Today we commemorate the Life-Giving Spring of the Most Holy Theotokos.
Saint of the Day April 13 Idibus Aprílis
Saints of this Day April  13
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!)
The saints are a “cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.

 Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary

Mary's Divine Motherhood
Called in the Gospel "the Mother of Jesus," Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as "the Mother of my Lord" (Lk 1:43; Jn 2:1; 19:25; cf. Mt 13:55; et al.). In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity.
Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos).
Catechism of the Catholic Church 495, quoting the Council of Ephesus (431): DS 251.

Mary and Diana (I) April 13 - Our Lady of Tears
In 1922 the servant of God Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, then a young priest and scholar, was offered to accompany a distinguished French novelist, Emile Baumann, on a trip tracing the travels of Saint Paul. Baumann's book was eventually published in more than 100 editions. Here is an interesting excerpt showing Mary's early role in the Church:
"One other moment in the voyage among countless ones that affected me was the visit to the city of Ephesus. When I saw it, it was a wilderness; when St Paul saw it, it was called the "Treasure House of Asia." He looked out on the great glory of the temple of Diana as she was called in Latin or Artemis as she was known in Greek--one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It was 425 feet long, 220 feet wide and 60 feet wide. The altar itself had been carved by Praxiteles, the greatest of all the Greek sculptors. Each of the 127 columns was of Parian marble weighing 150 tons, measuring 60 feet high and decorated in gold and precious stones. Eight of these columns I saw later in the Church of Santa Sophia in former Constantinople.

(...) Paul began preaching in the synagogue and then later on after it rejected him, he taught in the school of Tyrannus, the heathen Sophist who specialized in rhetoric and philosophy. During the month of May, which was the sacred month of Diana, Paul noticed that the drunkenness, debauchery and worship of Diana was beginning to decline, since he preached that there were no gods made with hands. Consequently there was in Ephesus muttered curses against him; finally, the ill-concealed exasperation came to an end when the chief victim of the decline of idol worship began to protest against Paul. His name was Demetrius; he had built a considerable business in the manufacture of little silver shrines and images of Diana which he sold to pilgrims on their visits to the temple. Also affected were the sacred slaves and musicians of the temple, as well as skilled artisans and ordinary workman.
Taken from Treasure In Clay, The Autobiography of Fulton J. Sheen, Image Books, 1982
 593 B.C. The Commemoration of the Great Prophet Ezekiel, the son of Buzi.
 150 or 170 or 250 St. Carpus martyred in Pergamos with others bishop of Gurdos, Lydia
 303 St. Maximus Martyr with his brothers Dadas Quintilian from Dorostorum (now Silistraia) on the Danube Bulgaria
        beheaded at Ozobia
 303 The Hieromartyr Artemon was born of Christian parents in Laodicea, Syria many miracles talking animals etc. commemorated on
        March 24 on the Greek calendar.
       The Holy Martyr Crescens (Kreskes) was descended from an illustrious family and lived in Myra of Lycia
 396 Saint Ursus of Ravenna revived celebration of the feasts B
        Romæ, in persecutióne Marci Antoníni Veri et Lúcii Aurélii Cómmodi, pássio sancti Justíni, Philósophi et
        Mártyris
       Pérgami, in Asia, in eádem persecutióne, natális sanctórum Mártyrum Carpi, Thyatirénsis Epíscopi, Pápyli
       Diáconi et Agathonícæ
 476 The Holy martyr Thomais was born into a Christian family in the city of Alexandria raised in piety loved to read
       spiritual books miracle appeared after death
 530 Saint Martius the hermit attracted disciples founded For them the friary of Clermont Abbot (RM
583-586 St. Hermengild Prince of Visigothic Spain arian convert martyred for his faith
 656 Pope Saint Martin I martyred for defending dual nature of Jesus died at Kherson Crimea last pope die a martyr
 838 Saint Guinoc Bishop of Scotland Guinoc's prayers helped king vanquish Picts B (AC
1113 Blessed Ida of Boulogne descendent of Blessed Charlemagne Benedictine oblate Widow (AC)
1124 St. Caradoc Welsh hermit harpist
1292 BD JAMES OF CERTALDO, ABBOT he early developed a vocation to the religious life: devotion and austerity
        greatly edified all who came into contact with him
1300 Blessed Ida of Louvain OSB Cist. V (PC)
1320 Blessed Margaret of Città di Castello born blind abandoned then adopted very holy favored with heavenly
        visions many miracles V (AC)
1392 Blessed James of Certaldo parish priest 40 yrs OSB Cam. (AC)
1642 Blessed Edward Catherick priest missionary 44 yrs English Martyr M (AC
April 13 - Apparition of Our Lady to Bl. Jane of Mantua (1640)  The Myrrh-Streaming Icon (II)

Jose Munoz asked whether he could buy this icon, which had so much impressed him, but was told repeatedly that it was the first icon to have been painted at this skete and was not for sale. The Virgin was like the patroness of the studio.  That night at divine service, during the singing of the angelic hymn “Axion estin” to the Theotokos, Jose fell to his knees and prayed to the Mother of God. Peace came back to his soul. At dawn, as Jose and his friend were about to depart, the abbot came to them holding the icon. During the night he had received an interior order. He said, “This icon will be a sign in the west.” The icon was not for sale, it was an offering, a grace.  However, Jose Munoz felt the urge to go back into the Iveron monastery and ask to touch his icon to the original wonder-working Iveron icon. In this religion of the people, in a carnal world where the magic of love reigns, an icon is venerated by kissing it, posing one’s cheek against it for a moment. So Jose, in this same manner, placed his copy up close to its model as if he were hoping to capture some of its force through simple contact.  Adapted from an article published in France Catholique Magazine, 30 May 1986 by Olivier Clément
"All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations shall worship before him" (Psalm 21:28)
Mary Mother of GOD Mary's Divine Motherhood
15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary
Saint of the Day April 13 Idibus Aprílis
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.
Nine First Fridays Devotion to the Sacred Heart
From the writings of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
How do I start the Five First Saturdays?
Decrees of Vatican's Saint Congregation
Testify to 10 Miracles; 10 Cases of Heroic Virtue; 1 Martyrdom
“The saints must be honored as friends of Christ and children and heirs of God, as John the theologian and evangelist says: ‘But as many as received him, he gave them the power to be made the sons of God....’ Let us carefully observe the manner of life of all the apostles, martyrs, ascetics and just men who announced the coming of the Lord. And let us emulate their faith, charity, hope, zeal, life, patience under suffering, and perseverance unto death, so that we may also share their crowns of glory” Exposition of the Orthodox Faith
Church to Proclaim 6 Saints in October Including Australian Mary MacKillop
CONSISTORY ON SEVERAL CAUSES OF CANONISATION  VATICAN CITY, 12 FEB 2010 (VIS)
RITES OF BEATIFICATION APPROVED BY THE HOLY FATHER VATICAN CITY, 8 SEP 2009 (VIS)
Papal Intention: for April, Benedict XVI pray especially
The Pope's general intention is:
"That, allowing himself to be enlightened and guided by the Holy Spirit,
every Christian may answer enthusiastically and faithfully to the universal call to sanctity."
The Pope's missionary intention is:
"That the number of priestly and religious vocations may grow in North America and the countries of the Pacific Ocean, in order to give an adequate answer to the pastoral and missionary needs of those populations."

Called in the Gospel "the Mother of Jesus," Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as "the Mother of my Lord" (Lk 1:43; Jn 2:1; 19:25; cf. Mt 13:55; et al.). In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh,
was none other than the Father's eternal Son,  the second person of the Holy Trinity.
Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos).
Catechism of the Catholic Church 495, quoting the Council of Ephesus (431): DS 251.

Join the Mary of Nazareth Project and help us build the International Marian Center of Nazareth.

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. Patron_Saints.html

THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY  PSALM 128
My enemies have often troubled me from my youth up: deliver me, O Lady, and vindicate my cause from them.
Give them not power over my soul: keep my interior and my exterior.
Obtain for us pardon for our sins: let it be given to us by the grace of the Holy Spirit.
Make us do penance worthily and praiseworthily: that we may come to God by a blessed end.
Show us then with a gracious and serene countenance: the glorious fruit of thy womb.

Glory be to the Father, etc.
Glory be to the Father who created Heaven and earth; His only Son who lived and died for all of us;
and the Holy Spirit the Lord giver of life, Who proceeds from the Father and Son, with the Father and Son He is Worshiped and Glorified, and He has spoken through the prophets:  Amen.

April 13 - OUR LADY OF TEARS (Italy)
   The Soul of Santa Fe: The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe (I)         
Colonists from Mexico and Franciscan missionaries in the 17th and 18th centuries brought the devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe with them to New Mexico. The first church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a tiny adobe structure on the banks of the Santa Fe River, was built in c.1777 as a shrine to Our Lady of the New World. The famous altar painting depicts scenes from the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Saint Juan Diego in Mexico, which took place in 1531. This oil painting is dated 1783 and signed by Jose de Alzibar, a noted Mexican colonial artist.
 It was brought from Mexico City by mule caravan.
In the 19th century, the church was not in good repair. Nine years later, in 1826, the Vicar General of the Diocese of Durango visited the shrine and found it to be in such a bad state of repair t
hat it was not considered fit for use as a house of God.
See official website: http://ologsf.50webs.biz/index.php

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THE EUCHARIST, A MYSTERY TO BE BELIEVED POST-SYNODAL APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION
SACRAMENTUM CARITATIS OF THE HOLY FATHER BENEDICT XVI
Morning Prayer and Hymn    Meditation of the Day    Prayer for Priests    Our Bartholomew Family Prayer List  Here
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.

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;
and 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
breviary.net/martyrology/mart04/mart0413 stlukeorthodox.com/html/saints/april/ usccb.org  ewtn.com  Irondequoit .org Saints Alive
domcentral.org/life/martyrApril syriac   oca.org  glaubenszeugen.de/tage/April   Serbian   http://www.copticchurch.net  Melkite
Monthly Saints with pics here http://www.stfrancisenid.com/memorials.htm
 One Saint per day stthomasirondequoit.com/SaintsAlive/index.htm    stjohndc.org  God's Humourous Saints
Nine First Fridays Devotion to the Sacred Heart ... From the writings of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
On Friday during Holy Communion, He said these words to me, His unworthy slave, if I mistake not:
"I promise you in the excessive mercy of my Heart that its all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on nine first Fridays of consecutive months the grace of final repentance; they will not die under my displeasure or without receiving their sacraments, my divine Heart making itself their assured refuge at the last moment."
Margaret Mary was inspired by Christ to establish the Holy Hour and to pray lying prostrate with her face to the ground from eleven till midnight on the eve of the first Friday of each month, to share in the mortal sadness.
He endured when abandoned by His Apostles in His Agony, and to receive holy Communion on the first Friday of every month. In the first great revelation, He made known to her His ardent desire to be loved by men and His design of manifesting His Heart with all Its treasures of love and mercy, of sanctification and salvation.
He appointed the Friday after the octave of the feast of Corpus Christi as the feast of the Sacred Heart; He called her "the Beloved Disciple of the Sacred Heart", and the heiress of all Its treasures. The love of the Sacred Heart was the fire which consumed her, and devotion to the Sacred Heart is the refrain of all her writings. In her last illness she refused all alleviation, repeating frequently: "What have I in heaven and what do I desire on earth, but Thee alone, O my God", and died pronouncing the Holy Name of Jesus.
With regard to this promise it may be remarked: (1) that our Lord required Communion to be received on a particular day chosen by Him; (2) that the nine Fridays must be consecutive; (3) that they must be made in honor of His Sacred Heart, which means that those who make the nine Fridays must practice the devotion and must have a great love for our Lord; (4) that our Lord does not say that those who make the nine Fridays will be dispensed from any of their obligations or from exercising the vigilance necessary to lead a good life and overcome temptation; rather He implicitly promises abundant graces to those who make the nine Fridays to help them to carry out these obligations and persevere to the end; (5) that perseverance in receiving Holy Communion for nine consecutive First Firdays helps the faithful to acquire the habit of frequent Communion, which our Lord eagerly desires; and (6) that the practice of the nine Fridays is very pleasing to our Lord since He promises such great reward, and that all Catholics should endeavor to make the nine Fridays.
How do I start the Five First Saturdays? by Fr. Tom O'Mahony
On July 13,1917, Our Lady appeared for the third time to the three children of Fatima an showed them the vision of hell and made the now - famous thirteen prophecies. In this vision Our Lady said that 'GOD WISHES TO ESTABLISH IN THE WORLD DEVOTION to Her Immaculate Heart and that She would come TO ASK FOR THE COMMUNION OF REPARATION ON THE FIRST SATURDAYS...
Eight years later, on December 10, 1925, Our Lady did indeed come back. She appeared (with the Child Jesus) to Lucia in the convent of the Dorothean Sisters in Pontevedra.
The Child Jesus spoke first:
'HAVE COMPASSION ON THE HEART OF YOUR MOST HOLY MOTHER WHICH IS COVERED WITH THORNS WITH WHICH UNGRATEFUL MEN PIERCE IT AT EVERY MOMENT, WHILE THERE IS NO ONE TO REMOVE THEM WITH AN ACT OF REPARATION.'

THE GREAT PROMISE
Our Lady then said: MY DAUGHTER LOOK AT MY HEART SURROUNDED WITH THORNS WITH WHICH UNGRATEFUL MEN PIERCE IT AT EVERY MOMENT BY THEIR BLASPHEMIES AND INGRATITUDE. YOU, AT LEAST, TRY TO CONSOLE ME, AND SAY THAT I PROMISE TO ASSIST AT THE HOUR OF DEATH WITH ALL THE GRACES NECESSARY FOR SALVATION, ALL THOSE WHO, ON THE FIRST SATURDAY OF FIVE CONSECUTIVE MONTHS GO TO CONFESSION AND RECEIVE HOLY COMMUNION, RECITE FIVE DECADES OF THE ROSARY AND KEEP ME COMPANY FOR A QUARTER OF AN HOUR WHILE MEDITATING ON MYSTERIES OF THE ROSARY, WITH THE INTENTION OF MAKING REPARATION TO ME.'

The Five Reasons
Lucia once asked this question of Our Lord and received as an answer: 'MY DAUGHTER, THE MOTIVE IS SIMPLE, THERE ARE FIVE KINDS OF OFFENCES AND BLASPHEMIES UTTERED AGAINST THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY: (1) BLASPHEMIES AGAINST THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION: (2) BLASPHEMIES AGAINST HER VIRGINITY: (3) BLASPHEMIES AGAINST HER DIVINE MATERNITY: (4) BLASPHEMIES OF THOSE WHO OPENLY SEEK TO FOSTER IN THE HEARTS OF CHILDREN INDIFFERENCE OR EVEN HATRED FOR THIS IMMACULATE MOTHER: (5) THE OFFENCES OF THOSE WHO DIRECTLY OUTRAGE HER IN HOLY IMAGES.'

From the above, it is easy to see that each of the Five Saturdays can correspond to a specific offence. By offering the graces received during each First Saturday as reparation for the offence being prayed for, the participant can hope to help remove the thorns from Our Lady's Heart.

What Do I Have To Do?
The devotion of First Saturdays, as requested by Our Lady of Fatima, carries with it the assurance of salvation. However, to derive profit from such a great promise of Our Lady, the devotion must be properly understood and duly performed.

The requirements as stipulated by Our Lady are as follows:
(1) CONFESSION, (2) COMMUNION, (3) FIVE DECADES OF THE ROSARY, (4) MEDITATION ON ONE OR MORE OF THE ROSARY MYSTERIES FOR FIFTEEN MINUTES, (5) TO DO ALL THESE THINGS IN THE SPIRIT OF REPARATION TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY, and (6) TO OBSERVE ALL THESE PRACTICES ON THE FIRST SATURDAY OF FIVE CONSECUTIVE MONTHS.

(1) CONFESSION: A reparative confession means that the confession should not only be good (valid and licit), but also be offered in the spirit of reparation, in this case, to Mary's Immaculate Heart. This confession may be made on the First Saturday itself or some days before or after the First Saturday within the preceding octave would suffice.
(2) COMMUNION: The communion of reparation must be sacramental duly received with the intention of making reparation. This offering, like the confession, is an interior act and so no external action to express the intention is needed.
(3) THE ROSARY: The Rosary mentioned here was indicated by the Portuguese word 'terco' which is commonly employed to denote a Rosary of five decades, since it forms a third of the full Rosary of 15 decades. This too must recited in a spirit of reparation.
(4) MEDITATION FOR FIFTEEN MINUTES: Here the meditation on one mystery or more is to be made without simultaneous recitation of the Rosary decade. As indicated, the meditation may be either on one mystery alone for 15 minutes, or on all 15 mysteries, spending about one minute on each mystery, or again, on two or more mysteries during the period. This can also be made before each decade spending three minutes or more in considering the mystery of the particular decade. This meditation has likewise to be made in the spirit of reparation to the Immaculate Heart.
(5) THE SPIRIT OF REPARATION: All these acts, as said above, have to be done with the intention of offering reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for the offences committed against Her. Everyone who offends Her commits, so to speak, a two-fold offence, for these sins also offend her Divine Son, Christ, and so endanger our salvation. They give bad example to others and weaken the strength of society to withstand immoral onslaughts. Such devotions therefore make us consider not only the enormity of the offence against God, but also the effect of sins on human society as well as the need for undoing these social effects even when the offender repents and is converted. Further, this reparation emphasises our responsibility towards sinners who, themselves, will not pray and make reparation for their sins.
(6) FIVE CONSECUTIVE FIRST SATURDAYS: The idea of the Five First Saturdays is obviously to make us persevere in the devotional acts for these Saturdays and overcome initial difficulties. Once this is done, Our Lady knows that the person would become devoted to Her immaculate Heart and persist in practising such devotion on all First Saturdays, working thereby for personal self-reform and for the salvation of others.

Unless Russia is converted, the movement against God and for sin will continue to spread, promoting wars and persecutions, and making the attainment for peace and justice impossible for this world. One means of obtaining Russia's conversion is to practise the Fatima Message. The stakes are so great that to encourage Catholics to practise the devotion of the First Saturdays, Our Lady has assured us that She will obtain salvation for all those who observe the first Saturdays for five consecutive months in accordance with Her conditions.

At the supreme moment the departing person will be either in the state of grace or not. In either case Our Lady will be by his side. If in the state of grace, She will console and help him to resist whatever temptations the devil might put before him in his last attempt to take the person with him to hell. If not in the state of grace, Our Lady will help the person to repent in a manner agreeable to God and so benefit by the fruits of redemption and be saved.
God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique, for each is the result of a new idea.  As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike. It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints. Dear Lord, grant us a spirit that is not bound by our own ideas and preferences.  Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves. O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory. Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.  Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.   God calls each one of us to be a saint in order to get into heaven:  only saints are allowed into heaven. The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.
Mary the Mother of Jesus Miracles_BC  Lay Saints  Miraculous_Icons  Miraculous_Medal_Novena Patron Saints
Miracles by Century 100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000    1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800  1900 2000
The POPES HTML
God calls each one of us to be a saint in order to get into heaven.
"The answers to many of life's questions can be found by reading the Lives of the Saints. They teach us how to overcome obstacles and difficulties, how to stand firm in our faith, and how to struggle against evil and emerge victorious."  1913 Saint Barsanuphius of Optina
The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR benefit of others.
Non est inventus similis illis

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

"Christianity is not a moral code or a philosophy, but an encounter with a person" -- Benedict XVI

"To withdraw into the desert is for Christians tantamount to associating themselves more intimately with Christ’s passion, and it enables them, in a very special way, to share in the paschal mystery and in the passage of Our Lord from this world to the heavenly homeland" (#1).
His Holiness Aram I, current (2008) 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.
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.
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. Eccl., V,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.

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.
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 1236-1325 welcomed people of all faiths & all walks of life Sufi Saint Hazrath Khwaja Syed Mohammed Badshah Quadri Chisty Yamani Quadeer (RA)
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
Father Reardon, Editor of The Catholic Bulletin for 20 years
Lover of the poor; "A very Holy Man of God"
Monsignor Reardon P.A.  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 5/31/1908
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 B. 1872, Nova Scotia; Priest, ordained by Bishop Ireland; Member  St. Paul Seminary faculty
Litany of Loretto in Stained glass windows Here.  Nave Sacristy and Residence Here
Sanctuary spaces filled between with grilles of hand-forged wrought iron  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.  It became the Popes' own cathedral and official residence for the first millennium of Christian history. The only replicas ever made:  in order from west to east {1932}. Saints Simon (saw), Bartholomew (knife), James the Lesser (book), John (eagle),  Andrew (transverse cross), Peter (keys), Paul (sword), James the Greater (staff),
Thomas (carpenter's square), Philip (serpent), Matthew (book), and Jude (sword).
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 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.
Father John Corapi, SOLT
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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.

THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM
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. Although it is supposed to be a religion of peace, Islam has been hijacked by Satan and now operates in the dark space of international terrorism.  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

A New Series by Fr. Corapi! The Moon Under Her Feet CD-Audio Set: $39.00 DVD-Video Set: $45.00  call 1-888-800-7084 or go to Site http://www.fathercorapi.com
In this four part series 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 this four part series on topics more timely than ever.
The four titles are:  1. The Real War We Fight 2. The Battle for Hearts & Minds 3. Leadership: Essential for Victory 4. With the Moon Under Her Feet
2010     LOCATION     THEME/TITLE
May 1, 2010     Chaifetz Arena
St. Louis, MO     Be Not Afraid, There Is Truth     Metrotix
1-314-534-1111  1-800-293-5949
June 12, 2010     Fox Cities Performing Arts Center
Appelton, WI     To Be Announced     SOLD OUT!
July 17, 2010     Cintas Center
Cincinnati, OH     The Social Teachings of the Church     The Catholic Shop
1-513-561-4333
Ticketmaster
1-513-745-3411
August 7, 2010     AT&T Center
San Antonio, TX     Life, Love, and the Purpose of Our Existence     Event Info
Ticketmaster
AT&T Center
1-800-745-3000
October 30, 2010     The Prudential Center
Newark, NJ     Spiritual Warfare     To Be Announced
Church to Proclaim 6 Saints in October Including Australian Mary MacKillop
VATICAN CITY, FEB. 19, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI announced today at an ordinary public consistory for the canonisation of blesseds that the Church will proclaim six saints later this year.  The announcement of the Oct. 17 canonizations was a particularly awaited moment in the Holy See, as demonstrated by the presence of 37 cardinals, archbishops and bishops.
 
Archbishop Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes presented a biographical profile of the six blesseds, and then the Holy Father asked the cardinals, archbishops and bishops present, for their opinion on the canonizations proposed.
 
After giving their assent, Benedict XVI presided over the prayer for the Church, invoking the presence of the Trinity in the life of the people of God. The invocation ended with the singing of the Our Father.
 
Those to be canonized include: 
-- Blessed Stanislaw Soltys, called Kazimierczyk, professed priest of the Canons Regular of the Lateran, born Sept. 27, 1433 in Kazimierz (Poland) and died in the same place May 3, 1489;

 -- Blessed André Bessette (born Alfred), religious of the Congregation of the Holy Cross; born in Saint-Grégoire d'Iberville, Canada, Aug. 9, 1845, and died in Montreal, Canada, Jan. 6, 1937;

Montreal's "Miracle Man" to Be Canonized   Brother André Called a Witness of Faith and Love
OTTAWA, Canada, FEB. 22, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The bishops of Canada are calling the announcement of the canonization of Blessed André Bessette -- known as the "miracle man of Montreal" -- as a moment to rejoice.

Bishop Pierre Morissette of Saint-Jérôme, president of the Canadian episcopal conference, wrote this Friday in a statement released after Benedict XVI announced that Brother André Bessette (1845-1937), a religious of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, would be canonized Oct. 17.  "Brother André lived his life with great humility. Guided by a deep faith and devotion to Saint Joseph, he dedicated his life to praying, serving the poor, welcoming strangers, healing the sick and comforting the suffering," the bishop said. "To this day, his memory remains an important witness to all Canadians of faith and love.  May the canonization of Brother André be a moment of rejoicing throughout our country," he addded. "May his legacy remind us of what each of us can achieve through faith and love."

A press statement from Father Edwin Obermiller, assistant provincial of the congregation's Indiana Province, noted that Brother André will be the first member of the Congregation of Holy Cross to be canonized.  The order of priests and brothers, founded in France by Blessed Basil Moreau in 1832, is best known in the United States for its role in founding the University of Notre Dame.

Good news
Father Hugh Cleary, superior general of the Congregation of Holy Cross, commented, "What a grace for our religious family, to count among its ranks such a model of the Christian life offered to the world, a true inspiration for a welcoming, compassionate presence. Such good news!"
Alfred Bessette was born in 1845 in Saint-Grégoire d'Iberville, near Montreal, and joined the Congregation of the Holy Cross in 1874. He worked as a door keeper and barber at a school in Montreal, where he earned a reputation as a healer and miracle-worker.  "Bessette’s biographers recount tales of crippled rheumatics healed and fever-stricken schoolboys made suddenly well, often aided by 'St. Joseph's oil,' a mixture that Bessette rubbed on wounds and sick limbs after burning it under a statue of the saint," Father Obermiller recounted.  "Rooted in his devotion to St. Joseph and motivated by his compassion, Brother André dedicated his life to comforting those in greatest need," the priest added.

Pope John Paul II praised the brother as "a man of prayer and a friend of the poor, a truly astonishing man."
Brother André died in 1937, at the age of 91. He is buried at St. Joseph's Oratory in Montreal, which he founded in 1904.  He was declared venerable in 1978, and beatified in 1982.
Brother André will be canonized alongside Australian Mother Mary MacKillop, the founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, Stanislaw Soltys, a 15th-century Polish priest; Italian nuns Giulia Salzano and Battista Varano, and Spanish nun Candida Maria de Jesus Cipitria y Barriola.

 -- Blessed Candida Maria of Jesus, baptized Juana Josefa Cipitria y Barriola, founder of the Congregation of Daughters of Jesus, born in the hamlet of Berrospe, Andoain, Guipuzcoa, Spain, on May 31, 1845 and died on August 9, 1912.

 -- Blessed Mary of the Cross MacKillop (baptized Mary Helen), founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart; born on January 15, 1842 in Fitzroy, Australia, and died on August 8, 1909 in Sydney, Australia;
Canonization Date Set for Australia's 1st Saint  Cardinal Pell Calls Mary MacKillop a "Role Model"
SYDNEY, Australia, FEB. 19, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The Church in Australia is celebrating as Benedict XVI announced that Blessed Mary MacKillop will soon be proclaimed as the country's first saint.  The news was confirmed this morning at an ordinary public consistory for the canonisation of blesseds, which annonced that Mother MacKillop and five others will be proclaimed saints on Oct. 17 in Rome.   
Cardinal George Pell, the archbishop of Sydney, commented in a press statement that he was delighted with the news.
"Mary MacKillop stands at the heart of the Catholic tradition," he said. "She had great ability to forgive and showed immense loyalty not only to her fellow sisters but to the Church leadership which did not always treat her well.  Yet Mary was a very normal person and a great role model for all Australians. Mary MacKillop is a very worthy saint for Australia, an important first for all of us," the cardinal added.
 
Australia's prime minister, Kevin Rudd, commented that the sainthood of Mother MacKillop is "deeply significant" and "an inspiration" for all Australians.  He called her "an extraordinary figure in Australian history" who, through her work in education and attending to the needs of the poor, "changed the course of many young Australians lives.  This is a deeply significant announcement for the five million Australians of Catholic faith, and for all Australians whether of Catholic faith or not," the prime minister said.

Founder
Mary MacKillop, born in Victoria in 1842, founded the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, which established schools and charitable organizations across Australia and was devoted to the care of orphans, neglected children, the homeless, sick and elderly. She died in 1909.  Pope John Paul II beatified Sister MacKillop in 1995, saying she embodied the best of Australia and its people.  He noted her "genuine openness to others, hospitality to strangers, generosity to the needy, justice to those unfairly treated, perseverance in the face of adversity, kindness and support to the suffering."

In 2008, Sister MacKillop was a key patron of the World Youth Day hosted by Sydney, Australia. Ahead of the international youth event, the government honored the nun by featuring her on a collector's coin. The Archdiocese of Sydney revealed that Harvest Pilgrimages has been appointed the Official Canonisation Tour Operator by the Sisters of St Joseph, the Archdiocese of Sydney and the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference responsible for managing the movement of pilgrims to Rome.  Harvest's Managing Director, Philip Ryall, is preparing for the likelihood of several thousand pilgrims who will travel to Rome for the event.  "This will be without doubt one of the great moments in our nation's history. What a privilege to assist the faithful to be there and experience this with their own eyes," he said in a statement released by the archdiocese.
As the Canonisation Travel Office, Harvest will also be responsible for the coordination of canonisation tickets for Australian pilgrims into a specially partitioned area in St. Peter's Square.

 -- Blessed Giulia Salzano, founder of the Congregation of the Catechetical Sisters of the Sacred Heart; born Oct. 13, 1846, in Santa Maria Capua Vetere, Italy, and died May 17, 1929, in Casoria, Italy;

 -- Blessed Camilla Battista da Varano, sister of the Poor Clares and founder of the monastery of St. Clare in Camerino; born April 0, 1458, in Camerino, Italy, and died in the same city May 31, 1524.
Princess on Earth, Saint in Heaven Canonization Comes After 100-Year Delay
By Carmen Elena Villa ROME, FEB. 23, 2010 (Zenit.org).

The nuns of the Poor Clare convent nestled in the eastern Italian town of Camerino are expecting the canonization of a princess of the region to have universal repercussions.

Last Friday, Benedict XVI approved the Oct. 17 canonization of Blessed Camilla Battista da Varano, who founded the convent in Camerino. After the announcement, the bells of the convent rang out at noon and the sisters held a vigil of prayer in thanksgiving.

“We are certain that the canonization will have universal breadth,” Mother Chiara Laura Seroboli, abbess of the convent of St. Clare of Camerino, wrote in a letter sent to ZENIT. “[...] In fact, the last canonization that the region of Las Marcas recalls was that of St. Maria Goretti, 60 years ago, an event that, despite the fact that there was not the quantity of media that exist now, had a grandiose resonance.”
 
Both the abbess as well as the provincial minister of the brothers, Father Valentino Natalini, have established an organizing committee to promote events and initiatives to spread awareness about the saint in parishes and schools, and among young people, families and associations.

Camilla da Varano (1458-1524) was born to Giulio Cesare, the prince of Camerino. She spent her youth enjoying social life, studying Latin, law, painting and horseback, and basking in the surroundings of a sumptuous palace.  In her autobiography, Camilla recounts that when she was 9 years old she heard a homily on Good Friday in which Brother Domenico da Leonessa asked those present to shed at least one tear every Friday out of love for Jesus. She took it as a vow to follow all her life.  Early in her youth she intuited a vocation to the religious life, but it was hard for her to accept. Once she decided to abandon herself into God's hands and saw clearly that he was calling her, her father opposed the decision, wishing her to marry. She succeeded in overcoming the obstacles to her vocation and at 23, entered the convent of St. Clare in Urbino.
 
“Lord, make me always praise, bless, and glorify you with my life and edify my brothers,” the future saint wrote.  Two years later Camilla made her religious profession, taking the name Sister Battista, together with eight sisters of Urbino. She then entered the new convent of Camerino.  Her father and her brothers were killed in a persecution her family suffered in 1502. Camilla was obliged to take refuge in Atri, a small town of the Abruzzi region, in southern Italy.
 
In 1505, Pope Julius II sent her to found a convent in Fermo, and in 1521 and 1522 she traveled to San Severino delle Marche to form the local religious who in that period had adopted the rule of St. Clare.  “Serve him out of pure love because he is the Lord who alone merits to be served, loved and praised by every creature” she wrote.

Camilla had a number of mystical experiences, reflected in her numerous writings, in which she reveals her ardent love for the crucified Christ.  She died May 31, 1524, during a plague.  “You have resurrected me in You, true life who give life to all the living,” wrote Camilla.

Her body is kept and exposed for devotion in a crypt dedicated to her in the church of the convent of Camerino.
 
The miracle which took place for her canonization occurred in 1877: the cure of a girl called Celia Ottaviane in Camerino, who suffered from rickets. Blessed Camilla's cause for canonization was then delayed for about 100 years due to problems with the original postulator. It was taken up again in 1998 and last December, Benedict XVI signed the decree approving the miracle for her canonization.
 
Camilla's works have been compiled and are being republished because of her canonization: "Memories of Jesus," "The Mental Pains of the Passion of Jesus," "Autobiography," "Instructions to the Disciple," "Treatise on the Painting of the Heart," and "Considerations on the Passion of Our Lord."
Father José Tous 1811-1871:  Capuchins Priest Who Died Celebrating Mass to Be Beatified He will be beatified in Spain on April 25.
Founded Order of Sisters Dedicated to Education
By Carmen Elena Villa ROME, FEB. 25, 2010 (Zenit.org).

- It is said that the life of Father José Tous was a continuous Mass. Perhaps that is why he was called to heaven precisely as he celebrated Mass, right after the consecration.  This reflection is made by the postulator of Father Tous' cause for canonization, Capuchin Father Alfonso Ramirez Peralbo.  Father Tous died in 1871 in the chapel of the Capuchin college in Barcelona.

José Tous was born in Igualada, Barcelona, in 1811, and joined the Capuchins at age 16. His preparation for the priesthood was intense, silent and abnegated. He was ordained in 1834.  A year later, his priesthood met with one of its harshest trials: In the midst of the political and social conflict of 19th century Spain, Father Tous was forced to flee his country.
For several months he traveled on the Mediterranean coast, going to the north of Italy. In 1837 he arrived in France and established himself in the Benedictine convent of Toulouse. There he dedicated himself to contemplation and Eucharistic Adoration, as well as to the spiritual assistance of the young religious.
 
He returned to Catalonia in 1843, beginning to work in the local Church as a secular priest, given that he was unable to practice conventual life or dress in the Capuchin habit. Because of this, he lived with his parents and worked in several parishes close by.  Father Tous thus discovered he had a particular love for education; his postulator likened it to the attitude of "Jesus before the crowd, who felt compassion because the sheep were without a shepherd."

Shepherds
Father Tous found this same inspiration in three girls he knew, and thus was born the Congregation of the Capuchin Sisters of the Mother of the Divine Shepherd.  The first community was established at Ripoll in March of 1850, and on May 27 of the same year the first school was opened.  Father Tous exhorted the sisters to "strew in children's hearts holy thoughts and devoted affections that God communicated to them in prayer.  He lived his donation to God and his consecration to the sisters with his spirit placed in the Good Shepherd, and he said that it was necessary to treat the children with maternal affection," Father Ramirez told ZENIT.
 
Now the Capuchin Sisters of the Mother of the Divine Shepherd have communities in various regions of Spain and in Latin America. 
Father Ramirez suggested the life of the future blessed is a good model during this Year for Priests, "because of his burning faith that he lived daily without wishing to be striking."
 
To eternity 
At the moment of his death, Father Tous had no terminal illness. But, his postulator explained, it is believed that because of the tensions he had to face, he suffered from extreme physical exhaustion, to the point of dying during the Mass. Precisely after the consecration, he genuflected and fell to the ground.  The parish priest of San Francesco di Paola went to pick up his lifeless body and to finish the Mass. 
"The life of saints arouses wonder because we see how the grace of God is able to accomplish these admirable works before our very eyes," Father Ramirez reflected. "The way is open for all those who wish to follow him with sincerity of heart as Father Tous did."
Stanislaw Soltys, -- called Casimiritano Sept. 27, 1433 - May 3, 1489 Cause Promoted by Cardinal Wojtyla Reaches End
15th Century Polish Religious to Be Canonized in October
ROME, FEB. 24, 2010 (Zenit.org)

A 15th century member of the Lateran Canons Regular has been revered as a saint for hundreds of years, but it was the future Pope John Paul II who would encourage his canonization cause.  Stanislaw -- called Casimiritano because he was born in Casimiria -- will be canonized Oct. 17. Benedict XVI approved his canonization last Friday.

Born in 1433 to a devout family, Stanislaw would enter the Lateran Canons Regular of Corpus Christi at age 26.  He was marked by his devotion to the Passion, to Our Lady, and to his patron, St. Stanislaw. The Eucharist was the center point of his spirituality. People were drawn to his explanations of Scripture, and went to him for confession and spiritual direction.  Stanislaw served as novice master for his order, defending future priests from the heresies prominent at the time.

Though he left a number of spiritual writings, the last manuscript with his homilies was destroyed in World War II.
Stanislaw died in Casimiria in 1489, at the age of 56.
The fame of his sanctity grew after his death, particularly as reports spread of graces obtained at his tomb.

In the 18th century, the idea of approving devotion to Blessed Stanislaw gained ground, however the cause was only opened in 1971, under the urging of the then archbishop of Krakow, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla.
DEC. 19, 2009 Decrees of Vatican's Saint Congregation Testify to 10 Miracles; 10 Cases of Heroic Virtue; 1 Martyrdom
VATICAN CITY, DEC. 19, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here are the 21 decrees of the Congregation for Saints' Causes approved today by Benedict XVI.  Five of the decrees are for miracles attributed to those who are beatified, and are now qualified for canonization. Five decrees are for miracles attributed to those who are venerable, and are now qualified for beatification.
One decree testifies to martyrdom, and another is a decree of the heroic virtue of a blessed. The nine remaining decrees testify to the heroic virtue of servants of God.
[Decrees of miracles for blesseds]
-- a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Stanislaw Soltys, called Kazimierczyk, professed priest of the Canons Regular of the Lateran, born Sept. 27, 1433 in Kazimierz (Poland) and died in the same place May 3, 1489;
-- a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed André Bessette (born Alfred), religious of the Congregation of the Holy Cross; born in Saint-Grégoire d'Iberville, Canada, Aug. 9, 1845, and died in Montreal, Canada, Jan. 6, 1937.
-- a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Mary MacKillop (born Mary Helen), founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart; born Jan. 15, 1842 in Fitzroy, Australia, and died Aug. 8, 1909, in Sydney, Australia;
-- a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Giulia Salzano, founder of the Congregation of the Catechetical Sisters of the Sacred Heart; born Oct. 13, 1846, in Santa Maria Capua Vetere, Italy, and died May 17, 1929, in Casoria, Italy;
-- a miracle attributed to the intercession of Camilla Battista da Varano, sister of the Poor Clares and founder of the monastery of St. Clare in Camerino; born April 0, 1458, in Camerino, Italy, and died in the same city May 31, 1524;
[Decrees of miracles for venerables]
-- a miracle attributed to the intercession of Venerable José Tous y Soler, priest and professed of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin and founder of the Congregation of the Capuchin Sisters of the Mother of the Divine Pastor; born March 21, 1811, in Igualada, Spain, and died Feb. 21, 1871, in Barcelona, Spain.
-- a miracle attributed to the intercession of Venerable Leopoldo de Alpandeire Sánchez Márquez (born Francisco), a professed brother of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin; born July 24, 1866, in Alpandeire, Spain, and died Feb. 9, 1956, in Granada, Spain.
-- a miracle attributed to the intercession of Venerable Manuel Lozano Garrido, a layman; born Aug. 9, 1920, in Linares, Spain, and died in the same city Nov. 3, 1971;
-- a miracle attributed to the intercession of Venerable Teresa Manganiello, a laywoman, of the Third Order of St. Francis; born in Montefusco, Italy, Jan. 1, 1849, and died Nov. 4, 1876;
-- a miracle attributed to the intercession of Venerable Chiara Badano, lay; born in Sassello, Italy, Oct. 29, 1971, and died Oct. 7, 1990;
[Decree recognizing marytrdom]
-- the martyrdom of the Servant of God Jerzy Popieluszko, diocesan priest; born Sept. 14, 1947, in Okopy Suchowola, Poland, and killed for hatred of the faith Oct. 20, 1984, near Wloclawek, Polond;
[Decree recognizing heroic virtue of a blessed]
-- the heroic virtue of Blessed Giacomo Illirico da Bitetto, a professed brother of the Order of the Friars Minor, born in 1400 in Zara, Dalmacia, and died around the year 1496 in Bitetto, Italy;
[Decrees recognizing heroic virtue for servants of God]
-- the heroic virtues of Servant of God Pius XII (Eugenio Pacelli), supreme pontiff; born in Rome on March 2, 1876, and died in Castel Gandolfo on Oct. 9, 1958;
-- the heroic virtues of Servant of God John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla), supreme pontiff; born May 18, 1920, in Wadowice, Poland, and died in April 2, 2005, in Rome;
-- the heroic virtues of Servant of God Louis Brisson, priest and founder of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales; born June 23, 1817, in Plancy, France, and died n the same city Feb. 2, 1908;
-- the heroic virtues of Servant of God Giuseppe Quadrio, professed priest of the Salesians of St. John Bosco; born Nov. 28, 1921, in Vervio, Italy, and died in Turin, Italy, Oct. 23, 1963;
-- the heroic virtues of Servant of God Mary Ward, founder of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, born in Mulwith, England, Jan. 23, 1585, and died in Hewarth, England, Jan. 30, 1645;
Father Giuseppe Quadrio (1921-63), a Salesian.
Sister Mary Ward (1545-1615), an Englishwoman who founded the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Loreto Sisters).
-- the heroic virtues of Servant of God Antonia Maria Verna, founder of the Sisters of Charity of the Immaculate Conception of Ivrea; born in Pasquaro di Rivarolo, Italy, June 12, 1773, and died in the same city Dec. 25, 1838;
-- the heroic virtues of Servant of God Maria Chiara Serafina de Jesús Farolfi (born Francisca), founder of the Missionary Franciscan Clarists of the Blessed Sacrament; born Oct. 7, 1853, in Tossignano, Italy, and died June 18, 1917, in Badia di Bertinoro, Italia;
-- the heroic virtues of Servant of God Enrica Alfieri (born Maria Angela), professed religious of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Charity of St. Juana Antide Thouret; born Feb. 23, 1891, in Borgovercelli, Italy, and died in Milan, Italy, on Nov. 23, 1951;
-- the heroic virtues of Servant of God Giunio Tinarelli, layman, member of the Silent Workers of the Cross, born in Terni, Italy, May 27, 1912, and died in the same city Jan. 14, 1956.
DECREES OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE CAUSES OF SAINTS
VATICAN CITY, 17 JAN 2009 (VIS) - Today, during a private audience with Archbishop Angelo Amato S.D.B., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Pope authorised the congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
All Servants of God
MIRACLES:
- 1909 Ciriaco Maria Sancha y Hervas, Spanish cardinal archbishop of Toledo, founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of
          Charity of Cardinal Sancha (1833-1909).
- 1956 Carlo Gnocchi, Italian diocesan priest and founder of the "Pro Juventute" Foundation (1902-1956).
- 1735 Bernardo Francisco de Hoyos, Spanish professed priest of the Company of Jesus (1711-1735).
- 1919 Raphael Rafiringa (ne Louis), Madagascan professed religious of the Institute of Brothers of Christian Schools
          (1856-1919).
- 1946 Eustachio Kugler, (ne Joseph), German professed religious of the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God (1867-1946).
 
HEROIC VIRTUES
- 1659 Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, Spanish bishop of Osma (1600-1659).
- 1888 Robert Spiske, diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of Sisters of St. Hedwig (1821-1888).
- 1932 Carolina Beltrami, Italian foundress of the Institute of "Immaculatine" Sisters of Alessandria (1869-1932).
- 1998 Mary of the Immaculate e Conception Salvat y Romerio (nee Maria Isabella), Spanish superior general of the Institute of
          Sisters of the Company of the Cross (1926-1998).
- 1842 Liberata Ferrarons y Vives, Spanish laywoman of the Third Order of Carmelites (1803-1842).
  In the course of a private audience with Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. on 22 December 2008, the Pope authorised the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate a decree regarding the heroic virtues of
1871 Jose Tous y Soler, Servant of God Spanish professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchins and founder of the
        Capuchin sisters of the Mother of the Divine Shepherd (1811-1871).
CSS/DECREES/AMATO VIS 090119 (320)
RITES OF BEATIFICATION APPROVED BY THE HOLY FATHER VATICAN CITY, 8 SEP 2009 (VIS)
The Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff today announced that the following rites of beatification,
approved by the Holy Father, will take place over the coming months:
- Servant of God Eustachio Kugler (ne Joseph), German professed religious of the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God: at 2 p.m. on Sunday 4 October in the cathedral of Regensburg, Germany.
- Servant of God Ciriaco Maria Sancha y Hervas, Spanish cardinal and archbishop, founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Cardinal Sancha, at 10 a.m. on Sunday 18 October in the cathedral of Toledo, Spain.
- Servant of God Carlo Gnocchi, Italian diocesan priest and founder of the "Pro Juventute" Foundation: at 10 a.m. on Sunday 25 October in the Piazza del Duomo in Milan, Italy.
- Servant of God Zoltan Lajos Meszlenyi, Hungarian bishop and martyr: at 10.30 a.m. on Saturday 31 October in the cathedral of Esztergom, Hungary.
- Servant of God Maria Alfonsina Danil Ghattas (nee Soultaneh Maria), co-foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary of Jerusalem: at 10.30 a.m. on Sunday 22 November, Solemnity of Christ the King, in the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, Israel. OCL/BEATIFICATIONS/... VIS 090908 (220)

Holy Land Christians Welcome Beatification Maria Alfonsina Danil Ghattas to Be Named Blessed in Nazareth  JERUSALEM, SEPT. 10, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Holy Land Christians are rejoicing over the forthcoming beatification, the first to take place in their country, of Maria Alfonsina Danil Ghattas, which is planned for Nov. 22 in Nazareth.
 
Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Custos of the Holy Land, affirmed this Wednesday, the day after the Holy See publicized the place and date of the beatification. The Vatican communiqué reported that "Mother Ghattas," born Soultaneh Maria, co- founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary of Jerusalem, will be beatified on the solemnity of Christ the King in the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth. Father Pizzaballa told the Italian agency Sir that this celebration will be "an important event, which will bring the Palestinian Christian community together again after Benedict XVI's visit."  He explained, "This beatification gives local Christians a symbol and spiritual example at a difficult time, in which their number is diminishing, with so many challenges such as secularization, formation and the political problems that continue unresolved."
 
Mother Ghattas' spiritual daughters, the Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary, were very enthusiastic when the news was made public. Sister Ildefonsa, secretary general of the congregation, explained to Sir that not only her congregation but the whole Christian community, especially in Galilee have been preparing for a long time. She stated, "We have sent a letter from the congregation to all the convents spread across the Middle East, so that they will pray and fast faced to the beatification."
 
The beatification "will be, for our Christian communities, an invitation to courage, to stay despite the difficulties," the nun added. "On our part we intend to give them education and instruction." 
Daughter of Palestine 
Ghattas was born on October 4, 1843 in Jerusalem. She entered religious life at age 14, with the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition, taking the name Alfonsina. She had visions of the Virgin Mary, who requested that she found a congregation dedicated to the Holy Rosary. In 1880, together with Father Joseph Tannous, she initiated the new religious community, which soon spread all over the Holy Land. The Custos of the Holy Land stated that Mother Ghattas was "a daughter of Palestine who lived in the Holy Land and who understood the importance of instruction and formation to give Christian witness in this tormented region of the world."
HOLY FATHER TO CANONISE FIVE BLESSEDS ON 11 OCTOBER
VATICAN CITY, 1 OCT 2009 (VIS) - At 10 a.m. on Sunday 11 October the Holy Father will celebrate Mass in St. Peter's Square, during which he will canonise five blesseds, according to a communique released today by the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff.
  The five future saints are: Zygmunt Szczesny Felinski (1822-1895), Polish former archbishop of Warsaw and founder of the Congregation of Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary; Francesc Coll y Guitart (1812-1875), Spanish professed priest of the Order of Friars Preachers and founder of the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Jozef Damian de Veuster (1840-1889), Belgian professed priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and of the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar (PICPUS); Blessed Rafael Arnaiz Baron (1911-1938), Spanish oblate friar of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, and Mary of the Cross Jugan (nee Jeanne) (1792-1879), French virgin and foundress of the Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Poor.
OCL/CANONISATIONS/... VIS 091001 (190)
CONSISTORY ON SEVERAL CAUSES OF CANONISATION  VATICAN CITY, 12 FEB 2010 (VIS)
 In the Consistory Hall of the Vatican Apostolic Palace at 11 a.m. on Friday 19 February, an ordinary public consistory will be held for the canonisation of the following Blesseds:
 - Stanislao Soltys, called Kazimierczyk, Polish professed religious of the Order of Canons Regular Lateranense (1433-1489).
- Andre Bessette (ne Alfred), Canadian professed religious of the Congregation of the Holy Cross (1845-1937).
- Candida Maria de Jesus Cipitria y Barriola (nee Juana Josefa), Spanish founder of the Congregation of the Daughters of Jesus (1845-1912).
- Mary of the Cross MacKillop (nee Mary Helen), Australian foundress of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart (1842-1909).
- Giulia Salzano, Italian foundress of the Congregation of Sisters Catechists of the Sacred Heart (1846-1929).
- Battista da Varano (nee Camilla), professed nun of the Order of Poor Clares and foundress of the monastery of St. Clare in the Italian town of Camerino (1458-1524). OCL/CONSISTORY CANONISATION/. VIS 100212 (170)
DECREES OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE CAUSES OF SAINTS  VATICAN CITY, 27 MAR 2010 (VIS)
Today, during a private audience with Archbishop Angelo Amato S.D.B., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Pope authorised the congregation to promulgate the following decrees:

 MIRACLES
 - Blessed Bonifacia Rodriguez Castro, Spanish foundress of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters, Servants of St. Joseph (1837-1905).
  - Servant of God Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, Spanish bishop of Osma (1600-1659).
 - Servant of God Maria Barbara of the Blessed Trinity (nee Barbara Maix), Austrian foundress of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (1818-1873).
 - Servant of God Anna Maria Adorni, Italian foundress of the Congregation of Handmaidens of Blessed Mary Immaculate and of the Institute of the Good Shepherd of Parma (1805-1893).
 - Servant of God Mary of the Immaculate Conception (nee Maria Isabella Salvat y Romero), Spanish superior general of the Institute of Sisters of the Company of the Cross (1926-1998).
 - Servant of God Stephen Nehme (ne Joseph), Lebanese professed religious of the Order of Maronites (1889-1938).

MARTYRDOM
 - Servant of God Szilard Bogdanffy, Romanian bishop of Oradea Mare of the Latins, died in prison in Nagyenyed, Romania (1911-1953).
 - Servant of God Gerhard Hirschfelder, German diocesan priest, died in Dachau concentration camp (1907-1942).
 - Servant of God Luigi Grozde, Slovenian layman and member of Catholic Action, killed at Mirna in hatred of the faith (1923-1943).

HEROIC VIRTUES
 - Servant of God Francesco Antonio Marcucci, Italian archbishop-bishop of Montalto (1717-1798).
 - Servant of God Ivan Franjo Gnidovec, Slovenian bishop of Skopje-Prizren, (1873-1939).
 - Servant of God Luigi Novarese, Italian diocesan priest and founder of the Silent Workers of the Cross (1914-1984).
 - Servant of God Henriette DeLille, American foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family (1813-1862).
 - Servant of God Maria Theresia (nee Regina Christine Wilhelmine Bonzel), German foundress of the Institute of Poor Franciscan Sisters of the Perpetual Adoration, of the Third Order of St. Francis (1830-1905).
 - Servant of God Maria Frances of the Cross (nee Franziska Amalia Streitel), German foundress of the Institute of Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows (1844-1911).
 - Servant of God Maria Felicia of Sacramental Jesus (nee Maria Felicia Guggiari Echevarria), Paraguayan professed sister of the Order of Discalced Carmelites. (1925-1959).   CSS/DECREES/AMATO VIS 100329 (390)
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Today we commemorate the Life-Giving Spring of the Most Holy Theotokos.
There once was a beautiful church in Constantinople dedicated to the Mother of God, which had been built in the fifth century by the holy Emperor Leo the Great (January 20) in the Seven Towers district.  Before becoming emperor, Leo was walking in a wooded area where he met a blind man who was thirsty and asked Leo to help him find water. Though he agreed to search for water, he was unable to find any. Suddenly, he heard a voice telling him that there was water nearby. He looked again, but still could not find the water. Then he heard the voice saying "Emperor Leo, go into the deepest part of the woods, and you will find water there. Take some of the cloudy water in your hands and give it to the blind man to drink.Then take the clay and put it on his eyes. Then you shall know who I am." Leo obeyed these instructions, and the blind man regained his sight. Later, St Leo became emperor, just as the Theotokos had prophesied.
Leo built a church over the site at his own expense, and the water continued to work miraculous cures. Therefore, it was called "The Life-Giving Spring."

After the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, the church was torn down by the Moslems, and the stones were used to build a mosque. Only a small chapel remained at the site of the church. Twenty-five steps led down into the chapel, which had a window in the roof to let the light in. The holy Spring was still there, surrounded by a railing.
After the Greek Revolution in 1821, even this little chapel was destroyed and the Spring was buried under the rubble. Christians later obtained permission to rebuild the chapel, and work began in July of 1833. While workmen were clearing the ground, they uncovered the foundations of the earlier church. The Sultan allowed them to build not just a chapel, but a new and beautiful church on the foundations of the old one.
Construction began on September 14, 1833, and was completed on December 30, 1834. Patriarch Constantine II consecrated the church on February 2, 1835, dedicating it to the Most Holy Theotokos.
The Turks desecrated and destroyed the church again on September 6, 1955. A smaller church now stands on the site, and the waters of the Life-Giving Spring continue to work miracles.

There is also a Life-Giving Spring Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos which is commemorated on April 4.
KONTAKION Tone 8 O most favored by God, you confer on me the healing of your grace from your inexhaustible Spring. Therefore, since you gave birth incomprehensibly to the Word, I implore you to refresh me with the dew of your grace that I might cry to you: Hail, O Water of salvation.

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.






























593 The Commemoration of the Great Prophet Ezekiel, the son of Buzi.
On this day the great prophet Ezekiel the son of Buzi departed.
This righteous man was a priest, and Nebuchadnezzar exiled him with king Jehoiachin to Babylon.
There in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar, the spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he prophesied about wondrous things for twenty two years.
 
He spoke concerning the birth of the Lord Christ by the Lady the Virgin St. Mary and how after she had borne Him, she would remain a virgin:
"Then He brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary which faces toward the east, but it was shut. And the LORD said to me,
"This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, because the LORD God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut" (Ezekiel 44:1-2).

He prophesied concerning the baptism that sanctify the soul of the man and his body, soften his stony heart, and make him a son of God by the descent of the Holy Spirit upon him. He admonished the priests for their forsaken the teaching of the people, warning them that God will ask for their souls from them if they neglect teaching them. He prophesied concerning the common resurrection and the rising of the bodies with their souls, and about their rewards for whatever they deserve. He said many useful sayings which are of benefit to those who read them, and God manifested through him many signs and great wonders. When the children of Israel worshipped idols in Babylon, he rebuked them and their leaders rose up and killed him. They buried him in the tomb of Shem and Arphaxad.
May his prayers be with us. Amen
The Prophet Ezekiel ("God is strong") was the son of Buzi and a priest by rank.
He was taken captive and brought to Babylon during the reign of Jechonias. In the fifth year of this captivity, about 594 or 593 B.C., he began to prophesy.

Having prophesied for about twenty-eight years, he was murdered, it is said, by the tribe of Gad, because he reproached them for their idolatry.

His book of prophecy, divided into forty-eight chapters, is ranked third among the greater Prophets. It is richly filled with mystical imagery and marvelous prophetic visions and allegories, of which the dread Chariot of Cherubim described in the first Chapter is the most famous; in the

"gate that was shut," through which the Lord alone entered, he darkly foretold of the Word's Incarnation from the Virgin (44:1-3); through the "dry bones" that came to life again (37:1-14), he prophesied both of the restoration of captive Israel, and the general resurrection of our race.
150 or 170 or 250 St. Carpus martyred in Pergamos with others bishop of Gurdos, Lydia
Papylus, Agathonica, Agathodorus. Carpus was the bishop of Gurdos, Lydia. Papylus was a deacon. Agathonica was a mother and Papylus’ sister, and Agathodorus was their servant They were martyred in Pergamos.Agathonica, Papylus (Pamfilus), Carpus & Companions MM (RM)

170 OR 250 SS. CARPUS, PAPYLUS AND AGATHONICE, MARTYRS
IN the reign either of Marcus Aurelius or of Decius, a bishop, Carpus, from Gurdos in Lydia, and Papylus, a deacon from Thyateira, were together brought before the Roman governor at Pergamos in Asia Minor. Carpus, when he was asked his name, replied, “My first and noblest name is that of Christian: but if you want to know my worldly name, it is Carpus”. The proconsul invited him to offer sacrifice. “I am a Christian”, replied the prisoner. “I worship Christ, the Son of God, who came in these latter times to save us and who has delivered us from the snares of the Devil. I do not sacrifice to idols like these.” The governor ordered him to obey the emperor’s commands without more ado. “The gods that have not made heaven and earth shall perish”, protested Carpus, quoting from the prophet Jeremias, and he declared that the living do not sacrifice to the dead. “Do you think the gods are dead?” asked the magistrate. “They were never even living men that they should die”, retorted the martyr, when he was cut short and delivered to the torturers to be strung up and flayed.
The governor then cross-examined Papylus, who said he was a citizen of Thyateira. “Have you any children?” “Yes, many.” A bystander explained that this was a Christian mode of speech and that he meant that he had children according to the faith. “I have children according to God in every city and province”, insisted the deacon.. “Will you sacrifice or will you not?” asked the proconsul impatiently; and Papylus made reply, “I have served God from my youth and have never sacrificed to idols. I am a Christian and that is the only answer you will get from me—there is nothing greater or nobler that I could say.” He also was hung up and tortured. When it became evident that nothing could shake their fortitude, they were condemned to be burnt at the stake.  Papylus was the first to pass to his reward. As Carpus was fastened to the stake there came over his face an expression of such great joy that a bystander asked him what he was smiling at he replied, “I saw the glory of God and was glad”. ”.[ * Another version attributes these words to Papylus.] When the flames were leaping up, he cried aloud with his dying breath, “Blessed art thou Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, because thou hast deigned to give to me, a sinner, this part with thee.”
Then the governor had the God-fearing Agathonice brought before him, and she too refused to sacrifice to the gods. The bystanders urged her to spare herself and remember her children; but she answered, “My children have God, and He will look after them”. The proconsul threatened her with a death like the others, but Agathonice remained unmoved. So she too was taken to the place of execution, and when her clothing was removed the crowd marvelled at her beauty.  As the fire was kindled, Agathonice exclaimed, “Help me, Lord Jesus Christ, since I must hear this for thee”. And as she prayed thus a third time her spirit departed.
  These simple martyr-acts rank as belonging to almost the highest class of those which are preserved to us. One has, however, to add “almost”, for, as the texts published by Pio Franchi de’ Cavalieri in Studie Testi, no. 33 (1920) clearly show, all the existing recensions have undergone some process of retrenchment or amplification. Of the antiquity of the cult, the mention by Eusebius Hist. Eccles., iv, 15) and in the Syriac “Breviarium” (where the martyrs are spoken of as forming part of the older tradition) supplies adequate proof. We do not know for certain whether they belong to the time of Marcus Aurelius or of Decius. See upon the whole question the discussion by Delehaye in Les Passions des Martyrs et les genres littéraires, pp. 138-142, and the comments of Pio Franchi mentioned above. Cf. Harnack in Texte und Untersuchungen, vol. iii, n. 4; but the newly recovered Latin text rules out his hypothesis of a Montanist origin. This text, together with the two best Greek texts, is printed in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lviii (1940), pp. 142—176, introduced by Fr Delehaye.

Died at Pergamum c. 170 or 250. Eusebius (History of the Church, iv, 15) records that during the Decian persecution, Carpus, bishop of Gordus in Asia Minor; Papylus, deacon of Thyatira; Agathonica, the sister of Papylus; and Agathodorus, their servant, were arrested. They were brought before Valerius, the Roman governor at Pergamos in Asia Minor, examined three times, and required to sacrifice to the gods. The third time, Agathodorus, was scourged to death in front of his masters.
Still the Christians remained resolute. Carpus answered the proconsul Optimus:
"I am a Christian, I worship Christ, the Son of God, who came in these latter times for our salvation and delivered us from the snares of the devil. I will not sacrifice to such idols. The living do not sacrifice to the dead . . . (the gods) look like men, but they are unfeeling. Deprive them of your veneration . . . and they will be defiled by dogs and crows."
When the proconsul insisted, Carpus said:
"I have never before sacrificed to images that have no feeling or understanding . . . I have pity on myself, choosing as I do the better part."
Carpus was hung up to be tortured with iron claws that flayed the skin from his sides. He continued to answer steadfastly until the pain overcame his voice.
The attention of the judges turned next to Papylus, a wealthy father of many children according to his testimony. A bystander interpreted his words as "He means he has children in virtue of the faith of the Christians." Papylus agreed that this was correct. Like Carpus, he continued to refuse and was treated in the same fashion as the bishop. After a time of silent endurance, he said:
"I feel no pain because I have someone to comfort me: one whom you do not see suffers within me."
The last words of Carpus were:
"Blessed are You, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, because You judged me, a sinner, worthy to have this part in You!"
They refused to offer the oblations, and no arguments or ill treatment could overcome their resistance. They were therefore burnt alive in the amphitheater.
Saint Agathonica, a married woman, was admired by the crowd for her physical beauty. When they urged not to make her children motherless by her obstinacy, she replied, "God will look after them, but I will not obey your commands nor will I sacrifice to demons." She, too, went to the stake to be burnt to death. As the flames consumed her, she cried out: "Lord, Lord, Lord, help me, for I fly to You." The Christian witnesses came and took away the remains of the martyrs to cherish them.
Another version of the story relates that Agathonica was simply a woman in the crowd at the death of Carpus and Papylus, who was moved to share in their martyrdom, rather than the sister of the latter (Attwater, Attwater2, Benedictines, Coulson, Farmer, Husenbeth).
303 St. Maximus Martyr with his brothers Dadas Quintilian from Dorostorum (now Silistraia) on the Danube Bulgaria beheaded at Ozobia
Doróstori, in Mysia inferióre, pássio sanctórum Máximi, Quinctiliáni et Dadæ, in persecutióne Diocletiáni.
    At Silistria in Bulgaria, the passion of Saints Maximus, Quinctilian, and Dadas, during the persecution of Diocletian.
 They lived in Silistria on the Danube in Bulgaria until the time of their beheading by Roman authorities.

Maximus, Dadas & Quintilianus MM (RM) Maximus, Dadas, and Quintilianus, brothers from Dorostorum (now Silistraia) on the Danube, Bulgaria, were beheaded at Ozobia under Diocletian. Maximus was a lector (Benedictines).
303 The Hieromartyr Artemon was born of Christian parents in Laodicea, Syria many miracles talking animals etc. commemorated on March 24 on the Greek calendar.  in the first half of the third century. From his youth, he dedicated himself to the service of the Church. The saint served the Church as a a Reader for sixteen years.
For his zeal in Church services, Bishop Sisinius ordained him deacon. St Artemon also fulfilled this service with fervor and diligence for twenty-eight years, then he was ordained to the priesthood. In this position, St Artemon served the Church of God for thirty-three years, preaching Christianity among pagans. When the emperor Diocletian (284-305) began his fierce persecution against Christians, St Artemon was already old. The emperor issued an edict ordering Christians to offer sacrifice to idols.
Saint Sisinius, knowing of the impending arrival of the military commander Patricius in Laodicea, went with the priest Artemon and other Christians into the temple of the goddess Artemis.
There they smashed and burned the idols, reducing them all to dust.

Afterwards, St Sisinius and St Artemon gathered the flock into the church and fervently exhorted the Christians to remain firm in the Faith and not to fear the threats of torturers.  When he arrived in Laodicea, Patricius celebrated a five-day festival in honor of the pagan gods, and then went to the temple of Artemis to offer sacrifice. He learned who had destroyed the temple, and went with a detachment of soldiers to the church where the Christians were praying.   As he approached the church, Patricius suddenly felt a chill, and then developed a fever, which left him barely alive. They carried him home and put him to bed. "The Christians have put a curse on me, and their God torments me," he said to those about him. Although Patricius prayed to the idols, they did not relieve his sufferings. He sent a messenger to St Sisinius and asked for his help, promising to set up a gold statue of the bishop in the middle of the city.
The saint replied, "Keep your gold, but if you believe in Christ, He will heal you."

Patricius was afraid of dying, so he declared that he believed in Christ, and the affliction left him. But even this miracle did not affect the obdurate soul of the pagan. Although he did not touch St Sisinius, he did enforce the imperial edict against other Christians in the city of Caesarea.
Along the way he encountered St Artemon, who was followed by six wild donkeys and two deer.

When Patricius asked how he was able to control these wild beasts, St Artemon replied that he held them with the Word of Christ.   Patricius learned from the pagans that the old man was the same Artemon who had destroyed the pagan temple of Artemis. He ordered that Artemon be arrested and taken to the city of Caesarea. St Artemon went with the soldiers without fear, but he ordered the animals to go to St Sisinius.
Seeing the animals Bishop Sisinius asked, "Why have these animals come here?" A doe received the gift of speech from God and said, "The servant of God Artemon is being held by the impious Patricius, and is being brought to Caesarea in chains. He commanded us to come here to give you this news."
Do not be astonished that the Lord, Who opened the mouth of Balaam's ass (Num. 22:28), also permits the doe to speak.
The bishop sent Deacon Phileas to Caesarea to verify this information.
In Caesarea Patricius brought St Artemon to trial and tried to force him to offer sacrifice in the temple of Asclepius. In this pagan temple there lived many poisonous vipers. The pagan priest never opened the doors, nor did he place the sacrifice before the idol. But St Artemon, calling on the Name of Jesus Christ, went into the temple and released the snakes.
The pagans fled, but the saint stopped them and killed the snakes by his breath. One of the pagan priests, Vitalius, believed in Christ and asked St Artemon to baptize him.
Patricius thought that St Artemon killed the snakes by sorcery, and again he interrogated and tortured him. Then the doe which had spoken arrived in Caesarea. The doe lay down at the feet of the martyr, licking his wounds.
By God's command the doe spoke again, denouncing the impious pagans.
Addressing Patricius, the doe predicted that he would be seized by two birds of prey, and dropped into a cauldron of burning pitch. Patricius was enraged because he had been censured by a wild beast. He commanded his soldiers to shoot the doe with arrows, but she escaped. Afraid that the miracles performed by St Artemon would draw more people to him, Patricius gave orders to execute him.
They filled an enormous cauldron with boiling pitch, intending to throw the saint into it. Patricius rode up to the cauldron on horseback to see if the pitch was indeed boiling. Then two angels in the form of eagles seized Patricius and threw him into the cauldron. His body was consumed so that not a single bone remained.

Seeing the miracle, everyone ran away except St Artemon, who blessed and glorified God. When the saint finished his prayer, a spring of water issued from the ground. St Artemon baptized the pagan priest Vitalius and many pagans, who had come to believe in Christ. On the following morning St Artemon communed the newly-baptized with the Holy Mysteries.

Many of the baptized were ordained to the diaconate and priesthood, and Vitalius was made Bishop of Palestine. The hieromartyr Artemon, instructed by the voice of God, preached the Gospel in Asia Minor. Then an angel appeared to him and transported him to the place which had been revealed to him, where he converted many to Christ. Pagans seized the saint and beheaded him (+ 303).
St Artemon is commemorated on March 24 on the Greek calendar.
Artemon der Syrer  Orthodoxe Kirche: 13. April
Artemon wurde Anfang des 3. Jahrhunderts im syrischen Laodicea geboren. Von Kind an wollte er in der Kirche tätig sein und mit 16 Jahren wurde er Lektor. Er diente 12 Jahre als Lektor, wurde dann zum Diakon geweiht und übte dieses Amt 28 Jahre aus. Dann wurde er zum Priester geweiht. Nach 33 Priesterjahren wurde er in der diokletianischen Verfolgung hingerichtet, weil er sich weigerte, die heidnischen Götzen zu verehren.
Romæ, in persecutióne Marci Antoníni Veri et Lúcii Aurélii Cómmodi, pássio sancti Justíni, Philósophi et Mártyris; qui, cum secúndum librum pro religiónis nostræ defensióne præfátis Imperatóribus porrexísset, eámque ibídem disputándo strénue propugnásset, Crescéntis Cynici, cujus vitam et mores nefários redargúerat, insídiis accusátus quod Christiánus esset, remuneratiónem linguæ fidélis, martyrii munus accépit.  Ipsíus tamen festum sequénti die recólitur.
   
At Rome, in the persecution of Marcus Antoninus Verus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus, St. Justin, philosopher and martyr.  He had addressed to the emperors his second Apology in defence of our religion, and upheld it by strong arguments.  By the intrigue of Crescens the Cynic, whose conduct and immorality he had reproved, he was accused of professing Christianity, and thus he obtained the reward of martyrdom in payment for his faithful confession.  His feast is kept on the following day.
Pérgami, in Asia, in eádem persecutióne, natális sanctórum Mártyrum Carpi, Thyatirénsis Epíscopi, Pápyli Diáconi et Agathonícæ, ejúsdem Pápyli soróris et óptimæ féminæ, atque Agathadóri, eórum fámuli, aliorúmque multórum.  Hi omnes, post vários cruciátus, pro beátis confessiónibus martyrio coronáti sunt.
    At Pergamum in Asia, during the same persecution, the birthday of the holy martyrs Carpus, bishop of Thyatira, the deacon Papylus, and his sister Agathonica, an excellent woman, Agathadorus, their servant, and many others.  After many torments they received their crowns of martyrdom for their worthy confessions.
The Holy Martyr Crescens (Kreskes) was descended from an illustrious family and lived in Myra of Lycia
When a throng of city inhabitants were on the way to the pagan temple, he urged them to forsake paganism and come to Christ. This incident became known to the city prefect.
When the prefect asked the saint about his parentage, the saint, not wishing to bring unpleasantness to his parents, said nothing except that he was a Christian. The prefect knew St Crescens' father and wanted to do him a favor. He suggested that St Crescens only appear to offer sacrifice to idols, while remaining a Christian.
The holy martyr replied, "It is impossible for the body not to do as the soul thinks, since the soul governs and moves the body." They beat the holy martyr Crescens and raked him with iron claws, and then burned him in a fire.
St Andrew of Crete (July 4) mentions the Martyr Crescens in his Sermon on the Feast of St Nicholas the Wonderworker (December 6), who also came from Myra of Lycia.
396 Saint Ursus or Ravenna revived celebration of the feasts B (RM)
Ravénnæ sancti Ursi, Epíscopi et Confessóris.
    At Ravenna, St. Ursus, bishop and confessor.
 (also known as Ours)Bishop of Ravenna for 20 years, Ursus revived the celebration of the feasts of the saints in that city. Beyond that little is known of him (Attwater2, Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
476 The Holy martyr Thomais was born into a Christian family in the city of Alexandria raised in piety loved to read spiritual books miracle appeared after death
When she was fifteen, the girl married a fisherman, who was also a Christian. The young couple lived in the house of her husband's family, where St Thomais was loved for her mild and gentle disposition, and for other good traits.St Thomais' father-in-law, at the prompting of the devil, was captivated by her beauty. One night, when his son went out fishing, he attempted to lead his daughter-in-law into sin. Horrified, St Thomais admonished the senseless old man, reminding him of the Last Judgment and the penalty for sin. Infuriated by her steadfastness, he seized a sword and threatened to cut off her head. St Thomais answered resolutely, "Even if you cut me to pieces, I shall not stray from the commandments of the Lord." Overcome with passion, the old man cut St Thomais in two with the sword. The saint received the crown of martyrdom in the year 476.

Divine punishment overtook the murderer. He became blind and could not find the door in order to escape. In the morning, the companions of the saint's husband came to the door. They saw the body of the saint, and the blind old man covered with blood. The murderer confessed his evil deed and asked to be taken to the judge for punishment. He was beheaded for his crime.

At this time, St Daniel of Skete (June 7) happened to be in Alexandria. He told the monks of the Oktodekadian monastery (at the eighteenth mile on the road leading west from Alexandria) to bring the body of the martyr to the monastery and bury her in the cemetery with the departed fathers. Some of the monks were scandalized because he wanted to bury a woman's body with the monks.
St Daniel replied, "She is a mother to me and to you, because she died for her chastity."
After the funeral St Daniel returned to his own skete. Soon one of the young monks began to complain to him that he was tormented by fleshly passions. St Daniel ordered him to go and pray at the grave of the holy martyr Thomais. The monk did the bidding of the Elder. While he prayed at the grave, he fell into a light sleep.
St Thomais appeared to him and said, "Father, accept my blessing and go in peace."
When he awakened, the monk felt joy and peace in his soul. After this, he told St Daniel that he was no longer bothered by the temptations of the flesh. Abba Daniel exclaimed,
"Great is the boldness of those who have struggled for chastity."
Many found both spiritual joy and release from their passions at the grave of St Thomais. Her holy relics were transferred to Constantinople to one of the women's monasteries. The Russian pilgrim Archdeacon Zosimas venerated them in 1420.
St Thomais is invoked by those seeking deliverance from sexual impurity.
Other saints whose intercession we seek for this purpose are:
St John the Much-Suffering (July 18) and St Moses the Hungarian (July 26).
530 Saint Martius  the hermit attracted disciples founded For them the friary of Clermont Abbot
(also known as Mars) A sober-minded and austere native of Auvergne, Martius the hermit, attracted disciples. For them he founded the friary of Clermont in 530 in the mountains above the city. Some information about Martius is found in Saint Gregory of Tours' Vitae Patrum (Attwater2, Coulson, Encyclopedia).
530 ST MARTIUS, or MARS, ABBOT
THE memory of St Martius or Mars, abbot of Clermont in the Auvergne, has been preserved by St Gregory of Tours, whose father when a boy had been cured by him of a fever. From early youth, Martius had resolved to give himself to God, and upon attaining manhood he retired from the world to lead the solitary life; he, hewed himself a hermitage in the mountain side and carved the stone bed upon which he lay. His sanctity and spiritual gifts attracted disciples who gradually formed themselves into a community, whose time was divided between prayer and the cultivation of the soil, which they converted from a desert into a flourishing garden. St Gregory of Tours tells the following anecdote. One night a thief broke into the monastery enclosure and set about rifling its apples, onions, garlic and herbs. When he had collected as much as he could carry, he attempted to depart, but was unable to find his way out in the dark. He therefore lay down on the ground to await the daylight. In the meantime Abbot Martius in his cell was fully aware of all that had happened. At the break of dawn, he summoned the prior and told him to go into the garden to release a bull which had found its way in. “Do not hurt him”, he added, and let him have all he wants, for it is written, ‘Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out thy corn!’” The prior went forth and came upon the thief, who started up on seeing him, threw down his booty and attempted to escape. He was, however, caught by the briars. The monk smilingly released and reassured him. Then, after picking up the scattered spoil, he led the culprit to the gate where he laid the path upon the man’s shoulders saying, “Go in peace, and give up your evil ways”. St Martius lived to the age of ninety, and his tomb was the scene of many miracles.
All that we know concerning St Mars is found in the Vitae Patrum of St Gregory of Tours, ch. xiv; and see the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. ii.
583-586 St. Hermengild Prince of Visigothic Spain arian convert  martyred for his faith
Híspali, in Hispánia, sancti Hermenegíldi Mártyris, qui fuit fílius Leovigíldi, Regis Visigothórum Ariáni; atque ob cathólicæ fidei confessiónem conjéctus in cárcerem, et, cum in solemnitáte Pascháli Communiónem ab Epíscopo Ariáno accípere noluísset, pérfidi patris jussu secúri percússus est, ac regnum cæléste pro terréno Rex et Martyr intrávit.
    At Seville in Spain, St. Hermenegild, son of Leovigild, Arian king of the Visigoths, who was imprisoned for the confession of the Catholic faith.  By order of his wicked father he was beheaded because he had refused to receive communion from an Arian bishop on the feast of Easter.  Thus exchanging an earthly for a heavenly kingdom, he entered the abode of the saints, both as a king and as a martyr.

585 ST HERMENEGILD, Martyr
HERMENEGILD and his brother Reccared were the two Sons of the Visigothic king of Spain, Leovigild, by his first wife Theodosia. They were educated by their father in the Arian heresy, but Hermenegild married a zealous Catholic, Indegundis or Ingunda, daughter of Sigebert, king of Austrasia his conversion to the true faith was due as much to her example and prayers as to the teaching of St Leander, archbishop of Seville. Leovigild was furious when he heard of his son’s open profession of the faith, and called upon him to resign all his dignities and possessions. This Hermenegild refused to do. He raised the standard of revolt and, as the Arians were all-powerful in Visigothic Spain, he sent St Leander to Constantinople to obtain support and assistance. Disappointed in that quarter, Hermenegild implored the help of the Roman generals who, with a small army, still ruled the strip of Spanish land along the Mediterranean coast which remained in the possession of the Empire. They took his wife and infant son as hostages and made him fair promises which they failed to fulfil. For over a year Hermenegild was besieged in Seville by his father’s troops, and when he could hold out no longer he fled to the Roman camp—only to be warned that those he had reckoned upon as his friends had been bribed by Leovigild to betray him. Despairing of all human aid, he entered a church and sought refuge at the altar. Leovigild did not venture to violate the sanctuary, but permitted his younger son Reccared, who was still an Arian, to go to his brother with an offer of forgiveness if he would submit and ask for pardon. Hermenegild took his father at his word and a reconciliation took place, the genuineness of which there seems no reason to doubt. Leovigild appears to have restored his elder son to some measure of bis former dignities; but the king’s second wife, Gosvinda, soon succeeded in estranging him once more from the unfortunate prince, and Hermenegild was imprisoned at Tarragona. He was no longer accused of treason but of heresy, his liberty being offered to him at the price of recantation. With fervent prayer he asked God to give him fortitude in his combat for the truth, adding voluntary mortifications to his enforced sufferings and clothing himself in sackcloth.
At Easter his father sent him an Arian bishop, offering to restore him to favour if he would receive communion from the prelate. Upon learning that Hermenegild had absolutely refused, Leovigild fell into one of the paroxysms of rage to which he was subject, and despatched soldiers to the prison with orders to put the young prince to death. They found him fully prepared and quite resigned to his fate. He was killed instantaneously by one blow from an axe. St Gregory the Great attributes to the merits of St Hermenegild the conversion of his brother Reccared and of the whole of Visigothic Spain. Leovigild was stung with remorse for his crime, and although he never actually renounced Arianism, yet when he was on his death-bed he commended his son Reccared to St Leander, desiring him to convert him to the orthodox faith.
It is impossible to do otherwise than condemn the conduct of Hermenegild in taking up arms against his own father, but, as St Gregory of Tours has pointed out, his guilt was expiated by his heroic sufferings and death. Another Gregory, the great pope of that name, remarked of him that he only began to be truly a king when he became a martyr.
The question of Hermenegild’s title to be honoured as a martyr has been discussed with a certain amount of acrimony. Despite the account given by St Gregory the Great in his Dialogues (bk iii, ch. 31), other early writers even in Spain itself—notably the abbot of Vallclara, Johannes Biclarensis (in Florez, España Sagrada, vi, p. 384), Isidore of Seville, and Paul of Merida—seem only to suggest that Hermenegild was a rebel and put to death as such. An excellent summary of the question will be found in DCB., vol. ii, pp. 921—924. This is based mainly upon an article by F. Görres in Zeitschrift. his:. Theologie, vol. i, 1873. In  Razón y Fe Father R. Rochel (see especially vol. vii, 1903) vehemently replied to this criticism, but Father Albert Poncelet in the Analecta Bollandiana, xxiii (1904), pp. 360—361, found much that was unsatisfactory in this attempted vindication. A more moderate view is that of Gams in his Kirchengeschichte Spaniens. It should perhaps be mentioned that the best edition of the chronicle of Johannes Biclarensis is that edited by Mommsen in MGH., Auctores antiquissimi, vol. xi. A tradition of much later date identifies Seville as the scene of the “martyrdom” of St Hermenegild but Johannes Biclarensis, a contemporary, expressly declares that he was put to death at Tarragona. See Analecta Bollandiana, xxiii, p. 360. Pope Benedict XIV’s commission recommended that the feast of this saint he removed from the general calendar.
He was the son of Leovigild the Visigoth, king of Spain, and was raised as an Arian. His wife, Indegundis, converted him from that heresy, which brought about his disinheritance by Leovigild and his defeat at Seville, Spain, by his father. When Hermenegild refused to accept Arianism, he was axed to death. His feast is now confined to local calendars. 

Hermenegild, King M (RM) Died c. 583-586. Son of the Visigoth King Leovigild of Spain and his first wife, Theodosia, Saint Hermenegild was raised in Arian court of Seville. He married the Christian Inezonde (Ingunda), daughter of Sigebert of Austrasia. His conversion to orthodox Christianity was the result of the fervent prayers and virtuous example of his wife, as well as the teaching of Archbishop Saint Leander of Seville. At his conversion, his father disinherited him, whereupon he rose in arms.

Hermenegild sent Saint Leander to Constantinople to garner support. Finding no assistance there, he begged the help of the Roman generals who still governed a strip of land along the Mediterranean coast. They took his wife and son as hostages and made promises that they failed to fulfill. After being besieged by his father's troops for a full year at Seville, Hermenegild fled to the Roman camp, only to find that his father had bribed them to betray him.

Almost without hope, Hermenegild sought refuge in a church at the altar, where not even his father would violate the sanctuary. Instead, Leovigild sent his son Reccared, another Arian, to offer Hermenegild forgiveness if he would repent. Hermenegild believed his father and was reconciled for a time. Some of his former dignities were restored until Leovigild's second wife, Gosvinda, succeeded in estranging the two again. This time Hermenegild was arrested for heresy, rather than treason, and imprisoned at Tarragona. He was promised liberty if he would recant his profession of faith.

On Easter Day, his father sent the Arian bishop to him, offering to restore him to favor if he would receive the Eucharist from the prelate. Hermenegild, fortified by prayer and penance since his arrest, refused absolutely. Enraged, his father sent soldiers to behead him--which was accomplished by one blow from an axe. Saint Gregory the Great attributes the conversion of Reccared and the whole of Visigothic Spain to the witness of Hermenegild; however, many dispute his entitlement to be honored as a martyr (Attwater2, Benedictines, Coulson, Encyclopedia, Walsh).

Saint Hermenegild is depicted in art as a young prince wearing armor and being borne to heaven while contemplating the crucifix. Angels carry an axe, chains, royal regalia, a palm, and a rose wreath. Heretical bishops and king stand below. He might also be shown as a prince with an axe (Roeder). Venerated in Spain (Roeder).
656 Pope Saint Martin I martyred for defending dual nature of Jesus died at Kherson in the Crimea last pope to die a martyr
 St. Martin I  
When Martin I became pope in 649, Constantinople was the capital of the Byzantine empire and the patriarch of Constantinople was the most influential Church leader in the eastern Christian world. The struggles that existed within the Church at that time were magnified by the close cooperation of emperor and patriarch.
A teaching, strongly supported in the East, held that Christ had no human will. Twice emperors had officially favored this position, Heraclius by publishing a formula of faith and Constans II by silencing the issue of one or two wills in Christ.
Shortly after assuming the office of the papacy (which he did without first being confirmed by the emperor), Martin held a council at the Lateran in which the imperial documents were censured, and in which the patriarch of Constantinople and two of his predecessors were condemned. Constans II, in response, tried first to turn bishops and people against the pope.
Failing in this and in an attempt to kill the pope, the emperor sent troops to Rome to seize Martin and to bring him back to Constantinople. Martin, already in poor health, offered no resistance, returned with the exarch Calliopas and was then submitted to various imprisonments, tortures and hardships. Although condemned to death and with some of the torture imposed already carried out, Martin was saved from execution by the pleas of a repentant Paul, patriarch of Constantinople, who himself was gravely ill.
Martin died shortly thereafter, tortures and cruel treatment having taken their toll. He is the last of the early popes to be venerated as a martyr.

Comment:  The real significance of the word martyr comes not from the dying but from the witnessing, which the word means in its derivation. People who are willing to give up everything, their most precious possessions, their very lives, put a supreme value on the cause or belief for which they sacrifice. Martyrdom, dying for the faith, is an incidental extreme to which some have had to go to manifest their belief in Christ. A living faith, a life that exemplifies Christ's teaching throughout, and that in spite of difficulties, is required of all Christians. Martin might have temporized; he might have sought means to ease his lot, to make some accommodations with the civil rulers.

Quote:   The breviary of the Orthodox Church pays tribute to Martin: “Glorious definer of the Orthodox Faith...sacred chief of divine dogmas, unstained by error...true reprover of heresy...foundation of bishops, pillar of the Orthodox faith, teacher of religion.... Thou didst adorn the divine see of Peter, and since from this divine Rock, thou didst immovably defend the Church, so now thou art glorified with him.”

Martin I lay too sick to fight on a couch in front of the altar when the soldiers burst into the Lateran basilica. He had come to the church when he heard the soldiers had landed. But the thought of kidnapping a sick pope from the house of God didn't stop the soldiers from grabbing him and hustling him down to their ship.
Elected pope in 649, Martin I had gotten in trouble for refusing to condone silence in the face of wrong. At that time there existed a popular heresy that held that Christ didn't have a human will, only a divine will. The emperor had issued an edict that didn't support Monothelism (as it was known) directly, but simply commanded that no one could discuss Jesus' will at all.
Monothelism was condemned at a council convened by Martin I. The council affirmed, once again, that since Jesus had two natures, human and divine, he had two wills, human and divine. The council then went further and condemned Constans edict to avoid discussion stating, "The Lord commanded us to shun evil and do good, but not to reject the good with the evil."
In his anger at this slap in the face, the emperor sent his soldiers to Rome to bring the pope to him. When Martin I arrived in Constantinople after a long voyage he was immediately put into prison. There he spent three months in a filthy, freezing cell while he suffered from dysentery. He was not allowed to wash and given the most disgusting food. After he was condemned for treason without being allowed to speak in his defense he was imprisoned for another three months.
From there he was exiled to the Crimea where he suffered from the famine of the land as well as the roughness of the land and its people. But hardest to take was the fact that the pope found himself friendless. His letters tell how his own church had deserted him and his friends had forgotten him. They wouldn't even send him oil or corn to live off of.
He died two years later in exile in the year 656, a martyr who stood up for the right of the Church
to establish doctrine even in the face of imperial power.

Martin I, Pope M (RM) Born in Todi in Umbria, Italy; died in the Crimea, September 16, 655; feast day was previously November 12 (November 10 in York); the Eastern Church celebrates his feast on September 20.

Martin became a deacon in Rome. He displayed a great intellect and charity, was sent by Pope Theodore I as nuncio (apocrisiarius) to Constantinople, and was elected pope in 649 to succeed Theodore I. At once, he convened the council at the Lateran that condemned Monothelitism (the denial that Christ had a human will), the Typos--the edict of the reigning Emperor Constans II, which favored it, and Heraclius's Ekethesis. Although he was supported by the bishops of Africa, England, and Spain, the imperial wrath fell upon the pontiff who was arrested by Constans and taken to Constantinople in 653.

He had taken refuge in the Lateran, but the officers broke in to capture him. His own letters give an account of how his health broke down under the long voyage and a three-month imprisonment on the island of Naxos en rute. He writes:
"For forty-seven days, I have not been given water to wash in. I am frozen through and wasting away with dysentery. The food I get makes me vomit. But God sees all things and I trust in Him."

He was so ill when he arrived in Constantinople that he had to be carried to jail on a stretcher. He was tried for treason, although he was clearly being incarcerated for not accepting the Typos. He was condemned to death during his trial without being able to speak in his own defense. He was insulted publicly, flogged, and imprisoned. Intercession of dying Patriarch Paul of Constantinople saved his life, but he was exiled to Kherson in the Crimea.
From exile he wrote of the bad treatment he received and berated the Romans for forgetting him while he had prayed steadily for their faith to remain in tact. It is likely that he died of starvation. He was the last pope to die a martyr. He is portrayed in art vested as a pope, holding money (alms); or with geese around him (possibly a confusion with Saint Martin of Tours); or seen through prison bars (Attwater, Attwater2, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Farmer, White).
838 Saint Guinoc Bishop of Scotland Guinoc's prayers helped king vanquish Picts B (AC)
(also known as Guinochus) Bishop Guinoc of Scotland is commemorated in the Aberdeen breviary and is especially venerated in Buchan. Some scholars believe that Guinoc was a counsellor to King Kenneth. It is said that Guinoc's prayers helped the king to vanquish the Picts in seven battles on a single day (Benedictines, Farmer, Husenbeth).
1113 Blessed Ida of Boulogne descendent of Blessed Charlemagne Benedictine oblate Widow (AC)
Ida, daughter of Duke Godfrey IV (Dode) of Lorraine, was a descendent of Blessed Charlemagne. At age 17, she became the wife of Count Eustace II of Boulogne. She was the mother of Godfrey and Baldwin de Bouillon. After her husband's death, Ida endowed several monasteries in Picardy, and became a Benedictine oblate under the obedience of the abbot of Saint Vaast (Attwater2, Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Gill).
1113 BD IDA OF BOULOGNE, Widow
IDA of Boulogne may well be called a daughter and a mother of kings, for both her parents were descended from Charlemagne, two of her sons, Godfrey and Baldwin, became kings of Jerusalem, and her granddaughter Matilda was, destined to be queen consort of England. Ida herself was the child of Godfrey IV, Duke of Lorraine, by his first wife Doda, and at the age of seventeen she was given in marriage to Eustace II, Count of’ Boulogne. Their union seems to have been a happy one, and Countess Ida regarded it as her paramount duty to train her children in the paths of holiness and to set them the example of liberal almsgiving to the poor. She had the good fortune to have as her spiritual adviser one of the greatest men of the age, St Anselm, abbot of Bec in Normandy, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, some of whose letters to Ida have been preserved in his correspondence. The death of Count Eustace left his widow the control of valuable property, much of which she expended in the relief of the needy and in the construction of monasteries. Thus she founded Saint-Wulmer at Boulogne and Vasconvilliers, restored Samer and Our Lady of the Chapel, Calais, besides bestowing generous benefactions upon Saint-Bertin, Bouillon and Afflighem.
Bd Ida gave herself ardently to prayer for the success of the First Crusade, and it is recorded that, while she was making intercession for the safety of her son Godfrey of Bouillon, it was revealed to her that he was at that very moment making his victorious entry into Jerusalem. Although as the years passed Ida retired more and more from the world (she had once visited England), she does not appear ever to have actually taken the veil. She died when she was over seventy, at the close of a long and painful illness, and was buried in the church of the monastery of St Vaast.
There are two short lives of Bd Ida printed in the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. ii. The first is attributed to a monk of St Vaast, a contemporary, the other was compiled by the canon regular John Gielemans, at a much later date. The best popular account is that of F. Ducatel Vie de Ste Ide de Lorraine (1900).
1124 St. Caradoc Welsh hermit harpist
He served a local king in southern Wales before becoming a hermit at St. Cendydd Church in Gower, later taking up residence on Barry Island at St. Issels.
Forced into exile by Henry I's invasion of the re­gion, Caradoc went to Haroldston, where he occupied the cell of St. Ismael.
1292 BD JAMES OF CERTALDO, ABBOT he early developed a vocation to the religious life: devotion and austerity greatly edified all who came into contact with him
ALTHOUGH born at Certaldo near Florence, Bd James spent practically alt his life at Volterra, which his parents had made their home. He was in the habit of accompanying his father and mother to the church of St Clement and St Justus, served by Camaldolese monks, and he early developed a vocation to the religious life. In the year 1230 he was received into the order.
His devotion and austerity greatly edified all who came into contact with him, and so strongly affected his father that he resigned his property to his two remaining sons to enter the monastery, where he spent the last years of his life as a lay-brother. Bd James was placed in charge of the parish, where he discharged his duties with great wisdom, leading many souls into the paths of holiness. Twice he refused the post of abbot, and although he was obliged to accept office when elected for the third time, he resigned shortly afterwards to become once more parish priest. One of his brothers joined
the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, but left them after six months to begin again more humbly as a lay-brother at St Justus. Bd James survived this brother for ten years, dying in 1292.
See the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. ii. There is also an Italian life, printed early in the seventeenth century by S. Razzi.
1300 Blessed Ida of Louvain  OSB Cist. V (PC)
Born in Louvain; Ida became a Cistercian at the convent of Rossendael (Vallis Rosarum-Rosenthal), near Malines. According to a somewhat dubious biography, she exhibited many amazing supernatural charisms. Her cultus still survives in Louvain and among the Cistercians (Attwater2, Benedictines).
1300? BD IDA OF LOUVAIN, VIRGIN
IT is curious that two saints, bearing the same not very common name and separated from each other by a considerable interval of time, should have died on the same day of the year; but in both cases the thirteenth day of April is definitely set down by their respective biographers as that of their departure from this world.
The account preserved of Bd Ida of Louvain is, it must be confessed, open to some suspicion, partly because we have no external corroboration of any of the incidents recorded, and partly because it abounds in marvels of a very astonishing character.

She was a maiden born of a well-to-do family in Louvain, and she is said to have been marked out from her earliest years by God’s special graces. Though she had much to suffer from her father and sisters, who did not approve of her devotional practices, her superabundant charity and extreme asceticism, she pursued her way of life unfalteringly, guided, as she believed, by the spirit of God. Among her observances was that of genuflecting or prostrating herself repeatedly before a picture of our Lady, reciting the Hail Mary at each genuflection, a form of salutation which she sometimes reiterated over 1000 times in one day. Her devotion to the sacred Passion was ardent beyond belief and earned for her the gift of the stigmata in hands, feet and side, as well, it seems, as the marks of the crown of thorns. She strove to hide them, but finding that they could not altogether be concealed, she obtained by her prayers the withdrawal of the external signs, though the pain which accompanied them still continued. Her love for the Blessed Eucharist was not less remarkable. More than once her biographer speaks of her having received communion miraculously, and it is noteworthy that the practice of communicating under-both kinds is represented as still surviving, apparently after 1250, in the neighbourhood of Louvain and Mechlin. On one occasion Ida is said, in her desire to possess our Lord, to have lowered the pyx in which the Blessed Sacrament was hanging above the altar and to have attempted, though without success, to open it.
All dates are sadly lacking in Bd Ida’s biography, and we do not know at what age she entered the Cistercian convent of Roosendael near Mechlin, nor how old she was when she died, nor whether the year 1300 assigned for her death is not the error of some transcriber. In her religious life she was remarkable for her ecstasies and miracles. She was seen radiant with heavenly light, she is said to have known the secrets of hearts, and a fragrant perfume was often perceived by those who came near her. There seems to be no doubt that her tomb became a place of pilgrimage after her death, though all traces of it appear to have been swept away by the Gueux in 1580.
The biography of Bd Ida which is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. ii, purports to have been compiled from memoranda carefully recorded by her confessor, Hugh by name. It is an interesting document from the point of view of the student of mystical theology and in atmosphere certainly corresponds with what we find in many similar records of the thirteenth century. See also an article by C. Kolb in the Cistercienser Chronik, vol. v (1893), pp. 129—140.
1320 Blessed Margaret of Città di Castello born blind abandoned then adopted very holy favored with heavenly visions many miracles V (AC)
also known as Margaret of Metola) Born in at Meldola (or Metola, diocese of S. Angelo), Umbria, Italy, in 1287; cultus approved in 1609.

1320 BD MARGARET OF CITTA-DI-CASTELLO, VIRGIN She set children little tasks which she helped them to perform; instructing them in their duty to God and to man, instilling into them her own great devotion to the sacred Childhood, and she taught them the psalms which, in spite of her blindness, she had learnt by heart at the convent:  where many remarkable miracles were wrought at her tomb
IT must have been about the year 1293 when some women of Città-di-Castello in Umbria, who had gone one day to pray in their parish church, found within a destitute blind child of about six or seven who had been abandoned there by her parents. The kind souls were filled with pity for the little waif, and, poor though they were, they took charge of her—first one family and then another sheltering and feeding her until she became practically the adopted child of the village. One and all declared that, far from being a burden, little Margaret brought a blessing upon those who befriended her. Some years later the nuns of a local convent offered her a home. The girl herself rejoiced at the prospect of living with religious, but her joy was short-lived. The community was lax and worldly: Margaret’s fervour was a tacit reproach to them, nor did she bring them the profit they had anticipated. Neglect was succeeded by petty persecution, and then by active calumny. Finally she was driven forth ignominiously to face the world once more.
However, her old friends rallied round her. One couple offered her a settled home, which became her permanent residence. At the age of fifteen Margaret received the habit of a tertiary from the Dominican fathers, who had lately established themselves in Citta-di-Castello, and thenceforth she lived a life entirely devoted to God. More than ever did God’s benediction rest upon her. She cured another tertiary of an affliction of the eyes which had baffled medical skill, and her mantle extinguished a fire which had broken out in her foster-parents’ house. In her desire to show her gratitude to the people of Città-di-Castello she undertook to look after the children whilst their parents were at work. Her little school prospered wonderfully, for she understood children, being very simple herself. She set them little tasks which she helped them to perform; she instructed them in their duty to God and to man, instilling into them her own great devotion to the sacred Childhood, and she taught them the psalms which, in spite of her blindness, she had learnt by heart at the convent. We are told that when at prayer she was frequently raised a foot or more from the ground, remaining thus for a long time. Thus she lived, practically unknown outside her own neighbourhood, until the age of thirty-three, when she died amidst the friends who loved her, and was buried by their wish in the parish church, where many remarkable miracles were wrought at her tomb. The cultus of Bd Margaret was confirmed in 1609.
The principal document we possess concerning Bd Margaret is a sketch of her life, written in the fourteenth century, which has been printed in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xix (1900), pp. 21—36. See also the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. ii, and Procter, Dominican Saints, pp. 90—93, as well as Ganay, Les Bienheureuses Dominicaines. It is probable that the Franciscan Ubertino di Casale in an enthusiastic tribute which he pays in his Arbor Vitae to a devout mystic of Città-di-Castello was referring to Bd Margaret. An interesting popular account of the beata by W. R. Bonniwell, The Story of Margaret of Metola, was published in America in 1952; it is based on a biography discovered by Fr Bonniwell and differs in some particulars from the account given above. Cf. Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lxx (1952), p. 456.

Margaret was born blind into a poor, mountain family, who were embittered by her affliction. When she was five years old, they made a pilgrimage to the tomb of a holy Franciscan at Castello to pray for a cure. The miracle failing, they abandoned their daughter in the church of Città-di-Castello and returned to their home.

Margaret was passed from family to family until she was adopted by a kindly peasant woman named Grigia, who had a large family of her own.
Margaret's natural sweetness and goodness soon made themselves felt, and she more than repaid the family for their kindness to her. She was an influence for good in any group of children. She stopped their quarrels, heard their catechism, told them stories, taught them Psalms and prayers. Busy neighbors were soon borrowing her to soothe a sick child or to establish peace in the house.
Her reputation for holiness was so great that a community of sisters in the town asked for her to become one of them. Margaret went happily to join them, but, unfortunately, there was little fervor in the house. The little girl who was so prayerful and penitential was a reproach to their lax lives, so Margaret returned to Grigia, who gladly welcomed her home.
Later, Margaret was received as a Dominican Tertiary and clothed with the religious habit. Grigia's home became the rendezvous site of troubled souls seeking Margaret's prayers. She said the Office of the Blessed Virgin and the entire Psalter by heart, and her prayers had the effect of restoring peace of mind to the troubled.
Denied earthly sight, Margaret was favored with heavenly visions. "Oh, if you only knew what I have in my heart!" she often said. The mysteries of the rosary, particularly the joyful mysteries, were so vivid to her that her whole person would light up when she described the scene. She was often in ecstasy, and, despite great joys and favors in prayer, she was often called upon to suffer desolation and interior trials of frightening sorts. The devil tormented her severely at times, but she triumphed over these sufferings.
A number of miracles were performed by Blessed Margaret. On one occasion, while she was praying in an upper room, Grigia's house caught fire, and she called to Margaret to come down. The blessed, however, called to her to throw her cloak on the flames. This she did, and the blaze died out. At another time, she cured a sister who was losing her eyesight.
Beloved by her adopted family and by her neighbors and friends, Margaret died at the early age of 33. From the time of her death, her tomb in the Dominican church was a place of pilgrimage. Her body, even to this day, is incorrupt.
After her death, the fathers received permission to have her heart opened. In it were three pearls, having holy figures carved upon them. They recalled the saying so often on the lips of Margaret: "If you only knew what I have in my heart!" (Attwater2, Benedictines, Dorcy).
In art, Margaret is pictured as a Dominican tertiary holding a cross, lily, and heart with two flames offered to the crucifix (Roeder).
1392 Blessed James of Certaldo parish priest 40 yrs OSB Cam. (AC)
Born at Certaldo, Italy; James Guidi, son of a knight of Volterra, joined the Camaldolese Benedictines at the abbey of Saints Clement and Justus in his hometown. He spent 40 of his 60 years there as parish priest of the abbey church. Twice he was offered and refused the abbacy. His example was so powerful that both his father and his brother also joined the abbey as lay brothers (Attwater2, Benedictines).
1642 Blessed Edward Catherick priest missionary 44 yrs English Martyr M (AC)
Born at Carlton, Yorkshire, England; died at York in 1642; beatified in 1929. Blessed Edward was educated for the priesthood at Douai. Upon his ordination, he returned to the mission fields of England, where he worked from 1635 until his execution (Benedictines).
1642 BB. JOHN LOCKWOOD AND EDMUND CATHERICK, MARTYRS
BOTH these noble martyrs were Yorkshiremen. Lockwood, who sometimes used his mother’s family name of Lassels, was born in 1561. He had studied at Douai and at Rome, and before his final apprehension had twice been arrested and imprisoned. After his first confinement he was banished in 1610, but returning to England he was again taken and this time condemned to death. He was, however, reprieved and kept in prison until he regained his liberty, we know not how. Resuming his apostolic labours, he was finally captured at the house of a Mrs Catesby, being then eighty-one years old.

Catherick was a much younger man, and when, after his studies at Douai, he came to the English mission about the year 1635 he was only thirty years of age. After seven years of labour he also fell into the hands of the pursuivants and was brought before Justice Dodsworth, a connection of his by marriage, who committed him to York Castle and afterwards very discreditably gave evidence against him founded on his own private knowledge. Both the prisoners were condemned to death for their priesthood. When they came to the scaffold at York, the elder, thinking he saw signs of some weakening in his companion, claimed in virtue of his years the privilege of suffering first, and Bd Edmund, thus encouraged, met his end with entire firmness. Some portion of their relics, secured by Mary Ward’s community, were conveyed to the convent of her institute at Augsburg, where they still remain. The body, or part of it, of Bd John Lockwood is at Downside.
See Challoner, MMP., pp. 411—416, and also Stanton’s Menology, pp. 155—157.

Blessed John Lockwood M (AC) Born at Sowerby, Yorkshire, England; died at York in 1642; beatified in 1929. During the persecution of Catholics in England, John Lockwood, alias Lascelles, studied for the priesthood in Rome. After his ordination in 1597, he worked covertly in England for 44 years until his arrest in 1642. He was 81 years old when he was hanged, drawn, and quartered for the treasonable crime of being a Catholic priest (Attwater2, Benedictines).