Once God is tasted, the world becomes insipid, and as a magnet draws iron to it from every direction, so when God is in the heart’s midst, he draws to himself all thoughts, affections, all motions of the senses, and all the powers of soul and body, so that the soul, whose inheritance is this pearl without price, keeps nothing for itself but wants this alone and seeks it alone with burning desire. I say all this as best as I can; anyone who has experienced it knows the truth of the story I tell.
How many we have seen who, having found this pearl without price, have immediately abandoned great riches and family, houses, fields, possessions, indeed even kingdoms, and great dignities and honors, and have devoted themselves wholly to seeking further after this pear. The world judges such persons to be almost mad, for it does not see the brilliance of the pearl which these persons have now seen with new eyes, nor does the world know its value, as Job says: Man knows not the price thereof.¹ — The Sermons of Saint Thomas of Villanova

Thomas was born in 1486 at Fuenllana, Spain. Later he became professor of philosophy at the University of Salamanca, and preferred to enter the Order in 1516. He had a great influence on the progress of study and spirituality therein, through his teaching and preaching. While he was prior in Valladolid, Charles V presented him in 1544 as a candidate for the archbishopric of Valencia. In his writings we find a synthesis between the thought of Augustine and the doctrine of Thomas Aquinas, between mysticism and scholasticism. He was a defender of the true mystics and this became the reason why some of his writings were placed on the Index in 1599. He was also a promoter of the Devotio Moderna in Spain. His concern for the little ones, the sick, the young in danger, and the poor were the main characteristics of his apostolate, so that people called him “the father of the poor.” In this respect, he repeated Augustine’s words: “The superfluous goods of the rich do by right belong to the poor. It is Jesus who in the poor receives our gifts.” As a contemporary of Luther, in his sermons he vehemently accused the clergy and the monks of moral deterioration and unfaithfulness to the gospel. He was canonized in 1658.²

Read More about Saint Thomas of Villanova

Pʀᴀʏᴇʀ

Lord, grant me this grace: to reverence the poor, for they are my masters. I shall purchase from them, by my almsgiving, entry into the kingdom of heaven, which belongs to them. If I cannot help them with money, let me serve them with loving deeds, by good example, by holiness of life. Lord, fill our hearts of love that we may be always ready to spend ourselves on them, since you have given yourself so unsparingly for us.

1. From Day by Day with Saint Thomas of Villanova, OSA. Ed. by Fr John Rotelle, OSA published by Augustinian Press, PA, 1997.
2. Written by Fr Tarcisius van Bavel, OSA, from Augustine, published by Editions du Signe, Torino, Italy, 1996.

We do not possess much historically reliable information about Rita. The earliest information stems from the inscription on the coffin that contained her body. Born in the last decades of the fourteenth century, she married young - according to oral tradition - and had two children. She was widowed around the age of twenty-five when her husband was murdered. This killing was probably in connectoin with the fighting between the towns and the castles, in other words between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. After the death of her husband, she entered into the monastery of Saint Mary Magdalene in Cascia. During the last years of her life she shared in the sufferings of Christ’s passion through a thorn wound that the Lord granted her. Because she was against all the violence caused by the social conflicts in the region of Cascia, she was considered a peacemaker and was given the title “advocate of the impossible.” She died in 1457 and was canonized by Leo XIII in 1900.

Read More about Saint Rita of Cascia.

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O glorious Saint Rita, during your entire life on earth you found your happiness by following the will of our heavenly Father. Help me this day to trust God’s designs for me and to give myself to him as you did, without fear, and without counting the cost. May be generous in serving others, patient in difficulty, and forgiving toward those who injure me. Be with me so that I may accept the mystery of the cross of Jesus and may come to experience its power to heal and save.

Written by Fr Tarcisius van Bavel, OSA, from Augustine, and originally published by Editions du Signe, Torino, Italy, in 1996.

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Born in 1268, Clare was only six years old when she entered a kind of hermitage which her father had arranged for his older daughter, Joan. In 1290 Joan asked the bishop of Spoleto to declare the place a monastery, and the bishop gave her the Rule of Augustine.

After the death of her sister Joan, Clare was chosen abbess of the monastery. Her spirituality is a striking example of a synthesis of Augustinian and Franciscan spiritual life. Its main characteristic is the unitive contemplation of the sufferings of Jesus. Her maxim was: “I don’t need an external cross for I bear the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ in my heart.” Christian life does not consist of external signs, but in the conformity of our heart, intellect, and will to Christ. Although she was a mystic, she opposed a quietist sect called “The followers of the free spirit.” On her deathbed in 1308, the last exhortation to her sisters was: “Be humble patient, and united in love. Behave in such a way that God may be honored in you, and that the work he has wrought in you may not be lost.”

Read More about Saint Clare of Montefalco

Pʀᴀʏᴇʀ

Saint Clare, Sister and Mother, you accompany us along the path of God in the search of Beauty and Love, that is always possible when the heart is the center of interiority.

Teach us to make our heart the dwelling place of the Lord, where He can rest his Cross, so that our life could be a gift for all and for the Church, that you have loved and served in the prayer that transforms into the image of Jesus Christ and intercede for us to the Father.

We will announce with you early in the morning with fear and great joy How Beautiful is the life of heaven! How Beautiful what the Lord is giving us! How Beautiful to praise the Lord! Amen.

Written by Fr Tarcisius van Bavel, OSA, from Augustine, and originally published by Editions du Signe, Torino, Italy, in 1996.

Nicholas was born about 1245. He lived for nearly thirty years at Tolentino, Italy. He studied in the provincial study center of the Marches of Ancona from 1262 till 1273. He was known as an ascetic and apostle, harmonizing prayer and solitude with apostolic activity. Many came to hear him preach, and to learn from him the wisdom he displayed in his long hours in the confessional. He died at Tolentino on 10 September 1305, and was canonized in 1446.¹

The Augustinian Septinarium for the Dead

Pʀᴀʏᴇʀ

O Lord, God of holiness and light, you do not allow any shadow of darkness or evil in your sight and so in your mercy you grant to those who have left this world burdened with sin a time of purification, applying to them the spiritual treasures of your Holy Church.

Hear my prayer and through the merits of Christ, the Blessed Virgin, the Saints, and all your faithful people bring to an end this time of waiting for our beloved dead, especially for N. Since in your providence you have chosen your faithful servant Saint Nicholas of Tolentine as a special intercessor on behalf of the departed, hear also his fervent prayer for the dead whom I recommend to you through his intercession.

Saint Nicholas, you were so attentive to the pleas of many needy souls and through your prayer and penance you hastened their enjoyment of the vision of God. Look with compassion on our beloved dead, and obtain for them by your prayers the full forgiveness of their sins so that they may experience the happiness and peace of the Father's presence. ²

1. Written by Fr Tarcisius van Bavel, OSA, from Augustine, published by Editions du Signe, Torino, Italy, 1996.
2. From Prayers for the Dead, Ed. by Fr John Rotelle, OSA, published by Augustinian Press, PA, 1980s.

Between the years 1535 and 1692 several hundred English Catholics were put to death. A group of forty, among them John Stone, were canonized in 1970. John was a member of the English Augustinian Province. He probably began his religious life at Canterbury, where the Order had had a foundation since 1318. In 1538, the Dominican Richard Ingworth, bishop of Dover, a creature of Cromwell, presented the deed of surrender and letter of submission to the prior and his heart; his head and limbs were severed from his body and the king as supreme head of the Church. Ingworth isolated John from the rest of the community in the hope of persuading him to sing. John persisted in his refusal, and Cromwell detained John for a year in prison. In 1539 John was executed at Canterbury: first he was hanged, then the executioner cut out his heart, his head and limbs were severed from his body and boiled in oil; later they were placed on the city gates as a warning to others. In the same year 1539 the Order ceased to exist in England; not a single house remained.¹

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Pʀᴀʏᴇʀ

God of truth and love, Saint John Stone consecrated his life to you, and you sealed his gift with the grace of martyrdom. Listen to his prayers, and grant that we may witness to our faith in the holiness of our lives. Saint John Stone, pray for us.

1. Written by Fr Tarcisius van Bavel, OSA, from Augustine, published by Editions du Signe, Torino, Italy, 1996.