Volume LNumber 12

National Shrine of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos

In the Redemptorist Church of Saint Mary’s Assumption

www.seelos.org919 Josephine Street New Orleans, LA 70130 (504) 525-2495 December 2011

hen they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy; and going

into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

—Mt. 2:10-11

At Christmastime we give thanks for “God’s indescribable gift” (II Cor. 9:15)

in our prayers and Masses at the Seelos Shrine, and we remember you for the gift that you have been to us this year. May this holy season not only bring peace on earth, but abiding

peace to you & your loved ones. We extend our best wishes for a

blessed Christmas & happy New Year!

The Seelos Center Staff

Seelos Center Services Pilgrimages to Seelos Shrine & Museum. Call Center: 504-525-2495, Open Mon-Fri, 9 to 3; Sat, 10 to 3:30. Daily Prayer Message 504-586-1803

Blessings of the Sick with a Seelos Crucifix in designated area hospitals:

East Jefferson Gerry Heigle: 504-482-4404 Teresa LaCour: 504-887-0214Ochsner (Kenner) Linda DiMaggio: 504-287-8732Ochsner Mark/Monica Surprenant 504-895-5371 Joe DiLeo 504-583-2763 Uptown/Innercity Dennis Waldron: 504-442-6336Westbank Elaine Freeman: 504-341-2213 Michelle Wilcox: 504-228-2291Abbeville/Erath/Lafayette Boniface ‘Boni’ Suire: 337-937-5675Baton Rouge Gloria Bacque: 225-753-3800 Marie Giorlando: 225-615-7888Bogalusa Mary Haaga: 985-735-1056Covington Dr. Ann Logarbo: 985-886-0218 April Mayo: 985-892-1828Houma/Thibodaux Dan Montz, L.P.C.: 985-446-1805Lacombe/Abita Springs Billy Bachemin: 985-288-7006Lafayette/New Iberia/Morgan City Fred Roy: 337-380-0646LaPlace Courtney Guidry: 985-653-1343 Mandeville David Brumfield: 985-886-9235 Lisa & Eric Johnsen 985-845-8116New Iberia/Abbeville/Jeanerette Rachel Gonsoulin: 337-224-7855Pearl River Gail Garay: 985-863-7562 Picayune/Carriere, MS Charlotte Carolla: 601-916-4233 Ponchatoula/Hammond Gasper Corpora: 225-294-5938Prairieville/Gonzales M/M Claude Bourgeois 225-673-6688 Shreveport/Bossier City Tom & Marjorie Rivers: 318-797-3116Slidell Carmelie Mancuso: 985-502-7325 Mary Jo Stewart: 985-502-9033St. Bernard/Arabi Patricia Noote: 504-756-4163

Byron Miller, C.Ss.R.

Message froM the editor

SUNDAY, January 15, 2012, 1:00 p.m.St. Mary’s Assumption Church

Corner of Josephine & Constance Streets, New Orleans

A Special Healing Mass with Sacrament of Anointing

to Commemorate the Birthday of Father Seelos

The vintage photo that accompanies this message is a surprise Christmas gift to my beloved sister with the oversized doll and undersized pants. With a Seelos newsletter circulation of 30,000 households, it is the gift that keeps on giving! Displaying our treasures, my sister and I blissfully stand between our father’s race car trophies and our mother’s ashtray, and behind us is a modestly adorned silver tinsel tree that reflects the NASA space age.

“They came. They saw. They gifted,” wrote Benedicta Cipolla of Religion News Serv ice about the Magi-astrologers, whose gaze into space revealed a new age. She quotes Marcus Borg, professor of religion at Oregon State University: “For Matthew, the magic star leading the wise men to the place of Jesus’ birth

is his way of saying what happened in Jesus is for the Gentile world as well.” According to Saint Gregory the Great, the treasures of the Magi signify the gifts we present to Christ in our daily lives when we want to give Him our very best. Gold is Christ’s wisdom, which shines in us, frankincense is the prayer and adoration we offer him, and myrrh is our daily self-sacrifices.

Perhaps you’ve heard of the mother who cried when her son sent her a holiday greeting card in the mail? The thought of raising a child foolish enough to spend $4.95 on a card caused her to weep! Especially those greeting cards adorned with the annoying glitter that keeps on giving magical stardust to everyone and everything on contact!

“When you care enough to send the very best” is more than a vintage marketing slogan by a popular greeting card company. It is also the hallmark of our faith: God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him (Jn 3:17). Eureka! Our God did not care enough just to SEND the very best; God decided to come and be one like us! Not all that glitters is gold in the Christmas season, but this economy of salvation is the valued treasure: the celebration of what is priceless in each other and the exceptionally divine Gift that keeps on giving through us!

Seelos Center NewsA monthly newsletter for friends of

BL. FRANCIS X. SEELOS

Denver Provincial Superior:Very Rev. Harry Grile, C.Ss.R.

Seelos Center Executive Director / Editor: Rev. Byron MillerSeelos Center Staff: Joyce Bourgeois,

Rev. Terry McCloskey C.Ss.R., Jackie Milan, Nick PunchVice-Postulators: Frs. John Vargas & Byron Miller

Seelos Center News (USPS 4472) published monthlyby the Redemptorists / National Shrine of Bl. F.X. Seelos

Subscription is $12 per year.

Little Way of Faithfulness: 128-pg. softbound bio of Seelos by Fr. Santa; reveals how faithfulness in little things adds up to a meaningful life well lived! (Donation: $20, incl. p/h)

Seelos, The Cumberland Years: Fr. Burkey’s 92-pg. account of how Seelos retained his prayerful & play-ful spirituality, despite trials in Mary-land. (Donation: $19 - incl. p/h)

3rd Class Relic Cross: 4” wooden crucifix touched to Seelos’ original cross & to a rare hair clipping pre-served at the time of his death in 1867. (Donation: $10, incl. p/h)

Statue of Bl. Seelos, Roman Inc. exclusive 8-1/4” hand-painted finish, fine detail, resin-stone mix. (Dona-tion: $38 - incl. p/h)

Job’s Tears Rosary with color image of Seelos as divider medal. Great gift idea! ($18 - includes p/h)American Miracle-Worker: 60-min. “Journeys of Faith” DVD by Bob & Penny Lord; as seen on EWTN (Donation: $23 - incl. p/h)Seelos, Tireless Intercessor, 68-min. documentary on Seelos’ miraculous life; as seen on EWTN. (Donation: $25 for DVD - incl. p/h) Seelos Shrine Plate, 10” limited edition 22K gold porcelain showcas-ing Reliquary signed by artist Diego Larguia. (Donation: $40 - incl.p/h)Seelos Oil, in 1/2 oz. amber bottle for use when praying over people for healing; to bless family, homes, objects. (Donation: $8 - incl. p/h)Seelos Perpetual Mass League:

lasting remembrance for you or for someone dear, living or deceased. (Donation: $25, contact Seelos Ctr. or website for enrollment)

Please allow up to 2 weeks for delivery.

Seelos Center Devotionals

Seelos 1st, 2nd & 3rd-Class Relics/ See-los Pamphlets & Prayer Cards in English, Spanish, Vietnamese. Call Seelos Center, 504-525-2495 or 2499.

A Seelos Vigil Candle will burn near his sacred resting place in Seelos Shrine, New Orleans, for a $4 offering.

seelos: the CuMberland Years:The Life & Labors of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos

in Maryland’s Allegheny Mountains, 1857–1865Blaine Burkey, O.F.M.Cap.

Book Review by Alicia von Stamwitz (St. Louis, MO) THE CATHOLIC HISTORICAL REVIEW (Vol. 97, No. 4, Oct. 2011)

This small but scrupulously researched work offers a glimpse into the mind and heart of a Redemptorist immigrant priest during a critical period in U.S. history: the years just before and during the Civil War. The setting is Cumberland, a city in the border state of Maryland. The author’s ancestors were parishioners of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, and a great-great uncle was Seelos’s confrere in religious life. This personal connection wreaths the author’s portrait of his subject. Seelos’s letters, whether he was writing to friends in his adopted country or to family back home in Bavaria, bring to life a charming, decent, passionate, and perfectly human young man. After one mission, Seelos complained that the schedule was punishing. After another, he lamented the damage done in the parish by previous pastors he deemed unworthy.

At various points in the narrative, we see a city teeming with soldiers and hear gunshots; we cringe as a confrère maligns Seelos; and we mourn as illness, war, and poverty fell the city’s youth. Seelos writes little about these matters, but in letters to family he writes at length, with humor and exasperation, about bedbugs. Was he fixating on small, manageable problems during a period of unbearable stress?

At times Seelos’s candor is disturbing, revealing the impact of the political and social climate. He calls abolitionists hypocrites and accuses them of conspiring to send freed slaves to a distant colony. A helpful footnote by the author explains the history behind such scorn. Dozens of photographs and illustrations with explanatory captions also help to illuminate the text. One unfortunate lacuna: The work lacks a table of contents.

This meticulously footnoted work is not for the general reader so much as for historians and devotees of Seelos. When placed within the context of this decade’s particular storms, some letters take on fresh meaning. In a few pages the reader is transported to another time when priests were suspect, and new immigrants were despised by their fellow Americans. Into this hostile world stepped one brave-hearted immigrant priest. He laid down his life in joyful service to all, dying far too young. But his example lives on through the letters and testimony presented here.

On October 28, Most Rev. Joseph Tobin, C.Ss.R., Vatican State Secretary of the Congregation for Religious, visited the Seelos Shrine; that evening jazz legend Pete Fountain presented a Resolution by Senate President Joel Chaisson, declaring the Archbishop an International Honorary Citizen of the State of Louisiana.

As you review your year-end plans, please consider our canonization cause & ministry at the National Shrine of Bl. Francis Xavier Seelos (Fed. Tax ID #72-0576253). Federal tax laws & those of many states make it possible to bypass income, gift, & estate taxes on funds you do-nate for charitable purposes. This can result in a lower tax bill while you gain the satisfaction of supporting causes in which you believe. Most Americans make charitable gifts in December.

Pittsburgh, PaAs I continue follow-up scans with my doctors, I hold my precious relic and pray daily to Bl. Seelos, who was pastor in Pittsburgh close to where I live. When I pass 14th Street I whisper a prayer of thanksgiving to him for clear scans from the diagnosis of Stage 2 Pancreatic Cancer I had in March 2010. In October, I had what my doctor said was a milestone scan: completely clear of any cancer and low tumor marker.

westwego, laMy mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, and 9 months later, with gallbladder cancer. She beat it both times and is cancer free. To look at her today, you would never guess that she went through a life-threatening surgery in April. We have prayed to Fr. Seelos and he is a true healer and saint!

MinneaPolis, MnThe results of my son’s cancer scan is negative. We’ve been waiting for a negative result for 10 years. His doctors claim he should have died years ago. I was so happy to hear that my son’s picture was touched to Bl. Seelos’ reliquary and to the Mother of Sorrows statue, and I thank you for your prayers at the Shrine. I would like to think that Bl. Seelos was a part of this result.

Cheshire, MaFor many years I have been a friend of Fr. Seelos. A year ago, I was diagnosed with LPP, a hair follicle inflammation that causes hair loss with no chance of growing back. I was told that I would eventually be bald. I’ve worn the Seelos medal on a chain for many years and I say his prayer every day. While saying the prayer, I placed a Seelos relic

on my head. I soon began to notice less hair in my hairbrush. My dermatologist just informed me that the inflammation was gone, the bald spots would remain, but the rest of my hair would be healthy. The LPP condition is usually chronic, but not for me with Fr. Seelos’ intercession!

gretna, laI was diagnosed with ovarian cancer stage 3C in 2003. It was very comforting to hold the Seelos crucifix while being prayed over at the Seelos Center. I was familiar with the Center, as my mother visited there often during her illnesses for years. The five-hour surgery to remove the large tumor and fluid was successful. I have never been in remission and have been taking chemo for 8 years. In all these years, I never had to have blood transfusions and my body built itself up. In September a part of my right kidney was removed because of a large cyst, and I again turned to the Seelos Center for prayers the day before surgery. The results after surgery were benign. I’m 75 years old and I know it’s a miracle that my body can endure such difficult medical procedures; Bl. Seelos through our God is the answer!

libertY, tXIn 2010 I was diagnosed with cancer in the bottom of my right lung. I have been praying to Fr. Seelos for 12 years, ever since my daughter needed a kidney transplant and got one. I called Mr. Boni Suire [Seelos blesser] in Erath and we prayed together before the surgery; he sent me the 2nd class Seelos relic for

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T E S T I M O N I A L S

Dear Father Byron: In my own way, I want to support the cause of Blessed Francis Seelos in gratitude for Graces Received & Prayers Answered. $_________ to be used for:

the ministry & maintenance at the National Shrine of Bl. Francis Seelos. furnishing & completing the new Seelos Welcome Center. Other item(s) designated below:

My Intention(s) at Weekly Mass for Seelos Benefactors:

Please make donations payable to “National Shrine of Blessed Francis Seelos”.

Contributions to the Seelos Shrine are income tax deductible, less items purchased.

Please delete me from your mailing list.

Please delete multiple mailings to this address.

Kindly return in the enclosed envelope with any corrections or

call 504-525-2495 or 2499or e-mail bmiller@seelos.org Allow a minimum of 30 days

to process your address change request.

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the surgeon to have. The cancer was all removed. I don’t have to take any treatment, other than God and Fr. Seelos.

Colorado sPrings, Co In May I developed a painful ulcer on my ankle. Laser surgery on the veins to correct the cause would be a big risk for me. I started wearing the compression stocking, and had to stay in bed with the leg elevated. The situation didn’t look good. On July 2nd, my sister brought me a Seelos relic to touch the ulcer with it and ask Bl. Seelos to intercede to God for me. I was skeptical about doing that. I waited till July 24th; with no change in the ulcer, I wrote a prayer that I said to Bl. Francis. I would kiss the relic, touch it to my ulcer and say the prayer for 9 days. By August the doctor & I were pleasantly surprised: the ulcer was completely healed. He was shocked. He said that he didn’t expect it to be healed. I told him that I give credit to God, that God healed it. He was taken aback by that and said, “Yes, God helps those who help themselves.” I believe that Bl. Seelos answered my prayer, and I’m enclosing the [edited] prayer that I wrote:“Bl. Francis Xavier Seelos, at a young age you sought our Lord with all your heart, you humbled yourself & became obedient to Jesus and to your superiors in all things. You reached out to help the poor & the sick to the point of dying for them. Many miracles are proclaimed through your intercession. Therefore in faith, I touch your relic to __ and ask that if it be God’s will, let my __ be healed and not return. If a healing is secured for me, I promise to make it known to the Postulator. I ask this in the Holy Name of Jesus my Lord & Savior. Amen.