Memorial of St. Scholastica
Virgin, twin sister of St. Benedict of Nursia who consecrated herself to God from childhood. Following the example of her brother, she founded a feminine community close to Monte Cassino which became the first monastery of Benedictine nuns, and she died in 547.
Mass Readings
First Reading – 1 Kgs 11:4-13
When Solomon was old his wives had turned his heart to strange gods, and his heart was not entirely with the LORD, his God, as the heart of his father David had been. By adoring Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the idol of the Ammonites, Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not follow him unreservedly as his father David had done. Solomon then built a high place to Chemosh, the idol of Moab, and to Molech, the idol of the Ammonites, on the hill opposite Jerusalem. He did the same for all his foreign wives who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. The LORD, therefore, became angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice (for though the LORD had forbidden him this very act of following strange gods, Solomon had not obeyed him). So the LORD said to Solomon: “Since this is what you want, and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes which I enjoined on you, I will deprive you of the kingdom and give it to your servant. I will not do this during your lifetime, however, for the sake of your father David; it is your son whom I will deprive. Nor will I take away the whole kingdom. I will leave your son one tribe for the sake of my servant David and of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”
Responsorial Psalm – 106:3-4, 35-36, 37 and 40 (R.4a)
R. Remember us, O Lord, as You favor your people.
Blessed are they who observe what is right,
who do always what is just.
Remember us, O LORD, as You favor your people;
visit us with your saving help. R.
But they mingled with the nations
and learned their works.
They served their idols,
which became a snare for them. R.
They sacrificed their sons
and their daughters to demons.
And the LORD grew angry with his people,
and abhorred his inheritance. R.
Gospel – Mk 7:24-30
Jesus went to the district of Tyre. He entered a house and wanted no one to know about it, but He could not escape notice. Soon a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him. She came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged Him to drive the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, “Let the children be fed first. For it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She replied and said to Him, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.” Then He said to her, “For saying this, you may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.” When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.
Other featured Saints
Blessed Eusebia Palomina Yenes, virgin (†1935). Daughter of poor Spanish farmers, she worked in several family homes before entering the Salesian Congregation of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in in Valverde del Camino, Spain.
St. José Sanchez del Rio, martyr (†1928). Having joined the Cristero War of Mexico at age 14, he was captured and courageously braved many torments, refusing to renounce his fidelity to Cristo Rey. Finally he was killed by gunshot, his body falling upon the cross that he had traced on the ground with his own blood.
St. William of Maleval, hermit (†1157). After a dissolute youth, he went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land as a penitent and then became a hermit in Maleval, Italy, where he spent the rest of his life in prayer and penance. His example gave rise to many congregations of hermits.
St. Austreberta, virgin and abbess (†704). She piously governed the monastery of Pavilly, France, previously founded by Bishop St. Audeno.
Blessed Aloysius Stepinac, bishop (†1960). He courageously opposed the doctrines denying the Faith and human dignity, until he succumbed to the illnesses and privations brought on by lengthy imprisonment in Krašić, close to Zagreb (Croatia), for his fidelity to the Church.
Blessed Hugh of Fosse, abbot (†circa 1163). When St. Norbert, was elected Archbishop of Magdeburg, he appointed Hugh, one of the monks under his care, as abbot of the recently founded Premonstratensian Order, which he governed for 35 years.
Blesseds Pierre Frémond and five companions, martyrs (†1794). Shot in Angers during the French Revolution for remaining faithful to the Catholic Church.
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