Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows

Feast Day: February 27
Born: 1838 Died: 1862

Canonized: May 13,1920

This saint was born in the famous town of Assisi, Italy on March 1, 1838. His baptismal name was Francis Possenti. He was the eleventh of thirteen children. His father was both a civil and Church lawyer, and served as an appointed public official in the Papal states. These regions included large sections of what would eventually become a unified Italy in 1859.

Young Francis was a very normal young boy and teenager. He was interested all the things that boys of his age and station were interested in; hunting and dancing and the theater. He had many friends and was very popular. All the while though, Francis felt a strange dissatisfaction with his happy, normal, prosperous life.

This longing and restlessness was soon answered. Francis experienced a calling to the religious and priestly life and entered the Congregation of the Passionists, a religious community devoted to the living and preaching the saving merits of Our Lord's passion and death. He took vows in the Passionist community and was given the religious name, Gabriel of the Sorrowful One (or sorrowful Mother). He was stricken with tuberculosis about a year before he was to be ordained a priest and died on February 27, 1862 in the Passionist monastery at Gran Sasso in the Abruzzi region of Italy.

Gabriel's life as a religious was marked by a faithfulness to prayer, love of sacrifice, heroic virtue, and a very cheerful disposition despite his illness. Through his intercession, after his death, miraculous cures were obtained Pope Benedict XV canonized Gabriel in 1920 and declared him a patron of Catholic youth. In 1959, Pope John XXIII named him the patron of the Abruzzi region, where he spent the last two years of his earthly life. His shrine at Gran Sasso is one of the more popular ones in Europe.

Prayer

O good St. Gabriel, God inspired you to love the passion of Jesus as it was reflected in the heart of Mary, his mother. By her side, you stood beneath the cross of Jesus, gazing on him as she did, and sharing her compassion.

O St. Gabriel, we wish, like you, to grow in love for God and all his people. Remember us in the trials of our life. Remember especially those who are young and in need.

Support us, all our days, by your holy prayers. And when this life is done, may we join you in heaven in the joyful company of Jesus and Mary.

Gemma Galgani

Feast Day: April 11
Born: 1878 Died: 1903
Canonized: May 2, 1940

Gemma was born near Lucca, Italy, in 1878. When she was 20 years old she was attacked by an incurable tuberculosis of the spine. After many novenas to St. Gabriel of the Sorrowful Mother, she was completely cured. Gemma was born near Lucca, Italy, in 1878. When she was 20 years old she was attacked by an incurable tuberculosis of the spine. After many novenas to St. Gabriel of the Sorrowful Mother, she was completely cured. Gemma tried to imitate St. Gabriel by becoming a Passionist but was rejected. She was again stricken with an illness. Her life of love and suffering came to an end in great misery and loneliness. She said, "0 Jesus, I can bear no more. If it be Your holy Will, take me." She lifted her eyes to a picture of Our Lady and said, "Mother, I commend my soul into your hands; do ask Jesus to be merciful to me." She died April 11, 1903.

Gemma's remains are in the chapel of the Passionist Sisters Lucca. A marble tablet states: "Gemma Galgani from Lucca, most pure virgin, being in her twenty-fifth year, died of consumption, but was more consumed by the fire of divine love than by her wasting disease." St. Gemma is a model for lay people who want to pray, who want to turn to God, for help and consolation in their worried lives - plagued by financial insecurity, broken homes, and emptiness - caused by the death of loved ones, the rejection felt by some handicap, and the frustration of the willing who are unable - in a society where the able are unwilling.

Prayer of St. Gemma

Oh Jesus, why am I not burned up with love for you? Why is it that my heart is not consumed with Love's flame? Why is it that my love does not correspond to yours? Oh Jesus, how much time I have lost! How many years I could have loved You and I did not do so. But your bounty makes me hope to be able to make up for lost time.

Why did you suffer for me, dear Jesus? For love! The nails.., the crown.., the cross... all for love of me. For You I sacrifice everything willingly. I offer You my body with all its weakness and my Soul with all its love. My God, dear Jesus, remove whatever malice may be at the bottom of my offering, and then accept it. Do not abandon me, Jesus, I am yours. Take care of my soul. Think of what you have borne to save it. Surely they are fight who say, 'To suffer is to love.'

Prayer to Our Passionist Saints

St. Paul of the Cross, St. Gabriel, and St. Gemma, intercede for us!
You lived the Passion of Jesus and the Sorrows of Mary each in your own special way.

St. Paul, by your example of prayer, penance and preaching the Passion and Resurrection, teach us how to keep alive the memory of the sufferings, death and glory of Jesus in our hearts, and to help others to do the same.

St. Gabriel, by the way you did ordinary things with extraordinary fidelity to God, show us how to respond compassionately to the crucified of today who live all around us.

St. Gemma, marked with the wounds of Christ in your own body, lead us by our own acceptance of personal and family sufferings "to fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his body, the church."

Saints of the Passion, thank you for the tremendous encouragement you give us by inspiring us to follow Christ more prayerfully and willingly. Relying on your friendship and intercessory power, we place these petitions in your loving hands.

St. Paul of the Cross, St. Gabriel and St. Gemma, pray for us!

Bishop Eugene Bossilkov

Feast Day: November 13

Born: 1900 Died: 1952

Beatified: March 15, 1998

The Passionist Bishop and Martyr, Eugene Bossilkov, was born November 16, 1900 in Belene (Bulgaria), a village in the Danube Valley. His family were farmers and Catholics of the Latin Rite. In 1914 he began his studies with the Passionists, who had been missionaries in northern Bulgaria since the late 1700's. He studied in Passionist seminaries in Belgium and Holland, and in 1920 became a professed member of that community. He took the name Eugene, and to the vows taken by religious, he joined another vow taken by the Passionists: to keep in constant memory the Passion of Jesus. In 1924, he returned to Bulgaria to continue his theological studies and was ordained by the Passionist Bishop Damian Theden in 1926.

In 1927, he was sent to Rome to pursue doctoral studies at the Pontifical Oriental Institute, where he wrote his thesis: On the Union of Bulgarians with the Roman Church in the Early 13th Century. In 1933 he returned to his diocese to become secretary to the bishop and pastor of the cathedral. Since he preferred ministry with the people, however, he was assigned as pastor of the town of Bardaski-Gheran, in the Danube valley, where he brought new life into the parish through his liturgical and catechetical efforts. He was especially concerned for the young whom he tried to inspire through a variety of religious, social and sports programs. His reputation grew: a gifted linguist, a cultured scholar, he was generally admired. In 1938, he was chosen as official speaker for the 250tb anniversary of the Catholic insurrection against the Turks.

But times changed. In 1940 Bulgaria joined the Axis in the 2nd World War. Four years later the Soviet Union invaded Bulgaria after the retreat of German troops and subjugated the country militarily, politically and ideologically. After the death of Bishop Theelen in 1946, Father Bossilkov was ordained Bishop of Nicopolis in 1947, when churches faced a new round of difficulties from government laws drafted to destroy religion. In 1948, Bishop Bossilkov received government permission to go to Rome for his "Ad limina" visit, where he was received by Pope Pius XII. He took the occasion to visit friends and companions in Holland. Then he returned to his diocese where he began a series of missions to prepare his people for the religious persecution they were certain to face.

In 1949, the Apostolic Delegate to Bulgaria was expelled, and new steps were taken by the government to crush the Catholic Church and create a national church in its place. Laws were passed expelling all foreign missionaries, confiscating Church property and institutions, suppressing religious congregations and dispersing their members. In 1950-51 the noose of persecution tightened until finally, in 1952, mass arrests of church leaders began. Bishop Bossilkov was seized July 16, 1952, while on vacation at a house outside Sophia. Arrested at the same time as Bossilkov were 40 other priests, some religious and lay people. On August 8th, Father Formnato Bakalski, superior of the Capuchin community of Sophia, was arrested.

Confined to prison in Sophia, Bishop Bossilkov was physically and mentally tortured into making a confession. On September 20, the party newspapers published accusations against him on their first page. A mock trial was conducted from September 29th to October 3rd. Bossilkov was presented as 'chief' of a subversive Catholic spy organization." The trial ended with a guilty verdict. Condemned with Bishop Bossilkov on similar charges were the Assumptionist priests, Kamen Vicev Jonkov, Pavel Dgldgiov, Josafat Sciskov, and the Capuchin priest, Fortunato Bakalski. They were sentenced to death by firing squad.

When last seen alive, Bishop Bossilkov said to his niece and to his friends: "Don't worry about me; I have been given God's grace, and I am going to remain faithful to Christ and to the Church." He was executed in the prison at Sophia on the night of November 11m at 11:30 P.M. His body was thrown into a common grave for criminals; the precise location of his burial place and his body is unknown.

Bishop Eugene Bossilkov, C.P., was beatified by Pope John Paul II during Mass at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome on March 15, 1998. The Bishop and martyr Vincent Eugene Bossilkov truly drank from the spiritual rock which is Christ. A faithful follower of the founder of his congregation, St. Paul of the Cross, he cultivated the spirituality of the Passion. He also gave himself unreservedly to serve pastorally the Christian community entrusted to him, accepting without hesitation the supreme test of martyrdom.

Prayer

Lord, Jesus, you suffered and died on the Cross for the salvation of all people. Through the intercession of your servant, Blessed Bishop Eugene Bossilkov, who shed his own blood in imitation of your self-sacrifice, we ask you: increase our faith; give courage to those who are persecuted for the sake of your Name; and convert the enemies of the Cross. May all believers persevere through the valley of tears on earth to enjoy the abundant life you promise in heaven.

Passionist Feast Days

January 5 Blessed Charles of Mount Argus	Friday before Ash Wednesday Solemn Commemoration of the Passion	February 27 St. Gabriel of the Passion
May 16 St. Gemma Galgani	June 12 Blessed Lorenzo M. Salvi	July 6 St. Maria Goretti
July 23 Blessed Niceforo and 25 Companions	August 26 Blessed Dominic Barbari	September 14 Triumph of the Holy Cross
September 15 Our Mother of Sorrows	September 24 St. Vincent Strambi	September 29 St. Michael, Archangel
October 6 Blessed Isidore DeLoor	October 9 St. Innocent Canoura	October 20 St. Paul of the Cross
November 3 Blessed Pius Campidelli	November 13 Blessed Eugene Bossilkov	November 18 Blessed Grimwald Santamaria
November 21 Presentation of Mary in the Temple	December 9 Blessed Bernard Silvestrelli