Eastern Rite: January 31th
Saints Cyrus, John and Athanasia (d. A.D. 292)
The Holy UnMercenary Cyrus was a noted physician in the city of Alexandria, where he was born and grew up. He was a Christian and he doctored all the sick for free, not only offering help for bodily ills, but healing also infirmities of soul, such as were causes of bodily sickness. Preaching the Gospel teaching, the holy physician converted many pagans to Christ. During the time of the persecution by Diocletian (284-305), Saint Cyrus withdrew into the Arabian wilderness, where he took on the monastic life, and continued there also to doctor people by his prayer, having received from God the gift to heal every sickness.
In the city of Edessa at this time lived the soldier John, a pious Christian. When the persecution started, he went to Jerusalem and there, hearing about Saint Cyrus, he began to search for him, and he went first to Alexandria and then to Arabia. Having finally found Saint Cyrus, John with all his heart became attached to him and became his faithful follower. They learned that in Egypt in the city of Canopis had been arrested the Christian Athanasia and her three young daughters: Theoktista -- age 15, Theodotia -- age 13, and Eudoxia -- age 11. Saints Cyrus and John hastened to go to them in help, worrying that fear in the face of torture might impel them to renounce Christ. They visited them in prison and gave them courage to stand what was before them. Learning of this, the governor of the city arrested Saints Cyrus and John, and convincing himself of their steadfast and fearless confession of faith in Christ, he gave them over to terrible tortures before the very eyes of Athanasia and her daughters, who in turn bravely endured all the tortures and were beheaded. After them at the same place they executed the holy UnMercenaries Cyrus and John (+ 311). Christians buried their bodies in a church of the holy Disciple and Evangelist Mark. In the V Century the relics of Saints Cyrus and John were transferred from Canopis to Manuphin. Later on their relics were transferred to Rome, and from there to Munchen (Munich) (an account further is located under 28 June).
- Source: www.stlukeorthodox.com
Roman Rite: January 31th
Saint John Bosco [Franciscan 3rd Order] (1815-1888)
John Bosco’s theory of education could well be used in today’s schools. It was a preventive system, rejecting corporal punishment and placing students in surroundings removed from the likelihood of committing sin. He advocated frequent reception of the sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion. He combined catechetical training and fatherly guidance, seeking to unite the spiritual life with one’s work, study and play.
Encouraged during his youth to become a priest so he could work with young boys, John was ordained in 1841. His service to young people started when he met a poor orphan and instructed him in preparation for receiving Holy Communion. He then gathered young apprentices and taught them catechism.
After serving as chaplain in a hospice for working girls, John opened the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales for boys. Several wealthy and powerful patrons contributed money, enabling him to provide two workshops for the boys, shoemaking and tailoring.
By 1856, the institution had grown to 150 boys and had added a printing press for publication of religious and catechetical pamphlets. His interest in vocational education and publishing justify him as patron of young apprentices and Catholic publishers.
John’s preaching fame spread and by 1850 he had trained his own helpers because of difficulties in retaining young priests. In 1854 he and his followers informally banded together under Francis de Sales.
With Pope Pius IX’s encouragement, John gathered 17 men and founded the Salesians in 1859. Their activity concentrated on education and mission work. Later, he organized a group of Salesian Sisters to assist girls.
- Source: Saint of the Day
Lives, Lessons and Feast
By Leonard Foley, O.F.M.; revised by Pat McCloskey, O.F.M.
St. John Bosco, one of the greatest saints of modern times, was born in a Piedmontese village in 1815. When he was 2 years old, he lost his father, a humble peasant farmer; and he was brought up by his saintly Tertiary mother, Margaret. It was no doubt due to her example and influence that John too joined the Third Order of St. Francis.
Even as a youngster, John recognized that it was his vocation in life to help poor boys; and he began to teach catechism to the boys of his own village and bring them to church. Acrobatic stunts and conjuring tricks were the means he used to get them together.
At 16 he entered the seminary at Chieri. He was so poor at the time, that the mayor contributed a hat, the parish priest a cloak, one parishioner a cassock, and another a pair of shoes. After he was ordained a deacon he passed on to the seminary in Turin; and there, with the approbation of his superiors, he began to gather together on Sundays poor apprentices and waifs of the city.
Not long after his ordination to the priesthood in June, 1841, he established what he called a Festive Oratory, a kind of Sunday school and recreation center for boys, in Turin. His mother came to be his housekeeper and mother of the Oratory. Two more Oratories in the same city followed. When Father John Bosco's mother did in 1856, the Oratories housed 150 resident boys; and there were four Latin classes and four workshops, one of them a printing press. Ten young priests assisted Father John in his work. Father John was also much in demand as a preacher; and he spent half of his nights in writing popular books in order to provide good reading.
Father John's confessor and spiritual director was the saintly Tertiary priest Joseph Cafasso; and Father John too gained the reputation of being a saint. Miracles, mostly of healing, were attributed to him. By his kindness and sympathy and his marvelous power of reading the thoughts of his boys, he exercised a profound influence upon his charges. He was able to rule them with apparent indulgence and absence of punishment, something the educationists of the day could not understand.
In 1854 Father John founded the religious order of Salesians, so called in honor of St. Francis de Sales. Its members devote themselves to the education of poor boys. The new society grew rapidly. Father John lived to see 38 houses established in the Old World and 26 in the New World. Today it is one of the largest orders of men in the Church.
Father John also founded a sisterhood called Daughters of St. Mary Auxiliatrix; and he organized many outside helpers into the Salesian Co-operators, who are pledged to assist in some way the educational labors of the Salesians. In 1930 they totalled 800,000.
Father John's last great work was the building of Sacred Heart Church in Rome, a task which was entrusted to him by Pope Pius IX after it has seemed to be a hopeless project. The holy priest, who was everywhere acclaimed as a saint and wonderworker, gathered funds for the church in Italy and France; and somehow he succeeded where others had failed. But in doing so he wore himself out. and on January 31, 1888, he was called to his reward. Forty thousand persons came to pay their respects as his body lay in state in the church at Turin; and his funeral resembled a triumphal procession.
St. John was canonized in 1934.
ON THINKING KINDLY OF OTHERS
1. What was the secret of St. John Bosco's wholesome influence on the boys who came under his care? Was it not the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi and of St. Francis de Sales, with which he was deeply imbued? A spirit, which made him think kindly of these boys in the first place, and then caused him to do all he could for their temporal and spiritual welfare? Thinking kindly of others, we will have understanding for them, judge them charitably, and show them our esteem. To understand another means to put ourselves in his place and to take into consideration everything which has made and makes him what he is: his character and disposition, his background and environment, his interests and strivings, his problems and needs. To understand another means to go beyond the narrowness of human judgement and to acquire something of the depth and breadth of the vision of God, who has the deepest understanding for every human being. It means to become similar to our divine Saviour, in whom the goodness and love of God became visible, and who during His sojourn on earth showed such deep and loving understanding for His Apostles and all who came to Him with their problems or listened to His word. When there is perfect harmony between two persons, we say that they understand each other; when there is disharmony, it is often due to misunderstandings.
2. He who has understanding for others, will also judge them with charity and mercy, even when their faults are evident and undeniable. He will not be inflexible and harsh in his judgement, for he will discover mitigating circumstances and recognize many good qualities. The all-holy God does not cast off and despise the sinner, even when his sins are grievous ands inexcusable. His love and grace pursues every human soul in order to bring the good in it to victory and perfection. Thinking kindly of others and judging them charitably makes us like God; it is a sign that we are united with God in love. It is an indication of greatness of soul and spiritual maturity. Like St. Francis de Sales, St. John Bosco was criticized for being too kind and indulgent; but he understood his boys and judged them charitably because of his nobility of soul and his constant union with God.
3. He who thinks kindly of others will also show them esteem; and sincere esteem is a source of great pleasure and encouragement to the recipient. It makes him feel that we believe in the good that is in him, or at least that we believe in his final victory. By showing esteem to another we appeal to his sense of honor, and this is a powerful moral force which the Creator Himself has implanted in all men. On the other hand, a culprit who receives only contempt from his fellowmen often loses the last particle of his self-respect and self-confidence and with it all moral support and incentive. St. John Bosco believed in the good that was in his boys; he encouraged them to keep on trying; he had compassion with them in their difficulties; he was solicitous about their temporal and spiritual progress. Always to think kindly of our fellowman, and to prove it by seeking to understand him, to judge him charitably, and to show him our esteem -- that is the Franciscan way of dealing with our neighbor and loving him sincerely.
PRAYER OF THE CHURCH
O God, who hath raised up in Thy confessor St. John Bosco a father and teacher of youth, and didst will that through him with the help of the Virgin Mary new religious families should flourish in the Church, grant, we beseech Thee, that enkindled by the same fire of charity we may be able to labor in finding souls and serve only Thee. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
from: The Franciscan Book of Saints, ed. by Marion Habig, ofm., © 1959 Franciscan Herald Press
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