MARCH 4, 2024 – LENT DAY 20 – ST. CASIMIR, KING.
- St. Casimir (Kazimierz) (1484). Patron or Patroness. Male Poland & Lithunia. (Current, Traditional) Prince of Poland
- St. Lucius I (254). Martyr, Pope. (Traditional)
CASIMIR, the second son of Casimir III., King of Poland, was born A.D. 1458. From the custody of a most virtuous mother, Elizabeth of Austria, he passed to the guardianship of a devoted master, the learned and pious John Dugloss. Thus animated from his earliest years by precept and example, his innocence and piety soon ripened into the practice of heroic virtue. At the age of twenty-five, sick of a lingering illness, he foretold the hour of his death, and chose to die a virgin rather than take the life and health which the doctors held out to him in the married state. In an atmosphere of luxury and magnificence the young prince had fasted, worn a hair shirt, slept upon the bare earth, prayed by night, and watched for the opening of the church-doors at dawn. He had become so tenderly devoted to the Passion of our Lord, that at Mass he seemed quite rapt out of himself, and his charity to the poor and afflicted knew no bounds. His love for our Blessed Lady he expressed in a long and beautiful hymn, familiar to us in our own tongue. The miracles wrought by his body after death fill a volume. The blind saw, the lame walked, the sick were healed, a dead girl was raised to life. And once the Saint in glory led his countrymen to battle, and delivered them by a glorious victory from the schismatic Russian hosts.
One hundred and twenty-two years after his death the Saint’s tomb in the cathedral of Vienna was opened, that the holy body might be transferred to the rich marble chapel where it now lies. The place was damp, and the very vault crumbled away in the hands of the workmen; yet the Saint’s body, wrapt in robes of silk, was found whole and incorrupt, and emitted a sweet fragrance, which filled the church and refreshed all who were present. Under his head was found his hymn to our Lady, which he had had buried with him. The following night three young men saw a brilliant light issuing from the open tomb and streaming through the windows of the chapel.
REFLECTION: Let the study of St. Casimir’s life make us increase in devotion to the most pure Mother of God, a sure means of preserving holy purity.
WORD OF THE DAY
FORTUNE-TELLING. The art of manifesting to another the fortune (luck), good or bad, that the future has in store for him or her. The real objective in fortune-telling is the disclosure of future events. Quite often, though, to inspire confidence, the fortune-teller will communicate bits of information about a person’s past that would be naturally unknown to anyone else. As a presumed help in peering into the world of secret events they employ, for example, tea leaves, a crystal sphere, or a small pool of blood.
The Church considers it gravely wrong to consult a fortune-teller who is known to seriously claim access to the knowledge of future events. It would be a sin of formal co-operation. It is likewise wrong to consult a person who may not actually make such claims, but whom the client believes to be a fortune-teller with powers of divination. The gravity of the sin would depend on how seriously one takes the fortune-teller. If neither party takes the thing seriously and someone has a fortune told as a pastime, there is no sin. But even in this case the danger is that if what was predicted actually takes place, one’s faith in fortune-telling is (or may be) aroused and there is danger that what began as amusement may become a temptation to learn about the future through forbidden means.
Modern Catholic Dictionary, Fr. John Hardon SJ (Get the real one at Eternal Life — don’t accept an abridged or edited version of this masterpiece!)
LENT MEDITATION DAY 20
Enjoy daily meditations this lent from Fr. Richard Clarke, SJ. Short and powerful, written in 1880 for busy lay people to reap rewards through lent. (includes audio) Lent Day 20: Monday after the Third Sunday in Lent — The Condemnation of Christ.
March is St. Joseph
Daily devotionals on Saint Joseph: March 4th — St. Joseph’s Betrothal.
This article, MARCH 4, 2024 – LENT DAY 20 – ST. CASIMIR, KING. is a post from The Bellarmine Forum.
https://bellarmineforum.org/march-4-2024-lent-day-20-st-casimir-king/
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