Canonical Digits...or lack thereof and Nocturnal Adoration

Today, the Novus Ordo Calendar celebrates the Feast of the North American Martyrs: usually I prefer the old calendar cycle (for continuity's sake) but this a feast that is particular pertinent to Americans today and I don't mind double-dipping when there are saints that are not celebrated in the old that are worth celebrating. Though we do not suffer blood martyrdoms where we actually witness to the faith with our blood and our lives, we suffer white martyrdoms in the spiritual realm. We encounter a culture that is increasingly secular and, as a result, very anti-Catholic. Recently, the Congregation for the Clergy issued a statement that said priests today must be anti-Catholic and I think that is spot on and necessary.

Anyways, this is really just an excuse to discuss one of my favorite saints: St. Isaac Jogues

(I really really really really want a hat like this)

If you look closely in the picture, you notice that he is missing some fingers. No the artist did not leave them out. While a Jesuit missionary in North America, some Iroquois Native Americans chewed off his Canonical Digits so that he would be incapable of saying Mass (yes it was actually specifically noted in the Rubrics that the priest would only use his thumb and index finger of his right hand to touch the Blessed Sacrament during the Liturgy and what not and it is kinda hard to keep to fingers pressed so crumbs don't fall away and still elevate a Chalice at the consecration).

Anyways, how cannot you not love a guy that has his canonical digits chewed off by the very people he is trying to evangelize, only to receive a papal indult to continue to say Mass anyways and then asks to go back.

Pray that I be inspired by his priestly dedication to being at the service of others, even to the point of losing fingers. St. Isaac Jogues, pray for us!

Nap time - I know I have not written recently, I have some stuff in the process in my head, I just have to actually sit down and do it. Kyrie eleison

And for my more traditional readers, just so he is not left out St. Peter of Alacantara. He died on October 18th but since St. Luke is observed on that day, he was moved to the 19th and then eventually dropped in the new missal calendar due to limited veneration. Besides the Constitutions of the Stricter Observants and many letters on spiritual subjects, especially to St. Teresa, he composed a short treatise on prayer which STRONGLY RECOMMEND!!!!! He often went into ecstasy. He is purported to have slept for only one and a half hours each day, inside his room which had a floor area of only four and a half square feet.[1] While in prayer and contemplation, he was often seen in ecstasies and levitation. In his deathbed, he was offered a glass of water which he refused, saying that "Even my Lord Jesus Christ thirsted on the Cross..." He died while on his knees in prayer on October 18, 1562 in a monastery at Arenas.

Most importantly, for me, he is the patron saint of Nocturnal Adorers...which is right up my alley :)