Wednesday Saints of 07  septimo idus Februari 
  Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington 1882; great works in astrophysics; theory of relativity,
and 
first to correctly speculate stars burning was fusion of hydrogen into helium.

Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!  (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
RDeo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
February is dedicated to the Holy Family since the 17th century and by Copts from early times.
2024
23,658  Lives Saved Since 2007
http://www.haitian-childrens-fund.org/

For the Son of man ... will repay every man for what he has done.
The saints are a “cloud of witnesses over our head”,
showing us that a life of Christian perfection is not impossible.

February 7 – Blessed Pius IX, Pope of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception (d. 1878) 
 The Blessed Virgin Mary herself confirmed this dogma 
 Pope Pius IX was born in Senigallia, Italy, on May 13, 1792. He died at the Vatican on February 7, 1878, at the age of 85. His 31-year pontificate is the longest in the history of the papacy, after that of Peter, according to tradition.
Pius IX is also the pope who proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.

In the bull Ineffabilis Deus, published on December 8, 1854, Pius IX solemnly declared, by virtue of his apostolic authority, that the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived free from original sin. This dogma of the Immaculate Conception is often confused with the virginal conception of Jesus at the Annunciation.

Three years later, between February 11th and July 16, 1858, a young, illiterate girl from Lourdes called Bernadette Soubirous affirmed that she saw "a beautiful lady" in the small grotto of Massabielle in Lourdes, France, who told her in the local Gascon Occitan dialect: "Que soi era Immaculada Concepciou." (I am the Immaculate Conception.)

Pius IX also convened the first Vatican Council, which defined papal infallibility.
He was declared "blessed" by the Catholic Church in 2000.

 The Mary of Nazareth Team

Luke is one of the earliest saints to be seen levitating in prayer:  946 St. Luke the Younger Hermit
He worked so many miracles there that the site was turned into an oratory after his death and became known as Soterion or Sterion (place of healing) and he himself as the Thaumaturgus (the wonder-worker).

Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary
Mary's Divine Motherhood


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

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

 303 Saint Aule suffered martyrdom in London during Diocletian's persecution of Christians.
4th v. St. Chrysolius martyred bishop of Armenia  served as a missionary in northeastern Gaul
372 St. Moses Arab hermit bishop called “the Apostle of the Saracens.” 
722 St. Richard  brother of St. Boniface miracles reported at his tomb father of Saints Willibald, Winnebald, and Walburga
946 St. Luke the Younger Hermit death place called Sterion (place of healing) wonder-worker (Thaumaturgus ) one of the earliest saints to be seen levitating in prayer
1871 Bd Eugenia Smet (Mother Mary of Providence), foundress of the Helpers of the Holy Souls.

 February 7 - Blessed Pius IX, Pope of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception (d. 1878)
 Mary Brought Jesus to Elizabeth
 Mary is a model of charity. In what way is Mary a living example of love for the Church? Let us think about the readiness she showed towards her cousin Elizabeth. In visiting her, the Virgin Mary brought not only material help—she brought this too—but she also brought Jesus, who was already alive in her womb. Bringing Jesus into that house meant bringing joy, the fullness of joy…which comes from Jesus and from the Holy Spirit, and is expressed by gratuitous charity, by sharing with, helping, and understanding others.

Our Lady also wants to bring the great gift of Jesus to us, to us all; and with him she brings us his love, his peace, and his joy. In this, the Church is like Mary, the Church is not a shop, she is not a humanitarian agency, the Church is not an NGO. The Church is sent to bring Christ and his Gospel to all.

She does not bring herself—whether small or great, strong or weak—the Church carries Jesus and should be like Mary when she went to visit Elizabeth. What did Mary take to her? Jesus. The Church brings Jesus: this is the center of the Church, to carry Jesus! If, as a hypothesis, the Church were not to bring Jesus, she would be a dead Church. The Church must bring Jesus, the love of Jesus, the charity of Jesus.
  
Pope Francis  General Audience, October 23, 2013


February 7 - Our Lady of Grace A Most Beloved Mother The Blessed Virgin is "the mother of the members of Christ having cooperated by charity that faithful might be born in the Church..." Wherefore she is hailed as a pre-eminent and singular member of the Church, and as its type and excellent exemplar in faith and charity. The Catholic Church, taught by the Holy Spirit, honors her with filial affection and piety as a most beloved mother.
Lumen Gentium Chapter VIII §53 Dogmatic Constitution on the Church  November 21, 1964

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

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

 Sancti Romuáldi Abbátis, Monachórum Camaldulénsium Patris, cujus dies natális tertiodécimo Kaléndas Júlii recensétur, sed festívitas hac die, ob Translatiónem córporis ejus, potíssimum celebrátur.
       St. Romuald, founder of the Camaldolese monks, whose birthday is the 19th of June,
but celebrated today because of the transference of his body.

Fifth day of the Afterfeast of the Meeting of the Lord
303 St. Augulus Martyr listed by St. Jerome as a bishop
303  Martyrs at Nicomedia servants of the four dignitaries Bassos,
       Eusebius, Eutychius and Basilides
303 Saint Aule suffered martyrdom in London during Diocletian's
       persecution of Christians.
304 St. Adaucus martyr for the faith
ST THEODORE OF HERACLEA, MARTYR (No DATE?)
319 St. Theodore Stratelates Roman general martyr
4th v. St. Chrysolius martyred bishop of Armenia  served as a missionary in
         northeastern Gaul
4th v. Saint Parthenius Bishop of Lampsacus from age 18 healed sick in the
       name of Christ cast out demons worked other miracles
372 St. Moses Arab hermit bishop called “the Apostle of the Saracens.” 
435 St. Juliana of Bologna widowed woman of Bologna cared for the poor
546 St. Lawrence of Siponto Bishop of Siponto
550 St. Tressan Irish missionary spread the faith in Gaul
570 St. Fidelis Bishop of Merida
6th v. St. Meldon Irish hermit, possibly Frence bishop 
722 St. Richard  brother of St. Boniface miracles reported at his tomb father
       of Saints Willibald, Winnebald, and Walburga 
750 St. Amulwinus Benedictine abbot bishop
946 St. Luke the Younger Hermit death place called Sterion (place of
      healing) wonder-worker (Thaumaturgus ) one of the earliest saints to
      be seen levitating in prayer
        St. Ronan of Kilmaronen came into the valley drove out the devil 
1027 ST ROMUALD, ABBOT FOUNDER OF THE CAMALDOLESE BENEDICTINES
1150 Blessed Nivard of Vaucelles 
        St. Anatolius Bishop of Cahors
1236 Bl. Rizzerio Early Franciscan great austerities mortifications miracle
         from Francis dissolved his despair of God's mercy
1447 St. Colette Poor Clare 17 established monasteries 
1461 Blessed Antony of Stroncone practicing rigorous penance
1551 Blessed Thomas Sherwood denying queen's ecclesiastical supremacy
1593 Blessed James Salès & William Saulte-mouche martyrs
1603 Bl. William Richardson Martyr of England
1812 Blessed Giles Mary of Saint Joseph porter for the friary
1871 Bd Eugenia Smet (Mother Mary of Providence), foundress of the Helpers of the Holy Souls.
 Sancti Romuáldi Abbátis, Monachórum Camaldulénsium Patris, cujus dies natális tertiodécimo Kaléndas Júlii recensétur, sed festívitas hac die, ob Translatiónem córporis ejus, potíssimum celebrátur.
<       St. Romuald, founder of the Camaldolese monks, whose birthday is the 19th of June, but celebrated today because transference of his body.

The fifth day of the Afterfeast of the Meeting of the Lord falls on February 7
303 St. Augulus Martyr listed by St. Jerome as a bishop
 Augústæ, cui nunc Londíni nomen, in Británnia, natális beáti Auguli Epíscopi, qui, ætátis cursu per martyrium expléto, ætérna præmia suscípere méruit.
       At London, England, the birthday of blessed Augulus, bishop, who ended the course of his life by martyrdom, and deserved to receive an eternal recompense.
He is also described as martyr of London, England, by some scholars. Still others identify him as St. Aule of Normandy, France.

Augulus BM (RM) (also known as Augurius, Aule) Died c. 303. Saint Jerome's martyrology lists Augulus as a bishop. Others describe him as a martyr put to death in London under Diocletian.
French writers normally identify him with Saint Aule of Normandy (Benedictines).

303 Martyrs at Nicomedia servants of the four dignitaries Bassos, Eusebius, Eutychius and Basilides
 Ibídem plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum, urbis uníus cívium, quorum dux erat idem Adáucus; qui, cum omnes Christiáni essent, et constánter in fídei confessióne persísterent, a Galério Maximiáno Imperatóre sunt igne consúmpti.
       Also, many holy martyrs, citizens of this same city of which Adaucus was mayor.  As they were all Christians, and persisted in the confession of the faith, they were burned to death by Emperor Galerius Maximian.
who suffered for Christ with their wives (January 5) in the year 303 during the reign of the emperor Diocletian (284-305).

After the martyric death of their masters, the servants decided to follow their example, and they also confessed themselves Christians before Diocletian. Swayed neither by persuasion nor promises nor rewards, 1003 men, women, and small children were cut down by soldiers who formed a tight circle around them so that none of them remained alive.

304 St. Adaucus martyr for the faith
 In Phrygia sancti Adáuci Mártyris, qui, ex Itálico génere clarus, et omni fere dignitátum gradu ab Imperatóribus insignítus, tandem, cum adhuc Quæstóris offício fungerétur, martyrii coróna pro fídei defensióne dignátus est.
       In Phrygia, St. Adaucus, martyr, an Italian of noble birth, who was honoured by the emperors with almost every dignity.  While he was still discharging the office of quæstor, he was judged worthy of the crown of martyrdom for his defence of the faith.

303 ST ADAUCUS, MARTYR 
The Roman Martyrology for February 7 makes mention of St Adaucus in the following terms: “in Phrygia, of St Adaucus, martyr, who came of noble Italian stock and was honoured by the emperor with dignities of almost every rank, until while performing the office of quaestor, he was found worthy of the martyr’s crown for his defence of the faith. In the same place, of very many holy martyrs, citizens of one city, whose leader this same Adaucus was; who, since they were all Christians and remained constant in the confession of the faith, were burnt with fire by the Emperor Galerius Maximian.” The facts rest upon the high authority of the church historian Eusebius, who was a contemporary, but while he mentions the martyrdom of St Adauc(t)us and the burning of the town in the same chapter, he does not connect the two events, though the early translation of Rufinus does. In Eusebius the matter is presented in this form:
              A small town of Phrygia, inhabited solely by Christians, was completely
            surrounded by soldiers while the men were in it. Throwing fire into it they
            consumed them with the women and children while they were calling upon
            Christ. This they did because all the inhabitants of the city and the curator
            himself, and the governor with all who held office, and the entire populace,
            confessed themselves Christians and would not in the least obey those who
            commanded them to worship idols.
              There was another man of Roman dignity named Adaucus, of a noble
            Italian family, who had advanced through every honour under the emperors,
            so that he had blamelessly filled even the general offices of magistrate, as they
            call it, and of finance minister. Besides all this he excelled in deeds of piety
            and in the confession of the Christ of God and was adorned with the crown of
            martyrdom. He endured the conflict for religion while still holding the office
            of finance minister.

As against the inference that these two incidents occurred in the same place and that Adaucus set the example to his fellow-townsmen, some difficulty has been raised on the ground that a native of Italy who had had so distinguished a career would not be likely to have an official position given him in a small town in Phrygia.  Rufinus, however, who lived in the same century and had travelled much, apparently saw nothing surprising in such an arrangement.
        
           See Eusebius, Eccles. II 1st., bk viii, ch. ii and cf. CMH., pp. 253-254.


This nobleman of Italian birth reached the rank of quaestor in the government in Phrygia (modern Turkey). Emperor Diocletian (r. 284-305) conducted persecutions against Christians during Adaucus' life. In 303 the emperor commanded that Adaucus' town in Phrygia be burned to the ground by Roman soldiers. Adaucus and all the other Christians in the region perished as a result. They were martyred in Astandro, Phrygia.
Adaucus M (RM) (also known as Adauctus). Saint Adaucus an Italian finance minister at imperial court of Diocletian in Phrygia. The emperor had him killed when he discovered that Adaucus was a Christian. 
4th v. St. Chrysolius martyred bishop of Armenia.  
who served as a missionary in northeastern Gaul, where he became a bishop. During the persecution of Diocletian (284-305) he was martyred in the region of modern Flanders. His relics are venerated in Bruges. Many Phrygian Christians were martyred with him as their town, Antandro, was burned over their heads (Attwater2, Benedictines).
ST THEODORE OF HERACLEA, MARTYR (No DATE?)  
   AMONG the martyrs whom the Greeks honour with the title of Megalomartyr (i.e. great martyr), such as St George, St Pantaleon and others, four are distinguished above the rest: they are St Theodore of Heraclea, surnamed Stratelates (general of the army), St Theodore of Amasea, surnamed Tiro (the recruit), St Procopius and St Demetrius. St Theodore of Heraclea, with whom we are now concerned, is said to have been general of the forces of Licinius and governor of a large tract of Bithynia, Pontus and Paphlagorlia.
Heraclea in Pontus, originally a Greek city founded by a colony from Megan, was where the saint is supposed to have resided, and it was here that, according to one legend, he died a martyr’s death, being beheaded for his faith after having beab cruelly tortured by order of the Emperor Licinius.
   The whole question has been very carefully studied by Father H. Delehaye in his book Les Légendes grecques des saints militaires (1909). In his opinion there was but one St Theodore, probably a martyr and possibly a soldier by profession.  His cult seems traceable at an early date to Euchaita, an inland town in the Heleno-pontus, and it spread widely from that centre.

 By degrees many fictitious and contradictory details were worked into his story by hagiographers who were in nowise concerned to adhere to historic truth in what they wrote. The divergences in the different narratives became in time so flagrant that it was necessary to have recourse to the hypothesis of two different St Theodores—the Stratelates and the Tiro, but even so their biographies overlap and cannot be kept distinct.
One of the fictitious elements introduced into certain versions of the story was a conflict with a dragon, and this detail seems to have attached itself to the legend of St Theodore even earlier than to that of St George. Thus statues and pictures in which he appears mounted on horseback and piercing a dragon with a lance are not rare and are apt to be wrongly identified.


The differentiation of two separate Theodores seems to have occurred somewhat earlier than Father Delehaye supposes. An Armenian homily which F. C. Conybeare believes to be of the fourth century already regards them as distinct and Mgr Wilpert has reproduced a mosaic which Pope Felix IV (526—530) set up in the church of St Theodore on the Palatine, in which our Saviour is represented seated, while St Peter on one side presents to Him one St Theodore and St Paul on the other side presents another.
The earliest written evidence we possess for the cult of St Theodore is a panegyric of
the martyr attributed to St Gregory of Nyssa (Migne, PG., vol. xlvi, pp. 736—748). Even
if it be not authentic it belongs to about the end of the fourth or the beginning of the fifth
century. A selection of the most characteristic of the Greek lives of the two St Theodores
is printed by Fr Delehaye in the book mentioned. An early Armenian homily on the saint
has been translated into English by Prof. Conybeare in his Monuments of Early Christianity
(pp. 217—238). For St Theodore in art, see Kunstlie, Ikonographie, pp. 551—552, who refers
in particular to an article by Hengstenberg, “Der Drachenkampf d. hl. Theodor”, in
Oriens Christianus, 1912, pp. 18 seq. and Wilpert, Die römischen Mosaiken...Taf.
106—107. Cf. St Theodore Tiro herein on November 9.

319 St. Theodore Stratelates Roman general martyr
 Heracléæ, in Ponto, sancti Theodóri, ductóris mílitum, qui, Licínio imperánte, post multa torménta, truncátus cápite, victor migrávit in cælum.
       At Heraclea, in the reign of Licinius, St. Theodore, a military officer, who was beheaded after undergoing many torments, and went victoriously to heaven.
Surnamed Stratelates, he supposedly served in the army of Emperor Licinius Licinianus (r. 308-324) until the decision by that ruler to end the toleration of Christians in the lands under his rule. At the command of the emperor, he was tortured and either beheaded or crucified. Theodore is much venerated by the Orthodox Greek Church. He is also called Theodore of Heraclea.

Theodore Stratelates M (RM) (also known as Theodore of Heraclea)  Theodore lived in Heraclea and was a general (stratelates) commanding one of the armies of the Emperor Licinius and governor of Pontus. A man of great political influence, Theodore also governed part of Licinius's territory. His fellow soldiers realized that their general had embraced the Christian faith when he refused to join them in pagan worship. For this the general was tortured by those he had once loyally served, and was then let out of prison on remand.

He showed his scorn for the idol worshippers by setting fire to a temple dedicated to the goddess Cybele at Amasea in Pontus. The authorities lost no time in throwing him back into prison and again torturing him. The general was comforted by a vision of heaven, before perishing in a furnace. He was buried at Euchaita and is revered by the Eastern Church as a great soldier-saint.

He is probably identical with Theodore Tyro of Amasea, whose later legends became so contradictory and complicated by incredible embroideries that this one was invented to account for the differences. The stratelates is one of the four soldiers honored by the Greeks as a megolomartyr (great martyr) (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia).

Saint Theodore is pictured as a bearded, early Christian in a long cloak, walking vigorously and carrying a crown. He may also be seen with a dragon and sword (Roeder).
Saint Theodore Stratelates the Commander February 8th & June 8th Troparion (Tone 4) O trophy-bearer Theodore, by thy strategy thou wast a general of the heavenly King; armed with the weapons of faith thou didst annihilate hordes of demons and win the Athletes' contest. With faith we call thee blessed.
St. Theodore was a Roman commander in Emperor Licinius' army and governor of Heraclea. He was tall, strong, good-looking, wealthy and a friend of the Emperor. He considered the Kingdom of God to be more valuable than all of his advantages on earth. He smashed the pagan idols of silver and gold and gave the pieces to the poor. This so enraged Licinius that he had Theodore brutally tortured. He received 600 lashes on his back and 500 on his stomach. Then he was crucified while they shot arrows into him. Finally, he was beheaded with a sword. All during this, Theodore repeated: "Glory to Thee, my God, glory to Thee." His suffering ended at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, February 8, 319. He is regarded as the protector of soldiers. His relics were later taken to the Blachernae Church at Constantinople.
This Icon is a mosaic from the first half of the 14th century, Constantinople. Inscription is in Greek. http://www.comeandseeicons.com/pdg10.htm
4th v. Saint Parthenius, Bishop of Lampsacus from age 18 healed sick in the name of Christ cast out demons worked other miracles
a native of the city of Melitoupolis (in northwestern Asia Minor), where his father Christopher served as deacon. The youth did not receive adequate schooling, but he learned the Holy Scripture by attending church services. He had a good heart, and distributed to the poor the money he earned working as a fisherman.

Filled with the grace of God, St Parthenius from age eighteen healed the sick in the name of Christ, cast out demons and worked other miracles. Learning of the young man's virtuous life, Bishop Philetus of Melitoupolis educated him and ordained him presbyter.

In 325, during the reign of Constantine the Great, Archbishop Achilles of Cyzicus made him bishop of the city of Lampsacus (Asia Minor). In the city were many pagans, and the saint fervently began to spread the faith in Christ, confirming it by through many miracles and by healing the sick.

The people began to turn from their pagan beliefs, and the saint went to the emperor Constantine the Great seeking permission to tear down the pagan temple and build a Christian church in its place. The emperor received the saint with honor, gave him a decree authorizing the destruction of the pagan temple, and provided him with the means to build a church. Returning to Lampsacus, St Parthenius had the pagan temple torn down, and built a beautiful church of God in the city.

In one of the razed temples, he found a large marble slab which he thought would be very suitable as an altar. The saint ordered work to begin on the stone, and to move it to the church. Through the malice of the devil, who became enraged at the removal of the stone from the pagan temple, the cart overturned and killed the driver Eutychian.
St Parthenius restored him to life by his prayer and shamed the devil, who wanted to frustrate the work of God.

The saint was so kind that he refused healing to no one who came to him, or who chanced to meet him by the wayside, whether he suffered from bodily illnesses or was tormented by unclean spirits. People even stopped going to physicians, since St Parthenius healed all the sick for free.
With the great power of the name of Christ, the saint banished a host of demons from people, from their homes, and from the waters of the sea.

Once, the saint prepared to cast out a devil from a certain man, who had been possessed by it since childhood. The demon began to implore the saint not to do so. St Parthenius promised to give the evil spirit another man in whom he could dwell. The demon asked, "Who is that man?" The saint replied, "You may dwell in me, if you wish."  The demon fled as if stung by fire, crying out, "If the mere sight of you is a torment to me, how can I dare to enter into you?"
An unclean spirit, cast out of the house where the imperial purple dye was prepared, said that a divine fire was pursuing him with the fire of Gehenna.
Having shown people the great power of faith in Christ, the saint converted a multitude of idol-worshippers to the true God.  St Parthenius died peacefully and was solemnly buried beside the cathedral church of Lampsacus, which he built
372 St. Moses Arab hermit bishop who is called “the Apostle of the Saracens.”
 In Ægypto sancti Móysis, Epíscopi venerábilis, qui primum in erémo vitam solitáriam duxit; deínde, peténte Regína Saracenórum Máuvia, Epíscopus factus, gentem illam ferocíssimam magna ex parte ad fidem convértit, et gloriósus méritis quiévit in pace.
       In Egypt, St. Moses, a venerable bishop, who first led a solitary life in the desert, and afterwards, at the request of Mauvia, queen of the Saracens, converted to the faith the greater part of that barbarous people.  Being made a bishop, and rich in merits, he peacefully went to his reward.

ST MOSES, BISHOP (c. A.D. 372)
    St Moses, the apostle of the “Saracens”, was an Arab by birth and lived for a long time the life of a hermit at Rhinoclura, in the region between Syria and Egypt.  The country was mainly inhabited by wandering bands of Saracens—worshippers of the stars—who, under their warlike queen, Mavia, waged a guerilla warfare on the Roman frontiers. A punitive expedition sent against them appears to have been of the nature of a religious crusade, and ended in a pact whereby Mavia consented to the evangelization of her people provided they might have the holy hermit Moses as their bishop. Lucius, the archbishop of Alexandria, would have been the right person to consecrate him, but he was an Arian and Moses refused to accept episcopal orders from him.

Eventually he succeeded in being consecrated by orthodox bishops, and thereafter spent his days in moving from place to place—he had no fixed see—teaching, preaching and converting a large proportion of his flock to the faith. He also succeeded during the rest of his life in maintaining peace between the Romans and the Saracens. 
“Saracen”, it should be noted, is a term which was applied by the later Greeks and Romans to the nomad tribes of the Syro-Arabian desert. The exact date of the death of St Moses is not known.
           See Acta Sanctorum, February, vol. ii. The details are supplied by the statements of
         the church historians, Sozomen and Theodoret.


He lived in the desert regions of Syria and Egypt, caring for the local nomadic tribes. When the Romans imposed peace upon the Saracens, Queen Mavia, the Saracen ruler, demanded that Moses be consecrated a bishop. He accepted against his will and maintained the peace between the Saracens and Rome.
The Saracens were a nomadic people of the Syro-Egyptian desert so designated by the Romans.

Moses B (RM) Died c. 372. Saint Moses was an Arab who retired in the desert around Mount Sinai. He served as bishop of the roving nomadic flock until a peace treaty between the Saracens and Romans made him bishop of Egypt (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).

435 St. Juliana of Bologna  Married woman of Bologna
 Bonóniæ sanctæ Juliánæ Víduæ.       At Bologna, St. Juliana, widow.
Italy, who was much praised by St. Ambrose of Milan. Juliana had four children when her husband asked to be freed in order to enter the priesthood.
She raised their four children and devoted herself to the care of the poor.
Juliana of Bologna, Widow (RM) Died 435. The piety and charity of Saint Juliana were extolled by Saint Ambrose of Milan. Juliana and her husband agreed to separate so that he could become a priest. She devoted herself to bringing up their four children and to the service of the Church and the poor (Benedictines).

546 St. Lawrence of Siponto Bishop of Siponto
Italy, from 492 until his death. He is credited with building St. Michael’s shrine on Mount Gargano, Italy. He was surnamed Majoranus.
Laurence of Siponto B (AC) Died c. 546. Laurence Majoranus was bishop of Siponto from 492 until his death more than 50 years later. He is said to have built the sanctuary of Saint Michael on Mount Gargano (Benedictines).

550 St. Tressan Irish missionary spread the faith in Gaul
also called Tresian. He left his native country to assist the spread of the faith in Gaul (modern France), receiving ordination from the hands of St. Remigius.

Tressan of Mareuil (AC) (also known as Trésain) Died 550. Saint Tressan is said to be one of five or six brothers, including Saint Gibrian, and three sisters, who travelled from Ireland to France to evangelize for the glory of God in the diocese of Rheims, France. The names of the others are given as Helan, Germanus, Abran (who may be Gibrian), Petran, Franca, Promptia, and Possenna (variations on these names are used).
Tressan worked there as a swineherd, but he was ordained to the priesthood by Saint Remigius, who provided the siblings with suitable retreats from which they could spread the faith. Tressan became curate of Mareuil-sur-Marne, and the patron saint of Avenay in Champagne. His cultus is strong and has been continuous in the area of Rheims. More than 1,000 years after his death, Pope Clement VIII and Archbishop Philip of Rheims authorized the publishing of an Office for his feast (Benedictines, D'Arcy, Encyclopedia, Fitzpatrick, Kenney, Montague, O'Hanlon).

570 St. Fidelis Bishop of Merida
Spain, trained by his predecessor, St. Paul. He was originally from the East.
Fidelis of Mérida B (AC) Died c. 570. Born somewhere in the East, Saint Fidelis travelled to Spain with some merchants and settled in Mérida, where he was trained by Saint Paul, bishop of the city, whom he succeeded in that office (Benedictines).

6th v, St. Meldon Irish hermit, possibly Frence bishop.
He died at Peronne, where he is titular saint of several parishes. He is also listed as Medon.

722 St. Richard, "king of England" brother of St. Boniface Miracles reported at his tomb father of Saints Willibald, Winnebald, and Walburga
 Lucæ, in Túscia, deposítio sancti Richárdi, Regis Anglórum, qui pater éxstitit sancti Willebáldi, Eistetténsis Epíscopi, ac sanctæ Walbúrgæ Vírginis.
       At Lucca in Tuscany, the death of St. Richard, king of England.  He was the father of St. Willebald, bishop of Eichstadt, and of St. Walburga, virgin.

720 ST RICHARD, “KING”
   IN the spring of the year 720 a little party left the Hamble to go on pilgrimage to Rome and the Holy Land. They were a Wessex family, consisting of the father, whose name is not recorded, and his sons, Willibald and Winebald. They sailed up the Seine, landed at Rouen, visited several French shrines, and set out for Rome.
   But at Lucca the father died, and was buried in the church of St Frigidian (San Frediano). Miracles were recorded at his tomb, where his relics still are and where his festival is observed with great devotion.
   The son St Willibald afterwards joined St Boniface, and became first bishop of Eichstätt in Bavaria. And we owe the above particulars to a document called the Hodoeporicon, in which, during his lifetime, one of his relatives, a nun of Heidenheim, set down the recollections of his early life that she had from his own mouth.
    It tells us all we know about the father of St Willibald and St Winebald and their sister St Walburga but this was not enough for the faithful of Lucca and of Eichstatt, who had so great a reverence for the holy man. So they supplied him with a name—Richard, a “life” and a background—he was a “king of the English”.  Actually there was no King Richard in England before Coeur-de-Lion, and nothing is known of the status of Willibald’s father except that he could afford to go on a long pilgrimage nevertheless he appears in the Roman Martyrology today as “sanctus Richardus rex Anglorum”. The little we know about him is compensated by a good deal of reliable information about his children.
See the Acta Sanctorum, February, vol. ii and, especially, Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xlix
(1931) pp. 353—357, where Father M. Coens uses an Eichstätt office of St Richard and an
unpublished vita to throw come light on the evolution of his legend at Eichstätt in the tenth
century and the rise of his cult at Lucca in the twelfth. In view of this article, T. Meyrick’s
The Family of St Richard the Saxon (1844), the second issue of Newman’s Lives of the
English Saints, calls for many corrections.
Richard the "King" (RM) Died 722. Perhaps Saint Richard was not really a king--early Italian legend made him a prince of Wessex--but his sanctity was verified by the fact that he fathered three other saints: Willibald, Winebald (Wunibald), and Walpurga (Walburga). Butler tells us that "Saint Richard, when living, obtained by his prayers the recovery of his younger son Willibald, whom he laid at the foot of a great crucifix erected in a public place in England, when the child's life was despaired of in a grievous sickness...[he was] perhaps deprived of his inheritance by some revolution in the state; or he renounced it to be more at liberty to dedicate himself to the pursuit of Christian perfection...Taking with him his two sons, he undertook a pilgrimage of penance and devotion, and sailing from Hamble-haven, landed in Neustria on the western coasts of France. He made a considerable stay at Rouen, and made his devotions in the most holy places that lay in his way through France."
He fell ill, died suddenly at Lucca, Italy, and was buried in the church of San Frediano. A later legend makes him the duke of Swabia, Germany. Miracles were reported at his tomb, and he became greatly venerated by the citizens of Lucca and those of Eichstatt to where some of his relics were translated. The natives of Lucca amplified accounts of his life by calling him king of the English. Neither of his legends is especially trustworthy--even his real name is unknown and dates only from the 11th century. A famous account of the pilgrimage on which he died was written by his son's cousin, the nun Hugeburc, entitled Hodoeporicon (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Gill, Husenbeth, White)

In art, King Saint Richard is portrayed as a royal pilgrim (ermine- lined cloak) with two sons--one a bishop and one an abbot. His crown may be on a book (Roeder). He is venerated at Heidenheim and Lucca (Roeder).

February 7th Troparion (Tone 3) Accepting Christ our God as King, O Father Richard, thou didst leave thy native Wessex to be a pilgrim. Pray that in our pilgrimage we may find salvation for our souls.

St. Richard of Swabia also known as St. Richard, King of Wessex (Kingdom of the West Saxons) is the brother of St. Boniface. It is uncertain whether or not he was crowned a king in this life, but he is certainly numbered with the "kings and priests" in the Kingdom of Christ. His sons, Willibald and Winebald are also Saints, as is his daughter, Walburga. He and his two sons left England to undertake a pilgrimage of penance and devotion. They made their way through France. Then Richard fell ill and reposed in Lucca, Italy, in 722. He was buried in the Church of St. Frediano. Miracles were reported at his tomb. His sons, now joined by their sister, were recruited by their uncle, the newly elevated Bishop Boniface of Germany, to evangelize Germany. St. Walburga was the first abbess in Heidenheim. St. Willibald settled in Eichstatt. Some of St. Richard's remains were then translated to Eichstatt, and many there were healed through his intercessions. His connection to Swabia is apparently due to devotion to him after his repose for miracles worked through his intercession.
http://www.comeandseeicons.com/inp23.htm
750 St. Amulwinus Benedictine abbot bishop
Amulwinus was St. Erminus' successor at the monastery of Lobbes, Belgium. Amulwinus assumed his post in 737.
Amulwinus of Lobbes, OSB, Abbot-Bishop (AC) (also known as Amolvinus) Died c. 750. In 737, Amulwinus succeeded Saint Erminus as abbot-bishop (chorepiscopus) of Lobbes (Benedictine

St. Anatolius Bishop of Cahors.
France. His life is not recorded, but his relics were venerated at the Saint-Mihiel Abbey in Verdun, France.

946 St. Luke the Younger Hermit death place called Sterion (place of healing) wonder-worker (Thaumaturgus ) one of the earliest saints to be seen levitating in prayer
whose solitary hermitage in Thessaly, Greece, became known as the Soterion, “the place of healing.”

946 ST LUKE THE YOUNGER
  ST LUKE THE YOUNGER, also surnamed Thaumaturgus or the Wonderworker, was a Greek. His family came from the island of Aegina, but were obliged to leave on account of the attacks of the Saracens, and came eventually to settle in Thessaly where they were small farmers or peasant proprietors. His father, Stephen, and his mother, Euphrosyne, had seven children, of whom he was the third. He was a pious and obedient boy, and was at an early age set to mind the sheep and cultivate the fields. From a child he often went without a meal in order to feed the hungry, and sometimes he would strip himself of his clothes that he might give them to beggars. When he went forth to sow, he was wont to scatter half the seed over the land of the poor, and it was noticed that the Lord used to bless his father’s crops with abundant increase.

After the death of Stephen, the boy left the work of the fields and gave himself for a time to contemplation.  He felt called to the religious life, and on one occasion he started off from Thessaly, meaning to seek a monastery, but was captured by soldiers who took him to be a runaway slave. They questioned him; but when he said that he was a servant of Christ and had undertaken the journey out of devotion, they refused to believe him and shut him up in prison, treating him very cruelly. After a time they discovered his identity and released him, but upon returning home he was received with gibes and was jeered at for running away.
      Although he still desired to consecrate himself to God, Luke’s relations were unwilling to let him go, but two monks who, on their way from Rome to the Holy Land, were hospitably entertained by Euphrosyne, managed to persuade her to let her son travel with them as far as Athens. There he entered a monastery, but was not suffered to remain there long. One day the superior sent for him and gave the young man to understand that his (Luke’s) mother had appeared to him in a vision and that, as she was needing him, he had better go home again to help her. So Luke returned once more and was received with joy and surprise ; but, after four months, Euphrosyne herself became convinced that her son had a real call to the religious life and she no longer opposed it.

He built himself a hermitage on Mount Joannitsa near Corinth, and there he went to live, being at that time in his eighteenth year. He led a life of almost incredible austerity, spending his nights in prayer and depriving himself almost entirely of sleep. Nevertheless he was full of joy and charity, although at times he had to wrestle with fierce temptations. He received such graces from God that miracles were wrought through him both during his life and after his death. He is one of the early saints of whom a circumstantial story is told that he was seen raised from the ground in prayer. St Luke’s cell was converted into an oratory after his death and was named Soterion or Sterion—the Place of Healing.
          See the Acta Sanctorum, February, vol. ii. The Greek text, which was printed
         incomplete by Combefis and in Migne, PG., vol. cxi, cc. 441-480, has been re-edited entire in
         the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xiii, pp. 82—121. The whole text is also found in P. Kremos,
         Phocica. BHG., p. 70.


 Luke tried to become a religious but was arrested as an escaped slave and imprisoned for a time. He finally became a hermit on Mount Joannitsa. near Corinth. There he was revered for his holiness and miracles, which earned him the surname Thaumaturgus.
Luke the Younger (AC) (also known as Luke Thaumaturgus or the Wonder-worker) Died c. 946.

Saint Luke is known to the Greek Church as Luke the Wonderworker. His parents were farmers or peasant proprietors on the island of Aegina, but were forced off their land by attacking Saracens. They settled in Thessaly, Greece. Luke was the third of the seven children of Stephen and Euphrosyne. Although Luke was a pious and obedient boy generally, he often made them angry because of his charity to those poorer than himself. In childhood he often gave his meal away to the hungry, or would strip off his clothes for a beggar. When sowing seed, for instance, Luke the Wonderworker spread at least half of it over the fields of the poor instead of over his parents' fields.

Later it was said that one of wonders God worked on Luke's behalf was to make his parents' crops yield more than anyone else's, even though he had given away half the seeds. But at the time his mother and father were extremely angry.
After Stephen's death, Luke left the fields and gave himself for a time to contemplation.

When he told his family that he wanted to enter a monastery, they tried to stop him. But Luke ran away. Unfortunately, some soldiers caught him and for a time put him in prison, thinking he was a runaway slave. When he said that he was a servant of Christ and had undertaken the journey out of devotion, they refused to believe him. He was shut up in prison and cruelly treated until his identity was discovered. He was allowed to return home where he was scolded for running away.

In the end, however, Luke got his way. Euphrosyne provided hospitality to two monks on their way between Rome and the Holy Land. They managed to persuade his mother to let him accompany them as far as Athens. There Luke was admitted as a novice in a monastery, but he didn't stay long. One day the superior sent for him and told the young saint that Luke's mother had appeared to him in a vision and that, as she needed him, he must return home to help her. Luke went home once again and was received with joy and surprise. After four months Euphrosyne herself became convinced of her son's calling and no longer opposed his entering religious life. So, age the age of 18, he built himself a hermitage on Mount Joannitsa near Corinth and lived there happily for the rest of his life. Luke is one of the earliest saints to be seen levitating in prayer. He worked so many miracles there that the site was turned into an oratory after his death and became known as Soterion or Sterion (place of healing) and he himself as the Thaumaturgus (the wonder-worker) (Benedictines, Bentley, Walsh).

Saint Luke of Hellas was a native of the Greek village of Kastorion.

The son of poor farmers, the saint from childhood had toiled much, working in the fields and shepherding the sheep. He was very obedient to his parents and very temperate in eating. He often gave his own food and clothing to the poor, for which he suffered reproach from his parents. He once gave away almost all the seed which was needed for planting in the fields. The Lord rewarded him for his charity, and the harvest gathered was greater than ever before.

As a child, he prayed fervently and often. His mother saw him more than once standing not on the ground, but in the air while he prayed.

After the death of his father, he left his mother and went to Athens, where he entered a monastery. But through the prayers of his mother, who was very concerned about him, the Lord returned him to his parental home in a miraculous manner. He spent four months there, then with his mother's blessing he went to a solitary place on a mountain called Ioannou (or Ioannitsa). Here there was a church dedicated to the holy Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian, where he lived an ascetical life in constant prayer and fasting. He was tonsured there by some Elders who were on pilgrimage. After this, St Luke redoubled his ascetic efforts, for which the Lord granted him the gift of foresight.

After a seven years on Ioannou, the saint moved to Corinth because of an invasion of the Bulgarian armies.

Hearing about the exploits of a certain stylite at Patras, he went to see him, and remained for ten years to serve the ascetic with humility and obedience. Afterwards, the saint returned again to his native land and again began to pursue asceticism on Mount Ioannou.
The throngs of people flocking there disturbed his quietude, so with the blessing of his Elder Theophylactus, St Luke went with his disciple to a still more remote place at Kalamion.

After three years, he settled on the desolate and arid island of Ampelon because of an invasion of the Turks. Steiris was another place of his ascetic efforts. Here brethren gathered to the monk, and a small monastery grew up, the church of which was dedicated to the Great Martyr Barbara.
Dwelling in the monastery, the saint performed many miracles, healing sicknesses of soul and of body.

Foreseeing his end, the saint confined himself in a cell and for three months prepared for his departure. When asked where he was to be buried, the monk replied, "Throw my body into a ravine to be eaten by wild beasts." When the brethren begged him to change these instructions, he commanded them to bury his body on the spot where he lay. Raising his eyes to heaven, he said, "Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit!"
St Luke fell asleep in the Lord on February 7, 946. Later, a church was built over his tomb. Myrrh flowed from his holy relics, and many healings occurred.
1027 ST ROMUALD, ABBOT FOUNDER OF THE CAMALDOLESE BENEDICTINES
ST ROMUALD, of the family of the Onesti, Dukes of Ravenna, was probably born about the year 950. The statement of his biographer, St Peter Damian that he lived to the age of 120 years is now universally rejected.
Though he grew up a worldly youth and a slave to his passions, yet he occasionally experienced aspirations after higher ideals. His father, whose name was Sergius, had agreed to decide by duel a dispute he had with a relation over some property, and Romuald was an unwilling spectator of the encounter. Sergius slew his adversary and Romuald, horrorstricken, fled to the monastery of Sant’ Apollinare-in-Classe nearby. In this house he passed three years in such fervour and austerity that his observance became a standing reproach to certain lax and unfaithful monks, who were yet more exasperated when he reproved their conduct. So, with the abbot’s consent, he left the monastery and, retiring to the neighbourhood of Venice, placed himself under the direction of a hermit named Marinus. Under him Romuald made great advance in the way of perfection. Romuald and Marinus are said to have been concerned in the retirement of the doge of Venice, St Peter Orseolo, to Cuxa, and to have lived there for a time as solitaries. The example of St Romuald had such an influence on his father Sergius that to atone for his sins he entered the monastery of San Severo, near Ravenna. After a time he was tempted to return to the world, whereupon his son went thither to dissuade him from that infirmity of purpose. He succeeded in this, and Sergius stayed in the monastery for the rest of his life.  
   Romuald seems to have spent the next thirty years wandering about Italy, founding hermitages and monasteries. He stayed three years in a cell near that house which he had founded at Parenzo. Here he labored for a time under great spiritual dryness, but suddenly, one day, as he was reciting the words of the Psalmist, I will give thee understanding and will instruct thee “, he was visited by God with an extraordinary light and a spirit of compunction which from that time never left him.
He wrote an exposition of the Psalms full of admirable thoughts, he often foretold things to come, and he gave counsel inspired by heavenly wisdom to all who came to consult him. He had always longed for martyrdom, and at last obtained the pope’s licence to preach the gospel in Hungary; but he was stricken with a grievous illness as soon as he set foot in the country, and as the malady returned each time he attempted to proceed, he concluded it was a plain indication of God’s will in the matter and he accordingly returned to Italy, though some of his associates went on and preached the faith to the Magyars.
Subsequently he made a long stay at Monte di Sitrio, but whilst there he was accused of a scandalous crime by a young nobleman whom he had reprimanded for his dissipated life.
   Extraordinary as it seems, the monks believed the tale, enjoined on him a severe penance, forbade him to celebrate Mass, and excommunicated him. He bore all in silence for six months, but was then admonished by God to submit no longer to so unjust a sentence, pronounced without authority and without a shadow of foundation. He passed six years in Sitrio, observing strict silence, and, in spite of old age, increasing rather than relaxing his austerities. Romuald had some significance in missions to the Slavs and Prussians through the monastery founded for him and St Bruno of Querfurt at Pereum, near Ravenna, by Otto III in 1001.
  A son of Duke Boleslaus I of Poland was a monk in this monastery, and on behalf of his father presented Romuald with a fine horse. He exchanged it for a donkey, declaring that he felt closer to Jesus Christ when astride such a mount.
   The most famous of all St Romuald’s monasteries is that of Camaldoli, near Arezzo in Tuscany, founded by him about the year (1024) iota. It lies beyond a mountain, the descent from which on the farther side is almost a sheer precipice looking down upon a pleasant valley, which then belonged to a lord called Maldolo, who gave it the saint, and from him it retained the name Camaldoli (Campus Maldoli).
 In this place St Romuald built a monastery, and by the several observances he added to St Benedict’s rule he gave birth to that new congregation called the Camaldolese, in which he united the cenobitic and eremitical life. After their benefactor had seen in a vision monks climbing a ladder to heaven all dressed in white garments, Romuald changed the habit from black to white. The hermitage is two short miles distant from the monastery. It is on the mountain-side overshaded by a dark wood of fir trees. In it are seven clear springs of water. The very sight of this solitude in the midst of the forest helps to fill the mind with compunction and a love of contemplation. On the left side of the church is the cell in which St Romuald lived when he first established these hermits. Their cells, built of stone, have each a little garden walled round, and each cell has a chapel in which the occupant may celebrate Mass.
     After some years at Camaldoli Romuald returned to his travels, and eventually died, alone in his cell, at the monastery of Val-di-Castro, on June 19, 1027. A quarter of a century before he had prophesied that death would come to him in that place and in that manner. His chief feast is kept today because it was on February 7, 1481 that his incorrupt body was translated to Fabriano: it was so fixed when Pope Clement VIII added his name to the general calendar in 1595.
           The principal source of information for the life of St Romuald is the biography written
         by St Peter Damian, which has been printed in the Acta Sanctorum February, vol. ii, and
         in many other collections. See BHL., n. 7324. But much subsidiary material is also
         available in the Life of St Peter Orseolo, the Chronicon Venetum, and the two Lives of St
         Bononius of Luccdio. A valuable preliminary study of these sources has been made by
         W. Franke, Quellen und Chronologie zur Geschichte Romualds von Camaldoli und seiner
         Einsiedlergenossenschaften im Zeitalter Ottos III (1910). See Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxxi
         (1912), pp. 376-377 and also W. Franke in Hist. Studien,, vol. cvii (1913). Two Italian
         lives were published in 1927, by A. Pagnani and C. Ciampelli and cf. A. Giabbini, L’eremo
         (1945).
1150 Blessed Nivard of Vaucelles, OSB Cist. (PC)
Born c. 1000; died after 1150. Nivard is the product of the very holy family of Saint Bernard. He was the founder's youngest brother, who followed Bernard to Clairvaux and eventually was appointed novice-master at Vaucelles. Information on his later career is rather confused (Benedictines).

St Ronan of Kilmaronen came into the valley and drove out the devil B (AC)
(also known as Ruadan, Ruadhan)
Saint Ronan, a Scottish bishop of Kilmaronen, has erroneously been identified as the Irish monk mentioned by the Venerable Bede as the defender of the Roman calculation for the date of Easter at the Synod of Whitby. St. Ronan's Well at Innerleithen, Peeblesshire, was popularized by one of Sir Walter Scott's novels. According to tradition, Ronan came into the valley and drove out the devil. This event is remembered annually at the end of "Saint Ronan's Games" in July when a schoolboy, given a pastoral staff, is chosen to represent the saint as he "cleeks the devil" (Farmer).

1236 Bl. Rizzerio Early Franciscan great austerities mortifications miracle from Francis that dissolved his despair of God's mercy

1236 BD RIZZERIO
 WHEN St Francis of Assisi, seemingly on August 15, 1222, preached that unforgettable sermon at Bologna of which Thomas of Spalatro has left us a vivid picture, two well-born students of the university were so impressed that they abandoned the world and offered themselves at once for a life of poverty and toil amongst the Friars Minor. One of these was Rizzerio, who belonged to a wealthy family at Muccia, not far from Camerino. The incident is recorded in chapter 27 of the Fioretti, where, however, by some strange confusion Rizzerio is called Rinieri. We are told that St Francis knew by revelation that both applicants were sent by God and that they would lead a holy life in the order, and accordingly, “Knowing their great fervour, he received them gladly”.
He prophesied at the same time that while Peregrine, though a learned canonist, was to remain in the path of lowliness and never become a priest, Rizzerio would “serve his brethren”.  It will be remembered that among the Franciscans the title given to the higher superiors is minister (i.e. servant), and Rizzerio accordingly received holy orders and became in the end provincial minister of the Marches.
    Our early documents, notably the Actus beati Francisci, reproduced in the Fioretti, describe him as most intimate with and tenderly beloved by the saint in the last years of his life on earth, and there is a touching story of Rizzerio’s temptation to despair of Gods mercy. For a long time he fought it by fasts and flagellations and prayers, but at last he determined to have recourse to his beloved father.
    “ If ”, he said, “ Brother Francis shall make me welcome, and shall treat me as his familiar friend, even as he is wont to do, I believe that God will yet have pity on me; but if not, it will be a sign that I shall be abandoned of God.” St Francis was grievously ill at the time, but he knew by revelation of Rizzerio’s temptation and of his coming. So calling Brothers Leo and Maneo he said to them, “ Go quickly to meet my dearest son, Brother Rizzerio, and embrace him in my name and bid him welcome and tell him that among all the friars that are in the world I love him exceedingly.” And when at length the sorely tempted brother came to where St Francis lay, the saint rose up in spite of his illness and went to meet him.
    “And he made the sign of the most holy cross upon his brow and there he kissed him, and afterward said to him, ‘ Dearest son, God hath permitted thee to be thus tempted for thy great gain of merit; but if thou wouldst not have this gain any more, have it not!’” Then the temptation departed from him never to return.
   It was apparently to Brother Rizzerio also that St Francis told his original intention regarding the practice of poverty in the order, viz, that no friar ought to have any possessions whatever, not even books, but only his habit and breeches and the cord with which he was girded. Brother Rizzerio seems to have died young, March 26, 1236. His cultus was confirmed in 1836.
           See the Speculum Perfectionis, ch. 2 the Actus b. Francisci, chs. 36 and 37 the early
         portions of Wadding’s Annales, and the Analecta Franciscana, vol. iv, pp. 283—285.


One of the favorite followers of St. Francis of Assisi. Originally from a wealthy family, he was born at Muccia, in the Italian Marches. While studying at the university of Bologna, Italy, in 1222, he had occasion to hear a sermon delivered by Francis and was so moved that he soon joined the Franciscans. Subsequently ordained, he became a leading advisor and close associate of Francis, served as provincial of the Marches, received from the saint a miracle by which his seemingly insuperable despair of God’s forgiveness was overcome, and was present at Francis’ deathbed. He is men­tioned in the famed work of the Fioretti, The Little Flowers of St. Francis, under the name Rinieri. He died on March 26.

Blessed Rizzerio, OFM (AC) (also known as Richerius) Born in Muccia, Marches, Italy; died March 26, 1236; cultus confirmed 1836. Born into a wealthy family, Rizzerio studied at the University of Bologna. In 1222, he and his fellow-student Blessed Peregrine were so impressed by one of Saint Francis of Assisi's sermons preached there that they immediately joined the Franciscans. Rizzerio was ordained, became a close associate of Francis, and served as provincial of the Marches. He practiced great austerities and mortifications and was the recipient of a miracle from Francis that dissolved his despair of God's mercy. Rizzerio, who was present at the death of Francis, was called Rinieri in The Little Flowers of Saint Francis (Benedictines, Delaney).

1461 Blessed Antony of Stroncone practicing rigorous penance, OFM (AC)

1461 ANTONY OF STRONCONE
     Luigi and Isabella Vici, the father and mother of Antony, were people of good position and ancient lineage. Being fervent tertiaries they were both devoted to the Franciscan Order and seem to have raised no great opposition when their son and heir, at the early age of twelve years, sought admission among the Friars Minor as a lay-brother. His training in the religious life was superintended by his uncle, who was commissary general of the Observants in Italy. The boy, in spite of much ill-health, bravely persisted in the austerities of the life which he had chosen, So great was his progress that when he was twenty-six he was associated with Bd Thomas of Florence as deputy-master of novices at Fiesole, and thirteen years later was appointed to assist the same Thomas in a mission confided to him by the Holy See of denouncing and suppressing the Fraticelli in the Sienese territory and in Corsica. These, developing out of the party of the Spirituals” within the Franciscan body itself, and identifying themselves with an impossible ideal of poverty and moral purity, had grown into a definitely heretical sect which rejected all constituted ecclesiastical authority.
    Bd Antony, though not a priest, was employed on this mission for more than ten years, of which the last three were spent in Corsica; but in 1431 he took up his abode in the friary of the Carceri, a place of retirement not far from Assisi, where he was more free to give rein to his intense longing for self-crucifixion. For thirty years he lived there, eating practically nothing but bread and water seasoned with wormwood, reputing himself the meanest of all and taking every opportunity which offered for humiliation and increased austerity. On one occasion, on account of his known aversion to anything which savoured of self-indulgence, he was suspected of having destroyed a number of vines which produced grapes for the community. He accepted and performed without protest the very severe penance which was enjoined him, but it was afterwards discovered that he was wholly innocent of the offence imputed to him.
 In 1460 Antony was transferred to the historic friary of St Damian in Assisi, and there he happily breathed his last on February 8, 1461, at the age of eighty. Many miracles followed, and popular belief maintains that Bd Antony shows to those who are devout to him the curious favour of warning them beforehand of their approaching death: a knocking is heard which seems to proceed either from his tomb or from some statue or picture representing him. A similar belief is entertained regarding two other Franciscan saints, St Paschal Baylon and Bd Matthia Nazzerei. The cultus of Bd Antony was confirmed in 1687.

           See the Acta Sanctorum, February, vol ii, where a Latin version is printed of the short
         life by Louis Jacobillo of Foligno. Other accounts have been written by Fathers Mariano
         of Florence and James of Oldis. Leon in his L’Auréole Séraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. i,
         has furnished an enthusiastic summary.


Cultus confirmed 1687. Antony dei Vici became a Franciscan lay-brother at age 12. Regardless of his humble status, he was chosen to assist Blessed Thomas of Florence in an important mission on behalf of the Holy See. Afterwards he retired to the friary of the Carceri, near Assisi, where he lived for forty years, combating the heresy of the Fraticelli and practicing rigorous penance (Benedictines).
1447 St. Colette Poor Clare 17 established monasteries
born 1381 Colette did not seek the limelight, but in doing God’s will she certainly attracted a lot of attention.  Colette was born in Corbie, France. At 21 she began to follow the Third Order Rule and became an anchoress, a woman walled into a room whose only opening was a window into a church.
After four years of prayer and penance in this cell, she left it. With the approval and encouragement of the pope, she joined the Poor Clares and reintroduced the primitive Rule of St. Clare in the 17 monasteries she established. Her sisters were known for their poverty—they rejected any fixed income—and for their perpetual fast. Colette’s reform movement spread to other countries and is still thriving today. Colette was canonized in 1807.
Comment:  Colette began her reform during the time of the Great Western Schism (1378-1417) when three men claimed to be pope and thus divided Western Christianity. The 15th century in general was a very difficult one for the Western Church. Abuses long neglected cost the Church dearly in the following century; the prayers of Colette and her followers may have lessened the Church’s troubles in the 16th century. In any case, Colette’s reform indicated the entire Church’s need to follow Christ more closely. Quote:  In her spiritual testament, Colette told her sisters: "We must faithfully keep what we have promised. If through human weakness we fail, we must always without delay arise again by means of holy penance, and give our attention to leading a good life and to dying a holy death. May the Father of all mercy, the Son by his holy passion, and the Holy Spirit, source of peace, sweetness and love, fill us with their consolation. Amen."   
1551 Blessed Thomas Sherwood denying the queen's ecclesiastical supremacy M (AC)

1578 BD THOMAS SHERWOOD, MARTYR
   FROM an account written by the martyr’s brother we are exceptionally well-informed regarding this heroic young man of twenty-seven, the son of most devout parents, his mother after his execution having been confined in prison for fourteen years, where eventually she died.
   He was not a student at the English College at Douay, as Challoner alleges, but when in London, after having made his plans to study for the priesthood, he was apprehended on suspicion of being a papist at the instigation of the son of Lady Tregonwell, a Catholic whose house he had frequented. He was sent to the Tower, where he was cruelly racked in a vain endeavour to make him disclose where he had heard Mass, and then thrust into a filthy dungeon.
 More’s son-in-law, Roper, tried to send him money to alleviate his sufferings, but the lieutenant of the Tower would not permit of any money to be spent on him beyond six-pennyworth of clean straw for him to lie on. After six months he was tried, condemned for denying the queen’s supremacy, and hanged at Tyburn.
 The case is interesting because we possess the letter of the lords of the Privy Council directing that the lieutenant of the Tower and others are “to assay him [Sherwood] at the rack upon such articles as they shall think meet to minister unto him for the discovering either of the persons or of further matters”. In other words, they tortured him in order to obtain information which might convict other Catholics. In the Diary of Douay College, the death of the martyr is recorded three weeks later “ On the first of March [1578] Mr Lowe returned to us from England bringing news that a youth, by name Thomas Sherwood, had suffered, for his confession of the Catholic faith, not only imprisonment, but death itself.
Amidst all his torments, his exclamation had been ‘Lord Jesus, I am not worthy to suffer this for thee, much less to receive those rewards which thou hast promised to those that confess thee.’ ”
           See J. H. Pollen, Acts of English Martyrs (1891), pp. 1—20; and MMP, pp. 11—12.


Born in London in 1551; died at Tyburn in 1578; beatified in 1886. Thomas was preparing to go to Douai to study for the priesthood when he was denounced as a Catholic, arrested in London, and imprisoned in the Tower. He was racked in an effort to force him to disclose the place where he had heard Mass. He was finally hanged, drawn, and quartered on the charge of denying the queen's ecclesiastical supremacy (Attwater2, Benedictines).
1593 Blessed James Salès & William Saulte-mouche martyrs, SJ MM (AC)

1593 BD. JAMES SALES AND WILLIAM SAULTEMOUCHE, MARTYRS
    JAMES SALES was born in Auvergne in 1556 son of a servant of the bishop of Clermont, who helped the lad’s father to send him to the Jesuit college at Billom; and there he entered the noviceship of the order at the age of seventeen. Saultemouche was a simple honest youth employed at the same college as a servant, who became a lay-brother a few years later. James meanwhile pursued his studies and graduated at the newly founded University of Pont-à-Mousson.
   Apparently he was the first graduate, and late in the seventeenth century Peter Abram, when writing the history of that institution, ventured to express a hope that “he who figures first on the register of our university may one day be inscribed on the roll of the martyrs”. This anticipation was realized in 1926
   Somewhat later James pursued his studies in Paris, and it was there that the desire for martyrdom came vehemently upon the young scholastic; he accordingly applied for permission to go to the Indies. Father Aquaviva learned that his talent for preaching and teaching made him a very useful subject where he was, and he refused his request in words which now seem prophetic. “ In France he wrote,” “you will find all that the Indies have to give.” In point of fact the Cévennes at that date, as well as a century later, were by no means free from peril for Catholics. It was a stronghold of the Huguenots, religious fanaticism was intense, and the whole country was in a very disturbed state. In the autumn of 1592 the mayor of Aubenas applied to the Jesuit provincial for a father to preach the Advent course with a special view to discussions with the Calvinist ministers. Father Sales was appointed and Brother Saultemouche was chosen for his companion. At the end of November they set out, the priest having about his neck a relic of Bd Edmund Campion, who had suffered at Tyburn less than a year previously. He seems to have had some presentiment that the crown which he had longed for was within his grasp, for he said cheerily to the porter on quitting the house, “Pray for us, dear brother, we are going to face death”.

The Advent course was completed, but the mayor begged that the preacher would remain until Easter. There seems to have been a great dearth of priests in that diocese at the time, and Aubenas was without one. Towards the beginning of February 1593 the father and brother were one night awakened by a clamour outside the walls of the town. Huguenot raiders were thundering at the gates, and knowing what had happened in other places, the two Jesuits made all haste to the church with the view of preventing a sacrilege. Father Sales gave holy communion to the brother and consumed the remainder of the sacred particles. Either by force, or, as seems more probable, by treachery, the raiders effected an entrance, and they were not long in discovering the whereabouts of the man they especially sought, for the vehemence and success of the recent controversial sermons had made a great stir. The Jesuits were seized, and when on being asked for their money the priest could produce no more than thirty sous, this seemed to infuriate their captors.
   They were dragged off with much brutality and brought before a kind of court of Calvinist ministers, one of whom, named Labat, seems to have borne the father a particular grudge in regard of a past encounter in which he had been put to shame.
   The proceedings resolved themselves into an acrimonious theological discussion. This was protracted until the next day and resulted plainly in the intense exasperation of the Protestant disputants as soon as the subject of the Holy Eucharist was broached. The scene ended in the priest being dragged out of the hall into the open air, and there he was shot by order of the Huguenot commander.
   His companion, though exhorted by Father Sales to make his escape, as he might easily have done, would not quit his side. When the priest, kneeling to make a last prayer, was mortally wounded by an arquebus discharged at such close quarters that it singed his habit, the crowd fell upon the two victims with every kind of weapon, and in a few minutes had ended their bloody work amid indescribable brutalities. Brother Saultemouche had thrown his arms round Father Sales, and when his body was afterwards examined it was found to have been stabbed in eighteen places. This took place on February 7, 1593.
           See J. Blanc, Martyrs d’Aubenas (1906), and H. Perroy, Deux martyrs de l’Eucharistie (1926).


beatified in 1926. James Salès was born in 1556, the son of a manservant, and joined the Jesuits. In 1592, in the company of William Saulte-mouche, a temporal coadjutor, he was sent to preach the Advent course at Aubenas in the Cévennes. His sermons, in which he attacked the teaching of the Protestants, were a great success, and the town being then without a parish priest, Blessed James was begged to remain until Easter. Early in February 1593, a band of Huguenot raiders dragged the Jesuits before an improvised court of Calvinist ministers. After a heated theological discussion, Salès was dragged from the hall and shot, while Saulte-mouche, who refused to make his escape, was stabbed to death (Benedictines).

1603 Bl. William Richardson Martyr of England
Born in Sheffield, he studied for the priesthood at Valladolid and Seville, Spain, receiving ordination in 1594. William was sent back to England, where he used the name Anderson. He was soon arrested and executed at Tyburn by being hanged, drawn, and quartered. He was the last martyr in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (r. 1558-1603).

1812 Blessed Giles Mary of Saint Joseph porter for the friary, OFM (AC)

1812 BD GILES MARY
     ALTHOUGH the life of Bd Giles Mary-of-St-Joseph would have seemed singularly uneventful in the eyes of men, its very simplicity and humility made every day full of merit before the throne of God. He was born in 1729 near Taranto in Apulia.
     He was a rope-maker by trade, but when twenty-five years of age he was received among the Discalced Friars Minor of St Peter of Alcantara at Naples. There he spent most of his life as porter, showing intense compassion for the sick, the poor and the lazzaroni who formed so large a proportion of the population of that city.
   The distribution of alms was largely in his hands, but the more he gave away the more help seemed to flow in, and many miraculous cures are said to have been associated with his works of charity. He was also very earnest in propagating devotion to St Joseph. He died on February 7, 1812, and was beatified in 1888.
           See P. P. Ausserer, Seraphischer Martyrologium (1889), and C. Kempf, The Holiness
         of the Church in the Nineteenth Century
(1916).


Born in Taranto, southern Italy; died 1812; beatified 1888. A rope-maker by trade, he joined the Alcantarine Franciscans at Naples when he was 25. Thereafter served as porter for the friary (Attwater2, Benedictines).

1871 Bd Eugenia Smet (Mother Mary of Providence), foundress of the Helpers of the Holy Souls.  
Born in Lille in 1825; founded her congregation in 1846 in Paris; died there, 1871.  She was beatified in 1947.
http://helpersoftheholysouls.com/
 “Our mission, one of mercy, is to relieve and gain release for the suffering souls in purgatory who can no longer help themselves. We do this by monthly donations, collecting loose change and returning redeemable cans and bottles. All funds collected are used to place Holy Masses for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory.
“We also fulfill our mission by holding a Holy Hour for the Holy Souls every Tuesday night immediately following the 7:00pm Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at the Fatima Shrine Chapel on Route 126 in Holliston, MA. All are welcome.
Our Lady, Queen of Purgatory
“We share our mission by distributing complimentary Prayer Packs (used at our Holy Hour or privately at one’s convenience) to patrons of the Holy Souls. These Prayer Packs are a gift of the Apostolate and no Mass money collected goes toward their cost. All funds collected are used to place Masses for the Holy Souls.”

M. Vianney {St John Vianney} never met Mlle. Eugénie Smet, who, as Mère Marie de la Providence, was to establish throughout the world the Institute of the Helpers of the Holy Souls; yet every time her name was mentioned in his hearing he used to say: “Oh, I know her!” About 1850 the young woman—she was then twenty-five years of age—conceived the idea of founding an association whose prayers and good works would all be applied to the Holy Souls. She understood from the very start that, to achieve success in such an under­taking, souls were required who were dead to self and wholly given to God. But was it necessary to found a new Order, and must she be its first religious? Mlle. Smet, who was timidity and sensitiveness personified, trembled at the prospect. When she consulted Mgr. Chalandon, Bishop of Belley, he advised her to consult the Curé d’Ars. The saint dictated his answer to M. Toccanier: “An Order for the benefit of the Holy Souls! I have long been waiting for it! Let her establish it as soon as ever she wishes. Yes, let her be a religious and let her found this new Order: it will spread rapidly in the Church.”

There were no resources of any kind, however; and then it meant complete separation from beloved parents who obstinately withheld their consent. “Go on with it,” was the holy Curé’s message; “all will be well; moreover, those tears of too natural an affection will soon dry up.” On November 21, 1855, Mlle. Smet unexpectedly secured her mother’s consent. For a time she had to feel her way; trials and sufferings were not spared her, but in the end the Helpers of the Holy Souls, even during M. Vianney’s life­time, established themselves firmly in Paris, whence their institute spread to other parts of France, and later on to Belgium, England, Austria, Italy, the Far East, and America. It would seem that M. Vianney had a special love for this religious family, and, under God, it is to him that the Sisters attribute their existence and their success.

 By Abbe Francis Trochu -- 1927  Translated by Dom Ernest Graf, O.S.B., of St Mary’s Abbey, Buckfast -- 1953


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 258

If indeed you will truly speak justice: honor the Queen of justice and mercy.

For this belongs to the praise and the glory of the Savior: whatever of honor is bestowed upon the Mother.

The roses of martyrs surround thee, O Queen: and the lilies of virgins encompass thy throne.

Praise ye her, all together, ye morning stars: the seas and the rivers and the foundations of the world.

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 heavenonly saints are allowed into heaven.
The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.
There are over 10,000 named saints beati  from history
 and Roman Martyology Orthodox sources

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

Widowed Saints  html
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  UniateChalcedon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

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


God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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