Above: Northern Italy in 1811
SAINT VINCENTIA GEROSA (1784-1847)
Cofounder of the Sisters of Charity of Lovere
Her feast transferred from July 4
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SAINT BARTHOLOMEA CAPITANIO (1807-1833)
Cofounder of the Sisters of Charity of Lovere
Her feast transferred from July 26
Born at Lovere, Italy, baptized Catherine, and orphaned as a youth, St. Vincentia Gerosa (1784-1847) devoted her life to helping the poor. In 1832 she and St. Bartholomea Capitanio (1807-1833) founded the Sisters of Charity of Lovere, an order devoted to education children and helping the sick and the poor. Capitanio, also born at Lovere, in the Italian Alps, then part of the Austrian Empire, had wanted even as a girl to become a nun. Yet her parents had refused to grant permission as long as she lived in their household. So she had devoted herself to educating young people and to practicing perpetual chastity anyway. Capitanio died in 1833, and Gerosa succeeded her as head of the order.
The Roman Catholic Church canonized both women in 1950.
The Hebrew Prophets thundered their disapproval of the exploitation of vulnerable members of society, especially the poor. These two saints devoted their lives to work which would have made glad the hearts of these prophets, had they been alive to witness them. May the same be true of you, O reader, and of me.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JUNE 5, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF ROBERT FRANCIS KENNEDY, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL AND SENATOR
THE FEAST OF SAINT BONIFACE OF MAINZ, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
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O God, your Son came among us to serve and not to be served,
and to give his life for the life of the world.
Lead us by his love to serve all those to whom the world offers no comfort and little help.
Through us give hope to the hopeless,
love to the unloved,
peace to the troubled, and
rest to the weary,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.
Hosea 2:18-23
Psalm 94:1-15
Romans 12:9-21
Luke 6:20-36
—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 60
SUNDRY THOUGHTS 
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