St. Peter Claver - Confessor
J.M.J
Taken from: "The Servite Manual: BEHOLD THY MOTHER - a Collection of
Devotions Chiefly in Honor of Our Lady of Sorrows," compiled by The Servite
Fathers; 6th ed; Servite Fathers, Chicago, 1947; pages xv-xxix.
But this did not terminate the favors of Mary towards her well-beloved
Servants. In 1242, Ardingo, Bishop of Florence, having ordered a general
procession in his Episcopal city to implore the cessation of the troubles
then affecting the Church, and having invited the Seven Holy Founders to
take part therein, infants once again were constrained by a supernatural
impulse to cry: "Behold the Servants of Mary." Two years later, in 1244,
when St. Peter of Verona came to Florence to combat the heresy of the
Patarines, Mary, several times, when he was praying, showed him in a vision
a high mountain covered with fair flowers, amidst which were seven lilies,
dazzling white, of exquisite perfume. Angels descended from heaven to
gather these flowers and weave them into garlands, which she graciously
accepted, above all the seven lilies, which were her peculiar choice. This
mountain, as Mary herself explained to St. Peter, represented Mount Senario;
the flowers were the religious who dwelt thereon, the seven lilies the seven
first Fathers. "All these flowers," she said, "are precious and dear to me,
but the seven lilies are precious above all, and are my favorite flowers. I
and I only have planted and nurtured them for my special delight, and I
desire that thou treat with veneration and honor those whom I so highly
esteem." At another time she appeared to the holy Martyr clad all in black,
covering with her large mantle Religious in the same habit, among whom he
recognized St. Bonfil and St. Alexis, and said to him: "Know, Peter, my
beloved son, that these Religious are my Servants. I have chosen them from
among men, and honored them with that title, that they may serve me in a
special manner. They are dedicated to me, and their Order is founded by me
and for me."
To so many testimonies of her love Mary added yet another, which was to last
through the ages, even to our own days. This was her miraculous picture of
the Annunciation in the Servite Church at Florence, hence called the Virgin
of the Annunciation. In 1252, St. Bonfil and St. Alexis desired to have a
beautiful picture of the most holy Virgin in their church, and confided the
work to a painter named Bartolomeo. He succeded in finishing the picture,
with the exception of the face of the most holy Virgin, which he was unable
to represent as he wished. Aware of his incompetence, he applied himself to
prayer and the sacraments, and God rewarded his trust. During his absence
an angel finished the fresco, painting the face of the most holy Virgin
which is the admiration of all who see it. Graces without number at once
bore witness to the miraculous origin of the sacred portrait, and made that
church one of the most celebrated sanctuaries of Italy. Before that picture
St. Philip, two years afterwards, had the vision wherein our Lady of Dolors
exhorted him to enter her Order. The devotion which St. Aloysius Gonzaga
bore to it is well known, and during his stay at Florence he allowed no day
to pass without spending a time before it in prayer.
In gratitude for favors so many and so great, the Holy Founders and their
spiritual children worked everywhere with boundless zeal to extend the
devotion to their heavenly Lady, and above all compassion for her Dolors.
St. Philip Benizi followed in their steps, and during the eighteen years he
was General of the Order he gave an extraordinary impulse both to the Order
and the devotion of which it is the standard-bearer. Thus less than half a
century after its foundation, thanks to the labors of the Founders, of St.
Philip, and of their Religious, the devotion to our Lady of Dolors had been
preached not only in Italy, but also in France, in Germany, on the shores of
the North Sea, and throughout the vast regions of Poland. The work so well
begun by the Holy Founders and St. Philip was zealously continued by their
successors, especially in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, during
which this beautiful devotion had an extraordinary development.
Many illustrious persons asked for and received the Black Scapular, out of
love for the Mother of Dolors. According to some authors, St. Louis and
Philip the Bold in France, and the Emperor Rudolph of Hapsburg in Germany,
received it from the hands of the Holy Founders and St. Philip; but there is
no certainty about this matter. In the fourteenth century a zealous
religious, Fr. Luke of Prato, preached in Spain, and gave the scapular to
Ferdinand, King of Portugal, and many princes of his court; to Henry, King
of Castille; Peter IV, King of Aragon; and John, King of Navarre. In
Germany the Emperor, Charles IV and his consort the Empress Anne received
it, and shortly afterwards, Ladislas IV in Poland. But among all those who
were distinguished by their devotion towards our Lady of Dolors, must be
named, in the sixteenth century, Philip I, King of Spain and Archduke of
Austria, who, wishing to remedy the troubles which desolated Flanders, there
instituted the Confraternity of the Seven Dolors, and had the consolation of
seeing those troubles soon brought to an end. The Emperors Maximilian,
Ferdinand, Matthias, Leopold, and others of the house of Austria continued
this holy tradition of devotion to our Lady of Dolors and the Order founded
by her. In 1734, the Emperor Charles VI requested that the Feast of our
Lady of Dolors in September should be extended to all his states, and his
example was followed in the following year by Philip V for Spain. Anna
Juliana, Archduchess of Austria, who reestablished the Servite Order in
Germany, considered this devotion so salutary to her soul that she retired
as a tertiary with her daughter into one of the three convents she had
herself built in Innsbruck and frequently remarked that she considered the
wearing of the scapular as above privileges of wealth and exalted rank. So
great was the esteem in which this pious princess held the holy habit of Our
Lady of Dolors, that in order to receive it, she refused the nuptial
alliance of the emperors Rudolph II and Matthias, and her daughter that of
Philip III of Spain.
Nor has this devotion slackened in our own days; on the contrary, it would
appear to have gained a new impulse of late years, if we may judge from the
many petitions addressed to the Right Reverend Father General of the Order
for powers to establish the Confraternity and give the Scapular. At present
a large number of Bishops and Cardinals not only belong to the
Confraternity, but also to the Third Order, and manifest a great devotion to
our Lady of Sorrows.
Now, owing doubtless to the sad times we are going through, Christian souls
turn instinctively to Mary, the sorrowful Mother. Their pains are so like
an echo to Mary's pains.
In meditating on her sorrow, they find much relief and strength. The
contemplation of the Passion of Christ is a fruitful source of spiritual
help, nor can we ever know or understand His sufferings, as when we meditate
on them in the company of His most Holy Mother. For no one in this world
ever entered so deeply into those sorrowful mysteries. Houses of the
Servite Order being established in England and America are so many means to
help the development of that so Christian devotion to the Mother of Christ
in English speaking countries.
O sweet Virgin, made sad by our sins and former ingratitude to Jesus and to
thee, to thee we turn, humbled and contrite that thou mayest show thy mercy
towards us, as thou didst upon the seven glorious Saints called by thee to
establish the Order of thy Servants.
Yes make us thy true servants, make us serve Jesus faithfully, increase the
number of thy faithful ones and their fidelity, that even as thy pains
merited for thee the queenly diadem, so our affection for thee may entitle
us to be thy happy subjects forever. Amen.
to be continued . . .
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