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.

The saints are a “cloud of witnesses over our head”,
showing us that a life of Christian perfection is not impossible.


We are the defenders of true freedom.
  May our witness unveil the deception of the "pro-choice" slogan.
40 days for Life Campaign saves lives Shawn Carney Campaign Director www.40daysforlife.com
Please help save the unborn they are the future for the world

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

1400 Our Lady of the Thorn (Châlons, France) Our Lady and the Burning Bush

     90 St. Onesimus  Martyr former slave mentioned in St. Paul’s Letter to Philemon
422 Saint Maruthas Bishop of Tagrith (Martyropolis) famed for knowledge piety works in Syrian "Commentary on the Gospel," "Verses of Maruthas," "Liturgy of Maruthas" and "The 73 Canons of the Ecumenical Council at Nicea" (325) with an account of the acts of the Council
1189 St. Gilbert of Sempringham priest shared wealth with the poor miracles wrought at his tomb built 13
     monasteries (9 were double)

1940 St. Philip Siphong 7 Thai Catholics martyred for the faith "white-robed army of martyrs."

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

Saint Joan of Arc visited in 1429
February 16 - Our Lady of the Thorn (France, 19th C.) Prayer to Our Lady of Lourdes
Blessed, most pure Virgin, you chose to manifest yourself shining with life, sweetness and beauty, in the Grotto of Lourdes.  To the child, Saint Bernadette, you revealed yourself, "I am the Immaculate Conception."
And now, Immaculate Virgin, Mother of Mercy, Healer of the Sick, Comforter of the Afflicted, you know my wants, my troubles, my sufferings. Look upon me with mercy.
By your apparitions in the Grotto of Lourdes, it became a privileged shrine from which you dispense your favors.
Many have obtained the cure of their infirmities, both spiritual and physical.
I come, therefore, with confidence in your maternal intercession.
Obtain for me, O loving Mother, this special request. Our Lady of Lourdes, Mother of Christ, pray for me.
Obtain from your Divine Son my special request if it be God's will.    Amen.

February 16 - Our Lady of the Pact of Mercy (Ethiopia) 
 
A sigh in the direction of the Tabernacle and a glance at Mary at the foot of the cross  
 May my grand-children, to whom I gave the best of myself, have a long and happy life.
If one day illness or the loss of a loved one fills them with sorrow, may they never forget that a sigh in the direction of the Tabernacle, where the greatest and most venerable of all martyrs is kept, and a glance at Mary at the foot of the cross, can make a drop of healing balm fall on the deepest and most painful wounds.

 Rosa
Pope Francis’ grandmother, in I fioretti di papa Francesco, by Andrea Tornielli

February 16 – Our Lady of the pact of Mercy (Abyssinia) 
 This pact of mercy is the name of Our Lady   
The Copts are deeply convinced of the mediating mission of Mary. They stress that she is the intermediary between Christ and creatures worthy of divine grace.
According to the texts of the Coptic tradition, which are quoted below, Jesus and Mary allegedly made a pact that Jesus would release from their trials anyone who would invoke the name of Mary and celebrate her memory:
"This pact of mercy is the name of Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary and Mother of God. When the pact is invoked, the firmament of the heavens and the bowels of the earth tremble, down to the foundations of Sheol. The wings of angels shake with fear like leaves in the wind.
When that name is invoked, not only are the creatures afraid, but our Lord and Savior, her Son, who holds omnipotence, after he removes the sinner from his sight to decide on the punitive judgement, when he hears the name of the Virgin written in the pact’s color on the forehead of sinners, leaves the room with leniency of judgment and abandons the sentence."
 Lecture given by Msgr Georges Gharib at the Marianum Pontifical Theological Institute in Rome 2000-2001, and G. Gharib, “Oriente Cristiano,” Nuovo dizionario di Mariologia, edizione Paoline, Milano, 1986

 

  90 St. Onesimus  Martyr former slave mentioned in St. Paul’s Letter to Philemon
270 St. Honestus Martyr disciple of St. Saturninus native of Nimes
305 St. Juliana of Cumae Christian virgin martyred for the faith refused Roman prefect marriage
309 SS. ELIAS, JEREMY AND THEIR COMPANIONS, MARTYRS
309 St. Daniel comforted condemned in  mines of Cilicia martyred with 6 others
      St. Julian of Egypt Martyr with companions
381 Faustinus of Brescia bishop  invoked against plague

422 Saint Maruthas Bishop of Tagrith (Martyropolis) famed for knowledge piety works in Syrian "Commentary on the
    Gospel," "Verses of Maruthas," "Liturgy of Maruthas" and "The 73 Canons of the Ecumenical Council at Nicea"
    (325) with an account of the acts of the Council

1100 St. Aganus Benedictine abbot of St. Gabriel's in Campania Italy
1189 St. Gilbert of Sempringham priest shared wealth with the poor miracles wrought at his tomb built 13 monasteries (9 were double)
1236 Blessed Philippa Mareria, Poor Clare foundress (AC)
1240 BD VERDIANA, VIRGIN Wonderful miracles were ascribed lived for thirty-four years in her cell, and all the communication she had with the outside world was through a little window which opened into St Antony’s oratory.
1468 BD EUSTOCHIUM OF MESSINA, VIRGIN authority of her virtues was increased by fame of her miracles—the sick being healed even by the kerchief which had been bathed by her tears of penitence. She died at the age of thirty-five
1486 Blessed Bernard Scammacca  gift of prophecy miracles spend his time in work of the confessional OP (AC)
1940 St. Philip Siphong 7 Thai Catholics martyred for the faith "white-robed army of martyrs."



1400 Our Lady of the Thorn (Châlons, France) Our Lady and the Burning Bush  Saint Joan of Arc visited the shrine in 1429
The night of the Annunciation of the year 1400, some shepherds were attracted by a bright light coming from the nearby Chapel of Saint John the Baptist. As they approached the light they saw a thorn bush engulfed in flames, and they discovered a statue of the Blessed Virgin in the midst of the flames. The miracle continued all that night and into the next day, and news of the miracle spread quickly.

The Bishop of Châlons, Charles de Poitiers, also witnessed the burning bush and the miraculous statue - both unaffected by the fire. When the flames died down, the bishop reverently took the statue and carried it in his own hands to the nearby Oratory of Saint John. On the very site of the miracle, construction of a church was begun for the enshrinement of the miraculous statue.
Since the church was built so rapidly - in a little over 24 years - that a charming local legend claims that angels continued the work at night after the laborers had left for home.

Our Lady of the Thorn became a place of pilgrimage very rapidly. Today, a minor basilica, the shrine proved to be so beautiful that the people considered it worthy place to venerate the Blessed Virgin. The flamboyant Gothic church boasts majestic great doors, a splendid rosette decorating the principle entrance and two chiseled stone spires, rises high and imposing on the plain in Champagne. It is a place of grandeur where Christian souls can expand in adoration of the Son of God, and many are the pilgrims of all descriptions who have visited the shrine over the years, including Saint Joan of Arc in 1429.
Adapted from http://sanctuaire-lepine.cef.fr
90 St. Onesimus  Martyr former slave mentioned in St. Paul’s Letter to Philemon
 Romæ beáti Onésimi, de quo sanctus Paulus Apóstolus ad Philémonem scribit; quem étiam, post sanctum Timótheum, Ephesiórum Epíscopum ordinávit, prædicationísque verbum illi commisit.  Ipse autem Onésimus, vinctus Romam perdúctus ac pro fide Christi lapidátus, primo ibídem sepúltus fuit; inde ad locum ubi Epíscopus fúerat ordinátus, corpus ejus delátum est.
At Rome, blessed Onesimus, concerning whom the apostle St. Paul wrote to Philemon.  He made him bishop of Ephesus after St. Timothy, and committed to him the office of preaching.  Being led a prisoner to Rome, and stoned to death for the faith of Christ, he was first buried there, but his body was afterwards taken to the place where he had been bishop.

1st v. ST ONESIMUS, MARTYR
ONESIMUS was a slave of Philemon, a person of note of the city of Colossae in Phrygia who had been converted to the faith by St Paul. Having robbed his master, and being obliged to fly, he met with St Paul, then a prisoner for the faith at Rome, who converted and baptized him, and entrusted him with his canonical letter of recommendation to Philemon. By him, it seems, Onesimus was pardoned, set at liberty and sent back to his spiritual father, whom he afterwards faithfully served, for apparently St Paul made him, with Tychicus, the bearer of his epistle to the Colossians, and after­wards, as St Jerome and other fathers witness, a preacher of the gospel and a bishop. Baronius and others confound him with St Onesimus, the bishop of Ephesus some time after St Timothy, who showed great respect and charity to St Ignatius when on his journey to Rome in 107, and is highly commended by him.

The Roman Martyrology devotes a notice to Onesimus, identifying him with this bishop of Ephesus, consecrated to that see by St Paul (!) after the episcopate of St Timothy, and stating further that he was brought in chains to Rome, was there stoned to death, and that his remains were afterwards taken back to Ephesus. The so-called “Apostolic Constitutions”, an apocryphal document of the end of the fourth century (bk vii, c. 46), describes Onesimus as bishop of Beroea in Macedonia, and affirms at the same time that his former master Philemon became bishop of Colossae. Nothing of this clearly is any more worthy of credit than the fantastic story which represents him as being the companion in Spain of the supposed martyrs Xanthippe and Polyxena and as being the compiler of the “acts” of their martyrdom. The fact is that Onesimus was a very common name, especially for those of servile condition, and that anyone bearing such a name who became prominent was likely to be identified with the Onesimus of the New Testament.

Nothing is known of Onesimus except what can be gleaned from the Epistle to Philemon and the possible reference in Colossians IV 7—9.

As the slave of Philemon in Colossae, Phrygia, who ran away. Paul met Onesimus while the former was in a Roman prison, and Paul baptized the slave and came to consider him his own son. Paul sent Onesimus back to Philemon with the epistle, asking Philemon to accept him “no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a brother, beloved especially to me, but even more so to you, as a man in the Lord. So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me. And if he has done you any injustice or owes you anything, charge it to me”. In Paul’s Letter to the Colossians, Onesimus is again mentioned as accompanying Tychicus, the bearer of the letter.

The pre-1970 Roman Martyrology incorrectly identifies Onesimus with the bishop of Ephesus who followed St. Timothy as bishop of Ephesus and who was stoned to death in Rome.

Onesimus M (RM) Died c. 90. Onesimus, meaning 'helpful' or 'profitable,' was a run-away slave who is the subject of Saint Paul's shortest letter. Onesimus had been in the service of Philemon, to whom Paul addresses the missive. Philemon, a leading citizen of Colossae, Phrygia, was an intimate friend of Paul; indeed, the letter could only have been written to one with whom he was on the closest terms of friendship. Probably he was one of Saint Paul's converts. He was obviously a rich man, of high and generous character and given to hospitality, for Saint Paul asks him to prepare a lodging for him, and he had a church in his home.
Behind the letter lies a painful story. Onesimus had run away from Philemon and over a matter of money. We can only conjecture that he had been dishonest or had been under suspicion, for Saint Paul says: "If he has wronged you at all or owes you anything, put that to my account. I, Paul, write it with my own hand. I will repay it" (Philemon 1:18-19).

Whatever it was, Onesimus had been in disgrace and had run away. He had then come under the influence of Saint Paul, now an old man, and had served him in his imprisonment. He had confessed his fault and been converted, for Saint Paul says he begat him in Christ, and he had become a true son of the Gospel. Indeed, he had found him so profitable and helpful that he would like to keep him permanently with him, but was constrained by a sense of duty, and by his regard for Philemon, to return him. Saint Paul was thus faced with the difficult task of writing this delicate letter.

He makes no attempt to condone the fault; on the contrary, he lays open the whole matter. "Perhaps this is why he was away from * you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a brother, beloved especially to me, but even more so to you, as a man and in the Lord. So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me" (vv. 15- 17).

  Onesimus went back to Philemon and, no longer in disgrace, was accepted as a brother, because in Colossians (4:7-9) Paul mentions Onesimus with Tychichus as the bearer of the epistle to the Colossians.

The further story of Onesimus is unknown, though Saint Jerome said that Onesimus became a preacher of the Word and later a bishop, though probably not the Bishop Onesimus of Ephesus who was the third successor to Timothy, showed hospitality to Saint Ignatius of Antioch, and was stoned to death in Rome, as stated in the Roman Martyrology.
The Apostolic Constitutions account Onesimus as bishop of Berea in Macedonia, and his former master Philemon, bishop of Colossae.
Some sources say Onesimus preached in Spain and suffered martyrdom (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Gill, Husenbeth, White). Saint Onesimus is pictured at the time of his martyrdom: He is a bishop being stoned to death (Roeder, White).
Saint Onesimus, Apostle of the Seventy in his youth was a servant of Philemon, a Christian of distinguished lineage, living in the city of Colossae, Phrygia. Guilty of an offense against his master and fearing punishment, St Onesimus fled to Rome, but as a runaway slave he wound up in prison. In prison he encountered the Apostle Paul, was enlightened by him, and was baptized.

In prison St Onesimus served the Apostle Paul like a son. St Paul was personally acquainted with Philemon, and wrote him a letter filled with love, asking him to forgive the runaway slave and to accept him like a brother. He sent St Onesimus with this letter to his master, depriving himself of help, of which he was very much in need.

After he received the letter, St Philemon not only forgave Onesimus, but also sent him back to Rome to the apostle. St Philemon was afterwards consecrated bishop of the city of Gaza (January 4, February 19, and November 22).

After the death of the Apostle Paul, St Onesimus served the apostles until their end, and he was made a bishop. After the death of the holy apostles he preached the Gospel in many lands and cities: in Spain, Carpetania, Colossae, Patras. In his old age, St Onesimus occupied the bishop's throne at Ephesus, after the Apostle Timothy. When they took St Ignatius the God-Bearer (December 20) to Rome for execution, Bishop Onesimus came to meet with him with other Christians, as St Ignatius mentions in his Epistle to the Ephesians.

During the reign of the emperor Trajan (89-117), St Onesimus was arrested and brought to trial before the eparch Tertillus. He held the saint in prison for eighteen days, and then sent him to prison in the city of Puteoli. After a certain while, the eparch sent for the prisoner and, convincing himself that St Onesimus maintained his faith in Christ, had him stoned, after which they beheaded the saint with a sword.
A certain illustrious woman took the body of the martyr and placed it in a silver coffin. This took place in the year 109.
270 St. Honestus Martyr disciple of St. Saturninus native of Nimes
France, he was sent to Spain, where he was slain in Pampeluna.
Honestus of Nîmes M (AC) Died 270. Saint Honestus, an ordained priest, left his hometown of Nîmes under the sign of Jesus with Saint Saturninus to preach the Good News in Spain. After a fruitful ministry, he appears to have been martyred at Pamplona, Spain (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
305? ST JULIANA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR
THE Roman Martyrology under this date commemorates at Cumae in Campania the translation of St Juliana, virgin and martyr, “who first was grievously scourged at Nicomedia by her father Africanus under the Emperor Maximian, and then tortured in divers ways by the prefect Evilasius whom she had refused to marry. Afterwards she was cast into prison where she openly fought with the Devil and then overcoming flames of fire and a boiling cauldron she consummated her martyrdom by having her head stricken off.” The story of St Juliana was popular in the middle ages, as is attested by the fact that a long section is devoted to her in the
Golden Legend of James of Voragine. It is at the same time quite unhistorical, brought him before the governor, though our best manuscripts of the “Hieronymianum” point to some veneration of a St Juliana in the neighbourhood of Cumae and Naples. We also find St Gregory the Great writing to Fortunatus, Bishop of Naples, to ask him for sanctuaria (substitutional relics) of this saint which might serve for the consecration of an oratory which a lady had erected on her estate in honour of St Juliana and St Severinus. The martyrologies seem to have tried to reconcile the conflicting data which they found in their sources by the suggestion of a translation of the martyr’s remains from Nicomedia to Pozzuoli or Cumae. A prominent feature in the “acts” is a wordy contest between Juliana and the Devil, who, transforming himself into an angel of light, endeavours to persuade Juliana to comply with the wishes of her father and her suitor. From this she is often represented in medieval art as preparing to bind a winged devil with a chain or rope.

See Acta Sanctorum, February, vol. ii, and BHL., nn. 4522—4524. cf. Delehaye, Les Origines du culte des martyrs (1933), pp. 301—302 Detzel, Christliche Ikonographie, vol. ii,
305 St. Juliana of Cumae Christian virgin martyred for the faith refused Roman prefect marriage
Nicomedíæ sanctæ Juliánæ, Vírginis et Mártyris; quæ, sub Maximiáno Imperatóre, primum a patre suo Africáno gráviter cæsa, deínde ab Evilásio Præfécto, cui núbere recusáverat, várie cruciáta, et póstmodum in cárcerem detrúsa, ubi palam cum diábolo conflíxit, demum, cum flammas ígnium et ollam fervéntem superásset, cápitis decollatióne martyrium consummávit.  Ipsíus autem corpus póstea Cumas, in Campánia translátum est.
At Nicomedia, St. Juliana, virgin and martyr.  Under Emperor Maximian, she was first severely scourged by her own father, Africanus, and then made to suffer many torments by the prefect Evilasius, whom she had refused to marry.  Later thrown into prison, she encountered the evil spirit in a visible manner.  Finally, because the fiery furnace and a caldron of boiling oil could do her no injury, her martyrdom was fulfilled by beheading.  Her body was later transferred to Cumi in Campania.
Cumae, Italy, martyred for the faith when she refused to marry a Roman prefect. She suffered terrible ordeals and was finally beheaded. One tradition reports that Juliana actually suffered martyrdom at Nicomedia and that her relics were transferred to Cumae. She is depicted in liturgical art as surrounded by flames, or binding the devil.

Juliana of Nicomedia VM (RM) Died at Cumae or Naples, 305. Juliana's struggle with the devil was one of the favorite stories of the medieval Church. What still fascinates is its deep psychological meaning: for the devil is said to have appeared to the saint as an angel of light. His aim was to persuade her that what she had renounced in this world was in fact good. On the face of it, the devil was right, for Juliana had turned against both her father and her suitor, a Roman prefect named Evilasius.
Her father, Africanus, an ambitious functionary in the Roman legions, despised her simply because she had become a Christian. When her suitor realized that she would not become his wife, he decided that she should be no one's bride. Her calling left her without a family of her own. Both men, failing to get their own way with this determined saint, treated her brutally: Juliana's father scourged and tortured her. Evilasius flung her into jail where she was seen to be fighting with the disguised devil, finally binding him and throwing him to the ground.

Juliana died a martyr's death. First she was partially burned in flames; then she was plunged into a boiling cauldron of oil; finally the long-suffering saint was freed from the torments of this world by the mercifully instantaneous act of beheading.

The Roman Martyrology describes Juliana's suffering at Nicomedia in Asia Minor, but it is more probable that she died in Naples, perhaps Cumae, where her relics are said to be enshrined. Some of them are now in Brussels, Belgium, in the church of Our Lady of Sablon. Though her story was the source of many romantic tales, Juliana is clearly an historical figure as attested by Saint Gregory the Great, who requested relics of her from Bishop Fortunatus of Naples for an oratory that a lady had built on her estate in Juliana's honor, and others. Her cultus in England dates back to Bede's martyrology, and her feast was on the Sarum Calendar (Benedictines, Bentley, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth).

In art, Saint Juliana is hung up naked by her hair. Sometimes she may be shown in a cauldron, leading the devil in chains, or crowned wearing a cross on her breast. She is invoked against infectious diseases (Roeder). In the paintings and stained glass of the Middle Ages, Saint Juliana is frequently shown battling with a winged devil; usually she carries a chain in order to bind him (Bentley). She may also be seen with a dragon at her feet (as in stained glass at Martham and on screens at Hampstead and North Elmham, Norfolk) (Farmer).

(1192-1258)
The establishment of the feast of Corpus Christi ("Body of Christ," now called the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ) was the particular achievement of one Belgian woman, St. Juliana of Liege.  As is so often the case, the saint, to achieve her purpose, had to suffer much.
Juliana, orphaned at age five, was sent to be raised in the Augustinian monastery of Mount Cornillon.  The monastery conducted a hospital, particularly for lepers (of whom there were many in Europe in those unhygienic days).  To preserve her from possible infection, the nuns sent her to live on a farm of theirs.  Educated here by a Sister Sapientia, she grew up a highly intelligent young woman, feasting on the writings of the great saints shelved in the monastic library.  At the same time she became most devoted to the Blessed Sacrament.
When she was 16, Juliana was haunted night and day by the strange appearance of a bright moon with a dark band running across it.  At first she feared this was a diabolical illusion.  Then our Lord appeared to her in a vision or a dream and explained the symbol.  The moon, He said, represented the cycle of feasts in the church calendar.  The dark band meant that there was still one important feast missing from the annual calendar: one in honor of the Blessed Sacrament.
Juliana eventually became a nun of Mount Cornillon.  For some time she was in no position to do anything about the institution of a Eucharistic feast.  However, when elected prioress in 1225, she began to undertake the project, enlisting first the support of two holy women, Bl.  Eva, a recluse, and Sister Isabel, one of her nuns.  With their encouragement she now asked some church authorities whether such a feast would be appropriate. 
Several theologians, including James Pantaleon, said that they saw no objections.  The clergy of St. Martin's church, Liege., to which Bl. Eva was attached, even began celebrating such a feast.
Then came the fireworks.
A priest named Roger was installed as prior of the monastery (by bribery, it is said).  He immediately launched an attack on Juliana, whose piety he disliked, charging her with embezzlement of the monastery funds and of promoting a devotion "which nobody wanted." He so stirred up the local citizens that they demanded that the prioress leave town.  When the bishop investigated Roger's charges, he found them groundless, and in 1248 he proclaimed the celebration of the feast of Corpus Christi in the diocese of Liege.
After the bishop died, however, Roger returned, still gunning for Juliana.  Exiled with three other sisters, she was finally given shelter by the abbess of Salzinnes at Namur.  Then Henry II of Luxembourg laid siege to Namur, and this abbey was burned down.  Juliana fled.  She escaped to Fosses, where she remained until her death in 1258, living as a recluse in poverty and ill health.  Interestingly, she had foretold these various setbacks that had befallen her.
Only after Juliana's death, thanks to the renewed efforts of Bl.  Eva, was the feastday of Corpus Christi accepted by the Latin Rite of the Church.  The pope who authorized the festival was none other than James Pantaleon, now Pope Urban IV, who had earlier confirmed Juliana's inquiry whether such a feast was feasible.  Urban commissioned St. Thomas Aquinas to compose the office of the feastday.  Aquinas's beautiful composition included those ever-popular Eucharistic hymns: the "Lauda Sion", the "Pange Lingua", the "O Salutaris", and the "Tantum Ergo." This feast was long a holy day of obligation.
When miracles were reported in connection with Juliana's tomb, she came to be venerated as a saint.  A local feast in her honor was allowed by Pius IX in 1869, but her feastday has not yet been extended to the whole church.
Thanks to St. Juliana's reverence for the Holy Eucharist, the dark line on the moon of her vision was eliminated.
May we imitate her in our love--and respect--for the real Eucharistic presence of Christ in our tabernacles.
--Father Robert F. McNamara
309 St. Daniel comforted Christians condemned in  mines of Cilicia martyred with 6 others
Cæsaréæ, in Palæstína, sanctórum Mártyrum Ægyptiórum Elíæ, Jeremíæ, Isaíæ, Samuélis et Daniélis; qui, cum spontánee ministrássent Confessóribus in Cilícia ad metálla damnátis, et inde reverteréntur, sunt comprehénsi, et a Firmiliáno Præside, sub Galério Maximiáno Imperatóre, sævíssime torti, gládio demum percússi sunt.  Post eos sanctus Porphyrius, Pámphili Mártyris fámulus, et sanctus Seléucus Cáppadox, qui iterátis certamínibus sæpe vícerant, rursus cruciáti sunt, atque alter incéndio, gládio alter corónam martyrii accepérunt.
At Caesarea, in Palestine, the holy martyrs Elias, Jeremias, Isaias, Samuel, and Daniel.  These Egyptians of their own accord ministered to the confessors condemned to labour in the mines of Cilicia, but were arrested upon their return, and after being cruelly tortured by the governor Firmilian, under Emperor Galerius Maximian, were put to the sword.  After them, St. Porphyry, servant of the martyr Pamphilus, and St. Seleucus the Cappadocian, who had been triumphant in several previous tests, being again tortured, now won the crown of martyrdom, the one by fire, the other by the sword.

309 SS. ELIAS, JEREMY AND THEIR COMPANIONS, MARTYRS
IN the year 309, when the Emperors Galerius Maximian and Maximus were continuing the persecution begun by Diocletian, five Egyptians went to visit the confessors condemned to the mines in Cilicia, and on their return journey were stopped by the guards of the gates of Caesarea in Palestine. They readily declared themselves to be Christians and acknowledged the motive of their journey. There­upon they were arrested, and on the following day, together with St Pamphilus and others, were brought before Firmilian the governor. The judge, as was his custom, ordered the five Egyptians to be stretched on the rack before beginning his examination. After they had suffered all manner of torture, he addressed the one who appeared to be their chief and asked him his name and his country. The martyr, using the names which they had taken upon their conversion, said that he was called Elias and that his companions were Jeremy, Isaias, Samuel and Daniel. Firmilian asked him their country, and Elias answered that it was Jerusalem— meaning the heavenly Jerusalem, the true country of all Christians. Elias was then tortured again, his body being scourged whilst his hands were tied behind him, and his feet squeezed into wooden stocks. The judge then com­manded that they should be beheaded, and his order was immediately carried out.

Porphyry, a youth who was a servant of St Pamphilus and who heard the sen­tence passed, exclaimed that they ought not to be denied burial. Firmilian, angry at this boldness, ordered him to be apprehended, and, finding that he was a Christian and that he refused to sacrifice, ordered his sides to be so cruelly torn that his very bones and bowels were exposed. He underwent this without a sigh or a groan. The tyrant then gave orders that a great fire should be kindled with a vacant space in the middle in which the martyr should be placed when removed from the rack. This was accordingly done, and he lay there a considerable time, surrounded by the flames, singing the praises of God and invoking the name of Jesus until at length he achieved a slow but glorious martyrdom. Seleucus, an eyewitness of this victory, was heard by the soldiers applauding the martyr’s constancy. They who without more ado ordered his head to be struck off.

This story is one of overwhelming interest for all who are concerned with Christian hagiography, for it is the account given by Eusebius, the father of Church history, who was not only living in Caesarea at the time, but was the intimate friend of the St Pamphilus here named, the principal martyr who suffered on the same occasion. To mark his devotion to his friend, the historian loved to call himself “Eusebius (the disciple) of Pamphilus”. St Pamphilus, however, is commemorated separately on June 1, and will come before us again on that date. The Greek text of Eusebius, with a French translation en face, may conveni­ently be consulted in the edition of E. Grapin (vol. iii, pp. 259—283), forming part of the series of Textes et documents pour l’étude historique die Christianisme. It forms the eleventh chapter of the Book on the Martyrs of Palestine, of which there is an English version, with the Ecclesiastical History, by H. J. Lawlor and J. E. L. Oulton (1929).
He and four companions, Elias, Isaias, Jeremy and Samuel were Egyptians who visited Christians condemned to work in the mines of Cilicia during Galerius Maximinus persecution, to comfort them. Apprehended at the gates of Caesarea, Palestine, they were brought before the governor, Firmilian and accused of being Christinas. They were all tortured and then beheaded. When Porphyry, a servant of St. PamphilusSeleucus witnessed his death and applauded his constancy in the face of his terrible death; whereupon he was arrested by the soldiers involved in the execution, borught before the governor and was beheaded at Firmilian's order.

Elias, Jeremy, Isaias, Samuel, and Daniel MM (RM)  Born in Egypt; died at Caesarea Maritima in 309. The church historian Eusebius, who was living in Caesarea at the time, recorded the acta of these saints. Out of Christian kindness these five Egyptians visited and brought succor to some of their brethren who were condemned to work in the mines of Cilicia during the reign of Galerius Maximinus. On their return home Elias and his four companions were stopped at the gates of Caesarea, Palestine, and questioned. They gave as their names those of the prophets and their city as Jerusalem (meaning the heavenly city). They were brought before the governor, Firmilian, in an effort to extract more precise information. They remained mute, were accused of being Christian, tortured, then beheaded. demanded that the bodies be buried, he was tortured and then burned to death when it was found he was a Christian.

St. Jeremy Elias and four companions, Daniel, Isaias, Jeremy, and Samuel were Egyptians who visited Christians condemned to work in the mines of Cilicia during Maximus' persecution, to comfort them. Apprehended at the gates of Caesarea, Palestine, they were brought before the governor Firmilian, and accused of being Christians. They were all tortured and then beheaded. When Porphyry, a servant of St. Pamphilus, demanded that the bodies be buried, he was tortured and then burned to death when it was found that he was a Christian. Seleucus witnessed his death and applauded his constancy in the face of this terrible death; whereupon he was arrested by the soldiers involved in the execution, brought before the governor, and was beheaded at Firmilian's order.
The Holy Martyrs Pamphilius the Presbyter, Valens the Deacon, Paul, Porphyrius, Seleucius, Theodulus, Julian, Samuel, Elias, Daniel, Jeremiah and Isaiah
suffered during the persecution against Christians, initiated by the emperor Diocletian in the years 308-309 at Caesarea in Palestine.

The holy martyr Pamphilius, a native of the city of Beirut, was educated at Alexandria, after which he was made a priest at Caesarea. He devoted much labor to collating manuscripts and correcting copyist errors in the texts of the New Testament. The corrected texts of St Pamphilius were copied and distributed to anyone who wanted them. Many pagans were converted to Christ through them.
His works and concerned matters at Caesarea were gathered up into the extensive library of spiritual books available for the enlightening of Christians. St Jerome (4th-5th century) deeply respected St Pamphilius and considered himself fortunate to have located and acquired several of his manuscripts.  Actively assisting St Pamphilius in proclaiming the faith in Christ were St Valens, deacon of the church at Eleia, a man stooped with age and well-versed in the Holy Scriptures, and St Paul, ardent in faith and love for Christ the Savior. All three were imprisoned for two years by Urban, the governor of Palestinian Caesarea.

During the rule of his successor Firmilian, 130 Christians were sentenced in Egypt and sent to Cilicia (Asia Minor) to work in the gold mines. Five young brothers accompanied them to the place of exile. On their return to Egypt they were detained at Caesarea and thrown into prison for confessing Christ. 
The youths appeared before Firmilian, together with those imprisoned earlier: Sts Pamphilius, Valens and Paul. The five Egyptian youths took the names of Old Testament prophets, Elias, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Samuel and Daniel. Asked where they were from, the youths said that they were citizens of Jerusalem, meaning the heavenly Jerusalem. Firmilian knew nothing of such a city, since Jerusalem had been razed to the ground by the emperor Titus in the year 70. The emperor Hadrian (117-138) built a new city on the site, which was called Aelia Capitolina.

Firmilian tortured the youths for a long time. He sought to learn the location of the unknown city, and he sought to persuade the youths to apostatize. But nothing was accomplished, and the governor ordered them to be beheaded by the sword with Pamphilius, Valens and Paul
Before this occurred, a servant of Pamphilius endured suffering. This was the eighteen-year-old youth Porphyrius, meek and humble. He had heard the sentence of death for the condemned martyrs, and asked the governor's permission to bury the bodies after their execution. For this he was sentenced to death, and thrown into a fire.

A witness of this execution, the pious Christian Seleucius, a former soldier, in saluting the deeds of the sufferers, went to Pamphilius and told him about the martyric death of St Porphyrius. He was seized by soldiers and, on Firmilian's orders, was beheaded by the sword together with the condemned. 
One of the governor's servants, Theodulus, a man of venerable age and a secret Christian, met the martyrs being led to execution, embraced them and asked them to pray for him. He was taken by soldiers to Firmilian, on whose orders he was crucified.
The young Julian, a native of Cappadocia who had come to Caesarea, saw the bodies of the saints which had been thrown to wild beasts without burial. Julian went down on his knees and venerated the bodies of the sufferers. Soldiers standing by at the wall seized him and took him to the governor, who condemned him to burning. The bodies of all twelve martyrs remained unburied for four days, but neither beasts nor birds would touch them. 
Embarrassed by this situation, the pagans permitted Christians to take the bodies of the martyrs and bury them.
381 Faustinus of Brescia bishop  invoked against plague B (RM) 
  Bríxiæ sancti Faustíni, Epíscopi et Confessóris.       At Brescia, St. Faustinus, bishop and confessor.
Saint Faustinus succeeded Saint Ursicinus about 360 as bishop of Brescia, Lombardy, Italy. He is said to have been a collateral descendant of Saints Faustinus and Jovita and to have compiled their acts (Benedictines). In art, Saint Faustinus is represented as a bishop holding a bunch of arrows. He might also be shown interceding for Brescia with Saints Faustinus and Jovita. Invoked against plague (Roeder).
4th v Saint Flavian Archbishop of Antioch attempted pardon for citizens of Antioch from emperor Theodosius (379-395)
A contemporary of St John Chrysostom. He attempted to obtain from the emperor Theodosius (379-395) a pardon for the citizens of Antioch, who had angered the emperor by destroying his statue.
St Flavian's death was peaceful and without illness. He is also commemorated on September 27.
St. Julian of Egypt Martyr with companions
 In Ægypto sancti Juliáni Mártyris, cum áliis quinque míllibusIn Egypt, St. Julian, martyr, with five thousand other Christians.
Martyr of Egypt, reportedly with five thousand companions, most likely during the persecutions by the Roman Empire. The traditional number of martyrs may be a mistranslation: the original account may denote five soldiers , instead of five thousand.
Julian of Egypt and Companions MM (RM) Date unknown. It is said that this Saint Julian was the leader of 5,000 martyrs who suffered in Egypt. Nothing, however, is known of him and his fellow-sufferers. One text substitutes militibus for millibus, i.e., five soldiers for five thousand persons (Benedictines).
422 Saint Maruthas Bishop of Tagrith (Martyropolis) famed for knowledge piety works in Syrian "Commentary on the Gospel," "Verses of Maruthas," "Liturgy of Maruthas" and "The 73 Canons of the Ecumenical Council at Nicea" (325) with an account of the acts of the Council

Martyropolis - A city which he founded between the Byzantine Empire and Persia. He was famed for his knowledge and his piety, he wrote about the martyrs, and he suffered for his faith in Christ under the Persian emperor Sapor. He also left behind other works in the Syrian language, among which the most famous are: "Commentary on the Gospel," "Verses of Maruthas," "Liturgy of Maruthas" and "The 73 Canons of the Ecumenical Council at Nicea" (325) with an account of the acts of the Council.
In 381 St Maruthas participated in the Second Ecumenical Council at Constantinople, convened against the heresy of Macedonius: 383, attended the Council of Antioch against the Messalians.

During the years 403-404 St Maruthas set off to Constantinople to plead with the emperor Arcadius to protect Persian Christians.  He was twice sent by the emperor Theodosius the Younger to the Shah Izdegerd to secure the peace between the Empire and Persia.

In the year 414 St Maruthas, having done his duty as envoy to the court of Izdegerd, persuaded the Shah to a favorable disposition towards Christians, and he assisted greatly in the freedom of Christians in Persia. He rebuilt Christian churches razed during the persecution by the Persian ruler Sapor. He also located relics of saints who had suffered martyrdom and transferred them to Martyropolis.  He died there in 422. The relics of St Maruthas were later transferred to Egypt and placed in a skete monastery of the Mother of God.
1100 St. Aganus Benedictine abbot of St. Gabriel's in Campania Italy
Aganus of Airola, OSB Abbot (PC) Born c. 1050; Aganus was abbot of Saint Gabriel's monastery at Airola, Campania, Italy, in the diocese of Saint Agatha dei Goti (Benedictines).
1189 St. Gilbert of Sempringham a priest chose to share his wealth with the poor miracles wrought at his tomb were examined and approved  built 13 monasteries (9 were double)
Born 1083  Despite rigors of such a life he died at well over age 100

1189 ST GILBERT OF SEMPRINGHAM, FOUNDER OF THE GILBERTINE ORDER
ST GILBERT was born at Sempringham in Lincolnshire, and in due course was ordained priest. For some time he taught in a free school, but the advowson of the parsonages of Sempringham and Terrington being in the gift of his father, he was presented by him to the united livings in 1123. He gave the revenues of them to the poor, reserving only a small sum for bare necessaries. By his care, his parishioners were led to sanctity of life, and he drew up a rule for seven young women who lived in strict enclosure in a house adjoining the parish church of St Andrew at Sempringham. This foundation grew, and Gilbert found it necessary to add first lay-sisters and then lay-brothers to work the nuns’ land. In 1147 he went to Citeaux to ask the abbot to take over the foundation. This the Cistercians were unable to do, and Gilbert was encouraged by Pope Eugenius III to carry on the work himself. Finally Gilbert added a fourth element, of canons regular, as chaplains to the nuns.

Thus the Gilbertines came into being, the only medieval religious order of English origin.

Except for one house in Scotland, it never spread outside this country and became extinct at the dissolution, when there were twenty-six monas­teries. The nuns had the Rule of St Benedict and the canons St Augustine’s. The houses were double, but it was mainly a women’s order, though at its head was a canon, the master general. The discipline of the order was severe and strongly influenced by Citeaux and the insistence on simplicity in church-fur­nishing and worship went to the extent of celebrating the choir office “in monotone in a spirit of humility, rather than to pervert the minds of the weak like the daughter of Herodias.”

Eventually St Gilbert himself assumed the office of master general of the order, but resigned the direction of it some time before his death, when the loss of his sight rendered adequate supervision impossible. So abstemious was he that others wondered how life could be supported on such slender fare. He always had at his table a dish which he called “the plate of the Lord Jesus”, into which he put all that was best of what was served up, and this was for the poor. He wore a hair-shirt, took his short rest sitting, and spent a great part of the night in prayer. During the exile of St Thomas of Canterbury, he and other superiors of his order were accused of having sent him assistance. The charge was untrue; yet the saint chose to suffer imprisonment and to run the risk of the suppression of his order rather than deny the accusation, lest he should seem to condemn what would have been good and just. When nearly ninety he suffered from the slanders of some of the lay brothers, who were in revolt.

St Gilbert died in 1189 at the age of 106, and was canonized in 1202. His relics are said to have been taken by King Louis VIII to Toulouse, where what purports to be them are still kept in the church of St Sernin. His feast is kept in the dioceses of Northampton and Nottingham today, and by the Canons Regular of the Lateran on February 4, the day on which he is named in the Roman Martyrology.

Most of the materials for a biography of St Gilbert have been printed in the 1830 edition of Dugdale’s Monasticon, vol. vi, Pt 2. See also BHL., nn. 3524—3568. Much useful information regarding him and his order may be found in the work of Rose Graham, St Gilbert of Sempringham and the Gilbertines (1901). See also R. Foreville, Le Livre de St Gilbert de Sempringham (1943) Capgrave’s Life of St Gilbert has been edited by J. J. Munro for the E.E.T.S. Cf. D. Knowles, The Monastic Order in England (1949), pp. 204-207, and references there given.

Gilbert was born in Sempringham, England, into a wealthy family, but he followed a path quite different from that expected of him as the son of a Norman knight. Sent to France for his higher education, he decided to pursue seminary studies.  He returned to England not yet ordained a priest, and inherited several estates from his father. But Gilbert avoided the easy life he could have led under the circumstances.

Instead he lived a simple life at a parish, sharing as much as possible with the poor. Following his ordination to the priesthood he served as parish priest at Sempringham.

Among the congregation were seven young women who had expressed to him their desire to live in religious life.
In response, Gilbert had a house built for them adjacent to the Church. There they lived an austere life, but one which attracted ever more numbers; eventually lay sisters and lay brothers were added to work the land. The religious order formed eventually became known as the Gilbertines, though Gilbert had hoped the Cistercians or some other existing order would take on the responsibility of establishing a rule of life for the new order.
The Gilbertines, the only religious order of English origin founded during the Middle Ages, continued to thrive. But the order came to an end when King Henry VIII suppressed all Catholic monasteries.

Over the years a special custom grew up in the houses of the order called "the plate of the Lord Jesus." The best portions of the dinner were put on a special plate and shared with the poor, reflecting Gilbert's lifelong concern for less fortunate people.
Throughout his life Gilbert lived simply, consumed little food and spent a good portion of many nights in prayer. Despite the rigors of such a life he died at well over age 100.

Comment:   When he came into his father’s wealth, Gilbert could have lived a life of luxury, as many of his fellow priests did at the time. Instead, he chose to share his wealth with the poor. The charming habit of filling “the plate of the Lord Jesus” in the monasteries he established reflected his concern.
Today’s Operation Rice Bowl echoes that habit: eating a simpler meal and letting the difference in the grocery bill help feed the hungry.

St. Gilbert of Sempringham Gilbert was born at Sempringham, England, son of Jocelin, a wealthy Norman knight. He was sent to France to study and returned to England to receive the benefices of Sempringham and Tirington from his father. He became a clerk in the household of Bishop Robert Bloet of Lincoln and was ordained by Robert's successor, Alexander. He returned to Sempringham as Lord on the death of his father in 1131. In the same year he began acting as adviser for a group of seven young women living in enclosure with lay sisters and brothers and decided the community should be incorporated into an established religious order. After several new foundations were established, Gilbert went to Citeaux in 1148 to ask the Cistercians to take over the Community. When the Cistercians declined to take on the governing of a group of women, Gilbert, with the approval of Pope Eugene III, continued the Community with the addition of Canons Regular for its spiritual directors and Gilbert as Master General. The Community became known as the Gilbertine Order, the only English religious order originating in the medieval period; it eventually had twenty-six monasteries which continued in existence until King Henry VIII suppressed monasteries in England. Gilbert imposed a strict rule on his Order and became noted for his own austerities and concern for the poor. He was imprisoned in 1165 on a false charge of aiding Thomas of Canterbury during the latter's exile but was exonerated of the charge. He was faced with a revolt of some of his lay brothers when he was ninety, but was sustained by Pope Alexander III. Gilbert resigned his office late in life because of blindness and died at Sempringham. He was canonized in 1202.

Gilbert of Sempringham, Founder (RM) Born at Sempringham, Lincolnshire, England, c. 1083-85; died there, February 4, 1189; canonized 1202 by Pope Innocent III at Anagni; feast day formerly on February 4. Saint Gilbert, son of Jocelin, a wealthy Norman knight, and his Anglo-Saxon wife, was regarded as unfit for ordinary feudal life because of some kind of physical deformity. For this reason, he was sent to France to study and took a master's degree.
Upon his return to England, Gilbert started a school for both boys and girls. From his father, he received the hereditary benefices of Sempringham and Torrington in Lincolnshire, but he gave all the revenues from them to the poor, except a small sum for bare necessities. As he was not yet ordained, he appointed a vicar for the liturgies and lived in poverty in the vicarage.

In 1122, Gilbert became a clerk in the household of Bishop Robert Bloet of Lincoln and was ordained by Robert's successor Alexander, and was offered, but refused, a rich archdeaconry. Instead, upon the death of his father in 1131, Gilbert returned to Sempringham as lord of the manor and parson. By his care his parishioners seemed to lead the lives of religious men and, wherever they went, were known to be of his flock by their conversation.
That same year of 1131, he organized a group of seven young women of the parish into a community under the Benedictine rule. They lived in strict enclosure in a house adjoining Sempringham's parish church of Saint Andrew. As the foundation grew, Gilbert added laysisters and, on the advice of the Cistercian Abbot William of Rievaulx, lay brothers to work the land. A second house was soon founded.

In 1148, Gilbert went to the general chapter at Cîteaux to ask the Cistercians to take on the governance of the community. When the Cistercians declined because women were included, Gilbert provided chaplains for his nuns by establishing a body of canons following the Augustinian rule with the approval of Pope Eugene III, who was present at the chapter. Saint Bernard helped Gilbert draw up the Institutes of the Order of Sempringham, of which Eugenius made him the master. Thus, the canons followed the Augustinian Rule and the lay brothers and sisters that of Cîteaux. Women formed the majority of the order; the men both governed them and ministered to their needs, temporal and spiritual. The Gilbertines are the only specifically English order, and except for one foundation in Scotland, never spread beyond its border.

This order grew rapidly to 13 foundations, including men's and women's houses side by side and also monasteries solely for canons. They also ran leper hospitals and orphanages. Gilbert imposed a strict rule on his order. An illustration of the enforced simplicity of life was the fact that the choir office was celebrated without fanfare.

As master general of the order, Saint Gilbert set an admirable example of abstemious and devoted living and concern for the poor. Gilbert's diet consisted primarily of roots and pulse in small amounts. He always set a place at the table for Jesus, in which he put all the best of what was served up, and this was for the poor. He wore a hair-shirt, took his short rest in a sitting position, and spent most of each night in prayer.
And, he was never idle. He travelled frequently from house to house (primarily in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire), forever active in copying manuscripts, making furniture, and building.

The later years of his long life were seriously disturbed. When he was about 80, he was arrested and charged with assisting Saint Thomas á Becket, who had taken refuge abroad from King Henry II after the council at Northampton (1163). (Thomas, dressed as a Sempringham lay brother, was said to have fled north to their houses in the Lincolnshire Fens before doubling back on his tracks south to Kent.) Though he was not guilty of this kindness, the saint chose to suffer rather than seem to condemn that which would have been good and just. Eventually the charge was dropped, although Gilbert still refused to deny it on oath.

Later still there was a revolt among his laybrothers, who grievously slandered the 90-year-old man, saying that there was too much work and not enough food. The rebellion was led by two skilled craftsmen who slandered Gilbert, obtained funds and support from magnates in the church and state, and took the case to Rome. There Pope Alexander III decided in Gilbert's favor, but the living conditions were improved.
Saint Gilbert lived to be 106 and passed his last years nearly blind, as a simple member of the order he had founded and governed.
He had built 13 monasteries (of which nine were double) and four dedicated solely to canons encompassing about 1,500 religious. Contemporary chroniclers highly praised both Gilbert and his nuns. His cultus was spontaneous and immediate. Miracles wrought at his tomb were examined and approved by Archbishop Hubert Walter of Canterbury (who ordered the English bishops to celebrate Gilbert's feast) and the commissioners of Pope Innocent III in 1201, leading to his canonization the following year. His name was added to the calendar on the wall of the Roman church of the Four Crowned Martyrs soon after his canonization. His relics are said to have been taken by King Louis VIII to Toulouse, France, where they are kept in the Church of Saint Sernin.

Because the Gilbertine Order was contained within the borders of England, it came to an end when its 26 houses were suppressed by King Henry VIII (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Graham, Husenbeth, Walsh, White).
1236 Blessed Philippa Mareria, Poor Clare foundress (AC)
Born in Cicoli, Abruzzi, Italy; died at Rieti, Italy, 1236. Born into a wealthy family, Philippa met Saint Francis of Assisi in her parents' home. She decided to become a hermit on a mountain above Mareria. Eventually, she founded and ruled as first abbess a Franciscan convent at Rieti under the direction of Blessed Roger of Todi (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).

1236 BD PHILIPPA MARERI, VIRGIN
WONDERFUL things, of which one would like to have better evidence, are reported as heralding the entrance into this world of Philippa Mareri. Wonderful things also are told of her beauty of feature, her preternatural gravity and precocious learning in childhood. She was born towards the close of the twelfth century at Cicoli in the diocese of Rieti, and the family to which she belonged were the prin­cipal landowners in that district of the Abruzzi.

Her father and mother were devout Christians, and St Francis of Assisi, we are told, was more than once received in their house when he was preaching in the neighbourhood. From him Philippa imbibed a desire to aim at complete union with the suffering life of Christ our Lord. When her parents were anxious to arrange a marriage for her, she resisted the proposal with all her might, cut her hair short, wore the most unattrac­tive clothes, and shut herself up in a corner of the house where she was hidden from the eyes of all. Her brother Thomas was furious at this conduct and did his best to break down her resolution; but the only result of his importunity was that she finally ran away from home, and with a few companions whom she had gained over to the same way of thinking set out to lead the life of an anchoress upon Mount Marerio. There, we are told—but the evidence for all this seems far from satis­factory—they managed to get a walled enclosure built with a few huts inside and gave themselves up entirely to religious devotion and penance.

The determination thus shown had the best effect upon her brother Thomas. Touched by grace he now came to ask his sister’s forgiveness. What was more, he offered her a more suitable place of retirement close to a church on an estate belonging to him. A deserted religious house was repaired and adapted to suit their needs, while a friar who had recently become a disciple of St Francis and who is now venerated as Bd Roger of Todi, was charged with the spiritual direction of the community. Other fervent souls joined them, a rule similar to that of St Clare was adopted, and Philippa was chosen abbess. The strictest poverty was main­tained, and more than once the sisters seemed in danger of starving if it had not been for some supernatural intervention kindred to our Saviour’s multiplication of the loaves and fishes. God’s favour was also shown by other miraculous incidents; but the nuns were not left long to enjoy the company of their foundress.  In 1236 she was seized with a painful illness, and knowing that the time of her departure was at hand, she gathered her spiritual children around her and bade them a most touching farewell, exhorting them before all else to maintain peace among themselves. She passed away on February 13, 1236. Bd Roger preached at her funeral and made no secret of his conviction that her soul was already in bliss.

See Mazzara, Leggendario Francescano (1676), vol. i, pp. 233—235 Leon, L’Auréole Séraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. i and Constantini, Vita e miracoli della b. Philippa Mareri
1240 BD VERDIANA, VIRGIN Wonderful miracles were ascribed  lived for thirty-four years in her cell, and all the communication she had with the outside world was through a little window which opened into St Antony’s oratory.

VERDIANA, whose name is variously written Viridiana and Veridiana, was born at Castelfiorentino in Tuscany of a noble family which had fallen from its high estate. When she was twelve years old, a well-to-do relation took her as a companion for his wife, who made her housekeeper. Even at that time she had a reputation for sanctity, and when she obtained permission to join a pilgrimage to St James of Compostela she had first to promise that she would come back to Castelfiorentino. Upon her return, her fellow pilgrims gave such an account of her holiness that the people begged her to stay permanently amongst them. This she consented to do if they would allow her to live the life of a recluse and would build her a hermitage. They erected one near the river Elsa, adjoining a little oratory it is reputed to have measured ten feet by four and to have been furnished only with a narrow stone ledge to serve as a seat. She lived for thirty-four years in her cell, and all the communication she had with the outside world was through a little window which opened into St Antony’s oratory.* [* Just such a window or hatchway can be seen at the site of an anchorhold at Lewes in Sussex, giving on to the church of St Anne.]

 She ate once a day, mainly bread and water with, occasionally, a few vegetables. She slept on the bare earth except in winter when she used a plank. She had a very great love for the poor, to whom she gave nearly everything which the piety of visitors brought to her, and she only cared to receive the poor and the afflicted.

Wonderful miracles were ascribed to Bd Verdiana. It was commonly reported that two serpents had entered her cell through the tiny window and that they remained with her for years, being allowed to torment her and even eating from her plate but that the saint kept their presence a secret, as she did not wish her sufferings to be known. She had a visit from St Francis of Assisi himself in 1221, The two saints talked together of heavenly things and he admitted her, it was said, into his third order.

She was divinely warned of her approaching death, and she closed her window and was heard reciting the penitential psalms. Tradition tells that her passing was miraculously announced by the sudden pealing of the bells of Castelfiorentino. In Florentine art Bd Verdiana appears in the habit of a Vallombrosan nun, carrying a basket with two snakes in it. It seems certain that she was associated with the Vallombrosan Order, but her connection with the Franciscan third order is by no means so clearly established. The cultus was approved by Clement VII in 1533.

0. Pogni, Vita di S. Verdiana (1936), published a Latin text written soon after her death. A later one, translated back from an Italian version, is in the Acta Sanctorum, February, vol. i. Canon Pogni also published Canon M. Cioni’s account of the beata and her church and hospital at Castelfiorentino (1932—34). See also Gonnelli, Vita di S. Verdiana (1613). There is a notice in Leon, Aureole Séraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. i.
1468 BD EUSTOCHIUM OF MESSINA, VIRGIN authority of her virtues was increased by the fame of her miracles—the sick being healed even by the kerchief which had been bathed by her tears of penitence. She died at the age of thirty-five

WHEN St Matthew of Girgenti was preaching in Messina, the young Countess Matilda of Calafato came under his direction and joined the Franciscan third order, giving herself up to good works. She was for some time childless, but a daughter was vouchsafed to her in answer to her prayers. Shortly before the child’s birth a stranger told the countess that she could only be delivered in a stable, so she was taken to one, and there in 1432 she gave birth to an infant who, because of her beauty, was named Smaragda.

Deeply pious from her earliest years, the child vowed herself to a life of virginity, although her father signed a marriage contract with a suitor, who died before the nuptials could be celebrated. After her father’s death in 1446 Smaragda took the habit of St Clare in the convent of Basico, where the second rule was followed under the direction of the Franciscan Conventuals, and she then assumed the name of Eustochium. She was distinguished for her love of poverty, her spirit of penitence and for her devotion to the passion of our Lord. After reading an itinerary of the Holy Land, she worked out for herself a system whereby she could visit all the Holy Places in spirit and could visualize the scenes in the life of our Lord and of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She regularly tended the sick and devoted herself especially to nursing them when the plague visited Messina.

After eleven years spent at Basico, Bd Eustochium felt that she desired a stricter rule, and Pope Callistus III allowed her to found another convent to follow the first rule of St Francis under the Observants. In 1458—1459 her mother and sister built the convent which was called Maidens’ Hill (Monte Vergine). There she received, amongst others, her sister and her niece Paula, who was only eleven years of age. The foundation passed through many trials during its early years. When Eustochium became thirty—the legal age—she was elected abbess and gathered around her crowds of fervent souls. The authority of her virtues was increased by the fame of her miracles—the sick being healed even by the kerchief which had been bathed by her tears of penitence. She died at the age of thirty-five, her cultus being subsequently approved in 1782.

The most reliable account of Eustochium is to be found in a narrative written by her first disciple, Jacopa Pollicino. It has been printed by G. Macri in the Archivio storico Messinese, vols. iii and iv (1903), under the title of La leggenda della b. Eustochia da Messina. See also Leon, Aureole Seraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. i.
1486 Blessed Bernard Scammacca  gift of prophecy miracles spend his time in work of the confessional OP (AC)
Born in Catania, Sicily; cultus approved 1825. Born of wealthy and pious parents, Bernard was given a good education. In spite of this good training, he spent a careless youth. Only after he was badly injured in a duel was he brought back to his senses.

<>1486 BD BERNARD SCAMMACCA
IT is unfortunate that in regard to those servants of God who are publicly venerated in virtue of a confirmation of cult, reliable details are so often lacking which would give us any real insight into their lives. Of Bernard we are told that he was born of a noble family at Catania in Sicily, that he led a wild life as a young man, that his leg was seriously injured in a brawl, and that in the course of the illness and long convalescence thus occasioned he turned to God and determined to enter the Dominican Order. He is believed to have set a great example of obedience and humility and to have expiated the sins of his youth by severe penance. But for the embellishments added to this account we have no guarantee. It was said that the birds perched on his arms and sang to him, that he prophesied the future, that he was seen raised from the ground in prayer, and on another occasion that his cell
<>was irradiated with brilliant light which came from a torch held by a child of heavenly beauty who stood beside him. After his death on February 9, 1486 other marvels were reported. After lying in the grave for fifteen years he appeared to the prior and bade him remove his body to a more honourable resting-place. This was done his remains were found incorrupt, and during the translation the church bells rang of their own accord. Still later a nobleman organized a raid with the object of carrying off the body to his own castle. But Ed Bernard had no intention of allowing his relics to be kidnapped. Before the raiders could reach the church he knocked at the door of every cell, and when the sleeping friars were rather tardy in responding to this unexpected summons he rang the great bell, which proved an effective tocsin. The good Dominicans rushed to the church “where they found the tomb empty and the sacred body lying at the door, sur­rounded by armed men who were vainly endeavouring to raise it from the ground. It had miraculously become so heavy that the robbers were unable to move it.” So the raiders took to flight, and the saint without difficulty was restored to his shrine. The cultus of Ed Bernard was confirmed in ‘825.
<>  See Procter, Short Lives of the Dominican Saints, pp. 21—23 Mortier, Maitres Généraux OP., vol. iv, p. 648 M. Coniglioni, Vita del b. Bernardo Scammacca (1926) Taurisano, Catalogus Hagiographicus O.P., pp. 4546.
His long convalescence gave him plenty of time to think, and once he was able to go out of the house, he went to the Dominican convent of Catania and begged to be admitted to the order.

Bernard, as a religious, was the exact opposite of what he had been as a young man. Now he made no effort to obtain the things he had valued all his life, but spent his time in prayer, solitude, and continual penance. There is little recorded of his life, except that he kept the rule meticulously, and that he was particularly kind to sinners in the confessional. Apparently, he did not attain fame as a preacher, but was content to spend his time in the work of the confessional and the private direction of souls.

One legend pictures Bernard as having great power over birds and animals. When he walked outside in the gardens, praying, the birds would flutter down around him, singing; but as soon as he went into ecstasy, they kept still, for fear they would disturb him. Once, the porter was sent to Bernard's room to call him, and saw a bright light shining under the door. Peeking through the keyhole, he saw a beautiful child shining with light and holding a book, from which Bernard was reading. He hurried to get the prior to see the marvel.

Bernard had the gift of prophecy, which he used on several occasions to try warning people to amend their lives. He prophesied his own death. Fifteen years after his death, he appeared to the prior, telling his to transfer his remains to the Rosary chapel. During this translation, a man was cured of paralysis by touching the relics (Benedictines, Dorcy).

1940 St. Philip Siphong seven Thai Catholics martyred for the faith "white-robed army of martyrs."
     Thailand (Siam) is the sole nation in southeast Asia not to have been the colony of another power.  From 1940 to 1944 the Thais were at war with their Indo-China neighbors.  To achieve unity on the home front, this officially Buddhist country expelled foreign missionaries and sought to pressure its Catholics into apostasy.
     The persecution was especially strong at Songkhon. When the Catholic priests were ousted, they left the Songkhon mission parish in the charge of Philip Siphong.  Philip, a married man with five children, was a teacher in the parish school and a topnotch catechist. Because he was so obviously a leader, the government authorities decided to frighten the other parishioners into submission by executing him.  On December 16, 1940, they took him outside the village and shot him. 
     Philip's death strengthened rather than weakened the faith of the parishioners.  The sisters who taught in the school now took over the leadership.
     On Christmas, 1940, the local policeman ordered the Catholics to assemble in front of the church.  He told them that he had been commanded to suppress Christianity; therefore he gave them a choice -between apostasy or death.  At that, Cecilia Butsi, a 16-year-old, spoke out, declaring that she was ready to accept death.The policeman did not seem to hear her.
     That same night, Sister Agnes Phila (1909-1940) wrote a letter in her own name and the name of all who resided in the convent, declaring that they would die rather than abandon their faith.  In the note she prayed, "We ask to be your witnesses, O Lord, our God." Sister Agnes gave the letter to Cecilia to deliver to the policeman.
     On December 26, this officer called at the convent and addressed the sisters and layfolk present.  All reiterated their resolution not to apostatize.  He therefore had all six of them escorted to the cemetery and shot to death.  Two of the six were nuns: Sister Agnes Phila and Sister Lucy Khambang (1917-1940).  Four were laypersons: Agatha Phutta (a pious elderly woman converted at 37 in 1918, and now the convent cook); Cecilia; Bibiana Khamphai (a devout 15-year-old who often visited the convent) and Maria Phon, aged only 14. 
     After the execution, the chief of the village somehow got hold of Sister Agnes' Christmas letter, an important testimonial to the true martyrdom of the six.  When priests were readmitted to Thailand in 1943, the letter was handed over to Father Cassetta, the first of them to return.  A church investigation was quickly started, and on the basis of this document and the other evidence, the Holy See issued a decree on September 1, 1988, declaring that Philip Sihong and the six women had indeed been murdered out of hatred of their faith.
     On October 22, 1989, Pope John Paul II formally beatified the seven Thai Catholics.  Deeply touched by their fidelity, the pope said that Blessed Philip ("the great tree" as he was called at Songkhon) exemplified the missionary zeal that is incumbent upon all of us by virtue of our baptism.  He quoted Sister Agnes' letter to the policeman: "We rejoice in giving back to God the life that He has given us.... We beseech you to open to us the doors of heaven… You are acting according to the orders of men, but we act according to the commandments of God." Sentiments like these, said John Paul II, resembled those of the Christian martyrs of antiquity.  Indeed, their very names were those of ancient saints: Agnes, Lucy, Agatha, Cecilia, Bibiana....
The Blessed Martyrs of Thailand, in "giving back to God the life that He had given them", were therefore contemporary soldiers in the age-old "white-robed army of martyrs." - -Father Robert R McNamara


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 276

May God have mercy on us and bless us: by her who brought Him forth.

Have mercy on us, O Lady, and pray for us: turn our sadness into joy.

Enlighten me, O Star of the sea: shed thy brightness upon me, O resplendent Virgin.

Extinguish the burning of my heart: refresh me with thy grace.

Let thy grace ever protect me: let thy presence give light to my end.


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).
LINKS:
Marian Apparitions (over 2000)  India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes Feb 11- July 16, Loreto, Italy 1858 
China
Marian shrines
May 23, 1995 Zarvintisya Ukraine Lourdes Kenya national Marian shrine    Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798  
Links to Related
Marian Websites  Angels and Archangels
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  Uniates, 276 2023