Mary Mother of GOD
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!)
RDeo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
December is the month of the Immaculate Conception.
2022
22,810 lives saved since 2007

Nine First Fridays Devotion to the Sacred Heart
From the writings of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

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



Our Bartholomew Family Prayer List
Joyful Mystery on Monday Saturday   Glorius Mystery on Sunday Wednesday
   Sorrowful Mystery on Friday Tuesday   Luminous Mystery on Thursday Veterens of War

Acts of the Apostles

Pope Benedict XVI to The Catholic Church In China {article here }

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

This might seem insignificant, but in the hands of God nothing is impossible.
 Cardinal Ivan Dias (Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples)
Homily of December 8, 2007, in the Basilica of Saint Pius X in Lourdes
 
A Shoot Will Come out from the Stump of Jesse  December 16 - Our Lady of Happy Deliverance (Spain, 1565)
What did the bush seen by Moses announce, with its flame that didn't consume the wood, if not Mary giving birth without pain? (Ex 3:2). And wasn't Aaron's branch, blossoming without being watered (Nb 17:8), the figure of the Virgin conceiving without having known a man? From that great miracle Isaiah reveals a still greater mystery: a shoot will come out from the stump of Jesse and from its root a flower will emerge (Is 11:1).
   The shoot, in his mind, is the Virgin, and the flower, the Son of the Virgin. And this famous fleece, taken from the sheep by the shearer without marring its skin, and whose pure wool, laid out on the ground, was alternately covered with dew on the dry ground and dry on the soaking ground: What else does it signify if not the flesh of Christ borrowed from the flesh of Mary without harming her virginity? In her, this is for certain, heavenly dew came down with divine bliss to the point that we can all share in this bliss and that without her we are but a barren land.
St Bernard of Clairvaux Excerpt of the Second Homily Super Missus

Mary in the Midst of Israel's Waiting (VII)
"I shall make you a light to the nations so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth" (Is 49:6)
The eager expectation felt by the Virgin, in the midst of her own nation Israel, is also a longing felt by the whole world and all the nations, as the prophet Isaiah forcefully reminds us in his messianic oracles:
"I have shaped you; I have made a covenant of the people and a light to the nations" (Is 42:6).
     "It is not enough for you to be my servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back the survivors of Israel; I shall make you a light to the nations so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth" (Is 49:6).

"Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes round about, and see: they all gather themselves together, they come to you" (...) "The abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you. The multitude of camels shall cover you, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praises of the Lord" (Is 60:1-6).


   "His empire shall stretch from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth" (...) "May his name be blessed forever, and endure in the sight of the sun. In him shall be blessed every race in the world, and all nations call him blessed (Ps 72:1-17).

  Help us “walk safely through the dangers of this world”
The devotion to the Black Madonna of Our Lady of Good Deliverance goes back to Medieval times. The statue has been in the chapel of the Sisters of St Thomas of Villeneuve in Neuilly sur Seine (near Paris) since 1910. The tradition of an ancient pilgrimage, attended by Saint Dominic, Saint Francis de Sales, and Saint John Bosco, is still kept alive to this day.
The faithful invoke the Virgin in order to “walk safely through the dangers of this world.” They have recourse to her on behalf of prisoners, expecting mothers, and people subject to temptation.

This feast was instituted by the Sacred Congregation of Rites in 1874.
Source: Liturgy of the Saints of the Diocese of Nanterre, France

 


- 500 b.c. The Holy Prophet Haggai prophesied the Messiah would appear in this Temple; persuaded people build 2nd Jerusalem Temple
The tenth of the Twelve Minor Prophets. He was of the Tribe of Levi and he prophesied during the times of the Persian emperor Darius Hystaspis (prior to 500 B.C.). Upon the return of the Jews from the Babylonian Captivity, he persuaded the people tbuild the Second Temple at Jerusalem, and he proclaimed that the Messiah would appear in this Temple in the last times.
Haggai
   The last, the post-exilic, period of prophecy opens with Haggai. The change is striking. Before the Exile the watchword of the prophets was Punishment.  During the Exile it became Consolation. Now it is Restoration. Haggai appears at a critical moment in the development of Judaism; the birth of the new Palestinian community. His short exhortations are precisely dated, August and September of 520. The first Jews to return from Babylonia to rebuild the Temple were quickly discouraged. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah stirred them to new efforts and urged Zerubbabel the governor and the High Priest Joshua to resume work on the Temple; this was done in September, 520, 1:15; cf. Ezr 5:1.
    The four brief discourses composing this book are entirely concerned with this. Since the Temple is still in ruins Yahweh has destroyed the harvests; its rebuilding will usher in an age of prosperity. However unimposing, this new Temple will dim the glory of the old; and power is promised to Zerubbabel, the chosen of God. This Temple, therefore, and this descendant of David become the focus of a messianic hope that will be more clearly expressed in Zechariah.
It is believed that Haggai was buried with the priests at Jerusalem, since he was descended from Aaron.
Sunday of the Holy Forefathers ancestors of Christ according to the flesh, who lived before the Law and under the Law, especially the Patriarch Abraham, to whom God said "In thy seed shall all of the nations of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 12:3, 22:18).
The Sunday that falls between December 11-17
These are the ancestors of Christ according to the flesh, who lived before the Law and under the Law, especially the Patriarch Abraham, to whom God said, "In thy seed shall all of the nations of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 12:3, 22:18).

 Gazæ, in Palæstína, sancti Ireniónis Epíscopi.
       At Gaza in Palestine, St. Irenion, bishop.

250 St. Albina Martyr at a tender age a young witness for Christ
 Fórmiis, in Campánia, sanctæ Albínæ, Vírginis et Mártyris, sub Décio Imperatóre.
     At Mola di Gaeta in Campania, St. Albina, virgin and martyr, under Emperor Decius.
Albina was born in Caesarea and was martyred there, or perhaps in Formiae. She was caught up in the persecutions conducted under Emperor Trajanus Decius of Rome.
Albina is listed in the Roman Martyrology. Little is known of her before her martyrdom.

305 St. Valentine Martyr with group including Navalis Concordius Agricola.
 Ravénnæ sanctórum Mártyrum Valentíni, magístri mílitum, ejúsque fílii Concórdii, atque Navális et Agrícolæ; qui, in persecutióne Maximiáni, pro Christo passi sunt.
     At Ravenna, the holy martyrs Valentine, an officer of the army, Concordius, his son, Navalis, and Agricola, who suffered for Christ in the persecution of Maximian.
at Ravenna, Italy. There is some question as to whether they were actually martyred in that city (as St. Peter Chrysologus wrote that St. Apollinaris was the only person martyred at Ravenna); It is also possible that they can be considered synonymous with Valentine martyrs of that same era also declared to have died in Ravenna.
3rd v. The Martyr Marinus soldier Caesarea of Palestine refused to swear the customary oath invoking the pagan gods, or to offer sacrifice to idols
a soldier who suffered in Caesarea of Palestine in the third century.
When he was about to be promoted to centurion, he refused to swear the customary oath invoking the pagan gods, or to offer sacrifice to idols.
St Marinus was beheaded after cruel tortures, and buried by St Asterius (August 7).

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


   In
354 Pope Liberius deputed St Eusebius, with Lucifer of Cagliari, to beg the Emperor Constantius to assemble a council to try and end the trouble between Catholics and Arians. Constantius agreed, and a council met at Milan in 355. Eusebius, seeing things would be carried by force through the power of the Arians, though the Catholic prelates were more numerous, refused to go to it till he was pressed by Constantius himself.
   When the bishops were called on to sign a condemnation of St Athanasius that had been drawn up, Eusebius refused, and instead laid the Nicene creed on the table and insisted on all signing that before the case of St Athanasius should be considered.
   Great tumult and confusion followed. Eventually the emperor sent for St Eusebius, St Dionysius of Milan and Lucifer of Cagliari, and pressed them to condemn Athanasius. They insisted upon his innocence and that he could not be condemned without being heard, and urged that secular force might not be used to influence ecclesiastical decisions. The emperor stormed and threatened to put them to death, but was content to banish them. The first place of exile of St Eusebius was Scythopolis (Beisan) in Palestine, where he was put in charge of the Arian bishop, Patrophilus.
    He was lodged at first with St Joseph of Palestine (the only orthodox household in the town), and was comforted by the visits of St Epiphanius and others, and by the arrival of the deputies of his church of Vercelli with money for his subsistence. But his patience was to be exercised by great trials. Count Joseph died, and the Arians insulted the bishop, dragged him through the streets half naked, and shut him up in a little room, where he was pestered for four days with all manner of annoyances to make him conform. They forbade his deacons and other fellow confessors to be admitted to see him, so he sent a letter to Bishop Patrophilus addressed, “ Eusebius, the servant of God, with the other servants of God who suffer with him for the faith, to Patrophilus the jailer, and to his officers “. After a short account of what he had suffered, he asked that his deacons might be allowed to come to him. Eusebius undertook a sort of” hunger-strike “, and after he had remained four days without food the Arians sent him back to his lodging.

   Three weeks afterwards they came again, broke into the house, and dragged him away. They rifled his goods, plundered his provisions, and drove away his attendants. St Eusebius found means to write a letter to his flock, in which he mentions these particulars.
   Later he was removed from Scythopolis into Cappadocia, and some time afterwards into the Upper Thebaid in Egypt. We have a letter which he wrote from this place to Gregory, Bishop of Elvira, praising him for his constancy against those who had forsaken the faith of the Church. The undaunted confessor expresses a desire to end his life in suffering for the kingdom of God.
   When Constantius died towards the end of the year 361, Julian gave leave to the banished prelates to return to their sees, and St Eusebius came to Alexandria to concert measures with St Athanasius for applying proper remedies to the evils of the Church. He took part in a council there, and then went on to Antioch to put into effect the wish of the council that St Meletius should there be recognized as bishop and the Eustathian schism healed. But he found it widened by Lucifer of Cagliari, who had blown on the coals afresh by ordaining Paulinus bishop for the Eustathians. Eusebius remonstrated with him for this rash act but the hasty Lucifer resented this, and broke off communion with him and with all who, with the Council of Alexandria, received the ex-Arian bishops.
This was the origin of the schism of Lucifer, who by pride lost the fruit of his former zeal and sufferings.
   Unable to do any good at Antioch, St Eusebius travelled over the East and through Illyricum, confirming in the faith those who were wavering and bringing back many that were gone astray.
   In Italy St Hilary of Poitiers and St Eusebius met, and were employed together in opposing the arianizing Auxentius of Milan. Vercelli, on the return of its bishop after so long an absence, “laid aside her garments of mourning “, as St Jerome puts it, but of the last years of St Eusebius nothing is known. He died on August 1, on which day his eulogy occurs in the Roman Martyrology. He is therein referred to as a martyr, but the Breviary makes it clear that he was so by his sufferings and not by his death.
   In the cathedral of Vercelli is shown a manuscript copy of the gospels said to be written by St Eusebius:  it was almost worn out with age nearly a thousand years ago when King Berengariuscaused it to be covered with plates of silver. This manuscript is the earliest codex of the Old Latin version in existence, St Eusebius is among the several persons to whom the composition of the Athanasian Creed “ has been attributed.

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

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

389 St. Irenion of Gaza (Palestinian, bishop first church built in Gaza.
 Gazæ, in Palæstína, sancti Ireniónis Epíscopi.       At Gaza in Palestine, St. Irenion, bishop.
The first church built in Gaza itself was the work of St. Irenion (d. 393) whose feast is 16 December.
He was succeeded by Aeneas, and later by St. Porphyry (395-420), the true restorer of Christianity in Gaza. This holy bishop first sent Marcus, his deacon and historian, to Constantinople to obtain an order to close the pagan temples. The Christians then scarcely numbered 200 in Gaza; though the rest of the empire was gradually abandoning its idols, Gaza was stubborn in its opposition to Christianity. The decree was granted by the emperor, and the temples closed, with the exception of the Marneion, the temple sacred to Zeus Marnas, which had replaced that of Dagon. There was no great change, however, in the sentiments of the people; so St. Porphyry decided to strike a decisive blow. He went himself toConstantinople during the winter of 401-402 and obtained from Arcadius a decree for the destruction of the pagan temples, which Cynegius, a special imperial envoy, executed in May, 402. Eight temples, those of Aphrodite, Hecate, the Sun, Apollo, Core, Fortune, the Heroeion, and even the Marneion, were either pulled down or burnt. Simultaneously soldiers visited every house, seizing and burning the idols and books of magic. On the ruins of the Marneion was erected, at the expense of the empress, a large church called the Eudoxiana in her honour, and dedicated 14 April, 407. Paganism had thus ceased to exist officially.

 Sanctórum Trium Puerórum, id est Ananíæ, Azaríæ et Misaélis; quorum córpora apud Babylóniam, sub quodam specu, sunt pósita.
     
Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, The three young men, whose bodies are buried in a cave near Babylon.
5th-6th v. St. Beoc Irish monastic founder.
also called Beanus, Dabeoc, Mobeoc, and Moboac. He is credited with founding a monastery in Lough Derg, in Donegal.

In Africa pássio plurimárum sanctárum Vírginum, quæ, in persecutióne Wandálica, sub Ariáno Rege Hunneríco, suspéndia, póndera laminásque ignítas perpéssæ, martyrii agónem felíciter consummárunt.
     
many holy virgins In Africa, who reached a happy end of their martyrdom in the persecution of the Vandals under the Arian king Hunneric by having heavy weights tied to them and burning plates of metal applied to their bodies.
875 Beatus Ado of Vienne; Benedictine archbishop
 Viénnæ, in Gállia, beáti Adónis, Epíscopi et Confessóris.      At Vienne in France, blessed Ado, bishop and confessor.
Ado came of a good family of the Gatinais and was educated in the abbey of Ferrières, near Sens, under the celebrated Lupus Servatus. Refusing all inducements to return to the world he became a monk there, and soon had an established reputation for holiness and learning. He was still young when Markward, abbot of Prum, begged of Abbot Sigulf that Ado might teach the sacred sciences in his monastery, and the request was not refused. Ado so taught as to make all that were under his care truly servants of God but difficulties and disagreements arose, and he had to leave Prum.
   Eventually he came to Lyons, and St Remigius, archbishop of the city, kept him there and gave him charge of the parish church of St Romanus. His former master, Lupus, who had been chosen abbot of Ferrières, became his advocate, and, the see of Vienne falling vacant, Ado was chosen archbishop and consecrated in 859.
   He was indefatigable in preaching the truths of salvation. He usually began his sermons with the words:  "Hear the eternal truth which speaks to you in the gospel
, or “Hear Jesus Christ, who says to you, or a similar expression. He was an altogether admirable bishop, and an implacable opponent of Lothair II of Lorraine in the matrimonial affairs that came before Pope St Nicholas I. King Charles the Bald sent him to Rome to present the case of the wronged Theutberga, and he was the legate sent by the pope with letters imperatively annulling the infamous proceedings of the Synod of Metz.
   Bd Ado was the author of several written works, of which the best known is the martyrology that bears his name, of which the first version was prepared at Saint-Romain between 855 and 860. Dom Leclercq says of it that “It has contributed in a considerable measure to mislead the traditions of martyrologists and its unfortunate influence is found at work in almost all [pertinent] questions that have embarrassed historians
. Through the Martyrology of Usuard, which was an abridgement of it, and its use in later revisions, it has had a strong and regrettable influence on the official Roman Martyrology, Among the works which Ado used in its preparation was one known as the Martyrologium Romanum Parvum, purporting to be an ancient martyrology of the Roman church. He tells us that when he was at Ravenna he saw a manuscript of this, which had been sent by one of the popes to Aquileia, and he accordingly made a copy of it for his own use. It is now known that the Parvum was spurious, a document contemporary with Ado himself. It has even been suggested that it was Ado who fabricated it. This need cause no surprise, for it was not till long after his time that the forgery or doctoring of documents began to be seen as a practice deserving the reprobation that is now properly given to it. Even in our own time it is not uncommon to find continued currency given to pious legends and hagiological stories, without expressed advertence to their being only doubtfully true or even certainly false as records of historical fact.
    Bd Ado also wrote Lives of St Desiderius (Didier) and St Theuderius (Chef), and a Universal Chronicle of the Six Ages of the World, from the Creation to A.D. 869. It was considered desirable that Vienne, like other episcopal cities in southern Gaul (see, e.g. Aries, under St Trophimus on the 29th of this month, and Lazarus at Marseilles on the 17th), should have had an apostolic origin; and it seems that Ado was responsible for the tradition that Crescens was sent by St Paul not into Galatia but into Gaul (2 Timothy iv 10): his solemn commemoration at Vienne as its first bishop is still recorded in the Roman Martyrology on December 29, and referred to in the entry of his martyrdom in Galatia on June 27. Ado died at Vienne on December 16, 875. He is often accorded the title of Saint, but the Roman Martyrology refers to him as Beatus only.
There is a life of Ado printed in Mabillon, vol. iv, Pt 2, PP. 262—275, but its value as an historical source is questionable. Ado’s connection with the see of Vienne is discussed by Duchesne, Fastes Episcopaux, vol. i, PP. 147, 162, 210. The whole matter of his relation to the martyrology called by his name has been very thoroughly investigated by Dom Quentin in his Martyrologes historiques (1908). See also DAC., vol. i, cc. 535—539 and DHG., vol. i, cc. 585-586.
894 The Holy Empress Theophano the Sunday after Pentecost be dedicated to All Saints
first wife of Emperor Leo VI the Wise (886-911).

She and Leo were locked up in prison for three years, because Leo was falsely accused of intending to assassinate his father, Emperor Basil the Macedonian. After receiving her freedom, she spent her life in prayer and fasting, earnestly struggling for her salvation.

Living in the world, she renounced everything worldly. She was a benefactor to the poor, and was generous toward monasteries. She was a true mother to her subjects, caring for widows and orphans, and consoling the sorrowful. St Theophano died in 893 or 894.

Even before her death her husband started to build a church, intending to dedicate it to Theophano, but she forbade him to do so. It was this emperor who decreed that the Sunday after Pentecost be dedicated to All Saints. Believing that his wife was one of the righteous, he knew that she would also be honored whenever the Feast of All Saints was celebrated.
Her holy relics are preserved in Constantinople.
999 ST ADELAIDE, WIDOW; regent Throughout her life she had shown herself generous and forgiving to enemies, and amenable to the wise guidance in turn of St Adalbert of Magdeburg, St Majolus and St Odilo of Cluny, who called her “a marvel of beauty and grace”. She founded and restored monasteries of monks and nuns, and was urgent for the conversion of the Slavs, whose movements on the eastern frontier troubled her closing years before she finally returned to Burgundy.

WHEN in the year 933 Rudolf II of Upper Burgundy concluded a treaty with Hugh of Provence in their struggle for the crown of Italy (Lombardy), one of the terms was that Rudolf’s daughter, Adelaide, then a baby of two, should marry Hugh’s son, Lothair. Fourteen years later her brother, Conrad of Burgundy, saw to the fulfilling of this contract, Lothair being by then nominally king of Italy, but actually in the power of Berengarius of Ivrea.
  One child was born of the marriage, Emma (she eventually married Lothair II of France), and in 950 Lothair of Italy died, not without strong suspicion of having been poisoned by Berengarius, who succeeded him. Berengarius then tried to make Adelaide marry his son, and on her refusal treated her with brutality and indignity, and shut her up in a castle on Lake Garda. At this time the German king, Otto the Great, was leading an army into Italy to try to reduce the north to order. He defeated Berengarius and released Adelaide; or, as it is said, she escaped from her prison and joined him.
   To consolidate his authority in Italy, Otto married Adelaide, who was twenty years his junior, on Christmas day 951, at Pavia. Of this union five children were born. Ludolf, Otto’s son by his first wife (sister of Athelstan of England), was jealous of the influence of his stepmother and her children and became a centre of discontentand rebellion, but to the German people the gentle and gracious Adelaide soon endeared herself. In 962 Otto was crowned emperor at Rome. Nothing is heard of Adelaide for the next ten years, till in 973 her husband died and their eldest son succeeded.
   Otto II was a good and spirited prince, but hasty and self-sufficient, and on his accession to power he soon estranged his mother and allowed himself to be turned against her by his wife, the Byzantine Theophano, and other counsellors. Adelaide left the court and went to her brother, Conrad, at Vienne. She appealed to St Majolus, abbot of Cluny, whom she had wanted to see made pope when Benedict VI was murdered in 974, and he eventually succeeded in bringing about a reconciliation; mother and son met at Pavia, and Otto asked pardon on his knees for his unkindness. She sent gifts to the shrine of St Martin at Tours, including Otto’s best cloak, and asking for her son the saint’s prayers—“you who had the glory of covering with your own cloak Christ the Lord in the person of a beggar”.
   But similar trouble came when Otto died in 983. Otto III was a baby and his mother, Theophano, became regent. She had the flair for politics of the great Byzantine princesses and in this respect was more capable than her mother-in-law. Adelaide again left the court, but Theophano died suddenly in 991 and the old empress came back to be herself regent, a task now beyond her strength and peace-loving nature, though she had the assistance of St Willigis of Mainz.
  Throughout her life she had shown herself generous and forgiving to enemies, and amenable to the wise guidance in turn of St Adalbert of Magdeburg, St Majolus and St Odilo of Cluny, who called her “a marvel of beauty and grace
. She founded and restored monasteries of monks and nuns, and was urgent for the conversion of the Slavs, whose movements on the eastern frontier troubled her closing years before she finally returned to Burgundy. Death overtook her at a monastery of her foundation at Seltz, on the Rhine near Strasburg, on December 16, 999. St Adelaide was canonized c. 1097.
The most reliable source of information regarding St Adelaide is the “Epitaphium” of St Odilo of Cluny. It is printed in MGH., Scriptores, vol. iv, pp. 635—649, and in Migne, PL., vol. cxlii CC. 967—992. But a good deal may also be gleaned from the chroniclers of the period. There is a German life by F. P. Wimmer, Kaiserin Adelheid (1897). See also DHG., vol. i, cc. 516—517.
1000 + St. Nicholas Chrysoberges Patriarch of Constantinople,
modern Istanbul, Turkey, from 983. He lived in a turbulent historical era, rife with imperial disputes and schisms.

1012 In Hibérnia sancti Beáni Epíscopi.      In Ireland, St. Bean, bishop.
1151 Bl. Raynald de Bar Cistercian abbot; 1st collection of Cistercian statutes
A monk of Clairvaux, France, Raynald held various posts until receiving appointment in 1133 as abbot of the famed abbey of Citeaux. His chief achievement was the compilation of the first collection of Cistercian statutes.

1496 BD SEBASTIAN OF BRESCIA all Genoa came to his tomb, whereat many miracles were reported.
DURING the thirteenth century the family of the Maggi was one of the most powerful in Brescia and at the head of the party of the Guelfs; at the time of the birth of Bd Sebastian, early in the fifteenth century, it had declined from its former estate, but the name was still held in honour.
Sebastian entered the Order of Preachers when he was fifteen, and his ministry was attended with much success: large numbers were brought to repentance, quarrelling families and communes were reconciled, and the work of his order strengthened; but few particulars are
known of his busy life. He was a powerful preacher and an admirable superior in the many friaries that he governed. He recognized the genius and virtues of Jerome Savonarola, whose confessor for a time he was, and at the age of twenty-nine, when Father Jerome had been professed only six years, he made him master of the novices at Bologna.
 Bd Sebastian was a strict upholder of monastic observance, and worked doggedly at the reform of several houses, especially that of Lodi, where he set the example
of begging from door to door for the support of the community. As a superior he wished to be treated with the openness of a father, and was then gentle and indulgent; but when his brethren regarded him merely as a master, he was accordingly severe. When suffering from sickness Bd Sebastian insisted on carry­ing out a visitation of his province, but when he reached the priory of Santa Maria di Castello at Genoa he could go no further; this, he said to his companions, was to be the place of his rest for ever. He died there on December 16, 1496, and all Genoa came to his tomb, whereat many miracles were reported. The cultus of Bd Sebastian Maggi was confirmed in 1760.

Mortier in his Histoire des mattres généraux OP., vol. iv, pp. 548—550, speaks in some detail of Bd Sebastian, and he figures in nearly all the lives of Savonarola see, for example, Herbert Lucas, Fra Girolamo Savonarola (1906), pp. 10, 191 seq., etc. A short account is also given by Procter, Lives of Dominican Saints, pp. 339—342. For a fuller bibliography see Taurisano, Catalogus Hagiographicus OP

1542 Saint Sophia "the holy Righteous Princess Sophia the Nun, the wonderworker, who dwelt at the Protection monastery." several miraculous healings at her grave
in the world Solomonia, a Great Princess, daughter of the noble Yuri Saburov.
In the year 1505 she was chosen as bride by the heir to the throne, the future Great Prince Basil. Their marriage was unhappy, because Solomonia remained childless, so he divorced her. In order to have an heir, Great Prince Basil decided to wed a second time (to Elena Glinsky) and on November 25,

1525 he ordered Solomonia to become a nun. Forcibly tonsured with the name Sophia, Solomonia was sent under guard to the Suzdal Protection convent, where by ascetic deeds she banished from her heart worldly thoughts, and totally dedicated herself to God.

Prince Kurbsky calls the blessed princess "a Monastic Martyr." In the manuscript Lives of the Saints she is called "the holy Righteous Princess Sophia the Nun, the wonderworker, who dwelt at the Protection monastery." Under Tsar Theodore they revered her as a saint. Tsaritsa Irene sent to Suzdal, "to the Great Princess Solomonia, also called Sophia, a velvet veil with depiction of the Savior and other saints." Patriarch Joseph wrote to Archbishop Serapion of Suzdal about serving Panikhidas and Moliebens for Sophia. St Sophia departed to God in the year 1542.
The Suzdal sacristan Ananias speaks of several miraculous healings at her grave.
1717 BD MARY OF TURIN, VIRGIN  miraculous abbess “Obedience wills what God wills
 There lived at Turin during the seventeenth century a count of Santena named John Donato Fontanella. He was a religious and well-loved man and married an equally good wife, Mary Tana, whose father was cousin-German to St Aloysius Gonzaga.
   They had eleven children, of whom the ninth, Marianna, was a girl of particular intelligence and promise. When a child of six, emulating St Teresa, she concocted a scheme with her little brother to run away and live “ in the desert ” but they spoiled it by oversleeping on the morning intended for their departure.
 Two years later, when making recovery from a serious illness, she experienced her first vision, and from that time began to show a strongly ascetic disposition; in the following year she made her first communion. A deep impression had been made on her mind by contemplation of the blow in the face given to our Lord by the servant of Caiaphas, and a strange incident is related in that connection. One evening, when Marianna was kneeling at Benediction with one of her sisters, a strange man on her other side turned suddenly and violently slapped her cheek. The man escaped in the ensuing confusion and was never seen again.
 When she was something over twelve, Marianna, by a not very creditable ruse in concert with the nuns to evade her mother, joined the Cistercians at Saluzzo to live among their alumnae; but she was not happy there and, on the death of her father, went home to keep house for her mother. She became ever more drawn to the religious life and in 1676, after some difficulties with her family, was admitted in her sixteenth year to the Carmel of Santa Cristina. Here her first experience was one of great home-sickness; following that, an intense distaste for her new life and dislike of the novice-mistress. But she persevered and was in due course professed.
   After seven years in the convent Sister Mary-of-the-Angels, as she was now called, was visited by a long and severe “dark night”, during which she was tormented by numerous diabolical assaults and manifestations. She was guided through this by a very able director, Father Laurence-Mary, o.c.d., and at the end of three years began to come into more peaceful ways and to attain higher states of prayer. In 1690 she wrote to Father Laurence an account of a mystical experience which marked the end of her violent struggles. That Sister Mary herself was of a vehement disposition her own physical penances show. At one time she was scourging herself to blood daily, compressing her tongue with an iron ring, dropping molten wax on her skin, even suspending herself cross-wise by ropes from a beam in her cell. Of such practices we may borrow from the words of Father George O’Neill, s.j., her Irish biographer: “ No one is asked to imitate, no one is bound to admire them.”
   When she was thirty she was appointed novice-mistress, and three years later prioress, offices which she took up with deep reluctance and discharged with an equally marked ability. At the suggestion of Bd Sebastian Valfré she undertook a new foundation with a small house and inadequate endowment at Moncaglieri; and having overcome opposition from both ecclesiastical and civil authorities she was able to establish the nucleus of a community there in 1703, and the convent is still in being. Sister Mary herself wished to go there, but the people of Turin would not suffer it; all, from the members of the ducal family of Savoy downwards, were accustomed to go and ask the advice and prayers of the prioress of Santa Cristina, especially during the war with the French.
During the last twenty years of her life Bd Mary continued to have remarkable experiences and gifts, among them what appeared to be a literal “odour of sanctity”. This scent emanated from her person, and was communicated to her clothes and even to things that she touched, from which it was sometimes difficult to eradicate. From about 1702 this phenomenon was permanent, and among the witnesses to it was Father Costanzo, afterwards archbishop of Sassari in Sardinia. He characterized it as “neither natural nor artificial, nor like flowers or aromatic drugs or any mixture of perfumes, but only to be called an ‘odour of sanctity’”.
   It is stated that certain secondary relics of the beata at Moncaglieri still retain this fragrance. At the same time Bd Mary, like so many other mystics, was also notably proficient and careful in the practical matters, keeping accounts, looking after workmen, and so on, which fell to her lot as prioress. At the end of the priorate of Mother Teresa-Felix in 1717 the nuns of Santa Cristina wished to elect Bd Mary for a fifth term of office. She thought that her physical weakness would prevent her from giving a proper example of observance, and appealed to her confessor and to the prior provincial, but they both refused to interfere. Whereupon she set herself to pray that, if it were God’s will, she might shortly die; and within three weeks she was very ill.
   Punctilious obedience to superiors had been so marked in her life that the nuns now implored them to “give her an obedience” to recover. They demurred, and Mary said, “ Obedience wills what God wills, and therefore I will what obedience wills. Were the impossible possible I would do as you ask but I have so stormed the heart of Jesus to get my desire that He has granted it. It cannot be changed now.”
  She blessed all her sisters, and Father Costanzo asked, without saying who she was, for a last word for “another daughter”, who was in fact the young Princess di Carignano who had hurried to the convent when she heard that Mother Mary was dying. “May our Lord bless her”, she murmured, “and give her real detachment from the world—for everything here comes to an end.” Bd Mary-of-the-Angels died on December 16, 1717, and seven years later her cause was introduced at the instance of Victor Amadeus II of Savoy; but she was not officially declared blessed until 1865.

A full account of this Carmelite mystic will be found in the book of Father G. O’Neill, Bd Mary of the Angels (1909). It is based upon a life written in Italian by Father Elias-of St-Teresa who had known the beata personally and was able to utilize what survived of an autobiography which she wrote by command of her superiors. A later Italian account is by Father Benedetto (1934).
1916 Blessed Honoratus Kozminski; received Capuchin habit and new name; 4 years later he was ordained; 1855 helped Blessed Mary Angela Truszkowska establish the Felician Sisters;
   
He was born
1825 in Biala Podlaska (Siedlce, Poland) and studied architecture at the School of Fine Arts in Warsaw. When Wenceslaus was almost sixteen, his father died. Suspected of participating in a rebellious conspiracy, the young man was imprisoned from April 1846 until the following March. In 1848 he received the Capuchin habit and a new name. Four years later he was ordained. In 1855 he helped Blessed Mary Angela Truszkowska establish the Felician Sisters.

Honoratus served as guardian in a Warsaw friary already in 1860. He dedicated his energies to preaching, to giving spiritual direction and to hearing confessions. He worked tirelessly with the Secular Franciscan Order.

The failed 1864 revolt against Czar Alexander III led to the suppression of all religious Orders in Poland. The Capuchins were expelled from Warsaw and forced to live in Zakroczym, where Honoratus continued his ministry and began founding twenty-six male and female religious congregations, whose members took vows but wore no religious habit and did not live in community. They operated much as today’s secular institutes do. Seventeen of these groups still exist as religious congregations.

The writings of Father Honoratus are extensive: forty-two volumes of sermons, 21 volumes of letters as well as 52 printed works on ascetical theology, Marian devotion, historical writings, pastoral writings — not counting his many writings for the religious congregations he founded.

In 1906, various bishops sought the reorganization of these groups under their authority; Honoratus defended their independence but was removed from their direction in 1908. He promptly urged the members of these congregations to obey the Church’s decisions regarding their future.

He “always walked with God,” said a contemporary. In 1895 he was appointed Commissary General of the Capuchins in Poland. Three years before he had come to Nowe Miasto, where he died and was buried. He was beatified in 1988.

Comment: The story is told that Francis and Brother Leo, his secretary, were once on a journey and Francis volunteered to tell Leo what perfect joy is. Francis began by saying what it was not: news that the kings of France, England, as well as all the world’s bishops and many university professors had decided to become friars, news that the friars had received the gift of tongues and miracles, or news that the friars had converted all the non-Christians in the world. No, perfect joy for them would be to arrive cold and hungry at St. Mary of the Angels, Francis’ headquarters outside Assisi, and be mistaken by the porter for thieves and beaten by the same porter and driven back into the cold and rain. Francis said that if, for the love of God, he and Leo could endure such treatment without losing their patience and charity, that would be perfect joy (cited in Regis Armstrong, O.F.M. Cap., and Ignatius Brady, O.F.M., Francis and Clare: The Complete Works, pages 165-166).
Honoratus worked very zealously to serve the Church, partly by establishing a great variety of religious congregations adapted to the special circumstances of Poland in those years. He could have retreated into bitterness and self-pity when the direction of those congregations was taken away from him; that was certainly a “perfect joy” experience. He urged the members of these groups to obey willingly and gladly, placing their gifts at the service of the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Quote: When the Church removed Honoratus from the direction of his religious congregations and changed their character, he wrote: “Christ’s Vicar himself has revealed God’s will to us, and I carry out this order with greatest faith.... Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that you are being given the opportunity to show heroic obedience to the holy Church.”


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 218

O Lady, let not the Lord rebuke me in His anger: obtain for us pardon for our sins.

Let all our desire be in thy sight: our hope and our confidence.

My heart is troubled within me: light departs from my interior,

Enlighten with thy brightness my blindness: sweeten with thy sweetness my contrite heart.

Forsake us not, O Lady, Mother of God: let thy grace and thy power be at my right hand.


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

Thunder, ye heavens, from above, and give praise to her: glorify her, ye earth, with all the dwellers therein.


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

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


God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique, for each is the result of a new idea. 
As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike. It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints. Dear Lord, grant us a spirit that is not bound by our own ideas and preferences. 
Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves.
O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory. Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.  Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.   God calls each one of us to be a saint in order to get into 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.
There are over 10,000 named saints beati  from history
 and Roman Martyology Orthodox sources

Patron_Saints.html  Widowed_Saints htmIndulgences The Catholic Church in China
LINKS: Marian Shrines  
India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes 1858  China Marian shrines 1995
Kenya national Marian shrine  Loreto, Italy  Marian Apparitions (over 2000Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798
 
Links to Related MarianWebsites  Angels and Archangels  Saints Visions of Heaven and Hell

Widowed Saints  html
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  UniateChalcedon

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

The great psalm of the Passion, Chapter 22, whose first verse “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Jesus pronounced on the cross, ended with the vision: “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations shall worship before him
For kingship belongs to the LORD, the ruler over the nations. All who sleep in the earth will bow low before God; All who have gone down into the dust will kneel in homage. And I will live for the LORD; my descendants will serve you. The generation to come will be told of the Lord, that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn the deliverance you have brought.
Pope Benedict XVI to The Catholic Church In China {whole article here} 2000 years of the Catholic Church in China
The saints “a cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.

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

My God, I believe, I adore, I trust and I love Thee.  I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not
O most Holy trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly.  I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the Tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended, and by the infite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  I beg the conversion of poor sinners,  Fatima Prayer, Angel of Peace
The voice of the Father is heard, the Son enters the water, and the Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove.
THE spirit and example of the world imperceptibly instil the error into the minds of many that there is a kind of middle way of going to Heaven; and so, because the world does not live up to the gospel, they bring the gospel down to the level of the world. It is not by this example that we are to measure the Christian rule, but words and life of Christ. All His followers are commanded to labour to become perfect even as our heavenly Father is perfect, and to bear His image in our hearts that we may be His children. We are obliged by the gospel to die to ourselves by fighting self-love in our hearts, by the mastery of our passions, by taking on the spirit of our Lord.
   These are the conditions under which Christ makes His promises and numbers us among His children, as is manifest from His words which the apostles have left us in their inspired writings. Here is no distinction made or foreseen between the apostles or clergy or religious and secular persons. The former, indeed, take upon themselves certain stricter obligations, as a means of accomplishing these ends more perfectly; but the law of holiness and of disengagement of the heart from the world is general and binds all the followers of Christ.
God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique each the result of a new idea.
As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike.
It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints.

Dear Lord, grant us a spirit not bound by our own ideas and preferences.
 
Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves.

O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory.
 
Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.
Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.
The 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary ) Revealed to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan)
1.    Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces. 2.    I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary. 3.    The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies. 4.    It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things.  Oh, that soul would sanctify them by this means.  5.    The soul that recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish. 6.    Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying themselves to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune.  God will not chastise them in His justice, they shall not perish by an unprovided death; if they be just, they shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life. 7.    Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church. 8.    Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise. 9.    I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary. 10.    The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.  11.    You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary. 12.    I shall aid all those who propagate the Holy Rosary in their necessities. 13.    I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death. 14.    All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ. 15.    Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
His Holiness Aram I, current (2013) Catholicos of Cilicia of Armenians, whose See is located in Lebanese town of Antelias. The Catholicosate was founded in Sis, capital of Cilicia, in the year 1441 following the move of the Catholicosate of All Armenians back to its original See of Etchmiadzin in Armenia. The Catholicosate of Cilicia enjoyed local jurisdiction, though spiritually subject to the authority of Etchmiadzin. In 1921 the See was transferred to Aleppo in Syria, and in 1930 to Antelias.
Its jurisdiction currently extends to Syria, Cyprus, Iran and Greece.
Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac
The exact date of the introduction of Christianity into Edessa {Armenian Ourhaï in Arabic Er Roha, commonly Orfa or Urfa, its present name} is not known. It is certain, however, that the Christian community was at first made up from the Jewish population of the city. According to an ancient legend, King Abgar V, Ushana, was converted by Addai, who was one of the seventy-two disciples. In fact, however, the first King of Edessa to embrace the Christian Faith was Abgar IX (c. 206) becoming official kingdom religion.
Christian council held at Edessa early as 197 (Eusebius, Hist. Ecc7V,xxiii).
In 201 the city was devastated by a great flood, and the Christian church was destroyed (“Chronicon Edessenum”, ad. an. 201).
In 232 the relics of the Apostle St. Thomas were brought from India, on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written.

Under Roman domination martyrs suffered at Edessa: Sts. Scharbîl and Barsamya, under Decius; Sts. Gûrja, Schâmôna, Habib, and others under Diocletian.
 
In the meanwhile Christian priests from Edessa evangelized Eastern Mesopotamia and Persia, established the first Churches in the kingdom of the Sassanides.  Atillâtiâ, Bishop of Edessa, assisted at the Council of Nicæa (325). The “Peregrinatio Silviæ” (or Etheriæ) (ed. Gamurrini, Rome, 1887, 62 sqq.) gives an account of the many sanctuaries at Edessa about 388.
Although Hebrew had been the language of the ancient Israelite kingdom, after their return from Exile the Jews turned more and more to Aramaic, using it for parts of the books of Ezra and Daniel in the Bible. By the time of Jesus, Aramaic was the main language of Palestine, and quite a number of texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls are also written in Aramaic.
Aramaic continued to be an important language for Jews, alongside Hebrew, and parts of the Talmud are written in it.
After Arab conquests of the seventh century, Arabic quickly replaced Aramaic as the main language of those who converted to Islam, although in out of the way places, Aramaic continued as a vernacular language of Muslims.
Aramaic, however, enjoyed its greatest success in Christianity. Although the New Testament wins written in Greek, Christianity had come into existence in an Aramaic-speaking milieu, and it was the Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac, that became the literary language of a large number of Christians living in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire and in the Persian Empire, further east. Over the course of the centuries the influence of the Syriac Churches spread eastwards to China (in Xian, in western China, a Chinese-Syriac inscription dated 781 is still to be seen); to southern India where the state of Kerala can boast more Christians of Syriac liturgical tradition than anywhere else in the world.

680 Shiite saint Imam Hussein, grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad Known as Ashoura and observed by Shiites across the world, the 10th day of the lunar Muslim month of Muharram: the anniversary of the 7th century death in battle of one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints.  Imam Hussein died in the 680 A.D. battle fought on the plains outside Karbala, a city in modern Iraq that's home to the saint's shrine.  The battle over a dispute about the leadership of the Muslim faith following Muhammad's death in 632 A.D. It is the defining event in Islam's split into Sunni and Shiite branches.  The occasion is the source of an enduring moral lesson. "He sacrificed his blood to teach us not to give in to corruption, coercion, or use of force and to seek honor and justice."  According to Shiite beliefs, Hussein and companions were denied water by enemies who controlled the nearby Euphrates.  Streets get partially covered with blood from slaughter of hundreds of cows and sheep. Volunteers cook the meat and feed it to the poor.  Hussein's martyrdom recounted through a rich body of prose, poetry and song remains an inspirational example of sacrifice to many Shiites, 10 percent of the world's estimated 1.3 billion Muslims.
Meeting of the Saints  walis (saints of Allah)
Great men covet to embrace martyrdom for a cause and principle.
So was the case with Hazrat Ali. He could have made a compromise with the evil forces of his time and, as a result, could have led a very comfortable, easy and luxurious life.  But he was not a person who would succumb to such temptations. His upbringing, his education and his training in the lap of the holy Prophet made him refuse such an offer.
Rabia Al-Basri (717–801 C.E.) She was first to set forth the doctrine of mystical love and who is widely considered to be the most important of the early Sufi poets. An elderly Shia pointed out that during his pre-Partition childhood it was quite common to find pictures and portraits of Shia icons in Imambaras across the country.
Shah Abdul Latif: The Exalted Sufi Master born 1690 in a Syed family; died 1754. In ancient times, Sindh housed the exemplary Indus Valley Civilisation with Moenjo Daro as its capital, and now, it is the land of a culture which evolved from the teachings of eminent Sufi saints. Pakistan is home to the mortal remains of many Sufi saints, the exalted among them being Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, a practitioner of the real Islam, philosopher, poet, musicologist and preacher. He presented his teaching through poetry and music - both instruments sublime - and commands a very large following, not only among Muslims but also among Hindus and Christians. Sindh culture: The Shah is synonymous with Sindh. He is the very fountainhead of Sindh's culture. His message remains as fresh as that of any present day poet, and the people of Sindh find solace from his writings. He did indeed think for Sindh. One of his prayers, in exquisite Sindhi, translates thus: “Oh God, may ever You on Sindh bestow abundance rare! Beloved! All the world let share Thy grace, and fruitful be.”
Shia Ali al-Hadi, died 868 and son Hassan al-Askari 874. These saints are the 10th and 11th of Shia's 12 most revered Imams. Baba Farid Sufi 1398 miracle, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki renowned Muslim Sufi saint scholar miracles 569 A.H. [1173 C.E.] hermit gave to poor, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti greatest mystic of his time born 533 Hijri (1138-39 A.D.), Hazrat Ghuas-e Azam, Hazrat Bu Ali Sharif, and Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia Sufi Saint Hazrath Khwaja Syed Mohammed Badshah Quadri Chisty Yamani Quadeer (RA)
1236-1325 welcomed people of all faiths & all walks of life.
801 Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya Sufi One of the most famous Islamic mystics
(b. 717). This 8th century saint was an early Sufi who had a profound influence on later Sufis, who in turn deeply influenced the European mystical love and troubadour traditions.  Rabi'a was a woman of Basra, a seaport in southern Iraq.  She was born around 717 and died in 801 (185-186).  Her biographer, the great medieval poet Attar, tells us that she was "on fire with love and longing" and that men accepted her "as a second spotless Mary" (186).  She was, he continues, “an unquestioned authority to her contemporaries" (218).
Rabi'a began her ascetic life in a small desert cell near Basra, where she lost herself in prayer and went straight to God for teaching.  As far as is known, she never studied under any master or spiritual director.  She was one of the first of the Sufis to teach that Love alone was the guide on the mystic path (222).  A later Sufi taught that there were two classes of "true believers": one class sought a master as an intermediary between them and God -- unless they could see the footsteps of the Prophet on the path before them, they would not accept the path as valid.  The second class “...did not look before them for the footprint of any of God's creatures, for they had removed all thought of what He had created from their hearts, and concerned themselves solely with God. (218)
Rabi'a was of this second kind.  She felt no reverence even for the House of God in Mecca:  "It is the Lord of the house Whom I need; what have I to do with the house?" (219) One lovely spring morning a friend asked her to come outside to see the works of God.  She replied, "Come you inside that you may behold their Maker.  Contemplation of the Maker has turned me aside from what He has made" (219).  During an illness, a friend asked this woman if she desired anything.
"...[H]ow can you ask me such a question as 'What do I desire?'  I swear by the glory of God that for twelve years I have desired fresh dates, and you know that in Basra dates are plentiful, and I have not yet tasted them.  I am a servant (of God), and what has a servant to do with desire?" (162)
When a male friend once suggested she should pray for relief from a debilitating illness, she said,
"O Sufyan, do you not know Who it is that wills this suffering for me?  Is it not God Who wills it?  When you know this, why do you bid me ask for what is contrary to His will?  It is not  well to oppose one's Beloved." (221)
She was an ascetic.  It was her custom to pray all night, sleep briefly just before dawn, and then rise again just as dawn "tinged the sky with gold" (187).  She lived in celibacy and poverty, having renounced the world.  A friend visited her in old age and found that all she owned were a reed mat, screen, a pottery jug, and a bed of felt which doubled as her prayer-rug (186), for where she prayed all night, she also slept briefly in the pre-dawn chill.  Once her friends offered to get her a servant; she replied,
"I should be ashamed to ask for the things of this world from Him to Whom the world belongs, and how should I ask for them from those to whom it does not belong?"  (186-7)
A wealthy merchant once wanted to give her a purse of gold.  She refused it, saying that God, who sustains even those who dishonor Him, would surely sustain her, "whose soul is overflowing with love" for Him.  And she added an ethical concern as well:
"...How should I take the wealth of someone of whom I do not know whether he acquired it lawfully or not?" (187)
She taught that repentance was a gift from God because no one could repent unless God had already accepted him and given him this gift of repentance.  She taught that sinners must fear the punishment they deserved for their sins, but she also offered such sinners far more hope of Paradise than most other ascetics did.  For herself, she held to a higher ideal, worshipping God neither from fear of Hell nor from hope of Paradise, for she saw such self-interest as unworthy of God's servants; emotions like fear and hope were like veils -- i.e., hindrances to the vision of God Himself.  The story is told that once a number of Sufis saw her hurrying on her way with water in one hand and a burning torch in the other.  When they asked her to explain, she said:
"I am going to light a fire in Paradise and to pour water on to Hell, so that both veils may vanish altogether from before the pilgrims and their purpose may be sure..." (187-188)
She was once asked where she came from.  "From that other world," she said.  "And where are you going?" she was asked.  "To that other world," she replied (219).  She taught that the spirit originated with God in "that other world" and had to return to Him in the end.  Yet if the soul were sufficiently purified, even on earth, it could look upon God unveiled in all His glory and unite with him in love.  In this quest, logic and reason were powerless.  Instead, she speaks of the "eye" of her heart which alone could apprehend Him and His mysteries (220).
Above all, she was a lover, a bhakti, like one of Krishna’s Goptis in the Hindu tradition.  Her hours of prayer were not so much devoted to intercession as to communion with her Beloved.  Through this communion, she could discover His will for her.  Many of her prayers have come down to us:
       "I have made Thee the Companion of my heart,
        But my body is available for those who seek its company,
        And my body is friendly towards its guests,
        But the Beloved of my heart is the Guest of my soul."  [224]

To Save A Life is Earthly; Saving A Soul is Eternal Donation by mail, please send check or money order to:
Eternal Word Television Network 5817 Old Leeds Rd. Irondale, AL 35210  USA
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Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey  Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament
Colombia was among the countries Mother Angelica visited. 
In Bogotá, a Salesian priest - Father Juan Pablo Rodriguez - brought Mother and the nuns to the Sanctuary of the Divine Infant Jesus to attend Mass.  After Mass, Father Juan Pablo took them into a small Shrine which housed the miraculous statue of the Child Jesus. Mother Angelica stood praying at the side of the statue when suddenly the miraculous image came alive and turned towards her.  Then the Child Jesus spoke with the voice of a young boy:  “Build Me a Temple and I will help those who help you.” 

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

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

The Church of Saint Mary of Saint Paul 1875-1922;
  (1932)
The Vikings in the American Heartland;
The Catholic Total Abstinence Society in Minnesota;
James Michael Reardon Born in Nova Scotia, 1872;  Priest, ordained by Bishop Ireland;
Member -- St. Paul Seminary faculty.
Affiliations and Indulgence Litany of Loretto in Stained glass windows here.  Nave Sacristy and Residence Here
Sanctuary
spaces between them filled with grilles of hand-forged wrought iron the
life of our Blessed Lady After the crucifixon
Apostle statues Replicas of those in St John Lateran--Christendom's earliest Basilica.
Ordered by Rome's first Christian Emperor, Constantine the Great, Popes' cathedral and official residence first millennium of Christian history.

The only replicas ever made:  in order from west to east {1932}.
Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel
 
It Makes No Sense
Not To Believe In GOD
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi
  June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.
By Father John Corapi
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi
  June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.
By Father John Corapi
Among the most important titles we have in the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of the most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom. The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7 (date of feast of Our Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for the Christian forces against the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope Pius V led a procession around St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral leadership in recognizing the danger posed to Christendom by the radical Muslim forces, and in using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles require spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that had its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.

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

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

About Father John Corapi.
Father Corapi is a Catholic priest .
The pillars of father's preaching are basically:
Love for and a relationship with the Blessed Virgin Mary 
Leading a vibrant and loving relationship with Jesus Christ
Great love and reverence for the Most Holy Eucharist from Holy Mass to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
An uncompromising love for and obedience to the Holy Father and the teaching of the Magisterium of the Church


God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

Pope Francis will beatify these martyred Greek-Catholic bishops in Romania
May 30, 2019 - 03:01 pm .- On Sunday in Blaj, Pope Francis will beatify seven Greek-Catholic bishops of Romania who were killed by the communist regime between 1950 and 1970.
 
Woman who served Brazil’s poorest to be canonized
May 14, 2019 - 06:53 am .- Pope Francis Tuesday gave his approval for eight sainthood causes to proceed, including that of Bl. Dulce Lopes Pontes, a 20th-century religious sister who served Brazil’s poor.

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

Pope advances sainthood causes of 17 women
Jan 15, 2019 - 11:12 am .- Pope Francis approved Tuesday the next step in the canonization causes of 17 women from four countries, including the martyrdom of 14 religious sisters killed in Spain at the start of the Spanish Civil War.
 
Nineteen Algerian martyrs beatified
Dec 10, 2018 - 03:08 pm .- Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, were beatified Saturday during a Mass in Oran.

The Algerian martyrs shed their blood for Christ, pope says
Dec 7, 2018 - 10:02 am .- Ahead of the beatification Saturday of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, Pope Francis said martyrs have a special place in the Church.
Algerian martyrs are models for the Church, archbishop says
Nov 16, 2018 - 03:01 am .- Archbishop Paul Desfarges of Algiers has said that Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, are “models for our lives as disciples today and tomorrow.”
 
Francesco Spinelli to be canonized after healing of a newborn in DR Congo
Oct 9, 2018 - 05:01 pm .- Among those being canonized on Sunday are Fr. Franceso Spinelli, a diocesan priest through whose intercession a newborn was saved from death in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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

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

Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under ‘offering of life’
Jul 11, 2017 - 06:22 am .- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called “offering of life” – in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor.
 
Twentieth century Polish nurse among causes advancing toward sainthood
Jul 7, 2017 - 06:14 am .- Pope Francis on Friday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Hanna Chrzanowska, a Polish nurse and nursing instructor who died from cancer in 1973, paving the way for her beatification.
 
Sainthood causes advance, including layman who resisted fascism
Jun 17, 2017 - 09:22 am .- Pope Francis on Friday recognized the heroic virtue of six persons on the path to canonization, as well as the martyrdom of an Italian man who died from injuries of a beating he received while imprisoned in a concentration camp for resisting fascism.
 
Solanus Casey, Cardinal Van Thuan among those advanced toward sainthood
May 4, 2017 - 10:47 am .- Pope Francis on Thursday approved decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints advancing the causes for canonization of 12 individuals, including the American-born Capuchin Solanus Casey and the Vietnamese cardinal Francis Xavier Nguen Van Thuan.
 
Pope clears way for canonization of Fatima visionaries
Mar 23, 2017 - 06:44 am .- On Thursday Pope Francis approved the second and final miracle needed to canonize Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the shepherd children who witnessed the Fatima Marian apparitions.
Surgeon and father among sainthood causes moving forward
Feb 27, 2017 - 11:03 am .- Pope Francis recognized on Monday the heroic virtue of eight persons on the path to canonization, including an Italian surgeon and father of eight who suffered from several painful diseases throughout his life.

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

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

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

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

Pope Francis will beatify these martyred Greek-Catholic bishops in Romania
May 30, 2019 - 03:01 pm .- On Sunday in Blaj, Pope Francis will beatify seven Greek-Catholic bishops of Romania who were killed by the communist regime between 1950 and 1970.
 
Woman who served Brazil’s poorest to be canonized
May 14, 2019 - 06:53 am .- Pope Francis Tuesday gave his approval for eight sainthood causes to proceed, including that of Bl. Dulce Lopes Pontes, a 20th-century religious sister who served Brazil’s poor.

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

Pope advances sainthood causes of 17 women
Jan 15, 2019 - 11:12 am .- Pope Francis approved Tuesday the next step in the canonization causes of 17 women from four countries, including the martyrdom of 14 religious sisters killed in Spain at the start of the Spanish Civil War.
 
Nineteen Algerian martyrs beatified
Dec 10, 2018 - 03:08 pm .- Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, were beatified Saturday during a Mass in Oran.

The Algerian martyrs shed their blood for Christ, pope says
Dec 7, 2018 - 10:02 am .- Ahead of the beatification Saturday of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, Pope Francis said martyrs have a special place in the Church.
Algerian martyrs are models for the Church, archbishop says
Nov 16, 2018 - 03:01 am .- Archbishop Paul Desfarges of Algiers has said that Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, are “models for our lives as disciples today and tomorrow.”
 
Francesco Spinelli to be canonized after healing of a newborn in DR Congo
Oct 9, 2018 - 05:01 pm .- Among those being canonized on Sunday are Fr. Franceso Spinelli, a diocesan priest through whose intercession a newborn was saved from death in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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

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

Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under ‘offering of life’
Jul 11, 2017 - 06:22 am .- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called “offering of life” – in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor.
 
Twentieth century Polish nurse among causes advancing toward sainthood
Jul 7, 2017 - 06:14 am .- Pope Francis on Friday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Hanna Chrzanowska, a Polish nurse and nursing instructor who died from cancer in 1973, paving the way for her beatification.
 
Sainthood causes advance, including layman who resisted fascism
Jun 17, 2017 - 09:22 am .- Pope Francis on Friday recognized the heroic virtue of six persons on the path to canonization, as well as the martyrdom of an Italian man who died from injuries of a beating he received while imprisoned in a concentration camp for resisting fascism.
 
Solanus Casey, Cardinal Van Thuan among those advanced toward sainthood
May 4, 2017 - 10:47 am .- Pope Francis on Thursday approved decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints advancing the causes for canonization of 12 individuals, including the American-born Capuchin Solanus Casey and the Vietnamese cardinal Francis Xavier Nguen Van Thuan.
 
Pope clears way for canonization of Fatima visionaries
Mar 23, 2017 - 06:44 am .- On Thursday Pope Francis approved the second and final miracle needed to canonize Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the shepherd children who witnessed the Fatima Marian apparitions.
Surgeon and father among sainthood causes moving forward
Feb 27, 2017 - 11:03 am .- Pope Francis recognized on Monday the heroic virtue of eight persons on the path to canonization, including an Italian surgeon and father of eight who suffered from several painful diseases throughout his life.

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

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

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

Servant of God Alfonse Gallegos of the Order of Augustinian Recollects, Titular Bishop of Sasabe, auxiliary of Sacramento; born Feb. 20, 1931 and died Oct. 6, 1991
Servant of God Rafael Sánchez García, diocesan priest; born June 14, 1911 and died on Aug. 8, 1973
Servant of God Andrés García Acosta, professed layman of the Order of Friars Minor; born Jan. 10, 1800 and died Jan. 14, 1853
Servant of God Joseph Marchetti, professed priest of the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles; born Oct. 3, 1869 and died Dec. 14, 1896
Servant of God Giacomo Viale, professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, pastor of Bordighera; born Feb. 28, 1830 and died April 16, 1912
Servant of God Maria Pia of the Cross (née Maddalena Notari), foundress of the Congregation of Crucified Sisters Adorers of the Eucharist; born Dec. 2, 1847 and died on July 1, 1919
Sunday, November 23 2014 Six to Be Canonized on Feast of Christ the King.

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

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

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

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic prelate was also an ardent supporter of the Jewish community in Ukraine, going so far as to learn Hebrew to better communicate with them. He also was a vocal protestor against atrocities committed by the Nazis, evidenced in his pastoral letter, "Thou Shalt Not Kill." He was also known to harbor thousands of Jews in his residence and in Greek Catholic monasteries.
Following his death in 1944, his cause for canonization was opened in 1958.
* * *
The Holy Father authorized the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees regarding the heroic virtues of:
- Servant of God Andrey Sheptytsky, O.S.B.M., major archbishop of Leopolis of the Ukrainians, metropolitan of Halyc (1865-1944);
- Servant of God Giuseppe Carraro, Bishop of Verona, Italy (1899-1980);
- Servant of God Agustin Ramirez Barba, Mexican diocesan priest and founder of the Servants of the Lord of Mercy (1881-1967);
- Servant of God Simpliciano della Nativita (ne Aniello Francesco Saverio Maresca), Italian professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Hearts (1827-1898);
- Servant of God Maria del Refugio Aguilar y Torres del Cancino, Mexican founder of the Mercedarian Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament (1866-1937);
- Servant of God Marie-Charlotte Dupouy Bordes (Marie-Teresa), French professed religious of the Society of the Religious of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (1873-1953);
- Servant of God Elisa Miceli, Italian founder of the Rural Catechist Sisters of the Sacred Heart (1904-1976);
- Servant of God Isabel Mendez Herrero (Isabel of Mary Immaculate), Spanish professed nun of the Servants of St. Joseph (1924-1953)
October 01, 2015 Vatican City, Pope Authorizes following Decrees
(ZENIT.org) By Staff Reporter
Polish Layperson Recognized as Servant of God
Pope Authorizes Decrees
Pope Francis on Wednesday authorised the Congregation for Saints' Causes to promulgate the following decrees:

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

HEROIC VIRTUES
- Servant of God Giovanni Folci, Italian diocesan priest and founder of the Opera Divin Prigioniero (1890-1963);
- Servant of God Franciszek Blachnicki, Polish diocesan priest (1921-1987);
- Servant of God Jose Rivera Ramirez, Spanish diocesan priest (1925-1991);
- Servant of God Juan Manuel Martín del Campo, Mexican diocesan priest (1917-1996);
- Servant of God Antonio Filomeno Maria Losito, Italian professed priest of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (1838-1917);
- Servant of God Maria Benedetta Giuseppa Frey (nee Ersilia Penelope), Italian professed nun of the Cistercian Order (1836-1913);
- Servant of God Hanna Chrzanowska, Polish layperson, Oblate of the Ursulines of St. Benedict (1902-1973).
March 06 2016 MIRACLES authorised the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
Pope Francis received in a private audience Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, during which he authorised the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
MIRACLES

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

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

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

MIRACLES
– Blessed Alfonso Maria Fusco, diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. John the Baptist (1839-1910);
– Venerable Servant of God John Sullivan, professed priest of the Society of Jesus (1861-1933);
MARTYRDOM
– Servants of God Nikolle Vinçenc Prennushi, O.F.M., archbishop of Durres, Albania, and 37 companions killed between 1945 and 1974;
– Servants of God José Antón Gómez and three companions of the Benedictines of Madrid, Spain, killed 1936;
HEROIC VIRTUES
– Servant of God Thomas Choe Yang-Eop, diocesan priest (1821-1861);
– Servant of God Sosio Del Prete (né Vincenzo), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Congregation of the Little Servants of Christ the King (1885-1952);
– Servant of God Wenanty Katarzyniec (né Jósef), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (1889-1921);
– Servant of God Maria Consiglia of the Holy Spirity (née Emilia Paqualina Addatis), founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Addolorata, Servants of Mary (1845-1900);
– Servant of God Maria of the Incarnation (née Caterina Carrasco Tenorio), founder of the Congregation of the Franciscan Tertiary Sisters of the Flock of Mary (1840-1917);
– Servant of God , founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Family of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1851-1923);
– Servant of God Ilia Corsaro, founder of the Congregation of the Little Missionaries of the Eucharist (1897-1977);
– Servant of God Maria Montserrat Grases García, layperson of the Personal Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei (1941-1959).
LINKS:
Marian Apparitions (over 2000)  India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes Feb 11- July 16, Loreto, Italy 1858 
China
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May 23, 1995 Zarvintisya Ukraine Lourdes Kenya national Marian shrine    Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798  
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