16 B.C. Repose of St. Joseph the Carpenter who was worthy to be called the father of Christ in the flesh; The Holy Gospel bore witness that he was a righteous man, and God chose him to be betrothed to the all-pure, our lady, the Virgin St. Mary {Coptic}
On this day, the righteous man St. Joseph, the carpenter, who was worthy to be called the father of Christ in the flesh, departed at a good old age. The Holy Gospel bore witness that he was a righteous man, and God chose him to be betrothed to the all-pure, our lady, the Virgin St. Mary. When he finished his course, his strife, his toil in the journey together with the Lord and the Virgin Lady from Bethlehem to the land of Egypt, and the tribulations that befell him from the Jews, he departed in peace. When the time came for him to depart from this world, to the world of the living, the Lord Christ was present at his departure, and laid His hand upon his eyes. He extended his arms, and delivered up his soul, and was buried in the tomb of his father Jacob. All the days of his life were one hundred and eleven years; forty years before his marriage, fifty-two years married, and nineteen years a widow. His departure was in the sixteenth year of the advent of the Lord Christ.

May his prayers be with us. Amen .

1st v. Saint Nicodemus was a prominent Pharisee who believed in Christ
The Savior explained to him how man is regenerated through Baptism, but he did not understand how a man could be born again. When the Lord reproved him for his ignorance, he accepted it with humility (John 3:1-21).
Nicodemus came back to Christ from time to time, defended Him to the Pharisees (John 7:50-52), and brought spices to anoint His body (John 19:39). After being cast out of the synagogue for his belief in Christ, St Nicodemus went to live with St Gamaliel at his country house, remaining there until his death.

The relics of Sts Stephen, Gamaliel, Abibas, and Nicodemus were transferred from Jerusalem to Constantinople in 428 and placed in the church of the holy deacon Laurence (August 10).

1st v. St Gamaliel was a Pharisee, a doctor of the Law (Acts 5:34), and the teacher of St Paul (Acts 22:3)
In the year 415, St Gamaliel appeared to a priest named Lucian. He was a tall, venerable man with a long white beard. He was dressed in white clothing which was edged with gold and marked with crosses, and held a gold wand in his hand. Gamaliel called Fr Lucian by name three times, then told him to go to Jerusalem and inform Bishop John to open the tomb where his relics and those of other saints were resting. The priest asked the stranger who he was.
"I am Gamaliel, who instructed the apostle Paul in the Law," he replied. Then he told the priest where to find the relics of St Stephen. He also revealed that he had taken St Stephen's body and laid it in his own tomb after it had been lying exposed for a day and a night.
St Gamaliel also mentioned that St Nicodemus was buried at the same spot. "I received him into my house in the country," he said, "and maintained him there until the end of his life. After his death, I buried him honorably near Stephen."
St Gamaliel informed the priest that he and his twenty-year-old son Abibas were also buried there. Fr Lucian was afraid to believe this vision right away, lest it be a temptation from the Evil One. However, when St Gamaliel appeared again and commanded him to obey his instructions, he did so.
A monk named Migetius also had a vision of St Gamaliel and told Fr Lucian to search for the relics in a place called Debatalia. When the relics were uncovered, an ineffable fragrance was noticed.
The relics of Sts Stephen, Gamaliel, Abibas, and Nicodemus were transferred from Jerusalem to Constantinople in 428 and placed in the church of the holy deacon Laurence (August 10).

2nd v St. Maximus of Padua Bishop Bishop of Padua, Italy, successor to St. Prosdocimus there. His relics were discovered in 1053 and enshrined by Pope St. Leo IX.
Patávii sancti Máximi, ejúsdem civitátis Epíscopi, qui, miráculis clarus, beáto fine quiévit.
At Padua, St. Maximus, bishop of that city, who ended his blessed life in peace, with a reputation for miracles.
Maximus of Padua B (RM) Saint Maximus succeeded Saint Prosdocimus as bishop of Padua. His alleged relics were found in 1053 and enshrined by Pope Saint Leo IX (Benedictines).
Maximus of Padua B (RM) Died c. 195. Saint Maximus succeeded Saint Prosdocimus as bishop of Padua. His alleged relics were found in 1053 and enshrined by Pope Saint Leo IX (Benedictines).

250 St. Rutilius Roman Africa; martyr mentioned by the apologist Tertullian in his De Fuga in Persecutione. According to this, Rutilius was from Roman Africa and fled to escape the persecutions under Emperor Trajanus Decius.In Africa sancti Rutílii Mártyris, qui cum sæpius, de loco in locum fúgiens, persecutiónem declinásset, et perículum intérdum étiam pecúnia redemísset, ex inopináto aliquándo comprehénsus est, et, Præsidi oblátus, torméntis cruciátur plúrimis; demum, ígnibus tráditus, egrégio martyrio coronátur.
In Africa, St. Rutilius, martyr. He had frequently secured safety from the perils of persecution by flight, and sometimes even by means of money, but at last, being unexpectedly apprehended, he was led to the governor and subjected to many tortures. Afterwards he was cast into the fire, and thus merited the glorious crown of martyrdom.

To insure his safety, he went so far as to pay money to obtain exemption from making sacrifices to the gods. Finally, however, he was arrested by authorities and went to his death proudly confessing the Christian faith.

Rutilius of Africa M (RM) Tertullian tell us in De fuga persecutione that, during the Decian persecution, Saint Rutilius fled from his native Africa and sought refuge in many places. He even paid money to obtain exemption from offering sacrifice, but he was finally arrested and bravely confessed Christ (Benedictines).

257 Stephen I, Pope the Novatian controversy Christ is the principal minister in the Sacraments, whose validity and efficacy do not depend upon the grace of the human minister M (RM)
Romæ, in cœmetério Callísti, natális sancti Stéphani Primi, Papæ et Mártyris; qui, in persecutióne Valeriáni, dum Missæ Sacrum perágeret, et, superveniéntibus milítibus, ante altáre intrépidus et immóbilis cœpta mystéria perfíceret, in sede sua decollátus est.
At Rome, in the cemetery of Callistus, the birthday of St. Stephen I, pope and martyr. In the persecution of Valerian, the soldiers suddenly entered while he was saying Mass, but remaining before the altar, fearless and unmoved, he concluded the sacred mysteries, and was beheaded on his throne.

Orthodoxe Kirche: 2. August und 27. Dezember Katholische, Anglikanische und Evangelische Kirche: 26. Dezember Katholische Kirche: 3. August

Born in Rome, Italy; feast in the Eastern Church is either August 2 or September 7. After his ordination to the priesthood, Saint Stephen, progeny of the gens Julia, was promoted to archdeacon of the Roman Church. He served under the martyr-popes Saint Cornelius and Saint Lucius, who nominated Stephen to succeed himself. Stephen was elected pope on May 3, 254, and consecrated on May 12, 254.

Almost immediately he was drawn into the Novatian controversy that raged throughout Western Christendom.
Could an individual who committed a serious sin--adultery, apostasy, or murder--after baptism be forgiven and readmitted to communion? Marcian seems to have succeeded Saint Regulus as bishop of Arles (France). He embraced Novatianism and refused absolution to many even on the point of death. Bishop Faustinus of Lyons and other prelates of Gaul sent complaints against Marcian to Pope Stephen. In order to enlist Saint Cyprian in their cause, the bishops also wrote to him.
Cyprian responded by writing to the holy father:
"It is necessary for you to dispatch ample letters to our fellow-bishops in Gaul, so that they will no longer suffer the obstinate Marcian to insult our college. Write to that province and to the people of Arles, that Marcian being excommunicated, a successor may be provided for his see. Acquaint us, if you please, who is made bishop of Arles in the place of Marcian, that we may know to whom we are to send letters of communion and to direct our brethren."

Although we the letters of St. Stephen have not survived, he must have acted because the ancient list of the bishops of Arles does not include Marcian.

The controversy exhibited itself in Spain with no less consequence.
   Bishops Basilides of Merida and Martialis of Leon and Astorga had purchased libelati, pieces of paper saying that they had sacrificed to idols, to save their lives during persecution. The cowardice of Martialis was condemned in a synod and he was deposed. Basilides was so intimidated that he voluntarily resigned his see. Both were replaced; by Felix and Sabinus respectively.
    Basilides repented of his actions, went to Rome, and was forgiven by Pope Stephen. He returned to Spain with letters from the pope and was received as a prelate by some of his brother bishops. Encouraged by Basilides' example, Martialis claimed the same privilege. The bishops of Spain asked Saint Cyprian how they should treat the two former apostates. He responded that those guilty of notorious crimes were disqualified by canon law from holding office in the Church, and that successors to the apostates had been validly ordained, which could not be rescinded or nullified.
    He also noted that the pope's letters had been obtained by fraud and were consequently null. He wrote, "Basilides going to Rome, there imposed upon our colleague Stephen, living at a distance, and ignorant of the truth that was concealed from him. All this only tends to accumulate the crimes of Basilides, rather than to abolish the remembrance of them; since to his former account, hereby is added the guilt of endeavoring to circumvent the pastors of the church." Cyprian does not blame Stephen, but rather Basilides for fraudulently gaining access to him. There is no account of the manner in which this affair was settled.

   During his three-year papacy, Stephen was primarily occupied with the question of the validity of baptisms by heretics. He invoked the apostolic tradition in favor of the Roman practice and was met with stout opposition from Saint Cyprian. Stephen noted that baptism in the name of the Three Persons of the Trinity is valid, and was the practice even in the African church until the time of Bishop Agrippinus of Carthage at the end of the 2nd century.
   Cyprian appealed to a council at Carthage convened by Agrippinus as the source of the African tradition. (Saints Augustine of Hippo and Vincent of Lérins testify to this change by Agrippinus.) In three African councils, Cyprian decreed that baptism by a heretic was always null on the faulty principle that one cannot receive the Holy Spirit at the hands of one who does not himself possess Him. By this logic, no one in mortal sin can validly administer any sacrament. We know that, as Saint Stephen taught, Christ is the principal minister in the Sacraments, whose validity and efficacy do not depend upon the grace of the human minister. He refused to receive a delegation from an African council in 255 that had declared such baptisms invalid.
   Cyprian summarized his arguments in a letter to Jubaianus in 256. Many other bishops sided with Cyprian, including those of Cilicia, Cappadocia, Phrygia, Caesarea, and Tarsus. They assumed that this was a matter of discipline and not of faith, that it could vary by local tradition.

   Once again the Church was guarded from error by the Holy Spirit, without Whose special protection even holy and earnest men prone to err. Pope Saint Stephen saw the implications that would result from Cyprian's belief and declared that no innovation was to be allowed and threatened Cyprian and his followers with excommunication.
Eusebius mentions that Saint Dionysius of Alexandria intervened to keep this from happening. Saint Augustine writes that "Stephen thought of excommunicating them; but being endued with the bowels of holy charity, he judged it better to abide in union. The peace of Christ overcame in their hearts."
Saint Vincent of Lérins wrote:

"When all cried out against the novelty, and the priests everywhere opposed it in proportion to everyone's zeal, then Pope Stephen, of blessed memory, bishop of the apostolic see, stood up, with his other colleagues, against it, but he in a signal manner above the rest, thinking it fitting, I believe, that he should go beyond them as much by the ardor of his faith as he was raised above them by the authority of his see. In his letter to the church of Africa he thus decrees: 'Let no innovation be introduced, but let that be observed which is handed down to us by tradition.' The prudent and holy man understood that the rule of piety admits nothing new, but that all things are to be delivered down to our posterity with the same fidelity with which they were received; and that it is our duty to follow religion, and not make religion follow us; for the proper characteristic of a modest and sober Christian is, not to impose his own conceits upon posterity, but to make his own imaginations bend to the wisdom of those that went before him. What then was the issue of this grand affair, but that which is usual?--antiquity kept possession, and novelty was exploded."

Tradition, as recorded by Saint Gregory the Great in his Sacramentary, says that Stephen was beheaded while seated in his presidential chair during the celebration of Mass in the catacombs (which is very similar to the story of the martyrdom of his successor, Saint Sixtus II). The earliest liturgical documents, however, present him as a bishop and confessor, not martyr. He was buried in the cemetery of Saint Callixtus. His relics were translated to Pica in 1682, where they are venerated in the church named after him. His head is enshrined in Cologne, Germany (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth).

In art, Pope Saint Stephen is depicted beheaded in his chair at Mass. He might also be shown stabbed at the altar or with a sword in his breast (Roeder).

Stephanus Orthodoxe Kirche: 2. August und 27. Dezember Katholische, Anglikanische und Evangelische Kirche: 26. Dezember Katholische Kirche: 3. August
Stephanus war einer der sieben Diakone (vgl. Nikanor), die in der Jerusalemer Gemeinde gewählt wurden. Er war der erste Märtyrer der jungen Kirche (Apg. 6, 8 ff.), in den orthodoxen Kirchen wird er deshalb auch als Protomärtyrer bezeichnet. Sein Fest wurde bereits 380 eingeführt. Gamaliel, ein Schriftgelehrter, der Christ wurde (Gedenktag 6.8.), begrub den Leichnam von Stephanus. Die Reliquien wurden um 415 aufgefunden und kamen um 428 nach Konstantinopel. Die katholische Kirche feiert die Auffindung des Grabes am 3. August und die orthodoxe Kirche feiert die Überführung der Gebeine am 2. August. Daneben gibt es mehrere regionale Festtage.

Stephanus gehört mit Laurentius und Vinzentius zu den drei Erzmärtyrern der Kirche. "Hinter der Krippe Jesu ragt das Kreuz auf, das am Ende seines Erdenlebens steht. Die Kirche weiß, daß ihr Weg mit dem Blut der Märtyrer gezeichnet ist, das zum Samen der Kirche wird. Darum hat sie dem Erzmärtyrer den Platz an der Krippe eingeräumt. Der treue Zeuge, der sein Leben für den Erlöser hingibt, darf die verborgene Herrlichkeit des Herrn schauen, deren Widerschein sein Angesicht im Sterben verklärt." (Jörg Erb, Geduld und Glaube der Heiligen). Im Mittelalter entstand ein reicher Festtagsbrauch, der heute weitgehend in Vergessenheit geraten ist (So sind wohl die Dominosteine ursprünglich Erinnerung an die Steinigung).

257 ST STEPHEN was by birth a Roman, and was a priest at the time of his succession to Pope St Lucius I. Little is known of him personally, and that little is mostly gathered from the writings of those who disagreed with him. The outstanding event of his short pontificate was a controversy on the subject of baptism administered by heretics. St Cyprian and the African bishops declared that such baptism was null and void, and that one so baptized must be baptized anew upon becoming a Catholic; and this view was supported by many bishops in Asia. St Stephen upheld the teaching that, other things being equal, baptism given by heretics is valid, and he was violently abused by Firmilian of Caesarea in Cappadocia in consequence; the great St Cyprian himself may be said to have displayed undue warmth during this controversy, and the pope too appears to have been impatient of argument. No innovation must be introduced", he declared, but let that be observed which tradition has handed down", and he refused to receive the delegates of the African synod that supported St Cyprian. Stephen threatened the dissentients with excommunication, but, writes St Augustine, "having the pity of holy charity, he judged it better to abide in union. The peace of Christ triumphed in their hearts", but the disagreement was not yet resolved.
The persecution of Valerian began in the year of Pope St Stephen's death, and a once popular paulo has caused him to be venerated as a martyr. But the truth of his martyrdom is difficult to sustain, for the earliest relevant sources say nothing about it and the original Roman tradition seems to be that he died in peace.

Mgr Duchesne in his edition of the Liber Pontificalis (vol. i, p 154), and in his Histoire ancienne de l'Église (vol. i, pp. 419-432) has called attention to the main points of interest. Our other authorities are Eusebius, Eccl. Hist., bk vii, and the letters of St Cyprian, Firmilian and St Dionysius of Alexandria. A larger fragment of a letter of Dionysius to this pope was recovered from an Armenian source by F. C. Conybeare and printed in the English Historical Review, vol. xxv (1910), pp. 111-113. See also DTC., vol. v, cc. 970-973; CMH., pp. 412-413; and Acta Sanctorum, August, vol. i.

304 St. Theodota Nicaea Martyr with her sons
Nicææ, in Bithynia, pássio sanctæ Theódotæ, cum tribus fíliis suis. Ex his primogénitum, nómine Evódium, cum Christum fiduciáliter confiterétur, fecit primo Nicétius, Consuláris Bithyniæ, fústibus cædi; deínde matrem, cum ómnibus fíliis, igne consúmi.
At Nicaea in Bithynia, the martyrdom of St. Theodota with her three sons. The eldest named Evodius, confessing Christ with confidence, was first beaten with rods by order of Nicetius, exconsul of Bithynia, and then the mother with all her sons, was consumed by fire.

Orthodoxe Kirche: 29. Juli - Theodota und ihre Kinder Katholische Kirche: 2. August - Theodota und ihre drei Söhne

St THEODOTA, named in the Roman Martyrology on this day, was a noble lady of Nicaea. According to the acta, which are of no value, she was sought in marriage by the prefect Leucatius, and when she refused to have anything to do with him he denounced her and her three children to Nicetius, proconsul in Bithynia, as Christians. It was at the time of the persecution of Diocletian, and when they were brought before Nicetius he asked Theodota if it were she who had taught her children the new-fangled impiety which they believed. She retorted that they had been taught nothing new, but rather the age old law. "What !" asked her questioner, "Did your ancestors know these doctrines?" At this the eldest boy, Evodius, spoke up and said," If our ancestors have been in error it is not because God has hidden the truth from them. Rather they were blind, and wandered into untruth through their blindness. But we are going to follow our mother."
"Your mother is going to sacrifice to the gods, whether she likes it or not", replied Nicetius, and then, blaming Theodota for the offensive candour of her son's words, urged her to sacrifice that they might follow her example and be saved. But when he could in no way move either her or them, he ordered them all to be burned together. Which was done.
Although the so-called "acts", both in the Greek and Latin recensions, are worthless, there is good reason to believe that the martyrdom of St Theodota at Nicaea with her three sons is an authentic fact. "The sons of Theodota" are mentioned in the Syriac "breviarium" at the beginning of the fifth century, and it is probable that September 2, the date there assigned them, is the true anniversary, though in the "Hieronymianum", from which our Roman Martyrology derives, August 2 has been erroneously indicated.

See H. Delehaye, CMH., pp. 412-414, and again in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lv (1937), pp. 201 seq .

According to legend, she was a noblewoman slain at Nicaea (modern Turkey) with her three sons (one of whom was St. Evodius) by being hurled into a furnace. Theodota reportedly was denounced by Prefect Leucatius when she refused his proposal of marriage.
Theodota and Her Three Sons MM (RM)in 304. According to untrustworthy acta, Saint Theodota and her three sons--Evodius, Hermogenes, and Callista--were thrown into a furnace and perished in the flames. The sons are mentioned three times in the Roman Martyrology, with different feasts and places of death. The name Callista would indicate that there were only two sons and a daughter. This is indeed an unreliable entry with regard to the details of their martyrdom (Benedictines, Encyclopedia). Saint Theodota and her sons are portrayed in art as they are burned to death (Roeder).
Theodota, Evodus, Hermogenes und Callista
Orthodoxe Kirche: 29. Juli - Theodota und ihre Kinder Katholische Kirche: 2. August - Theodota und ihre drei Söhne
Theodota, eine Witwe, begleitete Anastasia auf ihren Reisen zu den gefangenen Christen in Illyrien. Sie wurde verhaftet und mit ihren drei Kindern Evodus, Hermogenes und Callista um 304 hingerichtet. In der römischen Martyriologie werden Evodus und zwei weitere Söhne ohne Namensnennung angeführt; es sind auch unterschiedliche Festtage und Orte ihres Martyriums überliefert.

371 ST EUSEBIUS, BISHOP OF VERCELLI united the monastic discipline with the

clerical
Sancti Eusébii, Epíscopi Vercellénsis et Mártyris; cujus dies natális Kaléndis Augústi, et Ordinátio décimo octávo Kaléndas Januárii refértur.
      St. Eusebius, bishop of Vercelli and martyr. His birthday is commemorated on the 1st of August and his ordination on the 15th of December.
   ST EUSEBIUS was born in the isle of Sardinia, where his father is said to have died in chains for the faith. His mother, when left a widow, took him and a daughter, both in their infancy, to Rome, where Eusebius was brought up and ordained lector. He was called to Vercelli, in Piedmont, and served that church with such distinction that he was chosen to govern it by the clergy and people.
   He is the first bishop of Vercelli whose name we know. St Ambrose assures us that he was the first who in the West united the monastic discipline with the clerical, living himself with some of his clergy a common life in community. For this reason St Eusebius of Vercelli is specially venerated by the canons regular. He saw that the best and first means to labour effectually for the sanctification of his people was to form under his own eyes a clergy on whose virtue, piety and zeal he could depend. In this he succeeded so well that other churches demanded his disciples for their bishops, and a number of prelates came out of his school who were shining lamps in the Church of God.
   He was at the same time very careful personally to instruct his flock, and, moved by the force of the truth which he preached and persuaded by the sweetness and charity of his conduct, many sinners were encouraged to change their lives. But in 354 he was called to the public work of the Church at large, and for ten years following was a distinguished and persecuted confessor of the faith.

   In 354 Pope Liberius deputed St Eusebius, with Lucifer of Cagliari, to beg the Emperor Constantius to assemble a council to try and end the trouble between Catholics and Arians. Constantius agreed, and a council met at Milan in 355. Eusebius, seeing things would be carried by force through the power of the Arians, though the Catholic prelates were more numerous, refused to go to it till he was pressed by Constantius himself.
   When the bishops were called on to sign a condemnation of St Athanasius that had been drawn up, Eusebius refused, and instead laid the Nicene creed on the table and insisted on all signing that before the case of St Athanasius should be considered.
   Great tumult and confusion followed. Eventually the emperor sent for St Eusebius, St Dionysius of Milan and Lucifer of Cagliari, and pressed them to condemn Athanasius. They insisted upon his innocence and that he could not be condemned without being heard, and urged that secular force might not be used to influence ecclesiastical decisions. The emperor stormed and threatened to put them to death, but was content to banish them. The first place of exile of St Eusebius was Scythopolis (Beisan) in Palestine, where he was put in charge of the Arian bishop, Patrophilus.
    He was lodged at first with St Joseph of Palestine (the only orthodox household in the town), and was comforted by the visits of St Epiphanius and others, and by the arrival of the deputies of his church of Vercelli with money for his subsistence. But his patience was to be exercised by great trials. Count Joseph died, and the Arians insulted the bishop, dragged him through the streets half naked, and shut him up in a little room, where he was pestered for four days with all manner of annoyances to make him conform. They forbade his deacons and other fellow confessors to be admitted to see him, so he sent a letter to Bishop Patrophilus addressed, "Eusebius, the servant of God, with the other servants of God who suffer with him for the faith, to Patrophilus the jailer, and to his officers”. After a short account of what he had suffered, he asked that his deacons might be allowed to come to him. Eusebius undertook a sort of a “hunger-strike”, and after he had remained four days without food the Arians sent him back to his lodging.
   Three weeks afterwards they came again, broke into the house, and dragged him away. They rifled his goods, plundered his provisions, and drove away his attendants. St Eusebius found means to write a letter to his flock, in which he mentions these particulars.
   Later he was removed from Scythopolis into Cappadocia, and some time afterwards into the Upper Thebaid in Egypt. We have a letter which he wrote from this place to Gregory, Bishop of Elvira, praising him for his constancy against those who had forsaken the faith of the Church. The undaunted confessor expresses a desire to end his life in suffering for the kingdom of God.
   When Constantius died towards the end of the year 361, Julian gave leave to the banished prelates to return to their sees, and St Eusebius came to Alexandria to concert measures with St Athanasius for applying proper remedies to the evils of the Church. He took part in a council there, and then went on to Antioch to put into effect the wish of the council that St Meletius should there be recognized as bishop and the Eustathian schism healed. But he found it widened by Lucifer of Cagliari, who had blown on the coals afresh by ordaining Paulinus bishop for the Eustathians. Eusebius remonstrated with him for this rash act but the hasty Lucifer resented this, and broke off communion with him and with all who, with the Council of Alexandria, received the ex-Arian bishops.

This was the origin of the schism of Lucifer, who by pride lost the fruit of his former zeal and sufferings.

   Unable to do any good at Antioch, St Eusebius travelled over the East and through Illyricum, confirming in the faith those who were wavering and bringing back many that were gone astray.
   In Italy St Hilary of Poitiers and St Eusebius met, and were employed together in opposing the arianizing Auxentius of Milan. Vercelli, on the return of its bishop after so long an absence, “laid aside her garments of mourning”, as St Jerome puts it, but of the last years of St Eusebius nothing is known. He died on August 1, on which day his eulogy occurs in the Roman Martyrology. He is therein referred to as a martyr, but the Breviary makes it clear that he was so by his sufferings and not by his death.
   In the cathedral of Vercelli is shown a manuscript copy of the gospels said to be written by St Eusebius: it was almost worn out with age nearly a thousand years ago when King Berengarius caused it to be covered with plates of silver. This manuscript is the earliest codex of the Old Latin version in existence, St Eusebius is among the several persons to whom the "composition of the Athanasian Creed” has been attributed.

   The fathers who by their zeal and learning maintained the true faith made humility the foundation of their labours. Conscious that they were liable to be mistaken, they said with St Augustine, “I may err, but I will never be a heretic”. This humility and caution is necessary in profane no less than in religious studies. Many pursue their speculations so far as to lose touch with common sense, and by too close an application to things beyond their abilities spoil their own understanding. Cicero justly remarks that nothing can be invented so absurd that some philosopher has not said it. So true it is, as the Apostle tells us, that “knowledge puffeth up”: not of itself, but through the propensity of the human heart to pride the most ignorant are usually the more apt to overrate their knowledge and abilities.

In the absence of any proper biography of St Eusebius-—that printed by Ughelli is of late date and little value—we are dependent upon the bishop’s own letters, upon a notice in the Viri illustres of St Jerome, and upon the controversial literature of the times. But the main incidents of his life have to do with general ecclesiastical history. See, for example, Hefele-Leclercq, Histoire des Conciles, vol. i, pp. 872 seq. and 961 seq. Duchesne, Hist. ancienne de l'Eglise, vol. ii, pp. 341-350; Bardenhewer, Gescchichte der altkirchlichen Literatur, vol. iii, pp. 486—487 and especially Savio, Gli antichi vescovi d’Italia, vol. i, pp. 412—420, and 514—544.

371 St. Eusebius of Vercelli fought Arianism
Katholische Kirche: 2. August
Someone has said that if there had been no Arian heresy it would be very difficult to write the lives of many early saints. Eusebius is another of defenders of the Church during one of its most trying periods.Born on the isle of Sardinia, he became a member of the Roman clergy and is the first recorded bishop of Vercelli in Piedmont. He is also the first to link the monastic life with that of the clergy, establishing a community of his diocesan clergy on the principle that the best way to sanctify his people was to have them see a clergy formed in solid virtue and living in community.
He was sent by Pope Liberius to persuade the emperor to call a council to settle Catholic-Arian troubles. When it was called at Milan, Eusebius went reluctantly, sensing that the Arian block would have its way, although the Catholics were more numerous. He refused to go along with the condemnation of Athanasius; instead, he laid the Nicene Creed on the table and insisted that all sign it before taking up any other matter. The emperor put pressure on him, but Eusebius insisted on Athanasius’ innocence and reminded the emperor that secular force should not be used to influence Church decisions. At first the emperor threatened to kill him, but later sent him into exile in Palestine. There the Arians dragged him through the streets and shut him up in a little room, releasing him only after his four-day hunger strike. They resumed their harassment shortly after.
His exile continued in Asia Minor and Egypt, until the new emperor permitted him to be welcomed back to his see in Vercelli. He attended the Council of Alexandria with Athanasius and approved the leniency shown to bishops who had wavered. He also worked with St. Hilary of Poitiers against the Arians.

He died peacefully in his own diocese at an advanced age.

Comment: Catholics in the U.S. have sometimes felt penalized by an unwarranted interpretation of the principle of separation of Church and state, especially in the matter of Catholic schools. Be that as it may, the Church is happily free today from the tremendous pressure put on it after it became an “established” Church under Constantine. We are happily rid of such things as a pope asking an emperor to call a Church council, Pope John I being sent by the emperor to negotiate in the East, the pressure of kings on papal elections. The Church cannot be a prophet if it’s in anybody’s pocket.

Quote: "To render the care of souls more efficacious, community life for priests is strongly recommended, especially for those attached to the same parish. While this way of living encourages apostolic action, it also affords an example of charity and unity to the faithful" (Decree on the Bishops' P astoral Office, 30).

Christians who breathed a sigh of relief when Constantine proclaimed Christianity the state religion, believing this would end the bloodshed and martyrdom. But it was all too short a time until they were facing persecution once more -- from others who claimed to be Christian. When Christianity became the state religion, many people adopted it for political reasons. Others adopted it without truly understanding it. Under these circumstances heresy found fertile ground. One of the most powerful heresies was Arianism which claimed that Jesus was not God (a heresy that has never completely died out). The Arians were powerful people, including nobles, generals, emperors. They commanded armies and senates. True Christianity was in real danger of being stamped out once again.
Eusebius had learned how to stand as a Christian from his father, who died a martyr in Sardinia. After his father's death, he grew up in Rome where he was ordained a lector. This was a time when bishops were elected by the people and local clergy. When the people of Vercelli saw how well he served their Church, they had no doubt about choosing him as bishop.
Pope Liberius also noticed his abilities and sent him on a mission to the Emperor Constantius to try to resolve the troubles between Arians and Catholics. Seeming to agree, Constantius convened a council in Milan in 355. The powerful Arians however weren't there to talk but to force their own will on the others. A horrified Eusebius watched as his worst fears were confirmed and the Arians made this peace council into a condemnation of Saint Athanasius, their chief opponent. Eusebius, unafraid of their power, slapped the Nicene Creed down on the table and demanded that everyone sign that before condemning Athanasius. The Nicene Creed, adopted by a council of the full Church, proclaims that Jesus is one in being with the Father -- directly contradicting the Arian teaching.
The emperor then tried to force Eusebius, Saint Dionysius of Milan, and Lucifer of Cagliari to condemn Athanasius under pain of death. They steadfastly refused to condemn a man who far from being a heretic was supporting the truth. Instead of putting them to death, the emperor exiled them.
In exile in Scythopolis in Palestine, Eusebius lived with the only Catholic in town. Any comfort he had from visits of other saints was destroyed when the local Arians stripped him half naked and dragged him through the streets to a tiny cell. The Arians finally let him go after he spent four days without food. But a few weeks later they were back, breaking into his house, stealing his belongings and food, and imprisoning him again.
Eusebius was exiled to two other places before Constantius' successor Julian let him and the other exiled bishops return home in 361. The problem was not over. Eusebius spent his last years working hard to counteract damage Arians did and continued to do. After working with Athanasius and taking part in councils, he became a latter-day Saint Paul traveling all over in order to strengthen the faith and spread the truth. Eusebius died August 1.

Eusebius of Vercelli B (RM) Born on Sardinia, c. 283; died at Vercelli, Italy, on August 1, 371; feast day was formerly December 16, which marks the anniversary of his consecration as bishop.
Eusebius was the son of a martyr who died in chains. His widowed mother took Eusebius and his sister, both infants, to Rome, where Eusebius was reared, educated, and eventually ordained a lector. He served in Vercelli in the Piedmont, with such success that he was elected in 340 by the clergy and people to govern it. He is the first bishop of Vercelli who is known by name. Eusebius decided that the best way to foster the life of prayer was to live with some of his fellow-clergy as a community of monks. He was the first in the West to combine the monastic discipline with the clerical, an example that was later followed by Saint Augustine.
In 354, Pope Liberius deputed Eusebius and Bishop Lucifer of Cagliari to plead with Emperor Constantius to assemble a council to settle the differences between the Catholics and Arians. They were successful, and the council met in Milan in 355. Although the Catholic prelates outnumbered the Arians, Eusebius realized that the Arians would dominate by force, and he refused to attend until Constantius himself coerced him to do so.

Eusebius's sufferings began with his refusal to condemn the great theologian and doctor of the Church, Saint Athanasius.

When the bishops were called upon to sign a condemnation of Athanasius, one of the few bishops who continued to insist that Jesus was both God and man, Eusebius resisted. Instead he presented the Nicene Creed, which he helped to write, and insisted that it be signed by all before the case of Saint Athanasius was considered. This sparked a great tumult.
The emperor sent for Eusebius, Saint Dionysius of Milan, and Lucifer of Cagliari, and demanded that they condemn Athanasius. They supported his innocence, saying he could not be condemned without being heard. They also pleaded that the emperor not use secular force to coerce ecclesiastical decisions. The emperor threatened to execute them but eventually banished them instead.
Eusebius's six years in exile began in Scythopolis in Palestine, where he was put in the charge of the Arian bishop, Patrophilus. He stayed first with Saint Joseph of Palestine, who offered the only orthodox home in the town, and was visited by Saint Epiphanius and others, and given money for subsistence by deputies of his church in Vercelli.

After Count Joseph's death, the Arians dragged Eusebius through the streets half-clothed and locked him in a small room, where they badgered him for four days to conform.

Eusebius went on a hunger strike, and after fasting for four days, the Arians returned him to his lodgings. Three weeks later he was molested again; they confiscated his possessions, drove away his attendants, and dragged him away. Later he was banished to Cappadocia, and later still into the Upper Thebaid in Egypt.
Upon the death of Constantius in 361, Julian the Apostate recalled the banished prelates, and Eusebius travelled to Alexandria to plan with Saint Athanasius how to correct the evils of the Church. He took part in a council there in 362, which deputed him to travel to Antioch to effect the council's wish that Saint Meletius should be recognized as bishop there, although he had been elected primarily by Arians. It was hoped that this would heal the Eustathian schism. Unfortunately, he found that Lucifer of Caligliari, who had also participated in the council, had widened it by consecrating Paulinus, leader of the Eustathians, bishop of Carthage. This was the beginning of the Luciferian schism.
Unsuccessful, Eusebius travelled over the East and through Illyricum, bolstering the wavering faith of many and bringing others back into the fold. He returned to Italy in 363 and began working in concert with Saint Hilary of Poitiers to oppose the Arianizing Auxentius of Milan.
According to Saint Jerome, Vercelli "laid aside her garments of mourning" upon Eusebius's long-awaited return, but nothing is known of his remaining years. Sometimes he is called a martyr, but this is attributed to his sufferings and not to a violent death.
In Vercelli is treasured a very ancient manuscript of the Latin Gospels that Eusebius is reputed to have copied, the Codex Vercellensis, which is the oldest such manuscript in existence. This and his extant letters demonstrate that Eusebius was a serious scholar as well as a zealous opponent of Arianism. Though it is not absolutely certain, it is believed that he is the author of the Athanasian Creed (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Farmer, Walsh, White).

Eusebius von Vercelli Katholische Kirche: 2. August
Eusebius wurde um 283 in Sardinien geboren. Er war Lektor in Rom und wurde zum Bischof von Vercelli (in Norditalien) berufen. Im Auftrag von Papst Liberius führte er 355 eine Synode in Mailand durch, die wider Erwarten nicht die Arianer, sondern Athanasius verurteilte. Auch Eusebius wurde bis 362 verbannt. Er nahm dann an mehreren Synoden teil, auf denen er sich aber nicht gegen die Arianer durchsetzen konnte. Ab 363 wirkte er wieder in Vercelli. Gemeinsam mit Hilarius von Poitiers bekämpfte er energisch die Arianer. Er starb am 1.8.371. Spätere Legenden behaupten, er sei von Arianern gesteinigt worden .

385 Repose of Timothy I, Pope of Alexandria This saint took great care concerning the buildings of the churches in Alexandria and elsewhere. He was knowledgeable and eloquent, and he left many sayings refuting the heresy of the Arians. He remained on the Chair for six years, four months and six days, then departed in peace.
On this day also, of the year 11 A.M. (July 20th, 385 A.D.), St. Timothy, 22nd Pope of Alexandria, departed. This saint was enthroned in the seventeenth of Baramhat, 95 A.M. (March 14th, 379 A.D.). He shepherded the flock of Christ with the best of care, and guarded them from the Arian wolves. In the sixth year of his papacy, Emperor Theodosius the Great reigned, who ordered the assembly of the Ecumenical Council at Constantinople to judge Macedonius the enemy of the Holy Spirit. This Pope presided over this council, and he disputed with Macedonius, Sabilius, and Apolinarius and refuted their erroneous council as it is mentioned in the first day of Amshir (Vol II, P. 247).
This saint took great care concerning the buildings of the churches in Alexandria and elsewhere. He was knowledgeable and eloquent, and he left many sayings refuting the heresy of the Arians. He remained on the Chair for six years, four months and six days, then departed in peace.

May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.

428 Transfer of the Relics of the Holy Protomartyr Stephen from Jerusalem to Constantinople
After the holy Protomartyr Archdeacon Stephen was stoned by the Jews, they left his holy body unburied to be devoured by the beasts and birds. After a day and a night the renowned Jewish teacher of the Law, Gamaliel sent people to take up the body of the Protomartyr. Gamaliel buried him on his own property, in his own tomb, not far from Jerusalem.

When Lord's secret disciple Nicodemus died, Gamaliel also buried him near the grave of St Stephen. Afterwards Gamaliel himself, who had been baptized with his son Abibas, was buried near the grave of the Protomartyr Stephen and St Nicodemus.

In the year 415 the relics of the saint were uncovered in a miraculous manner and solemnly transferred to Jerusalem by Bishop John and the bishops Eutonius of Sebaste and Eleutherius of Jericho. From that time healings took place from the relics.

Afterwards, during the reign of holy Emperor Theodosius the Younger (408-450), the relics of the holy Protomartyr Stephen were transferred from Jerusalem to Constantinople and placed in the church of the holy deacon Laurence (August 10). When a church dedicated to the Protomartyr Stephen was built, the relics were transferred there on August 2. St Stephen's right hand is preserved in the Serapionov chamber of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra .

623 St. Betharius Bishop Bishop of Chartres, France. He served in this capacity from 595 to 623. He also attended Council of Sens.

7th v. St. Boetharius Bishop Chartres Bishop and chaplain to King Clotaire II of France. Boetharius was bishop of Chartres, receiving that see around 595.

795 St. Alfreda Virgin and hermit
Virgin and hermit, also known as Afreda, Alfritha, Aelfnryth, and Etheldreda. She was the daughter of King Offa of Mercia, in England, and was either betrothed to or loved by St. Ethelbert, the king of the East Angles. Ethelbert went to Offa's court to ask for Alfreda but was murdered by Offa's queen, Cynethritha. Horrified by the deed, Alfreda departed the court and retired to the marshes of Crowland. There she lived as a hermitess until her death. Her sister, Aelfreda, also lost a husband to the political intrigue of Offa and his queen.

834 Etheldritha of Croyland recluse for 40 years devoting herself to assiduous prayer and the practice of Christian virtue miracles prophesies OSB V (AC)
(also known as Ælfryth, Alfrida, Alfreda, Althryda, Ethelfreda)
Saint Etheldritha was daughter of King Offa of the Mercians and his queen, Quindreda. She was betrothed to King Ethelbert of the East Angles, who was killed by her father's treachery. Because she had wanted to consecrate her life entirely to the service of God, she left the court and established herself about 793 in a small cell on Croyland Island in the desolate marshes of Lincolnshire. There she lived as a recluse for forty years devoting herself to assiduous prayer and the practice of Christian virtue. Several miracles attested to her eminent sanctity, however, she was best known for her prophesies. Her tomb was among those arranged around that of Saint Guthlac, but her relics were lost during the ravages of the Danes when they destroyed Croyland Abbey in 870 (Benedictines, Farmer, Encyclopedia,

914 St. Plegmund archbishop Benedictine archbishop of Canterbury and the tutor of King Alfred the Great
Plegmund was born in Mercia, England, and was a hermit near Chester. He was appointed archbishop by Pope Stephen V at the request of Alfred, proving a capable prelate, scholar, and dedicated reformer. He went to Rome in 908 to see Pope Sergius III and later died at Canterbury.
914 Plegmund of Canterbury hermit on an island near Chester OSB B (PC)

Born in Mercia, England; died at Canterbury, England, on August 2. Saint Plegmund was a hermit on an island near Chester, called Plegmundham after him and later Plemstall, who was noted for his holiness and scholarship. He was called to the court of Alfred the Great to be his tutor. He helped Alfred write the Old English version of Saint Gregory the Great's On pastoral care (Liber regulae pastoralis) and may have been responsible for the compilation of the Anglo-Saxon chronicle.

At that monarch's request, in 890, he was consecrated archbishop of Canterbury by Pope Formosus in Rome. He crowned Edward the Elder at Kingston in 901, and consecrated the Newminster at Winchester in 908. Plegmund travelled to Rome again in 908, probably to secure approval of his bishopric by Pope Sergius III, because the consecrations of Formosus were condemned in 897 and 905. He returned from Rome with some of the relics of Saint Blaise.

Archbishop Plegmund divided the Wessex dioceses of Winchester and Sherbourne into Winchester, Ramsbury, Sherbourne, Wells, and Crediton (which was later called Exeter) and consecrated bishops for each of them (plus two others) on the same day. His episcopacy was noted for promoting learning and developing Canterbury's metropolitan jurisdiction. Saint Plegmund's cultus, however, was not spontaneous or immediate; he has been venerated as a saint only since the 13th century (Benedictines, Delaney, Farmer) .

1073 Blessed Gundechar founded at least 126 churches B (AC)
Born 1019; died . Bishop Gundechar of Eichstätt, Bavaria (Germany) was chaplain to Empress Agnes. He founded at least 126 churches. The Pontifical which he drew is still preserved and is of great historical significance (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).

1109 St. Peter of Osma Fr Bishop a French monk of the Cluniac Order who, with fellow monks, journeyed to Spain to assist the spread of the order and to bring reform to the monasteries there. After serving for a time as archdeacon of Toledo under archbishop Bernard de la Sauvetat, he was appointed bishop of Osma, Castile, Spain, serving with such distinction that he became the patron saint of the cathedral and diocese of Osma.
Bishop and patron of Osma. Peter was a French monk of the Cluniac Order who, with fellow monks, journeyed to Spain to assist the spread of the order and to bring reform to the monasteries there. After serving for a time as archdeacon of Toledo under archbishop Bernard de la Sauvetat, he was appointed bishop of Osma, Castile, Spain, serving with such distinction that he became the patron saint of the cathedral and diocese of Osma .

1109 Peter of Osma archdeacon of Toledo OSB B (AC)
Saint Peter is among the many monks of Cluny Abbey in France who settled in Spain between about 1050 and 1130. He was appointed archdeacon of Toledo under the Archbishop Bernard de la Sauvetat, another monk from Cluny. Sauvetat nominated Peter bishop of Osma, Old Castile, in 1101. He is venerated as principal patron of Osma diocese and cathedral (Benedictines).

1295 St. Thomas of Dover Miracles Benedictine monk martyr at St. Martin's Priory in Dover, England; Miracles were reported at his tomb
Also called Thomas Hales, he served as a Benedictine monk at St. Martin's Priory in Dover, England. In 1295, the priory was overrun by a French raiding party which was assailing Dover, and Thomas, being old and infirm, could not escape with the rest of the community. The French raiders demanded that he tell them the whereabouts of the church treasures. When he refused, they murdered him. Miracles were soon reported at his tomb, and an altar was dedicated to him in the priory church in 1500. King Richard II of England (r. 1379-1399) requested that his cause be opened in 1382.

1295 Thomas Hales of Dover Miracles occurred at his tomb OSB M (AC)
feast day formerly on August 5. The near contemporary vita of Saint Thomas, a Benedictine monk of Saint Martin's Priory in Dover, a cell of Christ Church in Canterbury, concentrates on a conventional list of virtues and omits any biographical details of his early life.
On August 5, 1295, the French raided Dover and all the monks went into hiding except Thomas, who was too old and too infirm to run. The raiders, who are described in detail in the vita, found him in bed and ordered him to disclose the location of the church plate. He was murdered for his refusal to answer them. Miracles occurred at his tomb, which led to his veneration as a martyr. His cultus was encouraged by indulgences from the bishop of Winchester and the archbishop of Canterbury for pilgrimages to his tomb. King Richard II and "several noble Englishmen" petitioned Rome for his canonization. In 1380 Urban VI established a commission to enquire into Thomas's life and miracles. The work was delegated to the priors of Christ Church and Saint Gregory's in Canterbury, but nothing ever happened. There was an altar dedicated to him ("blessed Thomas de Halys") in the Dover Priory church in 1500, which was probably the altar of Our Lady and Saint Catherine in front of which he was buried. Thomas's his image figured among those of the English saints at the English College in Rome (Benedictines, Farmer).

AMONG English holy men of the middle ages who have quite dropped out of memory is Thomas of Hales, a monk of the Benedictine priory of St Martin at Dover, a cell'of Christ Church, Canterbury. On August 2, 1295, a French raid descended on Dover from the sea, and the monks of the priory fled with the exception of this venerable old man, who in accordance with the Rule went to take his mid-day siesta. When the raiders invaded the monastery they found him on his bed and told him to disclose where the church plate and other valuables had been hidden; he refused, and was at once put to death. Miracles were recorded at his tomb and Simon Simeon, an Irish friar who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land about 1322, mentions the honour given to him as a martyr "at the Black Monks, under Dover Castle ".
King Richard II asked Pope Urban VI to canonize Thomas, and a process was begun in 1382 but never carried out. There was considerable popular cultus of Thomas locally, and he was represented among the paintings of martyrs in the English College of Rome; but to call him Saint is an almost entirely modern practice.

There is a life and passio (BHL. 8248 b), and a summary of it and of some miracles (BHL. 8249); texts in C. Horstman, Nova Legenda Anglie (1901) vol. ii, pp. 555-558 and 403, translations in C. R. Haines Dover Priory (1930), on which book see the following article, p. 168, n. 4 and p. 191, n. 2. In Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lxxii (1954), pp. 167-191, Fr P. Grosjean provides a fully documented discussiona of all that is known of Thomas de La Hale.

15th v Blessed Vasilii of Kamensk a monk at the Saviour-Kamen monastery, situated on an island of Lake Kuben not far from Vologda
He lived during the XV Century, was a monk at the Saviour-Kamen monastery, situated on an island of Lake Kuben (not far from Vologda). At the shrine of his relics, -- built afterwards in a church in honour of Saint Vasilii (Basil) of Moscow, is an icon in full stature of Saint Vasilii of Kamensk, with heavy iron chains and a cap of iron strips.

1552 Basil the Blessed M known as an ascetic "fool for Christ's sake." The Kremlin church in which he is buried bears Basil's name

Saint Basil the Blessed, Wonderworker of Moscow, was born in December 1468 on the portico of the Elokhov church in honor of the Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos outside Moscow. His parents were commoners and sent their son to be trained as a cobbler.
During Basil's apprenticeship, the master happened to witness a remarkable occurrence, which showed him that his student was no ordinary man. A certain merchant had brought grain to Moscow on a barge and then went to order boots, specifying that they be made in a particular way, since he would not pick them up for a year. Blessed Basil wept and said, "I wish you would cancel the order, since you will never wear them." When the perplexed master questioned his apprentice he explained that the man would not wear the boots, for he would soon die. After several days the prediction came true.
When he was sixteen, the saint arrived in Moscow and began the difficult exploit of foolishness for Christ. In the burning summer heat and in the winter's harsh frost, he walked about barefoot through the streets of Moscow. His actions were strange: here he would upset a stand with kalachi, and there he would spill a jug with kvas. Angry merchants throttled the blessed one, but he endured the beatings with joy and he thanked God for them. Then it was discovered that the kalachi were poorly cooked, and the kvas was badly prepared. The reputation of St Basil quickly grew, and people saw him as a holy fool, a man of God, and a denouncer of wrong.
A certain merchant wanted to build a stone church on Pokrovna in Moscow, but its arches collapsed three times. The merchant turned to the saint for advice, and he pointed him toward Kiev. "Find there John the Cripple," he said. "He will advise you how to construct the church."

Traveling to Kiev, the merchant sought out John, who sat in a poor hut and rocked an empty cradle.
"Whom do you rock?" asked the merchant. "I weep for my beloved mother, who was made poor by my birth and upbringing."

Only then did the merchant remember his own mother, whom he had thrown out of the house.
Then it became clear to him why he was not able to build the church. Returning to Moscow, he brought his mother home, begged her forgiveness, and built the church.

Preaching mercy, the blessed one helped those who were ashamed to ask for alms, but who were more in need of help than others. Once, he gave away a rich imperial present to a foreign merchant who was left without anything at all. Although the man had eaten nothing for three days, he was not able to beg for food, since he wore fine clothing.
The saint harshly condemned those who gave alms for selfish reasons, not out of compassion for the poor and destitute, but hoping for an easy way to attract God's blessings upon their affairs. Once, the saint saw a devil in the guise of a beggar. He sat at the gates of the All-Pure Virgin's church, and he gave speedy help in their affairs to everyone who gave alms. The saint exposed the wicked trick and drove the devil away.
For the salvation of his neighbor, St Basil also visited the taverns, where he tried to see a grain of goodness, even in people very much gone to ruin, and to strengthen and encourage them by kindness. Many observed that when the saint passed by a house in which they made merry and drank, he wept and clutched the corners of that house. They inquired of the fool what this meant, and he answered: "Angels stand in sorrow at the house and are distressed by the sins of the people, but I entreat them with tears to pray to the Lord for the conversion of sinners."
Purified by great deeds and by the prayer of his soul, the saint was also given the gift of foreseeing the future. In 1547 he predicted the great fire of Moscow; through prayer he extinguished a fire at Novgorod; and once he reproached Tsar Ivan the Terrible, because during the divine services he was preoccupied with thoughts of building a palace on the Vorobiev hills.
St Basil died on August 2, 1557. St Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow served the saint's funeral with many clergy . His body was buried in the cemetery of Trinity church, where in 1554, the Protection cathedral was built in memory of the conquest of Kazan. His Holiness Patriarch Job glorified St Basil the Blessed at a Council on August 2, 1588.
In an early icon, St Basil is portrayed as old, with white hair curling at the ears, and a short, curly white beard. He is completely naked, and holds a handkerchief in his hand. The veneration of St Basil the Blessed was always so strong that the Trinity temple and the attached Protection church were renamed for him [the famous St Basil's Cathedral in Moscow].

The saint's chains are preserved at the Moscow Spiritual Academy.

Canonized by the Russian Church, c. 1580. Saint Basil was one of the yurodivy, an ascetic known as a "fool for Christ's sake." These were men who deliberately sought the humiliation and scorn of their neighbors through their senseless behavior and pretended stupidity, especially in Russia in the 16th and 19th century. Basil was a shoemaker's apprentice in Moscow. Like Saint Simeon Salus, he would act in seemingly crazy ways but devoted himself to caring for the poorest, most wretched, and most neglected. He used to steal good from shops and give them to the destitute. There are stories that he rebuked Czar Ivan IV the Terrible. The Kremlin church in which he is buried bears Basil's name (Attwater).
Basil the Blessed M
Died 1552; canonized by the Russian Church, c. 1580. Saint Basil was one of the yurodivy, an ascetic known as a "fool for Christ's sake." These were men who deliberately sought the humiliation and scorn of their neighbors through their senseless behavior and pretended stupidity, especially in Russia in the 16th and 19th century. Basil was a shoemaker's apprentice in Moscow. Like Saint Simeon Salus, he would act in seemingly crazy ways but devoted himself to caring for the poorest, most wretched, and most neglected. He used to steal good from shops and give them to the destitute. There are stories that he rebuked Czar Ivan IV the Terrible. The Kremlin church in which he is buried bears Basil's name (Attwater).

1787: St Alphonsus De' Liguori, Bishop Of Sant' Agata Del Goti, Doctor Of The Church, Founder Of The Congregation Of The Most Holy Redeemer from 1726 till 1752 he was preaching up and down the kingdom of Naples, especially in villages and rural settlements, and with the greatest success.
Sancti Alfónsi-Maríæ de Ligório, Fundatóris Congregatiónis a sanctíssimo Redemptóre nuncupátæ, Epíscopi sanctæ Agathæ Gothórum, Confessóris et Ecclésiæ Doctóris, qui requiévit in Dómino prídie hujus diéi.
    St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori, founder of the Congregation of our most Holy Redeemer, bishop of Santa Agata dei Goti, confessor and doctor of the Church, who fell asleep in the Lord on the previous day.
St Alphonsus was born near Naples in 1696; his parents were Don Joseph de' Liguori, captain of the royal galleys, and Donna Anna Cavalieri, both people of virtuous and distinguished life.
The boy was baptized Alphonsus Mary Antony John Francis Cosmas Damian Michael Caspar, but preferred to call himself simply Alfonso Maria; the use of the Latin form of his name has become usual in English. Don Joseph was determined that his first-born should have every advantage that formal education could give him, and he was early put under tutors. At thirteen he began the study of jurisprudence, and when sixteen he was allowed, by dispensation of four years, to present himself before the university of Naples for examination for the doctor's degree in both laws (civil and canon); it was granted with acclamation.   His reputation as a barrister is testified by the tradition (not certainly true) that in eight years of practice he never lost a case. In 1717 Don Joseph arranged a marriage for his son, but it came to nothing and Alphonsus continued to work diligently and quietly; for a year or two some slackness in religious care was observable, coupled with and perhaps due to an affection for "society life" and fashionable amusements, but he had the will to avoid serious sin. He was very fond of the music of the theatre, but music was not the only thing on the Neapolitan stage of the eighteenth century; however, Alphonsus was very short- sighted and when the curtain went up his spectacles came off, and so he was able to enjoy the good without receiving harm from the dangerous.   A retreat with the Lazarists during the Lent of 1722 and reception of the sacrament of Confirmation in the following autumn steadied him and revived his fervour, and at the next Lent he made a private resolution not to marry and to continue in his profession only until it should appear that God wished him to abandon it.   What he took to be a clear indication of the divine will was shown him only a few months later.
    A certain Neapolitan nobleman was suing the grand-duke of Tuscany for possession of an estate valued at over £100,000. Alphonsus was briefed in the case, for which side we do not now know, but probably for his countryman, and made a great speech on his client's behalf which much impressed the court. When he sat down opposing counsel coolly remarked, "You have wasted your breath. You have disregarded the evidence on which the whole case depends."    "What do you mean? Where? How ? "asked Alphonsus. He was handed a document which he had read through several times, but with a passage marked that entirely escaped his notice. The point at issue was whether the estate was held under Lombard law or under the Angevin capitularies: this clause made the point clear, and decided against the client of Alphonsus. For a moment he was silent. Then he said, "I have made a mistake. The case is yours", and left the court. Braving the fiery indignation of his father, Alphonsus refused either to go on with his profession or to entertain a second project for his marriage. While visiting the sick in the hospital for incurables he twice heard as it were an interior voice, saying, "Leave the world, and give yourself to me"; he went to the church of our Lady of Ransom, laid his sword on her altar, and then offered himself to the priests of the Oratory. Don Joseph tried every way to dissuade his son, but was at last constrained to agree to his being a priest, provided that, instead of joining the Oratory, he should stay at home. On. the advice of his director, Father Pagano, himself an Oratorian, Alphonsus accepted this condition.

He began his theological studies at home, and in 1726 was advanced to the priesthood. For the two following years he was engaged in missionary work throughout the kingdom of Naples, and at once made his mark. The early eighteenth century was a time of pompous oratory and florid verbosity in the pulpit--a fruit of the Renaissance out of control and of rigorism in the confessional--fruit of Jansenism; Don Alphonsus repudiated both these characteristics. He preached simply without affectation. "It is a pleasure to listen to your sermons; you forget yourself and preach Jesus Christ", somebody said to him, and he afterwards instructed his missioners "Your style must be simple, but the sermon must be well constructed. If skill be lacking, it is unconnected and tasteless; if it be bombastic, the simple cannot understand it. I have never preached a sermon which the poorest old woman in the congregation could not understand."
He treated his penitents as souls to be saved rather than as criminals to be punished or frightened into better ways; he is said never to have refused absolution to a penitent. This was not pleasing to everybody, and some looked with suspicion on Don Alphonsus. He organized the lazzaroni of Naples into groups which met for instruction in Christian doctrine and virtue; one of the members was reproved by Don Alphonsus for his imprudent fasting, and another priest added,
"It is God's will that we should eat in order to live. If you are given cutlets, eat them and be thankful. They will do you good." The remark was taken up and twisted into a matter of offence the clubs were secret societies of Epicureans, of Quietists, of some other heresy, there was a new sect, "of Cutlets". The solemn wiseacres of church and state took the matter up, arrests were made, and Don Alphonsus had to make explanations. The archbishop counselled him to be more careful, the "Cutlet clubs" continued undisturbed, and developed into the great Association of the Chapels which numbers thousands of working-men who meet daily for prayer and instruction in the confraternity chapels.

In 1729, being then thirty-three years old, Alphonsus left his father's house to become chaplain to a college for the training of missionaries to China. Here he met Thomas Falcoia and became friendly with him; he was a priest twice his own age, whose life had been devoted to trying to establish a new religious institute in accordance with a vision he claimed to have had in Rome. All he had succeeded in doing was to establish a convent of nuns at Scala, near Amalfi, to whom he had given a version of the rule of the Visitantions. One of the nuns, however, Sister Mary Celeste, alleged that she had received a revelation of the rule which the nuns were to follow, and when Father Falcoia discovered that its provisions tallied with those intimated to him twenty years before he was naturally impressed. In 1730 he got St Alphonsus interested in the matter. About the same time an unexpected turn was given to events by Falcoia's appointment to the see of Castellamare; this left him free to associate himself with the convent of Scala again, and one of his first episcopal acts was to invite Alphonsus to give a retreat to the nuns, a step that had far-reaching consequences for everybody concerned.
St Alphonsus went to Scala, and in addition to giving the retreat he investigated, with a lawyer's precision, the matter of Sister Mary Celeste's revelation, and came to the conclusion that it was from God and not an hallucination. He therefore recommended, and the nuns agreed, that the convent should be reorganized in accordance with the vision, and the bishop of Scala gave his consent; on the feast of the Transfiguration 1731 the nuns put on their new habit, of red and blue, and entered upon their strictly enclosed and penitential life. Thus began the Redemptoristines, who still flourish in several lands. The new rule had been expanded and made more explicit by St Alphonsus himself, and Mgr Falcoia proposed that he should now undertake the establishment of a new congregation of missionaries to work especially among the peasants of the country districts.
St Alphonsus agreed, but had to face a storm of opposition. At last, after a long and painful leave-taking with his father, he left Naples in November 1732 and went to Scala. There the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer was born on the 9th of that month, and its first home was in a small house belonging to the convent of nuns. There were seven postulants under Alphonsus, with Mgr Falcoia as informal superior general, and dissensions began at once, centering chiefly in this very matter of who was in supreme authority; a party opposed the bishop, and consequently Alphonsus, and a schism was formed in both houses. Sister Mary Celeste went off to found a convent at Foggia, and at the end of five months St Alphonsus was alone but for one lay-brother. But other subjects came, a larger house became necessary, and in the autumn of 1733 successful missions were given in the diocese of Amalfi. In the following January a second foundation was made at Villa degli Schiavi, and here Alphonsus went to reside, and conducted missions.
The saint is so well known as a moral theologian, for his writings, and for his efforts in founding the Redemptorists, that his eminence as a missioner has been overshadowed; but from 1726 till 1752 he was preaching up and down the kingdom of Naples, especially in villages and rural settlements, and with the greatest success. His confessional was crowded, hardened sinners returned to the healing sacraments in great numbers, enemies were reconciled, family feuds healed, and he established the practice, characteristic of the method of his followers, of returning some months after a mission was closed in order to confirm and consolidate the work.

   The troubles of the young Redemptorists were not over: indeed they had hardly begun. In the same year as the foundation at Villa degli Schiavi, Spain re-asserted its authority over Naples, the absolutist Charles III was in power, and he had as his prime minister the Marquis Bernard Tanucci, who was to be the life-long opponent of the new congregation. In 1737 a priest of bad character spread evil reports about the establishment at Villa, the community was attacked by armed men, and it was deemed wise to close the house; in the following year troubles caused Scala too to be abandoned.
   On the other hand Cardinal Spinelli, Archbishop of Naples, put St Alphonsus at the head of a general mission throughout his diocese, and for two years the saint organized and conducted this, until the death of Mgr Falcoia recalled him to the work of the congregation. A general chapter was held, at which St Alphonsus was elected rector major (i.e. superior general), vows were taken, and rules and constitutions were drawn up. They were now constituted as a religious institute and proceeded in the following years to make several new foundations, all under great difficulties of local and official opposition; "regalism" was in the ascendant and the implacable anti-clericalism of Tanucci was a sword at all times threatening the existence of the congregation.
The first edition of the Moral Theology of St Alphonsus, in the form of annotations to the work of Busembaum, a Jesuit theologian, was published at Naples in 1748, and the second edition, which is properly the first of his own complete work, in 1753-55.    It was approved by Pope Benedict XIV rigorism of Jansenism and an improper laxity; seven more editions were called for in the author's lifetime. There is no need here to follow the controversy concerning "probabilism", with which the name of St Alphonsus is associated. Probabilism is the system in moral theology which holds that, if of two opinions one insists that in certain circumstances a law binds, while the other holds that in these circumstances it does not, one is allowed to follow an opinion favouring liberty provided it be truly and solidly probable, even though the opinion favouring the law be more probable. St Alphonsus eventually favoured what he called Aequi-probabilism, which insists that the law must be obeyed unless the opinion favouring liberty is at least nearly equally probable with that favouring the law, though there would appear to be little practical difference between the two systems. The Church permits the application of either, but the reader may be reminded that Probabilism is primarily a principle for the moral theologian and is not put forward as an ideal of Christian life; often the more perfect and therefore more desirable course of action is to follow the more probable opinion according to which the law is binding.
   Attempts have been made to impugn the morality of the teaching of St Alphonsus about lying: his was the ordinary teaching of the Church, namely, that all lies are intrinsically wrong and illicit. Among the consequences of the teachings of the Jansenists was that holy communion can be received worthily only very rarely and that devotion to our Lady is a useless superstition; St Alphonsus vigorously attacked both these errors, the last-named particularly by the publication in 1750 of The Glories of Mary. and had an immediate success, for with consummate wisdom it steered a middle course between the

   From the time of the death of Mgr Falcoia in 1743 St Alphonsus led a life of extraordinary industry: guiding and fostering his new congregation through troubles both external and internal, trying to get it authorized by the king, ministering to individual souls, conducting missions all over Naples and Sicily, even finding time to write hymns, compose music, and paint pictures.
   After 1752 his health was failing, his missionary vigour decreased, and he devoted much more time to writing. The general opinion of him was voiced by a prebendary of Naples, "If I were pope I would canonize him without process. He fulfilled in a most perfect way", said Father Mazzini," the divine precept of loving God above all things, with his whole heart and with all his strength, as all might have seen and as I saw better than anyone during the long years I spent with him.
   The love of God shone forth in all his acts and words, in his devout manner of speaking of Him, his recollection, his deep devotion before the Blessed Sacrament, and his continual exercise of the divine presence."
   He was strict, but tender and compassionate, and, often suffering acutely from scrupulosity himself, was particularly kind to others afflicted in the same way. Father Cajone testified during the process of beatification of St Alphonsus that "His special and characteristic virtue seemed to me to be purity of intention. In all things and at all times he acted for God without any admixture of self.   He said to us one day,' By the grace of God I have never confessed having acted from passion. It may be that I have not noticed what was passing in me, but I have not remarked it so as to confess it.' " This is the more remarkable when it is considered that Alphonsus was a Neapolitan, and by nature passionate and precipitate, easily moved by anger, pride, or a sudden resolve.
   When he was sixty-six years old St Alphonsus was made by Pope Clement XIII bishop of Sant' Agata dei Goti, between Benevento and Capua. When the messenger of the nuncio apostolic presented himself at Nocera, greeted him as "Most Illustrious Lord", and handed over the letter announcing the appointment, Alphonsus read it through and handed it back, saying, "Please do not come back again with any more of your ` Most Illustrious`; it would be the death of me. But the pope would take no refusal, and he was consecrated in the church of the Minerva at Rome. Sant' Agata was only a small diocese, but that was about all that could be said in its favour; it numbered 30,000 souls with 17 religious houses and 400 secular priests, of whom some did no pastoral work at all, living on the proceeds of an easy benefice, and others were not only slack but positively evil-living. The laity were to match, and rapidly getting worse; the results of nearly thirty years of neglect were apparent on all sides.
After having established his own modest household, the new bishop sent out a band of priests to conduct a general mission throughout the diocese: they were recruited from all orders and institutes in Naples except, for reasons of tact and prudence, his own congregation of Redemptorists. Alphonsus recommended two things only to these missioners, simplicity in the pulpit, charity in the confessional, and after hearing one of the priests neglect his advice he said to him, "Your sermon kept me awake all night....If you wanted to preach only yourself, rather than Jesus Christ, why come all the way from Naples to Ariola to do it?"
At the same time he set about a reform of the seminary, and of the careless way that benefices were granted. Some priests were in the habit of saying Mass in fifteen minutes or less; these were suspended ipso facto until they amended their ways, and the bishop wrote a moving treatise on the subject: "'The priest at the altar`, says St Cyprian,` represents the person of Jesus Christ.' But whom do so many priests today represent? They represent only mountebanks earning their livelihood by their antics. Most lamentable of all is it to see religious, and some even of reformed orders, say Mass with such haste and such mutilation of the rite as would scandalize even the heathen.....`Truly the sight of Mass celebrated in this way is enough to make one lose the faith.'

   After he had been at Sant' Agata a short time famine broke out, with its usual accompaniment of plague. Alphonsus had foreseen this calamity several times in the previous two years, but nothing had been done to avert it. Thousands were starving, and he sold everything to buy food for the sufferers, down to his carriage and mules and his uncle's episcopal ring; the Holy See authorized him to make use of the endowment of the see for the same purpose, and he contracted debts right and left in his efforts at relief. When the mob clamoured for the life of the mayor of Sant' Agata, who was wrongfully accused of withholding food, Alphonsus braved their fury, offered his own life for that of the mayor, and finally distracted them by distributing the rations of the next two days. The bishop was most vigorous in his concern for public morality; he always began with kindness, but when amendment was not promised or relapse occurred he took strong measures, invoking the help of the civil authorities. this made him many enemies, and several times his life was in danger from people of rank and others against whom he instituted proceedings.
The custom of the courts of banishing hardened offenders, whether public vagabonds or private sinners, must have pressed somewhat hardly on the districts to which they went, and the bishops of neighbouring dioceses probably found scant consolation in the observation of the Bishop of Sant' Agata that, "Each must look after his own Rack.   When these people find themselves turned out everywhere, in disgrace and without food or shelter, they will come to their senses and give up their sinful lives."
   In June 1767 St Alphonsus was attacked by terrible rheumatic pains which developed into an illness from which he was not expected to recover: not only did he receive the last sacraments but funeral preparations were begun. After 12 months his life was saved, but he was left with a permanent and incurable bending of the neck, familiar from the portraits of him; until the surgeons had succeeded in straightening it a little the pressure of the chin caused a raw wound in his chest and he was unable to celebrate Mass, which afterwards he could do with the aid of a chair at the communion.
In addition to attacks on his moral theology, he had to face an accusation against the Redemptorists of carrying on the Society of Jesus under another name (the Jesuits had been suppressed in the Spanish dorminions in 1767), and an action against them, begun but adjourned some time before, was revived in 1770. The case dragged on for another 13 years before it was decided in favour of Alphonsus on all counts.
Pope Clement XIV died on September 22, 1774, {After celebrating Mass on the 21st, Alphonsus became unconscious and so remained for twenty-four hours, On coming round he announced that I have been assisting the pope, who has just died". This incident is sometimes put forward as an example of bilocation, but seems simply to have been a clairvoyant trance. It was referred to, but no great importance was attached to it in the process of beatification.} and St Alphonsus in the following year petitioned his successor, Pius VI, for permission to resign his see. Similar petitions had been refused by Clement XIII and XIV, but the effects of his rheumatic fever were now taken into consideration; permission was granted, and the aged bishop retired to his Redemptorist's cell at Nocera, hoping to end his days in peace.

But it was not to be. The Redemptorists having in 1777 been subjected to another attack, Alphonsus determined to make another effort to get the royal sanction for his rule (it was as religious rather than as priests that the congregation was objected to); {There were said to be 60,000 priests in the kingdom at this time. On the basis of the Church in England and Wales today that would give the Two Sicilies a population of 30 millions, or two-thirds of the population of all Italy in 1948.} in addition to four houses in Naples and one in Sicily, it had now four others in the Papal States.
What followed was nothing less than tragic. Alphonsus agreed with the royal almoner, Mgr Testa, to waive any request to be allowed to hold property in common, but otherwise to submit the rule unchanged, and the almoner would put it before the king.
Then Testa betrayed him. He altered the rule in several vital respects, even to the extent of abolishing the vows of religion; he won over to his plot one of the consultors of the congregation, Father Majone, and this altered rule (regolamento) was presented to Alphonsus, written in a small hand and with many erasures. He was old, crippled, deaf, his sight was bad he read over the familiar opening lines of the document-and signed it. Even his vicar general, Father Andrew Villani, seems to have connived at the cruel deception, probably through fear of the others. The king approved the regolamento, it became legally binding, and its provisions were made known to the Redemptorists and to their founder. The storm broke on him: "You have founded the congregation and you have destroyed it", he was told. For a moment he was indignant with Father Villani: "I never thought I could be so deceived by you, Don Andrew", and then he overwhelmed himself with reproaches for his infirmity and his remissness. "It was my duty to read it myself, but you know I find it difficult to read even a few lines." To refuse to accept the regolamento now would mean suppression of.the Redemptorists by the king; to accept it would mean suppression by the pope, for the Holy See had already approved the original rule.
Alphonsus cast about in every direction to save a debacle, but in vain; he would consult the pope, but the Redemptorists in the Papal States had forestalled him, for they had at once denounced the new rule and put themselves under the protection of the Holy See. Pius VI forbade them to accept the regolamento, and withdrew them from the jurisdiction of St Alphonsus; he provisionally recognized those of the Papal States as the only true Redemptorists, and named Father Francis de Paula their superior general. In 1781 the fathers of Naples accepted the regolamento, with a slight modification which the king had agreed; but this was not acceptable at Rome and the provisional decree was made final.
Thus was St Alphonsus excluded from the order which he had founded, He bore the humiliation, inflicted by the authority he so loved and respected, with the utmost patience, and without murmuring accepted the apparent end of all his hopes as the will of God.
But there was still one more bitter trial for him during the years 1784-85 he went through a terrible "dark night of the soul". He was assailed by temptations against every article of faith and against every virtue, prostrated by scruples and vain fears, and visited by diabolical illusions. For eighteen months this torment lasted, with intervals of light and relief, and was followed by a period when ecstasies were frequent, and prophecy and miracles took the place of interior trials.
The end came peacefully on the night of July 31-August 1, 1787, when he was within two months of his ninety-first birthday, Pius VI, the pope who had condemned him under a misapprehension, in 1796 decreed the introduction of the cause of Alphonsus Liguori, in 1816 he was beatified, in 1839 canonized, and in 1871 declared a doctor of the Church. St Alphonsus predicted that the separated houses in the Papal States would prosper and spread the Redemptorist congregation, but that reunion would not come about till after his death. These predictions were verified; St Clement Hofbauer in 1785 first established the congregation beyond the Alps, and in 1793 the Neapolitan government recognized the original rule and the Redemptorists were again united. Today they are established as missioners throughout Europe and America, and in several other parts of the world.

The first considerable biography of St Alphonsus was that of his devoted friend and religious son Father Tannoia which appeared at Naples in three volumes (1798-1802). It was long ago translated into English in the Oratorian series of lives of the saints. For a very valuable criticism of Tannoia see Father Castle's book, vol. ii, pp. 904-905, a note strangely incorporated in the index of the work in the first edition. The lives by Cardinal Villecourt (1864) and Cardinal Capecelatro (1892) do not offer much that is new, but the German life by Fr K. Dilgskron (1887) was to a considerable extent based on unpublished material and corrected many previous misconceptions. The most exhaustive biography, however, is that compiled in French by Father Berthe (1900); but it was greatly improved, and in many points corrected, by Fr Harold Castle in his English translation, published in two bulky volumes in 1905. An abridged French edition of Berths's book appeared in 1939, and an up-to-date biography by D. F. Miller and L. X. Aubin in Canada in 1940. Many minor publications exist, studying particular aspects of the life and work of St. Alphonsus. On the question of Probabilism and Aequiprobabilism reference ought to be made to the books Vindiciae Alphonsianae (1873) and Vindiciae Ballerinianae (1873); and on the spiritual teaching of Alphonsus see P. Pourrat, La spiritualité chrétienne, t. iv (1947), pp. 449-491. See also the exhaustive work in Spanish by R. Telleria, San Alfonso M. de Ligorio (a vols., 1950-51).

1917 Christoph Blumhardt Hier erkannte er auch, daß der Sozialismus zur Welt gehörte und nicht die gottgewirkte Gemeinschaft war. 1913 legte er die Leitung Bad Bolls in die Hände eines Freundeskreises, predigte dort aber noch bis zum Sommer 1917
Evangelische Kirche: 2. August
Christoph Blumhardt (der Jüngere), Sohn von Johann Christoph Blumhardt wurde am 1.6.1842 in Möttlingen geboren. Er studierte ab 1862 in Tübingen Theologie und wurde 1866 Vikar in der badischen Kirche. Sein Vater rief ihn 1869 nach Bad Boll, wo er 10 Jahre an seiner Seite wirkte. Seine Predigt war vollmächtig und wurde durch deutliche Zeichen bekräftigt. Blumhardt wollte das Reich Gottes auf Erden verwirklichen und sah als eine der Voraussetzungen angesichts der Auswirkungen der kapitalistisch geprägten Wirtschaftsstruktur die Neuordnung der menschlichen Verhältnisse. Zur Verwirklichung seiner Ziele schloß er sich den Sozialdemokraten an und wurde 1900 als ihr Vertreter in den württembergischen Landtag gewählt. Er wirkte bis 1906 als Abgeordneter. Auf Reisen nach Palästina (1906) und Ägypten (1910) erkrankte er. Diese Krankheiten führten ihn in die Stille. Hier erkannte er auch, daß der Sozialismus zur Welt gehörte und nicht die gottgewirkte Gemeinschaft war. 1913 legte er die Leitung Bad Bolls in die Hände eines Freundeskreises, predigte dort aber noch bis zum Sommer 1917. Nach einem Schaganfall zog er sich ganz in die Stille zurück.

To Save A Life is Earthly; To Save A Soul is Eternal

THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 22

God is in the congregation of Jews: from whom, as a rose, has come forth the Mother of God.

Wipe away my stains, O Lady: thou who art ever resplendent in purity.

Make the fountain of life flow into my mouth: whence the living waters take their rise and flow forth.

All ye who thirst, come to her: she will willingly give you to drink from her fountain.

He who drinketh from her, will spring forth unto life everlasting: and he will never thirst.

For thy spirit is kind: thy grace fills the whole world.

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

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

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

There are over 10,000 named saints beati from history
and Roman Martyology Orthodox sources
Patron_Saints.html Widowed_Saints html Indulgences The Catholic Church in China
LINKS: Marian Shrines India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East Lourdes 1858 China Marian shrines 1995
Kenya national Marian shrine Loreto, Italy Marian Apparitions (over 2000) Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798
Links to Related MarianWebsites Angels and Archangels Saints Visions of Heaven and Hell
Widowed Saints html
Doctors_of_the_Church Acts_Of_The_Apostles Roman Catholic Popes Purgatory Uniates Chalcedon

Mary the Mother of Jesus Miracles_BC Lay Saints Miraculous_Icons Miraculous_Medal_Novena Patron Saints
Miracles by Century 100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000    1100   1200   1300   1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000
Miracles 100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000
1100   1200   1300   1400 1500 1600 1700 1800   1900 Lay Saints

The great psalm of the Passion, Chapter 22, whose first verse “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Jesus pronounced on the cross, ended with the vision: “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations shall worship before him” For kingship belongs to the LORD, the ruler over the nations. All who sleep in the earth will bow low before God; All who have gone down into the dust will kneel in homage. And I will live for the LORD; my descendants will serve you. The generation to come will be told of the Lord, that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn the deliverance you have brought.

Pope Benedict XVI to The Catholic Church In China {whole article here} 2000 years of the Catholic Church in China
The saints “a cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.

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Saint Frances Xavier Seelos Practical Guide to Holiness

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

My God, I believe, I adore, I trust and I love Thee. I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not

O most Holy trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly. I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the Tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended, and by the infite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I beg the conversion of poor sinners, Fatima Prayer, Angel of Peace

The voice of the Father is heard, the Son enters the water, and the Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove.

THE spirit and example of the world imperceptibly instil the error into the minds of many that there is a kind of middle way of going to Heaven; and so, because the world does not live up to the gospel, they bring the gospel down to the level of the world. It is not by this example that we are to measure the Christian rule, but words and life of Christ. All His followers are commanded to labour to become perfect even as our heavenly Father is perfect, and to bear His image in our hearts that we may be His children. We are obliged by the gospel to die to ourselves by fighting self-love in our hearts, by the mastery of our passions, by taking on the spirit of our Lord.

These are the conditions under which Christ makes His promises and numbers us among His children, as is manifest from His words which the apostles have left us in their inspired writings. Here is no distinction made or foreseen between the apostles or clergy or religious and secular persons. The former, indeed, take upon themselves certain stricter obligations, as a means of accomplishing these ends more perfectly; but the law of holiness and of disengagement of the heart from the world is general and binds all the followers of Christ.

God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique each the result of a new idea.

As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike.
It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints.
Dear Lord, grant us a spirit not bound by our own ideas and preferences.
Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves.
O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory.
Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.

Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.

The 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary ) Revealed to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan)

1. Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces. 2. I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary. 3. The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies. 4. It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that soul would sanctify them by this means. 5. The soul that recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish. 6. Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying themselves to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise them in His justice, they shall not perish by an unprovided death; if they be just, they shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life. 7. Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church. 8. Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise. 9. I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary. 10. The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven. 11. You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary. 12. I shall aid all those who propagate the Holy Rosary in their necessities. 13. I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death. 14. All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ. 15. Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.

His Holiness Aram I, current (2013) Catholicos of Cilicia of Armenians, whose See is located in Lebanese town of Antelias. The Catholicosate was founded in Sis, capital of Cilicia, in the year 1441 following the move of the Catholicosate of All Armenians back to its original See of Etchmiadzin in Armenia. The Catholicosate of Cilicia enjoyed local jurisdiction, though spiritually subject to the authority of Etchmiadzin. In 1921 the See was transferred to Aleppo in Syria, and in 1930 to Antelias.

Its jurisdiction currently extends to Syria, Cyprus, Iran and Greece.

Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac

The exact date of the introduction of Christianity into Edessa {Armenian Ourhaï in Arabic Er Roha, commonly Orfa or Urfa, its present name} is not known. It is certain, however, that the Christian community was at first made up from the Jewish population of the city. According to an ancient legend, King Abgar V, Ushana, was converted by Addai, who was one of the seventy-two disciples. In fact, however, the first King of Edessa to embrace the Christian Faith was Abgar IX (c. 206) becoming official kingdom religion.

Christian council held at Edessa early as 197 (Eusebius, Hist. Ecc7V,xxiii).

In 201 the city was devastated by a great flood, and the Christian church was destroyed (“Chronicon Edessenum”, ad. an. 201).

In 232 the relics of the Apostle St. Thomas were brought from India, on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written.

Under Roman domination martyrs suffered at Edessa: Sts. Scharbîl and Barsamya, under Decius; Sts. Gûrja, Schâmôna, Habib, and others under Diocletian.

In the meanwhile Christian priests from Edessa evangelized Eastern Mesopotamia and Persia, established the first Churches in the kingdom of the Sassanides. Atillâtiâ, Bishop of Edessa, assisted at the Council of Nicæa (325). The “Peregrinatio Silviæ” (or Etheriæ) (ed. Gamurrini, Rome, 1887, 62 sqq.) gives an account of the many sanctuaries at Edessa about 388.

Although Hebrew had been the language of the ancient Israelite kingdom, after their return from Exile the Jews turned more and more to Aramaic, using it for parts of the books of Ezra and Daniel in the Bible. By the time of Jesus, Aramaic was the main language of Palestine, and quite a number of texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls are also written in Aramaic.

Aramaic continued to be an important language for Jews, alongside Hebrew, and parts of the Talmud are written in it.

After Arab conquests of the seventh century, Arabic quickly replaced Aramaic as the main language of those who converted to Islam, although in out of the way places, Aramaic continued as a vernacular language of Muslims.

Aramaic, however, enjoyed its greatest success in Christianity. Although the New Testament wins written in Greek, Christianity had come into existence in an Aramaic-speaking milieu, and it was the Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac, that became the literary language of a large number of Christians living in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire and in the Persian Empire, further east. Over the course of the centuries the influence of the Syriac Churches spread eastwards to China (in Xian, in western China, a Chinese-Syriac inscription dated 781 is still to be seen); to southern India where the state of Kerala can boast more Christians of Syriac liturgical tradition than anywhere else in the world.

680 Shiite saint Imam Hussein, grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad Known as Ashoura and observed by Shiites across the world, the 10th day of the lunar Muslim month of Muharram: the anniversary of the 7th century death in battle of one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints. Imam Hussein died in the 680 A.D. battle fought on the plains outside Karbala, a city in modern Iraq that's home to the saint's shrine. The battle over a dispute about the leadership of the Muslim faith following Muhammad's death in 632 A.D. It is the defining event in Islam's split into Sunni and Shiite branches. The occasion is the source of an enduring moral lesson. "He sacrificed his blood to teach us not to give in to corruption, coercion, or use of force and to seek honor and justice." According to Shiite beliefs, Hussein and companions were denied water by enemies who controlled the nearby Euphrates. Streets get partially covered with blood from slaughter of hundreds of cows and sheep. Volunteers cook the meat and feed it to the poor. Hussein's martyrdom recounted through a rich body of prose, poetry and song remains an inspirational example of sacrifice to many Shiites, 10 percent of the world's estimated 1.3 billion Muslims.

Meeting of the Saints walis (saints of Allah)

Great men covet to embrace martyrdom for a cause and principle.

So was the case with Hazrat Ali. He could have made a compromise with the evil forces of his time and, as a result, could have led a very comfortable, easy and luxurious life. But he was not a person who would succumb to such temptations. His upbringing, his education and his training in the lap of the holy Prophet made him refuse such an offer.
Rabia Al-Basri (717–801 C.E.) She was first to set forth the doctrine of mystical love and who is widely considered to be the most important of the early Sufi poets. An elderly Shia pointed out that during his pre-Partition childhood it was quite common to find pictures and portraits of Shia icons in Imambaras across the country.
Shah Abdul Latif: The Exalted Sufi Master born 1690 in a Syed family; died 1754. In ancient times, Sindh housed the exemplary Indus Valley Civilisation with Moenjo Daro as its capital, and now, it is the land of a culture which evolved from the teachings of eminent Sufi saints. Pakistan is home to the mortal remains of many Sufi saints, the exalted among them being Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, a practitioner of the real Islam, philosopher, poet, musicologist and preacher. He presented his teaching through poetry and music - both instruments sublime - and commands a very large following, not only among Muslims but also among Hindus and Christians. Sindh culture: The Shah is synonymous with Sindh. He is the very fountainhead of Sindh's culture. His message remains as fresh as that of any present day poet, and the people of Sindh find solace from his writings. He did indeed think for Sindh. One of his prayers, in exquisite Sindhi, translates thus: “Oh God, may ever You on Sindh bestow abundance rare! Beloved! All the world let share Thy grace, and fruitful be.”
Shia Ali al-Hadi, died 868 and son Hassan al-Askari 874. These saints are the 10th and 11th of Shia's 12 most revered Imams. Baba Farid Sufi 1398 miracle, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki renowned Muslim Sufi saint scholar miracles 569 A.H. [1173 C.E.] hermit gave to poor, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti greatest mystic of his time born 533 Hijri (1138-39 A.D.), Hazrat Ghuas-e Azam, Hazrat Bu Ali Sharif, and Hazrat Nizamuddi n Aulia Sufi Saint Hazrath Khwaja Syed Mohammed Badshah Quadri Chisty Yamani Quadeer (RA) 1236-1325 welcomed people of all faiths & all walks of life.

801 Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya Sufi One of the most famous Islamic mystics
(b. 717). This 8th century saint was an early Sufi who had a profound influence on later Sufis, who in turn deeply influenced the European mystical love and troubadour traditions. Rabi'a was a woman of Basra, a seaport in southern Iraq. She was born around 717 and died in 801 (185-186). Her biographer, the great medieval poet Attar, tells us that she was "on fire with love and longing" and that men accepted her "as a second spotless Mary" (186). She was, he continues, “an unquestioned authority to her contemporaries" (218).
Rabi'a began her ascetic life in a small desert cell near Basra, where she lost herself in prayer and went straight to God for teaching. As far as is known, she never studied under any master or spiritual director. She was one of the first of the Sufis to teach that Love alone was the guide on the mystic path (222). A later Sufi taught that there were two classes of "true believers": one class sought a master as an intermediary between them and God -- unless they could see the footsteps of the Prophet on the path before them, they would not accept the path as valid. The second class “...did not look before them for the footprint of any of God's creatures, for they had removed all thought of what He had created from their hearts, and concerned themselves solely with God. (218)
Rabi'a was of this second kind. She felt no reverence even for the House of God in Mecca: "It is the Lord of the house Whom I need; what have I to do with the house?" (219) One lovely spring morning a friend asked her to come outside to see the works of God. She replied, "Come you inside that you may behold their Maker. Contemplation of the Maker has turned me aside from what He has made" (219). During an illness, a friend asked this woman if she desired anything.
"...[H]ow can you ask me such a question as 'What do I desire?' I swear by the glory of God that for twelve years I have desired fresh dates, and you know that in Basra dates are plentiful, and I have not yet tasted them. I am a servant (of God), and what has a servant to do with desire?" (162)
When a male friend once suggested she should pray for relief from a debilitating illness, she said,
"O Sufyan, do you not know Who it is that wills this suffering for me? Is it not God Who wills it? When you know this, why do you bid me ask for what is contrary to His will? It is not well to oppose one's Beloved." (221)
She was an ascetic. It was her custom to pray all night, sleep briefly just before dawn, and then rise again just as dawn "tinged the sky with gold" (187). She lived in celibacy and poverty, having renounced the world. A friend visited her in old age and found that all she owned were a reed mat, screen, a pottery jug, and a bed of felt which doubled as her prayer-rug (186), for where she prayed all night, she also slept briefly in the pre-dawn chill. Once her friends offered to get her a servant; she replied,
"I should be ashamed to ask for the things of this world from Him to Whom the world belongs, and how should I ask for them from those to whom it does not belong?" (186-7)
A wealthy merchant once wanted to give her a purse of gold. She refused it, saying that God, who sustains even those who dishonor Him, would surely sustain her, "whose soul is overflowing with love" for Him. And she added an ethical concern as well:
"...How should I take the wealth of someone of whom I do not know whether he acquired it lawfully or not?" (187)
She taught that repentance was a gift from God because no one could repent unless God had already accepted him and given him this gift of repentance. She taught that sinners must fear the punishment they deserved for their sins, but she also offered such sinners far more hope of Paradise than most other ascetics did. For herself, she held to a higher ideal, worshipping God neither from fear of Hell nor from hope of Paradise, for she saw such self-interest as unworthy of God's servants; emotions like fear and hope were like veils -- i.e., hindrances to the vision of God Himself. The story is told that once a number of Sufis saw her hurrying on her way with water in one hand and a burning torch in the other. When they asked her to explain, she said:
"I am going to light a fire in Paradise and to pour water on to Hell, so that both veils may vanish altogether from before the pilgrims and their purpose may be sure..." (187-188)
She was once asked where she came from. "From that other world," she said. "And where are you going?" she was asked. "To that other world," she replied (219). She taught that the spirit originated with God in "that other world" and had to return to Him in the end. Yet if the soul were sufficiently purified, even on earth, it could look upon God unveiled in all His glory and unite with him in love. In this quest, logic and reason were powerless. Instead, she speaks of the "eye" of her heart which alone could apprehend Him and His mysteries (220).
Above all, she was a lover, a bhakti, like one of Krishna’s Goptis in the Hindu tradition. Her hours of prayer were not so much devoted to intercession as to communion with her Beloved. Through this communion, she could discover His will for her. Many of her prayers have come down to us:
       "I have made Thee the Companion of my heart,
        But my body is available for those who seek its company,
        And my body is friendly towards its guests,
        But the Beloved of my heart is the Guest of my soul." [224]

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Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey

Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament

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

Thus began a great adventure that would eventually result in the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, a Temple dedicated to the Divine Child Jesus, a place of refuge for all. Use this link to read a remarkable story about The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament

Father Reardon, Editor of The Catholic Bulletin for 14 years Lover of the poor; “A very Holy Man of God.”

Monsignor Reardon Protonotarius Apostolicus
Pastor 42 years BASILICA OF SAINT MARY Minneapolis MN

America's First Basilica Largest Nave in the World

August 7, 1907-ground broke for the foundation

by Archbishop Ireland-laying cornerstone May 31, 1908

James M. Reardon Publication History of Basilica of Saint Mary 1600-1932

Index to Part I and Part II 1932

James M. Reardon Publication History of the Basilica of Saint Mary 1955 {update}

Brief History of our Beloved Holy Priest Here and his published books of Catholic History in North America
Reardon, J.M. Archbishop Ireland; Prelate, Patriot, Publicist, 1838-1918.
A Memoir (St. Paul; 1919); George Anthony Belcourt Pioneer Catholic Missionary of the Northwest 1803-1874 (1955);
The Catholic Church IN THE DIOCESE OF ST. PAUL from earliest origin to centennial achievement 1362-1950 (1952);
The Church of Saint Mary of Saint Paul 1875-1922; (1932)
The Vikings in the American Heartland;
The Catholic Total Abstinence Society in Minnesota;

James Michael Reardon Born in Nova Scotia, 1872; Priest, ordained by Bishop Ireland;

Member -- St. Paul Seminary faculty.

Affiliations and Indulgences Litany of Loretto in Stained glass windows here. Nave Sacristy and Residence Here
Sanctuary spaces between them filled with grilles of hand-forged wrought iron the life of our Blessed Lady After the crucifixon

Apostle statues Replicas of those in St John Lateran--Christendom's earliest Basilica.
Ordered by Rome's first Christian Emperor, Constantine the Great, Popes' cathedral and official residence first millennium of Christian history.

The only replicas ever made: in order from west to east {1932}.

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 BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi.

June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.

By Father John Corapi
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi.

June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.

By Father John Corapi

Among the most important titles we have in the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of the most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom. The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7 (date of feast of Our Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for the Christian forces against the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope Pius V led a procession around St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral leadership in recognizing the danger posed to Christendom by the radical Muslim forces, and in using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles require spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that had its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.

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

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

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

Talk is weak. Prayer is strong. Pray! God bless you, Father John Corapi

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

About Father John Corapi.

Father Corapi is a Catholic priest .

The pillars of father's preaching are basically:

Love for and a relationship with the Blessed Virgin Mary
Leading a vibrant and loving relationship with Jesus Christ
Great love and reverence for the Most Holy Eucharist from Holy Mass to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
An uncompromising love for and obedience to the Holy Father and the teaching of the Magisterium of the Church

God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi

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

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

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

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

Pope Francis will beatify these martyred Greek-Catholic bishops in Romania
May 30, 2019 - 03:01 pm .- On Sunday in Blaj, Pope Francis will beatify seven Greek-Catholic bishops of Romania who were killed by the communist regime between 1950 and 1970.

Woman who served Brazil’s poorest to be canonized
May 14, 2019 - 06:53 am .- Pope Francis Tuesday gave his approval for eight sainthood causes to proceed, including that of Bl. Dulce Lopes Pontes, a 20th-century religious sister who served Brazil’s poor.

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

Pope advances sainthood causes of 17 women
Jan 15, 2019 - 11:12 am .- Pope Francis approved Tuesday the next step in the canonization causes of 17 women from four countries, including the martyrdom of 14 religious sisters killed in Spain at the start of the Spanish Civil War.

Nineteen Algerian martyrs beatified
Dec 10, 2018 - 03:08 pm .- Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, were beatified Saturday during a Mass in Oran.

The Algerian martyrs shed their blood for Christ, pope says
Dec 7, 2018 - 10:02 am .- Ahead of the beatification Saturday of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, Pope Francis said martyrs have a special place in the Church.
Algerian martyrs are models for the Church, archbishop says
Nov 16, 2018 - 03:01 am .- Archbishop Paul Desfarges of Algiers has said that Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, are “models for our lives as disciples today and tomorrow.”

Francesco Spinelli to be canonized after healing of a newborn in DR Congo
Oct 9, 2018 - 05:01 pm .- Among those being canonized on Sunday are Fr. Franceso Spinelli, a diocesan priest through whose intercession a newborn was saved from death in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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

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

Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under ‘offering of life’
Jul 11, 2017 - 06:22 am .- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called “offering of life” – in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor.

Twentieth century Polish nurse among causes advancing toward sainthood
Jul 7, 2017 - 06:14 am .- Pope Francis on Friday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Hanna Chrzanowska, a Polish nurse and nursing instructor who died from cancer in 1973, paving the way for her beatification.

Sainthood causes advance, including layman who resisted fascism
Jun 17, 2017 - 09:22 am .- Pope Francis on Friday recognized the heroic virtue of six persons on the path to canonization, as well as the martyrdom of an Italian man who died from injuries of a beating he received while imprisoned in a concentration camp for resisting fascism.

Solanus Casey, Cardinal Van Thuan among those advanced toward sainthood
May 4, 2017 - 10:47 am .- Pope Francis on Thursday approved decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints advancing the causes for canonization of 12 individuals, including the American-born Capuchin Solanus Casey and the Vietnamese cardinal Francis Xavier Nguen Van Thuan.

Pope clears way for canonization of Fatima visionaries
Mar 23, 2017 - 06:44 am .- On Thursday Pope Francis approved the second and final miracle needed to canonize Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the shepherd children who witnessed the Fatima Marian apparitions.
Surgeon and father among sainthood causes moving forward
Feb 27, 2017 - 11:03 am .- Pope Francis recognized on Monday the heroic virtue of eight persons on the path to canonization, including an Italian surgeon and father of eight who suffered from several painful diseases throughout his life.

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

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

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

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

Pope Francis will beatify these martyred Greek-Catholic bishops in Romania
May 30, 2019 - 03:01 pm .- On Sunday in Blaj, Pope Francis will beatify seven Greek-Catholic bishops of Romania who were killed by the communist regime between 1950 and 1970.

Woman who served Brazil’s poorest to be canonized
May 14, 2019 - 06:53 am .- Pope Francis Tuesday gave his approval for eight sainthood causes to proceed, including that of Bl. Dulce Lopes Pontes, a 20th-century religious sister who served Brazil’s poor.

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

Pope advances sainthood causes of 17 women
Jan 15, 2019 - 11:12 am .- Pope Francis approved Tuesday the next step in the canonization causes of 17 women from four countries, including the martyrdom of 14 religious sisters killed in Spain at the start of the Spanish Civil War.

Nineteen Algerian martyrs beatified
Dec 10, 2018 - 03:08 pm .- Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, were beatified Saturday during a Mass in Oran.

The Algerian martyrs shed their blood for Christ, pope says
Dec 7, 2018 - 10:02 am .- Ahead of the beatification Saturday of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, Pope Francis said martyrs have a special place in the Church.
Algerian martyrs are models for the Church, archbishop says
Nov 16, 2018 - 03:01 am .- Archbishop Paul Desfarges of Algiers has said that Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, are “models for our lives as disciples today and tomorrow.”

Francesco Spinelli to be canonized after healing of a newborn in DR Congo
Oct 9, 2018 - 05:01 pm .- Among those being canonized on Sunday are Fr. Franceso Spinelli, a diocesan priest through whose intercession a newborn was saved from death in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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

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

Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under ‘offering of life’
Jul 11, 2017 - 06:22 am .- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called “offering of life” – in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor.

Twentieth century Polish nurse among causes advancing toward sainthood
Jul 7, 2017 - 06:14 am .- Pope Francis on Friday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Hanna Chrzanowska, a Polish nurse and nursing instructor who died from cancer in 1973, paving the way for her beatification.

Sainthood causes advance, including layman who resisted fascism
Jun 17, 2017 - 09:22 am .- Pope Francis on Friday recognized the heroic virtue of six persons on the path to canonization, as well as the martyrdom of an Italian man who died from injuries of a beating he received while imprisoned in a concentration camp for resisting fascism.

Solanus Casey, Cardinal Van Thuan among those advanced toward sainthood
May 4, 2017 - 10:47 am .- Pope Francis on Thursday approved decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints advancing the causes for canonization of 12 individuals, including the American-born Capuchin Solanus Casey and the Vietnamese cardinal Francis Xavier Nguen Van Thuan.

Pope clears way for canonization of Fatima visionaries
Mar 23, 2017 - 06:44 am .- On Thursday Pope Francis approved the second and final miracle needed to canonize Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the shepherd children who witnessed the Fatima Marian apparitions.
Surgeon and father among sainthood causes moving forward
Feb 27, 2017 - 11:03 am .- Pope Francis recognized on Monday the heroic virtue of eight persons on the path to canonization, including an Italian surgeon and father of eight who suffered from several painful diseases throughout his life.

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

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

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

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

Sunday, November 23 2014 Six to Be Canonized on Feast of Christ the King.

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

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

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

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

October 01, 2015 Vatican City, Pope Authorizes following Decrees
(ZENIT.org) By Staff Reporter
Polish Layperson Recognized as Servant of God
Pope Authorizes Decrees
Pope Francis on Wednesday authorised the Congregation for Saints' Causes to promulgate the following decrees:

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

HEROIC VIRTUES
- Servant of God Giovanni Folci, Italian diocesan priest and founder of the Opera Divin Prigioniero (1890-1963);
- Servant of God Franciszek Blachnicki, Polish diocesan priest (1921-1987);
- Servant of God Jose Rivera Ramirez, Spanish diocesan priest (1925-1991);
- Servant of God Juan Manuel Martín del Campo, Mexican diocesan priest (1917-1996);
- Servant of God Antonio Filomeno Maria Losito, Italian professed priest of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (1838-1917);
- Servant of God Maria Benedetta Giuseppa Frey (nee Ersilia Penelope), Italian professed nun of the Cistercian Order (1836-1913);
- Servant of God Hanna Chrzanowska, Polish layperson, Oblate of the Ursulines of St. Benedict (1902-1973).

March 06 2016 MIRACLES authorised the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
Pope Francis received in a private audience Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, during which he authorised the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
MIRACLES

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

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

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

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

LINKS:
Marian Apparitions (over 2000) India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes Feb 11- July 16, Loreto, Italy 1858
China Marian shrines May 23, 1995 Zarvintisya Ukraine Lourdes Kenya national Marian shrine    Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798
Links to Related Marian Websites Angels and Archangels
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Apostles Roman Catholic Popes Purgatory Uniates, PSALTER BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 22 2023