Day 75 of the Baltimore Catechism

Day #75: Who assists the bishops?

Who assist the bishops in the care of souls? The priests, especially parish priests, assist the bishops in the care of souls. And when they had appointed presbyters for them in each church, with prayer and fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. (Acts 14:22) Who are the laity of the Church? The laity of the Church are all its members who do not belong to the clerical or to the religious state. Further reading: CCC 897

The story of the Gretna Louisiana woman whose miraculous cure led to the beatification of Blessed Seelos

Blessed Seelos

by admin · 12/02/2011

Healer and Miracle Worker
It was a miracle waiting to happen. In 1966, a medical examination revealed that Angela Boudreaux’s abdomen was swollen to proportions of a six-month pregnancy from a liver nine times normal size. A preliminary biopsy found no liver tissue at all, and exploratory surgery determined that 90 percent of the liver was simply “replaced” by a malignant tumor. A number of pathologists confirmed the findings. Angela, a wife and mother of four young children, was told she had two weeks to live.

On her way home from the New Orleans hospital, she prayed at the tomb of a saint-in-the-making, Father Francis Xavier Seelos, and was blessed with his Redemptorist mission cross. When Angela was still alive a month later, she was placed on a highly experimental chemotherapy with little chance of success; she was also warned that the toxic chemicals were painful enough to confine her to bed for a full year.
Angela suffered no side effects and made a complete recovery. A few years later, gallbladder surgery revealed only minor scars on her liver. Her surgeon was not aware of such an advanced case of liver cancer being cured so rapidly—especially considering the rudimentary chemotherapy available at that time. Her non-Catholic surgeon, a self-described man of science—whom Angela had persuaded to wear a memento of Father Seelos during her exploratory surgery—said it was the closest thing to a miracle he had ever witnessed.
Consequently, Angela felt certain of her mission: She would share with others “the marvels God has done” in her own life through Father Seelos’s intercession and further his canonization cause by ministering at the Seelos Center. Given two weeks to live by doctors in 1966, Angela and her husband had a special reason to travel to Rome in the Solemn Jubilee Year 2000. Her cure almost thirty-five years earlier was unanimously approved by the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints as the miracle needed to beatify Father Seelos. Angela’s participation in the beatification ceremony of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos was in thanksgiving to God for a lifespan doubled and a lifelong mission fulfilled!

11th anniversary of the Beatification of Blessed Seelos

Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos

Also known as

•Father Seelos
•Francesco Saverio Seelos
•Franz Xaver Seelos
Memorial

•5 October
Profile

One of twelve children born to Mang and Frances Schwarzenbach Seelos; he was named for Saint Francis Xavier. His father was a textile merchant who became parish sacristan. Francis was Confirmed on 3 September 1828, and made his first Communion on 2 April 1830. The boy wanted to be a priest from an early age, and often claimed he would be another Francis Xavier.

He completed his basic studies,/a> in Füssen, Germany, and graduated from the Institute of Saint Stephen in Augsburg, Germany in 1839. Received a degree in philosophy and theology from the University of Munich, and entered the Saint Jerome seminary in Dillingen an der Donau, Germany on 19 September 1842.

Francis became familiar with the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, and their mission to work with the poorest, the abandoned, and immigrants. He joined on 22 November 1842. Feeling a call to minister to German immigrants to America, he left the seminary on 9 December 1842, sailed for the America on 17 March 1843, and arrived in New York on 20 April. Ordained in the Redemptorist Church of Saint James in Baltimore, Maryland on 22 December 1844.

Worked nine years at Saint Philomena parish in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, six of those years as assistant pastor to, and spiritual student of Saint John Neumann, and the other three as superior and novice master of his Redemptorist community. Faithful to the Redemptorist teachings, he led a simple life, preached a simple message, and was always available to those in need. His sermons drew crowds from neighboring towns, there were lines outside his confessional, and he never tired of working with children. He heard Confessions in English, German, and French, from black and whites and anyone else with a burden.

Transferred to parish ministries in Baltimore in 1854, Cumberland, Maryland in 1857, and Annapolis, Maryland in 1862. Proposed as bishop of Pittsburgh in 1860, but he begged to be excused “from this act of God“, and his desire was granted by Pope Pius IX.

In 1863, during the American Civil War, all men were obliged to be available for active military duty. Seelos, as Superior of the Redemptorist Seminary, met with President Abraham Lincoln, and obtained an agreement not to send seminarians to the front. Seelos soon after lost his position as Prefect of Students for being “too lenient”.

From 1863 to 1866 he lived as an itinerant mission preacher in both English and German in Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. Hearing of an influx of German immigrants to New Orleans, Louisiana, he pastored a Redemptorist church there beginning in 1866. He worked with yellow fever victims until he was taken by the illness the next year.

Born

•11 January 1819 at Füssen, Bavaria, Germany
•baptized on the same day
Died

•4 October 1867 in New Orleans, Louisiana of yellow fever
•buried in a crypt beneath the floor of Saint Mary’s Assumption Church, New Orleans
Venerated

•27 January 2000 by Pope John Paul II (decree of heroic virtues)
Beatified

•9 April 2000 by Pope John Paul II at Rome, Italy
•responsible for the miraculous healing from inoperable liver cancer of Angela Boudreaux in 1966

The Feast of Blessed Seelos

>>>Big celebration for Blessed Seelos in New Orleans as his presence is still felt. Having died in New Orleans it is so appropriate that his confirmed miracle cure is that of Angela Boudreaux of whom I've posted before. She was a devout follower of Seelos who interceeded in her prayer to be cured of liver cancer. And she was. Angela lived in a suburb of New Orleans and was a dear family friend.

Bl. Francis Xavier Seelos

Feastday: October 5


Francis Xavier Seelos was born in Fussen, Germany, in 1819. Expressing his desire for the priesthood since an early age, he entered the diocesan seminary of Augsburg after completing his studies in philosophy. Upon learning of the charism and missionary activity of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, he decided to join and go to North America. He arrived in the United States on April 20, 1843, entered the Redemptorist novitiate and completed his theological studies, being ordained a priest on December 22, 1844. He began his pastoral ministry in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he remained nine years, working closely as assistant pastor of his confrere St. John Neumann, while at the same time serving as Master of Novices and dedicating himself to mission preaching. In 1854, he returned to Baltimore, later being transferred to Cumberland and then Annapolis, where he served in parochial ministry and in the formation of the Redemptorist seminarians. He was considered an expert confessor, a watchful and prudent spiritual director and a pastor always joyfully available and attentive to the needs of the poor and the abandoned. In 1860, he was a candidate for the office of Bishop of Pittsburgh. Having been excused from this responsibility by Pope Pius IX, from 1863 until 1866 he became a full-time itinerant missionary preacher. He preached in English and German in the states of Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. He was named pastor of the Church of St. Mary of the Assumption in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he died of the yellow fever epidemic caring for the sick and the poor of New Orleans on October 4, 1867, at the age of 48 years and nine months. The enduring renown for his holiness which the Servant of God enjoyed occasioned his Cause for Canonization to be introduced in 1900 with the initiation of the Processo Informativo . On January 27, Your Holiness declared him Venerable, decreeing the heroism of his virtues.

Homily February 8, 2009/ 5th Sunday Ordinary Time

Angela Boudreaux was living a normal life on the Westbank; a wife and mother of four young children. In 1966, her youngest son fell ill and spent time in and out of the hospital. As he recovered his health, Angela was ignoring troubling symptoms of her own. She was in much pain and her stomach had swollen to the size of a woman six months pregnant. Finally, she went to the doctor and was told her liver was nine times the size of a normal liver. A biopsy would reveal malignant cells and the diagnosis was confirmed: advanced liver cancer. Surgery was scheduled.
Because she asked, the doctors told her surgery would last five hours if removal of the cancer was achieved or one hour if there would be no hope. Her surgery lasted one hour. The liver was gone, replaced by a large, aggressive cancerous tumor. She was told she had two weeks to live.
But two weeks later she is still alive and feeling better. Angela was allowed to leave the hospital to get her affairs in order. She made one request of her husband, Melvin. She asked to visit the grave of Fr. Francis Xavier Seelos at St. Mary's Church in the Irish Channel of New Orleans. She knelt at his graveside, gave thanks for being alive, and asked for his intercession to be healed.
Soon, experimental chemotherapy was recommended. The chemo would include a derivative of poison mustard gas. Doctors were desperate; they did not expect a cure. Angela continued to improve and feel better and continued to pray through Fr. Seelos for his intercession. Five years later she is still alive, feeling better and functioning just fine; except for a bad case of gallstones.
The gall bladder surgery actually presented doctors a chance to view the liver. To their amazement, the liver was whole and healthy, tumor-less and perfectly normal. Doctors concluded that the experimental chemotherapy alone could not expalin the good news. Her doctor, a Protestant, declared it must be a miracle. Angela knew what happened, her prayers and those of Fr. Seelos, were answered. Jesus heals.

Her case was presented to Rome as part of the process for the cause of the canonization of Fr. Seelos. Angela had worked now for over 25 years for this cause.

I remember these events well for when I was just nine years old my immediate family called me and my sister together, asked us to play with four young children, cousins we had not ever met, and be kind for their mother only had days to live. You see Angela and Melvin were related to the uncle who was raising us and they became Ms. Angela and Uncle Melvin to me. So it was with great joy in the jubilee year of 2000 that Angela and Melvin went to Rome, met Pope John Paul the Great as he declared her healing as the miracle that allowed Fr. Francis Xavier Seelos to be declared a Blessed.

I learned at an early age that Jesus heals and yes He has powerful intercessors, our friends that help us in presenting our needs to Jesus. Even in today's Gospel, Simon's mother-in-law needed friends and family to bring Jesus to her for healing. And Jesus did come and He did heal. But we learn in the Gospel that Jesus did not come for healing alone. His healing and His cures reveal His purpose: to preach the Good News, to show us how to pray, to bring hope and to save.

In all the years I knew Ms. Angela, her focus was never on "look at me; I've been healed" but rather a woman focused on her faith, a woman who prayed, never missed Mass and preached the Gospel by her actions. Her daily example was full of joy and hope; the same joy and hope she shares with Simon's mother-in-law.

Ms. Angela showed me, and all of us, that Jesus is still present in our life now, that He comes to us, He longs to proclaim the Good News to us, He longs to nourish us with His Body and Blood. All we need to do, like Ms. Angela did, is come to Him in prayer, ask Him to heal us of our illness, sin, and yes, solicit the help of His powerful friends, intercessors like Blessed Fr. Francis Xavier Seelos. And when we come to Him, He will show us the Father. Even in the midst of the miraculous cure in today's Gospel, Jesus points to the Father; in prayer and preaching. He will never lead us in any other way than to His Father, our Father.

Ms. Angela found a powerful intercessor, a powerful friend in Blessed Fr. Francis Xavier Seelos. She knew that it was Jesus who healed her, who heals us, who leads us to our Father, her Father, where she rests in His glorious presence today.

May we, inspired by the life of Ms. Angela, and the example of Blessed Fr. Francis Xavier Seelos seek Jesus, to be healed, to be saved and to proclaim that Jesus is Lord. May this be the purpose for which we come; the purpose for which we live.

Blessed Fr. Francis Xavier Seelos, pray for us.