Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!  (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
R.  Deo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
August is the month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary;
21,989  Lives Saved Since 2007
Six to Be Canonized on Feast of Christ the King Nov 23 2014
CAUSES OF SAINTS April  2014
Our Bartholomew Family Prayer List  Here
 Joyful Mystery on Monday Saturday   Glorius Mystery on Sunday Wednesday
   Sorrowful Mystery on Friday Tuesday   Luminous Mystery on Thursday Veterens of War
St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe Immaculata his inspiration
“I prayed very hard to Our Lady to tell me what would happen to me.
She appeared, holding in her hands two crowns, one white, one red.
She asked if I would like to have them
—one was for purity, the other for martyrdom.
I said, ‘I choose both.’ She smiled and disappeared.”
 “In the same way that the Immaculate belongs to Jesus and to God, each soul will belong to Jesus and to God through her and in her, in a much easier way than it would be without her."
Maximilian Mary Kolbe
Maximilian Mary Kolbe, when first arrested>


It is said that Eusebius heard a from heaven say to him:
"If you had not been found worthy to suffer, you could not be admitted into the court of Christ, or to the seats of the just."

To inflict a defeat on Satan and establish God’s kingdom  
Modern times are dominated by Satan and will be even more so in the future. The battle against Hell cannot be led by men and women, even the most intelligent. Only the Immaculate has received from God the promise of victory over the Devil.
However, since she was assumed into Heaven, the Mother of God has asked for our collaboration.
She is looking for souls who can consecrate themselves entirely to her, to become effective and reliable instruments in her hands, to inflict a defeat on Satan and establish God’s kingdom on this earth.
August 14 - Our Lady Beneath the Cross - Saint Maximilian Kolbe (d. 1941)

The Immaculate Virgin Inspired His Life
August 14 - Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Martyr (d. 1941 in Auschwitz)

– Madonna del Sasso (Locarno, Switzerland, 1480)
  Like Mary, when we hear the voice that elects us and calls us…
Like Mary, when our heart is open enough that we can hear the voice that elects us and calls us, we cannot delay: we must hurry and go forth. Of course there are many types of vocations, and no one is left out!
Before setting off, however, we must know where we are going, and in which direction to direct our feet. (…) In her elevation to heaven, Mary sums up the essence of the goal towards which the Christian life leads us: the perfect union with Christ, or holiness. (…)
But how can we, poor sinners, even conceive responding to such a call? Like the Virgin Mary, we are tempted to ask: How can this come about?
It is impossible for us to reach that summit of holiness. The answer that the Lord gives us repeats the one that Mary received: The Holy Spirit will come upon you. In us also, it will be the Work of God.
P. Guy Frenod, Excerpt from a Sermon
 
"Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).
>From today on, the Church desires to address as "Saint" a man who was granted the grace of carrying out these words of the Redeemer in an absolutely literal manner. For towards the end of July, 1941, when the camp commander ordered the prisoners destined to die of starvation to fall in line, this man--Maximilian Maria Kolbe--spontaneously came forward and declared himself ready to go to death in the place of one of them. This readiness was accepted and, after more than two weeks of torment caused by starvation,
Father Maximilian's life was ended with a lethal injection on August 14, 1941.
All this happened in the concentration camp at Auschwitz where during the last war some four million people were put to death, including the Servant of God, Edith Stein (the Carmelite Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross).
The Church has venerated Father Maximilian as "Blessed" since 1971. By laying down his life for a brother, he made himself like Christ. The inspiration of his whole life was the Immaculata. To her he entrusted his love for Christ and his desire for martyrdom. In the mystery of the Immaculate Conception there revealed itself before the eyes of his soul that marvelous and supernatural world of God's grace offered to man.
The faith and works of the whole life of Father Maximilian show that he thought of his cooperation with divine grace as a warfare under the banner of the Immaculate Conception. This Marian characteristic is particularly expressive in the life and holiness of Father Kolbe.
His whole apostolate, both in his homeland and on the missions, was similarly marked with this sign.
Excerpts from the Homily at the Canonization of Saint Maximilian Kolbe
By His Holiness Pope John Paul II on October 10, 1982

Alfeo Emaldi
Cuts Tongue To Save Seal of Confessional
 By Manual Mina, Madrid 1964
Reverend Alfeo Emaldi, S.C., an Italian Xavarian missionary,
talks today with difficulty. 
But his Spanish, learned in a few months, is perfectly understandable.

 (Departing from Venice (Northern Italy) dated 26-2-1926 Father Alfeo China arrived at City-Chu is located Hoang-Ha riverside date 19-5-1926. Father immediately start learning Chinese, a language full much-complicated, particularly for people with severe myopia as Father. But with just one month later, Father explicably in Chinese and catechesis for the Chinese! It was wonderful.)


August 14, 2016
St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe, Priest, Martyr (Memorial)

When I am before the Blessed Sacrament I feel such a lively faith that I can't describe it.
 Christ in the Eucharist is almost tangible to me...
When it is time for me to leave, I have to tear myself away from His sacred presence. -- St Anthony of Claret

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

They Have Never Stopped Honoring You
Aug 14 -Vigil of the Assumption of Our Lady - Saint Maximilian Kolbe
Here, in this land of France, I entrust to your motherly love, O Mother of God, the sons and daughters of this nation.
They have never stopped honoring you in their traditions, in the art of their cathedrals,
in their pilgrimages, in popular piety, as in the devotion of spiritual authors.
They are sure to stay close to Christ in contemplating you, listening to you and praying to you.
Many have chosen to devote themselves to you, including kings, such as Louis XIII on behalf of his people.
O Mary, give the gifts of the Holy Spirit to get these brothers and sisters of France, so as to impart new youth, the youth of faith, to these Christians and their communities,
which I entrust to your Immaculate Heart and your motherly love.
John Paul II (1920-2005) Lourdes, 14 August 1983.
 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary

August 14 – Madonna del Sasso (Locarno, Switzerland, 1480) - Saint Maximilian Kolbe 
 
On that "Rock" the Virgin appeared to him  
The Madonna del Sasso (Virgin of the Rock) is a Catholic shrine located in Orselina near Locarno, Switzerland.
The wooded crag upon which the shrine is built is known as the Sacred Hill. The Madonna del Sasso is one of the most important religious and historical sites in southern Switzerland.
Tradition says that Fra Bartolomeo, a Franciscan monk from the convent of Locarno, wanted to build a place of worship on the "Rock" of Orselina, close to Locarno, following an apparition of the Virgin Mary. It is to this "Rock" that in 1480, the Capuchin had gone to pray at night, when the Virgin Mary appeared to him and filled him with joy.
The monk later built an oratory. With the influx of pilgrims and the many miraculous healings, the place was transformed into a shrine. In 1600 a Way of the Cross (Via Crucis) was added.
Today, with its church of the Annunciation at the foot of the hill, the Via Crucis and the Shrine of the Madonna del Sasso, the Sacro Monte (Sacred Hill) is an artistic, historical and spiritual attraction.
Its annual feast is celebrated on the first Sunday of September.  The Mary of Nazareth Team

Vigília Assumptiónis beátæ Maríæ Vírginis.
The Vigil of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin
 Mary.

 Mary's Divine Motherhood
Called in the Gospel "the Mother of Jesus," Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as "the Mother of my Lord" (Lk 1:43; Jn 2:1; 19:25; cf. Mt 13:55; et al.). In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity.
Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos).
Catechism of the Catholic Church 495, quoting the Council of Ephesus
  3rd v. Eusebius a priest of Palestine M (RM)
         St. Demetrius
  304  St. Ursicius Martyr  tribune from Illyrium (modern Albania) serving in the army of Emperor Diocletian
  357 Eusebius of Rome priest who founded a church in Rome (now called titulis Eusebii) (RM)
  389 Marcellus of Apamaea pulling down temple of Zeus BM (RM)
6th v. St. Fachanan (Fachtna) observed liturgically throughout all Ireland a "wise and upright man" a pupil of St. Ita
        St. Anastasius
 780 St Werenfrid of Arnheim English missionary who accompanied Saint Willibrord to Frisia, OSB (AC)
  860 Athanasia of Constantinople Matron married twice reluctantly turned their home into a convent venerated by
         Empress Theodora (RM)
  958 Blessed Eberhard of Einsiedeln, OSB Abbot Swabia's ducal family (AC)
1480 Blessed Antony Primaldi and Companions artisan known for his piety martyred by Turks MM (AC)
1490 Blessed Sanctes Brancasino  a Franciscan lay-brother at Scotameto, Italy OFM (AC)
1501 Blessed Juliana Puricelli  OSA the first companion of Blessed Catherine da Pallanza (AC)
1941 St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe Immaculata his inspiration  b. 1894
  1976  Alfeo Emaldi, S.C. [15-3-1902 at Ravenna - 14-8-1976  Alfeo Emaldi  http://www.lngplants.com/Saint_of_the_DayAugust14.html  Please read Alfeo's wonderful life! Cuts off Tongue To Save Seal of Confessional
      St. Callistus bishop , killed by Goths, succeeded by Fortunatus, whose body was taken to France;
Tudérti, in Umbria, sancti Callísti, Epíscopi et Mártyris.
    At Todi in Umbria, St. Callistus, bishop and martyr.
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.
Mary the Mother of God

3rd v. Eusebius a priest of Palestine M (RM)

Died 3rd century. Eusebius, a priest of Palestine, was denounced as a zealous evangelist to Emperor Maximian, arrested and brought before him. Because the local populace complained about Eusebius' Maximian and his governor Maxentius insisted that he should sacrifice to the gods, although no new edict against the Christians had been published. The acta are still extant:
Maxentius:  "Sacrifice to the gods freely, or you shall be made to do it against your will."
Eusebius: "There is a greater law which says, You shall adore the Lord your God, and him alone shall you serve."
Maxentius:    "Choose either to offer sacrifice, or to suffer the most rigorous torments."
Eusebius:    "It is not consistent with reason for a person to adore stones, nothing is viler or more brittle."
Maxentius:    "These Christians are a hardened race of men, to whom it seems desirable rather to die than to live."
Eusebius:    "It is impious to despise the light for the sake of darkness."
Maxentius:    "You grow more obstinate by leniency and entreaties. Therefore I will lay them aside, and frankly tell you, that, unless you sacrifice, you shall be burnt alive."
Eusebius:    "As to that, I am in no pain. The more severe or cruel the torments are, the greater the crown will be."
At this point Eusebius was stretched on the rack and his sides torn with iron hooks. Throughout this torture Eusebius repeated, "Lord Jesus, preserve me. Whether we live or die, we are yours." Amazed at his resistance, Maxentius finally ordered that he should be released from the rack.
Maxentius:    "Do you know the decree of the senate, which commands all to sacrifice to the gods?"
Eusebius:    "The command of God is to take place before that of man."
The irate judge ordered Eusebius to be burnt alive. As the saint walked out with joy painted upon his face, onlookers were amazed.
Maxentius:    "You run to an unnecessary death; your obstinacy astonishes me. Change your mind."
Eusebius:    "If the emperor commands me to adore dumb metal, in contempt of the true God, let me appear before him."
He said this because the current emperors (Maximian and Diocletian) had not yet issued new laws against the Christians. So, Maxentius had Eusebius confined until Maximian could pass judgment the following day.
Maxentius:    "Great emperor, I have found a seditious man who is disobedient to the laws, and even denies to my face that the gods have any power, and refuses to sacrifice or to adore your name."
Maximian:    "Let him he brought before me."
A witness advised against it because he believed that the emperor would be moved by compassion or persuasion.
Maximian:    "Is he such a man that he can even change me?"
Maxentius:    "He will change not only you, but the minds of all the people. If you once behold his looks, you will feel yourself strangely moved to follow his inclinations."
Eusebius was brought into the audience chamber. His joy revealed itself in his dazzling visage. Courage shone in every glance and movement of this venerable, old priest.
Maximian:    "Old man, why are you come before me? Speak, and be not afraid."
Eusebius remained silent.
Maximian:    "Speak freely; answer my questions. I desire that you be saved."
Eusebius:    "If I hope to be saved by man, I can no longer expect salvation from God. If you excel in dignity and power, we are, nevertheless, all mortal alike. Neither will I be afraid to repeat before you what I have already declared. I am a Christian; nor can I adore wood and stones; but I most readily obey the true God whom I know, and whose goodness I have experienced."
Maximian:    "What harm is it if this man adores the God of whom he speaks, as above all others?"
Maxentius:    "Be not deceived, most invincible emperor; he does not call what you imagine, God, but I know not what Jesus, whom our nation or ancestors never knew."
Maximian:    "Go you forth and judge him according to justice and the laws. I will not be judge in such an affair."

Maximian, a rough and generally brutish man, was moved by the modest virtue of this stranger. Like Pilate before him, he would have preferred to save the man who so impressed him, but would not trouble himself to do something that might not be politically expedient. When Maximian left, Maxentius ascended his tribunal, and sternly commanded Eusebius to sacrifice to the gods.

Eusebius:    "I will never sacrifice so those which can neither see nor hear."
Maxentius:   "Sacrifice, or torments and flames must be your portion. He whom you fear, is not able to deliver you from them."
Eusebius:    "Neither fire nor the sword will work any change in me. Tear this weak body to pieces with the utmost cruelty; treat it in what manner you please. My soul, which is God's, cannot be hurt by your torments. I persevere firm in the holy law to which I have adhered from my cradle."

Thereupon Maxentius ordered that Eusebius be beheaded. As the sentence was pronounced, the saint offered thanksgiving.
Eusebius:    "I thank you for Your goodness, and praise Your power, O Lord Jesus Christ, that by calling me to the trial of my fidelity, You allowed me to be treated as one of Your own."

It is said that Eusebius heard a from heaven say to him: "If you had not been found worthy to suffer, you could not be admitted into the court of Christ, or to the seats of the just." Shortly thereafter, he knelt down and was decapitated (Husenbeth).
304 St. Ursicius Martyr  tribune from Illyria (modern Albania) serving in the army of Emperor Diocletian
In Illyrico sancti Ursícii Mártyris, qui, sub Maximiáno Imperatóre et Aristíde Præside, post multa et divérsa torménta, pro Christi nómine, gládio cæsus est.
    In Illyria, St. Ursicius, martyr, who was beheaded for Christ after suffering various torments under Emperor Maximian and the governor Aristides.
He was a tribune from Illyria (modern Albania) serving in the army of Emperor Diocletian (r. 284-305). Arrested for being a Christian, he was beheaded at Nicomedia (in modern Turkey).

Ursicius of Nicomedia a tribune of the imperial army from Illyrium, was beheaded under Diocletian at Nicomedia (Benedictines) M (RM)
357 Eusebius of Rome priest who founded a church in Rome (now called titulis Eusebii) (RM)
Romæ natális beáti Eusébii, Presbyteri et Confessóris, qui, ab Ariáno Imperatóre Constántio, ob cathólicæ fídei defensiónem, in quodam domus suæ cubículo inclúsus, ibi, cum menses septem in oratióne constánter perseverásset, dormitiónem accépit.  Ipsíus autem corpus collegérunt Gregórius et Orósius Presbyteri, et in cœmetério Callísti, via Appia, sepeliérunt.
    At Rome, the birthday of the blessed priest Eusebius, who for the defence of the Catholic faith was shut up in a room of his own house by the Arian emperor Constantius, where constantly persevering in prayer for seven months, he rested in peace.  His body was removed by the priests Gregory and Orosius, and buried in the cemetery of Callistus, on the Appian Way.
St Eusebius Of Rome  (Fourth Century)
St Eusebius lived in Rome during the latter part of the 4th century, but the story of his life as related in his acta is entirely spurious. This relates that he was a priest who opposed the Arian emperor Constantius, supported "St Felix II" (July 29), and celebrated the Holy Mysteries in his own house after he had been forbidden the churches.  He was therefore imprisoned in a tiny room of the same house, where he died after seven months. He was buried, we are told, in the cemetery of Callistus on the Appian Way, with the inscription over his tomb :  "To Eusebius, the Man of God"  this circumstance may be true, but no trace of the tomb has been found.
  This is one of the cases in which we have clear evidence of the historical existence of a person who was afterwards the object of a certain cultus, though the story subsequently told is quite untrustworthy.  Eusebius beyond doubt founded what we may call a parish church in Rome which was known as the titulus Eusebii As founder an annual commemorative Mass was offered for him, which in course of time was regarded as a Mass celebrated in his honour, and in 595 we find that the parish was already referred to as the titulus sancti Eusebii
See H. Delehaye, Sanctus (1927), p. 149; J. Wilpert in Romische Quartalschrift, vol. xxii, pp. 80-82; J. P. Kirsch, Die ramisehen Titelkirchen, pp. 58-61; with the whole discussion in CMH., pp. 443-444. Alban Butler printed also on this day almost in its entirety the passio of a martyred Eusebius, said to be in Palestine. But the document is worthless and there is no indication of cultus, so this strangely obscure martyr is here omitted.
Usuard's ancient martyrology calls this priest who founded a church in Rome (now called titulis Eusebii) a confessor. The spurious acta, say that he was martyred under the Arian Emperor Constantius for having preached against Pope Liberus' signing of the confession of Sirmium. According to these, he was imprisoned for many months and died during confinement (Benedictines, Encyclopedia). In art, Saint Eusebius is portrayed being carried to heaven. The angels hold a chain, a chalice, and the Gospel of John. He may also be shown speaking without a tongue (Roeder) .
St. Demetrius
In Africa sancti Demétrii Mártyris.      In Africa, St. Demetrius, martyr.
An African martyr about whom nothing is known.
Demetrius of Africa M (RM)
This is another of the many martyrs of whom there is no extant information. The Roman Martyrology records simply that he was martyred in Africa on this day (Benedictines).
389 Marcellus of Apamaea pulling down temple of Zeus BM (RM)
Apaméæ, in Syria, sancti Marcélli, Epíscopi et Mártyris; qui, cum Jovis delúbrum diruísset, a furéntibus Gentílibus occísus est.
    At Apamea in Syria, St. Marcellus, bishop and martyr, who was killed by the enraged heathen for having pulled down a temple of Jupiter.
 St  Marcellus, Bishop Of Apamaea, Martyr
Among the undertakings of the Emperor Theodosius the Great was the attempt completely to christianize the Roman empire, and in 380 he and the co-emperor, Gratian, issued a decree that all their subjects were to profess the faith of the bishops of Rome and Alexandria.  Eight years later he sent an officer into Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor, whose duty it was to enforce an edict that all pagan temples were to be destroyed;  this violent policy was carried out very roughly and not unnaturally aroused the anger and resentment of the pagans. When the imperial prefect arrived at Apamaea in Syria he set his soldiers to work to pull down the temple of Zeus there, but it was a large building and well built and the soldiers, being inexpert at systematic demolition, made little progress.
  Bishop of the place was Marcellus.  He told the prefect to take off his men to their next job and in his absence means would be sought efficiently to destroy the temple.  The very next day a navvy came to the bishop and said that, if he would pay him double wages, he could do the work himself.  St Marcellus agreed, and the man proceeded to demolish the temple by the simple device of undermining some of the supporting columns, holding up the foundations with timber, and then burning it away, in much the same way as a tall chimney-stalk is brought down today.
   Marcellus proceeded to have other temples dealt with in this manner, until he went to one in a certain unidentified place;  this building was stoutly defended by those who worshipped in it, and the bishop had "to take up a position some way from the scene of conflict, out of the reach of the arrows, for he suffered from gout and so was not able either to fight or to run away".   But while he was watching from this point of vantage, some of the pagans stole a march on him, seized him, and put him to death by throwing him into the flames.  The sons of St Marcellus (he had been married) afterwards wanted to take vengeance on his murderers, but the council of the province forbade them, saying they should rather rejoice that God had accounted their father worthy to die in His cause.
   This St Marcellus nust not be confused with another St Marcellus, born at Apamaea and abbot in Constantinople, whose feast is observed on December 29.
The account in the Acta Sanctorum, August, vol. iii, seems to have gathered up all that  known concerning this Marcellus. Theodoret, Eccies. Hist., bk v, ch. 21, is the main authority. 
In art, Saint Marcellus is shown overturning a statue of Jupiter (Roeder).
6th v. St. Fachanan (Fachtna) observed liturgically throughout all Ireland "wise and upright man"; pupil of St. Ita
St  Fachanan, Bishop
This saint's feast is observed liturgically throughout all Ireland and he is patron of the diocese of Ross, where he was probably the first bishop.
  He was born at Fulachteann, was one of the pupils of St Ita, and founded the monastery of Molana on an island in the Blackwater, near Youghal. His great achievement was the establishment of the monastic school of Ross, at what is now Rosscarbery, in county Cork, one of the most famous schools of Ireland, which flourished for three hundred years and survived in some form until the coming of the Nonnans.
  Fachanan (Fachtna) suffered for a time from blindness, from which he recovered at the intercession of Ita's sister, who was about to give birth to St Mochoemog.   St Fachanan was revered as a "wise and upright man", with a great gift for preaching; St Cuimin of Connor said of him that he was "generous and steadfast, fond of preaching to the people and saying nothing that was base or displeasing to God." The St Fachanan honoured on this day as the patron of Kilfenora diocese may be a different person from him of Ross.
  St Fachanan is another Irish saint of whom no early biography survives.  He is mentioned, however, on this day in the Félire of Oengus and is described as, "son of Mongach, the son of the wright, a fair captive".   There is also a passing reference to him and to his school in the Latin life of St Moehoemog. 
See O'Hanjon, LIS., vol. viii, pp. 191 seq.
6th v. Fachanan of Ross B (AC)
Died late 6th century. Saint Fachanan may have been the first bishop of Ross, Ireland, of which he is the patron. He founded the monastic school of Roscarbery (or Ross-Altair in County Cork) and appointed Saint Brendan as one of its teachers (Benedictines, Montague) .
760  St. Werenfrid Benedictine missionary. From England, he journeyed to become an assistant to St. Willibrord in his labors to convert the Frisians. He died at Arnheim, in the Netherlands.
780 Werenfrid of Arnheim English missionary who accompanied Saint Willibrord to Frisia, OSB (AC)
Died at Arnheim. Werenfrid was an (Benedictines, Encyclopedia). In art, Saint Werenfrid is vested for Mass holding a ship with a coffin in it. Sometimes his body is placed in a ship, with or without sails (Roeder). He is venerated at Arnheim, and is the patron of vegetable gardeners. Werenfrid is invoked against gout of stiff joints (Roeder).
860 Athanasia of Constantinople Matron married twice reluctantly turned their home into a convent venerated by Empress Theodora (RM)
In Ægína ínsula sanctæ Athanásiæ Víduæ, monástica observántia et miraculórum dono illústris.
    In the island of Aegina, St. Athanasia, widow, celebrated for monastical observance and the gift of miracles.
 St Athanasia, Matron
    She was born on the island of Aegina, in the gulf of that name, and married an officer in the army; but only sixteen days after their union he was killed while fighting against the Arabs, who had made a descent on the Grecian coast. Athanasia was now anxious to become a nun, especially as she had had a dream or vision in which the passingness of all earthly things had been strongly impressed on her.  But she was persuaded by her parents to marry again. Her second husband was a devoted and religious man, and shared in and encouraged his wife's good works.  She gave alms liberally and helped the sick, strangers, prisoners and all who stood in need; after the Liturgy on Sundays and holy-days she would gather her neighbours round her and read and explain to them a passage from the Bible. After a time her husband decided he wanted to become a monk, which with Athanasia's consent he did, and she turned her house into a convent, of which she was made abbess.
  These nuns followed a life of excessive austerity, till they came under the direction of a holy abbot called Matthias; he found that they had by mortifications reduced themselves to such weakness that they could hardly walk.   He therefore insisted to St Athanasia that she should modify the austerities of her subjects, and also arranged for the community to move from their noisy house in a town to one more quiet and suited for monastic life at Timia.  Here so many came to them that their buildings had to be enlarged, and the fame of St Athanasia caused her to be called away to the court of Constantinople as adviser to the Empress Theodora.  She had to live there for seven years, being accommodated in a cell similar to that which she occupied in her own monastery.  She had not been allowed to return to Timia long when she was taken ill  for twelve days she tried to carry on as usual, but at last she had to send her nuns to sing their office in church without her, and when they returned their abbess was dying and survived only long enough to give them her blessing.
The evidence for this history is unsatisfactory, for though the author of the life which the Bollandists have translated from the Greek (Acta Sanctorum, August, vol. iii) claims to be virtually a contemporary, such pretensions are not of themselves convincing. No great cultus seems to have existed, but an account of Athanasia is given in some texts of the synaxaries on April 4. I. Martynov, Annus Ecclesiasticus Graeco-Slavicus, pp. 107-108, speaks of her on April 12. One point of interest in the Greek life is the stress laid upon the commemoration on the fortieth day after burial, which amongst the Greeks corresponded to the "month's mind" in western lands.
Born on the island of Aegina. Some complain that most of the saints were hermits and virgins, priests and popes, who bear little resemblance to the typical Catholic in the pews.
Saint Athanasia was married. Not only was she married, she was married twice. Both times she did so reluctantly.
The first time her parents arranged a marriage to an army officer. Although Athanasia would have preferred the religious life, she readily complied with their wishes. Three weeks after their wedding, her husband was killed in a battle with a Moorish raiding party from Spain. The savagery of these raids so decimated the population of Aegina that authorities passed a law that make celibacy illicit. So, Athanasia married again.
   She was equally yoked with her second spouse. Together they led a life of good works and prayer so that their home became a center of religious activity. His wealth permitted them the means to extend considerable charity to those in need. In a division of labor, Athanasia visited the sick in their homes in the city and countryside, while her husband remained at home and dispensed aid to all who came to them. On Sundays, Athanasia conducted Bible- reading groups.
   After a few years of marriage, her husband decided to become a monk. He turned over all his property to Athanasia, so that she could continue their work. When he had entered the monastery, Athanasia turned their home into a convent. The sisters lived an extremely austere life that was moderated by the able guidance of an abbot named Matthias, who also suggested that they move the convent to a more isolated location called Tamia.
  The monastery grew and so prospered at Tamia that the fame of Athanasia reached the ears of the empress at Constantinople. Theodora, the wife of Emperor Theophilus the Iconoclast, called her to Constantinople to help her restore the veneration of images. Athanasia stayed in Constantinople for seven years, and fell deathly ill shortly after her return to Tamia. Nevertheless, Athanasia continued to attend divine office until the eve of her death (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
In art, Saint Athanasia is shown weaving. There is a star over her or on her breast.
Sometimes the picture will include Empress Theodora (Roeder). She is venerated in the Eastern Church (Roeder).
958 Blessed Eberhard of Einsiedeln, OSB Abbot Swabia's ducal family (AC).
Bd Eberhard, Abbot 
   Bd Eberhard was of the ducal family of Swabia and became provost of the cathedral of Strasburg.  In the year 934 he gave up this dignity and went to the hermitage of Einsiedeln in Switzerland, to join his friend Benno, who had been bishop of Metz.   Benno already had a few followers there and the coming of Eberhard, who enjoyed a wide reputation for spiritual wisdom and holiness, considerably increased their numbers.  He therefore devoted his fortune to building a monastery to shelter them and a church wherein they might worship, and after the death of Benno he was recognized as first abbot of the monastery of our Lady of the Hermits.
  In 942 there was a great famine in Alsace, Burgundy and Upper Germany, and Bd Eberhard and his monks gave a large supply of corn for the relief of the suffering people.  The consecration of the abbey-church of Einsiedeln, which incorporated the hermits' chapel, by our Lord himself, assisted by the four Evangelists, St Peter and St Gregory the Great, is fabled to have taken place in 948, ten years before the death of Bd Eberhard.  Actually it seems consecrated in that year by St Conrad of Constance and St Ulric of Augsburg. 
Einsiedeln is still a great place of pilgrimage.
See 0. Ringholz, Geschichte des fürstl. Benediktinerstiftes Einseideln (1904), vol. i, pp. 33-43. R Henggeler, Reliquien der Stiftskirche Einsiedeln (1927), pp. 7 seq.
Born into Swabia's ducal family, Eberhard became provost of the Strasbourg's cathedral chapter. He resigned in 934 to join his friend Blessed Benno at Saint Meinrad's hermitage on Mount Etzel in Switzerland. After the death of his blinded friend, Eberhard built a Benedictine monastery--Our Lady of the Hermits, which became famous as Einsiedeln--and served as its first abbot (Benedictines, Delaney) .
St. Anastasius 11th century
Benedictine archbishop. He served the monastery of Pannonhalma in Hungary from 996 to 1006 as abbot. He was then named archbishop of Eszterzom, becoming the primate of Hungary.
1480 Blessed Antony Primaldi and Comp. artisan known for his piety martyred by Turks MM (AC)
Bd. Antony Primaldi And His Companions, Martyrs 
   In 1480, Turks under Mohammed II captured and pillaged the city of Otranto in southern Italy, putting to the sword many of its inhabitants and defenders.  Some of these victims are regarded as martyrs, principal among them being Bd Antony Primaldi (or Grimaldi) and the eight hundred who suffered with him. He was an old man, an artisan, and well known in the city as a good workman and a good Christian.
   When Turks rounded up those males who had escaped the first massacre, sacking their houses and carrying off their wives, Antony and the others were led out into a valley near the town, and offered the restoration of their liberty, their wives and their goods if they would apostatize and become Moslems. Antony, as spokesman for the rest, replied that they confessed there was only one God, and that the Lord Jesus Christ was His divine Son, and that on no account would they abandon that faith.   The Turkish general threatened them with fearful torments and some began to waver, seeing which Antony loudly appealed to them: "We have fought for our city and for our lives. Now we must fight for our souls and for Jesus Christ; He died for us we must die for him."  The waverers rallied to him, and it was ordered that all be beheaded.
   Bd Antony was the first to die, and it is said that his headless body remained upright on its feet, as it were to encourage the others, until all the rest were slain.  The place where this massacre took place is to this day called the Valley of the Martyrs, and there their bodies lay unburied during the twelve months that the Turks occupied the country. The cultus of these martyrs was confirmed in 1771.
There is a long account of these martyrs in the Acta Sanctorum, August, vol. iii, under the heading "Martyres Hydruntini", at the end of which the evidence of certain witnesses is printed in full. Unfortunately these depositions were not taken until 1539, fifty-nine years after the event.  See also DHG., vol. iii, cc. 805-806, which gives further references.
Cultus approved in 1771. Antony Primaldi was an artisan in Otranto, Italy, who was known for his piety. In 1480, the Turks invaded the city and offered the inhabitants the choice between death and conversion to Islam. The ancient Antony became the spokesman for the town. For himself and 800 men of Otranto, he chose Christ. All were hacked to pieces (Benedictines).
1490 Blessed Sanctes Brancasino  a Franciscan lay-brother at Scotameto, Italy OFM (AC)
Born at Monte Fabri near Urbino, Italy; cultus approved by Pope Clement XIV. Sanctes was a Franciscan lay-brother at Scotameto, Italy (Benedictines).
1501 Blessed Juliana Puricelli  OSA  the first companion of Blessed Catherine da Pallanza (AC)
Born in Busto-Arizio, Italy, in 1427; died at Sacro Monte sopra Varese (near Milan), 1501; cultus approved in 1769. Blessed Juliana was the first companion of Blessed Catherine da Pallanza (Benedictines).
1941 St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe Immaculata his inspiration  b. 1894
 "I don’t know what’s going to become of you!” How many parents have said that? Maximilian Mary Kolbe’s reaction was,
 “I prayed very hard to Our Lady to tell me what would happen to me.
She appeared, holding in her hands two crowns, one white, one red. She asked if I would like to have them—one was for purity, the other for martyrdom. I said, ‘I choose both.’ She smiled and disappeared.” After that he was not the same.

   Maximilian was born in 1894 in Poland and became a Franciscan. He contracted tuberculosis and, though he recovered, he remained frail all his life. Before his ordination as a priest, Maximillian founded the Immaculata Movement devoted to Our Lady. After receiving a doctorate in theology, he spread the Movement through a magazine entitled "The Knight of the Immaculata" and helped form a community of 800 men, the largest in the world.

Maximilian went to Japan where he built a comparable monastery and then on to India where he furthered the Movement. In 1936 he returned home because of ill health. After the Nazi invasion in 1939, he was imprisoned and released for a time. But in 1941 he was arrested again and sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz.

He entered the minor seminary of the Conventual Franciscans in Lvív (then Poland, now Ukraine), near his birthplace, and at 16 became a novice. Though he later achieved doctorates in philosophy and theology, he was deeply interested in science, even drawing plans for rocket ships.

Ordained at 24, he saw religious indifference as the deadliest poison of the day. His mission was to combat it.  He had already founded the Militia of the Immaculata, whose aim was to fight evil with the witness of the good life, prayer, work and suffering.
He dreamed of and then founded Knight of the Immaculata, a religious magazine under Mary’s protection to preach the Good News to all nations. For the work of publication he established a “City of the Immaculata”—Niepokalanow—which housed 700 of his Franciscan brothers. He later founded one in Nagasaki, Japan. Both the Militia and the magazine ultimately reached the one-million mark in members and subscribers. His love of God was daily filtered through devotion to Mary.

In 1939 the Nazi panzers overran Poland with deadly speed. Niepokalanow was severely bombed. Kolbe and his friars were arrested, then released in less than three months, on the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

In 1941 he was arrested again. The Nazis’ purpose was to liquidate the select ones, the leaders. The end came quickly, in Auschwitz three months later, after terrible beatings and humiliations.

A prisoner had escaped. The commandant announced that 10 men would die. He relished walking along the ranks. “This one. That one.” As they were being marched away to the starvation bunkers, Number 16670 dared to step from the line. “I would like to take that man’s place. He has a wife and children.” “Who are you?” “A priest.” No name, no mention of fame. Silence. The commandant, dumbfounded, perhaps with a fleeting thought of history, kicked Sergeant Francis Gajowniczek out of line and ordered Father Kolbe to go with the nine. In the “block of death” they were ordered to strip naked and the slow starvation began in darkness. But there was no screaming—the prisoners sang. By the eve of the Assumption four were left alive. The jailer came to finish Kolbe off as he sat in a corner praying. He lifted his fleshless arm to receive the bite of the hypodermic needle. It was filled with carbolic acid. They burned his body with all the others. He was beatified in 1971 and canonized in 1982.
Comment: Father Kolbe’s death was not a sudden, last-minute act of heroism. His whole life had been a preparation. His holiness was a limitless, passionate desire to convert the whole world to God. And his beloved Immaculata was his inspiration. Quote: "Courage, my sons. Don’t you see that we are leaving on a mission? They pay our fare in the bargain. What a piece of good luck! The thing to do now is to pray well in order to win as many souls as possible. Let us, then, tell the Blessed Virgin that we are content, and that she can do with us anything she wishes"
1941 Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe son of Franciscan tertiaries taught ecclessial history in a seminary founded a militant sodality and a magazine of apologetics for Christians (RM)
Born at Zdunska Wola (near Lodz), Poland, in 1894; died at Auschwitz (near Cracow), August 14, 1941; beatified by Pope Paul VI in 1971; canonized in 1982 by Pope John Paul II.
Kolbe  "Pray that my love will be without limits." --Saint Maximilian Kolbe in his last letter to his mother.  
Media Communications in Service of Our Lady
Saint Maximilian Kolbe (d. August 14, 1941) produced ten separate periodicals (including Knight of the Immaculata, which had a press run of 1 million copies a month). He also had plans to build an airstrip and train friars as pilots for better distribution of the magazines.  At the height of its development, Niepokalanow, an evangelization center near Warsaw (Poland) founded by St Maximilian in 1927, had its own radio station and fire department. The friars used the most modern printing equipment and administrative techniques available including devices that they invented themselves. (One of their patents won first prize at two different trade fairs.) In the martyr's own words: "Every means, every latest invention in machinery or methods should be put into service in the task of sanctifying souls through the Immaculata." See http://www.marytown.com/

Maxilian Kolbe was the son of Franciscan tertiaries, who were impoverished weavers. He entered the minor seminary at Lwow in 1907 and became a Franciscan in 1910. When their children were grown, his parents followed their natural inclinations and separated to become religious. His mother first entered the Benedictines and later became a Felician lay sister. His father was a Franciscan until he left the order to run a bookstore at the Our Lady's shrine at Czestochowa. At the beginning of World War I, he enlisted with Palsudski's patriots, wounded by Russians, was hanged as a traitor to Mother Russia in 1914 at the age of 43.

Maximilian studied in Rome, where he was ordained in 1919. Upon being diagnosed with tuberculosis, he returned to Poland and took up the teaching of ecclessial history in a seminary. After he came close to dying of the disease, he became even more zealous. He founded a militant sodality and a magazine of apologetics for Christians. When he moved the antiquated presses from Cracow to Grodno circulation increased to 45,000. New machinery was installed, which was run solely by priests and lay brothers. Following another attack of tuberculosis, Maximilian re-established the presses near Warsaw at Niepokalanow. Here Kolbe founded a Franciscan community that combined prayer, poverty, and the production of a daily and weekly newspaper using the latest technology.

As unlikely as it may seem, Kolbe's next act was the founding of a Franciscan community at Nagasaki, Japan. In 1936, he was recalled to Niepokalanow as the superior over 762 friars. When the Germans invaded Poland in 1939, Kolbe sent most of the brothers home with the warning that they should not join the underground resistance. Those that remained were interned, released, and returned to the monastery, which had become a refugee camp for 3,000 Poles and 1,500 Jews. The remaining friars continued to publish newspapers critical of the Third Reich.

In 1940, the Nazis established a concentration camp at Oswiecim in southern Poland--Auschwitz. Prisoner #16670, a Catholic priest named Maximilian Kolbe, who had refused German citizenship, was arrested on February 17, 1941, on the charge that he was a journalist, publisher, and intellectual. The Gestapo officers who seized Maxilian and four other brothers were amazed at how little food was prepared for the brothers. They were sent to Auschwitz in May 1941.

Priests in Auschwitz were especially vilified. They were given the job of moving loads of logs and were beaten when their strength gave way under the heavy work. One of the savage guards once horsewhipped Kolbe 50 times and left him for dead in a wood. The saint recovered some of his strength, and continued to comfort his fellow prisoners, insisting that everything, even sufferings, came to an end, and the way to glory was through the cross.

Father Kolbe also undertook the task of moving the bodies of the tortured. Throughout his internment, he continued his priestly ministry: hearing confessions in unlikely places and smuggling in bread and wine for covert Masses. He was conspicuous for his compassion towards those even less fortunate than himself.

One day a prisoner escaped, which meant that men from the same bunker must be selected to die. In reprisal the prison guards chose ten men, whom they planned to starve to death. One was a married Polish sergeant named Francis Gajowniczek. Maximilian Kolbe begged the camp commandant to let him take Gajowniczek's place, "I am a Catholic priest. I wish to die for that man." The request was granted. "I am," argued the 47-year-old priest, "old and useless; he has a wife and children" Maximilian Kolbe comforted each one in the death chamber of Cell 18 as they prepared to die with dignity by prayers, Psalms, and the example of Christ's Passion. Two weeks later only four were left alive and Maximilian alone was still fully conscious. His guards could scarcely bear the saint's composure, and they speeded his end by injecting him with phenol.

Although Maximilian Kolbe had been a brilliant scientist, mathematician, and religious journalist, he is remembered for this last act of charity. Kolbe was epitomized the Polish religious and the many unsung heroes of the concentration camps. Pope John Paul II, previously archbishop of Cracow, canonized Father Kolbe in the presence of the sergeant whose life had been saved (Bentley, Farmer).


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 35

Come, let us rejoice to Our Lady: let us joyfully sing to the saving Mary, our Queen.

Let us come before her presence with joy: and in canticles let us all praise her together.

Come, let us adore, and fall down before her: let us confess our sins to her with tears.

Obtain for us a full pardon, stand for us before the tribunal of God.

Receive our souls at our end: and lead us into eternal rest.

By thy most worthy Son I, a lost one, am restored:
and from the exile of misery I am led back to the homeland of beatitude.

 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 Nizamuddin Aulia Sufi Saint Hazrath Khwaja Syed Mohammed Badshah Quadri Chisty Yamani Quadeer (RA) 1236-1325 welcomed people of all faiths & all walks of life.
801 Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya Sufi One of the most famous Islamic mystics
(b. 717). This 8th century saint was an early Sufi who had a profound influence on later Sufis, who in turn deeply influenced the European mystical love and troubadour traditions.  Rabi'a was a woman of Basra, a seaport in southern Iraq.  She was born around 717 and died in 801 (185-186).  Her biographer, the great medieval poet Attar, tells us that she was "on fire with love and longing" and that men accepted her "as a second spotless Mary" (186).  She was, he continues, “an unquestioned authority to her contemporaries" (218).
Rabi'a began her ascetic life in a small desert cell near Basra, where she lost herself in prayer and went straight to God for teaching.  As far as is known, she never studied under any master or spiritual director.  She was one of the first of the Sufis to teach that Love alone was the guide on the mystic path (222).  A later Sufi taught that there were two classes of "true believers": one class sought a master as an intermediary between them and God -- unless they could see the footsteps of the Prophet on the path before them, they would not accept the path as valid.  The second class “...did not look before them for the footprint of any of God's creatures, for they had removed all thought of what He had created from their hearts, and concerned themselves solely with God. (218)
Rabi'a was of this second kind.  She felt no reverence even for the House of God in Mecca:  "It is the Lord of the house Whom I need; what have I to do with the house?" (219) One lovely spring morning a friend asked her to come outside to see the works of God.  She replied, "Come you inside that you may behold their Maker.  Contemplation of the Maker has turned me aside from what He has made" (219).  During an illness, a friend asked this woman if she desired anything.
"...[H]ow can you ask me such a question as 'What do I desire?'  I swear by the glory of God that for twelve years I have desired fresh dates, and you know that in Basra dates are plentiful, and I have not yet tasted them.  I am a servant (of God), and what has a servant to do with desire?" (162)
When a male friend once suggested she should pray for relief from a debilitating illness, she said,
"O Sufyan, do you not know Who it is that wills this suffering for me?  Is it not God Who wills it?  When you know this, why do you bid me ask for what is contrary to His will?  It is not  well to oppose one's Beloved." (221)
She was an ascetic.  It was her custom to pray all night, sleep briefly just before dawn, and then rise again just as dawn "tinged the sky with gold" (187).  She lived in celibacy and poverty, having renounced the world.  A friend visited her in old age and found that all she owned were a reed mat, screen, a pottery jug, and a bed of felt which doubled as her prayer-rug (186), for where she prayed all night, she also slept briefly in the pre-dawn chill.  Once her friends offered to get her a servant; she replied,
"I should be ashamed to ask for the things of this world from Him to Whom the world belongs, and how should I ask for them from those to whom it does not belong?"  (186-7)
A wealthy merchant once wanted to give her a purse of gold.  She refused it, saying that God, who sustains even those who dishonor Him, would surely sustain her, "whose soul is overflowing with love" for Him.  And she added an ethical concern as well:
"...How should I take the wealth of someone of whom I do not know whether he acquired it lawfully or not?" (187)
She taught that repentance was a gift from God because no one could repent unless God had already accepted him and given him this gift of repentance.  She taught that sinners must fear the punishment they deserved for their sins, but she also offered such sinners far more hope of Paradise than most other ascetics did.  For herself, she held to a higher ideal, worshipping God neither from fear of Hell nor from hope of Paradise, for she saw such self-interest as unworthy of God's servants; emotions like fear and hope were like veils -- i.e., hindrances to the vision of God Himself.  The story is told that once a number of Sufis saw her hurrying on her way with water in one hand and a burning torch in the other.  When they asked her to explain, she said:
"I am going to light a fire in Paradise and to pour water on to Hell, so that both veils may vanish altogether from before the pilgrims and their purpose may be sure..." (187-188)
She was once asked where she came from.  "From that other world," she said.  "And where are you going?" she was asked.  "To that other world," she replied (219).  She taught that the spirit originated with God in "that other world" and had to return to Him in the end.  Yet if the soul were sufficiently purified, even on earth, it could look upon God unveiled in all His glory and unite with him in love.  In this quest, logic and reason were powerless.  Instead, she speaks of the "eye" of her heart which alone could apprehend Him and His mysteries (220).
Above all, she was a lover, a bhakti, like one of Krishna’s Goptis in the Hindu tradition.  Her hours of prayer were not so much devoted to intercession as to communion with her Beloved.  Through this communion, she could discover His will for her.  Many of her prayers have come down to us:
       "I have made Thee the Companion of my heart,
        But my body is available for those who seek its company,
        And my body is friendly towards its guests,
        But the Beloved of my heart is the Guest of my soul."  [224]
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Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey  Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament
Colombia was among the countries Mother Angelica visited. 
In Bogotá, a Salesian priest - Father Juan Pablo Rodriguez - brought Mother and the nuns to the Sanctuary of the Divine Infant Jesus to attend Mass.  After Mass, Father Juan Pablo took them into a small Shrine which housed the miraculous statue of the Child Jesus. Mother Angelica stood praying at the side of the statue when suddenly the miraculous image came alive and turned towards her.  Then the Child Jesus spoke with the voice of a young boy:  “Build Me a Temple and I will help those who help you.” 

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

Brief History of our Beloved Holy Priest Here and his published books of Catholic History in North America
Reardon, J.M. Archbishop Ireland; Prelate, Patriot, Publicist, 1838-1918.
A Memoir (St. Paul; 1919); George Anthony Belcourt Pioneer Catholic Missionary of the Northwest 1803-1874 (1955);
The Catholic Church IN THE DIOCESE OF ST. PAUL from earliest origin to centennial achievement 1362-1950 (1952);
The Church of Saint Mary of Saint Paul 1875-1922;  (1932)
The Vikings in the American Heartland;
The Catholic Total Abstinence Society in Minnesota;
James Michael Reardon Born in Nova Scotia, 1872;  Priest, ordained by Bishop Ireland;
Member -- St. Paul Seminary faculty.
Affiliations and 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}.
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).
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