From a homily by Richard McCullen, C.M.

1. Blessed
Ghebre
Michael
From a talk by the late Most Rev.
Richard McCullen, C.M., former
Superior General of the
Congregation of the Mission

2. I would like to introduce you this
evening to our special guest.
Before he left this life for heaven,
he was aware that the Vincentian
family was a large one, comprising
priests and Brothers of the
Congregation of the Mission,
Daughters of Charity, the
Vincentian Volunteers, the Society
of St. Vincent de Paul, and other
religious sisters and groups of laity
who look to St. Vincent de Paul
today as their special heavenly
Patron. Our guest is a priest, dark-
skinned, with the features of an
Ethiopian, and his name is Ghebre
Michael.

3. In greeting us, he might begin by
first clarifying a small point of truth.
All his life, from the time he was a
young student, Blessed Ghebre
Michael had a passion for the truth
and at times suffered much for it.
"The truth," Blessed Ghebre
Michael might say, "is that
although I wanted to join the
Vincentian Community and had
been told I could, I was taken away
to prison before I could formally
enter it." Our Beatus might also go
on to explain to us that it was only
in the final years of his life that he
had come to know St. Vincent's
Community. He would describe
himself as a late vocation to the
Vincentian Community, for he was
a man in his late fifties when he
experienced the call of God.

4. Ghebre Michael had been
attracted to the Vincentian
Community, not by anything he
had read about St. Vincent de Paul
nor by anything he had heard
about the large Vincentian family.
He was drawn to the Community
by a man who was a living
commentary on what it meant to
be a Vincentian.

5. It was in Cairo in the year 1841 that
Blessed Ghebre Michael first met St.
Justin De Jacobis, a Vincentian of the
Province of Naples. By that time
Blessed Ghebre Michael was a monk,
belonging to the Coptic Church
which was separated from the Roman
Catholic Church. Some years were to
pass and through his contact and
conversations with St. Justin De
Jacobis, Blessed Ghebre Michael was
to discover, not only that the fullness
of truth was to be found in the
Roman Catholic Church, but he was
to experience also a strong desire to
live his life according to the spirit of
St. Vincent de Paul. He had found that
spirit incarnated in the humble
Vincentian, St. Justin De Jacobis. It
was from St. Justin De Jacobis, who
had been ordained a bishop in
January 1849, that Blessed Ghebre
Michael received the priesthood on
New Year's Day, 1851. It was the first
ordination to the priesthood which St.
Justin had performed.

6. Were we to ask Blessed Ghebre
Michael how he felt as a priest and
convert to Roman Catholicism, he
might reply: "It is like Ethiopia." He
would then go on to explain that his
country is one of great natural beauty.
It is also one through which travel is
very difficult because of the high
mountains that crisscross the land.
"The Catholic faith," he might say, "is
like that. It has special beauty and
brings with it an indescribable joy and
peace. But in living the Catholic faith, I
met mountains of difficulties. Because
I adhered fully to everything that the
Roman Catholic Church teaches, I had
to undergo torture and public
floggings on numerous occasions. But
I can assure you that, despite the pain,
I experienced an extraordinary inner
strength which only God could have
given me. To you all, I can say with St.
Paul, 'You have observed...my
sufferings, what persecutions I
endured: but from them all the Lord
rescued me.'" (2 Tim 3:10-11).

7. Looking at the color of the
vestments I am wearing this
evening [red], Blessed Ghebre in
his passion for truth could say
gently:"Are you sure you are
wearing the right color? I mean, I
did not actually die from soldiers'
bullets, even if on one occasion I
was sentenced to death and would
have died were it not for the kind
intervention of an English official. I
died in chains all right, and from
exhaustion. However, I think I could
say I died a natural death." When
we would tell Blessed Ghebre
Michael that the Church
considered him, because of his
sufferings, to have been a martyr,
he would accept that judgment
because the Church, for Blessed
Ghebre Michael, was the pillar of
truth.

8. I think Blessed Ghebre Michael might
appreciate a distinction that was made
in my country during times of
persecution. The people would speak
of red martyrdom and white
martyrdom. Every baptized person is
called to martyrdom, that is, to give
witness to others of his faith. Some are
called to red martyrdom, that is, to
shed their blood because of their
Christian convictions. Others, and they
are in the majority, are called to white
martyrdom, that is, to witness by the
good quality of their lives that Jesus
Christ is real, that He is risen and that
He lives on in His Church. Sometimes it
is more difficult to be a white martyr
than a red martyr, because white
martyrdom can last for decades. The
Church and the Vincentian Family have
need today of authentic white martyrs.
The Church and the Vincentian Family
have need of men and women who
have the courage to live profoundly
what each of us professes every
Sunday of the year: "I believe in one
holy, Catholic and apostolic Church."

9. At the present time, perhaps more
so than at any time in recent
centuries, the Church has been the
subject of much criticism, not only
from those who are its professional
enemies, but also from men and
women within it. The Church today
has many enemies within its own
household. It is a phenomenon of
our times and one which Blessed
Ghebre Michael, who suffered so
much for one single article of the
Catholic creed, would find hard to
understand. His exhortation to us
might very well be: "Be faithful to
Jesus Christ, true God and true man.
Be loyal to the visible head of the
Church on earth, the Pope. Defend
the doctrinal and moral teaching of
the Church, the pillar of truth, and
lastly, remember that 'you have not
yet resisted,' as I and so many
others have done, 'to the point of
shedding your blood.'" (cf. Heb
12:4).

10. For the life, death and beatification
of Blessed Ghebre Michael, we
rejoice and are glad. For the
example, zeal and holiness of St.
Justin De Jacobis, we rejoice and
are glad. For the blessings and
graces given to all who prayed in
this Church, we rejoice and are
glad. Through the intercession of
Mary, the Mother of God, of St.
Vincent de Paul, St. Louise de
Marillac and all the Saints of the
Vincentian Family, may each of us
be witnesses on earth to the
Resurrection of Christ and share in
His glory in heaven.

11. Source
Selected Writings
Richard McCullen, C.M.
15 July 1988
Naples, Italy