St. Benedict the Moor Feast Day: April 4 1526 Confessor, Franciscan ​ Saint Benedict the Moor lived a life of the Beatitudes. Born to two African slaves and illiterate, he would later possess a knowledge of Sacred Scripture and complex theological questions that astonished priests and scholars alike. Growing in fame for his miracles and teachings, he was meek, and chose to travel at night to avoid recognition. Facing persecution throughout his life due to being “il Moro,” or dark skinned, he chose to be a peacemaker, and is remembered for his racial tolerance. Benedict was born in 1526 in Italy, most likely near San Fratello. His parents, Cristoforo and Diana Manasseri were Africans who were captured and taken as slaves to San Fratello, located near Sicily. After they arrived in Italy, they both converted to Catholicism, prior to the birth of Benedict. Thanks to his parents “loyal service” as slaves, Benedict was born free from slavery. Just because he wasn’t a slave didn’t mean his life was easy though. Like most peasants, he didn’t attend school, and instead worked as a shepherd through his youth. Even at a young age, he had a heart for the poor, and gave most of what he earned to those in need. Benedict was often subject to persecution and ridicule due to his race and his parents’ servitude. Despite being the object of frequent humiliation, he bore these insults with dignity, patience and even cheerfulness. By the age of 10, he had become known as “The Holy Black” in Italy. It was Benedict’s gentleness and peaceful nature that one day attracted the attention of Jerome Lanzi, a member of a group of hermits from nearby Monte Pellegrino. The twenty-one-year-old Benedict was encouraged to join the independent society of hermits, who lived under the Rule of Saint Francis of Assisi. Lanzi, a former nobleman who had left his former life to join the hermits, succeeded in convincing Benedict to join and he soon sold the few possessions he had and joined their monastic group. Benedict found a welcome home among the small group of hermits, who would relocate to a new location outside Palermo not long after he joined. For many years, he happily worked in the kitchen as a lay brother, serving as an exceptional cook. When he was 28, Jerome Lanzi, who had been serving as the superior of the order, passed away. Reluctantly, it was Benedict himself who agreed to become the new superior, and the community prospered under his leadership. Following the third Council of Trent in 1564, Pope Pius IV announced a decree for all independent hermit societies to disband. Considering that the Benedict-led hermits were adhering to the Rule of St. Francis, they followed the Pope’s encouragement to join Franciscan orders. Benedict would become a member of the Order of the Friars Minor, and travel to Palermo to the Franciscan Friary of St. Mary of Jesus. He initially returned to the kitchen to continue his work as a cook, and he quickly became known not just for his tasty food, but for his resourcefulness. Stories tell of his miraculous ability to “multiply the food” and feed more and more people despite a limited amount of food available. Over the years, Benedict would rise in ranks at the friary, advancing to Master of Novices before becoming the Guardian of the community, a significant leadership role, in 1578. This was especially notable due to the fact that Benedict was still illiterate – and thus he was unable to become a priest due to the requirement of priests and religious figures being able to read and write. Nonetheless, he soon displayed a vast and deep understanding of theology and scripture, and word of his knowledge and sanctity began to spread outside Palermo. Benedict became known for his many gifts and miracles, one of them including the apparent ability to read the minds of others. This created large groups of lay people, clergy, and curious Italians far and wide flocking to his side, seeking his counsel. Benedict disliked the attention though, and always tried to travel at night when he could. When daytime trips were unavoidable, he would cover his face with a hood. Benedict also encouraged and developed a stricter Franciscan rule of life as the Guardian of the friary. He fully embraced the austerities of the hermit life, sleeping only a few hours each night, eating sparingly, and keeping seven 40-day fasts through the year. Benedict continued to serve the friary faithfully as a lay person, drawing people every day to hear his teachings of the scripture, experience his healing abilities, and just be in the presence of a man of divine wisdom and compassion. Towards the end of his life, Benedict asked to be relieved of his offices, and return to his favorite work: cooking in the kitchen. He resumed his duties as cook but had nearly every day interrupted by crowds who continued to seek alms, advice, prayers and cures for their illnesses. Around the age of 63, it was Benedict himself who fell ill and on the exact date and time that he had predicted, he passed away in Palermo. He was initially buried in a large tomb inside the friary church, but would have his body exhumed twice, with King Phillip III of Spain creating a shrine for Benedict in Palermo, Italy, and his body was placed in the shrine in 1611. His remains were discovered to be without any noticeable signs of decay, and his relics are still considered incorrupt to this day. Benedict was beatified by Pope Benedict XIV in 1743 and canonized by Pope Pius VII in 1807. He is the patron saint of African missions, African Americans, Palermo, and Sicily. He became known as Saint Benedict the Moor, after the Italian phrase “Il Moro” meaning “The Black”. There are several historically black Roman Catholic churches bearing his namesake across the country, including parishes in Georgia, New York, Florida, Nebraska, Illinois, Wisconsin and more. Saint Benedict the Moor showed others that God doesn’t always call the qualified, but he qualifies the called. He endured the taunts of racial prejudice, refused to be hindered by his illiteracy, and humbly served the Lord whether he was leading in the front or cooking in the back. He had every opportunity to become prideful, arrogant, angry or impatient – instead, he handed what he had to the Lord, and then leaned into the gifts the Lord provided in return. Next Item Previous Item

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Veil of the Blessed Mother Feast Day: January 1 1st Century Mother of God ​ Through the faith and obedience of a young, teenaged girl from Jerusalem, the Savior of the World came to Earth. Mary, the daughter of Sts. Joachim and Anne, showed immense courage when visited by the archangel Gabriel, who brought the news that she would become the Mother of Jesus. And she continued to show that courage when she remained at the foot of her Son, as He hung upon the cross. As Roman Catholics, we have more theological doctrines, teachings, prayers, teachings, and devotions to Mary than any other faith group. We hold true four very important dogmatic beliefs: 1. that she is Theotokos, or Mother of God, 2. Her perpetual virginity, 3. The Immaculate Conception, and 4. Her Assumption into heaven. It is this fourth and final dogma that leads us to a relic from the Blessed Virgin Mary; we firmly believe that following her death, she was Assumed body and spirit up into heaven. Not a single first-class relic of Mary will ever be found. However, a few of her personal items remained here on Earth, which would be second-class relics. Of these, the most venerated around the world is the veil of Mary. Through many of the monumental moments of Jesus’ life, there was the veiled Mary – presenting Jesus in the temple, initiating the first public miracle at the wedding in Cana, and even praying with the Apostles following His death. It’s unlikely that the seamstress who weaved the silk thread into a beautiful veil could ever have guessed the miracles it would be present for, sitting upon Our Lady’s head. The life of Mary, and the journey of her veil, are not highly documented and many details have been disputed over the years, but the pieces of information that we do know point to Mary having lived in Ephesus following the death and Resurrection of Jesus. She lived with John, having been instructed by Jesus upon the cross to take Mary into his house, in what is now present-day Turkey. Her death is not recorded in the scriptures, but tradition told of her body being placed in a tomb in Jerusalem, where she experienced her “dormition”, meaning that Mary did not experience the violent separation of body and spirit that occurs due to the stain of original sin; but instead, Mary, free from original sin, “fell asleep” and was assumed, body and spirit into heaven. The Apostles, upon realizing that Mary had been assumed into heaven, collected her belongings that remained, including her veil. They were kept in Jerusalem until around the year 400, before St. Jerome, the secretary to Pope Damasus I, took the Mantle of Joseph and Veil of Mary back to Rome for safekeeping. Had St. Jerome not relocated these precious relics, they likely would have been destroyed during the Muslim invasions that soon followed in Jerusalem. Tracing the remaining journey of the veil is a tough task, but history tells of the veil being transferred from Jerusalem to Constantinople around the year 800. After being presented by the Empress Irene to the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne, it was then given to his descendant Charles the Bald, who gave the relic to a cathedral in Chartres, France. It was in Chartres that stories tell of the veil being taken from the church and paraded as a flag of war in the year 911, when the bandit Rollo and his henchmen were besieging the town. With the veil proudly raised above the city by the bishop, Rollo and his men were defeated, and the siege failed. The veil was placed in a reliquary, which began attracting pilgrims far and wide to pray near the veil. Since the veil was viewed to provide a divine protection, many pilgrims placed shirts up against the reliquary in order to wear them prior to going to war or giving birth. The cathedral in Chartres was badly damaged by a fire in the year 1194, and many feared the veil had been destroyed. However, three days after the fire, a procession of priests emerged from the church with the relic intact, having been rushed to a crypt beneath the cathedral for safety. The cardinal of the area declared this as a sign from Mary that she desired a “more magnificent church”, and reconstruction began immediately. Fast forward to the 14th century, when a lead box was discovered at the Basilica of St. Anastasia, where St. Jerome had served as the parish priest. Two miles from St. Peter’s, the boxes were opened, and the Veil of Mary and Mantle of St. Joseph were discovered. They were immediately enshrined in the chapel, and in the 1750’s, the bishop authorized the creation of relics from tiny pieces of the veil. Scientific tests on the veil found that the silk veil is of Syrian design and can be traced back to the 1st century. At one point, the fabric was thought to be that of a tunic, but after being unwound, it was discovered to in fact be a veil. Every year in August, on the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, the veil is processed with great reverence. With shared reverence, have in our reliquary a small thread of this very veil in the Our Lady of the Angels Chapel. May this relic guide us closer to Jesus in order to grow in faith and love for Him, just as the wearer of this beautiful veil demonstrated every day of her life. Next Item Previous Item