Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, was born of the Most Holy Virgin Mary in the city of Bethlehem during the reign of the emperor Augustus (Octavian). Caesar Augustus decreed that a universal census be made throughout his Empire, which then also included Palestinian Israel. The Jews were accustomed to be counted in the city from where their family came. The Most Holy Virgin and the Righteous Joseph, since they were descended from the house and lineage of King David, had to go to Bethlehem to be counted and taxed.

In Bethlehem they found no room at any of the city's inns. Thus, the God-Man, the Savior of the world, was born in a cave that was used as a stable.

"I behold a strange and most glorious mystery," the Church sings with awe, "Heaven, a Cave; the Virgin the Throne of the Cherubim; the Manger a room, in which Christ, the God Whom nothing can contain is laid." (Irmos of the 9th Ode of the Nativity Canon).

Having given birth to the divine Infant without travail, the Most Holy Virgin "wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger" (Luke 2:7). In the stillness of midnight (Wisdom of Solomon 18:14-15), the proclamation of the birth of the Savior of the world was heard by three shepherds watching their flocks by night.

An angel of the Lord (St Cyprian says this was Gabriel) came before them and said: "Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:10-11).
The humble shepherds were the first to offer worship to Him Who condescended to assume the form of a humble servant for the salvation of mankind.
Besides the glad tidings to the Bethlehem shepherds, the Nativity of Christ was revealed to the Magi by a wondrous star. St John Chrysostom and St Theophylactus, commenting on St Matthew's Gospel, say that this was no ordinary star. Rather, it was "a divine and angelic power that appeared in the form of a star."
St Demetrius of Rostov says it was a "manifestation of divine energy" (Narrative of the Adoration of the Magi). Entering the house where the Infant lay, the Magi "fell down, and worshipped Him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented Him gifts: gold, and frankincense, and myrrh" (Mt. 2:11).

The present Feast, commemorating the Nativity in the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, was established by the Church. Its origin goes back to the time of the Apostles. In the Apostolic Constitutions (Section 3, 13) it says, "Brethren, observe the feastdays; and first of all the Birth of Christ, which you are to celebrate on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month." In another place it also says, "Celebrate the day of the Nativity of Christ, on which unseen grace is given man by the birth of the Word of God from the Virgin Mary for the salvation of the world."

In the second century St Clement of Alexandria also indicates that the day of the Nativity of Christ is December 25. In the third century St Hippolytus of Rome mentions the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, and appoints the Gospel readings for this day from the opening chapters of St Matthew.

In 302, during the persecution of Christians by Maximian, 20,000 Christians of Nicomedia (December 28) were burned in church on the very Feast of the Nativity of Christ. In that same century, after the persecution when the Church had received freedom of religion and had become the official religion in the Roman Empire, we find the Feast of the Nativity of Christ observed throughout the entire Church. There is evidence of this in the works of St Ephraim the Syrian, St Basil the Great, St Gregory the Theologian, St Gregory of Nyssa, St Ambrose of Milan, St John Chrysostom and other Fathers of the Church of the fourth century.

St John Chrysostom, in a sermon which he gave in the year 385, points out that the Feast of the Nativity of Christ is ancient, and indeed very ancient. In this same century, at the Cave of Bethlehem, made famous by the Birth of Jesus Christ, the empress St Helen built a church, which her mighty son Constantine adorned after her death. In the Codex of the emperor Theodosius from 438, and of the emperor Justinian in 535, the universal celebration of the day of the Nativity of Christ was decreed by law. Thus, Nicephorus Callistus, a writer of the fourteenth century, says in his History that in the sixth century, the emperor Justinian established the celebration of the Nativity of Christ throughout all the world.

The Nativity of Christ was revealed to the Magi by a wondrous

star. St John Chrysostom and St Theophylactus, commenting on St Matthew's Gospel, say that this was no ordinary star. Rather, it was "a divine and angelic power that appeared in the form of a star." St Demetrius of Rostov says it was a "manifestation of divine energy" (Narrative of the Adoration of the Magi). Entering the house where the Infant lay, the Magi "fell down, and worshipped Him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented Him gifts: gold, and frankincense, and myrrh" (Mt. 2:11).

The names of the three Wise Men

(Magi) do not appear in the Gospels. The tradition that there were three visitors from the east is very ancient, but their names are only mentioned in the Middle Ages. The tradition that one of them was a Negro dates from the fifteenth century.

Bones reputed to be the relics of the three kings have been in the cathedral at Cologne, Germany since 1164.

Patriarch Anatolius of Constantinople in the fifth century, Sophronius and Andrew of Jerusalem in the seventh, Sts John of Damascus, Cosmas of Maium and Patriarch Germanus of Constantinople in the eighth, the Nun Cassiane in the ninth, and others whose names are unknown, wrote many sacred hymns for the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, which are still sung by the Church on this radiant festival.

During the first three centuries, in the Churches of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria and Cyprus, the Nativity of Christ was combined together with the Feast of His Baptism on January 6, and called "Theophany" ("Manifestation of God"). This was because of a belief that Christ was baptized on anniversary of His birth, which may be inferred from St John Chrysostom's sermon on the Nativity of Christ: "it is not the day on which Christ was born which is called Theophany, but rather that day on which He was baptized."

In support of such a view, it is possible to cite the words of the Evangelist Luke who says that "Jesus began to be about thirty years of age" (Luke 3:23) when He was baptized. The joint celebration of the Nativity of Christ and His Theophany continued to the end of the fourth century in certain Eastern Churches, and until the fifth or sixth century in others.

The present order of services preserves the memory of the ancient joint celebration of the Feasts of the Nativity of Christ and Theophany. On the eve of both Feasts, there is a similar tradition that one should fast until the stars appear. The order of divine services on the eve of both feastdays and the feastdays themselves is the same.

The Nativity of Christ has long been counted as one of the Twelve Great Feasts. It is one of the greatest, most joyful and wondrous events in the history of the world. The angel said to the shepherds, "Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you: you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. Then suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts, glorifying God and saying: Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Those who heard these things were astonished at what the shepherds told them concerning the Child. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen" (Luke 2:10-20).

Thus the Nativity of Christ, a most profound and extraordinary event, was accompanied by the wondrous tidings proclaimed to the shepherds and to the Magi. This is a cause of universal rejoicing for all mankind, "for the Savior is Born!"

Concurring with the witness of the Gospel, the Fathers of the Church, in their God-inspired writings, describe the Feast of the Nativity of Christ as most profound, and joyous, serving as the basis and foundation for all the other Feasts.

Christ is Born! Glorify Him!

See also: Discourse on the Nativity of Christ by Saint Gregory Thaumatourgos, Bishop of Neocaesarea.

In the stillness of midnight (Wisdom of Solomon 18:14-15), the proclamation of the birth of the Savior of the world was heard by three shepherds watching their flocks by night.

An angel of the Lord (St Cyprian says this was Gabriel) came before them and said: "Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:10-11). The humble shepherds were the first to offer worship to Him Who condescended to assume the form of a humble servant for the salvation of mankind.

THE BIRTHDAY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST,
COMMONLY CALLED CHRISTMAS DAY

THE BIRTHDAY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, COMMONLY CALLED CHRISTMAS DAY
WHEN all things were accomplished which according to the ancient prophets were to precede the coming of the Messias, Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, having taken human flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary and being made man, was born of her for the redemption of mankind. The all-wise and all-merciful providence of God had, from the fall of our first parents, gradually disposed all things for the fulfilling of His promises and the accomplishing of the greatest of His mysteries, the incarnation of His divine Son. The Emperor Augustus ordaining that all persons should be registered at certain places, according to their respective provinces, cities and families had issued a decree. This decree was an occasion for the manifestation to the whole world that Christ was a descendant of the house of David and tribe of Juda. For those of that family were ordered to register at Bethlehem, a small town in the tribe of Juda, six miles from Jerusalem to the south. It had been David’s home; Joseph and Mary had come thither from Nazareth, fifty-six miles almost north from Jerusalem. Micheas had foretold that Bethlehem-Ephrata (i.e. house of bread: fruitful) should be ennobled by the birth of “the ruler in Israel”, Christ. Mary therefore undertook this tedious journey with her husband, in obedience to the emperor’s order for their enrolment in that city. After a slow journey through mountainous country they arrived at Bethlehem, and there found the public inns already full nor were they able to get any lodgings at all. In this distress they at last went into a cavern in the side of the ridge whereon Bethlehem is built, which was used as a stable. It is a common tradition that an ox and an ass were in it at the time.{* It was current in the fifth century. Such a tradition is & very natural one to arise, and Isaias i 3 could be quoted in support of it (by, of course, an accommodation) "The ox knoweth his owner and the ass his master’s crib..."}

In this place the mother when her time was come brought forth her divine Son, wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in the manger. {The cave beneath the basilica of the Nativity at Bethlehem has an unbroken tradition of authenticity of very great antiquity. In its floor is set a silver star, around which is the inscription Hic de Virgine Maria Jesus Christus natus est. Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary.}
God was pleased that His Son, though born on earth in obscurity and poverty, should be at once acknowledged by men and receive the first fruits of their homage and devotion. But the great ones of the world, the wise among the Jews and Gentiles, the elders and princes, who seemed raised above the level of their fellows, are passed over. Certain shepherds were at the time keeping the watches of the night over their flock. To them an angel appeared, they saw themselves surrounded with a great light, and they were suddenly seized with fear. But the angel said to them, “Fear not For behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, that shall be to all the people. For this day is born to you a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David. And this shall be a sign unto you you shall find the infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.” And there appeared with the angel a multitude of heavenly spirits, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will.” Then the wondering shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem, and let us see this word that is come to pass, which the Lord hath shewed to us”. They hastened thither, and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. “And, seeing, they understood of the word that had heen spoken to them concerning this child. And all that heard wondered at those things that were told them by the shepherds (but Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart).”
Then they did homage to the Messias as to the spiritual king of men, and returned to their flocks glorifying and praising God.

The message delivered by the angel to those shepherds is addressed also to us, “to all the people”. By them we are invited to worship our new-born Saviour; and our hearts must be insensible to all spiritual things if they are not filled with joy at the consideration of the divine goodness and mercy manifested in the Incarnation, the coming of the promised Messias. The thought and foreknowledge of this mystery comforted Adam in his banishment; the promise of it sweetened the pilgrimage of Abraham it encouraged Jacob to dread no adversity and Moses to brave all dangers and conquer all difficulties in delivering the Israelites from Egyptian slavery. All the prophets saw it in spirit with Abraham, and they rejoiced. If the expectation gave the patriarchs such joy, how much more ought the accomplishment to give to us. “The letter of a friend”, says St Peter Chrysologus, “is comforting, but his presence is much more welcome ; a bond is useful, but the payment more so blossoms are pleasing, but only till the fruit appears.”
The ancient fathers received God’s letters, we enjoy His presence they had the promtse, we the accomplishment; they the bond, we the payment.” Love is the tribute which God asks of us in a particular manner in this mystery ; this is the return for all He has done and suffered for us. He says to us, “Son, give me thy heart”. To love Him is our sovereign happiness and the highest dignity of a human creature.

Christ’s life is the gospel reduced to practice. He instructs us at His very birth, beginning first to practise, then to preach. The manger was His first pulpit, and from it He teaches us the cure of our spiritual maladies. He came among us to seek our miseries, our poverty, our humiliation, to repair the dishonour our pride had offered to the Godhead, and to apply a remedy to our souls. And He chose a poor mother, a little town, a stable. He who adorns the world and clothes the lilies of the field beyond the majesty of Solomon is wrapped in clothes and laid in a manger. This He chose to be the very sign of His identity. “This shall be a sign to you,” said the angel to the shepherds, “you shall find the child wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.” It is a powerful instruction. “The grace of God our Saviour hath appeared to all men, instructing us”, says the Apostle, all men, the rich and the poor, the great and the small, all who desire to share His grace and His kingdom, instructing us in the first place in humility. What is the whole mystery of the Incarnation but the most astonishing humbling of the Deity? To expiate our pride the eternal Son of God divests Himself of His glory and takes the form of man in his every circumstance—save sin. Who would not think that the whole creation would be overwhelmed with the glory of His presence and tremble before Him? But nothing of this was seen. “He came not”, says St John Chrysostom, “so as to shake the world at the presence of majesty; not in thunder and lightning as on Sinai: but He came quietly, no man knowing it.”
No other celebration of the Christian year, not even Easter itself, does the Roman Martyrology announce in so solemn a fashion. But for all that—and it seems especially strange to English-speaking people for whom in practice Christmas is the great religious festival of the year—this feast is not among the most primitive in the Church, and, liturgically considered, ranks not only below Easter, but also below Pentecost and the Epiphany. The commemoration of the birth of our Lord by a separate feast began only in the fourth century (before 336), and at Rome, from whence it soon spread to the East, where hitherto the birth had been commemorated as a lesser aspect of the feast of the Epiphany.

In the 5199th year of the creation of the world, from the time when in the beginning God created heaven and earth; from the flood, the 2957th year; from the birth of Abraham, the 2015th year; from Moses and the going-out of the people of Israel from Egypt, the 1510th year; from the anointing of David as king, the 1032nd year; in the 65th week according to the prophecy of Daniel; in the 194th Olympiad; from the founding of the city of Rome, the 752nd year; in the 42nd year of the rule of Octavian Augustus, when the whole world was at peace, in the sixth age of the world: Jesus Christ, the eternal God and Son of the eternal Father, desiring to sanctify the world by His most merciful coming, having been conceived by the Holy Ghost, and nine months having passed since His conception (A higher tone of voice is now used, and all kneel) was born in Bethlehem of Juda of the Virgin Mary, having become man.

The dates or reckonings in the quotation from the Roman Martyrology given above are of course not all historically correct or verifiable for example, we know now that the creation of the world took place many more than 5199 years before the birth of our Lord, and it is likely that that birth was earlier than in the year 752 after the founding of the city. But if the year of the birth of Christ is uncertain, its day is even mote so, and there is hardly a month of the twelve to which respectable authorities have not assigned it. How December 25 came to be pitched on for the commemoration is not known, and has been the subject of lively discussions. The notion of an origin in the Roman Saturnalia of December can be safely disregarded but there is some likelihood that the solar feast of natalis Invicti (the Birthday of the Unconquered [Sun]), itself observed at the winter solstice about December 25, helped to determine the date.

In any case the Roman custom of commemorating the birthday by a special feast on that date became general, and has so remained throughout Christendom, with a few isolated exceptions. The Nestorians are said not to have adopted the separate feast until the fourteenth century; the dissident Armenians never have done so. They continue the primitive usage of commemorating our Lord’s birth and baptism together on the Epiphany (“shewing forth”), and so are the only Christians in the world who have no Christmas day. *{Among the stricter sort of Protestant dissenter in England and, especially, Wales, there is, or was till recently, an interesting survival of Puritan tradition. These, when Christmas falls on a Sunday, observe it in the penitential manner proper to their conception of what is due to the Lord’s Day (or, as they put it, the “Sabbath is more important than Christmas”). The usual Christmas rejoicings and observances are deferred till Monday. Some Scottish Presbyterians apparently ignore Christmas altogether.}

Father Delehaye in his commentary on the Hieronymianum lays stress upon the reluctance of the church of Jerusalem to admit what they regarded as this new feast of the birth of our Lord, though a sermon of St John Chrysostom makes it clear that it had been adopted in the Syrian city of Antioch as early as 376.
In the sixth century Cosmas Indicopleustes apparently considered it something of a scandal that in Jerusalem no celebration of the Nativity as such had yet been introduced; but before the death of the Patriarch St Sophronius, which occurred about 638, it is plain from one of his sermons that Jerusalem had conformed to that usage of the rest of Christendom. Since Father Delehaye wrote, a thoroughly systematic, and, one may say, exhaustive discussion of the origin of the Christmas festival has been published by Dom B. Botte, who thinks that the evidence constrains us to admit that the assignment of the birth of our Lord to December 25 was due to the occurrence on that day of the pagan celebration of the natalis Invicti. It must be remembered that as long as paganism was dominant or widely prevalent, the Christians, a gens lucifuga, had much reason to mask their own distinctive beliefs and practices under observances or symbols which attracted no attention. On the other hand, Mgr Duchesne holds that the birth of Christ was identified with December 25 because His conception was supposed to have occurred on the day on which He also died, both coinciding with the (official) spring equinox, March 25. The same was the day, according to a widespread belief, on which the world was created. It may well be held, with Abbé Michel Andrieu, that these theories are not irreconcilable and that there is truth in both. The little tractate of the fourth century, De solctitiis et aequinoctiis, of which Dom Botte has published a critical text, does not conflict with the suggestion. Dom Botte has also collected a number of testimonies regarding the pagan celebration in oriental lands of the birth of an “aeon”, some greater divinity, on January 6. This being associated with a Dionysus festival, in which wine replaced water in the fountains, may possibly have found expression in the curiously mixed character of the Epiphany feast, combining as it did the homage of the Magi, the baptism of our Lord, and the miracle of Cana.

When the pilgrim lady Etheria visited Jerusalem near the end of the fourth century the Nativity was still observed there as part of the Epiphany on January 6, but the birthday aspect was very much to the fore. She describes how on the vigil the bishop, clergy, monks and people of Jerusalem went to Bethlehem and made a solemn station at the cave of the Nativity. At midnight a procession was formed, they returned to Jerusalem, and sang the morning office just before dawn. Then in the morning they assembled again for a solemn celebration of the Holy Eucharist, which was begun in the great basilica of Constantine (the Martyrion) and consummated in the chapel of the Resurrection (the Anastasis).

In the sixth century these Jerusalem observances were duplicated or imitated at Rome. At cockcrow the pope celebrated Mass at the Liberian basilica (St Mary Major), to which the reputed relics of the wooden crib were brought during the seventh century; then, later in the day, a procession was made to St Peter’s, where he sang Mass again. In between these two celebrations came another, which took place at the church of (St) Anastasia below the Palatine (see notice below).

By the mid twelfth century the third Mass also was being sung at St Mary Major, because of the distance of St Peter’s from the Lateran, where the popes then lived. Thus is seen the origin of the three Masses which every priest may celebrate on Christmas Day; and these Masses are still labelled in the Missal with the name of the respective stations “at the Crib at St Mary Major”, “at St Anastasia“, “at St Mary Major”.
Later, the observance was given a mystical significance, the Masses representing the aboriginal, the Judaic and the Christian dispensations, or the “triple birth“ of our Lord, by which He proceeds from the Father before all time, was born of the Virgin Mary, and is spiritually reborn in our souls, by faith and charity. Or they may be regarded in this way:
The midnight Mass celebrates the eternal birth of Jesus the divine Word. “The Lord said to me: Thou art my Son.
With thee is the principality in the day of thy strength...from the womb before the day-star I begot thee.”
The Mass at dawn sees Jesus as the true light, the spiritual sun. “Alight shall shine upon us this day. We are bathed in the new light of thy incarnate Word.”
And in the third Mass the Babe of Bethlehem is honoured as Christ the King, God and man. “A child is born to us...whose government is upon his shoulder...All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God...Come, ye nations, and worship the Lord...justice and judgement are the preparation of thy throne.”

There is, of course, an immense literature dealing with the birth of our Lord from every point of view, devotional, chronological and liturgical. In addition to the references giv en herein on January 6 under the Epiphany, attention must be specially called to what is noted by Fr Delehaye in CMH., pp. 7—8, and to Dom B. Botte’s Les origines de la Noël et de l’Epiphanie (1932). See also L. Duchesne, Christian Worship (1931), pp. 257—265 ; M. Andrieu, in the Revue des sciences religieuses, vol. xiv (1934), p. 624 ; and what is said herein on March 25 under the Annunciation. For other points of view see H. Usener, Das Weihnachtsfest (1911); A. Baumstark in Oriens Christianus, 1902, pp.441-446 and 1927, pp. 310—333; Cabrol in DAC., vol. v, cc. 1412—1414 ; Keliner, Heortology, pp. 127—157; Schuster, The Sacramentary, vol. i, pp. 361—377; 0. Cullman, Weihnachten in der alter Kirche (1947 French trans., 1949); and studies by PP. Frank and Engberding in the Maria Laach Archiv für Liturgiewissensehaft, vol. ii (1950). For a good summary of the development of the feast, see A. A. McArthur, The Evolution of the Christian Year (1953), pp. 31 Seq.

December 25
Solemnity of the Birth of Our Lord

On this day the Church focuses especially on the newborn Child, God become human, who embodies for us all the hope and peace we seek. We need no other special saint today to lead us to Christ in the manger, although his mother Mary and Joseph, caring for his foster-Son, help round out the scene.
But if we were to select a patron for today, perhaps it might be appropriate for us to imagine an anonymous shepherd, summoned to the birthplace by a wondrous and even disturbing vision in the night, a summons from an angelic choir, promising peace and goodwill. A shepherd willing to seek out something that might just be too unbelievable to chase after, and yet compelling enough to leave behind the flocks in the field and search for a mystery.

On the day of the Lord’s birth, let’s let an unnamed, “un-celebrity” at the edge of the crowd model for us the way to discover Christ in our own hearts—somewhere between skepticism and wonder, between mystery and faith. And, like Mary and the shepherds, let us treasure that discovery in our hearts.

Comment: The precise dating in this passage sounds like a textbook on creationism. If we focus on the time frame, however, we miss the point. It lays out the story of a love affair: creation, the deliveranceof the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt, the rise of Israel under David. It climaxes with the birth of Jesus. From the beginning, some scholars insist, God intended to enter the world as one of us, the beloved people. Praise God!

303 MANY MARTYRS AT NICOMEDIA.

Nicomediæ pássio multórum míllium Mártyrum, qui cum in Christi Natáli ad Domínicum conveníssent, Diocletiánus Imperátor jánuas Ecclésiæ claudi jussit, et ignem circumcírca parári, tripodémque cum thure præ fóribus poni, ac præcónem magna voce clamáre ut qui incéndium vellent effúgere, foras exírent et Jovi thus adolérent; cumque omnes una voce respondíssent se pro Christo libéntius mori, incénso igne consúmpti sunt, atque ita eo die nasci meruérunt in cælis, quo Christus in terris pro salúte mundi olim nasci dignátus est.
At Nicomedia, many thousand martyrs, who had assembled for divine service on our Lord's Nativity. When Emperor Diocletian ordered the doors of the church to be closed, fire to kindled here and there, a vessel with incense to be put before the entrance, and a man to cry out that those who wished to escape from the fire should come out and burn incense to Jupiter, all with one voice answered that they preferred to die for Christ. They were consumed in the fire, and thus merited to be born in heaven on the day on which Christ vouchsafed to be born on earth for the salvation of the world.

THE martyrdom of according to the Greeks, 2o,ooo Christians at Nicomedia on Christmas day in the year 303 is thus recorded by the Roman Martyrology: “At Nicomedia the passion of many thousands of martyrs, who came together for the Lord’s service on Christ’s birthday. The Emperor Diocletian ordered the doors of the church to be shut and fire to be made ready round about it and a tripod with incense to be set before the door: and then that a herald should proclaim so that he could be heard that they who wished to escape the fire should come outside and offer incense to Jupiter. And when they all with one voice declared that they were ready to die for Christ’s sake, the fire was kindled and they were consumed therein. And so they merited to be born in Heaven on that very day whereon Christ for the world’s salvation was pleased to be born on earth.”

There is historical record of the church at Nicomedia being wrecked—not burned—on February 23, 303, by order of Diocletian, but nothing is said of people being killed on the other hand, there was no feast of Christmas kept there so early as the beginning of the fourth century.

This has been taken over into the Roman Martyrology from a Greek source. The Synaxary of Constantinople, as edited for the Acta Sanctorum, commemorates on December 28 (cc. 349—352) 20,000 martyrs burned to death at Nicomedia, adding details corresponding to the above. The number is, of course, wildly exaggerated, but there is much evidence both in Eusebius (bk vi, chs. 5-8) and in the Syriac breviarium that Nicomedia was a hotbed of persecution in the year 303.

304 St. Anastasia III Martyr honor commerated 2nd Mass Christmas Roman Canon of Mass
Eódem die natális sanctæ Anastásiæ, quæ, témpore Diocletiáni, primo diram et immítem custódiam a viro suo Públio perpéssa est, in qua tamen a Confessóre Christi Chrysógono multum consoláta et confortáta fuit; deínde a Floro, Præfécto Illyrici, per diútinam custódiam maceráta, ad últimum, mánibus et pédibus exténsis, ligáta est ad palos, et circa eam ignis accénsus, in quo martyrium consummávit in ínsula Palmária, ad quam una cum ducéntis viris et septuagínta féminis deportáta fúerat, qui váriis interfectiónibus martyrium celebrárunt.
The same day, the birthday of St. Anastasia, who, in the time of Diocletian, first suffered a severe and harsh imprisonment on the part of her husband Publius, in which, however, she was much consoled and encouraged by the confessor of Christ, Chrysogonus. Afterwards she was thrown into prison again by order of Florus, prefect of Illyria; and finally, having her hands and feet stretched, she was tied to stakes with a fire kindled about her, in the midst of which she ended her martyrdom on the island of Palmaria, whither she had been brought with two hundred men and seventy women, who have made martyrdom a glorious thing by the various kinds of death they so valiantly endured.
in the second Mass celebrated on Christmas Day. She is also included in the Roman canon of the Mass, although she was not venerated in Rome until the end of the fifth century.
Probably a native of Sirmium, Pannonia, she was martyred during the persecutions initiated by Emperor Diocletian.
Tradition states that she was the daughter of Praetextatus, a noble Roman. She married a pagan named Publius, who died while on a mission to Persia. As a widow, Anastasia cared for the Christians, enduring persecution, and was arrested herself. On a ship with other prisoners, Anastasia was miraculously saved from drowning by St. Theodata mother of Cosmas and Damian. The prisoners, including Anastasia, landed on the island of Palmaria, where they were burned to death. She was made patroness of a basilica in Rome in the sixth century.

304 ST ANASTASIA, MARTYR
THE passio of St Anastasia relates that she was the daughter of a noble Roman named Praetextatus and had St Chrysogonus for her adviser. She married a pagan, Publius, and during the persecution of Diocletian cared for the confessors of the faith in prison, whereupon her husband forbade her to leave the house. Chrysogonus having gone to Aquileia, she kept up a correspondence with him and, when Publius died on an embassy to Persia, went to Aquileia herself to succour the Christians there. After the martyrdom of SS Agape, Chionia and Irene, Anastasia herself was arrested and brought before the prefect of Illyricum at Sirmium, being visited in prison and fed by the dead St Theodota. Then with another Christian and a number of pagan criminals she was put aboard a vessel and abandoned at sea; but Theodota appeared again and piloted it to land, and the pagans were all converted. Anastasia was taken to the island of Palmaria and put to death by being burned alive, staked to the ground with her arms and legs outstretched and the fire kindled about her; two hundred men and seventy women were martyred in various ways at the same time.
These stories are entirely apocryphal. St Anastasia has been venerated at Rome since the late fifth century, when her name was put in the canon of the Mass, but so far as is known she had nothing to do with the City. Her cultus originated at Sirmium in Pannonia, where she was perhaps martyred under Diocletian, but no authentic particulars of her life and passion have come down to us. While St Gennadius was patriarch of Constantinople, during the second half of the fifth century, the relics of St Anastasia were translated from Sirmium to that city, and a considerable cultus of the saint followed.

The special interest of St Anastasiais in the historico-liturgical fact that she has the distinction of being commemorated at the second Mass on Christmas day.

There was in Rome, at the foot of the Palatine Hill near the Circus Maximus, a church called the titulus Anastasiae; it had been built in the fourth century and had its name from a foundress called Anastasia. It was an important church, and it soon came to be called the church of St Anastasia—as it is to this day. It was at this church that the pope sang the second Mass on Christmas day and, during the sixth century and for some time after, this Mass was proper to St Anastasia. This adventitious liturgical importance of the martyr, due to local conditions at Rome in the fifth-sixth century, is now reduced to the familiar commemoration at the Mass of the Dawn. It does not even seem that there was any tradition of St Anastasia having been put to death on December 25: the Greeks now keep her feast on the twenty-second, venerating her as a megalomartyr and “the Poison-healer."

The long document which may be called the “Acts of St Anastasia“ has never been printed as a whole, though the several episodes of which it is made up have most of them been edited separately under the names of the martyrs respectively concerned, e.g. Paulo S. Chrysagoni, Paulo S. Theodotae, etc. There is also a Greek version which only exists in manuscript. A very full discussion of this strange medley will be found in Delehaye’s Étude say le légendier romain, pp. 151—171. As he shows, the purpose with which this hagiographical fiction was compiled was to claim Anastasia as a Roman saint, seeing that she was now honoured there as patron of the titulus Anastasiae. It is possible that Arnobius the Younger, who lived in the middle of the fifth century, was already acquainted with the story of St Anastasia (see Dom, Morin, Études, textes, découvertes, 1913, pp. 328, 391—392), but the matter is not clear. Consult further Duchesne in Mélanges d’archéologie et d’histoire, vol. vii (1887), pp. 387—413 J. P. Kirsch, Die römischen Titelkirchen (1918), pp. 18—23 Lanzoni, Titoli presbiterali (1925), pp. 11-12 and 58—59.

St. Eugenia martyr Delehaye in his Etude sur le légendier romain (1936), pp. 175—186, has commented upon the legend exhaustively, and both here and in his CMH. He shows that there is solid ground for believing that St Eugenia was an authentic Roman martyr.
Romæ, in cœmetério Aproniáni, sanctæ Eugéniæ Vírginis, beáti Mártyris Philíppi fíliæ, quæ, témpore Galliéni Imperatóris, post plúrima virtútum insígnia, post sacros Vírginum choros Christo aggregátos, sub Præfécto Urbis Nicétio diu agonizávit, ac novíssime gládio juguláta est.
At Rome, in the cemetery of Apronian, St. Eugenia, virgin, the daughter of blessed Philip, martyr. In the time of Emperor Gallienus, after displaying many signs and virtues, gathering to Christ holy choirs of virgins, and after long trials under Nicetius, prefect of the city, she was finally put to the sword.

There definitely was a Roman martyr named Eugenia but the rest of her story is a romantic fictitious legend. According to it she was the daughter of Duke Philip of Alexandria, governor of Egypt during the reign of Emporer Valerian. She fled her father's house dressed in men's clothing and was baptized by Helenus, bishop of Heliopolis, who sent her to an abbey of which she later became abbot. Accused of adultery by a woman she had cured of a sickness and whose advances she had resisted, she was hailed before a judge to answer the charges; the judge was her father. Exonerated when she revealed she was a woman and his daughter, she converted him to Christianity (he later became a bishop and was beheaded for his faith). Eugenia converted many others, including her mother, Claudia, and suffered martyrdom by sword for her faith in Rome, where she had gone with her mother.

ST EUGENIA, virgin AND MARTYR
THE legend of St Eugenia, like that of St Marina, St Reparata and others, is the tale of a woman disguised as a monk and accused of a crime she could not commit. For variety it may here be told in the words of the Golden Legend.
Eugenia, the noble virgin, which was daughter to Philip, duke of Alexandria, which for the emperor of Rome governed all the land of Egypt. Eugenia issued privily out of her father’s palace with two servants [called SS. Protus and Hyacinth], and she went into an abbey in the habit and array of a man, in which abbey she led so holy a life that at the last she was made abbot of the same. It happed so that no man knew that she was a woman, yet there was a lady accused her of adultery before the judge, which was her own father. Eugenia was put in prison for to be judged to death. At the last she said to her father much thing for to draw him to the faith of Jesus Christ. She rent her coat and showed to him that she was a woman and daughter of him that held her in prison, and so she converted her father unto the Christian faith. And he was after a holy bishop, and at the hour that he sang his Mass he was beheaded for the faith of Jesus Christ; and the lady that had falsely accused Eugenia was burnt with fire of Hell with all her party. And after that Claudia [the mother of Eugenia] and all her children came to Rome, and much people were by them converted, and many virgins by Eugenia. Which Eugenia was much tormented in divers manners and at the last by the sword accomplished her martyrdom, and thus made the offering of her proper body to our Lord Jesus Christ, qui est benedictus in saecula saeculorum, Amen.

Eugenia was sent to join the monks in the first place by Helenus, Bishop of Heliopolis, who had met and baptized her when he had fled from her father’s house in male clothes; and the false accusation was prompted by her repelling the advances of a woman whom she had miraculously cured of sickness.
The romantic particulars of her masquerading as a young man seem to have been arbitrarily attributed to St Eugenia, a Roman martyr who was buried in the cemetery of Apronian on the Via Latina, where afterwards a basilica was built in her honour, which was restored during the eighth century.

Two Latin texts of this legend have attracted attention The older is that printed in the Sanctuarium of Mombritius, but from this a very much revised version was constructed at an early date and has acquired wider publicity. It is printed in Rosweyde, Vitae Patrum, pp. 340—349, and is also to be found twice over in Migne, PL., vols. xxi and lxxiii. Two or three different Greek adaptations are also known in manuscript, and that of the Metaphrast is printed in Migne, PG., vol. cxvi, pp. 609—652. Besides these there is a Syriac version, published with an English translation by Mrs A. smith-Lewis in Studio Sinaitica, vols. ix and x; and another in Armenian which F. C. Conybeare edited and translated in The Armenian Apology of Apollonius, though the early date he assigns to this text is quite unwarranted. Finally, the earlier portion of the story exists in an Ethiopic text, which has been printed and rendered into English by K J. Goodspeed. Delehaye in his Etude sur le légendier romain (1936), pp. 175—186, has commented upon the legend exhaustively, and both here and in his CMH. He shows that there is solid ground for believing that St Eugenia was an authentic Roman martyr.

715 St. Adalsindis Benedictine nun from a sainted family
Adalsindis was the daughter of Sts. Adalbald and Rictrudis. She entered the Benedictine convent at Hamayles-Marchiennes, near Arras, France. Her sister, St. Eusebia, was abbess there.

800 St. Alburga Abbess foundress princess in Wessex
England. The sister of King Egbert of Wessex, Alburga displayed piety at an early age. She was married to Wulfstan of Wiltshire as part of a political alliance. She founded Wilton Abbey while married to Wulfstan. Upon his death, Alburga retired to Wilton and became the abbess.

1256 Natalis of St. Peter Nolasco founder of the Mercedarians.

Born at Mas-des-Saintes-Puelles, near Castelnaudary, France, in 1189 (or 1182); died at Barcelona, on Christmas Day, 1256 (or 1259). He was of a noble family and from his youth was noted for his piety, almsgiving, and charity. Having given all his possessions to the poor, he took a vow of virginity and, to avoid communication with the Albigenses, went to Barcelona.

At that time the Moors were masters of a great part of the Iberian peninsula, and many Christians were detained there and cruelly persecuted on account of the Faith. Peter ransomed many of these and in doing so consumed all his patrimony. After mature deliberation, moved also by a heavenly vision, he resolved to found a religious order (1218), similar to that established a few years before by St. John de Matha and St. Felix de Valois, whose chief object would be the redemption of Christian slaves. In this he was encouraged by St. Raymond Penafort and James I, King of Aragon, who, it seems, had been favoured with the same inspiration. The institute was called Mercedarians and was solemnly approved by Gregory IX, in 1230. Its members were bound by a special vow to employ all their substance for the redemption of captive Christians, and if necessary, to remain in captivity in their stead. At first most of these religious were laymen as was Peter himself. But Clement V decreed that the master general of the order should always be a priest. His feast is celebrated on the thirty-first of January.

[With the reform of the general Roman calendar in 1969, the feast of St. Peter Nolasco on 31 January was suppressed; he is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology and in local and particular liturgical calendars on 28 January.]

1306 BD JACOPONE OF TODI

Jacopone, baptized Jacopo, was born of the good family of Benedetti at Todi in Umbria about the year 1230. He read law at Bologna, where he probably took his doctorate, and began to practise in his native town. He seems to have been known neither for virtue nor evil-living, and certainly showed no signs in his earlier years of his later religious fervour. About 1267 he married Vanna di Guidone, a young woman beautiful both in person and character, who, for all their married life lasted only a year, proved to be his good angel. Vanna was tragically killed at a wedding festa, when a balcony upon which she and other guests were standing collapsed. She was the only one to lose her life, and the shock of this sudden deprivation, coupled with the vivid realization of his wife’s goodness (he is said, for example, to have discovered an unsuspected hair-shirt on her dead body, which he supposed to be worn in penance for his sins), wrought a remarkable change in Jacopo. Indeed, it would be not unreasonable to conclude that for a time his mind was unhinged. He threw up his profession, put on the habit of the Franciscan tertiaries, and became, as it has been put, “a sort of Christian Diogenes”; his eccentricities were so absurd and so public that the children in the streets of Todi looked on him as a harmless show and familiarly called him Jacopone: the name stuck. On one occasion he crawled on hands and knees across the main square, wearing the harness of a donkey; on another, he turned up among a wedding party at his brother’s house tarred and feathered all over. He lived thus as a sort of public penitent for ten years.

In 1278, after some natural hesitation on the part of the friars, Jacopone was admitted among the Franciscans of San Fortunato at Todi as a lay-brother. He is said to have chosen this state out of humility. He may well have done so. But the fact that his sympathies were with the more strict party among the Franciscans, the Spirituals, may have had something to do with it, for they considered that St Francis had intended his followers to be priests only exceptionally.

For a dozen years or so Brother Jacopone remained at Todi, and as he gradually attained a more stable state of equilibrium he began to produce more and more lyric poems and songs in the Umbrian dialect, which were very popular. They were deeply religious and mystical verses, these laude, and were adopted by the Flagellants and other zealots for public singing and reciting; both words and cadence lent themselves aptly to that Franciscan jubilus whose manifestations seem to have been remarkably like those of the Welsh preachers’ hwyl.

But Jacopone was candid and outspoken, and San Fortunato was a Conventual house. He was involved in difficulties with his brethren there, and became a more and more prominent figure among the Spirituals, of whom Bd Conrad of Offida and Bd John of Alvernia were his close personal friends. Jacopone was among those friars who in 1294 petitioned Pope St Celestine V for permission to live apart from the order, but in a few weeks Celestine had resigned and Cardinal Gaetani, the opponent of the Spirituals, was pope as Boniface VIII. When in 1297 there was an open rupture between the two Colonna cardinals and the pope, Jacopone was one of the three Franciscans who helped in the drawing-up of the manifesto which claimed that Boniface had been invalidly elected; he became a literary propagandist for the Colonna party and produced a savage attack on the pope, beginning: “ 0 papa Bonifatio molt ay jocato al mondo.” Without subscribing to the extravagant opinion that “to have had [Boniface] for an adversary was itself an honour”, it may well be held that Friar Jacopone opposed the pope in perfect good faith: partisans were not the only people at the time who held the view that Pope Celestine’s abdication was uncanonical.

When the papal forces captured Palestrina, the Colonna stronghold, Jacopone was seized and imprisoned in a horrid dungeon there for five years. Not even the jubilee year of 1300 saw his release. During this time he composed some of the most beautiful of his poems, and also some of the most aggressive, satirical and trenchant pieces in curious contrast with the touching devotion and searching mysticism of the others.

Jacopone is best known as the putative author of the hymn Stabat Mater dolorosa, but there is no certainty as to who in fact wrote it. He is also credited with the companion hymn, or as some stern critics say the parody, the less well-known Stabat Mater speciosa (for Christmas). The Dolorosa is said to have been ascribed to him in a manuscript of the fourteenth century, and both appear in an edition of his laude printed at Brescia in 1495. The Speciosa was rescued from oblivion by Frederick Ozanam, who reprinted it for the first time in his Poètesfranciscains en Italie au XIII^e siècle in 1852. The English hymnologist Mearns inclined to the view that Jacopone wrote the Speciosa but not the Dolorosa; but there is no certain proof that he wrote any Latin poems at all.

On the death of Boniface VIII at the end of 1303 Friar Jacopone was set at liberty, and he went to live first at a hermitage near Orvieto and then at a Poor Clare convent at Collazzone, between Todi and Perugia. Here he died on Christmas day, 1306. He received the last sacraments from Bd John of Alvernia and there are moving, but conflicting, accounts of his last moments. In 1433 his relics were translated to the church of San Fortunato at Todi, and how he was regarded there can be read upon his tomb: “The bones of Blessed Jacopone dei Benedetti of Todi, of the Order of Friars Minor. He became a fool for Christ’s sake and, having deceived the world by a new artifice, took Heaven by storm. He fell asleep in the Lord on March 25, A.D. 1296 {sic}. This monument was put up by Angelo Cesi, Bishop of Todi, in the year 1596.”

Much has been written about Fra Jacopone. In the Bollettino Francescano storicobibliografico, vol. ii (1931), pp. 81-118 and 201-223, no less than 994 books and articles are enumerated which are in one way or another concerned with him. Apart from what can be gathered from his poems, we learn curiously little of his life except for the sketch in the Franceschina of Jacopo Oddi (fifteenth century); most of our information is late and unreliable. In a short but valuable review of the centenary literature in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxviii (1909), pp. 231-234, Fr Van Ortroy states that the cult was confirmed by the Holy See in 1868, and he points out that further support has been found for Ozanam’s contention that the famous satire “0 papa Bonifatio” has been interpolated. The specialist, A. Tenneroni, in the Nuova Antologia, 1906, pp. 623—636, has satisfied himself that the most bitter passages were added subsequently by another hand; and see his work on the poet published in 1939. For English readers there is an excellent article on Fra Jacopone by Father L. Oliger in the Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. viii, pp. 363—365; a sympathetic study by Edmund Gardner in The Constructive Quarterly, vol. ii (1912), pp. 446—460, and such books as those of Evelyn Underhill, Jacopone da Todi (1959), and A. Macdonnell, Sons of St Francis (1902). See also J. Pacheu, Jacopone de Todi, Frère Mineur (1914) C. Cadomo, Il Cantore della Povertà (1923); N. Sapegno, Frate Jacopone (1923); P. Barbet, B. Jacopone de Todi, l’auteur du Stabat (1943) ; and I. Steiger, Jacopone da Todi, Welthass und Gottesliebe (1945). The text of the “ Laude “ may be conveniently consulted in vol. vi of the series I Libri della Fede, edited by G. Papini (1922). It is interesting to find that St Bernardino of Siena made long extracts from Jacopone’s writings. Some of these are still preserved in the saint’s own handwriting with this heading: “ Here begin certain canticles or laude of our holy modern David, Fra Jacopone da Todi.” See Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, vol. xxix (1937), p. 237.

1628 Bl. Michael Nakashima native Jesuit martyr of Japan hid priests
Michael was admitted to the Society of Jesus because of his holiness and courage. He hid priests and was placed under arrest for many months for harboring missionaries. Michael was then taken to Shimabara and was scalded to death in the hot springs at Mount Ungen. Pope Pius LX beatified him in 1867.

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

THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 216

Preserve me, O Lady, for I have hoped in thee: do thou bestow on me the dew of thy grace.

Thy virginal womb has begotten the Son of the Most High.

Blessed be thy breasts, by which thou hast nourished the Savior with deific milk.

Let us give praise to the glorious Virgin: whosoever ye be that have found grace and mercy through her.

Give glory to her name: and praise forever her conception and her birth.

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 Nizamuddi n Aulia Sufi Saint Hazrath Khwaja Syed Mohammed Badshah Quadri Chisty Yamani Quadeer (RA) 1236-1325 welcomed people of all faiths & all walks of life.

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

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Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey

Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament

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

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

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

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

America's First Basilica Largest Nave in the World

August 7, 1907-ground broke for the foundation

by Archbishop Ireland-laying cornerstone May 31, 1908

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

Index to Part I and Part II 1932

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

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

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

Member -- St. Paul Seminary faculty.

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

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

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

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

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

THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi.

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

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

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

By Father John Corapi

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

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

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

About Father John Corapi.

Father Corapi is a Catholic priest .

The pillars of father's preaching are basically:

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

God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LINKS:
Marian Apparitions (over 2000) India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes Feb 11- July 16, Loreto, Italy 1858
China Marian shrines May 23, 1995 Zarvintisya Ukraine Lourdes Kenya national Marian shrine    Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798
Links to Related Marian Websites Angels and Archangels
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Apostles Roman Catholic Popes Purgatory Uniates, 216 2022

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