This month marks the celebration of the birthdays and feast days of several notable Vincentians. Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, Blessed Contardo Ferrini, Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, St. Joan Antida Thouret, St. Gianna Beretta Molla (whose husband died April 3) . Details follow.
Thanks for Manny Sanchez of the LA SVDP for preparing the following.
April 6, would be the 109th birthday (in 1901) of the young Italian Vincentian, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, an active member of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul from the age 17 through to his early death at age 24. This remarkable young man and model for youth and young adults today had a special love for the Society, and his last act before passing from this life to the next was to write instructions for a home visit (see the Frassati USA webpage at http://www.facebook.com/l/d6565;www.frassatiusa.org/index.cfm?load=page&page=413).
Easter Sunday, April 4, marked the birthday of Blessed Contardo Ferrini, a member of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Bl. Ferrini shared many similarities with our founder (both were born in Milan, became active in the Society at a young age, were university professors, were prodigious writers, and died young). A very short biography may be found at http://www.facebook.com/l/d6565;famvin.org/wiki/Contardo_Ferrini.
Meanwhile, Friday, April 23, marks both the 197th birthday of our founder, Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, and the 177th anniversary of the foundation of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
For a short biography of Blessed Frédéric, please visit the on-line Vincentian encyclopedia at http://www.facebook.com/l/d6565;famvin.org/wiki/Ozanam.
April 23 also marks the feast day of St. Joan Antida Thouret, foundress of the Sisters of Charity of St. Joan Antida; please visit this community’s website at http://www.facebook.com/l/d6565;www.scsja.org/index.asp;
And don’t forget: Saturday, April 24, marks the birthday of our Patron, St. Vincent de Paul.
Meanwhile, Wednesday, April 28, is the feast day of St. Gianna Beretta Molla, a medical doctor and young member of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul who was relatively recently canonized by the late Pope John Paul II on May 16, 2004. For a reflection on her feast day, please see the attachment in MS Word, taken from the Vincentian Reflection: Second Quarter 2009 by Sr. Kieran Kneaves, DC, for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. (Her husband, by the way, just passed away this past Holy Saturday, April 3) You may also view a short bio at http://www.facebook.com/l/d6565;famvin.org/wiki/Gianna_Beretta_Molla.
Looking ahead: the birthday of St. Catherine Laboure, whose visits by the Virgin Mary are commemorated in the Miraculous Medal, is Saturday, May 1. For more on this Daughter of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, please go to http://www.facebook.com/l/d6565;www.amm.org/catherine.htm (provided by the Association of the Miraculous Medal, an apostolate of the Congregation of the Mission’s Midwest Province).
May 1 also marks the feast day of St. Richard Pampuri, who, like St. Molla, was a medical doctor and young member of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul; this generous, caring man, who prayed that he “always see the suffering of Christ in my patients” and also died at a young age (of 33) in 1930. A short biography may be found at http://www.facebook.com/l/d6565;www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_19891101_pampuri_en.html/
And, as a reminder: May 25 is Ozanam Sunday.
