Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!  (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
RDeo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
April is dedicated to devotion of the Holy Eucharist and to the Holy Spirit.
2023
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For the Son of man ... will repay every man for what he has done.
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
The saints are a “cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.


CAUSES OF SAINTS April 09

April 9 – Holy Mary, The Empress (Russia)
Every Christian soul leaps to her in love
My soul trembles and is afraid when I consider
the glory of the Mother of God.
Small and of no account is my mind, poor and sickly my heart, but my soul rejoices and would fain set down if but a little concerning her.
My soul fears to touch upon this matter but love constrains me not to conceal my thankfulness for her compassion.
(…)
Verily is she our advocate before God, and alone the sound of her name rejoices the soul.
 But all heaven and earth, too, rejoice in her love.
Here is a wondrous thing which passes understanding: she dwells in heaven and ever beholds the glory of God, yet she does not forget us, poor wretches that we are, and spreads her compassion over the whole earth, over all peoples.
And this most pure Mother of His, the Lord has bestowed on us. She is our joy and our expectation.
She is our Mother in the spirit, and kin to us by nature, as a human being,
and every Christian soul leaps to her in love.
 Source:
archimandrite sophrony (Sakharov), Saint Silouan the Athonite, XI, On the Mother of God, translated from the Russian by Rosemary Edmonds, Stavropegic Monastery of Saint John the Baptist, Essex, 1991, p. 390-393.

 
April 9 - Our Lady of Myans (Savoy, France)
The Program set Before the Church of the Third Millennium
To contemplate the face of Christ, and to contemplate it with Mary, is the "program" which I have set before the Church at the dawn of the third millennium, summoning her to put out into the deep on the sea of history with the enthusiasm of the new evangelization. To contemplate Christ involves being able to recognize Him wherever He manifests Himself, in His many forms of presence, but above all in the living sacrament of His body and His blood.

The Church draws her life from Christ in the Eucharist;
by Him she is fed and by Him she is enlightened.
The Eucharist is both a mystery of faith and a "mystery of light".
Whenever the Church celebrates the Eucharist, the faithful can in some way relive the experience of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus: "their eyes were opened and they recognized Him" (Lk 24:31).
John Paul II  Ecclesia de Eucharistia #6 (2003)

Consider Jesus' act of acceptance in the garden and how much it cost Him, making Him sweat a sweat of blood!
Make this act yourself when things are going well and also when they go against you.
If your will flees from rebellion you may be certain that the will, in its own way, has uttered its act of acceptance. -- Saint Pio of Pietrelcina


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.

April 9 - Our Lady of Myans (Savoy, France, 1249)  The Compassion of the Blessed Virgin (V)
Now we must understand that Mary gave birth twice: she gave birth to Jesus Christ, and she gave birth to the faithful; she brought forth both the sinless and the sinner.
She experienced no pangs in giving birth to the innocent: but was delivered of sinners with pain and cries of anguish.
You will be convinced of this, too, when you reflect carefully on how dearly they cost her.   Inevitably, it cost Mary her only Son; she was only able to become the mother of the Christian family because she sacrificed her dearly beloved Son. What pain she endured in her fruitfulness!  Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (1627 - 1704)
1st v. St. Mary Cleophas Mother of St. James the Less and Joseph, wife of Cleophas. She was one of the “Three Marys” who served Jesus and was present at the Crucifixion, accompanied Mary Magdalen to the tomb of Christ.
1st v. Prochorus of Nicomedia One of the seven deacons ordained the by Apostles martyred at Antioch BM (RM)
303 Martyrs of Sirmium modem Mitrovica, in the Balkans
Hermogenes, Caius & Companions Armenian martyrs who are believed to have suffered at Melitene  MM (RM)
Massylitan Martyrs African martyrs, although they are mentioned by Saint Bede,  by Saint Augustine and in ancient calendars (RM)

Bishop Desan, Presbyter Mariabus, Abdiesus, and 270 Others
Holy Martyrs Put to death under the Persian emperor Sapor II
  362 St. Eupsychius Martyr of Caesarea, in Cappadocia destruction of the temple of the goddess Fortuna
Sírmii pássio sanctárum septem Vírginum et Mártyrum, quæ, dato simul prétio sánguinis, vitam mercátæ sunt ætérnam.
    At Sirmio, seven holy virgins and martyrs, who purchased eternal life together at the price of their own blood.
 362 Roman Captives Nine thousand Christians, including Bishop Heliodorus, the ancient priests Dausas and Mariabus, and many other priests and nuns, were captured by Persians who besieged Bethzarbe Castle on the Tigris

       Monk Martyr Archimandrite Bademus (Vadim) was born in the fourth century in the Persian city of Bithlapata, and was descended from a rich and illustrious family. In his youth, he was enlightened with the Christian teaching. The saint gave away all his wealth to the poor and withdrew into the wilderness, where he founded a monastery. He would go up on a mountain for solitary prayer, and once was permitted to behold the Glory of God. >>

      
St. Demetrius Martyr with Concessus, Hilary, and companions.
 421 St. Acacius bishop of Amida (Diarbekir), Mesopotamia sold sacred vessels of church aid victims of Persian persecution.
5th v. St. Madrun A Welsh or Cornish widow. No details of her life are extant, but some Welsh churches bear her name.
APRIL IX. ST. MARY OF EGYPT
474 Marcellus of Avignon suffered much from the Arians and died after a long episcopate B (RM)
6th v. St. Dotto Abbot of a monastery of the Orkney Islands of Scotland.
 688 St. Waldetrudis ist Patronin von Mons 7 saints in family
renowned for   holiness and miracles.
 730 St. Hugh of Rouen Benedictine bishop of Rouen, Paris, and Bayeux, France, a nephew of Charles Martel

 
Martyrs of Pannonia A group of seven Christian men and women who died at Sirmium in Pannonia, on the Danube.
870 St. Hedda Martyred Benedictine abbot of Peterborough, England. He and eighty four monks were slain by Danes marauding the English coast
1050 St. Casilda Spanish martyr native of Toledo of Moorish parentage became a Christian and a hermitess near Briviesca, Burgos venerated in Burgos and Toledo.
1140 St. Gaucherius hermit in the forest of Limoges with a companion founded St. John’s Monastery at Aureilfor and a convent for women
1315 Blessed Ubald Adimari converted by Saint Philip Benizi, who admitted him to the Servite institute model to penitent souls OSM (AC)
1322 Bl. Thomas of Tolentino preach in the difficult regions of Armenia and Persia (modern Iran) set out for China beheaded at Thame in Hindustan
1331 Blessed John of Vespignano  devoted himself to works of charity among the refugees who flocked to Florence
1348 Blessed Reginald Montesmarti, OP (AC)
1374 Blessed Antony of Pavoni  consistent poverty of Antony's life & example of Christian virtue combatting heresies of Lombards OP
At Rome, the transferring of the body of St. Monica, mother of the bishop St. Augustine.  It was brought from Ostia to Rome, under the Sovereign Pontiff, Martin V, and buried with due honours in the church of St. Augustine.
1463 Saint Eleni (also called Susanna) is one of the New Martyrs of Lesbos who are commemorated on Bright Tuesday
1945 Dietrich Bonhoeffer Lektor an der Berliner Universität für aktiven Widerstand gegen das Unrechtsregime ein ermordet in das Konzentrationslager Flossenbürg.

April 8 – Our Lady of Basella (Italy, 1356) -
Saint Julie Billiart (Foundress of the Institute of the Sisters of Notre Dame of Namur (d.1816)
 
O Mother of Mercy
 Here is a prayer from Marthe Robin’s heart, a Catholic mystic, foundress of the Foyers de Charité in Chateauneuf de Galaure (France), now spread over five continents:
"I beg you, O Mary, be the rescue, the support of those who are afflicted, the consolation of those who mourn, the cure of the sick. You are the beloved daughter of God the Father, the immaculate Mother of God the Son, the spouse of the Holy Spirit. The Archangel greeted you as full of grace. Be our advocate, ask for mercy on behalf of sinners.O Mary, be the star that guides me, my light in the darkness, my courage in struggles, my refuge in suffering. O Mary, full of Mercy, my Mother, never abandon me. Obtain for me to share your happiness very soon in the bliss of angels and saints. O Virgin! Purer than Heaven, protect me, protect my dear family, protect all your children. Fill us with your favors, adorn us with your virtues. You are our advocate: ask for mercy on behalf of your poor sinners."

Marthe Robin (1902-1981)  www.pellevoisin.net



On Bright Monday the Church commemorates the Sweet-Kissing (Glykophilousa) Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos worked many miracles.
Russian icon of the Mother of God Sweet Kissing (Greek : Glykophilousa.) 
Like the Iveron Icon (March 31), the Sweet-Kissing Icon was also saved from the iconoclasts by a pious woman in the ninth century. It also traveled miraculously upon the sea, arriving at Mt. Athos, the "Garden of the Theotokos," where it was honored by the monks.

A nobleman named Simeon was an iconoclast who shared the emperor Theophilus's hatred for the holy icons. Simeon's wife Victoria, on the other hand, venerated icons, especially a certain icon of the Mother of God before which she prayed each day. Simeon could not tolerate his wife's piety, so he demanded that she give him the icon so he could burn it. Victoria threw the icon into the sea, hoping that it would be preserved through God's providence.  Years later, the icon appeared on the shores of Mt. Athos near the monastery of Philotheou.

The igumen and the brethren of the monastery retrieved the icon and placed it in the church, where it worked many miracles.

In 1830 a pilgrim came to the monastery from Adrianopolis. He listened to the history of the icon and the miracles associated with it, but regarded such things as childish fables. The monk who had related all this was surprised and grieved by the pilgrim's disbelief, fearing that such doubts indicated an unhealthy spiritual state. He did all that he could to remove the pilgrim's skepticism, but the man stubbornly adhered to his opinion.
The Mother of God, in her compassion, finally healed the pilgrim's soul in a rather dramatic way. On the very day that he had his discussion with the monk, the pilgrim was walking on an upper balcony. Suddenly, he lost his footing and began to fall. In his distress he called out, "Most Holy Theotokos, help me!" The Mother of God heard him, and he landed on the ground completely unharmed.

The icon is one of the Eleusa (Tenderness) type. It is unusual in that it shows the Virgin kissing her Child. Christ raises His hand as if to repulse His mother's caress.

Other Sweet-Kissing (Tenderness) icons are: Lubyatov (March 19)  Novgorod (July 28)  Pskov (May 21, June 23, August 26, October 7)  Smolensk (March 19)  Sviatogorsk (July 17)  Yaroslavl (May 14)
1st v. St. Mary Cleophas Mother of St. James the Less and Joseph, wife of Cleophas. She was one of the “Three Marys” who served Jesus and was present at the Crucifixion, and accompanied Mary Magdalen to the tomb of Christ.
In Judǽa sanctæ Maríæ Cléophæ, quam beátus Joánnes Evangelísta sorórem sanctíssimæ Dei Genitrícis Maríæ núncupat, et cum hac simul juxta crucem Jesu stetísse narrat.
    In Judea, St. Mary Cleophas, whom St. John the Evangelist calls the sister of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and says that she stood at her side beneath the Cross of Jesus.

1st v. ST MARY OF CLEOPHAS, MATRON
TO Mary of Cleophas whose name stands first in the Roman Martyrology on this day no general liturgical recognition is accorded, though her feast is kept by the Passionists, and by the Latins in Palestine. She seems to have been the wife of one Cleophas, who may or may not be identical with the Cleophas who is named as one of the two disciples who went to Emmaus on the day of our Lord’s resurrection.
Her identity among the various Marys mentioned by the evangelists is a matter of discussion among biblical commentators. The martyrology contents itself with saying that “Blessed John the Evangelist calls [her] sister of the most holy Mary, Mother of God, and relates that she stood with her by the cross of Jesus”. But it is possible that the sister of the mother of Jesus mentioned (John xix 25) was in fact a fourth, unnamed, woman.
Round the name of Mary of Cleophas all sorts of legendary excrescences gathered in later days. She was said to have travelled to Spain with St James the Greater, to have died at Ciudad Rodrigo, and to have been venerated with great honour at Compostela. On the other hand another extravagant legend connects her with the coming of SS. Lazarus, Mary Magdalen and Martha to Provence, and her body was believed to repose at Saintes-Maries near the mouth of the Rhone.

See the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. i Moroni, Dizionario di Erudizione, vol. xciv, pp. 10—60 Vigouroux, Dictionnaire de la Bible, vol. iv, cc. 818—819 Durand, L’Enfance de Jésus Christ (1908).

Tradition reports that she went to Spain as a missionary. Mary reportedly died at Ciudad Rodrigo.
Another tradition states that she went to France with St. Lazarus and his sisters.

Mary of Cleophas, Matron (RM) (also known as Mary of Alpheus or Clopas)
1st century. Mary of Cleophas, the 'other Mary,' followed our Lord to Calvary (Matt. 27:56; Mark 15:40; John 19:25) and saw Him after His Resurrection (Mark 16:1; Luke 24:10). She was the mother of James the Younger, Joseph (Matt. 27:56; Mark 15:40), Simon, and Jude; wife of Cleophas (John 19:25); and sister of the Blessed Virgin (John 19:25).
Later legend says that Mary went to Spain, where she died at Ciudad Rodrigo. Another legend had her accompanying Lazarus, Mary Magdalene, and Martha to Provence. Both these stories are unreliable (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Gill).

Mary Cleophas is normally portrayed with all four of her children. Occasionally the sons carry the following emblems: Jude, a boat; Simeon, a fish; James, a palm branch or a mill (probably a fuller's mill); and Joseph Barsabas, three leaves or a cup. Mary Cleophas may also be portrayed with Mary Salome who together support the Virgin during the Crucifixion or are present with Mary Magdalene at the Resurrection (Roeder).

1st v. Prochorus of Nicomedia One of the seven deacons ordained the by Apostles martyred at Antioch BM (RM)
Antiochíæ sancti Próchori, qui fuit unus de septem primis Diáconis; et, fide ac miráculis clarus, martyrio coronátus est.
    At Antioch, St. Prochorus who was one of the first seven deacons.  Renowned for faith and miracles, he received the crown of martyrdom.
One of the seven deacons ordained the by Apostles. Tradition says that he afterwards became bishop of Nicomedia and was martyred at Antioch (Benedictines).

Nikanor, Parmenas, Prochorus und Timon  Orthodoxe Kirche: 28. Juli  Katholische Kirche: Nikanor 10. Januar  Katholische Kirche: Parmenas 23. Januar  Katholische Kirche: Prochorus 9. April
Katholische Kirche: Timon 19. April
Nach dem Bericht in Apg. 6, 1-7 setzten die Apostel sieben Diakone in der Jerusalemer Gemeinde ein. Neben den vier hier genannten Nikolaus, Philippus und Stephanus.
Von Nikanor wird berichtet, nachdem Stephanus gesteinigt worden war, sei auch er gesteinigt worden. Andere Quellen berichten, er sei auf Zypern gefoltert worden und gestorben.
Über Parmenas gibt es widersprüchliche Berichte. Er soll nach Dorotheus während seines Diakonendienstes verstorben sein. In der Hippolyt zugeschriebenen Liste wird er als Bischof von Soli angegeben. Andere Quellen berichten, er sei nach Makedonien gegangen und sei dort (98 oder 117) unter Trajan als Märtyrer gestorben.
Prochorus soll Petrus begleitet haben und von diesem zum Bischof von Nikomedia eingesetzt worden sein. Später schloß er sich dem Apostel Johannes an und wurde mit diesem nach Patmos verbannt. Hier soll er dann die Schau des Johannes niedergeschrieben haben. Später kam er nach Nikomedien zurück und wurde in Antiochia hingerichtet.
Auch über Timon gibt es widersprüchliche BErichte. Er soll Bischof von Bastoria (Arabien) gewesen sein und (in Korinth) am Kreuz gestorben sein.

303 Martyrs of Sirmium modern Mitrovica, in the Balkans
Feastday: February 23 & April 9
Two groups of martyrs who suffered at Sirmium, modem Mitrovica, in the Balkans. One group was slain probably in 303 and was seventy in number.
The second group was composed of seven virgins probably martyred in 303.

Martyrs of Sirmium (RM). A group of seven aonymous virgin martyrs who suffered under Diocletian at Sirmium (Mitrovica) in the Balkans (Benedictines).

Martyrs of Pannonia (RM). This group may possibly be the same as the one above.
The Roman Martyrology states: "At Sirmium in Pannonia the passion of seven holy virgins and martyrs." Modern research has found no further particulars about them (Benedictines).

Bishop Desan, Presbyter Mariabus, Abdiesus, and 270 Others Holy Martyrs Put to death under the Persian emperor Sapor II
Imprisoned, they refused to turn away from the Christian Faith. In their number also was the Martyr Ia, who is commemorated also on September 11.

The Martyrdom of the Holy Virgins: Agape, Eirene, and Shiona.

On this day the three holy virgins: Agape, Eirene, and Shiona (Susinia) were martyred. They were from Thessalonica, and worshipped Christ as their parents. They chose the life of chastity and they agreed to devote themselves to the ascetic life. They fasted and prayed unceasingly, visited the convents often and participated with the virgins in their prayers and asceticism. When Maximianus the infidel, reigned, he restored the worship of the idols and shed the blood of many Christians. These saints were afraid and they fled to the mountain and hid themselves in a cave devoting themselves to their worship and asceticism.

Every week, an aged Christian woman visited them bringing all things needed and took the work of their hands to sell it, and distributed the remainder as alms to the poor. One day a malicious person observed the frequent visits of this old woman to the mountain, he followed her secretly until he knew the cave that she entered. He hid himself so she did not see him on her way back, and he thought that she was hiding precious things in it. After she left the cave by a distance he entered the cave and he found the precious pearls the prides of the Christ standing praying. He bound them, dragged them away, and brought them to the Governor of Thessalonica. He asked them about their faith, they confessed that they were Christians worshipping that Who was Crucified. The Governor became wrath with them, tortured them much, then cast them into the fire, and they delivered up their souls and received the crown of martyrdom.  May their prayers be with us. Amen.

The Martyrdom of the One Hundred and Fifty believers by the hand of king of Persia.
On this day also is the commemoration of the incident of the martyrdom of one hundred and fifty believers by the king of Persia. This king besieged Christian cities which were near the borders of his country, and captured many of them. When they refused to worship the sun and the stars, he commanded to cut off their heads, and they received the crowns of martyrdom.
May their prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.

Monk Martyr Archimandrite Bademus (Vadim) was born in the fourth century in the Persian city of Bithlapata, and was descended from a rich and illustrious family. In his youth, he was enlightened with the Christian teaching. The saint gave away all his wealth to the poor and withdrew into the wilderness, where he founded a monastery. He would go up on a mountain for solitary prayer, and once was permitted to behold the Glory of God.

During this period the Persian emperor Sapor (310-381) began to persecute Christians. They arrested St Bademus and his seven disciples, and tortured them in prison, hoping that they would renounce Christ and worship the sun and fire. But St Bademus and his disciples held firmly to the Christian Faith. The confessors spent four months in jail. All this time St Bademus was a spiritual leader and support for the Christians living in Persia.

One of the associates of the emperor Sapor, Nirsanes, was a Christian and suffered imprisonment for this. He did not hold up under torture and denied Christ, promising to fulfill whatever the emperor commanded. Sapor demanded that Nirsanes personally cut off the head of St Bademus. For this he was promised a reprieve and great rewards. Nirsanes was not able to overcome his fear of new tortures, and he agreed to follow the path of betrayal walked by Judas.

When they brought St Bademus to him, he took the sword and turned toward him, but overcome by conscience, he trembled and stood petrified. St Bademus said to him, "Has your wickedness now reached this point, Nirsanes, that you should not only renounce God, but also murder His servants? Woe to you, accursed one! What will you do on that day when you stand before the Dread Judgment Seat? What answer will you give to God? I am prepared to die for Christ, but I don't want to receive death at your hands."

Nirsanes struck with the sword, but his hands shook, and he could not behead the saint immediately, and the fire-worshippers began to call him a coward. The holy martyr Bademus stood motionless, enduring many terrible blows, until the murderer succeeded in cutting off his head.

The just punishment for his misdeeds were not slow in overtaking the hapless fellow. Tormented by his conscience, he did away with himself, throwing himself on a sword. After the death of the emperor Sapor, the seven disciples of St Bademus were released from prison.
362 St. Eupsychius Martyr of Caesarea, in Cappadocia destruction of the temple of the goddess Fortuna
Cæsarǽæ, in Cappadócia, sancti Eupsychii Mártyris, qui ob evérsum Fortúnæ fanum, sub Juliáno Apóstata, martyrium consummávit.
    At Caesarea in Cappadocia, St. Eupsychius, martyr, who was persecuted under Julian the Apostate for having overthrown the temple of Fortune.

A young man, Eupsychius led a group of Christians who were charged with the destruction of the temple of the goddess Fortuna in that city. They were martyred as a result.

The Holy Martyr Eupsychius was born in the city of Caesarea in Cappadocia and received a Christian upbringing by his illustrious parents.  During the reign of Julian the Apostate (361-363), St Eupsychius entered into a Christian marriage. At Caesarea there was a pagan temple to the goddess Fortuna, whom Julian the Apostate revered. As Eupsychius was going to his wedding, the pagans were offering sacrifice to the goddess Fortuna.  St Eupsychius was filled with zeal for the Lord, and he destroyed the temple. He knew that this would inevitably result in his punishment. St Eupsychius distributed all his possessions to the poor and prepared himself for martyrdom.

The enraged emperor Julian loosed his wrath not only upon St Eupsychius, but against all the inhabitants of this city. Some of the citizens were executed, while the more respectable were sent into exile. Christian clergy were drafted into military service, and he looted the churches of anything valuable. The city was deprived of its title Caesarea [i.e. "Imperial"] and resumed its original name of Maza. He also imposed a severe tax on the inhabitants. The emperor threatened to annihilate the city altogether, if the people did not build a new pagan temple in place of the one destroyed.

Julian tried to compel St Eupsychius to offer sacrifice to idols. For many days they tormented the saint on a rack, and also with iron claws. But his faith was firm, and the judge sentenced the martyr to be beheaded with a sword.

Then Julian embarked on a campaign against the Persians, marching through Cappadocia and approaching Caesarea. Danger threatened the city, since the emperor intended to raze it to its foundations. But then St Basil the Great (January 1), showing Julian the proper respect as sovereign authority, came out to meet him carrying with him three loaves of barley bread, which he ate. The emperor ordered his retainers to take the loaves, and to give St Basil a pinch of hay saying, "You have given us barley, cattle fodder. Now receive hay from us in return."

The saint answered, "O Emperor, we bring you that which we ourselves eat, and you give us cattle feed. You mock us, since you, by your might, are not able to transform hay into bread, the essential food of mankind."
Julian angrily retorted, "I'll shove this hay down your throat when I return here from Persia. I shall raze this city to its very foundations, and plow over this ground and turn it into a field. I know that it was on your advice that the people dared to destroy the statues and temple of Fortuna."
After this the emperor continued on his way, but soon perished in his campaign against the Persians. He was struck down in the year 363 by the holy Great Martyr Mercurius (November 24).
After the emperor's demise, the Christians of the city of Caesarea built a splendid church over the grave of St Eupsychius, and from his holy relics they received help and healing.

Eupsychios von Caesarea Orthodoxe und Katholische Kirche: 9. April
Eupsychios wurde in Caesarea in Kappadozien unter Kaiser Julian (361-363) geboren. Als er sich christlich trauen ließ, fand gleichzeitig ein Opferfest im Tempel der Götti Fortuna statt. Eupsychios beschloß, obwohl gerade getraut, den Tempel zu zerstören. Er sammelte einige Helfer, mit denen er den Tempel einriß, verteilte anschließend seine Habe an die Armen und bereitete sich auf das Martyrium vor. Kaiser Julian aber bestrafte die ganze Stadt. Vornehme Bürger wurden ins Exil geschickt, die Priester und Diakone wurden zum Militärdienst verpflichtet, die Kirchen geplündert und den Einwohnern eine hohe Sondersteuer auferlegt. Außerdem erhielt die Stadt wieder ihren alten Namen Maza und Julian drohte, die Stadt völlig zu zerstören, wenn die Bürger nicht umgehend einen neuen Tempel bauten. Eupsychios selber wurde gefoltert und 362 geköpft.

Kaiser Julian zog auf dem Feldzug gegen die Perser durch Maza und verkündete, er werde den Ort nach seiner Rückkehr zerstören. Julian wurde aber auf dem Feldzug (nach der Legende durch Merkurius) getötet. Die Christen erbauten auf dem Platz, auf dem der Tempel gestanden hatte, eine Kirche. Basilius feierte hier mit allen Bischöfen des Pontus am 8.4.380 eine Gedächtnismesse für Eupsychios.

Eupsychius of Caesarea M (RM) (also known as Eupsyque)  Died 362. Before he was martyred under Julian the Apostate, Saint Eupsychius was a newly-wed in Caesarea, Cappadocia, and the leader of a group of Christians accused of attacking the pagan god Fortuna by destroying her temple, the last in the area. In addition to the physical persecution of Christians here during his march to Antioch, Julian confiscated all the goods of the Christian churches, including books and sacred vessels. The clergy were forced into hard labor and Christians heavily taxed. Upon his departure, Julian ordered the Christians to rebuild the pagan temples; instead, they built a church on the site of the temple of Fortuna, where Saint Basil celebrated the feast of Eupsychius on April 8, 370, to which he invited all the bishops of Pontus (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).
362 Roman Captives Nine thousand Christians, including Bishop Heliodorus, the ancient priests Dausas and Mariabus, and many other priests and nuns, were captured by Persians who besieged Bethzarbe Castle on the Tigris (RM)

Died in Persia, 362.
Nine thousand Christians, including Bishop Heliodorus, the ancient priests Dausas and Mariabus, and many other priests and nuns, were captured by Persians who besieged Bethzarbe Castle on the Tigris. The bishop died on the road after ordaining Dausas as his successor, even though canon law requires three bishop for episcopal consecration except in necessity.
Daily the captives celebrated the Eucharist with Dausas. When they arrived in Assyria, 300 were given the option of worshipping the sun or dying. Twenty-five apostatized and were rewarded with gifts of land. The others remained constant and were all massacred together.
Details can be found in Sozomen (Ecclesiastical History 2) and their original Chaldaic acts (Husenbeth).
Hermogenes, Caius & Companions Armenian martyrs who are believed to have suffered at Melitene  MM (RM)
Hermogenes, Caius, Expeditus, Aristonicus, Rufus and Galata are Armenian martyrs who are believed to have suffered at Melitene (Benedictines).

St. Demetrius Martyr with Concessus, Hilary, and companions.
Romæ natális sanctórum Mártyrum Demétrii, Concéssi, Hilárii et Sociórum.
    At Rome, the birthday of the holy martyrs Demetrius, Concessus, Hilary, and their companions.
Massylitan Martyrs African martyrs, although they are mentioned by Saint Bede, by Saint Augustine and in ancient calendars (RM)
In Africa sanctórum Mártyrum Massylitanórum, in quorum die natáli sanctus Augustínus tractátum hábuit.
    In Africa the holy Massylitan Martyrs, on whose birthday was written a tract by St. Augustine.
Little is known of these African martyrs, although they are mentioned by Saint Bede and in ancient calendars.
We have a sermon that was preached by Saint Augustine on their festivals.
They probably suffered a Massyla, or the adjacent country, on the sea-coast of Africa (Husenbeth).
421 St. Acacius Acacius was bishop of Amida (Diarbekir), Mesopotamia. He sold the sacred vessels of his church to aid victims of the Persian persecution.
Amidæ, in Mesopotámia, sancti Acátii Epíscopi, qui pro rediméndis captívis étiam vasa Ecclésiæ conflávit ac véndidit.
    At Amida in Mesopotamia, St. Acatius, bishop, who even melted down and sold the sacred vessels in order to ransom captives.
His actions so impressed King Bahram V that he is reported to have ordered an end to the persecution of the Christians.
Bahram V, King of Persia (421–438), also called "Bahram Gur", son of Yazdegerd I of Persia (399–421), after whose sudden death (or assassination... ) he gained the crown against the opposition of the grandees by the help of Mundhir, the Arabic dynast of al-Hirah.
     Bahram V's mother was Soshandukht, the daughter of the Jewish Exilarch. He promised to rule otherwise than his father, who had been very energetic and at the same time tolerant in religion. So Bahram V began a systematic persecution of the Christians (one such persecuted figure was traditionally James Intercisus), which led to a war with the Roman Empire.

But he had little success, and soon concluded a treaty by which both empires promised toleration to the worshippers of the two rival religions, Christianity and Zoroastrianism.  In 427 Bahram V crushed an invasion in the east by the nomadic Hephthalites, extending his influence into Central Asia, where his portrait survived for centuries on the coinage of Bukhara (in contemporary Uzbekistan). 
Bahram V deposed the last vassal Arsacid king of the Persian part of Armenia and made of it a province. He is a great favourite in Persian tradition, which relates many stories of his valour and beauty, of his victories over the Romans, Turks, Indians and Africans, and of his adventures in hunting and in love; he is called Bahram Gur, "Onager," on account of his love for hunting, and in particular, hunting onagers.  Some have judged Bahram V to have been rather a weak monarch, after the heart of the grandees and the priests. He is said to have built many great "fire-temples", with large gardens and villages (Tabari).

Acacius of Amida B (RM) (also known as Agace) Died after 421. Bishop Acacius of Amida (Diarbekir) in Mesopotamia is distinguished for his heroic charity to Persian prisoners. In order to ransom them, Acacius melted down and sold the sacred vessels of the church. This won for him the friendship of King Bahram V (Varannes) of Persia, who is said to have forthwith ceased to persecute his Christian subjects (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).

5th v. St. Madrun A Welsh or Cornish widow. No details of her life are extant, but some Welsh churches bear her name.
Madrun, Widow (AC) (also known as Materiana)
A second feast is celebrated on October 19. According to a dubious vita, Madrun was the daughter of Vortimer and wife of Ynyr Gwent, ruler of the area around Caerwent (Monmouthshire). Following the battle described by Nennius in which Vortigern was killed, Madrun fled with the youngest of her three children, Ceidio, first to Carn Fadryn and then to Cornwall. She was either Welsh or Cornish, and churches are dedicated to her honor in Tintagel and Minster (near Boscastle), where she was buried (Benedictines, Farmer).

APRIL IX. ST. MARY OF EGYPT
From Lives of Saintes by Alban Butler

From her life, commended in the seventh general council, and by St. Sophonius, but written hundred and fifty years before him, by a grave author of the same age in which the saint lived.  See Papebroke, ad diem 2. Apr. n. 1, p. 67, and Jos. Assemani Comm. in Calend. ad 1. Apr. t. 6, p. 218.
                                          FIFTH AGE.
IN the reign of Theodosius the Younger, there lived in Palestine a holy monk and priest named Zosimus famed for the reputation of his sanctity, and resorted to as all oracles for the direction of souls in the most perfect rules of a religious life.  He had served God from his youth with, great fervor, in the same house, for the space of three-and-fifty years, when he was tempted to think that he had attained to a state of perfection and that no one could teach him anything more in regard to a monastic life. God, to discover the delusion and danger of this suggestion of the proud spirit, and to convin1ce him that we may always advance in perfection, directed him by revelation to quit his monastery for one near the Jordan, where he might learn lessons of virtue he yet was unacquainted with. Being admitted among them it was not long before he was undeceived, and convinced, from what he saw practiced there, how much he had been mistaken in the judgment he had learned of himself and his advancement in virtue. The members of this community had no more communication with the rest of mankind than, if they had belonged to another world.   The whole employment of their lives was manual labor, which they accompanied with prayer and the singing of psalms, in which heavenly exercise they spent the whole night, relieving each other by turns, and their chief subsistence was on bread and water.  It was their yearly custom, after having assisted at the divine mysteries, and received the blessed Eucharist on the first Sunday in Lent, to cross the river, and disperse themselves ever the vast, deserts which lie towards Arabia, to pass in perfect solitude the interval between that and Palm-Sunday, against which time they all returner again to the monastery to join in celebrating the passion and resurrection of our Lord.   Some subsisted during this time on a small parcel of provision they took with them, while others lived on the herbs which grew wild; but when they came back, they never communicated to each other what they did during that time.
    About the year 430, the holy man Zosimus crossed over the Jordan with the rest at the usual time, endeavoring to penetrate as far as he could into wilderness, in hopes of meeting with some hermit of still greater perfection than he had hitherto seen or conversed with, praying with great fervor as  he travelled.  Having advanced thus for twenty days, as he one day  stopped at noon to rest himself and recite a certain number of psalms, according to custom, he saw as it were the figure of a human body.   He was at first seized with fright and astonishment; and imagining it might be an illusion of the enemy, he armed himself with the sign of the cross and continued in prayer.  Having finished his devotions, he plainly perceived, on turning his eyes that way, that it was somebody that appeared naked, except sunburnt, and with short white hair, who walked very quick, and fled from, him.  Zosimus, judging it was some holy anchoret, ran that way with all his speed to overtake him.  He drew nearer by degrees, and when he was within hearing, he cried out to the person to stop and bless him; who answered;  Abbot Zosimus, I am a woman   throw me your mantle to me, that you may come `near me.'   He, surprised to hear her call by his name, which he was, convinced she could have known only by revelation readily complied with her request. Having covered herself with his garment she approached him, and they entered into conversation after mutual prayer and on the holy man's conjuring her by Jesus Christ to tell who she was, and how long, and in what manner she had lived in that desert, she said: “I ought to die with confusion and shame in telling you what I am so horrible is the very mention of it, that you will fly from me as from serpent your ears will not be able to bear the recital of the  crimes of which I have been guilty.  I will however relate to you my ignominy begging you to pray for me, that God may show me mercy in the day of his terrible judgment.
      My country is Egypt. 
When my father and mother were still living, at twelve years of age I went without their consent to Alexandria.  I cannot think, without trembling, on the first steps by which I fell into sin, nor my disorders which followed."  She then described how she lived a public prostitute seventeen years not for interest, but to gratify an unbridled lust she added: "I continued my wicked course till the twenty-ninth year of my age, when, perceiving several persons making towards the sea, I inquired whither they were going, and was told they were about to embark For the holy land, to celebrate at Jerusalem the feast of the Exaltation of the glorious Cross of our Saviour. I embarked with them, looking only for fresh opportunities to continue my debauches, which I repeated both during the voyage and after my arrival at Jerusalem.   On the day appointed for the festival, all going to church, I mixed with the crowd to get into the church where the holy cross was shown and exposed to the veneration of the faithful; but found myself withheld from entering the place by some secret but invisible force.   This happening to me three or four times, I retired into a corner of the court, and began to consider with myself what this might proceed from; and seriously reflecting that my criminal life might be the cause, 1 melted into tears. Beating therefore my sinful breast, with sighs and groans, I perceived above me a picture of the mother of God. Fixing my eyes upon it, I addressed myself to that holy virgin, begging of her, by her incomparable purity, to succor me, defiled with such a load of abominations, and to render my repentance the more acceptable to God. I besought her I might be suffered to enter the church doors to behold the sacred wood of my redemption; promising from that moment to consecrate myself to God by a life of penance, taking her for my surety in this change of my heart. After this ardent prayer, I perceived in my soul a secret consolation under my grief; and attempting again to enter the church, I went up with ease into the very middle of it, and had the comfort to venerate the precious wood of the glorious cross which brings life to man. Considering therefore the incomprehensible mercy of God, and his readiness to receive sinners to repentance, I cast myself on the ground, and after having kissed the pavement with tears, I arose and went to the picture of the mother of God, whom I had made the witness and surety of my engagements and resolutions. Falling there on my knees before her image, I addressed my prayers to her begging her intercession, and that she would be my guide. After my prayer, I seemed to hear this voice `if thou goest beyond the Jordan, thou shalt then find rest and comfort.'   Then weeping, and looking on the image, I begged of the holy queen of the world that she would never abandon me. After these words, I went out in haste, bought three loaves, and asking the baker which was the gate of the city which led to the Jordan, I immediately took that road, and walked all the rest of the day, and at night arrived at the church of St. John Baptist, on the banks of the river. There I paid my devotions to God, and received the precious body of our Saviour Jesus Christ.  Having eaten the half of one of my loaves, I slept all night on the ground.  Next morning, recommending myself to the holy Virgin, 1 passed the Jordan, and from that time I have carefully shunned the meeting of any human creature."

  Zosimus asked how long she had lived in that desert. “It is," said she, as near as I can judge, forty-seven years." “And what have you subsisted upon all that time?" replied Zosimus. “The loaves I took with me,” ‘answered she, "lasted me some time: since that I have had no other food but what this wild and uncultivated solitude afforded me.   My clothes being worn not, I suffered severely from the heat and the cold, with which I was often so afflicted that I was not able to stand."  " And have you passed so many years," said the holy man, “without suffering much in your soul?” She answered:  Your question makes me tremble, by the very remembrance of my past dangers and conflicts, through the perverseness of my heart bean.  Seventeen years I passed in most violent temptations and almost perpetual conflicts with my heart inordinate desires.  I was tempted to regret the flesh and fish of Egypt, and the wines which I drank in the world to excess; whereas here I often could not come at a drop of water to quench any thirst.  Other desires made assaults on my mind, but, weeping and striking my breast on those occasions, I called to mind the vows I had made under the protection of the Blessed Virgin, and begged her to obtain my deliverance from the affliction and danger of such thoughts.  After long weeping and bruising my body with blows, I found myself suddenly enlightened, and my mind restored to a perfect calm. Often the tyranny of my old passions seemed ready to drag me out of my desert: at those times I threw myself on the ground and watered it with my tears, raising my heart continually to the Blessed Virgin till she procured me comfort: and she has never failed to show herself my faithful protectress."  Zosimus taking notice that in her discourse with him she from time to time made use of scripture phrases asked her if she had over applied herself to the study of the sacred books.  Her answer was that she could not even read, neither had she conversed nor seen any human creature since she came into the desert till that day, that could teach her to read the Holy Scripture or read it to her, but "it is God," said she, "that teacheth man knowledge."   Thus have I given you a full account of myself: keep what I have told you as an inviolable secret during my life, and allow me, the most miserable of sinners, a share in your prayers."  She concluded with desiring him not to pass over the Jordan next Lent, according to the custom of his monastery, but to bring with him on Maundy-Thursday the body and blood of our Lord, and wait for her on the banks of the river on the side which is inhabited.  Having spoken thus, and once more entreated him to pray for her, she left him. Zosimus hereupon fell on his knees, thanked God for what he had seen and heard, kissed the ground whereon she had stood, and returned by the usual same to his monastery.
    The year following, on the first Sunday in Lent, he was detained at home on account of sickness, as indeed she had foretold him.  On  Maundy -Thursday, taking the sacred body and blood of our Lord in a small chalice, and also a little basket of figs, dates, and lentils, he went to the banks of the Jordan.   At night she appeared on the other side, and making the sign of the cross over the river, she went forward, walking upon the surface of the water, as if it had been dry land, till she reached the opposite shore. Being now together, she craved his blessing, and desired him  to recite the Creed and the Lord's Prayer.  After which she received from his hands the holy sacrament.  Then lifting up her hands to heaven, she said aloud with tears: Now thou doest dismiss thy servant, 0 Lord according to thy word, in peace because my eyes have seen my Savior.  She begged Zosimus to pardon the trouble she had given him, and desired him to return the following Lent, to the place where he first saw her. He begged of her on his side to accept the sustenance he had brought her. But she took only a few of the lentils; and conjuring him never to forget her miseries, left him, and then went over the river as she came.  Zosimus returned home, and at the very time  fixed by the saint, set out in quest of her, with the view of being still further edified by her holy conversation, and of learning also her name, he had forgot to ask.  But on his arrival at the place where he had seen her, he found her corpse stretched out on the, ground, with an inscription declaring her name, Mary, and the time of her death. Zosimus, being miraculously assisted by a lion, dug a grave, and buried her. And having recommended both himself and the whole church to the saint's intercession, he returned to his monastery, where he recounted all that he had seen and heard of this holy penitent, and continued there to serve God till his happy death, which happened in the hundredth year of his age and it is from  a relation of the monks of that community, that an author of the same century wrote her life as above related: which history is mentioned soon after by many authors, both of the Eastern and Western, church.   Papebroke places her conversion in 383, and her death in 421.

  In the example of this holy woman, we admire the wonderful goodness and mercy of God, who raised her from the sink of the most criminal habits and the most abandoned state to the most sublime and heroic virtue.  While we consider her severe penance, let us blush at the manner in which we pretend to do penance. Let her example rouse our sloth. The kingdom of heaven is only for those who do violence to themselves. Let us tremble with her at the remembrance of our baseness and sins, as often as we enter the sanctuary of the Lord, or venerate his holy cross, the instrument of our redemption. We insult him when we pretend exteriorly to pay him our homages, and at the same time dishonor him by our sloth and sinful life. God, by the miraculous visible repulse of this sinner, shows us what he does invisibly with regard to all obstinate and wilful sinners. We join the crowd of adorers at the foot of his altar; but he abhors our treacherous kisses like those of Judas. We honor his cross with our lips; but he sees our heart, and condemns its irregularities and its opposition to his holy spirit of perfect humility, meekness, self-denial, and charity.  Shall we then so much fear to provoke his indignation by our unworthiness, as to keep at a distance from his holy places or mysteries?  By no means.  This would be irrecoverably to perish by cutting off the most essential means of salvation.  Invited by the infinite goodness and mercy of God, and pressed by our own necessities and dangers, the more grievous these are, with so much greater earnestness and assiduity must we sue for pardon and grace, provided we do this is the most profound sentiments of compunction, fear, and confidence.  It will be expedient often to pray with the publicant at a distance from the altar, in a feeling sentiment that we ought to be treated as persons excommunicated before God and men. Sometimes we may in public prayers pronounce the words with a lower voice, as unworthy to unite our praises with others, as base sinners, whose homages ought rather to be offensive to God, who hates the sight of a heart filled with iniquity and self-love.  We must at least never present ourselves before God without purifying our hearts by compunction, and, trembling, to say to ourselves, that God ought to drive us out of his holy presence with a voice of thunder.  Let the wicked man be taken away, and let him not see the glory of God. But in these dispositions of fear and humility, we must not fail assiduously to pour forth our supplications, and sound the divine praises with our whole hearts.

474 Marcellus of Avignon suffered much from the Arians and died after a long episcopate B (RM)
In civitáte Diénsi, in Gállia, sancti Marcélli Epíscopi, miráculis clari.
    In the city of Die, in France, St. Marcellus, bishop, celebrated for miracles.
Born in Avignon, France. Saint Marcellus was educated by his own brother Saint Petronius, bishop of Die (not of Saint-Dié), and later succeeded him. Marcellus was consecrated by Bishop Saint Mamertius of Vienne. Marcellus suffered much from the Arians and died after a long episcopate. Meanwhile, Mamertius was censured by the Holy See for the consecration without the proper authority (Benedictines). Saint Marcellus is portrayed as a bishop leading a dragon with his stole around its neck. (This is typical of several saints because casting the stole round the creature's neck was the accepted way of subduing dragons or devils.) Marcellus is venerated at Avignon (Roeder).
6th v. St. Dotto Abbot of a monastery of the Orkney Islands of Scotland.
Dotto, Abbot (AC) 6th century. Saint Dotto is said to have been the abbot of a monastery in the Orkney Islands that is named after him and to have lived to a very venerable age (Benedictines, Husenbeth).
Martyrs of Pannonia A group of seven Christian men and women who died at Sirmium in Pannonia, on the Danube.
688 St. Waldetrudis ist Patronin von Mons; 7 saints in family became celebrated for the miracles of healing which were wrought through her both before and after her death
Móntibus, in Hannónia, beátæ Waldetrúdis, vitæ sanctimónia et miráculis claræ.
    At Mons in Hainaut, blessed Waltrude, renowned for holiness and miracles.

688 ST WALDETRUDIS, or WAUDRU, WIDOW
ST WALDETRUDIS, called in French Waltrude or Waudru, who is venerated in Belgium, especially at Mons of which she is patron, belonged to a family of remarkable holiness. Her parents were St Walbert and St Bertilia, her sister St Aldegundis of Maubeuge, her husband St Vincent Madelgar, and their four children St Landericus, St Dentelinus, St Aldetrudis and St Madelberta, the last two named both being abbess of Maubeuge.
     She married a young nobleman called Madelgar, with whom she led a happy life of devotion and good works. Some time after the birth of the last of their children, Madelgar withdrew into the abbey of Haumont which he had founded, taking the name of Vincent.  Waldetrudis remained in the world two years longer than her husband and then she also withdrew, retiring into a very humble little house, built in accordance with her instructions, where she lived in poverty and simplicity. Her sister repeatedly invited her to join her at Maubeuge, but she wished for greater austerity than she could have at the abbey. Her solitude was so often broken in upon by those who centre of what is now the town of Mons.
     Throughout her life St Waldetrudis was greatly given to works of mercy, and she became celebrated for the miracles of healing which were wrought through her both before and after her death.

There are two Latin lives of St Waldetrudis the first, written in the ninth century, has only been printed in Analectes pour servir a l’histoire ecclésiastique déjà Belgique, vol. iv, pp. 218—231 the second, at one time wrongly attributed to Philip de Harveng, is in fact a later adaptation of the former. It has been printed in the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. i, and by Mabillon. See especially L. Van der Essen, Saints Mérovingiens de Belgique, pp. 231—237, and Berlière, Monasticon Beige, vol. i, pp. 327—328.

Also known as Waltrude or Waudru, she was the daughter of Saints Walbert and Bertilia and sister of St. Aldegunus of Maubeuge. Marrying St. Vincent Madelgarius, she became the mother of saints Landericus, Madalberta, Adeltrudis, and Dentelin. When her husband chose to become a  monk about 643 in the monastery of Hautrnont, France, he had founded, she established a convent at Chateaulieu, around which grew up the town of Mons, Belgium.

688  Waltraud  Orthodoxe und Katholische Kirche: 9. April
Waltraud (Waldetrudis = kraftvolle Herrscherin oder starke Göttliche) stammte aus einem adligen Geschlecht. Ihre Mutter Bertila (Berthild) wurde ebenso als Heilige verehrt wie ihre Schwester Adelgundis (Gedenktag 30.1.), die das Kloster Maubeuge gründete. Waltraud heiratete den Grafen des Hennegau Vinzenz Madelgar (Gedenktag 14.7.) und gebar 4 Kinder, von denen drei (Landicus, Madelberta und Adeltrud) ebenfalls Heilige wurden. Ihr Ehemann und ihre Kinder gingen auf ihren Wunsch in Klöster, sie selber erbaute das Kloster Mons in Castrilocus und wurde dessen Äbtissin. Sie starb am 9.4. um das Jahr 688 und wurde in der Kathedrale von Mons bestattet. Waltraud ist Patronin von Mons.

Waldetrudis of Mons, OSB Widow (RM) (also known as Vaudru, Waltrude, Waudru)  Died April 9, c. 686-688. The family of Saint Waudru, patroness of Mons (Belgium), was amazingly holy, too. Both her parents (Walbert and Bertille) and her sister (Aldegund) were canonized. Her four children were also declared saints (Landericus, Dentelin, Aldetrude, and Madelberte) and so was her husband (Madelgaire).
Madelgaire was the count of Hennegau (Hainault), and one of the courtiers of King Dagobert I. After their children were born both he and Waudru longed to live lives totally devoted to meditation and prayer. He retired to an abbey he had founded at Haumont near Maubeuge, where he took the name Vincent. For two additional years, Waudru remained in the world, devoting herself to the care of the poor and the sick under the direction of Saint Gislenus.
After Madelgaire's death, Waudru received the religious veil from Saint Autbert in 656, built a tiny home for herself near Castriloc (Châteaulieu), and, giving away her possessions, lived there alone. Though she clung to her solitude, her great wisdom and piety meant that countless men and women pressed on her for advice. Eventually Waudru had so many followers that she was obliged to found her own convent at Châteaulieu. She dedicated this convent to the Mother of Jesus, and around it grew the present town of Mons. By the time of Waudru's death she had become famous not only for her charity but also for her miraculous powers of healing, her patience in the face of trials, continual fasting, and prayer. Her relics are considered the most precious treasure of the church that bears her name in Mons (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth, Walsh).
In art, Saint Waudru is depicted protecting her children under her mantle, offering her husband a crucifix, and refusing a crown of roses (Roeder). She is venerated in Mons (Roeder).

730 St. Hugh of Rouen Benedictine bishop of Rouen, Paris, and Bayeux, France, a nephew of Charles Martel
Rotómagi sancti Hugónis, Epíscopi et Confessóris.    At Rouen, St. Hugh, bishop and confessor.
730 ST HUGH, BISHOP OF ROUEN
HISTORY has preserved few details about St Hugh of Rouen, who owed much of the fame he enjoyed among his contemporaries to his family connections. The son of Drogo, Duke of Burgundy, he was the grandson on the paternal side of Pepin de Herstal and nephew of Charles Martel. He was made primicerius of the church of Metz, and subsequently, no doubt through the influence of his uncle Charles, bishop of Rouen, Paris and Bayeux, and abbot of Fontenelle and Jumièges.
To be a pluralist in those days was unfortunately only too common, but Hugh, far from profiting by the revenues to which he became entitled, expended his own considerable wealth for the benefit of the churches which he governed. The Chronicle of Fontenelle, which is our chief source of information, expatiates upon the generous gifts with which he endowed that abbey alone. He died in the abbey of Jumièges in 730.

Our chief source of information is the Gesta Abbatum of the abbey of Fontenelle. The biography written by Bishop Baudri of Dol four hundred years after the death of the saint is of little worth. See the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. i. The life by Baudri is printed in Migne, PL., vol. clxvi, cc. 1163—1172. See also Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux, vol. ii, pp. 208 and 460.
The son of Duke Drogo of Burgundy, he was named the bishop of Rouen in 722. He then moved to Paris and later to Bayeux.
At the same time he was abbot of Fontenelles and Jumieges At the close of his life, Hugh retired to Jumieges and died as a simple choir monk.

Hugh of Rouen, OSB B (RM) . Saint Hugh became a monk at either Fontenelle or Jumièges at a very early age. Then he was called to be primicerius of Metz and, shortly thereafter, in 722, bishop of Rouen and Paris while still abbot of Fontenelle and Jumièges. During his tenure in these offices Hugh fostered piety and learning. Before his death, however, he resigned them all and died at Jumièges as a simple monk (Benedictines).   In art, Saint Hugh is a bishop with a monstrance that the devil tries to wrest from him (Roeder). He is venerated at Fontenelle, Jumièges (Roeder).
870 St. Hedda Martyred Benedictine abbot of Peterborough, England. He and eighty four monks were slain by Danes marauding along the English coast.
Hedda and Companions, OSB MM (AD) (also known as Haeddi). Hedda was the abbot of Peterborough (Medehampstead). He and 84 monks of his community were slain by the Danes, who that same year killed Saint Edmund of East Anglia. Hedda and his monks are venerated as martyrs, even though modern scholars believe that the motivation for the murders was booty and not the hatred of Christianity. In the later Middle Ages the "Hedda stone" stood in the cemetery over the grave of the martyrs. Holes were cut into the slab to hold candles for using it as an altar at which to say Mass--a custom started by abbot Godric. In the 17th century, pilgrims would put their fingers into the holes, perhaps to take dust as a souvenir (Benedictines, Farmer).
870 Martyrs of Croyland Benedictine monks who were slain by the Danes during an invasion of Croyland Abbey, England
And the surrounding area. The abbot was Theodore. Others suffering included Askega, the prior; Swethin, the subprior; and Elfgete, Savinus, Egdred, Agamund, Grimkeld, and Ulrick.
870 Theodore and Companions martyred by the invading Danes OSB MM (AC)
This is another group martyred by the invading Danes. Theodore, abbot of Croyland, and several others of his large community were mentioned by name: Askega, prior; Swethin, subprior; Elfgete, deacon; Savinus, subdeacon; Egdred and Ulrick, acolytes; Grimkeld and Agamund (Argamund), both centenarians (Benedictines).

1050 St. Casilda Spanish martyr native of Toledo of Moorish parentage became a Christian and a hermitess near Briviesca, Burgos venerated in Burgos and Toledo.
Casilda of Briviesca V (AC)

 Born in Toledo, Spain; died c. 1050. Saint Casilda was the daughter of a Moorish king of Toledo, who hated everything connected with Jesus Christ. Casilda secretly visited and fed Christian captives, which made her father angry. She escaped her father, illness, other horrors, and died as an anchorite near Briviesca in Burgos but with joy because she had been baptized (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Gill).
In art, Saint Casilda is a Saracen maiden carrying roses in her lap. Sometimes she is pictured as a Saracen princess with roses or as bread changes to roses--a story that is also told of Elizabeth of Hungary and Elizabeth of Portugal (Roeder). Casilda is still especially venerated at Saragossa, Toledo, and Burgos. She is invoked in time of war (Roeder).

Saint Casilda by Francisco de Zurbarán Museo del Prado, Madrid Courtesy of the Web Gallery of Art
 

1140 St. Gaucherius hermit in the forest of Limoges with a companion founded St. John’s Monastery at Aureilfor and a convent for women

1140 ST GAUCHERIUS, ABBOT
St Gaucherius was only eighteen when he abandoned the world to live the solitary life. He was born at Meulan-sur-Seine, where he received a good and religious education. His director sent him to his own master, Humbert, one of the canons of Limoges, who happened to be staying in the neighbourhood. That wise man not only encouraged the youth, but offered to assist him in carrying out his heart’s desire by taking him back to the Limousin district which was suitable for the life of retirement which he was contemplating. After spending a night in prayer at the tomb of St Leonard of Limoges, Gaucherius and a friend called Germond struck out into the wild forest region which stretched away for miles without any human habitation. In a particularly remote and inaccessible spot, they constructed a hermitage, and there they lived for several years unknown and forgotten. But gradually, as knowledge of the hermits’ holy life spread, cells sprang up round about to accommodate disciples and visitors. Many holy men were trained in this community, which became known as Aureil. To them, and to a convent he founded for women, Gaucherius gave the rule of the canons and canonesses of St Augustine. St Lambert of Angouléme, and St Faucherus were amongst the disciples of St Gaucherius, and it was he who gave St Stephen of Grandmont his hermitage of Muret. The saint’s death took place as the result of a fall from his horse when, as an old man of eighty, he was returning to Aureil from a visit to Limoges. He was canonized in 1194.

There is an earlier and fuller Latin life than that printed in the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. i, but it only exists in manuscript and in a fragmentary condition. See the Catalogue of Paris Hagiographical MSS., vol. ii, p. 626.

Born 1060.  Also known as Walter, abbot founder and friend of St. Stephen of Grandmont. He was born in Meulan sur Seine, France, and became a hermit in the forest of Limoges with a companion, Germond. Attracting disciples even though he was only eighteen, Gaucherius founded St. John’s Monastery at Aureilfor and a convent for women. He died from a fall from a horse. He was canonized in 1194.

Gaucherius of Aureil, OSA Abbot (AC) (also known as Gaultier, Walter)
Died April 9, 1140; canonized by Pope Celestine III. His spiritual vocation led him to found and govern two monasteries in the Limousin region: Saint John at Aureil for Augustinian canons regular and Saint Stephen of Grandmont at Muret. He fell from a horse and died at the age of 80 (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).

1315 Blessed Ubald Adimari converted by Saint Philip Benizi, who admitted him to the Servite institute model to penitent souls OSM (AC)

1315 BD UBALD OF FLORENCE He had the gift of miracles
ONE of the most prominent leaders of the Ghibelline party in Florence in the year 1276 was the young Ubald Adimari. Well favoured by nature and fortune and belonging to a distinguished family, he had up to the age of thirty led a turbulent life with dissipated companions. One day, however, as he was listening to the preaching of St Philip Benizi, he was struck to the heart with shame for the past, and, with one of those sudden impulses to which generous souls are prone, he then and there vowed that he would never again bear arms. Attaching himself to St Philip, who admitted him into the Servite Order, he undertook severe penances to atone for his sins and to tame his proud and haughty spirit.
In after years those about him noted that he had grown so gentle that when he appeared in the garden of the monastery of Monte Senario the birds would perch upon his head and hands and shoulders. He had the gift of miracles, and it is recorded that once, when it was his turn to fetch water from the spring to serve to the brethren in the refectory and accidentally broke the pitcher, he filled his scapular with water and carried it safely home. There was enough, we are told, to satisfy the thirst of all.
St Philip dearly loved his devoted disciple. Not only did he make him for several years the companion of his journeys, but he chose him for his confessor. As Philip lay sick at Todi, Ubald was warned by a supernatural premonition that his master was dying and hastened to his bedside. When the saint asked for his “book”, eager hands offered the Bible, the Breviary and the rosary; but Ubald knew better, and gave him the book from which he had learnt all his wisdom—the crucifix and on that “book” he fixed his failing eyes until they finally closed in death. Ubald survived him for thirty years at Monte Senario. His cultus was confirmed in 1821.

See Gianni-Garbi, Annales Ordinis Servorum B.V.M., vol. i, pp. 228—229 Spörr, Lebensbilder aus dem Servitenorden, pp. 437 seq. Most of the lives of St Philip Benizi (e.g. that of P. Soulier) also contain some mention of Bd Ubald.

Born in Florence, Italy, in 1246; cultus confirmed in 1821. Born into Ghebelline nobility, Ubald was notorious for his wild and dissolute life. In 1276, he was converted by Saint Philip Benizi, who admitted him to the Servite institute. Ubald spent the rest of his life on Mount Senario, a model to penitent souls (Benedictines).

1322 Bl. Thomas of Tolentino preach in the difficult regions of Armenia and Persia (modern Iran) set out for China beheaded at Thame in Hindustan

1321 BD THOMAS OF TOLENTINO, MARTYR
AMONG the missionary pioneers who in the early fourteenth century strove to spread Christianity in the Far East was the Franciscan, Thomas of Tolentino, whose memory is still venerated by the faithful in India, the country in which he received the crown of martyrdom.
From the time he had entered, the Order of Friars Minor in early youth, Thomas had been known as a truly apostolic man, and when the ruler of Armenia sent to ask the Minorite minister-general for some priests to fortify true religion in his realm, Thomas was chosen for the mission with four of his brethren. Their labours were blessed with success, many schismatics being reconciled and infidels converted. Armenia, however, was being seriously threatened by the Saracens, and Thomas came back to Europe to solicit help from Pope Nicholas IV and the kings of England and France.
Although he duly returned to the Armenian mission with twelve other Franciscans, Thomas subsequently travelled farther afield to Persia. Again he was recalled or sent back to Italy, but this time it was to report to Pope Clement V with a view to a further advance into Tartary and China. His embassy resulted in the nomination of an ecclesiastical hierarchy consisting of John of Monte Corvino as archbishop and papal legate for the East, with seven Franciscans as suffragans. In the meantime Bd Thomas had returned to the field of his labours, full of zeal for the conversion of India and China. He appears to have been making for Ceylon and Cathay, but the ship was driven by contrary winds to Salsette Island, near Bombay. Thomas was seized by the Saracens with several of his brethren and imprisoned. After being scourged and exposed to the burning rays of the sun, the holy man was beheaded. Bd Odoric of Pordenone afterwards recovered his body and translated it to Xaitou. The cultus was approved in 1894.

There are various letters of Jordan de Severac, and others, which supply information concerning Bd Thomas see BHL., nn. 8257—8268. Some portion of these is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. i (under April 1), and others in the Analecta Franciscana, vol. iii. Further materials are available in the volumes of Fr Jerome Golubovich, Bibliotheca bio-bibliographica della Terra Santa e deli’ Oriente Francescano. See also Léon, Auréole Séraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. ii, pp. 61—64. On Bd Odoric of Pordenone, see under January 28 and the bibliography thereto appended, much of which has also a bearing upon the subject of the present notice.

Franciscan martyr. Born in Tolentino, Italy, he entered the Franciscans and was sent to preach in the difficult regions of Armenia and Persia (modern Iran). Convinced to head further East, he set out for China with three companions Blesseds James of Padua, Peter of Siena (both Franciscans), and a layman, Demetrius of Triflis. While traveling through Hindustan (modem northern India) they were beheaded at Thame.

Blessed Thomas of Tolentino & Comp., OFM MM (AC) Born in Tolentino, Italy; died 1321; cultus approved in 1894. Thomas became a Franciscan and went into the mission fields in Armenia and Persia. He was on his way to Ceylon (Sri Lanka), with a view to proceeding to China, when he was seized and beheaded by the Islamics in the East Indies. Three companions Blessed James of Padua (cultus approved 1809) and Peter of Siena, Franciscans, and Demetrius of Tiflis, layman, suffered with him (Benedictines).

1331 Blessed John of Vespignano  devoted himself to works of charity among the refugees who flocked to Florence (AC)
Born at Vespignano (diocese of Florence), Italy; cultus approved by Pius VII. During the civil wars, John devoted himself to works of charity among the refugees who flocked to Florence (Benedictines).

1348 Blessed Reginald Montesmarti, OP (AC)
Born in Montesmarti (near Orvieto), Italy, in 1292; died at Piperno, Italy; cultus approved in 1877 (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).

1374 Blessed Antony of Pavoni  consistent poverty of Antony's life & example of Christian virtue combatting heresies of Lombards  OP M (AC) His tomb was the scene of miracles

1374 BD ANTONY PAVONI, MARTYR
ANTONY Pavoni was born at Savigliano in Piedmont and entered, while still young, the Dominican priory there. His reputation for fervour and learning caused him to be appointed inquisitor general over Piedmont and Liguria: as such he was called upon to refute and pass judgement on the opponents of the faith, notably the Vaudois. In the zealous performance of his office he made many enemies, as he himself knew full well. At Easter 1374, in the little town of Bricherasio he prophesied his own approaching death. He bade the barber who was shaving him give him a fine tonsure because he was invited to a marriage feast. The man who, like all those of his trade, was well up in the local news, exclaimed in surprise that no wedding was about to take place in the neighbourhood. “All the same I can assure you that I am telling you the truth”, was Antony’s reply. A few days later, on Low Sunday, as he left the church in which he had just offered Mass and preached, he was set upon by seven armed men, who killed him. His tomb was the scene of miracles (one of the beneficiaries being Bd Haymo Taparelli); and the cultus was authorized in 1856.

See the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. i, and Archivio storico italiano, 3rd series, vol. xii, pp. 29 seq. A fuller bibliography in Taurisano, Catalogus hagiographicus OP. There is a short English account in Procter, Lives of the Dominican Saints, pp. 85—87.

Born in Savigliano, Italy, in 1326; died in Turino, Italy, in 1374; beatified in 1868. Antony was obviously martyred for the faith, yet it took more than 500 years before he was even beatified. He is still not canonized. Antony grew up to be a pious, intelligent youth. At 15, he was received into the monastery of Savigliano, was ordained in 1351, and almost immediately was engaged in combatting the heresies of the Lombards.

Pope Urban V, in 1360, appointed him inquisitor-general of Lombardy and Genoa, making him one of the youngest men ever to hold that office. It was a difficult and dangerous job for a young priest of 34. Besides being practically a death sentence to any man who held the office, it carried with it the necessity of arguing with the men most learned in a twisted and subtle heresy.  Antony worked untiringly in his native city, and his apostolate lasted 14 years. During this time, he accomplished a great deal by his preaching, and even more by his example of Christian virtue. He was elected prior of Savigliano, in 1368, and given the task of building a new abbey. This he accomplished without any criticism of its luxury--a charge that heretics were always anxious to make against any Catholic builders.

The consistent poverty of Antony's life was a reproach to the heretics, who had always been able to gain ground with the poor by pointing out the wealth of religious houses. He went among the poor and let them see that he was one of them. This so discomfited the heretics that they decided they must kill him. He was preaching in a little village near Turin when they caught him.

The martyrdom occurred in the Easter octave. On the Saturday after Easter, he asked the barber to do a good job on his tonsure because he was going to a wedding. Puzzled, the barber complied. On the Sunday after Easter, as he finished preaching a vigorous sermon against heresy at Brichera, seven heretics fell upon him with their daggers, and he hurried off to the promised "wedding." He was buried in the Dominican church at Savigliano, where his tomb was a place of pilgrimage until 1827. At that time the relics were transferred to the Dominican church of Racconigi (Benedictines, Dorcy).
Oddly enough, this Dominican Antony takes after his Franciscan namesake. He is also invoked to find lost articles (Dorcy).
Romæ Translátio córporis sanctæ Mónicæ, matris beáti Augustíni Epíscopi; quod, ex Ostiis Tiberínis, Martíno Quinto Summo Pontífice, in Urbem delátum, in Ecclésia ejúsdem beáti Augustíni honorífice recónditum fuit.
    At Rome, the transferring of the body of St. Monica, mother of the bishop St. Augustine.  It was brought from Ostia to Rome, under the Sovereign Pontiff, Martin V, and buried with due honours in the church of St. Augustine.

1463 Saint Eleni (who was also called Susanna) is one of the New Martyrs of Lesbos who are commemorated on Bright Tuesday
She was St. Irene's older cousin, and suffered along with Sts Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene on April 9, 1463 (Bright Tuesday).

On November 12, 1961 Mrs Basilike Rallis had a dream in which she saw herself by the church at Karyes near the town of Thermi on the Greek island of Lesbos. As she looked inside the church, she saw a young girl about fourteen or fifteen years old, with a dark complexion and dark hair. Since the girl was praying, Mrs Rallis also began to pray. The girl turned to her and said, "Do you know who I am? I am a martyr. Not like Renoula (a diminutive form of Irene), of course, but if you only knew what I endured! I lived with the mayor's family, and I was also with them when the Turks tortured them here. They mistreated me and gave me such a horrible beating that I died from the pains. My name is Eleni."

The saint also told Mrs Rallis about an icon of the Mother of God that she had been asking about, revealing to her the place where it would be found.
When she awoke, Mrs Rallis was reluctant to mention this dream to anyone. She said to herself, "If there really is another martyr named Eleni, I'll see her again. Maybe someone else will see her, too, then I'll tell. But who was this Eleni who lived with the mayor's family? Perhaps she was their servant."

The next night, she dreamed that she was in the village church. She saw three clerics coming out through the left door of the altar. She made the Sign of the Cross at once, for she thought that Satan might be tempting her. Then she saw the three clerics make the Sign of the Cross, too. They looked at her and smiled as they slowly proceeded to the center of the church.
"I recognized St. Raphael and St. Nicholas right away," Mrs Rallis recalled, "but did not know the other saint. He was tall, middle-aged with a long grey beard and a lordly air about him."
At that moment, a girl with a round face came out by the same door. She was beautiful, and she wore a rose-colored dress. Mrs Rallis approached her and, kneeling before her, she asked, "Are you also a saint?"
"Yes," the girl replied. "Sit down beside me, watch quietly and I will explain some things to you."

Then other people began to come out from the same door and approached the saints. First, a man of medium height with civilian clothes and a long grey jacket. The girl said to Mrs Rallis, "The teacher, Theodore." He was followed by another well-formed man. The saint said, "The mayor, Basil (St Irene's father)." Then a tall, stout woman of about forty came forth with two girls whom Mrs Rallis recognized at once.They were Sts Irene and Eleni, of whom she had dreamt the night before.
The unknown saint who had appeared with Sts Raphael and Nicholas identified the tall woman as Maria, the mayor's wife, and the two girls as Renoula and Eleni. He asked Mrs Rallis, "Why, when you dreamed about her last evening, did you say that you would not say anything about it to anyone? Eleni is also a martyr, and she wishes to be remembered. She was not the mayor's servant, but his orphaned niece who lived with them. Her proper name, which she signed on papers, was Eleni. However, they also called her Susanna. She also had that name."
Mrs Rallis slowly approached St Irene. She embraced her and began to weep, saying, "O Renoula, my tortured little girl, how could these heartless evil-doers burn you?" Then St Irene also started to cry.
When Mrs Rallis woke up, her eyes were filled with tears, and she thought that she would faint. So powerful was the dream that she later said, "Ah, that tortured child! How I ached for her! Every time I go to Karyes I will sit by her little tomb and I will mourn as if she were my own child. Just think, they tortured the child in front of her father, in front of her mother who bore her. It seems to me that there does not exist a more terrible martyrdom for parents."

The Newly-Appeared Martyrs of Lesbos are also commemorated on April 9. Detailed accounts of these saints may be found in A GREAT SIGN (in Greek) by Photios Kontoglou (Astir, 1964).

Newly-Appeared Martyrs of Lesbos, Sts Raphael, Nicholas and Irene were martyred by the Turks on Bright Tuesday (April 9, 1463) ten years after the Fall of Constantinople. They began appearing to various inhabitants of Lesbos in 1959 and revealed the details of their lives and martyrdom. These accounts form the basis of Photios Kontoglou's 1962 book A GREAT SIGN (in Greek).

In 1453, St Nicholas was living in Macedonia with his fellow monastic, St Raphael. Deacon Nicholas was a native of Thessalonica. In 1454, the Turks invaded Thrace, so the two monks fled to the island of Lesbos. They settled in the Monastery of the Nativity of the Theotokos near Thermi, where St Raphael became the igumen.

In the spring of 1463, the Turks raided the monastery and captured the monks. They were tortured from Holy Thursday until Bright Tuesday. St Raphael was tied to a tree, and the ferocious Turks sawed through his jaw, killing him. St Nicholas was also tortured, and he died while witnessing his Elder's martyrdom. He appeared to people and indicated the spot where his relics were uncovered on June 13, 1960.

St Nicholas is short and thin, with a small blond beard. He stands before St Raphael with great respect. St Irene usually appears with a long yellow dress reaching to her feet. Her blonde hair is divided into two braids which rest on either side of her chest.

Sts Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene (and those with them) are also commemorated on Bright Tuesday. Dr. Constantine Cavarnos has given a detailed account of their life, miracles, and spiritual counsels in Volume 10 of his inspirational series MODERN ORTHODOX SAINTS (Belmont, MA, 1990).

Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1945 Lektor an der Berliner Universität für aktiven Widerstand gegen das Unrechtsregime ein ermordet in das Konzentrationslager Flossenbürg
Anglikanische und Evangelische Kirche: 9. April

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wurde am 4.2.1906 in Breslau geboren. Schon 1933, Bonhoeffer war Lektor an der Berliner Universität, setzte er sich für aktiven Widerstand gegen das Unrechtsregime ein. Er wurde als Pfarrer an die deutsche evangelische Gemeinde in London berufen, kehrte aber 1935 nach Deutschland zurück, um in der Heimat gegen die Unterdrückung des Evangeliums anzugehen. Er wurde zum Leiter des Predigerseminars der Bekennenden Kirche in Finkenwalde berufen. 1936 verlor er seinen Lehrauftrag an der Berliner Universität, auch das Predigerseminar wurde geschlossen. 1937 erschien sein Buch 'Nachfolge', das großes Aufsehen erregte. Kurze Zeit später erhielt Bonhoeffer nach dem Lehrverbot auch Predigtverbot.

Im Sommer 1942 reiste er unter Lebensgefahr nach Stockholm um dem schwedischen Bischof Bell über die Lage in Deutschland zu berichten. Auch von dieser Reise kehrte er nach Deutschland zurück. Am 5. April 1943 wurde er von der Gestapo verhaftet und in Berlin gefangengesetzt. Ende März 1945 wurde er mit anderen Leidensgenossen aus Berlin in das Konzentrationslager Flossenbürg gebracht und hier am 9. April 1945 auf Befehl Himmlers ermordet. Seine Verse 'Von guten Mächten wunderbar geborgen' (EG 65) hat er vermutlich zu Sylvester 1944 geschrieben.

Umfangreiches Material zu Bonhoeffer bieten die Seiten der ESH der Universität Linz
Weitere Informationen zu den Märtyrern im Nationalsozialismus unter Werner Sylten



THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 319

Give bountifully to thy servant, O Lady: enliven me, and I shall do thy will.

I am a sojourner on the earth: hide nothing of thy love from me.

My soul hath longed to desire thy praise: at all times.

For thou art my salvation in the Lord: who hast delivered me, one condemned to death.

What shall I give back for these things, except my whole self ? O Lady receive me.

Let every spirit praise Our Lady

PSALM 78

O Lady, the heathen have come into the inheritance of God: which thou hast established in Christ by thy merits.

Let thy speech be sweet before Him: and unite me to Him who hath redeemed me.

Stretch forth thine arm against the cruel enemy: and unfold to me his craft.

Thy voice is sweet above every melody: the angelic harmony cannot be compared with it.

Drop down on me the sweetness of thy graces: and the fragrance of thy heavenly gifts.


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

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

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

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

Widowed Saints  html
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  UniateChalcedon

Mary the Mother of Jesus Miracles_BLay Saints  Miraculous_IconMiraculous_Medal_Novena Patron Saints
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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

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


God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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
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May 23, 1995 Zarvintisya Ukraine Lourdes Kenya national Marian shrine    Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798  
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