Blessed Marguerite Rutan, who I recently wrote about, joins the company of four other beatified Daughters of Charity - Sister Marie Madeline Fontaine, Sister Marie Françoise Lanel, Sister Thérèse Madeleine Fantou and Sister Jeanne Gerard - who were also martyrs of the French Revolution. Today is the commemoration of the 217th anniversary of their death and, if it were not Sunday, would be their feast day.

They have a fascinating history which I will only briefly explain here. (If you want to know even more information, famvin hosts an interesting article about it here.) Sister Marie Madeline was the Sister Servant (superior) of the house during the Revolution. The Daughters, which numbered six in the French town of Arras, tried to continue serving the poor while trying to avoid any political elements, including the town administration. This plan was working until a new mayor was instated that attacked the Sisters and their works. He, at first, removed the Sisters from running their hospital and then eventually expelled them from there.   

The Daughters, however, continued to serve the poor in other ways and even helped some escape to Belgium. As time passed, two Catholic men who attended meetings of those with revolutionary ideals, tipped off the Sisters saying it would be best if the two youngest Sisters escaped to Belgium. So, the two youngest Sisters disguised themselves and were able to escape to Belgium, where they continued their lives as Daughters of Charity. Then, there were only four left in the house - Sister Marie Madeline, Sister Marie Françoise, Sister Thérèse Madeleine and Sister Jeanne, the four Sisters that would later be beatified. 

Soon afterwards, the four Sisters left were arrested for not taking the oath. They were thrown into prison and remained there for four weeks before they were brought before a tribunal. The tribunal found them guilty of having counter-revolutionary material in their house (which had been planted) and were sentenced to remain in prison. Three months later, they were taken in the middle of the night to another town, where they were not known. They were brought in front of another tribunal, where the judge told them they would not be executed if they took the oath. The Sisters, during the tribunal, kept saying the Rosary and they absolutely refused to take the oath and they were sentenced to death by guillotine.   


As they were paraded to the town square, which was strangely silent (meanwhile, during other executions, the townspeople applauded), Sister Marie Madeline said to the crowd "Christians, listen to me! We are the final victims. Tomorrow the persecution will be over, the scaffold will be dismantled, and the altars of Jesus will rise glorious once again!” With that, they were executed. (Sister Marie Madeline would turn out to be right, by the way)


They would be beatified in 1920 and forever remembered by me, other Daughters of Charity and the Church for their charity, bravery and faithfulness.

Books: Gift Certificates from God

Hi, my name is Amanda and I'm addicted to books.

Don't believe me? I've read 20 books this year and it's June. (All this while going to grad school and teaching. Sometimes I feel like reading is my superpower.) And I'm not talking about skimpy 100-page books. I'm talking about 300-400 page books, and even a biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer that was over 600 pages.

Yes, I may have a problem.

Nevertheless, I consider books, more specifically spiritual books, to be gift certificates from God - pages we can "redeem" into improvement into our own spiritual life, no cost to us. In that spirit, I give you a top-10 list of my favorite spiritual books.

Top Ten Books That Have Inspired Me in My Spiritual Journey
(in no particular order)

1. "Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in the Secular World" by Henri Nouwen
2. "Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux" by St. Therese of Lisieux
3. "Dark Night of the Soul" by St. John of the Cross
4. "Gracias: A Latin American Journal" by Henri Nouwen
5. "Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta" by Mother Teresa
6. "Here I Am, Lord: The Letters and Writings of Ita Ford" by Jeanne Evans, Ita Ford
7. "The Sign of Jonas" by Thomas Merton
8. "The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey Through Anguish to Freedom" by Henri Nouwen
9. "Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God" by Rainer M. Rilke
10. "Letters to Marc About Jesus: Living a Spiritual Life in a Material World" by Henri Nouwen

If I would continue the list, #11 would be "Spiritual Writings of St. Louise de Marillac: Correspondence and Thoughts" (which I continue reading) and #12 "The Way of Vincent de Paul: A Contemporary Spirituality in Service of the Poor" by Robert Maloney.

Which books have you read that you consider to be gift certificates from God? If you were to create a top 10 list of your favorite spiritual books, what would it include?

P.S. With the plenitude of blog entries lately, can you tell I'm at home with nothing else better to do?

(Clip art courtesy of DailyClipArt.net)

Daughters of Charity and the American Civil War

The Daughters of Charity have been in existence since 1633 and have obviously seen their share of wars, from Sisters being martyred in the French Revolution, crossing barricades during later French rebellions to aid the wounded, living amid air raids during World War II, you name it. After watching so many wars break out in Europe, more than two centuries after their founding, the Daughters of Charity would encounter a new war in a new continent.

A Catholic Sister in the Civil War

The Daughters, among many other religious Sisters, were heavily influential in the Civil War, especially in terms of nursing. This article, Catholic Sisters and the American Civil War, which I recently read, gives a better picture. This website - The Daughters of Charity Civil War History - is another great site. A connected link lists Civil War sites in Emmitsburg (MD) and Gettysburg that have a direct connection with the Daughters of Charity.

One Daughter of Charity, a nurse during the war, wrote:

“On reaching the Battle grounds, awful! To see the men lying dead on the road some by the side of their horses. O, it was beyond description, hundreds of both armies lying dead almost on the track that the driver had to be careful not to pass over the bodies. O! This picture of human beings slaughtered down by their fellow men in a cruel civil war was perfectly awful.”

Despite the danger, despite the horror, Catholic Sisters, like the Daughters of Charity, served those soldiers (of both sides) in an obligation to serve Jesus Christ in their fellow man.

Vincentian Quote of the Week: St. Vincent de Paul & Fervor

"Fervor is a fire that makes things boil and grow hot, just as fire causes water to boil. It is, properly speaking, charity on fire, and that is what you should have because a Daughter without Charity is like a body without a soul." (Saint Vincent de Paul)

Love LOVE this quote. I don't even anything to add to this quote because I think those two sentences explain exactly what the Daughters of Charity are.

Another Daughter of Charity Beatified!

Today, in France, the Catholic Church put another Daughter of Charity closer to sainthood. Sister Marguerite Rutan (1736 - 1794), a dear servant of the poor, was a martyr of the French Revolution, guillotined by her countrymen for refusing to sign the national oath that would betray her faith. Sister Marguerite is one of the many Sisters, Daughters of Charity and others, martyred during the bloody time of the French Revolution. 

Blessed Marguerite Rutan, pray for us!

Below is a video about her, in French with English subtitles:

UPDATE: The Vincentians have some awesome pictures of the beatification here. 

The Daughters of Charity & the Salesians of Don Bosco...Connected?

So I know what you're thinking..."what do these Sisters and these priests have to do your formation with the Daughters of Charity"? Or, even more realistically, you're thinking "who the heck are the Salesians?"

Like the Vincentians and the Daughters of Charity, the priests were founded first. Don Bosco founded them under the name "Society of St. Francis de Sales". St. John Bosco founded them in 1859 to care for children and youth in nineteenth century Italy. They quickly spread around the world. A few years after founding the priests, Don Bosco met St. Mary Mazzarello, who encouraged him to found a womens' religious order under the same charism. (After all, behind every great male saint, there's a great female saint!) Together, they founded the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (FMAs) and those Sisters also quickly spread around the world. Eventually, the Salesian family grew as more religious congregations and lay groups were founded. Today, there are about 28 groups that count themselves among the Salesian family! Strangely enough, you could substitute "Don Bosco" with "St. Vincent de Paul" and "Mary Mazzarello" with "St. Louise" and you'd get almost the same story!

Anyway, there seems to be no connection between the Daughters of Charity and the Salesians, right? Founded in a different country, founded in a different era, founded with a more specific mission in mind, etc. The only real connection is that Don Bosco founded it based on the spirituality of St. Francis de Sales, who was actually a buddy of St. Vincent de Paul and someone St. Louise de Marillac deeply admired. Other than that, I got nada.

St Mary Mazzarello, founder
of the FMAs

So why am I writing about this? Well, after college, I was a volunteer in Bolivia with the VIDES program, a long-term volunteer program with the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and I worked alongside members of the Salesian Lay Missioners (both are programs I would HIGHLY recommend) as well as the Salesian congregation I would end up joining. The Salesians play a huge part in my vocation story. Like, probably more than I give them credit for.

Because of them, I was able to see the beauty of religious life. During my orientation with VIDES in New Jersey, hanging out with the FMAs "woke me up" again to the idea of being called to religious life. I've had many "wake up calls" throughout my vocation story and another one is when I was spending time with my old community (Salesian, but not the FMAs) this past summer.

Because of the Salesians, I saw the joy there is in serving others, particularly children and youth. It can be a frustrating job but all the Salesian Sisters and priests I've met take it all in stride - they keep on smiling and keep being joyful, despite it all. They love children and youth and have a dedication to them that I had never seen before. Despite how exhausted they may be, you'll find them jump-roping or playing baseball right along with the kids. They are one of the many people in my life that showed me the definition of service.

And of course, there's always divine intervention. When Don Bosco's relics were making their world-wide tour almost a year ago, I went to visit them in New York. In front of him, in St. Patrick's cathedral, I prayed "St. John Bosco, I know I'm not called to be a Salesian...yeah, sorry about that, but hey, that's God's fault, not mine. But please help me find my vocation. Pray that I may find the way." And well, you know the rest of the story.

If you're interested particularly in serving children and youth, either as a lay person or a religious, I suggest checking them out. I wasn't called to be a religious with them for many different reasons but they really are great people and I don't regret for a minute being a Salesian long-term lay volunteer.

If you're already a religious (Sister, priest, or brother!), is there a religious community besides your own that influenced you in your vocation story?   

Lessons on Religious Life from MASH's Father Mulcahy

Although it went off the air two years before I was born, I've always been a fan of the TV show MASH. By now, I think I've watched the entire series. The series was full of great plots and moral lessons, hilarity, and more than all that, very rich characters.

While Hawkeye and the rest were funny, my favorite character was the MASH chaplain, Father Mulcahy. (I know, I know...how stereotypical is it that my favorite character is the Catholic priest?) But I found Father Mulcahy to be one of the richest characters on the series in many different ways. He was a priest but so completely human, showing the world that Catholic priests (or religious in general) aren't robots.

Sure, the character of Father Mulcahy showed the "secular" world lots about the realities of religious life, but I think there's a lot we, who are discerning to be religious, could learn about religious life from his character.. I understand Father Mulcahy is fictional and I could learn many of these same lessons from the saints themselves but, to see these lessons portrayed in a regular comedy series, makes it all the more real.

In one episode, Father Mulcahy writes to his sister ("his sister the Sister" - she is a nun) and the whole episode follows his letter. He speaks of all the suffering he encounters, how he is exasperated and tired (so much so that he ends up punching an unruly patient), how he wonders if he is doing any good or if he is even useful in any way. At the end of the episode, at the end of his letter, he writes something to the effect of "but, in spite of all this, I carry on and hope I am doing something"  Religious, like Father Mulcahy, may never know the effect they have on people. They may wonder if, as hard as they work, they are actually doing anything. Yet, like Father Mulcahy, they carry on. They carry on to serve God obviously, but also in the hope that, in some way, they are comforting the suffering and being a light of hope, a glimpse of God, to others.

In one of the later episodes, the show goes through a variety of dreams the characters are having. Hawkeye dreams of losing his limbs, Houlihan dreams of blood on her wedding dress, etc. It's a weird episode and I wasn't a fan until they featured Father Mulcahy's dream. He dreamt he had just been elected Pope, though still in the setting of the MASH unit. He walked down the aisle of the Mess Tent to say Mass, excited to see so many people. When he arrives to the altar, we see on the film that the bottom of a large crucifix stands behind him. As he begins to talk, he starts to notice that blood is dripping unto him. He looks up and the camera (very quickly) shows that a crucified American soldier had replaced Jesus on the cross. It always struck me...it is such a great reminder that religious must recognize Jesus crucified in all those they encounter who suffer. A wounded soldier, a widow, an orphan, a sick elderly...they are all Jesus crucified, suffering on their own cross.

Father Mulcahy's own selflessness throughout the entire show gives all of us a great example. Through sheer kindness, he saves the MASH unit from a soldier who threatened everyone with a gun, he sneaks away to take a dangerous helicopter ride to help those severly wounded on the battlefield, he talks Klinger out of blowing himself up with a grenade, and in the most notable last episode, running out in mortar fire to save trapped Korean POWs and completely losing his hearing in the meantime but then volunteering to stay in Korea after the war. We get the message that Father himself believes that he can only do these things through the grace of God. The same is true for religious. With God, they can do anything, even that which seems beyond their abilities. All the good they do is through Him and His grace.


Is there any particular TV or book character that taught you lessons about religious life? Or faith in general?