ransom – The Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy

Mercedarian Priest’s Inner City Renewal Efforts Became a National Model

The energetic transformation of a gritty Cleveland near-west side neighborhood thirty years ago stands as a model for urban renewal today. Most of the credit for the decades-long effort — a truly Gospel-insired project — goes to Fr. Marino Frascati, a Mercedarian priest who emigrated from Italy.

Fr. Marino Frascati, O. de M. rescued others from the grip of poverty.

As pastor of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in Cleveland, Fr. Marino faced many challenges including the changing neighborhood around the parish. The result of his work included a large housing unit for the poor as well as vibrant new businesses which were encouraged to come into the area.

The soft-spoken optimist only persisted amidst obstaces, and often asked, “Why not?”

His many awards include congratulations from President Jimmy Carter, the Star of Italy from his homeland’s consulate and a Medal of Honor from Pope John Paul II.

The Mercedarian priest’s undertaker and longtime parishioner, Jim Craciun, called him a renaissance priest who inspired the rebirth of one of Cleveland’s important neighborhoods. The priest died in November 2009, but he is remembered today as true leader who put Gospel values to work for his fellow man.

Power Used for Good

Plain Dealer columnist James Neff once called the white-robed priest “the most popular and powerful man in the neighborhood.” Ray Pianka, Cleveland Housing Court judge, said, “He would never give up at City Hall or in the halls of Congress.”

The priest prophesied a neighborhood of condos and restaurants instead of noisy trains and idle factories. One of many skeptics called the area “the Coal Coast.” But the prophesy came true.

Fr. Marino was a founder, president and eventually president emeritus of the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization. Pianka, the group’s long-time director, later the neighborhood’s councilman, said the priest helped the 1973 group become a national model, with breakthroughs such as the first federal urban development grant outside of a downtown.

Public and Private Investments

Villa Mercede, or “Town of Mercy” — Villa Mercede, or “Town of Mercy,” was built as an affordable residence for the poor, and was one of Father’s projects.

Overall, the group has raised about $100 million and spurred more than $1 billion in private investments.

Frascati formed other organizations at Mount Carmel, which added a few million dollars’ worth of more projects to the near West Side neighborhood. He led the construction of a seniors’ high rise called Villa Mercede for his order, The Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy. He created condos and houses through the Nolasco Housing Organization, named for the order’s founder, St. Peter Nolasco.

Father’s Journey to the Priesthood

Fr. Marino was born in Castel Viscardo, Italy and entered the Mercedarian Order at 14. In 1948, he began to study theology at a Franciscan seminary in Teutopolis, Ill. He was ordained as a priest in 1951.

He briefly worked at Our Lady of Mercy Monastery in Middleburg Heights, St. Rocco Church in Cleveland and other local sites. Then came 13 years as Mount Carmel’s associate pastor and 25 as pastor. Fr. Marino said a weekly Mass in Italian. He helped dry up controversial bars. He blessed new homes and an ice cream shop called Blessings. He served as dean of Holy Name Societies for the West Side.

Founded Youth Groups

He started many activities for youngsters. He founded and led a Boy Scout troop. He took children to the Alleghenies, the Great Smoky Mountains and more. Fr. Marino left Cleveland in 1995 to become his order’s vicar provincial in LeRoy, N.Y. Nine years later, he chose to return as Mount Carmel’s pastor emeritus.

The Mercedarian friar died November 1, 2009 at age 84 from heart disease at Regina Health Center, Richfield, his home in his later years.

“We remember Fr. Marino as a great example of a Mercedarian who gave his life to free those captive to marginalization and poverty,” noted Fr. Joseph Eddy, O. de M., the Order’s vocation director.

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Blessed John Paul II Encouraged the Mercedarians in their Redemptive Charism

Wherever Modern Man Is Held Prisoner

On May 23, 1980, the Holy Father received the twenty-six members of the ordinary general chapter of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Ransom, led by the Master General, Fr. Domenico Acquaro, O. de M. and by the Procurator General, Fr Bernardo Arrieta, O. de M.

Blessed John Paul II delivered the following address.

Beloved Brothers of the Order of Our Lady of Ransom,

With deep joy I share with you these moments of intimacy, at an informal meeting which, I trust, will serve to draw even closer the ties of affectionate communion between your institute and the Pope.

I know that you are gathered in Rome for the general chapter, to which all the religious of the Order, engaged in apostolic work in nineteen countries of different continents, are looking with such hope.

I thank you for your visit, with which you desire to manifest to me your feelings of faithful adherence to the Magisterium of the Church. I wish to take the opportunity to confirm my deep esteem for you ancient and well-deserving Order, which of for over seven and a half centuries has been doing everything in its power for the most afflicted and oppressed members of the Mystical Body of Christ.

The mission that your founder, St. Peter Nolasco, entrusted to you, in the direct work of ransom and help the prisoners, and by which all his apostolic activity in parishes, hospitals for the poor, teaching and missions was imbued, is prolonged today in a charism of service to the Faith, to project a ray of hope and to offer the assistance of Christ’s charity to all of those who find themselves subjected to new forms of captivity in our society: in prisons, in suburbs of poverty and hunger, among those addicted to drugs, in areas of materialism in which the Church is persecuted or reduced to silence, etc.

It is a vast field in which your religious spirit and the total availability opened up by the generous practice of the evangelical counsels and the profession of your fourth vow has to dedicate itself unreservedly. That will be the way to be faithful to your charism today, along the lines laid down by St. Peter Nolasco and already contained in the original constitutions of 1272.

There is no doubt that your vocation calls you to a demanding ecclesial commitment. In order to keep this dedication alive, you must be souls of deep interior life and renew your strength in contact with the Model of all perfection: Christ Jesus, the Good Shepherd and Savior. Therefore, I repeat to you: “Your houses must be above all centers of prayer, meditation and dialogue—individual and communitarian—with Him who is and must be the first and principal interlocutor in the laborious succession of the hours of every day” (Address to Religious Superiors General, November 24, 1978). In this sublime school the religious will quench his thirst for God, which must be a characteristic of his life (cf. Ps. 63:1-2), and will be filled with that great love that gives a new meaning to his own existence (cf. Redemptor Hominis, no. 10).

Speaking to religious whose founder placed such importance on devotion to the Mother of God and ours, I cannot but exhort you to maintain and deepen this great Marian love which is a characteristic note of your Order. Take from the “Mother of mercy” and “Consolation of the afflicted” an example and inspiration at every moment. She will guide you to her Son and will teach you the value of every soul, on whom to lavish zealously the care of your ministry.

Encouraging you in your resolutions, I repeat to you my confidence; I pray for you and I impart my special blessing to each one of the members of your Order.

Jesus Invites all to Come to His Wounded Side to Find Divine Mercy and True Freedom

The word Merced means “price paid”, Jesus paid the price for our sins by his blood. This Sunday we give thanks and glorify the Lord for his Divine Mercy.

Today is Divine Mercy Sunday. It is based on a private revelation of Jesus to a Polish religious sister before World War II. The private revelation was accepted by the Church and the devotion has rapidly spread throughout the world. Christ appeared to Sr. Faustina over a period of several years and taught her to pray for an out-pouring of Divine Mercy on sinners throughout the world. One of the most popular aspects of the devotion is the Image of Christ with white and red rays bursting forth from his wounded side. The Doctrine of God’s Divine Mercy expressed in St Faustina’s diary is not a new teaching, but only a reminder to the world of God’s greatest attribute, His mercy.

The word Mercy, according to Webster’s Dictionary originates from the 13^th Century term Merced. Merced means a price paid. The 13^th Century was a difficult time for the Church in Europe. For several centuries, Islam had been creeping up into Spain and other Christian countries by force. They enforced their Suria Law on all living in those concurred lands. Christians were prevented from openly practicing their faith and were treated as second class citizens unless they would apostize or renounce the Catholic faith. Some were even held in bondage and cruel captivity for holding to their Christian Faith. A letter dating from 1311 gives us an idea of the magnitude of the crisis facing Christendom. King James II of Aragon informed Pope Clement V that there were 30,000 “wretched” Christian captives in the Moslem-held kingdom of Granada and that “500,000 renounced their Catholic faith and embraced the Mohammedan sect locally.” Seeing the so many in danger of losing their faith, St Peter Nolasco, under the inspiration of the Blessed Mother, founded the Order of the BVM of Mercy of the redemption of captives. They would raise money to buy back Christians in danger of renouncing the faith and take them to Christian lands. The Order, also known as the Mercedarians, took a 4^th Vow to be willing to offer their own lives in order to pay the price of the captive’s freedom.

The Mercedarians did not come up with this idea of redemption. Jesus Christ is the authored redemption when he paid the price on the Cross for all sinners. Just after His death, John’s Gospel tells us that a soldier took a lance and thrust it into Christ’s side. At that moment, blood and water flowed out from his side as a symbol of the Sacramental life of the Church. The Precious Blood is the payment for our sins and the Sacrament of the Eucharist. The water is the Sacrament of Baptism, which cleanses us of Original Sin and personal sin.

When Jesus appeared to St. Faustina he was clothed with an ankle length white robe and out of his open side were the rays of God’s Divine Mercy. The rays were red for the Precious Blood and white for the cleansing water. To His wounded side the Savior invites all people to have their sins paid for and be washed clean by Baptism. This is Divine Mercy. We deserve strict justice by our sins, but instead, for no reason but Love, Jesus offers us mercy. He welcomes us to live the life of God. Jesus offers mercy to all people. His death on the cross was offered once for all. But not all accept the Divine Mercy.

There are many reasons people do not accept God’s offer of Mercy. One is because they do not believe that they have a debt to be paid. People today do not recognize that they have sin. Sin is a lack of love and is opposed to God who is Love. The Old Testament tells us that “the just man sins 7 times a day”. For the unjust it must be much more! Another reason people do not accept the Divine Mercy is because they do not believe that the debt has really been paid. Unfortunately we, like St. Thomas, doubt that Jesus is paid the debt of our sins. How could any man take away my sins? My sins are just too great! We often cannot forgive ourselves for what we have done, let alone allow God to forgive us.

Divine Mercy is offered to all, even the worst sinner! Jesus appears to us today, as He appeared to St. Faustina. He appears in the Sacraments of Confession and Eucharist. Like in the Gospel today, Christ shows us His wounds. He has risen from the dead and these wounds are no longer a source of shame to him, but trophies. The Glorified Body is beautiful beyond compare to those who look upon it. The most beautiful aspect is the wounds, which show us the entire price paid for our redemption. When we come to Confession, we come to Jesus and “touch his wounded side”. We realize that God is truly merciful! Though we deserve to be condemned by justice, instead he forgives everything.

The Divine Mercy devotion has been given to us in these times to help us realize that Jesus will forgive us always, but we need to accept his offer. Accepting Jesus’ mercy means just coming to His Body the Church and receiving it “from his wounded side”. Then, we must sincerely try to be merciful with others. Other people hurt us deeply with their sins. We see people who live very sinful lives. Yet, we do not have the authority to condemn. Instead, we can offer our mercy to them. We can pray for those who hurt us deeply. We can let them know that the debt of our sins was paid for those who wish to receive Divine Mercy. We, like the Mercedarians, can help to free them from their captivity to sin. We do this by bringing them spiritually and literally to the wounds of Christ. From these wounds flow rays of red and white, which cleanse us all from our sins. Divine Mercy is open to all of us. Let us be ministers of God’s Divine Mercy to each other!

Novena to St Peter Nolasco begins April 27th

The Mercedarian Friars are preparing to celebrate the Solemnity of their founder, St Peter Nolasco, on May 6^th.

St Peter Nolasco was born around 1180 of middle class parents.As a young man, he worked as a merchant buying and selling in Muslim occupied lands of Spain. The course of Peter’s young life changed radically when he came in contact with Christian Captives. Matthew’s Gospel tells us that, “When he (Jesus) saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Peter felt this same intense compassion for the Christians deprived of liberty in Muslim lands. The greatest danger that he saw with the situation was that these Christians were losing their faith and apostatizing in large numbers. This is what struck Peter so intensely. He knew that the Catholic faith was “the pearl of great price (Mt 13:46)”. To abandon one’s faith meant to reject the salvation that Jesus won for us by His passion, death, and resurrection. Peter saw this as the worst injustice of his time period. Something had to be done!! Using the qualities he learned in business, Peter went about ransoming the Christian Captives. Others followed him in his mission of collecting alms and buying back Christians from Captivity.

In early August 1218, Peter had an amazing occurrence. The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to him and instructed him to found an Order dedicated to the great work of ransoming Christian Captives in danger of losing their faith. Peter was given the “white habit of Mary”. After getting the approval of the King of Spain, Peter formally founded the Order of the BVM of Mercy on August 10, 1218. In his great humility, he pointed to Mary as foundress and the inspiration of this great work.

These men called Mercedarians take vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and redemption. The 4^th vow of redemption characterizes their whole life: to be willing if it is necessary to offer their lives in exchange for Christians in danger of losing their faith. It is because of this vow that the white habit of Mary has so often been stained red with the blood of those making the ultimate sacrifice.

Mercedarians hold in great veneration, St Peter Nolasco, as the co-founder of the Order. He responded to the inspiration of Jesus given through Our Lady of Mercy. Because of his radical response, the Order lives on today throughout the world continuing Christ’s redeeming work at all costs. Let us join together in praying to our founder that we all will be faithful to Christ’s call to radical love of neighbor.

O God,

you clothed our Father, Saint Peter Nolasco,

with the love of Christ;

and through the Blessed Virgin Mary

you made him a messenger of love and liberty

for Christians held in captivity.

Help us to imitate him

by working for the redemption of all the oppressed

and for the building up of your Church.

Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.