Dec 17 John of Matha, Briarch, Stephen Kaszap, nsj

John and Thommy, et al.
Good morning, I love you
12/16/09 1940

Getting a head start on tomorrow? Peeking ahead and discovering some things I hadn’t put together before; didn’t know before….




St. John of Matha b. 1160 d. 1213 c. 1655
December 17

John of Matha did not ring any bells except his mission to save Christians from the Moors in the midst of the crusades. But. When I read an entry about his as John de Matha, it rang a bell from Molloy. Is this the same de Matha as the high school in D.C.? Google took me right to the DeMatha home page. Molloy had a very good basketball team in 1966 and 1967. Rice was the better team, by far, in NYC - Dean the Dream Menninger and ten other guys on their twelve man team who could dunk. The gym wall at Rice was less than four feet from the baseline, dunking was much safer than doing layups. We had one guy who could dunk and one guy who could sometimes dunk - white guys, in 1966 were not dunkers. Rice was a great team. DeMatha was better - exponentially. A powerhouse with a national draw for basketball players.

John de Matha was born of pious and noble parents at Faucon, Provence, on June 23, 1160. His mother dedicated him to St. John the Baptist. [We named Jack in honor of his grandfathers. He selected John the Baptist then John the Apostle as his patron saints. He also chose John as his confirmation name - John Kenneth John Nolan. Sounds confirming to me.] His father, Euphemius sent John de matha to Aix where he received an education fit for a young nobleman. [We sent John and Thommy to Overbrook to get an education fit for a young Catholic. Unfortunately, that education was not leveraged in their primary abode after 1994. The good Dominicans and their lay teachers did their darndest, as did their father. So far, it seems like it was insufficient for a successful Catholic education - but, hey, infinity is a long time and it’s been only 20/22 years. Videbimus.]

John de Matha’s chief attention at school was to advance in virtue. A noble and Catholic endeavor. John de Matha gave the poor a considerable part of the money his parents sent him for his own use. [I wonder what my sons have done with the $40k+ they received for their education? Or, if not for their education, when scholarships and NC low cost high quality education was/is available, how have they preserved/leveraged this equity nut?]

Maybe more powerfully, John de Matha visited the hospital every Friday - helping the poor sick, dressing and cleansing their sores. Formative years spent in service - there is always something we can and should be doing to serve those less fortunate; and there’s always some less fortunate.

Upon his return home, John de Matha lived as a hermit. His friends interrupted his solitude with frequent visits. He got his father’s consent to go to Paris to study divinity. John de Matha received his doctorate in theology and was ordained in Paris in 1197, at 37 years old.

John de Matha celebrated his first mass in the Bishop of Paris's chapel, at which the bishop himself, Maurice de Sully, the abbots of St. Victor and of St. Genevieve, and the rector of the university assisted. John de Matha, with a propensity for solitude and the brilliance of a theologian par excellence also had the benefits of his nobility.

With two sons in college [?], I wonder still how they will find their natural, God given talents and meld that with the resources God gave them to excel. And then there are the advantages of connections; or the opportunity costs of continuing to cut themselves off from these gifts. How do you answer the question - what did you do with all that I gave you?

During his first Mass John de Matha had a vision of Christ holding by the hand two chained captives, one a Moor, the other a Christian. The Christian captive carried a staff with a red and blue cross.

John de Matha was thus inspired by God to resolve to devote himself to ransoming Christian slaves from their captivity brought about by the crusades. John de Matha joined St Felix of Valois in his hermitage to spend time in prayer and mortification. Imagine putting two holy men together in pursuit of union with God - perpetual prayer, contemplation, fasting, and other penances. How will you decide with whom to team up? For a short time? For a lifetime? How will you know your choices will bring you closer to God and an eternity with Him in heaven?

John de Matha confided his idea to St Felix. Late in 1197, the two went to Rome and Pope Innocent III approved their forming the Order of the Most Holy Trinity with John de Matha as their superior.

John de Matha and his Trinitarians secured the approval and support of King Philip Augustus of France and some of his important Lords. This resulted in their receiving property and money to build their order. The Order flourished, spread to France, Spain, Italy, and England, and sent many of its members to North Africa, to accompany the crusaders and redeem many captives. In 1201 they redeemed 186 slaves on their first voyage. In 1202, John de Matha went himself and purchased the freedom of 110 more. John de Matha raised more charity to free many in captivity under the Moors in Spain.

In 1210, John de Matha returned to Tunis. This time he suffered from the “infidels” enraged by his zeal in persuading the slaves to patience and constancy in faith.

As he was returning with one hundred and twenty slaves he had ransomed, the “barbarians” took away the helm from his vessel and tore all its sails, that they might perish in the sea. The saint, full of confidence in God, begged him to be their pilot, and hung up his companions' cloaks for sails, and, with a crucifix in his hands kneeling on the deck, singing psalms, after a prosperous voyage, they all landed safe at Ostia, in Italy.

Infidels. Barbarians. See how we love one another! Or the Uncivilized Indians of South America and North America. We sent the crusaders to the Moslem world - and they’re the barbarians? The words we choose, the names we give, matter; are meaningful; influence perception and, thus, behavior. How is it Christian to refer to our brothers as infidels, barbarians, and uncivilized? ….

St. John lived two years more in Rome, which he employed in exhorting all to penance with great energy and fruit. He died on the 21st of December, in 1213 aged sixty-one.

In seven and a half months, I’ll be sixty one. I doubt if anyone will recommend my cause for sainthood. More likely, I’ll be depending on the people at Mass who pray “for all those souls in purgatory who have no one to pray for them” - altho, there’s a section for the souls in purgatory in every Mass. Since high school I’ve twice a year - birthday and new year’s [one advantage to a July birthday] - stopped to reflect on what I’m doing, what I’ve done, what I plan to do. Obviously, insight and prayer are not enough. Still, there are a few good things on my list; hopefully even more than I know about. I’m sure there are more negatives than I know about - for all these sins I am heartily sorry….

Today, the Order of the Most Holy Trinity is active on five continents and in many countries, including the United States. In 1964, DeMatha had about 450 students; Molloy had 1600ish when I graduated in 1967. And they still had the much better basketball team.





St. Briarch
December 17 d. 627

Briach was an Irishman who entered a monastery in Wales. The FBI [foreign born Irish - so many priests came to America 1950’s and 1960’s.] were missionaries to the world long before the 20th century. Briach left home to find his place of study and spiritual development. He became a companion, some say disciple, of St Tudwal.

Briach and Tudwal went to Brittany. They built a monastery there. Briach became their abbot. His personal holiness and his building up the kingdom on earth elicited devotion to Briach [and Tudwal] sufficient to have him called saint. With this scarce information, we can create the life of this 7th c. saint. I wish we knew more about why he chose to go to Wales [or why did I choose BAMA after Shadowbrook?] and how did he select the monastery he did? Was it Tudwal or some other reason? Then how did they decide to go to France, settle in Brittany, develop their monastery there?

A prayer to St Briach tells us a little more about him. O holy Briach, thou dost teach us the value of renunciation, for thou didst renounce the world to seek salvation. Therefore we pray, that our lives may show forth the virtue of self denial and thereby attain the eternal salvation of our souls. … The Irish monk, it seems, majored in renunciation and self denial as their route to salvation…? Certainly we must include those qualities in our journey….




S.G. Stephen Kaszap b. 1916 d. 1935
December 17

I discovered this Servant of God in my new - bought used via Amazon.com - Jesuit Saints and Martyrs book by Joseph Tylenda, S.J., 1998. Then I was stunned by the plethora of citations via Google. ‘a Hungarian man who may become the first Boy Scout to be canonized.’ He’s also a hero of the Sodality. And, of course, a cause of the Jesuits. All this writing about a boy, a very young man, of 19. Try writing hundreds of complimentary pages about yourself or any other nineteen year old of your acquaintance. I must admit, I’ve read more about Stanislaus Koska and was much more impressed - but when I first read about the Jesuit novice saint, I was much more impressionable.

Stephen Kaszap was born March 25, 1916, in a small town near Budapest, Hungary. His father was chief supervisor at the local post office and his mother was a devoted homemaker. Stephen was the third of five children of this devout and affectionate Catholic couple.

I wonder how we know about Stephen’s parents? Did we conclude backwards from Stephen’s holiness and goodness that his parents were devout, affectionate, and devoted? Such is the best soil for our own holiness, it seems to me. Then at some point, we get to take responsibility for our saintliness or lack thereof. How much more responsibility do we have as a function of the Graces and benefits and resources given to us, made available to us, from our parents?

As a young child, Stephen Kaszap was happy and loving. Stephen Kaszap also sometimes displayed obstinate, aggressive behavior and, when teased by his brothers, was known for sudden fits of temper when he would fly into a blind fury and throw whatever he could grab in his small hands. Go figure? A study in child psychology? How much of the obstinacy and aggression do we attribute to his devout and affectionate parents? How much of who we are belong to our own graces and demons and how much did we get from our parents, family, ancestry, …? Yes is the answer to all that. I suppose we will be judged by how well we did with what was made available to us. Obstinacy and aggression can be positive qualities. Fits of temper, well didn’t Jesus lash out at the money changers? To what end; for what purpose; with what success?

Stephen Kaszap received his first Holy Communion on May 21, 1925, at the age of nine.
At thirteen, Stephen was sent to a boarding school conducted by Cistercian monks. For a twenty year old Servant of God, we have to get all the details of childhood. The kinds of details skipped over when we get the bio of older saints. What is important in our saintly pursuit? Everything. And everyone.

An early riser, Stephen Kaszap formed the habit of regular prayer and served Mass whenever possible. That was part of my early years. It was what I made available to my sons - which each took to in their unique way. Altar boys at the youngest possible age. Wanting to serve more than our good priests sometimes wanted to allow children on the altar to serve. Blew me away both at the Cathedral and St Henry. Still, both John and Thommy served Mass in our parish and at our school. And then, when Senior high came along, they went the path with their mother away from church et al. C’est domage.

At the Lycee, Stephen began to write a daily journal, a practice he continued until his death. In it, we can begin to see some of the secrets of his soul. Writing is one of many ways to reflect, to challenge oneself, to report oneself, to even make our own record of who we are, what we do, how we came to do it. The art of writing itself is a cleansing process. I recommend that you indulge yourself and posterity with your daily journal.

In 1931, his junior year, Stephen joined a sodality known as the Congregation of Mary. The purpose of the group was to increase the member's devotion and love of Our Lady, and to spread this devotion to their fellow students by word and example. We all should be a member of such a group - or more. Knights of Columbus. Cursillo. At college, there’s the Newman Club. Attend and teach Sunday School. This is a lifelong opportunity to be with people who are more likely to facilitate our journey to heaven.

Throughout his school years, Stephen Kaszap was an active member of the Boy Scouts. He felt that "the boy scout, par excellence, should be an example in everything. He is never rude nor silly, but earnest and manly; at the same time, he is always joyful." Stephen Kaszap fit his own model of the good scout. I went all the way through Cub Scouts. Grandma was a Den Leader. Both of my parents were active in Pack activities. I started into boy scouts and made it for one year. Then I self destructed. Beating up on the eagle scout son of the scout master was not a way to become a boy scout. I’m sorry that neither John nor Thommy stuck it out through cub scouts or started into boy scouts. I’m sorry that y’all didn’t have access to or didn’t pursue access to or weren’t given the wherewithal to stick it out in any of the endeavors you started in school [so far]. Pick a group that’ll make you better Catholic men and join them, participate with them, stick to it. It’s a lifetime process.

A fellow scout said "Steve often left the camp to go for a walk in the forest. He loved nature because he understood its language." His patrol leader testified that "Steve got up every morning earlier than the others to go to the edge of the forest to pray." He always attended the morning Mass before returning to the activities of the day. There is much in this one sliver of Stephen Kaszap’s youth to emulate. Walk in the forest. Learn the language of nature. Go daily to pray. Attend morning Mass as often as possible - and it’s more possible than you think.

During his school years, Stephen Kaszap was fortunate to have an excellent gymnastics teacher and he became an outstanding athlete, winning a number of medals. Another series of missed opportunities for y’all - athletics. Again it had to the necessary support to stick to any and all of the activities you started in. And, the absence of the expectation to excel, to do what was necessary to not only plan, not only compete, but to pursue and become your best, the best at what you do; a pitiful consequence of opportunity costs. There was only one reason Thommy did not get to play on the basketball team at St Pius X. He was not properly prepared; he was actively by systematic omission un-prepared, dis-prepared. And then he was sent into try outs set up to fail. It was a horrendous day for him; unnecessary and subsequently compounded by allowing him to not rise to the challenge to make the team next year. I am sorry that Thommy and John suffered unnecessarily so many of those disappointments and failings. [Well, given the choices of their “custodian”, these intentional outcomes were inevitable.]

John Kaszap wrote about his high school graduation, after a serious slump in grades in his sophomore year, "It was God's voice that guided me in my studies and helped me to carry them out with dedication." What voice do you hear to pursue your duties with dedication? How do you develop dedication? God’s voice. Parents’ voice. The kick in the pants to regain, to obtain, your attention. What’s missing in your muddling through school so far?

By the time he graduated from high school, Stephen Kaszap had chosen to give his life to God by following a call to a religious vocation. Stephen Kaszap entered the Jesuit novitiate, Manressa, in July of 1934 at the age of eighteen. In the eighth grade, I thought I had a vocation to the priesthood. My parish priest dissuaded me; told me to wait and see if the calling persisted after high school. The vocation, I believed, grew stronger through high school - meeting the Jesuits, I became enamored with their Society, their vocation. When I was moved to NYC and to Molloy [Marist brothers] becoming a Jesuit was part of my identity formation. … [Manresa - where Ignatius started his own religious transformation.]

Stephen Kaszap reflected an inner maturity and displayed a warm, calm, reserved nature while at the same time being informal and friendly. He set his sights toward growing in the spiritual life and the practice of virtues. "Sanctity does not consist of being faultless but rather in not compromising with my weaknesses.“ Do I resign myself to them? If I fall a hundred times, I get up a hundred times and continue to fight resolutely." In his journal, he writes more than once of having to fight temptations. He fought these battles as he had all others, with the strength and will of a champion. This is the formation of a young man. He happened to choose to do this formation in the Jesuit novitiate. It does not matter where. Growing in the spiritual life of faith and the practice of Catholic virtues is our duty wherever we are, no matter what age. It behooves us to choose people to be in our lives and places to live that foster the spiritual life and the development of virtues.

Stephen Kaszap loved and respected the saints. Of the queen of saints he wrote, "Love your Heavenly Mom! You love and long for your mother very much but, look, you'll find an even holier mother in the Virgin Mother! Love her and trust her unconditionally." We cannot dedicate ourselves to our Mother Mary enough, not only in our formation of the ideal woman, wife, mother but also as our most direct way to discover Jesus in our lives.

Early in the novitiate, Stephen Kaszap exhibited physical ailments. Totally unexpected for a world class athlete. Tonsils. Swollen, arthritic ankles. By Christmas, he had pus-filled abscesses on his fingers, neck and face. Stephen Kaszap went through these trials with a sunny heart, and wrote, "Any cross God gives must be carried with joy. A little illness is more useful than ten or twenty years spent in health."

Stephen Kaszap suffered a near fatal nosebleed, high fever and pleurisy. He wrote, "I suffer gladly for Christ and I don't run from pain."

Surgery was scheduled for March 19, the feast of St. Joseph. Steve whispered to his novice master, "I trust in St. Joseph very much. How small our sufferings are and how much the Church needs them! These thoughts make suffering much easier for me." What, in addition to our faith, makes suffering bearable, “easier”?

It soon became obvious that he did not have the required health to continue in the novitiate and the superiors decided to send him home, telling him that they would welcome him back when his health improved.

On October 18, 1935, he wrote his own version of Ignatius‘ prayer, Sacred Heart of Jesus grant that I might empty myself completely! I do not want to reserve anything for myself, for my own intentions, not even my prayers, my sufferings or anything else. Everything is yours, you gave them to me and I give them back to you, Sacred Heart. I want to serve the Seat of Love, Your Most Sacred Heart, with love and suffering." "My whole life should be a continuous Yes to God."

Stephen Kaszap went home in early November and by the 8th he was admitted again to the hospital. He went home in mid-December. On December 16 he was admitted to the hospital again. An emergency tracheotomy was performed about three in the morning. As soon as he regained consciousness he wrote a note requesting a priest but the nurse ignored it, convinced that his life was in no danger. At five, the night nurse was relieved. As the day nurse bathed his sweat soaked face, Stephen Kaszap wrote a note indicating he would like the last rites. The nurse went at once to fetch the priest. At ten minutes past six, God's young athlete raced home.

As the nurse and the priest entered the room where the dying young man lay, they realized he was no longer conscious. His open eyes were fixed on the crucifix and Marian medal in his hands, but he did not see the visitors. They found his final message, scrawled on a paper on the patient's bedside table: "God be with you! We will meet in Heaven! Do not weep, this is my birthday in Heaven. God bless you all!"

The priest anointed him and gave him absolution and the papal blessing. Then Stephen Kaszap stopped breathing and his soul slipped quietly away.

Only a few weeks before, Stephen had written in his journal, "Finally! Eureka! I found what I have for so long searched for, but could not find. What is it? ... It is grace, the grace to recognize God's gifts always, and never to resist it but to follow it and trust in it, so that it can mould our souls."

Saintly Youth of Modern Times - Google Books Result
by Joan Carroll Cruz - 2006 - Religion - 222 pages

NCCS - Stephen Kaszap, Servant of God
www.nccs-bsa.org/information/stephenKaszap.php -

SERVANT OF GOD, STEPHEN KASAP
Hungary, 1916 - 1935
Sodalist, boy scout, athlete, and Jesuit novice
(Courtesy of Ann Ball - www.annball.com)

Maybe a nineteen year old Hungarian youth will be an inspiration for you.

I love you
Dad/bill
2227