Poténtiæ, in Lucánia, pássio sanctórum Aróntii, Honoráti, Fortunáti et Sabiniáni; qui, sanctórum Bonifátii et Theclæ fílii, a Valeriáno Júdice, sub Maximiáno Imperatóre, jussi sunt capitálem subíre senténtiam. Eórum tamen ac reliquórum ex duódecim frátribus festum Kaléndis Septémbris celebrátur.
At Potenza in Lucania, the passion of Saints Arontius, Honoratus, Fortunatus, and Sabinian. They were the sons of Saints Boniface and Thecla, and were condemned to death by the judge Valerian in the reign of Emperor Maximian. Their feast, together with that of the other twelve holy brethren, is celebrated on the first of September.

75 Narnus of Bergamo consecrated by Saint Barnabas B (RM)
Bérgomi sancti Narni, qui, a beáto Bárnaba baptizátus, primus ab ipso ejúsdem civitátis Epíscopus ordinátus est.
At Bergamo, St. Narnus, who was baptized by blessed Barnabas and consecrated by him first bishop of that city.
Said to have been the first bishop of Bergamo, Italy, and to have been consecrated by Saint Barnabas (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).St. Narnus The first bishop of Bergamo Italy a city long associated with the martyrs of the Theban Legion.

He was consecrated by St. Barnabas.

1st v. Rufus (Rufinus) of Capua father of a girl whom Apollinaris raised from the dead BM (RM)
Cápuæ natális sancti Rufi, Epíscopi et Mártyris; qui, cum esset patríciæ dignitátis, a beáto Apollináre, sancti Petri discípulo, cum univérsa família baptizátus est.
At Capua, the birthday of St. Rufus, bishop and martyr, a patrician, who was baptized with all his family by blessed Apollinaris, disciple of St. Peter
1st century. The Roman Martyrology calls Saint Rufus bishop of Capua, Italy, and a disciple of Saint Apollinaris of Ravenna. He may be more properly identified with the deacon Rufus because he does not appear to have been a bishop.

His legend says that he was the father of a girl whom Apollinaris raised from the dead (Benedictines, Farmer).

Eódem die pássio sanctæ Anthúsæ junióris, quæ ob Christi fidem, in púteum mersa, martyrium sumpsit.
St. Anthusa the Younger The same day, the martyrdom of, who was made a martyr by being cast into a well for the faith of Christ.

287 Ss. tribune Marcellus, his wife Mammaea, and their two sons, a bishop and three clerks, a soldier, seven other laymen and a woman in the Egyptian Thebaid , said to be Oxyrynchus; at Thmuis; The Roman Martyrology refers to these martyrs as Marcellinus and Mannea with their three sons, and puts the place of the passion at Tomi on the Black Sea. {Delehaye does not think it probable that Tomi has been substituted for Thmuis, but that the martyrs really belonged to Moesia and were transferred by the hagiographer to Egypt}
Tomis, in Ponto, sanctórum Mártyrum Marcellíni Tribúni, et uxóris Mannéæ, ac filiórum Joánnis, Serapiónis et Petri.
At Tomis in Pontus, the holy martyrs Marcellinus, a tribune, and Mannea, his wife, and his sons John, Serapion, and Peter.
The governor of the Egyptian Thebaid summoned before him seventeen individuals, the whole Christian congregation of a place, said to be Oxyrynchus, who had been denounced to him as "the only ones it the city who oppose the imperial decree, who are impious towards the worship of the gods, and who despise your tribunal by not obeying your commands". They were the tribune Marcellus, his wife Mammaea, and their two sons, a bishop and three clerks, a soldier, seven other laymen and a woman. When they had been brought in chains before the governor at Thmuis he tried to move them to obedience, and when he failed condemned them all to the beasts.
He made a last attempt to save them the next day, in the amphitheatre itself.
Are you not ashamed", he cried to worship a man who was put to death and buried years ago by order of Pontius Pilate, whose records, I am told, are still in existence?"
The Christians refused to be moved by this appeal, and the writer of their acta puts into the mouth of the bishop, Miletius, a confession of faith in the divinity of Jesus Christ in words obviously inspired by the Arian controversy and the definitions of the Council of Nicaea. They were therefore put to death, the acta say by beheading, because the bears when let loose would not touch them and a fire could not be kindled to burn them.
The Roman Martyrology refers to these martyrs as Marcellinus and Mannea with their three sons, and puts the place of the passion at Tomi on the Black Sea.

Achelis in his book Die Martyrologien (1900), pp. 173-177, adopted a view substantially identical with that expressed above. More recent investigation has questioned his conclusions. Delehaye does not think it probable that Tomi has been substituted for Thmuis, but that the martyrs really belonged to Moesia and were transferred by the hagiographer to Egypt. See the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxxviii (1920), pp. 384-385, and P. Franchi de' Cavalieri in Studi e testi, vol. lxv (1935). The text of the acts is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, August, vol. vi, pp. 14-15.

Apud Leonínos, in Sicília, sanctæ Eutháliæ Vírginis, quæ, cum esset Christiána, ad cæléstem Sponsum, a fratre suo Sermiliáno cæsa gládio, migrávit.
St. Euthalia, virgin At Lentini in Sicily Because she was a Christian she was put to the sword by her brother Sermilian, and went to her Spouse.

295 St. Rufus and Carpophorus Martyrs
Ibídem sanctórum Mártyrum Rufi et Carpóphori, qui sub Diocletiáno et Maximiáno passi sunt.
In the same place, the holy martyrs Rufus and Carpophorus, who suffered under Diocletian and Maximian.
of whom little is known with certainty. They were put to death at Capua, Italy, during the persecutions under Emperor Diocletian. Rufus was supposedly a deacon and not a bishop, although he is considered the same person as St. Rufus, listed in the pre-1970 Roman Martyrology as bishop of Capua, while Carpophorus is unknown.
Rufus and Carpophorus (Carpone) MM (RM). Rufus was a deacon according to the untrustworthy acta of this duo. They were martyred at Capua, Italy, during the Diocletian persecutions. Nothing more is known with certainty (Benedictines).

303 St. Honoratus Martyr with Twelve Holy Brothers
Poténtiæ, in Lucánia, pássio sanctórum Aróntii, Honoráti, Fortunáti et Sabiniáni; qui, sanctórum Bonifátii et Theclæ fílii, a Valeriáno Júdice, sub Maximiáno Imperatóre, jussi sunt capitálem subíre senténtiam. Eórum tamen ac reliquórum ex duódecim frátribus festum Kaléndis Septémbris celebrátur.
At Potenza in Lucania, the passion of Saints Arontius, Honoratus, Fortunatus, and Sabinian. They were the sons of Saints Boniface and Thecla, and were condemned to death by the judge Valerian in the reign of Emperor Maximian. Their feast, together with that of the other twelve holy brethren, is celebrated on the first of September.
with Arontius, Fortunatus, and Sabinian, commemorated as the Twelve Holy Brothers. The others were Felix, Januarius, Septimus, Repositus, Sator, Vitalis, Donatus, and a second Felix. Probably not related, they are known as the Twelve Brothers. Four were beheaded in Potenza, Italy, on August 27. Three were beheaded at Vanossa on August 28. The others were beheaded at Sentiana on September 1.
Honoratus, Fortunatus, Arontius (Orontius) & Sabinian (Savinian) MM (RM) This quartet was beheaded at Potenza under Maximian. They are among the groups commemorated under the appellation of "The Twelve Holy Brothers" (Benedictines).
Marcellinus (Marcellus), Mannea, John Serapion, Peter & Comp. MM (RM). The acta we have for this group of Egyptian martyrs is authentic. Marcellinus (a tribune), his wife Mannea, his three sons (John, Serapion, and Peter), a bishop, three clergymen, eight other laymen, and another woman who comprised the entire Christian community of a small place (now believed to be Oxyrinchus), were taken to Thmuis and beheaded (Benedictines).

359 Saint Hosius the Confessor; bishop for more than sixty years in the city of Cordova (Spain) during the fourth century; The saint advised St Constantine to convene the First Ecumenical Council ; the first to sign the acts of the First Ecumenical Council at Nicea in 325
The holy emperor St Constantine the Great (306-337) deeply revered him and made him a privy counsellor.
The saint advised St Constantine to convene the First Ecumenical Council at Nicea in 325, he was first to sign the acts of this Council.
After the death of St Constantine the Great, St Hosius defended St Athanasius of Alexandria (May 2) against the emperor Constantius (337-361), an advocate of the Arian heresy. Because of this, they sent him to prison in Sirmium.St Hosius died after return to Cordova.

366 Saint Liberius the Confessor, Bishop of Rome, became Bishop of Rome in the year 352, after the death of Pope Julius. St Liberius was a fervent proponent of Orthodoxy against the Arian heresy and a defender of St Athanasius of Alexandria (May 2). The emperor Constantius (337-361) was inclined to side with the Arians, but was not able to compel St Liberius to condemn St Athanasius. For such intransigence he was sent off to prison in Beroea (Thrace), but was soon returned to his see on the insistent petitions of the Roman people.

Before his return, they summoned St Liberius to the Semi-Arian Council of Sirmium, where they forced him to sign the acts of the Council. St Liberius deeply repented of this later, and labored much at Rome on behalf of Orthodoxy. He died peacefully in the year 366.

387 St. Monica Monica kept praying for her son's conversion for 17 years
Monnica (Monika) Orthodoxe Kirche: 15. Juni Katholische, Anglikanische und Evangelische Kirche: 27. August n der katholischen Kirche wurde ihr Fest bis 1969 am 4. Mai gefeiert.

387 ST MONICA, Widow

THE Church is doubly indebted to St Monica, the ideal of wifely forbearance and holy widowhood, whom we commemorate upon this day, for she not only gave bodily life to the great teacher Augustine, but she was also God's principal instrument in bringing about his spiritual birth by grace.

She was born in North Africa -probably at Tagaste, sixty miles from Carthage-of Christian parents, in the year 332. Her eatly training was entrusted to a faithful retainer who treated her young charges wisely, if somewhat strictly. Amongst the regulations she inculcated was that of never drinking between meals. "It is water you want now ", she would say, "but when you become mistresses of the cellar you will want wine-not water -and the habit will remain with you." But when Monica grew old enough to be charged with the duty of drawing wine for the household, she disregarded the excellent maxim, and from taking occasional secret sips in the cellar, she soon came to drinking whole cupfuls with relish. One day, however, a slave who had watched her and with whom she was having an altercation, called her a wine-bibber. The shaft struck home: Monica was overwhelmed with shame and never again gave way to the temptation. Indeed, from the day of her baptism, which took place soon afterwards, she seems to have lived a life exemplary in every particular.
As soon as she had reached a marriageable age, her parents gave her as wife to a citizen of Tagaste, Patricius by name, a pagan not without generous qualities, but violent-tempered and dissolute. Monica had much to put up with from him, but she bore alt with the patience of a strong, well-disciplined character. He, on his part, though inclined to criticize her piety and liberality to the poor, always regarded her with respect and never laid a hand upon her, even in his wont fits of rage. When other matrons came to complain of their husbands and to show the marks of blows they had received, she did not hesitate to tell them that they very often brought this treatment upon themselves by their tongues. In the long run, Monica's prayers and example resulted in winning over to Christianity not only her husband, but also her cantankerous mother-in-law, whose presence as a permanent inmate of the house had added considerably to the younger woman's difficulties. Patricius died a holy death in 371, the year after his baptism. Of their children, at least three survived, two sons and a daughter, and it was in the elder son, Augustine, that the parents' ambitions centred, for he was brilliantly clever, and they were resolved to give him the best possible education. Nevertheless, his waywardness, his love of pleasure and his fits of idleness caused his mother great anxiety. He had been admitted a catechumen in early youth and once, when he was thought to be dying, arrangements were made for his baptism, but his sudden recovery caused it to be deferred indefinitely. At the date of his father's death he was seventeen and a student in Carthage, devoting himself especially to rhetoric. Two years later Monica was cut to the heart at the news that Augustine was leading a wicked life, and had as well embraced the Manichean heresy. For a time after his return to Tagaste she went so far as to refuse to let him live in her house or eat at her table that she might not have to listen to his blasphemies. But she relented as the result of a consoling vision which was vouchsafed to her. She seemed to be standing on a wooden beam bemoaning her son's downfall when she was accosted by a radiant being who questioned her as to the cause of her grief. He then bade her dry her eyes and added, "Your son is with you ". Casting her eyes towards the spot he indicated, she beheld Augustine standing on the beam beside her. Aterwards, when she told the dream to Augustine he flippantly remarked that they might easily be together if Monica would give up her faith, but she promptly replied, " He did not say that I was with you: he said that you were with me

Her ready retort made a great impression upon her son, who in later days regarded it as an inspiration. This happened about the end of 377, almost nine years before Augustine's conversion. During all that time Monica never ceased her efforts on his behalf. She stormed heaven by her prayers and tears: she fasted: she watched: she importuned the clergy to argue with him, even though they assured her that it was useless in his actual state of mind. "The heart of the young man is at present too stubborn, but God's time will come", was the reply of a wise bishop who had formerly been a Manichean himself. Then, as she persisted, he said in words which have become famous: "Go now, I beg of you: it is not possible that the son of so many tears should perish". This reply and the assurance she had received in the vision gave her the encouragement she was sorely needing, for there was as yet in her elder son no indication of any change of heart.
Augustine was twenty-nine years old when he resolved to go to Rome to teach rhetoric. Monica, though opposed to the plan because she feared it would delay his conversion, was determined to accompany him if he persisted in going, and followed him to the port of embarkation. Augustine, on the other hand, had made up his mind to go without her. He accordingly resorted to an unworthy stratagem. He pretended he was only going to speed a parting friend, and whilst Monica was spending the night in prayer in the church of St Cyprian, he set sail alone. "I deceived her with a lie", he wrote afterwards in his Confessions, "while she was weeping and praying for me. Deeply grieved as Monica was when she discovered how she had been tricked, she was still resolved to follow him, but she reached Rome only to find that the bird had flown. Augustine had gone on to Milan. There he came under the influence of the great bishop St Ambrose. When Monica at last tracked her son down, it was to learn from his own lips, to her unspeakable joy, that he was no longer a Manichean. Though he declared that he was not yet a Catholic Christian, she replied with equanimity that he would certainly be one before she died.
To St Ambrose she turned with heartfelt gratitude and found in him a true father in God. She deferred to him in all things, abandoning at his wish practices which had become dear to her. For instance, she had been in the habit of carrying wine, bread and vegetables to the tombs of the martyrs in Africa and had begun to do the same in Milan, when she was told that St Ambrose had forbidden the practice as tending to intemperance and as approximating too much to the heathen parentalia. She desisted at once, though Augustine doubted whether she would have given in so promptly to anyone else. At Tagaste she had always kept the Saturday fast, which was customary there as well as in Rome. Perceiving that it was not observed in Milan, she induced Augustine to question St Ambrose as to what she herself ought to do. The reply she received has been incorporated into canon law: "When I am here, I do not fast on Saturday, but I fast when I am in Rome; do the same, and always follow the custom and discipline of the Church as it is observed in the particular locality in which you find yourself". St Ambrose, on his part, had the highest opinion of St Monica and was never tired of singing her praises to her son. In Milan as in Tagaste, she was foremost among the devout women, and when the Arian queen mother, Justina, was persecuting St Ambrose, Monica was one of those who undertook long vigils on his behalf, prepared to die with him or for him.

At last, in August 386, there came the long-desired moment when Augustine announced his complete acceptance of the Catholic faith. For some time previously Monica had been trying to arrange for him a suitable marriage, but he now declared that he would from henceforth live a celibate life. Then, when the schools rose for the season of the vintage, he retired with his mother and some of his friends to the villa of one of the party named Verecundius at Cassiciacum. There the time of preparation before Augustine's baptism was spent in religious and philosophical conversations, some of which are recorded in the Confessions. In all these talks Monica took part, displaying remarkable penetration and judgement and showing herself to be exceptionally well versed in the Holy Scriptures. At Easter, 387, St Ambrose baptized St Augustine, together with several of his friends, and soon afterwards the party set out to return to Africa. They made their way to Ostia, there to await a ship, but Monica's life was drawing to an end, though no one but herself suspected it. In a conversation with Augustine shortly before her last illness she said,

"Son, nothing in this world now affords me delight. I do not know what there is now left for me to do or why I am still here, all my hopes in this world being now fulfilled. All I wished to live for was that I might see you a Catholic and a child of Heaven. God has granted me more than this in making you despise earthly felicity and consecrate yourself to His service."

Monica had often expressed a desire to be buried beside Patricius, and therefore one day, as she was expatiating on the happiness of death, she was asked if she would not be afraid to die and be buried in a place so far from home. "Nothing is far from God", she replied, "neither am I afraid that God will not find my body to raise it with the rest." Five days later she was taken ill, and she suffered acutely until the ninth day, when she passed to her eternal reward. She was fifty-five. Augustine, who closed her eyes, restrained his own tears and those of his son Adeodatus, deeming a display of grief out of place at the funeral of one who had died so holy a death. But afterwards, when he was alone and began to think of all her love and care for her children, he broke down altogether for a short time. He writes: "If any one thinks it wrong that I thus wept for my mother some small part of an hour-a mother who for many years had wept for me that I might live to thee, 0 Lord-let him not deride me. But if his charity is great, let him weep also for my sins before thee." In the Confessions, Augustine asks the prayers of his readers for Monica and Patricius, but it is her prayers which have been invoked by successive generations of the faithful who venerate her as a special patroness of married women and as a pattern for all Christian mothers.

We know practically nothing of St Monica apart from what can be gleaned from St Augustine's own writings and especially from bk. ix of the Confessions. A letter reviewing her life and describing her last moments, which purports to have been addressed by St Augustine to his sister, Perpetua, is certainly not authentic. The text of this will be found in the Acta Sanctorum, May, vol. i, and elsewhere. In the article "Monique" in DAC., vol. xi, cc. 2332-2356, Dom H. Leclercq has collected a good deal of infonnation concerning Tagaste, now known as Suk Arrhas, and the newly discovered foundations of a basilica at Carthage. It is difficult, however, to see what connection this has with St Monica, beyond the fact that the name "St Monica's" has, in modern times, been given to a chapel in the neighbourhood. It must be confessed that little or no trace can be found of a enlists of St Monica before the translation of her remains from Ostia to Rome, which is alleged to have taken place in 1430. Her body thus translated is believed to rest in the church of S. Agostino. Of the many lives of St Monica which have been written in modem times that by Mgr Bougaud (Eng. trans., 1896) may be specially recommended. There are others by F. A. M. Forbes (1915) and by E. Procter (1931), not to speak of those in French, German and Italian.

Monica was married by arrangement to a pagan official in North Africa, who was much older than she, and although generous, was also violent tempered. His mother Lived with them and was equally difficult, which proved a constant challenge to St. Monica. She had three children; Augustine, Navigius, and Perpetua. Through her patience and prayers, she was able to convert her husband and his mother to the Catholic faith in 370. He died a year later. Perpetua and Navigius entered the religious Life. St. Augustine was much more difficult, as she had to pray for him for 17 years, begging the prayers of priests who, for a while, tried to avoid her because of her persistence at this seemingly hopeless endeavor. One priest did console her by saying, "it is not possible that the son of so many tears should perish." This thought, coupled with a vision that she had received strengthened her. St. Augustine was baptized by St. Ambrose in 387. St. Monica died later that same year, on the way back to Africa from Rome in the Italian town of Ostia.

Monica, Matron (RM) Born at Tagaste or Carthage, North Africa, in 331-2; died at Ostia, Italy, in 387.

Monica, the eldest of three children of Christian parents, was reared by a family retained, who led her charges in a strict life. According to one story, the servant never allowed them to drink between meals because, "It is water you want now, but when you become mistresses of your own cellar, you will want wine--not water--and the habit will remain with you. Nevertheless, when as a young girl she was given the duty of drawing wine for the family, she ignored the maxim and indulged in wine until the day an angry servant caught her drunk and called her a "winebibber." From that day she made a vow (that she kept) that she would never drink anything but water.

She married the pagan Patricius who had an uncontrollable temper.

Her mother-in-law, also a pagan, usually sided with Patricius and told false tells to the servants about Monica, who met all their insults with silence. Although he felt some contempt for her devoutness and generosity to the poor, he respected her. Her silence would overcome her husband's wrath. He never physically abused her, despite his explosive temper, and when other women showed her bruises received at the hands of their husbands, Monica told them that their tongues brought the treatment upon them.
Over time her meekness, humility and prayers transformed Patricius, who became a catechumen, and her mother-in-law. The formerly formal relationship of the couple developed into a warm, spiritual devotion. He died a happy death soon after his baptism in 370. The marriage produced three children that lived: Augustine, Navigius, and Perpetua. Her eldest, Saint Augustine, was born in 354. He was inscribed as a catechumen in infancy, but was not baptized. He was gifted with a mother who spoke often of God's love and her faith.
When widowed about 371, at the age of 40, Monica vowed to belong wholly to God, renounced all worldly pleasures, and ministered to the poor and orphaned while still fulfilling her maternal duties, especially the conversion of her wayward son.
The family was relatively poor, but a rich citizen of Tagaste met Augustine's educational expenses at the university in Carthage. Monica hoped studying philosophy and science would bring back her wayward son to God, but she did not realize Carthage was a seething mass of iniquity.

Augustine had a 15-year, faithful common-law marriage and a son named Adeodatus or "given by God." In Carthage, he joined the heretical Manichees and persuaded others to follow suit. The Manichean doctrine that bodily actions had no moral significance brought relief to Augustine's troubled soul. He returned to Tagaste for his vacation and Monica threw him out. When Monica heard that Augustine had become a Manichean and was living a dissolute life, she refused to allow him to live in her home. He was not to return until he had renounced his errors and submitted to the truth. Unlike many modern minds, Monica refused to allow her son's life to be devastated by a vain deceit.
Then she had a vision in which she seemed to be standing on a wooden beam, despairing of his fall, when a shining being asked her the reason for her lamentation. She answered and he told her to stop crying. Looking toward the spot he indicated, she saw Augustine standing of the beam next to her. She repeated the vision to her son, and he replied playfully that they might easily be together if Monica renounced her faith.
After completing his studies, Augustine opened a school of oratory in Carthage and instructed his disciples in the principles of Manicheism. In doing so, he discovered that the Manicheans were more adept in attacking Catholicism than in establishing the truth of their own theories. And his new religion was incapable of relieving his grief at the death of a close friend.
Augustine tells us that Monica shed "more tears for my spiritual death than other mothers shed for the bodily death of a son." Monica kept praying for her son's conversion for 17 years. To add power to her prayers, she fasted, making Holy Communion her daily food and she was often favored with the grace of ecstasy. An unnamed bishop comforted her that her son was young and stubborn, but that God's time would come because "The son of so many tears cannot possibly be lost."
At the age of 29, Augustine finally tired of the frivolity of Carthage, moved to Rome to teach rhetoric. Monica was determined to accompany him, but he tricked her and sailed alone. Soon after his arrival he became deathly ill. He recovered and opened his school. Monica fretted because of the tone of his letters and the reputed vice of Rome, so she followed him after selling her few remaining possessions. In the meantime, Saint Symmachus offered Augustine a chair in rhetoric in Milan, after he won a competition. When she arrived in Rome, he had already left, but she hurried on to Milan.

Upon arrival in Milan, Augustine had paid a courtesy visit to Bishop Saint Ambrose, to whom he felt attraction of a kindred spirit. Augustine came to love the bishop as a father and went every Sunday to hear Ambrose as an orator as he preached. At the age of 30, Augustine began to see the folly of Manicheism and its gross misrepresentation of the Church, but he still did not believe. When Monica arrived in Milan, her first visit was also to Ambrose and they understood one another at once. She became his faithful disciple and Ambrose's "heart warmed to Monica because of her truly pious way of life, her zeal in good works, and her faithfulness in worship. Often when he saw [Augustine] he would break out in praise of her, congratulating [the son] on having such a mother." And Augustine wryly notes: "He little knew what sort of a son she had."
Monica turned to Ambrose for spiritual direction, especially in regards to practice. In response to one of her questions on fasting, he gave the famous response: "When I am here, I do not fast on Saturday, but I fast when I am in Rome; do the same, and always follow the custom and discipline of the Church as it is observed in the particular locality in which you find yourself."
Monica and Augustine began to attend Mass together and to discuss the bishop's sermons afterwards. Monica had deeply studied philosophy and theology so that she might be able to deal intelligently with Augustine's difficulties. He began to realize how many things he believed that he could not prove, but accepted on the testimony of others. And so Augustine fulfilled the maxim that "conversions are rarely brought about though an immediate influx of divine grace, but through the agency of events and persons." Saint Monica used every possible wile to bring her son into contact with the bishop.

Augustine had reached a critical point, he must choose God or his mistress. Ever the meddlesome mother, Monica arranged a marriage for him but had to leave him to his decision. She began her penitential discipline in a convent. Meanwhile Augustine attracted a group of friends in Milan with whom he daily read and discussed the Scriptures. An old priest, Saint Simplicianus, told him of the courageous conversion of old Victorinus, whose translation of Plato he had been reading and convicted Augustine of his cowardice. Pontitianus told him of the life of Saint Antony the Hermit and of how two courtiers had been converted by reading his story.
Immediately after Augustine finally recognized the darkness of his soul, his eyes fell upon Paul's epistle, "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh and the concupiscence thereof." Saint Alypius, his friend, too opened the book and read, "He that is weak in faith take unto you." Augustine went at once to Monica and told her what had happened. Her agony was ended! He attributed his conversion primarily to her. When his instruction was over, he was baptized by Ambrose on Holy Saturday, 387.
Monica's faith purchased for the Catholic Church its keenest philosopher, most comprehensive theologian, most persuasive apologist, and most far-seeing moralist, a wise administrator, a powerful preacher, and a penetrating mystic. Countless now live under the Augustinian rule.

Four years after their arrival in Milan, during a stop at Ostia en route back to Tagaste, Monica told her son: "What I am still to do, or why I still linger in this world, I do not know. There was one reason, one alone, for which I wish to tarry a little longer: that I might see you a Catholic Christian before I die. God has granted me this boon, and more, for I see you his servant, spurning all earthly happiness. What is left for me to do in this life?" Saint Monica died about two weeks later at the age of 56, Augustine was then 33.
Saint Monica's relics are enshrined at Saint Augustine's Church in Rome near the Piazza Navona; other relics are at Arrouaise (Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, S. Delany, White).
In art, Saint Monica is portrayed in widow's reeds or a nun's habit in scenes with her son Augustine. She might also be shown: (1) enthroned with a book among Augustinian nuns; (2) kneeling with Augustine with an angel over them as she holds a scarf, handkerchief, or book in her hand; (3) praying before an altar with Augustine; (4) saying farewell to him as he departs by ship; (5) holding a tablet engraved with IHS (Roeder); or (6) receiving a monstrance from an angel (White). In this 15th-century Flemish painting, Saint Monica is shown with the Madonna and Child, and Saints Augustine, John the Baptist, and Nicholas of Tolentino.
Monnica (Monika) Orthodoxe Kirche: 15. Juni Katholische, Anglikanische und Evangelische Kirche: 27. August n der katholischen Kirche wurde ihr Fest bis 1969 am 4. Mai gefeiert.
Monika wurde 332 in Tagaste (Nordafrika) geboren. Sie wurde christlich erzogen, dann aber mit einem heidnische Ehemann verheiratet. Obwohl ihr Mann sie schlug und Liebschaften unterhielt, blieb Monika zu ihm sanft und freundlich. Sie gebar drei Kinder, von denen Augustinus der Älteste war. Monika litt sehr darunter, daß Augustinus ein ausschweifendes Leben führte, mit seiner Geliebten ein Kind hatte und sich den Manichäern zuwandte. Augustinus versuchte, vor ihren stummen Mahnungen zu fliehen und reiste heimlich nach Mailand. Monika gab ihn nicht auf, sondern sobald sie seinen Aufenthaltsort erfuhr, reiste sie ihm hinterher und konnte in Mailand seine Bekehrung und seine Taufe miterleben. Auf der gemeinsamen Rückreise nach Afrika starb sie in Ostia, wohl im Oktober 387.
Ein Bischof, dem sie ihr Leid über das unchristliche Leben ihres Sohnes klagte, erwiderte ihr: Ein Kind so vieler Tränen und Gebete kann nicht verloren gehen. So wurde Monika zur Patronin der Mütter und Müttervereine.
In der katholischen Kirche wurde ihr Fest bis 1969 am 4. Mai gefeiert.

She is venerated at Ostia (near Rome), Italy, and in all Augustinian houses (Roeder). She is the patron saint of married women and mothers (White).

August 27, 2010 St. Monica (322?-387)

The circumstances of St. Monica's life could have made her a nagging wife, a bitter daughter-in-law and a despairing parent, yet she did not give way to any of these temptations. Although she was a Christian, her parents gave her in marriage to a pagan, Patricius, who lived in her hometown of Tagaste in North Africa. Patricius had some redeeming features, but he had a violent temper and was licentious. Monica also had to bear with a cantankerous mother-in-law who lived in her home. Patricius criticized his wife because of her charity and piety, but always respected her. Monica's prayers and example finally won her husband and mother-in-law to Christianity. Her husband died in 371, one year after his Baptism.

Monica had at least three children who survived infancy. The oldest, Augustine, is the most famous. At the time of his father's death, Augustine was 17 and a rhetoric student in Carthage. Monica was distressed to learn that her son had accepted the Manichean heresy and was living an immoral life. For a while, she refused to let him eat or sleep in her house. Then one night she had a vision that assured her Augustine would return to the faith. From that time on she stayed close to her son, praying and fasting for him. In fact, she often stayed much closer than Augustine wanted.

When he was 29, Augustine decided to go to Rome to teach rhetoric. Monica was determined to go along. One night he told his mother that he was going to the dock to say goodbye to a friend. Instead, he set sail for Rome. Monica was heartbroken when she learned of Augustine's trick, but she still followed him. She arrived in Rome only to find that he had left for Milan. Although travel was difficult, Monica pursued him to Milan.

In Milan Augustine came under the influence of the bishop, St. Ambrose, who also became Monica's spiritual director. She accepted his advice in everything and had the humility to give up some practices that had become second nature to her (see Quote, below). Monica became a leader of the devout women in Milan as she had been in Tagaste.

She continued her prayers for Augustine during his years of instruction. At Easter, 387, St. Ambrose baptized Augustine and several of his friends. Soon after, his party left for Africa. Although no one else was aware of it, Monica knew her life was near the end. She told Augustine, "Son, nothing in this world now affords me delight. I do not know what there is now left for me to do or why I am still here, all my hopes in this world being now fulfilled." She became ill shortly after and suffered severely for nine days before her death.

Almost all we know about St. Monica is in the writings of St. Augustine, especially his Confessions.

Comment: Today, with Internet searches, e-mail shopping and instant credit, we have little patience for things that take time. Likewise, we want instant answers to our prayers. Monica is a model of patience. Her long years of prayer, coupled with a strong, well-disciplined character, finally led to the conversion of her hot-tempered husband, her cantankerous mother-in-law and her brilliant but wayward son, Augustine.
Quote: When Monica moved from North Africa to Milan, she found religious practices new to her and also that some of her former customs, such as a Saturday fast, were not common there. She asked St. Ambrose which customs she should follow. His classic reply was: "When I am here, I do not fast on Saturday, but I fast when I am in Rome; do the same and always follow the custom and discipline of the Church as it is observed in the particular locality in which you find yourself."

450 Saint Pimen the Great He went to one of the Egyptian monasteries with his two brothers, Anoub and Paisius, and all three received monastic tonsure
Soon after his death, he was acknowledged as a saint pleasing to God. He was called "the Great" as a sign of his great humility, uprightness, ascetic struggles, and self-denying service to God. "If we reproach the sins of brothers, then God will reproach our sins. If you see a brother sinning, do not believe your eyes. Know that your own sin is like a beam of wood, but the sin of your brother is like a splinter (Mt. 7:3-5), and then you will not enter into distress or temptation."

Born about the year 340 in Egypt. The brothers were such strict ascetics that when their mother came to the monastery to see her children, they did not come out to her from their cells. The mother stood there for a long time and wept. Then St Pimen said to her through the closed door of the cell, "Do you wish to see us now, or in the future life?" St Pimen promised that if she would endure the sorrow of not seeing her children in this life, then surely she would see them in the next. The mother was humbled and returned home.

Fame of St Pimen's deeds and virtues spread throughout the land. Once, the governor of the district wanted to see him. St Pimen, shunning fame, thought to himself, "If dignitaries start coming to me and show me respect, then many other people will also start coming to me and disturb my quiet, and I shall be deprived of the grace of humility, which I have acquired only with the help of God." So he refused to see the governor, asking him not to come.

For many of the monks, St Pimen was a spiritual guide and instructor. They wrote down his answers to serve for the edification of others besides themselves. A certain monk asked, "If I see my brother sinning, should I conceal his fault?" The Elder answered, "If we reproach the sins of brothers, then God will reproach our sins. If you see a brother sinning, do not believe your eyes. Know that your own sin is like a beam of wood, but the sin of your brother is like a splinter (Mt. 7:3-5), and then you will not enter into distress or temptation."

Another monk said to the saint, "I have sinned grievously and I want to spend three years at repentance. Is that enough time?" The Elder replied, "That is a long time." The monk continued to ask how long the saint wished him to repent. Perhaps only a year? St Pimen said, "That is a long time." The other brethren asked, "Should he repent for forty days?" The Elder answered, "I think that if a man repents from the depths of his heart and has a firm intention not to return to the sin, then God will accept three days of repentance."

When asked how to get rid of persistent evil thoughts, the saint replied,

"This is like a man who has fire on his left side, and a vessel full of water on his right side. If he starts burning from the fire, he takes water from the vessel and extinguishes the fire. The fire represents the evil thoughts placed in the heart of man by the Enemy of our salvation, which can enkindle sinful desires within man like a spark in a hut. The water is the force of prayer which impels a man toward God."

St Pimen was strict in his fasting and sometimes would not partake of food for a week or more.
He advised others to eat every day, but without eating their fill. Abba Pimen heard of a certain monk who went for a week without eating, but had lost his temper. The saint lamented that the monk was able to fast for an entire week, but was unable to abstain from anger for even a single day.

To the question of whether it is better to speak or be silent, the Elder said,
"Whoever speaks on account of God, does well, and whoever is silent on account of God, that one also does well."

He also said, "If man seems to be silent, but his heart condemns others, then he is always speaking. There may be a man who talks all day long, but he is actually silent, because he says nothing unprofitable."

The saint said, "It is useful to observe three things: to fear God, to pray often, and to do good for one's neighbor."
"Wickedness never eradicates wickedness. If someone does evil to you, do good to them, and your goodness will conquer their wickedness."

Once, after St Pimen and his disciples arrived at the monastery of Scetis, he learned that the Elder living there was annoyed at his arrival and was also jealous of him, because monks were leaving the Elder to see Abba Pimen.

In order to console the hermit, the saint went to him with his brethren, taking food with them as a present. The Elder refused to receive them, however. Then St Pimen said, "We shall not depart from here until we are permitted to see the holy Elder." He remained standing at the door of the cell in the heat. Seeing St Pimen's humility and patience, the Elder received him graciously and said, "Not only is what I have heard about you true, but I see that your works are a hundred times greater."
He possessed such great humility that he often sighed and said, "I shall be cast down to that place where Satan was cast down!"

Once, a monk from another country came to the saint to receive his guidance. He began to speak about sublime matters difficult to grasp. The saint turned away from him and was silent. They explained to the bewildered monk that the saint did not like to speak of lofty matters. Then the monk began to ask him about the struggle with passions of soul. The saint turned to him with a joyful face, "Now you have spoken well, and I will answer." For a long while he provided instruction on how one ought to struggle with the passions and conquer them.

St Pimen died at age 110, about the year 450. Soon after his death, he was acknowledged as a saint pleasing to God. He was called "the Great" as a sign of his great humility, uprightness, ascetic struggles, and self-denying service to God.

5th v. St. Poemon One of the Fathers of the Egyptian Desert; he taught that no monk ought ever to taste wine or to seek any deliberate gratification of the senses: "for sensuality expels the spirit of penance and the holy fear of God from the heart as smoke drives away bees ; it extinguishes grace, and deprives a soul of the comfort and presence of the Holy Ghost ". noted for his saintly demeanor, his wisdom, and his insistence upon frequent Communion.

In Thebáide sancti Pœmenis Anachorétæ. In Thebais, St. Poemen, abbot.

The abbot Poemen was one of the most celebrated of the fathers of the desert. He forsook the world and went into the Egyptian desert of Skete, one elder and several younger brothers of his accompanying him. In 408 they were driven away from their first settlement by raids of Berbers, and took refuge in the ruins of a temple at Terenuthis. Anubis, the eldest, and Poemen governed the little community of hermits by turns. Of the twelve hours of the night, four were allotted to work, four to singing office, and four to sleep ; in the day they worked till noon, read till three in the afternoon, and then went to gather firing, food and other necessaries.
St Poemen often passed several days, sometimes a whole week, without eating, but it was his constant advice to others that their fasts should be moderate, and that they should take sufficient nourishment every day: "We fast", he said, "to control our bodies, not to kill them." But he taught that no monk ought ever to taste wine or to seek any deliberate gratification of the senses: "for sensuality expels the spirit of penance and the holy fear of God from the heart as smoke drives away bees; it extinguishes grace, and deprives a soul of the comfort and presence of the Holy Ghost".

St Poemen feared the least occasion that could interrupt his solitude, or make the distractions of the world break in upon him; and on one occasion he even went so far as to refuse to see his mother, foregoing that happiness then that they might enjoy it more hereafter. He is chiefly remembered for his "sayings". Among them it is related that, when one who had committed a fault told him he would do penance for it three years, the saint advised him to confine his penance to three days, but to be very fervent about it. A monk was grievously molested with thoughts of blasphemy; Poemen comforted him, and bade him confidently say to the Devil, whenever he suggested any abominable thought, "May your blasphemy fall on you; it is not mine, for my heart detests it". But to another who spoke of the Devil he said, "Devil! It's always the Devil that's blamed. I say that it's self-will." And another time, "Never try to have your own way. Those who are self-willed are their own worst tempters, and require no devil to tempt them." St Poemen used strongly to exhort to frequent communion and to a great desire for that divine food, as the stag pants after the water-brooks. "Some aver", said he, "that stags feel a violent inward heat and thirst because in the desert they eat serpents and their bowels are parched with the poison. Thus souls in the wilderness of this world always suck in something of its poison, and so need perpetually to approach the body and blood of Jesus Christ, which fortifies them against all such venom." To one who complained that his neighbour was a monk of whom derogatory tales were told, and gave the authority of another monk to prove their truth, he said, "There could not be worse evidence than scandalous stories told by a monk; by telling them he shows himself unworthy of credence". It was another saying of this abbot that "silence is no virtue when charity requires speech"; that "people should not waste other people's time by asking advice when no advice is necessary or wanted" ; and that "a living faith consists in thinking little of oneself and having tenderness towards others".

St Poemen took over complete control of the community on the death of Anubis. "We lived together", he said, "in complete unity and unbroken peace till death broke up our association. We followed the rule Anubis made for us; one was appointed steward, and he had care of our meals. We ate such things as were set before us, and no one said, "Give me something else; I cannot eat this." He returned from Terenuthis to Skete but was again driven out by raids. Later he was present at the death of St Arsenius on the rock of Troe, near Memphis "Happy Arsenius!" he cried, "who had the gift of tears in this life! For he who does not weep for his sins on earth will bewail them for ever in eternity." St Poemen himself died very soon afterwards. He is named in the Roman Martyrology and in the Byzantine liturgical books is referred to as "the lamp of the universe and pattern of monks".

A short Greek life with other miscellaneous references will be found in the Acta Sanctorum, August vol. vi; but the most convenient source of information concerning Poemen and the other fathers of the desert is the Vitae Patrum of Father Rosweyde. His "sayings"are printed in Migne, PG., vol. lxv, cc. 317-368.

Saint Pimen of Palestine lived during the sixth century in a cave in the Rouba desert. The holy Fathers Sophronius and John speak of him in Chapter 167 of THE SPIRITUAL MEADOW (Limonarion).
Once, during winter the monk Agathonicus came to St Pimen for guidance and remained to spend the night in an adjoining cave. In the morning, he said that he had suffered much from the cold. St Pimen answered that he had been uncovered, but did not feel the cold because a lion came and lay beside him, warming him.
"But I know," added the ascetic "that I shall be devoured by wild beasts, since when I lived in the world and herded sheep, my dogs attacked a man and tore him apart. I could have saved him, but I did not. It was later revealed to me that I would die a similar death." So it came to pass: three years later, at the end of the sixth century, St Pimen of Palestine was torn apart by wild beasts.
Probably a native from Egypt, he retired with several of his brothers into the desert around Skete where they lived as hermits. After a raid by Berbers forced them to flee in 408, they settled in the ruins of the pagan temple at Terenuthis. Poemon served as abbot for the community, alternating the leadership with his brother Anubis until the latter’s death, after which Poemon served as sole abbot. Poemon was noted for his saintly demeanor, his wisdom, and his insistence upon frequent Communion.
Poemen (Poemon, Pastor) of Skete, Hermit Abbot (RM). Poemen was one of the most famous of the Egyptian desert fathers. He lived at Skete and was abbot of the nearby hermits who lived in the abandoned ruins of a pagan temple at Terenuth (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).

St. Anthusa the Persian martyr
Anthusa Orthodoxe Kirche: 27. August
So called the Younger to distinguish her from St. Anthusa of Seleucia. Anthusa is believed to have been a native of Persia. She was martyred there for the faith by being sewn in a sack and drowned in a well.
Anthusa the Younger VM (RM)
Saint Anthusa is believed to have been a Persian, who was martyred there by being sewn into a sack and drowned in a well (Benedictines).
Anthusa Orthodoxe Kirche: 27. August
Über Anthusa (oder Anthysa) sind keine weiteren Daten bekannt. Sie soll eine Perserin gewesen sein, die das Martyrium erlitt, indem sie in einen Sack eingenäht in einen Brunnen geworfen wurde.

Ilérdæ, in Hispánia Tarraconénsi, sancti Licérii Epíscopi.
St. Licerius, bishop At Lerida in Spain,

Sts. Athanasius, the Bishop, Gerasimus (Jarasimus), and Theodotus Martyrdom of; God honored them by manifesting many signs and wonders from their bodies. {Coptic}
On this day, Sts. Athanasius, the Bishop, Gerasimus (Jarasimus), and Theodotus, his two servants, were martyred. Certain men laid an accusation against the bishop before Arianus, the governor, that he had baptized the daughter of Antonios, the chancellor. Arianus brought St. Athanasius and asked him to worship the idols. The bishop refused and declared his faith in the Lord Christ. The governor tortured him with severely painful tortures, and when he saw him getting firmer in his faith, he ordered to cut off his neck and the necks of the two servants with him. Some believers took their bodies, shrouded them, and laid them in coffins. God honored them by manifesting many signs and wonders from their bodies. May their prayers be with us. Amen.

515 St. John, the Short Arrival of the Holy Relic from Al-Qulzum (Red Sea) to the Wilderness of Scetis.
On this day also, in the year 515 A.D., the body of the great saint Anba John, the Short, was relocated from Al-Qulzum (Red Sea) to the wilderness of Scetis. When Pope John (Youhanna), 48th Pope of Alexandria, was in the wilderness of Scetis, some of the monks expressed their wish to relocate the relics of St. John, the Short, to his monastery. The Grace of God moved the Pope, and he wrote a letter by the hand of the Hegumen Kosman and Hegumen Boctor, from the elders, and sent them to Al-Qulzum.

They were not able to take the body because it was in the hands of the followers of the Council of Chalcedon. So they returned empty handed.

Shortly after, a prince from the Arabs took charge of Al-Qulzum, and he was a friend of Anba Michael, bishop of Epla'os. Once again the Patriarch wrote another letter to the bishop expressing his wish to take the body of St. John and to send it with the monks carrying his letter. The bishop rejoiced with the letter, and informed the prince about the wish of the Patriarch. The prince asked, "How could they reach the place?" His scribe answered him, "Let the monks put Arab garments over their own apparel, and let them come with us to the place." The monks came in, along with the Arabs, to the place where the body was. The monks carried the body and walked all night until they came to Misr, and then went to the wilderness. The monks of the monastery of St. Macarius went out carrying crosses and censers and met them with songs and hymns. They brought the body of St. John to where the body of St. Macarius was. They poured many perfumes and fragrant oil over him, then carried him to his monastery while they were chanting. The monks of his monastery received him with joy and happiness.

When Pope Mark (Marcus), 49th Patriarch, was ordained, and went to the wilderness with the bishops of Lower Egypt and some priests, he visited the monastery of this saint. He uncovered the holy relic of the saint, and he was blessed by it. He covered him with the sackcloth that was covering him, then wrapped him in fine linens. The monks praised and thanked God, and sang many hymns and songs for this holy father. May his prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.

St. Malrubius Martyred hermit of Merns, Scotland He was slain by Norse invaders who landed in his area and razed the countryside.

Saint Phanourius {read miracle below} St. Phanurius Martyr called a warrior saint
Moslems uncovered the ruins of a beautiful church 15 th v. Several icons, most of them badly damaged, were found on the floor. One icon, of St Phanourius, looked as if it had been painted that very day. The local bishop, whose name was Nilus, was called to see the icon. It said,"Saint Phanourius." The saint's name sounds similar to the Greek verb "phanerono," which means "to reveal" or "to disclose." For this reason, people pray to St Phanourius to help them find lost objects. When the object is recovered, they bake a sweet bread and share it with the poor, offering prayers for the salvation of saint's mother. Her name is not known, but according to tradition, she was a sinful woman during her life. St Phanourius has promised to help those who pray for his mother in this way.

We know nothing for certain about the background of St Phanourius, nor exactly when he lived. Tradition says that when the island of Rhodes had been conquered by Moslems, the new ruler of the island wished to rebuild the walls of the city, which had been damaged in previous wars. Several ruined buildings were near the fortress, and stone from these buildings was used to repair the walls at the end of the fifteenth century, or the beginning of the sixteenth.

While working on the fortress, the Moslems uncovered the ruins of a beautiful church. Several icons, most of them badly damaged, were found on the floor. One icon, of St Phanourius, looked as if it had been painted that very day. The local bishop, whose name was Nilus, was called to see the icon. It said, "Saint Phanourius."The saint is depicted as a young soldier holding a cross in his right hand. On the upper part of the cross is a lighted taper. Twelve scenes from his life are shown around the border of the icon. These scenes show him being questioned by an official, being beaten with stones by soldiers, stretched out on the ground while soldiers whip him, then having his sides raked with iron hooks. He is also shown locked up in prison, standing before the official again, being burned with candles, tied to a rack, thrown to the wild animals, and being crushed by a large rock. The remaining scenes depict him standing before idols holding burning coals in his hands, while a demon stands by lamenting his defeat by the saint, and finally, the saint stands in the midst of a fire with his arms raised in prayer.

These scenes clearly revealed that the saint was a martyr. Bishop Nilus sent representatives to the Moslem ruler, asking that he be permitted to restore the church. Permission was denied, so the bishop went to Constantinople and there he obtained a decree allowing him to rebuild the church.

At that time, there was no Orthodox bishop on the island of Crete. Since Crete was under the control of Venice, there was a Latin bishop. The Venetians refused to allow a successor to be consecrated when an Orthodox bishop died, or for new priests to be ordained, hoping that in time they would be able to convert the Orthodox population to Catholicism. Those seeking ordination were obliged to go to the island of Kythera.

It so happened that three young deacons had traveled from Crete to Kythera to be ordained to the holy priesthood. On their way back, they were captured at sea by Moslems who brought them to Rhodes to be sold as slaves. Lamenting their fate, the three new priests wept day and night. While in Rhodes the priests heard of the miracles performed by the holy Great Martyr Phanourius. They began to pray to him with tears, asking to be freed from their captivity. Each of the three had been sold to a different master, and so remained unaware of what the others were doing. By the mercy of God, each of the priests was allowed by his master to pray at the restored church of St Phanourius. All three arrived at the same time and prostrated themselves before the icon of the saint, asking to be delivered from the hands of the Hagarenes (Moslems, descendents of Hagar). Somewhat consoled, the priests left the church and returned to their masters.

That night St Phanourius appeared to the three masters and ordered them to set the priests free so that they could serve the Church, or he would punish them. The Moslems ignored the saint's warning, believing the vision to be the result of sorcery. The cruel masters bound the priests with chains and treated them even worse than before.

Then St Phanourius went to the priests and freed them from their shackles, promising that they would be freed the next day. Appearing once more to the Moslems, the holy martyr told them severely, "If you do not release your slaves by tomorrow, you shall witness the power of God!"

The next morning, all the inhabitants of the homes where the priests were held awoke to find themselves blind, paralyzed, and in great pain. They considered what they were to do, and so decided to send for the priests. When the three priests arrived, they asked them whether they could heal them. The priests replied, "We will pray to God. May His will be done!"

Once more St Phanourius appeared to the Hagarenes, ordering them to send to the church a document granting the priests their freedom. He told them that if they refused to do this, they would never recover their sight or health. All three masters wrote letters releasing the priests, and sent the documents to the church, where they were placed before the icon of St Phanourius.

Before the messengers returned from the church, all those who had been blind and paralyzed were healed. The priests joyfully returned to Crete, carrying with them a copy of the icon of St Phanourius. Every year they celebrated the Feast of St Phanourius with deep gratitude for their miraculous deliverance.

From Crete, he was put to death during the Roman persecutions at some unknown date. He is invoked to assist in finding lost articles. He is often depicted in armor holding a cross with a burning candle on the top.

542-543 St. Caesarius of Arles especially venerated: "Let your souls be as pure as the text Beati immaculati in via. When you sing the verse Confundantur superbi, hate pride and flee from it. And so, while your ears are charmed with melody, you will realize what the Psalmist meant when he said, Quam dulcia faucibus meis eloquia tua !" Pope St Symmachus confirmed the metropolitan rights of Arles, recognized him as apostolic delegate in Gaul, and conferred the pallium, which St Caesarius is said to have been the first bishop in western Europe to receive.
Areláte, in Gállia, sancti Cæsárii Epíscopi, miræ sanctitátis et pietátis viri.
At Arles in France, the holy bishop Caesarius, a man of great sanctity and piety.

Cäsarius von Arles Katholische und Evangelische Kirche: 27. August

St Caesarius, Bishop of Arles (A.D. 543)
St Caesarius was born in 470, in the territory of Chalon on the Saone, of a Gallo-Roman family. In his youth he laid a good foundation of learning and determined to become a priest, and at eighteen years of age he asked that he might enter himself in the service of the Church. This was done accordingly; but two years after Caesarius withdrew to the monastery of Lérins, which had produced many learned and holy men. In this house the abbot appointed him cellarer; but as human passions creep into places the furthest removed from the incentives of vice, some of the monks were offended at his scrupulously just administration and complained so much that the abbot relieved him of his office. Caesarius was glad to be at liberty to give himself up entirely to contemplation and penance; but his health gave way and he was sent to Arles to recover. Here his scruples about the use of pagan authors for study by Christian clerics drew the attention of the bishop, Eonus, to him; they were kinsmen, and Eonus was sufficiently attracted by the young man to write to the abbot of Lérins asking that he might be released for the episcopal service. Caesarius was then ordained deacon and priest, and put by Eonus in charge of a neighbouring monastery whose discipline was very relaxed. He gave these monks a rule, governed them for three years, and in spite of his youth and inexperience made them a model body of religious. The bishop of Arles on his death-bed recommended him for his successor. The saint fled and hid himself among the tombs; but he was discovered and obliged to acquiesce in the election of the clergy and the city. He was then thirty-three years old, and he presided over that church forty years.

Caesarius had not the Roman sense of order nor the sumptuous habits by which some bishops of those times supported the temporal importance of their positions, but he had a high and holy religious conscience which made him the leading prelate of Gaul. Among the first things he did was to regulate the singing of the Divine Office, which he ordered to be celebrated publicly, not only on Sundays, Saturdays, and solemn festivals as had been the custom at Arles, but every day as was done in other neighbouring churches; and he did not scruple to modify the office to encourage the attendance of lay people. He was careful to instruct his flock in prayer, and to teach them to cry to God with earnest desires of the heart: not with their lips only, which can be no prayer but only mockery and an insult to God, for prayer is the raising of the heart and mind to God.

"A man", said he, "worships that on which his mind is intent during prayer. Whoever in his prayers thinks of public affairs, or of the house he is building, worships them rather than God."

Caesarius preached on all Sundays and holidays, and often on other days, both morning and evening, and if he was hindered he ordered the priests or deacons to read to the people some homilies of the fathers; and he had some such homily always read after Matins and Vespers, that the people might never leave church without some instruction. He was opposed to studied discourses, and his own style is plain, natural and pleasing. He used to descend very much to particulars, and spoke chiefly against those vices which prevailed most, especially warning against a delay of repentance, and inculcating fear of Purgatory for venial sins and the necessity of effacing them by daily penance.

His ordinary exhortations were on prayer, fasting, alms, the pardon of injuries, chastity and the practice of all manner of good works. He was, in fact, the first "popular" preacher whose words have come down to us; his discourses are full of homely allusions and illustrations, and they rarely exceeded a quarter of an hour in length. At the same time he urged the value of the corporate worship which he took so much pains to have observed fittingly. "Match your behaviour to the words you sing", he said. "Let your souls be as pure as the text Beati immaculati in via. When you sing the verse Confundantur superbi, hate pride and flee from it. And so, while your ears are charmed with melody, you will realize what the Psalmist meant when he said, Quam dulcia faucibus meis eloquia tua!"

An early biographer refers to St Caesarius as "another Noah, who built an ark to shelter his daughters against the perils of the times". This refers to the monastery he established to give a more permanent home to the maidens and widows of southern Gaul who wished to give themselves to God. It was first at Aliscamps, among the Roman tombs, and then removed within the city walls. This monastery was at first called St John's, but afterward took the name of St Caesarius, who committed the government of it to his sister St Caesariá. St Caesarius drew up a rule for these women, which was one of the principal preoccupations of his life; in it he put strong emphasis on stability and the completeness and permanence of enclosure. He also drew up a rule for men on the same lines, which he imposed throughout his diocese, whence it spread further. St Caesarius was promoted to the see of Arles when it had just succeeded in maintaining its extensive jurisdiction against the bishop of Vienne, and he found himself metropolitan of many suffragan sees. As such he presided over several synods, of which the most important was that at Orange in 529.

This council pronounced against those who blasphemously affirm that God predestines any man to damnation; on the other side, it declared that according to the Catholic faith God inspires into our souls by His grace the beginning of His faith and love, or the first desire or good disposition of the soul towards it, and that He is the author of our conversion, against the semi-Pelagians.

Side by side with his ecclesiastical labours, St Caesarius had his share in the public upheavals of the age in which he lived. The city of Arles was at that time subject to Alaric II, King of the Visigoths. It was suggested to this prince that the bishop, being born a subject to the king of Burgundy, did all that lay in his power to bring the territory of Arles under his dominion. This was untrue, but Alaric in 505 banished him to Bordeaux. When Alaric discovered his innocence he recalled him from exile and condemned his accuser to be stoned, but pardoned him at the intercession of Caesarius. When the Burgundians besieged Arles and many prisoners were brought into the city, St Caesarius was moved exceedingly at their condition, for they were in want both of clothes and food. He gave them both, and employed in relieving them the treasury of his church. He stripped off silver and melted down censers, chalices and patens, saying,

"Our Lord celebrated His last supper on earthen dishes, not on plate, and we need not scruple to part with His vessels for those whom He has redeemed with His own life. I should like to know if those who censure what we do would not be glad to be themselves helped in the same way were the same misfortune to befall them."

After the death of the king of the Visigoths, Theodoric the Ostrogoth, King of Italy, seized those dominions in Languedoc, and St Caesarius came under his suspicion; so he was apprehended and brought under guard to Ravenna. When the saint came into the king's presence and saluted him, Theodoric, seeing his venerable aspect and intrepid air, rose and returned his courtesy. He then spoke kindly with the bishop on the state of his city and after he had dismissed him said to those about him, "May God punish those who have been responsible for this holy man's undertaking so long a journey without cause. I trembled when he came in; he has the face of an angel. I can believe no harm of such a person." Theodoric sent to Caesarius a silver basin, with three hundred pieces of gold, and the message, "Receive the offering of the king, your son, and look on it as a token of friendship". Caesarius sold the basin and ransomed captives with the money. He went on to Rome, where Pope St Symmachus confirmed the metropolitan rights of Arles, recognized him as apostolic delegate in Gaul, and conferred the pallium, which St Caesarius is said to have been the first bishop in western Europe to receive.
St Caesarius returned to Arles in 554 and continued to watch over and instruct his people for many years. When the city was taken by the Franks in 536 he retired somewhat from public life and spent much time at the convent of St John. He made a will in favour of those nuns, and in his seventy-third year began to prepare finally for the death which he knew to be near. He asked how long it was to the festival of St Augustine, saying, I hope I shall die about that time; you know how much I always loved his truly Catholic doctrine". He caused himself to be carried in a chair to the monastery of his nuns, whom he endeavoured to prepare and comfort for the grief which he knew his death would give them; they were then above two hundred in number, and their superior was called Caesaria, and had succeeded his sister of the same name. St Caesarius, veritable teacher of Frankish Gaul ", died on the eve of the feast of St Augustine in 543.

We possess what may be called two early biographies of St Caesarius. Both of them, after having been printed by Mabillon and the Bollandists, have been critically edited by B. Knisch in MGH., Scirptores Merov., vol. iii, pp. 457-501. The authenticity of the saint's last will and testament has been called in question by the same critic, but it has been successfully vindicated by G. Morin in the Revue Bénédictine, vol. xvi (1899), pp. 97-112, who also provides a revised text. Two important monographs dealing with St Caesarius were published in 1894, the frst by B. F. Arnold, Caesarius von Arelate und die gallische Kirche seiner Zeit, the other by A. Malnory, St Cesaire Évêque d'Arles, and with these may be coupled a valuable summary by Lejay in DTC., vol. ii, cc. 2168-2185. But the scholar who had admittedly the most competent knowledge of the life and writings of Caesarius was Dom G, Morin. A list of his earlier contributions to the subject will be found in his Etudes, Textes, Découvertes (1913), pp. 41-45. He prepared an edition of the saint's sermons and other works (1937-42), the second volume of which includes the vita by Cyprian of Toulon. Dom Morin proved that Caesarius, if not himself the author, is at least the earliest writer to show familiarity with the so-called Athanasian Creed (Quicunque vult) and he was at one time inclined to identify him with the important canonical collection Statuta Ecclesiae antique, but this attribution is much contested. A useful, but not altogether reliable, modern life of St Caesarius is that of M. Chaillan in the series "Les Saints" that by A. Malnory (1934) is fuller and better.

Born at Châlons, Burgundy, France, c. 470; died at Arles, August 27 c. 542. Caesarius is depicted in art as a bishop led by people with candles. He is especially venerated at Arles, France (Roeder). This entry completed in 1999.

Cäsarius von Arles Katholische und Evangelische Kirche: 27. August
Cäsarius wurde um 470 in Burgund geboren und lebte als Mönch im Inselkloster Levines (bei Cannes). Als er wegen übermäßiger Fasten erkrankte, wurde er nach Arles gebracht. Der Bischof von Arles erwirkte seine Entlassung aus dem Kloster, weihte ihn zum Diakon und ließ ihn wenige Jahre später zu seinem Nachfolger wählen. Seine Amtszeit war durch den Zerfall des römischen Reiches und die Entwicklung der fränkischen Nationalkirche aus der alten römisch-gallischen Kirche geprägt. In diesen wirren Zeiten legte Cäsarius großes Gewicht auf das regelmäßige Gebet und die Schriftlesung. Die Kleriker der Bischofskirche hielten täglich 5 Stundengebete und Cäsarius lud die Gemeinde zur Teilnahme ein. Als Theoderich Arles 508 eroberte, setzte sich Cäsarius für die Gefangenen ein und scheute sich auch nicht, Kirchenschätze zum Freikauf Gefangener zu verwenden. Weil er auch Geschenke Theoderichs als Lösemittel verwendete, wurde er verhaftet und nach Ravenna gebracht. Hier erkannte ihn Theoderich als vollmächtigen Glaubenszeugen und ließ ihn frei. Cäsarius führte dann bis zu seinem Tod im Jahr 542 die gallische Kirche.

543 Caesarius Archbishop first in w Europe receive pallium from a pope
Caesarius was born in Chalons, Burgundy, France, in 470, of a French-Roman family. He spent a brief time as a monk in Lerins but was forced to depart from the community when he became ill. His uncle, the bishop of Arles, ordained Caesarius and sent him to reform a local monastery. He succeeded his uncle, Fonus, as bishop of ArIes in 503. Caesarius instituted many reforms, brought the Divine Office into the local parishes, and founded a convent, placing his sister St. Caesaria there as abbess, In 505, Caesarius was banished by the Gothic King Alaric II because of a lie. He was restored soon after. When Theodoric the Great, King of the Ostrogoths, besieged Arles, Caesarius was arrested, but he met with Theodoric and was pardoned. He then went to Rome where Pope St. Symmachus gave him the pallium and made him the apostolic delegate to France.When the Franks captured Arles in 536, Caesarius retired to St. John's Convent. He was revered for his more than forty years of service and for presiding over Church synods and councils, including the Council of Orange in 529.

548 Licerius (Lizier) Bishop of Couserans, France
He was born in Spain but became a French bishop in 506. He is also called Lizier.
Licerius (Lizier) of Counserans B (RM) Born in Lérida(?), Spain The Spanish Saint Licerius migrated to France. In 506, he became bishop of Counserans (now part of the see of Pamiers), which he governed for 44 years. The Roman Martyrology mistakenly calls him the bishop of Lérida (Ilerda) (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).

600 Syagrius (Siacre) of Autun hosted Saint Augustine of Canterbury on his way to England; though he was only a bishop he was granted permission to wear the pallium

Augustodúni sancti Syágrii, Epíscopi et Confessóris. At Autun, St. Syagrius, bishop and confessor.

SYAGRIUS is supposed to have been by birth a Gallo-Roman, and he was raised to the see of Autun about the year 560. He exercised great influence both in councils and in the training of persons in the Christian life. To his prudence was committed the difficult business of re-establishing tranquillity in the convent of the Holy Cross at Poitiers, where two nuns were in rebellion against their abbess; but the task was too much for him and the other bishops associated with him in it, and the rebels had to be excommunicated by a synod. Apparently this experience made the good bishop over-careful, for some years later we find him reproved by Pope St Gregory the Great for not preventing the marriage of a nun (named, curiously enough, Syagria) who had been abducted from her cloister. The pope nevertheless gave distinguishing marks of the esteem he had for the virtue and capacity of Syagrius. When he sent St Augustine with missionaries into England, he recommended them to him, and they were entertained by St Syagrius on their journey. Moreover, though he was only a bishop he was granted permission to wear the pallium, at the instance of Queen Brunhilda. King Gontran, who also greatly appreciated his abilities, chose St Syagrius for the companion of his journey when going to the baptism of Clotaire II; this took place at Nanterre in 591.

See the Acta Sanctorum, August, vol. vi, and Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux, vol. ii, p. 173.

feast day September 2 in some martyrologies. Bishop Syagrius of Autun (c. 560-600) was active in political and ecclesiastical affairs. He was involved in trying to re-establish peace in Saint Radegund's Holy Cross monastery at Poitiers. He travelled to Nanterre with King Saint Gontram of Burgundy for the baptism of Clotaire II. At the recommendation of Saint Gregory the Great, he hosted Saint Augustine of Canterbury on his way to England. That same holy pope entrusted many important commissions to Syagrius, granted him the pallium, and decreed that he and his successors should have precedence after the archbishop of Lyons. A celebrated relic of Saint Syagrius is displayed at Val-de-Grace in Paris (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).

602 Etherius (Alermius) of Lyons commended to Augustine of Canterbury Saint by Gregory the Great B (AC)
Saint Gregory the Great commended Saint Etherius to Augustine of Canterbury, who was en route from Rome to his see in England (Benedictines).

706 St. Decuman Hermit martyr Welsh; He lived as a recluse in Somersetshire, England
also called Dagan. He lived as a recluse in Somersetshire, England. There he was murdered in a fashion that led to his veneration as a martyr.

716 Decuman (Dagan) of Wales monk from Rhoscrowther M (AC)
feast day in Norwich and Roscarrock is August 30. A 15th-century vita tells us that Saint Decuman was a Welsh monk from Rhoscrowther (Llandegyman), Pembrokeshire (Dyfed), who settled as a hermit near Dunster in Somersetshire, where he was beheaded by an assassin while in prayer. The legend continues that he carried his own head to a nearby well. He appears to have had a well-established cultus in Cornwall, Wales, and Somerset, where there are dedications in his honor. He is the patron of Watchet and Saint Decumans in Somerset, England (Benedictines, Farmer). In art, Saint Decuman is portrayed as hermit holding a processional cross (Roeder).

740 Ebbo of Sens saved the city when it was besieged by Saracens in 725 OSB B (AC)
Born in Tonnerre, France. About 709, Saint Ebbo, a monk of Saint-Pierre-le-Vif, was consecrated bishop of Sens, France. He saved the city when it was besieged by Saracens in 725 (Benedictines).

813 John of Pavia Bishop of Pavia, in Lombardy

Papíæ sancti Joánnis Epíscopi. At Pavia, St. John, bishop.

John of Pavia B (RM). Bishop of Pavia, Lombardy, Italy, from 801 to 813 (Benedictines).

995 Gebhard of Constance founded the Benedictine monastery of Petershausen B (AC)
In 983, Bishop Gebhard of Constance (979-995) founded the Benedictine monastery of Petershausen near Constance, where he was buried (Benedictines). In art, Saint Gebhard is depicted as a bishop with a crowned skull bearing a papal tiara near him or on a book. He may be shown reaching his staff to a lame man or with the Blessed Virgin appearing to him. He is venerated at Petershausen (Roeder).

957 Blessed Agilo of Sithiu restore the monastic discipline OSB Abbot (PC)
Saint Gerard of Brogne invited Agilo, a monk of Saint-Aper in Toul, France, to restore the monastic discipline at Sithin's Saint Bertin (Benedictines).

995 St. John Bishop of Constance, France
Founder of the Benedictine Abbey of Petershausen. He founded the abbey in 983.

1040 Malrubius, Hermit entirely occupied by penitential exercises and meditation (AC)
Malrubius, an anchorite in Merns (Kincardineshire), Scotland, was entirely occupied by penitential exercises and meditation. During the Norwegian incursion he left his cell to minister to his countrymen. He also tried to use the opportunity to preach the Gospel to the intruders, but instead he was martyred (Benedictines, Husenbeth).

1114 Kuksha and Saint Pimen the Faster Hieromartyrs; Everyone knows that he cast out devils, baptized the Vyatichi, caused it to rain, dried up a lake, performed many other miracles, and after many torments was killed together with his disciple Nikon." The death of the hieromartyr Kuksha was revealed to St Pimen the Faster. Standing in the church of the Monastery of the Caves, he loudly exclaimed, "Our brother Kuksha was killed today for the Gospel." After saying this, he also surrendered his soul to God.
St Simon, Bishop of Vladimir and Suzdal (May 10), in a letter to St Polycarp, Archimandrite of the Caves (July 24), wrote of St Kuksha: "How can I worthily proclaim the glory of those saintly men dwelling in the holy Monastery of the Caves, in which pagans were baptized and became monks, and Jews accepted the holy Faith? But I cannot keep silent about the holy hieromartyr and Black-Robed Kuksha of this monastery. Everyone knows that he cast out devils, baptized the Vyatichi, caused it to rain, dried up a lake, performed many other miracles, and after many torments was killed together with his disciple Nikon."

The Vyatichi, among whom the hieromartyr Kuksha preached and died, were pagans living along the River Oka, and they occupied the area of the Orlov and Kaluga districts. St Nestor the Chronicler (October 27), writing about the Vyatichi, was shocked by their brutal customs and he added that they live "only for the present day," remaining unacquainted with the Law of God, and making their own law instead.

The Hieromartyr Kuksha preached to the Vyatichi during the era of St Theoctistus, Bishop of Chernigov (August 5). He was buried, as was St Pimen the Faster, in the Near Caves. The Monks of the Near Caves are commemorated on September 28.

1162 Blessed Ebbo of Hamberg (Hamburg), OSB Abbot

1255 Hugh or Little Hugh of Lincoln (AC)
THE charge against the Jews of a general practice of ritual murder, a charge which arose from the story of Little St William of Norwich in the twelfth century, has been amply refuted by both Jewish and Christian writers; nor has any particular sporadic example of it ever been proved. This does not do away with the possibility of accidental or deliberate killing of Christian children by Jews out of hatred for their religion (or even more of hatred for those that professed it), even to the extent of crucifixion and mockery of the passion of Christ; but this again has never been proved against them in any specific example, nor is there any evidence to show that the famous cases of William of Norwich and Hugh of Lincoln were exceptions to this.
The story is that Hugh was a child of nine years old, the son of a widow. On the occasion of some Jewish gathering at Lincoln one Koppin (or Jopin) enticed him into his house on July 31, 1255 where he was kept until the following August 27, a Friday. On that day Koppin and his fellows tortured and scourged him, crowned him with thorns and finally crucified him in derision. They tried to dispose of the body by burial, but the earth refused to cover it, and it was thrown down a well. Hugh's school-fellows directed suspicion towards the Jew's house and Koppin was arrested, together with ninety-two other Jews of the city. Koppin is alleged to have confessed the crime, to have denounced his accomplices, and to have stated (certainly falsely) that it was Jewish custom to crucify a Christian boy once a year. By an order of King Henry III and his parliament assembled at Reading, Koppin was dragged to death at the heels of a young horse and eighteen others were hanged at Lincoln. The remainder were imprisoned in London, but set free on payment of large fines. Their release was attributed to the kind offices of the Franciscans, who interceded for them; but Matthew Paris asserts that they were bribed to do this by the wealth of Jewry. Immediately Hugh's body was recovered from the well a blind woman was restored to sight on touching it and invoking the martyr; other miracles followed, and the chapter of Lincoln solemnly translated the relics from their parish church to a shrine next to the tomb of Grosseteste. It is impossible to tell now whether the Jews were innocent or guilty of the crime attributed to them; the widespread antisemitism of the middle ages encouraged the conviction that Hugh suffered in odium fidei. The account of Little St Hugh in Chaucer's Prioresse's Tale is well known, and both he and St William of Norwich were favourite ballad subjects; a pathetic song about William, with a sweet simple tune, was sung in country parts within living memory.

The account given above is that of Matthew Paris. The Burton Annalist attributes the intervention in favour of the Jews to the Dominicans, not to the Franciscans, and C. Trice Martin in his preface to the Regigirum Epistolarum J. Peckham (Rolls Series), vol. ii, pp. lxxxviii and xcvi, seems to agree with him. See also the French account described by T. D. Hardy in his Catalogue of British History, vol. iii, p. 144. Cf. further what has been said regarding these cases of supposed ritual murder under St Simon of Trent herein on March 24.

Died (Friday) August 27, 1255. This Hugh of Lincoln is another of the several boys who were said at various times and places to have been martyred by the Jews, often during the Paschal season. "Little" Hugh's legend is enshrined in Chaucer's Prioress's Tale. Hugh was said to have been lured into the home of a Jew name Koppin (of Joppin), who scourged the little boy, crowned him with thorns, crucified him, and then threw his body into a well. The story continues that when Koppin and other Jews were arrested, Koppin confessed the crime, denounced his co-religionist, and explained that it was the Jewish custom to crucify a Christian child annually. Some versions of the tale become outrageously gruesome. One reports that the child's nose and upper lip were cut off, some of his upper teeth broken, and after the crucifixion his side was pierced with a sword out of hatred for Christ. According to the evidence presented, it seems more likely that the eight-year-old fell into a cesspit while chasing a ball and was discovered a month later by Jews gathered for the wedding of the daughter of a chief rabbi. Fearing that they would be unjustly charged, they tried to hide the body. It was found with the stomach ruptured (the gases of corruption may have caused the stomach to burst) and 93 Jews were arrested. King Henry III conducted the trial concerning Hugh's death, which led to the execution of 19 Jews by hanging at Lincoln. (Another version says that they were dragged to death by horses.) The others were bailed out of prison by Franciscans who interceded for them and paid heavy fines. Miracles were reported when Hugh's body was recovered from the well. It should be noted that there is no evidence of any ritual killing of the type described (Benedictines, Delaney, Husenbeth, Shepperd)

1312 Blessed Angelus of Foligno, OSA Erem. founded three Augustinian houses in Umbria (AC)
1312 Bd Angelo of Foligno
This Angelo must not be confounded with Bd Angela of the same place. He was born at Foligno in 1226, the son of Bernard, Count of Torre and Vignole, and at the age of twenty became an Augustinian friar at Botriolo, near Cesena. In 1248 he was sent to his native town to found a house of the order there; ten years later, with Bd Ugolino Mevainati, he established another in an abandoned Benedictine house at Gualdo Cattaneo in Umbria; and in 1275 another at Montefalco, where he remained as prior till 1292. The last twenty years of his long and arduous life were spent in holy retirement at Foligno, where he died on August 27, 1312. Bd Angelo had as novice-master Bd John Buono, the converted clown, and was bound in friendship to St Nicholas of Tolentino ; he was himself venerated as a saint immediately alter his death, and his cultus was approved by the Holy See in 1891.

A short biographical notice with indication of authorities will be found in DHG., vol. iii c. 21. See also Seebock, Herrlichkeit der Katholilchen Kirche, p. 308; and Torelli, Ristretto delle Vite, etc.

Born in Foligno, Italy, 1226; cultus confirmed in 1891. Angelus entered the Augustinian friary when he was 20. Like Blessed Angelus of Borgo San Sepolcro, he was a good friend of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino. Angelus founded three Augustinian houses in Umbria (Benedictines).

1395 Margaret the Barefooted, Widow bore abuse with patience for many years (RM)
Apud Septempedános, in Picéno, sanctæ Margarítæ Víduæ. At San Severino, in Piceno, St. Margaret, widow.

St Margaret The Barefooted, Widow was born of a poor family at San Severino in the March of Ancona in the middle of the fourteenth century, and was married at the age of fifteen to a husband who ill-treated her. He was particularly annoyed at the nickname which the people gave her because she went about without shoes, making herself like one of those beggars whom she delighted to help. St Margaret bore this patiently for years until the man died, and she was free to pass the rest of her life unmolested in prayer and alms-deeds. Her body is entombed in the church of St Dominic at San Severino, and she is named in the Roman Martyrology on this day, having been added thereto by Cardinal Baronius.

A brief, but, in view of the lack of reliable materials, a fairly exhaustive account of this saint is given in the Acta Sanctorum, in the second volume for August under August 5. A fragment will there he found of a life by a contemporary, Pompilio Caccialupo.

Born at San Severino (near Ancona), Italy. At the age of 15, the poor girl Margaret was married to a man who abused her. She bore it with patience for many years (Benedictines).

1532 Blessed Gabriel Mary confessor of Saint Jane de Valois assisted in foundation the order of Annonciades (AC)
http://www.padrimariani.org/en/resources/r_pray_virtues.html

Gilbert Nicolas was born at Riom, near Clermont, in 1463 and at the age of sixteen sought admission among the Friars Minor at Meung and at Amboise; he was refused, because he looked a boy of very delicate health, but undeterred by the rebuff he journeyed on across Touraine and Poitou until he came to a friary near La Rochelle, where he again presented himself, without hiding that he had been refused elsewhere. The father guardian liked his pluck and accepted him. His novice master "had rather to use a bridle to restrain him from excess than a goad to urge him on", and Friar Gilbert proved an exemplary Franciscan, "no more kind or charitable man could be found". He became a very proficient philosopher and theologian, was made guardian of the friary that had turned him away at Amboise, and filled various other offices among the Friars Minor of France. In 1517 he attended the general chapter of his order at Rome, where he was elected commissary general for the Observants on this side of the Alps, an office which he held till the end of his life.
Long previously Friar Gilbert had been appointed confessor to St Joan of Valois who, after King Louis XII had obtained in 1498 a declaration that his marriage with her was null, had retired to Bourges and devoted herself to founding the Order of the Annunciation (Annonciades). She was assisted in this by her confessor, who obtained the approbation of the rule by Pope Alexander VI in 1502. He was named visitor general of the order, which he directed for thirty years, and Pope Leo X, struck by his love for the mystery of the Annunciation, gave him the name of Gabriel Mary by which he has since been called. He revised the constitutions of the order for the confirmation of Leo X, and he founded six convents of these nuns in France and the Netherlands. In 1521 he made a visitation of the Observant friaries in England. Throughout his life Gabriel Mary was distinguished by his devotion to our Lady, of whom he frequently preached and was never tired of speaking; he died with her Magnificat on his lips in the Annonciade convent of Rodez on August 27, 1532.

This feast does not seem to be kept liturgically by the Franciscans, though the Annonciades observe it but the cultus of Gabriel Mary has not been approved. A somewhat lengthy account of this servant of God is, however, to he found in Léon, Auréole Séraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. iii, pp. 74—87. See the article by J. F. Bonnefoy in Revue d’ascétique et de mystique, t. xvii (1936), pp. 252—273; Vies de Ia bse Jeanne de France et du bx Gabriel-Marie (1937); and the bibliographical note to St Joan of France on February 4.

Born near Clermont, France, in 1463; cultus approved in 1647. Gilbert Nicholas felt called to the religious life, but he was rejected by several. He was finally received into the Franciscan Observant house of Notre-Dame-de-la-Fon near Rochelle, where he took the name Gabriel Mary. He was the confessor of Saint Jane de Valois and assisted her in the foundation of the order of Annonciades (Benedictines). In art, Blessed Gabriel Mary is generally portrayed with Blessed Jane de Valois, a crowned abbess with rosary and crucifix (Roeder).

1648 St. Joseph Calasanctius Founder of Scolopi or Piarists The Clerks Regular of The Religious Schools entered into a holy rivalry with his friend St Camillus of Lellis as to who should expend himself the more freely in the service of the sick and dying
Sancti Joséphi Calasánctii, Presbyteri et Confessóris, qui Ordinis Clericórum Regulárium Páuperum Matris Dei Scholárum Piárum éxstitit Fundátor, atque octávo Kaléndas Septémbris obdormívit in Dómino.
St. Joseph Calasanctius, priest and confessor, who founded the Order of Poor Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of the Christian Schools. He fell asleep in the Lord on the 25th of August.

St Joseph Calasanctius, Founder of The Clerks Regular of The Religious Schools

Joseph Calasanctius was the youngest of five children borne by Maria Gaston to her husband Pedro Calasanz. He was born in his father's castle near Peralta de Ia Sal in Aragon in the year 1556, and in due course was sent to study the humanities at Estadilla, where his virtue and religious observances were regarded with considerable disrespect by his fellow-students. His father wanted him to be a soldier, but Joseph had other ideas and induced Don Pedro instead to send him to the University of Lerida, where he took his doctorate in law before going on to Valencia. It is said that he left this university in order to escape the attentions of a young kinswoman, who subjected him to a temptation similar to that undergone by his namesake many centuries before at the court of Pharaoh certainly he continued his theology at Alcalá, and in 1583 he was ordained priest, being already twenty-eight years old.
Soon the fame of Joseph's wisdom, learning and goodness was spread abroad, and after varied experience he was appointed by the bishop of Urgel vicar general of the district of Trempe. He was so successful here that he was sent to deal with the Pyrenean part of the diocese, which comprises the valleys of Andorra of which the bishop of Urgel was joint sovereign prince (he still holds the title) as well as ordinary. This lonely and inaccessible region was in a terrible state of religious and moral disorder, and St Joseph conducted a long and arduous visitation of which the first task was to bring the clergy to a sense of their responsibilities and obligations; on its completion he returned to Trempe and remained there until he was made vicar general of the whole diocese.
For some time Joseph had been listening to an interior call to undertake a quite different sort of work; at length he resigned his office and benefices, divided his patrimony between his sisters and the poor, reserving a sufficient income for himself, endowed several charitable institutions, and in 1592 left Spain for Rome. Here Joseph met an old friend of Alcalá, Ascanio Colonna, already a cardinal, and for five years he was under the direct patronage of the Colonnas. During the plague of 1595 he distinguished himself by his devotion and fearlessness, and entered into a holy rivalry with his friend St Camillus of Lellis as to who should expend himself the more freely in the service of the sick and.dying.

During these years St Joseph never lost sight of the work which had drawn him to Rome, namely, the instruction of young children, of whom there were so many, neglected or homeless, in the most urgent need of interest and care. He had become a member of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, whose business it was to teach both children and adults on Sundays and feast-days, and in so doing was brought home vividly to St Joseph the state of degradation and ignorance in which so many of the children of the poor lived. He was soon convinced that periodical instruction was utterly inadequate to cope with the situation; and that free day-schools for both religious and secular education were required. He therefore first of all invited the official parish-schoolmasters to admit poor pupils to their schools without payment, but they would not undertake the extra work without a rise in salary, and this the Roman senate refused to grant.
He approached the Jesuits and the Dominicans, but neither order could see a way to extending its activities, for their members were already fully engaged. St Joseph then came to the conclusion that it was God's will that he should begin the work himself, single-handed if necessary. Don Antonio Brendani, parish-priest of Santa Dorotea, offered him the use of two rooms and his own services, two more priests joined them, and in November 1597 a public free school was opened. At the end of a week the school had a hundred pupils and before long many more, and the founder had to engage paid teachers from among the unbeneficed clergy of the city.
In 1599 it was moved into new quarters and St Joseph obtained permission from Cardinal Ascanio to leave the Colonna household and take up his residence on the school premises with the other masters; they lived a quasi-community life and the founder acted as superior. During the following couple of years the pupils increased to seven hundred, and in 1602 another move was made, to a large house adjoining the church of Sant' Andrea della Valle. While hanging a bell in the courtyard St Joseph fell from a ladder and broke his leg, an accident the effects of which were a source of lameness and pain for the rest of his life.
Pope Clement VIII having made a grant towards the rent, and people of consequence having begun to send their children to the school, the parish-schoolmasters and others began to criticize it with some vehemence; complaints of its disorders were made to the pope and he directed Cardinals Antoniani and Baronius to pay it a surprise visit of inspection. This was done and as a result of their report Clement took the institution under his immediate protection.

In similar circumstances the same course was taken and the grant doubled in 1606 by Paul V.

These difficulties were the beginning of trials and persecutions which beset St Joseph until the end of his life. Nevertheless during the succeeding five years the work prospered and grew in spite of all opposition, and in 1611 a palazzo was purchased to house it near the church of San Pantaleone; there were about a thousand pupils, including a number of Jews whom the founder himself invited to attend and encouraged by his kindness.
Other schools were opened, and in 1621 the teachers were recognized as a religious order, of which St Joseph was named superior general. e did not let the cares of the generalate diminish either religious observances or his care for the needy, the sick, and any to whom he could be of service. About this time there came to Rome, with his wife and family, an English gentleman, Mr Thomas Cocket, who by abjuring Protestantism had brought himself within reach of the penal laws. St Joseph assisted him, and the pope followed his example assigning a pension to the refugee converts. For ten years the congregation continued to prosper and extend, and spread from Italy into the Empire.

In 1630, the institute at Naples admitted one Mario Sozzi, a middle-aged priest, who in due course was professed. For several years his froward and perverse behaviour made him a great nuisance to his brethren but, having by a show of zeal gained the good will and influence of the Holy Office, he contrived to get himself, in 1639, made provincial of the Clerks Regular of the Religious Schools in Tuscany, with extraordinary powers and independence of the superior general. He proceeded to administer the province in the most capricious and damaging way, harmed as much as he could the reputation of St Joseph with the Roman authorities, and at length denounced him to the Holy Office.
Cardinal Cesarini, as protector of the new institute and in order to vindicate Joseph, ordered Father Mario's papers and letters to be seized these included some documents of the Holy Office and that congregation, spurred on by Sozzi, straightway had St Joseph arrested and carried through the streets like a felon.
He was brought before the assessors and only saved from imprisonment by the intervention of Cardinal Cesarini. Father Mario was unpunished, and continued to plot for control of the whole institute, representing St Joseph to be too old and doddering for the responsibility he managed by deceit to get him suspended from the generalate and contrived that a visitor apostolic be appointed who was favourable to himself. This visitor and Father Mario became in effect in supreme command, and St Joseph was subjected by them to the most humiliating, insulting and unjust treatment, while the order was reduced to such confusion and impotence that the loyal members were unable to persuade the superior authorities of the true state of affairs.
Towards the end of 1643 Mario died and was succeeded by Father Cherubini, who pursued the same policy. St Joseph bore these trials with marvellous patience, urging the order to obey his persecutors for they were defacto in authority, and on one occasion sheltering Cherubini from the violent opposition of some of the younger fathers who were indignant at his treachery.
The Holy See had some time previously set up a commission of cardinals to look into the whole matter, and at length in 1645 it ordered the reinstatement of St Joseph as superior general. This announcement was received with great joy but it led at once to renewed efforts on the part of the malcontents, who had the support of an aggrieved female relative of the pope. They were successful, and in 1646 Pope Innocent X published a brief of which the effect was to make the Clerks Regular of the Religious Schools simply a society of priests subject to their respective bishops. Thus in his ninetieth year St Joseph saw the apparent overturning of all his work by the authority to which he was so greatly devoted and the indirect disgrace of himself before the world when the news was brought to him he simply murmured,

"The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."

The business of drawing up new constitutions and regulations for the shattered institute of Religious Schools was entrusted to Father Cherubini, but within a few months he was convicted by the auditors of the Rota of the maladministration of the Nazarene College, of which he was rector. He retired from Rome in disgrace, but returned in the following year to die, repentant of the part he had played and reconciled to St Joseph, who consoled him on his death-bed. A few months later, on August 25, 1648, St Joseph himself died, and was buried in the church of San Pantaleone he was ninety-two years old.
There is an obvious parallel between this history and that of St Alphonsus Liguori and the early days of the Redemptorists, and during the troubles of his young congregation St Alphonsus used to encourage and fortify himself by reading the life of St Joseph Calasanctius; he was canonized in 1767, six years before the death of Alban Butler, who only gives to him a brief notice, wherein he is referred to as "a perpetual miracle of fortitude and another Job"-a comparison made by Cardinal Lambertini (afterwards Pope Benedict XIV) before the Congregation of Sacred Rites in 1728.
The failure of St Joseph's foundation was only apparent. Its suppression was strongly objected to in several places, and it was reconstituted with simple vows in 1656 and restored as a religious order in 1669. Today the Clerks Regular of the Religious Schools (commonly called Piarists or Scolopi) flourish in various parts of the world.

The documents submitted in the process of beatification and canonization have been largely utilized by the biographers of St Joseph Calasanctius, and this is notably the case in the life written in Italian in the eighteenth century, a translation of which was published in the Oratorian Series edited by Father Faber (1850). The earliest detailed account of Calasanctius seems to have been compiled by one of his religious sons, Father Mussesti, for the information of Pope Alexander VII, less than twenty years after the saint's death. A considerable number of biographies have since appeared in Italian, French, Spanish and German. Those by Timon-David (1883), Tommasee (1898), Casanovas y Sanz (1930), Heidenreich (1907), Giovanozzi (1930) and Santoloci (1948) may be specially mentioned. See also Heimbucher, Orden, und Kongregationen der Kat. Kirche, vol. iii, pp. 287-296 and Pastor, Geschichte der Papste, especially vol. xi, pp. 431-433 (Eng. trans.).

1679 David Lewis, SJ Priest Rome spiritual director for English college alias Charles Baker farmhouse at Cwm (Monnow Valley) headquarters for 31 years; a handkerchief dipped in his blood had been the occasion of the cure of an epileptic child and of other miracles.
DAVID LEWIS (alias Charles Baker) was a Monmouthshire man, son of Morgan Lewis, a Protestant member of a recusant family, and Margaret Prichard, a Catholic. All their nine children were brought up Catholics except, curiously enough, the future martyr. He was born in 1616 and lived at Abergavenny, where he was educated at the Royal Grammar School (his grand-uncle, the Venerable Father Augustine Baker, Bd Philip Powell, and others had preceded him there); at the age of sixteen he was entered at the Middle Temple, but after three years in London went abroad as tutor to the son of Count Savage, and it is probable that he was reconciled to the Church while staying in Paris.
He returned home to Abergavenny for a couple of years, and in 1638 entered the Venerabile at Rome. He was ordained priest in 1642 and two years later became a Jesuit novice. In 1646 he was sent to the mission, but such was the impression he left behind him that he was almost at once recalled to Sant'Andrea and made spiritual director of the English College. In 1648 the Jesuit father general again sent him to Wales and he had his head-quarters at the Cwm, an obscure hamlet on the Hereford-Monmouth border; here in a large farmhouse was the College of St Francis Xavier, which from 1625 to 1678 was the Jesuit centre in the west of England and the shelter and refuge of hunted priests for miles around. For the next thirty-one years he worked in this border-land, which was full of recusants: "a zealous seeker after the lost sheep, fearless in dangers, patient in labours and sufferings, and so charitable to his indigent neighbours as to be commonly called the father of the poor", in Welsh, "tad y tlodion
In 1678 Thus Oates discovered his "popish plot ". When the anti-Catholic panic reached Monmouthshire the Jesuits got ready to leave the Cwm and cover up their tracks, and they did so only just in time. The Cwm was sacked by the sheriff's men, who found pictures of saints, "also crucifixes and bottles of oyle, reliques, an incense-pot, a mass-bell, surplices and other habits, boxes of white wafers, stamps with Jesuitical devices", and a number of books which are still in the cathedral library at Hereford.
Father Lewis was by then safely in hiding at Llanfihangel Llantarnam; but there was a woman, Dorothy James, wife of a servant of Father Lewis, and now apostates both, who had tried to get some money from him on false pretences, and she was going about the streets of Caerleon saying that "she would wash her hands in Mr Lewis's blood, and would have his head to make porridge of, as a sheep's head". James found out his refuge, denounced him, and he was taken by six dragoons early on Sunday morning, November 17, just as he was going to celebrate Mass. John Arnold of Llanfihangel Crucorney and two other magistrates conveyed him into Abergavenny, where the recorder was wakened from his Sunday after-dinner nap, and in a room of the Golden Lion inn David Lewis was committed to Monmouth jail. Here he remained till the following January 13: "I was kept close prisoner, locked up at night and barred up by day, though indeed friends by day had access unto me, with an underkeeper's leave". Then he was removed to Usk, "and it snowing hard on the way, we alighted at Raglan to warm and refresh ourselves. While I was there a messenger comes to the door and desires to speak to me. His business was that a very good friend of mine, one Mr Ignatius, alias Walter Price [s.j.], lay dying about half a mile off thence." Being able to do no more, Father Lewis sent him his best wishes for his soul's passage out of this turbulent world into an eternity of rest, and so went forward with his keepers to his new prison of Usk".

He was tried at the March assizes before Sir Robert Atkins, and was condemned for his priesthood, chiefly on the evidence of James and his wife though, on the prisoner's strong protest, the judge exonerated him from "a foul aspersion" being circulated in a pamphlet, viz, that he had cheated a woman out of £30. The words of the sentence, as used in all such cases, have a grim interest: "David Lewis, thou shalt be led from this place to the place from whence thou camest, and shalt be put upon a hurdle and drawn with thy heels forward to the place of execution, where thou shalt be hanged by the neck and be cut down alive, thy body to be ripped open and thy bowels plucked out; thou shalt be dismembered and thy members burnt before thy face, thy head to be divided from thy body, thy four quarters to be separated, and to be disposed of at his Majesty's will. So the Lord have mercy on thy soul!" And so it was done. But not before this old man, together with Bd John Kemble who was much older, had been made to ride up to London to be examined by the Privy Council touching the plot, about which they could tell them nothing because there was nothing to tell "and conform I would not, for it was against my conscience".
On August 27, 1679, at some spot on or near the site of the present Catholic church at Usk, the gallows was set up by a bungling amateur (he was a convict, who thus earned his freedom), the official executioner having decamped with his assistants.
From the scaffold Bd David made a ringing speech. "I die for conscience and religion, and dying upon such good scores, as far as human frailty permits I die with alacrity, interior and exterior.. Here, methinks, I feel flesh and blood ready to burst into loud cries `Tooth for tooth, eye for eye, blood for blood, life for life` `No` exclaims the holy gospel. `Forgive and you shall be forgiven 'I profess myself a child of the gospel, and the gospel I obey...Friends, fear God, honour your king, be firm in your faith, avoid mortal sin by frequenting the sacraments of Holy Church, patiently bear your persecutions and afflictions, forgive your enemies. Your sufferthgs are great. I say, be firm in your faith to the end, yea, even to death...The crowd threatened to stone the proxy hangman, who ran away, and a blacksmith was bribed to take his place-but no one would employ him after at his own trade. The body of Bd David Lewis was buried in the neighbouring churchyard, and within a short time a handkerchief dipped in his blood had been the occasion of the cure of an epileptic child and of other miracles.

In the case of this martyr we are fortunate in possessing his own account of his arrest, imprisonment and trial a summary of the proceedings in court, and also a copy of the speech (written out in prison beforehand) which he delivered to the assembled crowd at the time of his execution. All these have been utilized in the admirable sketch contributed to St Peter's Magazine (Cardiff) in 1923 by J. H. Canning under the general title of "The Titus Oates Plot in S. Wales and the Marches". See also REPSJ., vol. v. pp. 912 seq. MMP., pp. 557-561. T. P. Ellis, Catholic Martyrs of Wales (1932), pp. 129-140; and Catholic Record Society Publications, vol. xlvii (1953), pp. 299-304.

Born at Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, Wales, in 1616; died at Usk, August 27, 1679; beatified in 1929; canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

David was the son of a Protestant school teacher and a Catholic mother. Amazingly enough, he was the only one of the nine siblings to have been raised as a Protestant--but that did not last for long. After studying law at the Middle Temple in London, he accompanied a nobleman's son to the Continent as his tutor. While visiting Paris, David was converted to Catholicism.
By 1638, he was studying for the priesthood at the English college in Rome. Two years after his ordination in 1642, he joined the Jesuits, who sent him to the English mission for a short time, then recalled him to Rome to serve as the spiritual director for the English college.
In 1648, David was sent to Wales, where he used the alias Charles Baker and a farmhouse at Cwm (Monnow Valley) in southern Wales as his headquarters for the next 31 years. This same inconspicuous building was the College of Saint Francis Xavier, the center for Jesuit missionary activities in western England. When the persecution of Catholics was unleashed by the fictitious Titus Oates Plot, David escaped Cwm but was betrayed by a servant and captured at Llanfihangel Llantarnam. Following a two-month imprisonment at Monmouth, he was tried at Usk. Although no evidence could be found to link him to the conspiracy, he was convicted of being a Catholic priest, hanged, drawn, and quartered.
He is buried in a now Anglican parish in Usk, with a prominent grave stone giving the details of his canonization in Latin and English. There is an annual, well-attended pilgrimage to Usk, which begins with Mass at the Catholic church and continues with a processional Rosary to Saint David's grave (Benedictines, Delaney).

1849 Blessed Dominic of the Mother of God, born Dominic Barberi (22 June 1792 - 27 August 1849) was an Italian theologian and a member of the Passionist Congregation. He was beatified by Pope Paul VI in 1963.
Dominic received an interior call which led him to believe that he was called to preach the Gospel in far off lands, later he would affirm that he had received a specific call to preach to the people of England Saint Paul of the Cross, founder of the Passionist Congregation, also had a great enthusiasm for the conversion of England.

Barberi was born near Viterbo.
His parents were peasant farmers and died while Dominic was still a small boy, and he was adopted by his maternal uncle, Bartolomeo Pacelli. As a boy he was employed to take care of sheep, and when he grew older he did farm work. He was taught his letters by a Capuchin priest, and learned to read from a country lad of his own age; although he read all the books he could obtain, he had no regular education until he entered the Passionists. He was deeply religious from childhood, though experienced a period, caused by reading sensual and anti-religious texts, whereby he lost all the fervour of his childhood. During this period however he still kept up his usual devotions and his former fervour returned upon the arrival of four Passionists into the area. These Passionists had been displaced from their community in accordance with Napoleon's suppression of religious communities in the Papal States. Dominic befriend these Passionists and served daily Mass with them.

When Barberi was one of the few men of his locality not chosen for military conscription he felt it was a clear sign from God that he should enter a religious community. However, the suppression of such communities meant that Dominic would have to wait. In the meantime he discussed his vocation with the Passionists who promised him that once the Congregation was re-established they would receive him as a lay brother. During this period Dominic received an interior call which led him to believe that he was called to preach the Gospel in far off lands, later he would affirm that he had received a specific call to preach to the people of England Saint Paul of the Cross, founder of the Passionist Congregation, also had a great enthusiasm for the conversion of England.

He was received into the Congregation of the Passion in 1814 after the re-establishment of the religious orders in the Papal States. Initially Dominic was accepted as a lay brother, but once his extraordinary gifts were revealed his status was changed to that of a clerical novice, in an extraordinary break with custom. During his studies Dominic's brilliance was an example to his fellow students, though he would often take steps to hide his intelligence. He was ordained priest on 1 March, 1818, after which was filled with immense fervour and joy. Soon afterwards Dominic experienced a spiritual voice which told him that was to become a victim for the conversion of England.

After completing the regular course of studies, he taught philosophy and theology to the students of the congregation as lector for a period of ten years, first in Sant'Angelo and then in Rome. It was during this time that he produced his many theological and philosophical works. In the summer of 1830 he was asked to aid an English convert to Catholicism, Sir Henry Trelawney, with regard to the rubrics of the Mass. Through this meeting Dominic made the acquaintance of Ignatius Spencer and other influential English Catholics, such as Ambrose Phillips. This was to be the first step in the long journey which eventually brought Blessed Dominic to England. Through his continued correspondence with these persons Dominic's hopes for England's conversion were kept alive.

He then held in Italy the offices of rector, provincial consultor, and provincial, and fulfilled the duties of these positions with ability. At the same time he constantly gave missions and retreats, always mindful of his hopes to travel and preach in England. In 1839 the Passionist General Chapter met and discussed the possibility of making a foundation in England, however the decision was never met. Finally in January 1840 negotiations were completed with regard to a Passionist foundation at Ere in Belgium, the superiors, mindful of Dominic's singular vocation to England, in spite of his age and ill health, sent Dominic to be superior of the Belgian mission.

The first Passionist Retreat in Belgium was founded at Ere near Tournai in June 1840. On arrival in Belgium the local bishop was so unimpressed with Dominic's plebeian appearance that he was subjected to intense examination in moral theology before being allowed to hear confessions. Life in Belgium posed plenty of problems for the Passionists; one of the Brothers had fallen ill, the community was in abject poverty and Dominic had few words of French. Dominic's spirit rose to the occasion and soon the community was flourishing and even Dominic enjoyed good health. In September Dominic received a letter from Bishop Wisemann, the head of the English mission, inviting Dominic to make a Passionist foundation in England at Aston Hall. Dominic, with the permission of the Passionist General, visited the site in November 1840, though Ignatius Spencer warned Dominic that the situation in England would mean this would not be a favourable time to make such a foundation. Dominic set out for England once more in October 1841 where he was greeted with stares and suspicion, not only as a Catholic priest, but for the strange garb of the Passionist habit. J. Brodrick S.J. in his work on the 'Second Spring' of Catholicism in England, says of Father Dominic's arrival;

“The second spring did not begin when Newman was converted nor when the hierarchy was restored. It began on a bleak October day of 1841, when a little Italian priest in comical attire shuffled down a ship's gangway at Folkstone.”

After many months of waiting at Oscott College, Dominic finally secured possession of Aston Hall and so in February, 1842, after twenty-eight years of effort, he established the Passionists in England, at Aston Hall, Staffordshire. The reception of Dominic and his fellow Passionists was less than welcoming. The local Catholics feared the arrival of these newcomers would cause renewed persecutions. Dominic was also met with ridicule; his attempts to read prayers in English were met with the laughter of his congregation. The community increased in numbers and as the people of Aston grew to know Dominic they became enamoured of him and Dominic soon began to receive a steady stream of converts. A centre was also set up in neighboring Stone where Dominic would say Mass and preach to the local populace. Opposition to Dominic was also present here where on his journeys to the Mass centre local youths would throw rocks as Dominic, though two youths took to the decision to become Catholics when they were greatly edified to see Dominic kiss each rock that hit him and place it in is pocket. During many of these frequent attacks Dominic was lucky to escape death. Local Protestant ministers often held anti - Catholic lectures and sermons to ward the people away from Blessed Dominic and the Catholics. Wilson records how one of these ministers followed Dominic along a street shouting out various arguments against transsubstantiation, Dominic was silent, but as the man was about to turn off, Dominic retorted;

“Jesus Christ said over the consecrated elements, “This is my body” you say “No. It is not his body!” Who then am I to believe? I prefer to believe Jesus Christ.”

Converts increased at Stone, so much so that a new church had to be built. It was at Aston however that on 10 June 1844 the first Corpus Christi procession was held in the British Isles, an event which attracted thousands of Catholics and Protestants alike. Dominic then began to visit other parishes and religious communities in order to preach, such 'missions' as they are called caused Dominic's reputation to become widely known in England. These missions frequently took place in the industrial cities of northern England, such as Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham.

Whilst in Italy and latterly in Belgium, Dominic had always kept up a keen interest in the Oxford Movement. In 1841 a letter by John Dobree Dalgairns appeared in L'Univers explaining the position of the Anglican High Church party. Dominic decided to respond to this letter which he believed represented the views of the entire faculty of Oxford University (Dalgairns was an undergraduate when he had written the letter). In his 'Letter to University Professors at Oxford' Dominic describes his long hopes for the conversion of England and his belief that the men of Oxford would be instrumental in such a conversion. The letter, through the help of Ignatius Spencer eventually ended up in the hands of Dalgairns who was residing with John Henry Newman at Littlemore. Dominic repudiated the Anglican claim that the 39 Articles could be interpreted in a Catholic light. In their continued correspondence Dalgairns and Dominic debated the Catholic position and Dalgairns requested copies of the Passionist Rule and Dominic's 'The Lament of England'. Eventually Dalgairns was received into the Catholic Church by Dominic at Aston in September 1845.

In October of that same year Dominic visited Littlemore where Newman made his confession to him. Newman relates in his Apologia of how Dominic arrived soaked from the rain and as he was drying himself by the fire Newman knelt and asked to be received into the Catholic Church. This event is marked by a sculpture in the Catholic Church of Blessed Dominic Barberi at Littlemore. Two of Newman's companions at Littlemore were also received and Dominic celebrated Mass for them the following morning. Newman and Dominic always afterward followed each others careers.

The community at Aston had reached fifteen religious and in 1846 a new foundation was made at Woodchester in Gloucestershire and in 1848 the Passionists arrived in London. In the last years of his life Dominic engaged in negotiations for the foundation of St. Anne's Retreat, Sutton where today he lies buried. In 1847 The Honorable George Spencer, Dominic's long standing friend was received into the Congregation of the Passion. Throughout this time Dominic fulfilled his duties in preaching missions and heading the English and Belgian foundations. The number of his converts during this time is immeasurable.

One story told of Dominic during this time that expresses his joyful sense of humour is that once he was visiting a convent of nuns who were instructing many converts, some of them male. Dominic was informed that some of the sisters were worried about teaching men, Dominic retorted “Have no fear, Sisters. You are all too old and too ugly.”

The Sisters appreciated Dominic's humour so much that they recorded the incident in their archives.

All such work inevitably took its toll upon Father Dominic's health and from 1847 he insisted that his life had nearly run its course. He had preached numerous retreats, both alone and with Father Ignatius, both in England and Ireland. On 27 August 1849 Dominic was travelling from London to Woodchester when, at Pangbourne, he suffered a heart attack. On being taken to the Railway Tavern at Reading (later the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel, now demolished) he died after being given absolution.

He was buried in St Anne's Church, St Helens, Merseyside, which is also the shrine of the Servants of God Elizabeth Prout and Ignatius Spencer. Barberi was beatified by Pope Paul VI in 1963, during the Second Vatican Council.

Barberi is best remembered for his part in Newman's conversion, but is also commemorated for his work in the efforts to return England to the Catholic faith in the 19th century. In his short years in England Dominic established three churches, several chapels and preached innumerable missions and received hundreds of converts, not only Newman, but others such as Spencer and Dalgairns.

Among Barberi's works are: courses of philosophy and moral theology; a volume on the Passion of Our Lord; a work for nuns on the Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin, “Divina Paraninfa”; a refutation of de Lamennais; three series of sermons; various controversial and ascetical works. In 1841 he addressed a Latin letter to the professors of Oxford in which he answered the objections and explained the difficulties of Anglicans. One of Blessed Dominic's most famed works was his 'Lamentation of England' whereby he used the words of the Prophet Jeremiah to express the lamentations of English Catholics.

Euthalia of Lentini VM s presumed virgin martyr of Leontini, Sicily (RM)
The Bollandists are unconvinced of the existence of this presumed virgin martyr of Leontini, Sicily (Benedictines).

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

THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 48

My heart is ready, O Lady, my heart is ready: to sing praises to thee and to chant.

Greater is thy love than all riches: and thy grace is above gold and precious stones.

Beatitude and justice are given by God:
for those who turn away from their sins to thee shall obtain the remedy of penance.

Thy fruits are grace and peace: and those who please thee shall be far from perdition.

Be to us a shade of protection in our temptations: let the spreading of thy wings defend us from him who devours.

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

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

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Saint Frances Xavier Seelos Practical Guide to Holiness

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meeting of the Saints walis (saints of Allah)

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

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

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

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Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey

Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament

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

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

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

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

America's First Basilica Largest Nave in the World

August 7, 1907-ground broke for the foundation

by Archbishop Ireland-laying cornerstone May 31, 1908

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

Index to Part I and Part II 1932

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

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

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

Member -- St. Paul Seminary faculty.

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

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

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

Saints Simon (saw), Bartholomew (knife), James the Lesser (book), John (eagle), Andrew (transverse cross), Peter keys), Paul (sword), James the Greater (staff), Thomas (carpenter's square), Philip (serpent), Matthew (book), and Jude sword

Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel
It Makes No Sense Not To Believe In GOD

THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi.

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

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

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

By Father John Corapi

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

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

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

About Father John Corapi.

Father Corapi is a Catholic priest .

The pillars of father's preaching are basically:

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

God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LINKS:
Marian Apparitions (over 2000) India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes Feb 11- July 16, Loreto, Italy 1858
China Marian shrines May 23, 1995 Zarvintisya Ukraine Lourdes Kenya national Marian shrine    Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798
Links to Related Marian Websites Angels and Archangels
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Apostles Roman Catholic Popes Purgatory Uniates, 48 2023