Join Us in “Storming” Heaven for Baby Oliver and Blessed Margaret Castello

We Lay Dominicans of the St. Joseph Province are praying for the complete cure of Baby Oliver, the son and grandson of members of our community. What makes this even more compelling and unique is that we are asking God, if it be His holy will, to produce this mighty miracle through the intercession of our beloved Lay Dominican sister, Blessed Margaret of Castello (1293-1320), who was blind and deformed from birth, thereby providing the second miracle needed for her canonization. (You can find out more about Blessed Margaret here and here.)

The success of this prayer effort rests where it belongs – in the hands of our Almighty and loving God. What a great blessing it would be, not only for Oliver, his family and our Dominican family but the entire Catholic Church, if God used Oliver’s cure to give birth to yet another Lay Dominican saint!

Will you, your family and friends join us in this prayer effort?

You will find the Novena and Canonization prayers and excerpts from an explanatory column from the Provincial President of the Lay Fraternities of St. Dominic, St. Joseph Province, below.

BLESSED MARGARET OF CASTELLO
Novena and Canonization Prayers

For the complete cure of Baby Oliver

Novena Prayer To Obtain Blessed Margaret's Intercession:

Almighty and Eternal God, the comfort of the afflicted, the strength of the burdened and the hope of the unwanted; may the prayers of those who call on you in any trouble be heard by you; so that all may rejoice to be helped by your Mercy in their need.

V. Pray for Oliver [us], Blessed Margaret.

R. That he [we] maybe made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let Us Pray

O God who wished Blessed Margaret be blind from birth so that the eyes of her soul enlightened by your grace, might more clearly see the value of spiritual realities: graciously grant that he [we] may perceive the hidden dangers in the world of darkness and safely roach his [our] home of eternal light. Through Christ our Lord. Amen

Canonization Prayer for Blessed Margaret of Castello:

Jesus, Mary, Joseph, glorify your servant BL. Margaret, by granting the favor we so ardently desire:…that Oliver be completely cured of all physical deformities and maladies.  This we ask in humble submission to God's will, for His honor and glory and the salvation of souls.
Amen.

Say one Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be.

(Dominican Nuns, Summit, NJ - Nihil Obstat: Rev. William Thomas Kessler, S.T.D. Imprimatur: Most Rev. James A. Griffin, J.C.L., J.D., D.D. Bishop of Columbus)

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2014 PROVINCIAL PRAYER PROJECT 

“Margaret and Oliver”

The Dominican Order rejoices in its many Saints and Blesseds. Within the Order’s “Blessed’ listing is one who has also been included within the Church’s group of saintly “incorruptibles”. Dwarfed, blind, and lame, Blessed Margaret of Castello (with love, I call her “Maggie”) needs one more miracle to be elevated to sainthood. I ask that all of our members seek her intercession for a very special little boy.

Our Province has recently been blessed with the arrival of Oliver, and I believe that with our united prayers, both Bl. Margaret and Oliver will obtain great graces from God. Oliver is the son and grandson of our LFSD family members. Oliver was born with a rare disease in which his hip and leg did not develop in utero. What should be a thigh, leg, and foot is a small stump protruding from his hip. Because the tissues, ligaments, and muscles also did not develop, Oliver’s bony stump bangs on the malformed bone of his hip. For those who have experienced “bone on bone” knee or hip degeneration, you know what that pain is like. Oliver’s leg will not grow on its own. Ongoing surgical implants have been the course of reconstruction treatments, but without a miracle, Oliver will never have a leg to match his developed “normal” leg.

 I know that in accordance with God’s Will, Bl. Margaret will restore Oliver’s leg. She of all people carried the stigma of multiple physical handicaps. Throughout Margaret’s life (living and deceased), she restored the health and lives of many children. Will you join me in asking her intercession on behalf of Oliver? Will you join me in praying that Oliver’s physical deformities be completely and miraculously cured as the final miracle needed for Margaret’s canonization?...

On behalf of Oliver's family and the lay province, I thank you for your continued prayerful sacrifices. May God hear and answer our prayers for Margaret and Oliver!

God bless!

Ms. Marianne Jablonski, O.P.

Provincial President

Lay Fraternities of St. Dominic

St. Joseph Province

(From the eLumen newsletter of the Lay Fraternities of St. Dominic, Province of St. Joseph, USA.  -   Used with permission)