“What father, holding in his arms his beloved son, would allow him to fall to the ground, or would cast him far away from him? But even should there be a father so barbarous and unnatural, God will never act thus with us. Distrust yourself, yes! But place a great and filial confidence in Jesus Christ, in his holy Mother, Mary, and in the Angels and Saints.” (St. Paul of the Cross)
From the Testimony of Father John Mary Cioni, C.P., for the Processes of Beatification of St. Paul of the Cross –
“Previously having earnestly requested that he (Paul of the Cross) be permitted to die upon a straw mattress, wearing the holy habit (because as an act of charity a soft mattress was furnished and the habit removed) and with a large rope about his neck, protesting that he wishes to die as a poor sinner, one who was contrite. So it was done, as one may believe, with his particular satisfaction. Bishop Struzzeri also said to him: “Father Paul, remember me in Paradise and the poor Congregation for which you have laboured so much and all of us your poor sons.”
The Servant of God showed that he had heard, and that what was asked would be done. Finally, a quarter of an hour before he died, he closed his eyes, and resting quietly as in a sweet sleep, full of days and made perfect by labours endured for the glory of God and the salvation of the neighbour, in age being 81 years, 9 months, and 12 days, at words which were said by the Church “Come to his aid, O saints of God, assist him angels of the Lord” at about twenty two and a half hours, on the 18th October 1775, he gave back to his Creator the soul which for so great a glory of His God had given him.”
(Session XVIII – 21st March 1778)
MONASTERIES ARE INDISPENSABLE TO MODERN SOCIETY
VATICAN CITY, 9 OCT 2011 (VIS) – At 5.15 p.m. on Sunday, the Holy Father arrived by helicopter at Serra San Bruno, then continued his journey by car to the Carthusian monastery of Sts. Stephen and Bruno. He was greeted on the square in front of the monastery by Bruno Rosi, mayor of Serra San Bruno, then addressed some words to the many faithful from the local area who had gathered there to see him.
The Pope recalled the visit made to Serra San Bruno by John Paul II in 1984, noting that it is “a great privilege” to have a “‘citadel’ of the spirit” such as the Carthusian monastery on one’s local territory. “Monasteries have an important, I would say indispensable, role”, he said. “Their purpose today is to ‘improve’ the environment, in the sense that sometimes the air we breathe in our societies is unhealthy, it is polluted by a non-Christian mentality, at times even a non-human mentality, because it is dominated by economic interests, concerned only with worldly things and lacking a spiritual dimension.
“In such a climate not only God but also our fellow man is pushed to the margins, and we do not commit ourselves to the common good. Monasteries, however, are models of societies which have God and fraternal relations at their core. We have great need of them in our time”.
Benedict XVI completed his remarks by exhorting the faithful of Serra San Bruno “to treasure the great spiritual tradition of this place, and seek to put it into practice in your daily lives”.
OUR PASSIONIST CHARISM 