Brother Lorenzo Marelli, C.P.

On 21 December 2016, Pope Francis authorised the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the Decree on the heroic virtues of the Servant of God, Brother Lorenzo of the Holy Spirit (Egidio Marcelli).

A professed religious of the Passionist Congregation, Egidio Marcelli was born on 30 August, 1874 in Caprarola (Viterbo, Italy). On 20 May, 1901, at the age of 27, he entered the novitiate and on 15 June, 1902, he professed First Vows. On 14 November, 1914, Brother Lorenzo, together with several fellow religious, departed for Brazil where they founded the first Passionist Monastery in that country. Eight years later, due to ill health, he returned to Italy, where he resumed his ministry of seeking charity for the community in the city of Nettuno, Italy. He died of a heart attack on 14 October, 1953 at the age of 79. He is currently buried in the cemetery of Nettuno, Italy.

From the writings of St. Paul of the Cross

MYSTICAL FLOWERS FROM CALVARY – Maxims from the writings of St. Paul of the Cross, Founder of the Congregation of the Holy Passion. Selected and Arranged by The Rev. Padre Pacifico of the same Congregation. Washbourne and Bogan Ltd., London, 1933.

mystical-flowers-from-calvary-january

During the month of January

1st January
Birth of St. Vincent Strambi, C.P., (1745)

1st January
St. Paul of the Cross concludes his forty day retreat in Castellazzo (1721)

3rd January
Birth of St. Paul of the Cross in Ovada, Italy (1694)

5th January
Feast of Saint Charles of Mount Argus

6th January
Anniversary of the Baptism of St. Paul of the Cross, Ovada, Italy (1694)

6th January
Anniversary of the marriage of Luke Danei and Anna Maria Massari, parents of St. Paul of the Cross (1692)

7th January
Introduction of the Ordinary Process of Canonisation of St. Paul of the Cross (1777)

9th January
Opening of the Hospice of the Crucified, first Passionist residence in Rome (1767)

From the Pope’s Christmas Homily

Christmas has essentially a flavour of hope because, notwithstanding the darker aspects of our lives, God’s light shines out. His gentle light does not make us fear; God who is in love with us, draws us to himself with his tenderness, born poor and fragile among us, as one of us. He is born in Bethlehem, which means “house of bread”. In this way he seems to tell us that he is born as bread for us; he enters life to give us his life; he comes into our world to give us his love. He does not come to devour or to command but to nourish and to serve. Thus there is a direct thread joining the manger and the cross, where Jesus will become bread that is broken: it is the direct thread of love which is given and which saves us, which brings light to our lives, and peace to our hearts.

The shepherds grasped this in that night. They were among the marginalized of those times. But no one is marginalized in the sight of God and it was precisely they who were invited to the Nativity. Those who felt sure of themselves, self-sufficient, were at home with their possessions; the shepherds instead “went with haste” (cf. Lk 2:16). Let us allow ourselves also to be challenged and convened tonight by Jesus. Let us go to him with trust, from that area in us we feel to be marginalized, from our own limitations. Let us touch the tenderness which saves. Let us draw close to God who draws close to us, let us pause to look upon the crib, and imagine the birth of Jesus: light, peace, utmost poverty, and rejection. Let us enter into the real Nativity with the shepherds, taking to Jesus all that we are, our alienation, our unhealed wounds. Then, in Jesus we will enjoy the flavour of the true spirit of Christmas: the beauty of being loved by God.

Happy Christmas 2016

COLLECT

O God, who wonderfully created the dignity of human nature
and still more wonderfully restored it,
grant, we pray,
that we may share in the divinity of Christ,
who humbled himself to share in our humanity.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.