uncertain, was favored with visions from the age of seven. Becoming a tertiary of the Dominican Order, she acquired great influence by her life of prayer and extraordinary mortifications as well as by the spread of her spiritual writings. Her continual appeals for civil peace and reform of the Church make her one of the leading figures of the fourteenth century. Worn out by her mortifications and negotiations she died in Rome on April 29, 1380.

The devotion to our Lady of Good Counsel originated at Gennazzano, a village in the neighborhood of Rome, where an Augustinian church, in which is enshrined a miraculous picture of our Lady, had been for centuries a place of popular pilgrimage. This feast is observed in Canada.

Historically today is the feast of St. Apollonius, the Apologist, a martyr whose Apologia, or defense of the faith, is called one of the most priceless documents of the early Church. Apollonius was a Roman senator who was denounced as a Christian by one of his slaves. The Praetorian Prefect, Sextus Tigidius Perennis, arrested him, also putting the slave to death as an informer. Perennis demanded that Apollonius denounce the faith, and when he refuesed, the case was remanded to the Roman senate. There a debate took place between Perennis and Apollonius that clearly outlines the beauty and the value of Christianity. Despite his eloquent defense, Apollonius was condemned and beheaded.

Today is a day filled with silence. Those who loved and followed Jesus were mourning because their
Saviour had died. It seemed as if death had the final word as they saw the sealed tomb. Today we can
enter into the mourning, the silence, the stillness.
As we know, death marks the end of a life on earth. There is a finality to it that can be scary to think
about—and often we choose not to. Today, let us spend some time thinking about Jesus in the tomb,
lifeless and still. Contemplate how death was the final word on our life before the resurrection. If we’re
able to grasp the finality of death, then we can start to ponder the great power the Lord has to
overcome it. Where there was death, He brought life