Blessed Nicholas Barre & The Visitation

I was reading some stuff about saints today when I had the thundering realisation that I'd completely forgotten to post about Fr. Barre! How could I post about a saint and founder of another school and not about my own?! Haha.

So here's the belated post. Late is better than never. =)

On May 31, we members of the Catholic Church family celebrate the feast of the Visitation.
We also honor, in a special way, the following friends of God - saints whose souls are now in heaven:
...Bl. Nicholas Barre of Amiens [Nicolas] (French, priest, religious of the Order of the Minims of St. Francis of Padua, founded Congregation of the Sisters of the Infant Jesus, d. 1686 [beatified 1999])
-Greenspun.com May 31 - today's saints

I have a dim recollection of how we celebrated his beatification when I was in P5. Hm.

Good grief, I didn't know it was the Visitation. All right, you are hereby priviledged to receive a lengthier post.

HEADLINES:
Pope marks Third Sunday of Lent with special beatification of Ten candidates for sainthood
The Holy Father moved ten blesseds closer to sainthood when he beatified seven Augustinian monks and one priest Blessed Father Vincent Soler who were martyred in Spain during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930's. Pope John Paul II also beatified Blessed Pere Nicolas Barre, a 17th century monk who dedicated his life to teaching youth the treasures of the faith, and Bavarian victim soul Blessed Anna Schaffer who bore the stigmata early in this century. For more, click on Beatifications
-Daily Catholic, March 9, 1999

Well, I clicked on that, and here's the pertinent paragraph:

The Pope also pronounced the beatification of Nicolas Barre, a French monk of the 17th century and founder of Parisian schools which now serve thousands of young people. Some 7,000 students from those schools were present at the beatification ceremony, to hear the Pope praise Blessed Nicolas Barre as a model educator, who worked at a time when many people lived in "religious ignorance," and who fought valiantly against the corrupting tendencies of secular thought in his day.
-Daily Catholic, March 9, 1999: Beatifications

Augh. The trying thing about "Blessed"s is that the Net generally less information on them compared to Saints. Which is of course to be expected. Isn't it?

Since my efforts are currently turning fruitless, here's the

Hymn to Father Barre
De vos enfants exaucez la priere
Veillez sur nous O Saint Pere Barre
Choisissez-vous un essaim d'ouviere
Par le seigneur a votre attiree
Dans l'institut conservez d'age en age
Un zele ardent, l'humilite, la foi
Le pur amour, la force et le courage
Pour obsever a jamais votre loi (x2)

O hear our prayer, most holy Father Barre
We are your children, watch o'er us we pray
Touch many hearts to follow in your footsteps
To delicate their lives to youth and poor
Drawn by the Lord to make Christ known and loved
Fill us with zeal, humility and faith
Pure love and strength and courage without fear
To keep your spirit alive in our hearts (x2)

My most poignant memory of this song is cycling up and down the common corridor on training wheels in P4 singing it at full volume... poor neighbours. Those were happy afternoons though.

Oh well.

This is becoming like my 2nd blog. and it's not. It's our blog. Please blog, people, I know you have lots of things to share. Read our first post ever to see the purpose of this blog.

All right, on to The Visitation.

Visitation - Mary's Soul Proclaims God's Greatness (St. Bede)

A Roman Catholic homily for the Visitation of Mary on May 31, 2002, in Year A of the Liturgical Year.
The Catholic Doors Ministry: Visitation of Mary

Catholic Encyclopedia: Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Jean