Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary 
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.

2023
22,600 lives saved since 2007
http://www.haitian-childrens-fund.org/

For the Son of man ... will repay every man for what he has done.

Iveron Theotokos Icon preserved on Mt. Athos
appearance in a pillar of fire at Mt. Athos recovery by St Gabriel



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

http://www.worldpriest.com/
If Children Are Seen as a Burden, Something Is Wrong
A society that does not like to be surrounded by children and considers them a concern, a weight, or a risk, is a depressed society.  
“When life multiplies, society is enriched, not impoverished.

Children are a gift of society, never a possession. Pope Francis

     40 days for Life Campaign saves lives Shawn Carney Campaign Director www.40daysforlife.com

We are the defenders of true freedom.
May our witness unveil the deception of the "pro-choice" slogan.


THE EUCHARIST, A MYSTERY TO BE BELIEVED POST-SYNODAL APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION
SACRAMENTUM CARITATIS OF THE HOLY FATHER BENEDICT XVI

If Children Are Seen as a Burden, Something Is Wrong
Being children is the fundamental condition to know the love of God, Who is the source behind the miracle.  “In the soul of every child, God puts a seal of his love, which is the basis of personal dignity, a dignity that nothing and no one can destroy.”  
A society that does not like to be surrounded by children and considers them a concern, a weight, or a risk, is a depressed society.   “When life multiplies, society is enriched, not impoverished.

Children are a gift of society, never a possession. Pope Francis recalled his mother's response when asked which of her five children was her favorite: She compared her children to fingers on a hand, stressing that even if they are all part of the person and of the hand, they are different and unique.
the beauty of being loved before having done anything to deserve it, before they can speak or think, even before coming to the world!” compare this love to those of pregnant women who ask for a blessing. This request shows the love they have for their children even before they are born.
Children, should not be afraid of the commitment to build a new world: is it right for them to want to be better than what they have received!" “But this must be done without arrogance, without presumption,” he added, underscoring that children must honor and recognize the value of their parents.
This honor for parents, he said, affects every other relationship and ensures a sound future for society as a whole. The fourth commandment calls on children to honor their father and mother.  
“A society of children who do not honor their parents,” he decried, “is a society without honor, destined to be full of barren and greedy young people.”  “We can learn a good relationship between the generations by our Heavenly Father, that gives us freedom but never leaves us alone, If we fail, our Heavenly Father continues to follow us patiently without diminishing his love for us."

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

September 12 - The Holy Name of Mary
Daily Prayer of Consecration to Our Lady
As the Father has chosen you, Mary, to be His immaculate child, the wife of Joseph and the Mother of His beloved Son and of the whole Church in full communion with the Holy Spirit, we choose you today as Mother and Queen of our whole family and we consecrate to you our souls and our bodies, all our activities and everything that belongs to us without reserve.
Show each of us your most maternal kindness. Teach us to love Jesus and the Father more and more, and through Them, to love one another in the Holy Spirit, deepening our knowledge of each other in the light of Jesus, respecting each other, and each day, accepting one another in a simpler and more divine love.
Mary, grant each of us the grace to accomplish each day the will of the Father in the gift of ourselves, so that our whole family may bear witness in the midst of the world to the love of Jesus victorious over evil.
Amen.  See the Community of Saint John  http://www.stjean.com/EN
Morning Prayer and Hymn   Meditation of the Day Prayer for Priests

February 12 - Our Lady of Argenteuil (Paris, 501) built by Clovis I containing a portion of the Seamless Garment
First Saturday Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary (I)
The First Saturday Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary was first mentioned by Our Lady of Fatima on July 13, 1917. After showing the three children a vision of hell she said, "You have seen hell where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish devotion to my Immaculate Heart in the world. If what I say to you is done, many souls will be saved and there will be peace...
I shall come to ask for... the Communion of reparation on the first Saturdays..."

Our Lady spoke again, saying: "Look at my heart, my daughter. It is pierced with thorns by the blasphemies of the ungrateful. You, at least, can try to console me. Say that I promise to assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, shall go to confession, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me."

February 12 - Blessed Humbeline - Feast of the Iverskaia Mother of God Icon (Russia). 

The Rosary in Dachau 
  As a priest serving the diocese of Poznan, Father Narcissus Putz was in charge of a parish when the troops of the Third Reich invaded Poland, on September 1, 1939. From day one of the Occupation, the most influential parish priests were arrested, deported or executed without trial, in an effort to strike the Catholic resistance at the head.

On November 9th, feast of the Dedication of the Temple, it was Father Narcissus’ turn to be arrested. Along with thousands other Catholic priests, he was deported to Dachau, held hostage by Hitler in an effort to curtail the protestations of the Pope and the bishops against his atrocities.
Indeed, the speeches of Pope Pius XII on the Vatican Radio against the policies of the Führer triggered retaliatory measures against the prisoners.

Under extreme conditions, Narcissus Putz exhibited a profound spiritual maturity.
While working in stone quarries, he secretly prayed the Stations of the Cross and the Rosary.
Putz gave up his soul to God on December 5, 1942, exhausted by illness and all the abuses endured in the camp.
 
 Like A Moment with Mary February 12 - Blessed Humbeline -
Feast of the Iverskaia Mother of God Icon (Russia).

 160 Modestus patron saint of Cartagena, Spain and Julian MM (Rm)
1st v St. Juventius Bishop of Pavia one with St. Syru
249 St. Apollonia the patroness of dentists, and people suffering from toothache and other dental diseases often ask her intercession.
304 St. Modestus Martyred deacon of Sardinia
304 St. Febronia venerated by all the churches of the East, including that of Ethiopia
       St. Damian martyred soldier in Africa catacombs of St. Callistus and sent to Spain
       St. Modestus & Ammonius Martyrs of Alexandria, Egypt  
381 St. Meletius of Antioch Patriarch of Antioch presided Great Council of Constantinople, in 381

5th v. St. Sedulius known as the Christian Virgil 
465 Gaudentius Bishop of Verona B (RM)
       Marina V (RM) (also known as Pelagia) The story of this Marina, whose name appears in Greek menologies on February 12, is simply one of those popular romances of women masquerading as men of which the “lives” of SS. Apollinaris, Eugenia, Euphrosyne, Pelagia of Jerusalem and Theodora of Egypt are other examples.
740 Ethelwald of Lindisfarne, OSB B
9th v The Iveron Icon of the Mother of God (which is preserved on Mt. Athos) appearance of the Icon in a pillar of fire at Mt. Athos and its recovery by St Gabriel
895 Saint Anthony, Patriarch of Constantinople native of Asia, but lived in Constantinople from his youth distinguished by his mercy, by his love and concern for the destitute provided generous help to them
900 St. Benedict Revelli Benedictine bishop monk of Santa Maria dei Fonte
901 St. Anthony Kauleas Patriarch of Constantinople

1153 Goscelinus of Turin, OSB Abbot 
1202 St. Ludan Scottish pilgrim local church bells saluted him miraculously
1256  St. Buonfiglio Monaldo 1240 of Servants of Mary, or Servites  inspired by vision on feast of the Assumption to a life of solitude and prayer

St. Julian Patron of hotel keepers, travelers, and boatman no evidence to suggest any historicity whatsoever.
1369 St. Anthony of Saxony Franciscan martyr with companions
1378 Saint Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia the Wonderworker
1509 Saint Bassian of Uglich disciple of St Paisius of Uglich (June 6)
1584 Bl. Thomas Hemerford English martyr priest native of Dorsetshire
1584 St. James Feun, Blessed  English Martyr in Born in Somerset
1584 Bl. John Nutter & John Munden English martyrs 
1691 Nicholas Herman Born in Lorraine, France
1709 Blessed Nicholas Saggio lay brother in the Order of Minims of Saint Francis of Paola
1748 The holy New Martyr Kristo was an Albanian who worked in a vegetable garden

1942 Father Narcissus Putz born on 28 October in Sieraków died 5 December 1942 in Dachau

1st v St. Juventius Bishop of Pavia one with St. Syrus.
Bishop of Pavia, Italy, sent by St. Hermagoras with St. Syrus to evangelize the region.
 Juventius has two feast days, one alone and one with St. Syrus.
160 Modestus patron saint of Cartagena, Spain and Julian MM (Rm)
Date unknown. The association of these two in the Roman Martyrology is arbitrary. Modestus was martyred at Carthage; Julian at Alexandria about 160. The former is venerated as the patron saint of Cartagena, Spain (Benedictines).

249 St. Apollonia the patroness of dentists, and people suffering from toothache and other dental diseases often ask her intercession.

The persecution of Christians began in Alexandria during the reign of the Emperor Philip. The first victim of the pagan mob was an old man named Metrius, who was tortured and then stoned to death. The second person who refused to worship their false idols was a Christian woman named Quinta. Her words infuriated the mob and she was scourged and stoned.

While most of the Christians were fleeing the city, abandoning all their worldly possessions, an old deaconess, Apollonia, was seized. The crowds beat her, knocking out all of her teeth. Then they lit a large fire and threatened to throw her in it if she did not curse her God. She begged them to wait a moment, acting as if she was considering their requests. Instead, she jumped willingly into the flames and so suffered martyrdom.

There were many churches and altars dedicated to her. Apollonia is the patroness of dentists, and people suffering from toothache and other dental diseases often ask her intercession. She is pictured with a pair of pincers holding a tooth or with a golden tooth suspended from her necklace. St. Augustine explained her voluntary martyrdom as a special inspiration of the Holy Spirit, since no one is allowed to cause his or her own death.

Comment:    The Church has quite a sense of humor! Appolonia is honored as the patron saint of dentists, but this woman who had her teeth extracted without anesthetic surely ought to be the patron of those who dread the chair. She might also be the patron of the aging, for she attained glory in her old age, standing firm before her persecutors even as her fellow Christians fled the city. However we choose to honor her, she remains a model of courage for us

304 St. Modestus Martyred deacon of Sardinia
a native of Sardinia His relics were translated to Benevento, Italy, around 785 . He suffered under Emperor Diocletian.

304 St. Febronia venerated by all the churches of the East, including that of Ethiopia
"It must be frankly admitted that the virgin martyr St. Febronia is in all probability a purely fictious personage, but she is venerated by all the churches of the East, including that of Ethiopia, and in the West by such towns as Trani in Apulia and Patti in Sicily." "She is supposed to have suffered at Nisibis in Mesopotamia, somewhere about the year 304, in the persecution under Diocletian. No genuine records of her life and passion are available but the legend attributed to her survives in the form of an attractive romance purporting to have been written by Thomais, a nun of her convent who is said to have witnessed the events she describes."

St. Damian martyred soldier in Africa catacombs of St. Callistus and sent to Spain
Two saints honored on the same feast day. One is a martyred soldier in Africa, probably in Alexandria, Egypt; the second a Roman martyr whose relics were discovered in the catacombs of St. Callistus and sent to Spain.

St. Modestus & Ammonius Martyrs of Alexandria, Egypt
They are reportedly the children of St. Damien, martyr, and were caught up in the persecution of that era. St. Modestus & Julian  listed together in the pre-1970 Roman Martyrology.
Martyrs linked by being listed together in the pre-1970 Roman Martyrology. There is no proven historical association between them.  Modestus was martyred at Carthage, Africa, and Julian is patron saint of Cartagena, Spain.

381 St. Meletius of Antioch Patriarch of Antioch Armenian presided Great Council of Constantinople, in 381
He was bom in Melitene in Armenia and became the bishop of Sebaste in 358. In 360 he was named patriarch of Antioch and was a friend of St. Basil. Meletius suffered banishment for a time by the Arian emperors. He convened the Council in 381 and died during the session. 

381 ST MELETIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF ANTIOCH
MELETIUS belonged to one of the most distinguished families of Lesser Armenia, and was born at Melitene. His sincerity and kindly disposition gained for him the esteem of both Catholics and Arians, and he was promoted to the bishopric of Sebastea. However, he met with such violent opposition that he left it and retired, first into the desert and afterwards to Beroea in Syria, a town of which Socrates supposes him to have been bishop. The church of Antioch had been oppressed by the Arians ever since the banishment of Eustathius in 331 several succeeding bishops having fostered the heresy. Eudoxus, the last of these, though an Arian, was expelled by a party of Arians in a sedition and shortly afterwards usurped the see of Constantinople. The Arians and some Catholics then agreed to raise Meletius to the chair of Antioch, and the emperor confirmed their choice in 361, although other Catholics refused to recognize him, as they regarded his election as irregular on account of the share which the Arians had taken in it. The Arians hoped that he would declare himself of their party, but they were undeceived when, on the arrival in Antioch of the Emperor Constantius, he was ordered with several other prelates to expound the text in the Book of Proverbs Concerning the wisdom of God: “The Lord hath created me in the beginning of His ways”. First George of Laodicea explained it in an Arian sense, then Acacius of Caesarea gave it a meaning bordering on the heretical, but Meletius expounded it in the Catholic sense and connected it with the Incarnation. This public testimony angered the Arians, and Eudoxus at Constantinople persuaded the emperor to banish Meletius to Lesser Armenia. The Arians gave the see to Euzoius, who had previously been expelled from the Church by St Alexander, Archbishop of Alexandria. From this time dates the famous schism of Antioch, although it really originated with the banishment of St Eustathius about thirty years before.

The complex events of the next eighteen years, during which St Meletius was several times exiled and recalled, are a matter of general ecclesiastical history. The fortunes of orthodox and of Arians, of Meletius and of other claimants to the Antiochene see, ebbed and flowed, largely according to the ‘policies and views of the reigning emperors; and some prelates and others were only too ready “to accommodate their opinions to those invested with supreme authority”, as the historian Socrates put it. The death of the Emperor Valens in 378 put an end to the Arian persecution, and St Meletius was reinstated; but his difficulties were not at an end, for there was another orthodox hierarch, Paulinus, recognized by many as bishop of Antioch.

In 381 the second oecumenical council assembled at Constantinople, and St Meletius presided; but while the council was yet sitting death took this long-suffering bishop, to the great grief of the fathers and the Emperor Theodosius who had welcomed him to the imperial city with a great demonstration of affection, “like a son greeting a long-absent father”.
By his evangelical meekness Meletius had endeared himself to all who knew him. Chrysostom tells us that his name was so much venerated that his people in Antioch gave it to their children they cut his image on their seals and on their plate, and carved it on their houses. His funeral in Constantinople was attended by all the fathers of the council and the faithful of the city. One of the most eminent of the prelates, St Gregory of Nyssa, delivered his funeral oration. He refers to the dead man’s “sweet calm look and radiant smile, the kind hand seconding the kind voice”; and closes with the words, “He now sees God face to face and prays for us and for the ignorance of the people”. Five years later St John Chrysostom, whom St Meletius had ordained deacon, pronounced his panegyric on February 12—the day of his death or of his translation to Antioch. His panegyrics by St Gregory of Nyssa and Chrysostom are still extant.

See the Acta Sanctorum, February, vol. ii; BHG., p. 91 DCB., vol. iii, pp. 891—893 Hefele in the Kirchenlexikon and H. Leclercq in the Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. x, pp. 161—164.

Meletius of Antioch B (RM)  Born at Melitene, Lower Armenia; died in Constantinople in 381.  Meletius was born into a distinguished family and was appointed bishop of Sebastea about 358 but fled to the desert and then to Beroea, Syria, when the appointment caused great dissension. In 361, a group of Arians and Catholics elected him archbishop of Antioch, a church that had been oppressed by the Arians since the banishment of Saint Eustathius in 331. He was a compromise candidate between the two groups, and though confirmed by Emperor Constantius II, he was opposed by some Catholics because Arians had participated in his election.

The Arian hope that he would join them was dashed when he expounded the Catholic position before the pro-Arian emperor.

He and several other bishops were ordered to expound upon the text of the Book of Proverbs: "The Lord has created me in the beginning of His ways." First, George of Alexandria explained it in an Arian sense. Then Acacius of Caesarea gave it a meaning bordering on the heretical, but Meletius expounded it in the Catholic sense and connected it with the Incarnation. This public testimony so angered the Arians that the Arian Bishop Eudoxus of Constantinople was able to convince the emperor to exile Meletius to Lower Armenia (only a month after he took possession of his see) and to appoint Arian Euzoius, who had previously been excommunicated by Patriarch Saint Alexander of Alexandria, to his episcopal chair. Thus began the famous Meletian schism of Antioch, although started with the banishment of Saint Eustathius.
On the death of the emperor in 361, his successor, Julian, recalled Meletius, who found that in his absence, a faction of the Catholic bishops, led by Lucifer Cagliari, had elected Paulinus archbishop.
The Council of Alexandria in 362 was unsuccessful in healing the breach, and an unfortunate rift between Saint Athanasius and Meletius in 363 exacerbated the matter.
During the next 15 years, Meletius was exiled (356-66 and 371-78) by Emperor Valens while the conflict between the Arian and Catholic factions raged.

Gradually, Meletius's influence in the East grew as more bishops supported him. By 379, the bishops backing him numbered 150, in contrast to his 26 supporters in 363.
The rift between the contending Catholic factions, however, continued despite the untiring efforts of Saint Basil, who was unswerving in his support of Meletius, to resolve the matter.

In 374, the situation was further complicated when Pope Damasus recognized Paulinus as archbishop, appointed him papal legate in the East, and Saint Jerome allowed himself to be ordained a priest by Paulinus. In 378, the death of the avidly pro-Arian Valens led to the restoration of the banished bishops by Emperor Gratian, and Meletius was reinstated. He was unable to reach an agreement with Paulinus before his death in Constantinople in May while presiding at the third General Council of Constantinople. His funeral was attended by all the fathers of the council and the faithful of the city.
Saint Gregory of Nyssa delivered his funeral panegyric (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Walsh).
Saint Meletius, Archbishop of Antioch, was Bishop of Sebaste in Armenia (ca. 357), and afterwards he was summoned to Antioch by the emperor Constantius to help combat the Arian heresy, and was appointed to that See.
St Meletius struggled zealously against the Arian error, but through the intrigues of the heretics he was thrice deposed from his cathedra. Constantius had become surrounded by the Arians and had accepted their position. In all this St Meletius was distinguished by an extraordinary gentleness, and he constantly led his flock by the example of his own virtue and kindly disposition, supposing that the seeds of the true teaching sprout more readily on such soil.
St Meletius was the one who ordained the future hierarch St Basil the Great as deacon. St Meletius also baptized and encouraged another of the greatest luminaries of Orthodoxy, St John Chrysostom, who later eulogized his former archpastor.
After Constantius, the throne was occupied by Julian the Apostate, and the saint again was expelled, having to hide himself in secret places for his safety. Returning under the emperor Jovian in the year 363, St Meletius wrote his theological treatise, "Exposition of the Faith," which facilitated the conversion of many of the Arians to Orthodoxy.
In the year 381, under the emperor Theodosius the Great (379-395), the Second Ecumenical Council was convened. In the year 380 the saint had set off on his way to the Second Ecumenical Council at Constantinople, and came to preside over it.
Before the start of the Council, St Meletius raised his hand displaying three fingers, and then withdrawing two fingers and leaving one extended he blessed the people, proclaiming: "We understand three hypostases, and we speak about a single nature." With this declaration, a fire surrounded the saint like lightning. During the Council St Meletius fell asleep in the Lord. St Gregory of Nyssa honored the memory of the deceased with a eulogy.

St Meletius has left treatises on the consubstantiality of the Son of God with the Father, and a letter to the emperor Jovian concerning the Holy Trinity. The relics of St Meletius were transferred from Constantinople to Antioch.
5th v. St. Sedulius known as the Christian Virgil  his epic poem Carmen Paschale (PC)
(also known as Seadhal, Siadal).
Sedulius is known as the Christian Virgil on the strength of his epic poem Carmen Paschale. He left Ireland to found a school of poetry in Athens, proving that outstanding scholarship existed on the Emerald Isle prior Saint Patrick. While he was still in Ireland, he may have been a disciple of Saint Ailbhe.
In 494, a decree of the First Roman Council contained a phrase "honoring by signal praise the Paschal Work of the Venerable man, Sedulius" (Montague).
465 Gaudentius Bishop of Verona B (RM).
whose relics are enshrined in the ancient Saint Stephen's Basilica there (Benedictines).

Marina V (RM) (also known as Pelagia) The story of this Marina, whose name appears in Greek menologies on February 12, is simply one of those popular romances of women masquerading as men of which the “lives” of SS. Apollinaris, Eugenia, Euphrosyne, Pelagia of Jerusalem and Theodora of Egypt are other examples.

ST MARINA, VIRGIN
A CERTAIN man of Bithynia named Eugenius, having been left a widower, retired into a monastery and became a monk. After a time he became much oppressed by the memory of his little daughter, Marina, whom he had left in the care of a relative, and, having represented to his abbot that the child was a boy, named Marinus, he obtained his permission to bring “him” to live in the monastery. Here she was dressed as a boy, and passed as such, and lived with her father until he died, when Marinus was seventeen. She continued to live as a monk and was often employed to drive a cart down to the harbour to fetch goods. From time to time it was necessary to pass the night at an inn by the quay, and when the innkeeper’s daughter was found to be pregnant, the handsome and attractive Marinus was accused of being her seducer.
When word was brought to the abbot he taxed Marinus with the charge, and “he” would not deny it; whereupon “he” was dismissed from the monastery and lived as a beggar at its gates. And when the innkeeper’s daughter had weaned her boy, she brought him to Marinus and contemptuously told “him” to look after “his” child. This also Marinus suffered in silence, looking after the boy and bearing “his” shame in the face of all who passed by. After five years the abbot, at the intercession of the monks, who were impressed by this example of patience and humiliation, re-admitted Marinus and the boy to the monastery, but imposing on “him severe penance and all the lowliest offices of the house.

But very soon after Marinus died, and when the brethren came to prepare the body for burial, its sex was discovered. The abbot was overcome with remorse at the injustice which he had unwittingly committed and with admiration for the heroism of the woman. Marina was buried with respect and lamentation, and the girl who had falsely accused her became possessed, and was released only on confessing her sin and calling upon Marina for her intercession in Heaven.

The story of this Marina, whose name appears in Greek menologies on February 12, is simply one of those popular romances of women masquerading as men of which the “lives” of SS. Apollinaris, Eugenia, Euphrosyne, Pelagia of Jerusalem and Theodora of Egypt are other examples.

For the texts of the Marina legend see L. Clugnet, Vie et office de Ste Marine (1905), reprinted from the Revue de l’Orient chrétien, Migne, PG., vol. cxv, pp. 348 seq., and also the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. iv. To determine the precise sequence in the tangle of plagiarisms referred to above is by no means an easy task Delehaye has discussed the matter at some length in his Legends of the Saints, pp. 197—206. He is of opinion that the starting-point in this group of imaginary saints was a sort of pious romance on “the repentance of Pelagia”, which purported to be written by a certain James and was founded on an incident related in a sermon of St John Chrysostom. It will be noted, of course, that Marina is nothing but a Latin rendering of the Greek name Pelagia.

Marina is said to be the daughter of Eugenius, a Bithynian who became a monk. She was brought into the monastery as a boy by her father so that he could keep her with him. She dressed as a boy and lived the life of a monk until her father died when she was 17. Marina was accused of impregnating the daughter of the local innkeeper but concealed her identity and was dismissed from the monastery.

She became a beggar at the gates of the monastery and still maintained her silence about her sex when the innkeeper's daughter made her take custody of the child. Marina was readmitted to the monastery with her 'son' five years later. She was assigned the lowliest tasks and made to perform the most severe penances.
Her sex was finally revealed at her death, when of course all concerned in the affair were filled with remorse. The whole story is typical of the pious fictions telling of women saints masquerading as men (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney).
In art, Saint Marina is generally pictured with a child in a cradle by her as she kneels in prayer. Sometimes she may be shown (1) in a monk's habit carrying the child, (2) nursing the child in a hermitage, (3) drawing a woodcart to the monastery, or (4) kneeling by an open tomb with a dove descending (Roeder). An 8th/9th-century icon from Cyprus is Venerated in Galicia (Roeder).
Saint Maria and her father Eugene lived at the beginning of the sixth century in Bithynia (northwestern Asia Minor). After the death of his wife, Eugene decided to withdraw to a monastery, but his daughter did not want to be separated from him, and so she accompanied him, dressed as a man. Together they entered a monastery not far from Alexandria, and the daughter received the name Marinus.
Marinus becameaccomplished in virtue, and distinguished by humility and obedience. After several years, when her father died, she intensified her ascetical efforts and received from the Lord the gift to heal those afflicted by unclean spirits.
One time the "monk" Marinus was sent with other monks to the monastery gardens, and along the way they had to spend the night at an inn. The inn-keeper's daughter, having sinned with one of the lodgers, denounced the Marinus and named "him" as the father of her child. The girl's father complained to the igumen of the monastery, who expelled the "sinful brother." The saint spoke not a word in her defense and began to live outside the monastery wall. When the hapless girl gave birth to a boy, the inn-keeper brought it to Marinus. Without a word he put his grandson down before her and left. The saint took the infant and began to raise him.
After three years the brethren begged the igumen to take back the "monk" Marinus into the monastery. The igumen, who very reluctantly gave in to their requests, began to assign Marinus very difficult obediences, which she fulfilled with the greatest of zeal, while also raising her foster child.
Three years later the saint peacefully reposed in her cell. The brethren saw the deceased "monk" and the boy crying over "him". As they began to dress the saint for burial, her secret was revealed. The igumen of the monastery tearfully asked forgiveness of the departed, and the inn-keeper followed his example.
The body of St Maria was reverently buried in the monastery. The inn-keeper's daughter came to the grave of the saint and openly confessed her sin. Immediately, she was freed from the evil spirit which had been tormenting her. The boy whom the saint was raising later became a monk.
The relics of the saint were transferred to Constantinople, and were carried off to Venice in 1113.
740 Ethelwald of Lindisfarne Saint Cuthbert's chief assistants, OSB B (AC)
(also known as Æthelweald, Aedilauld, Ethilwald, Ethelwold)
Born in Northumbria; second feast of the translation of his relics by King Edgar to Westminster on April 21.

740 ST ETHELWALD, BISHOP OF LINDISFARNE
St ETHELWALD was one of St Cuthbert’s assistants, and he became first of all prior and then abbot of Old Melrose in Scotland. There he proved himself to be a man of great ability and piety, and when Eadfrith, Bishop of Lindisfarne or Holy Island, died in 721, St Ethelwald was chosen to fill his place. He was still alive when Bede wrote about him as being worthy of his high office. It is recorded of him that on Lindisfarne he erected a great cross which was afterwards removed to Durham, and that he bound the book of the gospels which his predecessor had written and which had been miraculously preserved when it had been washed overboard in a storm. He got an anchoret, St Bilfrid, to decorate the cover with metal and gems. This copy of the gospels, but not unfortunately the cover, is now preserved in the British Museum (Cotton MS., Nero D, iv). Charles Plummer described it as the fairest manuscript that has ever come under my notice”. After ruling his diocese for many years, Ethelwald died and was buried in his cathedral. To protect them from the ravages of the Danes, the relics of St Ethelwald as well as those of St Cuthbert were removed first to Scotland, then to Chester, and finally to Durham, where they still lie in the cathedral.

Bede, Simeon of Durham and Florence of Worcester furnish all the materials we possess for any judgement of the character of this holy bishop. See especially Plummer’s edition of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii, pp. 297—298.

Ethelwald was one of Saint Cuthbert's chief assistants. He was prior and then abbot of Old Melrose in Scotland. On the death of Saint Edfrith, Ethelwald succeeded to the see of Lindisfarne. His interest in Edfrith's work is demonstrated by his patronage of the hermit Saint Billfrith, who made at his request a binding for it of gold and precious stones (now lost). His relics were translated from Lindisfarne with those of Saint Cuthbert. A stone cross bearing his name went from Lindisfarne to Durham. A compilation by him called Ymnarius Edilwaldi 
St. Julian Patron of hotel keepers, travelers, and boatman  There is no evidence to suggest any historicity whatsoever.
According to a pious fiction that was very popular in the Middle Ages, Julian was of noble birth and while hunting one day, was reproached by a hart for hunting him and told that he would one day kill his mother and father. He was richly rewarded for his services by a king and married a widow. While he was away his mother and father arrived at his castle seeking him; When his wife realized who they were, she put them up for the night in the master's bed room. When Julian returned unexpectedly later that night and saw a man and a woman in his bed, he suspected the worst and killed them both. When his wife returned from church and he found he had killed his parents, he was overcome with remorse and fled the castle, resolved to do a fitting penance. He was joined by his wife and they built an inn for travelers near a wide river, and a hospital for the poor. He was forgiven for his crime when he gave help to a leper in his own bed; the leper turned out to be a messenger from God who had been sent to test him. He is the patron of hotel keepers, travelers, and boatmen.
Julian the Hospitaler (AC) (also known as Julian the Poor Man) Fictitious; feast day of January 29 in the Acta Sanctorum appears to be arbitrary. Of the many churches, hospitals, and other charitable institutions in western Europe which bore or bear the name of Saint Julian, most commemorate this hero of a romance, a pious fiction that was very popular in the Middle Ages. There is no evidence to suggest any historicity whatsoever.
According to the James Voragine's Golden Legend, Julian the Hospitaler accidentally committed one of the worst crimes possible: He killed his parents. This was predicted one day while the nobleman was hunting. A deer reproached Julian for hunting him and said that in the future he would commit the crime. Afraid of committing such a terrible crime, Julian migrated to a far land and served the king there so well that he was knighted and given a rich widow in marriage with a castle for her dowry.
One day he returned to his castle and went to the bedroom. Unknown to him, his parents had arrived unexpectedly, and being tired had got into Julian's own bed. Julian saw two figures there and not recognizing them under the bedclothes, he supposed them to be intruders and impetuously stabbed them both to death. He suspected that another man had been in bed with Julian's own wife. However, he met her as she was returning home from church. Distraught with grief and guilt, he told her he was about to leave her, no longer fit to live with decent people. She refused to abandon him. Together they set out to attempt to make amends for his crime. They forsook their fine castle and journeyed first to Rome to obtain absolution, then as far as a swiftly flowing, wide river where they built a hospital for the poor and an inn for travellers. In addition to this work, they did penance for Julian's crime by helping travellers across the swift river.
After many years Julian was awakened one freezing night by a voice from the other side of the river crying for help. He got up, crossed over, and discovered a man almost frozen to death. Julian carried the man across the river and warmed him back to life in his own bed. The poor sufferer appeared to be a leper, but this did not stop Julian. And when the man recovered, he revealed himself to be a special messenger from God, sent to test the saint's kindness. "Julian," the leper said, "Our Lord sends you word that He has accepted your penance"
There are many saints named Julian. Some of their stories have mixed with the tale of the Hospitaler and vice versa. The one with which he is most confused is Julian the Martyr, whose wife was also named Basilissa. Nevertheless, Julian the Hospitaller's story is recorded in the sermons of Antoninus of Florence, the 13th-century work of Vincent of Beauvais, and in one of Gustave Flaubert's Trois Contes (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Farmer).
Saint Julian is depicted in his identifying scene: killing his parents in bed. Sometimes he is shown (1) as young, richly dressed with a hawk on his finger (making him difficult to distinguish from Saint Bavo); (2) holding an oar; (3) wearing a fur-lined cloak, sword, and gloves; (4) with a stag; or (5) carrying a leper over the river to his waiting wife Saint Basilissa (Roeder). Julian's legend is portrayed in several important cycles of 13th-century stained glass at both Chartres and Rouen, as well as medieval paintings elsewhere (Farmer).
He is the patron of boatmen, ferrymen, innkeepers, musicians, travellers, and wandering minstrels (Roeder).
9th v The Iveron Icon of the Mother of God (which is preserved on Mt. Athos) appearance of the Icon in a pillar of fire at Mt. Athos and its recovery by St Gabriel
It was kept in the home of a certain pious widow, who lived near Nicea. During the reign of the emperor Theophilus, the Iconoclasts came to the house of this Christian, and one of the soldiers struck the image of the Mother of God with a spear. Blood flowed from the place where it was struck.

The widow, fearing its destruction, promised the imperial soldiers money and implored them not to touch the icon until morning. When the soldiers departed, the woman and her son (later an Athonite monk), sent the holy icon away upon the sea to preserve it. The icon, standing upright upon the water, floated to Athos.

For several days, the Athonite monks had seen a fiery pillar on the sea rising up to the heavens. They came down to the shore and found the holy image, standing upon the waters. After a Molieben of thanksgiving, a pious monk of the Iveron monastery, St Gabriel (July 12), had a dream in which the Mother of God appeared to him and gave him instructions. So he walked across the water, and taking up the holy icon, he placed it in the church.

On the following day, however, the icon was found not within the church, but on the gates of the monastery. This was repeated several times, until the Most Holy Theotokos revealed to St Gabriel Her will, saying that She did not want the icon to be guarded by the monks, but rather She intended to be their Protectress. After this, the icon was installed on the monastery gates. Therefore this icon came to be called "Portaitissa" or "Gate-Keeper" (October 13). This comes from the Akathist to the Mother of God: "Rejoice, O Blessed Gate-Keeper who opens the gates of Paradise to the righteous."

There is a tradition that the Mother of God promised St Gabriel that the grace and mercy of Her Son toward the monks would continue as long as the Icon remained at the monastery. It is also believed that the disappearance of the Iveron Icon from Mt. Athos would be a sign of the end of the world.

The Iveron Icon is also commemorated on March 31, October 13 (Its arrival in Moscow in 1648), and Bright Tuesday (Commemorating the appearance of the Icon in a pillar of fire at Mt. Athos and its recovery by St Gabriel).

895 Saint Anthony, Patriarch of Constantinople native of Asia, but lived in Constantinople from his youth distinguished by his mercy, by his love and concern for the destitute provided generous help to them
He was born around 829 of rich and pious parents. After the death of his mother, he entered a monastery at the age of twelve, where following the example of the igumen, he spent his nights in prayer and led a strict monastic life.
With the passage of time, and against his will, he was ordained to the holy priesthood. Later, at the insistence of the Patriarch, he was made an igumen. Serving in this rank, he tonsured his own father into monasticism. St Anthony was distinguished by his mercy, by his love and concern for the destitute, and he provided generous help to them.
Elevated to the Patriarchal throne at Constantinople in 893, St Anthony intensified his care for the destitute, and especially for their spiritual condition.

With the assistance of the emperor Leo the Wise, Patriarch Anthony did much good for the Church, and encouraged piety in the people. He also built a monastery over the relics of St Kallia (February 12). Despite being stooped over with age, he went around all the churches, fulfilling the command of the Savior to be the servant of all the brethren.

In the year 895, advanced in age, St Anthony went peacefully to the Lord.

900 St. Benedict Revelli Benedictine bishop monk of Santa Maria dei Fonte in Italy, and then a hermit on the island of Gallinaria, in the gulf of Genoa. In 870, he was named bishop of Albenga, in Liguria.

Benedict Revelli, OSB B (AC) Died c. 900; cultus confirmed by Pope Gregory XVI. Benedict is said to have been a Benedictine monk of Santa Maria dei Fonti, and then a hermit on the island of Gallinaria in the Gulf of Genoa. In 870, he was chosen bishop of Albenga towards the western end of the Ligurian Riviera (Benedictines).
901 St. Anthony Kauleas Patriarch of Constantinople
He was born in 829 of Phrygian descent near Constantinople and entered a local monastery. There he became abbot until chosen as patriarch of Constantinople in 893, a successor of Photius, whose schisms he attempted to heal.
Antony Kauleas B (RM) (also known as Antony Cauleas)  Born near Constantinople in 829; died 901.

901 ST ANTONY KAULEAS, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE

ANTONY KAULEAS was a Phrygian by extraction, but was born near Constantinople at a place where his parents lived in retirement for fear of the persecution and contagious influence of the Iconoclasts. Upon his mother’s death the lad entered a monastery at Constantinople, where he served God with great fervour; in time he became abbot, and gave the religious habit to his own father. Upon the death of Stephen, brother to the Emperor Leo VI, Antony was chosen patriarch of Constantinople in 893. His predecessor had succeeded Photius when he was dismissed for the second time in 886; and St Antony was specially active in peace­making and conciliation in the difficult circumstances that were the legacy of the Ignatius-Photius affair. Contemporary writers speak of Antony as a man who had “the discretion of a pure mind that keeps its balance and is not deceived whose happy and praiseworthy life was a credit to all”. A true spirit of morti­fication, penance and prayer in his private and his public life characterized this great pastor, who died probably in the year 901.

See the Acta Sanctorum, February, vol. ii; and Migne, PG., vol. cvi, cc. 181—200. For the representative council said to have been held in Constantinople under St Antony Kauleas, Cf. F. Dvornik, The Photian Schism (1948), pt i, c. 8.

Antony's noble, Phrygian parents had retired to the countryside near Constantinople to escape the persecution of the Iconoclasts when he was born. He became a monk at a monastery in Constantinople when he was 12 years old, and eventually became its abbot. Upon the death of Patriarch Stephen the Wise, the brother of Emperor Leo VI, Antony succeeded as patriarch of Constantinople in 893. Thus, he was the second successor to Photius, the effects of whose schism he labored to remove (and whom Leo VI exiled).
Antony completed the work began by Stephen to bring peace to the Church in the East.

He presided over the Fourth Ecumenical Council of Constantinople (869-70), which condemned or reformed all that had been done by Photius during his last usurpation of that see after the death of Saint Ignatius. The acts of this council are entirely lost, perhaps through the malice of those Greeks who renewed this unhappy schism. A perfect spirit of mortification, penance, and prayer, sanctified this great pastor, both in his private and public life.
His name is found both in the Greek Menaea and in the Roman Martyrology (Benedictines, Husenbeth).
1153 Goscelinus of Turin, OSB Abbot (AC)
(also known as Goslin, Gozzelinus)
The relics of Saint Goscelinus, second abbot of San Solutore near Turin (1147-1153), were translated solemnly in 1472 (Benedictines).

1202 St. Ludan Scottish pilgrim local church bells saluted him miraculously
also listed as Ludain or Luden. He was probably the son of a Scottish prince who made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. On his return, Ludan stopped at Scherkirchen, near Strasbourg, France, where he died, while the local church bells saluted him miraculously.
1202 ST LUDAN
BEYOND his name and the cultus paid him, we know nothing for certain about St Ludan. According to tradition he was the son of a Scottish or Irish prince, and upon his father’s death devoted his inheritance to charity. He built a large hospice for the care of pilgrims, strangers and the infirm of all kinds, and went on a pil­grimage to Jerusalem. As he was making his way home through Alsace he found himself one day on the road near Strasbourg and, feeling weary, he stopped to rest under an elm tree just outside the little town of Northeim and fell asleep. It was revealed to him in a dream that he was about to die, and as soon as he awoke he fell on his knees and asked God that he might receive before his death the Body of the Lord. His prayer was granted, for an angel brought him his last communion before he passed away. His death was announced by a miraculous pealing of all the bells in the countryside. A boy found in the wallet he carried a small scroll on which was written: “My name is Ludan I am the son of the noble Scottish prince Hiltebold. For the honour of God I have become a pilgrim.” He was buried in the Scheerkirche, near Hispheim, where his relics were honoured until they disappeared during the Thirty Years War.

See the Acta Sanctorum, February, vol. ii; and Archives de i’ Église d’Alsace, n.s. vol. ii (1947—48), p.p. 13—61.

1256  St. Buonfiglio Monaldo 1240 of Servants of Mary, or Servites  inspired by a vision on the feast of the Assumption to take up a life of solitude and prayer
He was one of seven Florentines who had joined the Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin (the Laudesi) in a particularly lax period in the city's history and who were inspired by a vision on the feast of the Assumption to take up a life of solitude and prayer. After nearly fifteen years of austerity at a hermitage on Monte Senario the took the name in 1240 of Servants of Mary, or Servites. Six were ordained, developed as mendicant friars under the direction of James of Poggibonsi and Bishop Ardingo of Florence and established many houses and foreign missions. Br. Bounfiglio served as its first prior general from 1240 to 1256 and died on Jan 1. St. John Bounagiunta succeded him, St. Bartholomew Amidei (Br. Hugh) established the order in Paris and St. Ricovero Ugoccione (Br. Sostenesw) in Germany. SS. Benedict dell'Antella (Br. Manettus) were ordained; St. Alexis Falconieri became a lay brother and was the only one to live to see the order approved by Pope Benedict XI in 1304.
The "Seven Holy Founders" of the Servites were canonized in 1887 by Pope Leo XIII.

13th THE SEVEN FOUNDERS OF THE SERVITE ORDER

IT was between the years 1225 and 1227 that seven young Florentines joined the Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin—popularly known as the “Laudesi” or Praisers. It was at a period when the prosperous city of Florence was being rent by political factions and distracted by the heresy of the Cathari: it was also a time of general relaxation of morals even where devotional practices were retained. These young men, members of the most prominent families of the city, had from their childhood been occupied more with spiritual than with temporal affairs and had taken no part in local feuds. Whether they were all friends before they joined the Laudesi is not clear, but in that confraternity they became closely allied, and all seven grew daily more detached from the world and more devoted to the service of the Blessed Virgin. The eldest of them was Buonfiglio Monaldo, who became their leader, and the others were Alexis Falconieri, Benedict dell’ Antella, Bar­tholomew Amidei, Ricovero Uguccione, Gerardino Sostegni, and John Buonagiunta.
They had as their spiritual director James of Poggibonsi, who was chaplain of the Laudesi, a man of great holiness and spiritual insight. All of them came to realize the call to a life of renunciation, and they determined to have recourse to our Lady in their perplexity. On the feast of the Assumption, as they were absorbed in prayer, they saw her in a vision, and were inspired by her to withdraw from the world into a solitary place and to live for God alone. There were difficulties, because, though three of them were celibates, four had been married and had ties, although two had become widowers. It was necessary to make suitable provision for their dependants; but that was arranged, and with the approval of the bishop they withdrew from the world and betook themselves to a house called La Car­marzia, outside the gates of Florence, twenty-three days after they had received their call. Their aim was to lead a life of penance and prayer, but before long they found themselves so much disturbed by constant visitors from Florence that they decided to withdraw to the wild and deserted slopes of Monte Senario, where they built a simple church and hermitage and lived a life of almost incredible austerity.

In spite of difficulties, visitors sometimes found their way to the hermits and many wished to join them, but they refused to accept recruits. So they continued to live for several years, until they were visited by their bishop, Ardingo, and Cardinal Castiglione, who had heard much about their sanctity. He was greatly edified, but he made one adverse criticism. “Your mode of life, he said, “is too much like that of the wild creatures of the woods, so far as the care of the body is concerned. You treat yourselves in a manner bordering on barbarity: and you seem more desirous of dying to time than of living for eternity. Take heed: the enemy of souls often hides himself under the appearance of an angel of lightHearken to the counsels of your superiors.”

The seven were deeply impressed by these words and hastened to ask their bishop for a rule of life. He replied that the matter was one that called for prayer, and he entreated them not to continue to refuse admittance to those who sought to join them. Again the solitaries gave themselves up to prayer for light, and again they had a vision of our Lady, who bore in her hand a black habit while an angel held a scroll inscribed with the title of Servants of Mary. She addressed them and said she had chosen them to be her servants, that she wished them to wear the black habit, and to follow the Rule of St Augustine. From that date, April 13, 1240, they were known as the Servants of Mary, or Servites. In accepting this rule, the Seven Founders found themselves called upon to adopt a different kind of life—much to the satisfaction of their old friend the Bishop of Florence. James of Poggibonsi, who had followed them, resolved to join them, and they were clothed by the bishop himself, Buonfiglio being elected their superior. According to custom they selected names by which they should thenceforth be known, and became Brothers Bonfilius, Alexis, Amadeus, Hugh, Sostenes, Manettus and Buonagiunta. By the wish of the bishop, all except St Alexis, who in his humility begged to be excused, prepared to receive holy orders, and in due time they were fully professed and ordained priests. The new order, which took a form more like that of the mendicant friars than that of the monastic orders, increased amazingly, and it soon became necessary to form fresh houses. Siena, Pistoia and Arezzo were the first places chosen, and afterwards the houses at Carfaggio, the convent and church of the Santissima Annunziata in Florence, and the convent at Lucca were established.

Meanwhile, although the Servites had the approval of their immediate superiors, they had not been recognized by the Holy See. Again and again efforts were made to obtain recognition for them, but difficulties were raised by those who desired to see the new order abolished or absorbed in another. The Council of the Lateran had declared that no new orders should be founded, and later on the Council of Lyons had added further limitations, and therefore each time the petition of the Servites came before the pope it was set aside or ignored. It was only in 1259 that the order was practically recognized by Alexander IV, and not till 1304—over sixty years after its foundation—that it received, the explicit and formal approbation of Bd Benedict XI. St Bonfilius had remained as prior general until 1256, when he begged to be relieved owing to old age. He died a beautiful death in the midst of a conference of his brethren on new year’s night, 1261. St Buonagiunta, the youngest of the seven, was the second prior general, but not long after his election he breathed his last in chapel while the gospel of the Passion was being read. St Amadeus ruled over the important convent of Carfaggio, but returned to Monte Senario to end his days. St Manettus became fourth prior general and sent missionaries to Asia, but he retired to make way for St Philip Benizi, upon whose breast he died. St Hugh and St Sostenes went abroad—Sostenes to Paris and Hugh to found convents in Germany. They were recalled in 1276, and, being attacked by illness, they passed away side by side the same night. St Alexis, the humble lay-brother, outlived them all, and he was the only one who survived to see the order fully and finally recognized. He is reported to have died at the age of one hundred and ten.

There is a certain lack of precise information regarding the early history of the Seven Holy Founders. A short chronicle by Peter of Todi and the reminiscences of Father Nicholas Mati seem to constitute the nearest approach to contemporary sources. The Annales Sacri of Giani, continued by Garbi, are not very reliable for the beginnings of the order. The Histoire des Sept Saints Fondateurs de L’Ordre des Servites de Marie, by Father Ledoux (1888), has been translated into English. They were numbered among the saints by Pope Leo XIII in 1887.
1369 St. Anthony of Saxony Franciscan martyr with companions
Gregory of Tragurio, Nicholas of Hungary, Thomas of Foligno, and Ladislas of Hungary.

These Franciscans were slain by a pagan chief in the area, until recently, comprising modern Yugoslavia, at Widdin.

Blessed Antony of Saxony & Companions, OFM (PC) Died 1369. A group of Franciscan martyrs consisting of Antony of Saxony, Gregory of Tragurio, Nicholas of Hungary, Thomas of Foligno, and Ladislaus of Hungary, who were put to death for the faith by King Bazarath at the village of Widdin (in some part of former Yugoslavia) in the presence of the heretic monk by whom they had been arrested (Benedictines). Of special note considering general impatience in the West regarding the delay in beatifications, after 600 years these martyrs have never been officially beatified. Theirs is simply a popular cultus.
ST JULIAN THE HOSPITALLER.
ON January 27 herein reference is made under the heading, “Julian, Bishop of Le Mans”, to another St Julian known as “the Hospitaller”. It is barely possible to regard the story told of him as anything but pure romance, but a strange confusion has grown up among the different St Julians, and it is very hard to disentangle the few grains of authentic fact which may possibly belong to the lives of one or other of them. Even in the fifteenth century the difficulty was recognized, and Caxton’s version of the Golden Legend, from which we may conveniently borrow the traditional story of “the Hospitaller”, begins by introducing us to at least three other Julians. The first was the bishop of Le Mans already mentioned, and we are told of him that some say that he was no other than Simon the leper whom our Lord healed of “meselry” (leprosy) and who “bad Jhesu Cryst to dyner”. For this reason, the writer further states, many people identify him also with the saint whom pilgrims and wayfaring men invoke for good “herborowe” (harbouring), “because our Lord was lodged in his house”; but our medieval critic thinks this less probable.
Then there was another St Julian “born in Almane (Germany) which he was of noble lynage, and yet more noble in faythe and in vertu.” This saint was a martyr and “ ete never no moton”, and consequently when after his death an unprincipled cleric stole the white sheep which belonged to the church of which he was patron, he interfered in ways which the culprit found extremely disagreeable.
Yet a third St Julian was “broder to, one named Julie”. They were martyrs together and worked many miracles after their death, one or two of which are recounted in detail. But the Julian to whom most space is accorded is the Hospitaller “who slew his father and mother by ignoraace”. His story, modernizing the spelling, is recounted thus:
“This man was noble and young and gladly went for to hunt. And on a time among all other he found a hart which returned towards him and said, ‘Thou huntest me and shalt slay thy father and mother.’ Hereof was he much abashed. and afeared. And for dread that it should not happen to him which the hart had said to him, he went privily away so that no man knew thereof and found a prince noble and great to whom he put him in service and he proved himself so well in battle and in services in his palace, and he was so much in the king’s grace that he made him knight, and gave to him a rich widow of a castle and for her dower he received the castle. And when his father and his mother knew that he was thus gone, they put them in the way for to seek him in many places. And so long they went until they came to the castle where he dwelt, but then he was gone out and they found his wife. And when she saw them she inquired diligently who they were; and when they had said and recounted what was happened of their son, she knew verily that they were the father and mother of her husband and received them most charitably and gave to them their own bed, and made another for herself.
“And on the morrow the wife of Julian went to the church, and her husband came home whilst she was at the church. And entering into his own chamber for to awake his wife, he saw twain in his bed. And as he weened it was a man that had lain with his wife he slew them both with his sword. And after that he went out and saw his wife coming from the church. Then was he much abashed and demanded of his wife who they were tnat lay in his bed. Then she said that they were his father and his mother which had long sought him and she had them to lie in his bed. Then he swooned and was almost dead, and began to weep bitterly and to cry aloud, ‘ Alas caitiff that I am, what shall I do that have slain my father and my mother? Now is that very thing happened which I supposed I had eschewed.’ And he said to his wife, Adieu and farewell, my right dear love I shall never rest till that I have knowledge if God will pardon and forgive me this that I have done and that I shall have worthy penance therefore.’ And she answered, ‘Right dear love, God forbid that ye should go without me; like as I have had joy with you, so will I have pain and heaviness.

Then departed they and journeyed till they came to a great river over which much folk passed where they edified an hospital for to harbour poor people, and they did their penance in bearing men over that would pass. After long time, St Julian slept about midnight, sore travailed, and it was freezing and much cold, and he heard a voice lamenting and crying, that said, ‘Julian, come and help us over.’ And anon he arose and went over and found one almost dead for cold. Anon he took him and bore him to the fire and did great labour to chafe and warm him. And when he saw that he could not be chafed nor warmed, he bore him into his bed and covered him in the best wise he might. And anon after, this man that was so sick and appeared as he had been meselle (a leper), he saw all shining ascending into Heaven. And he said to St Julian, his host, ‘Julian, our Lord hath sent me to thee, and sendeth thee word that He hath accepted thy penance.’ And a while after, St Julian and his wife rendered unto God their souls and departed out of this world.”

This is the legend of St Julian, which undoubtedly was extremely popular in the middle ages. Many hospitals were, and some still are, dedicated to him, especially in the Netherlands. A number of scenes from the legend are represented in one of the stained-glass windows of Rouen Cathedral, which seems to have been put up by the guild of ferrymen in that city. Innkeepers, travellers and boatmen
all placed themselves under his protection. No very constant emblem seems to be associated with St Julian the Hospitaller, but he is often represented with a stag, or with a boat, acting as ferryman.

It would be difficult to date the origin of this romance. It is in the Legenda Aurea of Bd James Voragine, and the Bollandists print the version of the story found in St Antoninus of Florence, dealing with the subject on January 29. But the legend is certainly older than either Voragine or Antoninus being found, for example, in Vincent of Beauvais. Consult the most valuable article, including an unpublished vita, by Fr B. de Gaiffier in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lxiii (1945), pp. 114—219. There is a considerable literature connected with this St Julian. See, e.g. Gustave Flaubert, La Légende de St Julien l’Hospitalier (1874), and A. M. Gossez, Le St Julien de Flaubert (1903).
1378 Saint Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia the Wonderworker
(in the world Eleutherius), was born in the year 1292 (or according to another source, 1304) at Moscow into the family of the noble Theodore Byakont, a descendant of the Chernigov princely line.
The Lord revealed to the future saint his lofty destiny from early childhood.
At twelve years of age Eleutherius went to a field and set nets to ensnare birds. He dozed off and suddenly he heard a voice: "Alexis! Why do you toil in vain? You are to be a catcher of people."

From this day on the boy abandoned childish games and spent much time in solitude. He frequently visited church, and when he was fifteen he decided to become a monk.
In 1320, he entered Moscow's Theophany monastery, where he spent more than twelve years in strict monastic struggles.
The renowned ascetics of the monastery, the Elders Gerontius and St Stephen (July 14), brother of St Sergius of Radonezh, were guides for him and his companions.

Metropolitan Theognostus, who had taken notice of the virtuous life and spiritual gifts of St Alexis, bade the future saint to leave the monastery and manage the ecclesiastical courts. The saint fulfilled this office for twelve years. Towards the end of 1350, Metropolitan Theognostus had Alexis consecrated as Bishop of Vladimir. After the death of the metropolitan, he became his successor in the year 1354.

During this period the Russian Church was torn by great rifts and quarrels, in part because of the pretensions of Metropolitan Romanus of Lithuania and Volhynia. In 1356, in order to put an end to the troubles and disturbances, the saint went to Constantinople to the Ecumenical Patriarch.
Patriarch Callistus gave St Alexis the right to both be called and to consider himself Archbishop of Kiev and Great Russia with the title, "All-Venerable Metropolitan and Exarch."

On the return journey, during a storm at sea, the ship was in danger of shipwreck. St Alexis prayed and vowed to build a temple to the saint of that day on which the ship should come to shore. The storm subsided, and the ship arrived on August 16. Moscow delightedly came out to meet the saint.

In spite of problems on every side, St Alexis devoted himself to his flock: he appointed bishops, he established cenobitic monasteries (on the model of the Trinity Lavra, founded by St Sergius), and he brought order to Russian relations with the Khans of the Horde.
The saint journeyed more than once to the Golden Horde. In 1357 the Khan told the Great Prince that the saint should come to him and heal the blindness of Taidulla, his wife.

"This is beyond my powers," said St Alexis, "but I believe that God, Who gave sight to the blind, will also aid me." Through his prayer, and after being sprinkled with holy water, the wife of the Khan was healed.

When Great Prince Ioann died, his young son Demetrius (the future saint), still a minor, was taken under the saint's guardianship. The holy bishop had much toil in reconciling and appeasing princes obstinatly refusing to accept the authority of Moscow. Nor did the metropolitan neglect the work of organizing new monasteries.
In 1361 he founded the Icon of the Savior Not-Made-by-Hands monastery at the Yauza in Moscow (Andronikov, the disciple of St Sergius, was the first igumen of the monastery), fulfilling the vow he had made on his return journey from Constantinople, when the ship was in danger.
He also founded the Chudov monastery in the Moscow Kremlin. Ancient monasteries were restored: the Annunciation monastery at Nizhni-Novgorod, and Sts Constantine and Helen at Vladimir. In 1361 a women's cenobitic monastery was named for him (the Alekseev).
St Alexis reached the advanced age of seventy-eight, having spent twenty-four years upon the metropolitan cathedra. He reposed on February 12, 1378 and was buried in accord with his last wishes at the Chudov monastery. His relics were uncovered in a miraculous manner fifty years later, after which the memory of the great holy hierarch and man of prayer began to be celebrated.
St Alexis is also commemorated on May 20 (Uncovering of his relics) and on October 5.
 The Portaitissa, Keeper of the Gate, is from the monastery of Iviron on Mt. Athos. The monks, placing the icon inside a chapels, upon waking in the morning, would find that the icon moved itself to the gate of the chapel.
1509 Saint Bassian of Uglich disciple of St Paisius of Uglich (June 6)
He was born in the village of Rozhalov, in the Kesov district of the city of Bezhetsk Verkha. He was descended from the Shestikhin princes, whose ancestor was the prince St Theodore of Smolensk (September 19).
St Bassian came to the Protection monastery when he was thirty-three years of age, and was soon tonsured by St Paisius. He fulfilled his obediences without complaint and lived in great abstinence.

In 1482, St Bassian discovered the Protection Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos.

Having spent twenty years at the monastery of St Paisius, St Bassian then asked a blessing to live in silence. His teacher blessed him saying, "Go my child, be guided by Christ with the blessed yoke of the Lord as it pleases Him. Soon you yourself shall form your own monastery and gather a monastic flock to the glory of the the Most Holy Trinity."
In 1492 St Bassian left the monastery and, after spending time at the Nikolo-Uleimsk monastery, he went to a remote place thirty versts south of Uglich and began to live as a hermit. Soon people learned of his solitary habitation and began to come for advice and guidance.
In 1492, the saint built a wooden church dedicated to the Most Holy Trinity, and soon those wishing to live the monastic life came to be guided by him. St Bassian did not cease his relationship with his teacher until the latter's death, at which he was present together with other disciples.
Having dwelt at the Trinity monastery for seventeen years, St Bassian died on February 12, 1509. Three years later, a man named Gerasimus received healing from unclean spirits at his grave, and another fellow named Valerian was healed of palsy.
St Bassian was glorified in 1548 at the uncovering of his incorrupt relics, over which a stone crypt was built. St Bassian is commemorated twice during the year: on the day of his repose, February 12, and on June 6 with his spiritual teacher St Paisius of Uglich.

1584 Bl. Thomas Hemerford English martyr priest native of Dorsetshire
he was educated at Oxford and then studied for the priesthood at English College, Rome. He was ordained in Rome in 1583, and returned to England, where he was swifily arrested.
Condemned for being a priest, he was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn with four companions. He was beatified in 1929.

1584 BB. THOMAS HEMERFORD AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS

IT was the name of Thomas Hemerford, with his companions, that distinguished and identified the cause of all the second group of English and Welsh martyrs (beatified in 1929) while that cause was under consideration in Rome. But actually, of the four secular priests who suffered at Tyburn on February 12, 1584, he is the one of whom least is known.  He was born somewhere in Dorsetshire and was educated at St John’s College and Hart Hall in the University of Oxford, where he took the degree of bachelor of law in 1575. He went abroad to Rheims, and thence to the English College at Rome, being ordained priest in 1583 by Bishop GoIdwell of St Asaph, the last bishop of the old hierarchy. A few weeks later he left Rome for the English mission, but shortly after landing he was arrested, tried for his priesthood and sentenced to death. For six days before execution he lay loaded with fetters in Newgate jail, and then met the savagery of hanging, drawing and quartering with calm fortitude. Bd Thomas was a man “of moderate stature, a blackish beard, stern countenance, and yet of a playful temper, most amiable in conversation, and in every respect exemplary”. There suffered with him BD. JAMES FENN, JOHN NUTTER and JOHN MUNDEN, and GEORGE HAYDOCK.

The first of these was born about 1540 at Montacute, near Yeovil, and was elected a fellow of Corpus Christi College at Oxford, but was expelled for refusing the oath of supremacy. He became a tutor and schoolmaster in his native Somerset, where he married and had two children. On the death of his wife, he, being then nearly forty years old, went to the college at Rheims, where he was ordained priest in 1580 and returned to minister in Somerset. It was not long before Mr Fenn was arrested and put in prison at Ilchester, from whence he was conveyed to London and lodged in the Marshalsea. During the two years he spent there he was most zealous in his care both for his fellow Catholics and others, giving particular attention to pirates and others condemned to death. One notably bad character he converted both to repentance and to the Church.

When he was brought to trial he was put in the dock with another priest, the Venerable George Haydock. These two had never met one another before; yet they were charged with conspiring together at Rome (where Fenn had never been) to kill the queen, and with entering the country to do so. By direction of the judge, the jury found them guilty; and the dishonesty of the whole business is shown by the fact that the attorney general called on Fenn while he was awaiting execution, and offered a reprieve if he would acknowledge the queen’s ecclesiastical supremacy. As he was tied to the hurdle to be dragged to Tyburn his young daughter, Frances, came weeping to take leave of him and receive his last blessing; and so Bd James Fenn went to his crown.

John Nutter was born near Burnley, at Reedley Hallows, admitted bachelor of divinity in the University of Oxford, abjured Protestantism, and in 1579 entered the English College at Rheims. Three years later he was made priest, but on his way to the mission suffered shipwreck on the coast of Suffolk and was taken ill at the same time. This combination of misfortunes led to the discovery of his priesthood, whereupon he was apprehended and treated with great lack of consideration, till the order came to send him to London. In the Marshalsea prison Nutter was distinguished for the same zeal as Mr Fenn, and his candour and forthrightness earned him the nickname of “Plain-dealing John”. After a year’s confinement, whose discomforts he increased by his own penances, he was brought to trial with those mentioned above, and shared their martyrdom.

John Munden, or Mundyn, was another Dorset man, born at Coltley, near South Maperton. He was educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford, where he was deprived of his fellowship on account of his religion in 1566. Fourteen years later we hear of him at the college at Rheims (he had been schoolmastering in Dorset in the meantime); he left with a letter of recommendation from Dr Allen to the rector of the English College in Rome, but he does not seem to have been a student there, though he was ordained in the City in 1582. Early in the following year, while travelling from Winchester to London, he was betrayed by a lawyer named Hammond who handed him over to the magistrates at Staines. He was examined by Sir Francis Walsingham, and then lodged in the Tower, where for three weeks he lay in chains on a bare floor. When brought to trial and sentenced a year later, Bd John Munden’s demeanour was so cheerful that bystanders thought he had been acquitted. The night before execution he addressed a touching letter to his “Cousin Duck” at Rheims, the text of which is still extant (Oliver’s Collections, p. 362).

These four martyrs, together with the Venerable George Haydock, were all condemned and put to death ostensibly for high treason. What contemporaries thought is shown by the chronicler Stow, when he writes that their treason con­sisted “in being made priests beyond the seas and by the pope’s authority”. And that was the view that the Church took when she beatified them among the other English martyrs in 1929.

See MMP., pp. 85—105 Burton and Pollen, LEM.; J. H. Pollen, Acts of English Martyrs and Publications of the Catholic Record Society, vol v.
1584 Blessed James Feun  and Companions English Martyrs in Born in Somerset

He studied at Oxford and became a fellow until he refused to take the Oath of Supremacy and was removed. James married and became a school­master in Somerset.

After the passing of his wife, he went to Reims where he studied for the priesthood and received ordination in 1580. Returning to England, he worked in Somerset until arrested. He was then moved to London and named a conispirator of a bogus assassination plot. He was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn on February 12. Pope Pius XI canonized him in 1929.
Blessed James Fenn and Companions (AC). A group of martyrs consisting of James Fenn, John Nutter, John Munden, and Thomas Hemerford, who were martyred at Tyburn, England, and beatified in 1929. While they died during the same persecution and were beatified at the same time, they are not included among the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

1584 Bl. John Nutter & John Munden English martyrs
John Nutter was from Lancaster and was ordained at Reims in 1581. Munden, a native of Dorset, was ordained at Reims in 1582. They were martyred at Tyburn with three priest companions. Both were beatified in 1929.

1691 Nicholas Herman Born in Lorraine, France,
b. 1610 Note: I'm not absolutely sure that Brother Lawrence is considered a saint by the Church, but I certainly do.
Better known as Brother Lawrence, Nicholas was a contemporary of Pascal, though, unlike him, a simple and ignorant man, reared in a peasant's cottage. He enlisted as a soldier and narrowly escaped being shot as a spy. He was wounded and remained lame for life. He then found employment as a footman, but was so clumsy that he was always breaking things. Later he became a lay brother in a Carmelite monastery in Paris, where he worked in the kitchen.

He had been converted at he age of 18. Like Jeremiah he had see a tree in winter stripped bare yet with signs of the promise of spring, and from that moment he loved and served God with a simple and unquestioning faith. His book Practice of the Presence of God is the story of his heart, and is a lively devotional classic, in which he sets down the intimate details of his daily drudgery and is never afraid to laugh at himself. When sent to Burgundy to buy wine for the monastery with but little idea how to set about it, having no head for business, and being so lame that he had to roll himself over the casks, he had no worry, he tells us, but left himself in God's hands. It was God's business and God would see it done. And the business, he adds, went through well.

In the kitchen also, where he was set to work, 'having accustomed himself to do everything there for the love of God and with prayer upon all occasions for His grace to do His work well, he had found everything easy, during 15 years he had been employed there.' The times of prayer, he declared, should be no different from other times, and he found himself more united to God in his outward employments than when he retired to pray.

Of all the stories of the saints, few are more remarkable than that of this simple man, this big, clumsy ex-serviceman with his lame foot and awkward movements, hobbling round the kitchen, disliking his work but full of gentleness and good humor, laughing at mishaps, content to serve God in a humble way. And when after many years he was too old for the kitchen, he continued, until his death at 82, to potter around and make himself useful.

"Lift up your heart to God," he said, "sometimes even at your meals, and when you are in company. . . . It is not necessary for being with God to be always at church: we may make an oratory of our hearts."

To a soldier on active service he wrote: "A little lifting up of the heart suffices: a little remembrance of God, one act of inward worship, though upon a march and sword in hand, are prayers which, however short, are nevertheless very acceptable to God."
"The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the Blessed Sacrament" (Gill).

1709 Blessed Nicholas Saggio lay brother in the Order of Minims of Saint Francis of Paola , O. Minim. (AC)
Born in Longobardi, Calabria, Italy; beatified by Pius VI. Born of poor parents, Nicholas became a lay brother in the Order of Minims of Saint Francis of Paola (Benedictines).

1748 The holy New Martyr Kristo was an Albanian who worked in a vegetable garden
At the age of forty, he decided to go to Constantinople to seek better business opportunities.
One day he was negotiating with a Turk who wished to purchase his entire stock of apples, but they were unable to agree on a price. The Turk became angry and accused Kristo of expressing a desire to become a Moslem. Kristo was brought before the authorities, and false witnesses were found to testify that he had indeed stated his intention to convert.
Kristo declared that he never said that he wished to become a Moslem. His testimony was discounted, however, because he was a Christian, and Moslem witnesses had contradicted him.

The saint was beaten and tortured the next day, but remained steadfast in his confession of Christ. Kaisarios Dapontes, a well known monk and author, visited St Kristo and got him freed from the place where he was chained. He brought food for him, but he refused to eat. "Why should I eat?" he asked. "I do not expect to live, so I may as well die hungering and thirsting for Christ."
Since he refused to abandon the Orthodox Faith, St Kristo was sentenced to be beheaded. Before they led him away, Kristo gave Dapontes a metal file and told him to sell it and use the money to have memorial services offered for him.
On February 12, 1748 St Kristo the Gardener was beheaded, thereby receiving an imperishable crown of glory from Christ.
Father Narcissus Putz born on 28 October in Sieraków died 5 December 1942 in Dachau
The Rosary in Dachau 
  As a priest serving the diocese of Poznan, Father Narcissus Putz was in charge of a parish when the troops of the Third Reich invaded Poland, on September 1, 1939. From day one of the Occupation, the most influential parish priests were arrested, deported or executed without trial, in an effort to strike the Catholic resistance at the head.

On November 9th, feast of the Dedication of the Temple, it was Father Narcissus’ turn to be arrested. Along with thousands other Catholic priests, he was deported to Dachau, held hostage by Hitler in an effort to curtail the protestations of the Pope and the bishops against his atrocities.
Indeed, the speeches of Pope Pius XII on the Vatican Radio against the policies of the Führer triggered retaliatory measures against the prisoners.

Under extreme conditions, Narcissus Putz exhibited a profound spiritual maturity.
While working in stone quarries, he secretly prayed the Stations of the Cross and the Rosary.
Putz gave up his soul to God on December 5, 1942, exhausted by illness and all the abuses endured in the camp.
Narcissus (Narcyz) Putz (1877-1942) was born on 28 October in Sieraków. After studies at the Seminary in Poznań, he took holy orders in 1902. He got arrested on 9 November 1939 and put in Fort VII in Poznań, from where he was taken to Dachau on 25 April 1940 (he spent a few month in the camp in Gusen as well). He bore his camp hell cheerfully, drawing strength from prayer. He died in the camp hospital on 5 December 1942 of exhaustion and illness. His death was perceived as martyrdom in the theological sense by his inmates.
Venerated
•26 March 1999 by Pope John Paul II (decree of martyrdom)
Beatified
•13 June 1999 by Pope John Paul II



THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 261

O God, my God: I will glorify thee by Thy Mother.

For she hath conceived thee in virginity: and without travail she hath brought Thee forth.

Blessed be thou, O Lady: stand for us before the throne of God.

Beauty and brightness are in thy sight.

Keep my soul, O Lady: that it may never fall into sin.


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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