Xaverian Calendar April 2011

First Friday
"The sublime discourse on the Mountain, summary and compendium of the Gospel, was the program of the lives of the Saints." [Blessed Conforti on Nov. 23, 1930]
1929 - Bishop Conforti blesses the foundation stone of the new diocesan Seminary of Parma
See April Mission and Church Intentions of the Pope
1967 - Xaverians arrive in Spain
Observance of World Nuclear Free Zones Day

St. Francis of Paola, founder of an Order of hermits
"The Saints lived detached from the things of the earth, which are unworthy of the aspirations of an immortal soul." [Blessed Conforti on Nov. 23, 1930]
See April Mission and Church Intentions of the Pope
2005 - Death of Pope John Paul II

Fourth Sunday of Lent
"The Saints never knew vengeance; instead, they preferred pardon, according to the pattern of the meek Christ who prayed for his executioners." [Blessed Conforti on Nov. 23, 1930]

St. Isidore, Bishop and School-master of the Middle Ages
"The Saints were not caught up by the joys of this world, and preferred instead to cry on their own and others’ miseries, pouring tears which purify the soul, bring spiritual peace, and reconcile with God." [Blessed Conforti on Nov. 23, 1930]
1968 - Martin Luther King Jr. Assassinated at age 39
USA Observance of April 4 National Day of Nonviolence, NAACP
1971 - Xaverian Fr. Mario Veronesi is killed at Jessore, Bangladesh

St. Vincent Ferrer, priest and missionary preacher
"The Saints hungered and thirsted for justice, in a word, for everything that is virtue, service of God, spirit of sacrifice, and perfect love of God and of neighbor." [Blessed Conforti on Nov. 23, 1930]
China: Spring Festival honoring the ancestors

"The Saints put on themselves the miseries of others, and came their rescue with words of comfort and acts of mercy." [Blessed Conforti on Nov. 23, 1930]
1910 - Blessed Conforti presides at the Departure Ceremony of Frs. A. Bassi and S. Chieli

St. John Baptist de la Salle, Founder the the Brothers of the Christian Schools
"Countless hosts of people work to preserve the faith in Catholic regions of the world, while a lesser number of them, with heroic virtues, endures the life of a Missionary." [Blessed Conforti on Nov. 23, 1930]
1506 - Birth of St. Francis Xavier
1541 - St. Francis Xavier departs from Lisbon, Portugal
Mozambique: Woman's Day
UN - World Health Day

"We see a countless hosts of heroes who lived in the sinful flesh as if they had no bodies; they lived as pure spirits, and journeyed through this land as a fragrant reflection of Paradise." [Blessed Conforti on Nov. 23, 1930]
1875 - Young Conforti receives First Communion at Holy Sepulcher Church, Parma
1927 - Blessed Conforti establishes the St. Francis Xavier association in support of departing missionaries

"Most of all, the Saints distinguished themselves by their suffering for Christ, who called Blessed those who are persecuted for the sake of justice." [Blessed Conforti on Nov. 23, 1930]

Fifth Sunday of Lent
"The Saints do not belong to just one cast, but to every class; not to just one state, but to every social condition." [Blessed Conforti on Nov. 23, 1930 - Antol. 681]
1972 - Biological Weapons Convention signed at Washington, London, and Moscow

St. Stanislaus, bishop and martyr who assisted of Krakow, Poland
"The Saints did not live in just one epoch, but in every age; they did not all become saints in the same way, but in the most varied guises, while living the same law of perfection." [Blessed Conforti on Nov. 23, 1930 - Antol. 681]
1946 - China: Xaverian Faustino Tissot becomes bishop of the diocese of Cheng-Chow, and Xaverian Assuero Bassi becomes Bishop of the Diocese of Loyang
1958 - The Xaverians in Japan start their service in Osumi, Diocese of Kagoshima, working in the leprosy hospital of Kanoya
1963 - Encyclical 'Pacem in Terris' by Pope John XXIII calling for the end to the nuclear race [April 11, 1963]

"Some became saints amidst the splendor of the throne and the comforts of riches, and many in the shadows of the domestic walls and among the anxieties of poverty." [Blessed Conforti on Nov. 23, 1930 - Antol. 681]

St. Martin I, pope and martyr
"Some saints irradiate the light of their sacred and profane knowledge, while others the simple and innocent faith of the child and the old lady." [Blessed Conforti on Nov. 23, 1930 - Antol. 681]

"Some saints were excellent parents who, by their words and example, educated their children in the practice of every noble religious and civil virtue." [Blessed Conforti on Nov. 23, 1930 - Antol. 682]
1967 - Founding of the Central African Region of the Xaverians working in Congo and Burundi

"Some saints were exemplary wives who kept the lamp of the faith lit in the home." [Blessed Conforti on Nov. 23, 1930 - Antol. 682]
1921 - Blessed Conforti gives the Crucifix to departing China missionary Fr. J. Gazza
April 15-17, 2011: Celebration of Global Youth Service Day

"Some saints were angelical creatures who mercifully assisted their elderly or sick parents, or renounced their right to a family of their own in order to look after their siblings who were left as orphans, they renounced all the opportunities for their own life and they sacrificed themselves with joy." [Blessed Conforti on Nov. 23, 1930 - Antol. 682]
1927 - 84th Birthday of Pope Benedict XVI
1953 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower addresses the American Society of Newspaper Editors stating: 'Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of children... This is not a way of life in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.'
1962 - Start of the Diocese of Uvira, D.R. Congo, with Xaverian Danilo Catarzi as its first bishop

Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion
Holy Week begins
"The saints were young men and women who, despite the wickedness of the times in which they lived, and the dangerous occasions of sin with which they were faced, were able to preserve their purity and protect it from the contamination of sin." [Blessed Conforti on Nov. 23, 1930 - Antol. 682]
1933 - Beginning of the Xaverian presence in Rome

Monday of Holy Week
"Some saints were rich people whose heart was detached from earthly things, which they used to generously help the poor." [Blessed Conforti on Nov. 23, 1930 - Antol. 682]

Tuesday of Holy Week
"Some saints were poor people who did not curse their fate, and indeed even became saints through their Christian resignation, mindful of the example of Christ." [Blessed Conforti on Nov. 23, 1930 - Antol. 682]
1923- Blessed Conforti takes part at the Mission Congress in Modena
2005 - Election of Pope Benedict XVI
Jewish Festival Passover begins

Wednesday of Holy Week
"Other saints were honest workers who, with the sweat of their brow, lived an honorable life, winning the esteem and the affection of all." [Blessed Conforti on Nov. 23, 1930 - Antol. 682]
1921 - Blessed Conforti writes the fifth Circular Letter to the Bishops on the missionary education in the Seminaries of Italy

Holy Thursday
Easter Triduum begins
St. Anselm, bishop of Canterbury
"The Eucharist is called the Blessed Sacrament because it is life-giving source of holiness, containing in itself the Author of divine grace." [Blessed Conforti on Jan. 14, 1924]
1912 - Blessed Conforti ordains the first Xaverian bishop, Bishop Louis Calza, in the Cathedral of Parma
1924 - Blessed Conforti opens the great city-wide Mission in preparation of the Eucharistic Congress in Parma
Brazil - Feast of Independence

Good Friday of the Lord's Passion
"The passion and the death of our Divine Savior, far from being a reason for scandal, must nourish our faith." [Blessed Conforti on Aug. 15, 1919 - Antol. 171]
1970 - First Observance of Earth Day
1500 - Anniversary of the discovery of Brazil

Holy Saturday
St. George, martyr and patron of England and St. Adalbert, bishop of Prague and patron of Poland
"The sufferings and death of Jesus of Nazareth should confirm our faith in his divinity and in the divine purpose of his mission." [Blessed Conforti on Aug. 15, 1919]
1925 - First meeting of the General Council of the Xaverian family, with Blessed Conforti, Fr. Bonardi, and Fr. Popoli. At the evening gathering, Blessed Conforti recalls the 25th anniversary of the posing of the foundation stone of the Xaverian seminary

EASTER SUNDAY: The Resurrection of the Lord
St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, priest and martyr, 'lawyer of the poor'
"He appears to us in all the splendor of his divinity because, if a miracle is the voice and the seal of God, if the resurrection of a dead man is the greatest of miracles, then Christ who, after repeatedly foretelling his own resurrection, has risen by his power from death to life, is God." [Blessed Conforti on Dec. 8, 1919 - Antol. 547]
1894 - Card. Ledokowski responds favorably to Conforti about his desire to found a Missionary Congregation
1900 - Blessed Conforti blesses the Foundation Stone of the Xaverian Motherhouse in Parma
Orthodox Easter

Monday of Easter
St. Mark, Gospel writer and follower of St. Peter and St. Paul
"With the unleavened bread of sincerity and purity let us approach the Eucharistic banquet, Christ, the source of life and sure pledge of Resurrection." [Blessed Conforti on March 31, 1918]
2001 - World Malaria Day

Tuesday of Easter
"We were unworthy of life, and now we are called to Life Eternal." [Blessed Conforti on Dec. 25, 1919]

Wednesday of Easter
"The triumph of Christ would be incomplete if we were not allowed to participate in it." [Blessed Conforti on Dec. 25, 1919]
1916 - On the occasion of the 'visit ad limina', Blessed Conforti presents to Pope Benedict XV the rules of the Missionary Union of the Clergy. He also presents a draft of the Xaverian Constitutions to the Sacred Congregation of Religious, for review and feedback.
Sierra Leone: Feast of Independence

Thursday of Easter
St. Peter Chanel, Marist missionary on the Pacific islands and Martyr and St. Louis Mary de Montfort, hospital chaplain who founded confraternities for the recitation of the rosary
"Lift up your hearts, beloved brothers and sisters; let us sever from the affections that degrade the holiness of Christianity and human dignity." [Blessed Conforti on Dec. 25, 1919]
1900 - Opening of the Chinese Museum in the first Xaverian Seminary in Parma

Friday of Easter
St. Catherine of Siena, Peacemaker and renewer of religious life, Patroness of Europe
"The life of a Christian should be a constant ascension towards those ideals of perfection that Christ has guided us." [Blessed Conforti on Dec. 25, 1919]

Saturday of Easter
St. Pius V, Pope
"In order to establish the Reign of God on the earth, the reign of spirit and love, is important to recall Jesus’ words to Nicodemus: You must be born from above." [Blessed Conforti on Dec. 25, 1919]
1944 - Xaverian Fr. John Botton is killed in Hsuchang, China, Xaverian Martyr of China