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January 2010

NEW YEAR'S DAY
Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God
World Day of Prayer for Peace
First Friday
"We must also spare a thought for the coming year and resolve to train ourselves in generous resolutions. On this first day of the new year, I wish to express the love of my fatherly heart in one wish: live happily. My wish shall come true if you learn the secret of a happy life from the Eucharist." [Blessed Conforti on Jan. 1, 1924 - Antol. 253]
1918 - Blessed Conforti publishes the 'Father's Word' a series of articles by our founder on mission call and life
See January Mission and Church Intentions of the Pope
1982 - Opening of the Xaverian house in Murcia, Spain

Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops and Teachers
"As the Apostle says, in God we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). God has given us our being, and preserves our being in every moment." [Blessed Conforti on Jan. 6, 1913 - Antol. 604]
See January Mission and Church Intentions of the Pope

Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord
The Most Holy Name of Jesus
National Migration Week begins
"Let us therefore enter with a spirit of faith into the grotto of Bethlehem, just like the shepherds did when they were called by the Angels as they tended their flocks in the nearby countryside, and let us kneel down with them before the manger." [Blessed Conforti on Dec. 25, 1921 - Antol. 488]
1952 - Xaverian Msgr. Dante Battaglierin becomes Bishop of the Diocese of Jessore, Bangladesh

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, foundress of the Sisters of Charity
"Christ is all and in all (Col. 3:11): he wanted the Gospel to be preached to all creatures, because being the model for all, Christ should be imitated by everyone." [Blessed Conforti in 1920]
1903 - Bishop Conforti enters privately the diocese of Ravenna as Bishop, in the middle of the night

St. John Neumann, bishop and promoter of parish schools
"This particular event of the birth of Christ contains an entire moral conversion: it establishes the beginning of the new order of ideas which must change the face of the earth." [Blessed Conforti FCT 28, 152 - Antol. 489]

Blessed André Bessette, religious and healer
"The Epiphany of our Lord must be for us one of the greatest and happiest events of our history, marking as it does the beginning of that new era of brotherhood, prosperity and peace which comes from Christ." [Blessed Conforti on Jan. 6, 1911 - Antol. 34]
1911 - Blessed Conforti preaches in the Cathedral of Parma, on the necessity of 'sustaining the mission work of the Church'
1921 - Final approval of the Xaverian Constitutions
1987 - Ordination of Bishop G. Biguzzi, for Sierra Leone

St. Raymond of Peñafort, priest and scholar
"Two thousand years ago, the Apostle Paul condemned the separatist and dogmatist nationalism: for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, enriching all who call upon him." (Rom. 10:12) [Blessed Conforti on Sept. 6, 1924 - Antol. 338]
Orthodox Christmas

"Far from placing obstacles in the path of the social or political progress of his own country, he proclaims the Christian principle that should defeat all tyranny. People do not exist for governments, but governments exist for the people." [Blessed Conforti on Jan. 14, 1911 - Antol. 419]
1931 - Bishop Conforti blesses the cameras and mass-media machinery used for the Xaverian movie 'Our Africa'

"The Apostle summarizes the goal of Christianity with these words: renew your mind in the Spirit, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body." (2Cor. 4:10) [Blessed Conforti on Jan. 14, 1912]
1930 - Xaverian Msgr. Assuero Bassi is named Apostolic Prefect of Loyang, Honan, China

Feast of the Baptism of the Lord
National Vocation Awareness Week begins
"We solemnly professed to God to imitate Jesus Christ, example and model of those who are predestined: for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." (Gal. 3:27) [Blessed Conforti on Oct. 30, 1910]
1991 - Xaverians arrive in the Philippines

Ordinary Time begins
"Put on the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 13:14), I will say with the Apostle, if you want to truly live of his life." [Blessed Conforti on Jan. 14, 1912]

"Fear not, for the grace which sustained St. Paul, will bear you up in the face of the most arduous trials." [Blessed Conforti on Nov. 19, 1924 - Departure Discorse #12]

St. Hilary, Bishop
"In all the meetings and events of our lives, may we make our own the words of the Apostle: What shall I do, o Lord?" (Acts 22:10) [Blessed Conforti on Nov. 1, 1917]
1906 - After an audience with Pope Pius X, Blessed Conforti accompanies departing China missionaries Frs. Armelloni, Pellerzi and Uccelli to the port of Naples

"Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6): Faith is the most precious of all treasurers, the fountain of all graces, the foundation of all virtues, the root of our justification." [Blessed Conforti on Jan. 6, 1917]
1920 - Blessed Conforti writes to the members of the Missionary Union of the Clergy, introducing them to the Encyclical of Pope Benedict XV 'Maximum Illud'
1960 - With decree from the Propagation of Faith, the Xaverians establish the 'International Conforti House' in Rome
1875 - Birthday of Albert Schweitzer

St. Arnold Janssen, Founder of the Divine World Missionaries
1929 - Birth of Martin Luther King, Jr.
"As the Apostle said, in him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28) He has given us our being and he preserves our being in every moment… We do not belong to ourselves but to God." [Blessed Conforti on Jan. 6, 1917 - Antol. 604]

"The priest is a man of God and of the world, constituted for the people, responsible of their interests, consoler of their afflictions, expiator of their sins, ambassador, mediator with heavenly powers for this purpose." [Blessed Conforti on Jan. 14, 1911]

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
St. Anthony, Abbot and Founder of Religious Life
96th World Day of Migrants and Refugees
"Jesus Christ has taught us to ask for the necessary, and so St. Paul could write: if we have food and clothing, we shall be content with that." (1Tim. 6:8) [Blessed Conforti on Dec. 8, 1917]

USA - National Observance of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Christian Unity Week begins
"What a danger, exclaims St. Bernard, if the shepherd does not find good pastures, if the guide ignores the road, and whomever takes the place of the shepherd and of the owner does not know the will of the Lord." [Blessed Conforti on Dec. 21, 1903]
1904 - Blessed Conforti gives the Crucifix to Frs. Calza, Sartori, Brambilla and Bonardi, departing missionaries for Honan, China

"It is important that we are united… like stones in a building that has the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone." (Eph. 2:20) [Blessed Conforti on Jan. 14, 1914]
1906 - Blessed Conforti writes the First Circular Letter to the Xaverians

St. Fabian, pope and martyr and St. Sebastian, martyr
"Even more important is that we are united with the Church, as the Apostle teaches: one body and one Spirit… one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." (Eph. 4:4-6) [Blessed Conforti on Jan. 14, 1914]
1921 - Blessed Conforti writes a Pastoral Letter on Catholic Youth Organizations

St. Agnes, virgin and martyr of the fourth century
"In my unworthiness, I pray the Lord to grant us that unity of mind and heart that the Divine Master left as his final and treasured legacy to the Apostles and those who would believe in him; may this unity reign among the members of our humble Congregation." [Blessed Conforti on July 2, 1921 - Antol. 332]

St. Vincent, deacon and martyr of Spain
USA - Day of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion, and day of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right of life, on the Anniversary of Supreme Court decision, Roe vs. Wade (1973)
"Let each one carefully protect the bonds of this sacred unity and avoid anything that could weaken it." [Blessed Conforti on July 2, 1921 - LT #9 - Antol. 333]
1931 - Blessed Conforti introduces to the Clergy of Parma the Encyclical by Pius XI on Holy Matrimony

"It is in this way that we form the marvelous unity in the Church, which the Apostle St. Paul spoke with such enthusiasm: Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work mighty deeds? (1Cor. 12:29) In fact, they are not! For the body is not one member, but made up by many parts." [Blessed Conforti on Jan. 14, 1914]
1923 - Blessed Conforti presides over a week-long celebration of the arrival of the Relic of St. Francis Xavier at the Motherhouse in Parma, Italy
1927 - Blessed Conforti writes his last letter to the members of the Missionary Union of the Clergy as he concludes his mandate as president of this organization

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
St. Francis de Sales, bishop and patron of writers
"True love… is made perfect by the holy Sacraments, especially by the one which Aquinas calls, the sacrament of ecclesiastical unity, in accordance with the words of the Apostle: because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf." (1Cor. 10:17) [Blessed Conforti on Jan. 14, 1914 - Antol. 127]

The Conversion of St. Paul, Apostle
"St. Paul repeatedly wrote that Christ is the head of the body, the church (Col. 1:18), that you are Christ's body, and individually parts of it (1Cor. 12:27), and that we have many parts… so we, though many, are one body in Christ." (Rom. 12:5) [Blessed Conforti on Jan. 1, 1921]
1907 - Blessed Conforti writes the second Circular Letter
1929 - Blessed Conforti writes the seventh Circular Letter to the Xaverians and an open letter to the diocese of Parma on his recent visit of China
1988 - Apostolic letter 'Euntes in Mundum' by Pope John Paul II on bringing the Gospel of Christ to the World [Jan. 25, 1988]

Saints Timothy and Titus, bishops and companions of St. Paul
"The Apostle Paul exhorts Timothy to set himself as an example for those who believe, in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity." (1Tim. 4:12) [Blessed Conforti in 1922]
1958 - Opening of the Xaverian novitiate in Brazil

St. Angela Merici, foundress of the Ursulines, teaching order especially for poor girls, wives and mothers
"This is a program for Christian life: to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age, training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires, as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of the great God and of our savior Jesus Christ." (Tit. 2:12-13) [Blessed Conforti on Jan. 1, 1920 - Antol. 704]

St. Thomas Aquinas, priest and doctor, patron of schools and universities
"We are predestined (see Rom. 8:29) first of all to be faithful copies of the God made flesh. Our glory after this present life will be proportionate to how well we became similar to Jesus Christ, the divine model for all the predestined." [Blessed Conforti on Aug. 15, 1920]
1898 - Conforti is named Archdeacon of the Cathedral of Parma
1972 - The Amazon Region of Brazil becomes a Province

"The phrase of St. Paul should be the password for all who believe: Christ is all and in all (Col. 3:11). In everything and in everyone Christ, and his living Spirit." [Blessed Conforti on Jan. 14, 1919]

"If we show love to God, we should also do good to people, for it is written: be concerned for what is noble in the sight of all." (Rom. 12:17) [Blessed Conforti in 1922]
1948 - Mohandas Mahatma Gandhi assassinated

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
St. John Bosco, priest and founder of the Salesians, dedicated to educating youth
"Saint Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo and Don Bosco were men of prayer, which gave them the strength and the help to triumph over all the obstacles that stood in the way of the fulfillment of their great plans... By their example they eloquently tell us that nothing is more powerful than the person who prays." [Blessed Conforti on Feb. 8, 1918 - Antol. 607]
World Leprosy Day