Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!  (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
R.  Deo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
December is the month of the Immaculate Conception.
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Nativity_Forefeast.jpg
December 20 - Our Lady of Molen (France, 1075)
Mary in the Midst of Israel's Waiting (XI)

Christmas Anticipation Prayer December 20 - Our Lady of Molen (France)
Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in the piercing cold.
In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires, that my last daughter Rosemary come back to God.
through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ, and of his blessed Mother.
Amen.

CAUSES OF SAINTS

Oh Mary pray for us sinners who have recourse to thee.

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

Nine First Fridays Devotion to the Sacred Heart From the writings of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
How do I start the Five First Saturdays?
Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary

December 20 – Our Lady of Folgoët (France)
  “Ave Maria” written in gold on a lily
In the mid-fourteenth century a man named Salaun lived in a clearing of Brittany. The local people called him familiarly "the Madman of the Woods." Salaun was seen as a simpleton as he went from farm to farm begging for his bread, repeating over and over again: “Ave Maria! Salaun would be glad to eat a piece of bread!”
When he died in 1358, at around the age of 48, people hardly noticed he had passed away. He was buried in the village of Lannuchen, near the manor of Kergoff. Even today, the cross in the churchyard framed by the four oval stones of his tomb are still visible.
Shortly after his death, a lily bearing these words written in gold: “Ave Maria” was discovered on his tomb near the oak tree from which he used to swing and the fountain where he would dip his bread.
When his tomb was opened, it was found that a lily had grown out of the mouth of the deceased. The miracle quickly attracted crowds, and many were those who vowed to build a chapel at the tomb of the "innocent."
In 1419, the local bishop, Msgr. de La Rue, blessed the shrine that Duke John V of Brittany turned into a collegiate church in 1423.
The Mary of Nazareth Team

Tradition suggests that when St Ignatius was a little boy, the Savior hugged him and said:
"Unless you turn and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven" (Mt. 18:3).
The saint was called "God-Bearer" (Theophoros), because he bore God in his heart and prayed unceasingly to Him.
He also had this name because he was held in the arms of Christ, the incarnate Son of God.
Forefeast of the Nativity of the Lord
Vigília sancti Thomæ Apóstoli.
The Vigil of St. Thomas, Apostle.
 107 St Ignatius the God-Bearer 2nd bishop of Antioch
       Hieromartyr
 250 St. Ammon One of Theban Martyrs converted by
       Egyptian Christians
 324 St. Philogonius Bishop of Antioch
         Liberatus and Bajulus At Rome, the holy martyrs
 362 Eugene and Macarius priests scourged MM banished
       put to the sword under Julian the Apostate
        St. Julius A martyr of Gelduba Thrace
        Malou (Madeloup) (AC) Priest who feted Hautvillers, Marne
        St. Liberatus & Bajulus Martyrs of Rome 
 585 St. Ursicinus Bishop of Cahors
 612 St. Dominic of Brescia bishop of Brescia
 625 St. Ursicinus Irish missionary and disciple of St. Columbanus
1073 Blessed Gundisalvus (Gonzalo) of Silos, OSB (AC)
1073 St. Dominic of Silos Benedictine abbot defender of the faith many miracles were recorded of Dominic it was said
        that there were no diseases known to man not been cured by his prayers
1169 The Novgorod Icon of the Mother of God
1277 Bl. Peter de la Cadireta Dominican martyr
1338 Saint Daniel of Serbia gift of wonderworking and healing  built
       Ascension of the Lord at Dechani finest Christian monuments in Serbia
1435 Saint Ignatius, Archimandrite of the Kiev Caves
1652 John of Thasos The New Martyr would not renounce the Christian Faith
1839 St. Peter Thi Vietnamese martyr native of Vietnam
1908 St John of Kronstadt  performed more miracles than almost any other saint, with the possible exception of St
 Nicholas. Through his prayers he healed the sick, gave hope to the hopeless, and brought sinners to repentance.

December 20 - Our Lady of Molen (France, 1075)
Mary in the Midst of Israel's Waiting (XI)
"Kings shall shut their mouths before him" (Is 52:15)
In scrutinizing the Scriptures, the Blessed Virgin prayed in the midst of Israel, in anticipation of the coming of the Messiah, which seemed like a great mystery: "Kings shall shut their mouths before him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they understand" (Is 52:15).
And the prophet said: "I the Lord will hasten it in its time" (Is 60:22).

God was going to manifest himself, but the arrival of his salvation could only be a surprise,
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Is 55:9).

Who would be ready for the day of his coming? "'The Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!' says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like launderer's soap; and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver" (Mal 3.1-3).

He will be a sign of contradiction as "princes plot against the Lord and his Messiah" (Ps 2:2).
There will also be an upheaval among the shepherds: "I will take my flock from their hands" (Ezek 34:1-10).
"The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this is the Lord's doing, and we marvel at it" (Ps 118:22-23).

And, according to a mysterious plan, the nations on this day will be associated to the Covenant and the priesthood: "The time comes, that I will gather all nations and languages; and they shall come, and shall see my glory." (...) "Of them also will I take for priests and for Levites" (Is 66, 18-21). "Kings shall shut their mouths before him" (Is 52:15).
Advent's Great O Antiphons (IV): O Clavis David December 20 - OUR LADY OF MOLENE (France, 1075)
O Son of David, heir of his throne and power, in your triumphant march you travel through a land once subjected to your forefather, today ruled by the Gentiles. Everywhere on the road you recognize so many places, which were the witnesses of your Father Jehovah's justice and mercy toward his people, at the time of that Ancient Covenant now about to end.
Soon, the virginal cloud that covers you will be removed and you will begin to travel again upon the same land;
you will pass through it performing good works and healing all languor and infirmity, and yet without a place to rest your head. At least, today, the maternal womb still offers you a sweet and tranquil asylum, where you receive only the most tender and respectful marks of love.
But O Lord! You must leave this happy retreat; you must, O eternal Light, shine in the midst of darkness;
for the captive that you have come to deliver languishes in his prison. He has sat down in the shadow of death and will perish there if you do not come promptly to open the gates with your almighty Key!

The captive, O Jesus, is the human race, enslaved by its errors and vices: come to throw off the yoke that crushes and degrades it; the captive is our heart, too often the slave of inclinations it is ashamed of.
Come, O divine Liberator, to set free everything you deigned to create free through your grace, and raise us back to the dignity of being your brothers.
Dom Gueranger The Liturgical Year - Advent - December XX

Romæ natális sancti Zephyríni, Papæ et Mártyris.  Ipsíus tamen festum recólitur séptimo Kaléndas Septémbris.
 At Rome, the birthday of St. Zephyrinus, pope and martyr.  His feast is celebrated on the 26th of August.
217 Pope Saint Zephyrinus from 199 .
He was a Roman who had ruled as head bishop for close to 20 years, and was elected to the Papacy upon the death of the previous pope, Victor.
Zephyrinus was succeeded, upon his death on December 20, 217, by his principal advisor, Callixtus.
Pope St. Zephyrinus (Reigned 198-217).

The Sunday before the Nativity of the Lord (December 18-24) is known as the Sunday of the Holy Fathers. On this day the Church commemorates all those who were well-pleasing to God from all ages, from Adam to St Joseph the Betrothed of the Most Holy Theotokos, those who are mentioned in the geneology of Luke 3:23-38. The holy prophets and prophetesses are also remembered today, especially the Prophet Daniel and the three holy youths (December 17).
The Troparion to the Prophet Daniel and the three holy youths ("Great are the accomplishments of faith…) is quite similar to the Troparion for St Theodore the Recruit (February 17, and the first Saturday of Great Lent). The Kontakion to St Theodore, who suffered martyrdom by fire, reminds us that he also had faith as his breastplate (see I Thessalonians 5:8).


The Forefeast of the Nativity of the Lord begins on December 20.
From now on, most of the liturgical hymns will be concerned with the birth of the Savior. Many of the Church's hymns of this period are slightly modified versions of the hymns of Holy Week.

From the 20th to the 23rd we sing the Troparion (Tone 4) "Prepare, O Bethlehem, for Eden has been opened to all. Adorn yourself, O Ephratha, for the Tree of Life blossoms forth from the Virgin in the cave. Her womb is a spiritual paradise planted with the fruit divine; if we eat of it we shall live forever and not die like Adam. Christ is coming to restore the image which He made in the beginning."

We also sing the Kontaion (Tone 3) "Today the Virgin comes to the cave where she will give birth past understanding to the Word from all eternity. Rejoice, O universe, when the tidings are proclaimed. Glorify, with the angels and shepherds, the one Who chose to be manifest as a newborn Child, while remaining the eternal God."

At Vespers on this first day of the prefeast we sing, "Let us celebrate, O people, the prefeast of Christ's Nativity; let us raise our minds on high, in spirit going up to Bethlehem…." (Sticheron on "Lord, I Call.")
<Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-bearer, bishop of Antioch (107).
 Ibídem pássio sancti Ignátii, Epíscopi et Mártyris; qui, tértius post beátum Petrum Apóstolum, Antiochénam rexit Ecclésiam.  Hic, in persecutióne Trajáni, damnátus ad béstias, Romam vinctus míttitur; ibíque, circumsedénte Senátu, immaníssimis pœnárum supplíciis primo est afféctus, dehinc objícitur leónibus, quorum déntibus præfocátus, hóstia Christi effícitur.  Ejus vero festívitas Kaléndis Februárii celebrátur.
       In the same city, the martyrdom of St. Ignatius, bishop and martyr.  He was the third after St. Peter the Apostle to rule the church of Antioch, and in the persecution of Trajan was condemned to the beasts.  By order of Trajan he was sent to Rome in fetters, and there tortured and afflicted with the most cruel torments in the midst of the assembled Senate.  Finally he was cast to the lions, and being ground by their teeth became a sacrifice for Christ.  His feast is observed on the 1st of February.
Repose of Righteous John of Kronstadt (1908).
St. Ignatius, archimandrite of the Kiev Caves (1435).
St. Philogonius, bishop of Antioch (323).
St. Daniel II, archbishop of Serbia (1338).
"Novodvorskaya" and "Lenkovskaya" (Novgorod-Severny) named "Rescuer of the Drowning" Icons of the Mother of God.
New Martyr John of the isle of Thasos (1652) (Greek).

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

The Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer, was a disciple of the holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, as was also St Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna (February 23). St Ignatius was the second bishop of Antioch, and successor to Bishop Euodius, Apostle of the Seventy (September 7).
Tradition suggests that when St Ignatius was a little boy, the Savior hugged him and said: "Unless you turn and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven" (Mt. 18:3). The saint was called "God-Bearer" (Theophoros), because he bore God in his heart and prayed unceasingly to Him. He also had this name because he was held in the arms of Christ, the incarnate Son of God.

St Ignatius was a disciple of the Apostle John the Theologian, together with St Polycarp of Smyrna. As Bishop of Antioch, St Ignatius was zealous and spared no effort to build up the church of Christ. To him is attributed the practice of antiphonal singing (by two choirs) during church services. He had seen a vision of the angels in heaven alternately singing praises to God, and divided his church choir to follow this example. In the time of persecution he was a source of strength to the souls of his flock, and was eager to suffer for Christ.   After this the lions were released and tore him to pieces, leaving only his heart and a few bones. Tradition says that on his way to execution, St Ignatius unceasingly repeated the name of Jesus Christ. When they asked him why he was doing this, St Ignatius answered that this Name was written in his heart, and that he confessed with his lips Him Whom he always carried within. When the saint was devoured by the lions, his heart was not touched.
When they cut open the heart, the pagans saw an inscription in gold letters: "Jesus Christ." After his execution St Ignatius appeared to many of the faithful in their sleep to comfort them, and some saw him at prayer for the city of Rome.
Hearing of the saint's great courage, Trajan thought well of him and stopped the persecution against the Christians. The relics of St Ignatius were transferred to Antioch (January 29), and on February 1, 637 were returned to Rome and placed in the church of San Clemente.

In the year 106 the emperor Trajan (98-117), after his victory over the Scythians, ordered everyone to give thanks to the pagan gods, and to put to death any Christians who refused to worship the idols. In the year 107, Trajan happened to pass through Antioch. Here they told him that Bishop Ignatius openly confessed Christ, and taught people to scorn riches, to lead a virtuous life, and preserve their virginity. St Ignatius came voluntarily before the emperor, so as to avert persecution of the Christians in Antioch. St Ignatius rejected the persistent requests of the emperor Trajan to sacrifice to the idols. The emperor then decided to send him to Rome to be thrown to the wild beasts. St Ignatius joyfully accepted the sentence imposed upon him.
His readiness for martyrdom was attested to by eyewitnesses, who accompanied St Ignatius from Antioch to Rome.
On the way to Rome, the ship sailed from Seleucia stopped at Smyrna, where St Ignatius met with his friend Bishop Polycarp. Clergy and believers from other cities and towns thronged to see St Ignatius. He exhorted everyone not to fear death and not to grieve for him. In his Epistle to the Roman Christians, he asked them to assist him with their prayers, and to pray that God would strengthen him in his impending martyrdom for Christ:
"I seek Him Who died for us; I desire Him Who rose for our salvation... In me, desire has been nailed to the cross, and no flame of material longing is left. Only the living water speaks within me, saying, 'Hasten to the Father.'"
From Smyrna, St Ignatius went to Troas. Here he heard the happy news of the end of the persecution against Christians in Antioch. From Troas, St Ignatius sailed to Neapolis (in Macedonia) and then to Philippi.

On the way to Rome St Ignatius visited several churches, teaching and guiding the Christians there. He also wrote seven epistles: to the churches of Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, Rome, Philadelphia, and Smyrna. He also addressed a letter to St Polycarp, who mentions a collection of the letters of St Ignatius in his letter to the Philippians (Ch. 13). St Irenaeus of Lyons quotes from St Ignatius's letter to the Romans (AGAINST HERESIES 5:28:4). All these letters have survived to the present day.
The Roman Christians met St Ignatius with great joy and profound sorrow. Some of them hoped to prevent his execution, but St Ignatius implored them not to do this. Kneeling down, he prayed together with the believers for the Church, for love between the brethren, and for an end to the persecution against Christians.
On December 20, the day of a pagan festival, they led St Ignatius into the arena, and he turned to the people:
"Men of Rome, you know that I am sentenced to death, not because of any crime, but because of my love for God, by Whose love I am embraced. I long to be with Him, and offer myself to him as a pure loaf, made of fine wheat ground fine by the teeth of wild beasts."
After this the lions were released and tore him to pieces, leaving only his heart and a few bones. Tradition says that on his way to execution, St Ignatius unceasingly repeated the name of Jesus Christ. When they asked him why he was doing this, St Ignatius answered that this Name was written in his heart, and that he confessed with his lips Him Whom he always carried within. When the saint was devoured by the lions, his heart was not touched.
When they cut open the heart, the pagans saw an inscription in gold letters: "Jesus Christ." After his execution St Ignatius appeared to many of the faithful in their sleep to comfort them, and some saw him at prayer for the city of Rome.
Hearing of the saint's great courage, Trajan thought well of him and stopped the persecution against the Christians. The relics of St Ignatius were transferred to Antioch (January 29), and on February 1, 637 were returned to Rome and placed in the church of San Clemente.

The Forefeast of the Nativity of the Lord begins on December 20. From now on, most of the liturgical hymns will be concerned with the birth of the Savior. Many of the Church's hymns of this period are slightly modified versions of the hymns of Holy Week.
From the 20th to the 23rd we sing the Troparion (Tone 4) "Prepare, O Bethlehem, for Eden has been opened to all. Adorn yourself, O Ephratha, for the Tree of Life blossoms forth from the Virgin in the cave. Her womb is a spiritual paradise planted with the fruit divine; if we eat of it we shall live forever and not die like Adam. Christ is coming to restore the image which He made in the beginning."
We also sing the Kontaion (Tone 3) "Today the Virgin comes to the cave where she will give birth past understanding to the Word from all eternity. Rejoice, O universe, when the tidings are proclaimed. Glorify, with the angels and shepherds, the one Who chose to be manifest as a newborn Child, while remaining the eternal God."
At Vespers on this first day of the prefeast we sing, "Let us celebrate, O people, the prefeast of Christ's Nativity; let us raise our minds on high, in spirit going up to Bethlehem…." (Sticheron on "Lord, I Call.")
250 St. Ammon One of Theban Martyrs converted by Egyptian Christians
 Alexandríæ sanctórum mílitum et Mártyrum Ammónis, Zenónis, Ptolemæi, Ingenis et Theóphili; qui, tribunálibus astántes, cum quidam Christiánus, in supplíciis pósitis, trepidáret et jam prope ad negándum declináret, vultu, óculis ac nútibus illum conabántur erígere.  Cumque hac de causa clamor totíus pópuli in eos prosilíret, prorumpéntes in médium se Christiános esse testáti sunt; per quorum victóriam Christus, qui suis eam ánimi constántiam déderat, gloriosíssime triumphávit.
       At Alexandria, the holy martyrs Ammon, Zeno, Ptolemy, Ingen, and Theophilus, soldiers.  Standing near the tribunals, and seeing a Christian under torture and almost ready to apostatize, they endeavoured to encourage him by their looks and by signs.  When on account of this the crowd raised an outcry against them, they stepped forward and declared themselves Christians.  In their victory, Christ also who had given them fortitude triumphed.
Ammon, along with Ingenes, Ptolemy, Theophilus, and Zeno, were guards during the persecution of Christians in the reign of Emperor Decius. During the torture and trial of these prisoners, Ammon and his fellow guards were converted to Christ. They cheered the faithfulness of the Christians under torture and urged them to endure in their courage. As a result, Ammon and the others became prisoners. They were beheaded displaying the same Christian constancy.
Ammon, Zeno, Ptolemy, Ingen, and Theophilus MM (RM) Died 249. During the trial of a group of Egyptian Christians at Alexandria during Decius' persecution, four of the soldiers guarding the prisoners, Ammon, Zeno, Ptolemy, and Ingen, and a bystander named Theophilus exhorted a Christian wavering under torture to stand fast in the faith in defiance of the ridicule heaped upon him by the judge and spectators. Perhaps they first tried gestures but eventually they gave up their anonymity and went up to the accused. When the judge saw what they were doing, he had them added to the prisoners and then had them all beheaded (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).

 250 SS. AMMON AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS
ST DIONYSIUS, Bishop of Alexandria during the persecution under the Emperor Decius, wrote to Fabian, Bishop of Antioch, an account of the sufferings, heroism and failures of the Egyptian Christians, which has been preserved for us in the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius. In the course of it he mentions a certain Christian who, when he was brought to trial, began to fear and to waver. Some Christian soldiers who were among the guards, fearing that the man would deny his faith, made signs to him by looks, gestures, and nods to stand firm. The magistrate noticed this, made an inquiry, and amid the clamour of the onlookers five soldiers broke from the ranks and declared themselves Christians. The magistrates were extremely disturbed and the prisoners correspondingly encouraged by the profession of the soldiers, who duly suffered with the rest; “and by their victory Christ, who had given them this firmness of mind, gloriously triumphed”. Their names were Ammon, Zeno, Ptolemy, Ingenes and an older man, Theophilus.

As in the case of St Nemesius we know nothing of these martyrs but what St Dionysius of Alexandria reports in a passage cited by Eusebius, Eccles. Hist., bk vi, ch. 41  .
324 St. Philogonius Bishop of Antioch
 Antiochíæ natális sancti Philogónii Epíscopi, qui, Dei nutu ex causídico ad eam Ecclésiam regéndam accersítus, advérsus Aríum, una cum sancto Alexándro Epíscopo et Sóciis, primum pro fide cathólica certámen íniit, clarúsque méritis quiévit in Dómino; cujus ánnuam festivitátem sanctus Joánnes Chrysóstomus præcláro encómio celebrávit.
       At Antioch, the birthday of St. Philogonius, bishop, who was called by the will of God from the office of lawyer to the government of that church.  With the saintly bishop Alexander and his companions, he engaged in the first contest for the Catholic faith against Arius.  Renowned for merits he rested in the Lord, and his feast was commemorated by St. John Chrysostom with an excellent eulogy.
Originally a lawyer in Antioch, Syria, Philogonius entered the Church after the death of his wife and eventually became bishop of the city. He is noted for having been one of the first Church leaders to assail the evils of Arianism. He suffered imprisonment in the persecutions. St. John Chrysostom composed an extant panegyric to him.
Before becoming a bishop, Saint Philogonius was a laywer who defended the poor, the widowed and the orphaned. When his wife died, he was chosen as Bishop of Antioch.
Distinguished by profound theological knowledge, St Philogonius successfully defended Orthodoxy against the Arian heresy and by this prevented unrest in the Church.
During the persecution against Christians under the emperors Maximian (284-305) and Licinius (311-324), St Philogonius proved himself a confessor of the Orthodox Faith. He died peacefully in about the year 323. St John Chrysostom wrote a eulogy for St Philogonius in 386.

 324 St Philogonius, Bishop of Antioch
St Philogonius was brought up to the law, and made a considerable name at the bar for his eloquence, integrity and ability to make “the wronged stronger than the wronger”. While still a layman, with a wife and daughter, he was in 319 placed in the see of Antioch upon the death of Vitalis.
  St John Chrysostom mentions the flourishing state of that church in his time as proof of his zeal and excellent administration. In the storms, which were raised against the Church by Maximinus and Licinius, St Philogonius confessed his faith and was imprisoned. His festival was celebrated at Antioch on December 20 in the year 386, at which Chrysostom pronounced his panegyric, touching lightly on his virtues because, as he says, he left the detail of them to the bishop Flavian, who was to speak after him.
  Chrysostom speaks in moving terms of the peace which this saint now enjoys in a state where there are no conflicts, no insurgent passions, no more of “those icy words, ‘mine ‘ and ‘yours’,” which fill the world with wars, families with quarrels, and individuals with disquiet, envy and malice. St Philogonius had so renounced the world that he received in this life the earnest of Christ’s spirit in its fullest degree. A soul must here learn that spirit and state of the blessed if she hopes to reign with them hereafter: she must have some acquaintance beforehand with the mysteries of grace and the works of love and praise. People are not invited to consort even with a temporal king, as St Macarius says, until they have been instructed in the manners and customs of a court, so that they may not come to it in complete ignorance of its ways.

Here again all the information we possess comes from a single source, a sermon of St John Chrysostom. The text is printed in Migne, PG., vol. xlviii, pp. 747—756. On the degree of credit which attaches to the evidence of such panegyrics see the warnings given by Delehaye in his book Les Passions des Martyrs et les Genres littéraires (1921), ch. ii, pp. 183—235.   
362 Eugene and Macarius priests scourged MM banished put to the sword under Julian the Apostate
 In Arábia sanctórum Mártyrum Eugénii et Macárii Presbyterórum, qui a Juliáno Apóstata, cum ipsíus impietátem arguíssent, sævíssimis plagis affécti sunt, atque in vastíssimam erémum relegáti, et gládio cæsi.
       In Arabia, the holy martyrs Eugene and Macarius, priests.  For reproving Julian the Apostate for his impiety, they received severe stripes, were banished to a vast desert, and finally were put to the sword.
Eugene and Macarius were priests who were scourged, before being banished into the Arabian desert. On their return, they were put to the sword under Julian the Apostate (Benedictines).
585 St. Ursicinus Bishop of Cahors.
France. He was mentioned in the writings of St. Gregory of Tours.
612 St. Dominic of Brescia bishop of Brescia
 Bríxiæ sancti Domínici, Epíscopi et Confessóris.       At Brescia, St. Dominic, bishop and confessor.
Italy, the successor of St. Anastasius. His relics were enshrined by St. Charles Borromeo.
Dominic of Brescia B (RM). St. Dominic succeeded Saint Anastasius in the see of Brescia. Saint Charles Borromeo translated and enshrined his relics (Benedictines).
625 St. Ursicinus Irish missionary and disciple of St. Columbanus
625 ST URSICINUS, ABBOT; revered for his holiness and miracles;
THE Swiss town of Saint-Ursanne, on the Doubs at the foot of Mont Terrible, has its name from Ursicinus (or Ursinus), a disciple of St Columban. He was one of the monks who left Luxeuil and joined their abbot at Metz after he had been driven from his monastery. Like St Gall and others, St Ursicinus settled down in what is now Switzerland, formed a small community which he governed according to the Rule of St Columban followed at Luxeuil, and preached the gospel to the pagans of the neighbourhood. St Ursicinus died some time before the middle of the seventh century, revered for his holiness and miracles. Two other saints of this name are commemorated this month. On the 1st the Roman Martyrology has a bishop of Brescia, of whom nothing is known except that he took part in the Council of Sardica in 347; and on the 14th a sixth-century bishop is venerated at Cahors.
Not much that is certain is known of St Ursicinus. The short text printed in Trouillat, Monuments de l’évêché de Bâle, vol. i, pp. 40—44, is only a compendium of an eleventh-century life and quite unreliable. See, however, Chèvre, Histoire de Saint-Ursanne (1891). The cult of St Ursicinus is attested by some early church dedications. In DCB. vol., iv, p. 1070, he is described as an “Irish monk”, but Dom Gougaud does not mention him in his Saints irlandais hors d’Irlande (1937). On the other hand the mention of a bell that purports to be a relic of St Ursicinus, see Stückelberg, Geschichte der Reliquien in der Schweiz (1908) is perhaps suggestive of an Irish origin. See also the brief mention of St Ursanne in Mgr Besson, Nos origines chrétiennes: Etude sur la Suisse romande (1921).  
At the monastery of Luxeuil, France. he accompanied St. Columbanus into exile (c. 610) after the abbot was banished from Burgundy, journeying with him to Switzerland and founding the monastery of St. Ursanne. Ursicinus used the community as the base for his missionary efforts among the local pagan tribes of the Alamanni.
St. Liberatus & Bajulus Martyrs of Rome
 Item Romæ sanctórum Mártyrum Liberáti et Bájuli.
      Liberatus and Bajulus At Rome, the holy martyrs.
The Acts of their martyrdom have not survived. Liberatus and Bajulus MM (RM)
Martyrs venerated in Rome (Benedictines).
Malou (Madeloup) (AC) Priest who feted Hautvillers, Marne (Encyclopedia).
St. Julius A martyr of Gelduba Thrace
 Géldubæ, in Germánia, sancti Júlii Mártyris.       At Gelduba in Germany, St. Julius, martyr.
 Julius of Gelduba M (RM)  martyred at Gelduba (Gildoba) in Thrace (Benedictines).
1073 Blessed Gundisalvus (Gonzalo) of Silos, OSB (AC) many miracles were recorded of Dominic in the course of his work, and it was said that there were no diseases known to man not been cured by his prayers
Gundisalvus was one of Saint Dominic's monks at the Benedictine abbey of Silos, Spain (Benedictines).
1073 ST DOMINIC OF SILOS, ABBOT
This Dominic was born at the beginning of the eleventh century at Cañas in Navarre, on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees. His people were peasants, and for a time he followed their way of life, looking after his father’s flocks among the foothills of the mountains. This work encouraged his taste for solitude and quietness, and he soon became a monk at the monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla. He made great progress in his new state, was entrusted with works of reform, and became prior of his monastery. In this office he came into conflict with his sovereign, Garcia III of Navarre, because he refused to give up some possessions of the monastery, which were claimed by the king. Garcia at length drove Dominic and two other monks away, and they were welcomed by Ferdinand I of Old Castile, who sent them to the monastery of St Sebastian at Silos, of which Dominic was appointed abbot. The monastery was in a remote and sterile part of the diocese of Burgos, and was in a state of extreme decay, both materially and spiritually. Under the government of St Dominic this decay was arrested, then the house began to progress, and eventually he made it one of the most famous in Spain. Many miracles were recorded of Dominic in the course of his work, and it was said that there were no diseases known to man not been cured by his prayers.
The Roman Martyrology refers to the belief that Christian slaves among the Moors, to the number of three hundred, were liberated when they called upon God in his name. Dominic died on December 20, 1073.
    St Dominic of Silos is especially venerated in the order of Friars Preachers, because a century less four years after his death, he appeared, according to the tradition, to Bd Joan of Aza who had made a pilgrimage from Calaroga to his shrine, and promised her that she should bear another son. That son was the founder of the Preachers, and he was named Dominic after the holy abbot of Silos. Until the revolution of 1931 it was the custom for the abbot of Silos to bring the staff of St Dominic to the royal palace whenever a queen of Spain was in labour and to leave it by her bedside until the birth had taken place.
There is a life by a monk, Grimaldus, who purports to be a contemporary. This has been printed, with a few slight omissions, in Mabillon, vol. vi, pp. 299—320. A metrical life by Gonzalo de Berceo (edited by J. D. Fitzgerald in 1904), which was written about 1240, adds little to our historical knowledge but is perhaps the earliest verse composition in Castilian speech. Much interest has been taken in St Dominic since the treasures of the library of Silos have become known: see, for example, M. Férotin, Histoire de l’Abbaye de Silos (1897); A Andrea in the Boletin de la real Academia Española, vol. iv (1957), pp. 172—194 and 445—458; L. Serrano, El Obispado de Burgos y Castilla primitiva (1935), vol. ii; and a short life by R. Alcocer (1925).  
1073 Dominic (Domingo) of Silos  one of the most famous monks of his century set up a scriptorium at Silos that was soon producing some of the finest Christian books that Spain has ever seen, including the magnificent Apocalypse now housed in the British Library renowned for rescuing Christian slaves from the Moors. Numerous miracles were attributed to him, including healings of all kinds More miracles were attributed to his prayers after his death, especially with regard to pregnancy; the famous founder of the Order of Preachers, also known as the Dominicans OSB, Abbot (RM)
 In Hispánia deposítio sancti Domínici de Silos Abbátis, e sancti Benedícti Ordine, miráculis in captivórum liberatióne celebérrimi.
      In Spain, the death of St. Dominic of Silos, abbot of the Order of St. Benedict, renowned for the miracles which he had wrought for the liberation of captives.
Born in Cañas, Navarre (now Rioja), Spain, c. 1000; The child of Spanish peasants, Dominic was destined to become one of the most famous monks of his century. He began life working on the family farm. Then the monastery of his choice accepted him, and he became a Benedictine of San Millán de Cogolla. He was a model pupil and a devoted member of the community. After Dominic was ordained a priest, he served as novice master and eventually his fellow monks elected him as their prior.

At this point in his placid and yet busy life the greed of King García III of Navarre interrupted Dominic's career. García claimed that some of the monastic estates really belonged to him. So savagely did the king persecute Dominic for strenuously defending the monastery's rights that eventually the prior and two other monks fled for protection to King Ferdinand I of Old Castile. Fortunately, Ferdinand recognized the saint's worth.

King Ferdinand had suzerainty over the monastery of San Sebastian [(now Santo Domingo), Silos, in the diocese of Burgos--a house that had been for some time in spiritual torpor. He asked Dominic to take over as abbot. When the saint arrived at Silos he found that the monastery's finances were totally awry, the buildings dilapidated, and the ranks of monks decimated to six. Inspired by the ideals of the famous Abbey of Cluny, he and his two companions from San Millán de Cogolla accepted the challenge.
The decayed buildings of San Sebastian's monastery were restored. The cloisters of the abbey--a gem of Romanesque architecture--stand to this day as the best monument to his enterprise.
The former shepherd boy loved the great illuminated manuscripts of the Church--books of liturgy, the Psalms, the Scriptures, and books of prayer. He set up a scriptorium at Silos that was soon producing some of the finest Christian books that Spain has ever seen, including the magnificent Apocalypse now housed in the British Library.
The fame of Dominic's holiness and learning spread, and attracted so many monks that the whole monastery soon had to be enlarged. He was renowned for rescuing Christian slaves from the Moors. Numerous miracles were attributed to him, including healings of all kinds. Rich men and women began to endow the monastery. And by the time Dominic died in 1073 the monastery of San Sebastian, Silos, was one of the greatest in the land. At his death, the monastery had 40 monks and many other resources including a flourishing gold and silver workshop that made possible extensive charity to the local poor.
Not only was the monastery a great one, Dominic became one of the most beloved of the Spanish saints. Three years after his death, on January 5, Dominic's body was translated into the church, which was the equivalent of local canonization. Churches and monasteries were dedicated to him from 1085.
More miracles were attributed to his prayers after his death, especially with regard to pregnancy. Dominic's abbatial staff was used to bless Spanish queens and it remained by their bedside until they had a safe delivery. At his shrine Blessed Joan de Aza de Guzmán prayed to conceive the child whom she called Dominic, after the abbot of Silos. Today's saint's namesake became the famous founder of the Order of Preachers, also known as the Dominicans (Benedictines, Bentley, Encyclopedia, Farmer).
St. Dominic is represented as an abbot surrounded by Seven Virtues. Sometimes he is a mitered abbot enthroned with a book, a veil tied to his crozier. Venerated in Spain. Patron of shepherds and captives. Invoked against insects and mad dogs (Roeder).
1073 St. Dominic of Silos Benedictine abbot defender of the faith.

 December 20, 2009 St. Dominic of Silos (c. 1000-1073) 
It’s not the founder of the Dominicans we honor today, but there’s a poignant story that connects one Dominic with the other.

Our saint today, Dominic of Silos was born in Spain around the year 1000 into a peasant family. As a young boy he spent time in the fields, where he welcomed the solitude. He became a Benedictine priest and served in numerous leadership positions. Following a dispute with the king over property, Dominic and two other monks were exiled. They established a new monastery in what at first seemed an unpromising location. Under Dominic’s leadership, however, it became one of the most famous houses in Spain. Many healings were reported there.
About 100 years after Dominic’s death, a young woman made a pilgrimage to his tomb. There Dominic of Silos appeared to her and assured her that she would bear another son. The woman was Joan of Aza, and the son she bore grew up to be the "other" Dominic—the one who founded the Dominicans. For many years thereafter, the staff used by St. Dominic of Silos was brought to the royal palace whenever a queen of Spain was in labor. The practice ended in 1931.

 Born in Canas, Navarre, Spain, circa 1000, he entered the Benedictines at San Millan de Ia Cogolla. King Garcia III of Navarre challenged him when he became abbot of the monastery, and Dominic refused to surrender part of the Benedictine lands to the crown. For this he was exiled, going to King Ferdinand I of Castile and Leon, who made him abbot of St. Sebastian Abbey at Silos, now called St. Dominic’s. Dominic reformed the abbey, built the cloisters in Romanesque style, and started a scriptorium that became famous throughout the region. One of the most beloved saints in Spain, Dominic also rescued Christian slaves from the Moors. Dominic’s shrine is noted for its place in the birth of Dominic de Guzman, the founder of the Order of Preachers. Dominic de Guzman’s mother begged for a child there. Dominic was also noted for miracles of healing.
1277 Bl. Peter de la Cadireta Dominican martyr
A Spaniard, he entered the Dominicans and devoted his time to preaching to the heretics, including the Albigensians, in the area around Urgell, Spain. A group of heretics stoned him to death.
1338 Saint Daniel of Serbia gift of wonderworking and healing  built  Ascension of the Lord at Dechani the finest Christian monuments in Serbia
The only son of rich and renowned parents, was a close associate of the Serbian king Stephan Urosh Milutin. Having renounced a secular career, he received monastic tonsure from the igumen of the St Nicholas monastery at Konchul near the River Ibar. St Daniel's ascetic life was an example for all the brethren.
Archbishop Eustathius of Serbia ordained him presbyter and took him into his cell. When it was time to choose the igumen for the Hilandar monastery on Mount Athos, St Daniel received the appointment. The saint was igumen at a most difficult time for the Holy Mountain. After the Crusaders were expelled from Palestine, they joined with the Arabs to plunder and loot the Athonite monasteries, "not sparing anything sacred."
St Daniel remained at the Hilandar monastery, enduring siege and hunger. When peace came to the Holy Mountain, the saint resigned as igumen and withdrew into complete silence in the cell of St Sava of Serbia (at Karyes). During the internecine war of Kings Milutin and Dragutin and Stephen of Dechani (November 11), the ascetic was summoned to Serbia, where he reconciled the adversaries.
In his native land Daniel was made Bishop of Banja and head of the renowned monastery of St Stephen, a royal treasury. After completing the construction of a cathedral church at Banja in honor of the holy Protomartyr and Archdeacon Stephen, St Daniel returned to his monastic labors on the Holy Mountain.
The saint was summoned from Athos again in 1325, when he was elected Archbishop of Serbia. He was consecrated on the Feast of the Elevation of the Cross of the Lord. The Protos ["head"] of the Holy Mountain, Garbasios, and other Athonite Elders took part in the solemnities.
Archbishop Daniel was a model of piety, and a wise archpastor. His tenure as archbishop was marked by complete non-covetousness, concern and toil for the needs of the Church and the flock, and the building of churches. In 1335 the saint built a church at Dechani in honor of the Ascension of the Lord, one of the finest Christian monuments in Serbia. He collected accounts about the Serbian past, and compiled the "Rodoslov" [Account about the homeland], writing about the lives of Serbian rulers and Serbian archpastors.
Even during his lifetime St Daniel was granted the gift of wonderworking and healing. After fourteen years as archbishop, St Daniel departed to the Lord on December 19, 1338.
1435 Saint Ignatius, Archimandrite of the Kiev Caves
In the general service to the Kiev Caves saints, it says of him: "Ignatius, monastic pastor and healer of the sick, in our infirmities you help us by your reverence, therefore let us offer song of praise unto your memory" (Ode 1 of the Canon). He was buried in the Far (Theodosiev) Caves, and his memory is celebrated together with the Fathers of these Far Caves, on August 28. The commemoration of the St Ignatius was established on December 20 because of his namesake, the Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer. There is also another commemoration: the Synaxis of all the Fathers of the Kiev Caves monastery on the second Sunday of Great Lent.
1652 The New Martyr John of Thasos not agree to renounce the Christian Faith
from the village of Marias on the island of Thasos. In his youth he was brought to Constantinople and apprenticed to a tailor. One day he was seized by the Turks and accused of insulting the Moslem religion. They tried to force him to accept Islam, but he would not agree to renounce the Christian Faith, for which he was beheaded at the age of eighteen in the year 1652.
1169 The Novgorod Icon of the Mother of God
Painted by St Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow (December 21), during his stay as igumen of a monastery on the River Rata at the boundary of the Malyi Dvorets. During a time of persecution, the Uniates plundered the Novgorod monastery, and the icon was transferred by the hieromonk James to the Eletsk Chernigov monastery.
Bishop Anthony (Stakovsky) of Chernigov later blessed Simeon, the organizer of the Surozh monastery (Chernigov diocese) with this icon. On August 14, 1677, during a church procession from the old church to a new one, the icon manifested miraculous signs.
This is one of the oldest miracle-working icons in Russia. The Novgorod version of the icon became famous in 1169 when Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky of Suzdal sent a joint army of warriors from various lands, headed by his son Mstislav. on a campaign against Novgorod. The city was surrounded in February. On the fourth day of the siege a bloody battle began. The Novgorodians, not relying on their own resources, appealed to God and the Most Holy Virgin Mary for Their protection. Archbishop Ilia, who was praying to God in the cathedral church, suddenly heard a voice which demanded thai an icon of the Most Holy Mother of God should be taken from the Church of the Savior in Ilyin Streel and mounted on the city wall. The men sent for the icon, however, could not move it even a little. It was only after divine service was conducted by the Archbishop himself that they could take the icon and put it on the wall of the city. During the siege an arrow hit the icon and tears began to flow from the eyes of the Most Holy Theotokos. This was interpreted as a sign that the Mother of God tearfully requested the Savior to deliver the city from the enemy. At that very instant the enemy warriors were struck with blindness. Full of terror, they began to slay one another and soon afterwards they were defeated by the Novgorodians. The marginal scenes on this copy depict the battle of the Novgorodians against the warriors of Suzdal. The feast day in honor of this icon was instituted by Archbishop Ilia two days after the defeat of the Suzdal warriors, on November 27/December 10.
1839 St. Peter Thi Vietnamese martyr native of Vietnam.
Peter became a priest, serving to advance the Christian cause in the country.
He was seized and beheaded by anti-Catholic elements, at age sixty. Pope John Paul II canonized him in 1988.
1908 St John of Kronstadt St John has performed more miracles than almost any other saint, with the possible exception of St Nicholas. Through his prayers he healed the sick, gave hope to the hopeless, and brought sinners to repentance.
born in the village of Sura in Archangel province on October 19, 1829, and was called John in honor of St John of Rila (August 18). His parents were very poor but were very devoted to the Church. Even though he was poor, as a young boy John learned to feel compassion for others in their misfortune. His neighbors frequently asked him to pray for them, as they noticed this special grace-endowed gift in him. When John was ten, his parents were able to raise some money and send him to the local school which was attached to the church. At first, the boy had an extremely difficult time with his studies. He worked for days on end, but still failed to keep up.

Writing about his life he once recalled an evening when everyone had already gone to bed. "I could not sleep, and I still failed to understand anything I was taught. I still read poorly and could not remember anything I was told. I became so depressed I fell to my knees and began to pray. I don’t know whether I had spent a long time in that position or not, but suddenly something shook my whole being. It was as if a veil had fallen from my eyes, and my mind had been opened, and I remembered clearly my teacher of that day and his lesson. I also recalled the topic and the examples he had given. I felt so light and joyous inside." After this experience he did so well he became one of the first in his class to be chosen to go to seminary, and after seminary to the Theological Academy in St Petersburg (a great honor at that time).
Throughout his studies, John thought about the importance of forgiveness, meekness, and love, and came to believe that these were the very center and power of Christianity, and that only one path - the path of humble love - leads to God and the triumph of His righteousness. He also thought a great deal about the Savior's death on the Cross at Golgotha, and pitied those who did not know Jesus Christ. He wished to preach to them about His death and Resurrection. He dreamed about becoming a missionary to distant China, but saw that there was a great deal of work for a genuine pastor of Christ’s flock both in his own city and the surrounding towns.
When John graduated from the Academy he met Elizabeth Nesvitsky who lived in the town of Kronstadt. They dated, he proposed, and they were married. After his studies, John still desired to learn more about his faith and his Church.
It was in this frame of mind that he prepared to be a priest and to enter public ministry. He was ordained a deacon on December 10, 1885, and then priest on December 12. He was assigned to St Andrew’s Cathedral in the city of Kronstadt. He said, “I made myself a rule to be as sincere as possible in my work, and of strictly watching myself and my inner life.”
"Novodvorskaya" and "Lenkovskaya" (Novgorod-Severny) named "Rescuer of the Drowning" Icons of the Mother of God.
Fr John wanted most of all to earn the love of the people in his care, because only a loving attitude could provide the firm support and help he needed as he faced the difficult work of the priesthood. His constant thought was how he would come before the Last Judgment and have to give an account, not only for his own deeds, but also the deeds of his flock, for whose education and salvation he was responsible. To him no one was a stranger; everyone who came to him for help became a friend and relative. He would tell people “The Church is the best heavenly friend of every sincere Christian.” He conducted divine services daily and offered the prayers of the faithful. He called all who rarely receive Holy Communion to prepare themselves and live their lives in a Christian way so that they could receive more often. Listening to Fr John, many people changed their lifestyle, repented sincerely, and joyfully received Holy Communion on a regular basis.
At that time the government exiled murderers, thieves and other criminals to Kronstadt. Life was horrible for the exiles. Even children of exiles would become thieves and criminals. He would go to their dugouts, hovels and shacks to visit with them. Not satisfied with staying for five or ten minutes to administer some rite and then leave, Fr John believed he was coming to visit a priceless soul, his brothers and sisters. He would stay for hours, talking, encouraging, comforting, crying, and rejoicing together with them.
From the beginning he also concerned himself with the material needs of the poor. He would shop for food, go to the pharmacy for prescriptions, to the doctor for help, many times giving the poor his last few coins. The inhabitants of Kronstadt would see him returning home barefoot and without his cassock. Often parishioners would bring shoes to his wife, saying to her, “Your husband has given away his shoes to someone, and will come home barefoot.” He would also write articles for the newspaper exhorting the people of Kronstadt to “support the poor morally and materially.” These appeals touched the hearts of many and Fr John organized many charitable efforts. Realizing that his individual charity was insufficient for aiding the needy, he founded the Orthodox Christian House Parish Trusteeship of St Andrew the First-Called. This brotherhood coordinated many charitable efforts throughout the city and helped many needy people.
In 1857, he began teaching in the local city schools. He would tell people, “If children cannot listen to the Gospel, it is only because it is taught like any other subject, with boredom and indifference. Such teaching defeats the purpose of the Gospel. It fails because it forces students only to read words and memorize them instead of making them live in their lives.” To Fr John there were no incapable students. He taught in such a way that poor pupils as well as good ones were able to understand. His attention was aimed not so much at forcing students to memorize as to fill their souls with the joy of living according to Christian values, sharing with them the holy thoughts which filled his soul.
When speaking to other priests about their vocation he would say, “You are a representative of the faith of the Church, O priest; you are a representative of Christ the Lord Himself. You should be a model of meekness, purity, courage, perseverance, patience, and lofty spirit. You are doing the work of God and must not let anything discourage you.”
St John has performed more miracles than almost any other saint, with the possible exception of St Nicholas. Through his prayers he healed the sick, gave hope to the hopeless, and brought sinners to repentance.
Fr John labored endlessly in his work for the Lord preaching, teaching, and helping those in need. Having spent his entire life serving God and His people, Fr John fell ill and died on December 20, 1908. Almost immediately, people from near and far began to make pilgrimages to the monastery where he was buried. Even today millions of Orthodox Christians in Russia and around the world pray to him to intercede for them as he had always done from his childhood.  St John was glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church on June 8, 1990.
"Saint John of Kronstadt was a married priest, who lived with his wife in virginity. Through his untiring labours in his priestly duties and love for the poor and sinners, he was granted by our Lord great gifts of clairvoyance and miracle-working, to such a degree that in the last years of his life miracles of healings — both of body and of soul — were performed countless times each day through his prayers, often for people who had only written to him asking his help. During his lifetime he was known throughout Russia, as well as in the Western world. He has left us his diary My Life in Christ as a spiritual treasure for Christians of every age; simple in language, it expounds the deepest mysteries of our Faith with that wisdom which is given only to a heart purified by the grace of the Holy Spirit.
Foreseeing as a true prophet the Revolution of 1917, he unsparingly rebuked the growing apostasy among the people; he foretold that the very name of Russia would be changed. As the darkness of unbelief grew thicker, he shone forth as a beacon of unquenchable piety, comforting the faithful through the many miracles that he worked and the fatherly love and simplicity with which he received all. Saint John reposed in peace in 1908." (Great Horologion)


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 201

I trust in our Lady; because of the sweetness of the mercy of her name.

Her eyes look upon the poor: and her hands are stretched out to the orphan and the widow.

Seek after her from your youth: she will glorify you before the face of the peoples.

Her mercy will deliver us from the multitude of our sins: and will bestow on us fruitfulness of merits.

Stretch out to us thy arm, O glorious Virgin: and do not turn away from us thy glorious face.

Let every spirit praise Our Lady

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 heaven:  only saints are allowed into heaven.
The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.
There are over 10,000 named saints beati  from history
 and Roman Martyology Orthodox sources
Patron_Saints.html  Widowed_Saints html  Indulgences The Catholic Church in China
LINKS: Marian Shrines   India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes 1858  China Marian shrines 1995
Kenya national Marian shrine  Loreto, Italy  Marian Apparitions (over 2000)  Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798
  Links to Related MarianWebsites  Angels and Archangels  Saints Visions of Heaven and Hell
Widowed Saints  html
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  Uniates  Chalcedon
Mary the Mother of Jesus Miracles_BC  Lay Saints  Miraculous_Icons  Miraculous_Medal_Novena Patron Saints
Miracles by Century 100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000    1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800  1900 2000
Miracles 100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000  
 1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800   1900 Lay Saints

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

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Saint Frances Xavier Seelos  Practical Guide to Holiness
1. Go to Mass with deepest devotion. 2. Spend a half hour to reflect upon your main failing & make resolutions to avoid it.
3. Do daily spiritual reading for at least 15 minutes, if a half hour is not possible.  4. Say the rosary every day.
5. Also daily, if at all possible, visit the Blessed Sacrament; toward evening, meditate on the Passion of Christ for a half hour, 6.  Conclude the day with evening prayer & an examination of conscience over all the faults & sins of the day.
7.  Every month make a review of the month in confession.
8. Choose a special patron every month & imitate that patron in some special virtue.
9. Precede every great feast with a novena that is nine days of devotion. 10. Try to begin & end every activity with a Hail Mary
My God, I believe, I adore, I trust and I love Thee.  I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not
O most Holy trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly.  I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the Tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended, and by the infite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  I beg the conversion of poor sinners,  Fatima Prayer, Angel of Peace
The voice of the Father is heard, the Son enters the water, and the Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove.
THE spirit and example of the world imperceptibly instil the error into the minds of many that there is a kind of middle way of going to Heaven; and so, because the world does not live up to the gospel, they bring the gospel down to the level of the world. It is not by this example that we are to measure the Christian rule, but words and life of Christ. All His followers are commanded to labour to become perfect even as our heavenly Father is perfect, and to bear His image in our hearts that we may be His children. We are obliged by the gospel to die to ourselves by fighting self-love in our hearts, by the mastery of our passions, by taking on the spirit of our Lord.
   These are the conditions under which Christ makes His promises and numbers us among His children, as is manifest from His words which the apostles have left us in their inspired writings. Here is no distinction made or foreseen between the apostles or clergy or religious and secular persons. The former, indeed, take upon themselves certain stricter obligations, as a means of accomplishing these ends more perfectly; but the law of holiness and of disengagement of the heart from the world is general and binds all the followers of Christ.
God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique each the result of a new idea.
As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike.
It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints.
Dear Lord, grant us a spirit not bound by our own ideas and preferences.
 Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves.
O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory.
 Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.
Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.
The 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary ) Revealed to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan)
1.    Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces. 2.    I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary. 3.    The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies. 4.    It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things.  Oh, that soul would sanctify them by this means.  5.    The soul that recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish. 6.    Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying themselves to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune.  God will not chastise them in His justice, they shall not perish by an unprovided death; if they be just, they shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life. 7.    Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church. 8.    Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise. 9.    I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary. 10.    The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.  11.    You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary. 12.    I shall aid all those who propagate the Holy Rosary in their necessities. 13.    I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death. 14.    All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ. 15.    Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
His Holiness Aram I, current (2013) Catholicos of Cilicia of Armenians, whose See is located in Lebanese town of Antelias. The Catholicosate was founded in Sis, capital of Cilicia, in the year 1441 following the move of the Catholicosate of All Armenians back to its original See of Etchmiadzin in Armenia. The Catholicosate of Cilicia enjoyed local jurisdiction, though spiritually subject to the authority of Etchmiadzin. In 1921 the See was transferred to Aleppo in Syria, and in 1930 to Antelias.
Its jurisdiction currently extends to Syria, Cyprus, Iran and Greece.
Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac
The exact date of the introduction of Christianity into Edessa {Armenian Ourhaï in Arabic Er Roha, commonly Orfa or Urfa, its present name} is not known. It is certain, however, that the Christian community was at first made up from the Jewish population of the city. According to an ancient legend, King Abgar V, Ushana, was converted by Addai, who was one of the seventy-two disciples. In fact, however, the first King of Edessa to embrace the Christian Faith was Abgar IX (c. 206) becoming official kingdom religion.
Christian council held at Edessa early as 197 (Eusebius, Hist. Ecc7V,xxiii).
In 201 the city was devastated by a great flood, and the Christian church was destroyed (“Chronicon Edessenum”, ad. an. 201).
In 232 the relics of the Apostle St. Thomas were brought from India, on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written.

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

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

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

Brief History of our Beloved Holy Priest Here and his published books of Catholic History in North America
Reardon, J.M. Archbishop Ireland; Prelate, Patriot, Publicist, 1838-1918.
A Memoir (St. Paul; 1919); George Anthony Belcourt Pioneer Catholic Missionary of the Northwest 1803-1874 (1955);
The Catholic Church IN THE DIOCESE OF ST. PAUL from earliest origin to centennial achievement 1362-1950 (1952);
The Church of Saint Mary of Saint Paul 1875-1922;  (1932)
The Vikings in the American Heartland;
The Catholic Total Abstinence Society in Minnesota;
James Michael Reardon Born in Nova Scotia, 1872;  Priest, ordained by Bishop Ireland;
Member -- St. Paul Seminary faculty.
Affiliations and Indulgences  Litany of Loretto in Stained glass windows here.  Nave Sacristy and Residence Here
Sanctuary spaces between them filled with grilles of hand-forged wrought iron the life of our Blessed Lady After the crucifixon
Apostle statues Replicas of those in St John Lateran--Christendom's earliest Basilica.
Ordered by Rome's first Christian Emperor, Constantine the Great, Popes' cathedral and official residence first millennium of Christian history.
The only replicas ever made:  in order from west to east {1932}.
Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel
 It Makes No Sense Not To Believe In GOD
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi. 
  June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.
By Father John Corapi
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi. 
  June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.
By Father John Corapi
Among the most important titles we have in the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of the most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom. The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7 (date of feast of Our Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for the Christian forces against the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope Pius V led a procession around St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral leadership in recognizing the danger posed to Christendom by the radical Muslim forces, and in using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles require spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that had its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

Father Corapi's academic credentials are quite extensive. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Pace University in the seventies. Then as an older man returned to the university classrooms in preparation for his life as a priest and preacher. He received all of his academic credentials for the Church with honors: a Masters degree in Sacred Scripture from Holy Apostles Seminary and Bachelor, Licentiate, and Doctorate degrees in dogmatic theology from the University of Navarre in Spain.
Father John Corapi goes to the heart of the contemporary world's many woes and wars, whether the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, or the Congo, or the natural disasters that seem to be increasing every year, the moral and spiritual war is at the basis of everything. “Our battle is not against human forces,” St. Paul asserts, “but against principalities and powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness...” (Ephesians 6:12). 
The “War to end all wars” is the moral and spiritual combat that rages in the hearts and minds of human beings. The outcome of that  unseen fight largely determines how the battle in the realm of the seen unfolds.  The title talk, “With the Moon Under Her Feet,” is taken from the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation, and deals with the current threat to the world from radical Islam, and the Blessed Virgin Mary's role in the ultimate victory that will result in the conversion of Islam. Few Catholics are aware of the connection between Islam, Fatima, and Guadalupe. Presented in Father Corapi's straight-forward style, you will be both inspired and educated by him.

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

God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under ‘offering of life’
Jul 11, 2017 - 06:22 am .- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called “offering of life” – in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor.
 
Twentieth century Polish nurse among causes advancing toward sainthood
Jul 7, 2017 - 06:14 am .- Pope Francis on Friday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Hanna Chrzanowska, a Polish nurse and nursing instructor who died from cancer in 1973, paving the way for her beatification.
 
Sainthood causes advance, including layman who resisted fascism
Jun 17, 2017 - 09:22 am .- Pope Francis on Friday recognized the heroic virtue of six persons on the path to canonization, as well as the martyrdom of an Italian man who died from injuries of a beating he received while imprisoned in a concentration camp for resisting fascism.
 
Solanus Casey, Cardinal Van Thuan among those advanced toward sainthood
May 4, 2017 - 10:47 am .- Pope Francis on Thursday approved decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints advancing the causes for canonization of 12 individuals, including the American-born Capuchin Solanus Casey and the Vietnamese cardinal Francis Xavier Nguen Van Thuan.
 
Pope clears way for canonization of Fatima visionaries
Mar 23, 2017 - 06:44 am .- On Thursday Pope Francis approved the second and final miracle needed to canonize Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the shepherd children who witnessed the Fatima Marian apparitions.
Surgeon and father among sainthood causes moving forward
Feb 27, 2017 - 11:03 am .- Pope Francis recognized on Monday the heroic virtue of eight persons on the path to canonization, including an Italian surgeon and father of eight who suffered from several painful diseases throughout his life.
8 Martyrs Move Closer to Sainthood 8 July, 2016
Posted by ZENIT Staff on 8 July, 2016

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

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

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

On the List Are Lay Founder of a Hospital and Eastern Catholic Religious
VATICAN CITY, June 12, 2014 (Zenit.org) - Today, the Vatican announced that during the celebration of the feast of Christ the King on Sunday, November 23, an ordinary public consistory will be held for the canonization of the following six blesseds, who include a lay founder of a hospital for the poor, founders of religious orders, and two members of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See:
-Giovanni Antonio Farina (1803-1888), an Italian bishop who founded the Institute of the Sisters Teachers of Saint Dorothy, Daughters of the Sacred Hearts
-Kuriakose Elias Chavara (1805-1871), a Syro-Malabar priest in India who founded the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate
-Ludovico of Casoria (1814-1885), an Italian Franciscan priest who founded the Gray Sisters of St. Elizabeth
-Nicola Saggio (Nicola da Longobardi, 1650-1709), an Italian oblate of the Order of Minims
-Euphrasia Eluvathingal (1877-1952), an Indian Carmelite of the Syro-Malabar Church
-Amato Ronconi (1238-1304), an Italian, Third Order Franciscan who founded a hospital for poor pilgrims
CAUSES OF SAINTS July 2015.
Pope Recognizes Heroic Virtues of Ukrainian Archbishop
Recognition Brings Metropolitan Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky Closer to Beatification
By Junno Arocho Esteves Rome, July 17, 2015 (ZENIT.org)
Pope Francis recognized the heroic virtues of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky. According to a communique released by the Holy See Press Office, the Holy Father met this morning with Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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