Sep 25 – Ember Fri / S Vincent Strambi

It’s the Feast of Ember Fri of Sept, 2nd Class, with the color of Violet. In this episode: the meditation: “Holiness and Charity”, today’s news from the Church: “The French District of the SSPX Calls for Prayers for the Pope”, a preview of this week’s episode of The SSPX Podcast: “The Roman Catechism: What Does “He Descended Into Hell” Mean?”, and today’s thought from the Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

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Saint Vincent Strambi is one of those saints whose story becomes especially interesting near the end, when an elderly bishop apparently offered his own life for the pope.

He was born in 1745 in Civitavecchia, the port city outside Rome. His father hoped he would marry and continue the family business.

Vincent had other plans.

He wanted to become a priest, although by his own admission he wasn’t naturally very pious as a boy. After ordination, he became increasingly drawn to preaching and eventually met Paul of the Cross.

Vincent joined the Passionists.

It was a perfect fit.

The congregation centered its spirituality on the Passion of Christ, and Vincent became an extraordinary missionary preacher. He traveled throughout Italy giving missions that could last for days or weeks. His preaching was direct, emotional, and practical, and crowds came in enormous numbers.

He also became one of Saint Paul of the Cross’s closest companions and eventually wrote his biography, giving us much of what we know about the Passionist founder today.

Then Vincent was made Bishop of Macerata and Tolentino.

He didn’t want the job.

That seems to happen to saints fairly often.

As bishop, Vincent lived simply, visited parishes, improved seminaries, and continued preaching. But his episcopacy happened during one of the most chaotic periods in Italian history: the Napoleonic era.

When Napoleon demanded an oath of loyalty that Vincent believed violated his obligations to the Church, he refused.

So he was expelled from his diocese.

For years, Vincent lived in exile before eventually returning after Napoleon’s fall. By then he was elderly and exhausted, and he finally received permission to retire.

Then came one last remarkable episode.

Vincent moved to Rome and became a close adviser to Pope Leo XII. In 1823, the newly elected pope became gravely ill. According to Passionist tradition, Vincent celebrated Mass and offered his own life to God in exchange for Leo’s recovery.

The pope recovered.

Vincent became ill almost immediately.

Within days, he was dead.

He was seventy-nine years old.

Whether we understand that event as miraculous or as a beautiful act of self-offering, it fits Vincent’s entire life. He belonged to a religious community built around the Passion of Christ, and his final act was an attempt to imitate Christ by offering himself for another.

His relics are venerated in Macerata, while his memory remains especially strong among the Passionists.

Vincent spent decades preaching about the Cross.

In the end, he tried to make his own life into one final sermon.

Saint Vincent Strambi, Passionist preacher and generous shepherd of souls, pray for us.

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The SSPX Podcast is produced by Angelus Press, which has as its mission the fortification of traditional Catholics so that they can defend the Faith, and reaching out to those who have not yet found Tradition.

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The main goal of the Society of Saint Pius X is to preserve the Catholic Faith in its fullness and purity, to teach its truths, and to diffuse its virtues, especially through the Roman Catholic priesthood.

Authentic spiritual life, the sacraments, and the traditional liturgy are its primary means of bringing this life of grace to souls.

Although the traditional Latin Mass is the most visible and public expression of the work of the Society, we are committed to defending Catholic Tradition in its entirety: all of Catholic doctrine and morals as the Church has always defended them. What people need is the Catholic Faith, without compromise, with all the truth and beauty which accompanies it.

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