Saints of this Day April 25  Séptimo Kaléndas Maji
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

BENEDICT XVI'S PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR APRIL 2009
Pope Benedict's
General Prayer intention for April is: "That the Lord may bless farmers' work with an abundant harvest and sensitise the richer populations to the drama of hunger in the world".

  His Mission Intention is: "That the Christians who operate in the territories where the conditions of the poor, the weak and the women and children are most tragic, may be signs of hope, thanks to their courageous testimony to the Gospel of solidarity and love". 

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 Our Mother of Love April 25 - Our Lady of Good Counsel (Italy, Genazzano, 1476)
Needless to say, Our Lady is the mother of humankind and she particularly favors mothers and those who live and care for their families and children, as she lived in close union with her Son and husband.
Mary's love is the love of a mother for us her children and the love of Jesus' mother for her Son. It's the pure love which brought up the Savior of the World and which now points us, her children, towards Him. The way to God is through Jesus (cf Jn 14:6) and His mother wants to lead us by the hand to her Son, where we will find eternal peace and joy.
It is through the love of Jesus that we experience complete joy. "I have told you this so that my own joy may be in you and your joy be complete. This is my commandment: love one another, as I have loved you" (Jn 15:11-12).
See http://www.maryslove.com/html/links.html

Consecration of Albania to Our Lady of Good Counsel of Scutari (II) April 24 - Our Lady of Lujan (Argentina)
On February 11, 1943, sensing that Communism was about to penetrate into Albania,
Bishop Prennushi decided to consecrate the nation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Communism did come, in 1945, along with the purest and fiercest form of atheism. For instance it became illegal to name a girl "Mary" or "Anne." Instead people had to call them "White star" or "December snow." In 1967, in the craze of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, those who still resisted atheism were eliminated by dictator Enver Hoxha. The clergy were either tortured or executed.
The Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel was razed, the churches and mosques transformed into stables or stores. But this victory of atheist communism was short-lived: it crumbled on November 4, 1990, and the Catholics rebuilt their churches.

Faith came back with a new vigor. On April 22, 1993, Pope John Paul II visited the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Genazzaro (Italy), before going, on April 25, 1993, to Scutari (Albania) to bless the first stone for the reconstruction of the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel, the church "Zoja e Shkodres." The Pope remarked: "It is beautiful to think that your Archbishop and his auxiliary are in a sense a gift to you from the Pope, under the maternal gaze of Mary.”

This coincidence provides us with the symbol of the union of two principles that Christ wished for his Church: the Petrinian-Apostolic principle and the Marian principle: these principles are in dissociable and complementary, and through them God's Spirit edifies each day the Community of believers, encourages it to announce the word of God with the ardor of the Apostles and above all to listen to it with Mary's heart."
John Paul II, Sunday, April 25, 1993.
All the Albanians stood side by side, Catholics, Orthodox and Muslims, witnessing to peaceful coexistence.
Excerpts from Attilio GALLI, Madre della Chiesa nei cinque continenti, Editions Segno, 1996.
Consecration of Albania to Our Lady of Good Counsel of Scutari (III) April 25 - Apparitions of the Great Mediatrix of All Graces in Marienfried (Germany, 1946)
During his visit to Scutari on April 25, 1993, Pope John Paul II gave a very moving speech, recalling that on April 22, 1992. At the same time, the Apostolic Nuncio, Bishop Ivan Dias, in the presence of clerics, priests, religious, civil authorities and many other believers consecrated the Albanian homeland to Our Lady of Good Counsel:

"I would like to renew that act of filial trust so that the journey of Albania may continue under the special protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Good Counsel! The prayer of this people, who from time immemorial has loved you and honored you, reaches up to you. To you today Albania presents its longing and sufferings, desires and needs, with many tears shed, and its desire for a better future. Turn your eyes, O Mother, on this people, receive its generous intentions, and accompany its way to a future of justice, solidarity and peace.

And you, dear Albanian brothers and sisters, trust this Mother. Mary knows the path of life and she knows what your heart desires. Do not believe in false and transitional ideologies, but believe in the person of her Son Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life; in whom the mystery of God and man shines. May the Blessed Virgin Mary always protect you! May she protect all the corners of your land and reach the Albanians who live in the Balkans and all the Albanians scattered around the world. May the powerful intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary obtain peace especially where war has now been raging for too long. Mother of Good Counsel, open the minds and hearts of Albania and of the entire world and ensure for us all the gift of harmony and peace!"

Ou Zoja et Shkodrës, Pajtorja et popullit shqiptar, lutu për en ! ("O Our Lady of Scutari, Patron of Albanians, pray for us!")
John Paul II, Regina Caeli, April 25, 1993
1903 St Gertrude Comensoli foundress Institute of the sisters of the Blessed Sacrament

This Sunday (April 26, 2009), Vasco's family will attend the canonization of Sister Gertrude Comensoli in St. Peter's Square
A Miracle for a Non-Practicing Mom:  The Cure Leading to Mother Comensoli's Canonization
By Carmen Elena Villa; AGNOSINE, Italy, APRIL 23, 2009 Zenit.org

It was 12:20 a.m., the first hour of Oct. 3, 2001, when Sister Bianca Pasinetti's telephone rang. "Sister, we all are here. Vasco is leaving us. Do something because we don't want him to die." Those were the words of Ettore Richini. He spoke of his 4-year-old son, one of the students at the school run by the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, Sister Pasinetti's congregation.

Vasco had been admitted to the hospital with meningitis. He had been in the hospital since the afternoon of Sept. 29, when his mother Rita had returned to work in the afternoon after seeing that Vasco had a bit of a fever. As the hours had passed, his temperature kept climbing so the family had taken him to the hospital.

"After the child was a quarter of an hour in the hospital, they discovered that he had meningitis," Rita explained. "They asked us various questions. He fell into a coma; his kidneys were not working."  The mother went on to recount: "We discovered it was meningitis H. Influenzae, a very aggressive bacteria that one generally doesn't catch -- its one case in a million -- [we] still don't know how he got it."

When Sister Pasinetti received Ettore's call, she promised her prayers and those of the community. Meanwhile, doctors encouraged Rita to disconnect Vasco from life support, warning her that if he stayed alive, he would be a "vegetable.  Keep him alive as long as possible," was her answer.

Ettore recalled what he felt in those moments: "A sadness, an impotence at seeing my son who was already going, and you cannot do absolutely anything. I think it is the hardest thing that I have experienced."  There was "nothing good" in the situation, according to Rita. "He had a bruise on his brain, rapid heart rate […] purple spots all over his body."

Sister Pasinetti decided to bring a relic of Blessed Gertrude Comensoli (1847-1903), the founder of her congregation, to the child's room.

She thought, "I won't make Vasco get better, but at least I will make them see that we are praying," the religious recounted. She arrived to his hospital room and left the relic under his pillow.  "I stayed with Rita," she continued. "We prayed. She was truly desperate at seeing the child that way." Sister Pasinetti called the sisters of her community to urge prayers. They passed the word to call people to pray and people began to arrive to the parish church in the community to intercede for the child.

Gaia, Vasco's 14-year-old sister, also went to the church to pray, not knowing that the sisters had called people together. "I went to the church to pray on my own -- in a moment like that, you don't know what to cling to. I found the church full of people," she recalled.

"When the prayer [meeting] ended, the people weren't going home," Sister Pasinetti remembered. "They stayed to pray. I'd never seen something like that."  The woman religious and her sisters started a novena to Mother Gertrude.

Some days later, a doctor arrived to greet Vasco's parents with exuberance, something which struck them both as odd, since just an hour before, the child's condition was the same.
"Vasco is out of danger," the doctor told them.
"It was an unexplainable healing," Rita assured.

Vasco, who today is 12 years old, says he does not remember anything about being sick, except the moment in which he woke up. "I looked at the sheets, I looked around me and I said, 'What am I doing here?' Then I said, "Mom, bring me my clothes because I want to go home.' She was very happy. She almost cried and she hugged me."

When the child returned to school, he told the sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and his classmates what had happened: "When I was in the hospital, Mother Gertrude came by without letting herself be seen by the doctors. […] She came in and stood close to my bed."

Today, Rita continues awestruck by what happened nearly eight years ago. Though she was a woman of faith, she did not often practice her religion. "I do not know how it was possible," she said. "I ask myself many questions. I do not know why God chose us. What a lesson."

Sister Pasinetti is sure it was a miracle: "And it is not easy because it asks you to change. In any case, here too the Lord loves everyone. He does not look if one is practicing or not practicing. The Lord has come for everyone."

This Sunday, Vasco's family will attend the canonization of Sister Gertrude Comensoli in St. Peter's Square.

"I lost my mother one year after all of this," Rita noted. "I think that if she would have died before this happened, I would have experienced it in a different way. Now I am not afraid even of death, because it forms part of life."

Dedication of the Lower Holy Chapel of Paris in honor of Our Lady (France, 1248)  Mary, for Jesus My Redeemer, Make My Heart White like a Lily (I)
O Blessed Virgin, my tender Mother, for Jesus my Redeemer make my heart like a violet and white like a very pure lily. For Him, O my Mother, make my whole being white and humble.
When the pain causes me atrocious suffering, I think that Our Lord, who is so good, has me suffer in proportion to the love I feel for Him and that He feels for me. This is why I am always smiling and I always feel peaceful inside! I live for Jesus, to be united with Him! This is what I ask him: to die in His Love.  Marthe Robin Private Diary, January 3, 1930

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
God calls each one of us to be a saint in order to get into heaven.
The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for benefit of recipients so much as FOR benefit of others.
Paul VI_Athenagoras_05_01_1964
Quote: Pope Paul VI’s 1969 Instruction on the Contemplative Life includes this passage:   Benedict_XVI_Patriarch_Bartholomew
 "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).

"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
1st v. St Anianus Bishop St Mark shoemaker aide great fervor and virtue
 150 St. Philo and Agathopodes Antiochene deacons authored Acts recounting life and
        death of St. Ignatius of Antioch
        Evodius, Hermogenes & Callistus MM (RM)
4th v. Kebius preached conversion in Cornwall B (AC)
        Saturninus, Theophilus & Revocata MM (RM)
 300 Theophilus of Caesarea M (RM)
 312 Saturninus, Theophilus & Revocata MM (RM)
       Antiochíæ sancti Stéphani, Epíscopi et Mártyris, qui ab hæréticis Synodum
       Chalcedonénsem impugnántibus, multa passus
 392 St. Phaebadius one of “the illustrious men” of the Church extirpated Arianism heresy
 480 St. Macedonius Patriarch of Constantinople Council of Chalcedon defener
 489 St. Macaille Bishop of Croghan prelate vows of St. Brigid
5th v. Mun of Lough Ree hermit another nephew of Saint Patrick B (AC)
5th v. Dyfnan  saintly son of Welsh chieftain Brychan (AC)
 525 Deodatus of Blois, Abbot (AC)
 539 Vedast of Arras holy from childhood instrumental in the conversion of Clovis I to Christianity B (AC)
7th v. Authaire of La Ferté courtier at King Dagobert Ipalace France (AC)
7th v. Bova (Beuve, Bona) abbess & Doda rejected marriage proposals she  devote to service of God OSB VV (RM)
 729 Egbert of Rathemigisi Northumbrian monk of Lindisfarne OSB (RM)
 737 Erminus of Lobbes practicing apostolic zeal as abbot and regional bishop OSB B (RM)
 750 Saint Relindis of Eyck abbess OSB, Abbess (AC)
 780 St. Mella Widow abbess
       Blessed Corona of Elche Benedictine nun OSB V (AC)
 857 Heribald of Auxerre Benedictine monk abbot love of well-regulated lives ceremonies well-built churches
 891 Photius career of scholarship and public service at the imperial court legitimate patriarch of Constantinople
       Orthodox objection to doctrine of the Holy Spirit
1000 St. Robert of Syracuse Benedictine abbot He headed the monastery at Syracuse, Sicily.
1243 Blessed Boniface of Valperga monk bishop of Aosta B (PC)
1479 Saint Sylvester of Obnora disciple and novice under St Sergius of Radonezh (September 25 and July 5); record of  miracles preserved from 1645 -- 23 miracles described --healed 12 people from demonic possession and delirium, and six others from eye afflictions.
1586 Bl. William Marsden &  Blessed Robert Anderson  priest Martyr of England
1586 Bl. Robert Anderton Jesuit Cardinal theology professor notable figure Catholic Reformation defended Gallileo
1586 Bb. Robert Anderton And William Marsden, Martyrs
1597 Philip of Jesus friar Miracles attested the power before God of these first martyrs of Japan patron of Mexico City, Mexico
1769 Philipp Friedrich Hiller; In seinem Werk 'System aller Vorbilder Jesu Christi im Alten und Neuen Testament' steht sein Lied 'Jesus Christus herrscht als König' (EG 123). Er verfaßte "Das geistliche Liederkästlein", das Tagessprüche und Tageslieder enthielt und lange als Liederbuch der württemberischen Gemeinschaften diente und mit den Schwaben in alle Welt hinauszog
1903 St Gertrude Comensoli foundress of the sisters of the Blessed Sacrament
1913 Blessed Giovanni Battista Piamarta (AC)
Alexandríæ natális beáti Marci Evangelístæ.  Hic, discípulus et intérpres Apóstoli Petri, rogátus Romæ a frátribus scripsit Evangélium, quo assúmpto, perréxit in Ægyptum, primúsque Alexandríæ Christum annúntians, constítuit Ecclésiam; ac póstea, pro fide Christi tentus, fúnibus vinctus et per saxa raptátus, gráviter afflíctus est; deínde, reclúsus in cárcere, primo angélica visitatióne confortátus est, et demum, ipso Dómino sibi apparénte, ad cæléstia regna vocátus, octávo Nerónis anno.
    At Alexandria, the birthday of St. Mark the Evangelist, disciple and interpreter of the apostle St. Peter.  He wrote his gospel at the request of the faithful at Rome, and taking it with him, proceeded to Egypt and founded a church at Alexandria, where he was the first to preach Christ.  Afterwards, being arrested for the faith, he was bound, dragged over stones, and endured great afflictions.  Finally he was confined to prison, where, being comforted by the visit of an angel, and even by an apparition of our Lord himself, he was called to the heavenly kingdom in the eighth year of the reign of Nero.

 
St. Mark April 25, 2007 
Most of what we know about Mark comes directly from the New Testament. He is usually identified with the Mark of Acts 12:12. (When Peter escaped from prison, he went to the home of Mark's mother.)
Paul and Barnabas took him along on the first missionary journey, but for some reason Mark returned alone to Jerusalem. It is evident, from Paul's refusal to let Mark accompany him on the second journey despite Barnabas's insistence, that Mark had displeased Paul. Later, Paul asks Mark to visit him in prison so we may assume the trouble did not last long.

The oldest and the shortest of the four Gospels, the Gospel of Mark emphasizes Jesus' rejection by humanity while being God's triumphant envoy. Probably written for Gentile converts in Rome—after the death of Peter and Paul sometime between A.D. 60 and 70—Mark's Gospel is the gradual manifestation of a "scandal": a crucified Messiah.
Evidently a friend of Mark (Peter called him "my son"), Peter is only one of the Gospel sources, others being the Church in Jerusalem (Jewish roots) and the Church at Antioch (largely Gentile).
Like one other Gospel writer, Luke, Mark was not one of the 12 apostles. We cannot be certain whether he knew Jesus personally. Some scholars feel that the evangelist is speaking of himself when describing the arrest of Jesus in Gethsemane: "Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. They seized him, but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked" (Mark 14:51-52).
Others hold Mark to be the first bishop of Alexandria, Egypt. Venice, famous for the Piazza San Marco, claims Mark as its patron saint; the large basilica there is believed to contain his remains.

A winged lion is Mark's symbol. The lion derives from Mark's description of John the Baptist as a "voice of one crying out in the desert" (Mark 1:3), which artists compared to a roaring lion. The wings come from the application of Ezekiel's vision of four winged creatures (Ezekiel, chapter one) to the evangelists.
Comment:    Mark fulfilled in his life what every Christian is called to do: proclaim to all people the Good News that is the source of salvation. In particular, Mark's way was by writing. Others may proclaim the Good News by music, drama, poetry or by teaching children around a family table.
Quote:    There is very little in Mark that is not in the other Gospels—only four passages. One is: “...This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come” (Mark 4:26-29).

75 Mark, Evangelist according to Papias, "he had neither heard the Lord, nor ever been his disciple, but later had attended Peter, who composed his teachings to suit the needs of the moment, but did not profess to make a regular collection of the Lord's sayings. And so Mark made no mistakes; writing down the particulars just as he remembered them."(RM)
The Holy Disciple and Evangelist Mark, named also John-Mark (Acts 12: 12), was a Disciple from among the Seventy, and was also a nephew of the Disciple Barnabas (Comm. 11 June). He was born at Jerusalem. The house of his mother Mary adjoined the Garden of Gethsemane. As Church Tradition relates, on the night of the Sufferings of Christ on the Cross he followed after Him, wrapped in a linen winding-cloth, and he fled from the soldiers catching hold of him (Mk. 14: 51-52). After the Ascension of the Lord, the house of his mother Saint Mary became a place of prayerful gatherings of Christians and a lodging for certain of the Apostles (Acts 12: 12).
      Saint Mark was a very close companion of the Apostles Peter and Paul (Comm. 29 June) and of the Disciple Barnabas. Saint Mark was at Seleucia together with Paul and Barnabas, and from there he set off to the island of Cyprus, and he crossed over the whole of it from East to West.
In the city of Paphos Saint Mark was an eye-witness, of how the Apostle Paul had struck blind the sorcerer Elymas (Acts 13: 6-12).

After working with the Apostle Paul, Saint Mark returned to Jerusalem, and then with the Apostle Peter he arrived in Rome, from whence at the latter's bidding he set out for Egypt, where he became founder of the Church.   During the time of the second evangelic journey of the Apostle Paul, Saint Mark met up with him at Antioch. From there he set out preaching with the Disciple Barnabas to Cyprus, and then he went off again to Egypt, where together with the Apostle Peter he founded many churches, and then also at Babylon. From this city the Apostle Peter directed an Epistle to the Christians of Asia Minor, in which he points to Saint Mark as his spiritual son (1 Pet. 5: 13).  When the Apostle Paul came in chains to Rome, the Disciple Mark was at Ephesus, where the cathedra-seat was occupied by Saint Timothy (Comm. 4 January). The Disciple Mark arrived together with him in Rome. There also he wrote his holy Gospel (c. 62-63).
From Rome Saint Mark again set off to Egypt. At Alexandria he made the beginnings of a Christian school, from which later on emerged such famous fathers and teachers of the Church, as Clement of Alexandria, Sainted Dionysios (5 October), Sainted Gregory Thaumatourgos ("Wonderworker", Comm. 5 November), and others. Zealous with the arranging of Church Divine-services, the holy Disciple Mark compiled the order of Liturgy for the Alexandrian Christians.  Later on in preaching the Gospel, Saint Mark also visited the inner regions of Africa, and he was in Libya at Nektopolis.
During the time of these journeys, Saint Mark received inspiration of the Holy Spirit to go again to Alexandria and confront the pagans.
There he visited at the home of the dignitary Ananias, for whom he healed a crippled hand. The dignitary happily took him in, hearkened with faith to his narratives, and received Baptism. And following the example of Ananias, many of the inhabitants of that part of the city where he lived were baptised after him. This roused the enmity of the pagans, and they gathered to kill Saint Mark. Having learned of this, the holy Disciple Mark made Ananias bishop, and the three Christians: Malchos, Sabinos and Kerdinos – presbyters.
The pagans pounced upon Saint Mark when he was making Divine-services. They beat him, dragged him through the streets and threw him in prison. There Saint Mark was granted a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who strengthened him before his sufferings. On the following day the angry crowd again dragged the holy disciple through the streets towards the court-room, but along the way Saint Mark died with the words: "Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit".

The pagans wanted to burn the body of the holy disciple. But when they lit up the bon-fire, everything grew dim, thunder crashed and an earthquake occurred. The pagans fled in terror, and Christians took up the body of the holy disciple and buried it in a stone crypt. This was on 4 April in the year 63. The Church celebrates his memory on 25 April.

In the year 310, a church was built over the relics of the holy Disciple Mark. In the year 820, when the Mahometan Arabs had established their rule in Egypt and those of this different faith oppressed the Christian Church, the relics of Saint Mark were transferred to Venice and placed in the church of his name.
In the ancient iconographic tradition, which adopted symbols for the holy Evangelists borrowed from the vision of Saint John the Theologian (Rev. 4: 7), the holy Evangelist Mark is depicted by a lion – symbolising the might and royal dignity of Christ (Rev. 5: 5). Saint Mark wrote his Gospel for Christians from among the gentile-pagans, since he emphasises predominantly the words and deeds of the Saviour, in which particularly is manifest His Divine Almightiness. The many particularities of his account can be explained by his proximity to the holy Apostle Peter. All the ancient writers testify, that the Gospel of Mark represents a concise writing-down of the preaching and narratives of the first-ranked Apostle Peter. One of the central theological themes in the Gospel of Saint Mark is the theme of the power of God, doing the humanly impossible, wherein the Lord makes possible that which of man is impossible. By the efficacy of Christ (Mk. 16: 20) and the Holy Spirit (Mk. 13: 11), His disciples are to go forth into the world and preach the Gospel to all creatures (Mk. 13: 10, 16: 15).© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos.
"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
15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary
Fatima and the Last Times Remedies
Saints of this Day April 25  Séptimo Kaléndas Maji
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 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 by the 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 left us in their inspired writings.
There 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.

Pope Benedict XVI to The Catholic Church In China {whole article here }
The saints “a cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.

“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

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

THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARPSALM 97

Sing to Our Lady a new song: for she hath done wonderful things.

In the sight of nations she hath revealed her mercy: her name is heard even to the ends of the earth.
Be mindful, O Lady, of the poor and the wretched:
and support them by the help of thy holy refreshment.
For thou, O Lady, art sweet and true: exceedingly patient and full of compassion.
Tread upon the enemies of our souls: and crush with thy holy arm their contumacy.

Glory be to the Father, etc.

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O Most Blessed and Sweet Virgin Mary. Our Lady of Good Succor (near Rouen, France, 1613) Saint Thomas Aquinas
Mother of God, filled with all tenderness, Daughter of the most high King,
Lady of the Angels, Mother of all the faithful.
On this day and all the days of my life, I entrust to your merciful heart my body and my soul,
all my acts, thoughts, choices, desires, words, deeds, my entire life and death.
So that with your assistance all may be ordered to the good
according to the will of your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Obtain for me as well, O most sweet Lady, true charity with which from the depths of my heart
I may love your most holy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and, after him, love you above all other things. Amen.
Saint Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274) Excerpt from "Prayer of Saint Thomas Aquinas to the Blessed Virgin"

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
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/mart025 stlukeorthodox.com/html/saints/april/ usccb.org  ewtn.com  St Patricks 0425
domcentral.org/life/martyrFebruary  syriac    oca.org   glaubenszeugen.de/tage/Apr/   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
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_BLay Saints  Miraculous_IconMiraculous_Medal_Novena Patron Saints
100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000    1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800   1900

Paul VI_Athenagoras_05_01_1964

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

"Evil, is only eradicated by holiness, not by harshness. And holiness introduces into society a seed that heals and transforms.  It is like the tectonic plates of the earth’s crust: The deepest layers need only shift a few millimeters to shatter the world’s surface. Yet for this spiritual revolution to occur, we must experience radical 'metanoia'--a conversion of attitudes, habits and practices--for ways that we have misused or abused God’s Word, God’s gifts and God’s creation. The challenge before us is the discernment of God’s Word in the face of evil, the transfiguration of every last detail and speck of this world in the light of Resurrection." "The victory is al ready present in the depths of the Church, whenever we experience the grace of reconciliation and communion."
Patriarch_Bartholomew I: SYNOD OF BISHOPS VATICAN CITY, OCT. 17, 2008

God calls each one of us to be a saint in order to get into heaven.
The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.
Non est inventus similis illis
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 AzamHazrat 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)
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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.
Fatima and the Last Times Remedies
The Last Times Remedies spoken of by Sister Lucia are two-fold:
1. The Rosary Devotion;
2. The Five First Saturday Reparatory Devotion and Consecration of Russia.
The first remedy
The Rosary Devotion consists of the praying the Rosary daily, as well as offering up your daily sacrifices and duties in reparation or apology to God for the sins committed. We must remember to first apologize to God for sins, and then all things will be given afterwards. So this first step, the Rosary devotion, repairs for sins and helps to save souls from going to Hell.
In the August apparition, Our Lady stated, “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners, for many souls go to Hell because there is no one to pray and make sacrifices for them.”
This is a Daily Consecration formula that can be used:
"Dear Queen and Mother, who promised at Fatima to convert Russia and bring peace to all mankind, in reparation to Thy Immaculate Heart for my sins and the sins of the whole world, I solemnly promise: "To offer up every day the sufferings and sacrifices demanded by my daily duty; (through the Morning Offering prayer); "To pray the rosary daily while meditating on the Mysteries; "To wear the Brown Scapular of Mount Carmel as a profession of this promise and as an act of consecration of myself to Thee, and to renew this promise often, especially in moments of temptation."
The second remedy
The second remedy is The Five First Saturday Reparatory Devotions, which was requested by Our Lord to repair the damage of the five offenses and blasphemies committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. On Ascension Thursday, May 29, 1930 Our Lord explained what these were. The blasphemies are: Against her Immaculate Conception; Against her perpetual virginity; Against her divine maternity as well as the refusal to accept her as Mother of all mankind; The attempt to publicly implant in children’s hearts indifference toward, contempt and even hatred for this Immaculate Mother; The offense of those who insult her directly by profaning her sacred images.
What is required to fulfill the First Saturday Reparatory devotion? Here are the words of Our Lady, “I promise to help at the hour of death, with graces needed for salvation, whoever, on the First Saturday of five consecutive months, shall: "Confess; "Receive Holy Communion; "Recite five decades of the Rosary,
[With the added prayer at the end of each decade: O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need of Thy mercy];
"Keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to My Immaculate Heart” [This is understood to mean an additional 15 minutes of meditating on the Mysteries, other than the actual praying of the five decades].

Again we see the condition of making reparation, repairing for the damage done by sin.
We must remember that Our Lord, being a good and loving Son, asks for this reparation for those offenses committed against His Most Holy Mother.
This request of Our Lord and Our Lady for the Five First Saturday Devotion must be officially established and promulgated in the Church. But since this, alas, has not been done, Mr. Del Rose constantly worked to make it known and understood by the people, so more would practice it in compliance with Our Lady’s wishes.
During the famous Fr. Fuentes interview of December 26, 1957, Sister Lucia stated that if these remedies are rejected, it will be a sin against the Holy Ghost.
The second part of the request during the July 13, 1917 apparition is the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Holy Father in union with all the Bishops of the world must perform this consecration on the same day, and Russia must be named as the object of that consecration.
To date, neither the official promulgation of the Five First Saturdays Devotion nor the consecration of Russia has been fulfilled as Our Lady asked. This is the reason why Mr. Del Rose always stressed the two specific requirements, establishing The Five First Saturdays Devotion and the Consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart.
By Father John Corapi, SOLT
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
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).
- 1
932 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)
CONSISTORY ON SEVERAL CAUSES OF CANONISATION
VATICAN CITY, 16 FEB 2009 (VIS) - In the Clementine Hall of the Vatican Apostolic Palace at 11 a.m. on Saturday 21 February, an ordinary public consistory will be held for the canonisation of the following Blesseds:
- Blessed Zygmunt Szczesny Felinski, Polish former archbishop of Warsaw and founder of the Congregation of Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary.
- Blessed Arcangelo Tadini, Italian diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of Worker Sisters of the Holy House of Nazareth.
- Blessed Francesc Coll y Guitart, 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.
- Blessed Jozef Damian de Veuster, 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 Bernardo Tolomei, Italian founder of the Olivetan Benedictine Congregation.
- Blessed Rafael Arnaiz Baron, Spanish oblate friar of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance.
- Blessed Nuno di Santa Maria Alvares Pereira, Portuguese religious of the Order of Friars of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel.
- Blessed Gertrude Comensoli (nee Caterina), Italian virgin and foundress of the Institute of Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.
- Blessed Mary of the Cross Jugan (nee Jeanne), French virgin and foundress of the Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Poor.
- Blessed Caterina Volpicelli, Italian virgin and foundress of the Institute of Handmaidens of the Sacred Heart.
OCL/CONSISTORY CANONISATION/... VIS 090216 (270)
VATICAN CITY, 3 APR 2009 (VIS) - Today in the Vatican, the Holy Father received in private audience Archbishop Angelo Amato S.D.B., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and authorised the promulgation of decrees concerning the following causes:
MIRACLES- Venerable Servant of God Maria Pierina de Micheli, Italian sister of the Daughters of the Immaculate Conception of Buenos Aires (1890-1945). HEROIC VIRTUES
- Franz Joseph Rudigier, Austrian Bishop of Linz (1811-1884). - Johannes Evangelist Wagner, German diocesan priest (1807-1886).  - Innocenzo da Caltagirone Marcinno (ne Giuseppe), Italian Minister General of the Order of the Capuchin Friars Minor (1589-1655).  - Teresa de la Cruz Candamo Alvarez Calderon, Peruvian foundress of the Congregation of Canonesses of the Cross (1875-1953).  - Maria Ines-Teresa del Santisimo Sacramento Arias Espinosa (nee Manuela de Jesus), Mexican foundress of the Poor Clare Missionary Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament  and the Missionaries of Christ for the Universal Church (1904-1981).  - Marie de la Ferre, French co-foundress of the Daughters of St. Joseph of La Fleche (now the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph) (1589/1590-1652).  - Teresita del Nino Jesus Perez de Iriarte Casado (nee Felisa), Spanish  professed religious of the Dominican Nuns (1904-1954).   - Dulce Lopes Pontes (nee Maria Rita), Brazilian sister of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God (1914-1992).  - Giacomo Gaglione, Italian lay man (1896-1962).  - Benoite Rencurel, French lay woman of the Third Order of St. Dominic (1647-1718).  CCS/DECREES CAUSES OF THE SAINTS/AMATO VIS 090403 (270)

FIVE BLESSEDS TO BE CANONISED ON SUNDAY 26 APRIL 2009
VATICAN CITY, 21 APR 2009 (VIS) - At 10 a.m. on Sunday 26 April, third Sunday of Easter, the Pope will celebrate the Eucharist in St. Peter's Square and canonise the following Blesseds:
- Arcangelo Tadini (1846-1912), Italian diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of Worker Sisters of the Holy House of Nazareth.
- Bernardo Tolomei (1272-1348), Italian founder of the Olivetan Benedictine Congregation.
- Nuno de Santa Maria Alvares Pereira (1360-1431), Portuguese religious of the Order of Friars of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel.
- Gertrude Comensoli (1847-1903), Italian virgin and foundress of the Institute of Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.
- Caterina Volpicelli (1839-1894), Italian virgin and foundress of the Institute of Handmaidens of the Sacred Heart.
OCL/CANONISATION/...VIS 090421 (140)
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St. Mark (John Mark) 2nd Gospel before year 60 Greek for Christian Gentile converts St. Paul St. Barnabas associates (who was Mark's cousin) Patron of notaries
St. Mark

The second Gospel was written by St. Mark, who, in the New Testament, is sometimes called John Mark. Both he and his mother, Mary, were highly esteemed in the early Church, and his mother's house in Jerusalem served as a meeting place for Christians there.  St. Mark was associated with St. Paul and St. Barnabas (who was Mark's cousin) on their missionary journey through the island of Cyprus. Later he accompanied St. Barnabas alone. We know also that he was in Rome with St. Peter and St. Paul. Tradition ascribes to him the founding of the Church in Alexandria.
St. Mark wrote the second Gospel, probably in Rome sometime before the year 60 A.D.; he wrote it in Greek for the Gentile converts to Christianity. Tradition tells us that St. Mark was requested by the Romans to set down the teachings of St. Peter. This seems to be confirmed by the position which St. Peter has in this Gospel. In this way the second Gospel is a record of the life of Jesus as seen through the eyes of the Prince of the Apostles.

74 St Mark, Evangelist
For our knowledge of the personal history of St Mark, the author of the second gospel, we are dependent more or less upon conjecture. It is generally believed that he must be identical with the “John surnamed Mark” of Acts xii 12 and 25, and that the Mary whose house in Jerusalem was a kind of rendezvous for the apostles was consequently his mother. From Col. iv 10 we learn that Mark was a kinsman of St Barnabas who, as stated in Acts iv 36, was a Levite and a Cypriot, and from this it is not unlikely that St Mark was of a levitical family himself.

When Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch, after leaving in Jerusalem the alms they had brought, they took John surnamed Mark with them, and in their apostolic mission at Salamis in Cyprus, Mark helped them in their ministry (Acts xiii 5), but when they were at Perga in Pamphylia he left and returned to Jerusalem (Acts xiii 13).
St Paul seems consequently to have suspected Mark of a certain instability, and later, when preparing for a visitation of the churches in Cilicia and the rest of Asia Minor, he refused to include John Mark, though Barnabas desired his company. The difference of opinion ended in Barnabas separating from St Paul and going with Mark again to Cyprus. None the less when Paul was undergoing his first captivity in Rome, Mark was with him and a help to him (Col. iv 10). Also in his second Roman captivity, shortly before his martyrdom, St Paul writes to Timothy, then at Ephesus, enjoining him to” take Mark and bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me for the ministry”.
On the other hand tradition testifies strongly in the sense that the author of the second gospel was intimately associated with St Peter. Clement of Alexandria (as reported by Eusebius), Irenaeus and Papias speak of St Mark as the interpreter or mouthpiece of St Peter, though Papias declares that Mark had not heard the Lord and had not been His disciple. In spite of this last utterance, many commentators incline to the view that the young man (Mark xiv 51) who followed our Lord after His arrest was no other than Mark himself. What is certain is that St Peter, writing from Rome (1 Peter v 13), speaks of “my son Mark” who apparently was there with him. We can hardly doubt that this was the evangelist, and there is at any rate nothing which conclusively shows that this young man is a different person from the “John surnamed Mark” of the Acts.
Turning to more uncertain documents, we have in the first place to note a curiously sober narrative—sober in the sense that the miraculous element is very restrained and the local knowledge exceptional—which purports to have been written by the same John Mark to give an account of that second visit of Barnabas and himself to Cyprus, which ended in the martyrdom of the former, here assigned to A.D. 53. It is noteworthy that the compiler of this apocryphal “passion” had apparently no idea that Mark was himself the author of the second gospel, for great prominence is given to the possession by Barnabas of a record of our Lord’s sayings and doings which he had obtained from St Matthew. This seems an unlikely detail to be invented and put in the mouth of one who was himself known to be one of the four evangelists. On the other hand the concluding passage represents Mark as sailing for Alexandria and there devoting himself to the work of teaching others “what he had learned from the apostles of Christ”.

That St Mark lived for some years in Alexandria and became bishop of that see is an ancient tradition, though his connection with their native city is not mentioned either by Clement of Alexandria or by Origen. Eusebius, however, records it, and so also does the ancient Latin preface to the vulgate of St Mark’s Gospel. This last notice, referring to some personal deformity of the evangelist, mentioned also at an earlier date by Hippolytus, suggests that it was a mutilation self-inflicted to prevent his ordination to the priesthood of which he deemed himself unworthy. But while it is quite probable that St Mark did end his days as bishop of Alexandria, we can put no confidence in the “acts” of his supposed martyrdom. These are briefly summarized in the notice which still stands in the Roman Martyrology:
“At Alexandria, the birthday of St Mark the Evangelist, who was the disciple and interpreter of Peter the Apostle. He was sent for to Rome by the brethren and there wrote a gospel, and having finished it, went into Egypt. He was the first to preach Christ at Alexandria and formed a church there. Later he was arrested for his faith in Christ, bound with cords and grievously tortured by being dragged over stones. Then, while shut up in prison, he was comforted by the visit of an angel, and finally, after our Lord Himself had appeared to him, he was called to the heavenly kingdom in the eighth year of Nero.”
The city of Venice claims to possess the body of St Mark which is supposed to have been brought there from Alexandria early in the ninth century. The authen¬ticity of the remains preserved for so many hundred years has not passed unques¬tioned, and in any case it may be doubted whether the percolation of water, which for long periods rendered the subterranean confessio where they repose quite inaccessible, has not wrought irreparable damage to the frail contents of the shrine. It is certain, however, that St Mark has been honoured from time immemorial as principal patron of the city. St Mark’s emblem, the lion, like the emblems of the other evangelists, is of very ancient date. Already in the time of St Augustine and St Jerome, “the four living creatures” of Apoc. iv 7—8 were held to be typical of the evangelists, and these holy doctors were reduced to tracing a connection between St Mark and his lion by the consideration that St Mark’s Gospel begins with a mention of the desert and that the lion is lord of the desert.
On St Mark’s day are celebrated the litaniae majores, but it should be pointed out that this solemn procession, formerly associated with a fast, has no connection of origin with the festival of the holy evangelist. It is not improbable that the litaniae majores date back in Rome to the time of St Gregory the Great or even earlier, whereas the liturgical recognition of St Mark on this day was only introduced at a much later period. There can be no reasonable doubt, as Mgr Duchesne long ago pointed out, that the ceremony and prayers of the litany (i.e. supplications) are no more than the christianized adaptation of the Robigalia occur¬ring on the same day, which are commemorated in Ovid’s Fasti. Of this pagan procession and lustration something has been said under Candlemas day, February 2.
In the martyrologies and liturgical tradition of both East and West, Mark the Evangelist and John Mark are regarded as being separate persons. John Mark is in the Greek Menaion on September 27, and on the same date the Roman Martyr¬ology has: “At Byblos in Phoenicia, St Mark the bishop, who by blessed Luke is also called John and who was the son of that blessed Mary whose memory is noted on June 29”. That he became a bishop at Byblos or elsewhere is a tradition of the Greeks, from whom the West acquired it.

The so-called “acts” and other apocryphal documents connected with St Mark are printed in the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. iii; see also September, vol. vii. The text of the passio of St Barnabas attributed to John Mark will be found in the same collection in the second volume for June, under Barnabas, and it has also been edited by Tischendorf in his Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha, vol. iii, pp. 292 seq. See further the Dictionnaire de la Bible and DTC., under “Marc”; and amongst non-Catholic contributions to the subject the introduction to St Mark’s Gospel by C. H. Turner in Bishop Gore’s New Commentary on Holy Scripture (1928) may be specially recommended, as well as the article by F. Chase in Hastings’s Dictionary of the Bible. For the relics of St Mark at Venice cf. G. Pavanello, in the Rivista della Citta di Venezia, August, 1928; and Moroni, Dizionario di Erudizione, vol. xc, pp. 265—268.

The Holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark, also known as John Mark (Acts 12:12), was one of the Seventy Apostles, and was also a nephew of St Barnabas (June 11). He was born at Jerusalem. The house of his mother Mary adjoined the Garden of Gethsemane. As Church Tradition relates, on the night that Christ was betrayed he followed after Him, wrapped only in a linen cloth. He was seized by soldiers, and fled away naked, leaving the cloth behind (Mark 14:51-52). After the Ascension of the Lord, the house of his mother Mary became a place where Christians gathered, and a place of lodging for some of the Apostles (Acts 12:12).

St Mark was a very close companion of the Apostles Peter and Paul (June 29) and Barnabas. St Mark was at Seleucia with Paul and Barnabas, and from there he set off to the island of Cyprus, and he traversed the whole of it from east to west. In the city of Paphos, St Mark witnessed the blinding of the sorcerer Elymas by St Paul (Acts 13:6-12). 
After working with the Apostle Paul, St Mark returned to Jerusalem, and then went to Rome with the Apostle Peter. From there, he set out for Egypt, where he established a local Church.  St Mark met St Paul in Antioch. From there he went with St Barnabas to Cyprus, and then he went to Egypt again, where he and St Peter founded many churches. Then he went to Babylon. From this city the Apostle Peter sent an Epistle to the Christians of Asia Minor, in which he calls St Mark his son (1 Pet 5:13).

When the Apostle Paul came to Rome in chains, St Mark was at Ephesus, where St Timothy (January 4) was bishop. St Mark went with him to Rome. There he also wrote his holy Gospel (ca. 62-63).
From Rome St Mark traveled to Egypt. In Alexandria he started a Christian school, which later produced such famous Fathers and teachers of the Church as Clement of Alexandria, St Dionysius of Alexandria (October 5), St Gregory Thaumatourgos (November 5), and others. Zealous for Church services, St Mark composed a Liturgy for the Christians of Alexandria.
St Mark preached the Gospel in the inner regions of Africa, and he was in Libya at Nektopolis.

During these journeys, St Mark was inspired by the Holy Spirit to go again to Alexandria and confront the pagans. There he visited the home of Ananias, and healed his crippled hand. The dignitary happily took him in, listened to his words, and received Baptism.
Following the example of Ananias, many of the inhabitants of that part of the city where he lived were also baptized. This roused the enmity of the pagans, and they wanted to kill St Mark. Having learned of this, St Mark made Ananias a bishop, and the three Christians Malchos, Sabinos, and Kerdinos were ordained presbyters to provide the church with leadership after his death.
The pagans seized St Mark when he was serving the Liturgy. They beat him, dragged him through the streets and threw him in prison. There St Mark was granted a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who strengthened him before his sufferings. On the following day, the angry crowd again dragged the saint through the streets to the courtroom, but along the way St Mark died saying, "Into Your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit."

The pagans wanted to burn the saint's body, but when they lit the fire, everything grew dark, thunder crashed, and there was an earthquake. The pagans fled in terror, and Christians took up the body of St Mark and buried it in a stone crypt. This was on April 4, 63. The Church celebrates his memory on April 25.

In the year 310, a church was built over the relics of St Mark. In 820, when the Moslem Arabs had established their rule in Egypt and oppressed the Christian Church, the relics of St Mark were transferred to Venice and placed in the church named for him.  In the ancient iconographic tradition, which adopted symbols for the holy Evangelists borrowed from the vision of St John the Theologian (Rev 4:7) and the prophecy of Ezekiel (Ez. 1:10), the holy Evangelist Mark is represented by a lion, symbolizing the might and royal dignity of Christ (Rev 5:5).

St Mark wrote his Gospel for Gentile Christians, emphasizing the words and deeds of the Savior which reveal His divine Power. Many aspects of his account can be explained by his closeness to St Peter. The ancient writers say that the Gospel of Mark is a concise record of St Peter's preaching.
One of the central theological themes in the Gospel of St Mark is the power of God achieving what is humanly impossible. The Apostles performed remarkable miracles with Christ (Mark 16:20) and the Holy Spirit (Mark 13:11) working through them. His disciples were told to go into the world and preach the Gospel to all creatures (Mark 13:10, 16:15), and that is what they did.
1st v. St Anianus Bishop St Mark shoemaker aide great fervor and virtue
Item Alexandríæ sancti Aniáni Epíscopi, qui, beáti Marci discípulus ejúsque in Episcopátu succéssor, clarus virtútibus quiévit in Dómino.
    Also at Alexandria, Bishop St. Anian, disciple of blessed Mark, and his successor in the episcopate.  With a great renown for virtue, he rested in the Lord.

<>1st V. St Anianus, Bishop Of Alexandria
According to the so-called “Acts of St Mark”, St Anianus, the second bishop of Alexandria, had been a shoemaker, whose hand, wounded by an awl, had been healed by the evangelist at his first entrance into the city. Other writers, on the other hand, assert that St Anianus was an Alexandrian of noble family. He is said to have been consecrated bishop in order that he might govern during the absence of St Mark, whom he afterwards succeeded. Eusebius speaks of him as “a man well pleasing to God and admirable in all things”, and Epiphanius mentions a church in Alexandria built in his honour.

See the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. iii.

In the apocryphal Acts of Mark, Anianus is described as the second bishop of Alexandria, Egypt. Mark states that Anianus was originally a shoemaker.
Other lists refer to Anianus as a noble who was consecrated by Mark and named to succeed him.

Anianus of Alexandria B (RM) 1st century. According to Eusebius and the apocryphal acta of Saint Mark, Anianus was a shoemaker by trade. He was converted to Christianity and became a disciple of Saint Mark when he was healed of an awl wound. His fervor and virtue were so great that Mark appointed Anianus as his vicar during his absence and upon Mark's death Anianus succeeded him as bishop of Alexandria for 18 years and seven months.
Other sources have him a noble who was named bishop by Mark. Saint Epiphanius mentions a church in Alexandria built in the honor of Anianus (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).
75 Mark, Evangelist according to Papias, "he had neither heard the Lord, nor ever been his disciple, but later had attended Peter, who composed his teachings to suit the needs of the moment, but did not profess to make a regular collection of the Lord's sayings. And so Mark made no mistakes; writing down the particulars just as he remembered them."(RM)
Alexandríæ natális beáti Marci Evangelístæ.  Hic, discípulus et intérpres Apóstoli Petri, rogátus Romæ a frátribus scripsit Evangélium, quo assúmpto, perréxit in Ægyptum, primúsque Alexandríæ Christum annúntians, constítuit Ecclésiam; ac póstea, pro fide Christi tentus, fúnibus vinctus et per saxa raptátus, gráviter afflíctus est; deínde, reclúsus in cárcere, primo angélica visitatióne confortátus est, et demum, ipso Dómino sibi apparénte, ad cæléstia regna vocátus, octávo Nerónis anno.
    At Alexandria, the birthday of St. Mark the Evangelist, disciple and interpreter of the apostle St. Peter.  He wrote his gospel at the request of the faithful at Rome, and taking it with him, proceeded to Egypt and founded a church at Alexandria, where he was the first to preach Christ.  Afterwards, being arrested for the faith, he was bound, dragged over stones, and endured great afflictions.  Finally he was confined to prison, where, being comforted by the visit of an angel, and even by an apparition of our Lord himself, he was called to the heavenly kingdom in the eighth year of the reign of Nero.
feast day in the East is September 23; feast of the translation of his relics to Venice is celebrated on January 31.

Among the younger figures of the New Testament is John Mark (Acts 12:25), mentioned several times in the New Testament. Of the four Gospels his is the most vivid and informal because it was probably the first recorded (AD 60-70). In some ways it is the most descriptive Gospel, yet he writes as though it had to be done quickly.

Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, Asia Minor, called him the interpreter of Peter, c. 130, and said that he preached the gospel in Alexandria. An ancient tradition had the Gospel written down in Rome for Gentile Christians.
He recorded the story of Jesus as he heard it from the lips of Saint Peter. "For," according to Papias, "he had neither heard the Lord, nor ever been his disciple, but later had attended Peter, who composed his teachings to suit the needs of the moment, but did not profess to make a regular collection of the Lord's sayings. And so Mark made no mistakes; writing down the particulars just as he remembered them."
Mark's Gospel is written in awkward Greek, full of Semitic turns of phrases, cumbersome participles, and a lack of transitions. Yet Mark's simple language, stripped of rhetorical flourishes, without oratorical periods, without concern for syntax, is perhaps the clearest language through which to see best the flesh and blood of Jesus. The miracles of Jesus must have deeply affected Mark because his Gospel recounts many of them.
In order to demonstrate Jesus's divinity to the Romans, Mark skillfully shows Jesus as a worker of miracles rather than Jesus fulfilling prophecies that would be unknown to his intended readers.


Saint Mark Image of Saint Mark courtesy of Saint Charles Borromeo Church
Mark's Gospel starkly sets out the demands of Jesus on his followers.  Jesus had suffered, says Mark; His followers will suffer similarly.
Indeed, Jesus had explicitly warned the disciples about this. But it is also clear that those who can endure such sufferings will be greatly rewarded, for what Mark claims to be bringing is 'good news,' 'the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,' as he states in the very first verse.

Another early historian, Eusebius, reporting the words of Saint Clement of Alexandria says that Saint Mark, a follower of Saint Peter, was asked by Roman tradesmen to compose a permanent memorial of Saint Peter's sermons, and so came to write, from his memory of them, the Gospel which bears his name.

Saint Ireneaus also tells us that Mark was Saint Peter's interpreter and mouthpiece.
Saint Mark was a cousin of Barnabas (Col. 4:10). His mother, Mary, was evidently a person of some wealth and position in Jerusalem, for her home was a center of hospitality to which the leaders of the early Church naturally gravitated.
When Saint Peter escaped from prison, he came "to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying," and it was a maid of the house, called Rhoda, who answered the door.

Mark was probably a Levite, because we know that his kinsman Barnabas was one (Acts 4:36), and perhaps a minor minister in the synagogue.
He accompanied Paul and Barnabas to Antioch in AD 44 (Acts 12:25), then to Salamis in Cyprus, and with Barnabas was on Paul's first missionary journey (Acts 13:5), but left Paul at Perga in Pamphylia and returned alone to Jerusalem (Acts 13:13).
For some reason he evidently offended Paul, who did not take him on his second missionary journey to Cilicia and Asia Minor, which was the occasion of the disagreement and separation of Paul and Barnabas (Acts 15:36-40).

Mark accompanied Barnabas to Cyprus (Acts 15:39) and then, evidently back in Paul's good graces, was with him in Rome during his first imprisonment (Col. 4:10), where he was apparently a disciple of Peter, who affectionately called him "my son, Mark" (1 Peter 5:13).

During Paul's second Roman captivity, shortly before his martyrdom, he writes to Timothy, who was at Ephesus, to "take Mark and bring him with you, for he is profitable to me for the ministry" (2 Timothy 4:11).
An early uncertain tradition, recorded by Eusebius, renders Mark the first bishop of Alexandria, but neither Papias nor Clement of Alexandria mentions it.
The tradition says that upon his arrival in Alexandria, like Paul arriving in Damascus, Mark found lodging with an inhabitant, in this case with a shoemaker. The shoemaker was also to become a saint, whose feast is celebrated today-- Anianus.
Tradition continues that Mark was martyred during the reign of Emperor Trajan or the "eighth year of Nero," and the shoemaker Anianus succeeded him as bishop.

One Easter Sunday, the uncertain tradition continues, April 24, 68, Mark was arrested. The long path of Jesus, from Gethsemani up to the palace of Anna, which Mark had not had the courage to pursue in Jerusalem, had been reserved for him, with a rope around his neck, from Alexandria up to the little port of Bucoles.
Tintoretto The Stealing of the Dead Body of St. Mark
Tintoretto, Galleria dell'Accademia, Venice Electronic image from Web Gallery of Art

He fell several times along the way. Finally, after having carried his rope all day and then for a night, and feeling it sink into his flesh, in the end he no longer desired that it be removed. He wanted to find this collar to his measure, this light yoke--and died strangled.

In the East, John Mark is believed to be a separate person who became bishop of Biblios and whose feast is celebrated on September 27.

Regardless of Papias's remarks that Mark never knew our Lord, there is speculation that he would have been acquainted with Jesus. He may have been the unnamed youth (mentioned only in Saint Mark's Gospel 14:51-52) who appeared at the time of the Betrayal, wrapped in a sheet, as if he had come straight from his bed, and who, when caught, escaped into the night (this has always been curious to me).
It is likely enough that Saint Mark, as a boy, had been drawn to the scene, but it is only a conjecture.

Other Scripture scholars note that the Last Supper may have occurred in the room reserved in Mark's mother's house for pilgrims, and that the Garden of Gethsamane belonged to the family. It would have been common enough for one of the family members or servants to sleep in the garden as a protection against thieves, which would explain the boy sleeping in the open (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Gill, Walsh, White).
Tintoretto
By the 2nd century after Christ, Christians transferred the emblem to the four Evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) in written allusions. These became visual symbols in the 5th century.

Saint Mark is the patron of Venice, to where his relics were reputedly brought in the 9th century from Alexandria. Although the original church of St. Mark in Venice was destroyed in 976, the rebuilt basilica contains both the relics and a magnificent series of mosaics on Mark's life, death, and translation. These date from the 12th-13th centuries and form a unique record (Farmer). He is also the patron of Egypt, glaziers, notaries, secretaries, and Spanish cattle breeders (for which there is no obvious explanation). He is invoked by captives (Roeder, White).The Miracle of St. Mark Freeing the Slave Tintoretto, Galleria dell'Accademia, Venice Electronic image from Web Gallery of Art
In art, Saint Mark is an evangelist with a book or scroll and a winged lion. At times he may be shown (1) with palm and book (sometimes pax tibi Marce is written on his book); (2) as a bishop with his throne decorated with lions; (3) coming to the aid of Venetian sailors; or (4) rescuing Christian slaves from the Saracens (Roeder).

The winged lion is used as Saint Mark's emblem. This is one of the four winged creatures of Ezekiel 1:10; 10:14 that were first applied by Jewish scholars to the four archangels (Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel) with reference to and later used in reference to the four major prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel). Traditionally, it is explained that the winged lion is chosen for Mark because his gospel speaks of the royal dignity of Christ, and because he begins his account of Saint John the Baptist with the "voice crying is the desert" (Appleton).
150 St. Philo and Agathopodes Antiochene deacons authored Acts recounting life and death of St. Ignatius of Antioch
Antiochíæ sanctórum Philónis et Agathópodis Diaconórum, de quibus beátus Ignátius, Epíscopus et Martyr, laudábilem in suis epístolis mentiónem facit.
    At Antioch, the deacons Saints Philo and Agathopodes, who were praised in the letters of blessed Ignatius, bishop and martyr.

who are believed to have authored the Acts recounting the life and death of St. Ignatius of Antioch. They were deacons who assisted Ignatius and, after his martyrdom in Rome, brought back to Antioch those relics they could recover from Roman authorities.
Evodius, Hermogenes & Callistus MM (RM)
Syracúsis, in Sicília, sanctórum Mártyrum fratrum Evódii, Hermógenis et Callístæ.
    At Syracuse in Sicily, the holy martyrs Evodius, Hermogenes, and Callista.
The Roman Martyrology mentions this group three times. On August 2, they are given as the three sons of Theodota, martyred at Nicaea in Bithynia. On the other two dates their martyrdom is placed at Syracuse, and in each of these places, the third name is given as Callista, indicating a sister and not a third brother. There is no passio of the martyrs of Syracuse, and it is possible that they suffered at Nicaea (Benedictines).
Martyr with Callistaes, and Hermogenes, possibly the three sons of Theodota. They were martyred in Nicaea, Bithynia. Some confusion results from contradictory evidence — in some traditions they are venerated on August 2, and in other traditions their martyrdom is listed in Syracuse, Italy. In yet other lists the third victim is listed as Callistus.

300 Theophilus of Caesarea M (RM)
According to the apocryphal life of Saint Dorothy, Theophilus is the lawyer who mocked her on her way to martyrdom. She sent him apples and flowers 'from the heavenly garden' and he was converted to Christianity. He himself was beheaded at Caesarea, Cappadocia, several years later, perhaps with Saturninus and Revocat
a (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney).
312 Saturninus, Theophilus & Revocata MM (RM)
A group of martyrs concerning whom place of martyrdom is not  known (Benedictines).
Silvanus, Luke, and Mucius MM (RM). Bishop Silvanus of Emesa, Phoenicia, his deacon Luke, and his lector Mucius were martyred under Maximian following a long imprisonment. The Roman Martyrology identifies this Silvanus with the companion of Tyrannio (Benedictines).
Antiochíæ sancti Stéphani, Epíscopi et Mártyris, qui ab hæréticis Synodum Chalcedonénsem impugnántibus, multa passus, in Oróntem flúvium præcipitátus est, témpore Zenónis Imperatóris.
    At Antioch, St. Stephen, bishop and martyr, who suffered a great deal from the heretics opposed to the Council of Chalcedon, and was cast into the river Orontes, in the time of Emperor Zeno.

4th v. Kebius preached conversion in Cornwall B (AC)
4th century. Saint Kebius was ordained bishop by Saint Hilary(315-368) of Poitiers, and, returning into his own country, preached conversion in Cornwall (Husenbeth).
392 St. Phaebadius one of “the illustrious men” of the Church extirpated Arianism heresy
Also called Fiari, bishop of Agen in Southern Gaul. He was a very well known bishop and was termed by St. Jerome one of “the illustrious men” of the Church. With his friend St. Hilary of Poitiers, he worked to extirpate the heresy of Arianism in the West.
480 St. Macedonius Patriarch of Constantinople Council of Chalcedon defener
He was exiled by the Arians for his
defense of the Council of Chalcedon.
489 St. Macaille Bishop of Croghan prelate vows of St. Brigid
Offaly, Ireland, a disciple of St. Mel(488-490). He was one of the prelates receiving the vows of St. Brigid (450-525).
Macaille of Croghan B (AC) (also known as Macculi, Macull). The sources say that there are two bishops whose feasts fall on the same day named Macaille (the second one actually has his feast on April 27). One was a disciple of Saint Patrick, and the other was only converted by him (though the stories do not indicate that either was really a disciple, per se, of Patrick). Today's Macaille was a disciple of Saint Mel and assisted him in receiving the vow of Saint Brigid. There is a tradition that Mel erred in using the service for the consecration of a bishop, and that Macaille strongly protested. Saint Mel refused to admit he was wrong and said that it was all the will of God. This Macaille became the first bishop of Croghan, Offaly.
A third gentleman, sometimes known as Saint Maccai, was also a disciple of Saint Patrick and is venerated on the isle of Bute (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth, Montague).
5th v. Mun of Lough Ree hermit another nephew of Saint Patrick B (AC)
Described as another nephew of Saint Patrick, who consecrated him bishop of what is now County Longford. He ended days as  hermit on an island in Lough Ree (Benedictines).
5th v. Dyfnan  saintly son of Welsh chieftain Brychan (AC)
One of the many saintly sons of the Welsh chieftain Brychan, Saint Dyfnan founded a church at Anglesey (Benedictines).
525 Deodatus of Blois, Abbot (AC)
Deodatus was either a hermit or an abbot in the area of Blois. At a later period the town of Saint-Dié grew up around his cell or monastery (Benedictines).
539 Vedast of Arras holy from childhood instrumental in the conversion of Clovis I to Christianity B (AC)

(also known as Foster, Gaston, Vat, Vaast, Waast) Born in western France, died February 6, 539; other feasts at Arras are celebrated on July 15 and October 1.

When he was still very young, Vedast had left his home and led a holy life concealed from the world in the diocese of Toul, where the bishop, charmed with his virtue, consecrated him to the priesthood. Vedast, a fellow-worker with Saint Remigius in the conversion of the Franks, was instrumental in the conversion of Clovis I to Christianity.

The occasion of Clovis's conversion was a victory over the Alemanni in 496. He had already been influenced by Saint Clothilde, whom he had married four years earlier. After his victory, he was heading to Rheims to receive baptism at the hands of Remigius, but at Toul he requested the help of a priest who might instruct and prepare him for the holy sacrament as he travelled. Vedast was presented to his majesty for this purpose. When Vedast restored the sight of a blind man along the Aisne River with a prayer and the sign of the cross, Clovis was strengthened in his resolve to become a Christian and some of his courtiers converted immediately.

After being consecrated in 499 as bishop of Arras (united with Cambrai in 510) by Remigius, Vedast ruled the united sees of Arras- Cambrai for about 40 years. Upon his arrival in Arras, he restored sight to a blind man, and cured another who was lame. These miracles excited the attention, and disposed the hearts of many to open themselves to receive the Gospel. Although the region had been Christianized during the Roman occupation, the repeated incursion of Vandals and Alans had virtually destroyed any remnant of the faith. At the beginning of episcopacy, the only vestige of Christianity in his see was a ruined church. Though nearly discouraged at the ravages done to the faith, Vedast's patience, meekness, charity, and most especially prayers, allowed God to triumph over superstition and lust, and the faith was restored throughout that area.

Vedast was buried in the cathedral, but 128 years later Bishop Saint Aubertus changed a little chapel which Vedast had built in honor of St. Peter into an abbey, and translated the Vedast's relics into this new church, leaving a small portion of them in the cathedral. The great abbey of Saint Vedast was finished by Bishop Saint Vindicianus and endowed by king Theodoric or Thierry, who lies buried in the church with his wife Doda.

Many sites through Arras, Cambrai, and Belgium commemorate his name, as do three ancient church in England (in London, Norwich, and Tathwell in Lincolnshire). Although it is unlikely that Vedast ever visited England, his cultus there dates to the 10th century, which was heightened in the 12th century by the presence of Arrouaise Augustinians in the country. In England, he is sometimes known as Saint Foster, which is the derivation of that family name.

The feast of Vedast was included in the Benedictional of Saint Ethelwold, the Missal of Robert of JumiŠges, and the Leofric missal, as well as the calendars of Sarum, York, and Hereford. Blessed Alcuin wrote a vita for Vedast, as well as an Office and Mass in his honor for usage at Arras. In a letter to the monks of Arras in 769, Alcuin calls Vedast his protector (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth).

As in the stained glass image in the church of Blythburgh, Suffolk, Saint Vedast is pictured as a bishop with a wolf carrying a goose in its mouth (Roeder) (which had been rescued by Vedast for its poor owners). Other attributes include a child at his feet or a bear (Farmer). He is invoked on behalf of children who walk with difficulty, and for diseases of the eyes (Roeder).

7th v. Authaire of La Ferté courtier at King Dagobert Ipalace France (AC)

(also known as Oye) 7th century. Saint Authaire was a courtier at the palace of King Dagobert I of France and father of Saint Ouen of Rouen. He is the patron of the village of Le- Ferté-sous-Jouarre, where he usually resided (Benedictines).
7th v. Bova (Beuve, Bona) abbess & Doda rejected marriage proposals she  devote to service of God OSB VV (RM)

7th century. Saint Bova, sister of Saint Balderic (Baudry) and near relative of King Dagobert, edified the royal court and entire kingdom by her virtues. She rejected all marriage proposals because she decided to devote herself to the service of God. After her brother founded Montfauçon Abbey, in 639 he built a convent near Rheims, where Bova ruled as abbess until her death c. 680.

Her niece Doda followed in her footsteps and succeeded her as abbess. The relics of both saints were later translated to Saint Peter's Abbey in Rheims. Although their original vitae were destroyed in a fire, a later writer recorded the traditions related by the nuns in the 10th century (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).
729 Egbert of Rathemigisi Northumbrian monk of Lindisfarne OSB (RM)

Saint Egbert was a Northumbrian monk of Lindisfarne who migrated to Ireland and lived at Rathelmigisi (Rathmelsigi) in Connaught. In 684, he unsuccessfully tried to dissuade King Egfrith from invading Ireland. At Rathelmigisi Egbert trained several bands of monks for the German missions that included Saints Wigbert and Willibrord. When his companion Æthelhun died of the plague and he contracted it, too, Egbert vowed voluntary exile for life if he recovered. Although he wanted to join the missionaries, his vow and a vision instructing him otherwise, led Egbert to become an admirable monk on the island of Iona in Scotland. There he attempted to induce the monks to adopt Roman liturgical practices. He succeeded at last: in fact, on the day of his death, Easter was celebrated at Iona for the first time according to the Roman reckoning. Egbert's feast is found in both the Roman and Irish martyrologies and in the metrical calendar of York (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Gill).
737 Erminus of Lobbes practicing apostolic zeal as abbot and regional bishop OSB B (RM)
Láubiis, in Bélgio, natális sancti Ermíni, Epíscopi et Confessóris.
    At Lobbes in Belgium, the birthday of St. Ermin, bishop and confessor.
(also known as Ermin, Erminon) Born in Laon; Erminus given the Benedictine habit in Laon by Saint Ursmar (713) after his ordination to the priesthood. Erminus followed in Ursmar's footsteps by practicing his apostolic zeal as abbot and regional bishop of Lobbes (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
750 Saint Relindis of Eyck abbess OSB, Abbess (AC)
(also known as Renildis, Renula, Renule) Relindis was educated with her sister Herlindis in the Benedictine monastery of Valenciennes. She became an expert in embroidery and painting. Saint Boniface appointed her abbess of the convent of Eyck (Maaseyk) on the Meuse, which had been founded by her parents (Benedictines).
780 St. Mella Widow abbess
She was the mother of St. Cannech and Tigernach, and lived in Connaught, Ireland. She became the abbess of Doire­Melle, Leitri
m
Blessed Corona of Elche Benedictine nun OSB V (AC)
Date unknown. A Benedictine nun of Elche Abbey near Valencia, Spain (Benedictines).
857 Heribald of Auxerre Benedictine monk abbot love of well-regulated lives ceremonies well-built churches OSB B (AC)
First as a Benedictine monk and abbot of Saint Germanus Abbey in Auxerre, then as bishop there, Saint Heribald demonstrated his love of well-regulated lives and ceremonies and well-built churches (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).

<>857 St Heribald, Bishop Of Auxerre
An ancient Gallican martyrology asserts of St Heribald that the light of his virtues, hidden for a time in a monastic cell, afterwards spread its rays over the whole of Gaul and drew upon him not only the love but the wonder of his contemporaries. From the abbey of St Germanus, which he ruled, he was promoted to the bishopric of Auxerre; and he enshrined in a more worthy place the body of St Germanus. The exact date of his death is uncertain.

See Mabillon, Acta Sanctorum O.S.B., vol. iv, part 2, pp. 573—578, and Duchesne, Pastes Épiscopaux, vol. ii, pp. 445—446.
891 Photius career of scholarship and public service at the imperial court legitimate patriarch of Constantinople Orthodox objection to doctrine of the Holy Spirit BM

Born in Constantinople, c. 810; died there c. 891; canonized by the Orthodox Church. Photius, a member of a patrician family, was a man of very great ability and learning who until mid-life followed a career of scholarship and public service at the imperial court, where he was secretary of state and filled other offices. Then, in 858, Emperor Michael III banished the patriarch Ignatius, and Photius, who until then had been a layman, was made patriarch.

From that time Photius's life is one of difficulties between himself and Pope Saint Nicholas I and his successor Adrian II, complicated by the fluctuations of Byzantine politics--a long, complex, and often obscure struggle that is a matter of ecclesiastical history. It did not end until 879 when, Ignatius being dead, Pope John VIII recognized Photius as the legitimate patriarch of Constantinople and peace was restored between the churches.

For Orthodox Catholics, Saint Photius was the standard-bearer of their church in its disagreements with the pope of Rome; to Roman Catholics, he was a proud and ambitious schismatic: the relevant work of scholars over the past generation has somewhat modified partisan judgements. All agree on the virtue of his personal life and his remarkable talents, even genius, and the wide range of his intellectual aptitudes. Pope Nicholas himself referred to his 'great virtues and universal knowledge.'

Of his extensive writings the one of most general interest is the Bibliotheca or Myriobiblion, which has been translated into English and which includes descriptions and summaries of 279 books of all kinds, including extracts from works whose original text no longer exists. His Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit is important as a classical statement of Orthodox objections to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit's proceeding from the Father and the Son (Filioque) (Attwater).
1000 St. Robert of Syracuse Benedictine abbot He headed the monastery at Syracuse, Sicily.
1243 Blessed Boniface of Valperga monk bishop of Aosta B (PC)
Boniface, a monk of the Benedictine abbey of Fruttuaria, was chosen to be prior of the Augustinian canons regular of Saint Ursus at Aosta in 1212 and finally bishop of Aosta (1219-1243) (Benedictines).
1479 Saint Sylvester of Obnora was a disciple and novice under St Sergius of Radonezh (September 25 and July 5); A record of the saint's miracles has been preserved from the year 1645, in which twenty-three miracles are described. The saint healed twelve people from demonic possession and delirium, and six others from eye afflictions.

 After completing his obedience at the Trinity monastery, St Sylvester received a blessing to live alone in the wilderness.

In the deep forest at the River Obnora, flowing into the River Kostroma, he set up a cross at his chosen spot and began his ascetical labors. For a long time no one knew about the holy hermit. His cell was discovered by a peasant who had lost his way. He told the distraught hermit that people had seen bright rays, and a pillar of cloud above his habitation. The monk shed tears of sorrow, because the place of his solitude had been discovered. The pilgrim besought the saint to tell about himself.

St Sylvester said that he had been living there a long time, and that he ate tree bark and roots. At first he became weak without bread, and fell on the ground from his weakness. Then an angel appeared to him in the guise of a wondrous man and touched his hand. From that moment St Sylvester did not experience any distress. Another time, the peasant came back to the saint and brought him bread and flour for reserve supply.

This one meeting was sufficient for the exploits of the hermit to become known to many. Soon peasants began to come to him from the surrounding settlements. St Sylvester allowed them to build cells near his.

When the brethren had gathered, St Sylvester went to Moscow and petitioned St Alexis (February 12) to bless the construction of a temple in honor of the Resurrection of Christ. The hierarch gave him an antimension (a cloth containing relics of martyrs, necessary for celebrating the Divine Liturgy), and made him igumen of the monastery.

With the construction of the church the number of brethren quickly grew, and the saint frequently withdrew for solitary prayer in the dense forest. This spot received the name "Commanded Grove," since St Sylvester commanded that no trees should be cut there. In this grove he dug three wells, and a fourth on the side of a hill at the River Obnora. When the saint returned from his solitude, a number of people awaited him at the monastery, and each wanted to receive his blessing and hear his advice.

The saint fell into a fatal illness, and the brethren, who were distressed whenever he went into seclusion, were even more distressed about his approaching death. "Do not grieve about this, my beloved brethren," he said to console them, "for everything is according to the will of God. Keep the commandments of the Lord and don't be afraid to suffer misfortune in this life, so you may receive a reward in Heaven. If I have found boldness before the Lord and my life is pleasing to Him, then this holy place will not diminish after my departure. Pray to the Lord God and His All-Pure Mother, that you may be delivered from temptation." St Sylvester died on April 25, 1479 and was buried on the right side of the wooden Resurrection church.

A record of the saint's miracles has been preserved from the year 1645, in which twenty-three miracles are described. The saint healed twelve people from demonic possession and delirium, and six others from eye afflictions.

An edifying miracle occurred in 1645. The hieromonk Job of the monastery ordered peasants to cut down the forbidden forest grove for firewood, and he was struck blind. After four weeks he acknowledged his sin, repented and vowed not to act on his own will, but to follow the advice of the brethren. The hieromonk served a Molieben in church, after which he was brought to the reliquary of St Sylvester, and there he regained his sight.

1586 Bl. Robert Anderton Jesuit Cardinal theology professor notable figure Catholic Reformation defended Gallileo

Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621) + Cardinal, theolo­gian, and a notable figure in the Catholic Reformation. Born at Monte Pulciano, in Tuscany, Italy, he studied under the Jesuits and then entered the Society of Jesus in 1560. Ordained in 1570 at Louvain, Belgium, he served there as a professor of theology and became firmly convinced of the need for superior training in theology in order to defend Catholic doctrines prop­erly against the Protestant intellectuals in Northern Europe.
He thus departed for Rome in 1576, becoming a professor of theology at the Collegium Romanum, the newly founded Jesuit school in the Eternal City. Made a cardinal in 1599 by Pope Clement VIII (r. 1592-1605), he became the archbishop of Capua in 1602. He re­mained a leading figure in Rome and a trusted theo­logical advisor to the Holy See. In 1605, he was named head of the Vatican Library. Thus he took part in the controversy over Galileo called upon Church officials to declare the Copernican theory to be “false and erroneous,” while urging Galileo to abandon his defense of the theory because of the controversy it might create, most so with the Protestants.

From the time of his teaching at the Louvain, Robert was one of Catholicism’s most ardent defenders and a brilliant controversialist against the Protestants, providing a famous definition of the Catholic Church: “The one and true Church is the assembly of men, bound together by the profession of the same sacraments, under the rule of legitimate pastors, and in particular the see of the Vicar of Christ on earth, the Roman Pontiff.” Feast day: September 17.
<>1586 Bb. Robert Anderton And William Marsden, Martyrs
Robert Anderton and William Marsden were two young Lancashire men who were ordained priests at Rheims and sent upon the English mission. The ship which was conveying them to England was driven out of her course to the shore of the Isle of Wight, where the passengers were obliged to disembark. Suspicion at once fell upon the two young men: they were taken before a magistrate to be questioned, and, as they did not deny that they were priests, they were sent to prison. At their trial they protested not only that they had made a forced landing, but also that at the time of their arrest they had not been in England for the statutory period which would bring them within the scope of the penal law. Although this was actually the case, they were found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. A reprieve, however, was granted until the will of the Privy Council could be ascertained, and the prisoners were sent up to London for further examination. In the end they were executed in the Isle of Wight on April 25, 1586, their cheerful fortitude on the scaffold producing a profound impression upon all who witnessed it.

See Challoner, MMP., pp. 114—115; Burton and Pollen, LEM., vol. i, pp. 202—210. Fr Pollen in his Acts of English Martyrs, pp. 75—80, prints in full the proclamation which was posted up at the time of their execution.

1586 Bl. William Marsden &  Blessed Robert Anderson priest Martyr of England

A native of Lancashire, he studied at Oxford and then departed the island for Reims, France, where he was ordained in 1585 with Blessed Robert Anderson. They were sent to England but were forced to land on the Isle of Wight in a storm. They were arrested, and then condemned and hanged on April 25 on Wight. Both were beatified in 1929, and share the feast.
1597 Philip of Jesus friar Miracles attested the power before God of these first martyrs of Japan patron of Mexico City, Mexico OFM M (RM)

(also known as Philip de las Casas Born in Mexico City, Mexico, May 1, 1571; died in Nagasaki, Japan, 1597; beatified by Pope Urban VIII; canonized by Pope Pius IX in 1862; feast day formerly February 5.

The life of Saint Philip points again to the importance of the domestic church--the family. Early in life Saint Philip ignored the pious teachings of his immigrant Spanish family, but eventually he entered the Reformed Franciscan Convent of Santa Barbara at Puebla, Mexico--and soon exited the novitiate in 1589. Grieved at the inconstancy of his son, Philip's father sent him on a business trip to the Philippines.

Like many of us, Philip sought to escape God's love in worldly pleasures but the Hound of Heaven tracked him down. Gaining courage by prayer, Philip was again able to follow his vocation, joined the convent of Our Lady of the Angels in Manila in 1590, and took his vows in 1594. The richest cargo Philip could have sent back to Mexico couldn't have pleased his father more than the message that Philip had been professed a friar. Alonso de las Casas obtained directions from the commissary of the order that Philip should be sent to Mexico to be ordained a priest.

He embarked with other religious on the Saint Philip in July 1596 but storms shipwrecked them in Japan. Amid the storm, Philip saw over Japan a white cross, in the shape used in that country, which after a time became blood-red, and remained so for some time. It was an omen of his coming victory.

The ship's captain sent Philip and two others to the emperor to gain permission for them to continue their voyage, but they could not obtain an audience. He then continued to the Franciscan house in Macao to see if they could apply pressure. In the meantime, the pilot of the Saint Philip had excited the emperor's fears of Christians, causing him to contemplate their extermination.

In December, officers seized a number of the Franciscan fathers, including Philip, three Jesuits, and several of their young pupils. When Philip had that they were to die, he responded with joy. His left ear was cut off, and he offered the first fruit of his blood to God for the salvation of Japan.

The martyrs were taken to Nagasaki, where crosses had been erected on a high hill. When Philip was led to the one on which he was to die, he knelt down, clasped it, and exclaimed, "O happy ship! O happy galleon for Philip, lost for my gain! Loss--no loss for me, but the greatest of all gain!" He was bound to the cross, but the footrest under him gave way, so that he was strangled by the cords that bound him. While repeating the name of Jesus, he was the first of the group to die. Philip was 25. Miracles attested the power before God of these first martyrs of Japan (Benedictines, Butler, Delaney).

Saint Philip is the patron of Mexico City, Mexico.

1769 Philipp Friedrich Hiller; In seinem Werk 'System aller Vorbilder Jesu Christi im Alten und Neuen Testament' steht sein Lied 'Jesus Christus herrscht als König' (EG 123). Er verfaßte "Das geistliche Liederkästlein", das Tagessprüche und Tageslieder enthielt und lange als Liederbuch der württemberischen Gemeinschaften diente und mit den Schwaben in alle Welt hinauszog
Evangelische Kirche: 25. April

Philipp Friedrich Hiller, württembergischer Pfarrerssohn, wurde am 6.1.1699 in Mühlhausen/Enz geboren. Er trat als 14jähriger in die Klosterschule Denkendorf ein, an der Johann Albrecht Bengel wirkte. Nach dem Theologiestudium wirkte er in mehreren Gemeinden und begann, angeregt durch Lieder von Paul Gerhardt, dichterisch tätig zu werden. Seit 1748 war er Pfarrer in Steinheim bei Heidenheim. Als er 1751 seine Stimme verlor, wandte er sich verstärkt der dichterischen und schriftstellerischen Arbeit zu. In seinem Werk 'System aller Vorbilder Jesu Christi im Alten und Neuen Testament' steht sein Lied 'Jesus Christus herrscht als König' (EG 123). Er verfaßte "Das geistliche Liederkästlein", das Tagessprüche und Tageslieder enthielt und lange als Liederbuch der württemberischen Gemeinschaften diente und mit den Schwaben in alle Welt hinauszog. Hiller gilt als der bedeutendste Dichter des schwäbischen Pietismus. Er starb am 24.4.1769 in Steinheim bei Heidenheim.

1913 Blessed Giovanni Battista Piamarta (AC)
Born at Brescia, Italy, November 26, 1841; died at Remedello, April 25, 1913; beatified October 12, 1997. (Coming in 2000.)