Monday Saints of this Day April 11 Prídie Idus Aprílis    
  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.
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From 2007 to
2021 22,600 lives saved

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

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

     40 days for Life Campaign saves lives Shawn Carney Campaign Director www.40daysforlife.com
Please help save the unborn they are the future for the world
It is a great poverty that a child must die so that you may live as you wish -- Mother Teresa

Saving babies, healing moms and dads, 'The Gospel of Life'

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

Acts of the Apostles

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

April 11 – Madonna and Child of Brindisi (Italy, 1598) –
Fire in the Cathedral of Turin and miraculous rescue of the Holy Shroud (1997)
 
500 Rosaries donated to inmates of an Italian prison   
Pope Francis has given 500 Rosaries to inmates of the prison of Padua, in northeast Italy.
The request for the Rosaries came from Zhang Agostino Jianqing, a young Chinese man currently incarcerated in the Padua prison, who also participated in an event for the presentation of Pope Francis’ book The Name of God is Mercy, in Rome on January 11, 2016.
Zhang Agostino Jianqing shared his story about finding Christ through the tears of his own mother—like the holy tears shed by Monica, the mother of Saint Augustine where his Christian name "Agostino" came from—and the social cooperative where he worked in prison.
He says: "I felt the Lord's presence in my mother’s love. Jesus sent his friends to find me—all the friends I met during catechism lessons. On April 17, 2015, I received baptism, confirmation and first communion
right here in prison where Jesus came to meet me and where I met Jesus."
Father Marco Sanavio, a priest in Padua, personally handed out the Rosaries to the prisoners. fr.zenit.org

 
April 11 - Madonna Bambino di Brindisi (Italy, 1598) 
The Keystone 
The knowledge of the true Catholic doctrine on the Blessed Virgin Mary constitutes a keystone
to an unmistaken understanding of the mystery of Christ and the Church.
 
Pope Paul VI February 4 - Our Lady of Fire (Forli, Italy)


Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary
I Will Be Your Mother (II)  April 11 - Our Lady of Montserrat (Spain)
- Saint Gemma Galgani (d. 1903)
Although Gemma, now in perfect health, desired to be a consecrated nun, God had other plans for her. On June 8, 1899, after receiving communion, Our Lord let His servant know that on the same evening He would give her a very great grace. Gemma went home and prayed. She fell into ecstasy and experienced a great remorse for sin.
Our Lady, to whom Gemma was strongly devoted, appeared to her and said, "My son Jesus loves you beyond measure and wishes to give you a grace. I will be your mother. Will you be my true child?" Then Mary opened her mantle and covered Gemma with it.
During the remainder of Gemma's life, several people, including eminent members of the Church, noticed that Gemma was stigmatized and that blood came from her hands in great abundance. Like Saint Francis of Assisi and more recently Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, Saint Gemma too can say: "Let no man harm me, for I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus in my body."
Gemma Galgani was canonized on May 2, 1940, by Pope Pius XII, only thirty-seven years after her death.
Adapted from http://www.stgemma.com/¹
April 11 – Madonna Bambino di Brindisi (Italy, 1598) -
The Cathedral of Turin's fire and miraculous rescue of the Shroud (1997)

 
How could she have the heart to abandon you? 
 The first reaction of a child when he is afraid, embarrassed or in pain, is to cry out for his mother. His counts totally on her. You too should get in the habit of calling to your mother: "Mother, I love you. You are everything to me!"

A mother loves her child, even if he is handicapped or ugly. No matter how lukewarm you are, no matter how many mistakes or sins you've committed, throw yourself into your mother's arms. Jesus' last words were, "This is your mother!" How could she have the heart to abandon you?

If you fall, go to your mother humbly and let your tears fall for her Son who died for you. She will open up her arms to embrace you. She received John as her child, as well as the good thief and Mary Magdalene…
 Cardinal François-Xavier NGUYEN VAN THUAN
Sur le chemin de l'espérance (The Road to Hope), Le Sarment, Fayard 1991
Pope St. Leo I (the Great)
"And to the angel of the Church of Pergamum write: "the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword. I know where you live, where the throne of Satan is, and you cleave unto My Name, and have not renounced My faith, even in those days when Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwells" (Rev 2:12-13).  St. Antipas
  63. St. Domnio Possibly first bishop of Salona and one of 72 disciples of Christ sent to Dalmatia, a region in Croatia, by St. Peter
  67 Sts. Processus and Martinian pagans guards at Mamertine prison in Rome  accepted holy Baptism from Peter
  68 St. Antipas Martyr and disciple of St. John the Apostle who called Antipas "my faithful witness."  body untouched by fire - tomb was the site of many miracles
  180  St. Philip of Gortyna Bishop of Gortyna, Crete. Little known except his authorship of a now lost treatise against Marcionite Gnostics.
4th v. Saint Pharmuphios lived at the same desert monastery where St John (March 29) lived in asceticism within a well, to whom St Pharmuphios gave food.
5th v. St. Machai Abbot founder of a monastery on the isle of Bute in Ireland disciple of St. Patrick. and leader of the evangelical mission there
6th .  St. Maedhog Irish abbot also called Aedhan or Mogue ruled Clonmore Abbey Ireland associated with Sts. Oncho and Finan Aid of Achad-Finglas Abbot Saint Aid of Achard-Finglas, County Carlow, Ireland (AC)
 300 Eustorgius  a priest of Nicomedia, Asia Minor M (RM)
 550 Isaac of Spoleto a Syrian monk “A monk who wants earthly possessions is not a monk at all”. The holy man was endowed with the gifts of prophecy and miracles
 550 St. Barsanuphius Hermit of Gaza, in Israel Egyptian renowned for holiness and wisdom refusing to speak communicating only in writing existing without food or water.
 680 Agericus of Tours disciple of Saint Eligius abbot of Saint Martin's in Tours, France, and spent himself entirely for his abbey OSB (PC)
 700 St. Godebertha establishing a convent in Noyon abbess  miracle worker who stopped a plague and a raging fire
 714 St. Guthlac of Croyland, OSB Hermit imitate rigors of old desert fathers "Those who choose to live apart from other humans become the friends of wild animals; and the angels visit them, too- -for those who are often visited by men and women are rarely visited by angels." prophet visions incorrupt (AC)
1079 St. Stanislaus ordained  at Szczepanow near Cracow noted for preaching sought after spiritual adviser martyred by cruel King
1138 Blessed Waltmann of Cambrai accompanied Saint Norbert to Cambrai preach against heresy O. Praem., Abbot
1146  The Departure of the holy father Anba Michael, the Seventy First Pope of the See of St. Mark. {Coptic church}
1209 Blesseds Stephen abbot & Hilderbrand  one of his monks, were killed by the Albigenses at Saint-Gilles, Languedoc OSB Cist. MM (PC)
1237 Blessed Raynerius Inclusus, Hermit (i.e., 'shut up') hermit in a cell near the cathedral of Osnabrück heavy chains next to his skin (AC)
1303 Blessed John of Cupramontana cave of Cupramonatan on Mount Massaccio for many years as a Camaldolese monk -hermit
XIV v. The Monk Jakov of Bryleevsk was a disciple of the Monk Jakov of Zheleznoborovsk founded the Bryleevsk wilderness-monastery
1442 Saint James of Zhelezny Bor sanctity prophet many years of common ascetical efforts monks entreated St James to be their igumen ordained a priest
XVI v. The Monk Evphymii {Euphymius} and his disciple the Monk Khariton example to the brethren in prayer, and in the works of construction and supervision
1576 Saint Barsanuphius of Tver captured by the Crimean Tatars After 3years John's father ransomed him became a monk proficient in virtue and piety
1576 Sainted Varsonophii bishop of Tver died at the Transfiguration monastery founded by him in the city of Kazan in the year 1576
1608 Blessed George Gervase adventurous career with Francis Drake ordained to the priesthood and died for his priesthood OSB M (AC)

1771 St. Mary Margaret d'Youville Foundress of the Sisters of Charity directress of Montreal’s General Hospital, operated by her community

1845 holy monastic Fathers Saints Theocharis and Apostolos are local saints of Arta On Bright Wednesday we commemorate them
1878  George Augustus Selwyn studierte in Cambridge und wurde 1833 zum Diakon und 1834 zum Priester geweiht 1841 wurde er zum ersten Bischof Neuseelands ernannt
1903 St. Gemma Galgani stigmata many mystical experiences and special graces Gemma was miraculously cured by the Venerable Passionist Gabriel Possenti

Our Lady of Pochaev original
Fr_McNichols_with_John_Paul_II

The history of Our Lady of Pochaev begins in 1198, only about two centuries after Christianity:  became institutionalized following the conversion of St. Vladimir.  In this year a monk ascended Mount Pochaev in order to pray.  After beginning his prayers a pillar of fire appeared to him and to some shepherds that happened to be nearby.  The flames withdrew to reveal the Blessed Virgin.  The apparition of the Virgin Mary left behind a footprint, from which a spring of water flowed.  This first event would lead to many other supernatural events through the special dedication of the Blessed Virgin to this region

 "There will be a new springtime for the Church
If people will welcome the promptings of the Holy Spirit,
The 21st Century will usher in a new evangelization;
and, a tidal wave of coversions will sweep the earth."
Pope John Paul II
    Our_Lady_of_Pochaev_icon_Fr_McNicols
I honor and reverence the Byzantine icons and the profound spirituality of the Orthodox Churches.
I try to bring true devotion and prayer into the process of creating (writing) an icon - dependent upon the inspiration of the Blessed Trinity, the saints, holy ones, and the Mother of God.
As a Roman Catholic iconographer, I have no intention of assuming to be Orthodox, but continue to pray with many others, for holy unity brought about by the Spirit, amongst the Churches.
In the words of Julian of Norwich: "For love's sake, let its pray together to God, with God's working: thanking, trusting, enjoying for our good Lord desires to be prayed to in this way. "

-- William Hart McNichols,
Kasperov_Icon

The history of Our Lady of Pochaev begins in 1198, only about two centuries after Christianity became institutionalized following the conversion of St. Vladimir.  In this year a monk ascended Mount Pochaev in order to pray.  After beginning his prayers a pillar of fire appeared to him and to some shepherds that happened to be nearby.  The flames withdrew to reveal the Blessed Virgin.  The apparition of the Virgin Mary left behind a footprint, from which a spring of water flowed.  This first event would lead to many other supernatural events through the special dedication of the Blessed Virgin to this region.

Many of these miracles are the result of the veneration of the icon of our Lady of Pochaev [see above].  It first arrived in the region as a gift of Metropolitan Neophit to Anna Hoyska, an important patron of the Church, in 1559.  The icon shows our Lady, wearing a crown, and holding the infant Jesus.  In her other hand “she holds the end of her veil.”  This being a 'tenderness' icon, Jesus and Mary’s face touch, while Jesus gives a blessing with his hand.  To Mary’s right are the prophet Elijah and Saint Myrna, while to her left are St. Stephen and the Reverend Abraymey.  Mary’s face is described as being “beautiful but sad.”   The icon itself is 29 x23 cm, and made out of red pitched cypress.  The origin of the icon remains a mystery.

The miraculous character of the icon presented itself almost immediately, as only a short time later Anna Hoyska’s blind brother regained his sight. 

After Anna’s death in 1644 much of her property was donated, including the icon, to a nearby Basilian Monastery.  After some legal obstacles were resolved, the icon was finally placed in the brother’s Church of the Dormition of the Blessed Mother.  The monastery’s chronicles record numerous miracles during the icon's stay at their Church.  Two of these miracles are exceptionally noteworthy.
The first took place during the invasion of the Turks in 1675.  The populace of Pochaev gathered at the monastery in order to weather the attack.  Gathered together and facing certain death at the hands of the invaders, they “turned to Mary for protection and help.”  The Blessed Virgin appeared along with Venerable Job of Pochaev and a host of angels.  Her white mantle spread over the monastery and the arrows of the Turks were deflected.  This caused enough confusion among the invaders that they scattered, allowing the Ukrainian military to turn their enemies back.

The second notable miracle came during the construction of a large church in Pochaev in the 1780’s.  A monk ran into the church demanding that everybody leave.  After the approximately two hundred workers had left the church, the roof collapsed. 

In total, five-hundred-thirty-nine miracles have been recorded in the monastery chronicles.

After an investigation, the icon was crowned by Pope Clement in 1773.  However, in 1831 Tsar Mykola gave the monastery to Orthodox monks, and expelled the Basilians.  In 2001, the icon was temporarily moved from Pochaev to The Cathedra of the Trinity (Saint Daniel's Monastery) in Moscow.

More recently, Fr. William McNichols wrote a copy of the famous icon [see above].

This work was commissioned by the Archbishop of Anchorage, Alaska, to be given as a gift to the Russian Orthodox Monastery of Saint Sergius of Rodonezh Lavra in Magadan, Far East, Russia.  For more information on Fr. McNichols and his icons click into: http://puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/andre/
63. St. Domnio Possibly first bishop of Salona and one of seventy-two disciples of Christ sent to Dalmatia, a region in Croatia, by St. Peter
Salónæ, in Dalmátia, sanctórum Mártyrum Domniónis Epíscopi, cum milítibus octo.
    At Salona in Dalmatia, the holy martyrs Domnio, bishop, and eight soldiers.
Another ver­sion of his life lists him martyred during the reign of co­Emperor Diocletian

Domnio and Companions MM (RM) According to an old legend, Saint Domnio was one of the 72 commissioned by Jesus to preach. The story continues that Saint Peter sent him from Rome to evangelize Dalmatia, where he was martyred as the first bishop of Salona. A more likely version of the tale says that Domnio was martyred during the persecution of Diocletian (Benedictines).
St. Antipas 68 Martyr and disciple of St. John the Apostle who called Antipas "my faithful witness." body untouched by fire tomb was the site of many miracles
Pérgami, in Asia, sancti Antípæ, testis fidélis, cujus méminit sanctus Joánnes in Apocalypsi.  Ipse autem Antípas, sub Domitiáno Imperatóre, in bovem æneum candéntem conjéctus, martyrium consummávit.
    At Pergamum in Asia, the faithful witness, St. Antipas, who was mentioned by St. John in the Apocalypse.  Under Emperor Domitian, he was enclosed in an ox made of brass that had been heated to redness, and thus completed his martyrdom.

                    ST. ANTIPAS, Martyr.
from Lives of Saintes by Alban Butler

 CALLED by Christ his faithful witness, Apoc. xi. 13.  He suffered at Pergamus; where his tomb was famed for miracles in after ages.  See Papebroke, p. 4; Tillemont, t. 2, p. 130.




The Hieromartyr Antipas, a disciple of the holy Apostle John the Theologian (September 26), was bishop of the Church of Pergamum during the reign of the emperor Nero (54-68).   During these times, everyone who would not offer sacrifice to the idols lived under threat of either exile or execution by order of the emperor. On the island of Patmos (in the Aegean Sea) the holy Apostle John the Theologian was imprisoned, he to whom the Lord revealed the future judgment of the world and of Holy Church.

"And to the angel of the Church of Pergamum write: the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword. I know where you live, where the throne of Satan is, and you cleave unto My Name, and have not renounced My faith, even in those days when Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwells" (Rev 2:12-13).

By his personal example, firm faith and constant preaching about Christ, St Antipas began to turn the people of Pergamum from offering sacrifice to idols. The pagan priests reproached the bishop for leading the people away from their ancestral gods, and they demanded that he stop preaching about Christ and offer sacrifice to the idols instead.
St Antipas calmly answered that he was not about to serve the demons that fled from him, a mere mortal. He said he worshiped the Lord Almighty, and he would continue to worship the Creator of all, with His Only-Begotten Son, and the Holy Spirit. The pagan priests retorted that their gods existed from of old, whereas Christ was not from of old but was crucified under Pontius Pilate as a criminal. The saint replied that the pagan gods were the work of human hands and that everything said about them was filled with iniquities and vices. He steadfastly confessed his faith in the Son of God, incarnate of the Most Holy Virgin.
The enraged pagan priests dragged the Hieromartyr Antipas to the temple of Artemis and threw him into a red-hot copper bull, where usually they put the sacrifices to the idols. In the red-hot furnace the martyr prayed loudly to God, imploring Him to receive his soul and to strengthen the faith of the Christians. He went to the Lord peacefully, as if he were going to sleep (+ ca. 68).
At night Christians took the body of the Hieromartyr Antipas, which was untouched by the fire.hey buried him at Pergamum. The tomb of the hieromartyr became a font of miracles and of healings from various sicknesses.  We pray to the Hieromartyr Antipas for relief from toothache, and diseases of the teeth.
67 Processus and Martinian pagans guards at the Mamertine prison in Rome  accepted holy Baptism from Peter
The Holy Martyrs Processus and Martinian were pagans and they served as guards at the Mamertine prison in Rome.  State criminals were held in this prison, among them some Christians. Watching the Christian prisoners and listening to their preaching, Processus and Martinian gradually came to the knowledge of the Savior. When the holy Apostle Peter was locked up at the Mamertine prison, Processus and Martinian came to believe in Christ. They accepted holy Baptism from the apostle and released him from prison.
The jailer {torturer } Paulinus learned about this, and he demanded that Sts Processus and Martinian renounce Christ. But they fearlessly confessed Christ, and they spat at the golden statue of Jupiter. Paulinus ordered that they be slapped on the face, and then seeing the resolute stance of the holy martyrs, he subjected them to torture. The martyrs were beaten with iron rods, scorched with fire, and finally, thrown into prison.
A certain illustrious and pious woman, by the name of Lucina, visited them in prison and gave them help and encouragement. The torturer Paulinus was soon punished by God. He fell blind and died three days later. The son of Paulinus went to the city ruler demanding that the martyrs be put to death. Sts Processus and Martinian were beheaded by the sword (+ ca. 67).   Lucina buried the bodies of the martyrs. Today their tomb is in the south transept of St Peter's Basilica in Rome.
461 Pope St. Leo I (the Great) Sancti Leónis Papæ Primi, cognoménto Magni, Confessóris et Ecclésiæ Doctóris, cujus dies natális recólitur quarto Idus Novémbris.
   St. Leo the First, pope and confessor, who was surnamed the Great.  His birthday falls on the 10th of November.
(Reigned 440-61).

From the Lives of Saintes by Alban Butler
APRIL XI.
ST. LEO THE GREAT, POPE.
From the councils, t. 4, this pope's works in the late Roman edition, and the historian, of that age. See Tillemont cabal, t. 15, p. 141, and Ceiller, t. 14, p. 316, who chiefly follow Quesnel's collection of memoir, for his life, Op. t. 2, Disc. 1, which must be compared with, and often corrected by the remarks of Caciari, In his Exertacsiones in Opera S. Leonis, especially in those De Haeresi Pegliana et De Haresi Eutychiana. A. D. 461.

ST. LEO, surnamed the Great, was descended of a noble Tuscan family, but born at Rome, as he himself and St. Prosper assure us.'  The quickness of his parts, and the maturity of his judgment, appeared in the rapid progress which he made in his studies.  Having rendered himself a great master in the different branches of polite literature, especially eloquence, he turned up thoughts entirely in the study of the Holy Scriptures and theology, to which he made the profane sciences only subservient. "God, who destined him to gain great victories over error, and to subject human wisdom to the true faith, had put into his hands the anus of science and truth," as an ancient general council says. 2 Being made archdeacon of the church of Rowe, he had the chief direction of the most important affairs under pope Celestine, as appears from St. Prosper, a letter of St. Cyril to him, and Cassian’s book against Nestorius. To his penetration and zeal it owed afterwards that Sextus III discovered the dissimulation of Julian the Pelagian, and rejected his false repentance.  It happened that Aetius and Albinus, the two generals of the emperor Valentinian III., were at variance in Gaul, and no one being so well qualified to compose their differences as the eloquent and virtuous archdeacon Leo, he was sent upon that important commission.
   During his absence, Sixtus III died, in 440, and the Roman clergy cast their eyes on him for their pastor, judging that he, who for sanctity, learning, prudence, and eloquence, was the first man of his age, was the most worthy and fit to be seated in the first chair of the church.  The qualifications and virtues which we admire when found single in others, were all united in him to a very great degree.  This justly raised, throughout the Christian world, the highest expectations from his administration which yet his great actions far surpassed.  He was invited to Rome by a public embassy, and expected with impatience; but it was Forty days before he could arrive. The joy with which he was received is not to be expressed, and he received the episcopal consecration on Sunday the 29th of September, in 440.  We learn from him what his sentiments at the news were of his exaltation.  He considered a high dignity as a place where falls are most frequent, and always most dangerous; and he cried out:' " Lord, I have heard your voice calling me, and I was afraid: I considered the work which was enjoined me, and I trembled.  For what proportion is there between the burden assigned to me and my weakness, this elevation and my nothingness 1 What is more to be feared than exaltation without merit, the exercise of the most holy functions being entrusted to one who is buried in sin?   0 you who have laid upon me this heavy burden, bear it with me, I beseech you: be you my guide and my support: give me strength, you who have called me to the work; who have laid this heavy burden on my shoulders."
         1 Ep. 27, ad Pulcher. c. 4.                   2 Cone. t. 4, p. 820.
         3 Serm. 2, do Assumpt. sua. c. 1, p. 4, I. 1, ed. Rome
ST. LEO THE GREAT
  A heart thus empty of itself could not fail to be supported and directed by the divine grace. He was called to the government of the church in the most difficult times, and he diligently applied himself without delay to cultivate the great field committed to his care, and especially to pluck up the weeds of errors, and to root out the thorns of vices wherever they appeared. He never intermitted to preach to his people with great zeal; which he often mentions as the most indispensable duty of pastors, and the constant practice of his predecessors. 4 A hundred and one sermons preached by this pope on the principal festivals of the year, are still extant. He often inculcates in them the practice of holy fasting and alms deeds, as good works which ought to be joined and support each other. We have among his works nine, sermons on the fast of the tenth mouth, or of Ember days in December. He says, the Church has instituted the Ember-days in, the four seasons of the year to sanctify each season by a fast: 5 also to pay to God a tribute of thanksgiving for the fruits and other blessings which we continually receive from his bounty: 6 and to arm us constantly against the devil.
    He sets forth the obligation of alms, which is so great that for this alone God gives riches, and not to be hoarded up, or lavished in superfluities and at the last day he seems in his sentence chiefly to recompense this virtue, and to punish the neglect of it, to show us how much alms deeds are the key of heaven, and of all other graces.7  He says this obligation binds all persons, though it is not to be measured by what a man has, but by the heart; for all men are bound to have the same benevolence, and desire of relieving others. 8 That the rich are obliged to seek out the bashful poor, who are to be assisted without being put to the blush in receiving. He shows the institution of Collects or gatherings for the poor, to be derived from the apostles, and ever to have been continued in the church for the relief of the indigent. He surpasses himself in sentiment and eloquence whenever he speaks of the sweetness of the divine love which is displayed to us in the mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God.  His one hundred and forty-one epistles are wholly employed in treating on important subjects of discipline and faith, and alone suffice to show his pastoral vigilance and immense labors in every part of the Christian world, for the advancement of piety. He brought many infidels to the faith, and took great delight in instructing them himself.  His signal victories over the Manicheans, Arians, Apollinarists, Nestorians, Eutychian, Novation’s, and Duettists, are standing proofs of his zeal for the purity of the faith.  Carthage being taken by the Vandals in 439 a great number of Manicheans fled out of Africa to Rome but there, to escape the rigor of the imperial laws against their sect, feigned those Catholics. They called wine the gall of the dragon, produced by the devil or their evil god: on which account they always refrained from that liquor, which they regarded as, of its own nature, unclean.  To conceal themselves, they received the Holy Communion from the Catholic priests, but under one kind alone, which was left to every one's discretion then to do.  This affectation of the heretics passed some time unobserved, as we learn from St. Leo, 11 in the year 433 *  But he no sooner discovered this sacrilegious abuse, than he took the utmost care to prevent the contagion from infecting his flock.
           4 Canal. 3,7,11.                 Serm 18        Serm 12.
           Serm 8s.c.3,p.J7 .and Serm.9.c.3, p. 20  Serm 10  c. 1. p. 21.
            Serm . 7,  item 5 and 6, 16, 39, &c.     9  Serm. 8, p. 17.
           10 Serm 10. p.21.                   11 Serm 4, de Quadrag. t. 1, p. 217.
     This practice they continued till pope Gelasius in 496, above forty years, after St. Lao's time, effectually to prevent those sacrilegious and superstitious communions of unworthy hypocrites, commanded all        VoL II-9  66 & LEO THE GREAT
He detected several of these heretics, and among them one whom they called their bishop, and to manifest the impiety of this sect, he assembled several bishops and priests, and the most illustrious persons of the senate and empire, and caused the elect of the Manicheans, that is, those that were initiated in their mysteries, to be introduced. 12  They  confessed publicly many impious tenets,* superstitions, and a crime which modesty forbids to be named.  12   St. Prosper says their books were burnt; but many of them repented, and abjured their heresy. St. Leo, in receiving them into the church, exhorted his people to pray and sigh with him for thern. 14 Those that remained obstinate were banished.  St. Leo, about the same time, crushed Pelagianisum, which began again to show its head about Aquileia. 11 His watchfulness put a stop to the growing evil, both in those parts and in  Rome itself, where St. Prosper detected some remains of the same leaven. For this Pope, who was a true judge of merit, and drew may learned men about his person, had chosen St. Prosper of Aquitaine his secretary, to write his letters and  dispatch the like business. The Priscillianist heretics reined almost uncontrolled in Spain.  Only St. Turibius, bishop of Astorga, zealously opposed them.  St. Leo wrote to commend his zeal, and to awake the attention of the other bishops of that country, whom he ordered to convene a council for the extirpation of the spreading cancer.  16 He examined the cause of Chelidonius, bishop of Besançon, deposed by St. Hilary of Arles, and restored him to his see. 17  He transferred the dignity of primate from the see of Arles to that of Vienne in Gaul, which Zosimus had formerly adjudged to Arles. 18 “Out of respect," as he said, "for the blessed Trophimus, (first bishop of Arles, from the fountain of whose preaching all the Gaul’s had received the streams of faith.  The learned De Marca thinks that St. Leo did not deny the jurisdiction of Hilary over Besancon before that time, but he judged Chelidonius not to have been guilty of that which had been laid to his charge, adding, that the sentence would have stood firm, if the things objected had been true. tt  St. Leo laid down this important maxim for the rule of his conduct, never to give any decision, especially to the prejudice of another, before he had examined into the affair with great caution and exactness, and most carefully taken all informations possible.  He was very careful in the choice of persons whom he promoted to holy orders, as his writings show yet the author of the Spiritual Meadow relates, that he heard Amos, patriarch of Jerusalem, say to several abbots “Pray for me.      
     Ii up. 8, p. 33, and iSp. 15. c. 36, p. 71, t, I; Berm. 15, p. 31, ,. I  Semi. flis. 57: Bern. 41, p. 111.
     3 e1  `a, ad `l,arii,. p. 65; Set,,,. 15.      ` ` Seem-IS, ISP, S.           `~ E1s. IS.                       `e lb.
      Ep. 9. to.                                    See Baronius. ad an. 417.  19 Zosimus, Ep. ad ep. Gal.
The dreadful weight of the priesthood ofrights me beyond measure, especially the charge of conferring orders I have found it written, that the blessed pope Leo, equal to the angels, watched and prayed forty days at the tomb of St. Peter, begging through the intercession of that apostle to obtain of God the pardon of his sins.  After this term, St. Peter, in a vision, said to him: "Your sins are forgiven you by God, except those committed by you in conferring holy orders: of these you still remain charged to give a rigorous account."5 St. Leo, with regard to those who are to be ordained ministers of the altar, lays down this rule, inserted in his words into the body of the Canon law:  What is it not to lay hands upon any one suddenly, according to the precept of the apostle, but not to raise to the honor of the priesthood any who have not been thoroughly tried, or before a mature age, a competent time of trial, the merit of labor in the service of the church, and sufficient proofs given of their submission to rule, and their love of discipline and zeal for its observance. " 21
  Many affairs in the churches of the East furnished this great pope with much employment, as the intrusion of Bassian into the see of Ephesus, 22 &c but above all the rest, the rising heresy of Eutyches drew his attention on that side of the world. This heresiarch had been condemned by St. Flavian in 448; yet, by the intrigues of Chrysaphius, a powerful eunuch, he prevailed with the weak emperor Theodosius II to assemble a packed council at Ephesus, in which Dioscorus, the wicked patriarch of Alexandria, an Eutychian, and general disturber of Christian peace, took upon him to preside.  This pretended synod, commonly called the Latrocinale, or cabal of Ephesus, met on the 8th of August, 449, acquitted Eutyches, and condemned St. Flavian, with a degree of malice and violence unheard of among barbarians.*  The legates of Leo, who were Julius, bishop of Puozzoli, the ancient Puteoli, Renatus, a priest, Hilarius  a deacon, and Dulcitius, a notary, refused to subscribe to the unjust sentence, and opposed it with a zeal and vigor that was admired by the whole world, says Theodorei.  2'   Upon the first advice of these proceedings. St. Leo declared them null and void," and at the same time he wrote St. Flavian to encourage him, and to the emperor himself, telling him that no sacrilegious cabal ever came up to the fury of this assembly and conjuring him with' these words:  Leave to the bishops the liberty of defending the faith `to powers or terrors of the world will ever be able to destroy it. Protect the Church, and seek to preserve its peace, that Christ may protect your empire."  He adds, that he trembles to see him   draw down the divine vengeance on his own head:  which had the appearance of a prediction on account of the various misfortunes which befell that prince and his sudden death: though before the latter event his eyes began to be opened.  Marcian and St. Pulcheria succeeding in the empire vigorously supported the zealous endeavors of the pope. By his authority the general council of Chalcedon, consisting of six hundred or six hundred and thirty bishops, was opened on the 8th of October, in 451. St. Leo presided by his legates, Paschasinus, bishop of Lilybaeum, Lucentius, Bishop of Ascoli, and Boniface, priest of Rome
 " Prat. Spin. c. 149.
  `St. Leo, ep. 3, `.2, p.2, e,i. itom. ttcio ni,tinct. 78,3.     Quit! e,t mann,. from I Tim. V. t~2
  Cone. t. 4, p. 687.                                             a Theodoret, ep. lit.
  Lone. t 4, p. 47, and Saint Leo, ep. 49 snd 56, ed. Que,n. 50 and 57. od. Rn,,,,
  Si. Leo. ep. 42, In ed. Q,,e.an. 43, in ed Ito,,, p. 187, t. 2; St. Leoud `i'heodos. imp. ep. 40, ed. Que,n
  ci. Rom. p. US; Ep. ad Puiehenia,n A,,g,,,u,n, ep. 41. ed. Qnesn. 42, ed. Itom. p.153.
  On the appeal of St. Flavian to the pope St. Leo, see Carciarl, Exereitatinnes In Opera S. Leon,,. Sits

lent. Se fine,,, Eutychiana, I. 1. C. 8, p. 387, and e. 9, p. 393.  Vitentlniano, imp. ep. ad Theodos,u,n imp
               49, p. 201, 1. 2. Oo the appeal of Theodoret to pope Leo, (laotian, ibid. and on that .4
In this synod the memory of St Flavian was vindicated; and Dioscorus was convicted of having maliciously suppressed the letters of St. Leo in the Latrocinale of Ephesus, and of having presumed to excommunicate St. Leo, which attempt was made the principal cause of his deposition: for which, besides other crimes, it was also urged against him, that he had pretended to hold a general council without the authority of the pope, a thing never lawful, and never done, as was observed by the pope's legates. For these crimes and excesses, he was by the pope's legates and the whole council declared excommunicated and deposed. St. Leo had written to St. Flavian on the 13th of June, in 449, a long and accurate doctrinal letter, in which he clearly expounded the Catholic faith concerning the mystery of the incarnation, against the errors both of Nestorius and Eutyches. This excellent letter had been suppressed by Dioscorus, but was read by the legates at Chalcedon, and declared by the voice of that general council to be dictated by the Holy Ghost, and to be a rule throughout the universal Church.  The great Theodoret having read it, blessed God for having preserved his holy faith  St. Leo approved all things that had been done in this council relating to definitions of faith; but, being an enemy to innovations, vigorously opposed the twenty-eighth canon framed in the absence of his legates, by which the archbishop of Constantinople was declared a patriarch, and the first among the patriarchs of the East.    However, the eastern bishops, who usually found access to the emperor through the bishop of Constantinople, allowed him that pre-eminence, which the law of custom confirmed.  The same council declared the bishop of Jerusalem independent of Antioch, and primate of the three Palestines.   In the synodal letter to St. Leo, the fathers beseech him to confirm their decrees, saying, he had presided over them as the head over its members.    The pope restrained his confirmation to the decrees relating to matters of faith, which were received with the utmost respect imaginable by the whole Church. Theodoret was restored to his see in the council, after having anathematized Nestorius. Ibas, bishop of Edessa, who had been unjustly deposed with Theodoret in the Latrocinale of Ephesus, was likewise restored upon the same condition. The latter seems never to have been very solicitous abou Nestorius, but was a warm defender of Theodorus of Mopsuestia, whom he regarded as an orthodox doctor, because he died in the communion of the Church. Ibas was accused of Nestorianisrn, but acquitted by Domnus, patriarch of Antioch, and a council held in that city in 448. But his letter to Maris, the Persian, was afterwards condemned in the fifth general council.
26 See Mnrea de concordia. sac et Imperil. I. 5, C. 5, and Cacciari, Exercitat. in Op. S. Leonis Dissert. de
Haersy Eutichana .
 22 Conc. 4, p. 424.                   Theodoret, ep. 121.
 22 St Leo, ep. 87, 92.                See Thomassin, Discipline de l'Eglise, I 1.ch. 6.
 Sees. 7.                                32 Cone. t. 4, p. 833
 22 St Leo,. ep. 87, c.. 2, p. 613, ep. 92, c. 5 p 623, &c.

While the eastern empire was thus distracted by heretical factions, the western was harassed by barbarians. Attila, the Hun, enriched with the plunder of many nations and cities, marched against Rome.* In the general consternation, Saint Leo, at the request of the whole city of Rome, went to meet Attila in hopes of mollifying his rage, and averting the danger that threatened his country. Avienus, a man of consular dignity, and Trygetius, who had been prefect of the city, were deputed to accompany him in this embassy.  They found the haughty tyrant at Ambuleium, near Ravenna where the highway passes the river Menzo. Contrary to the expectation of every one, he received the pope with great honor, gave him a favorable audience, and, through his suggestion, concluded a treaty of peace with the empire on the condition of an annual tribute.  Baronius, from a writer of the eighth century, relates, that Attila saw two venerable personages, supposed to be the apostles SS Peter and Paul, standing on the side of the pope while he spoke. The king immediately commanded his army to forbear all hostilities, and soon after repassed the Alps, and retired beyond the Danube into Pannonia, but in his way home was seized with a violent vomiting of blood, of which he died in 453. Divisions among his children and princes destroyed the empire of the Huns.   Thus fell the haughtiest and furious of all the barbarian heathen kings, styled the terror of the world, and the scourge of God, whose instrument he was in punishing the sins of Christians. It was the glory of St. Leo to have checked his fury and protected Rome, when it was in no condition of defense. In 455, the friends of Aetius (whose greatness and arrogance had given the emperor so much umbrage that he caused him to be assassinated) revenged the death of that general by the murder of Valentinian himself. His wife Eudoxia married by compulsion the tyrant Maxims who had usurped the throne: but, not brooking these affronts, she invited Genseric, the Arian Vandal king, from Africa, to come and revenge the murder of her husband. Maximus fled, but was slain by Valentinian's servants on the 12th of June, in the twenty- seventh day of his reign, in 455.  Three days after, Genseric arrived, and found the gates of Rome open to receive him.  St. Leo went out to meet him, and prevailed with him to restrain his troops from slaughter and burning, and to content himself with the plunder of the city.  The example of St. Leo shows, that even in the worst of times, a holy pastor is the greatest comfort and support of his flock.  After the departure of the Vandals with their captives, and an immense booty, St. Leo sent zealous Catholic priests and alms for the relief of the captives in Africa.
                Jornand Rer Goth c 12 49. Prosp. in Chron. ad an. 452.
He repaired the Basilicas, and replaced the rich plate and ornaments of the churches which had been plundered, though some part had escaped by being concealed, especially what belonged to the churches of SS. Peter and Paul, which Baronius thinks Genseric spared, and granted to them the privilege of sanctuaries, as was done at other times. This great pope, for his humility, mildness, and charity, was reverenced and beloved by emperors, princes, and all ranks of people, even infidels and barbarian’s.    He filled the Holy See twenty-one years, one month, and thirteen days, dying on the 10th of November, 461. His body was interred in the church of St. Peter, and afterwards translated to another place, in the same church, on the 11th of April; on which day his name is placed in the Roman calendar. His relies were again translated with great solemnity and devotion, enclosed in a case of lead, and placed in the altar dedicated to God under his invocation, in the Vatican church, in the year 1715, as is related at length by Pope Benedict X1V. A writer who delights in retailing slander, could not refuse this character of St. Leo: he was," says he "without doubt, a man of extraordinary parts, far superior to all who had governed that church before him, and scarce equaled by any since.'''36

  The writings of this great pastor are the monuments of his extraordinary genius and piety.*  His thoughts are true, bright, and strong; and in every sentiment and expression we find a loftiness which raises our admiration. By it we are dazzled and surprised in every period, and while we think impossible that the style should not sink, we are astonished always to find it swelling in the same tenor, and with equal dignity and strength.  His diction is pure and elegant; his style concise, clear, and pleasing.  It would sometimes appear turgid in another; but in him, where it seems to swell the highest, a natural ease and delicacy remove all appearance of affectation and study, and show it to be the pure effort of a surprising genius and lofty natural eloquence.
   But the diets with which he clothes his thoughts, is much less to be considered than the subjects themselves of which he treats: in which the most consummate piety and skill in theology eventually raise adoration, instruct and edify his readers in the learned and pious sermons, and doctrinal letters which compose his works.    His unwearied zeal and unshaken steadiness against vice and error, though armed with all the power of a world leagued with the devils against the truth, procured the church infinite advantages and victories over the reigning novelties of that age; and his writings are an armory against all succeeding heresies.  He fully and clearly explains the whole mystery of the incarnation; he proves, against the Eutychian, that Christ had a true body, because his body is really received in the holy Eucharist.  He laments as the greatest of spiritual evils, that at Alexandria, during the violence’s exercised by the Eutychiana, the oblation of the sacrifice, and the benediction of chrism had been little interrupted.  He is very explicit on the supremacy of St. Peter, 39 and on that of his successors.    He often recommends himself to the prayers of the saints reigning in heaven, especially of St. Peter, and exhorts others to place great confidence in their powerful intercession. He honors their relics and festivals and testifies that their churches were adorned with lights.  He calls the fast of Lent an apostolical tradition, also that of the Ember-days, Whitsun-eve, &c. He adds, that the church retained the fast of' Ember-days in December from the Jewish practice before Christ. Pope Benedict XLV., in a decree by which he commands St. Leo to be honored with the mass peculiar to doctors, dated in 1744, bestows on him due praises for his eminent learning and sanctity.
  According so the observation of this holy doctor it is a fundamental maxim of our holy religion, that the only true and valuable riches consist in that blessed poverty of spirit which Christ teaches us to look upon as the first and main step to all happiness.  This is a profound and sincere humility of heart, and a perfect disengagement from all inordinate love of earthly goods. By this rule, those who are exalted above others by their rank, learning, or other abilities, differ not by these advantages  now the poorest in the eyes of God: only poverty of spirit makes the distinction, and shows which is truly the greatest.  Of this courageous poverty the apostles and primitive Christians set us the most illustrious example. "What is greater than this their humility? What is richer than this their poverty? By imitating this path we enter into the possession of the riches of Christ.  And we shall improve our share in all these spiritual treasures of grace, love, peace, and all virtues, in proportion as we shall advance in this spirit. St. Leo puts us in mind, in another place, 47 that in putting on this spirit, which is no other than that of Christ, or the new man, consists that newness of life in which we are bound to walk according to the spirit of Christ; which delivers us from the power of darkness, and transfers us into the kingdom of the Son of God; which raises our love and desires of heavenly goods, and extinguishes in us the concupiscence of the flesh.  We put on this spirit by baptism, and we strengthen ourselves in it by being fed with the body of Christ.

For what is the fruit of our partaking of the body and blood of Christ but that we may pass into that which we received; and that In whom we are dead, and buried, and raised again, (in the newness of our spirit and life,) we may bear him both in spirit and in our flesh through all things"   Next to frequent devout communion, the assiduous meditation on the life of Christ is the most powerful means of learning the true spirit of his divine virtues particularly of that humility of which his whole life was the most astonishing model, and which is the summary of his holy precepts. St. Leo, by his tender devotion to our Redeemer, and the zeal with which he defended the mystery of his incarnation, was penetrated with his spirit of poverty and humility from whence sprang that ardent charity, that admirable greatness of soul, and that invincible courage which were so conspicuous in all his actions.


461 ST LEO THE GREAT, POPE AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
THE sagacity of Leo I, his successful defence of the Catholic faith against heresy, as well as his political intervention with Attila the Hun and Genseric the Vandal, raised the prestige of the Holy See to unprecedented heights and earned for him the title of “the Great”, a distinction accorded by posterity to only two other popes, St Gregory I and St Nicholas I. The Church has honoured St Leo by including him amongst her doctors on the strength of his masterly expositions of Christian doctrine, many extracts from which are incorporated in the Breviary lessons.
St Leo’s family was probably Tuscan, but he seems to have been born in Rome, as he always speaks of it as his “patria”. Of his early years and of the date of his ordination to the priesthood there are no records. It is clear from his writings that he received a good education, although it did not include Greek. We hear of him first as deacon under St Celestine I and then under Sixtus III, occupying a position so important that St Cyril wrote directly to him, and Cassian dedicated to him his treatise against Nestorius. Moreover, in 440, when the quarrels between the two imperial generals, Aetius and Albinus, threatened to leave Gaul at the mercy of the barbarians, Leo was sent to make peace between them.
At the time of the death of Pope Sixtus III he was still in Gaul, whither a deputation was sent to announce to him his election to the chair of St Peter.
Immediately after his consecration on September 29, 440, he began to display his exceptional powers as a pastor and ruler. Preaching was at that time mainly confined to bishops, and he set about it systematically, instructing the faithful of Rome whom he purposed to make a pattern for other churches. In the ninety-six genuine sermons which have come down to us, we find him laying stress on alms-giving and other social aspects of Christian life, as well as expounding Catholic doctrines—especially that of the Incarnation. Some idea of the extraordinary vigilance of the holy pontiff over the Church and its necessities in every part of the empire can be gathered from the 143 letters written by him, and the 30 letters written to him, which have fortunately been preserved. About the period that he was dealing with the Manichaeans in Rome, he was writing to the Bishop of Aquileia advising him how to deal with Pelagianism, which had made a reappearance in his diocese.
From Spain St Turibius, Bishop of Astorga, sent him a copy of a letter he had circulated with reference to Priscillianism—~a sect which had made great headway in Spain, some of the clergy being favourable to it. Its tenets seem to have combined astrology with fatalism and with a Manichaean theory of the evil of matter. In his reply the pope refuted the Priscillianist doctrines at considerable length, and, after describing the measures he had taken against the Manichaeans, advised the summoning of a council of bishops to combat the heresy.
In the affairs of Gaul he was called upon several times to interfere: twice he had occasion to quash the proceedings of St Hilary, Bishop of Arles, who as metropolitan had exceeded his powers. Several letters are addressed to Anastasius, Bishop of Thessalonica, confirming his vicariate over the bishops of Illyricum; on one occasion recommending him to be more tactful and considerate, and on another reminding him that bishops had a right to appeal to Rome, “according to ancient tradition”. In 446 he wrote to the African church of Mauretania, forbidding the appointment of laymen to the episcopate, and of any man who had been twice married or who had married a widow, and dealing with such a delicate matter as the treatment of consecrated virgins who had been outraged by the barbarians. In a letter addressed to the bishops of Sicily, in consequence of complaints from the clergy of Palermo and Taormina, he lays down the axiom that church property may not be alienated by a bishop without the consent of all his clergy.
In these and in all Leo’s pronouncements, couched in authoritative and almost stern language, there is no personal note, no uncertainty: it is not the man who seems to speak, but the successor of Peter. Therein lies the secret of his greatness, that which gives unity to his career. Yet one little human touch, though it be only a tradition, may not be deemed out of place, illustrating as it does the extreme importance the saint attached to the selection of suitable candidates for holy orders. In the Spiritual Meadow of John Moschus, Amos, Patriarch of Jerusalem, is quoted as saying: “I have found it written that the blessed Pope Leo, equal to the angels, watched and prayed forty days at the tomb of St Peter, begging through the intercession of that apostle to obtain of God the pardon of his sins. After that period St Peter, in a vision, said to him: ‘Your sins are forgiven by God, except those committed in conferring holy orders: of these you will still have to render a strict account’.” St Leo prohibited the ordination of slaves or of men who had been employed in unlawful or unseemly occupations, and caused the insertion into the canon law of a special clause restricting elevation to the priesthood to candidates of mature age who had been thoroughly tested and had laboured in the service of the Church, giving evidence of submission to rule and love of discipline.
But the holy man, as pontiff of the Universal Church, found himself called upon to deal with difficulties in the East far greater than any which had hitherto met him in the West. In the year 448, he received a letter from a Constantinopolitan abbot, called Eutyches, complaining of a recrudescence of the Nestorian heresy. St Leo replied in guarded terms, promising to make inquiries. The next year came another communication from Eutyches, duplicates of which were sent to the patriarchs of Alexandria and Jerusalem. In this he protested against a sentence of excommunication which had been passed upon him by St Flavian, Patriarch of Constantinople, at the instance of Eusebius of Dorylaeum, and asked to be reinstated. The appeal was supported by a letter from the Emperor Theodosius II. As no official notice of the proceedings at Constantinople had reached Rome, Leo wrote to St Flavian, who sent a report of the synod at which Eutyches had been sentenced. From this it was abundantly clear that he had fallen into the error of denying the two natures of Christ—a heresy the reverse of Nestorianism. A council was now summoned at Ephesus by the Emperor Theodosius, ostensibly to inquire into the matter, but it was packed with the friends of Eutyches, and presided over by one of his strongest supporters, Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria. This gathering, nicknamed “The Robber Synod” acquitted Eutyches and condemned St Flavian, who was moreover subjected to such physical violence that he died soon after. The pope’s legates, on their refusal to subscribe to the unjust sentence, were not allowed to read St Leo’s letter. As soon as the proceedings of the synod became known to the pope, he declared their decisions null and void. This he followed up by a letter of remonstrance to the emperor in which he said: “Leave to the bishops the liberty of defending the faith: no worldly power or terrors will ever succeed in destroying it.  Protect the Church and seek to preserve its peace that Christ in His turn may protect your empire”.
Two years later, under the Emperor Marcian, a general council was held at Chalcedon. Six hundred bishops or more were present, and St Leo was represented by his legates. In this assembly the memory of St Flavian was vindicated and Dioscorus was declared excommunicated and deposed. On June 13, 449 St Leo had written to St Flavian a doctrinal letter in which he had clearly set out the Catholic faith with regard to the natures of our Lord, steering clear of the errors of Nestorianism and Eutychianism. This pronouncement, which has become famous as “The Dogmatic Letter” or “The Tome of St Leo”, had been suppressed by Dioscorus, but was read by the legates to the Council of Chalcedon. “Peter has spoken by Leo,” exclaimed the assembled bishops, when they had heard this lucid explanation of the two-fold nature of Christ, which has become for all subsequent ages the Church’s official teaching.

In the meantime serious political events had been happening in the West, and were being met by St Leo with the same firmness and wisdom. Attila with his Huns in 452 entered Italy, burning Aquileia and filling the country with blood and desolation. After sacking Milan and razing Pavia, he set out with his army to assault the capital. Panic seized the whole population: the general Aetius did nothing. All eyes turned to Leo—the one strong man—and the emperor, Valentinian III, and senate ordered him to negotiate with the enemy. Upheld as usual by the sense of his sacred office, and without a moment’s hesitation, he started out from the capital, accompanied by Avienus the consul, Trigetius the governor of the city, and some of his priests, and came face to face with the invaders on the site of the present town of Peschiera. The pope and his clergy interviewed the dreaded foe and induced him to retire and to accept an annual tribute instead of entering the holy city. Rome was freed for the moment, but not for long. Three years later, the Vandal Genseric (Gaiseric) appeared with an army before its walls, now almost defenceless. This time St Leo’s intervention was not so successful, but he obtained from the barbarian chief an undertaking to be satisfied with pillaging the city and to restrain his troops from slaughter and incendiarism. The Vandals withdrew after fifteen days, taking back to Africa many captives as well as immense booty.
St Leo immediately set about the task of repairing the damage and of finding a remedy for the evils caused by the barbarians. He sent priests to minister to the captives in Africa and alms to assist them. He also replaced, as far as he could, the vessels and ornaments of the devastated churches. It was characteristic of his trust in God that he was never discouraged, and that he maintained an unruffled equanimity even in the most difficult moments. In the twenty-one years of his pontificate he had won the love and veneration of rich and poor, emperors and barbarians, clergy and lay folk alike. He died on November 10, 461, and his relics are preserved in the Vatican basilica. He is, however, commemorated on this day, which is that of one of the translations of his remains which have since taken place. His Anglican biographer, Dr Jalland, sums up Leo’s personal character under four aspects—“his indomitable energy, his magnanimity, his consistency and his devotion to simple duty”. His exposition of the true doctrine of the incarnation of the Son of God was a “moment” of the highest importance in Christian history, and among all his personal achievements, “there was none greater than the success with which he vindicated the claim of the Roman see to a primacy in the sphere of
Doctrine”. This great pope was declared a doctor of the Church, rather belatedly, in 1754.
Amongst the sermons of St Leo which have been preserved is one which he preached on the festival of St Peter and St Paul, not long after the retreat of Attila. He begins by contrasting the fervour of the Romans at the moment of their deliver­ance with their increasing forgetfulness, and reminds them of the ingratitude of the nine lepers. “Therefore, my beloved”, he goes on to say, “lest you incur the like reproach, return to the Saviour: remember the marvels He has wrought amongst you. Beware of attributing your deliverance to the stars, as some people impiously do, but refer it only to the boundless mercy of God who softened the furious hearts of the barbarians. Your past negligence must be atoned for by an ex­piation which exceeds the offence. Let us use the respite accorded by our kind Master to work at amending our lives, so that St Peter and all the saints who have succoured us in countless afflictions may second the tender supplications which we address on your behalf to the God of mercy through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Despite the prominent part played by St Leo in the history of his times, we have nothing in the nature of an early biography. The account given of him in the Liber Pontificalis amounts to very little. On a notice preserved in the Greek Menaia see the Analecta Bollan­diana, vol. xxix (1910), pp. 400—408. A convenient summary of the saint’s career and character is that of A. Régnier (1910) in the series “Lea Saints”. For a fuller bibliography see the excellent article of Mgr Batiffol in DTC., vol. ix, cc. 218—301. Naturally Pope Leo is accorded a conspicuous place in such general works as Duchesne’s Historie ancienne de l’Eglise (Eng. trans.), vol. iii Hefele-Leclercq, Conciles, vol. ii; and Bardenhewer, Geschichte der altkirchlichhen Literatur, vol. iv. Special attention must be called to  C. H. Turner’s discussion of the dogmatic letters of St Leo in the Miscellanea Ceriani (1910) and to the most valuable Life and Times of St Leo the Great (1941), by the Rev. T. G. Jalland, which contains a bibliography.
Place and date of birth unknown; died 10 November, 461. Leo's pontificate, next to that of St. Gregory I, is the most significant and important in Christian antiquity. At a time when the Church was experiencing the greatest obstacles to her progress in consequence of the hastening disintegration of the Western Empire, while the Orient was profoundly agitated over dogmatic controversies, this great pope, with far-seeing sagacity and powerful hand, guided the destiny of the Roman and Universal Church. According to the "Liber Pontificalis" (ed. Mommsen, I, 101 sqq., ed. Duchesne, I, 238 sqq.), Leo was a native of Tuscany and his father's name was Quintianus. Our earliest certain historical information about Leo reveals him a deacon of the Roman Church under Pope Celestine I (422-32). Even during this period he was known outside of Rome, and had some relations with Gaul, since Cassianus in 430 or 431 wrote at Leo's suggestion his work "De Incarnatione Domini contra Nestorium" (Migne, P.L., L, 9 sqq.), prefacing it with a letter of dedication to Leo. About this time Cyril of Alexandria appealed to Rome against the pretensions of Bishop Juvenal of Jerusalem. From an assertion of Leo's in a letter of later date (ep. cxvi, ed. Ballerini, I, 1212; II, 1528), it is not very clear whether Cyril wrote to him in the capacity of Roman deacon, or to Pope Celestine. During the pontificate of Sixtus III (422-40), Leo was sent to Gaul by Emperor Valentinian III to settle a dispute and bring about a reconciliation between Aëtius, the chief military commander of the province, and the chief magistrate, Albinus. This commission is a proof of the great confidence placed in the clever and able deacon by the Imperial Court. Sixtus III died on 19 August, 440, while Leo was in Gaul, and the latter was chosen his successor. Returning to Rome, Leo was consecrated on 29 September of the same year, and governed the Roman Church for the next twenty-one years.
 In the Latin Church the feast day of the great pope is held on 11 April, and in the Eastern Church on 18 February.
180 St. Philip of Gortyna Bishop of Gortyna, Crete. Little is known about him except for his authorship of a now lost treatise against Marcionite Gnostics.
Philip of Gortyna B (RM)
Gortynæ, in Creta, sancti Philíppi Epíscopi, vita et doctrína claríssimi, qui, tempóribus Marci Antoníni Veri et Lúcii Aurélii Cómmodi, Ecclésiam sibi créditam regens, a furóre Gentílium et ab hæreticórum insídiis eándem tutátus est.
    At Gortina in Crete, during the reign of Marcus Antoninus Verus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus, St. Philip, bishop, well known for his life and his teaching.  He had defended the Church entrusted to his care against the fury of the heathen and the snares of the heretics.
An early bishop of Gortyna, Crete, Saint Philip authored a now-lost work against the Marcionite Gnostics (Benedictines).
300 Eustorgius  a priest of Nicomedia, Asia Minor M (RM)
Nicomedíæ sancti Eustórgii Presbyteri.      At Nicomedia, the priest St. Eustorgius.
Eustorgius, a priest of Nicomedia, Asia Minor, was probably martyred under Diocletian (Benedictines).
4th v. Saint Pharmuphios lived at the same desert monastery where St John (March 29) lived in asceticism within a well, to whom St Pharmuphios gave food.
Saint Pharmuphios lived during the fourth century at the same desert monastery where St John (March 29) lived in asceticism within a well, to whom St Pharmuphios gave food.
Saint John was a disciple of St Gregory the Decapolite (November 20). See April 18.

5th v. St. Machai Abbot founder of a monastery on the isle of Bute in Ireland disciple of St. Patrick. and leader of the evangelical mission there.
Machai of Bute, Abbot (AC) (also known as Maccai) . Machai, a disciple of Saint Patrick, founded a monastery on the isle of Bute (Benedictines, Husenbeth).


                   ST. MACCAI, ABBOT.
From the Lives of Saintes by Alban Butler

 A DISCIPLE of St. Patrick, who flourished in the isle of Bute, in Scotland,and was there honored alter his death.  See Bp. Lesley's nephew, De Vitis Sanctor. Scot. p. 235.



6th .  St. Maedhog Irish abbot also called Aedhan or Mogue ruled Clonmore Abbey Ireland associated with Sts. Oncho and Finan.

Maedhog- Aedhan, Abbot (AC) (also known as Aedhan, Mogue)

The Irish Abbot Saint Maedhog of Clonmore, was closely associated with SS. Onchu and Finan (Benedictines).

Aid of Achad-Finglas Abbot Saint Aid of Achard-Finglas, County Carlow, Ireland (AC)
 may be identical with Saint Aed Maedhog. He is the titular of a church, an abbey, and several chapels (Benedictines, Husenbeth).

From the Lives of Saintes by Alban Butler
                ST. AID, OF EACHARIDA
 ABBOT in Ireland, titular saint of a parish church, an ancient abbey, and a great number of chapels in that island.  Sec Colgan MSS. ad 11 Apr.


550 Isaac of Spoleto a Syrian monk  Hermit one of the restorers of eremitical life in 6th century Italy (RM)
Spoléti sancti Isaac, Mónachi et Confessóris, cujus virtútes sanctus Gregórius Papa commémorat.
    At Spoleto, St. Isaac, monk and confessor, whose virtues are recorded by Pope St. Gregory.
(also known as Isaac of Monteluco) Saint Isaac was a Syrian monk who fled from the Monophysite persecution and founded a laura at Monteluco, near Spoleto, Umbria, Italy. He was one of the restorers of eremitical life in 6th century Italy (Benedictines).
550 ST ISAAC OF SPOLETO “A monk who wants earthly possessions is not a monk at all”. The holy man was endowed with the gifts of prophecy and miracles.

THE ilex-covered slopes of Monte Luco, considered sacred since pagan times, are honeycombed by caves which sheltered many a Christian solitary in the early middle ages. One of the most famous of these recluses was St Isaac, a man well known to St Gregory’s friend St Eleutherius, who furnished the particulars about the hermit which are contained in the Dialogues.
Isaac was a Syrian, who left his native land in consequence of the monophysite persecution to take up his residence in Italy. Upon his first arrival, in Spoleto he entered a church, where he remained for three days and three nights, absorbed in prayer. Mistrusting his motives, one of the custodians of the building called him a hypocrite, struck him, and drove him from the church. Retribution immediately overtook the man, for the Devil entered into him and would not leave until St Isaac had stretched himself upon the body of his assailant. “Isaac is driving me out!” exclaimed the evil spirit, thus disclosing to the inhabitants of Spoleto the identity of the stranger. The townsfolk, convinced that they had in their midst a very holy man, offered him presents and would have built him a monastery, but he refused all gifts and retired to a cave on Monte Luco. After several years spent in solitude, he had a vision of our Lady in which she bade him train disciples. He then became the director of a kind of laura, although he never founded a monastery. Several times his followers asked him to sanction their acceptance of offerings from the faithful, but he always replied, “A monk who wants earthly possessions is not a monk at all”. The holy man was endowed with the gifts of prophecy and miracles.

All that we know of St Isaac is derived from the third book of the Dialogues of St Gregory. See also the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. ii.
550 St. Barsanuphius Hermit of Gaza in Israel Egyptian renowned for holiness and wisdom refusing to speak communicating only in writing existing without food or water.
Apud Gazam in Palæstína, sancti Barsanúphii Anachorétæ, sub Justiniáno Imperatóre.
    At Gaza in Palestine, in the time of Emperor Justinian, St. Barsanuphius, an anchoret.

550 ST BARSANUPHIUS
THE Greeks held St Barsanuphius in so great honour that his eikon was placed beside those of St Ephraem and St Antony in the church of the Holy Wisdom at Constantinople. He was an Egyptian by birth, who lived in a cell adjoining a monastery at Gaza in Palestine, in the time of the Emperor Justinian. He communicated with no one except, by writing, so that the story got around that he neither ate nor drank earthly food. Evagrius relates that Eustochius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, doubting whether anyone could really be tending such a life, caused the wall of the cell to be broken through, whereupon flames burst out and consumed the unfortunate masons for their curiosity. A less absurd version of this story says that Barsanuphius invited the doubters into his cell and demonstrated the actuality of his existence by washing their feet.
Whatever his own austerities, the anchorite’s written advice to others was to eat, drink, sleep and clothe themselves sufficiently. He was particularly resorted to by those who required assurance of the forgiveness of their sins, a subject on which Barsanuphius had often to write.
We have to depend on references in Evagrius (Eccl. Hist., iv, 33), the Life of St Dositheus (February 23), and what can be gathered from the saint’s “letters”, on which see two articles by S. Vailhé in Échos d’Orient, vol. vii (1904), pp. 268 seq., and vol. viii (1905), pp. 14 seq. The so-called “acts” of Barsanuphius are characterized by the Bollandists as partly fabulous and partly doubtful (Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. ii), while Fr Vailhé regards them as a tissue of fictions. In MS. 5290, fond, latin, of the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, is contained a fanciful and no doubt wholly fictitious account of one Barsanorius, seemingly to be identified with the hermit referred to by Evagrius. This text has been printed in the Catalogus Codicum Hagiog. Paris, vol. i, pp. 525—535. The spiritual teaching of Barsanuphius and of his friend John the Prophet is of considerable interest cf. the article s.v. “Barsanuphe” by Fr I. Hausherr in the Dictionnaire de spiritualité, vol. (1938) and Writings from the Phlokalia (1951), pp. 341—381.
Hermit of Gaza, in Israel. An Egyptian, Barsanuphius maintained his hermitage near a monastery in Gaza. He was renowned for his holiness and wisdom, refusing to speak and communicating only in writing. He was famous for existing without food or water. Barsanuphius maintained his hermitage near a monastery in Gaza. He was renowned for his holiness and wisdom, refusing to speak and communicating only in writing. He was famous for existing without food or water.

Barsanuphius of Gaza, Hermit (RM) An Egyptian who for 50 years lived in absolute seclusion for the love of God, near the monastery of Saint Seridon of Gaza, Palestine, Saint Barsanuphius is greatly venerated by the Greeks who keep his feast on February 6. He 'conversed' only through his letters which have been preserved.
A village near Sipontum (current Manfredonia) in southern Italy claims to possess his relics (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
Orthodoxe Kirche: 6. Februar
Barsanuphios und JohannesDie beiden Mönche lebten im 6. Jahrhundert unter Kaiser Justinian (483-565) in dem Kloster von Abba Serid nahe Gaza (Palästina). Barsanuphios wurde in Ägypten geboren und ging schon als Jugendlicher in das Kloster, um dort ein asketisches Leben zu führen. Er baute sich eine kleine Zelle in der Nähe des Klosters und lebte hier einige Jahre. Dann bezog Barsanuphios eine andere Zelle und sein Schüler Johannes lebte 18 Jahre in seiner alten Zelle. Barsanuphios wurde von vielen Menschen um Rat und Hilfe angegangen, er sprach aber nur mit Abba Serid, dem Abt des Klosters und Johannes und ließ den Ratsuchenden seine Antworten schriftlich oder über Johannes zugehen. Die Aufzeichnungen des Johannes wurden unter dem Titel "Antworten" als Buch herausgegeben und fanden besonders im slawischen Raum weite Verbreitung.
Über Johannes ist weder bekannt, woher er kam, noch, wann er geboren wurde und starb. Er hatte die prophetische Gabe und sagte neben vielen anderen Ereignissen auch den Tod von Abba Serid und seinen eigenen Tod voraus. Nachdem der Abt und Johannes kurz nacheinander gestorben waren, soll Barsanuphios noch 50 Jahre in seiner Zelle ohne jeden Kontakt zur Außenwelt gelebt haben. Einige Quellen geben an, Barsanuphios sei 563 gestorben, nach anderen Quellen starb er vor 600.
680 Agericus of Tours disciple of Saint Eligius abbot of Saint Martin's in Tours, France, and spent himself entirely for his abbey OSB (PC)
(also known as Acry, Agery, Aguy, Airy)
Saint Agericus was a disciple of Saint Eligius, who became abbot of Saint Martin's in Tours, France, and spent himself entirely for his abbey (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
700 St. Godebertha establishing a convent in Noyon abbess  miracle worker who stopped a plague and a raging fire.
Abbess who was received into the religious life by St. Eligius, the bishop of Noyon, France. Godebertha was from Amiens. After establishing a convent in Noyon, she was made abbess. King Clotaire III built her convent. Godebertha was a miracle worker who stopped a plague and a raging fire.

700 ST GODEBERTA, VIRGIN
WHEN the parents of St Godeberta considered that their daughter had reached a marriageable age, they took her to court in order that a suitable match might be arranged for her. That the maiden herself had a vocation for the religious life did not enter into their calculations, but St Eligius, Bishop of Noyon, who arrived during the deliberations and was perhaps in her confidence, slipped off his ring and, giving it to Godeberta, announced that he was thus affiancing her to our Lord Jesus Christ. She, greatly delighted, at once begged the prelate to give her the veil and to become her spiritual director. No serious opposition seems to have been made by her parents, who were no doubt well satisfied when King Clotaire III announced his intention of bestowing upon her his house of Noyon for a convent. Very soon there gathered round her twelve maidens, who led a life of prayer and mortification which must have contributed much to the Christian influences at work in a district which had hitherto remained partially pagan. When a terrible plague had broken out at Noyon, Godeberta urged the clergy to proclaim a three days’ fast and general penance. Her suggestion was adopted and the scourge abated. This was followed later on by a great fire. Godeberta was ill at the time, but she caused herself to be carried to the place where the flames were raging furiously and quenched them— tradition says—by making the sign of the cross. During her life, the saint had a great reputation as a wonder-worker, and ever since her death she has been invoked in the diocese of Noyon against calamities of all sorts, but especially against drought and epidemics.
There is a Latin life of St Godeberta which has been printed in the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. ii; its authorship is ascribed to Radbod II, Bishop of Noyon. See also Laffineur, Vie de Ste Godeberthe (1856) and Corblet, Hagiographie d’Amiens (1870), vol. ii, pp. 550—569.
Godeberta of Noyon, Abbess V (AC) (also known as Godebertha) Born in the diocese of Amiens, France. Godeberta received the veil from Saint Eligius, bishop of Noyon, who also composed a rule for the convent of which she was the first abbess. It is said that she was a discrete advisor of Saint Eligius (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
714 Guthlac of Croyland, OSB Hermit imitate the rigors of the old desert fathers "Those who choose to live apart from other humans become the friends of wild animals; and the angels visit them, too- -for those who are often visited by men and women are rarely visited by angels." prophet visions incorrupt (AC)


ST. GUTHLAKE, HERMIT, AND PATRON OF THE ABBEY OF CROYLAND*
ST. Guthlake, was a nobleman, and in his youth served in the armies of Ethetred, king of Mercia: but the grace of God making daily stronger impressions
on his heart, in the twenty-fourth year of his age lie reflected how dangerous a thing it is to the soul to serve in wars which too often have no other motive than the passions of men and the vanities of the world, and resolved to consecrate the remainder of his life totally to the service of the King of kings.  He
passed two years in the monastery of Itepandun, studying to transcribe the virtues and mortifications of all the brethren into the copy of his own life.  After this novitiate in the exercises of an ascetic life, with the consent of his superior, in 699, with two companions, he passed in a fisher's boat into the isle of o Croyland, on the festival of St. Bartholomew, whom he chose for his patron, and, hy having recourse to his interceesion, he obtained of God many singular favors. Here he suffered violent temptations and assaults, not unlike those which St. Athanasius relates of St. Antony: he also mett with severe interior trials, but likewise received frequent extraordinary favors and consolations from God. Hedda, bishop of Dorchester, visiting him, ordained him a priest.  The prince Ethelbald, then an exile, often resorted in him, and the saint foretold him the crown of the Merchins, to which he was called after the death of king Coelred, in 719.  The saint, foreknowing the time of his death, sent for his sister Pega,  who lived a recluise in another part of the fens, four leagues off to the west.  He sickened of a fever, and on the seventh day of his ilness, during which he had said mass every morning, and on that day by way of viaticum, he sweetly slept in our Lord, on the 11th of April, 714, being (forty-seven years old of which he had passed fifteen in this Island.
     See his life writen by Felix,monk of Jarrow, a contemporary author, From the relation of Bentelin, the companion of the saint's retirement, with the notes of Hennschenius ;* MabilIon, Acta Bened t. 3, p. 263, n. I   See also his short English-Saxon life, Bibl. Cotton. Julius, A. X.
                          48 Serum. 36, c. 3, p. 95, ib.

714 ST GUTHLAC God gave the recluse great spiritual consolations, besides bestowing upon him the gifts of prophecy and miracles. “Have you not read that he who elects to be unknown of men becomes known of wild creatures and is visited by angels? For he who is frequented by men cannot be frequented by the holy angels.”

THE great Norman abbey of Croyland or Crowland, the ruins of which are still standing, replaced more than one earlier monastery on the site sanctified by the life and death of the holy hermit St Guthlac. Whilst it was the monks who reclaimed the swamp, joining the island to the mainland and rendering it arable and fertile, it was in the name of the recluse, their patron, that they obtained from the council of the realm permission to make of Croyland a sanctuary of refuge where fugitives could be secure from their pursuers.
St Guthlac, who was of noble race, joined the army of Ethelred of Mercia as a fighting man when he was very young. At the age of twenty-four, however, he laid down his arms to enter the double monastery of Repton, at that time under the rule of the abbess Elfrida. The handsome young novice, though amiable and courteous to all, was at first unpopular owing to his austerity and especially to his total abstinence from any intoxicating drink, but as soon as his brethren came to know him better they appreciated his sincerity and goodness. For two years he remained at Repton, acquiring monastic discipline and studying the Scriptures, and then he was seized with the desire to take up the life of a hermit. He was told of a dismal island in the Fens, described as being so dank and so haunted by monsters and evil spirits that no one had hitherto been able to live in it. He persuaded his informant to take him there in a fishing boat, and decided that it was the place he sought. He returned with two or three companions to Croyland, where he was to end his days.  With certain modifications necessitated by the difference in place and climate his life reproduced that of the fathers of the desert, and in addition to severe interior trials he experienced violent temptations, not unlike those which St Athanasius describes of St Antony. Moreover, he was savagely attacked by wild beings whom he regarded as monsters, but who seem to have been the descendants of Britons who had fled into the Fens to avoid their Saxon conquerors. On the other hand God gave the recluse great spiritual consolations, besides bestowing upon him the gifts of prophecy and miracles. St Hedda, Bishop of Dorchester, conferred holy orders upon him when he had been six years on the island. In his solitude St Guthlac possessed a great attraction for wild nature: the fish in the marshes would swim towards him at his call, and he was constantly surrounded by birds, who flocked into his cell, ate from his hands, and built their nests in the places he selected. When the crows robbed him of some of his few possessions, he bore with their depredations, “deeming that an example of patience ought to be set not only to men but also to birds and beasts”. One day, as he was talking with a man called Wilfrid, two swallows alighted on his shoulders and then perched on his arms and knees, chattering all the time as though quite at home. In reply to Wilfrid’s exclamations of surprise St Guthlac said, “Have you not read that he who elects to be unknown of men becomes known of wild creatures and is visited by angels? For he who is frequented by men cannot be frequented by the holy angels.”
When the saint had been living as a hermit for a period variously computed as fifteen and twenty-one years, God revealed to him the date of his death, which was very near. It also became known in some way to Edburga, abbess of Repton, for she sent him a leaden coffin and a shroud. On the Wednesday in Holy Week 714, he sent word to his sister St Pega, inviting her to come to his funeral. Although she had been living as an anchoress at Peakirk (Pegkirk), close to Croyland, her brother had always refrained from seeing her, deeming it desirable that they should not meet in this world that they might meet with greater joy in the next. On the seventh day of his illness, after taking viaticum from his altar, he passed to his eternal reward. His burial was attended by St Pega and by his disciples, Cissa, Egbert, Bettelin and Tatwin, who occupied cells not far from that of their master. St Guthlac’s tomb became a great place of pilgrimage, especially after Ceolnoth, Archbishop of Canterbury, had been cured of ague through the intercession of Guthlac in the year 851.
There is a trustworthy life of St Guthlac written in the eighth century by Felix which is printed both by Mabillon, Acta Sanctorum O.S.E. (vol. iii, part 1, pp. 264—284) and by the Bollandists. Though little fresh information is obtainable from any other source, there are two Anglo-Saxon poems of contemporary date which have been attributed to Cynewulf (on which see the Cambridge History of English Literature, vol. i, p. 58, etc.), which are of great literary interest. Other lives, such as that by Peter of Blois, have no historical value. See also W. de Gray Birch, Memorials of St Guthlac of Crowland (1881) and his edition of Felix’s vita; DNB., vol. xxiii, p. 373 and DCB., vol. ii, pp. 823—826. From the frequent occurrence of the name of St Guthlac in English calendars it is plain that there was a very general popular cultus. A new edition of the Felix vita, by B. Colgrave, is announced.
Born in Mercia, c. 673; died at Crowland, Lincolnshire, England, in 714; feast day formerly on April 12; feast of his translation is August 30 and there is a commemoration on August 26.
As a young man of royal blood from the tribe of Guthlacingas, Guthlac had been a soldier for nine years, fighting for Ethelred, the King of Mercia. At age 24, he renounced both violence and the life of the world and became a monk in an Benedictine double abbey at Repton, which was ruled by an abbess named Elfrida.

Even in these early years his discipline was extraordinary. Some of the monks in fact disliked him because he refused all wine and cheering drink. But he lived down the criticism and gained the respect of his brothers. After two years in the monastery it seemed to him far too agreeable a place. On the feast of Saint Bartholomew about 701, he found a wet, remote, unloved spot on the River Welland in the Fens, which could be reached only by boat, and lived there for the rest of his life as a hermit, seeking to imitate the rigors of the old desert fathers.

His temptations rivalled theirs. Wild men came out of the forest and beat him. Even the ravens stole his few possessions. But Guthlac was patient, even with wild creatures. Bit by bit the animals and birds came to trust him as their friend. A holy man named Wilfrid once visited Guthlac and was astonished when two swallows landed on his shoulders and then hopped all over him. Guthlac told him, "Those who choose to live apart from other humans become the friends of wild animals; and the angels visit them, too- -for those who are often visited by men and women are rarely visited by angels."

Apparently, Guthlac was also had a vision of Saint Bartholomew, his patron. Nor was he entirely alone in his refuge: He had several disciples, Saints Cissa, Bettelin, Egbert, and Tatwin, who had cells nearby. Bishop Hedda of Dorchester ordained him to the priesthood during a visit. The exiled prince Ethelbald, often came to him for advice, learned from Guthlac that he would wear the crown of the Mercians.

When he was dying, Guthlac sent for his sister, Saint Pega, who was a hermitess in the same neighborhood (Peakirk or Pega's church). Abbess Edburga of Repton sent him a shroud and a leaden coffin. A year after his death, Guthlac's body was exhumed and found to be incorrupt. Soon his shrine, to which his sister had donated his Psalter and scourge, began popular. When both King Wiglaf of Mercia (827-840) and Archbishop Ceolnoth of Canterbury (who was cured by Guthlac of the ague in 851) became devotees, Guthlac's cultus grew and spread.
A monastery was established on the site of Saint Guthlac's hermitage, which developed into the great abbey of Crowland, to which his relics were translated in 1136. There was another translation in 1196.
Guthlac's vita was recorded in Latin by his near contemporary Felix. Several others were composed in Old English verse and prose.
Together with Saint Cuthbert, Guthlac was one of England's most popular pre-Conquest hermit saints (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Farmer, Gill, Husenbeth).

In art, Saint Guthlac is depicted holding a scourge in his hand and a serpent at his feet. At times he may be shown (1) receiving the scourge from Saint Bartholomew; (2) being ordained priest by Saint Hedda of Winchester; or (3) with devils molesting and angels consoling him (Roeder). A magnificent pictorial record of his life survives in the late 12th-century Harleian Roll Y.6 at the British Museum, which is usually called the Guthlac Roll. This is a series of eighteen roundels, cartoons for stained glass windows, based on Felix's vita and the pseudo-Ingulph's history of Crowland.
Crowland also has several 13th-century sculptures of his life.
Abbot Henry of Crowland's 13th-century seal depicts Guthlac receiving a scourge from Saint Bartholomew for fending off diabolical attacks (Farmer). He is venerated in Lincolnshire (Roeder).
1079 St. Stanislaus  ordained  at Szczepanow near Cracow noted for preaching sought after spiritual adviser martyred by cruel King
Stanislaus was born of noble parents on July 26th at Szczepanow near Cracow, Poland. He was educated at Gnesen and was ordained there. He was given a canonry by Bishop Lampert Zula of Cracow, who made him his preacher, and soon he became noted for his preaching. He became a much sought after spiritual adviser. He was successful in his reforming efforts, and in 1072 was named Bishop of Cracow. He incurred the enmity of King Boleslaus the Bold when he denounced the King's cruelties and injustices and especially his kidnapping of the beautiful wife of a nobleman. When Stanislaus excommunicated the King and stopped services at the Cathedral when Boleslaus entered, Boleslaus himself killed Stanislaus while the Bishop was saying Mass in a chapel outside the city on April 11.
Stanislaus has long been the symbol of Polish nationhood. He was canonized by Pope Innocent IV in 1253 and is the principle patron of Cracow.
Stanislaus Szczepanowsky BM (RM) (also known as Stanislaus of Cracow)  Born at Szczepanow, Poland, on July 26, 1030; died at Cracow, Poland, on April 11, 1079; canonized by Pope Innocent IV in 1253; feast day formerly on May 7.  Stanislaus was born to noble parents who had been childless and prayed for a child. They raised him religiously, encouraging him in his devotion to God. He was educated at Gnesen and Paris, and was ordained a priest by Bishop Lampert Zula of Cracow. He was given a canonry in the cathedral and was later appointed preacher and archdeacon by the bishop.
His expressive preaching and good example brought about a spiritual revival among his congregation, and he was sought out by clergy and laymen for his spiritual advice. He was generous to the poor and was successful in bringing about religious reforms. The bishop wished to resign his office to Stanislaus, but Stanislaus convinced him not to. When the bishop died, however, Stanislaus was chosen to succeed him; after Pope Alexander II endorsed the choice, he was consecrated in 1072. He was a tireless preacher, zealous reformer, and generous benefactor to the poor.
At that time Poland was governed by Boleslaus II--"King Boleslav the Cruel"--whose virtues were eclipsed by his unbridled lust and savage cruelty. The story commonly told is that Stanislaus chastised King Boleslaus for his disordered private behavior. At first the king did what many of us do--he tried to justify his actions, but the saint pressed the ruler until he was temporarily brought to repentance. But his good intentions did not last long, and he had the beautiful wife of one of his noblemen kidnapped and taken to his palace. Stanislaus was the only one of the clergy or offended nobility brave enough to confront Boleslaus, whom he reprimanded for his action. Finding this to be in vain, he excommunicated the king, and the king feigned nonchalance.
When Boleslaus entered the cathedral of Cracow, Stanislaus halted the services. Enraged, Boleslaus followed him to the chapel of Saint Michael outside the city and ordered his guards to kill him. The men returned and said that they could not kill him because he was surrounded by a divine light. Upbraiding his men for their cowardice, the king himself entered the chapel and killed Stanislaus as he was celebrating the Mass. The guards cut the body up and scattered it to be eaten by wild animals. Three days later his remains were collected by cathedral canons and buried at the door of the chapel.
It is probable that the murder was motivated by politics--some historians hold that Stanislaus was conspiring to dethrone Boleslaus--but the available evidence is variously interpreted by historians. Boleslaus's action, however, did speed his fall from power. Pope Saint Gregory VII placed Poland under an interdict and Boleslaus fled the country, dying as a fugitive in Hungary (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Farmer, Walsh, White).
Stanislaus, the symbol of Polish nationhood, is the patron saint of Poland and Cracow. He is depicted in art being hacked to pieces at the foot of an altar (Roeder, White). He is invoked by soldiers in battle (Roeder), and is the patron of Poland. His cultus extends also to Lithuania, Byelorussia, and the Ukraine (Farmer).
1138 Blessed Waltmann of Cambrai accompanied Saint Norbert to Cambrai to preach against heresy O. Praem., Abbot (AC
1138 BD WALTMAN, ABBOT
TOWARDS the close of the first quarter of the twelfth century a layman called Tanchelm originated a new sect in Antwerp, which gained a considerable following. Its adherents held that bishops and priests were unnecessary and denied the efficacy of the sacraments, whilst permitting themselves great relaxation of morals. The archbishop of Cambrai, in whose diocese Antwerp then lay, greatly perturbed at the progress of the heresy, persuaded the canons of St Michael’s in the city to enlist the help of St Norbert to combat the evil. In response to the invitation, the great Premonstratensian founder duly arrived with two of his disciples, Evermod and a learned and pious canon of the name of Waltman. Thanks to the zeal and preaching of these three, the people were soon won back to the faith, the sect lost its hold, and Tanchelm had to beat an ignominious retreat. As a token of their gratitude the secular canons presented St Michael’s to St Norbert, they themselves retiring to Notre-Dame, now the cathedral. Waltman became abbot of the newly-formed Premonstratensian establishment.

No independent account of the activities of Bd Waltman seems to have come down to us from early times, but we hear of him in the Life of St Norbert (see the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. i) and in the notices which chroniclers have devoted to the heresy of Tanchelm. Cf. I. van Spillbeeck, Vie de saint Norbert; tableaux Historiques du XIIe siècle (1898), and C. J. Kirkfleet, History of St Norbert (1916).
Waltmann accompanied Saint Norbert to Cambrai to preach against heresy. He remained there as abbot of Saint Michael's of Anvers, which he directed with great vigor (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
1146  The Departure of holy father Anba Michael, the Seventy First Pope of the See of St. Mark. {Coptic church}.  
On this day also of the year 862 A.M. (March 29th. 1146 A.D.) the holy father Pope Michael, the seventy first Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, departed. He longed to the pure life since his young age so he became a monk in the monastery of St. Macarius. He lived in the desert until he was an old man, in a good pleasing life to God.
When Pope Gabriel (70) departed, the bishops, the priests and the lay leaders spent three month searching for who was best suited to succeed him. A monk from the monastery of St. Macarius, called Yoannis Ebn Kedran, came forward nominating himself supported in that by Anba Yacoub, bishop of Lekanah, Anba Christodolus, bishop of Fowa, and Anba Michael, bishop of Tanta.
Nevertheless, the bishops of Upper Egypt, the priests of Alexandria and the lay leaders of Cairo did not accept that choice. Finally they all agreed to choose three of the monks and those were: Yoannis Abu El-Fatah, Michael of St. Macarius monastery, and Soliman El-Dekhiary of El-Baramous monastery. They cast a lot among them, and the lot fell on the monk Michael, and they ordained him a Patriarch on the 5th of Mesra, 861 A.M. (July 29th, year 1145 A.D.). He was an honorable old man loving for the poor and the needy. He took for himself a scribe to write his sermons and teachings that he sent to the bishops and priests. When he fell sick, he went to the monastery of St. Macarius, where he departed in peace, after he stayed on the Chair for eight month. May his prayers be with us and glory be to God forever.
1209 Blesseds Stephen abbot & Hilderbrand  one of his monks, were killed by the Albigenses at Saint-Gilles, Languedoc OSB Cist. MM (PC)
Stephen, a Cistercian abbot, and Hilderbrand, one of his monks, were killed by the Albigenses at Saint-Gilles, Languedoc, where they are venerated through a popular cultus (Benedictines).
1237 Blessed Raynerius Inclusus, Hermit (i.e., 'shut up') lived as a hermit in a cell near the cathedral of Osnabrück heavy chains next to his skin (AC)

1237 BD RAINERIUS INCLUSUS
ADJOINING the cathedral of Osnabruck in the early part of the thirteenth century was a hermit’s cell, with a squint which commanded a view of the altar inside the church. Shut up (inclusus) for twenty-two years in the narrow enclosure lived a recluse called Rainerius (in English, Rayner) who, by his extraordinary austerities even more than by the few words he allowed himself to utter, recalled many a sinner and worldly man to repentance and newness of life. Although he had lived blamelessly from childhood, Rainerius used every device he could imagine to chastise and mortify his flesh. On his naked body he wore a shift of chain-mail and hair, concealed by a coarse habit, and he scourged himself regularly until the blood ran. When asked why he thus tortured his body, he would reply, “As our Lord Jesus Christ suffered in all His limbs for me, so do I wish, out of love for Him, to suffer in all my members”.
On Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays he fasted on bread and vegetables, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays on bread and beer, while on Fridays he took only bread and water. He daily recited the psalter and so many other prayers for the living and the dead that sometimes he had not time enough to eat. He observed absolute silence except on feast-days, when he spoke a little but only for edification, usually keeping a stone in his mouth lest he might be tempted to vain words; his requirements were made known by nods and signs. Bd Rainerius is said to have died in 1237.

Raynerius Inclusus (i.e., 'shut up') lived as a hermit in a cell near the cathedral of Osnabrück. He spent 22 years in his cell wearing a coat of mail and heavy chains next to his skin (Benedictines).
1303 Blessed John of Cupramontana cave of Cupramonatan on Mount Massaccio for many years as a Camaldolese monk-hermit  OSB Cam. (AC)
John lived in the cave of Cupramonatan on Mount Massaccio for many years as a Camaldolese monk-hermit (Benedictines).
XIV v. The Monk Jakov of Bryleevsk was a disciple of the Monk Jakov of Zheleznoborovsk founded the Bryleevsk wilderness-monastery
(Comm. 11 April) and was a "trudnik" at his monastery (the word "trudnik" has two meanings: "truzhenik"-"toiler" and "posluzhnik"-"obedient"). He later founded the Bryleevsk wilderness-monastery in honour of the Entry into the Temple of the MostHoly Mother of God at a distance of 5 versts from the Zheleznoborovsk ForeRunner monastery, off in the direction of the city of Bua.
The Monk Jakov died during the XV Century and was buried in the Entry into the Temple church. His memory is marked likewise on the Day of the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles (i.e. Pentecost).
XVI v. The Monk Evphymii {Euphymius} and his disciple the Monk Khariton example to the brethren in prayer, and in the works of construction and supervision
They asceticised at the River Syanzhema during the close of the XV to the beginning XVI Centuries. The Monk Evphymii came to the Spasokamensk monastery from the Volokolamsk outskirts. For a long time he continued as a novice-obedient at the monastery, but later he settled on the eastern shore of Lake Kuben near the mouth of the River Kushta. Amidst the impenetrable swamps and dense woods there, the saint built himself a small cell, wherein he asceticised in total solitude. After a certain while there came to him the Monk Alexander of Kushtsk (+ 1439, Comm. 9 June), who also had set out from the Spasokamensk monastery and at first settled at the River Syanzhema. The Monk Alexander besought the Monk Evphymii to switch cells with him, since he was seeking a place of complete quiet.

Transferring himself over to the River Syanzhema, the Monk Evphymii did not refuse the local people his spiritual counsel and guidance. And there too the Monk Khariton came to him.

The Monk Evphymii built a church in honour of the Ascension of Christ and made next it a monastery. At Rostov, under Sainted Archbishop Dionysii (1418-1425), he received the permission to build, and evidently, he also received there the priestly dignity and was made hegumen of the monastery started by him.
Both monks were an example to the brethren in prayer, and in the works of construction and supervision. They made do with such food and clothing, as even the brethren reckoned worthless. In temple the Monk Evphymii stood in fear and trembling, and the brethren often saw upon his face tears of tenderness. Working at hand-crafts, the monk always sang psalms. The Monk Evphymii died in about the year 1465, though the actual day of his death is unknown.
His successor as hegumen was his beloved disciple -- the Monk Khariton. For more than 40 years he continued the work at the monastery, and he died in old age on 11 April 1509. Both monks were buried at the Ascension church. The memory of the Monk Evphymii is celebrated also on 20 January, and that of the Monk Khariton on 28 September, on the days of their saints-names in common.
1442  Saint James of Zhelezny Bor  sanctity prophet many years of common ascetical efforts monks entreated St James to be their igumen ordained a priest
Son of the noble Anosov (or Amosov) line, which had their lands at Kostroma Galich, was born in the second half of the fourteenth century.
As a youth he went to St Sergiua of Radonezh, received monastic tonsure from him, and lived at the Trinity monastery for several years.
In 1392 St James settled in a dense forest near iron mines, at a place which was called the Iron Pines, at the banks of the rivulet Tebza. His sanctity of life was already known in his own time. In 1415 the wife of Great Prince Basil (1389-1425), Sophia (in monasticism Syncletica, + 1453) fell seriously ill before childbirth. The Great Prince sent a message to St James begging the monk to pray for his wife, and asking whether she would live. The saint told him to pray to the holy Martyr Longinus and foretold the happy birth of a son, Basil.
(In 1450, this son, Great Prince Basil (1425-1462), visited the monastery of St James and prayed there with gratitude for his victory over Prince Demetrius Shemyaka).
The grateful Prince Basil generously rewarded St James and gave him money to build a monastery with a church in honor of the holy Prophet John the Forerunner. In 1429, the Khazan Tatars laid waste the surroundings of Galich. St James hid deep in the forest with his disciples. When they returned, they found the monastery in ruins. Everything had to be rebuilt. The saint built a church dedicated to St Nicholas, and he dug out ponds with the brethren. On the example of the Trinity-Sergiev monastery a strict cenobitic rule was introduced. Many of the hungry and destitute people, devastated by the Tatars, were fed at the monastery.
After many years of common ascetical efforts, the monks entreated St James to be their igumen. He humbly submitted to their request and journeyed to Moscow, where he was ordained a priest.
St James died on April 11, 1442 and was buried at the John the Forerunner church of the monastery he founded.
1576 Sainted Varsonophii bishop of Tver died at the Transfiguration monastery founded by him in the city of Kazan in the year 1576
Born in the year 1495.  In 1567 he was ordained bishop of Tver. He died at the Transfiguration monastery founded by him in the city of Kazan in the year 1576. © 1999 by translator Fr S Janos
1576 Saint Barsanuphius of Tver captured by the Crimean Tatars After 3 years John's father ransomed him became a monk proficient in virtue and piety
Born in the year 1495, and was from Serpukhov. He was named John in Baptism, and he was taught to read and write. While still a youth, he was captured by the Crimean Tatars. Accepting this as the Lord's will, he meekly submitted to his masters, and dutifully accomplished the work they assigned him to do. After three years, John's father ransomed him. He then went to Moscow and became a monk in the Andronikov Monastery, where he received the monastic name Barsanuphius.  Devoting himself to the ascetical life, he became proficient in virtue and piety.
In 1544, he was appointed as igumen of the Pesnosha Monastery. Later, he went to Kazan and founded a monastery dedicated to the Transfiguration of the Lord.

While in Kazan, Archimandrite Barsanuphius was able to help St Gurias (December 5) in spreading Christianity among the Moslems and pagans. His knowledge of the Tatar language proved to be very useful in this work.
In 1567, St Barsanuphius was consecrated Bishop of Tver. He healed many sick people with his knowledge of medicine, but he also healed those suffering from infirmities of the soul.
When the God-pleaser reached old age, he returned to Kazan and to the Transfiguration Monastery which he founded. There he received the Great Schema, and he died at the monastery in 1576.
The holy relics of Sts Gurias and Barsanuphius were uncovered on October 4, 1596. They were placed in shrines in a side chapel of the church at the orders of Patriarch Job. On June 20, 1630 their grace-filled relics were transferred from the Transfiguration Monastery to the Cathedral of the Annunciation
1608 Blessed George Gervase adventurous career with Francis Drake in the West Indies ordained to the priesthood and died for his priesthood OSB M (AC)

1608 BD GEORGE GERVASE, MARTYR
GEORGE GERVASE (Jervis) was born in 1569 at the port of Bosham in Sussex, in the register of whose famous parish church the entry of his christening may still be read. He was apparently brought up a Protestant, or else left the Church for a time, though his mother belonged to the, well-known Catholic family of Shelley that gave Bd Edward Shelley to the Church. Challoner relates that at the age of twelve George was kidnapped by pirates and carried off to the West Indies for the next twelve years of his life. What really happened was that, when he was twenty-six, he was with Sir Francis Drake’s last and disastrous expedition to the Indies, which left Plymouth in 1595 and for which George may well have been “ pressed” as he seems to have gone against his will. On his return he served for nearly two years in Flanders, with the Spanish army this time, and apparently it was not till the beginning of 1599 that he “enrolled himself in a better kind of service and became a soldier of Christ in the English College of Douay.”
Mr Gervase was ordained priest at Cambrai in 1603 and in the following year was sent on the mission. He ministered in various parts of the country for two years, till he was arrested at Haggerston; his examination by the dean of Durham is still extant, and valuable for Gervase’s own testimony about himself. Then he was imprisoned in London, till July 1606 when, with other priests, including several future martyrs, he was banished the realm. George Gervase then made a pilgrimage to Rome, and it is likely that there he determined to offer himself to the English Benedictines; for in the same year, 1607, between returning to Douay in July and again setting out for the mission in September, he was duly clothed a monk by the prior general, Dom Augustine Bradshaw. On account of the opposition of the English College to the Benedictines, this was done without the knowledge of the college authorities.
Father George had been back in England only two months when he was taken up and committed to the Gatehouse prison at Westminster. At his trial at the Old Bailey he refused the oath of allegiance, tendered in the form which had been condemned by the Holy See, while protesting his loyalty to the Crown; and when pressed for his opinion on the pope’s deposing power, replied, “I say that the pope can depose kings and emperors when they deserve it”. He also admitted that he was a priest, and so was condemned to death without more ado.
His confessor, Robert Chamberlain, records that as the rope was put round his neck Father George stretched out his arms and looked upward, standing like a monastic novice at his profession, singing the Suscipe. And so, “flinging out his hands like the wings of a bird”, he met his passion.
Bd George Gervase, the protomartyr of St Gregory’s, Douay (now St. Gregory’s, Downside), suffered on April 11, 1608. It was noted that at the same day and hour a fire consumed much of the town of Bury St Edmunds, where the martyr had spent much of his youth.

Camm gives a full account in Nine Martyr Monks (1931), drawing on Pollen’s Acts of the English Martyrs, letters in the Westminster Archives, vol. ix, the Middlesex County Records, vol. ii, an Italian account of the trial and execution in the Record Office, a letter of the Spanish ambassador, Don Pedro de Zuniga, in the Vatican Library, and other sources. The last-named library has a manuscript account of the martyr written from the persecutors’ point of view: Camm gives a translation of this.
Born in Bosham, Sussex, England; died at Tyburn, England, in 1608; beatified in 1929. In his youth, George had an adventurous career with Francis Drake in the West Indies. Later he was educated for the priesthood and entered the Benedictines at Douai. In 1603 George was ordained to the priesthood and sent to the English mission, where he was condemned and died for his priesthood (Benedictines).
1771 St. Mary Margaret d'Youville widow Foundress of the Sisters of Charity directress of Montreal’s General Hospital, operated by her community
Grey Nuns of Canada.
She was born at Varennes, Quebec, and was baptized Marie Marguerite Dufrost de Ia Jemmerais.
After being educated by the Ursulines, she was married to Francois d’Youville in 1722, becoming a widow eight years later. Mary Margaret worked to support herself and her children, aiding the Confraternity of the Holy Family as well. In 1737, she founded the Sisters of Charity, the Grey Nuns, with three companions. A formal declaration took place in 1745, and two years later she became directress of Montreal’s General Hospital, operated by her community. The Grey Nuns expanded to the United States, Africa, and South America. Mary Margaret died in Montreal on December 23. She was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1990.
1845 holy monastic Fathers Saints Theocharis and Apostolos are local saints of Arta On Bright Wednesday we commemorate them
who have shone forth on the God-trodden Mt Sinai. This commemoration was established by the Church of Russia on April 17, 1997.
Saints Theocharis and Apostolos are local saints of Arta. The first fell asleep in 1845 and the second a little later. St Theocharis was a teacher at Komboti, Arta.

The icons of these saints are in the church of Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) in Arta.

The Kasperov Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos is also commemorated today.

Tradition says that this holy icon had been brought to Cherson from Transylvania by a Serb at the end of the sixteenth century. Passing down from parent and child, the icon had come to a certain Mrs. Kasperova of Cherson in 1809. One night in February of 1840 she was praying, seeking consolation in her many sorrows. Looking at the icon of the Virgin, she noticed that the features of the icon, darkened by age, had suddenly become bright. Soon the icon was glorified by many miracles, and people regarded it as wonder-working.
During the Crimean War (1853-1856), the icon was carried in procession through the city of Odessa, which was besieged by enemy forces. On Great and Holy Friday, the city was spared. Since that time, an Akathist has been served before the icon in the Dormition Cathedral of Odessa every Friday.

The icon is painted with oils on a canvas mounted on wood. The Mother of God holds Her Son on her left arm. The Child is holding a scroll. St John the Baptist (Janurary 7) is depicted on one side of the icon, and St Tatiana (January 12) on the other. These were probably the patron saints of the original owners of the icon. The Kasperov Icon is commemorated on October 1, June 29, and Bright Wednesday.
1878  George Augustus Selwyn studierte in Cambridge und wurde 1833 zum Diakon und 1834 zum Priester geweiht 1841 wurde er zum ersten Bischof Neuseelands ernannt
Anglikanische Kirche: 11. April
George Augustus Selwyn wurde am 5.4.1809 in Middlesex geboren. Er studierte in Cambridge und wurde 1833 zum Diakon und 1834 zum Priester geweiht. 1841 wurde er zum ersten Bischof Neuseelands ernannt. Auf der langen Seereise nach Neuseeland erlernte er die Sprache der Maori und konnte bei seiner Ankunft in der Landessprache predigen. Er gründete Kirchen in Neuseeland ebenso wie in Melanesien (Aufgrund eines Irrtums der Verwaltung in der Ernennungsurkunde umfaßte seine Diözese die Gebiete bis zum 34. nördlichen Breitengrad - sie sollte aber nur bis zum 34. südlichen Breitengrad reichen). In dem zehn Jahre andauernden Krieg zwischen Maoris und europäischen Einwanderern versuchte Selwyn zu vermitteln. Auf der ersten Generalsynode der Kirche von Neuseeland 1859 konnte er eine Verfassung durchsetzen, die den Maori-Christen die volle Teilhabe in der Kirche sicherte. 1867 wurde Selwyn gegen seinen Willen zum Bischof von Lichfield in England ernannt. Er mußte Neuseeland verlassen und starb am 11.4.1878 in Lichfield. 1882 wurde zu seiner Erinnerung das Selwyn College in Cambridge gegründet.
1903 St. Gemma Galgani stigmata many mystical experiences and special graces Gemma was miraculously cured by the Venerable Passionist Gabriel Possenti
Lucæ, in Etrúria, sanctæ Gemmæ Galgáni, Vírginis, contemplatióne Domínicæ Passiónis et vitæ sanctitátis mirábilis, quam Pius Papa Duodécimus in Sanctárum númerum rétulit.
    At Luca in Etruria, St. Gemma Galgani, virgin, renowned for her contemplation of the Passion of our Lord, and for a life of holiness, and whom Pope Pius XII joined to the number of the Saints.

1903 ST GEMMA GALGANI, VIRGIN
THE short life of this saint, who was born at Camigliano in Tuscany in 1878, and died at Lucca at the age of twenty-five, was in one sense uneventful. It is a story of very fervent piety, charity and continuous suffering. These sufferings were caused partly by ill-health, partly by the poverty into which her family fell, partly by the scoffing of those who took offence at her practices of devotion, ecstasies and other phenomena, partly by what she believed to be the physical assaults of the Devil. But she had the consolation of constant communion with our Lord, who spoke to her as if He were corporeally present, and she also met with much kindness from the Giannini family, who in her last years after her father’s death treated her almost as an adopted daughter.
Gemma’s ill-health seems to have been congenital; she suffered from tuberculosis of the spine with aggravated curvature. The doctors despaired of any remedy, but she was cured (instantaneously and, it was then believed, completely) after an apparition of St Gabriel-of-the-Sorrows, to whom she was very devout. She earnestly desired to be a Passionist nun, but, the miracle notwithstanding, she could never obtain that medical certificate of sound health which was very wisely required before admission into the noviceship. She had periodically recurring stigmata from June 1899 to February 1901, as well as the marks of our Lord’s scourging at a later time. She was also at one period obsessed by the Devil, and in these attacks she even spat upon the crucifix ‘and broke her confessor’s rosary. On the other hand, her normal state was one of great spiritual peace and love. During her many ecstasies she used to commune with her heavenly visitants in a low sweet voice, and the bystanders often took down her words in writing. After a long and painful illness St Gemma died very peacefully on Holy Saturday, April 11, 1903.
A great popular cultus, stimulated by the accounts which were written of her by her spiritual directors, followed shortly after St Gemma Galgani’s death. She was beatified in 1933, and canonized in 1940. Her cause met with considerable opposition on account of the very extraordinary nature of some of her experiences. It is noteworthy that the Congregation of Rites, in declaring that Gemma practised the Christian virtues in a heroic degree, expressly refrained from passing any judgement upon the preternatural character of the phenomena recorded of her. This is a matter, the congregation added, upon which no decision is ever made.
For English readers the two fullest and most accessible biographies, both translations from the Italian, are those by Father Germanus, ce. (1914) and Father Amadeus, c.p. (1914). The later Italian editions of the first of these contain a considerable amount of matter not found in the translation. For a fuller insight into Gemma’s devotional spirit see Lettere ed Estasi della beata Gemma Galgani (1909), edited by Fr Germanus. There are other lives in English by Bishop Leo Prosperpio (1941) and Fr P. Coghlan (1949); Sr M. St Michael’s Portrait of St Gemma (1950) is made from her letters and reported speech. The decree of beatification is in Acta Apostolicae Sedis, vol. xxv (1933), pp. 363—367 and see also vol. xxiv (1932), p. 57. Cf. H. Thurston, Physical Phenomena of Mysticism (1952).
Gemma Galgani was born on March 12, 1878, in a small Italian town near Lucca. At a very young age, Gemma developed a love for prayer. She made her First Communion on June 17, 1887. As a pupil at the school run by the Sisters of St. Zita, Gemma was loved by her teachers and her fellow pupils. Although quiet and reserved, she always had a smile for everyone. Although a good student, she had to quit school due to chronic ill health before completing the course of study.
Throughout her life, Gemma was to be favored with many mystical experiences and special graces. These were often misunderstood by others, causing ridicule.
Gemma suffered these heartaches in reparation, remembering that Our Lord Himself had been misunderstood and ridiculed.
Gemma had an immense love for the poor, and helped them in any way she could. After her father's death, the nineteen year old Gemma became the mother of her seven brothers and sisters. When some were old enough to share this responsibility, she lived briefly with a married aunt. At this time, two young men proposed marriage to her.
Gemma however, wanted silence and retirement, and more that ever, she desired to pray and speak only to God.
Gemma returned home and almost immediately became very ill with meningitis. Throughout this illness, her one regret was the trouble she caused her relatives who took care of her. Feeling herself tempted by the devil, Gemma prayed for help to the Venerable Passionist, Gabriel Possenti. (Gabriel was later canonized) Through his intercession, Gemma was miraculously cured.

Gemma wished to become a nun, but her poor health prevented her from being accepted. She offered this disappointment to God as a sacrifice.
Gemma predicted that the Passionists would establish a monastery at Lucca; this came to pass two years after her death.
Today, Gemma's mortal remains are still treasured at the Passionist monastery in Lucca.
On June 8, 1899, Gemma had an interior warning that some unusual grace was to be granted to her. She had pain in her hands, feet and heart and blood was coming from the places where she had pain. These were the marks of the stigmata. Each Thursday evening, Gemma would fall into rapture and the marks would appear. The stigmata remained until Friday afternoon or Saturday morning when the bleeding would stop, the wounds would close, and only white marks would remain in place of the deep gashes. Gemma's stigmata would continue to appear until the last three years of her life, when her confessor forbade her to accept them.
Through her prayers, this phenomenon ceased, but the whitish marks remained on her skin until her death.
Through the help of her confessor, Gemma went to live with a family named Giannini, where she was allowed more freedom than at home for her spiritual life. She had many ecstacies and her words spoken during these raptures, were recorded by her confessor and a relative of her adoptive family. At the end of her ecstacies, she returned to normal and went quietly and serenely about the family life. Gemma often saw her guardian angel, with whom she was on familiar terms.
She often sent her guardian angel on errands, usually to deliver a letter or oral message to her confessor in Rome.
During the apostolic investigations into her life, all witnesses testified that there was no artfulness in Gemma's manner. Most of her severe penances and sacrifices were hidden from most who knew her.

In January of 1903, Gemma was diagnosed as having tuberculosis. She died quietly in the company of the parish priest, on April 11 at age twenty-five. He said, "She died with a smile which remained upon her lips, so that I could not convince myself that she was really dead." She was beatified in 1933 and canonized on May 2, 1940, only thirty-seven years after her death.

Gemma Galgani V (RM)  Born at Borgo Nuovo di Camigliano near Lucca, Tuscany, Italy, 1878; died April 11, 1903; beatified in 1933; canonized in 1940.
Gemma's was the daughter of a poor pharmacist. Her mother died when she was seven, and from then on her life was one of domestic trials and great physical and spiritual pain. Through it all, however, she remained at peace and was the subject of extraordinary supernatural phenomena--visions, ecstasies, revelations, supernatural knowledge, visible conversations with her guardian angel, prophecy, miracles, recurring periodic stigmata, and diabolic assaults.

When she was 18, her father died, and Gemma joined the household of Matteo Giannini at Lucca as a domestic servant. She wished to join the Passionist congregation of which her spiritual director was a member, but she was prevented from doing so by her physical frailties, which included a condition of the spine (tuberculosis). Later Gemma believed herself to have been cured of the tuberculosis by the intercession of Saint Gabriel Possenti, who had himself died of consumption.

She was of a remarkably fervent religious disposition. Between 1899 and 1901, she was subject to various supernatural phenomena, which were carefully investigated by her confessor, Father Germano. For over 18 months she suffered the stigmata of Christ's Crucifixion and marks of His scourging while she prayed. She experienced visions of Christ, the Blessed Virgin, and her guardian angel. When she spoke in ecstasies, the sound of her voice changed, and listeners recorded her words.

At other times, however, she seemed to suffer possession and performed such acts as spitting on a crucifix and breaking a rosary. Throughout her life she patiently endured her spiritual and physical sufferings--which included the scorn of unbelieving relatives and townspeople--and practiced severe austerities.

She died an early death on Holy Saturday and shortly thereafter a popular cult developed. Her popularity increased in 1943, when her correspondence with her spiritual director was published. She was canonized, despite much opposition because of some of the phenomena connected with her, based not on the phenomenal nature of her religious experiences but on the holiness of her life (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, White).


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 122

Be mindful of thy word, O Princess of all ladies: in which thou hast given me hope.

In the stormy waves of tempests it hath powerfully held me: for thy word hath quickened me.

Lying men have surrounded me, and scourges are gathered together upon me:
and behold thy hand hath delivered me.

I have communicated all good things to them that fear thee: and to those who earnestly kept thy commandments.

The earth is full of thy tender mercies: therefore, have I sought out the way of thy justifications.


Let every spirit praise Our Lady

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

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

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

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

Widowed Saints  html
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  UniateChalcedon

Mary the Mother of Jesus Miracles_BLay Saints  Miraculous_IconMiraculous_Medal_Novena Patron Saints
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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
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Surgeon and father among sainthood causes moving forward
Feb 27, 2017 - 11:03 am .- Pope Francis recognized on Monday the heroic virtue of eight persons on the path to canonization, including an Italian surgeon and father of eight who suffered from several painful diseases throughout his life.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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