Valentin Paquay (1828-1905)

Religious Priest of the Order of Friars Minor
Valentin Paquay was born on 17 November 1828 in Tongres, Belgium, the fifth of 11 children to Henry and Anna Neven. His parents were profoundly religious and honest, and raised their children according to these standards. Following elementary school Valentin entered the school of Tongres directed by the Canons Regular of St Augustine in order to continue his literary studies, and in 1845 he was accepted into the seminary of St-Trond where he studied rhetoric and philosophy.
His vocation to the Order of Friars Minor
In 1847 Valentin's father died unexpectedly; with his mother's approval the young man entered the Order of Friars Minor, beginning his novitiate in the convent of Thielt on 3 October 1849.
On 4 October the following year, he made his religious profession at the hands of Fr Ugoline Demont, guardian of the convent. Immediately after, he went to Beckheim to attend a theological course which was concluded in the convent of St-Trond.
Valentin was ordained a priest on 10 June 1854 in Liegi. He was then sent by his superiors to Hasselt, where he remained for the rest of his life, serving as a guardian and vicar of his Order. In 1890 and in 1899 he was also appointed provincial.
Like St Francis, a simple, humble man of God
Fr Valentin lived deeply the Franciscan spirituality, stressing the value of every moment and educating all to appreciate even the smallest and most simple of things that life brings. All of this was carried out with the most sincere and spontaneous humility.
Fr Valentin was also tireless in the field of apostolic work and preached "non-stop"; indeed, he was well known for his simple yet persuasive words.
He was an especially devoted confessor and had the gift of penetrating in an extraordinary way the conscience of penitents, who would travel great lengths to make their Confession to this holy, humble priest of God.
In addition, he served as the director of the Fraternity of the Franciscan Secular Order of Hasselt for 26 years.
Special veneration for the "Immaculate Conception'
Fr Valentin was extremely devoted to the Eucharist and to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He also possessed a deep devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary stemming from his childhood days in the parish church of Tongres, where Our Lady was venerated under the title of "Cause of our Joy".
As a Franciscan, however, he venerated her especially as the "Immaculate Conception"; he had been ordained a priest in the same year that the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception was proclaimed.
Fr Valentin Paquay died in Hasselt on 1 January 1905 at the age of 77.
Fr Valentin Paquay is truly a disciple of Christ and a priest according to the heart of God. As an apostle of mercy, he spent long hours in the confessional, with a special gift to place sinners anew on the right path, reminding men and women of the greatness of divine forgiveness. Placing the celebration of the Eucharistic mystery at the centre of his priestly life, he invited the faithful to come frequently to communion with the Bread of Life.
Like many saints, at a young age Fr Valentin was entrusted to the protection of Our Lady, who was invoked under the title of Cause of our Joy in the Church where he grew up, in Tongres.
Following his example, may you be able to serve your brothers and sisters to give them the joy of meeting Christ in truth!

Spirituality of the Creator

"For not only does the authority of the divine books declare that God is;

but the whole nature of the universe itself which surrounds us,

and to which we also belong,

proclaims that it has a most excellent Creator,

who has given to us a mind and natural reason,

whereby to see that

things living are to be preferred to things that are not living;

things that have sense to things that have not;

things that have understanding to things that have not;

things immortal to things mortal;

things powerful to things impotent;

things righteous to things unrighteous;

things beautiful to things deformed:

things good to things evil;

things incorruptible to things corruptible;

things changeable to things changeable;

things invisible to things visible;

things incorporeal to things corporeal;

things blessed to things miserable.

And hence,

since without doubt we place the Creator above things created,

we must needs confess that the Creator both lives in the highest sense,

and perceives and understands all things.

and that He cannot die,

or suffer decay,

or be changed;

and that He is not a body,

but a spirit,

of all the most powerful,

most righteous,

most beautiful,

most good,

most blessed."

St Augustine, On the Trinity, 15, 4.6

fratello sole sorella luna - dolce sentire

San Francesco d'Assisi: l'uomo semplice

Giosy Cento: Chiara e Francesco

Francesco vai

Perfetta Letizia- San Francesco

Frate Francesco - Perfetta letizia

ALDO FABRIZI - FRANCESCO GIULLARE DI DIO - 1 (aka The Flowers of St. Fra...

The Flowers of St. Francis (Roberto Rossellini, 1950)

The Little Flowers of St. Francis

ALDO FABRIZI - FRANCESCO GIULLARE DI DIO - 2 (aka The Flowers of St. Fra...

St. Aloysius Gonzaga

Prayer of St. Francis by Sarah Mclachlan

Prayer of St. Francis, sung by Angelina, EWTN

The Power of Touch, St. Francis's Canticle

How Great Is Our God

AWESOME GOD

Silence By Fr. Francoïs de Ruijte, OFM

Silence is a place
Where I can meet myself in depth.
Silence is a place
Where I can meet my God.
Silence is a place
Where I meet you and you anew.
Silence is a place
Where friendship grows.
Silence is a place
Where closeness is found.
Silence is a place
Where you and I are one.
Silence is a place
To rediscover the child within ourselves.
Silence is a place
Where I can learn to hear.
Silence is a place
Where plays a symphony of insights.
Silence is a place
Where sound gets back its place.
Silence is a place
To drink deep from the fountain of reality
In a world of illusions.
Silence is a place
To enter into communion
And to expand into the universe.
Silence is a place
Where it is good to read a book
Slowly, absorbingly, meditatively,
Like the Bible.

(Theology)

Silence is a sanctuary
To listen to the Spirit.
Silence is a place
Where God's Spirit inspires our spirit
To act, to commit ourselves, to pray, to adore.
Silence is a place
Where God's throne is located.
Silence is a place
Where, in the beginning, God created heaven and earth
And saw it was good.
Silence is a place
Where visions take place. (Daniel 8:26-27)

Silence is a place
Where the whole earth should be before Yahweh
Who is in his holy Temple. (Habakkuk 2:20)

Silence is a place
Where God's all-powerful Word leapt down from heaven. (Wisdom 18:14-15)

Silence is a place
Where we wait for Yahweh to save. (Lamentations 3:20)
Silence is a place
Where a shrewd man keeps safe. (Ecclesiasticus 20:1)

Silence is a place
Where I keep my soul
Like a child in its mother's arms. (Psalm 131:2)

Silence is a place
Where the dead cannot praise Yahweh. (Psalm 115:17)
Silence is a place
Where, for endless ages, was kept the revelation of a mystery,
The proclamation of Jesus Christ,
The call of the pagans to salvation. (Romans 16:25-26)

(Spirituality)

Silence is a place
To sing "Jesus! Jesus!"
Silence is a place
To dialogue with our guardian angel.
Silence is a place
To remember our deceased parents and friends.
Silence is a place
Where the deceased speak to us.
Silence is a place
To prepare for heaven.
Silence is a place
Where the human heart encounters the Absolute.
Silence is a place
Where blossoms God's joy.

(Morality)

Silence is a place
Where the conscience remembers.
Silence is a place
Where "is often guilt instead of golden." (Braude)

Silence is a place
Where all our faults are pardoned,
And Yahweh renews his covenant with us. (Ezekiel 16:62-63)

Silence is a place
Where charity prevails.
Silence is a place
Where our heavenly Father speaks to us in love.
Silence is a place
Where God sees your doing a good deed.

(Franciscan)

Silence is a place
Where the Man of Assisi found the inspiration
To pray "My God and my All".
Silence is a place
Which Clare and her sisters
Use as a training-ground for contemplation.
Silence is a place
Where hermit and monk
Unearth values for living.
Silence is a place
Where preacher and priest
Hear the whisper of God.

(Nature)

Silence is a place
Where sister Snow flake visits the earth.
Silence is a place
Where sister rain drop drenches the soil.
Silence is a place
Where brother sun ray warms our skins.
Silence is a place
Where sister moon smiles in the sky.
Silence is a place
Where sisters stars flicker at the firmament.
Silence is a place
Where the flower drops its seed.
Silence is a place
Where the night is richer than the day.
Silence is a place
Where night prepares the coming day.
Silence is a place
Where life is conceived
And death is deceived.
Silence is a place
Where dark sees the light.
Silence is a place
Where time touches eternity.

(Science)

Silence is a place
Where the orchestra fills the air with its tunes.
Silence is a place
Where engines roar their noise.
Silence is a place
Where the computer searches your question.
Silence is a place
Where the surgeon's scalpel cuts away the infection.
Silence is a place
Where cosmonauts trek through space.

(Conclusion)

Silence is a place
Where wisdom is learnt.
Silence is a place
Where solutions are found.
Silence is a place
To wake up and to plan for the day to come
Or for the future.
Silence is a place
Where it is good to rest or just to be.
Silence is a place
To write
And stop.

Glory To You, My Lord

ll Glory to you, most high, omnipotent, and good Lord
    Praise and honor forever, and every blessing.
        To you alone, most high One, should these be given
        And no man is worthy of naming you.
    Glory to you, my Lord, for all your creatures
        Especially our brother, the sun,
        Who is the day, and by whom you give us light:
        He is beautiful and radiant with great splendor
        And bears witness to you, most high One.
    Glory to you, my Lord, for sister moon and the stars
        You have made in heaven clear, precious, and beautiful.
    Glory to you, my Lord, for brother wind
        And for air and cloud and serene sky
        And all the different weathers
        By which you sustain all creatures.
    Glory to you, my Lord, for sister water
        Who is very useful and humble
        And precious and pure.
    Glory to you, my Lord, for brother fire
         By whom you illumine night
         And he is beautiful and joyful and robust and full of power.
    Glory to you, my Lord, for our sister mother earth
        Who sustains and governs us And produces different fruits
        And brightly colored flowers and grass.
    Glory to you, my Lord,
        For those who forgive for love of you
        And bear sickness and ordeals.
        Happy are those who bear them in peace
        For they will be crowned by you, most high Lord.
     Glory be to you, my Lord,
        For our sister bodily death
        From whom no living man can escape.

ord, make me an instrument of thy peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
    Where there is injury, pardon;
    Where there is doubt, faith;
    Where there is despair, hope;
    Where there is darkness, light;
    Where there is sadness, joy.
    0 divine Master, grant that
    I may not so much seek
         To be consoled as to console,
        To be understood as to understand,
        To be loved as to love;
    For it is in giving that we receive;
    It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
    It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.

St. Frances of Rome

Feast day: March 9
Frances was born in the city of Rome in 1384 to a wealthy, noble family. From her mother she inherited a quiet manner and a pious devotion to God. From her father, however, she inherited a strong will. She decided at eleven that she knew what God wanted for her -- she was going to be a nun.

And that's where her will ran right up against her father's. He told Frances she was far too young to know her mind -- but not too young to be married. He had already promised her in marriage to the son of another wealthy family. In Rome at that time a father's word was law; a father could even sell his children into slavery or order them killed.

Frances probably felt that's what he was doing by forcing her to marry. But just as he wouldn't listen to her, Frances wouldn't listen to him. She stubbornly prayed to God to prevent the marriage until her confessor pointed out, "Are you crying because you want to do God's will or because you want God to do your will?"

She gave in to the marriage -- reluctantly. It was difficult for people to understand her objection. Her future husband Lorenzo Ponziani was noble, wealthy, a good
person and he really cared for her. An ideal match -- except for someone who was determined to be a bride of Christ. Then her nightmare began. This quiet, shy thirteen year old was thrust into the whirl of parties and banquets that accompanied a wedding. Her mother-in-law Cecilia loved to entertain and expected her new daughter-in-law to enjoy the revelry of her social life too. Fasting and scourging were far easier than this torture God now asked her to face. Frances collapsed from the strain. For months she lay close to death, unable to eat or move or speak. At her worst, she had a vision of St. Alexis. The son of a noble family, Alexis had run away to beg rather than marry. After years of begging he was so unrecognizable that when he returned home his own father thought he was just another beggar and made him sleep under the stairs. In her own way, Frances must have felt unrecognized by her family -- they couldn't see how she wanted to give up everything for Jesus. St. Alexis told her God was giving her an important choice: Did she want to recover or not? It's hard for us to understand why a thirteen-year-old would want to die but Frances was miserable. Finally, she whispered, "God's will is mine." The hardest words she could have said -- but the right words to set her on the road to sanctity.

St. Alexis replied, "Then you will live to glorify His Name." Her recovery was immediate and complete. Lorenzo became even more devoted to her after this -- he was even a little in awe of her because of what she'd been through. But her problems did not disappear. Her mother-in-law still expected her to entertain and go on visits with her. Look at Frances' sister-in-law Vannozza --happily going through the rounds of parties, dressing up, playing cards. Why couldn't Frances be more like Vannozza? In a house where she lived with her husband, his parents, his brother and his brother's family, she felt all alone. And that's why Vannozza found her crying bitterly in the garden one day. When Frances poured out her heart to Vannozza and it turned out that this sister-in-law had wanted to live a life devoted to the Lord too. What Frances had written off as frivolity was just Vannozza's natural easy-going and joyful manner. They became close friends and worked out a program of devout practices and services to work together. They decided their obligations to their family came first. For Frances that meant dressing up to her rank, making visits and receiving visits -- and most importantly doing it gladly. But the two spiritual friends went to mass together, visited prisons, served in hospitals and set up a secret
chapel in an abandoned tower of their palace where they prayed together.

But it wasn't fashionable for noblewomen to help the poor and people gossiped about two girls out alone on the streets. Cecilia suffered under the laughter of her friends and yelled at her daughters-in-law to stop their spiritual practices. When that didn't work Cecilia then appealed to her sons, but Lorenzo refused to interfere with Frances' charity. The beginning of the fifteenth century brought the birth of her first son, Battista, after John the Baptist. We might expect that the grief of losing her mother-in-law soon after might have been mixed with relief -- no more pressure to live in society. But a household as large as the Ponziani's needed someone to run it. Everyone thought that sixteen-year-old Frances was best qualified to take her mother-in-law's place. She was thrust even more deeply into society and worldly duties. Her family was right, though -- she was an excellent administrator and a fair and pleasant employer. After two more children were born to her -- a boy, Giovanni Evangelista, and a girl, Agnes -- a flood brought disease and famine to Rome. Frances gave orders that no one asking for alms would be turned away and she and Vannozza went out to the poor with corn, wine, oil and clothing. Her father-in-law, furious that she was giving away their supplies during a famine, took the keys of the granary and wine cellar away from her. Then just to make sure she wouldn't have a chance to give away more, he sold off their extra corn, leaving just enough for the family, and all but one cask of one. The two noblewomen went out to the streets to beg instead.

Finally Frances was so desperate for food to give to the poor she went to the now empty corn loft and sifted through the straw searching for a few leftover kernels of corn. After she left Lorenzo came in and was stunned to find the previously empty granary filled with yellow corn. Frances drew wine out of their one cask until one day her father in law went down and found it empty. Everyone screamed at Frances. After saying a prayer, she led them to cellar, turned the spigot on the empty cask, and out flowed the most wonderful wine. These incidents completely converted Lorenzo and her father-in-law.

Having her husband and father-in-law completely on her side meant she could do what she always wanted. She immediately sold her jewels and clothes and distributed money to needy. She started wearing a dress of coarse green cloth.

Civil war came to Rome -- this was a time of popes and antipopes and Rome became a battleground. At one point there were three men claiming to be pope. One of them sent a cruel governor, Count Troja, to conquer Rome. Lorenzo was seriously wounded and his brother was arrested. Troja sent word that Lorenzo's brother would be executed unless he had Battista, Frances's son and heir of the family, as a hostage. As long as Troja had Battista he knew the Ponzianis would stop fighting. When Frances heard this she grabbed Battista by the hand and fled. On the street, she ran into her spiritual adviser Don Andrew who told her she was choosing the wrong way and ordered her to trust God. Slowly she turned around and made her way to Capitol Hill where Count Troja was waiting. As she and Battista walked the streets, crowds of people tried to block her way or grab Battista from her to save him. After giving him up, Frances ran to a church to weep and pray. As soon as she left, Troja had put Battista on a soldier's horse -- but every horse they tried refused to move. Finally the governor gave in to God's wishes. Frances was still kneeling before the altar when she felt Battista's little arms around her. But the troubles were not over. Frances was left alone against the attackers when she sent Lorenzo out of Rome to avoid capture. Drunken invaders broke into her house, tortured and killed the servants, demolished the palace, literally tore it apart and smashed everything. And this time
God did not intervene -- Battista was taken to Naples. Yet this kidnapping probably saved Battista's life because soon a plague hit -- a plague that took the lives of many including Frances' nine-year-old son Evangelista. At this point, her house in ruins, her husband gone, one son dead, one son a hostage, she could have given up. She looked around, cleared out the wreckage of the house and turned it into a makeshift hospital and a shelter for the homeless. One year after his death Evangelista came to her in a vision and told her that Agnes was going to die too. In return God was granting her a special grace by sending an archangel to be her guardian angel for the rest of her life. She would always been able to see him. A constant companion and spiritual adviser, he once commanded her to stop her severe penances (eating only bread and water and wearing a hair shirt). "You should understand by now," the angel told her, "that the God who made your body and gave it to your soul as a servant never intended that the spirit should ruin the flesh and return it to him despoiled." Finally the wars were over and Battista and her husband returned home. But though her son came back a charming young man her husband returned broken in mind and body. Probably the hardest work of healing Frances had to do in her life was to restore Lorenzo back to his old self. When Battista married a pretty young woman named Mabilia Frances expected to find someone to share in the management of the household. But Mabilia wanted none of it. She was as opposite of Frances and Frances had been of her mother-in- law. Mabilia wanted to party and ridiculed Frances in public for her shabby green dress, her habits, and her standards. One day in the middle of yelling at her, Mabilia suddenly turned pale and fainted, crying, "Oh my pride, my dreadful pride." Frances nursed her back to health and healed their differences as well. A converted Mabilia did her best to imitate Frances after that. With Lorenzo's support and respect, Frances started a lay order of women attached to the Benedictines called the Oblates of Mary. The women lived in the world but pledged to offer themselves to God and serve the poor. Eventually they bought a house where the widowed members could live in community.

Frances nursed Lorenzo until he died. His last words to her were, "I feel as if my whole life has been one beautiful dream of purest happiness. God has given me so much in your love." After his death, Frances moved into the house with the other Oblates and was made superior. At 52 she had the life she dreamed of when she was eleven. She had been right in discerning her original vocation -- she just had the timing wrong. God had had other plans for her in between. Frances died four years later. Her last words were "The angel has finished his task -- he beckons me to follow him."

In Her Footsteps:

Do you have a spiritual friend who helps you on your journey, someone to pray with and serve with? If you don't have one now, ask God to send you such a companion. Then look around you. This friend, like Frances' Vannozza, may be near you already. Try sharing some of your spiritual hopes and desires with those closest to you. You may be surprised at their reaction. (But don't force your opinions on others or get discouraged by lack of interest. Just keep asking God to lead you.)

Prayer:

Saint Frances of Rome, help us to see the difference between what we want to do and what God wants us to do. Help us to discern what comes from our will and what comes from God's desire.

Amen