Selecting the next novena

Berkeley, Saturday, December 6, 2025 5:38 PM

Next novena is on Dec 15.

It is the feast from Blessed Mary Frances Schervier and Saint Valerian, Bishop in Africa and Martyr.

Now, it is not a decision of one, to select the next novena.

Blessed Mary Frances Schervier

Blessed Mary Frances Schervier seems that was a secular Franciscan sister, or third order. She founded several of those communities worldwide. A brief understanding of mine. She visited the United States during the Civil War in 1863. Encourage someone else, a Franciscan Brother, to found one of those communities in the United States. It seems to me that Blessed Frances Schervier was a hands on woman, inspired, encouraged and guided by the Holy Spirit. Pray for us

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/saints/12/15.html

Saint Valerian: Probably lived just after the times of Saint Augustin in Tunisia, North Africa, which should be not to far from the local influence of Saint Augustin of Hippo and His mother, Monica, in those times. He was martyrized by vandals. Of course, I would curious to learn about him, and his times.

But I am inclined to learn about Blessed Frances, because she was on land where I have walked, or more accurately nearby or passed by in both Germany, and probably farther away in the United States.

There is of course a bit of interest of learning about the place, Catholicism in the United States. Place would work on both cases though.

Miracle reflections (12/9/25 2pm)

Ok, this time I want to write a little about St. Valerian. I’ve only just begun digging into information about this bishop and martyr from Abbenza in North Africa, and it’s striking how limited the available material is. It makes me wonder what the primary sources for his life might be. Is there, somewhere, a comprehensive library dedicated to the history of Catholic saints? Even Vatican resources offer only brief notes about him.

So far, the one source that really caught my attention is this image: https://onlineportraitgallery.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/SKMBT_C20322022821161-scaled.jpg It shows St. Valerian lying on the ground near a tree (if not dead), presumably during his exile, after being forbidden to rest in anyone’s home. The Vandals, who persecuted Nicene Christians because they rejected Arianism at the Council of Nicaea, were responsible for this harsh treatment. (The short biography from EWTN summarizes this background well.) The writing on the image looks Dutch to me, though I haven’t translated it yet.

What moves me most about martyrs like St. Valerian is their unwavering fidelity. They suffered and even died for what they believed, without hesitation. In contrast, I sometimes feel that our faith today, especially among Christians, is not lived or proclaimed with the same conviction. I even notice this in myself: there are moments when I don’t defend my beliefs as firmly as I could. I wonder whether this comes from a reluctance to strive too intensely for holiness, or perhaps from a fear of the cost that conviction may demand.

We see so many figures in Scripture and in Church history who endured tremendous hardship, torture, and sacrifice out of love for God, reverence for his (and our) truth, and sometimes a fear of disappointing him. But perhaps God knows us more intimately than we know ourselves… he understands the strength we have, the limits we bear, and the roles we are given. Maybe God places us in situations that match the measure of faith we are capable of exercising right now. Or maybe, in another sense, he is patiently inviting us to grow into a deeper, stronger faith, one more like the courageous St. Valerian.

If I find more information about St. Valerian as I continue researching, I’ll make sure to share it here. For now, I need to prepare me lunch 😉