{"ok":true,"date":"2030-10-10","dateKey":"10-10","liturgicalDay":"St. Francis Borgia, Confessor","rank":"Semi-Double","color":"white","quoteOfTheDay":{"text":"Cast thy care upon our Lord: and he will nourish thee: he will not give fluctuation to the just for ever.","author":"Holy Scripture","source":"Psalm 54:23, Original Douay-Rheims","treasuryHref":"/wisdom#cast-thy-care-upon-the-lord","category":"Confidence and Daily Self-Denial"},"season":"Time after Pentecost","novenas":[],"octaveContexts":[],"subject":"City of God in Exile: St. Francis Borgia, Confessor - 2030-10-10","previewText":"St. Francis Borgia, Confessor. The Cross Is Daily. Resist a comfortable religion that admires Christ while refusing self-denial.","plainText":"CITY OF GOD IN EXILE\nSt. Francis Borgia, Confessor\n2030-10-10 - Time after Pentecost - Semi-Double - white\nPLAIN-LANGUAGE GUIDE FOR TODAY\nConfessor: in the traditional calendar, a male saint who openly professed the Faith by a holy life but was not killed as a martyr.\nValid sacrament or worship: a sacramental rite truly effected according to Christ's institution and the Church's essential requirements, rather than merely appearing religious.\nThe full Breviary lessons preserve an older English translation. Read the modern explanation first; it identifies the people, event, and doctrine before the historical wording appears.\nTODAY IN THE ROMAN YEAR\nSt. Francis Borgia learned how quickly beauty, rank, and favor pass away, and he allowed that knowledge to reorder his life. The thought of death is merciful when it breaks enchantment with what cannot save. Place every ambition before eternity today and reject whatever merely enlarges self instead of helping you serve God. Ask Our Lady to make Jesus Christ known in you as He ought to be known: believed, adored, obeyed, and loved. Profess faith in Jesus Christ as true God and true man, and ask His Mother to lead you into complete obedience to Him.\n\n\"Jesus Christ is not known as He ought to be.\"\nSt. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, no. 13\n\nSt. Louis de Montfort's grief is not that Our Lady receives too little attention as though she sought a kingdom apart from Christ. He grieves because ignorance of Mary's place accompanies an impoverished knowledge of Jesus. The Son is treated as an idea, a moral teacher, or a source of comfort rather than as the Incarnate King who came through her and demands the whole man.\n\nAsk whether you know Christ only in the truths you prefer. To know Him as He ought to be known is to receive His divinity, His Cross, His Church, His commandments, His sacraments, His judgment, and His mercy without division. Let Mary uncover every partial or comfortable image of Jesus that must give way to the Catholic whole.\n\nPRACTICE\nTest admired religious appearances by doctrine, valid worship, and Catholic obedience.\n\nQUOTE OF THE DAY\n\"Cast thy care upon our Lord: and he will nourish thee: he will not give fluctuation to the just for ever.\"\nHoly Scripture, Psalm 54:23, Original Douay-Rheims\n\nROMAN MARTYROLOGY - October 10\nAt Rome, blessed John Leonard!, confessor, founder - of the Congregation of Clerks Regular of the Mother of God. He was illustrious by his labors and miracles, and through his instrumentality missions were established by the Propaganda. — In the island of Crete, blessed Pinytus, most noble among the bishops. He was bishop of Gnosia, and flourished under Marcus Antoninus Verus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus. He left in his writings, as in a mirror, a vivid delineation of himself. — At Cologne, in the persecution of Maximian, St. Gereon, martyr, with three hundred and eighteen others, who patiently bowed their necks to the sword for the true religion. — In the neighborhood of the same city, the holy martyrs Victor and his companions. — At Bonn, in Germany, the holy martyrs Cassius and Florentius, with many others. — At Nicomedia, the holy martyrs Eulampius, and his sister, the virgin Eulampia, who, hearing that her brother was tortured for Christ, rushed through the crowd, embraced him and became his companion. Both were cast into a caldron of boiling oil, but being quite uninjured, they terminated their martyrdom by decapitation with two hundred others, who, impressed by the miracle, had believed in Christ. — At York, in England, the holy bishop Paulinus, disciple of the blessed pope Gregory. Being sent thither by that pope with others to preach the Gospel, he converted king Edwin and his people to the faith of Christ. — At Piombino, in Tuscany, St. Cerbonius, bishop and confessor, who, as St. Gregory relates, was renowned for miracles, both during life and after death. — At Verona, another St. Cerbonius, bishop. — At Capua, St. Paulinus, bishop. — At Rome, St. Francis Borgia, Superior General of the Society of Jesus, celebrated for the austerity of his life, the gift of prayer, and for the firmness with which he renounced the dignities of the world, and refused those of the Church.\n\nHIGHLIGHTED SAINT\nSt. Francis Borgia\nConfessor who renounced worldly dignities.\nThe Martyrology honors St. Francis Borgia as Superior General of the Society of Jesus, celebrated for austerity of life, prayer, and firmness in renouncing worldly dignities.\nHis witness teaches the Catholic estimate of rank. Honors are dangerous when clung to, and fruitful when surrendered for Christ.\nLet St. Francis Borgia make honors look small beside eternity. The world can crown a man and still leave him poor before God.\nFROM MATINS\nEarthly greatness set at nought for the King of kings.\nMatins - Second Nocturn - St. Francis Borgia, Confessor\nRoman Breviary\n\"Francis the sinner.\"\n- The Breviary remembers how the sight of worldly corruption moved Francis Borgia to vow that he would surrender all things and serve the King of kings.\n- He entered the Society of Jesus to hide himself from honors, then accepted grave offices under obedience while continuing austerity, prayer, missionary labor, and care for the sick.\n- His humility was concrete: he refused the cardinalate, begged food, cleaned the house, served hospitals, and called himself Francis the sinner.\nMake worldly honor answer to eternity. Humility does not always escape responsibility, but it refuses to feed on rank and remains willing to perform the lowest service.\nFULL BREVIARY LESSONS\nFourth Lesson - The King of Kings Preferred to Earthly Greatness\nFrancis, fourth Duke of Gandia, was the son of John Borgia, Duke of Gandia, and of Joan of Aragon, daughter of Alphonso, natural son to Ferdinand V. surnamed the Catholic, King of Aragon. [He was born at Gandia, in the kingdom of Valencia, in the year of our Lord 1510.] He passed his boyhood at home in great innocence and godliness, and was still more remarkable for his Christian graces and the hardness of his living, at the Court of the Emperor Charles V., and as Vice-Roy of Catalonia. [On May the 1st, 1539] died the Empress Isabella, and Francis, [as her master of the horse,] was commanded to attend her body to Granada, where it was to be buried. [At Granada the coffin was opened, in order that he might swear to the magistrates of the city that it was indeed the body of the late Empress,] and the sight of the awful change which death had made in her countenance so thrilled him with the thought of our mortality and corruption, that he bound himself by vow, as soon as he lawfully might, to give up all things, and to serve the King of kings only. From that time he so advanced in Christian graces, that his life might be called the miracle of princes, showing, in the midst of a vast mass of business, an image of perfection attained in a cloister.\nFifth Lesson - Austerity, Obedience, and Apostolic Labor\nHis wife, Eleanora de Castro, died [on the 27th of March, 1546,] and [in 1551] he entered the Society of Jesus, that therein he might hide himself more safely, and bar by the obligation of a vow the path to dignities. He was the worthy leader of many princes who have embraced a life of hardship, and Charles V. himself when he resigned the Empire did not deny that he had been moved and shown the way by Francis. In his struggle after austerity Francis, by fasting, by iron chains, by the roughest of hair-cloth, by long and bloody flagellations, and by denying himself any but very little sleep, reduced his body to the last degree, but would still spare no toil to overcome himself and to save souls. Thus full of ghostly strength, he was appointed by holy Ignatius, [in the year 1554,] Commissary-General of the Society in Spain, Portugal, and the Indies, and [on the 2nd of July, 1565,] notwithstanding all the precautions he could take to prevent it, he was chosen by the general Congregation of the Society to be General, being the third who held that office. In this position his wisdom and holiness of life greatly endeared him to Princes and Popes, and besides founding or enlarging very many houses in divers places, he sent brethren into the kingdom of Poland, into the islands of the Ocean, and into the provinces of Mexico and Peru, and into other lands also Apostolic men who spread the Roman Catholic faith by their preaching, their sweat, and their blood.\nSixth Lesson - Francis the Sinner\nHe thought so little of himself that he gave himself the nickname of \"Francis the sinner.\" By the Popes he was oftentimes offered the dignity of Cardinal of the Roman Church, but the lowly firmness with which he refused it could never be overcome. In his cheap esteem of the world and of himself his chief pleasures were to clean the house, to beg for food from door to door, and to wait upon the sick in hospitals. He spent many hours every day, oftentimes eight and sometimes ten, in prayer and meditation. An hundred times every day he worshipped God upon his knees. He never missed the opportunity of offering the Holy Liturgy, and the fire from God which burnt within him sometimes shone forth in his countenance when he was lifting the Sacred Host, or preaching. By an inward power given him from God he could tell where the most Holy Body of Christ, under the Eucharistic veils, was kept. [In 1570, the year before the victory of Lepanto,] the blessed Pius V. sent Francis with the Cardinal Alexandrini on an embassy [into France, Spain, and Portugal,] to unite the Christian Princes against Turkey. His vital strength was then nearly worn out, but, through obedience, he undertook the toil of the journey. He became much worse during the travelling, and on his return brought to a blessed end at Rome, as had been his desire, the pilgrimage of this life, [a little before midnight between the last day of September and the first of October,] in the sixty-second year of his own life, and that of salvation 1572. Holy Teresa, who used his advice, called him an holy man, and Gregory XIII., a faithful servant. He was famous for many and great signs and wonders, and Clement X. at last numbered him among the Saints.\nTHE PILGRIM'S SPIRITUAL CONFERENCE\nThe Cross Is Daily\nThe Church places this truth before you today: The disciple of Christ must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Our Lord in obedience, penance, and perseverance. Do not hurry past it as though doctrine belonged only to books and controversies. A revealed truth is also a light by which the soul must judge its loyalties, its fears, its habits, and the duties immediately before it. Holiness is formed in ordinary fidelity before it is tested in public suffering.\nThe grace to be practiced is Renunciation of worldly honor, drawn from today's saintly witness. Ask God for more than the natural appearance of this virtue. Temperament may make an action seem easy for a time, but supernatural virtue remains faithful because God is worthy of obedience, even when feeling offers no assistance and no one notices the cost. Practice integrity of faith: receive Christ whole rather than selecting only what consoles or agrees with the age.\nThere is also an enemy to recognize: Resist a comfortable religion that admires Christ while refusing self-denial. Do not study this danger only in other people. Look quietly for the door by which it seeks entrance into your own soul - perhaps through delay, curiosity, resentment, human respect, attachment to comfort, or the desire to control the outcome. Dying to self today means choosing renunciation of worldly honor when pride, comfort, fear, resentment, or human respect asks for control.\nDo the faithful act and entrust its fruit to divine Providence, God's wise and loving governance of all things. Place effort and outcome into Our Lady's hands so that the whole offering may be presented to her Divine Son. Confidence in God is not passivity: obey, pray, work, and accept that visible success, consolation, or immediate relief may not be given. God remains faithful when the duty is hidden and the outcome uncertain. Therefore, perform the duty that belongs to you, use the lawful means God has provided, and then surrender the fruit. Accept the cost of belonging to the real Christ when the world offers a gentler counterfeit. Obey Christ's commandments today, beginning where feeling or human respect has encouraged delay.\nThe Church's witness: this truth manifests the Church's mark of holy; the witness placed beside it is St. Bede the Venerable.\nYour resolution before God: Test admired religious appearances by doctrine, valid worship, and Catholic obedience.\nCarry this word: The glory has departed wherever worship and doctrine are severed from truth.\nTHE PILGRIM'S MIRROR\n\"Take the cross, therefore, and follow Jesus, and thou shalt go into the life everlasting.\"\nThomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Book II, chapter 12, p. 72\nThe cross is not an interruption of the pilgrimage; united to Christ, it is the road. Stand beneath it with Our Lady instead of fleeing into resentment.\n\nYou are not asked to enjoy pain or pretend that evil is good. You are asked not to lose the good that grace can draw from what Providence permits. Carry the unavoidable burden without adding the heavier cross of rebellion, and offer its hidden weight for a soul in danger.\nToday's Practice: Receive today's unavoidable crosses and offer them through Mary for souls in need.\nDAILY EXAMEN\nExamine where you sought Christ's comfort while resisting His kingship, and ask pardon through the Sorrowful Mother.\n- For what grace or mercy should I thank God today?\n- What sin, fault, neglected duty, or resistance to grace must I confess?\n- What definite amendment will I carry into tomorrow?\nPRAYER\nO Lord, do not let me be satisfied with appearances when Thy glory is absent. Teach me to seek worship that is true, reverent, sacrificial, and received.\nDAILY RULE FOR THE PILGRIM\nA brief rule to keep every day:\nBegin with morning prayer\nAdore the Blessed Trinity and offer the whole day to Jesus through Mary before other duties claim the mind.\nKeep the Angelus\nPause morning, noon, and evening to remember the Incarnation.\nSeek Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament\nAttend Holy Mass when duty permits; otherwise make a Spiritual Communion and renew desire for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.\nReturn to Jesus and Mary\nUse frequent holy aspirations during work, waiting, suffering, and temptation.\nPray the Rosary\nKeep the mysteries of Christ before the mind with Our Lady and learn to imitate what they contain.\nEnd with night prayer and examen\nGive thanks, confess faults, forgive injuries, make a practical amendment, and entrust the night to Our Lady.\nCONTINUE STUDY\nTake Up Thy Cross Daily: https://cityofgodinexile.com/scripture-treasury/luke-9-23-deny-thyself-take-up-thy-cross-daily-and-the-standard-of-christ?entered=1\nOpen this day in the Sacred Calendar: https://cityofgodinexile.com/sacred-calendar?date=2030-10-10&entered=1\nOpen this day's Daily Pilgrimage: https://cityofgodinexile.com/daily-dispatch?date=2030-10-10&entered=1\nBrowse the Formation Index: https://cityofgodinexile.com/daily-dispatch/formation?entered=1","html":"\n\n \n \n \n City of God in Exile: St. Francis Borgia, Confessor - 2030-10-10\n \n \n
\n St. Francis Borgia, Confessor. The Cross Is Daily. Resist a comfortable religion that admires Christ while refusing self-denial.\n
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City of God in Exile

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St. Francis Borgia, Confessor

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2030-10-10 - Time after Pentecost - Semi-Double - white

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“Walk whilst you have the light, that the darkness overtake you not.”
John 12:35
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Plain-Language Guide for Today

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Confessor
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in the traditional calendar, a male saint who openly professed the Faith by a holy life but was not killed as a martyr.
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Valid sacrament or worship
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a sacramental rite truly effected according to Christ's institution and the Church's essential requirements, rather than merely appearing religious.

The full Breviary lessons preserve an older English translation. Read the modern explanation first; it identifies the people, event, and doctrine before the historical wording appears.

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Today in the Roman Year

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St. Francis Borgia learned how quickly beauty, rank, and favor pass away, and he allowed that knowledge to reorder his life. The thought of death is merciful when it breaks enchantment with what cannot save. Place every ambition before eternity today and reject whatever merely enlarges self instead of helping you serve God.

Ask Our Lady to make Jesus Christ known in you as He ought to be known: believed, adored, obeyed, and loved.

Profess faith in Jesus Christ as true God and true man, and ask His Mother to lead you into complete obedience to Him.

“Jesus Christ is not known as He ought to be.”

St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, no. 13

St. Louis de Montfort's grief is not that Our Lady receives too little attention as though she sought a kingdom apart from Christ. He grieves because ignorance of Mary's place accompanies an impoverished knowledge of Jesus. The Son is treated as an idea, a moral teacher, or a source of comfort rather than as the Incarnate King who came through her and demands the whole man.

Ask whether you know Christ only in the truths you prefer. To know Him as He ought to be known is to receive His divinity, His Cross, His Church, His commandments, His sacraments, His judgment, and His mercy without division. Let Mary uncover every partial or comfortable image of Jesus that must give way to the Catholic whole.

Test admired religious appearances by doctrine, valid worship, and Catholic obedience.

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Quote of the Day

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“Cast thy care upon our Lord: and he will nourish thee: he will not give fluctuation to the just for ever.”
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Holy Scripture, Psalm 54:23, Original Douay-Rheims

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Roman Martyrology - October 10

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At Rome, blessed John Leonard!, confessor, founder - of the Congregation of Clerks Regular of the Mother of God. He was illustrious by his labors and miracles, and through his instrumentality missions were established by the Propaganda. — In the island of Crete, blessed Pinytus, most noble among the bishops. He was bishop of Gnosia, and flourished under Marcus Antoninus Verus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus. He left in his writings, as in a mirror, a vivid delineation of himself. — At Cologne, in the persecution of Maximian, St. Gereon, martyr, with three hundred and eighteen others, who patiently bowed their necks to the sword for the true religion. — In the neighborhood of the same city, the holy martyrs Victor and his companions. — At Bonn, in Germany, the holy martyrs Cassius and Florentius, with many others. — At Nicomedia, the holy martyrs Eulampius, and his sister, the virgin Eulampia, who, hearing that her brother was tortured for Christ, rushed through the crowd, embraced him and became his companion. Both were cast into a caldron of boiling oil, but being quite uninjured, they terminated their martyrdom by decapitation with two hundred others, who, impressed by the miracle, had believed in Christ. — At York, in England, the holy bishop Paulinus, disciple of the blessed pope Gregory. Being sent thither by that pope with others to preach the Gospel, he converted king Edwin and his people to the faith of Christ. — At Piombino, in Tuscany, St. Cerbonius, bishop and confessor, who, as St. Gregory relates, was renowned for miracles, both during life and after death. — At Verona, another St. Cerbonius, bishop. — At Capua, St. Paulinus, bishop. — At Rome, St. Francis Borgia, Superior General of the Society of Jesus, celebrated for the austerity of his life, the gift of prayer, and for the firmness with which he renounced the dignities of the world, and refused those of the Church.

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Highlighted Saint

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St. Francis Borgia

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Confessor who renounced worldly dignities.

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The Martyrology honors St. Francis Borgia as Superior General of the Society of Jesus, celebrated for austerity of life, prayer, and firmness in renouncing worldly dignities.

His witness teaches the Catholic estimate of rank. Honors are dangerous when clung to, and fruitful when surrendered for Christ.

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Let St. Francis Borgia make honors look small beside eternity. The world can crown a man and still leave him poor before God.

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From Matins

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Earthly greatness set at nought for the King of kings.

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Matins - Second Nocturn - St. Francis Borgia, Confessor

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Roman Breviary, Proper lessons for St. Francis Borgia

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“Francis the sinner.”
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  • The Breviary remembers how the sight of worldly corruption moved Francis Borgia to vow that he would surrender all things and serve the King of kings.
  • He entered the Society of Jesus to hide himself from honors, then accepted grave offices under obedience while continuing austerity, prayer, missionary labor, and care for the sick.
  • His humility was concrete: he refused the cardinalate, begged food, cleaned the house, served hospitals, and called himself Francis the sinner.
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Make worldly honor answer to eternity. Humility does not always escape responsibility, but it refuses to feed on rank and remains willing to perform the lowest service.

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Full Breviary Lessons

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Fourth Lesson - The King of Kings Preferred to Earthly Greatness

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Francis, fourth Duke of Gandia, was the son of John Borgia, Duke of Gandia, and of Joan of Aragon, daughter of Alphonso, natural son to Ferdinand V. surnamed the Catholic, King of Aragon. [He was born at Gandia, in the kingdom of Valencia, in the year of our Lord 1510.] He passed his boyhood at home in great innocence and godliness, and was still more remarkable for his Christian graces and the hardness of his living, at the Court of the Emperor Charles V., and as Vice-Roy of Catalonia. [On May the 1st, 1539] died the Empress Isabella, and Francis, [as her master of the horse,] was commanded to attend her body to Granada, where it was to be buried. [At Granada the coffin was opened, in order that he might swear to the magistrates of the city that it was indeed the body of the late Empress,] and the sight of the awful change which death had made in her countenance so thrilled him with the thought of our mortality and corruption, that he bound himself by vow, as soon as he lawfully might, to give up all things, and to serve the King of kings only. From that time he so advanced in Christian graces, that his life might be called the miracle of princes, showing, in the midst of a vast mass of business, an image of perfection attained in a cloister.

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Fifth Lesson - Austerity, Obedience, and Apostolic Labor

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His wife, Eleanora de Castro, died [on the 27th of March, 1546,] and [in 1551] he entered the Society of Jesus, that therein he might hide himself more safely, and bar by the obligation of a vow the path to dignities. He was the worthy leader of many princes who have embraced a life of hardship, and Charles V. himself when he resigned the Empire did not deny that he had been moved and shown the way by Francis. In his struggle after austerity Francis, by fasting, by iron chains, by the roughest of hair-cloth, by long and bloody flagellations, and by denying himself any but very little sleep, reduced his body to the last degree, but would still spare no toil to overcome himself and to save souls. Thus full of ghostly strength, he was appointed by holy Ignatius, [in the year 1554,] Commissary-General of the Society in Spain, Portugal, and the Indies, and [on the 2nd of July, 1565,] notwithstanding all the precautions he could take to prevent it, he was chosen by the general Congregation of the Society to be General, being the third who held that office. In this position his wisdom and holiness of life greatly endeared him to Princes and Popes, and besides founding or enlarging very many houses in divers places, he sent brethren into the kingdom of Poland, into the islands of the Ocean, and into the provinces of Mexico and Peru, and into other lands also Apostolic men who spread the Roman Catholic faith by their preaching, their sweat, and their blood.

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Sixth Lesson - Francis the Sinner

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He thought so little of himself that he gave himself the nickname of "Francis the sinner." By the Popes he was oftentimes offered the dignity of Cardinal of the Roman Church, but the lowly firmness with which he refused it could never be overcome. In his cheap esteem of the world and of himself his chief pleasures were to clean the house, to beg for food from door to door, and to wait upon the sick in hospitals. He spent many hours every day, oftentimes eight and sometimes ten, in prayer and meditation. An hundred times every day he worshipped God upon his knees. He never missed the opportunity of offering the Holy Liturgy, and the fire from God which burnt within him sometimes shone forth in his countenance when he was lifting the Sacred Host, or preaching. By an inward power given him from God he could tell where the most Holy Body of Christ, under the Eucharistic veils, was kept. [In 1570, the year before the victory of Lepanto,] the blessed Pius V. sent Francis with the Cardinal Alexandrini on an embassy [into France, Spain, and Portugal,] to unite the Christian Princes against Turkey. His vital strength was then nearly worn out, but, through obedience, he undertook the toil of the journey. He became much worse during the travelling, and on his return brought to a blessed end at Rome, as had been his desire, the pilgrimage of this life, [a little before midnight between the last day of September and the first of October,] in the sixty-second year of his own life, and that of salvation 1572. Holy Teresa, who used his advice, called him an holy man, and Gregory XIII., a faithful servant. He was famous for many and great signs and wonders, and Clement X. at last numbered him among the Saints.

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The Pilgrim's Spiritual Conference

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The Cross Is Daily

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The Church places this truth before you today: The disciple of Christ must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Our Lord in obedience, penance, and perseverance. Do not hurry past it as though doctrine belonged only to books and controversies. A revealed truth is also a light by which the soul must judge its loyalties, its fears, its habits, and the duties immediately before it. Holiness is formed in ordinary fidelity before it is tested in public suffering.

The grace to be practiced is Renunciation of worldly honor, drawn from today's saintly witness. Ask God for more than the natural appearance of this virtue. Temperament may make an action seem easy for a time, but supernatural virtue remains faithful because God is worthy of obedience, even when feeling offers no assistance and no one notices the cost. Practice integrity of faith: receive Christ whole rather than selecting only what consoles or agrees with the age.

There is also an enemy to recognize: Resist a comfortable religion that admires Christ while refusing self-denial. Do not study this danger only in other people. Look quietly for the door by which it seeks entrance into your own soul - perhaps through delay, curiosity, resentment, human respect, attachment to comfort, or the desire to control the outcome. Dying to self today means choosing renunciation of worldly honor when pride, comfort, fear, resentment, or human respect asks for control.

Do the faithful act and entrust its fruit to divine Providence, God's wise and loving governance of all things. Place effort and outcome into Our Lady's hands so that the whole offering may be presented to her Divine Son. Confidence in God is not passivity: obey, pray, work, and accept that visible success, consolation, or immediate relief may not be given. God remains faithful when the duty is hidden and the outcome uncertain. Therefore, perform the duty that belongs to you, use the lawful means God has provided, and then surrender the fruit. Accept the cost of belonging to the real Christ when the world offers a gentler counterfeit. Obey Christ's commandments today, beginning where feeling or human respect has encouraged delay.

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The Church's witness: this truth manifests the Church's mark of holy; the witness placed beside it is St. Bede the Venerable.

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Your Resolution Before God

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Test admired religious appearances by doctrine, valid worship, and Catholic obedience.

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The glory has departed wherever worship and doctrine are severed from truth.
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The Pilgrim's Mirror

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How shall I imitate Christ today?

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“Take the cross, therefore, and follow Jesus, and thou shalt go into the life everlasting.”
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Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Book II, chapter 12, p. 72

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The cross is not an interruption of the pilgrimage; united to Christ, it is the road. Stand beneath it with Our Lady instead of fleeing into resentment.

You are not asked to enjoy pain or pretend that evil is good. You are asked not to lose the good that grace can draw from what Providence permits. Carry the unavoidable burden without adding the heavier cross of rebellion, and offer its hidden weight for a soul in danger.

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Today's Practice

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Receive today's unavoidable crosses and offer them through Mary for souls in need.

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Daily Examen

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Three questions before night prayer

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Examine where you sought Christ's comfort while resisting His kingship, and ask pardon through the Sorrowful Mother.

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  • For what grace or mercy should I thank God today?
  • What sin, fault, neglected duty, or resistance to grace must I confess?
  • What definite amendment will I carry into tomorrow?
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Prayer

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O Lord, do not let me be satisfied with appearances when Thy glory is absent. Teach me to seek worship that is true, reverent, sacrificial, and received.

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Daily Rule for the Pilgrim

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A brief rule to keep every day:

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Begin with morning prayer

Adore the Blessed Trinity and offer the whole day to Jesus through Mary before other duties claim the mind.

Keep the Angelus

Pause morning, noon, and evening to remember the Incarnation.

Seek Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament

Attend Holy Mass when duty permits; otherwise make a Spiritual Communion and renew desire for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

Return to Jesus and Mary

Use frequent holy aspirations during work, waiting, suffering, and temptation.

Pray the Rosary

Keep the mysteries of Christ before the mind with Our Lady and learn to imitate what they contain.

End with night prayer and examen

Give thanks, confess faults, forgive injuries, make a practical amendment, and entrust the night to Our Lady.

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Continue Study

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Carry today's lesson into a focused chapter from the library.

\n Take Up Thy Cross Daily\n
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Persevere, pilgrim.

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The gates remain open to the faithful.

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