#redemptorists

[catholic-saint-tournament]

While we await the results of St Mary Magdalene vs. St Dymphna, here's another poll for all of you!

Here are some resources to learn more about each of them:

Religious orders in pictures

Most well known religious orders

A video on religious orders

[cruger2984]

THE DESCRIPTION OF THE OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP Feast Day: June 27

The icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help represents the Christian mystery of Redemption.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help is a Byzantine icon that is believed to have its origin sometime during the 13th -15th century. The image is also known as 'Our Lady of Perpetual Succour.' The icon is known for being miraculous; over the centuries countless healings and special graces have been attributed to it, so much so that the image has been honored and venerated by many Popes.

The miraculous icon is painted on wood and measures about 20" in height (54 x 41.5 centimeters) and depicts the Virgin Mary, under the title 'Mother of God,' holding the Child Jesus.

The Archangels Michael and Gabriel, hovering in the upper corners, hold the instruments of the Passion. St. Michael (in the left corner) holds the spear, the wine-soaked sponge, and the crown of thorns. St. Gabriel (in the right corner) holds the cross and the nails.

The intent of the artist was to portray the Child Jesus contemplating the vision of His future Passion. Frightened by the vision, he runs to his mother for consolation. The anguish He feels is shown by the loss of one of His sandals as he quickly flees into the arms of his Mother.

Despite a foreboding vision of suffering, the icon also conveys the triumph of Christ over sin and death, symbolized by the golden background as a sign of the glory of the resurrection. The royal crowns on the heads of Jesus and Mary also symbolize their triumph as the King of Kings with his Queen Mother.

In a very beautiful way, the Child Jesus grasps the hand of the Blessed Mother. He seeks comfort from His mother as He sees the instruments of His passion. The position of Mary’s hands – both holding the Child Jesus (who seems like a small adult) and at the same time presenting Him to us – convey the reality of our Lord’s incarnation, that He is true God who became also true man.

Just as the Child Jesus fled into the arms of his Mother when he was frightened, so too do we flee into the arms of our Blessed Mother with child-like confidence whenever fear envelopes our hearts. Just as the Virgin Mother consoled and comforted her Divine Child, so too does she console and comfort us, her spiritual children, in our afflictions. We can always come to her in our time of need and receive her help.

In this iconography, Mary is represented as the one who guides us to the Redeemer. The Virgin Mother is also our Help who intercedes with her Son on our behalf. The star painted on Mary's veil, centered on her forehead, highlights her role in the plan of salvation as both the Mother of God and our Mother.

To this day, the Church of St. Alphonsus in Rome displays the original icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. They are the guardians and promoters of the holy icon, the only religious order entrusted with the task of doing so with a venerated image of Our Lady.

Source: The Catholic Company

[thepastisalreadywritten]

SAINT OF THE DAY (August 1)

St. Alphonsus Liguori is a doctor of the Church who is widely known for his contribution to moral theology and his great kindness.

He founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, known as the Redemptorists, on 9 November 1732.

He was born on 27 September 1696 in Naples to a well-respected family and was the oldest of 7 children.

His father was Don Joseph de' Liguori, a naval officer and Captain of the Royal Galleys, and his mother came from Spanish descent.

He was very intelligent, even as a young boy. As a boy of great aptitude, he picked up many things very quickly.

St. Alphonsus did not attend school; rather, he was taught by tutors at home where his father kept a watchful eye.

Moreover, he practiced the harpsichord for 3 hours a day at the heed of his father and soon became a virtuoso at the age of 13.

For recreation, he was an equestrian, fencer, and card player. As he grew into a young man, he developed an inclination for opera.

He was much more interested in listening to the music than watching the performance.

St. Alphonsus would often take his spectacles off, which aided his myopic eyes, in order to merely listen.

While theatre in Naples was in a relatively good state, the young saint developed an ascetic aversion to perhaps what he viewed as gaudy displays. He had strongly refused participation in a parlor play.

At the age of 16, he became a doctor of civil law on 21 January 1713, though by law, 20 was the set age.

After studying for the bar, he practiced law at the age of 19 in the courts. It is said in his 8 years as a lawyer, he never lost a case.

However, he resigned from a brilliant career as a lawyer in 1723 when he lost a case because he overlooked a small but important piece of evidence.

His resignation, however, proved profitable for the Church. He entered the seminary and ordained three years later in 1726.

He soon became a sought-after preacher and confessor in Naples. His sermons were simple and well organized that they appealed to all people, both learned and unlearned.

However, his time as a diocesan priest was short-lived: in 1732, he went to Scala and founded the Redemptorists, a preaching order.

He was a great moral theologian and his famous book, “Moral Theology,” was published in 1748.

Thirty years later, he was appointed bishop and retired in 1775. He died on 1 August 1787.

He was beatified by Pope Pius VII on 15 September 1816. He was canonized by Pope Gregory XVI on 26 May 1839.

He was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius IX in 1871.

[wcatradio]

In this episode of Author to Author, Dr. Cynthia Toolin-Wilson interviews Fr. Dennis Billy, CSsR, on his book The Divinized Person (November 29, 2023) Scripture tells us that man was created in the image and likeness of God (Gn 1:26). This book explores the meaning of this statement, describing each of us as a living, flesh-and-blood icon, a visible representation intended to lead us to an encounter with the divine. The Divinized Person | En Route Books and Media

[portraitsofsaints]

Happy Feast Day

Saint Gerard Majella

1726-1755

Feast day: October 16

Patronage: Children (and unborn children in particular); childbirth; mothers (and expectant mothers in particular); motherhood; falsely accused people; good confessions; lay brothers; and Muro Lucano, Italy

St. Gerard Majella was a professed lay brother of the Redemptorists; he served as tailor and infirmarian and became known for his extraordinary supernatural gifts of bilocation, prophecy, ecstasies, and visions. Though not a priest, his spiritual direction and advice were sought by many among the clergy and communities of nuns. St. Gerard is often invoked as the patron of expectant mothers as a result of a miracle effected through his prayers for a woman in labor.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase.#StGerardMajella#Portraitsofsaints

[bettertomorrows-world]

My problem? You don't have enough time for all those LOL. 😃 Fact is it's not the circumstances we encounter, & there always will be some, it's how we have become able to preserve & engage with & about those circumstances that speaks of the Mature Adults we have become. The things that are overwhelming, that's when it's better to look upward than at them or around us. There are many things We have to Leave At The Foot of The Cross. 

I like what Saint Francis Prayed, Lord, Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace

Where There is Darkness, Let Me Sow, LIGHT. Where there is Sadness, HOPE. Where There is Despair, HOPE. Where There is Injury, PARDON. Where There is doubt, YOUR FAITH FATHER. Where There is dysfunction, Your Salvation LORD. We're There is Corruption Lord, Your TRUTH. For we have Learned Lord It Is in Giving that We Receive. Pardoning that We Are Pardoned. It Is Dying To This World, That We Are Born To Eternal Life With YOU LORD. May Your Will Be Done here on Earth, As It Is I Heavenly Realms. 

Change In Me What Will Make Me, I Pray Lord, What All will Make Me More Like You. How I Think, How I Speak, How I Feel, How My Intentions Are For Another. May They All Astound To The One That Lives Inside This Perishing Shell of Nature. 

I Love You Lord, Let Others know that by What proceeds From Me I make That My Commitment While Being Suited in The Full Armor of GOD DAILY. Being of a Renewed Mind & Strengthened Spiritual Powers In Jesus Majestic, Holy, Grace Filled & Never Ending LOVING NAME.... 

FALCON... Better Tomorrow's... 

PEACE 🙏🤠 👍 🤟 

[adoseofgodtoday]

SHARING THE AMAZING MYSTERIOUS LOVEOF FR. NOEL GARTLAN, C.S.s.R.

BY REMY S. RABOR I believe letter-writing is an effective means of communication to get to know a person … This I learned from my 10 years of letter-writing with Fr. Noel Gartlan, C.S.s.R. Fr. Noel does not like writing a”personal” letter but he likes receiving them. Since I’m fond of writing, so he gives his response whenever he has time. Fr. Noel was a person full of love. He was called to…

[kristinemaebsnapshots]

📍 National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help

4.24.2022 | 📸 @kristinemaeb

[mydaddywiki]

Joseph W. Tobin

Physique: Average Build Height: 6’ 3" (1.91 m)

Joseph William Tobin, CSsR, (born May 3, 1952-) is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. A member of the Redemptorist order, he has been the Archbishop of Newark since 2017. He previously served as the Archbishop of Indianapolis from 2012 to 2016 and as secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life from 2010 to 2012. He has been a cardinal since November 19, 2016.

Lets see, he’s a tall, handsome Irish-American who likes Bob Seger, plays piano, lift weights and speaks five languages, who went from being the oldest of 13 children living in Detroit to the pinnacle of the global church. Nice. Nice. Also he’s LGBT friendly. What? Other than Cardinal Timothy Dolan, I've never wanted to fuck a priest more… are the words I never thought I would say.

[catholic-saint-tournament]

Yo, gimme some St Alphonsus Liguori all up in herr. Faced down the modern Pharisees within the church to make Confession more accessible to all. Brings forgiveness? Check. Personal holiness? Check. An absolute chad? CHECK.

BUT OF COURSE ANON. I LOVE THE REDEMPTORISTS FUCK YEAH

about st alphonsus for all y'all out there

[cruger2984]

THE DESCRIPTION OF SAINT ALPHONSUS LIGUORI Feast Day: August 1

"A devout servant of Mary shall never perish."

The founder of the Redemptorists, formally known as the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, was born Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, in Marianella, near Naples, then part of the Kingdom of Naples on September 27, 1696. He was the eldest of seven children of Giuseppe Liguori, a naval officer and Captain of the Royal Galleys, and Anna Maria Caterina Cavalieri. The family was of noble lineage, but the branch to which Liguori belonged had become somewhat impoverished.

He learned to ride and fence but was never a good shot because of poor eyesight. He was educated in the best school of the city, and took a Doctorate in Law (civil and canon law) at the age of 16.

In 1722, he lost the first case of his career at the age of 27, and fell into deep crisis. Moreover, he heard an interior voice, saying: 'Leave the world, and give yourself to me.'

Alphonsus decided to offer himself as a novice to the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in 1723, with the intention of becoming a priest. His father opposed the plan, but after two months (and with his Oratorian confessor's permission), he and his father compromised: he would study for the priesthood, but not as an Oratorian, and would live at home.

After his ordination on December 21, 1726 at age 30, Alphonsus became very popular because of his interesting and simple preaching. He said: 'I have never preached a sermon which the poorest old woman in the congregation could not understand.'

He also fought bravely against Jansenism, the heresy that supported a very strict morality. He said that the penitents should be treated as souls to be saved rather than as criminals to be punished. He is said to have never refused absolution to a penitent.

On November 9, 1732, Alphonsus founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, with the charism of preaching popular missions in the city and the countryside. Alphonsus was well known as a moral theologian, and his masterpiece, The Moral Theology, was approved by the Pope himself.

Appointed and consecrated as the bishop of Sant' Agata de Goti by Ferdinando Maria de Rossi on June 20, 1762, he set out to reform the people and the clergy. He suspended those priests who celebrated Mass in less than 15 minutes, and sold his carriage and episcopal ring in order to give the money to the poor.

In the last years of his life, he suffered a painful sickness and a bitter persecution from his fellow priests, who had him dismissed from the congregation. He died on August 1, 1787 at the age of 90, having endured everything as trials permitted by God for his sanctification.

Canonized a saint by Pope Gregory XVI on May 26, 1839, he declared a Doctor of the Church in 1871 by Pope Pius IX. He is the patron of arthritis sufferers, lawyers, confessors, moralists and vocations.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

SAINT OF THE DAY (October 16)

On October 16, we celebrate the feast of St. Gerard Majella.

St. Gerard was born on 6 April 1726 as the son of a tailor. He grew up about fifty miles south of Naples in Muro Lucano, Italy, in a large, poor family.

When Gerard was only 12, his father Dominic Majella entered eternal rest. Upon the death of his father, his mother, beholden to poverty, sent Gerard away to live with his uncle.

Gerard thereafter became an apprentice to a tailor. This tailor treated him well; however, the foreman treated him poorly.

After serving as a sewing apprentice for a couple years, he instead became a servant in the household of the bishop of Lacedonia, who was a cantankerous master.

Upon the death of the bishop in 1745, he returned home. At the age of 21, he became a journeyman.

He split his earnings for his mother and the poor, and made offerings for the holy souls in purgatory. Afterwards, he opened his own tailor shop.

At a young age, Gerard tried to join the local Capuchins, but he was turned down twice due to his youth and poor health.

He also tried to become a hermit but that too was not God's will for him.

He then entered the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer in 1749 and professed of perpetual vows under the Redemptorist's founder, Saint Alphonsus Liguori, in 1751.

He served as tailor and infirmarian. He became known for his extraordinary supernatural gifts of bilocation, prophecy, ecstasies, visions, and infused knowledge.

Though not ordained to the holy order of priest, his spiritual direction and advice were sought by many among the clergy and communities of nuns, to which he also gave conferences.

He was most successful in converting sinners. He was also widely known for his sanctity and charity.

In 1754, he was calumniated and accused of lechery by a woman named Neria Caggiano.

Caggiano later admitted her charge was a lie. Even before she admitted to her falsehood, Gerard did not deny her charges.

As these charges were still up in the air, his superiors became suspicious, so they put him under surveillance and excluded him from communion for months until the girl admitted that she had lied.

When asked by Saint Alphonsus why he had kept silent in such circumstances, Gerard replied that he thought such patience was required in the face of unjust accusations.

As he bore this calumny with such humility and patience, Saint Alphonsus said, "Brother Gerard is a saint."

Gerard was sent to Naples soon after, but when the house was inundated by visitors wanting to see him, he was sent to Caposele a few months later.

He served as the porter there and ministered to the poor of the town. He spent the last few months of his life raising funds for new buildings at Caposele.

Just prior to his death, he visited his friends, the Pirofalo family. One of the daughters ran and called after him as he left the home, as he dropped his handkerchief.

Speaking through the gift of prophecy, he replied, "Keep it. It will be useful to you someday."

Years down the road, when this young woman was in danger of childbirth, she recalled these words of St. Gerard and requested the handkerchief.

The handkerchief was applied to her, thus a miracle: her pain immediately ceased and she gave birth to a healthy child.

St. Gerard died of tuberculosis on 16 October 1755 at the age of 29 in Caposele.

He was beatified by Pope Leo XIII on 29 January 1893. He was canonized by Pope Saint Pius X on 11 December 1904.

He is the patron saint of mothers, motherhood, expectant mothers, childbirth, children, pregnant women, unborn children, the pro-life movement, the falsely accused, good confessions, and lay brothers.

[anastpaul]

Quote/s of the Day – 16 October – St Gerard Majella CSsR (1726-1755) Religious Lay Brother of the Redemptorists “The Most Blessed Sacrament is Christ made visible. The poor sick person is Christ again made visible.”

(via Quote/s of the Day – 16 October – St Gerard Majella – AnaStpaul)

[portraitsofsaints]

Our Lady of Perpetual Help

Feast day: June 27

Patroness of the Republic of Haiti and Almoradi, Spain

Our Lady of Perpetual Help, also known as Our Lady of Perpetual Succour and Our Mother of Perpetual Help is the title given to a 15th-century icon that originated in the Keras Kardiotissas Monastery and has been in Rome since 1499. Due to the promotion of the image by the Redemptorist Priests since 1865 many reproductions have been made and venerated.

Here is a list of the meaning of some of the elements of the icon:

• Mary’s eyes, filled with compassion and love, are directed toward us.

• Our Lady is clothed in the colors of virgins (red) and of mothers (blue). These are also royal colors.

• The star on Mary’s veil reminds us that she is the dawn announcing the coming of Christ.

• The Christ Child grasps his mother’s hand as though he is frightened by what he sees.

• In His hurry to reach his mother, Jesus has almost lost one of his sandals. He became human, like us, in all things but sin.

• On Our Lady’s left and right, we see the reasons for the child’s fear. On the right is the Archangel Gabriel, holding a cross and four nails. On the left is the Archangel Michael, holding a lance and a gall-sop of Christ’s Passion. This vision of the instruments of the crucifixion has driven the young Jesus to his mother’s protective embrace.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

[humanrightsupdates]

Filipino Priest Who Defied Duterte Passes Away

Fr. Amado Picardal, a Redemptorist priest who exposed killings by the so-called Davao Death Squad in the Philippines, died on Wednesday at age 69. Colleagues said Father Picx, as he was known, died from cardiac arrest in Cebu province, where he had been living a life of solitude and silence as a hermit.

Picardal was one of the first to sound the alarm about extrajudicial killings in Davao City on the southern island of Mindanao in the late 1990s and 2000s. This was long before the International Criminal Court (ICC) would investigate killings committed during President Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs” as alleged crimes against humanity. Duterte, the longtime mayor of Davao City, was elected president in 2016 and modeled his abusive anti-drug campaign after Davao City’s.

Picardal was instrumental in helping the media and human rights organizations document the killings. The Coalition Against Summary Executions, which he helped found in 1999, played a key role in the research that led to Human Rights Watch’s 2009 report exposing the death squad. Picardal also assisted human rights groups submit information to the ICC.

Picardal helped activists, labor leaders, Indigenous peoples, and other victims of rights abuses for decades. During the Ferdinand Marcos Sr. dictatorship, he was arrested, jailed, and tortured for his work. Aside from being a prolific writer, blogger, columnist, and poet (he posted a poem online hours before his death), Picardal also walked, ran, and biked across the Philippines and Europe to bring attention to human rights.

After accusing Duterte of serious crimes, Picardal said his life was in danger, forcing him briefly into exile abroad before he returned to Philippines in 2018 to build his hermitage in the mountains of Cebu, where he lived until his death. When I last visited him in 2022, he said that he was still receiving threats but remained unafraid.

“I choose not to be silent, I choose to speak up and denounce evil in our midst. If it means [being] picked up, imprisoned or gunned down, so be it,” Picardal wrote in a blog post in 2006. “I am not afraid to suffer.”

[youngpettyqueen]

just finished Bloodletter! thoughts under the cut

tl;dr: SUCH A GOOD FUCKING BOOK easily one of my top favs of the DS9 books ive read so far

this book was a fucking RIIIIIIIDE and I loved it so much. some absolutely INSANE scenes, and such fantastic character exploration. just, holy shit, what a good book. I had a hard time putting it down. this was supposed to be my book for work but I couldnt stop myself from reading it at home as well. it was gripping, it was fun, it was beautifully written, it was everything I could've wanted

first of all, incredible Kira story. so brutal and so real, focuses so much on the heart of her character, her history with the resistance and how shes still so haunted and traumatized. this is early s1 Kira, still very hotheaded and clashing with Sisko, really feeling torn between two worlds and struggling to do right by Bajor. her story with the Redemptorists was INCREDIBLE. K. W. Jeter doesnt shy away from Kira's bloody past, and does so without condemning her, and god if you somehow managed to watch literally anything with Kira and NOT feel for her, this book will make you feel for her. Jeter has a fantastic grasp of Kira as a character and explores her beautifully, giving her this tense, gripping story that showcases all parts of her, viciousness and vulnerability holding hands and making for a wonderfully layered and complex story

I LOVED the villain of this novel. Hören was delicious to read, he was written super well, and im particularly a fan of the spirituality that permeates everything with him from the way he speaks, thinks, and even to the way he's described. he's terrifying in how realistic he is as a villain- a sadistic, fanatic man with followers in his echo chamber, mercilessly hunting and tormenting Kira. the sequences in this novel that were onboard the substation, with Kira having to hide from him and figure out how to defend herself while shes completely alone and he has the advantage, were genuinely nerve-racking. he's a very easy villain to hate, just so genuinely fucked up. I would've loved to actually see him on the screen, he would've made for a fantastic recurring villain in the early seasons, or even if just this novel had been a 2 part episode

the Sisko POVs of this novel were fascinating. again, this novel is set in early s1, so this is Sisko very early on, still trying to figure all this shit out. he's struggling with the Bajoran side of everything, struggling to find his place, and all the while he's butting heads with Kira and wrestling with the Cardassian government and his own morality as he finds himself stooping to their level in order to try to succeed for the sake of DS9 and the Federation and Bajor. Sisko really cant catch a break ever, especially not here, where he has to juggle officers determined to rebel against him, Cardassians breathing down his neck and lying to him, and Bajor relying on him while the Federation looms over his shoulder. its all just such fascinating insight into this character who has so much on his shoulders right from the get go, and who has to constantly try to make the best decisions in impossible situations

Julian's part in this novel is WILD. first of all- Julian and Kira besties agenda. I fucking LOVE that they genuinely dont like each other, it lines up really well with how they were in early s1. Kira cant stand Julian, and he doesnt particularly care for her, and theyre going on this mission together and they both nearly get killed and in the end they come to a sort of understanding. but what really got me with Julian was his sequence where he's trapped in the wormhole and actually communicates with the Prophets?? that was INSANE. god, its so fucking wild to think of Julian talking with the Prophets. these books are beta canon, I know, but the implications of Julian being one of the VERY few people who gets to talk to them... fascinating. and we get to see an early glimpse of just what Julian is willing to risk in order to save people- he gets himself sent to the literal death of the universe because thats the only way he can get to Kira without harming the Prophets. I love that the last scene of the novel was these two, Julian patching Kira up, and Kira agreeing to go get a drink with him. it felt like a natural progression in their relationship, going from hostile to an understanding, having gone through this really horrific thing together. Julian and Kira's relationship in the show isnt a big focus, and theyre friendly coworkers at best for the most part, but in my heart. they are besties

I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting a really solid Kira story with some characteristically Trek insanity. this book is truly wild from start to finish, with some fantastic concepts and wild ideas, and I loved every second of it. Kira is shining brightly throughout, with a lovingly crafted and masterfully executed story behind her, and some of the best character writing ive encountered for her thus far in my journey into reading DS9 books. on top of that, youve got an amazing villain who will make your skin crawl, some great Julian character development, great Sisko moments, and even some fun stuff with Odo and Quark I didnt get to in my overall thoughts. seriously, go read this book, and thank me later its so so fucking good