Feast of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos C.SsR.

Happy Feast Day of Bl. Seelos Everyone. I thought you'd like to know a little more about this amazing priest, healer of people and animals and hopefully, soon to be canonized saint in the Catholic Church.

Blessed Francis S. Seelos, C.S.s.R. was born in Germany on January 11, 1819 and died on October 4, 1867 at the age of 48.

He was beatified on April 9, 2000 by Blessed John Paul II.
The following Decree for Obligatory/Optional Seelos Memorial in Dioceses of New Orleans Province is from the Seelos Center

In 2009, Most Reverend Alfred C. Hughes, Archbishop of New Orleans, received a decree from Archbishop Albert Malcolm Ranjith establishing the celebration of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos as an obligatory memorial in the Archdiocese of New Orleans and an optional memorial in each of the dioceses of the New Orleans Province.

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CONGREGATIO DE CULTU DIVINO

ET DISCIPLINA SACRAMENTORUM



Prot. 2014/03/L



ARCHIDIOECESIS NOVAE AURELIAE



Instante Excellentissimo Domino Alfredo Hughes, Archiepiscopo Novae Aureliae, litteris die 29 ianuarii 2009 datis, vigore facultatum huic Congregationi a Summo Pontifice BENEDICTO XVI tributarum, libenter concedimus ut celebratio Beati Francisci X. Seelos, presbyteri, in Calendarium proprium Archidioecesis Novae Aureliae inscribi valeat, die 5 mensis octobris, gradu memoriae quotannis peragenda.



Contrariis quibusiibet minime obstantibus.



Ex aedibus Congregationis de Cultu Divino et Disciplina Sacramentorum, die 31 mensis martii 2009.



+ ANTONIUS CARD. CAÑIZARES LLOVERA

Praefectus





(+ Albertus Malcolmus Ranjith)

Archiepiscopus a Secretis

Seelos' Top 10 Practical Guide to Holiness

1. Go to Mass with deepest devotion.

2. Spend a half hour to reflect upon your main failing & make resolutions to avoid it.

3. Do daily spiritual reading for at least 15 minutes, if a half hour is not possible.

4. Say the rosary every day.

5. Also daily, if at all possible, visit the Blessed Sacrament; and toward evening, meditate on the Passion of Christ for a half hour.

6. Conclude the day with evening prayer & an examination of conscience over all the faults & sins of the day.

7. Every month make a review of the month in confession.

8. Choose a special patron every month & imitate that patron in some special virtue.

9. Precede every great feast with a novena, that is, nine days of devotion.

10. Try to begin & end every activity with a “Hail Mary.”


Thirteen Bon Mots of Blessed Francis X. Seelos, C.Ss.R.

Selected from Fr. Michael Curley’s Cheerful Ascetic
By Joseph W Oppitz, C.SS.R.

Someday, I will become a second Francis Xavier.

Dear Mother, how I thank you for having taught us children a great devotion to the Mother of God. Such an inheritance from parents is worth more than gold or silver.

Today we will have no writing. The Blessed Mother has appeared to me and told me to become a missionary.

I was John Neumann’s subject, but was more like a son who needed help. In every respect, he was a remarkable father to me.

Baltimore is one of the loveliest and most beautiful cities in all of North America.

If these riots continue, I may even have the privilege of becoming a martyr — a wonderful way to go to heaven.

According to people I am a thorough saint. In reality, I am a thorough scoundrel.

If the Church should ever decide to celebrate the feast of a rude rascal, [Secretary of War] Stanton would easily qualify — even with an octave.

I love the work of the missions more than all other labors; it is a complete apostolic employment in the Lord's vineyard.

If the Americans were as expert in spiritual matters as they are in business affairs, all of them would be saints.

I have made the rounds of all the houses in the province. Only New Orleans yet remains. I have come here to pass the rest of my days and find a lasting resting place at Saint Mary's. I feel I have traveled enough. I shall never leave New Orleans.

So the doctor says I am to die! Oh, what pleasant news! How thankful I am! And to you, doctor, how much I have to return thanks for your kindness and attention to me!

I never thought it was so sweet to die in the Congregation. I now begin to know what happiness it is to live and die a Redemptorist. Oh, let us love our vocation and strive to persevere in it! Then everything will be all right with us.

Thirteen "bon mots" or simple sayings of Fr. Seelos, taken from an article published in Spiritus Patris--some about the spiritual life, some just comments about current affairs — all showing the simple humanity of our beloved Father Seelos.

Source

Bountiful God,
in Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos,
you have given your people
a model for those who labor joyfully
in your earthly kingdom.
May his smile dwell on those who find life burdensome.
In him, our eyes continually behold
the gentleness of Jesus Christ,
our Redeemer.

- by Byron Miller, C.Ss.R. Director of the Father Seelos Center.