Tag Archives: St. Paul of the Cross

Cloistered life, News, Women's Communities

Passionist Tri-Centennial Jubilee Icon

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This beautiful icon was commissioned by the Passionist Fathers as a part of the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the year their Founder, St. Paul of the Cross, received the charism to found their Congregation.

The figures in the main part of the triptych are Jesus, experiencing His death on the Cross, with the Blessed Virgin Mary on one side and St. Paul of the Cross on the other.  Saint Paul has his hand over his heart, where on the Passionist habit is depicted the beautiful “Passionist Sign” or emblem (pictured above Jesus).   Below the Cross is the devil, about to experience  his final defeat.

Tot he left and right are two angels carrying instruments of the Passion – the spear and the reed of hyssop. The Passionist saints on the left are St.  Gemma Galgani and Bl. Isadore de Loor. On the right are  St. Gabriel Possenti, with the skull, and Bl.  Dominic Barberi, who played such an instrumental role in the conversion of Bl. John Henry Cardinal Newman.

For a detailed description and for more information on the Jubilee celebrations, visit the Passionist nuns’ website (PassionistNuns.org)

I pray to a merciful God to console you in the great trials you are presently experiencing. However, don’t stop placing them all in the Most Holy Wounds of Jesus.  This will ease them for you.  Also place them under the mantle of Mary’s Sorrows. She will bathe and soothe your heart with her tears.  —St. Paul of the Cross

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News

Passionist Nuns Celebrate St. Paul of the Cross Feast Day

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St. Paul of the Cross founded the Congregation of the Passion in 1720. While walking home after attending Mass, he saw himself “clothed in long black garment with a white cross on my breast, and below the cross the Holy Name of Jesus was written in white letters. At that instant, I heard these words spoken to me: ‘This signifies how pure and spotless that heart should be which must bear the Holy Name of Jesus graven upon it.’ On seeing and hearing this, I began to weep.”

His desire was to gather around him companions who saw the Passion of Jesus as God’s love-message to them and the world. Along with the men’s community, the contemplative community of women, the “Doves of Calvary,” were to stand at the foot of the Cross with our Sorrowful Mother and, with her, keep alive the memory of the self-sacrificing love of Jesus Crucified.

Three Passionists communities, Affiliates of the IRL, faithfully keep this remembrance of the Lord’s Passion before them always. In a special way, today! the feast day of St. Paul of the Cross.

They are:

  • The Passionists nuns of Erlanger, Kentucky. They make altar breads for the faithful on-site.  Watch this YouTube video to see how their prayerful dedication to this holy ministry brings the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ to the faithful!

 

  • The Passionist nuns of Whitesville, Kentucky.   Their guest house, monastery and chapel are located on a peaceful 170-acre site of beautiful woodlands. Through their hidden life of prayer, penance, work, and joy they seek to be little co-redeemers with the great Co-Redemptrix.  Please keep Ruth and Olivia (their two new aspirants) in your prayers as they  discern if it is truly God’s plan for them to be future Passionist Nuns.

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  • The Passionist Nuns of Ellisville, Missouri.  Please pray for Meg, their newest postulant, who plans to enter the Passionists on November 11th. “We are dedicated to the greatest act of love on earth—the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ!”

May the Passion of Christ be ever in our hearts!

Liturgical Year, Women's Communities

Passionist Q & A

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The "under 30 gang" in Whitesville
The “under 30 gang” in Whitesville

Who is Paul Francis Daneo, Italian mystic and saint, better known as?

St. Paul of the Cross (1694-1775) whose Feast Day is today, October 20th.

 What does their insignia – Jesu XPI Passio – mean??

Written in Greek and Latin, these words mean: “The Passion of Jesus Christ.”

Who are the Passionsist saints?

St. Maria Goretti, St. Innocent Canoura, St. Gabriel Possenti, St. Gemma Galgani, St. Vincent Strambi, Blessed Lorenzi Salvi, Blessed Dominic Barberi, and most recently St. Charles Houben. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Princess Diana’s great-great-great-uncle, Fr. Ignatius (George) Spencer, Passionist priest, is being proposed for sainthood. He is also the great-uncle of Winston Churchill.

How were the Passionists founded?

The sorrowful Mother appeared to St. Paul of the Cross in the eighteenth century dressed in the Passionist habit, asking him to found an institute to remember the sufferings and death of her Son.

What refrain do they hold close in their hearts?

“May the Passion of Christ be always in our hearts.”

 Where can I learn more about the Passionists nuns?

Visit our three Affiliates’ websites! Located in: Ellisville, MO, Whitesville, KY, Erlanger, KY

Thanks to the Passionist Fathers too for some of the ideas for the Q&A!

Vocations, Women's Communities

The Fruits of the “Nun Run”

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Lest anyone doubt the fruitfulness of  the “Nun Runs” I cite the recent example of a young woman from Minnesota who went on a “nun run” with 12 other young women from the University of St. Thomas. They visited  ten different convents in ten days in March of 2007, one which was the home of the Passionist Nuns in Whitesville, KY

The Passionists are one of the least known of our nation’s contemplative, cloistered communities so I am thankful that these young women made the long trek to Kentucky to experience their life.  Founded by St. Paul of the Cross, the Passionist Nuns are “Consecrated as brides of the Crucified by their holy vows, they live solely for the Christ and His Body, which is the Church…The Passionist Nuns vow to live in the light of the self-sacrificng love of Jesus.”

As the “Nun Run” van pulled into the Passionist driveway, one of the young women said to Ane Kirstine Wynn, “This is so exciting. Maybe one of us has a Passionist vocation! You might have a Passionist vocation!”  Her words proved to be prophetic as Kirstine found herself drawn to the Passionst way of life.

Kirstine, a Lutheran convert,  returned two years later for her three month aspirancy. After a year as a postulant, she received the beautiful Passionist habit and her religious name: Sr. Cecilia Maria. Finally, on February 2, 2013, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, she pronounced the five Passionist vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, enclosure and the vow to keep the Passion of Our Lord alive in her heart and in the hearts of the faithful.

Within the Church, the Passionist Nuns are called to be a sign of the love of Jesus Crucified for the Father and for mankind. By their unceasing contemplation of the Paschal Mystery of Jesus, the greatest and most overwhelming work of God’s love, they are certain of contributing to the fullness of the Church’s presence to mankind…convinced of the absolute necessity of God’s grace for the fruitfulness of the apostolate, they offer their unceasing prayer and joyful penance that God send zealous workers into His harvest, convert sinners and open the minds of non-Christians to hear the Gospel.