The Medal of St Benedict

The Saint Benedict medal is one of the most famous medals in the church. It commemorates Saint Benedict working miracles through The Sign of the Cross. The blessing formula for the medal has a special exorcism blessing against all things coming from the devil and the evil spirits. It also has a special blessing for the sick.

The undesirable tenants  (The Medal of Saint Benedict)

Jill lived next door to a rental house.  Three successive groups of tenants lived in the house. The tenants in each of the three groups were drug addicts. They usually slept all day and stayed up all night disturbing the neighbours with their noisy rowdy parties. The third group of tenants skipped through without paying the rent. Jill’s mother then placed a blessed Saint Benedict medal in the foundation of the rental house, after that much quieter tenants moved in.

The noisy neighbours  (The Medal of Saint Benedict)

In a similar incident to the previous one, Kim placed a Saint Benedict Medal in the foundations of a rental house across the road from her own home.  The tenants in this house used to blast the neighbourhood with unbearably loud music.  After the Saint Benedict Medal was placed in the foundations, the tenants moved out and quiet peaceful tenants moved into the house.

A noisy blast at the supermarket  (The Medal of Saint Benedict)

Every Friday night my husband and I went to the supermarket to buy our weekly groceries. The supermarket played on the loudspeaker a heavy metal rock radio station.  This caused me to develop headaches during the shopping excursions.  After many weeks of this I came up with the idea of placing a tiny blessed Saint Benedict medal behind the cans of food.  The next Friday when we went to the supermarket to shop, the supermarket staff had changed the radio station to a much more pleasant music channel.

Trouble in the park  (The Medal of Saint Benedict)

A friend of our family lived near a park.  For many years hoodlums gathered in the park at night.  All kinds of unacceptable behaviour took place.  The police were called repeatedly over a number of years.  They were never successful in improving the situation. Finally our friend placed a blessed Saint Benedict medal under one of the park benches.  From that day on the hoodlums never returned.

Stress in the workplace  (The Medal of Saint Benedict)

Gail’s father works as a policeman.  He was under constant stress because of trouble that he was having with a senior police officer.  The senior police officer was very argumentative and troublesome. The problem had been ongoing for about a year.  Gail gave her father a blessed Saint Benedict medal and said a prayer for him, starting from the very next day the senior police officer was much easier to get along with.

Protection of a house from fire  (Saint Benedict)

While Melanie was working at the back of her house doing the laundry, she said a prayer to Saint Benedict asking him to protect her home.  Ten minutes later there was a knock at the front door.  It was a man who alerted her to a fire in her front yard which had been started by someone throwing away lit cigarettes. The fire had already started to spread.  There was no tap in that area, so Melanie ran back into the house to get a bucket of water, by the time she got back a passerby had put out the fire with his work boots, without his help the fire could had caused considerable damage.

The feast day of Saint Benedict is celebrated on July 11.

From my book:  Help from heaven (Answers to prayer) which can be read free on-line here.

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How I came to know St Philomena the Wonder Worker

In 1976 a Carmelite priest started up a club for singles. I was then twenty years of age. In early May of that year our club attended a dance some miles away. I met my husband Chris there. He joined our club. I liked him very much but he took no interest in me. He also thought that I was too young for him anyway. (There is an eleven year age difference). To make matters worse I was extremely shy. By September I had made no progress in getting his attention.

A novena was needed. I went down to a Catholic bookshop (in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta) during my work lunch hour. I asked the shop assistant for a novena to a good miracle working saint. She was very busy with customers who were picking out First Holy Communion gifts, so she pulled out a box full of prayer cards and leaflets and told me to go through it and select whatever I needed. I then found a leaflet on St Philomena the Wonder Worker. It had a novena, some sketchy information and a black and white picture on it.

The most important bit of information on it was that St Philomena was a wonder worker and that she worked miracles of every kind for people in every class of society.

I had never heard of her before, although I know now that my great aunty Rose’s second name was Philomena, so that implies that my Irish great grandmother (who had migrated to Australia) had known about St Philomena and my mother has since told me that the Church of St Brigid, which was built in the middle of the nineteenth century* which was near our home (on the corner of the street that we lived in) had at one stage had a statue of St Philomena in it. (This must have been when I was very little, or even before my birth because I had absolutely no recollection of it).

I made the novena to St Philomena in September 1976 for a boyfriend. I did not specify anyone in particular and Chris took me out to the pictures the following month on October 15. St. Philomena was fast!

We were married on December 3, the following year. In December 2007 we celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary.  We have five children (three girls and two boys).

Since then St Philomena has done a great deal in my life and I have seen her work wonders for myself and for many others.

Mary Ann Matulis

(Australia)

*St Brigid’s Church at Prospect was demolished in 1975.

Some more St Philomena items

Novena to St Philomena the Wonder Worker for the healing of autism

St Philomena chaplet  

St Philomena’s intercession for mothers and babies

Many more St Philomena topics are listed here

Would you like to join a Living Rosary? Click here for more information.

Read my book: Help from heaven (Answers to prayer), free on-line.

The powerful intercession of the Holy Souls in Purgatory for their benefactors and ways to help them.

If St Philomena has granted you a favour, please let everyone know about it by putting a comment in the comments box.  Thank you.

Have you received any favours through the Devotion to The Divine Mercy or from St Faustina ?

Have you received any favours through the Devotion to The Divine Mercy?  Please share them with us here.  Please tell if this was through the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, the Three O’Clock prayer for the hour of great Mercy etc.  Also did you receive any favours through St Faustina the apostle of Divine Mercy.  I would like to hear about that also. Telling your story will encourage others to turn to the Divine Mercy.

Promises of Saint Therese of Lisieux

Promises of Saint Therese of Lisieux

“I will spend my heaven doing good upon earth”

“After my death I will let fall from heaven a shower of roses”

The “roses” that Saint Therese referred to in the prophecy quoted above: is the term which she used to describe her miracles and favours. The feast day of Saint Therese is celebrated on October 1.

Prayer to St Therese of the Child Jesus

St. Therese, the little flower, please pick me a rose from the heavenly garden and send it to me with a message of love. Ask God to grant me the favour I thee implore and tell Him I will love Him each day more and more.

The Devotion of the Three Hail Marys

 This devotion goes back to some revelations with which benedictine nun St. Mechtilde was favoured. Mechtilde was the daughter of the Count of Hackeborn, Germany. When she was seven, she was taken to the cloister of Ruderdorf to visit an elder sister of hers, Gertrude who was a Benedictine nun.

At the end of the visit, the little girl would not leave her sister. She eventually joined the nuns and together with her elder sister went to found a new Cloister at Helfta. Shortly after, Mechtilde, although still very young,  was made novice and choir mistress.

Among her novices she had Gertrude who became St. Gertrude, known as the Great. It was this pupil who secretly, helped by another nun, collected Mechtilde’s memoirs which came down to us. Mechtilde died in 1299.

From the start Mechtilde was a shining example of humility, piety religious observance and of great patience. She bore with great patience constant physical pain which tormented her throughout life. She often meditated on the mystery of death and every time she implored Our Lady to be with her always, especially at that moment. She was also favoured with visions and colloquies with Our Lord and Our Lady.

One day Our Lady appeared to her and assured her: “Dear daughter, I will most certainly grant you the grace that you insistently ask of me, but I request you to say, every day, Three Hail Marys in honour of the power, wisdom and love with which the Holy Trinity deigned to fill my heart. If you do that I promise you final perseverance. Mechtilde was made to feel that his promise was not for her alone but for all who would undertake to practice this devotion.

The devotion soon spread all over among the faithful.  It was approved by Pope Benedict XV on July 20, 1921. The papal document says “Nothing gives us more joy than helping the Christian people to develop their devotion towards the Virgin Mary, mediatrix of all divine graces …. We raise and constitute into an Arch Confraternity or Primary Society, with all the usual privileges, the Association of The Three Hail Marys, canonically already existing at Blois (on the Loire, in France) in the chapel dedicated to the Most Blessed Immaculate Virgin Mary.

In order to respond full to the request of Our Lady and merit the grace of a happy death, one must have the true knowledge of what this devotion implies.  It is not enough to recite the Three Hail Marys  in a general way,  but it is necessary to recite the Three Hail Marys with the precise aim pointed out by Our Lady: “To honour the Holy Trinity for the three privileges granted to the Mother of God: power, wisdom and love.

Again the full value of this devotion is not measured only by this primary purpose, but by the power it has to obtain extraordinary spiritual and material graces. One could hardly dream of giving an adequate number of all the graces granted throughout the centuries. Extraordinary cures from infirmities; study courses completed with success, when the odds were so many; miraculous protection in dangers of all kind; severe temptations and bad habits overcome; conversions to a better life etc….

No one could deny so many real graces obtained by so many.  As a sample of the spiritual power of this devotion I will quote here one example written in first person by whoever received the grace. “I was slave of a bad habit against purity. For three long years I struggled in vain.  All the means I could think of, or which were suggested to me proved useless. I felt guilty of sins and even sacrileges, knew no peace of mind and was beginning to despair. Then one day I was told of this devotion and began to practice it. Almost at once I was strong enough not to fall into sin. There were occasions when I almost wanted to go back to my evil ways again, but something stronger than my bad will was there to prevent me. Thank you Mother for helping me out of a situations that was seriously endangering both my material and spiritual life.”

Let this example inspire us to begin practicing this devotion, if we have not done so yet or to make use of it more consciously and with greater devotion if we are practicing it already. While doing so let us give first place to our spiritual needs, like the strength to avoid sin and the desire to become better spiritually day by day.

The center of this devotion is at Blois in the beautiful shrine dedicated to Notre Dame de la Trinite. Our Lady of the Holy Trinity, built in 1937. There also is the centre of the Arch Confraternity of the Three Hail Marys.

A personal testimony

I prayed this devotion repeatedly during a crisis and four hours later the problem was solved perfectly. Below is another testimony regarding the Three Hail Marys.

A severe cough  (The devotion of the Three Hail Marys)
During a long bus trip, Clare developed a very severe cough that was loud and prolonged. The lady who was sitting behind her took out a holy card of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal and silently continuously prayed a devotion that is known as The Three Hail Marys, to ask for a healing of the cough. Later on another passenger came up to the lady and touched her with a relic of Saint Philomena. The next morning Clare was completely free of the cough.

The Three Hail Marys Devotion consists of saying three Hail Marys followed by the invocation “O Mary my mother keep me from mortal sin”. This devotion is in honour the power, wisdom and love with which the Blessed Trinity has infused into the heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Many favours have been granted throughout the centuries to those who practice this devotion.

This story is published in my book:  Help from heaven (Answers to prayer) which can be read free on-line here.

Saint Philomena The Wonder Worker (poem)

The king and queen no baby had;
They longed to be a mum and dad;
To pagan gods they prayed each day;
But still no baby came their way.

Then good advice was given them;
It proved to be a priceless gem;
Christians are what you should be;
Then a baby blessing;
You shall see!

When this was done;
The grace was granted;
And with little Philomena;
They were enchanted! 

When little Philomena had reached twelve years;
Bad news filled up their eyes with tears;
On their country small and poor;
The emperor of Rome;
declared a war !

Let’s go to Rome;
The King told wife and daughter;
To plead with the emperor;
to prevent this slaughter.

At the mighty
Emperor’s court;
They pleaded with him;
the war to abort.

The emperor had a new idea;
He said there’s nothing more to fear.
Give me your daughter;
To be my wife;
And I promise her;
A wonderful life! 

The offer took them
By surprise;
A refusal would mean;
Their country’s demise.

The king and queen were filled with gladness;
But Philomena was overcome by sadness.

To be a bride of Christ;
She’d already taken a vow;
No way would Philomena;
Let it be broken now. 
The answer was a steadfast no;
The emperor now his force would show! 

To the dungeon Philomena was deployed;
All manner of torture was employed;
It was all to no avail;
The emperor’s methods were doomed to fail.
Because God Himself defended her soul;
Philomena kept her eyes on her heavenly goal. 

The maiden Philomena;
Was strengthened by faith and grace;
Until the day she could behold;
God face to face.

Finally the maiden Philomena was beheaded;
And the onlookers wept;
For many centuries in the catacombs;
She silently slept.   

At last her relics were located;
And the excavators were elated;
When Philomena’s relics,
Were bought up to the ground;
Miracles started to abound !

Some folks thought that miracles;
Had stopped with the Bible;
With Philomena;
They had a revival.

The sneering cynics;
Who had announced God’s demise;
Were by Philomena’s miracles;
Dealt a surprise.

Saint Philomena’s fame;
Spread everywhere;
And people ran to her;
Pleading in prayer.

No one was forgotten;
No one was left out;
The cripples;
The dying;
The sad;
And the needy;
All of them found;
Her miracles speedy.
 
From heaven she surveys;
All of our needs;
And on our behalf;
With God she pleads. 

Say a prayer to Saint Philomena;
And light her a candle;
Because there is no problem;
That she cannot handle.

There’s one thing more;
We should not ignore;
From her grave of silent obscurity;
She has come back to teach us;
About goodness and purity. 

 by Mary Ann Matulis

St Rita (The Saint of the impossible)

This Friday May 22 is the feast day of St Rita, the saint of the impossible. I thank St Rita for favours received; especially for the healing of a family friend from a serious health problem without an operation nor any other kind of medical intervention and also to promote devotion to St Rita. St Rita was a model daughter, wife, mother and religious. As a wife St Rita suffered patiently the rough ways of her husband, as a mother she tried to help her two sons curb their tempers and prayed that they would die rather than avenge their father’s murder by committing murder themselves. They both became ill and repented of this evil intention before they died. St Rita then applied to enter the Augustinian Sisters in Cascia but was refused entry.  Because of her persistent prayers she was at last admitted to the order. She often meditated on the passion of Christ and was noted for her obedience to her superior. Once when she was praying before a crucifix she asked Our Lord for a share in his Passion and a thorn detached from the crucifix and pierced her forehead causing a wound which remained for the rest of her life. This wound caused Rita great suffering.  After St Rita’s death she worked such great wonders and miracles that she well and truly earned her title of Saint of the Impossible. St Rita’s incorrupt body is in her main shrine at Cascia in Italy. Her feast is on May 22.

The Rosary (Poem)

In the Rosary
There is great power.
Miracles on earth,
It can shower.

Miracles of healing
And every kind of grace,
The Rosary can bestow,
Upon the human race.

Take up the Rosary,
And say it well,
It’s a weapon against,
All the powers of hell.

More of my poems

My book on answers to prayer (on line free): (An Appeal for more stories)

Dear Friends,

I have recently put up online the first edition of my book: Help from heaven (Answers to prayer).  

There are many stories of answers to prayer. They cover several saints, the guardian angels, St Raphael the Archangel, Our Lady and Our Lord (invoked under several titles), the Miraculous Medal, The Divine Mercy, The Sacred Wounds of Our Lord, The intercession of the Holy Souls in Purgatory for their benefactors, etc. There are also prayers, an article on how to meditate on the Rosary, an article on miracles, some poems etc. The stories came from friends, relatives and  acquaintances.  

The book is an apostolate to help people. It is not a commercial venture. 

I thought that it would be good if the book contained more stories of answers to prayers. If you have a story of an answer to prayer (that is original) that you think might be suitable for the book, please email me at:

 catacomb@bigpond.com 

Through your feedback the book might be improved.

Greetings and prayers for all your intentions,

Mary Ann

(Australia) 

The book is in two parts and can be read at the following links:   

Help from heaven (part one)

http://missionbell.homestead.com/HelpFromHeavenBook.html 

Help from heaven (part two – final section) 

http://missionbell.homestead.com/HelpFromHeavenBookPartTwo.html 

Please let your family and friends know about the book also, so that they can have a look.

St Therese’s Roses (The healing of cancer)

My aunty was diagnosed with breast cancer.  I went to her home with a 1st class relic of Saint Therese.  Her daughter-in-law said that my aunty and uncle were attending Mass at the parish church. My husband and I then drove down to the church. Mass has just ended.  I looked down the hill, and I could see my aunty and uncle leaving the church.  As soon as I saw them I smelt the heavy scent of roses. There were no roses nearby. Saint Therese was giving a sign that all would be well. My aunty underwent chemotherapy and surgery, which was successful in eradiating the cancer. It is a well documented fact that Saint Therese sometimes allows people to smell roses in connection with her favours and miracles.

Relics of saints

First class relics are part of the saint’s body. Second class relics are objects which belonged to the saint during their lifetime. Third class relics are touched to the saint’s body or tomb after their death.

This story comes from the book: Help from heaven (Answers to Prayer). To read the book please click here.