R.S.A Kandy

St. Silvestro
Silvestro Guzzolini was born to the nobles Gislerio Guzzolini and Bianca in Osimo.

Guzzolini was sent in 1197 to learn jurisprudence in the college at Bologna (for law) and the college in Padua but felt called to the ecclesiastical state (finding no satisfaction in his studies and deeming them too secular) and abandoned his studies in law for theological and scriptural studies. On his return home in 1208 it is said that his father – angered at his change of purpose – refused to speak to him for one decade. Guzzolini accepted a position as a canon at Osimo (after the diocesan bishop ordained him in 1217) and devoted himself to pastoral work with such zeal as to arouse hostilities from his bishop whom he had rebuked with respect for the scandals that the prelate's irregular life had caused.
The prelate threatened to strip him of his position but the canon decided to leave the world upon seeing the co**se of one who had once been noted for their looks while presiding over a funeral. He retired to a desert place far from Osimo in 1227 and lived there in strict poverty until the owner of the land – the nobleman Corrado – recognized him and offered him a better site for his hermitage. The dampness drove him from that place and he established himself next at Grotta Fucile where he later built a convent for his future religious order. In this place his penances were most severe for he lived on raw herbs and water and slept on the bare ground.Disciples flocked to him seeking his direction and it became vital for him to choose a Rule. His fame worried Pope Gregory IX in 1228 and he decided to send the Dominican friars Riccardo and Bonaparte to him to invite him into their order but he refused. Legend suggests that the various founders appeared to him in a vision each begging him to adopt his Rule. Guzzolini chose for his followers that of Saint Benedict of Nursia in 1231 (after having a vision of the saint) and built his first convent on Montefano near Fabriano after first removing the remains of a pagan temple.
On 27 June 1248 he obtained from Pope Innocent IV a papal bull confirming his order as being canonical and before his death founded eleven monasteries after this approval. He died on 26 November 1267 due to a severe fever; Doctor Andrea embalmed him and the room was filled with a sweet fragrance when he removed Guzzolini's bowels. His remains were later disinterred and placed in a shrine still present at the church of Monte Fano.
The account of his miracles and the growth of his "cultus" (or longstanding veneration) can be found in Bolzonetti. Pope Clement IV beatified Guzzolini and Pope Clement VIII later canonized him in 1598. Pope Leo XIII included his Mass and office in the General Roman Calendar in 1890 with the rank of Double (third-class feast in the 1960 reform of Pope John XXIII) therefore reducing to the status of a commemoration that of Pope Peter I of Alexandria who shared that date. In 1970 that celebration was removed and relegated to the local calendar since it was not a feast of universal importance.
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Bishop CHARLES JOSEPH EUGENE DE MAZENOD
He was born in Aix-en-Provence, France, on August 1, 1782, into a family of the lesser nobility. When Eugene was just eight years old, his family fled France during the turmoil of the French Revolution.
Leaving their possessions behind, the Mazenod family began an exile which lasted eleven years. As political refugees, they journeyed through a succession of cities in Italy. Eugene studied briefly at the College of Nobles in Turin, but a move to Venice meant the end of his formal schooling. A Jesuit priest, Fr. Bartolo Zinelli, living nearby, undertook to educate the young French emigre. He gave him an education with a lasting sense of God. The De Mazenods moved to Naples, and finally to Palermo where, thanks to the kindness of the Duke and Duchess of Cannizzaro, Eugene had his first taste of living as a noble.
In 1802, Eugene was able to return to his homeland. France was different from the world he left. He sank into depression, seeing little real future for himself. At the same time, he was deeply affected by the disastrous situation of the French Church, which had been decimated by the Revolution.
A call to the priesthood began to manifest itself. Eugene entered the seminary of St. Sulpice in Paris, and, on December 21, 1811, he was ordained a priest in Amiens. Returning to Aix-en-Provence, he did not take on a normal parish assignment, but began to exercise his priesthood caring for the truly spiritually needy: prisoners, the youth, servants, country villagers. Beginning in 1816, he sought out other equally zealous priests who were prepared to step outside the old, even outmoded, structures. Eugene and his men preached in Provencal, the language of the common people, not in “educated” French. From village to village they went, instructing at the level of the people’s understanding and spending hours in the confessional. In between these parish missions, the group joined in an intense community life of prayer, study and fellowship.
In the beginning they called themselves “Missionaries of Provence”. On February 17, 1826, Pope Leo XII approved the new Congregation, as “Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate”. Together with their growing apostolic endeavors: preaching, youth work, care of shrines, prison chaplaincy, confessors, direction of seminaries, Eugene insisted on a deep spiritual formation and a close community life.
From 1823 on, Eugene was Vicar General of the Diocese of Marseilles. In 1832, he was named auxiliary bishop. Five years later, he was appointed to the See of Marseilles as its Bishop, while he continued to be the Superior General of the growing Oblate Congregation. His men ventured to England, Ireland, Canada, the United States, Sri Lanka and South Africa. They opened up previously uncharted lands, established new dioceses, and, in a multitude of ways, they “left nothing undared that the Kingdom of Christ might be advanced”.
As a bishop Eugene was an outstanding pastor of the Church of Marseilles: Ensuring good seminary training for his priests, establishing new parishes, building the city’s cathedral and the spectacular Shrine of Notre Dame de la Garde above the city, encouraging his priests to lives of holiness, introducing many Religious Congregations to work in the diocese.
Eugene de Mazenod died May 21, 1861, at the age of 79. As he lay dying he left his Oblates a final testament, “Among yourselves-charity, charity, charity: in the world-zeal for souls.”
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Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, Bishop and Doctor

1696 – 1787
August 1—Memorial
Patron Saint of moral theologians and confessors
A lawyer becomes holy

Today’s saint was given the gift of a comprehensive education by his parents from a young age. He finished his university studies with degrees in civil and canon law when he was just sixteen years old. After practicing law for eight years, and declining a marriage arranged by his father, the noble, highly educated, and intelligent Alphonsus made a mistake. A bad mistake. He overlooked a simple matter of fact in a legal proceeding and lost an important case for his client. Alphonsus was crushed by the embarrassment. He had never made such a galling, avoidable, public error before. But this one mistake would redound to the great benefit of the Church. Alphonsus decided to abandon the practice of law and his lust for vanity, wealth, and earthly glory. Shortly afterward, he heard an inner voice speak to him, on two separate occasions, while visiting the deathly ill at a hospital: “Leave the world and give yourself to me.” This was the turning point. Alphonsus made a dramatic gesture. He went to a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary, placed his sword on the altar, and petitioned acceptance to a local religious Order.
He was ordained a priest in 1726 and traveled throughout the region of Naples as a missionary, becoming well known as a lion in the pulpit and a lamb in the confessional. In 1732, after forming various friendships with local clergy and convents of nuns, he founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. The rest of Alphonsus’ long life was spent building up this Order. Like so many nascent Orders, it struggled with internal divisions over its identity, matters of authority, and its specific mission in the Church. These struggles caused our saint no end of spiritual torment, especially after a deep division resulted from an act of forgery and betrayal by one of Alphonsus’ closest priest collaborators.
Saint Alphonsus took a personal vow to never waste a moment of time. It showed. He did everything, and he did it well. Amidst all of his duties as a founder and priest, he stole an hour hour here and an hour there to write a page or two, to dictate a few lines, or to take rough notes on a train of thought that had just crossed his mind. Over time, these stolen hours accumulated, and Alphonsus composed volume after volume on theology and devotion. He became particularly well known as a moral theologian. In that sensitive field of study he acquired just the right balance. He was clear on the Church’s teachings and demanding of its faithful but was not overly rigorous. His razor-thin moral distinctions clarified correct behavior on contentious topics but may seem belabored and overly detailed from a post-modern perspective. Alphonsus was personally scrupulous but aware of it. He never imposed his finely tuned conscience on the morally deaf. A Pontifical University in Rome dedicated to moral theology was founded by the Redemptorists and is named the Alphonsianum in his honor.
Saint Alphonsus was made a bishop, over his objections, when he was sixty-six years old. He brought his typical energy and zeal to his diocesan responsibilities, demanding his priests celebrate Mass with true devotion or not at all. He maintained contact with every class of society as a bishop, no matter how downtrodden, poor, or forgotten a group was. His works on the Blessed Sacrament, the Virgin Mary, and Prayer became widely read. His reflections on the Stations of the Cross are still used in many parishes over two hundred years after his death. Alphonsus was also a talented musician and composed the music and words for a beloved Italian Christmas carol. After a long and holy life, he died at the age of ninety-one, an image of the Virgin Mary resting in his hands.
Saint Alphonsus, may your life of spiritual suffering, writing, dedication to the truth, and apostolic energy provide sufficient witness for all priests and religious to do half as much as you did, laboring without cease for the good of the Church and the world.
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