[00:00] Praise be Jesus and Mary. Today in the Franciscan Order we honor St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen.

[00:32] He was born into the world in the year 1577 or 1578. He was given the name Mark Rey. He was born in Sigmaringen, Germany in a prominent family. He was very gifted as a youth intellectually, but also in virtue. He received doctorates in philosophy and jurisprudence.

[01:02] He worked as a tutor to the sons of a family for several years, and then embraced a career in law, which didn't last too long. You see, he noticed many lawyers were corrupt, and they didn't pursue justice. He was being pressured to follow in that direction, but would have nothing of that.

[01:33] He was inspired to give up law and pursue the religious life. He looked to his older brother for inspiration, who was himself a Capuchin Franciscan friar. He joined the Capuchins. His superior gave him the name Fidelis, which means the faithful one. And he was given also a Scripture passage to guide him and be a motto for his life

[02:09] to live up to, and that Scripture passage was from Revelation 2:10, "Be thou faithful until death, and I will give thee the crown of life." He lived up to the name and that Scripture passage. After Friar Fidelis was ordained to the priesthood, he preached zealously. While living the life of a good friar, he was very observant, especially in poverty.

[02:43] And he was named a local superior or father guardian of a community early on. Around 1622, the Vatican established the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, known as Propaganda Fidei. Today it's known as the Congregation or Dicastery for the Evangelization of Peoples. And this, let's say, office in the Vatican had the responsibility of transmitting and

[03:19] disseminating the faith throughout the whole world and had a specific task of coordinating and disseminating all the missionary efforts of the Church throughout the world. In the same year of its founding, this Congregation, Propaganda Fidei, opened up a mission in Switzerland to counter the inroads of Calvinism and Zwinglianism to different Protestant denominations.

[03:54] And Father Fidelis was named the head of that mission. This is an answer to his prayer for more than a year that he could go on mission and also to possibly, hopefully, lay down his life for Christ as a martyr, which going on mission meant oftentimes becoming a martyr.

[04:24] His preaching in Switzerland was very effective, brought many back to the fullness of the faith in the Catholic Church, which moved, angered various heretics to plan on his murder. It happened this way. On the morning of April 24th, in that year, 1622, Father Fidelis, during Mass, he mounted

[04:57] the pulpit and he did sense that this was, his end was nearing. And he was preaching, as usual, when a band of heretics burst into the church, pulled him down from the pulpit, and beat him so badly and cut him up that he died at their hands. He died for the faith.

[05:30] He died for unity in the one true faith, as Jesus prayed at the Last Supper, His prayer to the Father, "Holy Father, I pray that they may all be one as You, Father, are in Me and I in You." And again, he died faithful to his name, the faithful one, Fidelis. He died faithful to that Scripture passage that was given to him, "Be faithful till death."

[06:00] Now it's a beautiful name, Fidelis. Our personal names aren't Fidelis, but as Christians we are called the faithful, aren't we? We're supposed to be faithful, the faithful, that is those who are to be faithful to Christ, to the very end. We pray for the grace to live up to that name, the faithful, faithful to Christ and faithful

[06:32] to our vocation in life, that specific way in which we are following in Christ's footsteps. You all probably heard Mother Teresa's quote, it's a beautiful one, and it's true for all of us. Her words, "God has not called me to be successful, He has called me to be faithful," He has called me to be faithful, that's true for each of us here.

[07:03] May Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs and Virgin most faithful, obtain for us this grace to be faithful to Christ to the very end, and when we meet Him after our lives have ended in this world, and we meet Him personally, face to face, in the life to come, we will hear the words from Him, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your

[07:33] Master." Praised be Jesus and Mary.

[08:03] Amen.