Dear Devotees and Generous Benefactors of the Sanctuary,
Today Catholics all over the world join in support of the Propagation of the Faith. The Propagation of the Faith was founded by the Venerable Pauline Jaricot.
The Society for the Propagation of the Faith seeks prayer and sacrifice for the world’s Missions, now some 1,150 dioceses in Asia, Africa, the Pacific Islands and remote regions of Latin America. Help is offered for pastoral and evangelizing programs, for catechists and catechetical work, to build churches and chapels, for the work of Religious communities in health care and education, and for communication and transportation needs.
Under the direction of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (Rome, Italy), and the bishops, the Society for the Propagation of the Faith seeks to foster an ever-deeper spirit of universal mission, to inform Catholics of the life and the needs of the Catholic Church in the Missions, and to encourage prayer and financial help for those mission churches.
The very first collection of the Propagation of the Faith in 1822 supported the vast diocese of Louisiana, where Pauline’s brother served and which then extended from the Florida Keys to Canada, as well as the missions of Kentucky and China. In 1963, 100 years after Pauline’s death, Pope John XXIII signed the decree which proclaimed her virtues, declaring her Venerable. He wrote: “It was she who thought of the society, who conceived it, and made it an organized reality.” The cause for her beatification and canonization continues. The following prayer is one spoken by those hoping for that day to come:
Pauline Marie Jaricot, Victim Soul of Jesus Christ, pray for us! Almighty and merciful God, Who has chosen a humble virgin, Marie Pauline of Jesus Christ, the poor one of Mary, to found the great Catholic works of the Propagation of the Faith and the Living Rosary, and Who has wished in the midst of humiliations, trials and persecutions to purify her works, deign to hasten the day when Holy Mother the Church will publicly recognize her saintly life. We pray that by her example of patience and love for the Cross, her life-time prayer may be realized: the Universal propagation of the Faith in all its Purity.
For this year’s World Mission Sunday celebration, we are focusing on the words from St. Matthew’s Gospel, “I Will Build My Church” (Matthew 16:18), highlighting the outreach of local churches through priests, religious and laity among the poor and marginalized half a world away. Your prayers and generous support offered to the Society for the Propagation of the Faith on World Mission Sunday directly benefit the mission church – places like Mongolia where the young church is growing, filled with zeal for the faith, but lacking resources for its outreach to families and those in need. Such support is a concrete way to “build our Church” – to deepen your relationship with Jesus by helping so many other missionaries around the world.
Devotees of the Devotion to Saint Philomena are very aware that The Miracle at Mugnano which saved Pauline Jaricot’s life was due to the intercession of Saint Philomena. Pauline Jaricot suffered from advanced heart disease which increased with time until her closest friends recognized that death was imminent. Her heart palpitations became so violent that they could be heard at a distance and caused her unmistakable agony. She decided to travel to Rome to seek an audience with the Pope and to get the Holy Father's blessing then on to Mugnano, where the relics of Saint Philomena were enshrined, in hope of a cure. Pope Gregory XVI was most kind and gracious. He thanked her repeatedly for her work in behalf of the Catholic Church, and blessed her over and over. He asked her to pray for him when she got to heaven, and Pauline promised. Then she asked: "Holy Father, if I come back well from my visit to Mugnano, and go on foot to the Vatican, will your holiness deign to proceed without delay with the final inquiry into the Cause of Saint Philomena?"
Pauline arrived at Mugnano on the eve of the Feast of Saint Philomena. Vast crowds had assembled to celebrate the feast. When they learned who Pauline was and what was her purpose in coming, they were greatly excited. The next morning Pauline received Holy Communion near the shrine of the saint's relics. She suffered frightful pains all through her body, and her heart beat so violently that she fainted. The crowds thought that death had taken her, and so loud was their outcry that those who were with Pauline attempted to take up the special chair on which she was lying and carry it out of the church. But she recovered consciousness enough to make a sign to leave her near the relics. Suddenly a flood of hot tears burst from her eyes, color came back to her cheeks, a healthy glow spread over her benumbed limbs. Her soul was filled with celestial joy, and she thought she was about to leave this earth for heaven. But it was not death. Through Saint Philomena's intersession, Pauline had been cured!
When Jaricot returned to the Vatican after the miracle, the Pope recognized her healing as an occasion with which God wanted to let the Sanctity of the martyr Philomena glow. Jaricot stayed in Rome for a full year after the miracle, to satisfy the Pope’s desire to make sure of her full recovery. After the extraordinary miracle obtained thanks to the intercession of Saint Philomena, Pauline returned to France. She subsequently built, on her property in Lyon, a chapel in honor of Saint Philomena. She was still to live many years to toil for God and His Church.
See below a photo of the actual chair Pauline sat in when she received the miracle from Saint Philomena. It remains here at the Sanctuary for all to witness.
I am sending you a blessing from the Altar of the Sacred Body of Saint Philomena,
Msgr. Giovanni Braschi
Rector of the Sanctuary of Saint Philomena
Custodian of her Sacred Body
Support the Sanctuary of Saint Philomena
The Sanctuary of Saint Philomena is not a parish Church. We do not have parishioners who support this place of worship on a weekly basis. We are completely dependent on the love and generosity of you, the world-wide devotees, to keep the doors of the earthly home of Saint Philomena open.
We pray at the Sanctuary for the devotees of Saint Philomena to recognize and provide the means to pay our monthly utilities of gas and electricity. We also pray for the means to install a lift at the Sanctuary to enable physically challenged pilgrims to experience the entire home of their beloved Saint.
In order to ensure the Sanctuary is able to keep our doors open to you and to continue to offer God continual praise and to be the focal point through which our prayers are received by Saint Philomena and interceded for before God at the Sanctuary, you may donate in the following ways:
- Direct to the Sanctuary:
- By personal check payable to the "Sanctuary of Saint Philomena." For security reasons, please send your donation through registered or express mail to the Sanctuary's address at the bottom of this newsletter.
- Online - Go to our Support Page, Click Here
- By bank transfer to the Sanctuary's Bank account: BANCA UNICREDIT MUGNANO DEL CARDINALE(30525) BANK ACCOUNT:N° 000400102946 SWIFT CODE:UNCRITM1E94 IBAN:IT18D0200875790000400102946
- U.S.A. Tax-Deductible Donations may be sent to the new non-profit set up in the United States:
- Online - Go to our Support Page, Click Here
- Postal mail donations can be made to: Saint Philomena Sanctuary Support Fund, Inc. P.O. Box 4114 Bergheim, Texas 78004, U.S.A.
