Trappistine Macao - Our Saints of today

Blessed Humbelina

12 February

In the long-ago 12th century, in Burgundy, France, there lived a noble family made up of Tescelin, lord of Fontaines, his wife, the pious Aléthe, and their seven children: Guy, Gerard, Bernard – who would become the great abbot of Clairvaux –, Humbelina, André, Barthélémy and Nivard.

Blessed Humbelina was St Bernard’s only sister. Married to a nobleman, Guy de Marcy, she enjoyed the life of a noble lady in the world. But, a visit to her brothers in Clairvaux brought about a great change in her.

She began to lead a life of piety and great austerity and two years later, with the

Permission of her husband, entered the Benedictine convent of Jully and became prioress about 1128. The Lord enriched her with the grace of sanctity, so as to be rightly considered not only the blood sister, but also spiritual sister of her brothers. She dies on August 21st, probably 1141, in the presence of Bernard, Andrew and Nivard.

Although not a member of the Order, the Cistercian have had always a special veneration for her. In 1871, Pope Pius IX approved her liturgical memorial. (Cistercian Menology)

Saint Scholastica

10 February

Born in 480 of wealthy parents, Saint Scholastica and Benedict were brought up together until he left central Italy for Rome to continue his studies. Little, is known of Scholastica’s early life. She founded a religious community for women near Monte Cassino at Plombariola, five miles from where her brother governed a monastery. The twins visited each other once a year in a farmhouse because Scholastica was not permitted inside the monastery. They spent these times discussing spiritual matters.

According to the Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great, the brother and sister spent their last day together in prayer and conversation. Scholastica sensed her death was close at hand and she begged Benedict to stay with her until the next day. He refused her request because he did not want to spend a night outside the monastery, thus breaking his own Rule. Scholastica asked God to let her brother remain and a severe thunderstorm broke out, preventing Benedict and his monks from returning to the abbey.

Benedict cried out, “God forgive you, Sister. What have you done?” Saint Scholastica replied, “I asked a favour of you and you refused. I asked it of God and he granted it.” Brother and sister parted the next morning after their long discussion. Three days later, Benedict was praying in his monastery and saw the soul of his sister rising heavenward in the form of a white dove. Benedict then announced the death of his sister to the monks and later buried her in the tomb he had prepared for himself. (Franciscan Media)

Blessed Cyprian Tansi

20 January

Iwene Tansi was born in 1903 in Nigeria, where the pagan worship still survived. He was baptized in 1912 in the Christian village of Aguleri and given the name Michael. Ordained priest in 1937, he served with great zeal in the parish ministry, dedicating himself especially to teaching prayer and to making young people and the families aware of Christian moral values. In 1950 he entered the Cistercian Abbey of Mount Saint Bernard in England and made solemn monastic profession there on the 8th of December 1956 under the name of Father Cyprian. A model of humility, fidelity, obedience and prayer, he was preparing to return to his native land to introduce there the monastic life when the Lord called him to a heavenly reward on the 20th of January 1964. His hidden sanctity would never have become known but for a miracle: A woman suffering from a very severe disease of the stomach was instantly cured on touching the coffin in which his bones were being returned to Nigeria in 1986.

He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on the 22 March 1998.

Saint Anthony, the Hermit

17 January

Saint Anthony the Hermit, also known as Anthony of Lerins and as The Father of Monks. The Church celebrates his life on January 17th as the founder of Christian Monasticism. He was born around 251 AD. His parents were wealthy, and left him a large inheritance. However, like St. Francis, he was deeply moved by The Gospel of Matthew 19:21, where Jesus instructed the young man to sell what he had, give it to the poor, and come follow him.

St. Anthony did so, giving away all that he owned to go off and live for 15 years in the desert, in complete solitude and in prayer. He was visited by pilgrims, whom he refused to see, but over time, a number of his “disciples” took residence in the caves and huts around the mountain called Pispir. It was here that a colony of ascetics gathered, in the hope of speaking with the famous hermit; they must have sensed his holiness and wisdom, and because of that, he was sought out for “healing, comfort, and direction.” He was also known to have performed miracles, which further cemented his reputation as a Holy Man.

During his life, Saint Anthony repeatedly sought out the desert. Consider the desert as a metaphor for a cleansing and purifying heat—where John the Baptist was forged in silence and in solitude, and where Jesus fasted and prayed for 40 days and 40 nights. And, likewise, when Anthony the Hermit emerged from the desert, he was stronger-- fortified with the wisdom and power of the Lord.

From: Saint Louis Roman Catholic Church

St. Maurus and St. Placid

15 January

Maurus, son of a nobleman of Rome, was born about the year 510 and died in 584. When he was about twelve years old, his father placed him under the care of St. Benedict at Subiaco. When he had grown up, St. Benedict chose him as his coadjutor in the government of the monastery.

Placidus was the eldest son of the patrician Tertullus. When he was about eight years old, his father placed him under the care of Benedict at Subiaco, to be educated.

Placid, one of Maurus’ fellow disciples, the son of the senator Tertullus, going one day to draw water, fell into the lake, and was at once carried away by the current. St. Benedict saw this in spirit in his cell and bade Maurus run and draw him out. Having asked and received the holy Father’s blessing, Maurus hastened down to the lake, walked upon the waters, thinking he was on dry land, and dragged Placid out by the hair, without sinking in the least himself.

Gregory the Great (Dialogues, II, vii) relates an account of Placidus being rescued from drowning by his fellow monk, Maurus.

From: Catholic Encyclopedia

Saint Aelred of Rievaulx

12 January

Aelred of Rievaulx OCSO (Latin: Aelredus Riaevallensis), also known as also Ailred, Ælred, or Æthelred; (1110 – 12 January 1167) was an English Cistercian monk and writer who served as Abbot of Rievaulx from 1147 until his death. He is venerated by the Catholic Church as a saint and by some Anglicans.

In 1143, he was appointed abbot of the new Revesby Abbey, a daughter house of Rievaulx in Lincolnshire. In 1147, he was elected abbot of Rievaulx itself, a position he was to hold until his death. Under his administration, the abbey is said to have grown to some 140 monks and 500 conversi and laymen.

His role as abbot required him to travel. Cistercian abbots were expected to make annual visitations to daughter-houses, and Rievaulx had five in England and Scotland by the time Aelred held office. Moreover, Aelred had to make the long sea journey to the annual general chapter of the Order at Cîteaux in France. Aelred died in the winter of 1166–7, probably on 12 January 1167 at Rievaulx.

From: Catholic Encyclopedia

Saint Mechtilde of Hackeborn

(1241-1298)

November 19

Born is 1241, Saint Mechtilde belonged to the family of barons of Hackeborn. At the age of seven, she was entrusted to the nuns of Rodalsdorf, who shortly afterward elected her elder sister Gertrude as their Abbess. Mechtilde herself became a nun, and mistress of the school when the house moved to Helfta.

In this capacity, it became her lot to train a five-year of who entered the monastery in 1261 and went on to become St. Gertude the Great. The pupil wrote of her mistress:” There has never been anyone like her in our monastery, and I am afraid there will never be again.”

In collaboration with another nun, St. Gertrude wrote an account of Mechtilde’s spiritual teaching and mystical experiences entitled, The book of Special Grace which was made public after her death in November 19,1298.

Though never canonized, her feast is celebrated in Benedictine convents.

Cistercian Menology

Saint Gertrude the Great

(1256 - 1302)

November 16

Patron Saints of nuns

Invoked for poor souls in Purgatory

She was canonised in 1606.

St. Gertrude the Great is the only female saint titled "the Great," bestowed by Pope Benedict XIV in the mid-eighteen century for her extraordinary contribution to mystical theology.

Born in Eisleben, Thuringia, in the Holy Roman Empire, today's Germany. At the age of five she was entrusted to the MOnastery of St. mary in Helfta, later moved to Hackebon where (Blessed Abbess Gertrude of hachebon was creating "the crown of German convents."

The sisters contemplated Christ's love, resolved to journey toward divine union, loved Jesus' Sacred Heart, and exhibited deep devotion to the Eucharist. In daily life, they sang, prayed the Divine Office, celebrated Mass, studied Scripture and the Church Fathers, performed manual labor, and lived in community.

In January 1281, St. Gertrude (25 years old) had her first mystical vision in which she saw a thorny hedge that represented her many sins, dividing her from Jesus. Jesus streched out His hand, which bore the marks of the nails, but communicated to her His promise to draw her to himself.

St. Gertrude, pray for us so to be closed always with and in the sacred heart of Jesus.

Saint Hildegard von Bingen

Hildegard von Bingen was a German composer, Abbess, mystic visionary, herbal healer, scientist, poet, and more. She was born on September 16, 1098 in the town of Bermersheim to a noble family.

She first started having visions when she was only five years old, and three years later her family sent her to a small nunnery attached to the Benedictine Monastery at Disibodenberg where she was a novice. She took religious vows at age 15 at this nunnery, and when its Prioress died in 1136 Hildegard took over that position.

In 1141, Hildegard received a vision of tongues of fire descending on her from heaven, and from that time forward she dedicated her life to following that vision.

Pope Eugenius III validated her vision in 1148 and she was given permission to record them in written form.

By 1150, she had founded a new abbey at Rupertsberg in the Rhine valley, and around 1165 had established a daughter abbey to it at Eibingen. She died on September 17, 1179 at the age of 81, leaving behind prophetic and apocalyptic writings, books on natural history and medicine, books on lives of the Saints, sermons on various topics, and poetry and music.

She was canonized as a Saint and made a Doctor of the Catholic Church in 2012. Her liturgical feast day is celebrated on September 17 each year.

Ogier was a monk at the Cistercian abbey of Locedio, northen Italy.

He served Abbot Peter II as Vicarius and secretary and succeeded him in 1205. He remained abbot until his death.

In 1205 Ogier–also known as Oglerus, Oglerius, was elected abbot of Locedio, a former Benedictine abbey, re founded in 1124 under the Cistercians. Little else is known of his activities before his deal on 10 September 1214.

In Praise of God's Holy Mother and On Our Lod's Word to His Disciples at the Last Supper were written between 1205 and 1214 at the abbey of Italy Locedio, in the diocese of Vercelli, northern Italy.

The homilies not only bear witness to his own spirituality, but articulate the devotion of the earth thirteenth-century to the Virgin Mary and to the Eucharist.

"The homilies, in fact, offer a deep and rewarding spirituality and well repay meditative reading, or what Ogier, naturally, would call lectio Divina. That, after all, was their purpose. As to the translation itself-the first in English-it is accurate and elegant, sometimes very elegant indeed."

From: Citeaux: Commentarii Cistercienses

and Cistercian Father Series No.70

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

20 August

Bernard was born into a noble family in Fontaines, France, the third of seven children. His parents instilled in him a deep faith, and he received a comprehensive education. He excelled at Scripture study and was devoted to the Blessed Virgin. He entered the newly formed Cistercian monastery in Cîteaux, the Abbey of Notre Dame. His virtue, clarity of purpose, and evident holiness then inspired thirty young noblemen to join him, including all of his brothers except the youngest, who would join him later, as would his father. His sister (Saint Humbelina) would become a Benedictine nun.

Bernard founded many monasteries, assisted popes and bishops with Church needs, was an eloquent apologist in defense of the faith, defended persecuted Jews, assisted at Church councils, preached at the second Crusade, and helped resolve many disputes. Many miracles were attributed to him, including healing the sick, casting out demons, multiplying food, calming storms, and raising the dead. With spiritual discernment, he was able to read people’s inner thoughts and intentions.

Bernard was canonized just 21 years after his death by Pope Alexander III.

In 1830 Pope Pius VIII declared him a Doctor of the Church.

Taken from: My Catholic life, Brittanica

Blessed Guerric of Igny

19 August

Guerric of Igny (c. 1070/80-1157) was a Cistercian abbot. Little is known about his early life. He may have been educated at Tournai's cathedral school, perhaps under Benedictine monk, Odo of Cambrai.

Guerric appears to have lived a life of prayer and study near the Tournai Cathedral. His monastic formation was directly influenced by Bernard of Clairvaux, who praises him in several letters. In 1138, he became abbot of Igny Abbey, in the diocese of Rheims, a house dependent on Clairvaux.

Here Guerric ruled as abbot until his death on 19 August 1157. It was here that he composed the 54 liturgical sermons that constitute his surviving works. His spirituality was said to be influenced by Origen. Guerric was raised to the rank of Blessed; his relics are still venerated in Igny (France).

Source: Cistercian Father No. 32

Blessed Joseph-Marie Cassant (1878-1903)

17 June

Joseph-Marie was born on March 6,1878 in Cassaneuil, diocese of Agen, France. As a child, he was deeply impressed by the ceremonies of the liturgy and greatly desired to become a priest.

As he had no aptitude for studies, he, upon the advice of his pastor, entered at the age of sixteen, the Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of the Desert. Physically weak and lacking the ability for work, he was prone to temptations of sadness and discouragement, but with the support of prayer and obedience, he overcame them and was never wanting in courage, always with a smile on his face.

He rejoiced in the accomplishment of Jesus’ will alone; he wished to have Jesus ever present to him and living with him. Inspired by his motto: “All for Jesus, all through Mary “and also by his devotion to the Eucharist, he made progress in simplicity of heart.

Six years later, he professed solemn vows and after two years, on October 12, 1902, after great hardship and struggles, he was ordained a priest. Exhausted by tuberculosis, he offered his sufferings for love of Jesus and for the Church. He died on June 17, 1903 at the age of twenty- five. He was beatified by St. John Paul II on October 3rd,2004.

From Cistercian Menology Year I

Saint Lutgard (1182-1246)

16 June.

Born of Bourgeois parents in Tongres, Belgium, Lutgarde’s father had planned a marriage for his daughter, but when the money invested for her dowry was lost, her mother persuaded her to enter the Benedictine convent of St. Trond, where she was elected prioress in 1205.

Seeking more solitude and a stricter observance, she transferred to the Cistercian convent of Aywieres. The passion of Christ was the center of her religious life. There took place between Christ and Lutgarde a mystical change of hearts. In her 29thyear, she received the spear wound and carried the scar to her death.

The ideal of vicarious suffering in reparation for sin was highly developed in her spirituality. She undertook, at Our Lady’s request, three seven-year fasts, in reparation for the Albigensians heresy. She was also sought by many, including Abbots and Dominican friars, for the help of her counsel and intercessory prayers,

Eleven years before her death, she became blind. During the last year of her life, Christ asked three things of her: to offer thanks for all the benefits she had received, to pour herself out in prayer for sinners, to be without solicitude but full of longing.

Life of St. Lutgarde

By Thomas Cantimpre,

Translated by Martinus Cawley

Saint Alice

(Aleydis of Schaerbeek)

12 June

Aleydis of Schaerbeek, who lived in the first half of the thirteenth century

was a nun of la Cambre, a Cistercian monastery near Brussels, the present-day Belgium.

Having lived the monastic life since childhood with fervor and generosity, at some point in her life, she contracted the dreaded disease of leprosy. She found in it a second vocation, that of sharing in a very special way in the Passion of Christ by her physical sufferings, her isolation and all that her condition imposed on her.

She had climbed Saint Benedict’s twelve degrees of humility and Saint Bernard’s three steps of truth, all apparently without any great difficulty.

Was there any further step she had to take on her journey to God? One night she had a kind of dream-vision. She seemed to be standing before an altar, praying, and saw a golden cross let down to her from heaven. It was a cross: symbol of suffering and trial, which had been endured by Christ and which He expected his followers to embrace, and yet it was golden: precious, beautiful.

From then on Aleydis’ life was to be more and more marked with the paradox of the cross as she lived out its mystery in all its agony and travail splendor and glory in her own life.

From Hidden Spring Book I, CS.113A

Edited by Sr, Edith Scholl OCSO

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