It’s the Feast of XV Sun of Pentecost, 2nd Class, with the color of Green. In this episode: the meditation: “The Resurrection of the Widow’s Son”, today’s news from the Church: “The Hymn of the Society of Saint Pius X”, and today’s thought from the Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.
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Sources Used Today:
- “The Resurrection of the Widow’s Son” — From the Assumption to Advent
- “The Hymn of the Society of Saint Pius X” (FSSPX.news)
- The Spiritual Life — Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (Angelus Press)
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Blessed Liberato of Loro Piceno is one of those medieval Franciscan figures where the history is a little hazy, but the tradition surrounding him gives us a beautiful glimpse into the earliest generations after Saint Francis.
Liberato lived in thirteenth-century Italy and came from Loro, in the Marches, the region facing the Adriatic Sea. Some traditions identify him with a nobleman named Liberato da Loro who gave up wealth and status to enter the Franciscan life.
And this was still very early Franciscanism.
Saint Francis had died only a generation before. His memory was fresh. Friars were still trying to figure out exactly what it meant to live his radical ideal of poverty after the order had expanded across Europe.
Liberato wanted the simplest version possible.
He withdrew to a small hermitage at Soffiano, in the wooded hills near Sarnano. There he lived with other friars in prayer, fasting, manual work, and the kind of poverty that had characterized the first companions of Saint Francis.
The place itself is worth imagining.
No great monastery.
No elaborate choir stalls.
Just a few friars living in the hills, trying to pray and stay out of everyone’s way.
One reason Liberato became remembered is his connection with an extraordinary medieval book, the Little Flowers of Saint Francis. A friar named Liberato appears in stories surrounding the hermitage of Soffiano, along with Brothers Humble and Pacificus. These accounts describe a small community marked by contemplation and mystical prayer.
One particularly beautiful tradition says that Liberato received a warning in prayer that his death was approaching. Rather than being frightened, he prepared quietly, received the sacraments, and entrusted himself to God.
After his death, devotion remained local but persistent.
And that’s fitting, because Liberato’s entire life was local.
The region around Loro Piceno and Sarnano is still filled with Franciscan history. Ancient hermitages, mountain sanctuaries, and little churches dot the landscape, preserving the memory of friars who deliberately chose places where almost nobody would notice them.
Liberato never became a famous preacher like Saint Anthony.
He never led the Franciscan Order like Saint Bonaventure.
He didn’t leave behind great books.
Instead, he belonged to that quieter stream of Franciscan life: men who heard Francis say that poverty, prayer, and simplicity were enough, and then spent their lives trying to prove it.
There’s something refreshing about a saint whose great accomplishment was essentially disappearing into the hills to pray.
Blessed Liberato of Loro Piceno, hidden son of Saint Francis and lover of holy poverty, pray for us.
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What is the SSPX Podcast?
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.
What is the SSPX?
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.