Today is the feast of St. Charles of Sezze. He is an obscure Franciscan saint. But none the less his life was blessed by God in such a profound way, he is worthy of speaking about today.
He is the son of lowly country folks. He was born in Sezze Italy on Oct. 22nd of 1613. At the urgent request of his grandmother, he was entrusted to her care and the boy acquired a great love of God and of prayer from the example and teaching of his devout grandmother.
When he went to school as a child, his studies did not meet with much success and so when school ended his parents put him to work in the fields with is brothers. From books he had not learned much but being out in nature, God gave him new light to understand heavenly things, such that his work was constantly mingled with prayer. He began to receive the sacraments more frequently and grew in zeal for Christian perfection.
Out of love and veneration for Mary, the Mother of God, he made a vow of chastity at the age of 17 and seems to have kept it unto death such that he is often pictured with lilies as a reminder of his purity.
When he was 20 years old, he fell dangerously ill. He decided to make a vow to God that if he would live, he would join the Franciscan order. At once his illness took turn for the better and two years later, he received the Franciscan habit. After his consecration to God through his vows, he advanced visibly in piety and virtues. He ardently desired to shed his blood for Christ and asked that he might be sent as a lay brother to the missions of India, but a new illness frustrated his desires caused him to not go.
He received remarkable enlightenment by God with regard to heavenly things and he would say Our Lord in His wisdom hides such things from the wise but reveals them to the simple, to which he belonged. Many would come asking him spiritual advice including several popes.
He read with delight the lives of the saints and related them to the others while at work. In the Franciscan church which he often visited, he used to study the pictures of the saints with a desire to imitate them.
He was a cook, gardener and door keeper for the brothers.
He worked heroically to help the stricken in the plague of 1656. He carried an image of St. Anne through the city, which resulted in an immediate end to the plague.
He often fervently adored Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament. One day as he passing by the doors of a church he noticed Holy Mass was being celebrated. He stopped and knelt at the door to watch the consecration and adore Jesus during the elevation of the Host during Mass. At that moment a ray of light like an arrow went out from the Sacred Host and impressed a wound in his left side. The wound would remain visible even after his death.
One time there was no wine, but through his prayers, water was changed into wine. He died Jan. 6th, 1670, of natural causes. He was declared blessed in 1882 and canonized a saint in 1959. His body is in-corrupt.
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