The First Recruit

Pope Francis recently proclaimed his favorite Jesuit, Peter Favre, a saint, short-circuiting the typical“first recruit,” and he tutored the Jesuit founder in Greek while Ignatius schooled his pupil in his signature “Spiritual Exercises.”

canonization process that can drag on for centuries. Favre, who lived from 1506-1546, was a roommate of St. Francis Xavier and St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founders of the Jesuits, at the University of Paris. The Jesuits call Favre Ignatius’

Francis also moved three others along the path to sainthood, including approving a miracle attributed to the intercession of Sister Maria Teresa Demjanovich, a native of Bayonne, N.J., who died in 1927; and advancing the causes of Spanish priest Emanuele Herranz Estables and Polish layman George Ciesielski.

Favre was beatified by Pope Pius IX in 1872, but he was never credited with the required miracle that would formally elevate him to sainthood. Francis – the first Jesuit elected pope – waived that requirement and, according to the Vatican, “enrolled him in the catalogue of the Saints.”

It was the second time last year that Francis has dispensed with tradition, as is his style. In declaring Pope John XXIII a saint earlier this year – he'll be formally canonized with Pope John Paul II next year – Francis waived the required second miracle for the pope who convened the landmark Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Speaking to a consortium of Jesuit magazines last year, Francis praised Favre’s “dialogue with all, even the most remote and even with his opponents; his simple piety, a certain naivete perhaps, his being available straightaway, his careful interior discernment, the fact that he was a man capable of great and strong decisions but also capable of being so gentle and loving.”

Link (here) to The Charlotte Observer

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/01/24/4634855/pope-francis-names-peter-favre.html#.UusAxvv9XAU#storylink=cpy

St. Peter Canisius, S.J, "As The Mother Of The King Of Angels, And As The Bride And Beloved Of The King Of Heavens."

If we follow St. John Damascene, St. Athanasius, and others, are we not forced to call Mary "Queen," since her father David receives the highest praise in Scripture as a renowned king, and her Son as the King of kings and Lord of lords, reigning forever? She is Queen moreover when compared with the saints who reign like kings in the heavenly kingdom, co-heirs with Christ, the great King, placed on the same throne with Him, as the Scripture says. And as Queen she is second to none of the elect, but in dignity is raised so high above both Angels and men that nothing can be higher or holier than she, who alone has the same Son as God the Father, and who sees above her only God and Christ, and below her all creatures other than herself. The great Athanasius said clearly: Mary is not only the Mother of God, but also can be properly and truly called Queen and Lady, since in fact the Christ who was born of the Virgin Mother is God and Lord and also King. It is to this queen, therefore, that the Psalmists words are applied, 

"The Queen takes her place at Thy right hand in garments of Gold." Thus Mary is rightly called Queen, not only of heaven, but also of the heavens, as the Mother of the King of Angels, and as the Bride and beloved of the King of Heavens. 

O Mary, most august Queen and faithful Mother, to whom no one prays in vain who prays devoutly, and to whom all mortal men are bound by the enduring memory of so many benefits, again and again reverently I beseech thee to accept and be pleased with every evidence of my devotion to thee, to value the poor gift I offer according to the zeal with which it is offered, and to recommend it to thine all-powerful Son.

St. Peter Canisius, S.J. on the Blessed Virgin Mary his book is entitled, "On the Incomparable Virgin Mary, Mother of God" the excerpt is from book 15, chapter 13 
Link (here) to the St. Louis Catholic

Jesuit Blessed To Become Saint Peter Faber, S.J.

'MOTU PROPRIO' FOR THE WELL-BELOVED JESUIT'

One of Francis's decisions that is certainly personal is that of proceeding - as revealed in "Avvenire" by the journalist and friend of the current pope Stefania Falasca - with the canonization of the Savoyard Peter Faber, one of the founders of the Society of Jesus, now venerated as blessed.

The reasons for this intention are easy to identify in the evident analogy between the way in which Faber carried out his mission during the terrible period of crisis for the Church occasioned by the Protestant Reformation and the way in which pope Bergoglio today intends to fulfill the task of successor of Peter.

Faber, in fact, the historians recount, counter posed the witness of his own life and his insistence on a thorough internal reform of the Church to the theological controversies and to every illusion of being able to impose the authentic faith by force. And in doing so he earned the esteem of saints who nonetheless are considered seasoned champions of the Catholic Counter-Reformation, like Francis de Sales and Peter Canisius. In all probability, the canonization of Faber will take place without the usual ceremony but with a simple pontifical act that will certify the so-called canonization "equivalent." This is a procedure ordinarily used for personages who lived in past centuries and whom the pope, by virtue of his authority, decides to elevate to the rank of saint without the miracle attributed to their intercession, which is instead necessary in normal causes. This procedure has been used, for example, by Benedict XVI for Hildegard of Bingen, by John XXIII for Gregorio Barbarigo, by Pius XII for Margaret of Hungary, by Pius XI for Albert the Great.

Link (here) to Vatican Diary

I Want To Spend My Heaven By Doing Some Good Upon The Earth.

Saint Therese of Lisieux lying in state

Yet perhaps no woman since Catherine of Siena has influenced, and continues to influence, so many human lives as this French recluse! To us believers it is another striking illustration of the truth that the grain of wheat must fall into the ground and die in order to produce fruit. It is – one may reverently say – the story of Calvary over again. The Man whose words and example have revolutionized human thought and human existence more effectively than any other, died on a Cross, executed as a public malefactor by the official representative of the most flourishing empire the world has ever known.

In the story of Saint Therese, we may perhaps call attention to the following points as helping to explain the extraordinary impression she produced. It is an interesting and probably unique fact that as death approached she foresaw and foretold the spiritual triumph that would be hers after death, and the world-wide favor she would win. 

A few of her sentences uttered from her bed of pain have become household words in Catholic circles, such as her promise to send a “Shower of Roses,” or the words inscribed on the plain wooden cross erected over her grave in Lisieux cemetery: “Je veux passer mon ciel a faire du bien sur la terre.” (‘I want to spend my Heaven by doing some good upon the earth.’)  On July 16, 1897, Therese received Viaticum from the hands of a young priest who celebrated his first Mass in the Convent Chapel, and next day she made the following prophetic announcement to her sister, Mother Agnes, “I feel that my mission is soon to begin, my mission to make the good God loved as I love Him, to teach souls my ‘little way’. I will spend my heaven in doing good upon earth. There cannot be any rest for me till the end of the world, till the angels will have said ‘time is no more’.” Events since that memorable date have proved the truth of her prophecy. The records of the “Pluie de Roses” (‘Shower of Roses’) published year after year tell how generously she has kept her word.

Link (here) to the full article by Fr. Albert Power, S.J.