Beatification
PRAYER FOR THE BEATIFICATION OF MOTHER MAGDALEN
Heavenly Father you gave to Mother Magdalen Taylor a profound insight into the Mystery of the Incarnation and a great love and compassion for the poor and needy. We pray that her life of deep faith and loving service may continue to inspire us and that, one day, she may be beatified to the glory of your name. We ask this through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
On 13th June 2014, Pope Francis authorised the promulgation of the decree concerning the Heroic virtues of Servant of God Mother Magdalen of the Sacred Heart (nee Frances Margaret Taylor), foundress of the Poor Servants of the Mother of God (1832-1900).
We seek to have Venerable Magdalen canonized for a variety of reasons, though none more important than her role as Prophet. A Prophet communicates God’s message. The message gives a vision to the world that inspires people and encourages them.
Today, we would say that Venerable Magdalen found her Voice – or rather she found God’s own voice crying out in her what he wanted her to do, speaking to the people of God in Victorian times. Here are four marks of her being a Prophet:
She was inspired to write a book, Eastern Hospitals and English Nurses – an expose´ showing the neglect of the soldiers, and the injustice and indignities they suffered. As Prophet, her message was: It is not sufficient to accept things the way they are. People deserve better and they should get it.
She called for the reform of the character of paid nurses, whom she often found to be drunk, immoral and insubordinate. The horror for Venerable Magdalen was that sick and dying patients were left in the care of these so-called nurses. Consequently, she was not willing to accept things the way they were; things should be better and most certainly the sick and the dying deserved better.
In the Apostleship of Prayer program, a person unites with the intentions of the church daily all over the world so as to be as close as possible to the mind of the church in its concerns and prayers for its suffering members. Prayer touched the two great loves of her life – the Sacred Heart and the Poor. As an encourager, she convinced Fr. Dignam, SJ, to change the Messenger of the Sacred Heart from being an expensive literary magazine into a popular penny-worth magazine which quickly circulated freely among the poor. She further encouraged Fr. Cullen, SJ, in Dublin to make the magazine available to people in Ireland. Within a year, the first Irish Messenger of the Sacred Heart appeared, reaching a circulation of 73,000. This Messenger is still published in Ireland today.
The fourth mark of her being Prophet is found in her call to be the Foundress of our Congregation, the Poor Servants of the Mother of God.
We encourage people to pray to Venerable Mother Magdalen as she has interceded and granted requests to many people. If you have had a request granted by Mother Magdalen please contact: Sr Breda McCarthy 020 8788 4188.