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!)
R.  Deo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
April is dedicated to devotion of the Holy Eucharist and to the Holy Spirit.
2022
From 2007 to 2021 222,600 lives saved
 
Haitian Help Funding Seeds Haitian Geology AND Haitian Paintings
http://www.haitian-childrens-fund.org/

For the Son of man ... will repay every man for what he has done.

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

 It is a great poverty that a child must die so that you may live as you wish -- Mother Teresa
 Saving babies, healing moms and dads, 'The Gospel of Life'
Saving babies, healing moms and dads, Tuesday on 'The Gospel of Life'

And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.


The Rosary html Mary Mother of GOD -- Her Rosary Here
Mary Mother of GOD Mary's Divine Motherhood: FEASTS OF OUR LADY
     of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary

May 9 – Our Lady of the Wood (Italy, 1607) 
Months of Dedication
January is the month of the Holy Name of Jesus since 1902;
February is dedicated to the Holy Family since the 17th century and by Copts from early times.
March is the month of Saint Joseph since 1855;
April is dedicated to devotion of the Holy Eucharist and to the Holy Spirit.
May, the month of Mary, is the oldest and most well-known Marian month, officially since 1724;
June is the month of the Sacred Heart since 1873;
July is the month of the Precious Blood since 1850;
August is the month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary;
September is the month of Our Lady of Sorrows since 1857;
October is the month of the Rosary since 1868;
November is the month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory since 1888;
December is the month of the Immaculate Conception.

In all, five months of the year are dedicated to Mary.
The idea of dedicating months came from Rome and promotion of the month of Mary owes much to the Jesuits.  arras.catholique.fr

Pray that the witness of 40 Days for Life bears abundant fruit, and that we begin again each day
to storm the gates of hell until God welcomes us into the gates of heaven.

If you seek patience, you will find no better example than the cross. Great patience occurs in two ways:
either when one patiently suffers much, or when one suffers things which one is able to avoid and yet does not avoid.
Christ endured much on the cross, and did so patiently, because when he suffered he did not threaten;
he was led like a sheep to the slaughter and he did not open his mouth.-- St. Thomas Aquinas

                    We begin our day by seeing Christ in the consecrated bread, and throughout the day we continue to see Him in the torn bodies of our poor. We pray, that is, through our work, performing it with Jesus, for Jesus and upon Jesus.
The poor are our prayer. They carry God in them. Prayer means praying everything, praying the work.
We meet the Lord who hungers and thirsts, in the poor.....and the poor could be you or I or any person kind enough to show us his or her love and to come to our place.
Because we cannot see Christ, we cannot express our love to Him in person.
But our neighbor we can see, and we can do for him or her what we would love to do for Jesus if He were visible.
-- Mother Teresa
Holy Week: A Liturgical Explanation for the Days of Holy Week
180 Saint Hegesippus Father of Church History Jewish convert {Eusebius drew heavily on his writings for  Ecclesiastical History (Book I  through  Book X)}
310 Rufinus the Deacon, the Martyr Aquilina and  converted 200 soldiers to Christ by their miracles
5th v St. Brynach Celtic hermit in Wales constant communication with angels
6th v Saint Finan Disciple of St. Brendan abbot founder
 888 St. Gibardus Benedictine abbot of Luxeuil martyred and his monks during the invasion of the Huns
1078 Blessed Eberhard of Schaeffhausen protected and built convents OSB Monk (PC)
1410 Bl. Ursulina mystic visions and ecstasies tried to end scandals of the "Babylonian Captivity"
1540 Saint Daniel of Pereslavl monk in monastery of St Paphnutius of Borovsk dedicated to love for neighbor buried; the neglected, the poor, and those without family: founded monastery on cemetery site
1595 St. Henry Walpole Jesuit missionary 1/40 Martyrs of England and Wales
1595 Bl. Alexander Rawlins Martyr missionary fervent Catholicism
1606 Bl. Edward Oldcorne Jesuit & Ralph Ashley Jesuit lay- brother English martyrs alleged involve Gunpowder Plot
1719 ST JOHN BAPTIST DE LA SALLE, FOUNDER OF THE BROTHERS OF THE CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS
1925 St Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow Apostle to America led austere and chaste life; kindest of the Russian hierarchs "May God teach every one of us to strive for His truth, and for the good of the Holy Church, rather than something for our own sake."
April 7 – Our Lady of Zyrovic (Lithuania, 1432)
Blessed Josaphata Micheline Hordashevska
 (foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate, d. 1919) 
 Following the Virgin Mary’s example
A native of Lviv in Ukraine, Josaphata Michaelina Hordashevska became a nun at age 18. Co-founder with Father Kyrylo Seletsky of the first female congregation of the Byzantine-Ukrainian rite, the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate, she devoted herself to caring for the sick, teaching the Catechism, and maintaining impoverished churches. Diagnosed with bone cancer, from which she endured terrible pain, she died at age 49. She was beatified in June 2001 in Lviv by Saint John Paul II.

The Congregation of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate lives out its special calling to serve others by following the example of the Virgin Mary—Handmaid of the Lord—Mary is also Servant of all humanity. Our Lady went speedily to assist Elizabeth; she intervened with simplicity at Cana; she courageously stood at the foot of the Cross where she received us as her children from the arms of her Son; with confidence, in union with the Apostles in the Upper Room, she prayed for the Church.

As servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate try to answer God’s call, as He invites us to collaborate with him in the work of Salvation by serving other.  nominis.cef.fr
 
Lithuania, Land of Mary
A quarter of Lithuanian churches are dedicated to the Virgin Mary ... and yet it was only in 1387 that this country converted to Christianity, after King Jagiello embraced the Catholic faith.
Marian fervor in Lithuania, both in the nobility and the lower classes, was such that Pope Pius XI once said: "Lithuania is the land of Mary"...
Among the most important shrines dedicated to Mary there are:
Siluva, Kalvarija (or Varduva), Pazaislis (near Kaunas), and Krekenava in the north.
Our Lady of Sorrows is venerated in the cathedral of Kaunas, the capital city. In Trakai, the people honor Our Lady of Good Counsel. In Palanga, the people pray to Our Lady of Lourdes; in Vilna, to Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn (the "Czestochowa" of Lithuania), etc.   www.mariedenazareth.com

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

The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race,
preserved immune from all stain of original sin. -- Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus (1854)

April 7 - Our Lady of Zyrovic (Lithuania, 1432) - 17th Apparition in Lourdes - Saint John Baptist de La Salle (d. 1719)

Saint John Baptist de La Salle and Our Lady of Liesse
On May 10, 1684, the eve of the Ascension, Father de La Salle gathered twelve of his best disciples in Reims and gave them a retreat until Trinity Sunday. They needed to reflect upon whether it was a good idea to form a community and take vows. Finally, the group endorsed the founder's opinion and on Sunday, May 28th, they all met together and pronounced the vows of chastity and obedience in an oratory on the rue Neuve in Reims. The next day, after marching all night long, the thirteen pilgrims arrived at the Marian shrine of Liesse or All-Joy, about twenty-five miles north of Reims. They stood before Our Lady of All-Joy, renewed their vows, imploring the aid of the Mother of God. They chose her as the first Superior of their Institute. It was truly a pilgrimage of supplication and thanksgiving. The followers of Father de La Salle placed themselves under the protection of Our Lady, proclaimed her Principal and Queen of their schools. Subsequently, the pilgrimage became quite a habitual devotion to the holy man; when visiting religious Brothers in nearby towns, he could not pass by Liesse without paying his respects to their heavenly Protector. Arriving at the feet of Our Lady, he had great difficulty leaving. He would sometimes remain for as long as three hours in front of the altar of Our Lady, after celebrating Mass in her honor.
In the chapel, later dedicated to Saint John de La Salle, at the far left-hand side of the Basilica, a marble ex-voto recalls this act of consecration of the Community made in 1684. Since then, the Brothers have kept a tender devotion to Our Lady of Liesse. In 1902, the Superior General, Brother Gabriel Mary, cured of a dangerous chest infection through the intercession of Our Lady, testified his gratitude by having the chapel re-decorated and offering a stained-glass window representing the Act of Consecration of the Institute.
Brother J. Genest ARCHER  Told by Brother Albert Pfleger, Marist, in Le Recueil Marial (1981)

April 7 - Our Lady of Zyrovic (Lithuania, 1432) 
 
Mary gave birth to all of us
 At that moment, when Our Lady received the love of the Holy Spirit as the wedded love of her soul, she also received her dead son in her arms. (…) She trusted God, she understood on earth that which many mothers will only understand in heaven. She was able to see her boy killed, lying there (…), dead, and to believe the Father’s cry: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
God asks for extreme courage in love, the Bride of the Spirit must respond with strength like His own strength. Our Lady did this. How much easier it would have been for her, had she been asked to withdraw from common life, (…) renouncing all “earthly joys,” bring forth Christ in cloistered security. (…) But she was consenting not only to bear her own child, Christ, but to bear Christ into the world in all men, (…) in all times (…).
She was consenting not only to give birth to Christ (…), but to give Him death. In her brief historical life (…) the history of the world is concentrated, particularly the lives of all the common people of the world, who often do not know themselves that they are Christbearers, living the life of the Mother of God.
 Caryll Houselander
In: The Reed of God, Sheed and Ward, New York, 1944, pp.32-33.
 
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.
  descent_into_hades
  180 Saint Hegesippus Father of Church History Jewish convert {Eusebius drew heavily on his writings for  Ecclesiastical History (Book I  through  Book X)}
       St. Epiphanius African bishop with 13 members of his flock were martyred
       St. Pelagius Egyptian priest martyr refusing to abjure the faith unknown
 303 St. Calliopus Martyr at Pompeiopolis crucified upside down because of his fidelity to the Cross holy mother died on same day buried with son
 310 Rufinus the Deacon, the Martyr Aquilina and  converted 200 soldiers to Christ by their miracles
 310 St. Peleusius priest Martyr of Alexandria
       St. Cyriacus Martyr with ten companions at Nicomedia
 345 Saint Aphraates Persian hermit  convert struggle against Arian heresy oldest extant Church document in Syria; miracles
 356 St. Saturninus Bishop of Verona
5th v St. Brynach Celtic hermit in Wales constant communication with angels
6th v Saint Finan Disciple of St. Brendan abbot founder
 568 Villicus of Metz praised for his virtues by Venantius Fortunatus B (AC)
6th v St. Goran Missionary of district of Cornwall friend of Saint Patrick
6th v Saint Finan Disciple of St. Brendan abbot founder
6th v Llewellwyn (LLywelyn) & Gwrnerth  Welsh monks at Welshpool and afterwards at Bardsey (Benedictines)
 816 George the Younger Bishop George of Mitylene, Lesbos Island B
 888 St. Gibardus Benedictine abbot of Luxeuil martyred and his monks during the invasion of the Huns
1078 Blessed Eberhard of Schaeffhausen protected and built convents OSB Monk (PC)
1129 St. Celsus hereditary abbacy of Armagh in 1105 elected Bishop at 26 in 1106 effected many reforms to restore ecclesiastical discipline Blessed Christian priest of Douai Date  PC
1140 St. Aibert Benedictine ascetic monk 23 years then recluse; two Masses each day, one for living, second for dead
1140 Aybert of Crespin private in prayer & fasts devotional practice recite the Ave Maria 50 times in succession connected with origin of rosary
1241 St. Herman Joseph Praemonstratensian and mystic visions of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
1410 Bl. Ursulina mystic accustomed to visions and ecstasies tried to end the scandals of the "Babylonian Captivity"
1411 Blessed William Cufitella Franciscan tertiary hermit at Scicli 70 yrs OFM
1508 Nilus of Sora study, translation, diffusion of Greek ascetical writings canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church
1540 Saint Daniel of Pereslavl monk in monastery of St Paphnutius of Borovsk dedicated to love for neighbor buried the neglected, the poor, and those without family: founded a monastery on the site of the cemetery
1595 St. Henry Walpole Jesuit missionary 1/40 Martyrs of England and Wales
1595 Bl. Alexander Rawlins Martyr missionary fervent Catholicism
1606 Bl. Edward Oldcorne Jesuit & Ralph Ashley Jesuit lay- brother English martyrs alleged involve Gunpowder Plot
1719 ST JOHN BAPTIST DE LA SALLE, FOUNDER OF THE BROTHERS OF THE CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS
1919 Blessed Josaphata Micheline Hordashevska
1925 St Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow Apostle to America led austere and chaste life; kindest of the Russian hierarchs "May God teach every one of us to strive for His truth, and for the good of the Holy Church, rather than something for our own sake."
Christ said his coming would bring not peace but a sword (see Matthew 10:34).  The Gospels offer no support for us if we fantasize about a sunlit holiness that knows no problems. Christ did not escape at the last moment, though he did live happily ever after —after a life of controversy, problems, pain and frustration.
St. Hilary  (315?-368), like all saints, simply had more of the same.
Mary Mother of GOD Mary's Divine Motherhood
15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary
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.
"All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations shall worship before him" (Psalm 21:28)
180 Saint Hegesippus Jewish convert to Christianity considered Father of Church History Ecclesiastical History (Book I  through  Book X)
Romæ sancti Hegesíppi, qui vicínus Apostolórum tempóribus, Romam venit ad Anicétum Pontíficem, ibíque mansit usque ad Eleuthérium, et Ecclesiasticórum Actuum a passióne Dómini usque ad suam ætátem sermóne símplici téxuit históriam; ut, quorum vitam sectabátur, dicéndi quoque exprímeret charactére.

St HEGESIPPUS, A PRIMITIVE FATHER, from Lives of Saintes by Alban Butler
NEAR THE TIMES OF THE APOSTLES.
He was by birth a Jew, and belonged to the church of Jerusalem, but travelling to Rome, he lived there near twenty years, from the pontificate of Anicetus to that of Eleutherius, in 177, when he returned into the East where he died very old, probably at Jerusalem, in the year of Christ 180, according to the chronicle of Alexandria.  He wrote in the year 133 a History of the Church, in five books, from the passion of Christ down to his own time, the loss of which work is extremely regretted.
   In it be gave illustrious proofs of his faith, and showed the apostolical tradition, and that though certain men had disturbed the church by broaching heresies, yet down to his time no episcopal see or particular church had fallen into error, but had in all places preserved inviolably the truths delivered by Christ, as he assures us. 1 This testimony he gave after having personally visited all the principal churches both of the East and West.  He was a man replenished with the spirit of the apostles, and a love of Christian humility, which, says Jerom, he expressed by the simplicity of his style.  The five books on the destruction of Jerusalem, compiled chiefly front the history of Josephus are not the work of this father, as some have imagined; but of a younger Hegesippus, who wrote before the destruction of the Western empire, but after Constantine the Great.  See Mabillon, Musaeum Italicum, t. 1, p. 14, and Cave, Hist. Liter. t. 1, p. 265.

At Rome, St. Hegesippus, who lived close to the time of the apostles.  He came to Rome while Anicetus was pope, and remained until the time of Eleutherius.  He wrote a history of the Church, from the Passion of our Lord to his own time, in a simple style, to make clear the character of those whose life he imitated.

180 ST HEGESIPPUS
IT is as the reputed Father of Church History that St Hegesippus is chiefly remembered to-day. By birth a Jew, and a member of the church of Jerusalem, he travelled to Rome, and there spent nearly twenty years, from the pontificate of St Anicetus to that of St Eleutherius.
In 277 he returned to the East, where he died in extreme old age, probably at Jerusalem. In the course of his travels, he seems to have visited the principal Christian centres in the West as well as in the East, and he noted with satisfaction that, although disturbances had been caused by individual heretics, hitherto no episcopal see or particular church had fallen into error:
everywhere he had found the unity of the faith as it had been delivered by our Lord to the saints. Unfortunately only a few chapters remain of the five books which he wrote on the history of the Church from the passion of our Lord down to his own time, but the work was highly esteemed by Eusebius and others, who drew largely upon it. He was a man filled with the spirit of the apostles and with a love of humility “which”, says St Jerome, “he expressed by the simplicity of his style”. St Hegesippus is named in the Roman Martyrology to-day.
The scant notices concerning St Hegesippus furnished by St Jerome and others are collected in the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. i. See also Abbot J. Chapman in the Revue Bénédictine, xviii (1901) and xix (1902); and Bardenhewer, Gesch der altkirch. Literatur, vol. i, pp. 385—392. Another work in five books formerly attributed to Hegesippus, is a Latin rendering of Josephus on the Jewish War. This was a blunder, due to the fact that the name Iosippus was miswritten Egesippus and eventually Hegesippus.

Born in Jerusalem, Hegesippus spent twenty years in Rome. He was the first to record the succession of popes from St. Peter to St. Eleutherius. Only a fragment of his work remains. Hegesippus returned to Jerusalem in 177 after visiting most of the important Christan churches, and he died there.

Hegesippus (RM) Born in Jerusalem; died c. 180. Saint Hegesippus was a Jewish convert to Christianity in Jerusalem.

He spent 20 years in Rome, from the pontificate of Saint Anicetus (Born in Emesa, Syria; died c. 160-166) to that of Saint Eleutherius (Born in Nicopolis, Epirus, Greece; died in Rome, May 24, c. 189). He returned to Jerusalem in 177 after visiting most of the important Christian churches, and probably died at Jerusalem.
   He is considered the father of Church history for his five books on the history of the Church from the death of Christ up to the pontificate of Saint Eleutherius (c. 174-c. 189). Hegesippus was the first to trace the succession of popes from Saint Peter. Saint Jerome warmly commended the work and Eusebius drew on it heavily for his Ecclesiastical History (Book I  through  Book X). Unfortunately, only a few chapters of Hegesippus's work are extant. It should be noted that another man named Hegesippus is the compiler of the history of the destruction of Jerusalem, which was based on the history of Josephus (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).
St. Epiphanius an African bishop with whom thirteen members of his flock were martyred
In Africa item natális sanctórum Mártyrum Epiphánii Epíscopi, Donáti, Rufíni et aliórum trédecim.
     In Africa, the birthday of the holy martyrs Epiphanius bishop, Donatus, Rufinus and thirteen others.
Martyr with Donatus, Rufinus, and companions. They are included in the Martyrology of Usuard. Epiphanius was a bishop in Africa.
Epiphanius, Donatus, Rufinus, & Comp. MM (RM) Date unknown. Epiphanius was an African bishop with whom thirteen members of his flock were martyred (Benedictines).
St. Pelagius An Egyptian priest martyr refusing to abjure the faith
He was a priest in Alexandria, Egypt ,and was put to death for refusing to abjure the faith. He is mentioned in the Martyrology of St. Jerome.
Pelagius of Alexandria M (AC)  A priest martyred at Alexandria, Egypt, who is mentioned in the Martyrology of Saint Jerome (Benedictines).
St. Cyriacus Martyr with ten companions at Nicomedia.
Nicomedíæ sancti Cyríaci et aliórum decem Mártyrum.   At Nicomedia, St. Cyriacus and ten other martyrs.
303 St. Calliopus Martyr at Pompeiopolis crucified upside down because of his fidelity to the Cross holy mother died on same day buried with son
In Cilícia sancti Calliópii Mártyris, qui, sub Maximiáno Præfécto, post ália torménta, cápite in terram verso cruci affíxus, nóbili coróna martyrii decorátus est.
In Cilicia, under the prefect Maximus, St. Calliopius, martyr.  After undergoing other torments, he was fastened to a cross with his head downward, and thus gained the noble crown of martyrdom.
He was crucified upside down in the reign of Emperor Diocletian.

Calliopus M (RM)(also known as Calliope)Died c. 303. Calliopus was martyred at Pompeiopolis, Cilicia, by being crucified upside down under Maximian (Diocletian) because of his fidelity to the Cross (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
The Holy Martyr Calliopius was born in Perge, Pamphylia of the pious woman Theoklia, wife of a renowned senator. Theoklia was childless for a long time. She fervently prayed for a son, vowing to dedicate him to God.  Soon after the birth of her son Theoklia was widowed. When St Calliopius reached adolescence, a fierce persecution against Christians began.
Theoklia, learning that her son would be denounced as a Christian, sent him to Cilicia in Asia Minor.
When the saint arrived at Pompeiopolis, Paphlagonia there was a celebration in honor of the pagan gods. They invited the youth to take part in the proceedings, but he said he was a Christian and refused. They reported this to the prefect of the city Maximus. St Calliopius was brought before him to be tried. At first, he attempted to persuade Calliopius to worship the gods, promising to give him his own daughter in marriage. After the youth rejected this offer, Maximus subjected him to terrible tortures. He ordered the martyr to be beaten on the back with iron rods, and on the stomach with ox-hide thongs. Finally, the prefect had him tied to an iron wheel, and he was roasted over a slow fire. After these tortures, they threw the martyr Calliopius into prison.
When Theoklia heard about the sufferings of her son, she wrote her last will, freed her slaves, distributed her riches to the poor, and hastened to St Calliopius.
The brave mother gave money to the guard and got into the prison to see her son. There she encouraged him to endure suffering to the end for Christ.  When on the following day the saint refused to renounce Christ, Maximus gave orders to crucify the martyr. The day of execution happened to be Great Thursday, when the Savior's last meal with His disciples is commemorated.
Theoklia begged the guard to crucify her son head downward, since she considered it unworthy for him to be crucified like the Lord. Her wish was granted.
 The holy martyr hung on the cross overnight and died on Great Friday in the year 304.

When the holy martyr was removed from the cross, Theoklia gave glory to the Savior. She embraced the lifeless body of her son and gave up her own spirit to God.
Christians buried their bodies in a single grave.
310 The Holy Martyr Rufinus the Deacon, the Martyr Aquilina and  converted 200 soldiers to Christ by their miracles
Synópe, in Ponto, sanctórum ducentórum Mártyrum.   At Sinope, in Pontus, two hundred holy martyrs.
suffered in the year 310 in the city of Sinope on the Black Sea during the reign of the emperor Maximian (305-311).
When the holy deacon Rufinus was put into prison for confessing Christianity, the martyr Aquilina showed concern.
Therefore, she was also placed under guard. In prison they converted 200 soldiers to Christ by their miracles, and all of them were beheaded by the sword.

310 St. Peleusius priest Martyr of Alexandria Egypt (RM)
Alexandríæ sancti Peléusii, Presbyteri, et Mártyris.  At Alexandria, St. Peleusius, priest and marty
The details of his martyrdom are lost, and virtually nothing is known about him, save for his being a priest in Alexandria.
The Roman Martyrology says that Peleusius was a priest of Alexandria (Benedictines).
345 St. Aphraates Persian hermit involved in the struggle against the Arian heresy by the power of miracles oldest extant document of the Church in Syria
In Syria sancti Aphraátis Anachorétæ, qui, Valéntis témpore, cathólicam fidem virtúte miraculórum advérsus Ariános deféndit.
In Syria, in the time of Valens, St. Aphraates, an anchoret, who defended the Catholic faith against the Arians by the power of miracles.
From Lives of Saintes by Alban Butler
ST. APHRATES, ANCHORET
FOURTH AGE.
This saint was descended from an illustrious family in Persia, but it reacted with the superstitions of idolatry.   He had the happiness of attaining to an early knowledge of the truth, winch he embraced with his whole heart.  Grieving to see it so little known and loved in his own country, regardless of honors and worldly advantages, he renounced all pretensions to them and, leaving his friends and country, came to Edessa, in Mesopotamia where Christianity flourished.  There he diligently informed himself what was the best manner of serving God perfectly, and securing his only affair the eternal salvation of his soul. After some deliberation, he shut himself up in a little cell without the walls of that city, applying himself entirely to the exercises of penance and heavenly contemplation. After some time he removed into a cell near a monastery in the neighborhood of Antioch, in Syria, where, many resorting to him for spiritual advice. He became great advocate for virtue and truth against vice and the reigning Arian heresy, by whomsoever professed.  He ate nothing but a little bread after sunset, to which, when he was grown extremely old, he added a few herbs. He made use of no other bed than a mat laid on the bare ground.
His clothing was one coarse garment.  Anthimus, who was some time after appointed governor of the East, and consul, returning from an embassy in Persia, pressed Aphrates to accept of a robe he had brought with him, because the product of his own country. Aphrates made answer: "do you think it reasonable to exchange an old faithful servant for a new one, merely because he is a country man?"  “By no means," replied Anthimus.  "Then," said the hermit, “take back your garment for I have one that I have worn these Sixteen years; and I am not willing to have two at the same time."  Hitherto the saint had lived retired in his cell but seeing the Arian persecution under Valens make great havoc in the flock of Christ, he left his retreat to come to the assistance of the distressed Catholics of Antioch; where he omitted nothing in his power to comfort the faithful, and to assuage the fury of their heretical persecutors. Valens had banished the holy bishop Meletius but Aphrates joined Flavian and Diodorus, who governed St. Miletus’s flock during his absence.  His reputation for sanctity and miracles gave him greatest weight to his actions and words.  The emperor Valens being at Antioch, looking one day out of a window of his palace upon the high road which parted it from the river Orontes, and led into the country, saw the saint passing by, and asked who that old man was so meanly clad, and making such haste; and being told it was Aphrates, for whom the whole city had the greatest veneration, asked him whither he was going in so great a hurry? The man of God replied, "To pray for the prosperity of your reign.”  For the Catholics, not being allowed a church in the city, held their assemblies of devotion in a field where martial exercises were performed.  The emperor said,” How comes it that you, who are by profession a monk, leave your cell thus to ramble abroad?" Aphrates answered, “I lived retired so long as the flock of the heavenly Shepherd enjoyed peace but now I see it torn to pieces, how can I sit quiet in my cell. Were I a virgin confined in my father's house, and should see it take fire, would you advise to sit still and let the house he burned, in which I should also perish; or leave my room to run and procure help, carry water, and exert my utmost endeavors to put out the fire?  Reprove me not, 0 emperor, if I do the like rather blame yourself, who have kindled the fire, not me laboring to quench it."   The emperor made not the least reply but one of  his eunuchs, then in waiting, reviled the aged saint, and threatened him with death. But God chastised his insolence: for soon after, going to see if the emperor's warm bath was ready, being taken with giddiness, he fell into the caldron of boiling water, and nobody being there to give him assistance, was scalded to death.   This example so terrified the emperor, that he durst not listen to the suggestions of the Arians, who endeavored to persuade him to banish the saint. He was also much moved by the miraculous cures which the holy man wrought by the application of oil or water, upon which he had made the sign of the cross. Aphrates would never speak to a woman but at a distance, and always in as few words as possible.  After the miserable death of Valens, when peace was restored to the church, our saint returned to his solitude, and there happily departed this earth to possess God, with whom," says Theodoret, "I believe he has greater power than while he was on earth: on which account 1 pray also to obtain his intercession. The whole church has imitated his example.  St. Aphrates is honored in the Synaxary of the Greeks, and in the calendars of other oriental churches, on the 29th of January but in the Roman Martyrology his name is placed on the 7th of April.

   Every saint is eminently a man of prayer; but this is the peculiar perfection of holy hermits and monks.    This was the means by which so many in that state have been raised to such wonderful heights in heroic virtue, so as to seem seraphim rather than men on earth. As a vessel at sea is carried by is favorable wind with incredible ease and swiftness, so a soul which is borne upon the wings of a true spirit of prayer, makes sweetly, and without experiencing either difficulty or pain, quick and extraordinary progress in the paths of all interior virtues, particularly those of a close union of her affections and powers with God, and those of divine charity, the queen and form of all perfect Christian virtue.   In this spirit of prayer a simple idiot has outstripped the most subtle philosopher, because its foundation is laid by profound humility, and perfect simplicity and purity of heart; and compunction and love require neither penetration nor depth of genius, nor elegance of words, to express or raise their most tender affections.   St. Bruno was an eloquent and learned man yet in his most sublime contemplation he expressed to God all the burning sentiments of his soul by a single word, which he wished never to cease repeating, but to continue actually to pronounce it for all eternity with fresh ardor and jubilation : "0 goodness   0 goodness! 0 infinite goodness I"   But by this word his heart said more than discourses could express in many years or ages.

345 ST APHRAATES
According to the Bollandists, followed by Alban Butler, we owe our knowledge of the history of St Aphraates to Theodoret, who recalled how, as a boy, he had been taken by his mother to visit the saint and how Aphraates had opened his door to bless them, promising to intercede with God on their behalf. In his later years Theodoret continued to invoke that intercession, believing that it had become even more potent since the holy man had gone to God.
Aphraates came of a Persian family, but after his conversion to Christianity he settled at Edessa in Mesopotamia, then a stronghold of the faith, hoping to discover the most perfect way of serving God. When he had come to the conclusion that this could best be done in solitude, he shut himself up in a cell outside the city walls, where he gave himself up to penance and heavenly contemplation. His food consisted of bread, eaten after sunset; only in old age did he add a few vegetables his bed was a mat on the ground, and his clothing one coarse garment.
After some time he changed his residence to a hermitage beside a monastery near Antioch in Syria, and gradually people began to resort to him there for advice. Anthemius, who afterwards became consul for the East, once brought back from Persia a garment which he presented to the hermit as a product of his native land. Aphraates asked him whether he thought it would be reasonable to exchange a faithful old servant for a new one merely because he was a fellow countryman. “Certainly not”, replied Anthemius. “Then take back your tunic”, said the recluse, “for I have one which I have used for sixteen years, and I do not need more than one.”
When the Emperor Valens had banished the bishop St Meletius and the Arian persecution was making great havoc of the church in Antioch, St Aphraates left his retreat to come to the assistance of Flavian and Diodorus who were governing the distressed Catholics during the exile of their pastor. His reputation for sanctity and miracles gave great weight to his actions and words.
As the Arians had taken possession of their churches, the faithful were reduced to worshipping beside the river Orontes or in the large open space outside the city which was used for military exercises. One day, as St Aphraates was hurrying along the road which led from the city to this parade-ground, he was stopped by order of the emperor, who happened to be standing in the portico of his palace which overlooked the road. Valens inquired whither he was going: “To pray for the world and the emperor”, replied the recluse. The monarch then asked him how it happened that one dressed as a monk was gadding about far away from his cell. To this Aphraates answered with a parable: “If I were a maiden secluded in my father’s house, and saw it take fire, would you recommend me to sit still and let it burn? It is not I who am to blame, but rather you who have kindled the flames which I am striving to extinguish. We are doing nothing contrary to our profession when we gather together and nourish the adherents of the true faith.”
The emperor made no reply, but one of his servants reviled the venerable man, whom he threatened to kill. Shortly afterwards the same attendant was accidentally scalded to death, which so terrified the superstitious Valens that he refused to listen to the Arians when they tried to persuade him to banish St Aphraates. He was also greatly impressed by the miracles wrought by the hermit, who not only healed men and women but also—or at least so it was reported—cured the emperor’s favourite horse.
Whether the Aphraates, described as above by Theodoret in his Philotheus and his Ecclesiastical History, is identical with the early Syriac writer whose homilies or dissertations are preserved to us, remains a great problem. These homilies, as all scholars agree, belong to the years 336—345. Valens died in 378 and Theodoret seems to have been born in 386 at the earliest. It is difficult to suppose that the latter, as a little boy, could have been taken to receive the blessing of the author of the homilies. On the other hand we know very little about the history of the great writer. He seems to have been invested with some ecclesiastical authority and was very possibly a bishop. The statement, however, that he lived near Mosul cannot be depended on. There is also an Aphraates mentioned in the Syriac “Breviarium”, seemingly a martyr in the early years of the persecution under Sapor. The works of Aphraates may best be consulted in Parisot’s edition, Syriac and Latin, in the Patrologia Syriaca, vols. i and ii. See also articles by Dom Connolly and F. C. Burkitt in the Journal of Theological Studies, vols. vi and vii; and Bardenhewer, Geschichte der altkirchlichen Literatur, vol. iv, pp. 327—342.

Aphraates was born on the Persian border with Syria. He converted to Christianity and became a hermit in Edessa moving in time to Antioch, Turkey. His hermitage attracted many, and miracles were reported. When Aphraates spoke publicly against the Arians, servant of Emperor Valens tried to murder Aphraates.
When the servant died suddenly, Valens took the death as a sign from God and protected Aphraates, refusing an Arian request to exile the hermit. Aphraates is sometimes identified as the bishop of the monastery of Mar Mattai, near Mosul Mesopotamia. Possibly a martyr, he is believed to have written a many-volumed defense of the faith called the Demonstrations, which is the oldest extant document of the Church in Syria. Aphraates is often referred to as "the Persian Sage."

Aphraates of Antioch, Hermit (RM) Born in Syria; died c. 345. Saint Aphraates was born into an illustrious pagan family on Syria's border with Persia (Iran). After his conversion to Christianity, he gave up all worldly possessions and became a hermit at Edessa in Mesopotamia, where he lived in severe austerity. He then moved to a hermitage next to a monastery in Antioch, Syria, and attracted numerous visitors with his reputation for holiness and as a miracle-worker.
He publicly and valiantly opposed Arians, who attempted to exile him, but Emperor Valens refused to allow it because he thought the death of his attendants who had threatened to murder Aphraates was retribution for his threat.

Some scholars considered Aphraates identical with the bishop of the monastery of Mar Mattai near Mosul, Mesopotamia, and the author of Demonstrations, 23 treatises written between 336 and 345 (the oldest document of the Church in Syria), which give a survey of the Christian faith. This Aphraates may have suffered persecution at the hands of King Shapur the Great and was known as 'the Persian sage' (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).

In art, Saint Aphraates is a hermit striking a rock from which water gushes out, or refusing a rich robe (Roeder). 
356 St. Saturninus Bishop of Verona
Verónæ sancti Saturníni, Epíscopi et Confessóris.   At Verona, St. Saturninus, bishop and confessor.
His ministry is undocumented.
Saturninus of Verona B (RM) Bishop of Verona of whom nothing else is known (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
5th v St. Brynach Celtic hermit in Wales in constant communication with the angels
He built a hermitage at Carn-Englyi, near Nefyn, Gwynedd. He is identified by some with St. Brannock of Braunton.

Brynach of Carn-Engyle (AC)(also known as Bernach, Bernacus, Brenach or Bryynach the Irishman) 5th century. Brynach was an Irishman who settled in Wales, where he built a hermitage and a church at a place called Carn-Engyle (Mountain of Angels) overlooking the Nevern (Pembrokeshire). Traditionally, the place received its name because Brynach was in constant communication with the angels. His church became the principal church of the district. Some authors identify him with Saint Brannock of Braunton (Benedictines, D'Arcy, Montague, Moran).
6th v Saint Finan Disciple of St. Brendan abbot founder.
of a monastery in Kinitty, Offaly, Ireland. A native of Munster, he is also known as Finnian, and is the patron of the monastery.

             ST. FINAN OF KEANN-ETHICH
  HE was a native of Munster, and a discip[e of St. Brendan, with whoss blessing he founded the monastery of Cean-e-thich, on the confines of Munster and Meath, and afterwards some others.  See Colgan, in MSS ad 7 April


Finan Cam, Abbot (AC) (also known as Finnian of Kinnitty) Born in Munster in the 6th century. Saint Finan was a disciple of Saint Brendan, at whose wish he founded and governed a monastery at Kinnitty (Cean-e-thich) in Offaly of which he is the patron (Benedictines, Farmer, Husenbeth).
6th v St. Goran Missionary of district of Cornwall friend of Saint Patrick
England. Also called Woronus, he was in the area before St. Petrac. Goran lived in Bodmin.
Goran (AC)(also known as Woranus)6th century. Several Cornish churches are dedicated to this friend of Saint Patrick (Benedictines).
568 Villicus of Metz praised for his virtues by Venantius Fortunatus B (AC)
feast day may be April 17 rather than 7th). Villicus governed the see of Metz from 543 to 568. He was praised for his virtues by Venantius Fortunatus (Benedictines).
6th v Llewellwyn (LLywelyn) & Gwrnerth  Welsh monks at Welshpool and afterwards at Bardsey (Benedictines).
816 George the Younger Bishop George of Mitylene, Lesbos Island B (AC) is called 'the Younger' because two of his predecessors in that see and century, also named George, are venerated as saints (Benedictines).
816 ST GEORGE THE YOUNGER, BISHOP OF MITYLENE
Lesbos in ancient days was the birthplace of several celebrated men and of one famous woman. Pittacus, one of the seven wise men of Greece, was born at its capital Mitylene, whilst the poet Alcaeon, the poetess Sappho, and the historian Theophanes were all natives of that same island. Moreover, three saints bearing the name of George occupied the bishopric of Mitylene within a hundred years.
 George the Younger was a man of position who had devoted his wealth to the relief of the sick and poor and had entered a monastery, from which he was taken to rule over the church of Lesbos as bishop of Mitylene. In that capacity he was remarkable for his generosity in almsgiving, for his singular humility, and for the rigorous and prolonged fasts which caused men to say that he must be an angel, because he lived without food or drink.
From the outbreak of the iconoclastic persecution under Leo the Armenian he was a staunch upholder of Catholic tradition, encouraging his flock to venerate the sacred images. For this reason he was exiled to the Chersonese, where he died about the year 816. His body was afterwards brought back to Mitylene where, according to the Greek account, it wrought so many cures that the saint was called “the doctor of incurable diseases and the great exorcist of unclean spirits”.
Our information, derived principally from the Greek Menaion, is not very satisfactory. See the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. i, and Nilles, Kalendarium Manuale, vol. i, p. 134.
888 St. Gibardus Benedictine abbot of Luxeuil martyred and his monks during the invasion of the Huns
France, during a period of much upheaval in the region. Fleeing, Gibardus and his monks were captured and slain.
Gibardus of Luxeuil, OSB Abbot (AC)(also known as Gibert) Abbot Gibardus of Luxeuil was murdered during the invasion of the Huns. He and his monks fled the abbey into the Vosges mountains but the barbarians found and killed them. Gibardus is venerated at Martinville in the Vosges (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
1078 Blessed Eberhard of Schaeffhausen protected and built convents OSB Monk (PC) (also known as Evrard)
Born 1018; Pious prince Eberhard III, count of Nellenburg, was the husband of the pious Itta and a relative of both Pope Saint Leo IX and the emperor Saint Henry II.
Eberhard and Itta protected and built convents into which each was to retire later, including the Benedictine abbey of Schaffhausen, Switzerland, in 1050, where Eberhard retired (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
Blessed Christian priest of Douai PC. A priest of Douai, whose relics are in the church of Saint Albinus (Benedictines).
1140 St. Aibert Benedictine ascetic monk 23 years then recluse two Masses each day, one for the living, the second for the dead
1140 ST AYBERT
ST AYBERT or Aibert was born in 1060 at Espain, a village in the diocese of Tournai. From infancy his heart was wholly given to God. At night the little boy would rise from bed and slip away to pray without attracting the notice of his parents when he got older he played truant from caring for his father’s herds to go to church. One day a wandering minstrel sang in his hearing a lay about the life of a hermit—St Theobald of Provins—who had lately died. Forthwith there sprang up in Aybert’s heart a desire to imitate the recluse. He accordingly sought out a priest called John who belonged to the abbey of Crespin, but who was permitted to live as a solitary. Father John accepted the youth as a companion and together they lived a most austere and penitential life.
The abbot of Crespin had to go to Rome some time later and as his companions he chose the two hermits; and the party set off barefoot. The hardships they endured caused John to fall ill on the road, but he was nursed back to health by the kindly monks of Vallombrosa. Not long after their return, Aybert was moved by a dream or vision to seek admittance into the abbey itself, and for twenty-five years he was procurator and cellarer, dispensing hospitality and good cheer to others although never modifying his own austerities; he was always happy and very cheerful. The time came, however, when he felt the call to return to the solitary life which he had abandoned. With the abbot’s leave, he built himself a hermitage in a barren district, and there he lived for twenty-two years more.
St Aybert’s holiness began to attract visitors, who found themselves greatly helped by his spiritual advice and made him known to others. Bishops and laymen, grand ladies and canonesses, scholars and humble peasants flocked to him in such numbers that Bishop Burchard of Cambrai promoted him to the priesthood, providing him with a chapel beside his cell. Moreover Pope Innocent II granted him leave to absolve reserved cases—a right which he only exercised in exceptional circumstances. God crowned Aybert’s long penance with a happy death in the eightieth year of his age.
One phase of Aybert’s devotional practice is of great interest in its bearing on the controversy concerning the origin of the rosary. It is recorded that the saint used to repeat the Ave Maria fifty times in succession, accompanying each Ave with a prostration. A mention in the same context of his habit of dividing his recitation of the whole psalter into fifties makes the allusion still more significant.
The Latin biography from which all our information is derived was written by Robert, Archdeacon of Ostrevant, shortly after the saint’s death. The text may be consulted most conveniently in the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. i. See also the Biographic nationale de Belgique, vol. i.

Aibert, or Aybert, was born near Tournai, Belgium, and entered the Benedictine Monastery of St. Crespin. He remained a monk for twenty-three years, serving in several capacities. He then became a hermit. Aibert is recorded as celebrating two Masses each day, one for the living, the second for the dead.
1129 St. Celsus hereditary abbacy of Armagh in 1105 elected Bishop when he was twenty-six in 1106 effected many reforms to restore ecclesiastical discipline
1129 ST CELSUS, or CEALLACH, Archbishop OF ARMAGH
CELSUS is the Latin name given to Ceallach mac Aedha, in whose family the see of Armagh had become hereditary for several generations. Like his eight predecessors, Celsus himself was a layman when he succeeded to the see at the age of twenty-six in 1105; but he was then consecrated bishop and proved a good one. “He was a worthy and God-fearing man”, wrote St Bernard of Clairvaux. He was assiduous in conducting visitations, in conserving the temporalities of his see, and in restoring ecclesiastical discipline. For this last purpose he attended a great synod at Rath Breasail, whereat there were said to be no less than fifty bishops present, and Gilbert of Limerick presided as papal legate. Neither the liturgical reforms of this council nor the diocesan organization and boundaries that it drew up were well received. The Annals of the Four Masters says that St Celsus rebuilt the cathedral of Armagh. He lived in very troubled times and was called on to mediate between the warring Irish princes, while he himself suffered from the depredations of the O’Rourkes and O’Briens.
In all his labours St Celsus was supported by St Malachy, first as his archdeacon and then as bishop of Connor. On his death-bed at Ardpatrick in Munster in 1129, Celsus broke the evil custom of hereditary succession by nominating Malachy to succeed him at Armagh. By his own wish he was buried at Lismore.
The name of St Celsus was added by Cardinal Baronius to the Roman Martyrology, where it now appears on the day of his death, April 1. His feast is kept throughout Ireland to-day.
See Acta Sanctorum, April 6; St Bernard’s life of St Malachy (Migne, PL., vol. clxxxii, col. 1086; DNB., vol. ix, p. 418 ; O’Hanlon,   LIS., vol. iv, p. 43; and all modern lives of St Malachy.

Celsus of Armagh was a layman named Ceallach mac Aedha. He succeeded to the bishopric of Armagh (it was a hereditary See) in 1105 when he was twenty-six, was consecrated bishop, put into effect many reforms in his diocese, and ruled well and effectively. He mediated between warring Irish factions, was a friend of St. Malachy, and ended the hereditary succession to his See by naming Malachy as his successor on his deathbed. He died on April at Ardpatrick, Munster.

Celsus McAedh B (RM)(also known as Ceallach or Cellach of Armagh)
Born in Ireland in 1079; died at Ardpatrick, Munster, Ireland, April 1, 1129; feast day formerly celebrated on April 1. While still a layman (though perhaps a Benedictine monk of Glastonbury), Ceallach mac Aedha succeeded to the hereditary abbacy of Armagh, Ireland, in 1105 at age 26. He decided, however, to end the scandal of religious houses governed by secular rulers and was ordained.
In 1106, he was consecrated bishop of Armagh, a role in which he effected many reforms to restore ecclesiastical discipline. He ruled well and effectively and played a major role in restoring Armagh as the primatial see of Ireland. He presided over the synod of Rath Bresail in 1111 with Gilbert of Limerick, the papal legate, when normal diocesan and metropolitan organization was established and various liturgical reforms promulgated. This synod was one of many attempts to bring Irish practice into line with that of Western Europe.

Celsus's mediation was often sought between warring Irish factions. Celsus ended the hereditary succession to his see by sending his crozier to and naming Bishop Saint Malachy of Connor, as his successor on his deathbed--a nomination that caused much pain in the see as described in Saint Malachy's biography. The vita of Celsus was written by his friend, Bishop Saint Malachy (1094; died Clairvaux in 1148) (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth, Montague).
1140 Aybert of Crespin private in prayer & fasts His devotional practice reciting the Ave Maria 50 times in succession is connected with the origin of the rosary OSB (AC)
(also known as Aibert, Albert)
Born in the diocese of Tournai, France. A penitent recluse almost from childhood, Saint Aybert spent most of his time in prayer. Even as a child he kept watch through the night on his knees; when he was too tired to support himself, he would then prostrate himself in prayer. But he always tried to hide his devotion from others, so he would pray in the stable or in the fields. He was equally private in his fasts; therefore, he also ate some morsel so that he could answer his parents truthfully that he had eaten.
One day a poor minstrel came to his father's door and sang a hymn about the virtues and recent death of the hermit Saint Theobald (1017; died Salanigo, Italy, on June 30, 1066). This inspired the young saint to imitate the faith and action of his elder in faith. He immediately went to Father John at the Benedictine monastery of Crespin in the diocese of Cambrai. The good father lived as a recluse in a cell near the monastery and under its direction. John accepted Aybert as his companion, but soon the student traded places with his master. They rarely ate anything but wild herbs, rarely used a fire, never cooking.

Eventually, Aybert was received by Abbot Rainer at Crespin Abbey where he was provost and cellarer for 25 years. Yet he never let his exterior occupations interrupt his tears, prayer, or penances. After receiving permission from Abbot Lambert , Aybert spent the next 22 years as a recluse under the obedience of the abbey. But he was never entirely alone; many flocked to him for spiritual advice--so many that Bishop Burchard of Cambray promoted him to the priesthood and erected a chapel near his cell. This gave Aybert the power to minister to his visitors in the confessional and in the Eucharist. Each day he said two Masses: one for the dead and the other for the living. His devotional practice of reciting the Ave Maria 50 times in succession is connected with the origin of the rosary (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).
1241 St. Herman Joseph Praemonstratensian and mystic visions of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
b. 1150 German. Born in Cologne, he demonstrated at an early age a tendency toward mystical experiences, episodes which made him well known and deeply respected through much of Germany. He subsequently entered the Praemonstratensians at Steinfeld, Germany, where he was ordained. Herman experienced visions of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, and authored a number of mystical writings. Long considered a saint, he was given an equivalent canonization by Pope Pius XII in 1958.


From the Lives of Saintes by Alban Butler
B. HERMAN JOSEPH, C.
HE was born at Cologne, and at twelve years of age entered the monastery of Steinfeldt of regular canons of the Premonstratensian Order in the duchy of Juliers, and diocese of Cologne.    His incredible fasts and other austerities, and his extraordinary humility, joined with assiduous prayer and meditation, raised him to an eminent gilt of contemplation, which replenished his soul with the most profound sentiments of all virtues, and was attended with many heavenly favors: but, as it is usual, this grace was often accompanied with severe interior trials.  He was singularly devoted to the Blessed Virgin.  At the very remembrance of the mystery of the incarnation, his soul seemed to melt in tender love; and he seemed in raptures whenever he recited the canticle Benedictus at Lauds.  Such was his desire of contempt, that he one day desired a peasant to strike him on the face.  The other in surprise asked the reason: "On account," said he,"of my being a most filthy and abominable creature, and because I cannot meet with so much contempt as I deserve."
He died on the 7th of April in 1226.  He wrote a commentary on the book of Canticles, or Song of Solomon, and some other treatises on sublime contemplation, which may be ranked with those of other great masters in the contemplative way, as Thomas a’ Kempis, St. Theresa, Thauler, Harphius, Blosius, Lanspergius, Hilton, &c.  B. Herman is honored among the saints In his order, and in some churches in the Low Countries.  In the abbey church of Steinfeldt he is titular saint of an altar, at which the priests who visit that church out of devotion to him, say a votive mass in his honor before his relics, with proper prayers of the saint used in that abbey from time immemorial. Small portions of his relics have been given to several other churches. Some are enshrined and exposed to public veneration in the abbey of Prenontre’ at Antwerp; a portion is kept in the abbey of Pare, at Louvain another in the parish church of St. Christopher, at Cologne, and another at the Chartreuse in the same city. The emperor Ferdinand II Solicited his canonization at Rome and several proofs of miracles and other particulars have been given in for that purpose.   His name is inserted on the 7th of April, in the Martyrology of the regular canons of St. Austin, approved by Benedict XIV., p. 275.    See his life by a fellow canon of great virtue, in the Bollandists on the 7th of April, t. 1, p.682 also two other lives, and several acts, collected in order to pursue the process for his canonization.

1241 BD HERMAN JOSEPH
AMONGST the German mystics of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, special interest attaches to Bd Herman Joseph, not so much for his writings as for his visions, which were later a source of inspiration even to poets and painters. Herman, to give him his baptismal name, was born in Cologne, and lived from his seventh year until his death in extreme old age apparently in continual intercourse with the denizens of Heaven. As a little boy he would enter a church and converse familiarly with our Lady and the Holy Child, as he knelt before their statue. Once, indeed, when he offered them an apple he had the joy of seeing the hand of the Madonna extended to accept it. Sometimes he was uplifted to another plane and permitted to play with the Infant Saviour and the angels; and on one bitter winter’s day when he came to church barefoot, his parents being very poor, a kindly voice, which he took to be that of the Mother of Mercy, bade him look under a stone near by and he would find money wherewith to buy shoes. He looked, and the coins were there
At the age of twelve, Herman offered himself to the Premonstratensian monastery of Steinfeld, but as he was far too young to receive the habit he was sent on to one of the order’s houses in Friesland to study. There he profited by the general education that was imparted, though he deplored the time spent over profane literature all study seemed to him unprofitable if it did not lead to the knowledge of God. His schooling completed, he returned to Steinfeld, where he was professed and afterwards set to serve the brethren in the refectory. His duties were exactly performed, but he was perturbed to find that they left him very little leisure for prayer. He was reassured by a vision in which our Lady told him that he could do nothing more pleasing to God than to wait upon others in charity. Afterwards he was promoted to be sacristan, an office after his own heart, because he was able to spend the greater part of the day in church. His life was so blameless and his innocence so candid that he was jestingly called “Joseph”—a nickname he modestly disclaimed until it was confirmed by a vision in which, in the character of an earthly Joseph, he was mystically espoused by our Lady with a ring. This is the scene which Van Dyck has painted in a celebrated picture.
 It is not known at what date Herman received ordination, but the offering of the Holy Sacrifice was to him a time of extraordinary exaltation. Often he would be rapt in ecstasy, and would remain so long in that condition that it came to be increasingly difficult to find anyone who was willing to act as his server. Nevertheless he gained the love of his brethren for his eagerness to do kindnesses to others.
Visionary as he was, he had a practical side, and, as he was a clever mechanic, he would go from monastery to monastery adjusting or repairing the clocks for them. He is said also to have composed a number of prayers as well as hymns and one or two mystical treatises, including one on the Canticle of Canticles which, though it has not come down to us, was greatly admired. He also wrote a hymn in honour of St Ursula and her maidens, whose reputed relics are venerated in his native city and whose cultus he did much to spread. On the other hand the two books of revelations concerning their lives and death sometimes attributed to him are probably by another hand; some, indeed, have claimed that they were no more than a very ill-considered joke.
At no time robust, Bd Herman Joseph’s health became seriously affected by his fasts and austerities. Severe headaches attacked him, and his digestion became so impaired that he ate nothing and seemed a living skeleton. However, God granted him a reprieve from suffering towards the end, prolonging his life for nine years, and this was the period of his chief literary output. He had been sent in 1241 to the Cistercian nuns at Hoven for Passiontide and Easter when he was taken ill with fever from which he never recovered. The process of Herman’s canonization was introduced but never completed; his cultus, however, has been authoritatively sanctioned.
We are fortunate in possessing a detailed biography of Bd Herman Joseph which was written by a contemporary, said to have been the prior of Steinfeld. It is printed with some other materials in the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. i. Other adaptations and condensations based on this primitive life were produced at a later period, notably one by Raso Bonus Vicinus (Goetgebuer). The legend as presented in German by F. Kaulen has a charm and simplicity which reminds one of the Little Flowers of St Francis English translation by Wilfrid Galway (1878). There are popular modern German lives by Pösl and others, and in French by Timmermans (1900) and Petit (1929). See also Michael, Geschichte des deutschen Volkes…vol. iii, pp. 211 seq. R. van Waefelghem, Repertoire de l’Ordre de Prémontré (1930) and Histoire littéraire de Ia France, vol. xxi, p. 583.

Hermann Joseph, O. Praem. (AC)
Born in Cologne, Germany, in 1150; died in Steinfeld, April 7, 1241; equivalently canonized by Pope John XXIII in 1960. His baptismal name, Hermann, was apt for it means 'vir honorabilis, vir exercitus.' Early in life Hermann pictured himself as a handsome knight and the Virgin was to be his lady fair. He had the physical strength of a knight and his capacity for work was exceptional.
Hermann was reportedly as handsome and charming as Saint Norbert, who founded the order Hermann entered. He was of noble bearing, calm appearance, dignified and reserved--master of himself. Yet his face betrayed his extreme sensibility. His gentle eyes gave off 'little sparks' according to those who knew him. He treated his body as a knight does his horse: he mastered it without brutality.

And his mind was as solid as his body. Hermann was of moderate intelligence but he cultivated his mind methodically. At age 7 he began to study literature and gained an appreciation for ancient writers. Nevertheless, he felt his time was better occupied. As severe as he could be with himself, Hermann preserved a courteousness towards others that gave irrefutable evidence that he remained in the presence of his Lady.

Hermann was both an ascetic and a poet. His precocious devotion to the Virgin was inspired by poetry and courtliness. The child was frequently seen absorbed in meditation before the image of Mary; he spoke to her Son spontaneously. Perhaps God blessed him so because his soul would melt in tender love when he remembered the incarnation, and he went into raptures whenever he recited the canticle Benedictus at Lauds. One day he brought some food to symbolize an offering and the image of the Virgin extended her hand to accept his gift. On another occasion this familiarity permitted him to play with Jesus and Saint John. Young Hermann's mental balance forbids us to reject these charming visions. These continuing visions that he experienced made him famous throughout Germany.

At age 12, Hermann decided to abandon the world and enter the monastery of Steinfeld, which had been founded in 920. Between 1121 and 1126, it was occupied by Premonstratensian canons. The monastery authorities decided that Hermann should complete his studies at the order's school in Friesland prior to admittance. With his education completed Hermann returned to Steinfeld and was assigned menial duties, such as serving at table.

Soon Hermann received an assignment that delighted him: He was named sacristan which allowed him to reconcile art and piety. The community soon employed him also to minister to the Cistercian nuns at a nearby convent. Up to the day of his death, he was to have a particular fondness for this ministry.

But Hermann was also an ascetic. He subjected himself to mortifications that his artist's temperament could not properly endure. The slackening of his muscles was accompanied by a weakening of his nerves.

Hermann slept on a hard couch for only a short time each night. After keeping vigil up to the first stroke of Matins (about 3 a.m.), he would throw himself on his plank and get up at the third stroke (6 a.m.) for Lauds. Bread and water were the usual fare of this high-strung young man and he did all his travelling on foot. When he became older, the symptoms that cropped up were to be aggravated: intestinal troubles, nausea, pains that travelled all over his body, fainting spells, and extreme fatigue that engendered light psychasthenic manifestations: an unreasonable fear of forgetting a particle of the Host, or a drop of the Precious Blood, on the altar or his beard.

But Hermann's spiritual balance preserved its stability despite his physical disturbances. The wounded knight was to preserve his soul intact at the center of the marvels, the course of which was to continue without interruption.

Hermann Joseph underwent a final ordeal before he was to be delivered from his tortured body. No doubt it was the only spiritual ordeal of this kind that he had ever experienced: frightful spiders and flies seemed to invade his cell. The presence of a priest dispelled the nightmare, and Hermann Joseph died in peace.

In accordance with his wishes, he was buried in the Cistercian convent at Hoven. His body was exhumed after seven weeks and returned to Steinfeld. An inquisitorial investigation was ordered in 1628, and the body was found to be in a state of perfect preservation. The process of Hermann's canonization was never brought to completion, but he was beatified.

Hermann Joseph's spiritual exercises, as he called them, were surprisingly modern. The five poems he dedicated to the Virgin and Jesus, which seem to have belonged to a private devotion, have been preserved. He also wrote a commentary on the "Song of Songs," which is the only courtly romance read by mystics. He also had a special devotion to Saint Ursula.

Should we be surprised that the monk who sang the praises of the Rose was also the first to sing the praises of the Sacred Heart? In singing the praises of the Sacred Heart, Hermann Joseph did not separate the heart of Mary and that of her Son, the uncreated Wisdom of which she was the Vase of honor and its most perfect receptacle. Just as the Crusade had established the cult of the Holy Sepulchre, that is, of the empty tomb and the Risen Christ, likewise Hermann Joseph did not propose the adoration of the bleeding internal organ which was to mark, in a sometimes disquieting manner, the private revelations of Margaret-Mary Alacoque. The singer of the Sacred Heart honored the organ of tenderness, the Holy Grail.

Most of Hermann's relics rest in a titular altar at Steinfeld, where pilgrim priests say a votive Mass in his honor. Small portions of his relics have been given to several other churches. Some are enshrined and exposed to public veneration Antwerp, Louvain, and Cologne. Emperor Ferdinand II solicited his canonization at Rome, and offered several proofs of miracles for that purpose (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).

In art, Saint Hermann is depicted as a young Premonstratensian (white habit) with three roses. At times he may be shown (1) carrying the Child Jesus and a branch of roses; (2) with a chalice from which roses spring; (3) kneeling before the Virgin, who touches his hand and gives him an apple; or (4) as a schoolboy with a pen, book, and inkpot (Roeder). He is still venerated in Cologne, Steinfeld, and the Low Countries (Husenbeth, Roeder).
1411 Blessed William Cufitella Franciscan tertiary hermit at Scicli  70 yrs OFM Tert., Hermit (AC)
Born in Noto, Sicily; cultus approved in 1537. For 70 years William lived as a Franciscan tertiary hermit at Scicli (Benedictines).
1411 BD WILLIAM OF SCICLI
WILLIAM CUFITELLA was a Franciscan tertiary who became a hermit near Scicli in Sicily, and spent about seventy years in his little cell, giving himself up to prayer and to very severe mortifications. He lived on the vegetables which he cultivated in his garden and on a small part of what the faithful brought to him. He seldom left his hermitage except to visit and relieve the sick poor for whom he had great compassion, or to tend the adjacent chapel of our Lady of Pity which had been committed to his charge. Many people came to him for guidance and direction in their spiritual life. A very close friendship united him to another saintly solitary, Bd Conrad of Piacenza, who would come over from Pizzoni to pass Lent with him.
Bd William was ninety-five years of age when he died. The people of Scicli, hearing the sound of bells, hurried out and found the old man dead on his knees, hands joined in prayer, surrounded by beams of heavenly light. The town, which afterwards made him its protector in thanksgiving for preservation from plague, still keeps his feast. His cultus was approved in 1537.
See the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. i (under April 4), where some fragments are printed from the beatification process Cf. also Fr Léon, Auréole Séraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. ii, pp. 34-35.
1410 Bl. Ursulina mystic accustomed to visions and ecstasies tried to end the scandals of the "Babylonian Captivity"
1410 BD URSULINA, VIRGIN enjoyed heavenly visions / mystical experiences, at fifteen a supernatural voice several times bade her go to Avignon urge Clement VII renunciation of  the papacy
OF the intrepid women who made noble efforts to end the scandals of the “Babylonish Captivity” of Avignon and of the Great Schism which ensued, not the least courageous, though certainly the youngest, was Bd Ursulina of Parma. From her tenth year she had enjoyed heavenly visions and mystical experiences, and when she was fifteen a supernatural voice several times bade her go to Avignon to urge upon Clement VII the renunciation of his claim to the papacy.
A vision which was vouchsafed to her on Easter day decided her purpose. With two companions, besides her mother who accompanied her on all her subsequent travels, the girl made the toilsome journey over the Alps and succeeded in obtaining an audience with Clement more than once. Her efforts to persuade him proving fruitless, she went back to Parma, but almost immediately proceeded to Rome where she delivered a similar message to the true pope, Boniface IX. He received her graciously and appears to have encouraged her to make another attempt to win over his rival. Thereupon she undertook a second expedition to Avignon, with no better success than before. Indeed this time she was separated from her mother, was accused of sorcery, and narrowly escaped a trial. Another journey to Rome was followed by a somewhat perilous pilgrimage to the Holy Land. If she and her mother had hoped to settle down in Parma on their return they were doomed to disappointment, for civil war broke out in the city and they were expelled. They made their way to Bologna and then to Verona, which Bd Ursulina seems to have made her home until her death at the age of thirty-five.
Our information comes almost entirely from the Latin life by Simon Zanachi, a Carthusian of Parma. It is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. i. A popular adaptation was published by H. M. Garofani in 1897, Vita e Viaggi della B. Orsolina di Parma.
Virgin and visionary. A young woman of Parma, Italy, she received visions and experienced ecstasies. At the age of fifteen she was told by the visions to go to Avignon, France, to convince the antipope there, Clement VII (1378-1394), to step down and so end the Great Western Schism which had troubled the Church since 1378. Failing in this, she journeyed to Rome and pleaded with Pope Boniface IX (r. 1389-1404) to resign. The pontiff refused, so she made one more unsuccessful attempt to beg Clement to give up his claim. Ursulina then went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and then returned home to Parma. She was soon expelled from the city during some civil conflict, going to Bologna and then Verona, where she died.

Blessed Ursulina of Bologna V (AC) Born in Parma, Italy, in 1375; died in Verona, Italy, in 1410. Ursulina was much like Saint Catherine of Siena (Born in Siena, Italy, March 25, 1347, in Florence, Italy; died there on April 29, 1380). She was a mystic accustomed to visions and ecstasies. At age 15, in response to a supernatural voice, Ursulina tried to end the scandals of the "Babylonian Captivity" of Avignon by visiting the antipope Clement VII to persuade him to give up the throne. Unsuccessful, she next went to Rome to ask Pope Boniface IX to resign, and then back again to petition Clement. After a pilgrimage to Rome and the Holy Land, she returned home and narrowly escaped being burned as a sorceress during a civil war in Parma. She fled to Bologna, where she lived for a time before retiring to Verona (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).
1508 Nilus of Sora study, translation, and diffusion of Greek ascetical writings canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church
(also known as Nil Maikov)
Born c. 1433; canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1903.
Nilus, of peasant origin, was a monk of Belozersk near Lake Beloe in Russia. From there he went to Greece and lived for a long time of Mount Athos, where he made a deep study of monastic discipline and mysticism. Returning to Belozersk, in 1480, he established a small colony of semi-hermits near by on the River Sora; they devoted themselves particularly to the study, translation, and diffusion of Greek ascetical writings.

Nilus was essentially a man of freedom and moderation, who opposed religious formalism, exaggeration, and intolerance; but on the subject of monastic property his ideas were severe - uncompromising. Five years before his death he took the lead against Saint Joseph of Volokolamsk and the 'possessors'; monks ought not to own landed estates, said Nilus, but should work for what they need; even their churches should be plain and bare, lest worshippers be distracted from the beauty of God.

He had many supporters, but these 'non-possessors' were destined to lose the day after he was dead. During the 19th century there was a renewal of interest in Saint Nilus and his writings. A short instruction to his monks and a 'monastic rule,' which is really a treatise on religious life, have been translated into English (Attwater).
1540 Saint Daniel of Pereslavl monk in the monastery of St Paphnutius of Borovsk dedicated himself to love for neighbor buried the neglected, the poor, and those without family: founded a monastery on the site of the cemetery
In the world Demetrius was born around 1460 in the city of Pereslavl-Zalessk. His parents were the pious Constantine and Theodosia (in monasticism Thekla).

From his childhood, Daniel had a love for the pious life and Christian deeds. He became a monk in the monastery of St Paphnutius of Borovsk. He attained spiritual maturity under the guidance of St Leucius of Volokolamsk (August 17). Afterwards, in his native land, he dedicated himself to love for neighbor.

He buried the neglected, the poor, and those without family. The saint founded a monastery on the site of the cemetery.

He died April 7, 1540. He is also commemorated on December 30 and July 28.
1595 Bl. Alexander Rawlins Martyr missionary fervent Catholicism
1595 BDs. ALEXANDER RAWLINS and HENRY WALPOLE, MARTYRS beatified in 1929
ALEXANDER RAWLINS, secular priest, and Henry Walpole, Jesuit, who suffered martyrdom together in 1595, were men of good family, born, the one on the borders of Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, and the other in Norfolk. Whereas Rawlins seems to have gone directly to the English College at Rheims to prepare to receive holy orders, Walpole, who was intended for the law, continued his education at Cambridge and then took chambers at Gray’s Inn. Realizing that he was becoming an object of suspicion to the authorities and feeling himself called to the priesthood, he proceeded to Rheims and then to Rome, where he entered the Society of Jesus. After taking his final vows, he was sent on missions, first to Lorraine and then to the Netherlands, where he was captured by Calvinists and imprisoned for a year. Upon being liberated, he asked to be allowed to go to England, but he was sent to teach in English seminaries at Seville and Valladolid. After another mission to Flanders, the long-desired permission was accorded, and he set out for England, landing at Flamborough Head on December 4, 1593. Within twenty-four hours he was arrested and was taken prisoner to York.
In reply to interrogations Father Walpole owned quite frankly that he was a Jesuit priest, and that he had come to gain souls to God. Thereupon he was imprisoned, first at York and then in the Tower of London, where he was tortured fourteen times. In these straits he seems to have shown a certain weakness, but it is clear that he betrayed no one and never surrendered the faith in any essential point. The brutality of his torturer Topcliffe was such that the stern lieutenant of the Tower in pity gave him a little straw to lie on, and intimated to his relations that he was without bed or covering in the depth of winter. After a year’s confinement he was taken back to York, tried at the Mid-Lent Assizes, and condemned to death on a charge of treason. It was decided that he should suffer at the same time as Mr Rawlins, who, ever since his ordination in March 1590, had been labouring in the English mission, and had been arrested about the date of Walpole’s return from the Tower to York Castle. They were drawn to execution on the same hurdle, but, lest they should have the consolation of speaking to each other, they were laid with the head of the one beside the feet of the other. Bd Alexander suffered first Bd Henry, obliged to look on while the usual barbarities were carried out upon his fellow-martyr, displayed the same fortitude as his brother priest.
See Challoner’s MMP., pp. 217—227; and, for Walpole especially, the publications of the Catholic Record Society, vol. v, Documents relating to the English Martyrs, pp. 244—269, etc. Cf. also A. Jessopp, One Generation of a Norfolk House (1878), and John Gerard’s autobiography (1951).
Companion in death with Henry Walpole. Alexander was born in Worcestershire, England, where he was jailed twice for his fervent Catholicism. In 1589 he went to the English seminary in Reims and was ordained there in 1590. Returning to England the following year, Alexander was arrested. He was condemned to death and on April 7, 1595, and along with Henry Walpole was hanged, drawn, and quartered in York, England. He was beatified in 1929.
Blessed Alexander Rawlins M (AC) Born in Gloucestershire; died April 7, 1595; beatified in 1929. Blessed Alexander was a secular priest who was educated at Rheims and ordained in 1590.
He was captured while laboring in the York mission and martyred with Saint Henry Walpole for his priesthood (Benedictines).
1595 St. Henry Walpole Jesuit missionary 1/40 Martyrs of England and Wales
b. 1558 . He was born in Docking, Norfolk, England, and was educated at Cambridge and Day’s Inn. Converted to Catholicism, he went to Rome where he entered the Jesuits in 1584. Ordained in 1588, Henry was sent to York, England, where he was arrested and martyred. He was beatified in 1929 and canonized in 1970.

Henry Walpole, SJ M (RM) Born in Docking, Norfolk, England, in 1558; died April 7, 1595; beatified in 1929; canonized as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales in 1970 by Pope Paul VI.
Saint Henry studied at Norwich, Cambridge (Peterhouse), and law at Gray's Inn. He was reconciled to the Church when he witnessed the execution of Saint Edmund Campion(1581). He immediately quit studying law in order to study theology at Rheims.
Henry entered the Society of Jesus in Rome, 1584, and was ordained there four years later after completing his studies at the English College.

He was sent on the missions to Lorraine, and in 1589, while acting as chaplain to the Spanish troops in the Netherlands, he was imprisoned by the Calvinists at Flushing for a year. When released he taught at Seville and Valladolid, Spain. Thereafter, Henry engaged in missionary activities in Flanders and, in 1593, was sent to the English mission.

Arrested almost on landing, he was imprisoned for a year in York and then in the Tower of London, subjected to numerous tortures, and then convicted of treason for his priesthood at York, where he was hanged, drawn, and quartered with Blessed Alexander Rawlins (a secular priest) (Benedictines, Delaney).
1606 Bl. Edward Oldcorne Jesuit & Ralph Ashley Jesuit lay- brother English martyrs allegedly involved in the Gunpowder Plot. He was born in York, England, and ordained in Rome. In 1587, he became a Jesuit. Returning to England, Edward worked in the Midlands from 1588 to 1606. He was then condemned to death at Worcester for alleged coinplicity in the Gunpowder Plot He was beatified in 1929.

1606 BDs. EDWARD OLDCORNE and RALPH ASHLEY, MARTYRS
A YORK man by birth, Edward Oldcorne pursued his ecclesiastical studies first at Rheims and then in Rome, where, after a stay of six years, he was ordained priest with a view to proceeding at once to the English mission. As he was very desirous of joining the Society of Jesus, Father Aquaviva admitted him without requiring the usual period of noviciate, because of the perilous nature of the enterprise to which he was committed. He landed in England with Father Gerard, but they separated almost immediately, and Father Oldcorne was sent to Worcester, where for seventeen years, under the name of Hall, he laboured zealously and had some hairbreadth escapes. He was successful in reconciling many lapsed Catholics and in converting a number of Protestants, amongst others Mrs Dorothy Abington, formerly one of Queen Elizabeth’s ladies and a sister of the Catholic gentleman whose house at Henlip became Oldcorne’s headquarters during the time he spent in Worcestershire. After the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot there was a great recrudescence of hostility to Catholics, and a proclamation was issued directed more particularly against Father Garnet, the superior of the English Jesuits, who was charged with knowledge of the plot. Garnet came to Henlip, and when the house was searched he was found in the priests’ hiding-hole together with Father Oldcorne —their place of concealment having been betrayed by a prisoner who hoped to save his own life by turning informer. Father Oldcorne was taken to Worcester and then to the Tower of London. Although he was racked five times, he could not be shaken in his repudiation of any cognizance of the scheme of the conspirators, and in reply to a charge of having approved of the plot, he persistently denied having either known or approved of it. He was nevertheless found guilty and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, and with him was condemned and executed also his servant, Ralph Ashley, a Jesuit lay-brother, against whom nothing could be proved except that he was in attendance upon the father. Littleton, the man upon whose information Father Oldcorne had been caught and upon whose evidence he had been condemned, publicly asked pardon for his treachery and false accusations, and died with the martyrs. Bd Edward was cut down and butchered while still alive, and the different parts of his body set up upon the gates of the city of Worcester.
See Challoner’s MMP., pp. 289—291; John Morris, Life of Father John Gerard; Foley, REPSJ., vol. iv and Gerard’s autobiography (1951)
Blessed Edward Oldcorne & Ralph Ashley, SJ MM (AC) Died 1606; beatified in 1929. Edward Oldcorne was born in York, ordained for the priesthood in Rome, and received into the Society of Jesus in 1587. He worked in the Midlands from 1588 until his arrest. He was condemned to death at Worcester for alleged complicity in the Gunpowder Plot. Ralph Ashley was a Jesuit lay- brother who was martyred with Fr. Oldcorne, whom he was attending (Benedictines).
1719 ST JOHN BAPTIST DE LA SALLE, FOUNDER OF THE BROTHERS OF THE CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS
Rotómagi natális sancti Joánnis Baptístæ de La Salle, Presbyteri et Confessóris, qui, in erudiénda adolescéntia præsértim páupere excéllens, et de religióne civilíque societáte præcláre méritus, Fratrum Scholárum Christianárum Sodalitátem instítuit.  Eum Pius Duodécimus, Póntifex Máximus, ómnium Magistrórum  púeris adolescentibúsque instituéndis præcípuum apud Deum cæléstem Patrónum constítuit.  Ipsíus tamen festum Idibus Maji celebrátur.
 At Rouen, the birthday of St. John Baptist de la Salle, priest and confessor.  He was prominent in the education of youth, especially those who were poor, for which he was acclaimed both by religious and civil society.  He was the founder of the Society of the Brothers of the Christian Schools.  Pius XII, Supreme Pontiff, declared him patron of all those who teach children and young people.  His feast is celebrated on the 15th of May.
THE founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools was born at Rheims on April 30, 1651. His parents were both of noble family. From the instructions of a devout mother, the boy, John Baptist, early gave evidence of such piety that he was designated for the priesthood. He received the tonsure when he was only eleven, and became a member of the cathedral chapter of Rheims at the age of sixteen in 1670 he entered the seminary of St Sulpice in Paris, being ordained priest in 1678. A young man of striking appearance, well connected, refined and scholarly, he seemed assured of a life of dignified ease or of high preferment in the Church. But God in His providence had other designs for him—of which he himself had no presentiment, apparently not even when one of his fellow canons on his deathbed committed to his care the spiritual direction of a girls’ orphanage and school as well as of the sisters who conducted it.
But in 1679 he met a layman, Adrian Nyel, who had come to Rheims with the idea of opening a school for poor boys. Canon de La Salle gave him every encouragement, and, somewhat prematurely, two schools were started. Gradually the young canon became more and more drawn into the work and grew interested in the seven masters who taught in these schools. He rented a house for them, fed them from his own table, and tried to instil into them the high educational ideals which were gradually taking shape in his own mind. In 1681, though their uncouth manners repelled him, he decided to invite them to live in his own home that he might have them under his constant supervision. The result must have been a great disappointment. Not only did two of his brothers indignantly leave his house—a step he may have anticipated, for “ushers” were then ranked with pot-boys and hucksters—but five of the schoolmasters soon took their departure, unable or unwilling to submit to a discipline for which they had never bargained. The reformer waited, and his patience was rewarded. Other men of a better type presented themselves, and these formed the nucleus of what was to prove a new congregation. To house them the saint gave up his paternal home, and moved with them to more suitable premises in the Rue Neuve. As the movement became known, requests began to come in from outside for schoolmasters trained on the new method, and de La Salle found his time fully engrossed. Partly for that reason, and partly because he realized the contrast his disciples drew between his assured official income and their own uncertain position, he decided to give up his canonry. This he did.
The next question for consideration was the use he should make of his private fortune, which he no longer wished to retain for his own use. Should he employ it for the infant community, or should he give it away? He went to Paris to consult Father Barré, a saintly man greatly interested in education, whose advice had helped him in the past. Father Barré was strongly opposed to the idea of endowment. “Si vous fondez, vous fondrez” (“If you endow, you will founder”), he said, and the saint, after fervent prayer for light, determined to sell all he had and to distribute the proceeds to the poor—who at that time were in the direst need, as a famine was raging in Champagne. His life from that time became even more austere. He had naturally a very delicate palate, but he deliberately starved himself until hunger enabled him to swallow any food, however coarse or ill-prepared.
Four schools were soon opened, but de la Salle’s great problem at this stage was that of training teachers. Eventually he called a conference of twelve of his men, and it was decided to make provisional regulations, with a vow of obedience yearly renewable until vocations became certain. At the same time a name was decided upon for members of the community. They were to be called the Brothers of the Christian Schools. The first serious trial that befell them was illness amongst the brothers. De la Salle seems to have attributed this visitation to his own incapacity to rule, and he consequently persuaded his disciples to elect another superior. No sooner, however, did this become known than the archiepiscopal vicar general ordered him to resume his office. His wisdom and his guiding hand were indeed necessary, for external pressure was about to cause unforeseen developments in the new congregation—developments which would greatly widen its field of operation. Hitherto recruits had been full-grown men, but now applications began to be received from boys between the ages of fifteen and twenty. To reject promising lads at a malleable age might mean losing them altogether, and yet they were not old enough to be subjected to a rule framed for adults. De la Salle, in 1685, accordingly decided to set up a junior novitiate. He lodged the youths in an adjoining house, gave them a simple rule of life, and entrusted their training to a wise brother, whilst retaining supervision of them himself. But soon there appeared another class of candidate who also, like the boys, could not well be refused and who likewise required to be dealt with apart. These were young men who were sent by their parish priests to the saint with a request that he would train them as schoolmasters, and send them back to teach in their own villages. He accepted them, found them a domicile, undertook their training, and thus founded the first training-college for teachers, at Rheims in 1687; others followed, at Paris (1699) and at Saint-Denis (1709).
All this time the work of teaching poor boys had been steadily going on, although hitherto it had been restricted to Rheims. In 1688 the saint, at the request of the curé of St Sulpice in Paris, took over a school in that parish. It was the last of seven free schools founded by M. Olier, which had eventually been compelled to close for lack of satisfactory teachers. The brothers were so successful that a second school was opened in the same district. The control of these Paris foundations was entrusted to Brother L’Heureux, a gifted and capable man whom de la Salle designed to be his successor, and whom he was about to present for ordination. It had been his intention to have priests in his institution to take charge of each house, but Brother L’Heureux’s unexpected death made him doubt whether his design had been according to God’s will. After much prayer it was borne in upon him that if his order was to confine itself strictly to the work of teaching, for which it had been founded, and to remain free from “caste” distinctions the brothers must continue to be laymen. He therefore laid down the statute—perhaps the most self-denying ordinance which could be imposed upon a community of men— that no Brother of the Christian Schools should ever be a priest, and that no priest should ever become a member of the order. That regulation is in force to this day.
Troubles which had affected the work during the founder’s absence in Paris led him afterwards to take a house at Vaugirard to serve as a retreat where his sons could come to recruit body and spirit; it also became the novitiate-house. Here, about 1695, de la Salle drew up the first draft of the matured rule, with provision for the taking of life vows. Here also he wrote his manual on the Conduct of Schools in which he sets forth the system of education to be carried out—a system which revolutionized elementary education and is successfully pursued at the present day. It replaced the old method of individual instruction by class teaching and the “simultaneous method”, it insisted on silence while the lessons were being given, and it taught in French and through French—not through Latin. Up to this period the schools opened by the brothers had all been intended for poor children, but in 1698 a new departure was made at the request of King James II of England, then an exile in France. He wanted a college for the sons of his Irish adherents, and at his request the saint opened a school for fifty boys of gentle birth. About the same tune he started for the benefit of youths of the artisan class the first “Sunday academy”, in which more advanced instruction was combined with religious teaching and exercises, and it at once became extremely popular.
St John Baptist de la Salle had not been able to carry out all these schemes without experiencing many trials. He had heartrending disappointments and defections amongst his disciples, and bitter opposition from the secular schoolmasters, who resented his intrusion into what they regarded as their special preserves. At one time the very existence of the institute seems to have been jeopardized through the injudicious action of two brothers occupying posts of authority. Complaints of undue severity towards novices reached the archbishop of Paris, who sent his vicar general to make investigations. The brothers unanimously exonerated their superior from blame in the matter, but the vicar general was prejudiced and drew up an unfavourable report. The result was that St John Baptist was told to regard himself as deposed—a verdict he received without a murmur. When, however, the vicar attempted to impose on the brothers a new superior—an outsider from Lyons—they indignantly exclaimed that M. de la Salle was their superior, and that they would one and all walk out of the house rather than accept another. Though the saint afterwards induced them to make a formal submission, the fresh appointment was allowed to lapse, and the founder remained in charge of his congregation. Somewhat later than this the removal of the novitiate from Vaugirard to larger premises inside Paris, together with the opening of new schools in connection with it, led to a violent organized attack on the Paris schools in which the lay schoolmasters were joined by the Jansenists, and by those who, on principle, were opposed to education other than manual for the children of the poor. St John Baptist found himself involved in a series of law-suits, and obliged to close all his Parisian schools and houses. Eventually the storm died down, the persecution ended as suddenly as it had begun, and before long the brothers were able to resume and even extend their educational work in the capital.
Elsewhere the institute had been steadily developing. As early as 1700 Brother Drolin had been sent to found a school in Rome, and in France schools were started at Avignon, at Calais, in Languedoc, in Provence, at Rouen, and at Dijon. In 1705 the novitiate was transferred to St Yon in Rouen. There a boarding-school was opened, and an establishment for troublesome boys, which afterwards developed into a reformatory-school. From these beginnings grew the present world-wide organization, the largest teaching-order of the Church, working from primary schools to university-colleges. In 1717 the founder decided finally to resign; from that moment he would give no orders, and lived like the humblest of the brothers. He taught novices and boarders, for whom he wrote several books, including a method of mental prayer. St John Baptist lived at an important period in the history of spirituality in France, and he came under the influence of Bérulle, Olier and the so-called French “school” of de Rancé and of the Jesuits, his friends Canon Nicholas Roland and the Minim friar Nicholas Barré being specially influential. On the negative side he was distinguished by his strong opposition to Jansenism, illustrated positively by his advocacy of frequent and even daily communion. In Lent, 1719 St John Baptist suffered a good deal from asthma and rheumatism, but would give up none of his habitual austerities. Then he met with an accident, and gradually grew weaker. He passed away on Good Friday, April 7, 1719 in the sixty-eighth year of his age.
The example of St John Baptist de la Salle may well lead everyone of us to ask himself: “What have I done to help and to encourage this most necessary and divine work? What sacrifices am I prepared to make that the Christian education of our children may be carried on in spite of all the hindrances and hostilities which beset it?” The Church has shown her appreciation of the character of this man, a thinker and initiator of the first importance in the history of education, by canonizing him in 1900, and giving his feast to the whole Western church; and in 1950 Pope Pius XII declared him the heavenly patron of all school-teachers.
There is no lack of excellent lives of St John Baptist de Ia Salle, especially in French. The foundation of all is the biography by J. B. Blain, the intimate friend of the saint, which appeared in 1733. Of modern works the most important is probably that of J. Guibert, Historie de St Jean Baptiste de la Salle (1900). Shorter works are those of A. Delaire (1900) in the series “Les Saints”, F. Laudet (1929), and G. Bernoville (1944). In English, Francis Thompson’s sketch was republished in 1911, and there are other good biographies but the best and moat thorough work is Dr W. J. Battersby’s De la Salle, vol. (1845), as educational pioneer, vol. ii (1950), as saint and spiritual writer, vol. iii (1950), letters and documents.
John Baptist de la Salle was born at Rheims, France on April 30th. He was the eldest of ten children in a noble family. He studied in Paris and was ordained in 1678. He was known for his work with the poor. He died at St. Yon, Rouen, on April 7th. He was canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1900. John was very involved in education. He founded the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (approved in 1725) and established teacher colleges (Rheims in 1687, Paris in 1699, and Saint-Denis in 1709). He was one of the first to emphasize classroom teaching over individual instruction. He also began teaching in the vernacular instead of in Latin. His schools were formed all over Italy. In 1705, he established a reform school for boys at Dijon.
 John was named patron of teachers by Pope Pius XII in 1950.
John-Baptist de la Salle, Priest (RM) Born at Rheims, France, April 30, 1651; died at Rouen, France, on April 7, 1719; canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1900; named patron of teachers by Pope Pius XII in 1950; feast day formerly on May 15.
John-Baptist de la Salle was the eldest of ten children of a wealthy and noble family. He was destined for the priesthood at age 10, tonsured the following year, and was actually made a canon of Rheims cathedral 11 years (1667) before he was ordained a priest in 1678, following his seminary training at Saint Sulpice in Paris. He seemed set for a brilliant ecclesiastical career for he was striking in appearance, well connected, refined, and scholarly. Soon after his ordination, however, he met Adrian Nyel, a layman who was opening a school in Rheims for poor boys in 1679.

He found himself drawn more and more into the project. First he rented a house for the seven masters and fed them at his table. In 1681, he invited them to share his own home in order to instill in them the high educational ideals forming in his own mind. Two of his own brothers left soon after, then five of the school masters. The endeavor seemed about to fail.
 
Finally, John-Baptist decided to devote himself to the mission. In 1683, he resigned his canonry and distributed his family inheritance for the relief of the famine-stricken in Champagne. Thus freed of other obligations, he dedicated himself to the education of the poor. After a false start, he realized that the first problem was the provision of teachers, so he himself began to train laymen as teachers. He called the twelve young men he gathered together the "Brethren of the Christian Schools' (which did not receive papal approval until 1725). La Salle's original intention was to have priests in his institution to take charge of each house, but when his designated successor Brother L'Heureux, whom he was about to present for ordination, died unexpectedly, he doubted whether he design had been according to God's plan. It was ultimately decided when he drew up the rule in 1695 that they should all in fact be laybrothers and no priest could become a Christian Brother. This work went on simultaneously with opening schools. 
Saint John-Baptist de la Salle established the first teachers' colleges because parish priests continually sent him young men to train as teachers before returning to schools in their own villages. He sought to inspire his teachers with "a father's love for their pupils, ready to devote all their time and energies to them, as concerned to save them from wickedness as to dispel their ignorance. There were no such teachers for the poor."
In 1688, he took over a free school in Paris and started teacher training colleges in Rheims (1687), Paris (1699), and Saint-Denis (1709), and established a junior novitiate in 1685 for boys aged 15 to 20. In Paris he also introduced Sunday-schools. In 1700, the brothers opened a school in Rome. By that point they had opened schools in Avignon, Calais, Languedoc, Provence, Rouen, and Dijon.

In 1698, he began teaching the children of those who had come into exile in France with the deposed King James II of England. This brought his ideas and techniques into contact with a more influential sector of society. He was also the first to set up a reform school for delinquent boys at Dijon and even taught prisoners. Today about 20,000 of his brothers, the Christian Brothers, are still teaching throughout the world.

The successful growth of the new congregation provoked violent opposition from professional school-masters and others. In 1702 his enemies managed to get him dismissed, but all his teachers threatened to leave with him, so John-Baptist managed to keep control of his brethren.

His system of education, outlined in The Conduct of Christian Schools (Conduite des ecoles Chretiennes, English translation, 1935), was a milestone in the schooling of the young, with its use of the "simultaneous method" (as opposed to individual instruction) and its teaching through the mother tongue rather than Latin. John-Baptist believed that to teach the poor in Latin (as was the custom) was absurd. They needed to be taught to write and read their own language, and given religious and vocational training.

Matthew Arnold said of this book that later works on the subject hardly improved on its precepts and had none of its religious feeling. La Salle, who had studied at Saint-Sulpice under Louis Tronson, also wrote several works of value on prayer and meditation, including Meditations for Sundays, which was influenced by Bérulle.

Later, spurred by the Jansenists, an attack on teaching anything but manual labor to poor students caused his schools in Paris to be closed, but the storm subsided and they reopened.

John-Baptist resigned in 1717 and retired to Saint Yon, Rouen, where he lived as the humblest of brothers. He suffered from asthma and rheumatism, but would give up none of his habitual austerities. He died on Good Friday at Rouen. In 1937, his relics were translated to Rome (Attwater, Battersby, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Farmer, Walsh).

1919 Blessed Josaphata Micheline Hordashevska (foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate, d. 1919) 
Following the Virgin Mary’s example
A native of Lviv in Ukraine, Josaphata Michaelina Hordashevska became a nun at age 18. Co-founder with Father Kyrylo Seletsky of the first female congregation of the Byzantine-Ukrainian rite, the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate, she devoted herself to caring for the sick, teaching the Catechism, and maintaining impoverished churches. Diagnosed with bone cancer, from which she endured terrible pain, she died at age 49. She was beatified in June 2001 in Lviv by Saint John Paul II.

The Congregation of the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate lives out its special calling to serve others by following the example of the Virgin Mary—Handmaid of the Lord—Mary is also Servant of all humanity. Our Lady went speedily to assist Elizabeth; she intervened with simplicity at Cana; she courageously stood at the foot of the Cross where she received us as her children from the arms of her Son; with confidence, in union with the Apostles in the Upper Room, she prayed for the Church.

As servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Sisters Servants of Mary Immaculate try to answer God’s call, as He invites us to collaborate with him in the work of Salvation by serving other.  nominis.cef.fr
1925 St Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow Apostle to America led an austere and chaste life the kindest of the Russian hierarchs "May God teach every one of us to strive for His truth, and for the good of the Holy Church, rather than something for our own sake."
Born as Vasily Ivanovich Belavin on January 19, 1865 into the family of Ioann Belavin, a rural priest of the Toropetz district of the Pskov diocese. His childhood and adolescence were spent in the village in direct contact with peasants and their labor. From his early years he displayed a particular religious disposition, love for the Church as well as rare meekness and humility.

When Vasily was still a boy, his father had a revelation about each of his children. One night, when he and his three sons slept in the hayloft, he suddenly woke up and roused them. He had seen his dead mother in a dream, who foretold to him his imminent death, and the fate of his three sons. She said that one would be unfortunate throughout his entire life, another would die young, while the third, Vasily, would be a great man. The prophecy of the dead woman proved to be entirely accurate in regard to all three brothers.

From 1878 to 1883, Vasily studied at the Pskov Theological Seminary. The modest seminarian was tender and affectionate by nature. He was fair-haired and tall of stature. His fellow students liked and respected him for his piety, brilliant progress in studies, and constant readiness to help comrades, who often turned to him for explanations of lessons, especially for help in drawing up and correcting numerous compositions. Vasily was called "bishop" and "patriarch" by his classmates.

In 1888, at the age of 23, Vasily Belavin graduated from the St Petersburg Theological Academy as a layman, and returned to the Pskov Seminary as an instructor of Moral and Dogmatic Theology. The whole seminary and the town of Pskov became very fond of him. He led an austere and chaste life, and in 1891, when he turned 26, he took monastic vows. Nearly the whole town gathered for the ceremony. He embarked on this new way of life consciously and deliberately, desiring to dedicate himself entirely to the service of the Church. The meek and humble young man was given the name Tikhon in honor of St Tikhon of Zadonsk.
He was transferred from the Pskov Seminary to the Kholm Theological Seminary in 1892, and was raised to the rank of archimandrite.

Archimandrite Tikhon was consecrated Bishop of Lublin on October 19, 1897, and returned to Kholm for a year as Vicar Bishop of the Kholm Diocese. Bishop Tikhon zealously devoted his energy to the establishment of the new vicariate. His attractive moral make-up won the general affection, of not only the Russian population, but also of the Lithuanians and Poles. On September 14, 1898, Bishop Tikhon was made Bishop of the Aleutians and Alaska. As head of the Orthodox Church in America, Bishop Tikhon was a zealous laborer in the Lord's vineyard.
He did much to promote the spread of Orthodoxy, and to improve his vast diocese. He reorganized the diocesan structure, and changed its name from "Diocese of the Aleutians and Alaska" to "Diocese of the Aleutians and North America" in 1900. Both clergy and laity loved their archpastor, and held him in such esteem that the Americans made Archbishop Tikhon an honorary citizen of the United States.
On May 22, 1901, he blessed the cornerstone for St Nicholas Cathedral in New York, and was also involved in establishing other churches.

On November 9, 1902, he consecrated the church of St Nicholas in Brooklyn for the Syrian Orthodox immigrants. Two weeks later, he consecrated St Nicholas Cathedral in NY.
In 1905, the American Mission was made an Archdiocese, and St Tikhon was elevated to the rank of Archbishop. He had two vicar bishops: Bishop Innocent (Pustynsky) in Alaska, and St Raphael (Hawaweeny) in Brooklyn to assist him in administering his large, ethnically diverse diocese. In June of 1905, St Tikhon gave his blessing for the establishment of St Tikhon's Monastery.

In 1907, he returned to Russia, and was appointed to Yaroslavl, where he quickly won the affection of his flock. They came to love him as a friendly, communicative, and wise archpastor. He spoke simply to his subordinates, never resorting to a peremptory or overbearing tone. When he had to reprimand someone, he did so in a good-natured, sometimes joking manner, which encouraged the person to correct his mistakes.  When St Tikhon was transferred to Lithuania on December 22, 1913, the people of Yaroslavl voted him an honorary citizen of their town. After his transfer to Vilna, he did much in terms of material support for various charitable institutions. There too, his generous soul and love of people clearly manifested themselves. World War I broke out when His Eminence was in Vilna. He spared no effort to help the poor residents of the Vilna region who were left without a roof over their heads or means of subsistence as a result of the war with the Germans, and who flocked to their archpastor in droves.

After the February Revolution and formation of a new Synod, St Tikhon became one of its members. On June 21, 1917, the Moscow Diocesan Congress of clergy and laity elected him as their ruling bishop. He was a zealous and educated archpastor, widely known even outside his country.  On August 15, 1917, a local council was opened in Moscow, and Archbishop Tikhon was raised to the dignity of Metropolitan, and then elected as chairman of the council. The council had as its aim to restore the life of Russian Orthodox Church on strictly canonical principles, and its primary concern was the restoration of the Patriarchate. All council members would select three candidates, and then a lot would reveal the will of God. The council members chose three candidates: Archbishop Anthony of Kharkov, the wisest, Archbishop Arseny of Novgorod, the strictest, and Metropolitan Tikhon of Moscow, the kindest of the Russian hierarchs.

On November 5, following the Divine Liturgy and a Molieben in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, a monk removed one of the three ballots from the ballot box, which stood before the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev announced Metropolitan Tikhon as the newly elected Patriarch. St Tikhon did not change after becoming the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church. In accepting the will of the council, Patriarch Tikhon referred to the scroll that the Prophet Ezekiel had to eat, on which was written, "Lamentations, mourning, and woe."
He foresaw that his ministry would be filled with affliction and tears, but through all his suffering, he remained the same accessible, unassuming, and kindly person.

All who met St Tikhon were surprised by his accessibility, simplicity and modesty. His gentle disposition did not prevent him from showing firmness in Church matters, however, particularly when he had to defend the Church from her enemies. He bore a very heavy cross. He had to administer and direct the Church amidst wholesale church disorganization, without auxiliary administrative bodies, in conditions of internal schisms and upheavals by various adherents of the Living Church, renovationists, and autocephalists.
The situation was complicated by external circumstances: the change of the political system, by the accession to power of the godless regime, by hunger, and civil war. This was a time when Church property was being confiscated, when clergy were subjected to court trials and persecutions, and Christ's Church endured repression. News of this came to the Patriarch from all ends of Russia. His exceptionally high moral and religious authority helped him to unite the scattered and enfeebled flock. At a crucial time for the church, his unblemished name was a bright beacon pointing the way to the truth of Orthodoxy. In his messages, he called on people to fulfill the commandments of Christ, and to attain spiritual rebirth through repentance. His irreproachable life was an example to all.

In order to save thousands of lives and to improve the general position of the church, the Patriarch took measures to prevent clergy from making purely political statements.
On September 25, 1919, when the civil war was at its height, he issued a message to the clergy urging them to stay away from political struggle.

The summer of 1921 brought a severe famine to the Volga region. In August, Patriarch Tikhon issued a message to the Russian people and to the people of the world, calling them to help famine victims. He gave his blessing for voluntary donations of church valuables, which were not directly used in liturgical services. However, on February 23, 1922, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee published a decree making all valuables subject to confiscation.
According to the 73rd Apostolic Canon, such actions were regarded as sacrilege, and the Patriarch could not approve such total confiscation, especially since many doubted that the valuables would be used to combat famine. This forcible confiscation aroused popular indignation everywhere. Nearly two thousand trials were staged all over Russia, and more than ten thousand believers were shot.
The Patriarch's message was viewed as sabotage, for which he was imprisoned from April 1922 until June 1923.

His Holiness, Patriarch Tikhon did much on behalf of the Russian Orthodox Church during the crucial time of the so-called Renovationist schism. He showed himself to be a faithful servant and custodian of the undistorted precepts of the true Orthodox Church. He was the living embodiment of Orthodoxy, which was unconsciously recognized even by enemies of the church, who called its members "Tikhonites."
When Renovationist priests and hierarchs repented and returned to the church, they were met with tenderness and love by St Tikhon. This, however, did not represent any deviation from his strictly Orthodox policy. "I ask you to believe me that I will not come to agreement or make concessions which could lead to the loss of the purity and strength of Orthodoxy," the Patriarch said in 1924.

Being a good pastor, who devoted himself entirely to the church's cause, he called upon the clergy to do the same: "Devote all your energy to preaching the word of God and the truth of Christ, especially today, when unbelief and atheism are audaciously attacking the Church of Christ. May the God of peace and love be with all of you!"

It was extremely painful and hard for the Patriarch's loving, responsive heart to endure all the Church's misfortunes. Upheavals in and outside the church, the Renovationist schism, his primatial labors, his concern for the organization and tranquility of Church life, sleepless nights and heavy thoughts, his confinement that lasted more than a year, the spiteful and wicked baiting of his enemies, and the unrelenting criticism sometimes even from the Orthodox, combined to undermine his strength and health.

In 1924, Patriarch Tikhon began to feel unwell. He checked into a hospital, but would leave it on Sundays and Feast Days in order to conduct services. On Sunday, April 5, 1925, he served his last Liturgy, and died two days later. On March 25/April 7, 1925 the Patriarch received Metropolitan Peter and had a long talk with him. In the evening, the Patriarch slept a little, then he woke up and asked what time it was. When he was told it was 11:45 P.M., he made the Sign of the Cross twice and said, "Glory to Thee, O Lord, glory to Thee." He did not have time to cross himself a third time.

Almost a million people came to say farewell to the Patriarch. The large cathedral of the Donskoy Monastery in Moscow could not contain the crowd, which overflowed the monastery property into the square and adjacent streets. St Tikhon, the eleventh Patriarch of Moscow, was primate of the Russian Church for seven and a half years.

On September 26/October 9, 1989, the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church glorified Patriarch Tikhon and numbered him among the saints. For nearly seventy years, St Tikhon's relics were believed lost, but in February 1992, they were discovered in a concealed place in the Donskoy Monastery.

It would be difficult to imagine the Russian Orthodox Church without Patriarch Tikhon during those years. He did so much for the Church and for the strengthening of the Faith itself during those difficult years of trial. Perhaps the saint's own words can best sum up his life: "May God teach every one of us to strive for His truth, and for the good of the Holy Church, rather than something for our own sake."


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 326

Praise ye our Lady, all ye nations: glorify her, all ye peoples.

For her grace and her mercy are confirmed upon us: and her truth remaineth forever.

He who shall worthily have venerated her, will be justified: but he who shall have neglected her, will die in his sins.

The lips of angels shall relate her wisdom: and all the citizens of Paradise will sing her praises.

Those who approach her with a good soul: will not be seized by the devastating angel.

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 heaven:  only 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 html  Indulgences 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 2000)  Quang 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  Uniates  Chalcedon
Mary the Mother of Jesus Miracles_BC  Lay Saints  Miraculous_Icons  Miraculous_Medal_Novena Patron Saints
Miracles by Century 100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000    1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800  1900 2000
Miracles 100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000  
 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.

Join us on CatholicVote.org. Be part of a new movement committed to using powerful media projects to create a Culture of Life. We can help shape the movement and have a voice in its future. Check it out at www.CatholicVote.org

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]
To Save A Life is Earthly; Saving A Soul is Eternal Donation by mail, please send check or money order to:
Eternal Word Television Network 5817 Old Leeds Rd. Irondale, AL 35210  USA
  Catholic Television Network  Supported entirely by donations from viewers  help  spread the Eternal Word, online Here
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 Indulgences  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).
LINKS:
Marian Apparitions (over 2000)  India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes Feb 11- July 16, Loreto, Italy 1858 
China Marian shrines May 23, 1995 Zarvintisya Ukraine Lourdes Kenya national Marian shrine    Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798  
Links to Related Marian Websites  Angels and Archangels
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  Uniates, PSALTER  BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 327 2023