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    On this day 102 years ago Saint Therese of the Child Jesus passed into Heaven as tuberculosis took her life at the age of 24. Even though her feast day is celebrated tomorrow, she died on October 1, 1897. One hundred years later Pope John Paul II would elevate her to the status of being only the third woman Doctor of the Church. For other pertinent events throughout the centuries that are memorable in Church history today, click on MILLENNIUM MILESTONES AND MEMORIES

Historical Events in Church Annals for September 30:

420 A.D.


Death of Saint Jerome, priest and Doctor of the Church who died in Bethlehem on this date at the age of 90. For more on this saint, see TODAY'S LITURGY.

1452 A.D.


Johann Guttenberg publishes the first bible. After this the proverbial barn door would be swung open and the age of reason did not reason well, leaving individual interpretation of the Bible that created diversity and division resulting in the Protestant Reformation.

1880 A.D.


Pope Leo XIII issues his fifth encyclical on Saints Cyril and Methodius entitled Grande munus.

1897 A.D.


Death of Saint Therese of Lisieux, also called the "Little Flower" and Saint Therese of the Child Jesus from Tuberculosis at the tender age of 24. For more on this saint, see DAILY LITURGY.

1943 A.D.


Pope Pius XII ushers his fifth encyclical Divino afflante Spiritu on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Providentissimus Deus (November 18, 1893) on the Divine Spirit and promoting biblical studies.

1971 A.D.


Pope Paul VI convenes the 3rd Synod of Bishops in Vatican City.

SIMPLY SHEEN: Realizing those who cross us is a necessary cross!

    They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but the words of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen have been known to launch a thousand images in one's mind, one of the ways this late luminary did so much to evangelize the faith. Because of the urgency of the times and because few there are today who possess the wisdom, simplicity and insight than the late Archbishop who touched millions, we are bringing you daily gems from his writings. The good bishop makes it so simple that we have dubbed this daily series: "SIMPLY SHEEN".

"When other people begin to 'get on our nerves,' one must ask oneself if it is because they cross our moods or our wishes; in that case, it is self-will in us that adds to the weight of the cross. Then begins the task of accepting such people as a cross, and through our patience and forgiveness, putting love where we do not find it. "

    Today is the Feast of the distinguished Doctor of the Church Saint Jerome, who translated the Scriptures into the Vulgate Bible. Tomorrow we celebrate the first day of October with the Feast of Saint Therese of Lisieux also known as St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Little Flower who was named a Doctor of the Church two years ago by the Pope. For the readings, liturgies, meditations, and vignettes on these feasts, click on DAILY LITURGY.

Thursday September 30:
Feast of Saint Jerome, priest and Doctor of the Church

White vestments

First Reading: Nehemiah 8: 1-12
Psalms: Psalm 19: 8-11
Gospel Reading: Luke 10: 1-12

SAINT JEROME, PRIEST AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

    Born of wealthy parents in Dalmatia, which is today the former Yugoslavia, Jerome was given the opportunity to study at the great universities. He chose Rome, studying the languages. Through his intellectual curiosity towards literature, Christian writings and Scripture, he came to realize the Truth and was baptized in 360 by Pope Liberius himself. Jerome, yearning for more, gave up the pagan culture and the social trappings and sought the life of a hermit for four years where he studied Hebrew which he later called "the language of hissing and broken-winded words." At the conclusion of this seclusion, he became a priest around 379 and journeyed to Constantinople where he studied Scripture with St. Gregory Nazianzus as his tutor. When Gregory retired as Bishop of Constantinople and left for Asia Minor, Jerome was drawn to Rome where, accompanied by Bishop Paulinus, he was introduced to Pope Saint Damasus I. So taken was the pontiff that he appointed Jerome as his secretary and commissioned him to undertake his greatest contribution: translating the Greek and Hebrew texts of Sacred Scripture into Latin. At that time the language of the common people of the empire in the west was Latin, yet most of the writings had been in Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic and thus understandable only to the learned. Urged on by Pope Damasus, Jerome accepted the tremendous task of translating the entire bible into Latin to which we are all grateful for the Latin Vulgate Edition of St. Jerome. It took great skill and discernment to express the meaning of the Word of God in Latin and to know which words to choose. Jerome was given another gift, that of being able to express the Word in the simplest and most meaningful way and honing in even more on the true essence of all that was written by the prophets and evangelists. Within a short time the people were able to read and understand the "Good News" of the New Testament. This played a major role in the people rejecting the heresy of Arianism in the West for they could now read first hand the truth. While he was working on this massive project, Jerome had also become spiritual director to three holy women who had come from nobility but wanted more than the world offered. Many believe these ladies - Marcella, Paula and Eustochia were the first religious nuns. Because of her wealth and strong faith, Paula built a monastery in Bethlehem for the women to live and when Damasus died in 384 Jerome graciously declined Pope Saint Siricus’ offer to stay on as secretary, opting instead to become full time spiritual director at the Bethlehem monastery where he could also devote more time to translating the greater part of the Old Testament from Hebrew to Latin. For nine years from 393 to 404 many Arian clergymen sought to discredit him and cast scandal on Jerome, the sisters, and the Church but Jerome, through his faithfulness and the grace of God, withstood these attacks and staunchly defended the orthodox doctrine of his faith. He had intended to return to Rome at the urging of Pope Saint Innocent I who was elected the 40th successor to Peter on December 22, 401 but in 404 two events occurred. First, Sister Paula died, saddening Jerome and, after much prayer, decided to stay on at the monastery; and secondly, he received the terrible news that Rome was being sacked by the Goth Alaric and he prayed intensely for the Holy Father’s safety and all of the Roman people, some of whom, in 410, had sought shelter at the monastery when the Saracens invaded Palestine. Jerome interrupted his work on Ezekiel to take the Roman refugees in, taking the opportunity to teach them all he knew during the decade they were together for in 420 he died near the age of 90 and was buried in the monastery which had now also become a hospice for many and would soon be the site for the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. It’s interesting to note that during this period in history when Jerome translated the bible into Latin, Ufila, the Bishop of the Western Goths, was doing the same. Translating the Latin into Gothic.

Friday October 1:
Feast of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, Virgin, Religious and Doctor of the Church

White vestments

First Reading: Baruch 1: 15-22
Psalms: Psalm 79: 1-5, 8-9
Gospel Reading: Luke 10: 13-16

FEAST OF SAINT THERESE OF THE CHILD JESUS, VIRGIN, RELIGIOUS AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

    The youngest of nine children, Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus was born Maria Frances Theresa Guerin in 1873 at Alencon near Normandy in France and was one of four of the daughters who survived infancy. Five of the other children born to Theresa's parents Louis Martin Guerin and his wife Zelie-Marie had died in their infancy. Theresa was sent to the Benedictine monastery in Lisieux where she became known for her total suppression of her own will in favor of what Jesus wanted, offering every little sacrifice she could. Frail from birth, Theresa had been healed of a serious illness in 1883 through the intercession of Our Lady, and decided then and there she would become a Carmelite Nun. However her age prevented her from pursuing this immediate goal. Undaunted and persistent that Jesus wanted this, she even approached the Holy Father Pope Leo XIII during a group audience with him in Rome on pilgrimage, asking him to allow her to enter the convent. He was somewhat taken aback by her forwardness but replied gently, "Whatever your bishop advises, you follow, my child." This news from such a powerful prelate forced Theresa to bite her lip for she thought surely the Pope would allow this. Saddened she returned to France where she waited until old enough to be admitted which she was in 1888 and given the name Sister Theresa of the Child Jesus of the Holy Face. Five years later at the age of 20 she was chosen mistress of novices. Three years later in 1986 Tuberculosis set in. Once this was known, Theresa's older blood sister, Mother Agnes of Jesus insisted that Theresa write down her memoirs for posterity. This she did and after her death this work entitled The Story of a Soul was widely circulated. In it, Theresa emphasized her doctrine on the "little way" of spiritual childhood stressing that she wanted to save souls to help priests save souls by prayer, sacrifice, and suffering. Her "little way" means loving and trusting in God as a child, held in His loving arms as she writes, "From the age of three, I never refused our good God anything. I have never given him anything but love. I just want to love God. I want to do hard things for Him. I want to pray for priests and for sinners. I want to shine like a little candle before His altar." She exemplified two of the greatest virtues, humility and total dependence on the Will of God. She even prayed that God would hear her prayer and save so many souls by offering herself in total reparation, including letting God give away any graces she would earn to any soul who needed it. As she lay dying in the convent in 1897, she pressed her precious crucifix to her heart and peering Heavenward replied, "I love Him! My God, I love You!" Shortly afterwards the tuberculosis took its toll and Theresa died on September 30, 1897 at only 24. True to her promise that she would let fall from Heaven a "shower of roses," she became known far and wide as the "Little Flower" with many miracles of intercession attributed to her throughout the world so that in 1925 Pope Pius XI canonized her proclaiming, "St. Theresa of the Child Jesus is the greatest saint of modern times." In 1944, at the height of World War II when France was being pummelled by German howitzers, Pope Pius XII proclaimed her patroness of France along with Saint Joan of Arc. French aviators and soldiers took up the battle cry encouraged by her intercession and many attribute the fall of Germany to storming Heaven. Theresa also shares a title with Saint Francis Xavier as patroness of Foreign Missions. Though Theresa never had the opportunity to set step outside of Europe, she had a longing to go to a Carmelite mission in Hanoi, Vietnam in the late 19th Century. On September 19th of 1996, Pope John Paul II officially proclaimed St. Therese a Doctor of the Church, making her the third female saint to be so honored.

   For the Feast of Saint Jerome we honor him with this special prayer from My Daily Prayer:

O God, Who, in Thy Blessed Confessor Jerome, didst vouchsafe to raise up in Thy Church a teacher eminent in the exposition of Holy Scripture; grant, we beseech Thee, that through his pleading merits we may be enabled, by Thy grace, to practice what he taught by word and by example.

    Like our other feature series, we present installments 1 through 105 of this series which is a set blueprint for Catholics everywhere to take up the banner of truth in defending Christ's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church as we prepare for this glorious event - the second coming of Christ and the Reign of the Sacred Heart, the Second Pentecost, the Era of the Eucharistic Presence, the Advent of Peace. To read any of the over one-hundred previous installments in this long on-going series, click on the Archives ofWHERE IS HOLY MOTHER CHURCH HEADING AS WE NEAR THE MILLENNIUM?

    Dear children! Today again I call you to become carriers of my peace. In a special way, now when it is being said that God is far away, He has truly never been nearer to you. I call you to renew prayer in your families by reading the Sacred Scripture and to experience joy in meeting with God Who infinitely loves His creatures. Thank you for having responded to my call. For more on Medjugorje, click on MEDJUGORJE AND MORE

Bishop Belo calls on German bishops to help rebuild his beloved East Timor

    Comparing the vast damage in his homeland of East Timor to the damage done at the end of World War II in Germany, East Timor's spiritual leader Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo made a plea to the German Bishops to help restore his country hoping they will empathize with him from their own experiences after the fall of the Third Reich. He is traveling throughout Europe trying to drum up physical and financial commitments to help for his people during these devastating times. For more, click on Bishop Belo reaches out for help

    BERLIN (CWNews.com) - Bishop Carlos Belo of Dili, East Timor, called on Germany on Wednesday to support a proposed plan to rebuild the country following weeks of violence by anti-independence militias.

    Bishop Belo said the destruction, which he compared to the damage to Germany at the end of World War II, has devastated the territory's economy and infrastructure just as the people had decided to separate from Indonesia.

    Indonesia, the most populous Muslim nation in the world, invaded mainly Catholic East Timor in 1975 and annexed it the following year in a move not recognized by the United Nations. In August, the region held a Jakarta-proposed referendum to allow Timorese to choose either autonomy within Indonesia or full independence. After the pro-independence results were revealed, pro-Indonesia militias, armed and backed by Indonesia's military, went on a rampage, killing thousands and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee the former Portugese colony.

    The bishop left East Timor during the violence when militias burned his home and threatened his life. He has been traveling throughout Europe to raise awareness and support for humanitarian aid. On Wednesday, Bishop Belo met with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer.

Violence breaks out again in Burundi, 30 Catholics murdered while just to the north in Rwanda Bishop Misago's trial suspended for a month

    Just as the judge in Kigali, Rwanda suspended the trial of genocide charges trumped up against Bishop Augustin Misago for a month to round up witnesses in the complicated genocide trial of Hutu vs. Tutsi tribe, new violence broke out south in the capital city of Burundi with the same two tribes and the latest reports are that thirty Catholic civilians, belonging to the Hutus, were shot during Sunday Mass. Many others were injured in the civil war melee sparked by the militlary. For more, click on Murder in Burundi.

    ROME (CWNews.com) - About 30 Catholics were murdered in their local church in Burundi's capital Bujumbura, according to the Catholic missionary news agency MISNA on Tuesday.

    The agency said in a statement that a group of men in military uniforms shot at worshippers during Sunday Mass. "At the time of the attack, hundreds of people were gathered for their Sunday prayers," the agency said. "The death toll is around 30, all civilians ... and the majority of the people were Hutu," it added.

    The two central African ethnic groups, the Hutus and Tutsis, have been embroiled in fighting since 1993 in Burundi, leaving about 150,000 people dead. The civil war pits members of the Hutu majority against the mainly Tutsi army. MISNA said Sunday's killings were carried out by "military men, mostly of Ugandan nationality."

    Meanwhile, in Kigali, Rwanda the trial of a Catholic bishop accused of complicity in genocide was adjourned on Wednesday for a month to allow prosecution and defense teams time to prepare witnesses.

    Bishop Augustin Misago of Gikongoro has been charged with five counts of genocide in the massacres of around 800,000 Tutsis and supporting Hutus by extremist Hutus in 1994. The trial began on September 14 but was adjourned for the third time on Wednesday after the bishop gave his initial testimony.

    Among specific charges Bishop Misago faces are that he participated in high-level government meetings at which the genocide was planned, and that he abandoned several Tutsi priests and nuns to their fate at the hands of Hutu militiamen. The bishop said he did all he could to protect the people and he could not save everyone from the killers. "I was not the Almighty to be everywhere to assist everyone in danger," he said on Wednesday.

    The Vatican has criticized the trial as part of a political attack on the Church, which was once the most influential non-governmental institution in Rwanda.

Holy Father clarifies Indulgences and calls for help in East Timor during Wednesday Papal Audience

    In his first Wednesday Papal Audience after returning permanently to the Vatican after a few months in Castel Gondolfo, the Holy Father emphasized the real essence of indulgences, indicating it's not about racking up "points" so to speak through physical actions but rather a commitment of the heart where one is dedicated to attaining sanctity through "detachment from sin." He concluded his talk in petitioning for both prayer and physical help for the poor beleaguered people of East Timor. For more, click on Wednesday Papal Audience.

    VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- Pope John Paul II explained the proper understanding of indulgences during his public audience on Wednesday, September 29.

    Earlier in the month, the Vatican had published a new Manual of Indulgences, explaining how various forms of prayer, penance, and acts of charity could earn partial or even complete remission of the punishment for sins. The Holy Father explained that the "temporal pain" endured by souls in purgatory is a part of the "process of purification" for the sinner. In that process, the repentant sinner is prepared to receive "the fullness of love."

    Through the authority granted by Christ, the Pope continued, the Church has replaced that temporal pain with "concrete steps toward conversion" here on earth. Thus the process of earning indulgences cannot be a matter of "external gestures, done superficially," but must be "a process of interior growth toward actual detachment from sin."

    The Pope spoke to about 16,000 pilgrims in St. Peter's Square. This was his first audience at the Vatican since returning to Rome, having ended his summer stay at Castel Gandalfo.

    Pope John Paul II renewed his call for peace in East Timor, as he closed his public audience. The Holy Father spoke of his "profound sorrow" over the news of killings that took place in Bacau, at the northeast corner of East Timor, on September 26. The massacres there-- occurring after the first arrival of international peacekeeping forces on the island-- took the lives of two missionary nuns. The Pontiff denounced these "massacres committed against unarmed civilians, against Christians, priests, and religious who have given their lives in service to everyone."

    The Pope again called for prayers "for all the victims of the tragedy in Timor," as well as "everyone who is working to help them, and to bring peace to the territory."

Holy See tells Bishop McDonald and administrators of St. Vincent's Hospital in Little Rock: Don't ever allow sterilization!

   St. Vincent's Hospital in Little Rock has been told in no uncertain terms by the Vatican, and the bishop as well - Bishop Andrew McDonald, due to retire soon, that under no circumstances could the bishop allow sterilizations to ever take place in a Catholic hospital no matter who was performing the procedure. Though the bishop knew it was wrong, he still allowed it and appealed to the Holy See and that is what triggered the Vatican's quick answer in no uncertain terms. For more, click on Never sterilization!.

    LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (CWNews.com) - The Vatican has informed a Catholic hospital in Arkansas that it must stop allowing outside doctors to sterilize women in violation of the Church's teaching against artificial birth control.

    St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center did not allow sterilizations until it purchased Columbia Doctors Hospital several years ago. St. Vincent's ended abortions and sterilizations at the hospital, but resumed sterilizations last summer to qualify for some health insurance plans.

    On Tuesday, the hospital announced an end to the arrangement. "We went into this thing knowing there was a possibility that we would be asked to discontinue the agreement. That's what's happened," St. Vincent spokesman Scott Mosley said.

    Columbia Doctors asked Bishop Andrew McDonald of Little Rock to let doctors from the independent Arkansas Women's Health Center perform the procedure in the hospital. Bishop McDonald said the sterilization was "an evil in itself," but allowed it. Still, he asked the Vatican to review his approval.

For more headlines and articles, we suggest you go to the Catholic World News site at the CWN home page and Church News at Noticias Eclesiales and the features, dossiers and Daily Dispatches at ZENIT International News Agency. CWN, NE and ZENIT are not affiliated with the Daily CATHOLIC but provide this service via e-mail to the Daily CATHOLIC Monday through Friday.

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Finally the long-awaited books "I SOLEMNLY TELL YOU..." and THE HIDDEN WAY are NOW available!

   With the messages completed, you can now order the book that contains ALL the messages. This much-anticipated 224-page book of ALL the messages to the world imparted to the Hidden Flower of the Immaculate Heart from the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a lasting gift that will inspire you in your faith, and all God asks of us. You can acquire your own handsome, coffee-table top copy of "I SOLEMNLY TELL YOU..." containing all 632 messages or the THE HIDDEN WAY containing 100 inspirational Meditative Lessons from Our Lord and Our Lady on Church Doctrine by clicking on "I SOLEMNLY TELL YOU..." or THE HIDDEN WAY or both books at BOOKS

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September 30, 1999 volume 10, no. 186   DAILY CATHOLIC