almanac

of the Institute of the Missions

for the year 1926

1.Spring -24,26,27 February

2.Summer-26,28,29March

3.Autumn- 15,17,18 Sept.

4.Winter- 15,17,18 December.

Lent and Ember Days

Pentecost vigil -22nd May

Assumption of Our Lady Vigil-14th Aug.

Christmas vigil- 24th December

Meat is prohibited on the vigils referred to above, on Ember Days, on Ash Wednesday and on all Fridays during the year and on Saturday during Lent. On all the other days during Lent one may eat meat only once although there is the obligation to fast. Fasting and Abstinence, however, end on Easter Saturday at noon.

From the first Sunday of Advent, 28th November to Christmas 25th December; and from Ash Wednesday 17th February to Easter 4th April, day by day.

*These feasts are Days of Obligation only in Malta.

_____________________

st.luke

S.Gregory Pope

All those who were lucky to visit Rome this year and therefore they could visit the Missionary Exposition, were not the least struck by that zeal and work involving thousands upon thousands of Missionaries and Sisters to spread the Kingdom of Jesus Christ throughout the world. No less than the others, we ourselves were not only amazed but also filled with new strength to work and to strive for such a wonderful and holy end which is so dear to the Vicar of Jesus Christ and to all those faithful who feel the christian spirit alive inside them.

In fact at the Section of Statistics of the Vatican Missionary Exposition, a large painting divided into three (parts)attracted our attention; it is placed at the end of the exhibition of the Subsidiary Works of the Missions.

The drawing at the centre represents the Heart of Jesus faced by two kneeling youths. They symbolize American students: pen in hand and gown on their shoulders on this scene an inscription in english arouses one's curiosity:" The world for the Heart of Jesus; the Heart of Jesus for the world."

This display of the "Grusade of Catholic Students started not long ago in the United States of America to help the Catholic missions by both spiritual and material means. The statistics which we will be mentioning shows how abundant was this help. The statistics are the following:-

-Masses attended 8,636766- Reception of the Eucharist 2,464,690

-Visits to the M. Bl. Sacrament 8,428,676 -Rosaries 6,850,940

-Way of the Cross 835,690 -Aspirations 22,013,145,255 Acts of Mortification 6,968,750 - Hours of Study 35,838,225

-Hours of work 7,055,960 -Hours of recreation 8,638,655

-Prayers, devotions and spiritual exercises 359,435,240

-Charity Dollars 572,162,90

Looking at this sum, we clearly see that the amount of money gathered was enormous. However the sum of spiritual offerings is much greater and of inestimable value. It amounted to no less than twenty and a half milliards of exercises of piety; amongst them two and a half million communion.

The History of this Crusade is short because it is only seven years old. From the fruit it yields we can see how great and beautiful it is; the good it works among souls and the blessing for the mission it attracts from heaven.

We have already invited the well-wishers of our small Institute for this practice. We have already been answered by some spiritual oblations. And we have also already felt the effect of prayer; so much so that we had confirmed again the truth in the words of the Gospel, "Petite et accipietis- ask and you will receive.

______________

S.Luke

S.Gregory Pope

(Read this Almanac; pass it on to those whom you think would enjoy reading it. Read its cover and say with Saint Augustine: " If these and those, why not me to?".

BY GOD'S HELP and the favour of the Bishops Msgr Carnana and Msgr Gonzi, last year the Institute of the Missions could have the consolation of seeing itself grow slightly. It can now count on another house also in the Docese of Gozo.

Nearly everybody knows now how even in Gozo Saint Joseph's Home of Hamrun was opened so that it would also be able to receive there orphans and poor children and raise them up in fear and in the love of God.

It was always a wish that there would be some institute to gather in it poor orphans. Just for this reason, all the parish priests of Gozo together with the Bishop thought of erecting this institute. For a firmer enterprise, they wished the new Institute to be united to the one in Malta and so they would be one house. The bonding of these two houses has been achieved and today the Institute of Gozo is one with St.Joseph's Home in Malta. This new House has been left in the hands of the Missionaries of Saint Paul who work also for the good of children in Saint Joseph's Home in Malta, thank God. For all those who belong to the Institute of the Missions, it is a great consolation to see a larger field of work and appreciate very much this favour which God deigned send them from heaven.

For the opening of the Home, some preparation of the necessary things started taking place in advance. AT first, the inauguration was to be private, but on the contrary Divine Providence wanted this to be as solemn as possible and infront of everybody's eyes. So on the 21st of May, exactly the day of the ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ into heaven, (the Home) was inaugurated with great solemnity. The ecclesiastic and civil authorities of Malta and Gozo were invited for this ceremony. The Bishop of Gozo Msgr Gonzi, the governor Sir Walter Noris Congreve together with his wife and some others who were also invited for this ceremony were also present. Present also were some ministers together with others accompanying them.

The Bishop and the Governor arrived in the same car; at the door of the new Home they were greeted by the Superior. After they sat down in their respective places and everybody was assembled in the yard the Superior read his speech addressed to the Governor. He ended by asking ( The Governor) to declare open the Home. The Governor answered by a short beautiful speech and with all solemnity declared open the new branch of Saint Joseph's Home, as he was asked. So the Superior read another speech addressing the Bishop of Gozo, thanking him and all those who toiled for the opening the Home. Before ending he asked him to bless it. Therefore the Bishop sang the formula of Blessing. Assisted by two Rev. Canons of the Cathedral and accompanied by the Governor and his wife, by the Ministers and all those present , he entered the home and after blessing everywhere, in the chapel where the antiphone of Saint Joseph was being sung, he intoned the Te Deum to thank God for accepting many people’s wish and a Home for orphans be erected in Gozo.

At the end of the ceremony, drinks were served to the guests while the children’s band played outside near the front door, surrounded by a large number of people who came from all over Gozo. When the guests started leaving the place, the door was opened so that everybody could satisfy his wish and go around the House. Slowly by sunset everybody left to go home. But all who were present were very happy and satisfied and wished all the best for this new enterprise. The Missionaries of St.Paul, were also imbued with new courage to strive and to work harder in the future for God's glory and for the good of souls.

Pope Benedict XV

S.Gregory Pope

Moved by the Holy Spirit, these last three Popes did their best to advance always the evangelisation of the infidels. Although they are pressed by the troubles of the whole world, they put this matter of the missions at the top of their apostolic ministry.

Infact while Pius X was talking to a missionary Bishop towards the end of his pontificate, he confided and showed him his opinion that he was thinking to care more for the missions in the future. He could not fulfill this holy wish himself for God pleased to take him with him. But as we know and as we can see the opinion of the holy Pius X was fulfilled and is being fulfilled by the Popes who came after him.

Benedict XV set clearly the state of the whole question by that famous encyclical letter of the 30th November 1919 " Maximum illud" which rightly earned him the title Pope of the Missions. He extracted and liberated ( the question) from the spirit of nationalism and gave it the proper slant of the spirit of the holy church: a universal spirit, a catholic spirit, according to the law of charity which Jesus Christ came to teach all men. In fact we see how he left written in the letter we mentioned.

"The precept to help our neighbour binds us in a stronger manner when the need of this neighbour is also greater. Now which type of people is it fitting to help as brothers if not these infidels who have not yet recognized God? People chained by their strong passions which remove the light of reason and keep them in the harsh bondage of the devil!

"So all those who do their best to save these poor souls by helping the work of the Missionaries, would be fulfilling a duty of the greatest importance and declaring their gratitude to God for the faith they received in that manner which pleases Him most."

And later he continues to say," The Law of charity deserves much more holy obedience when we should succour not only hunger or some other misery befalling the multitude of men but much more and above all else we should think to liberate such a great number of souls from the proud slavery of the devil to give them the liberty of the children of God!".

The holy understanding which Pius X received from the Holy Spirit passed to Benedict XV. There is no one who does not know that not only it is so but that this holy understanding passed on to this Pope who is today governing the church of Jesus Christ. To understand the work of this Pope in favour of the missions it is enough to mention the vatican missionary exposition in the gardens of his palace. It placed our generous brothers who toil for the faith of Jesus Christ and give their life for a most holy Apostolate under the gaze of the whole world. At the same time it lit the flame of zeal, of fervour, of enthusiasm in everybody's heart especially the pilgrims of the Holy Year to work and endeavour for the redemption of their idolatrous brothers.

Therefore this is where Pius X's idea arrived at Pius XI He moved the whole world of believers in favour of the whole world infidels. This thought conceived in the mind of Pius X by the Holy spirit is already bearing abundant fruit. We always feel more grateful towards God because amid the other graces, it received also this grace: that of being born under the influence of Pius X's benediction. This Pope who worked miracles both during his life-time as well as at his death, makes up hope that one day his benediction will also lead it to the field of evangelic harvest.

Pope Benedict XV

S.Gregory Pope

The existence of the guardian angel is a christian belief dispersed throughout the church; even the fathers admit this. There is no christian who does not learn this doctrine at his mother's feet. Therefore here we will not speak about the existence of this angel but we will say something about the graces and favours we receive from him.

From the guardian angel we receive an infinite number of favours. In the first place the guardian angel protects us from many a danger, both spiritual and corporal, from birth to death. During our life he keeps us away from sin and from the evil attractions of this deceptive world which allures us towards wrong doing. He defends us from the assaults of the devil when he wants us to commit sin. Then, if by mishap we fall, he does whatever is possible to compel us to convert and perform penance for our sins. He carries our good works and prayers in front of God's throne. Finally the last favour he does for is to assist us at the moment of death against the enemy. In this way we die in God's grace and would be able to partake of the heavenly bliss which he enjoys in heaven. At such a terrible moment he does all in his power so that he won't let us be condemned; so that we won't despair, he gives us light and strengthens us in faith and induces us to repent and obtain for us true contrition for our sins. Many events which happened prove this. Here we will mention one which occurred to an irish parish priest.

One cold wintry night this parish priest was saying to himself, " Thank God I have been ordained a priest for twenty years and up to this point I have fulfilled the vow I made to God, that is I won't voluntarily leave a soul placed under my care die without the sacraments. I am very happy to remember that one cold night I had to walk nine miles although I had a terrible cold; then I found that the sick woman for whom I was called had nothing but a tooth-ache, warming herself by the fireside.

"At first I nearly lost my patience; then I calmed down my anger by the beautiful though which passed through my mind; I told her that once I came from such a distance she should profit by my visit and confess. Suddenly on the morrow this sick woman went to God. What a grace she received that she managed to confess before dying? Yes I do rejoice that up to now not one of my sheep appeared before the Divine judge without being prepared."

While the parish priest was thinking this, he heard three gentle knocks on the window-pane. At the same time he heard a voice saying." Father you are called for in the countryside; three miles away there is a woman, dying". The parish-priest runs towards the window and opens it and says Wait! and goes to open the door. But, to his astonishment he saw no one; he looks around and finds the garden door closed and no sign of people on the snow. He thought that it was his fantasy and therefore he went again in the room. He heard again the same voice saying the same words as before.

No doubt someone is calling me said the parish-priest. But who can she be, this woman dying three miles away in the countryside. The zealous parish-priest knew all nooks and crannies; in that place there was nothing but a small house occupied by a protestant woman. But the call was sure and urgent; so he took with him the Holy Viaticum and the Oil of (Extreme) Unction and went to where he was called.

Really on a poor bed in this room there was a lass dying, assisted by an old woman.

This lady came from a noble protestant family but since she became christian, her father ill treated her and sent her away. The poor girl came to this place of the Parish priest to look for work. But as she was prudent girl and she did not want to expose herself to the dangers of the city, she went to live with this old woman who lived in this countryside. She earned some money from the firewood she sold in the city.

That night the poor girl had a grave attack; she had no strength except to say," My guardian angel, send me a priest." The old woman could not understand and though she was delterious; she saw the parish priest going in and at the same time the sick girl told him full of joy," Oh father I know that my guardian Angel brought you here because I have been praying to him for a long time.

Since the ill woman was in a very grave condition, the parish priest was quick to give her God's instruments and just as he finished the last prayers of the dying, the sick woman looked heaven wards and gave her soul to God. The parish priest returned home thinking of those words of the psalms," He placed you under his angel's care so that they protect you in all your ways." Angelis suis mandavit da te, ut custodiant te in omnibus viis tuis."

Now, while we saw how many favours we receive from this angel, it is also fitting to say something how we can in some way be grateful towards this angel for the favours we receive from him.

To be thankful towards this angel we should always behave ourselves modestly, certain that we are in the presence of this angel. We should respect him alot whereever were are and everywhere. We should not do in front of him what we do not do in front of others. But, as Saint Bernard tells us, we should respect him and be obedient towards this angel; we should pay great attention to our internal inspirations and actuate the good thoughts he gives us.

______________________________________________________________

St.Gregory Pope

In this year which is just over, everybody's eyes and attention were attracted towards the City of Rome, the Seat of the Vicar of Jesus Christ, the Pope. Nearly one and a half million christians left their homes to go to the Eternal City and furnish their soul with the spiritual wealth resulting from the Indulgence of the Jubilee. But not only this because they all paid a visit, without exception, to the Missionary Exposition in the gardens of the Pope's Palace. So everybody's look and attention were attracted towards the missionary Field where the faith of Jesus Christ is being disseminated among those millions upon millions of people who are still in the darkness of idolatry.

Since Our Lord Jesus Christ the Divine missionary founded the Church before his ascension into Heaven and sent the first twelve Missionaries, the holy Apostles and told them " go teach all people," the conversion of pagans has never been in such large numbers as in this century of ours.

Always faithful to the command of the Divine Master, The Vicar of Christ, the Pope is in fact continually sending everywhere, from one end of the world to the other, Bishops and priests, with the help of so many new means of communication. And the Missionaries are working everywhere: planting and gathering, praying and suffering and dying. Some die without being known by anybody. Others under the instruments of torture. But all of them at their place of combat and the Blessed Host of Sacrifice is offered from one end of the world to the other.

But sadly we must say how few in number and how really few are helped. If we start counting, we think at first that the numbers are large. We find in fact that in the mission field there are 382 seats of bishops, Vicariates, prefectures and missions. 32,500 missionaries: priests, religious and sisters of every type of Congregation. But what is all this ? What is this deprivation of all these thousands of followers of the Jesus of Nazareth? The state of things on the mission field always saddens the heart of the christian who considers it. Above all this state of things saddens the heart of the Priest, minister and ambassador of Jesus Christ. He must continue his divine mission of understanding and teaching others the meaning of words of the Pater noster, " Adveniat Regnum Tuum", your kingdom come.

From the numbers which we will mention, everybody will be able to see the Truth we mentioned. On the earth's surface there are 1700 million people. 304 millions are Catholics. 157 million are Scismatics. 212 million are Protestants. 15 million are Jews . In all 688 million people who to some degree or other know and adore the true God.

On the other side there are 227 million mohamedans, 510 million bhuddists and confucians, 205 million brahmin and 70 million fetishists. In all they count 1012 million people who, poor creatures do not know, do not adore, do not love the true God.

Now when we set side by side the number of those who received the faith by the strivings and suffering of so many missionaries for 1900 years against the large number of idolators, we find that very little has been done compared to what could have been done up to now, compared to what remains to be done. And if we ask ourselves why has not the faith been disseminated more, probably we would have to answer and say that those who had the gift of faith probably did not think enough for their idolatrous brothers. Let us therefore, all of us, look today at the Mission Field . There the majority of men is still entombed in the darkness of death; it is awaiting help from us, the light of God, the gift of faith. If we cannot give our work because we have not been called for it, if we cannot give temporal wealth because we lack it, let us at least not leave undone what we can do, that is, pray. Let us therefore pray for the Missionaries. Let us pray for the Institutes of the Missions. God sends down His blessing on us and he won't not pay us also. And we, on our part we will have the Satisfaction of fulfilling our duty also on the mission Field.

A little youth who was a chimney sweeper was full of enthusiasm after he heard a conference on the the missions. Although in his pocket he only had enough money to buy some food, he put four pence in the bag. A day later, one of his friends saw him well washed and clean, well dressed and hurrying with a certain unusual graveness. Where are you going- he asked him.

- I am going to a Missions’ meeting. You?.. why are you going there?

- What do you mean?! Why are you saying that? I am going because now I have joined the missionary enterprise and I want to see how things are going. And truly the little chimney sweeper was right. Because to interest oneself in the matter one need not but pray, or give something, pray and give, compels others to give and compels others to pray. Because the matter of the missions concerns everybody. In fact Our Lord Jesus Christ was addressing all of us when he said the following words, " I have other sheep which are not of this fold and it is necessary that I gather these also to hear my voice and so there will be one shepherd" St. John. 10.16, he was recommending and entrusting us with the souls of those who are still in the darkness of paganism.

Let us reflect well on these words and if we have not joined the affair of the Missions, Let us join quickly. At least we will walk with the little chimney sweeper; otherwise we shall lag behind him.

Everysquare represents a million souls

We find our duty towards our idolatrous brothers taught us by divine authority itself" Love one another". How are we to love one another? Jesus himself teaches us with his own words," As I have loved you, so you must love one another". Jesus' love for us is a model of that love which we must have for others. When we say " the others" we do not understand to say only our relatives, our subjects, and neither ( do we mean) all the baptised of the world. But we also mean and understand also all the pagans, all the idolators. For Jesus loved them as much as he loved us and he suffered and died that terrible death on the Holy Rood for all of us.

____________________________________________________________

What is the work of the Propagation of the Faith? It is the Pope's handitself, open before all the faithful to collect everybody's prayer and penny. Then it will distribute wisely and with a father's heart on the infinite field of the Missions, according to the need of every one of them.