Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!  (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
RDeo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
March is the month of Saint Joseph since 1855;
2024
23,658  Lives Saved Since 2007


http://www.haitian-childrens-fund.org/
For the Son of man ... will repay every man for what he has done.

The saints are a “cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.

We are the defenders of true freedom.
  May our witness unveil the deception of the "pro-choice" slogan.
40 days for Life Campaign saves lives Shawn Carney Campaign Director www.40daysforlife.com
Please help save the unborn they are the future for the world

Our Bartholomew Family Prayer List
Joyful Mystery on Monday Saturday   Glorius Mystery on Sunday Wednesday
   Sorrowful Mystery on Friday Tuesday   Luminous Mystery on Thursday Veterens of War

Acts of the Apostles

Nine First Fridays Devotion to the Sacred Heart From the writings of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
How do I start the Five First Saturdays?
Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary


Abba Kyrillos the Sixth, the 116th Pope of Alexandria.
 Beginning of Novena to Saint Joseph
A novena is a prayer that is said for nine consecutive days. The purpose is to obtain a special favor from heaven by imploring a particular saint, in this case -Saint Joseph - who is celebrated in the Catholic Church on March 19th.
O glorious Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, to you do we raise our hearts and hands to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the benign Heart of Jesus all the helps and graces necessary for our spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special favor we now implore (..state your petition..).  O Guardian of the Word Incarnate, we have confidence that your prayers on our behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen

335 St. Marcarius of Jerusalem drafting The Creed Council of Nicaea in 325 miraculously discovered true Cross with St. Helena built Church of the Holy Sepulcher
 483 Simplicius, Pope defended action of Council of Chalcedon against Monophysite
s.
1857 St. Dominic Savio  heaven is opening just above me; peacemaker, organizer, joined St. John Bosco as a student

Commemoration of Anba Marcura, the Bishop.


March 10 – Beginning of the Novena to Saint Joseph
How should we address Saint Joseph? 
 
"Hail, Joseph, image of God the Father, father of God’s Son, temple of the Holy Spirit, beloved of the Holy Trinity, faithful coadjutor of the Great Council, worthy husband of the Virgin Mother, father of all the faithful, guardian of the Holy Virgin, most faithful friend of poverty, model of patience and gentleness, mirror of humility and obedience.

May your eyes, that have seen what you have seen, be blessed! You are blessed among all men! Blessed are your ears that heard what you heard! Blessed are your hands that touched the Incarnate Word! Your arms that carried the One who supports all things, your chest on which the gentle Son of God rested! Blessed be your heart inflamed with ardent love.
And blessed be the Father who chose you, the Son who loved you, and the Holy Spirit who sanctified you! Blessed also be Mary your spouse, who loved you as a husband and a brother!
Blessed be your guardian angel! Blessed be forever all those who bless you and love you. Amen." 
Saint John Eudes (1601-1680)
Initiator of the liturgical cult of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the author of this magnificent
"Salutation to Saint Joseph"


Beginning of Novena to Saint Joseph
Mary's and Joseph' Silence March 10 - Our Lady of Miracles (Bari, Italy, 1576)
Joseph shared Mary's silence, just as he shared her secret; he to whom the angel had told such great things, and who had seen the miracle of the virginal birth. Neither one of them spoke about what they saw every day in their home nor did they draw any benefit from such wonders. As humble as she was wise, Mary let herself be seen as an ordinary mother and her Son as the result of a normal marriage.

The great things that God operates in His creatures naturally inspire silence, inner rapture, something divine that suppresses all expression. For what could one say, what could Mary say, which could match what she felt? Thus one keeps God's secret under a seal, excepting when He inspires one's speech and encourages one to talk.
Human advantages have nothing to do with it, if they are unknown and unappreciated by this world.

What God does has in itself an inestimable price that one desires to savor with Him alone.
Jacques-Benigne Bossuet (1627-1704) Urban & Levesque Publishers, Vol. III


Mary Mother of GOD
March 10 - Our Lady of Miracles (Bari, Italy, 1576) - Saint Marie-Eugenie Milleret (France)
 
Never Worship without Her
 Jesus gave us his Mother, who has the mission to take our hand and lead us to his Tabernacle.
The Blessed Virgin became our Mother to help us receive the Eucharist. She is in charge of helping us find our Bread of Life, and to make us appreciate and desire it—her mission is to teach us how to worship.
She has to tell us: “Come and pray with me.” Our Lord placed Mary on our path, to be the link between him and us.


This is my message to you: Always worship Our Lord in the company of the Virgin Mary. I am not saying to abide in her alone. No, Jesus is there in front of us so you can talk to him directly, but pray with Mary—live with her—live under her roof. Since Our Lord gave her to us as a guide, never worship him without her. Say to her:
“Blessed Mother, come with me; as a mother always goes where her child goes;
without you I wouldn't know what to say.”
 Saint Julien Eymard
 
 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary
Mary's Divine Motherhood
Called in the Gospel "the Mother of Jesus," Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as "the Mother of my Lord" (Lk 1:43; Jn 2:1; 19:25; cf. Mt 13:55; et al.). In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos). Catechism of the Catholic Church 495, quoting the Council of Ephesus (431): DS 251.
March 10 – Our Lady of Miracles (Bari, Italy, 1576) –
Beginning of the Novena of Prayer to St Joseph

- Saint Marie Eugenie Milleret
 She dreamed of founding a congregation dedicated to the Virgin Mary
 
Anne Eugenie Milleret was born on August 26, 1817, in Metz (France) to a wealthy but non-practicing family. A happy childhood was followed by hard times—her father lost all his fortune, her parents separated, and her mother died. She remained alone.
At 19, she heard the renowned Father Lacordaire preach at Notre Dame de Paris: "I was truly converted. I had conceived the longing to devote all my strength, or rather all my weakness, to the Church which, from that moment I saw as holding the only key to the knowledge and achievement of what is good." She dreamed of founding a congregation dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
A year later, Anne Eugenie met Father Combalot in Paris. Under his guidance, she founded the first community in a Parisian apartment with three other girls. They made their religious profession and opened their first school in 1842. Soon other communities were founded: Under the name of Sisters of the Assumption, a new Marian congregation was born.
The foundations multiplied, new communities were born in France, England, Spain, New Caledonia, Latin America, Italy and the Philippines.
The Mary of Nazareth Team
Source: Avec Marie les enfants prient pour la paix
 
Sanctórum Quadragínta Mártyrum, quorum natális prídie hujus diéi recensétur.
The forty holy martyrs whose birthday was commemorated yesterday.
If you want God to hear your prayers, hear the voice of the poor.
If you wish God to anticipate your wants, provide those of the needy without waiting for them to ask you.

Especially anticipate the needs of those who are ashamed to beg.  To make them ask for alms is to make them buy it. -- St. Thomas of Villanova
March 10 - Beginning of Novena to Saint Joseph, Husband of Mary
The Smack of the Rosary was an Amazing Grace

Father John Ogilvie was condemned as a traitor, but during a long imprisonment no tortures could force him to name any Catholics. Under probing examinations, his patience, courage and gaiety won the admiration of his very judges. He was hanged on March 10, 1615 after renewing his fidelity to the King in the temporal field and declaring that he would die for his fidelity to the Pope.
Suddenly, he took his rosary and threw it into the crowd. His rosary smacked a Hungarian Calvinist, who was passing through Glasgow, right in the middle of his chest. He was the notable Johann von Echesdoff who converted to Catholicism following this incident. The smack of the rosary was an amazing grace.
The customary beheading and quartering were omitted in John’s case owing to undisguised popular sympathy, and his body was hurriedly buried in the churchyard of Glasgow cathedral. John Ogilivie was declared venerable in the seventeenth century and canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1976.
Adapted from the Account of Imprisonment and Martyrdom of Fr. John Ogilvie, (Douai, 1615; London, 1877);
Forbed-Leith, Narratives of Scottish Catholics (Edinburgh, 1885).

Beginning of Novena to Saint Joseph
A novena is a prayer that is said for nine consecutive days. The purpose is to obtain a special favor from heaven by imploring a particular saint, in this case -Saint Joseph - who is celebrated in the Catholic Church on March 19th.

O glorious Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, to you do we raise our hearts and hands to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the benign Heart of Jesus all the helps and graces necessary for our spiritual and temporal welfare, particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special favor we now implore (state your petition).  O Guardian of the Word Incarnate, we have confidence that your prayers on our behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God. Amen.

 172 St. Alexander Martyr missionary companion of St. Caius
 250 St. Victor Martyr mentioned by St. Augustine in his Psalm 115
       Apaméæ, in Phrygia, natális sanctórum Mártyrum Caji et Alexándri, qui (ut scribit Apollináris, Hierapolitánus Epíscopus, in libro advérsus Cataphrygas hæréticos), in persecutióne Marci Antoníni et Lúcii Veri, glorióso martyrio coronáti sunt.
 258 St. Codratus of Corinth Martyr with Dionysius, Cyprian, Anectus, Paul, and Crescens
 320 Martyrs of Armenia Christian soldiers of the twelfth, "Thunderstruck," legion (40) Forty-Two Martyrs of Persia
 335 St. Marcarius of Jerusalem drafting The Creed Council of Nicaea in 325 miraculously discovered true Cross with St. Helena built Church of the Holy Sepulcher
 483 Simplicius, Pope defended action of Council of Chalcedon against Monophysite
 560 St. Kessag martyr worked miracles even as a child
 570 St. Sedna Bishop of Ossory Ireland
6th v. St. Anastasia Patricia fanciful romantic legend court of Emperor Justinian in Constantinople
 580 St. Droctoveus Abbot disciple of St. Germanus of Paris extraordinary spirit of mortification and prayer
 627 St. Attalas Abbot; miracles; foe of Arians; companion of St. Columban
 675 St. Emilian Irish-born abbot of Lagny, France missionary-monk
 750 St. Himelin Irish or Scottish priest pilgrimage to Rome water turned to wine
 754 Failbhe the Little Abbot of Iona for 7 years(AC)
1097 Blessed Andrew of Strumi Vallombrosan monk peacemaker OSB Vall. Abbot (AC)
1380 Blessed John of Vallumbrosa monk  Saint Catherine of Siena, who often appeared to him
1452 Blessed Peter de Geremia knock at window, no church large enough to hold crowds, countless miracles: fish, stopped Aetna w/veil of Saint Agatha, raised dead etc
1615 St. John Ogilvie Calvinist Scottish nobility, converted Jesuit, marytered in Glasgow
1857 St. Dominic Savio  heaven is opening just above me peacemaker organizer joined St. John Bosco as a student
1898 Saint Marie-Eugénie de Jésus (25 August 1817 – 10 March 1898)
        Commemoration of Anba Marcura, the Bishop.






Quote: Pope Paul VI’s 1969 Instruction on the Contemplative Life includes this passage:
 "To withdraw into the desert is for Christians tantamount to associating themselves more intimately with Christ’s passion, and it enables them, in a very special way, to share in the paschal mystery and in the passage of Our Lord from this world to the heavenly homeland" (#1). 

172 St. Alexander Martyr missionary companion of St. Caius
 Apaméæ, in Phrygia, natális sanctórum Mártyrum Caji et Alexándri, qui (ut scribit Apollináris, Hierapolitánus Epíscopus, in libro advérsus Cataphrygas hæréticos), in persecutióne Marci Antoníni et Lúcii Veri, glorióso martyrio coronáti sunt.
       At Apamea in Phrygia, during the persecution of Marcus Antoninus and Lucius Verus, the birthday of the holy martyrs Caius and Alexander.  They were crowned with a glorious martyrdom, as is related by Apollinaris, bishop of Hierapolis, in his book against the Cataphrygian heretics.
Little is known of the background of either Alexander or Caius. They were active in Apamea, Phrygia, a center of the Montanist heresy. Preaching there, the two were martyred during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius.
The Martyrdom of St. Alexandrus the soldier refused to raise incense for the idols
On this day also St. Alexandrus, the soldier, was martyred during the reign of the infidel Emperor Maximianus. When this saint refused to raise incense for the idols, the Emperor punished him. The Emperor ordered him hung by his hands and a large heavy stone tied to his feet. He ordered him to be beaten, his sides burned, and placed lit torches against his face. When all these tortures did not dissuade him, the Emperor ordered him beheaded and he received the crown of martyrdom.

222 The Departure of St. Narcissus Bishop of Jerusalem gift of performing wonders
On this day of the year, 222 A.D., departed the father St. Narcissus, Bishop of Jerusalem. This father came to Jerusalem during the reign of Alexander Caesar, who loved the Christians, in the year 190 A.D. This father was holy and unblemished in all his conduct. He shepherded his people with the best of care. Later, Alexander died and after him Maximianus Caesar reigned who incited persecution against the Christians. He slew many of the bishops and the remaining fled leaving their parishes. God granted this father the gift of performing wonders. On the eve of the feast of Easter, the oil in the lamps ran out, so he ordered the lamps to be filled with water and were lit. They all illuminated that night also by the light of his teachings.
The enemy of the good did not stop but, moved some people against him. They accused him of committing the sin of infidelity. God's punishment for those liars was bitter. One of them burned to death, and the bowels of another poured out and died, the body of the third wasted out from a long sickness, the fourth was killed and the fifth repented with tears confessing his sins.
As for the saint, he went to the desert and disappeared there, lest his stay be a stumble to others.

Since nothing was known of St. Narcissus whereabouts, another man was chosen in his place whose name was Dius. Dius remained for a short period of time; he then departed. Upon Dius' departure they chose another called Ghordinus. When the time of persecution was over, Abba Narcissus returned to Jerusalem where he was greeted by his people with great joy. Ghordinus asked him to take over his Chair but, he refused preferring the solitary life. Ghordinus insisted that he stays with him in his cell. St. Narcissus stayed with him for one year at the end of which Ghordinus departed and St. Narcissus acquired his Chair. He had aged and was very week so, he asked his people to choose another bishop, but they refused.
Alexander, Bishop of Cappadocia, came to Jerusalem to visit the Holy Land and pray. When he was about to return, after the feast, the people heard a great voice in the church of the Resurrection saying: "Go to the gate of the city, the first one to enter it, seize him, make him stay to assist Narcissus." When, they went to the gate, they met the Bishop Alexander, and pleaded with him to stay to assist Abba Narcissus. After much resistant, Bishop Alexander decided to accept and stay until the departure of St. Narcissus.
This father remained on the Episcopal Chair for thirty seven years, and all the years of his life were one hundred and sixteen years.
250 St. Victor Martyr mentioned by St. Augustine in his Psalm 115
 In Africa sancti Victóris Mártyris, in cujus solemnitáte sanctus Augustínus ad pópulum de ipso tractátum hábuit.
       In Africa, St. Victor, martyr, on whose feast day St. Augustine delivered a sermon to his people.

During the reign of Emperor Trajanus Decius, in Africa. He was mentioned by St. Augustine in his Psalm 115.

Victor M (RM) The martyr Victor is eulogized by Saint Augustine in Psalm 115, 15. He may have suffered in North Africa under Decius, but nothing certain is known (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
258 St. Codratus of Corinth Martyr with Dionysius, Cyprian, Anectus, Paul, and Crescens.
 Corínthi sanctórum Mártyrum Codráti, Dionysii, Cypriáni, Anécti, Pauli et Crescéntis, qui, in persecutióne Décii et Valeriáni, sub Jásone Prǽside, gládio cæsi sunt.
      At Corinth, the holy martyrs Codratus, Denis, Cyprian, Anectus, Paul, and Crescens, who were slain with the sword in the persecution of Decius and Valerian, under Jason, the governor.
His mother dies in the wilderness of Greece during Emperor Trajanus Decius’ persecution of the Christians. Codratus grew up in the wilds and then studies medicine.
During the reign of Valerian, he and his companions were tortured and thrown to wild animals. When the animals refused to harm them, they were beheaded.

Codratus & Companions MM (RM). Codratus (Chuadratus), Dionysius, Cyprian, Anectus, Paul, and Crescens were Greeks, who were beheaded at Corinth during the reign of Valerian.
Codratus, a mere child, had previously been driven into the woods to escape the Decian persecution in 250 (Benedictines).
Quadratus (Kodrat) von Korinth und seine Gefährten Orthodoxe Kirche: 10. März und 5. April

Die Lebensgeschichte von Quadratus dürfte wenigstens zum Teil legendarisch sein. Im dritten Jahrhundert floh eine Christin namens Rutina vor Verfolgungen aus Korinth in die Berge. Dort gebar sie Quadratus und starb nach der Geburt. Quadratus wurde von einer Wolke ernährt und beschützt. Als er erwachsen war, lernte er Christen kennen, wurde von ihnen im Glauben unterwiesen und studierte in Korinth. Aber auch in dieser Zeit zog er sich immer wieder in die Einöde zurück und sammelte um sich eine Schar von gleichgesinnten Freunden. Genannt werden Anectus, Crescentus, Cyprian, Dionysios und Paulus. Als die Verfolgungen unter Decius einsetzten wurde Quadratus mit einigen seiner Schüler gefangengenommen und schwer gefoltert. Nachdem wilde Tiere ihnen nichts antaten und auch andere Folterungen sie nicht vom Glauben abbrachten, wurden sie geköpft. Auch die anderen Schüler von Quadratus wurden hingerichtet. Ein zweiter Gefährte namens Dionysios wurde in der Nacht erstochen; Victorinus, Victor und Nicephoros wurden in einer großen Presse erdrückt; Claudius wurden Hände und Füße abgehackt; Diodoros wurde verbrannt; Serapion geköpft; Papias und Leonides ertränkt. Neben diesen Männern wurden auch mehrere Frauen hingerichtet, überliefert sind die Namen Basilissa, Charinessa, Gala, Galina, Nika, Nunecia und Theodora.
Die griechisch-orthodoxe Kirche gedenkt der Märtyrer Claudius, Diodoros, Victor, Victorinus, Pappias, Nikiphoros und Serapion auch am 5. April.
258? SS. CODRATUS AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS
THE parents of St Codratus were Greek Christians belonging to the city of Corinth. They both died early and, according to one tradition, he was actually born in the wilderness whither his mother had retired to escape persecution under Decius and where she died. It was commonly reported that he grew up in the desert and was divinely nourished with food from the skies—the clothes with which his mother had covered him adapting themselves miraculously to his growth. In any case, he emerged from his retirement to study medicine and surrounded himself with a band of disciples, most of whom seem to have led ascetical lives.

Under the Emperors Decius and Valerian, Jason was the prefect of Greece entrusted with the enforcement of the cruel laws against the Christians. St Codratus was one of those summoned to appear before him, and the judge strove at first to persuade him to offer sacrifice to the gods and so escape punishment. The holy man, who was attended by five of his faithful disciples, protested that eternal salvation was dearer to them than life, and instead of defending himself, he is said to have given a summary of God’s dealings with men from the creation of the world to the death and resurrection of our Lord. Jason scornfully rejected the doctrine that God had become man and had suffered for us, and finding that argu­ment and persuasion had no effect upon the martyr, he ordered him to be scourged.

Then the prefect addressed himself to Cyprian, a mere boy, thinking that he would be more readily won, but Codratus exhorted his companions to be steadfast. They were all of them subjected to tortures and then cast to the wild beasts, which, however, refused to touch them. Finally they were led out of the city to the place of execution, where they were beheaded. The names of the other four were Dionysius, Anectus, Paul and Crescens.

No confidence can be placed in the Greek acts and the synaxaries in which this history is recounted. See the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. ii.
320 Martyrs of Armenia Christian soldiers of the twelfth, "Thunderstruck," legion (40)
 Apud Sebásten, in Arménia, natális sanctórum Quadragínta mílitum Cappadócum, qui, témpore Licínii Imperatóris, sub Præside  Agricoláo, post víncula et cárceres tetérrimos, post cæsas lapídibus fácies, nudi sub dio, frigidíssimo híemis témpore, supra stagnum rigens pernoctáre jussi sunt, ubi gelu constrícta eórum córpora disrumpebántur, ac demum crurifrágio martyrium consummárunt.  Erant autem inter eos nobilióres Cyrion et Cándidus; eorúmque ómnium præcláras glórias sanctus Basilíus aliíque Patres scriptis suis celebrárunt.  Ipsórum porro Mártyrum festívitas sequénti die recólitur.
      At Sebaste in Armenia, under the governor Agricolaus, in the time of Emperor Licinius, the birthday of forty holy soldiers of Cappadocia.  After being chained down in foul dungeons, after having their faces bruised with stones, and being condemned to spend the night naked, in the open during the coldest part of winter, on a frozen lake where their bodies were benumbed and covered with ice, they completed their martyrdom by having their limbs crushed.  The most noteworthy among them were Cyrion and Candidus.  Their glorious triumph has been celebrated by St. Basil and other Fathers in their writings.  Their feast is kept today.

320 THE FORTY MARTYRS OF SEBASTEA
THE Emperor Licinius who at one time had extended a measure of toleration to Christians, reversed his policy after his breach with his brother-in-law Constantine and a fresh persecution was begun.  In Cappadocia he pub­lished a decree ordering every Christian, on pain of death, to abandon his religion. When Agricolaus, the governor of Cappadocia and Lesser Armenia, communicated this decree to the army, forty young soldiers of various nationalities stationed at Sebastea refused to sacrifice to idols. The forty, who are said to have all belonged to the famous “Thundering Legion”, appeared before the tribunal at Sebastea (now Sivas in Turkey) saying that they were Christians and that no torments would induce them to forsake their religion. The governor at first tried persuasion, representing to them the disgrace which would follow upon their refusal to obey and promising promotion if they would conform. Finding them inexorable, he commanded that they should be tortured and cast into prison. Here they sang together Psalm xc, “He that dwelleth in the aid of the most High shall abide under the protection of the God of Heaven”, and they were comforted by a vision of our Lord who encouraged them to persevere. Then the governor, incensed at their obstinacy, subjected them to a strange ordeal which he had devised. The cold in Armenia is very severe, especially in March when the north wind rages. Under the walls of the city stood a pond or lake which was frozen hard, and on it the prisoners were condemned to be exposed quite naked and to be left there night and day. Agricolaus also ordered that a fire and a warm bath should be prepared on the edge of the lake to tempt them to apostasy. The martyrs, without waiting to be stripped, undressed themselves, encouraging each other and saying that one bad night would purchase for them a happy eternity. Together they prayed, “Lord, we are forty who are engaged in this conflict: grant that forty may be crowned and that we may not fall short of that sacred number”. Their guards were continually urging them to offer up sacrifice and so to pass on to the fire and the warm bath, but all in vain. St Gregory of Nyssa asserts that they endured for three days and three nights this lingering death. Out of the whole number, only one failed and allowed himself to be led to the shore. As it turned out, the reaction of the heat after the intense cold was too great and he died in the bath, thus losing the life he had striven to save as well as the palm of victory. This defection greatly grieved the others, but they were consoled by seeing his place filled and their number miraculously completed.

One of the soldiers who had been set to guard the prisoners, being off duty, sat down by the fire, and he fell asleep and had a strange dream. He seemed to be standing by the lake when suddenly the sky was filled with beautiful angelic forms. One by one they descended upon the ice bearing robes and crowns with which they invested the martyrs. The soldier counted: there were thirty-nine crowns. This vision and the desertion and fate of the apostate wrought his instantaneous con­version. By a special inspiration of the Holy Ghost, he flung off his clothes, stepped on to the ice, and took his place among the survivors, proclaiming himself a Chris­tian. By his martyrdom he obtained the grace of what is known as the “baptism of blood” as well as the fortieth crown which had been forfeited by the deserter. God had indeed heard the petition of His servants and had answered it in this wholly unexpected way.

By the following morning most of the victims were dead, but a few still lingered on, notably Melito, the youngest. Agricolaus ordered that the arms and legs of the survivors should be broken and the bodies cast into a furnace where they would be consumed. With their dying lips they sang faintly, “Our soul hath escaped from the snare of the fowler: the snare is broken and we are set free”. The officials left Melito to the last: they pitied his youth and hoped that he would give way when he found himself alone, but his mother, a poor widow, reproached the executioners for their mistaken kindness. As she drew near to her son he looked up at her with his dimmed eyes, and being unable to smile he made a little sign of recognition with his feeble hand. Fortified by the Holy Ghost, she urged him to persevere to the end, and lifted him up and placed him herself upon the waggon with the rest of the victims. The bodies of the martyrs were burned and their ashes thrown into the river, but the Christians managed secretly to rescue some of the charred remains or bought them with money. A portion of the precious relics were kept at Caesarea, and St Basil says of them, “Like bulwarks they are our protection against the inroads of enemies”. He adds that everyone implored the succour of the martyrs, who raised up those who had fallen, strengthened the weak and increased the fervour of the saints.

St Basil the Elder and St Emmelia, the parents of the four saints, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, peter of Sebastea and Macrina, procured a share of these relics some of which Emmelia gave to the church she built near Annesis. The enthusiasm with which they were received was extraordinary, and according to St Gregory of Nyssa they were honoured by miracles. He adds, “I buried the bodies of my parents by the relics of these holy martyrs, that in the resurrection they may rise with the encouragers of their faith; for I know they have great power with God, of which I have seen clear proofs and undoubted testimonies”. St Gaudentius, Bishop of Brescia, writes in his sermons on these martyrs, “God gave me a share of these venerable relics and granted me to found this church in their honour”. He says that as he passed through Caesarea on his way to Jerusalem they were presented to him by the two nieces of St Basil, who had received them from their uncle. Portions of their relics were also taken to Constantinople, as we learn from Sozomen and Procopius.

Perhaps the most interesting feature connected with the memory of these champions of the faith is the preservation of a document known as “The Testament of the Forty Holy Martyrs of Christ”. The Greek text has been in print for more than a couple of centuries, but it is only of recent years that its authenticity has come to be recognized. It is a unique but perfectly genuine relic of the age of persecution. Though it cannot well be here inserted entire, the summary account written by Father H. Delehaye, the Bollandist, will not be out of place.

“Meletios, Aetios and Eutykhios, prisoners of Christ, salute the bishops, presbyters, deacons, confessors and other ‘ecclesiastics’ of the whole Christian world, and make known their wishes regarding the disposal of their mortal remains after the consummation of their martyrdom. They desire that all their relics be placed in the care of the priest Proidos and certain other persons, in order that they may repose together in Sareim near Zela. Meletios writes this exordium in the name of all.

“At this point Aetios and Eutykhios, speaking for their companions, conjure the families of the martyrs not to give way to excessive grief, and carefully to fulfil their last wishes as to the disposal of their remains. When their ashs shall be gathered together, let no one retain any particle for himself, but deliver every­thing to the persons designated. Should anyone disobey this injunction, they hope he may fail of obtaining the favours which he looks for from the possession of the relics.

“The martyrs then express their solicitude for one of their number, a young man named Eunoikos, whose tender age might probably move the persecutors to clemency. If, say they, he shall win the palm of martyrdom with us, let him repose with us. In case he should be spared, let him remain faithful to the law of Christ, in order that, on the day of the resurrection, he may enjoy the blessed lot of those whose sufferings he has shared.

“Here, it seems, Meletios again takes the pen. He addresses himself to his brothers, Krispinos and Gordios, exhorting them to be on their guard against the deceitful pleasures of this world, and to hold themselves in constant readiness by a strict adherence to the precepts of our Lord. He wishes these exhortations to be taken to heart by all the followers of Christ.

“Then begins a list of salutations: ‘We salute the lord priest Philip, and Proklianos and Diogenes and at the same time the holy church. We salute the lord Proklianos of Phydela with the holy church and all who are his. We salute Maximos with the church, Magnos with the church. We salute Domnos with his, and Iles our father, Valens with the church.’ Again Meletios intervenes: ‘And I, Meletios, salute my relations Lutanios, Krispos and Gordios, etc.’ There follow other salutations, general and particular; and finally: ‘We salute you, we the forty brethren united in captivity,’ with the forty names. ‘We, the forty prisoners of Christ, have signed by the hand of Meletios, one of us; we have confirmed all that has been written, for we were all in full agreement with it.’”

It is extremely improbable that all, or even many, of the forty would have been able to write for themselves. Therefore Meletios set down the names in their place. But the names preserved in the acta are those of the “Testament” and we may fairly draw the inference that there was sound historical evidence for part of the story, though not necessarily for such extravagant excrescences as that the stones hurled at them recoiled upon the throwers or that their ashes were recovered after being cast into the water.

The Greek passio, which seems to be the source from which all the other versions of the “acts” are derived, was first edited by R. Abicht in the Archiv für Slavische Philologie (vol. xviii, pp. 144 seq.). The text may now most conveniently be consulted in 0. von Gebhardt, Acta Martyrum Selecta, pp. 166—181, where the “Testament” is also printed. The Latin, Armenian and Old Slavonic versions have no particular importance. On the other hand, the panegyrics of St Basil, St Gregory of Nyssa, St Ephraem, St John Chrysostom and St Gaudentius of Brescia bear valuable witness to the veneration in which the martyrs were held already at the close of the fourth century. See on these homilies Delehaye, Les Passions des Martyrs…, pp. 184—235. There are certain inconsistencies between the details furnished by the passio and those of the panegyrics, notably as to the question whether the martyrs were exposed to their ordeal in the middle of the town or upon a frozen lake outside it.  On this see Pio Franchi de’ Cavalieri in Studi e Testi, no. 22, fasc. 3, pp. 64—70, and Delehaye in American Catholic Quarterly Review, 1899, pp. 161—171. Cf. also Bonwetsch, Studien zur Geschichte d. Theologie, vol. i, Pt I, pp. 71—95 and BHG., nn. 1201—1208.

A group of forty Christian soldiers martyred by Emperor Licinius Licinianus (308-324) at Sebaste, in modern Armenia. They are also called the Martyrs of Sebaste. The martyrs were forced to march naked upon the ice of a frozen lake after they refused to abjure the faith. Upon the shore were kept warm baths and hot food as inducements for abjuring Christ. One soldier gave up the faith unable to endure any more cold, and an officer of the pagan units maintaining the baths declared this to be a dishonorable act ( dreamed of an angel) and marched out onto the ice to take the lapsed Christian’s place. The martyrs were praised by Sts. Basil, Gregory of Nyssa, and others. Their cult was suppressed in 1969.

Forty Armenian Martyrs (RM) Emperor Licinius ordered every Christian in Cappadocia to renounce the faith. This reversed the policy of toleration that his brother-in-law Constantine (306-337) had introduced in 313. The governor of Lesser Armenia, Agricolaus, published this decree before his army, but forty soldiers of the twelfth, "Thunderstruck," legion refused to obey.
When persuasion, promises, and torture failed to sway these 40 men of various nationality and one faith, Agricolaus worked out a plan he considered certain to make them recant. Outside the city walls of Sebaste (Sivas, Turkey) was a frozen lake. He ordered the forty Christians to strip and lie on the ice.
At the edge of the lake a huge bathful of water was placed over a fire, continually tempting the Christians to abandon their torment on the ice.

One of the soldiers broke, and jumped into the water. The intense contrast between the cold he had endured and the heat of the bath killed him. Another soldier, seeing the faith of the other 39 and having experienced a dream of an angel, stripped himself and joined them, accepting the 40th place. The next day almost all were dead, except the youngest, a boy named Melito.
His brave mother carried her child after the corpses of the rest until he too died in her arms, then laid his body by the side of the others.

Many ecclesiastical writers of that period speak of this group of martyrs, including Saints Basil, Ephrem, Gregory of Nyssa, Gaudentius of Brescia, John Chrysostom, Sozomen, and others. They are still highly venerated in the East on March 9.
40 Märtyrer von Sebaste Soldaten (Ritter) MM 320

Acacius  Aetius  Aglaius  Alexander  Angius  Athanasius  Candidus  Claudius  Chudion  Cyril  Cyrion (Quirio) Dometian  Domnus  Ecditius  Elias  Eunocius (Eunicus)  Euthychius  Flavius  Gaius  Gorgonius  Helianus Heraclus  Hesychius  Johannes  Leontius  Lysimachus  Meliton  Nikolaus  Philoctimon  Prescus  Sacerdon Severian  Sisinius  Smaragdus  Theodulus  Theophilus  Valens  Valerius  Vivianus  Xantheas
 The relics were sent to both Annesis (Caesarea) and Constantinople. Although there is variation in the details of the story, there is substantial congruence among the panegyrists (eulogysts). A possibly contemporary Testament of the Forty Martyrs of Christ survives, which records their last messages to friends and relatives. The historicity of some of the details is doubted (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Encyclopedia, Farmer).

AD 320)
     One of the most dramatic mass martyrdoms of ancient Roman times was that of the 40 Christian soldiers stationed at Sebastea (now Sivas in Turkey). In 313 AD Emperor Licinius had co-signed with his fellow emperor Constantine a decree allowing Christians to be tolerated. But in 320 Licinius went back on his word and ordered that every Christian in Cappadocia abandon the Christian faith.
     We have a contemporary record of what happened when this decree was enforced at Sebastea. Forty Christian military men assigned there simply refused to offer sacrifice to the gods. Death was preferable, they said.
     Agricolaus, the local pagan governor, would not humor this obstinacy. When imprisonment of the whole stubborn company could not break them, he decided on a novel sort of pressure.
     It was a bitterly cold March and the pond outside the city was frozen over. The governor, therefore, ordered that the 40 be herded out to the center of the lake stark naked and allowed to rethink their decision. Meanwhile, he set up on the shore statues of the gods to be worshipped, a nice fire, and a pleasant warm bath. He hoped that the offer of warmth might change the minds of the freezing men and induce them to apostatize. But the prisoners retained their solidarity. Together they prayed, "Lord, we are 40 who are engaged in this conflict; grant that 40 may be crowned and that we may not fall short of that sacred number."
     During the three days of their lethal exposure, only one of the group gave up, stumbled towards the shore, and offered the pagan sacrifice. Actually the hot bath that rewarded his apostasy also brought about his death. Ironically, the sudden heat was too much after the long chill, and he died of shock.
     Although the soldier-victims were saddened by this defection, their prayer was heard. One of the pagan soldiers on hand fell asleep by the fire. He had a strange dream. In the dream he saw himself standing on the same spot and looking out at the freezing soldiers. Suddenly a host of angels came down from heaven and placed crowns on the heads of the martyrs. The soldier counted the crowns -- only 39. It was after he awoke that he saw the 40th man apostatize. Pagan though he was, the soldier got the meaning of the dream. Throwing off his own clothing, he proclaimed with great feeling that he, too, was a Christian. He joined the 39 and died with them, thus receiving a "baptism of blood."
     After three days only a few of the 40 were still alive. Agricolaus ordered that their arms and legs be broken to hasten death, and that, when dead, all be cremated. The military detail entrusted with this task left to the last, Melito, a teenager. They felt sorry for him and thought that if he were left alone he might weaken in his resolve. But his Christian mother went up to the dying youth and encouraged him to hold fast. Indeed, she even gathered up his stiffening body and put it onto the cart that was carrying the dead to the crematory. He soon died, winning his crown and his palm of victory.
     Although all the bodies were burned, the Christians were able to rescue some of their relics from the ashes. A wave of admiration for the 40 flowed over Asia Minor. This was indeed a startling act of Christian heroism, and it hastened the end of the persecution.
     The alien world often tries to bribe us away from our principles by the coinage of physical comforts. When we are chilled to the bone, a warm bath can be mighty attractive. But that is precisely why the Church uses Lent to give us practice in denying ourselves a few breaks. Then, when we are faced by a crisis of faith or morality, we will never forget what is right and seek the heavenly courage to do it.     --Father Robert F. McNamara
Forty-Two Martyrs of Persia (RM) .
 In Pérside pássio sanctórum quadragínta duórum Mártyrum.       In Persia, the passion of forty-two holy martyrs.
All details are lost regarding these 42 martyrs (Benedictines).
335 St. Marcarius of Jerusalem drafting The Creed Council of Nicaea in 325 miraculously discovered true Cross with St. Helena build Church of the Holy Sepulcher
 Hierosólymis sancti Macárii, Epíscopi et Confessóris; cujus hortátu loca sancta a Constantíno Magno et beáta Hélena, ejus matre, expurgáta sunt et sacris Basílicis illustráta.
       At Jerusalem, St. Macarius, bishop and confessor, at whose exhortation the holy places were purged by Constantine the Great and St. Helen, his mother, and beautified by sacred basilicas.

335 ST MACARIUS, BISHOP OF JERUSALEM
PRESERVED in the pages of the historian Eusebius is the letter which Constantine wrote to Macarius, Bishop of Jerusalem, entrusting him with the construction of a church on the spot where the Empress Helen had discovered the site of Christ’s 
sepulchre, and giving him practically a free hand in its design and in the choice of workmen and materials. He lived to complete the basilica he had undertaken. We know from the testimony of St Athanasius that Macarius was a sincere and upright man, filled with the true apostolic spirit. He succeeded Bishop Hermon in 314 at the time when the Arian heresy was beginning seriously to menace the Church, and we know from the testimony of St Athanasius that he proved himself a valiant champion of the true faith. At the Council of Nicaea his name appears first of the Palestinian bishops in the list of the signatories.

According to the popular legend, Macarius was not only present at the finding of Christ’s cross, but was also actually the means of identifying it. When the necessary excavations had been made three crosses were discovered, and it was at first doubtful which of the three was that on which our Lord had suffered. If we may trust the account which Rufinus gives in his Ecclesiastical History: “It happened that in the city there was a woman lying ill, nigh unto death. Macarius was bishop of that church at the time. When he saw the queen and the rest standing by, he said, ‘Bring hither all the crosses that have been found, and God will show us which it was that bore the Lord’. Then having entered with the queen and the others into the house of the woman who was ill, he knelt down and prayed thus:  ‘0 God, who through thine only-begotten Son hast inspired the heart of thine handmaid to seek the holy wood upon which our salvation depends, show plainly which cross was identified with the glory of the Lord and which served for the punishment of slaves. Grant that as soon as the health-giving wood touches this woman who is lying half-dead, she may be recalled to life from the gates of death.’ When he had spoken these words, he touched her with one of the crosses—and nothing happened. Then he applied the second—equally without effect. As soon, however, as he touched her with the third cross, she started up open-eyed and, with her strength fully restored, began to glorify God and to run about the house with greater agility than before her illness. The queen; having obtained her desire through such a clear indication, erected with royal pomp a marvellous temple on the spot where she had found the cross.”

Constantine’s great basilica was consecrated on September 13, 335, the year which is generally considered to have been that of the death of its supervisor and builder Macarius.  It must be confessed that there is some discrepancy between the accounts given by St Ambrose and the church historians concerning the miracle by which the cross was identified, but this is dealt with more fully on May 3. See the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. ii; DCB., vol. iii, p. 765 and F. J. Bacchus in the Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. ix, pp. 482—483.
St. Marcarius, Bishop of Jerusalem from about 313 until his death about 334. He was a lifelong staunch opponent of Arianism and fought strenuously against this pernicious heresy. He was present at the Council of Nicaea in 325 and played a large roll in drafting the Creed. Soon after the Council, he miraculously discovered the true Cross in Jerusalem together with St. Helena, and he was commissioned by her son, Emperor Constantine, to build the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Later, he and his fellow Bishops of Palestine received another letter from Constantine to construct at Mamre.

Macarius of Jerusalem B (RM) Saint Macarius was named bishop of Jerusalem in 314. He fought the Arian heresy and was one of the signers of the decrees of the Council of Nicaea. According to legend, he was with Saint Helena when she found three crosses and was the one who suggested that a seriously ill woman be touched with each of the crosses; when one of them instantly cured her, it was proclaimed the True Cross. He was commissioned by Constantine to build a church over Christ's sepulcher and supervised the building of the basilica that was consecrated on September 13, 335. He died soon thereafter (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).

Apaméæ, in Phrygia, natális sanctórum Mártyrum Caji et Alexándri, qui (ut scribit Apollináris, Hierapolitánus Epíscopus, in libro advérsus Cataphrygas hæréticos), in persecutióne Marci Antoníni et Lúcii Veri, glorióso martyrio coronáti sunt.
       At Apamea in Phrygia, during the persecution of Marcus Antoninus and Lucius Verus, the birthday of the holy martyrs Caius and Alexander.  They were crowned with a glorious martyrdom, as is related by Apollinaris, bishop of Hierapolis, in his book against the Cataphrygian heretic
483 Simplicius, Pope defended action of Council of Chalcedon against Monophysite (RM)
 Romæ sancti Simplícii, Papæ et Confessóris.       At Rome, St. Simplicius, pope and confessor.

483 ST SIMPLICIUS, Pope

ST Simplicius, who succeeded St Hilarus in 468, occupied the papal throne at a most difficult and troublous period. Already all the provinces of the West outside Italy had fallen into the hands of the barbarians, who were mostly pagans or Arians, and during his tenure of the chair of St Peter Rome itself was permanently occupied by Odoacer, the ruler of the Heruli, and the empire of the West ceased to exist. The people, ground down under the taxes of the Roman governors and impover­ished by devastating raids, offered but little resistance to the conquerors who exacted no imposts from them. St Simplicius was greatly concerned to alleviate their miseries and to sow the seeds of the faith among the barbarian invaders. In the East he was engaged in a protracted struggle with monophysite influences. He vindicated the binding force of the Council of Chalcedon against those who sought to set it aside, and laboured zealously to maintain the faith which he saw betrayed on every hand. Simplicius died in 483 and was buried in St Peter’s.

It would be possible to compile a long biography of St Simplicius, for his activities made themselves felt in secular as well as ecclesiastical history, but regarding his virtues as a servant of God we know little beyond generalities; neither is there any great evidence of cultus. See the Liber Pontificalis (Duchesne), vol. i, pp. 249—251 Hefele-Leclercq, Conciles, vol. ii, pp. 912-930; and the excellent notice by J. P. Kirsch in the Catholic Encyclopedia.
Born at Tivoli, Italy; Simplicius was elected pope to succeed Pope Saint Hilary on March 3, 468. He defended the action of the Council of Chalcedon against the Monophysite heresy, labored to help the people of Italy against the marauding raids of barbarian invaders, and saw the Heruli mercenaries in Roman service revolt and proclaim Odoacer king in 476 during his pontificate. Odoacer's deposition of the last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustus, and his occupation of Rome in 476 marked the end of the Roman Empire (Benedictines, Delaney).
560 St. Kessag martyr worked miracles even as a child
Prince of Cashel, Ireland, and bishop of Scotland. sometimes called Mackessag. Kessag went to Scotland as a missionary bishop, using Monk’s Island in Loch Lomond as his center. He was martyred at Bantry or at some unknown site. Kessag is credited with some extraordinary miracles. He is patron of Lennox, England.

6th v. ST KESSOG, BISHOP AND MARTYR
St KESSOG (Mackessog) is believed to have come of the royal race of Munster, his father being king at Cashel. The story is told that on one occasion, when several of the neighbouring princes and their sons were being entertained, Kessog, with two of the visitors, boys like himself, fell into a lake and only Kessog escaped with his life. For some reason he was blamed by the victims’ parents, who threatened to burn Cashel and devastate the province. Kessog had recourse to prayer and the life of the two boys was restored. The saint passed over to Scotland, where, after having been attached to the Culdees, he was elected itinerant bishop and laboured in the provinces of Leven and Boyne; he made his headquarters on Monks’ Island in Loch Lomond, and from there he evangelized the whole of the surrounding country.

There is considerable uncertainty about his fate. According to one tradition he suffered death for the truth at Bandry: according to another he was martyred in foreign parts and his body, embalmed with sweet herbs, was brought back to Scotland and buried at Luss. From these herbs, which germinated and were called in Gaelic luss, the parish afterwards derived its name. The Scots used to invoke him as a battle-cry until they adopted St Andrew as the national patron, and they long held him, in honour. They represented him in their art as an archer with a quiver at his back, and a bent bow in his hands. In Lennox, of which he is the patron, St Kessog’s bell was venerated in the seventeenth century, and the church of Auchterarder is dedicated in his honour. At Inverness there is a Kessog Ferry, and in Cumbrae a Kessog’s Fair is held on the third Wednesday in March, whilst the fair of Fel-ma-Chessaig is held on March 21, which, according to the old style, would be March 10. Malcolm, Earl of Lennox, gave a charter to John of Luss “for the reverence and honour of our patron, the most holy man, the blessed Kessog”, and at Buchanan is, or was, another charter wherein Robert Bruce granted a sanctuary-girth of three miles “to God and St Kessog” at Luss.

See KSS., pp. 373—374, and the Aberdeen Breviary. There is also a short notice of him in the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. ii.

Kessog of Lennox BM (AC) (also known as Mackessog) Born in Cashel, Ulster, Ireland; Son of the king of Cashel (Munster), Saint Kessog is said to have worked miracles even as a child. He left Ireland to evangelize Scotland, where he was consecrated a missionary bishop. Using Monks' Island in Loch Lomond as his headquarters, he evangelized the surrounding area until he was martyred, though where is uncertain--some claim at Bandry where a heap of stones was known as St. Kessog's Cairn, and others abroad. Part of the cairn at Bandry was removed in the 18th century to clear the way for a road.

At that time, a stone statue of Kessog was found inside it. Luss was the principal center of his cultus with a sanctuary granted by Robert the Bruce.

Many extravagant miracles were ascribed to Kessog, who is the patron of Lennox. A celebrated Scottish church still bears the title of St. Kessoge-Kirk. For a long time the Scots used his name for their cry in battle, but later changed it for that of Saint Andrew. They sometimes painted Kessog in a soldier's habit, holding a bow bent with an arrow in it (Benedictines, Delaney, Farmer, Husenbeth).
570 St. Sedna Bishop of Ossory Ireland
Sedna was also the abbot of Seir-Kieran Abbey, founded by St. Kieran with the aid of St. Patrick’s miraculous bell. Ossory was governed by abbot-bishops until circa 1184

580 St. Droctoveus Abbot disciple of St. Germanus of Paris extraordinary spirit of mortification and prayer
 Lutétiæ Parisiórum deposítio sancti Droctovéi Abbátis, qui fuit discípulus beáti Germáni Epíscopi.
      At Paris, the death of Abbot St. Droctoveus, who was a disciple of the saintly Bishop Germanus.
also called Droctonius and Drotte. Born at Auxerre, France, he was a monk and then abbot of St. Symphian Abbey at Autun, France. When King Childebert I built a new abbey for Germanus, Droctoveus was called there to be the abbot.

The monastery, once named St. Vincent and the Holy Cross, is now called Saint-Germain-des-Pres.

Droctoveus of Paris, Abbot (RM) (also known as Droctonius, Drotté) Born at Auxerre France; Saint Drotté studied under Saint Germanus of Paris before being name as abbot of Saint-Symphorien Abbey at Autun. Drotté was renowned for his learning and extraordinary spirit of mortification and prayer. When Germanus became bishop of Paris, he appointed his former student as abbot of the Parisian monastery of Saint-Vincent and the Holy Cross, built by King Childebert. Here Drotté was buried in the abbey renamed Saint-Germain-des-Prés after the death of Germanus (Benedictines, Delaney, Husenbeth).
580 ST DROCTOVEUS, OR DROTTÉ, ABBOT
AUXERRE was the birthplace of St Droctoveus. He was educated under St Germanus in the abbey of Saint-Symphorien at Autun, and afterwards became a monk in that community. The rule followed was a very strict one, and we are told that Droctoveus was foremost amongst his brethren for his spirit of morti­fication and prayer. When Germanus was appointed bishop of Paris, he still wished to lead the religious life, and a monastery was accordingly attached to the church which King Childebert built, dedicated in honour of the Holy Cross and St Vincent. Probably St Droctoveus was placed by St Germanus over the new abbey and he continued to govern it until his death. He is lauded by the chron­iclers as the embodiment of all Christian and monastic virtues, and Venantius Fortunatus has left us some verses in his honour, but any detailed record of his life was destroyed by Northmen when they burnt the monastery. The monks of his house subsequently adopted the Benedictine rule, and when the body of St Ger­manus had been laid there both church and abbey took the name of Saint-Germain. The site is that of the present well-known church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

See Mabillon, vol. i, pp. 239—241 and the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. ii.
627 St. Attalas Abbot miracles foe of Arians companion of St. Columban
 In monastério Bobiénsi sancti Attalæ Abbátis, miráculis clari.
       In the monastery of Bobbio, St. Attala, abbot, renowned for his miracles.

Born in Burgundy, France, he studied under Bishop Aregius of Gap. He became a monk at Lérins but then went to Luxeuil, where St. Columban taught him a strict rule of religious life. Attalas served as Columban's companion when the Irish saint went to Bobbio, in Italy, and founded a monastery there on lands donated by King Agilulf of the Lombards. In 615 St. Columban died, and Attalas succeeded him as abbot. Attalas was a foe of the heretical Arians. He was also noted for performing miracles. His tomb Is in Bobbio, beside the shrine of St. Columban.

627 ST ATTALAS, ABBOT

ST ATTALAS, a Burgundian, spent his youth with Aregius, Bishop of Gap, to whom his parents had confided him. There he received excellent instruction in letters, but found that he was not making sufficient spiritual progress. He therefore made his way to the monastery of Lérins, where he entered, but later resolved to seek a stricter community. At the celebrated monastery of Luxeuil, which St Columban had founded on the site of the old Roman town of Luxovium, he found all the austerity he desired, and of all the pious band Attalas was perhaps the one most after Columban’s heart he recognized in him a kindred spirit and took special pains to lead him on to perfection. When the holy abbot and his Irish companions were exiled from France by Theodoric, King of Austrasia, whom he had boldly rebuked for his vices, Columban took Attalas with him on his travels, which ended in Lombardy, when Agilulf, King of the Lombards, gave him land for the founda­tion of a monastery at Bobbio, a lonely spot in the Apennines. St Columban was seventy years of age at the time; and as he only lived one year after the foundation of Bobbio much of the credit for the establishment and prestige of the great monas­tery is certainly due to Attalas, who succeeded him as abbot in 615. The new superior bad many difficulties with which to contend, the chief of which was disloyalty amongst his brethren. Once the authority of St Columban was removed, they murmured against the severity of the rule and broke out into rebellion.

Like St Columban, Attalas contended strenuously against Arianism, which was rife in the districts about Milan. He was endowed with the power of healing, and Jonas the Scot, who wrote his life, was eye-witness of some of the cures which he effected. Fifty days before his death, St Attalas was divinely warned to get ready for a long journey. Doubtful whether this meant an expedition to foreign parts or the passage to eternity, the abbot put everything in order in the monastery and prepared himself for a voyage. Falling ill with fever he realized that the warning referred to death, and when the disease increased, he asked to be laid outside the door of his cell, beside which stood a cross which he always touched on leaving or returning to. it. As he wished to be alone for a while, all withdrew except St Blimond (afterwards abbot of Saint-Valery), who remained near at hand in case St Attalas might require assistance. The dying man besought mercy of God with many tears, and then he saw Heaven unveiled, and contemplated it for several hours. Afterwards he recalled his monks and bade them carry him back to his cell. The following day he rendered up his soul to his Creator, and was buried at Bobbio beside his master Columban. The body of St Bertulf was afterwards placed in the same tomb and the three holy men were venerated together.

See Mabillon, vol. ii, pp. 115—118. The short contemporary biography of St Attalas by his disciple Jonas is also printed by the Bollandists (March, vol. ii) and by Migne, PL., vol. lxxxvii, cc. 1055—1062. But the best edition/is by B. Krusch in MGH., Scriptores Merov., vol. iv, pp. 113—119.
Attalas of Bobbio, Abbot (RM) Born in Burgundy, France.
Saint Attalas was educated under Bishop Aregius of Gap, professed himself a monk at Lérins, but followed Saint Columbanus to Luxeuil in search of a stricter rule. When the Irish missionaries were expelled from France because Columbanus decried Austrasian King Theodoric for keeping concubines, Attalas went with the Irish saint to Bobbio, Italy. He helped Columbanus build the abbey in Bobbio on land granted them by the Lombard King Agilulf and succeeded him as abbot in 615.
It was during Attalas's abbacy that most of the monks stood out against the severity of the Columbanian Rule. Attalas was, like Columbanus, a vigorous opponent of Arianism and was known for the miracles he performed. He died at Bobbio and was buried there in the same tomb as his predecessor (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Montague). Saint Attalas is portrayed in art as an abbot near a mill with his staff in hand. He may also have a chair near him or be shown with Saint Columbanus (Roeder). He is venerated at Lérins and Luxeuil (Roeder).

568 St. Anastasia Patricia fanciful romantic legend; court of Emperor Justinian in Constantinople
Anastasia die Patrizierin Orthodoxe Kirche: 10. März
Anastasia wurde im 6. Jahrhundert in einer vornehmen Familie geboren. Kaiser Justinian (527-565) war ihr zugetan und weckte damit die Eifersucht seiner Gattin. Anastasia floh vor ihrem Zorn nach Alexandria. Hier gründete sie ein kleines Kloster, in dem sie abseits der Stadt lebte. Als die Kaiserin starb, begann Justinian nach Anastasia zu suchen. Sie erfuhr davon und floh in ein Skete Kloster (Eremitisch ausgerichtete Klostergemeinschaft) zu Abt Daniel (Gedenktag 18. März). Daniel kleidete sie als Mönch ein und wies ihr eine entfernte Höhle zu. Hier blieb sie verborgen, nur ein Mönch, der sie einmal wöchentlich mit Nahrung versorgte, kannte die Höhle. Erst als Anastasia (567-568) verstorben war, erkannten die Mönche bei ihrer Einkleidung, daß eine Frau 28 Jahre verborgen unter ihnen gelebt hatte.

Anastasia Patricia according to a fanciful and romantic legend, was the beautiful daughter of an Egyptian nobleman and a lady-in-waiting at the court of Emperor Justinian in Constantinople. To escape the attentions of the Emperor, she left the court and entered a convent in Alexandria. On the death of Justinian's wife, Theodora, the Emperor again sought her, whereupon she fled to the desert and met Abbot Daniel, who allowed her to dress as a monk and live as a hermit in his community, where she lived a solitary life of constant prayer and austerity until her death twenty-eight years later.

ST ANASTASIA PATRICIA, VIRGIN
THE history of this Anastasia rests on very slender authority. She is stated to have been the daughter of a patrician of Egyptian race and to have been a lady-in-waiting in the court of Constantinople. Her beauty won the heart of the Emperor Justinian and the jealousy of the Empress Theodora. She was as good as she was fair, and when she found herself the object of the emperor’s attentions she escaped by night and made her way to Alexandria, where she entered a convent. The emperor did not forget her, and after the death of Theodora he caused a search to be made, intending to raise her to the throne as his wife. News of this reached Anastasia and she fled into the desert, where she wandered about until she came to the community ruled over by Abbot Daniel, whom she told her history and her plight. Without delay he gave her the habit of a monk and the necessary instructions for becoming a hermit. Then he enclosed her in a cave at a considerable distance from his own cell and left her—charging her on no account ever to emerge or to allow anyone to enter her hermitage. After that, she saw no more of him. His disciples used to bring water and food which they placed before her door, but they never knew her sex.

Thus did “Anastasius the Eunuch” live for twenty-eight years, and in all that time she never beheld the face of man, but gave herself up to prayer and mortifica­tion. Only when she felt the hand of death upon her did she send a message to the aged abbot, requesting him to come to her. Full of foreboding, Daniel hastened to the cell, accompanied by one of his disciples, and there he found her at the point of death. After a few parting words, he gave her communion and stood by while her soul left her body. Then the abbot and his disciple buried her in her habit according to the wish she had expressed just before her death. It is supposed that her relics were afterwards removed to Constantinople.

The story in all probability is pure romance. The theme is one very familiar to the Greek hagiographers; see, for example, the legend of St Apollinaris Syncletica (January 5) and that of St Pelagia (October 8), and cf. Delehaye, Les Légendes Hagiographiques (1927), pp. 188—189. The tale of Anastasia Patricia may be found in certain copies of the synaxaries, and it is printed by Delehaye, Synax. Constant., cc. 524—528, as well as in the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. ii.
Anastasia the Patrician VM (AC) . Anastasia is reputed to have been a noblewoman of Constantinople, who found favor with Emperor Justinian, thus eliciting the jealousy of the empress. In order to escape her wrath, Anastasia fled to the desert and joined a convent near Alexandria. Upon the death of the empress when Justinian initiated a search for her, Anastasia disguised herself and entered a community of monk-hermits in Scythia, where she lived as a man for 28 years. Her existence is questioned (Benedictines, Encyclopedia). In art, Saint Anastasia is a noble lady seated by a tomb in prayer with a palm and a book (Roeder).
675 St. Emilian Irish-born abbot of Lagny, France missionary-monk
also called Eminian or Imelin.
Emilian of Lagny, OSB Abbot (AC) (also known as Eminian) Saint Emilian was another of the Irish missionary-monks, who migrated to the Continent, where he became the abbot of a monastery in Lagny, France (Benedictines).

750 St. Himelin Irish or Scottish priest pilgrimage to Rome water turned to wine
A maid of the parish of Vissemaeken, Belgium, gave him water from a pitcher and it turned to wine. He died at Vissemaeken, where he is venerated.
Himelin of Vissenaeken (AC) (also known as Hymelin) Saint Himelin, an Irish or Scottish priest, is said to have been the brother of Saint Rumold of Malines. He died and was buried at Vissenaeken, near Tirlemont, Belgium, on his return from a pilgrimage to Rome. His shrine, in turn, is a noted pilgrimage center (Benedictines, Montague).

750 ST HIMELIN
THE holy priest Himelin was by birth said to be an Irishman, closely related to St Rumold of Malines, and he is remembered by the following legend. Returning from a pilgrimage to Rome, in the days of King Pepin of France, he was taken very ill one evening at Vissenaeken, near Tirlemont in Brabant. As he rested by the roadside, weary and thirsty, he asked for a drink of water from the maid-servant of the parish priest, as she passed with a pitcher of water which she had drawn from the well. She had been strictly forbidden to let anyone touch the vessel for fear of infection, as plague was raging in the district, so “I cannot let you drink out of the pitcher, for my master has forbidden it”, she replied.. Then, pitying his evident misery, she added, “But if you will come to the house, you shall have both food and drink.” The pilgrim, however, insisted, and assured her that if she would only let him take a draught of the water, her master would be well satisfied. She complied with his request and returned home. No sooner had the parish priest tasted the water than he perceived that it had been changed into delicious wine, and on questioning the girl he elicited from her what had previously happened to the pitcher. Deeply impressed by the miracle the good man ran out and brought back the sick pilgrim to his house, where he nursed him tenderly until his death, although he could not induce him to lie on a better bed than a heap of straw. St Himelin was buried at Vissenaeken, the church bells of which pealed forth at his passing, although no human hands had set them in motion. His shrine is still a resort for pilgrims, especially on his feast-day, March 10.
See the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. ii
754 Failbhe the Little Abbot of Iona for 7 years (AC)
Saint Failbhe was abbot of Iona for seven years before his death at age eighty (Benedictines).

1097 Blessed Andrew of Strumi Vallombrosan monk peacemaker OSB Vall. Abbot (AC)
(also known as Andrew the Ligurian)
Born in Parma, Italy; Andrew was the disciple and chief supporter of the deacon Saint Arialdo of Milan in the campaign against simony in Milan. After his master's martyrdom, Andrew became a Vallombrosan monk. Eventually he was made abbot of San Fedele at Strumi on the Arno. He excelled as a peacemaker between Florence and Arezzo. He is also the biographer of SS. John Gualbert and Arialdo (Benedictines).

1097 BD ANDREW OF STRUMI, ABBOT
ABOUT the middle of the eleventh century the city of Milan was torn between the rival factions of Archbishop Guido and the “Pataria”, a nickname which has never been quite satisfactorily explained they were the reform party who, under the leadership of the deacon Arialdo and a knight called Herlembald, strove against simony and concubinage amongst the clergy. Of all Arialdo’s disciples perhaps the most prominent was Andrew, then known as “the Ligurian”, a native of Parma, who became his closest friend and associate.

The archbishop excommunicated Arialdo, who was, however, exculpated at Rome, Guido himself coming under ecclesiastical censure for simony. He con­tinued, nevertheless, to harass the Pataria, and having seized Arialdo he is said to have wreaked his vengeance upon the unfortunate deacon, whose eyes were blinded and body mutilated in the most barbarous manner. At the risk of his life, Andrew penetrated several times into the enemy’s territories, first to learn the fate of his master and then to try to recover his body. Shepherds led him to a lonely spot where they had seen the body deposited, but it was no longer there, having been disinterred and cast into the water. It was washed up again—miraculously as it seemed—at the very spot from which it had been cast, and Andrew was enabled with the assistance of Herlembald to remove it, still incorrupt after ten months.

After seeing Arialdo’s body duly honoured at Milan, where he is venerated as a martyr, Andrew retired into the Vallombrosan Order, to which he appears to have been admitted by Abbot Rudolf, who was also in close sympathy with the Pataria. Rudolf’s successor promoted Andrew to be abbot of San Fedele at Strumi on the Arno, and he was then able to devote part of his time to literary Work. From his close association with. Arialdo, he was eminently competent to amplify and sup­plement the Life of Arialdo, which had been begun by Abbot Rudolf. He also wrote the Life of St John Gualbert. Busily occupied as he was, Bd Andrew still retained the public spirit which had made him a leader of the Pataria. Italy was in a very disturbed condition owing to the struggle between the Emperor. Henry IV and Pope Urban II, and Florence and Arezzo were paralysed by mutual antagonism. The abbot of Strumi came forward as a peacemaker between them; and so well did he manage the situation that he earned the confidence of both parties, and the peace which he negotiated continued unimpaired during the rest of his life. The prestige he obtained had a totally unforeseen result a number of churches, priories and hospitals in the dioceses of Florence and Arezzo and throughout the Casentino placed themselves under his supervision and became affiliated to the Vallombrosan Order.

Bd Andrew died in 1097. Most of his writings appear to have perished about the year 1530 when, at the time of the siege of Florence, the mother-house of the Vallombrosans was almost entirely destroyed by fire, the library being burnt with nearly all its books and manuscripts, which included the records and documents of the beatified members of the community.

See the Acta Sanctorum, March, voL ii.
1380 Blessed John of Vallumbrosa monk;  Saint Catherine of Siena, often appeared to him, OSB Vall. (AC)
Born in Florence, Italy; Saint John's story reminds us that religious face many temptations, not all of them of the flesh. Like many monks, John of the Holy Trinity spent hours pouring over books. Unlike most, he became addicted to forbidden books and was drawn into the secret practice of necromancy and the Black Arts. When discovered, he was called before the Vallumbrosan abbot-general.
At first he denied this sin against humility and God's goodness, but finally he confessed, found guilty, and imprisoned. His internment proved to be his salvation: he came to true repentance and undertook voluntary penance, fasting to the point of emaciation. Eventually, his brothers implored him to return to the community. He, however, preferred to remain in prison as an anchorite until his death at a very old age. In his solitude, he attained great sanctity. John was an elegant writer and a friend of Saint Catherine of Siena, who often appeared to him and died the same year (Benedictines).

1380 BD JOHN OF VALLOMBROSA
JOHN OF VALLOMBROSA was a Florentine who entered the monastery of the Holy Trinity in his native city. He was a clever man and spent hours of the day and night poring over books. In the course of his studies he became interested in necromancy and began to practise the black arts in secret. He had become thor­oughly vicious and depraved when reports of his proceedings reached the ears of the abbot of Vallombrosa, who summoned him before a commission of monks and formally accused him. At first John lied and denied that he had had any dealings with magic, but when incontrovertible evidence was brought against him he acknowledged his guilt. His punishment was a lengthy imprisonment in a pes­tilential prison where he lost his health and was reduced to a skeleton.

When at last he was liberated John could scarcely walk, but he was sincerely penitent. Although the abbot and the monks would fain have restored him to their fellowship he asked to be allowed to continue voluntarily the life he had been compelled to lead. “I have learnt”, he said, “in this dark and long imprisonment, that there is nothing better, nothing more holy, than solitude in solitude I intend to go on learning divine things and to try to rise higher. Now that I am free from temporal fetters I am resolved, with the help of Christ, to waste no more time.” With the consent of the abbot he embraced the life of a hermit and soon became known as the foremost amongst the solitaries of the countryside for his sanctity and great learning. His letters and treatises, some written in Latin and some in the vernacular, were handed about from one to another and were prized for their subject-matter as well as for the elegance of their diction. He seemed as though divinely inspired to touch the hardest hearts and to expound the most abstruse points of Holy Scripture.

The “hermit of the cells”, as he came to be called, lived to extreme old age and enjoyed the friendship and esteem of St Catherine of Siena. Writing to Barduccio of Florence after her death, John says that whilst he was mourning over her loss she came to him in a vision, and gave him the consolation of witnessing her celestial glory.

There is a short life printed in the Acta Sanctorum under Andrew of Strumi, March, vol. ii, 3rd ed., pp. 49—50. Cf. Zambrini, Opera volgari a stampa dei sec. 13 e 14, pp. 238, 263—264, etc.
1452 Blessed Peter de Geremia; heard a knock at the window; no church large enough to hold crowds; countless miracles: fish, stopped Aetna w/veil of Saint Agatha, raised dead etc. OP (AC)
Born in Palermo, Sicily, Italy, in 1381; cultus approved in 1784.  God has a mission for each of us and has given us the gifts to successfully complete the purpose for which He created us. Our job is to discern our role in His creation. The gifts He has given us can be the instrument of our damnation when used against His purposes; when we discern correctly through prayer and spiritual direction these same talents and abilities can sanctify us and those around us. It's not too late to seek God's will for your life--in fact, we should attempt to understand His will for our every action, each day, using all the gifts his has given us.
1452 BD PETER GEREMIA
THE life of this holy man was written by one of his brethren who knew him well and had lived with him in the same friary. Born in Palermo, Peter was the son of a jurist and fiscal agent to King Alfonso I and at the age of eighteen was sent to the University of Bologna to study law with a view to succeeding to his father’s office. There he made such progress that he was often called upon to take the chair of the professor when the latter was prevented from delivering his lectures. Peter was on the eve of taking his degree when he had a strange experience which he ever afterwards looked upon as a supernatural interposition. He was sitting one evening in his room, buried in study, when he was disturbed by loud and persistent rapping on his window—which was on the third storey. Startled, he inquired who the unseen visitor could be and what he wanted. “I am your cousin”, replied a voice.  “After I had taken my degree, I also was called to the bar where, as you know, I gained honour and distinction. Blind and miserable wretch that I was, I spent my whole time in defence of others, and I even, against my conscience, undertook unjust cases in order to obtain money and fame. I found no one to plead my own case before the judgement-seat of God, and I am now condemned to ever­lasting torment. But before I am cast into Hell I am sent to warn you to flee from the courts of men if you wish to be acquitted before the judgement-seat of God.”

Peter lost no time in acting upon the warning. Then and there he took a vow of perpetual chastity, and the next morning he bought an iron chain which he wound three times round his body and riveted there, This was found embedded in his flesh fifty-one years later when his body was being prepared for burial. He then obtained admission into the Dominican convent at Bologna. When news of this reached the ears of his father he was greatly incensed and travelled to Bologna, intending to remove the novice by force and compel him to complete his legal studies. Peter refused to see his parent, but sent a message saying that he was welt and needed nothing that his relations could give him except their prayers. Whilst the father raged and threatened, the young man was asking as a special grace that he might neither be unfaithful to his vocation nor forfeit the love of his parents, to whom he was greatly attached. When an interview was at last arranged, the father was completely softened and gave Peter his blessing.

After he was raised to the priesthood he became a celebrated preacher and brought many to repentance and newness of life. St Vincent Ferrer when he visited Bologna sought him out to congratulate him on the work he was doing and to urge him to continue labours which God had so wonderfully blessed. Summoned as a theologian to the Council of Florence, Bd Peter found his learning and eloquence greatly extolled by Pope Eugenius IV, who wished to raise him to high ecclesiastical honours. He declined all preferment, but was obliged to accept the post of apostolic visitor in Sicily, though he stipulated that his powers should be limited to the restoration of regular observance in religious houses where irregu­larities had crept in during the Great Schism. In this delicate task he was entirely successful, and his preaching to the people was no less popular than in Italy. He died at Palermo in 1452, and his cultus was confirmed in 1784.

A picturesque story is told of Bd Peter when he was prior of Palermo. One day the procurator told him that there was no food in the house. It was a Friday, and the prior, knowing that a fisherman in the neighbourhood had had a good haul of tunny, took boat and went to beg a few of the fish for his brethren. The man refused roughly. Peter said nothing and started back in his boat, when lo! all the fish broke through the nets and were escaping out to sea. The fisher­man, aghast, followed in pursuit of Peter and besought pardon. He made the sign of the cross over the sea, and thereupon the fish again became entangled in the nets, and the man eagerly bestowed on the prior as much fish as he needed.

See the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. i; Taurisano, Catalogus Hagiographicus O.P. p. 38; Mortier, Maîtres Généraux O.P., vol. iv, pp. 152—212 and M. A. Coniglione, Pietro Geremia (1952).

Peter Geremia was unusually gifted. He was sent early to the University of Bologna, where he passed his studies brilliantly, and attracted the attention and praise of all. On the brink of a successful career as a lawyer, he experienced a sudden and total conversion.  Having retired one night, he was pleasantly dreaming of the honors that would soon come to him in his work, when he heard a knock at the window. As his room was on the third floor, and there was nothing for a human to stand on outside his window, he sat up, in understandable fright, and asked who was there. A hollow voice responded that he was a relative who had just died, a successful lawyer who had wanted human praise so badly that he had lied to win it, and now was eternally lost because of his pride. Peter was terrified, and acted at once upon the suggestion to turn, while there was still time, from the vanity of public acclaim. He went the next day to a locksmith and bought an iron chain, which he riveted tightly about him. He began praying seriously to know his vocation.  Soon thereafter, God made known to him that he should enter the Dominican Order. He did so as soon as possible. His new choice of vocation was a bitter blow to his father, who had gloried in his son's achievements, hoping to see him become the most famous lawyer in Europe. He angrily journeyed to Bologna to see his son and demanded that he come home. The prior, trying to calm the excited man, finally agreed to call Peter. As the young man approached them, radiantly happy in his new life, the father's heart was touched, and he gladly gave his blessing to the new undertaking.
Peter's brilliant mind and great spiritual gifts found room for development in the order, and he became known as one of the finest preachers in Sicily. He was so well known that Saint Vincent Ferrer asked to see him, and they conversed happily on spiritual matters. He always preached in the open air, because there was no church large enough to hold the crowds that flocked to hear him.
Being prior of the abbey, Peter was consulted one day when there was no food for the community. He went down to the shore and asked a fisherman for a donation. He was rudely refused. Getting into a boat, he rowed out from the shore and made a sign to the fish; they broke the nets and followed him. Repenting of his bad manners, the fisherman apologized, whereupon Peter made another sign to the fish, sending them back into the nets again. The records say that the monastery was ever afterwards supplied with fish.
Peter was sent as visitator to establish regular observance in the monasteries of Sicily. He was called to Florence by the pope to try healing the Greek schism. A union of the opposing groups was affected, though it did not last. Peter was offered a bishopric (and refused it) for his work in this matter.
At one time, when Peter was preaching at Catania, Mount Etna erupted and torrents of flame and lava flowed down on the city. The people cast themselves at his feet, begging him to save them. After preaching a brief and pointed sermon on repentance, Peter went into the nearby shrine of Saint Agatha, removed the veil of the saint, which was there honored as a relic, and held it towards the approaching tide of destruction. The eruption ceased and the town was saved.
This and countless other miracles he performed caused him to be revered as a saint. He raised the dead to life, healed the crippled and the blind, and brought obstinate sinners to the feet of God. Only after his death was it known how severely he had punished his own body in memory of his youthful pride (Benedictines, Dorcy).
1615 St. John Ogilvie Calvinist Scottish nobility, converted, Jesuit marytered in Glasgow
1615 BD JOHN OGILVIE, MARTYR
THE father of John Ogilvie was baron of Drum-na-Keith, lord of large territories in Banffshire and head of the younger branch of Ogilvies, whilst his mother, through whom he was connected with the Stewarts and the Douglases, was the daughter of Lady Douglas of Lochleven, Queen Mary’s gaoler. The family, like many Scottish families at that time, was partly Catholic and partly Presbyterian, but John’s father, though not unfriendly to the old faith, brought his eldest son up as a Calvinist, and as such sent him at the age of thirteen to be educated on the continent. There the lad became interested in the religious controversies which then and until a much later date were popular in France and in lands under French influence. The best Catholic and Calvinistic protagonists took part in these disputations, which profoundly influenced the intellectual world. Ere long the boy felt himself called to reconsider his position, and according to a speech ascribed to him in a Scottish version of his trial, he went to consult Italian, French and German scholars, who contrasted the unbroken faith of the Church with the novelty of the reformed doctrines and laid stress upon the unity which is character­istic of the Catholic organization alone. Confused, John withdrew himself from controversy and fastened upon two texts of Holy Scripture: “God wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”, and “Come to me, all who suffer and are laden, and I will refresh you”. He began to see that the Catholic Church could embrace all kinds of people and that in her could be found men and women of every class who could and did despise the world. These reflections and the testimony of the martyrs decided him, and it was in order to belong to the Church of these martyrs that he decided to become a Catholic and was received into the Church at the Scots College in Louvain in 1596, at the age of seventeen.

His next three years were spent in various continental educational centres. Lack of funds caused Father Crichton, the head of the Scots College, to dismiss many of his pupils, including John Ogilvie, who betook himself to the Scottish Benedictines at Ratisbon, with whom he remained six months, studying the arts and perhaps acquiring something of the Benedictine outlook, which is independent of national traditions. He next passed on to the Jesuit College at Olmütz, which he entered as a lay student, and henceforth we find him intimately connected with the Jesuits. The Society, though not much more than fifty years old, was at the height of its fame, and had attracted some of the finest minds of the age. Within a year of joining the college, John asked to be admitted to the Society, but at that very moment an outbreak of plague compelled the authorities to close the college. Not to be deterred, the young man followed the superior to Vienna, obtained his consent, and after probation was admitted a. novice at Brünn. For the next ten years he worked and trained hr Olmütz, Gratz and Vienna. To quote the words of the Rev. W. E. Brown in his Life of John Ogilvie: “During these ten years in the Austrian province of the Society of Jesus, Ogilvie was undergoing a rigorous discipline. Renaissance learning and scholastic method were combined into an intellectual training, consistent and, as far as knowledge went, complete. His spiritual life was being formed by a discipline no less severe. And all this time he was learning pre-eminently that discipline of the will which was the hall-mark of the Jesuit, which guaranteed the readiness of his obedience and his detachment from all earthly ties.”

By the express command of Aquaviva, father general of the Society, John Ogilvie came to the French province, and it was in Paris that he received priest’s orders in 1610. In France the young man was brought into contact with two Jesuits who had undertaken missionary work in Scotland, and had made expeditions thither still hoping, through the nobles, to win over King James. Both Crichton and Gordon had suffered arrest, and Gordon had spent three years in the Tower of London. It seemed to them that conditions were more unpromising than ever, and they were utterly dispirited. Therefore, when in 1611 the father general charged them to “consider the affairs of Scotland”, all they could do was to draw up a record of past failure and a declaration of the futility of any further efforts in that kingdom, in view of the tightening of the penal laws. It was at this time that Ogilvie formed the project of devoting his life to the work, and he wrote to the father general offering himself for the mission. In reply he received a stern reminder that it was for his superiors to recommend whom they would, and neither Crichton nor Gordon wished him to go. Undeterred, the young man returned to the charge, and after two and a half years of worrying and importunity received orders to proceed to Scotland.

In consequence of the strict regulations against the entry of priests into Great Britain, he travelled under the name of John Watson, and figured henceforth sometimes as a horse-dealer and sometimes as a soldier returning from the European wars. The Jesuit Moffat and a secular priest named Campbell crossed with him, but they parted at Leith and Ogilvie went north. He soon found out that the Catholic nobles on whom he had relied were only anxious to be left alone. Most of them had conformed, at least outwardly, to the established religion, and none but a very few, middle-class uninfluential families were prepared to receive a proscribed priest. We know little of his movements during the next six months. According to his own depositions, he spent six weeks in the north of Scotland and apparently wintered in Edinburgh, but he does not seem to have gained any converts or to have made much headway. Realizing this, he reverted to the methods attempted by the earlier Jesuits and went to London, where he got into touch with King James, or one of his ministers, to whom he proposed some semi-political project the details of which are lost. On the strength of this, he made a journey to Paris to consult his superior, Father Gordon, who rebuked him sharply for leaving his mission and sent him back to Scotland.

Upon his return to Edinburgh, John Ogilvie made his headquarters at the house of William Sinclair, a parliamentary advocate and a sincere Catholic. Here he met a Franciscan namesake, and the two ministered to the little congregations which met at the houses of Sinclair, John Philipps and Robert Wilkie. Ogilvie soon increased his flock and became famous for his insistence on greater devotion among Catholics. He also appears to have acted as tutor to Sinclair’s elder boy Robert, who afterwards became a Jesuit. Warming to his work, he now began to extend it in other directions, and set about visiting Catholics in prison—a risky proceeding in a place where all visitors were watched—and he even climbed to the castle and obtained leave to see old Sir James MacDonald, who recalled his ministrations in after years. During the summer months of 1614 he made some converts, and Sinclair afterwards maintained that the number was great, considering the shortness of the time. Towards the end of August he went to Glasgow, where he was harboured by a widow called Marion Walker, who ended her days in prison for the faith. She had made of her house a centre where wandering priests could celebrate Mass and hear confessions.

In Glasgow he succeeded in entering into relations with Sir John Cleland and Lady Maxwell, who were both secret Catholics, and also in reconciling to the faith several members of the Renfrewshire gentry. At the same time he was building up a congregation among the bourgeoisie. Shortly after his return to Edinburgh, news came that five other persons in Glasgow wished to be reconciled and he hurried back to Glasgow. On May 4 he celebrated Mass, one of the five would-be converts, Adam Boyd by name, being present. After the service the man said he desired instruction, and requested the priest to come at four o’clock in the afternoon to the market-cross, where a messenger would meet him and con­duct him to a safe place. Ogilvie agreed, and Boyd immediately went to Archbishop Spottiswoode, a former Presbyterian minister who was now one of the king’s most capable lieutenants, and who from his residence in Glasgow kept watch upon Catholics and Presbyterians alike. It was agreed between them that one of the archbishop’s most muscular servants, Andrew Hay, should meet Adam Boyd and Ogilvie in the market-place. At the same time Boyd denounced all those whom he suspected of having dealings with Ogilvie.

The appointment was kept, and the Jesuit arrived in the square accompanied by James Stewart, the son of the former provost, who, recognizing Hay, tried to induce Ogilvie to return home. Stewart and Hay fell into a dispute which ended in a free fight in which outsiders took part, but finally Ogilvie was borne along to the provost’s house. Thither came also Spottiswoode and his guards, and the prisoner was called upon to come forward, only to be received by a blow from the archbishop. “You are overbold, sir, to say your Masses in a reformed city” the prelate exclaimed. “You act as a hangman, sir, and not as a bishop in striking me”, was the spirited if impolitic answer he received. Immediately he was assailed by the servants and citizens, dragged by the beard, torn by men’s nails, and only saved by the personal Intervention of Lord Fleming, who happened to be present. A search was made in which he was stripped naked, but all that could be found on him was a purse of gold, another of silver, a few medicaments, a breviary and a compendium of religious controversy.

The following morning he was brought before the archbishop and the burghal court of Glasgow, and was asked, “Have you said Mass in the king’s dominions?” Knowing that this came under the criminal law the prisoner replied, “If this is a crime, it should be proved, not by my word, hit by witnesses”. Questioned as to why he had come to Scotland, he replied boldly, “I came to unteach heresy and to save souls”. In response to the query, “Do you recognize King James?” he said, “King James is de facto king of Scotland”; and when interrogated in respect to the Gunpowder Plot, he answered, “ I detest parricide and praise it not:  “patricide” being the recognized term for the assassination of a sovereign. All questions which would incriminate himself or endanger the life of others he refused to answer, and the trial dragged on until he had been without food for twenty-six hours and was trembling with fever. Then at last the judge allowed him to warm himself by the fire, but even there he was insulted by one of the archbishop’s retainers, who then proceeded to express his desire to throw the prisoner into the fire. “Your action would never be more welcome than it is now, when I am shivering with cold,” replied the priest. At last he was sent back to his cell, where he was bound by the feet to an enormous iron bar which kept him lying on his back, for he was too weak to carry it about. Spottiswoode obtained permission to use the torture of the boot, but though it was fitted to his leg, the complete process does not appear to have been carried out upon him. His misery was increased by a report, spread by his captors, to the effect that he had betrayed the names of his friends.

When it was found that neither the threat of “the boot” nor yet promises of the king’s favour if he would give way could obtain from the prisoner the betrayal of the unknown Catholics of Scotland, it was determined to deprive him of sleep and thus weaken his power of resistance. For eight days and nights he was kept from sleep by being prodded with sharp-pointed stakes, by being dragged from his couch, by shouts in his ears, by having his hair torn and by being flung upon the floor. Only because the doctors declared that another three hours would prove fatal was he allowed a day and a night’s rest before being brought up for his second examination, which took place in Edinburgh before the lords commissioners appointed by the king’s missives for his examination and trial. The charge against him was now completely changed. Ogilvie, the authorities declared, had been guilty of high treason in refusing to acknowledge the king’s jurisdiction in spiritual matters; but actually the whole object of the privy council was, not to convict him of saying Mass, or even to condemn him for asserting the papal jurisdiction in Scotland, but to discover, through him, what Scotsmen would be prepared to welcome a return to the Catholic faith. While he lay in prison, the authorities had encouraged people to visit him and had spread rumours that he had betrayed his friends, for they hoped that these, when arrested, would betray themselves and others. All the tortures he underwent were directed to the same end, and only when foiled in all their efforts to obtain from him the desired information did they press the question of the power of the pope to depose a monarch. To this—which was a moot point among the theologians of the day—the prisoner consistently replied that he would answer that question to the pope alone.

After the second trial, Ogilvie was taken back to Glasgow, where he seems to have been, at first, kindly treated. The report of his heroism in prison had gone through the length and breadth of Scotland, and even his keepers, including the archbishop, desired nothing so much as that he should recant and accept the royal supremacy. Soon, however, there came for the prisoner a questionnaire drawn up by no less a person that King James himself. To these five questions, which dealt entirely with the relations between church and state, he could only return answers which practically sealed his fate. His treatment in prison grew more rigorous. Nevertheless he still continued to write, in Latin, an account of his arrest and sub­sequent treatment and managed to transmit the pages through the crack between the door and the floor to persons who were passing outside—ostensibly on their way to visit other prisoners.

Though the gallows had been erected in readiness, there was still the show of a trial to be gone through. For the last time Father Ogilvie appeared before his judges. He was told that he was being tried, not for saying Mass, but for the answers he had given to the king’s questions. In the face of the archbishop’s offers of his patronage if he would retract his replies to the questionnaire he boldly declared, “In all that concerns the king, I will be slavishly obedient; if any attack his temporal power, I will shed my last drop of blood for him. But in the things of spiritual jurisdiction which a king unjustly seizes I cannot and must not obey.”

He was accordingly condemned for high treason and sentenced to a traitor’s death, His friend John Browne, who attended him to the end and heard his last words, asserted that even on the scaffold he was offered his freedom and a fat living if he would abjure his religion—a sure proof, if further proof were needed, that his offence was his faith and not his politics. As the ladder was removed and his body swung in the air, the crowd groaned and anathematized the cruelty and injustice of those who had done the martyr to death. The cause of John Ogilvie was not included in that of the English martyrs, but he was beatified separately, December 22, 1929; his feast is kept in Scotland and by the Society of Jesus.

See W. E. Brown, John Ogilvie (1925), which includes a translation of documents from the process of beatification; James Forbes, Jean Ogilvie, Ecossaise, Jésuite G. Antonelli, Il b. Giovanni Ogilvie (1929), with some attractive illustrations.

Born in 1569, John Ogilvie belonged to Scottish nobility. Raised a Calvinist, he was educated on the continent. Exposed to the religious controversies of his day and impressed with the faith of the martyrs, he decided to become a Catholic. In 1596, at age seventeen he was received into the Church at Louvain. Later John attended a variety of Catholic educational institutions, and eventually he sought admission into the Jesuits. He was ordained at Paris in 1610 and asked to be sent to Scotland, hoping some Catholic nobles there would aid him given his lineage. Finding none, he went to London, then back to Paris, and finally returned to Scotland. John's work was quite successful in bring back many people to the Faith. Some time later he was betrayed by one posing as a Catholic. After his arrest he was tortured in prison in an effort to get him to reveal the names of other Catholics, but he refused. After three trials, John was convicted of high treason because he converted Protestants to the Catholic Faith as well as denied the king's spiritual jurisdiction by upholding the Pope's spiritual primacy and condemning the oaths of supremacy and allegiance. Sentenced to death, the courageous priest was hanged at Glasgow in 1615 at the age of thirty-six.

John Ogilvie, SJ M (RM)  Born in Banffshire, Scotland, c. 1579; died at Glasgow, Scotland, March 10, 1615; beatified in 1929; canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1976 (the first Scottish saint since Margaret in 1250).
John Ogilvie, son of the Calvinist baron of Drum-na-Keith and Lady Douglas of Lochleven, returned to the faith of his fathers and forsook his heritage in this world as the result of a passionate course of theological studies and ardent prayers for light. The laird of Drum-na-Keith had sent his eldest son abroad so that his 13-year-old John could have the full benefit of French Calvinism as he studied for a few years at Louvain.

This is characteristic of the violent religious turmoil of the age: the boy of 15 was entirely absorbed by an interest in religion--and wanted to be clear about which faith was the 'true' one.

He himself explained later that what decided the question for him--and for me--was his experience that the Roman Catholic Church included all kinds of people--emperors and kings, princes and noblemen, as well as burghers, peasants, and beggars--but that it overtopped them all--no man was above the Church.

John had also seen that the Church could impel people of all classes to renounce the whole world to devote themselves entirely to God. And the final reason, the one which in the end led to his conversion, was his having seen that the men who gave their lives and their blood for Christ, those who had died to spread Christianity among mankind, had been martyrs for the Christianity of Rome and not for that of Geneva or Wittenberg.

At the age of 17 (1596), John Ogilvie returned to Catholicism, because he wished to belong to the Church of the martyrs. Twenty years later, he himself suffered the death of a martyr.

After his reception into the Catholic church at the Scots College at Louvain, John continued his studies at Ratisbon (Regensburg) and Olmütz. In 1600, he joined the Jesuit novitiate at Brünn (Brno), where he enjoyed the Jesuit education in the liberal arts and sciences as well as religious studies and spiritual formation. For ten years he worked in Austria, mainly at Graz and Vienna, before he was assigned to the French province. Ogilvie was ordained at Paris in 1610 and stationed in Rouen, where he learned of the persecution of Catholics in his homeland. In 1613 received permission to go to Scotland to minister to the persecuted Catholics there.

Using the alias John Watson, purportedly a horse trader and/or a soldier back from the wars in Europe, he worked in Edinburgh, Renfrew, and Glasgow. He found that most of the Scottish Catholic noblemen had conformed, at least outwardly, and were unwilling to help a proscribed priest. Unable to make much of an impression, he went to London to contact one of the king's ministers and then to Paris for consultation. He was sharply told to return to Scotland, which he did.

In Edinburgh Ogilvie stayed at the house of William Sinclair, a lawyer whose son he tutored. He ministered to a congregation and visited imprisoned Catholics. Eventually Ogilvie was successful in winning back a number of converts to the Church. Soon he attracted the attention of Archbishop Spottiswoode, once a Presbyterian but now carrying out in Scotland the religious policies of James I and VI.

He was betrayed by a man named Adam Boyd, who trapped him by pretending to be interested in the faith. He was imprisoned, treated to the French torture of "the boot," and forcibly kept from sleep for eight days to compel him to reveal the names of other Catholics--which he refused. Steadfastly, he remained loyal to the crown in temporal matters. After months of torture he was found guilty of high treason for refusing to acknowledge the supremacy of the king in spiritual matters and for refusing to apostatize. He managed to write an account of his arrest and treatment in prison, which was smuggled out by visitors.

When Saint John appeared in court at Edinburgh in December 1613, he questioned why Catholics were persecuted. He claimed the right to the faith that had not only shown itself compatible with the order of society, but had been the main factor in the creation of that order and in the birth of the nation. He said, "Neither Francis [of France] has forbidden France, nor does Philip [of Spain] burn for religion but for heresy, which is not religion but rebellion."

Heir of Drum-na-Keith, who had forsaken his family, his home, and his estate to become a Jesuit and a priest, says to Spottiswoode and the other reformed clergymen who owed their position and all they possessed to the favor of King James:

"The King cannot forbid me my own country, since I am just as much a natural subject as the King himself. . . . What more do we owe him than our ancestors to his ancestors? If he has all his right to reign from his ancestors, why does he ask for more than they have left him by right of inheritance? They have never had any spiritual jurisdiction, nor have they ever exercised any; nor held any other faith than the Roman Catholic."
Finally, John Ogilvie was hanged at Glasgow (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Farmer, Moore, Undset).
1857 St. Dominic Savio  heaven is opening just above me; peacemaker, organizer, joined St. John Bosco as a student
b. 1842  So many holy persons seem to die young. Among them was Dominic Savio, the patron of choirboys.
Born into a peasant family at Riva, Italy, young Dominic joined St. John Bosco as a student at the Oratory in Turin at the age of 12. He impressed John with his desire to be a priest and to help him in his work with neglected boys. A peacemaker and an organizer, young Dominic founded a group he called the Company of the Immaculate Conception which, besides being devotional, aided John Bosco with the boys and with manual work. All the members save one, Dominic, would in 1859 join John in the beginnings of his Salesian congregation. By that time, Dominic had been called home to heaven.

As a youth, Dominic spent hours rapt in prayer. His raptures he called "my distractions." Even in play, he said that at times "It seems heaven is opening just above me. I am afraid I may say or do something that will make the other boys laugh." Dominic would say, "I can't do big things. But I want all I do, even the smallest thing, to be for the greater glory of God."

Dominic's health, always frail, led to lung problems and he was sent home to recuperate. As was the custom of the day, he was bled in the thought that this would help, but it only worsened his condition. He died on March 9, 1857, after receiving the Last Sacraments. St. John Bosco himself wrote the account of his life.

Some thought that Dominic was too young to be considered a saint. St. Pius X declared that just the opposite was true, and went ahead with his cause. Dominic was canonized in 1954.

Comment: Like many a youngster, Dominic was painfully aware that he was different from his peers. He tried to keep his piety from his friends lest he have to endure their laughter. Even after his death, his youth marked him as a misfit among the saints and some argued that he was too young to be canonized. Pius X wisely disagreed. For no one is too young—or too old or too anything else—to achieve the holiness to which we are all called.

Saint Marie-Eugénie de Jésus (25 August 1817 – 10 March 1898), born Anne-Eugénie Milleret de Brou, was a French Roman Catholic professed religious and the foundress of the Religious of the Assumption.  Her life was not geared towards faith in her childhood until the reception of her First Communion which seemed to transform her into a pious and discerning individual; she likewise experienced a sudden conversion after hearing a sermon that led her to found an order dedicated to the education of the poor. However, her religious life was not without its own set of trials, for complications prevented her order from receiving full pontifical approval due to a select few causing problems as well as the deaths of many followers from tuberculosis in the beginning of the order's life.
Her beatification was celebrated under Pope Paul VI in 1975 while her canonization was later celebrated on 3 June 2007 under Pope Benedict XVI.

Anne-Eugénie Milleret de Brou was born during the night of 25 August 1817 in Metz as one of five children (three males and two females) to Jacques Milleret and Eleonore-Eugénie de Brou. Her baptism was celebrated on 5 October. Her father was a follower of Voltaire and a liberal which often put him into conflict with his diminishing faith. He made his fortune from banking and politics.[4][5] Her parents met in Luxembourg when her father was 19 and her mother 22; the two married soon after.[5] In 1822 her brother Charles (1813-1822) died and her little sister Elizabeth died in 1823. She had two older brothers, Eugene (b. 1802) and Louis (b. 1815-16).[citation needed] One distant ancestor was the Italian condottieri Miglioretti who served Francis I.

Young Milleret de Brou grew up in a chateau in the suburb of Priesch north of Paris. When she was 13, her father lost all his money and the family estate. Her parents separated in 1830 as a result of her father's financial misfortunes, and she moved to Paris with her mother while her brother Louis moved with their father. Milleret de Brou had a deep concern for the poor and tended to poor families; she often accompanied her mother visiting those poor families in need.[2][4][5]

Milleret de Brou's mother died of cholera in 1832, after a short period of illness, and she spent the remainder of her teens between two sets of relations. On one side she found her family concerned with material pleasures, while the other demonstrated a narrow spirit of piousness. Separated from the brother who had been her main companion as a child, she wondered about life and how to live out the spirit of faith and justice that her mother had taught her. In 1825 she made a pilgrimage to the shrine of Sainte-Anne d'Auray where she felt called to found a religious order dedicated to educating the poor.[2] On 25 December 1829, Christmas day, she took her First Communion and it proved to be a life-changing experience for her. Through the reception of this sacrament she experienced the presence of God - a profound spiritual moment - which proved to be one about which she would refer to the rest of her life.[2][6]

During Lent in 1836 Milleret de Brou was invited to listen to a series of lectures at the Notre Dame cathedral at 10:00am which the then-Abbé Lacordaire, a famous preacher and social commentator, gave. His preaching lead her to have a profound conversion experience, and she became passionate about the messages from the Gospel and thus a dedicated servant to God.[4][5] In July 1837 she returned to her father and brother whom she had not seen since her parents separated; she announced to them that she wanted to become a religious sister and she was heartbroken that her father and brother Louis found this dream incomprehensible.[6]

The now-revitalized girl went to confession with the Abbé Théodore Combalot hearing her. The priest told her that he was looking for someone to help him found a religious order devoted to the Blessed Mother and the education of the poor. He believed that she would be such a founder capable of seeing out his vision. This happed after she made a brief novitiate with the Sisters of the Visitation on 15 August 1838 before leaving.[2][5]

On 30 April 1839 Milleret de Brou founded the Religious of the Assumption with four companions. The congregation began in a small apartment on the Rue Ferou in Paris and celebrated their first Mass together as a religious congregation on 9 November 1839.[4] In March 1841 she was made the Superior of the order and held the position until she resigned due to ill health in 1894. On 14 August 1841 she made her initial vows and then made her perpetual profession on 25 December 1844.

In May 1866 Marie-Eugénie de Jésus set off for Rome and visited the tomb of Saint Peter before setting off to visit the catacombs and other Roman churches, and then attending Mass in the room where Saint Ignatius of Loyola died. On 31 May she had a private audience with Pope Pius IX. Marie-Eugénie de Jésus returned to Rome where on 11 April 1888 Pope Leo XIII issued pontifical approval to her order and signed the decree in her presence.[6][2]

In 1893, Marie-Eugénie de Jésus returned to Rome and met Leo XIII again. In 1894 she attempted to return to Rome but had to stop in Genoa due to falling ill en route. In late 1894 she visited Madrid and San Sebastián. In March 1895 she went with her nurse Sister Marie Michel to Rome and made stops along the train to Montpellier and Nice as well as to Cannes and Genoa; she returned to France three months later.[6]

The aging nun suffered a small stroke in October 1897 which caused her speech to slow; her legs began to grow frail and movement became more difficult over time.[6] Marie-Eugénie de Jésus died on 10 March 1898 at 3:00am; she received the Viaticum on 9 March and received the Last Rites on 13 February when it seemed she would die despite her bouncing back from that scare. The Cardinal Archbishop of Reims Benoît-Marie Langénieux celebrated her funeral on 12 March. By 2007 her order had 1300 followers from 44 different nationalities, operating in 34 countries on four continents.[4]





THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 281

Have mercy on me, O Lady: for thou art called the Mother of Mercy.

And according to thy mercy: cleanse me from all my iniquities.

Pour forth thy grace upon me: and withdraw not from me thine accustomed clemency.

For I will confess my sins to thee: and I will accuse myself of all my crimes before thee.

Reconcile me to the Fruit of thy womb: and make peace for me with Him who has created me.

Let every spirit praise Our Lady

Rejoice, ye Heavens, and be glad, O Earth: because Mary will console her servants and will have mercy on her poor.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost as it was in the beginning and will always be.

God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique, for each is the result of a new idea.  As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike. It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints. Dear Lord, grant us a spirit that is not bound by our own ideas and preferences.  Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves.
O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory. Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.  Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.   God calls each one of us to be a saint in order to get into heavenonly saints are allowed into heaven. The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.
There are over 10,000 named saints beati  from history
 and Roman Martyology Orthodox sources

Patron_Saints.html  Widowed_Saints htmIndulgences The Catholic Church in China
LINKS: Marian Shrines  
India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes 1858  China Marian shrines 1995
Kenya national Marian shrine  Loreto, Italy  Marian Apparitions (over 2000Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798
 
Links to Related MarianWebsites  Angels and Archangels  Saints Visions of Heaven and Hell

Widowed Saints  html
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  UniateChalcedon

Mary the Mother of Jesus Miracles_BLay Saints  Miraculous_IconMiraculous_Medal_Novena Patron Saints
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1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800   1900 Lay Saints

The great psalm of the Passion, Chapter 22, whose first verse “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Jesus pronounced on the cross, ended with the vision: “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations shall worship before him
For kingship belongs to the LORD, the ruler over the nations. All who sleep in the earth will bow low before God; All who have gone down into the dust will kneel in homage. And I will live for the LORD; my descendants will serve you. The generation to come will be told of the Lord, that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn the deliverance you have brought.
Pope Benedict XVI to The Catholic Church In China {whole article here} 2000 years of the Catholic Church in China
The saints “a cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.

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Saint Frances Xavier Seelos  Practical Guide to Holiness
1. Go to Mass with deepest devotion. 2. Spend a half hour to reflect upon your main failing & make resolutions to avoid it.
3. Do daily spiritual reading for at least 15 minutes, if a half hour is not possible.  4. Say the rosary every day.
5. Also daily, if at all possible, visit the Blessed Sacrament; toward evening, meditate on the Passion of Christ for a half hour, 6.  Conclude the day with evening prayer & an examination of conscience over all the faults & sins of the day.
7.  Every month make a review of the month in confession.
8. Choose a special patron every month & imitate that patron in some special virtue.
9. Precede every great feast with a novena that is nine days of devotion. 10. Try to begin & end every activity with a Hail Mary

My God, I believe, I adore, I trust and I love Thee.  I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not
O most Holy trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly.  I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the Tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended, and by the infite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  I beg the conversion of poor sinners,  Fatima Prayer, Angel of Peace
The voice of the Father is heard, the Son enters the water, and the Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove.
THE spirit and example of the world imperceptibly instil the error into the minds of many that there is a kind of middle way of going to Heaven; and so, because the world does not live up to the gospel, they bring the gospel down to the level of the world. It is not by this example that we are to measure the Christian rule, but words and life of Christ. All His followers are commanded to labour to become perfect even as our heavenly Father is perfect, and to bear His image in our hearts that we may be His children. We are obliged by the gospel to die to ourselves by fighting self-love in our hearts, by the mastery of our passions, by taking on the spirit of our Lord.
   These are the conditions under which Christ makes His promises and numbers us among His children, as is manifest from His words which the apostles have left us in their inspired writings. Here is no distinction made or foreseen between the apostles or clergy or religious and secular persons. The former, indeed, take upon themselves certain stricter obligations, as a means of accomplishing these ends more perfectly; but the law of holiness and of disengagement of the heart from the world is general and binds all the followers of Christ.
God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique each the result of a new idea.
As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike.
It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints.

Dear Lord, grant us a spirit not bound by our own ideas and preferences.
 
Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves.

O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory.
 
Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.
Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.
The 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary ) Revealed to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan)
1.    Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces. 2.    I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary. 3.    The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies. 4.    It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things.  Oh, that soul would sanctify them by this means.  5.    The soul that recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish. 6.    Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying themselves to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune.  God will not chastise them in His justice, they shall not perish by an unprovided death; if they be just, they shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life. 7.    Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church. 8.    Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise. 9.    I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary. 10.    The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.  11.    You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary. 12.    I shall aid all those who propagate the Holy Rosary in their necessities. 13.    I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death. 14.    All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ. 15.    Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
His Holiness Aram I, current (2013) Catholicos of Cilicia of Armenians, whose See is located in Lebanese town of Antelias. The Catholicosate was founded in Sis, capital of Cilicia, in the year 1441 following the move of the Catholicosate of All Armenians back to its original See of Etchmiadzin in Armenia. The Catholicosate of Cilicia enjoyed local jurisdiction, though spiritually subject to the authority of Etchmiadzin. In 1921 the See was transferred to Aleppo in Syria, and in 1930 to Antelias.
Its jurisdiction currently extends to Syria, Cyprus, Iran and Greece.
Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac
The exact date of the introduction of Christianity into Edessa {Armenian Ourhaï in Arabic Er Roha, commonly Orfa or Urfa, its present name} is not known. It is certain, however, that the Christian community was at first made up from the Jewish population of the city. According to an ancient legend, King Abgar V, Ushana, was converted by Addai, who was one of the seventy-two disciples. In fact, however, the first King of Edessa to embrace the Christian Faith was Abgar IX (c. 206) becoming official kingdom religion.
Christian council held at Edessa early as 197 (Eusebius, Hist. Ecc7V,xxiii).
In 201 the city was devastated by a great flood, and the Christian church was destroyed (“Chronicon Edessenum”, ad. an. 201).
In 232 the relics of the Apostle St. Thomas were brought from India, on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written.

Under Roman domination martyrs suffered at Edessa: Sts. Scharbîl and Barsamya, under Decius; Sts. Gûrja, Schâmôna, Habib, and others under Diocletian.
 
In the meanwhile Christian priests from Edessa evangelized Eastern Mesopotamia and Persia, established the first Churches in the kingdom of the Sassanides.  Atillâtiâ, Bishop of Edessa, assisted at the Council of Nicæa (325). The “Peregrinatio Silviæ” (or Etheriæ) (ed. Gamurrini, Rome, 1887, 62 sqq.) gives an account of the many sanctuaries at Edessa about 388.
Although Hebrew had been the language of the ancient Israelite kingdom, after their return from Exile the Jews turned more and more to Aramaic, using it for parts of the books of Ezra and Daniel in the Bible. By the time of Jesus, Aramaic was the main language of Palestine, and quite a number of texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls are also written in Aramaic.
Aramaic continued to be an important language for Jews, alongside Hebrew, and parts of the Talmud are written in it.
After Arab conquests of the seventh century, Arabic quickly replaced Aramaic as the main language of those who converted to Islam, although in out of the way places, Aramaic continued as a vernacular language of Muslims.
Aramaic, however, enjoyed its greatest success in Christianity. Although the New Testament wins written in Greek, Christianity had come into existence in an Aramaic-speaking milieu, and it was the Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac, that became the literary language of a large number of Christians living in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire and in the Persian Empire, further east. Over the course of the centuries the influence of the Syriac Churches spread eastwards to China (in Xian, in western China, a Chinese-Syriac inscription dated 781 is still to be seen); to southern India where the state of Kerala can boast more Christians of Syriac liturgical tradition than anywhere else in the world.

680 Shiite saint Imam Hussein, grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad Known as Ashoura and observed by Shiites across the world, the 10th day of the lunar Muslim month of Muharram: the anniversary of the 7th century death in battle of one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints.  Imam Hussein died in the 680 A.D. battle fought on the plains outside Karbala, a city in modern Iraq that's home to the saint's shrine.  The battle over a dispute about the leadership of the Muslim faith following Muhammad's death in 632 A.D. It is the defining event in Islam's split into Sunni and Shiite branches.  The occasion is the source of an enduring moral lesson. "He sacrificed his blood to teach us not to give in to corruption, coercion, or use of force and to seek honor and justice."  According to Shiite beliefs, Hussein and companions were denied water by enemies who controlled the nearby Euphrates.  Streets get partially covered with blood from slaughter of hundreds of cows and sheep. Volunteers cook the meat and feed it to the poor.  Hussein's martyrdom recounted through a rich body of prose, poetry and song remains an inspirational example of sacrifice to many Shiites, 10 percent of the world's estimated 1.3 billion Muslims.
Meeting of the Saints  walis (saints of Allah)
Great men covet to embrace martyrdom for a cause and principle.
So was the case with Hazrat Ali. He could have made a compromise with the evil forces of his time and, as a result, could have led a very comfortable, easy and luxurious life.  But he was not a person who would succumb to such temptations. His upbringing, his education and his training in the lap of the holy Prophet made him refuse such an offer.
Rabia Al-Basri (717–801 C.E.) She was first to set forth the doctrine of mystical love and who is widely considered to be the most important of the early Sufi poets. An elderly Shia pointed out that during his pre-Partition childhood it was quite common to find pictures and portraits of Shia icons in Imambaras across the country.
Shah Abdul Latif: The Exalted Sufi Master born 1690 in a Syed family; died 1754. In ancient times, Sindh housed the exemplary Indus Valley Civilisation with Moenjo Daro as its capital, and now, it is the land of a culture which evolved from the teachings of eminent Sufi saints. Pakistan is home to the mortal remains of many Sufi saints, the exalted among them being Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, a practitioner of the real Islam, philosopher, poet, musicologist and preacher. He presented his teaching through poetry and music - both instruments sublime - and commands a very large following, not only among Muslims but also among Hindus and Christians. Sindh culture: The Shah is synonymous with Sindh. He is the very fountainhead of Sindh's culture. His message remains as fresh as that of any present day poet, and the people of Sindh find solace from his writings. He did indeed think for Sindh. One of his prayers, in exquisite Sindhi, translates thus: “Oh God, may ever You on Sindh bestow abundance rare! Beloved! All the world let share Thy grace, and fruitful be.”
Shia Ali al-Hadi, died 868 and son Hassan al-Askari 874. These saints are the 10th and 11th of Shia's 12 most revered Imams. Baba Farid Sufi 1398 miracle, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki renowned Muslim Sufi saint scholar miracles 569 A.H. [1173 C.E.] hermit gave to poor, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti greatest mystic of his time born 533 Hijri (1138-39 A.D.), Hazrat Ghuas-e Azam, Hazrat Bu Ali Sharif, and Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia Sufi Saint Hazrath Khwaja Syed Mohammed Badshah Quadri Chisty Yamani Quadeer (RA)
1236-1325 welcomed people of all faiths & all walks of life.
801 Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya Sufi One of the most famous Islamic mystics
(b. 717). This 8th century saint was an early Sufi who had a profound influence on later Sufis, who in turn deeply influenced the European mystical love and troubadour traditions.  Rabi'a was a woman of Basra, a seaport in southern Iraq.  She was born around 717 and died in 801 (185-186).  Her biographer, the great medieval poet Attar, tells us that she was "on fire with love and longing" and that men accepted her "as a second spotless Mary" (186).  She was, he continues, “an unquestioned authority to her contemporaries" (218).
Rabi'a began her ascetic life in a small desert cell near Basra, where she lost herself in prayer and went straight to God for teaching.  As far as is known, she never studied under any master or spiritual director.  She was one of the first of the Sufis to teach that Love alone was the guide on the mystic path (222).  A later Sufi taught that there were two classes of "true believers": one class sought a master as an intermediary between them and God -- unless they could see the footsteps of the Prophet on the path before them, they would not accept the path as valid.  The second class “...did not look before them for the footprint of any of God's creatures, for they had removed all thought of what He had created from their hearts, and concerned themselves solely with God. (218)
Rabi'a was of this second kind.  She felt no reverence even for the House of God in Mecca:  "It is the Lord of the house Whom I need; what have I to do with the house?" (219) One lovely spring morning a friend asked her to come outside to see the works of God.  She replied, "Come you inside that you may behold their Maker.  Contemplation of the Maker has turned me aside from what He has made" (219).  During an illness, a friend asked this woman if she desired anything.
"...[H]ow can you ask me such a question as 'What do I desire?'  I swear by the glory of God that for twelve years I have desired fresh dates, and you know that in Basra dates are plentiful, and I have not yet tasted them.  I am a servant (of God), and what has a servant to do with desire?" (162)
When a male friend once suggested she should pray for relief from a debilitating illness, she said,
"O Sufyan, do you not know Who it is that wills this suffering for me?  Is it not God Who wills it?  When you know this, why do you bid me ask for what is contrary to His will?  It is not  well to oppose one's Beloved." (221)
She was an ascetic.  It was her custom to pray all night, sleep briefly just before dawn, and then rise again just as dawn "tinged the sky with gold" (187).  She lived in celibacy and poverty, having renounced the world.  A friend visited her in old age and found that all she owned were a reed mat, screen, a pottery jug, and a bed of felt which doubled as her prayer-rug (186), for where she prayed all night, she also slept briefly in the pre-dawn chill.  Once her friends offered to get her a servant; she replied,
"I should be ashamed to ask for the things of this world from Him to Whom the world belongs, and how should I ask for them from those to whom it does not belong?"  (186-7)
A wealthy merchant once wanted to give her a purse of gold.  She refused it, saying that God, who sustains even those who dishonor Him, would surely sustain her, "whose soul is overflowing with love" for Him.  And she added an ethical concern as well:
"...How should I take the wealth of someone of whom I do not know whether he acquired it lawfully or not?" (187)
She taught that repentance was a gift from God because no one could repent unless God had already accepted him and given him this gift of repentance.  She taught that sinners must fear the punishment they deserved for their sins, but she also offered such sinners far more hope of Paradise than most other ascetics did.  For herself, she held to a higher ideal, worshipping God neither from fear of Hell nor from hope of Paradise, for she saw such self-interest as unworthy of God's servants; emotions like fear and hope were like veils -- i.e., hindrances to the vision of God Himself.  The story is told that once a number of Sufis saw her hurrying on her way with water in one hand and a burning torch in the other.  When they asked her to explain, she said:
"I am going to light a fire in Paradise and to pour water on to Hell, so that both veils may vanish altogether from before the pilgrims and their purpose may be sure..." (187-188)
She was once asked where she came from.  "From that other world," she said.  "And where are you going?" she was asked.  "To that other world," she replied (219).  She taught that the spirit originated with God in "that other world" and had to return to Him in the end.  Yet if the soul were sufficiently purified, even on earth, it could look upon God unveiled in all His glory and unite with him in love.  In this quest, logic and reason were powerless.  Instead, she speaks of the "eye" of her heart which alone could apprehend Him and His mysteries (220).
Above all, she was a lover, a bhakti, like one of Krishna’s Goptis in the Hindu tradition.  Her hours of prayer were not so much devoted to intercession as to communion with her Beloved.  Through this communion, she could discover His will for her.  Many of her prayers have come down to us:
       "I have made Thee the Companion of my heart,
        But my body is available for those who seek its company,
        And my body is friendly towards its guests,
        But the Beloved of my heart is the Guest of my soul."  [224]

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Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey  Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament
Colombia was among the countries Mother Angelica visited. 
In Bogotá, a Salesian priest - Father Juan Pablo Rodriguez - brought Mother and the nuns to the Sanctuary of the Divine Infant Jesus to attend Mass.  After Mass, Father Juan Pablo took them into a small Shrine which housed the miraculous statue of the Child Jesus. Mother Angelica stood praying at the side of the statue when suddenly the miraculous image came alive and turned towards her.  Then the Child Jesus spoke with the voice of a young boy:  “Build Me a Temple and I will help those who help you.” 

Thus began a great adventure that would eventually result in the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, a Temple dedicated to the Divine Child Jesus, a place of refuge for all. Use this link to read a remarkable story about
The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament
Father Reardon, Editor of The Catholic Bulletin for 14 years Lover of the poor; A very Holy Man of God.
Monsignor Reardon Protonotarius Apostolicus
 
Pastor 42 years BASILICA OF SAINT MARY Minneapolis MN
America's First Basilica Largest Nave in the World
August 7, 1907-ground broke for the foundation
by Archbishop Ireland-laying cornerstone May 31, 1908
James M. Reardon Publication History of Basilica of Saint Mary 1600-1932
James M. Reardon Publication  History of the Basilica of Saint Mary 1955 {update}

Brief History of our Beloved Holy Priest Here and his published books of Catholic History in North America
Reardon, J.M. Archbishop Ireland; Prelate, Patriot, Publicist, 1838-1918.
A Memoir (St. Paul; 1919); George Anthony Belcourt Pioneer Catholic Missionary of the Northwest 1803-1874 (1955);
The Catholic Church IN THE DIOCESE OF ST. PAUL from earliest origin to centennial achievement
1362-1950 (1952);

The Church of Saint Mary of Saint Paul 1875-1922;
  (1932)
The Vikings in the American Heartland;
The Catholic Total Abstinence Society in Minnesota;
James Michael Reardon Born in Nova Scotia, 1872;  Priest, ordained by Bishop Ireland;
Member -- St. Paul Seminary faculty.
Affiliations and Indulgence Litany of Loretto in Stained glass windows here.  Nave Sacristy and Residence Here
Sanctuary
spaces between them filled with grilles of hand-forged wrought iron the
life of our Blessed Lady After the crucifixon
Apostle statues Replicas of those in St John Lateran--Christendom's earliest Basilica.
Ordered by Rome's first Christian Emperor, Constantine the Great, Popes' cathedral and official residence first millennium of Christian history.

The only replicas ever made:  in order from west to east {1932}.
Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel
 
It Makes No Sense
Not To Believe In GOD
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi
  June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.
By Father John Corapi
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi
  June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.
By Father John Corapi
Among the most important titles we have in the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of the most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom. The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7 (date of feast of Our Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for the Christian forces against the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope Pius V led a procession around St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral leadership in recognizing the danger posed to Christendom by the radical Muslim forces, and in using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles require spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that had its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.

Today we have a similar spiritual battle in progress—a battle between the forces of good and evil, light and darkness, truth and lies, life and death. If we do not soon stop the genocide of abortion in the United States, we shall run the course of all those that prove by their actions that they are enemies of God—total collapse, economic, social, and national. The moral demise of a nation results in the ultimate demise of a nation. God is not a disinterested spectator to the affairs of man. Life begins at conception. This is an unalterable formal teaching of the Catholic Church. If you do not accept this you are a heretic in plain English. A single abortion is homicide. The more than 48,000,000 abortions since Roe v. Wade in the United States constitute genocide by definition. The group singled out for death—unwanted, unborn children.

No other issue, not all other issues taken together, can constitute a proportionate reason for voting for candidates that intend to preserve and defend this holocaust of innocent human life that is abortion.

As we watch the spectacle of the world seeming to self-destruct before our eyes, we can’t help but be saddened and even frightened by so much evil run rampant. Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Somalia, North Korea—It is all a disaster of epic proportions displayed in living color on our television screens.  These are not ordinary times and this is not business as usual. We are at a crossroads in human history and the time for Catholics and all Christians to act is now. All evil can ultimately be traced to its origin, which is moral evil. All of the political action, peace talks, international peacekeeping forces, etc. will avail nothing if the underlying sickness is not addressed. This is sin. One person at a time hearts and minds must be moved from evil to good, from lies to truth, from violence to peace.
Islam, an Arabic word that has often been defined as “to make peace,” seems like a living contradiction today. Islam is a religion of peace.  As we celebrate the birthday of Our Lady, I am proposing that each one of us pray the Rosary for peace. Prayer is what must precede all other activity if that activity is to have any chance of success. Pray for peace, pray the Rosary every day without fail.  There is a great love for Mary among Muslim people. It is not a coincidence that a little village named Fatima is where God chose to have His Mother appear in the twentieth century. Our Lady’s name appears no less than thirty times in the Koran. No other woman’s name is mentioned, not even that of Mohammed’s daughter, Fatima. In the Koran Our Lady is described as “Virgin, ever Virgin.”

Archbishop Fulton Sheen prophetically spoke of the resurgence of Islam in our day. He said it would be through the Blessed Virgin Mary that Islam would be converted. We must pray for this to happen quickly if we are to avert a horrible time of suffering for this poor, sinful world. Turn to our Mother in this time of great peril. Pray the Rosary every day. Then, and only then will there be peace, when the hearts and minds of men are changed from the inside.
Talk is weak. Prayer is strong. Pray!  God bless you, Father John Corapi

Father Corapi's Biography

Father John Corapi is what has commonly been called a late vocation. In other words, he came to the priesthood other than a young man. He was 44 years old when he was ordained. From small town boy to the Vietnam era US Army, from successful businessman in Las Vegas and Hollywood to drug addicted and homeless, to religious life and ordination to the priesthood by Pope John Paul II, to a life as a preacher of the Gospel who has reached millions with the simple message that God's Name is Mercy!

Father Corapi's academic credentials are quite extensive. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Pace University in the seventies. Then as an older man returned to the university classrooms in preparation for his life as a priest and preacher. He received all of his academic credentials for the Church with honors: a Masters degree in Sacred Scripture from Holy Apostles Seminary and Bachelor, Licentiate, and Doctorate degrees in dogmatic theology from the University of Navarre in Spain.

Father John Corapi goes to the heart of the contemporary world's many woes and wars, whether the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, or the Congo, or the natural disasters that seem to be increasing every year, the moral and spiritual war is at the basis of everything. “Our battle is not against human forces,” St. Paul asserts, “but against principalities and powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness...” (Ephesians 6:12). 
The “War to end all wars” is the moral and spiritual combat that rages in the hearts and minds of human beings. The outcome of that  unseen fight largely determines how the battle in the realm of the seen unfolds.  The title talk, “With the Moon Under Her Feet,” is taken from the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation, and deals with the current threat to the world from radical Islam, and the Blessed Virgin Mary's role in the ultimate victory that will result in the conversion of Islam. Few Catholics are aware of the connection between Islam, Fatima, and Guadalupe. Presented in Father Corapi's straight-forward style, you will be both inspired and educated by him.

About Father John Corapi.
Father Corapi is a Catholic priest .
The pillars of father's preaching are basically:
Love for and a relationship with the Blessed Virgin Mary 
Leading a vibrant and loving relationship with Jesus Christ
Great love and reverence for the Most Holy Eucharist from Holy Mass to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
An uncompromising love for and obedience to the Holy Father and the teaching of the Magisterium of the Church


God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


Records on life of Father Flanagan, founder of Boys Town, presented at Vatican
Jul 23, 2019 - 03:01 am .- The cause for canonization of Servant of God Edward Flanagan, the priest who founded Nebraska's Boys Town community for orphans and other boys, advanced Monday with the presentation of a summary of records on his life.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen to be beatified
Jul 6, 2019 - 04:00 am .- Pope Francis approved the miracle attributed to Archbishop Fulton Sheen Friday, making possible the American television catechist's beatification.

Brooklyn diocese advances sainthood cause of local priest
Jun 25, 2019 - 03:01 am .- The Bishop of Brooklyn accepted last week the findings of a nine-year diocesan investigation into the life of Monsignor Bernard John Quinn, known for fighting bigotry and serving the African American population, as part of his cause for canonization.

Fr. Augustus Tolton, former African American slave, advances toward sainthood
Jun 12, 2019 - 05:03 am .- Fr. Augustus Tolton advanced along the path to sainthood Wednesday, making the runaway slave-turned-priest one step closer to being the first black American saint.

Pope Francis will beatify these martyred Greek-Catholic bishops in Romania
May 30, 2019 - 03:01 pm .- On Sunday in Blaj, Pope Francis will beatify seven Greek-Catholic bishops of Romania who were killed by the communist regime between 1950 and 1970.
 
Woman who served Brazil’s poorest to be canonized
May 14, 2019 - 06:53 am .- Pope Francis Tuesday gave his approval for eight sainthood causes to proceed, including that of Bl. Dulce Lopes Pontes, a 20th-century religious sister who served Brazil’s poor.

Seven 20th-century Romanian bishops declared martyrs
Mar 19, 2019 - 12:01 pm .- Pope Francis declared Tuesday the martyrdom of seven Greek-Catholic bishops killed by the communist regime in Romania in the mid-20th century.

Pope advances sainthood causes of 17 women
Jan 15, 2019 - 11:12 am .- Pope Francis approved Tuesday the next step in the canonization causes of 17 women from four countries, including the martyrdom of 14 religious sisters killed in Spain at the start of the Spanish Civil War.
 
Nineteen Algerian martyrs beatified
Dec 10, 2018 - 03:08 pm .- Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, were beatified Saturday during a Mass in Oran.

The Algerian martyrs shed their blood for Christ, pope says
Dec 7, 2018 - 10:02 am .- Ahead of the beatification Saturday of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, Pope Francis said martyrs have a special place in the Church.
Algerian martyrs are models for the Church, archbishop says
Nov 16, 2018 - 03:01 am .- Archbishop Paul Desfarges of Algiers has said that Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, are “models for our lives as disciples today and tomorrow.”
 
Francesco Spinelli to be canonized after healing of a newborn in DR Congo
Oct 9, 2018 - 05:01 pm .- Among those being canonized on Sunday are Fr. Franceso Spinelli, a diocesan priest through whose intercession a newborn was saved from death in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Algerian martyrs to be beatified in December
Sep 14, 2018 - 06:01 pm .- The Algerian bishops' conference has announced that the beatification of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in the country between 1994 and 1996, will be held Dec. 8.

Now a cardinal, Giovanni Angelo Becciu heads to congregation for saints' causes
Jun 28, 2018 - 11:41 am .- Newly-minted Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu will resign from his post as substitute of the Secretariat of State tomorrow, in anticipation of his appointment as prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints later this summer.

Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under ‘offering of life’
Jul 11, 2017 - 06:22 am .- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called “offering of life” – in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor.
 
Twentieth century Polish nurse among causes advancing toward sainthood
Jul 7, 2017 - 06:14 am .- Pope Francis on Friday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Hanna Chrzanowska, a Polish nurse and nursing instructor who died from cancer in 1973, paving the way for her beatification.
 
Sainthood causes advance, including layman who resisted fascism
Jun 17, 2017 - 09:22 am .- Pope Francis on Friday recognized the heroic virtue of six persons on the path to canonization, as well as the martyrdom of an Italian man who died from injuries of a beating he received while imprisoned in a concentration camp for resisting fascism.
 
Solanus Casey, Cardinal Van Thuan among those advanced toward sainthood
May 4, 2017 - 10:47 am .- Pope Francis on Thursday approved decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints advancing the causes for canonization of 12 individuals, including the American-born Capuchin Solanus Casey and the Vietnamese cardinal Francis Xavier Nguen Van Thuan.
 
Pope clears way for canonization of Fatima visionaries
Mar 23, 2017 - 06:44 am .- On Thursday Pope Francis approved the second and final miracle needed to canonize Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the shepherd children who witnessed the Fatima Marian apparitions.
Surgeon and father among sainthood causes moving forward
Feb 27, 2017 - 11:03 am .- Pope Francis recognized on Monday the heroic virtue of eight persons on the path to canonization, including an Italian surgeon and father of eight who suffered from several painful diseases throughout his life.

Records on life of Father Flanagan, founder of Boys Town, presented at Vatican
Jul 23, 2019 - 03:01 am .- The cause for canonization of Servant of God Edward Flanagan, the priest who founded Nebraska's Boys Town community for orphans and other boys, advanced Monday with the presentation of a summary of records on his life.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen to be beatified
Jul 6, 2019 - 04:00 am .- Pope Francis approved the miracle attributed to Archbishop Fulton Sheen Friday, making possible the American television catechist's beatification.

Brooklyn diocese advances sainthood cause of local priest
Jun 25, 2019 - 03:01 am .- The Bishop of Brooklyn accepted last week the findings of a nine-year diocesan investigation into the life of Monsignor Bernard John Quinn, known for fighting bigotry and serving the African American population, as part of his cause for canonization.

Fr. Augustus Tolton, former African American slave, advances toward sainthood
Jun 12, 2019 - 05:03 am .- Fr. Augustus Tolton advanced along the path to sainthood Wednesday, making the runaway slave-turned-priest one step closer to being the first black American saint.

Pope Francis will beatify these martyred Greek-Catholic bishops in Romania
May 30, 2019 - 03:01 pm .- On Sunday in Blaj, Pope Francis will beatify seven Greek-Catholic bishops of Romania who were killed by the communist regime between 1950 and 1970.
 
Woman who served Brazil’s poorest to be canonized
May 14, 2019 - 06:53 am .- Pope Francis Tuesday gave his approval for eight sainthood causes to proceed, including that of Bl. Dulce Lopes Pontes, a 20th-century religious sister who served Brazil’s poor.

Seven 20th-century Romanian bishops declared martyrs
Mar 19, 2019 - 12:01 pm .- Pope Francis declared Tuesday the martyrdom of seven Greek-Catholic bishops killed by the communist regime in Romania in the mid-20th century.

Pope advances sainthood causes of 17 women
Jan 15, 2019 - 11:12 am .- Pope Francis approved Tuesday the next step in the canonization causes of 17 women from four countries, including the martyrdom of 14 religious sisters killed in Spain at the start of the Spanish Civil War.
 
Nineteen Algerian martyrs beatified
Dec 10, 2018 - 03:08 pm .- Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, were beatified Saturday during a Mass in Oran.

The Algerian martyrs shed their blood for Christ, pope says
Dec 7, 2018 - 10:02 am .- Ahead of the beatification Saturday of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, Pope Francis said martyrs have a special place in the Church.
Algerian martyrs are models for the Church, archbishop says
Nov 16, 2018 - 03:01 am .- Archbishop Paul Desfarges of Algiers has said that Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, are “models for our lives as disciples today and tomorrow.”
 
Francesco Spinelli to be canonized after healing of a newborn in DR Congo
Oct 9, 2018 - 05:01 pm .- Among those being canonized on Sunday are Fr. Franceso Spinelli, a diocesan priest through whose intercession a newborn was saved from death in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Algerian martyrs to be beatified in December
Sep 14, 2018 - 06:01 pm .- The Algerian bishops' conference has announced that the beatification of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in the country between 1994 and 1996, will be held Dec. 8.

Now a cardinal, Giovanni Angelo Becciu heads to congregation for saints' causes
Jun 28, 2018 - 11:41 am .- Newly-minted Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu will resign from his post as substitute of the Secretariat of State tomorrow, in anticipation of his appointment as prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints later this summer.

Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under ‘offering of life’
Jul 11, 2017 - 06:22 am .- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called “offering of life” – in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor.
 
Twentieth century Polish nurse among causes advancing toward sainthood
Jul 7, 2017 - 06:14 am .- Pope Francis on Friday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Hanna Chrzanowska, a Polish nurse and nursing instructor who died from cancer in 1973, paving the way for her beatification.
 
Sainthood causes advance, including layman who resisted fascism
Jun 17, 2017 - 09:22 am .- Pope Francis on Friday recognized the heroic virtue of six persons on the path to canonization, as well as the martyrdom of an Italian man who died from injuries of a beating he received while imprisoned in a concentration camp for resisting fascism.
 
Solanus Casey, Cardinal Van Thuan among those advanced toward sainthood
May 4, 2017 - 10:47 am .- Pope Francis on Thursday approved decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints advancing the causes for canonization of 12 individuals, including the American-born Capuchin Solanus Casey and the Vietnamese cardinal Francis Xavier Nguen Van Thuan.
 
Pope clears way for canonization of Fatima visionaries
Mar 23, 2017 - 06:44 am .- On Thursday Pope Francis approved the second and final miracle needed to canonize Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the shepherd children who witnessed the Fatima Marian apparitions.
Surgeon and father among sainthood causes moving forward
Feb 27, 2017 - 11:03 am .- Pope Francis recognized on Monday the heroic virtue of eight persons on the path to canonization, including an Italian surgeon and father of eight who suffered from several painful diseases throughout his life.

8 Martyrs Move Closer to Sainthood 8 July, 2016
Posted by ZENIT Staff on 8 July, 2016

The angel appears to Saint Monica
This morning, Pope Francis received Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Angelo Amato. During the audience, he authorized the promulgation of decrees concerning the following causes:

***
MIRACLES:
Miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Servant of God Luis Antonio Rosa Ormières, priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Guardian Angel; born July 4, 1809 and died on Jan. 16, 1890
MARTYRDOM:
Servants of God Antonio Arribas Hortigüela and 6 Companions, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart; killed in hatred of the Faith, Sept. 29, 1936
Servant of God Josef Mayr-Nusser, a layman; killed in hatred of the Faith, Feb. 24, 1945
HEROIC VIRTUE:

Servant of God Alfonse Gallegos of the Order of Augustinian Recollects, Titular Bishop of Sasabe, auxiliary of Sacramento; born Feb. 20, 1931 and died Oct. 6, 1991
Servant of God Rafael Sánchez García, diocesan priest; born June 14, 1911 and died on Aug. 8, 1973
Servant of God Andrés García Acosta, professed layman of the Order of Friars Minor; born Jan. 10, 1800 and died Jan. 14, 1853
Servant of God Joseph Marchetti, professed priest of the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles; born Oct. 3, 1869 and died Dec. 14, 1896
Servant of God Giacomo Viale, professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, pastor of Bordighera; born Feb. 28, 1830 and died April 16, 1912
Servant of God Maria Pia of the Cross (née Maddalena Notari), foundress of the Congregation of Crucified Sisters Adorers of the Eucharist; born Dec. 2, 1847 and died on July 1, 1919
Sunday, November 23 2014 Six to Be Canonized on Feast of Christ the King.

On the List Are Lay Founder of a Hospital and Eastern Catholic Religious
VATICAN CITY, June 12, 2014 (Zenit.org) - Today, the Vatican announced that during the celebration of the feast of Christ the King on Sunday, November 23, an ordinary public consistory will be held for the canonization of the following six blesseds, who include a lay founder of a hospital for the poor, founders of religious orders, and two members of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See:
-Giovanni Antonio Farina (1803-1888), an Italian bishop who founded the Institute of the Sisters Teachers of Saint Dorothy, Daughters of the Sacred Hearts
-Kuriakose Elias Chavara (1805-1871), a Syro-Malabar priest in India who founded the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate
-Ludovico of Casoria (1814-1885), an Italian Franciscan priest who founded the Gray Sisters of St. Elizabeth
-Nicola Saggio (Nicola da Longobardi, 1650-1709), an Italian oblate of the Order of Minims
-Euphrasia Eluvathingal (1877-1952), an Indian Carmelite of the Syro-Malabar Church
-Amato Ronconi (1238-1304), an Italian, Third Order Franciscan who founded a hospital for poor pilgrims

CAUSES OF SAINTS July 2015.
Pope Recognizes Heroic Virtues of Ukrainian Archbishop
Recognition Brings Metropolitan Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky Closer to Beatification
By Junno Arocho Esteves Rome, July 17, 2015 (ZENIT.org)
Pope Francis recognized the heroic virtues of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky. According to a communique released by the Holy See Press Office, the Holy Father met this morning with Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

The Pope also recognized the heroic virtues of several religious/lay men and women from Italy, Spain, France & Mexico.
Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky is considered to be one of the most influential 20th century figures in the history of the Ukrainian Church.
Enthroned as Metropolitan of Lviv in 1901, Archbishop Sheptytsky was arrested shortly after the outbreak of World War I in 1914 by the Russians. After his imprisonment in several prisons in Russia and the Ukraine, the Archbishop was released in 1918.

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic prelate was also an ardent supporter of the Jewish community in Ukraine, going so far as to learn Hebrew to better communicate with them. He also was a vocal protestor against atrocities committed by the Nazis, evidenced in his pastoral letter, "Thou Shalt Not Kill." He was also known to harbor thousands of Jews in his residence and in Greek Catholic monasteries.
Following his death in 1944, his cause for canonization was opened in 1958.
* * *
The Holy Father authorized the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees regarding the heroic virtues of:
- Servant of God Andrey Sheptytsky, O.S.B.M., major archbishop of Leopolis of the Ukrainians, metropolitan of Halyc (1865-1944);
- Servant of God Giuseppe Carraro, Bishop of Verona, Italy (1899-1980);
- Servant of God Agustin Ramirez Barba, Mexican diocesan priest and founder of the Servants of the Lord of Mercy (1881-1967);
- Servant of God Simpliciano della Nativita (ne Aniello Francesco Saverio Maresca), Italian professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Hearts (1827-1898);
- Servant of God Maria del Refugio Aguilar y Torres del Cancino, Mexican founder of the Mercedarian Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament (1866-1937);
- Servant of God Marie-Charlotte Dupouy Bordes (Marie-Teresa), French professed religious of the Society of the Religious of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (1873-1953);
- Servant of God Elisa Miceli, Italian founder of the Rural Catechist Sisters of the Sacred Heart (1904-1976);
- Servant of God Isabel Mendez Herrero (Isabel of Mary Immaculate), Spanish professed nun of the Servants of St. Joseph (1924-1953)
October 01, 2015 Vatican City, Pope Authorizes following Decrees
(ZENIT.org) By Staff Reporter
Polish Layperson Recognized as Servant of God
Pope Authorizes Decrees
Pope Francis on Wednesday authorised the Congregation for Saints' Causes to promulgate the following decrees:

MARTYRDOM
- Servant of God Valentin Palencia Marquina, Spanish diocesan priest, killed in hatred of the faith in Suances, Spain in 1937;

HEROIC VIRTUES
- Servant of God Giovanni Folci, Italian diocesan priest and founder of the Opera Divin Prigioniero (1890-1963);
- Servant of God Franciszek Blachnicki, Polish diocesan priest (1921-1987);
- Servant of God Jose Rivera Ramirez, Spanish diocesan priest (1925-1991);
- Servant of God Juan Manuel Martín del Campo, Mexican diocesan priest (1917-1996);
- Servant of God Antonio Filomeno Maria Losito, Italian professed priest of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (1838-1917);
- Servant of God Maria Benedetta Giuseppa Frey (nee Ersilia Penelope), Italian professed nun of the Cistercian Order (1836-1913);
- Servant of God Hanna Chrzanowska, Polish layperson, Oblate of the Ursulines of St. Benedict (1902-1973).
March 06 2016 MIRACLES authorised the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
Pope Francis received in a private audience Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, during which he authorised the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
MIRACLES

– Blessed Manuel González García, bishop of Palencia, Spain, founder of the Eucharistic Missionaries of Nazareth (1877-1940);
– Blessed Elisabeth of the Trinity (née Elisabeth Catez), French professed religious of the Order of Discalced Carmelites (1880-1906);
– Venerable Servant of God Marie-Eugène of the Child Jesus (né Henri Grialou), French professed priest of the Order of Discalced Carmelites, founder of the Secular Institute “Notre-Dame de Vie” (1894-1967);
– Venerable Servant of God María Antonia of St. Joseph (née María Antonio de Paz y Figueroa), Argentine founder of the Beaterio of the Spiritual Exercise of Buenos Aires (1730-1799);
HEROIC VIRTUE

– Servant of God Stefano Ferrando, Italian professed priest of the Salesians, bishop of Shillong, India, founder of the Congregation of Missionary Sisters of Mary Help of Christians (1895-1978);
– Servant of God Enrico Battista Stanislao Verjus, Italian professed priest of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, coadjutor of the apostolic vicariate of New Guinea (1860-1892);
– Servant of God Giovanni Battista Quilici, Italian diocesan priest, founder of the Congregation of the Daughters of the Crucified (1791-1844);
– Servant of God Bernardo Mattio, Italian diocesan priest (1845-1914);
– Servant of God Quirico Pignalberi, Italian professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (1891-1982);
– Servant of God Teodora Campostrini, Italian founder of the Minim Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Sorrows (1788-1860);
– Servant of God Bianca Piccolomini Clementini, Italian founder of the Company of St. Angela Merici di Siena (1875-1959);
– Servant of God María Nieves of the Holy Family (née María Nieves Sánchez y Fernández), Spanish professed religious of the Daughters of Mary of the Pious Schools (1900-1978).

April 26 2016 MIRACLES authorised the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
Here is the full list of decrees approved by the Pope:

MIRACLES
– Blessed Alfonso Maria Fusco, diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. John the Baptist (1839-1910);
– Venerable Servant of God John Sullivan, professed priest of the Society of Jesus (1861-1933);
MARTYRDOM
– Servants of God Nikolle Vinçenc Prennushi, O.F.M., archbishop of Durres, Albania, and 37 companions killed between 1945 and 1974;
– Servants of God José Antón Gómez and three companions of the Benedictines of Madrid, Spain, killed 1936;
HEROIC VIRTUES
– Servant of God Thomas Choe Yang-Eop, diocesan priest (1821-1861);
– Servant of God Sosio Del Prete (né Vincenzo), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Congregation of the Little Servants of Christ the King (1885-1952);
– Servant of God Wenanty Katarzyniec (né Jósef), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (1889-1921);
– Servant of God Maria Consiglia of the Holy Spirity (née Emilia Pasqualina Addatis), founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Addolorata, Servants of Mary (1845-1900);
– Servant of God Maria of the Incarnation (née Caterina Carrasco Tenorio), founder of the Congregation of the Franciscan Tertiary Sisters of the Flock of Mary (1840-1917);
– Servant of God , founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Family of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1851-1923);
– Servant of God Ilia Corsaro, founder of the Congregation of the Little Missionaries of the Eucharist (1897-1977);
– Servant of God Maria Montserrat Grases García, layperson of the Personal Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei (1941-1959).
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