Mary Mother of GOD
Saints of this Day August  30 Tértio Kaléndas Septémbris
Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins. Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!  (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
Pope Benedict XVI to The Catholic Church In China {whole article here }
rose_of_lima.jpg
Sanctæ Rosæ a Sancta María, e tértio Ordine sancti Domínici,
Vírginis; cujus dies natális nono Kaléndas Septémbris recensétur.
The feast of St. Rose of St. Mary, virgin of the Third Order of St. Dominic,
whose birthday is recalled on the 24th of August.

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

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

  Holy Father's Prayer Intentions For 2009 Pope Benedict's general prayer intention for August is:
"That public opinion may be more aware of the problems of millions of displaced persons and refugees,
and that concrete solutions may be found for their often tragic situation".
  His mission intention is: "That those Christians who are discriminated against and persecuted in many countries because of the name of Christ may have their human rights, equality and religious freedom recognised,
in order to be able to live and profess their own faith freely".


        St. Gaudentia A virgin martyr of Rome
  250 Ss Boniface and Thecla and their 12 children were all martyred at Hadrumetum in Africa MM (RM)
 304 St. Felix Priest and "Adauctus" Roman martyrs "Felix, truly and rightly named, for you were happy to have confessed Christ and looked for the kingdom of heaven, despising the prince of this world and departing with you faith unimpaired. Adauctus, too, another conqueror, reveals, my brothers, the most precious faith which hastened his journey to heaven."--inscription on the tomb of Saints Felix and Adauctus.
        St. Paulinus, a bishop, the birthday of At Treves, exiled for the Catholic faith by the Arian emperor
        Constantius, in the time of the Arian persecution

        Caesidius, priest, and companions, At Transaco, in the Marches near Lake Fucino, birthday of holy martyrs
  410 St. Pammachius Roman senator and a friend of St. Jerome built a hospice at Porto for poor and sick pilgrims coming to Rome (the first such in the West); had a church in his house (a site now occupied by the Passionists' SS. Peter and Paul Church)
   Sixty blessed martyrs At Colonia Suffetulana in Africa
5th v. Saint Loarn of Downpatrick disciple of Saint Patrick (AC)
  483 St. Rumon believed consecrated bishop by St. Patrick
  650 St. Agilus abbot of Rebais near Paris; advice of Saint Columbanus parents consecrated him to God
  670 St. Fiacre Abbot hermit cured all manner of diseases
  950 St. Pelagius, Arsenius, and Sylvanus  Martyrs in Spain put to death by Moors
  980 Saint Fantinus of Calabria monk in Calabria at the Basilian monastery of Saint Mercury Abbot moved to
        Salonika, where his miracles and virtues made him famous

1026 St. Bononius Benedictine missionary and abbot preach in Egypt and Syria
1050 St. Peter of Trevi  Peacher confessor brilliant preacher among peasant communities of Anagni, Subiaco, and
        Tivoli
.  He died while still a young man, at Trevi, near Subiaco
1259 Blessed Bronislava of Poland cousin of the Dominican Saint Hyacinth of Poland O.Praem. V (AC)
1588 Bl. Edward Shelley English martyr of Warminghurst sheltered priests
1588 Blessed John Roche refused revealing priests; executed M (AC)
1588 Margaret Ward one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales M (RM)
1588 Bl. Richard Leigh  English priest martyr
1588 St. Richard Martin  English martyr shelter to priests
1617 St. Rose of Lima patroness of Latin America and the Philippines miracles
1869 St. Narcisa de Jesús Martillo (Narcisa de Jesús Martillo y Morán; 29 October 1832 – 8 December 1869) is a saint from Nobol, Ecuador. She was a laywoman known for her charitable giving and strict devotion, becoming a consecrated virgin. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on October 25, 1992 and canonized on October 12, 2008 by Pope Benedict XVI.[ Today her body lies in repose at the Santuario de Santa Narcisa de Jesus Martillo y Morán in Nobol, Ecuador.
1879 St. Jeanne Jugan ( Sister Mary of the Cross) developed special love for aged, particularly poor widows; At 47 several other women moved into Jeanne’s home, they became an informal prayer community eventually elected Jeanne superior; supported themselves through domestic work; in free time they catechized children, aided the poor as best they could. Over time the community became known as congregation of the Little Sisters of the Poor. Their members, who begged for needs of the elderly in their care, vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and hospitality.

"Felix, truly and rightly named, for you were happy to have confessed Christ and looked for the kingdom of heaven, despising the prince of this world and departing with you faith unimpaired. Adauctus, too, another conqueror, reveals, my brothers, the most precious faith which hastened his journey to heaven."
--inscription on the tomb of Saints Felix and Adauctus.

THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 71
Give to the King thy judgment, O God: and thy mercy to the Queen, His Mother.
In thy hand are life and salvation: perpetual joy and glorious eternity.
Sprinkle my heart with thy sweetness: make me forget the miseries of this life.
Draw me after thee by the bands of thy mercy: and with bandages of thy grace and loving kindness heal my pain.
Stir up in me a desire for Heaven: and inebriate my soul with the joy of Paradise.
Glory be to the Father who created Heaven and earth; His only Son who lived and died for all of us;
and the Holy Spirit the Lord giver of life, Who proceeds from the Father and Son, with the Father and Son He is Worshiped and Glorified, and He has spoken through the prophets:  Amen.


Syracuse: The Mysterious Language of Her Tears (II)
August 30 - OUR LADY OF CARQUERE (Portugal)

On both Sunday, the 30th and Monday the 31st of August, the same wonder was noted by thousands of witnesses. The statue did not cry nonstop, but rather at certain intervals, and not only in the bedroom but also when set outside on a wall in the courtyard, or on the makeshift altar,
across the street where the statue was exhibited.

On Tuesday, September 1st, at 11 AM, a commission of experts named by the Archiepiscopal Curia was sent to the Gardens of Saint Georges Street. It was made up of several doctors, an engineer, and a priest named Fr. Bruno. A report was later written up under oath. As soon as the expertise was finished, the lacrymation ended. One week later the city of Syracuse celebrated the Nativity of Our Lady, patroness of the Cathedral and the city, while in Rome Pope Pius XII was publishing the Encyclical "Fulgens Corona" announcing the Marian Year, which was to commemorate the centenary of the definition of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception.

After the miraculous lacrymations, extraordinary cures were produced. On Wednesday, September 2nd, the Archbishop of Syracuse, Mgr Baranzini, returned on the spot to interrogate several eye-witnesses. On September 9th, the consulted laboratory published the detailed report of the analyses carried out on the liquid emanating from the plaster statuette: this liquid was in every way very similar to human tears. On September 19th, Mgr Baranzini transferred the Madonnina to a square close by and installed the statue in a niche. During the months of September and October more than a million pilgrims came to pray near the little statue.

According to Br. Michael of the Holy Trinity, The Whole Truth on Fatima, 1986
Dr. Ottavio Musumeci, The Madonna Cried in Syracuse, Ed. Salvator, 1956

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

Catechism of the Catholic Church 495, quoting the Council of Ephesus (431): DS 251.

The Vast Shrine of Vailankanni (II)
Aug 30 - Our Lady of Deliverance (Martinique)

Towards the end of the sixteenth century, a poor woman and her son who was lame from birth lived in Vailankanni. Every day, the lame boy would sit under a banyan tree at the place called Mount Central (Thittu Nadu),
selling buttermilk to thirsty wayfarers. One day, to his surprise, he saw a lady of peerless beauty,
holding in her arms a still more beautiful child, both attired in spotless garments.
Smiling sweetly, she asked the boy for a cup of buttermilk for her baby.
The Lady also asked him to go to Nagapattinam and inform a Catholic gentleman that she desired to have a chapel built in her name at Vailankanni. Then she graciously bade him to stand up and he realized he was no longer lame.
On this the boy jumped up with joy, and ran to Nagapattinam to convey the message.
There he met the Catholic gentleman and delivered the Lady's message.
The gentleman had no difficulty believing him because he had a vision of Our Lady in his sleep the previous night.
With the willing cooperation of the locals a chapel was built on Mount Central,
where the Basilica can be seen standing today. The Lady is called Our Lady of Health Vailankanni.

The third major event also took place in the sixteenth century. A merchant vessel sailing from Macao to Colombo was caught in a terrible storm in the Bay of Bengal. The helpless sailors instinctively threw themselves on their knees and besought Mary, Star of the Sea, to save them. They vowed to build a church in her name wherever they could land safely on shore. Instantly, the sea became calm and the waves fell. Their tattered ship was safely pushed to the shore of Vailankanni, on September 8, the feast of the Nativity of Our Lady.
The crew who had survived the storm soon transformed the thatch chapel of Nagapattinam into a beautiful brick and mortar chapel. On their subsequent voyages, they decorated the altar with rich and rare porcelain tiles illustrating scenes from the Bible. These tiles showing their gratitude to Our Lady still surround the throne of the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Health of the main altar of the Basilica. The feast of Our Lady of Health is celebrated on August 29 every year. The celebrations begin with hoisting the flag.
Over this 10-day period of festivities, about 15 to 20 million people come on pilgrimage to the shrine.

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

The great psalm of the Passion, Chapter 22, whose first verse "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
Jesus pronounced on the cross, ended with the vision: "All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations shall worship before him"

For kingship belongs to the LORD, the ruler over the nations. 
All who sleep in the earth will bow low before God; All who have gone down into the dust will kneel in homage. 

And I will live for the LORD; my descendants will serve you. 
The generation to come will be told of the Lord,
that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn the deliverance you have brough
t.

384 Pope Saint Damasus I   commissioned Saint Jerome to translate Scriptures in Latin
    At Rome, St. Damasus, pope and confessor, who condemned the heresiarch Apollinaris, and restored to his See Peter, bishop of Alexandria, who had been driven from it.  He also discovered the bodies of many holy martyrs and composed verses in their honour.
"The answers to many of life's questions can be found by reading the Lives of the Saints. They teach us how to overcome obstacles and difficulties,
how to stand firm in our faith, and how to struggle against evil and emerge victorious." 

1913 Saint Barsanuphius of Optina
20 February, 1878; 20 July, 1903; Pope Leo XIII Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci  doctorate of theology;
Civilization owes much to Leo for his stand on the social question.

The ecclesiastical sciences found a generous patron in Pope Leo.
Even among the Copts his efforts at reunion made headway.
Under Leo the Catholic Faith made great progress; With regard to the Kingdom of Italy, Leo XIII maintained Pius IX's attitude of protest; in Portugal the Government ceased to support the Goan schism, and in 1886 a concordat was drawn up. 
The United States at all times attracted the attention and admiration of Pope Leo.
Throughout his entire pontificate he was able to keep on good terms with France; 1872 he introduced the government standards for studies of the secondary schools and colleges.
Bishop of Perugia;  1843, appointed nuncio to Brussels.

“The saints must be honored as friends of Christ and children and heirs of God, as John the theologian and evangelist says: ‘But as many as received him, he gave them the power to be made the sons of God....’ Let us carefully observe the manner of life of all the apostles, martyrs, ascetics and just men who announced the coming of the Lord. And let us emulate their faith, charity, hope, zeal, life, patience under suffering, and perseverance unto death, so that we may also share their crowns of glory” Exposition of the Orthodox Faith.

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

Catechism of the Catholic Church 495, quoting the Council of Ephesus (431): DS 251.


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


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

Jesus said, “I did not come to judge the world but to save the world” (Jn. 12:47)
Dear Priests,
    The Western culture which, by means of the globalised media and human mobility, is currently dominant and increasingly widespread throughout the world, even in countries of a different culture, presents no small challenge to evangelisation. It is a culture which is marked profoundly by a relativism which refuses any affirmation of an absolute and transcendent truth and thus which ruins the foundations of morality and which closes itself off to religion. In this way the passion for truth is lost, being relegated to the place of a “useless passion”. In contrast Jesus Christ is the Truth, the Universal Logos, the Reason which enlightens and explains all that exists. Relativism, then, is accompanied by an individualistic subjectvism, which places one’s own ego at the centre of everything. In the end one cannot but arrive at a nihilism according to which there is nothing and nobody in whom there is any point in investing one’s entire life, and consequently life has no real meaning. However, one must recognise that the post-modern culture which is currently dominant brings with it a truly great scientific and technological progress which fascinates the human being, especially the young. The use of this progress, unfortunately, does not always have for its principal aim the good of mankind or of individuals. It lacks an integral humanism which could give it an ultimate meaning. We could talk of many other aspects of this culture: consumerism, libertarianism, the culture of spectacle and of the body. It is impossible not to recognise that all this produces a laicism which refuses religion, does everything to weaken it, or, at least, relegates it to the sphere of the private life of the individual.

    This culture produces a dechristianisation, already all too evident, in the majority of Christian lands, and in a particular way in the West. The number of priestly vocations there has dropped, as also has the number of priests, due to the lack of vocations and due to the influence of the cultural ambiance in which they live. This could all lead us to a discouraged pessimism which condemns the world of today
and could lead us to retreat to a defensive position in the trenches of resistance.

    Instead, Jesus Christ says, “I did not come to judge the world but to save the world” (Jn 12: 47). We must not allow ourselves either to be discouraged, to fear our current society, or to simply condemn it. We must save it! Every human culture, even the present one, can be evangelised. There are in every culture “semina Verbi” as openings to the Gospel, and this is certainly the case even in our present culture. Without a doubt even the so called “post-Christians” can be touched and reopened, if they were to be brought to a true personal and communitarian encounter with the living person of Jesus Christ. In such an encounter every human person of good will can be reached by Him.
He loves all and knocks at the door of all, because he wants to save all, without exception.
He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, for all. He is the one mediator between God and men.

    My dear Priests, we, shepherds, are called urgently today to the mission both “ad gentes” and in the regions of the Christian lands, where many of the baptised have distanced themselves from participation in our communities or, indeed, have lost the faith entirely. We must not be afraid or remain subdued within our home. The Lord said to his disciples, “Why are you afraid, O men of little faith?” (Mt. 8:25). "Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me” (Jn. 14:1). “Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house” (Mt. 5:15). "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation”
(Mk. 16:15). “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt. 28:20).

    We will not cast the seed of the Word of God merely from the window of our parochial house, but we will go out into the open fields of our society, beginning with the poor and arriving at all levels and institutions of society. We will go to visit families, every person, above all the baptised and those who are distanced. Our people want to feel the nearness of the Church. We will do so, going out to our contemporary society with joy and enthusiasm,
certain of the presence of the Lord with us on the mission,
and certain that he will knock on the door of the hearts of those to whom we will announce Him.
Cardinal Claudio Hummes Archbishop Emeritus of São Paulo Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy

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

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


breviary.net/martyrology/mart08/mart0830 stlukeorthodox.com/html/saints/august/ usccb.org  ewtn.com  Irondequoit .org Saints Alive
domcentral.org/life/martyrAugust  syriac    oca.org   glaubenszeugen.de/tage/August/   Serbian   http://www.copticchurch.net  Melkite
Monthly Saints with pics here http://www.stfrancisenid.com/memorials.htm
 One Saint per day stthomasirondequoit.com/SaintsAlive/index.htm    stjohndc.org  God's Humourous Saints
God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique, for each is the result of a new idea.  As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike. It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints. Dear Lord, grant us a spirit that is not bound by our own ideas and preferences.  Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves. O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory. Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.  Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.   God calls each one of us to be a saint in order to get into heavenonly saints are allowed into heaven. The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.
Mary the Mother of Jesus Miracles_BLay Saints  Miraculous_IconMiraculous_Medal_Novena Patron Saints
100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000    1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800   1900
God calls each one of us to be a saint in order to get into heaven.
The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.
"The answers to many of life's questions can be found by reading the Lives of the Saints. They teach us how to overcome obstacles and difficulties, how to stand firm in our faith, and how to struggle against evil and emerge victorious."  1913 Saint Barsanuphius of Optina
Paul VI_Athenagoras_05_01_1964
Quote: Pope Paul VI’s 1969 Instruction on the Contemplative Life includes this passage:  
 "To withdraw into the desert is for Christians tantamount to associating themselves more intimately with Christ’s passion, and it enables them, in a very special way, to share in the paschal mystery and in the passage of Our Lord from this world to the heavenly homeland" (#1).
Benedict_XVI_Patriarch_Bartholomew I
"Christianity is not a moral code or a philosophy,
but an encounter with a person" -- Benedict XVI

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

"The answers to many of life's questions can be found by reading the Lives of the Saints.
They teach us how to overcome obstacles and difficulties,how to stand firm in our faith,
and how to struggle against evil and emerge victorious." 
1913 Saint Barsanuphius of Optina
God calls each one of us to be a saint in order to get into heaven.
The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.
Non est inventus similis illis
His Holiness Aram I, current (2008) Catholicos of Cilicia of Armenians, whose See is located in Lebanese town of Antelias.
  The Catholicosate was founded in Sis, capital of Cilicia, in the year 1441 following the move of the Catholicosate of All Armenians back to its original See of Etchmiadzin in Armenia.
The Catholicosate of Cilicia enjoyed local jurisdiction, though spiritually subject to the authority of Etchmiadzin.
In 1921 the See was transferred to Aleppo in Syria, and in 1930 to Antelias.
Its jurisdiction currently extends to Syria, Cyprus, Iran and Greece.
Christian priests from Edessa evangelized Eastern Mesopotamia and Persia, established the first Churches in the kingdom of the Sassanides.  Atillâtiâ, Bishop of Edessa, assisted at the Council of Nicæa (325). The "Peregrinatio Silviæ" (or Etheriæ) (ed. Gamurrini, Rome, 1887, 62 sqq.) gives an account of the many sanctuaries at Edessa about 388.

Although Hebrew had been the language of the ancient Israelite kingdom, after their return from Exile the Jews turned more and more to Aramaic, using it for parts of the books of Ezra and Daniel in the Bible. By the time of Jesus, Aramaic was the main language of Palestine, and quite a number of texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls are also written in Aramaic.  Aramaic continued to be an important language for Jews, alongside Hebrew, and parts of the Talmud are written in it. After Arab conquests of the seventh century, Arabic quickly replaced Aramaic as the main language of those who converted to Islam, although in out of the way places, Aramaic continued as a vernacular language of Muslims. Aramaic, however, enjoyed its greatest success in Christianity. Although the New Testament wins written in Greek, Christianity had come into existence in an Aramaic-speaking milieu, and it was the Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac, that became the literary language of a large number of Christians living in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire and in the Persian Empire, further east. Over the course of the centuries the influence of the Syriac Churches spread eastwards to China (in Xian, in western China, a Chinese-Syriac inscription dated 781 is still to be seen), to southern India where the state of Kerala can boast more Christians of Syriac liturgical tradition than anywhere else in the world.
Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac: The exact date of the introduction of Christianity into Edessa {Armenian Ourhaï in Arabic Er Roha, commonly Orfa or Urfa, its present name} is not known. It is certain, however, that the Christian community was at first made up from the Jewish population of the city. According to an ancient legend, King Abgar V, Ushana, was converted by Addai, who was one of the seventy-two disciples. In fact, however, the first King of Edessa to embrace the Christian Faith was Abgar IX (c. 206) becoming official kingdom religion.Christian council held at Edessa early as 197 (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., V,xxiii). In 201 the city was devastated by a great flood, and the Christian church was destroyed ("Chronicon Edessenum", ad. an. 201). In 232 the relics of the Apostle St. Thomas were brought from India, on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written. Under Roman domination martyrs suffered at Edessa: Sts. Scharbîl and Barsamya, under Decius; Sts. Gûrja, Schâmôna, Habib, and others under Diocletian.

680 Shiite saint Imam Hussein, grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad Known as Ashoura and observed by Shiites across the world, the 10th day of the lunar Muslim month of Muharram: the anniversary of the 7th century death in battle of one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints.  Imam Hussein died in the 680 A.D. battle fought on the plains outside Karbala, a city in modern Iraq that's home to the saint's shrine.  The battle over a dispute about the leadership of the Muslim faith following Muhammad's death in 632 A.D. It is the defining event in Islam's split into Sunni and Shiite branches.  The occasion is the source of an enduring moral lesson. "He sacrificed his blood to teach us not to give in to corruption, coercion, or use of force and to seek honor and justice."  According to Shiite beliefs, Hussein and companions were denied water by enemies who controlled the nearby Euphrates.  Streets get partially covered with blood from slaughter of hundreds of cows and sheep. Volunteers cook the meat and feed it to the poor.  Hussein's martyrdom recounted through a rich body of prose, poetry and song remains an inspirational example of sacrifice to many Shiites, 10 percent of the world's estimated 1.3 billion Muslims.
Meeting of the Saints  walis (saints of Allah)
Great men covet to embrace martyrdom for a cause and principle.
So was the case with Hazrat Ali. He could have made a compromise with the evil forces of his time and, as a result, could have led a very comfortable, easy and luxurious life. But he was not a person who would succumb to such temptations. His upbringing, his education and his training in the lap of the holy Prophet made him refuse such an offer.
Rabia Al-Basri (717–801 C.E.) She was first to set forth the doctrine of mystical love and who is widely considered to be the most important of the early Sufi poets.
An elderly Shia pointed out that during his pre-Partition childhood it was quite common to find pictures and portraits of Shia icons in Imambaras across the country.
Shia Ali al-Hadi, died 868 and son Hassan al-Askari 874. These saints are the 10th and 11th of Shia's 12 most revered Imams.  Baba Farid Sufi 1398 miracle, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki renowned Muslim Sufi saint scholar miracles
569 A.H. [1173 C.E.] hermit gave to poor, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti  greatest mystic of his time born 533 Hijri (1138-39 A.D.) , Hazrat Ghuas-e AzamHazrat Bu Ali Sharif, and Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia 1236-1325 welcomed people of all faiths & all walks of life Sufi Saint Hazrath Khwaja Syed Mohammed Badshah Quadri Chisty Yamani Quadeer (RA)
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Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey
Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament
Colombia was among the countries Mother Angelica visited.  In Bogotá, a Salesian priest - Father Juan Pablo Rodriguez brought Mother and the nuns to the Sanctuary of the Divine Infant Jesus to attend Mass.  After Mass, Father Juan Pablo took them into a small Shrine which housed the miraculous statue of the Child Jesus. Mother Angelica stood praying at the side of the statue when suddenly the miraculous image came alive and turned towards her.  Then the Child Jesus spoke with the voice of a young boy: 
"Build Me a Temple and I will help those who help you." 
Thus began a great adventure that would eventually result in the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, a Temple dedicated to the Divine Child Jesus, a place of refuge for all. Use this link to read a remarkable story about
Father Reardon, Editor of The Catholic Bulletin for 20 years
Lover of the poor; "A very Holy Man of God"
Monsignor Reardon P.A.  BASILICA OF SAINT MARY Minneapolis MN
America's First Basilica
Largest Nave in the World
August 7, 1907-ground broke for the foundation by Archbishop Ireland-laying cornerstone 5/31/1908
James M. Reardon Publication History of Basilica of Saint Mary 1600-1932
James M. Reardon Publication  History of the Basilica of Saint Mary 1955 {update}
Brief History of our Beloved Holy Priest Here and his published books of Catholic History in North America

Reardon, J.M. Archbishop Ireland; Prelate, Patriot, Publicist,1838-1918.
A Memoir (St. Paul; 1919);
George Anthony Belcourt Pioneer Catholic Missionary of the Northwest 1803-1874 (1955);
The Catholic Church IN THE DIOCESE OF ST. PAUL from earliest origin to centennial achievement
1362-1950 (1952);

The Church of Saint Mary of Saint Paul 1875-1922;
  (1932)
The Vikings in the American Heartland;
The Catholic Total Abstinence Society in Minnesota;

James Michael Reardon B. 1872, Nova Scotia; Priest, ordained by Bishop Ireland; Member  St. Paul Seminary faculty
Litany of Loretto in Stained glass windows Here.  Nave Sacristy and Residence Here
Sanctuary
spaces filled
between with grilles of hand-forged wrought iron  Life of our Blessed Lady After the Crucifixon
Apostle statues Replicas of those in St John Lateran--Christendom's earliest Basilica. Ordered by Rome's first Christian Emperor, Constantine the Great.  It became the Popes' own cathedral and official residence for the first millennium of Christian history. The only replicas ever made:  in order from west to east {1932}. Saints Simon (saw), Bartholomew (knife), James the Lesser (book), John (eagle),  Andrew (transverse cross), Peter (keys), Paul (sword), James the Greater (staff),
Thomas (carpenter's square), Philip (serpent), Matthew (book), and Jude (sword).
Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel
 
It Makes No Sense Not To Believe In GOD
The 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary ) Revealed to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan)
1.    Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces. 2.    I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary. 3.    The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies. 4.    It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things.  Oh, that soul would sanctify them by this means.  5.    The soul that recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish. 6.    Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying themselves to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune.  God will not chastise them in His justice, they shall not perish by an unprovided death; if they be just, they shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life. 7.    Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church. 8.    Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise. 9.    I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary. 10.    The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.  11.    You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary. 12.    I shall aid all those who propagate the Holy Rosary in their necessities. 13.    I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death. 14.    All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ. 15.    Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
By Father John Corapi, SOLT
Among the most important titles we have in the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of the most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom. The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7 (date of feast of Our Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for the Christian forces against the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope Pius V led a procession around St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral leadership in recognizing the danger posed to Christendom by the radical Muslim forces, and in using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles require spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that had its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.

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

No other issue, not all other issues taken together, can constitute a proportionate reason for voting for candidates that intend to preserve and defend this holocaust of innocent human life that is abortion.

THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM
As we watch the spectacle of the world seeming to self-destruct before our eyes, we can’t help but be saddened and even frightened by so much evil run rampant. Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Somalia, North Korea—It is all a disaster of epic proportions displayed in living color on our television screens.  These are not ordinary times and this is not business as usual. We are at a crossroads in human history and the time for Catholics and all Christians to act is now. All evil can ultimately be traced to its origin, which is moral evil. All of the political action, peace talks, international peacekeeping forces, etc. will avail nothing if the underlying sickness is not addressed. This is sin. One person at a time hearts and minds must be moved from evil to good, from lies to truth, from violence to peace.

Islam, an Arabic word that has often been defined as “to make peace,” seems like a living contradiction today. Although it is supposed to be a religion of peace, Islam has been hijacked by Satan and now operates in the dark space of international terrorism.  As we celebrate the birthday of Our Lady, I am proposing that each one of us pray the Rosary for peace. Prayer is what must precede all other activity if that activity is to have any chance of success. Pray for peace, pray the Rosary every day without fail.  There is a great love for Mary among Muslim people. It is not a coincidence that a little village named Fatima is where God chose to have His Mother appear in the twentieth century. Our Lady’s name appears no less than thirty times in the Koran. No other woman’s name is mentioned, not even that of Mohammed’s daughter, Fatima.
In the Koran Our Lady is described as “Virgin, ever Virgin.”

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

A New Series by Fr. Corapi! The Moon Under Her Feet CD-Audio Set: $39.00 DVD-Video Set: $45.00  call 1-888-800-7084 or go to Site http://www.fathercorapi.com
In this four part series Father John Corapi goes to the heart of the contemporary world's many woes and wars, whether the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, or the Congo, or the natural disasters that seem to be increasing every year, the moral and spiritual war is at the basis of everything. "Our battle is not against human forces," St. Paul asserts, "but against principalities and powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness..."
(Ephesians 6:12).  The "War to end all wars" is the moral and spiritual combat that rages in the hearts and minds of human beings. The outcome of that  unseen fight largely determines how the battle in the realm of the seen unfolds.  The title talk, "With the Moon Under Her Feet," is taken from the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation, and deals with the current threat to the world from radical Islam, and the Blessed Virgin Mary's role in the ultimate victory that will result in the conversion of Islam.  Few Catholics are aware of the connection between Islam, Fatima, and Guadalupe. Presented in Father Corapi's straight-forward style, you will be both inspired and educated by this four part series on topics more timely than ever.
The four titles are:  1. The Real War We Fight 2. The Battle for Hearts & Minds 3. Leadership: Essential for Victory 4. With the Moon Under Her Feet
DECREES OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE CAUSES OF SAINTS
VATICAN CITY, 17 JAN 2009 (VIS) - Today, during a private audience with Archbishop Angelo Amato S.D.B., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Pope authorised the congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
All Servants of God
MIRACLES:
- 1909 Ciriaco Maria Sancha y Hervas, Spanish cardinal archbishop of Toledo, founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of
          Charity of Cardinal Sancha (1833-1909).
-
1956 Carlo Gnocchi, Italian diocesan priest and founder of the "Pro Juventute" Foundation (1902-1956).
-
1735 Bernardo Francisco de Hoyos, Spanish professed priest of the Company of Jesus (1711-1735).
-
1919 Raphael Rafiringa (ne Louis), Madagascan professed religious of the Institute of Brothers of Christian Schools
          (1856-1919).
-
1946 Eustachio Kugler, (ne Joseph), German professed religious of the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God (1867-1946).
 
HEROIC VIRTUES
-
1659 Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, Spanish bishop of Osma (1600-1659).
-
1888 Robert Spiske, diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of Sisters of St. Hedwig (1821-1888).
- 1
932 Carolina Beltrami, Italian foundress of the Institute of "Immaculatine" Sisters of Alessandria (1869-1932).
-
1998 Mary of the Immaculate e Conception Salvat y Romerio (nee Maria Isabella), Spanish superior general of the Institute of
          Sisters of the Company of the Cross (1926-1998).
-
1842 Liberata Ferrarons y Vives, Spanish laywoman of the Third Order of Carmelites (1803-1842).
  In the course of a private audience with Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. on 22 December 2008, the Pope authorised the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate a decree regarding the heroic virtues of
1871 Jose Tous y Soler, Servant of God Spanish professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchins and founder of the
        Capuchin sisters of the Mother of the Divine Shepherd (1811-1871).
CSS/DECREES/AMATO VIS 090119 (320)
Patron_Saints.html
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 2000Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798
 
Links to Related MarianWebsites  Angels and Archangels  Saints Visions of Heaven and Hell

Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  UniateChalcedon
St. Gaudentia A virgin martyr of Rome
Item Romæ sanctæ Gaudéntiæ, Vírginis et Mártyris, cum áliis tribus.    Also at Rome, St. Gaudentia, virgin and martyr, with 3 others.
She was reportedly martyred with three companions.
Gaudentia and Companions VV MM (RM) Date unknown. Some believe that Saint Gaudentia, a virgin, was martyred with three other Christians at Rome; however, the most ancient martyrologies do not include her among the martyrs (Benedictines)
.
250 Boniface and Thecla and their 12 children were all martyred at Hadrumetum in Africa MM (RM)
Adruméti, in Africa, sanctórum Bonifátii et Theclæ, qui beatórum duódecim filiórum Mártyrum paréntes fuérunt.
    At Adrumetum, also in Africa, the Saints Boniface and Thecla, who were the parents of twelve blessed sons, all martyrs.
Saint Boniface, his wife Thecla, and their 12 children were all martyred at Hadrumetum in Africa during the Decian persecution. Reconciling the details of their acta is problematic. Some believe that the 12 children may be the Twelve Holy Brothers (Benedictines).
304 St. Felix priest and Adauctus Roman martyrs
<felix.jpg

Romæ, via Ostiénsi, pássio beáti Felícis Presbyteri, sub Diocletiáno et Maximiáno Imperatóribus.  Hic, post equúlei vexatiónem, data senténtia, cum ducerétur ad decollándum, óbvius ei fuit quidam Christiánus, qui, dum se Christiánum esse sponte profiterétur, mox cum eódem páriter decollátus est; cujus nomen ignorántes, Christiáni Adáuctum eum appellavérunt, eo quod sancto Felíci auctus sit ad corónam.
adauctus.jpg>
    At Rome, on the Ostian Way, martyrdom of the blessed priest Felix, under Emperors Diocletian and Maximian.  After being racked he was sentenced to death, and as they led him to execution, he met a man who spontaneously declared himself a Christian, and was forthwith beheaded with him.  The Christians, not knowing his name, called him Adauctus, because he was added to St. Felix and shared his crown.
Felix was a priest and Adauctus, which means “the added one” is unknown. He was a bystander who died with Felix, impressed by his courage. Felix and Adauctus MM (RM)
St. Felix was a holy priest in Rome, no less happy in his life and virtue than in his name. Being apprehended in the beginning of Diocletian's persecution, he was put to the torture, which he suffered with constancy, and was condemned to lose his head.  As he was going to execution he was met by a stranger, who, being a Christian, was so moved at the sight of the martyr and the glory to which he was hastening that he cried out aloud, "I confess the same law which this man professes; I confess the same Jesus Christ; and I also will lay down my life in His cause The magistrates hearing this, caused him forthwith to be seized, and the martyrs -were both beheaded together. The name of this stranger not being known, he was called by Christians Adauctus, i.e. the one added, because he was joined to Felix in martyrdom.
  This story, with sundry legendary embellishments, is derived from an inscription of Pope St Damasus, which ran: "0 how truly and rightly named Felix, happy, you who, with faith untouched and despising the prince of this world, have confessed Christ and sought the heavenly kingdom.  Know ye also, brethren, the truly precious faith by which Adauctus too hastened, a victor, to Heaven."  The priest Verus, at the command of his ruler Damasus, restored the tomb, adorning the thresholds of the saints."  SS. Felix and Adauctus were buried in the cemetery of Commodilla on the Ostian Way, where a church built over their tomb was uncovered in 1905.
As Felix and Adauctus, in cemetery of Commodilla on the Ostian Way" are registered in the Depositio martyrum of 354, we have a solid guarantee for their early cultus, which is further confirmed by the Leonine sacramentary and many other records. See the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xvi (1897), pp. 17-43, and the discussions by de Rossi, Wilpert, Marucchi, Bonavenia, etc., to which Delehaye gives references in CMH., pp. 476-478. The passio is in the Acta Sanctorum, August, vol. vi.
"Felix, truly and rightly named, for you were happy to have confessed Christ and looked for the kingdom of heaven, despising the prince of this world and departing with you faith unimpaired. Adauctus, too, another conqueror, reveals, my brothers, the most precious faith which hastened his journey to heaven."--inscription on the tomb of Saints Felix and Adauctus.

The priest Felix, the "happy one," was apprehended in Rome at the beginning of the Diocletian persecution and underwent cruel tortures with admirable constancy. Eventually he was condemned to beheading. En route to his place of execution, his coming martyrdom so excited a Christian stranger that the bystander was unable to contain himself. He cried out, "I too follow and believe the same commandments that this man professes; I too confess the same Jesus Christ; and it is also my desire to lay down my life in this cause." The magistrates seized him when they heard this and the two were decapitated. The second was called "adauctus" or "the one added" because his name was unknown. Both were reverently buried in the cemetery of Commodilla on the Ostian Way. Later Pope Saint Damasus had their tomb restored and added the inscription; Pope Saint Siricius added another epitaph. These martyrs are commemorated in the Sacramentary of Saint Gregory the Great and many ancient calendars, including the Deposito Martyrum (354). A church built over their tomb was uncovered in 1905 (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth) .
Tránsaquis, ad lacum Fúcinum, in Marsis, natális quoque sanctórum Mártyrum Cæsídii Presbyteri, et Sociórum; qui martyrio coronáti sunt in persecutióne Maximíni.
   
Caesidius, priest, and his companions,
At Transaco, in the Marches near Lake Fucino, the birthday of the holy martyrs who were crowned with martyrdom in the persecution of Maximinus.
Colóniæ Suffetulánæ, in Africa, beatórum sexagínta Mártyrum, qui furóre Gentílium cæsi sunt.
    sixty blessed martyrs At Colonia Suffetulana in Africa
, who were murdered by the furious heathen.
Tréviris item natális sancti Paulíni Epíscopi, qui, témpore Ariánæ infestatiónis, ab Ariáno Imperatóre Constántio ob cathólicam fidem relegátus exsílio, et extra Christiánum nomen usque ad mortem mutándo exsília fatigátus, tandem, apud Phrygiam defúnctus, beátæ passiónis corónam percépit a Dómino.
    St. Paulinus, a bishop, the birthday of
At Treves, who was exiled for the Catholic faith by the Arian emperor Constantius, in the time of the Arian persecution.  By having to change the place of his exile, which was beyond the limits of Christendom, he became wearied unto death, and finally, dying in Phrygia, received a crown from the Lord for his blessed martyrdom.
5th v. Loarn of Downpatrick disciple of Saint Patrick (AC)
Born in western Ireland, 5th century. Saint Loarn was a disciple of Saint Patrick, whom some describe as a regionary bishop of Downpatrick (Benedictines)
.
410 Pammachius the Senator Roman senator, proconsul, and scholar (RM)
Romæ sancti Pammáchii Presbyteri, qui fuit doctrína et sanctitáte conspícuus.
    At Rome, St Pammachius, priest, who was noteworthy for learning and sanctity.
Died at Rome, Italy, in 410. The Roman senator, proconsul, and scholar, Pammachius, belonged to the house of the Furii. In 385, he married Paulina, the second daughter of Saint Paula. He spent much of his time in study and religious affairs. He was a great friend of Saint Jerome, his former school fellow.

PAMMACHIUS was distinguished alike as a saint, a Roman citizen, a man of learning, and a friend of St Jerome, with whom he had studied in his youth and maintained correspondence all his life.  He belonged to the house of the Furii and was a senator; in 385 he married Paulina, the second daughter of St Paula, that other great friend of St Jerome.  Pammachius was probably one of the religious men who denounced to Pope St Siricius a certain Jovinian, who maintained among other errors that all sins and their punishments are equal; he certainly sent copies of the heretic's writings to Jerome, who replied to them in a long treatise.   This reply did not meet with the entire approval of St Pammachius: he found its language too strong (a failing to which Jerome was very inclined) and that it contained exaggerated praise of virginity and depreciation of marriage; so he wrote and told him so, and St Jerome replied in two letters, thanking him for his interest and defending what he had written.  Jovinian was condemned in a synod at Rome and by St Ambrose at Milan, and nothing more is heard of him; St Jerome wrote a few years later that he had "belched rather than breathed out his life amidst pheasants and pork."
   In 397 the wife of St Pammachius died, and in a letter of sympathy St Paulinus of Nola wrote to him: "Your wife is now a pledge and an intercessor for you with Jesus Christ. She now obtains for you as many blessings in Heaven as you have offered her treasures from hence: not honouring her memory with fruitless tears only, but making her a partner of your charities.  She is honoured by your virtues; she is fed by the bread you have given to the poor"...St Jerome wrote in the same strain.
  Pammachius devoted the rest of his life to study and works of charity.  Together with St Fabiola he built at Porto a large hospice to shelter pilgrims coming to Rome, especially the poor and the sick; this was the first institution of its kind, technically called a xenodochium, in the west, and received the hearty praise of St Jerome; Pammachius and Fabiola spent much time thereat, personally looking after their guests. The site of this building was discovered and its plan laid bare. In his devotion to the suffering Pammachius was following in the footsteps of his dead wife Paulina, and the blind, the incapacitated and the moneyless were declared by St Jerome to be her heirs; he never went out into the streets but they flocked around him, knowing well that they would not be turned away.

   St Pammachius was greatly disturbed by the bitter controversy between Jerome and Rufinus; he wrote to him urging that he should undertake the translation of Origen's De principiis, and gave Jerome very useful help in his controversial writings: but abate the imprudence of expression of much of them he could not.  He also wrote to the people living on his estates in Numidia urging them to abandon the Donatist schism and return to the Church, and this action drew a letter of thanks from St Augustine at Hippo in 401.
Pammachius had a church in his house on the Coelian hill, consequently called titulus Pammachii  its site is now occupied by the Passionist church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, beneath which remains of the original house have been found.  St Pammachius died in 410 at the time Alaric and the Goths captured Rome; he is often stated to have been a priest but this does not seem to have been so. A fairly complete account of Pammachius, compiled by Father John Pien, is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, August, vol. vi.   See also lives of St Jerome.

Pammachius was probably one of the religious men who denounced to Pope Saint Siricius a certain man named Jovinian, who maintained among other errors that all sins and their punishments are equal; he certainly sent copies of the heretic's writings to Jerome, who replied to them in a long treatise. This reply did not meet with the entire approval of Saint Pammachius: he found its language too strong (a failing to which Jerome was generally very inclined) and that it contained exaggerated praise of virginity and depreciation of marriage; so he wrote and told him so. Jerome replied in two letters, thanking him for his interest and defending what he had written. Meanwhile, Jovinian was condemned at a synod at Rome in 390 and by Archbishop Saint Ambrose of Milan.

When Paulina died in childbirth in 397, Pammachius provided a banquet for all the poor of Rome following her funeral Mass. He received a long letter of condolence from his friend Saint Paulinus of Nola, who praised her goodness and her husband's faith and fortitude. The letter ended: "Your spouse is now a pledge and a powerful intercessor for you with Jesus Christ. She now obtains for you as many blessings in heaven as you have sent her treasures [Masses] from hence, not honoring her memory with fruitless tears, but making her partner of these living gifts (i.e., by alms given for the repose of her soul); she is honored by the merit of your virtues; she is fed by the bread you have given to the poor." Saint Jerome tells us that Pammachius watered her ashes with the balm of alms and mercy, which obtains the pardon of sins; that from the time of her death he made the needy their coheirs.

Thus, Pammachius devoted the balance of his life to study, prayer, and works of charity. (Some say that he donned the monastic habit and received ordination to the presbyteriate, but this seems unlikely.) Together with Saint Fabiola he built at Porto a large hospice to shelter pilgrims coming to Rome, especially the poor and the sick. This was the first such enterprise in the West. Pammachius and Fabiola spent much time there personally tending to their guests.

Pammachius was enormously disturbed by the bitter controversy between Jerome and Saint Rufinus over the teachings of Origen. He wrote to Jerome urging him to undertake the translation of Origen's De principiis, and gave Jerome very useful help in his controversial writings, but he could not convince Jerome to tone down the language of his works.

Pammachius also wrote to the people living on his estates in Numidia in North Africa to urge them to abandon the Donatist schism and return to the Church. This action drew a letter of thanks from Saint Augustine in 401. Pammachius converted his home on the Coelian Hill into the present Passionist church of Saint John and Saint Paul, which was called the titulus Pammachii. Remains of the original house have been found beneath the church (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth, Walsh).
405 St. Pammachius Roman senator and a friend of St. Jerome built a hospice at Porto for poor and sick pilgrims coming to Rome (the first such in the West) and had a church in his house (a site now occupied by the Passionists' SS. Peter and Paul Church)

    Of the Furii family, Pammachius was a Roman senator and a friend of St. Jerome. Pammachius married St. Paula's daughter Paulina in 385. His denunciation to Pope St. Siricius of Jovinian, who was later condemned at a synod at Rome, and by St. Ambrose at Milan, caused Jerome to write a treatise against Jovinian's teachings that Pammachius criticized, which led to two more letters from Jerome defending his treatise.
    Paulina died in 397, and Pammachius devoted the rest of his life to study and charitable works. With Fabiola he built a hospice at Porto for poor and sick pilgrims coming to Rome (the first such in the West) and had a church in his house (a site now occupied by the Passionists' SS. Peter and Paul Church). He often tried unsuccessfully, to tone down the polemics of some of Jerome's controversial treatises and particularly the bitterness of Jerome's controversy with Rufinus. Pammachius urged Jerome to translate Origen's DE PRINCIPIIS, and Pammachius' letter to tenants on his estate in Numidia in 401 to abandon Donatism evoked a letter of thanks from St. Augustine. Pammachius died in Rome.
483 St. Rumon believed consecrated bishop by St. Patrick
St  Rumon, On  Ruan (Sixth Century?)
   Before dissolution of the monasteries the Benedictine abbey of Tavistock claimed to possess the relics of St Rumon, who in the beginning of the 15th century was referred to by a monk of Glastonbury as a brother of St Tudwal, bishop at Tréguier in the sixth century. This Rumon, who gave their names to Romansleigh, Ruan Lanihorne, and other places in Devon and Cornwall, has been believed to be the St Ronan venerated in Brittany. Of his life there is likewise nothing known, though there is a story that he had to defend himself from the charge of being a werewolf and carrying off and eating a child this charge was made by a young woman who feared that the missionary (from Ireland, it was said) would make her husband a monk.  Ronan's humanness was demonstrated by wolf-hounds, which refused to touch him. Arguments against the identification of the British Rumon with the Breton Ronan are very strong, but what does seem certain is that the legend of Ronan was borrowed to do duty for the Rumon across the Channel.  Canon Doble adduces reasons for the suggestion that St Rumon and St Ken, who seems to have been the founder of a monastery or hermitage at Street in Somerset, were native monks of the British Glastonbury who went to make settlements in the Dumnonian peninsula.

The best attempt to disentangle the threads of this complicated problem is that of G. H. Doble in his Four Saints of the Fal (1930) and his St Rumon and St Fonan (1939), wherein he translates the Vita Rurnonis (which may have emanated from the Glasney college at Penryn) from the Gotha MS.  The Breton Ronan's biography is printed in the Bollandist catalogue of Paris hagiographical Latin MSS., vol. i, pp. 438-458.  Ernest Renan, as he told the Cambrian Archaeological Association in 1889, claimed him as a patron  " Vous connaissez mon patron Saint Renan sous sa vraie forme Ronan (Locronan, les eaux de St Renan, etc.).  "C'etait un irlandais, un grand original." L. Gougaud in Les saints irlandais hors d'Irlande (1936), pp. 159-166, expresses the view Rumon and Ronan are not the same, and Rumon was not of irish origin. For St Ronan, whose feast is on June 1, see A. Thomas, S. Ronan et la Tronidnie (1893).  The most recent work on St Rumon is Fr P. Grosjean's long article in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lxxi (1953), pp. 359-414  it includes the text of the Gotha vita.

{387} also known as Ruan, Ronan, and Ruadan, was probably a brother of Bishop St. Tudwal of Trequier, but nothing else is known of him beyond that he was probably an Irish missionary and many churches in Devon and Cornwall in England were named after him. Some authorities believed he is the same as the St. Ronan (June 1) venerated in Brittany and believed consecrated bishop by St. Patrick, but others believe that he and St. Kea were British monks who founded a monastery at Street Somerset.

Rumon (Ruan) (AC) 6th century. This patron of the abbey of Tavistock and Romansleigh in Devonshire, and of Ruan Lanihorne, Ruan Major and Minor in Cornwall is reputed to have been a brother of Saint Tudwal. William of Malmesbury tells us that his vita was destroyed by the wars, but that Rumon was a bishop of an unidentified see. About this time a well- meaning canon provided a vita from Rumon by taking an abbreviated life of the Breton Saint Ronan and changing the name to Rumon throughout. It does, however, describe the translation of Rumon's relics on January 5, 981, from Ruan Lanihorne, a Celtic monastery and the most ancient center of his cultus, to Tavistock. Saint Rumon was highly venerated at Tavistock, the earl Ordulf built a church under his invocation in the 10th century and requested his relics, which remained there throughout the Middle Ages. Glastonbury also claimed Rumon's relics. He may have been a monk at Glastonbury, who founded a monastery on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall.  Also venerated in Norwich and Ramsey (Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth).
5th v. St. Loaran bishop Irish disciple of St. Patrick He is sometimes listed as the bishop of Downpatrick, Ireland.
950 St. Pelagius, Arsenius, and Sylvanus  Martyrs in Spain put to death by Moors
According to tradition, they were hermits who resided in the area around Burgos, in Old Castile, who were put to death by Moors. They are revered in Burgos.

Pelagius, Arsenius, and Silvanus MM (AC) Died at Burgos, Old Castile, c. 950. According to an old tradition, these hermits were killed by Saracens. Their cell became the foundation of the Benedictine abbey of Artanza. They are still highly venerated in the province of Burgos (Benedictines)
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650 St. Agilus abbot of Rebais near Paris  advice of Saint Columbanus parents consecrated him to God
Also called Ayeul, a missionary and abbot. He was from a noble family and educated St. Columbanus at Luxeuil, France. He also served as missionary in the region of Bavaria, Germany. Agilus ended his career as the abbot of Rebais near Paris.
Agilus of Rebais, Abbot (AC) (also known as Aile, Ail, Aisle, Ayeul, Ely) Born c. 580; died 650. Saint Agilus, son of Childebert II's courtier Agnoald, followed the models of virtue found in his family. Upon the advice of Saint Columbanus, his parents consecrated him to God in the monastery of Luxeuil. After his father's death, Saint Columbanus had no defender in the Austrasian court leaving the way open for Brunehault to persecute the saint for refusing admittance of women into his monastery.
Saint Agilus intervened by seeking an audience with King Thierry and convinced him to leave the monks in peace. Eventually, however, Columbanus was forced out and made his way to Bobbio, Italy. Saint Agilus remained at Luxeuil even after Saint Eustatius succeeded its founder. After studying Scripture and the ways to Christian perfection, he and Saint Eustatius responded to the call of the bishops for evangelists to preach the Gospel in Bavaria. After a successful mission, Saint Agil returned to France and resumed his penitential exercises, until he was called to undertake the governance of the monastery of Rebais in diocese of Meaux near Paris, founded by Saint Ouen, where he was abbot until death (Benedictines, Husenbeth)
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670 St. Fiacre Abbot; hermit; cured all manner of diseases
In território Meldénsi sancti Fiácrii Confessóris.  In diocese of Meaux St. Fiacre confessor.
Catholic Encyclopedia:  born in Ireland about the end of the sixth century; died 18 August, 670. Having been ordained priest, he retired to a hermitage on the banks of the Nore of which the townland Kilfiachra, or Kilfera, County Kilkenny, still preserves the memory. Disciples flocked to him, but, desirous of greater solitude, he left his native land and arrived, in 628, at Meaux, where St. Faro then held episcopal sway. He was generously received by Faro, whose kindly feelings were engaged to the Irish monk for blessings which he and his father's house had received from the Irish missionary Columbanus. Faro granted him out of his own patrimony a site at Brogillum (Breuil) surrounded by forests. Here Fiacre built an oratory in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a hospice in which he received strangers, and a cell in which he himself lived apart. He lived a life of great mortification, in prayer, fast, vigil, and the manual labour of the garden. Disciples gathered around him and soon formed a monastery.

There is a legend that St. Faro allowed him as much land as he might surround in one day with a furrow; that Fiacre turned up the earth with the point of his crosier, and that an officious woman hastened to tell Faro that he was being beguiled; that Faro coming to the wood recognized that the wonderworker was a man of God and sought his blessing, and that Fiacre henceforth excluded women, on pain of severe bodily infirmity, from the precincts of his monastery. In reality, the exclusion of women was a common rule in the Irish foundations. His fame for miracles was widespread. He cured all manner of diseases by laying on his hands; blindness, polypus, fevers are mentioned, and especially a tumour or fistula since called "le fic de S. Fiacre".

His remains were interred in the church at Breuil, where his sanctity was soon attested by the numerous cures wrought at his tomb. Many churches and oratories have been dedicated to him throughout France. His shrine at Breuil is still a resort for pilgrims with bodily ailments. In 1234 his remains were placed in a shrine by Pierre, Bishop of Meaux, his arm being encased in a separate reliquary. In 1479 the relics of Sts. Fiacre and Kilian were placed in a silver shrine, which was removed in 1568 to the cathedral church at Meaux for safety from the destructive fanaticism of the Calvinists. In 1617 the Bishop of Meaux gave part of the saint's body to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and in 1637 the shrine was again opened and part of the vertebrae given to Cardinal Richelieu. A mystery play of the fifteenth century celebrates St. Fiacre's life and miracles. St. John of Matha, Louis XIII, and Anne of Austria were among his most famous clients. He is the patron of gardeners. The French cab derives its name from him. The Hôtel de St-Fiacre, in the Rue St-Martin, Paris, in the middle of the seventeenth century first let these coaches on hire. The sign of the inn was an image of the saint, and coaches in time
became called by his name .
980 Saint Fantinus of Calabria monk in Calabria at the Basilian monastery of Saint Mercury Abbot moved to Salonika, where his miracles and virtues made him famous
Thessalonícæ sancti Fantíni Confessóris, qui, multa a Saracénis perpéssus, atque e monastério, in quo abstinéntia víxerat admirábili, expúlsus, demum, cum plúrimos ad viam salútis perduxísset, in senectúte bona quiévit.
    At Thessalonica, St. Fantinus, confessor, who suffered much from the Saracens, and was driven from his monastery, in which he had lived in great abstinence.  After having brought many to the way of salvation, he rested at last at an advanced age.
Tenth Century St Fantinus, Abbot 
This Fantinus is said to have been abbot of the Greek monastery of St Mercury in Calabria.  After some years he claimed that the voice of God was telling him to leave the monastery and he accordingly did so, wandering about the countryside from place to place, sleeping in the open, and living on fruit and herbs. When he came to a church or monastery he lamented and prophesied woe; when he met a monk he wept over him as though he were a dead man.  When his friends, much upset by this strange behaviour, tried to induce him to return to the monastery, he only replied that there would soon be no monastery to return to and that he would die in a foreign land.  In due course the Saracens devastated Calabria, the monastery of St Mercury was destroyed, and St Fantinus with two disciples went overseas and landed in the Peloponnesus. He lived for a time at Corinth and at Larissa in Thessaly, and then moved to Salonika, where his miracles and virtues made him famous.    Here he died.
Not much that is reliable is known of this saint, though the Bollandists have devoted a few pages to him in the Acta Sanctorum, August, vol. vi.  It is apparently this Fantinus who figures in the Constantinople synaxaries on November 14; though in an Italo-Greek synaxary he is assigned to August 30.  See J. Rendel Harris, Further Researches into the Ferrar Group (1900), with Delehaye's comments in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxi (1902); pp. 23-28.  The story seems to be nothing but legend and confusion, including possibly confusion between two holy men, both named Fantinus.

Saint Fantinus was a monk in Calabria at the Basilian monastery of Saint Mercury. He was an old man when his monastery was destroyed by the Saracens, but he fled to the East and died there (Benedictines)
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1026 St. Bononius Benedictine missionary and abbot preach in Egypt and Syria
Bonóniæ sancti Bonónii Abbátis.    At Bologna, St. Bononius, abbot.
A disciple of St. Romuald in Bologna, Italy. He was sent by Romuald to preach in Egypt and Syria. After this mission duty, Bononius became the abbot of the Benedictine abbey of Lucedo, in the Piedmont area of Italy.

Bononius of Locedio, OSB Cam. Abbot (RM) Born in Bologna, Italy. Bononius, a Benedictine monk of Saint Stephen's in his hometown, became a disciple of Saint Romuald. After preaching the Gospel in Syria and Egypt, he became superior of the monastery of Lucedio in the Piedmont, Italy (Encyclopedia)
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1050 St. Peter of Trevi  Peacher and confessor  a brilliant preacher among the peasant communities of Anagni, Subiaco, and Tivoli. He died while still a young man, at Trevi, near Subiaco
Trebis, in Látio, sancti Petri Confessóris, qui, multis clarus virtútibus et miráculis, ibídem migrávit ad Dóminum, et honorífice cólitur.
    At Trevi in Lazio, St. Peter, confessor, who was distinguished for many virtues and miracles.  He is honoured in that place from which he departed for heaven.
Born at Carsoli, Italy, Peter entered the priesthood and was ordained a priest, soon distinguishing himself as a brilliant preacher among the peasant communities of Anagni, Subiaco, and Tivoli. He died still a young man, at Trevi, near Subiaco.
1060 Saint Peter of Trevi successfully preached to the country folk in the areas of Tivoli, Anagni, and Subiaco (RM)
Born at Carsoli, diocese of Marsi, Italy; died at Trevi, c. ; canonized in 1215. After his ordination, Saint Peter successfully preached to the country folk in the areas of Tivoli, Anagni, and Subiaco. He died at a young age (Benedictines)
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1259 Blessed Bronislava of Poland cousin of the Dominican Saint Hyacinth of Poland O.Praem. V (AC)
Bd Bronislava, Virgin
It is related that Bd Bronislava was a cousin of St Hyacinth, and that on the day of his death she saw our Lady in vision receive him into Heaven.  She had joined the Norbertine nuns near Cracow when she was about twenty-five years old, and for some time led the ordinary life of her order.  But her gift of contemplation and consequent love of solitude were so great that she was allowed to withdraw for long periods to a cell in a cave not far from the monastery, and was eventually permitted to live there permanently as a solitary.
   After death on January 18, 1259, her body was buried in the convent church. When buildings were destroyed by warfare it was lost but in the seventeenth century the relics were discovered again, and carried from church to church throughout Poland for the veneration of the people.  The cultus of Bd Bronislava was recognized in 1839, and her feast is observed by the Premonstratensian canons regular.
Most of the accounts of this rather obscure beata seem to be written either in Polish or in Flemish (Brabant being at present the stronghold of the Premonstratensian Order)  but there are short lives published in French by Flambeau (1897) and Van Spielbeeck (1886).Bronislava is also one of the three holy people whose story is told by J. Chrzaszcz in Drei schlesische Landesheilige (1897). Cultus confirmed in 1839. Bronislava, a cousin of the Dominican Saint Hyacinth of Poland, was a Premonstratensian nun who later became a hermit (Benedictines) .
1588 Margaret Ward one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales M (RM)
Born at Congleton, Cheshire, England; died August 30, 1588; beatified in 1929; canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. The gentlewoman Margaret was serving as a companion in the home of the Whittle family in London when she was arrested together with her servant, Blessed John Roche, for helping Father Richard (William?) Watson to escape from Bridewell Prison. She had smuggled a rope into the priest's cell so that he might climb down from the roof. He was injured, but did escape with the help of John Roche. The rope was traced back to Margaret, who was severely tortured. They were tried at the Old Bailey on August 29, and offered their freedom if they would reveal the whereabouts of Watson and convert to the Protestant faith. Upon refusing, they were hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn, together with a priest and three other laymen (Benedictines, Delaney, Farmer, Kalberer)
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1588 Blessed John Roche refused conditions executed M (AC)
Died August 30, 1588; beatified in 1929. John Roche (alias Neale), the Irish manservant of Saint Margaret Ward. She smuggled a rope into Bridewell Prison to assist Father Richard Watson in escaping. The priest broke an arm and a leg in the process. John Roche exchanged clothes with the priest, who managed to get away, but was himself arrested. John and his mistress were promised immunity if they were reveal the priest's hiding place and renounce their faith. They refused both conditions and were executed (Benedictines, Delaney, Montague)
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1588 Bl. Edward Shelley English martyr of Warminghurst sheltered priests
He sheltered priests and was hung at Tyburn. Edward was beatified in 1929.
Blessed Edward Shelley M (AC); beatified in 1929. Edward Shelley, a gentleman of Warminghurst in Sussex, England, was hanged at Tyburn for giving refuge to priests (Benedictines)
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1588 Bl. Richard Leigh  English priest martyr
Born in London, circa 1561, he studied at Reims and Rome and was ordained in 1586. Returning to England, he was arrested and banished. He returned and was again arrested for being a priest and, with Blesseds Richard Martin, Edward Shelley, John Roche, Richard Flowers, and St. Margaret Ward, was executed at Tybum. Richard was beatified in 1929.  Blessed Richard Leigh and Richard Martin MM (AC)
Died at Tyburn, England, August 30, 1588; beatified in 1929. Richard Leigh, a native of London, was educated at Rheims and Rome and ordained in 1586. The gentleman Richard Martin haled from Shropshire and was educated at Broadgates Hall, Oxford. They were martyr with four others, including Blessed John Roche and Saint Margaret Ward. Leigh suffered for being a priest; Martin for harboring God's servants (Benedictines)
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1588 St. Richard Martin  English martyr shelter to priests
Born in Shropshire, he studied at Oxford and was a devout Catholic. Arrested for giving shelter to priests, he was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tybum with Blesseds Richard Leigh, Edward Shelley, John Roche, Richard Flowers, and St. Margaret Ward. He was beatified in 1929
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1617 St. Rose of Lima patroness of Latin America and the Philippines miracles followed her death
Sanctæ Rosæ a Sancta María, e tértio Ordine sancti Domínici, Vírginis; cujus dies natális nono Kaléndas Septémbris recensétur.
    The feast of St. Rose of St. Mary, virgin of the Third Order of St. Dominic, whose birthday is recalled on the 24th of August.
Virgin, born at Lima, Peru 20 April, 1586; died there 30 August, 1617.

ST  ROSE   OF  LIMA, VIRGIN
ASIA, Europe and Africa had been watered with the blood of many martyrs and adorned for ages with the shining example of innumerable saints, whilst the vast regions of America lay barren till the faith of Christ began to enlighten them in the sixteenth century, and this maiden appeared in that land like a rose amidst thorns, the first-fruits of its canonized saints.  She was of Spanish extraction, born at Lima, the capital of Peru, in 1584. Her parents, Caspar de Flores Maria del Oliva, being decent folk of moderate means.  She was christened Isabel but was commonly called Rose, and she was confirmed by St Toribio, Archbishop of Lima, in that name only.
  When she was grown up, she seems to have taken St Catherine of Siena for her model, in spite of the objections and ridicule of her parents and friends. One day her mother having put on her head a garland of flowers, to show her off before some visitors, she stuck in it a pin so deeply that she could not take off the garland without some difficulty.  Hearing others frequently commend her beauty, and fearing lest it should be an occasion of temptation to anyone, she used to rub her face with pepper, in order to disfigure her skin with blotches.  A woman happening cne day to admire the fineness of the skin of her hands and her shapely fingers, she rubbed them with lime and was unable to dress herself for a month in consequence.  By these and other even more surprising austerities she armed herself against external danger  and against the insurgence of her own senses.  But she knew that this would avail her little unless she banished from her heart self-love, which is the source of pride and seeks itself even in fasting and prayer.  Rose triumphed over this enemy by humility, obedi
ence and denial of her own will. She didn't scruple to oppose her parents when she thought they were mistaken, but never wilfully disobeyed them or departed from scrupulous obedience and patience under all trouble and contradictions, of which she experienced more than enough from those who did not understand her.
   Her parents having been reduced to straitened circumstances by an unsuccessful mining venture, Rose by working all day in the garden and late at night with her needle relieved their necessities.   These employments were agreeable to her, and she probably would never have entertained any thoughts of a different life if her parents had not tried to induce her to marry.  She had to struggle with them over this for ten years, and to strengthen herself in her resolution she took a vow of virginity.  Then, having joined the third order of St Dominic, she chose for her dwelling a little hut in the garden, where she becamepractically a recluse.
  She wore upon her head a thin circlet of silver, studded on the inside with little sharp prickles, like a crown of thorns.  So ardent was her love of God that as often as she spoke of Him the tone of her voice and the fire which sparkled in her face showed the flame which consumed her soul.  This appeared most openly when she was in presence of the Blessed Sacrament and when in receiving It she united her heart to her beloved in that fountain of His love.

   God favoured St Rose with many great graces, but she also suffered during fifteen years persecution from her friends and others, and the even more severe trial of interior desolation and anguish in her soul.   The Devil also assaulted her with violent temptations, but the only help she got from those she consulted was the recommendation to eat and sleep more ; at length she was examined by a commission of priests and physicians, who decided that her experiences, good and bad, were supernatural. But it is permissible to think that some of them, if correctly reported, were due to natural physical and psychological causes.
  The last three years of her life were spent under the roof of Don Goazalo de Massa, a government official, and his wife, who was fond of Rose.  In their house she was stricken by her last illness, and under long and painful sickness it was her prayer, "Lord, increase my sufferings, and with them i
ncrease thy love in my heart".
  She died August 24, 1617, thirty-one years old. The chapter, senate, and other honourable corporations of the city carried her body by turns to the grave.  She was canonized by Pope Clement X in 1671, being the first canonized saint of the New World.

   The mode of life and ascetical practices of St Rose of Lima are suitable only for those few whom God calls to them; the ordinary Christian may not seek to copy them, but must look to the universal spirit of heroic sanctity behind them, for all the saints, whether in the world, in the desert or in the cloister, studied to live every moment to God. If we have a pure intention of always doing His will we thus consecrate to Him all our time, even our meals, our rest, our conversation and whatever else we do all our works will thus be full.

The Bollandists in the Acta Sanctorum, August, vol. v, after referring to one or two earlier lives of St Bose, in particular that of John de Vargas Machuca in Spanish, and that of D. M. Marchese in Italian, elected to print entire the Latin biography of the saint by Fr Leonard Hansen, O.P.  This has been the backbone of nearly all that has been subsequently written about her. Moreover, it is supplemented in the Acta Sanctorum by the text of Clement X's very ample bull of canonization, which gives full details both of the life of the saint and of her miracles. In English we have in the Oratorian series a translation of a seventeenth-century French life by J. Fl Feuillet, and an attractive sketch by F. M. Capes, The Flown of the New World Rose of America (1943) is spoiled by too much "sweetness".   See also Vicomte de Bussière, Le Perou et Ste Rose de Lima (1863); Mortier, Maitres Généraux O.P., vol. vii, pp. 76 seq., and the Monumenta OP. Historica, vol. xiii, pp. 22 seq. There are several recent books in Spanish ; and see Sheila Kaye-Smith, Quartet in Heaven (1952). (1899); Sara Maynard's attempt to popularize the saint.

This South American Saint's real name was Isabel, but she was such a beautiful baby that she was called Rose, and that name remained. As she grew older, she became more and more beautiful, and one day, her mother put a wreath of flowers on her head to show off her loveliness to friends. But Rose had no desire to be admired, for her heart had been given to Jesus. So she put a long pin into that wreath and it pierced her so deeply, that she had a hard time getting the wreath off afterward. Another time she became afraid that her beauty might be a temptation to someone, since people could not take their eyes off her. Therefore, she rubbed her face with pepper until it was all red and blistered.
St. Rose worked hard to support her poor parents and she humbly obeyed them, except when they tried to get her to marry. That she would not do. Her love of Jesus was so great that when she talked about Him, her face glowed and her eyes sparkled.
Rose had many temptations from the devil, and there were also many times when she had to suffer a feeling of terrible loneliness and sadness, for God seemed far away. Yet she cheerfully offered all these troubles to Him. In fact, in her last long, painful sickness, this heroic young woman use to pray: "Lord, increase my sufferings, and with them increase Your love in my heart."
Many miracles followed her death. She was beatified by Clement IX, in 1667, and canonized in 1671 by Clement X, the first American to be so honoured. She is represented wearing a crown of roses.
1879 St. Jeanne Jugan ( Sister Mary of the Cross) developed special love for aged, particularly poor widows; At age 47 several other women moved into Jeanne’s home, where they became an informal prayer community and eventually elected Jeanne as superior. They supported themselves through domestic work; in their free time they catechized children and aided the poor as best they could. Over time the community came to be known as the congregation of the Little Sisters of the Poor. Their members, who begged for the needs of the elderly in their care, took vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and hospitality.
(1792-1879)
Being of humble origins needn’t keep us from doing great things for God. Blessed Jeanne Jugan is proof of that.

Born to a poor family in Brittany, France, she learned the meaning of hard work at an early age. She also learned the beauty of the faith passed on to her by her widowed mother. At the age of 16, Jeanne became a kitchen maid for a family whose mistress often took the young girl on visits to the sick and poor.
Over time Jeanne developed a special love for the aged, particularly poor widows.
She did hospital work and domestic service for years. At age 47 several other women moved into Jeanne’s home, where they became an informal prayer community and eventually elected Jeanne as superior. They supported themselves through domestic work; in their free time they catechized children and aided the poor as best they could. Over time the community came to be known as the congregation of the Little Sisters of the Poor. Their members, who begged for the needs of the elderly in their care, took vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and hospitality.

A benefactor provided the growing community of women with a convent; other houses were soon established. Members begged for the needs of the elderly in their care and ate only leftovers. Sister Mary of the Cross, as she was known, proved to be a talented organizer and fundraiser, but jealousies and squabbles forced her to step down as superior. Her spiritual director instructed her to “remain in a hidden life behind the walls of the motherhouse.” Her last 27 years were spent in obscurity. She quietly supervised the manual work of the postulants, who were unaware of the real story behind the humble, elderly nun who loved and encouraged them. She lived to see Pope Leo XIII approve the constitutions for the Little Sisters of the Poor in 1879. But Jeanne Jugan was not officially recognized as the founder of the congregation until 14 years after her death.

Pope John Paul II beatified her in 1982. Quote:  Charles Dickens, a contemporary of Jeanne Jugan, said of her: “There is in this woman something so calm, and so holy, that in seeing her I know myself to be in the presence of a superior being. Her words went straight to my heart, so that my eyes, I know not how, filled with tears.”

Humility Made Sister Jugan a Saint Little Sisters of the Poor Founder to Be Canonized Sunday
Por Carmen Elena Villa VATICAN CITY, OCT. 8, 2009 Zenit.org
Blessed Marie de la Croix Jugan never sought worldly recognition, not even to be known as the founder of the Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Poor.  On Sunday, 10/9/11 however, she will be recognized worldwide as a saint in a canonization ceremony celebrated in Rome by Benedict XVI.
 
"The true measure of sanctity is humility," she constantly repeated, quoting St. John Eudes, for whom she had a great devotion in her earthly life.  
The town of Cancale in northern France, on the coast of Brittany, is where Jeanne Jugan was born in 1792.  Her childhood was not easy. In addition to the historical context in which she grew up -- the French Revolution broke out three years before her birth -- her family had many financial difficulties. 
Her father, a simple fisherman, disappeared at sea when she was four years old. "This death marked her also in the area of acceptance of suffering and sensitivity for those who suffer," the postulator of her canonization cause, Spanish Dominican Father Vito Gomez, told ZENIT.
 
At age 16, she took a job as a kitchen maid, something she continued to do for nine years. "She worked hard, and in that work forged a very solid personality," said Father Vito. 
He noted that Blessed Jugan's spirituality was centered on Christ. She read and meditated on the writings of some of the French masters of spirituality, such as St. Francis de Sales and St. Vincent de Paul. This enhanced her special devotion to the Eucharist and to the Virgin Mary.

Charity 
Jeanne Jugan was anxious to serve the poorest. She invited beggars into her home and even gave them her bed. "I would say that this virtue of charity is like the constellation around which all her other virtues rotated," noted Father Vito. 
On Oct. 15, 1840 she decided to found a small charitable association headed by a parish priest, Father Augusto Le Pailleur, vicar of Saint-Servan. From this community was born the Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Poor.
The first young women made their vows of obedience on December 8, 1842.
 This new community lived with the objective of "participating in the happiness of spiritual poverty, directed to total despoliation which raises the soul to God," as its constitution directs. 
The community elected her as its first superior, a post she held for only two weeks as Father Le Pailleur decided to revoke the election. Years later the priest ordered her to live a more retired life, involved only in domestic tasks, and removed from her benefactors, a decision she accepted without protest. She lived in this way for 27 years. 
"She put into practice the dictum that 'your left hand should not know what your right hand is doing,' to the point of disappearing into the group of which she was really the founder," said the postulator.
 
Blessed Marie de la Croix, as she was called after entering religious life, died in August 1879 when the congregation had some 2,488 women religious and 177 homes for the elderly. Months earlier, Pope Leo XIII had approved the congregation's statutes.
 
The future saint was recognized as the official founder of the Little Sisters of the Poor only at the beginning of the 20th century, when members of the order decided to write the history of the community, said Father Vito. 
"She never rebelled against her marginalization; on the contrary, she dedicated herself more intensely to her congregation," the priest affirmed.

Be little 
Blessed Jugan left nothing in writing; instead, she repeated words that today illuminate the charism of the Little Sisters of the Poor. 
She would say: "Jesus awaits you in the chapel. Go to meet him when you are at the limit of your patience and strength, when you feel alone and weak."
 The founder urged her sisters: "Tell him: 'You know what is happening to me, good Jesus. I have nothing else but you. Come to my help [...].' And then go. And don't be worried about what you will do. It is enough that you spoke about it to the good God. He has a good memory!"
 
Today the Little Sisters of the Poor are active in 31 countries worldwide. In addition to vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, they dedicate their lives to caring for the elderly.  In this way, they aim to transmit their joy and spirituality as well as to learn from the wisdom of those who are in the last stage of their lives, preparing them for their encounter with God in eternity.  The congregation's statutes affirm, "To be a Little Sister of the Poor reminds us of our desire to always go out to the poorest, to create a current of apostolic collaboration and fraternal charity to help Christ in the poor."

In the homily at Blessed Jugan's beatification in 1982, Pope John Paul II told the sisters: "Be little, very little! Guard that spirit of humility and simplicity! If we were to think that we are something, the congregation would no longer bless the good God, it would be our end."
1869 St. Narcisa de Jesus Martillo Moran Narcisa de Jesús Martillo (Narcisa de Jesús Martillo y Morán; 29 October 1832 – 8 December 1869) is a saint from Nobol, Ecuador. She was a laywoman known for her charitable giving and strict devotion, becoming a consecrated virgin. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on October 25, 1992 and canonized on October 12, 2008 by Pope Benedict XVI.[ Today her body lies in repose at the Santuario de Santa Narcisa de Jesus Martillo y Morán in Nobol, Ecuador.
1832-1869
Orphaned at an early age, Narcisa Martillo Moran, of Nobol, Ecuador, worked as a seamstress to contribute to the support of her brothers and sisters. Supported by the guidance of several spiritual directors, she resolved to consecrate her virginity to Christ and to spend the rest of her life offering prayers and penances to God in expiation for mankind’s sins. Although she remained a laywoman, Narcisa followed a demanding daily schedule of eight hours of prayer, offered in silence and solitude. In addition to imposing upon herself an austere diet and very humble living quarters, she devoted four hours of the night to various forms of mortification, including the wearing of a crown of thorns. Narcisa was frequently seen in a state of ecstasy. She spent the concluding months of her life in Lima, Peru, where she died on December 8, 1869 at the age of thirty-seven.

Canonization
Following Narcisa's death, the city of Lima acclaimed her as a saint, as did the people of Guayaquil and Nobol. The Dominican sisters of Patrocinio venerated her by guarding the memory of her virtues and careful preservation of her body. In 1955, her practically uncorrupted body was transferred from Peru to Guayaquil, and in 1972 her remains were returned to Nobol. The documents of the diocesan process of canonization were handed over to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in 1964. Pope John Paul II beatified her on October 25, 1992. On August 22, 1998, a shrine in her honour was dedicated in Nobol, where her uncorrupt body remains to this day.

On January 19, 2007, the Congregation voted in favor of recognizing a miracle that took place through the then Blessed Narcisa’s intercession, an important step in the canonization process. The case that was brought forth was that of Edelmina Arellano, who was cured from a congenital defect in 1992 and was determined to be “unforeseen, complete, lasting, and scientifically inexplicable.” Edelmina was born without genital organs, and at the age of 7 she was inexplicably cured after her mother took her to the shrine dedicated to Narcisa and prayed for her intercession. Later the same day, the child had an appointment with her doctor who testified that, suddenly and without any medical explanation, the girl was completely normal.
Pope Benedict XVI canonized her on October 12, 2008.

Biography
Narcisa de Jesús Martillo was born on October 29, 1832 in the small village of St. Joseph in Nobol, Daule, Ecuador. She was the sixth of nine children born to Peter Martillo and Josephine Morán, who were wealthy landowners. Her mother died in 1838 when she was the age of six and as result took up much of the domestic chores. She had a clear perception of her call to sanctity from an early age and was confirmed on September 16, 1839 at the age of seven. She frequented a small wood near her home for prayer and contemplation in solitude. The guayabo tree near which she prayed, is today the destination for large pilgrimages.  She chose Saint Mariana de Jesus as her patron with whom she identified and strived to imitate.

After her father died in 1852, Narcisa moved to Guayaquil at the age of 19 where she lived with a very prominent family. It is here where Narcisa began her mission of helping the poor and the sick and caring for abandoned children.  She took a job as a seamstress to fund her mission as well as supporting her eight brothers and sisters. Narcisa then moved to the city of Cuenca where she went from home to home, living with whoever would take her including the Blessed Mercedes de Jesús Molina to allow herself greater privacy for prayer and penance.
In June 1868, Narcisa moved to Lima, Peru at the advise of a Franciscan, where she lived as a lay person in the Dominican convent of Patrocinio. Here, Narcisa followed a demanding daily schedule of eight hours of prayer, offered in silence and solitude.  In addition, she devoted four hours of the night to various forms of mortification, including flagellation and the wearing of a crown of thorns.  She fasted on bread and water and took the Eucharist as her only forms of sustenance and was frequently seen in a state of ecstasy. Towards the end of 1869, Narcisa developed high fevers for which medical remedies could do little. She died on December 8, 1869.