Saint Magdalene of Nagasaki

The first Augustinian missionaries reached Japan in 1602, the first Recollects twenty years later. Jesuits, Franciscans and Dominicans were also working there. The Orders saw this vast and mysterious empire as a great challenge to their faith and missionary zeal. At first there was a period of success, with many converts and new churches. The Orders received their first Japanese novices and were able to introduce their traditional devotions, receiving committed lay people into their confraternities and Third Orders. Magdalene of Nagasaki was a young girl from a devout Christian background who became an Augustinian Recollect tertiary, died a martyr for the Faith when still in her early 20’s, and is now patroness of the Secular Augustinian Recollects, the Third Order of today. 

Magdalene was born about the year 1611 near Nagasaki, the city where most of Japan’s new Christians lived or sought refuge on the outbreak of persecution. Her family appear to have been reasonably well-off and very much involved in the life of the Christian community. But she was still very young, probably about thirteen, when her parents and older siblings were arrested and martyred for their faith. She found a new family in the close-knit Christian community and its missionaries and she gave her young life to helping them. 

She was particularly close to the Augustinian Recollects Francis of Jesus and Vincent of St Augustine. She assisted Francis as interpreter and catechist and he later received her profession as a member of the Third Order. But Magdalene was orphaned a second time when Francis and Vincent – among the beatified martyrs we remember on 28th September – were burned to dearth on Nagasaki’s «Hill of the Martyrs» in 1632. She would have witnessed the horrific deaths by burning, beheading, crucifixion and dreadful torture of many more missionaries and lay Christians. 
 
Her faith held strong and she continued to exercise a ministry of catechizing, caring and encouraging among the persecuted Christian community that gave her the reputation of a deaconess. After the martyrdom of Blesses Francis and Vincent, quickly followed by that of two other Recollects, Blessed Martin and Melchior, Magdalen was helped and guided by Dominican missionaries. After two years ministering to the persecuted Christians in the hills around Nagasaki, witnessing heroic martyrdoms but also sad betrayals and desertions, Magdalene felt she could best serve this community by handing herself over to the authorities and taking the consequences. This she bravely did in September, 1634. 

In ways reminiscent of the martyrdoms of young girls like St Cecilia in the days of the Roman Empire Magdalene had to face all kinds of promises and threats from her persecutors. When all this failed to produce the apostasy which was the main aim of the authorities she was subjected to horrendous torture and death. First she was left hanging for several hours by her arms until the ropes broke and she fell to the ground. Then she had bamboo spikes stuck under her fingernails and she was forced to scratch and claw the ground. Next came sadistic variations on the water torture, forcing the victim to swallow large quantities of water and then applying pressure to force the water, tinged with blood, out of mouth, nose and other organs. Eventually the torturers had to give up. Magdalene was returned to a cage in the gaol and left in dreadful pain to await execution. The day arrived in early October. Magdalene was taken from her prison and paraded on horseback through the streets of the city with a placard hanging from her neck announcing her crime as refusing to abandon her Christian faith. Witnesses later testified that she was dressed in her habit and cincture as an Augustinian Recollect tertiary. 

Ten other Christians, of whom she seemed to be the leader and inspiration, were to die with her. On reaching the «Hill of the Martyrs» the executioners hung Magdalene upside-down from a gallows over a pit dug in the ground. Hers was to be the most dreadful of all the barbaric forms of execution used in the persecution. With her arms bound to her sides she was lowered up to her waist into the pit which was then covered over with boards to make breathing even more difficult. Blood would naturally flow to the head but to prevent a quick death from congestion cuts were made with a knife to her temples and blood trickled out. 
 

The executioners waited in vain for any sign of recanting, but Magdalene only continued to pray, even sing hymns, according to witnesses. She was said to have survived in this terrible state and without food or drink for thirteen days. She was let fall into the pit which had partly filled with rainwater and she died from drowning. To avoid having relics kept by the Christians Magdalene’s body was burnt and her ashes scattered on the sea in Nagasaki Bay. Her martyrdom made a great impression on the Christian community as well as on a number of Portugese merchants who frequented the area. Many of these were later deported to Macao where number of Japanese Christians would also be exiled. As a result evidence could be collected from numerous witnesses about the life and martyrdom of the Augustinian martyrs of Japan and Magdalene in particular. Though this was done in the 1630’s it was not till 1981 that Magdalene of Nagasaki was beatified, together with a number of Dominican martyrs, by Pope John Paul II. She was canonized with the same companions and by the same Pope in Rome on 18th October, 1987.

Source: http://www.agustinosrecoletos.com/saints/index

Saint Nicholas of Tolentino

Nicholas Gurrutti, who was to become much better known by the name of the modest Italian city where he spent most of his life, was born in 1245 in the small town of Sant’ Angelo in Pontano in the Marches of central Italy. As often happens in the stories of prophets and saints Nicholas’ parents, Compagnore and Amata, were childless and getting on in life. They made a pilgrimage to the shrine of St Nicholas of Bari in southern Italy and prayed for a family. Their prayers were answered with at least three children born to them and in gratitude to their patron they named their first-born Nicholas. He grew up tall and pious but not very healthy, we are told. 

There was an Augustinian religious community in the town at a time when several religious groups of an Augustinian tradition were being brought together by the Pope, in what became known as the Great Union of 1256, to form the new mendicant order of Augustinian friars. Nicholas was attracted by the life and ideal of the friars and was accepted as a novice. He made his religious profession in 1261 and was ordained priest in 1269. Little is known of his early years of ministry but he lived in several friaries round the Marches and was probably involved in popular missions in the new and growing towns of the area. 

Then in 1275 he was assigned to the friary in Tolentino where he was to spend the remaining thirty years of his life. It was here he made his name as a saint and miracle-worker and Tolentino was the town whose name he would make famous throughout the Catholic world. It was a small city of some 2000 inhabitants at the time, most of them poor but some belonging to the new merchant classes then developing a new Europe which the friars – Franciscan, Dominican, Carmelite and now Augustinian – set out to save. 

In Tolentino Nicholas set out to live simply as a good Religious and priest. But for him there were no half measures. His complete dedication to prayer and penance was obvious to all, both in the friary and in the community at large. He seemed to observe more fast days than ordinary days and he rarely, if ever, touched meat. He even claimed, the story went, that it would show lack of faith to believe that God could not use bread as easily as meat to keep him healthy. Bread and water were frequently his normal diet. He would make do with three hours’ sleep a night, sometimes with a stone for a pillow and sacking for a blanket. 

He subjected his body to severe traditional penances yet outwardly tried to live a normal community life, never missing the daily choir office even when ill or frail. In the «mendicant» tradition he would beg food for his community from the townspeople and always give a perfect example of poverty and detachment. Most of his day was spent in prayer, up to fifteen hours according to witnesses. Every morning he would spend three hours in the confessional in the friary church and many would come for his spiritual direction. 

There were certainly times when his austerity worried his superiors and they endeavored to control any excess under religious obedience. Once when particularly frail from his fasting he was encouraged to eat some bread marked with a cross and soaked in water. He would later use such bread himself in ministering to the sick and so the Augustinian custom would later develop of marking his feast day with the blessing and distribution of the «breads of St Nicholas». As well as his work in the confessional and spiritual direction Nicholas became well known for his preaching – preaching regularly in the streets – and visits to the people in their homes, especially the sick, the poor and those who at a time of great change in society were losing contact with the Church. 

A fellow-religious has left us this description of Nicholas’ ministry: «He was a joy to the sad, a consolation to the suffering, peace to the estranged, refreshment to those in toil, support for the poor, a healing balm for those in prison». This was the ministry the emerging city world of thirteenth century Europe needed. For this the mendicant orders of friars had been founded. In Nicholas the Augustinians would have a model and inspiration. For this reason St Nicolas of Tolentino became almost a founding father of the Augustinian Friars and they would carry his name and his inspiration wherever they went. Especially in his later years Nicholas had the fame of a healer and miracle-worker, many healing taking place precisely when Nicholas was himself a victim of bad health. 

Like St Francis of Assisi, who lived only a quarter of a century before him and in a neighboring part of central Italy, Nicolas of Tolentino had many stories told about him that became part of popular piety, his own «little flowers». Once, when he was obviously showing the effects of his strict fasting some concerned townspeople brought him a pair of nicely roasted partridges for his dinner. Looking at them he ordered them «be on your way, continue your journey» before the birds flew off! 

Shortly before his death Nicholas had a vision of a bright star which seemed to him to stop first over his birthplace, Sant’ Angelo, before making its way to Tolentino and resting over the friary chapel. When he reported the vision to the friars they understood its meaning and realised his death was near. The star continued to appear, especially when Nicholas was celebrating Mass in the chapel. Even years after his death crowds would gather in the hope of glimpsing the star of Nicholas on the anniversary of his death which took place on 10th September, 1305. Nicholas was canonized in 1446 and declared a «Protector of the Universal Church». He is buried in the basilica in Tolentino which bears his name. 

Nicholas’ popularity with the faithful has not waned. The thousands of breads blessed and distributed in his name in so many places on his feast day every year testify to this. A very special element in such popular devotion to St Nicholas is his role as «Patron of the Souls in Purgatory», a title given him officially by Pope Leo XIII in 1884. The Catholic doctrine of Purgatory was formalized in Nicholas’ lifetime at the Second Council of Lyon in 1274. As a result, devotion to the Holy Souls and prayer on their behalf became important elements of popular piety. Two episodes in Nicholas’ own life-story linked him to this devotion. One was his fervent prayer for his own brother who had died assassinated in suspicious circumstances, the other the Masses and prayers he offered for a deceased friar he had known and who had appeared to him to plead for his help after showing him a vision of Purgatory. 

Nicholas comes down to us today as a simple yet very special saint from the earliest days of the Augustinian Order who lived only for God and for his brothers and sisters.

Source: http://www.agustinosrecoletos.com/saints/index

Saint Ezekiel Moreno

The first Augustinian Recollect priest to be canonised was born on 9th April, 1848 in the small town of Alfaro in Spain’s Rioja region. Felix, the town tailor and his wife Josefa Diaz had six children. It was a poor but devout family, typical of the time and place. Ezekiel followed his older brother Eustaquio into the Recollect novitiate in nearby Monteagudo and made his religious profession in September 1865. (for a short time the Novitiate had actually been in Alfaro before moving to Monteagudo in Navarra province). He continued his studies for the priesthood at the Order’s seminary in Marcilla before leaving with seventeen companions for the mission territories of the Philippine Islands. He was ordained priest by the Archbishop of Manila on 2nd June 1871. He immediately began his missionary work in his brother’s parish on the island of Mindoro before being transferred to the even more remote island of Palawan. 

The intensity of his religious life, his missionary and pastoral zeal and in particular his concern for the sick and abandoned impressed all who knew him. It was in Palawan that he first contracted the malaria that would accompany him around the world adding a new mortification to the austere asceticism he already practised. After five years’ pastoral work in Manila Ezekiel was appointed prior of the novitiate house back in Spain. He got to Monteagudo shortly before a cholera epidemic struck town and monastery. Soon afterwards it would be smallpox, then near famine conditions of extreme poverty. Ezekiel again made care of the sick and needy his priority. It is said that up to 500 sick and hungry people could arrive at the priory on many days to be given what help could be provided by Ezekiel and his community. At the same time he was anxious to deepen the religious life of all his friars and he readily cooperated in the pastoral and devotional life of the neighbouring parishes where his work in pulpit and confessional was particularly appreciated. 

In 1888 Ezekiel volunteered to lead a small group of Spanish friars in an attempt to revive the once thriving Recollect province in Colombia with its now neglected mission territory of Casanare. It was no easy task. First it was necessary to try to restore a community religious life among the small number of Colombian friars who remained active in the pastoral ministry. A novitiate was re-established and the pastoral ministry was enhanced due in no small part to the long hours Ezekiel himself spent in pulpit, confessional and the care of the sick. Eventually it was possible to think of the missions in remote and neglected Casanare in the east of the country near the border with Venezuela. Here there was great poverty, material and spiritual, in a vast territory with poor communications and hardly any clergy. The effect of the first visit of Ezekiel and three companions of his Order in 1891 was a blossoming of interest in the needs of Cesanare both in the Order and in church and state in Columbia. An apostolic vicariate was created to meet these needs. Despite his humility and reluctance Ezekiel was the obvious candidate for bishop though only a direct order from his superior general in Spain would convince him to accept. It took him over a month by mule to reach the small town of Tamara where a small, mud-floored church was to be his cathedral. 

Conscious of the vast needs and minimal resources of his vicariate he consecrated it to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in whom he placed all his trust. Once the long rainy season was over he set out, again by mule and often practically alone, to visit his far-flung territory to preach, instruct and administer the sacraments in towns, villages and settlements that had not seen a priest for years. Before his first visitation could be completed revolution broke out and the bishop found himself facing a new difficulty in dealing with anti-church rebel groups. Early in 1895 Ezekiel, now well known for his personal sanctity and pastoral dedication, was appointed bishop of Pasto in the far south of Columbia on the border with Ecuador. He left Casanare with some sadness but total obedience to the call of the Church. 

A priest who met him on his way to Bogota mentioned that his only luggage appeared to be his breviary. Pasto was a more established diocese but it too was vast, with poor communications and few clergy. His life there would be characterised by the same dedication to duty in the service of the Church and for the salvation of souls, the only thing that mattered to him. His personal asceticism continued to impress all who got to know him well. Unfortunately, for Ezekiel in Pasto in the historical circumstances of the time his total commitment to duty and the care of souls would lead to much opposition, misunderstanding and suffering. Again he would find himself caught up in revolutions and civil war. He soon became the Columbian Church’s leading opponent of the liberalism then influencing the country and in his view putting souls at serious risk to their eternal salvation. 

On a visit to Rome he even proffered his resignation to Pope Leo XIII if, as was suggested, this might bring unity and peace in the country. The offer was not accepted. To us today his views might seem dated and extreme, but they were based on the theological thinking of the time, especially papal teaching and his understanding of the role of the bishop in safeguarding the welfare of souls as the ultimate value. The name of his diocesan paper, «The Catholic Champion», possibly best expresses the role he felt obliged to play in the tangled politics of turn-of-the-century Colombia. 

There were attempts to have him removed from office, even attempts on his life but the local Church in the main supported and valued his stance. Ezekiel survived all these problems. The one he could not survive was of a different nature and even more painful. In 1905 he started to show the first signs of the cancer of nose and throat that would rapidly become his private and final way of the cross. The doctors in Pasto lacked the necessary instruments for thorough examination and treatment. He was resigned to God’s will but his clergy insisted he go to Spain for treatment. 

Early in 1906 he underwent an extremely painful operation, much of it having to be done without anaesthetic, in Madrid with a second a month later. The doctors would later testify to their amazement at his patient acceptance of such extreme suffering. The operations were not successful and his condition continued to deteriorate, with hearing and speech badly effected. Knowing that he would soon die Ezekiel asked to be moved to the Order’s house in Monteagudo where he made his religious profession and where he had been prior. Arriving in Monteagudo on 1st June 1906 he chose a small room near the chapel with a gallery from which he could look down on the sanctuary with the tabernacle and the statue of Our Lady of the Way to whom he had always been particularly devoted. 

From 19th June he was confined to bed as the cancer got worse, taking over more and more of the brain, his eyesight failing too, the terrible suffering increasing for the final two months of his life. He received the Sacrament of Reconciliation and heard Mass every day in his room. He is eventually unable to communicate with anyone and his thoughts seem all for the next life. His silent sermon is all about resignation and complete acceptance of God’s will. Food, eventually even water, became impossible to take. It took half an hour to administer the Viaticum. Ezekiel died peacefully at half past eight on the morning of 19th August 1906. He was 58. Much suffering had been crammed into those years, all patiently accepted and offered up. Ezekiel Moreno had died a martyr in all but name. 

Three days later his body was interred in the priory chapel. Devotion grew and the cause of beatification was introduced. He was declared blessed by Pope Paul VI on 1st November 1975. He was canonised by Pope John Paul II in Santo Domingo on 11th October 1992 during the papal visit to mark the 5th centenary of the evangelization of the Americas. Devotion to St Ezekiel has spread especially in Columbia and among cancer sufferers. His remains now rest in a new chapel in the monastery of Our Lady of the Way in Monteagudo, Navarra, Spain.

Source: http://www.agustinosrecoletos.com/saints/index