News - October 2023 RSS Feed

Saint Maria de Mathis founded the Adorers of the Blood of Christ in Italy in 1834. The vision for this new congregation was that the sisters should provide a reconciling presence among the poor. According to the Constitutions of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ each sister should be “a living image of that divine charity with which [Christ’s] blood was shed, and of which it was and is sign, expression, measure and pledge.”

Pierre Péteul was born on March 30, 1895. He served in the French army during the First World War. He was wounded at Verdun and received the distinction of five citations and the Croix de Guerre. After the war he entered the Capuchin Franciscan Friars where he received the religious name Marie-Benoît. He was sent to Rome where he earned a doctorate in theology. In 1940, he returned to France where he was stationed at Marseilles.

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Today, I want to present some thoughts on this important and relevant topic. “The number of women who are beaten and abused in their homes, even by their husbands is very, very high,” Pope Francis said in answer to a question by a woman named Giovanna, a victim of domestic violence .. “The problem is that, for me, it is almost satanic because it is taking advantage of a person who cannot defend herself, who can only [try to] block the blows,” he said. “It is humiliating. Very humiliating.” Giovanna said that she had four children to take care of after they escaped from a violent home. For women suffering abuse, help is available.

Dorothy Mae Stang was born in Dayton, Ohio on June 7, 1931. After she graduated from high school in 1948, she entered the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. Sr. Dorothy professed her final vows in 1956. From 1951 to 1966 she taught in Catholic elementary schools in Illinois and Arizona. In 1966 she volunteered to work in Brazil. Eventually she was drawn to the remote regions of the Amazon and the cause of poor farmers who were exploited and robbed by rich loggers and cattle barons. Because of her criticisms of illegal logging and her continual defense of poor farmers, her co-workers named her “the steel flower.”