Blessed Louis-Zepherin, a Model Bishop for Canada
Today in Canada we celebrate Blessed Louis-Zepherin Moreau, (1824 – 1901) an exemplary bishop of Saint-Hyacinthe in Quebec. Born rather sickly and undersized to a large Quebecois farming family, he dedicated himself to studies and eventually to the priesthood, enduring many vicissitudes. Due to his continuing ill-health, it was recommended to Louis that he was just not cut out for the priesthood, but he persevered. Bishop Ignace Bourget of Montreal took him into private studies, with his coadjutor, Bishop Jean-Charles Prince, and Louis-Zepherin was eventually ordained a priest on December 19th, 1846. He proved himself faithful, steadfast and solicitous in his ministry, dedicated to his flock, unsparing of himself, and was chosen bishop by Pius IX in 1875, consecrated January 16, 1876.
For the next quarter century he was the mainstay in the formation and guidance of his flock: as one historian put it, Bishop Moreau’s diocese was renowned for “the saintliness and happiness of his priests, the close and fraternal relations he maintained with them, his sense of collegiality, the community life that he was able to foster in his diocese between bishop, priests, religious, and laity, . . . the extraordinary impetus he gave to ecclesiastical studies among both his seminarists and his priests.”
Bishop Moreau also founded two religious orders to further the spiritual work of the diocese, the Sisters of Saint Joseph and the Sisters of Saint Martha. After 25 years of episcopal ministry, he went to his eternal reward on this day, May 24th, 1901 and beatified by Pope Saint John Paul II on May 10th, 1987.
Quebec is no longer what it once was, but Bishop Moreau is a beacon of hope, that la belle province may find her original Faith. At the least, he provides an example and intercessor for the current members of our Canadian episcopacy, and all of us would do well to follow his lead.
There is a parish just outside of Quebec City given to the Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP), dedicated to the usus antiquior and the Church’s traditional liturgy, which is under his patronage. If readers are on a pelegrinage to la belle province, I would highly recommend stopping by for Mass.
Blessed Louis Moreau, ora pro nobis!
Carney’s Amoral Majority
After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→
A Tale of Two Benedicts
A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→
My Name is Bernadette
April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→
The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus
As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→
Canonizing Sister Faustina and Divine Mercy
HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER MASS IN ST PETER’S SQUARE FOR THE CANONIZATION OF SR MARY FAUSTINA KOWALSKA Sunday, 30 April 2000 1. “Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus, quoniam in saeculum misericordia eius”; “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever” (Ps 118: 1). So the Church sings on the Octave of[…]Continue reading→
Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów
We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→
Saint Gemma Galgani
On this April 11th, in 1903 – the same year that the Italian Guiseppe Sarto was elected Pope later that summer as Pius X – a lovely, young Italian woman died, by the name of Gemma Galgani. She lived a brief life of 24 years, as did a number of other young saints, including Pier[…]Continue reading→
An Ideological and Improper Translation
I noticed something odd with the psalm reading at Mass the other day. Our bishops’ conference here in Canada has decreed that the Mass in English – Novus Ordo – use the ‘NRSV’, the ‘New Revised Standard Version’, an ‘updated’ translation of the original RSV, first published in 1952. This ‘new translation’ has the tendency[…]Continue reading→