ALL POSTS TAGGED: MYSTIC

In the 14th century, a number of English men and women withdrew from the world. They lived alone as hermits or anchorites. Their hermitage, or cell, was a small room attached to a local church. Each room had two windows. One pierced the church wall. Through this window, the anchorite received communion. Through the second window, the anchorite received food brought to him or her by village people.


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Even as a baby, Isabel de Flores so pretty that she was called “Rose,” the most beautiful of all the flowers. Growing up in Lima, Peru, where she was born in 1586, Isabel developed a talent for gardening, so it is not surprising that she took the name “Rose” as her confirmation name. As she tended the flowers in her family garden, she prayed. Her relationship with God was the most important thing in her life.


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Hildegard of Bingen is believed to have been born in 1098 in Germany. At a young age Hildegard had a very holy teacher named Jutta. From her teacher, she learned to love God and to pray. In those days, it was very natural for Hildegard to join with her teacher, Jutta, and other holy women and become a nun when she was 15 years old. Together these women prayed and worked together in their Benedictine monastery.


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Francesco Forgione was born in Pietrelcina, Italy, in 1887. His family and the people of his town were very religious. They celebrated festivals to honor the saints. The church bells called people to prayer many times during the day. His family attended Mass every day and prayed the Rosary each night. When a Capuchin friar visited his town to ask for donations for the friars’ ministry, Francesco knew that he wanted to become a Capuchin.


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It’s hard to imagine spending five weeks in bed, let alone five years. But in 1657, when Marguerite Marie Alacoque was 10 years old, she became very ill with a disease that left her paralyzed. So for five years she stayed in bed—long before television or video games could provide amusement. So what did she do? She prayed.


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Born in 1542, John was raised in Spain by a widowed mother who could barely provide for her sons. At a young age, he worked in a hospital and developed a great love for the poor and the sick. He sometimes felt that he was in the presence of Jesus when he was tending the patients. But John wanted to become even closer to God. He became a Carmelite friar when he was almost 20 years old.


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