Holy Spirit Roman Catholic Church

Today is the Optional Memorial of Saints Pontian (Pontianus), Pope and St. Hippolytus, Priest (d. 235). St. Pontian was a victim of the persecution of Alexander Severus, who directed his attention particularly against the leaders of the Church. St. Pontian governed the Church from 230 to 235. He was exiled to the mines of Sardinia and died in exile. St. Hippolytus, a priest and a person of some importance in the Church in Rome at the beginning of the third century, provoked a schism which lasted for some years. He was exiled to Sardinia with St. Pontian, where he was reconciled with the Church and died for the faith in 235.

Today is the Optional Memorial of St. Jane Frances de Chantal (1572-1641). St. Jane was a married woman and a mother of seven children from Dijon, France. Her husband was killed in a hunting accident. In 1604, upon being deeply moved by the preaching of Francis de Sales, Jane asked him to become her spiritual director. She founded the Visitation nuns in 1610. Jane worked tirelessly helping the sick, and she convinced local political rulers to make special provisions for the sick and the bereaved. During the last years of her life, she experienced periods of spiritual aridity. She established eighty-five monasteries before her death in 1641.

The Memorial of St. Clare of Assisi (1194-1253) is celebrated today. Clare was the first woman to practice the life of entire poverty as taught by St. Francis. Placed by him at the head of a few companions in the small convent of San Damiano, she governed her community for forty-two years thus founding at the gates of Assisi the Order of Poor Clares. Their Rule included austerities hitherto unknown in monasteries of women. They went barefoot, slept on the ground, kept perpetual abstinence and made poverty the basis of their lives. St. Clare died on August 11, 1253, and was canonized two years after her death.