Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!  (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
R.  Deo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God. 
January is the month of the Holy Name of Jesus since 1902;
2024
23,658  Lives Saved Since 2007

OCTAVE OF BIRTH OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

Octave Day of Christmass: Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God

Mary Mother of GOD

January 1 – Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God
 It was with her own substance that the Virgin Mary gave birth to her Son 
The Fathers of the Church, even before the first Council of Nicaea (325), used the term Theotokos (Mother of God) when referring to the Virgin Mary, as the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) explains:
"For the defense of the true humanity of Christ and against Docetism (a heresy that does not believe in the incarnation and teaches that Jesus is not a real man), the early Church emphasized Jesus' birth from Mary. Jesus did not merely have a human 'appearance.' He did not come down from heaven in a 'heavenly body' and as for his birth, he did not simply 'pass through' his mother."
"Rather, it is with her own substance that the Virgin Mary gave birth to her Son. For Saint Ignatius of Antioch (d. ca 110) and Tertullian (d. ca 225), Jesus is fully human because he was 'really born' of Mary. The one who was born of Mary is the eternal Son of God. The Eastern and Western Fathers—like Justin (d. ca 150) and Irenaeus (d. ca 202)—have explained this teaching by quoting the words of Isaiah 7:14. The Virgin Mary fulfilled the vision of the prophet and gave birth to 'God with us.' The title of Mary Theotokos was referred to in order to preserve the doctrine of the unity of the person of Christ."  The Mary of Nazareth Team
 
  Pope Francis  PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR  January 2024

For The Gift Of Diversity In The Church
Let us pray that the Holy Spirit helps us recognize the gift of different charisms within the Christian community, and to discover the richness of different ritual traditions in the heart of the Catholic Church.


 January is the month of the Holy Name of Jesus since 1902;

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 .

If nothing else, please try to draw closer to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the New Year. Devotion to the Mother of God is a panacea. The key to heaven.  Saint Louis de Montfort said that devotion to Holy Mary is the easiest, safest, fastest, most secure, and surest path to Jesus and to our own salvation.
With that in mind, I pray you have a very blessed and happy New Year!
Pope Benedict XVI to The Catholic Church In China {whole article here }
The saints “a cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.

The Rosary html Mary Mother of GOD -- Her Rosary Here
Mary Mother of GOD Mary's Divine Motherhood: FEASTS OF OUR LADY
     of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary

May 9 – Our Lady of the Wood (Italy, 1607) 
Months of Dedication
January is the month of the Holy Name of Jesus since 1902;
February is dedicated to the Holy Family since the 17th century and by Copts from early times.
March is the month of Saint Joseph since 1855;
April is dedicated to devotion of the Holy Eucharist and to the Holy Spirit.
May, the month of Mary, is the oldest and most well-known Marian month, officially since 1724;
June is the month of the Sacred Heart since 1873;
July is the month of the Precious Blood since 1850;
August is the month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary;
September is the month of Our Lady of Sorrows since 1857;
October is the month of the Rosary since 1868;
November is the month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory since 1888;
December is the month of the Immaculate Conception.

In all, five months of the year are dedicated to Mary.
The idea of dedicating months came from Rome and promotion of the month of Mary owes much to the Jesuits.  arras.catholique.fr

Pray that the witness of 40 Days for Life bears abundant fruit, and that we begin again each day
to storm the gates of hell until God welcomes us into the gates of heaven.

If you seek patience, you will find no better example than the cross. Great patience occurs in two ways:
either when one patiently suffers much, or when one suffers things which one is able to avoid and yet does not avoid.
Christ endured much on the cross, and did so patiently, because when he suffered he did not threaten;
he was led like a sheep to the slaughter and he did not open his mouth.-- St. Thomas Aquinas

                    We begin our day by seeing Christ in the consecrated bread, and throughout the day we continue to see Him in the torn bodies of our poor. We pray, that is, through our work, performing it with Jesus, for Jesus and upon Jesus.
The poor are our prayer. They carry God in them. Prayer means praying everything, praying the work.
We meet the Lord who hungers and thirsts, in the poor.....and the poor could be you or I or any person kind enough to show us his or her love and to come to our place.
Because we cannot see Christ, we cannot express our love to Him in person.
But our neighbor we can see, and we can do for him or her what we would love to do for Jesus if He were visible.
-- Mother Teresa
  Pope Francis  PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR  January 2024

For The Gift Of Diversity In The Church
Let us pray that the Holy Spirit helps us recognize the gift of different charisms within the Christian community, and to discover the richness of different ritual traditions in the heart of the Catholic Church.


 
 
The LORD said to Moses, 23"Say to Aaron and his sons, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, The LORD bless you and keep you: The LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you: The LORD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. "So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them."

And they went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they saw it they made known the saying which had been told them concerning this child; and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
Pope Francis  PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR  January 2024

For The Gift Of Diversity In The Church
Let us pray that the Holy Spirit helps us recognize the gift of different charisms within the Christian community, and to discover the richness of different ritual traditions in the heart of the Catholic Church.


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

 Circumcísio Dómini nostri Jesu Christi, et Octáva Nativitátis ejúsdem.
The Circumcision of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the octave of his Nativity.
Mary, Mother of God
The Entire World is Filled with Joy! January 1 - Solemnity of Mary Mother of God

I see this joyful assembly of holy bishops at the invitation of the Blessed Mother of God,
Mary forever virgin, who are gathered here with enthusiasm. (...)
Hail Mary, Mother of God, sacred treasure of the universe, star without decline, crowned by virginity, scepter of the orthodox faith, indestructible temple, home of the immeasurable. Mother and Virgin, because of whom the "One who comes in the name of the Lord" is called "Blessed" in the holy Gospel (...).
Hail Mary, you who had in your virginal womb what heaven cannot contain; you in whom the Trinity is glorified and adored all over the world, in whom the heavens exult; in whom angels and archangels are filled with joy (...).
The entire world is filled with joy!
5th Century Sermon, written in the wake of the proclamation of "Theotokos" in the Council of Ephesus (431)

 For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God.
-- St. Irenaeus, Adversus haereses
January 1 – Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God 
 
Pope Paul VI moved the Feast of the Divine Motherhood of Mary to January 1st 
Our thoughts now turn spontaneously to Our Lady, whom we invoke today as the Mother of God. It was Pope Paul VI who moved to January 1st the Feast of the Divine Motherhood of Mary, which was formerly celebrated on October 11th. Indeed, even before the liturgical reform that followed the Second Vatican Council, the memorial of the circumcision of Jesus on the eighth day after his birth—as a sign of submission to the law, his official insertion in the Chosen People—used to be celebrated on the first day of the year and the Feast of the Name of Jesus was celebrated the following Sunday. …
Today's feast, therefore, as well as being a particularly significant Marian feast, also preserves a strongly Christological content because, we might say, before the Mother, it concerns the Son, Jesus, true God and true Man.
Pope Benedict XVI
Homily for the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, in St Peter’s Basilica, January 1st, 2008

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

Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos).
Catechism of the Catholic Church 495, quoting the Council of Ephesus (431): DS 251.
  178 St. Concordius Martyred subdeacon
2nd v. St. Elvan & Mydwyn
Apud Spolétum sancti Concórdii, Presbyteri et Mártyris; qui, tempóribus Antoníni Imperatóris, primo cæsus fústibus, dehinc equúleo suspénsus, ac póstea macerátus in cárcere, ibíque Angélica visitatióne confortátus, demum gládio vitam finívit.
At Spoleto, in the time of Emperor Antoninus, St. Concordius, priest and martyr, who was beaten with clubs, then stretched on the rack, and after long confinement in prison, where he was visited by an angel, lost his life by the sword.
3rd v. St. Martina, virgin
Item Romæ, via Appia, corónæ sanctórum mílitum trigínta Mártyrum, sub Diocletiáno Imperatóre.
In the same city, on the Appian Way, the crowning with martyrdom of thirty holy soldiers under Emperor Diocletian.
Eódem die sancti Magni Mártyris. The same day, St. Magnus, martyr.
5th v. ST EUPHROSYNE, VIRGIN; The Greeks call St Euphrosyne “Our Mother”, and pay her great honour, but we have no authentic accounts of her life. Her so-called history is nothing but a replica of the story of St Pelagia, as narrated for Western readers in the Vitae Patrum or in the Golden Legend, a tale which struck the popular fancy and which, with slight variations, adapted as an embellishment to the lives of St Marina, St Apollinaris, St Theodora, etc.
379 St. Basil the Great, bishop, confessor, and doctor of the Church
  400 St. Telemachus an Eastern ascetic; martyred seperating gladiators; he caused abolishing of contests
  475 St. Basil Bishop of Aix, in Provence
  510 St. Eugendus 4th abbot of Condat, near Geneva Switzerland. Also called Oyand, Eugendus was never ordained, but he was a noted Scripture scholar.
  533 St. Fulgentius Bishop of Ruspe, Tunisia friend of St. Augustine; “A person may be endowed with the gift of miracles, and yet may lose his soul. Miracles insure not salvation; they may indeed procure esteem and applause; but what will it avail a man to be esteemed on earth and afterwards be delivered up to torments?”
 540 St. Justin of Chieti; A patron of Chieti, Italy
 580 St. FELIX, BISHOP OF BOURGES; orthodox patriarchate; numerous cures are said obtained by those who drank water in which some of the dust of the old crumbling tomb slab had been mingled
 585 St. Fanchea lrish abbess foundress of a convent of St. Ends
 590 St. Connat The abbess of St. Brigid’s convent at Kildare, Ireland
6th v. St. Cuan Irish abbot founded many churches and monasteries
  660 ST CLARUS, ABBOT; many marvellous stories of the miracles he worked, *{* It is perhaps desirable to remind the reader once for all that only Almighty God can do miracles. The use of the above and similar expressions is permissible by custom, but in fact God does the miracle through the agency or at the intercession of the saint concerned.}  patron of tailors
837 St Peter of Atroa, Abbot; numerous miracles; undertook restoration of St Zachary’s and reorganization of 2 other monasteries he established, his own residence hermitage at Atroa; Iconoclast troubles began again and, the local bishop being an opponent of images, Peter judged it wise once more to disperse his monks to more remote houses; ninth-century Byzantine hagiography and for what it tells of monastic life during the Iconoclast troubles; moines de l’Olympe  scanty ruins of St Peter’s monastery of St Zachary, and of numerous others, can still be seen.
1031 St William of Saint Benignus, Abbot; character was great zeal and firmness joined with tender affection for his subjects;  did not hesitate to oppose, both by action and writings, the most powerful rulers of his time, like Emperor St Henry, Robert, King of France, and Pope John XIX, when he felt the cause of justice was at stake; In interests of the Cluniac reform he was constantly active, making many journeys and travelling as far as Rome.
1048 St. Odilo monk at Cluny 5th abbot ecstacies great austerities inaugurated All Souls' Day
1125 Saint Bonfilius one of the founders of the Servite Order
1252 Bl. Berka Zdislava founded Dominican priory of St. Laurence Communion daily
        St. Maelrhys Welsh saint, probably a Breton
        St. Magnus Martyr noted in the Roman Martyrology
1260 BD HUGOLINO OF GUALDO; entered the Order of the Hermits of St Augustine, and that somewhere about the year 1258 he took over a monastery in his native place, Gualdo in Umbria
1261 St. Bonfilius, confessor, one of the seven founders of the Order of the Servites of the Blessed Virgin Mary
1713 St. Joseph Mary Tomasi;  Cardinal confessor of Pope Clement XI {1649 1721}; He answered that the days of actual physical martyrdom are over, and that we are now in the days of hidden martyrdom, seen only by God; the lesson of it all being trust in God; Even before his death the sick were healed through touching his clothing, and when the end had come cures multiplied round his bier. Bd Joseph Tommasi was beatified in 1803.

OCTAVE OF BIRTH OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST  
Circumcísio Dómini nostri Jesu Christi, et Octáva Nativitátis ejúsdem. The Circumcision of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the octave of his Nativity.
CIRCUMCISION sacrament of the Old Law, and the first legal observance required by Almighty God of that people which He had chosen preferably to all the nations of the earth to be the depositary of His revealed truths. These were the descendants of Abraham, upon whom He had enjoined it several hundred years before the giving of the law to Moses on Mount Sinai. And this on two accounts: First, as a distinguishing mark between them and the rest of mankind. Secondly, as a seal to a covenant between God and that patriarch:  whereby it was stipulated on God’s part to bless Abraham and his posterity; whilst on their part it implied a holy engagement to be His people, by a strict conformity to His laws. It was therefore a sacrament of initiation in the service of God, and a promise and engagement to believe and act as He had revealed and directed.
This law of circumcision continued in force till the death of Christ: hence, our Saviour being born under the law, it became Him, who came to teach mankind obedience to the laws of God, to fulfil all justice and to submit to it. Therefore, He was “made under the law”—that is, was circumcised—that He might redeem them that were under the law, by freeing them from the servitude of it: and that those who were in the condition of servants before might be set at liberty, and receive the adoption of sons in baptism, which by Christ’s institution succeeded to circumcision. On the day He was circumcised He received the name of JESUS, the same appointed Him by the angel before He was conceived. The reason of His being called Jesus is mentioned in the gospel: “For He shall save His people from their sins.” This He effected by the greatest sufferings and humiliations, humbling Himself, as St Paul says, not only unto death, but even to the death of the cross; for which cause God hath exalted Him, and hath given Him a name which is above all names, that at the name of JESUS every knee shall bow; agreeably to what Christ says of Himself, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth”.

Considered liturgically, three, if not four, distinct elements may be recognized in the festival, which the Church keeps on the first day of each year. It is, to begin with, the octave of Christmas, and—possibly as a consequence of this—a special commemoration is made of the Virgin Mother whose pre-eminent share in the mystery could not adequately be recognized on the feast itself. Secondly, our ancient mass-books and other documents preserve many traces of the observance of the day in a spirit of penance, seemingly to protest against and atone for the debaucheries and other excesses customary among pagans at the outset of the New Year. Thirdly, the eighth day after birth was the day when our Infant Saviour was circumcised, an incident pregnant with significance which called for suitable called for suitable celebration on its own account.

So far as our liturgical evidence goes the earliest recognition of the feast is to be found in the Lectionary of Victor of Capua. This, which bears witness to the usage of southern Italy in the year 546, has an entry De circumcisione Domini, and indicates as a reading for that day the passage from St Paul to the Romans (xv. 4—14) in which our Lord is spoken of as “Minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made to the fathers”. Only a very little later we find in the 17th canon of the second Council of Tours (A.D. 567) a statement that from Christmas to the Epiphany each day was treated as a feast except that triduum (apparently from January 1 to January 3) “during which our fathers, to stamp out the custom of the pagans, imposed a private celebration of litanies on the first of January, in order that psalmody might be carried on in the churches, and that on the day itself Mass of the Circumcision might be offered to God at the eighth hour”. Here, besides the reference to the Mass of the Circumcision, all the associations of the word litaniae were distinctly connected by the usage of the times with penitential practices.

Further, in the archetype of the martyrology known as the Hieronymianum, which dates from about the year 600, the Circumcision is again mentioned, and this is also the case with the majority of the calendars, martyrologies, lectionaries and other service-books of the seventh and following centuries. Although in the present Roman liturgy no trace remains of the early efforts made to wean Christian converts from taking part in the pagan idolatries and debaucheries which ushered in the new year, still the so-called “Gelasian” sacramentaries, more or less modified by the uses which prevailed in Gaul, Germany and Spain, constantly provide a second Mass for this day which is headed “ad prohibendum ab idolis”—i.e. against idolatrous practices. In this Mass all the prayers echoed the petition that those who had been brought to the pure worship of the Christian faith might have the courage utterly to turn their backs upon the old, profane and evil ways of paganism. It is to be noted that even before any special church celebration can be connected with new year’s day, we find St Augustine, in a sermon preached on that morning, exhorting his hearers to behave as Christians amid the excesses of their gentile neighbours at that season.

It is certain, then, that a wish to rescue the weaker members of the Christian community from the contamination of the new-year celebrations played a great part in the institution of a church festival on that day. St Augustine’s words suggest that he realized how hopeless it was to impose a general fast upon an occasion that was a holiday for the rest of the world. Ordinary human nature would have rebelled if too much had been exacted of it. All that could be done in practice was to carry out the principles enunciated by such wise pastors as St Gregory Thaumaturgus and St Gregory the Great, that when pagan observances were ineradicably fixed in the customs of a people, the evil must be neutralized by establishing a Christian celebration in place of the heathen one.

On the whole it would seem that outside Rome—in Gaul, Germany, Spain, and even at Milan and in the south of Italy—an effort was made to exalt the mystery of the Circumcision in the hope that it might fill the popular mind and win the revelers from their pagan superstitions. In Rome itself, however, there is no trace of any reference to the Circumcision until a relatively late period. What our actual missal preserves for us, even down to the present day, is a liturgy, which, while echoing, as the octave naturally would, the sentiments proper to Christmas, refers in a very marked way to the Mother of God, e.g. in the collect for the feast. How comes it that our Lady is thus appealed to on the first day of the year? This may, as mentioned above, be simply the result of her intimate connection with the mystery of the Incarnation, but there is some evidence that the liturgy for to-day represents the service for the octave of Christmas as solemnized in the ancient Roman basilica of our Lady, Old St Mary’s (cf. D. Bünner in the bibliography). But whether or not a feast of special solemnity was observed on January 1 in this ancient church to serve as an antidote to pagan licence, it is unfortunately certain that the expedient was only partially successful, and that the riotous excesses of the season still survived in the “Feast of Fools” and other abuses, against which the better sort of ecclesiastics protested throughout the middle ages, but often protested in vain.

See Abbot Cabrol, Les origines liturgiques (1906), pp. 203—210; also in the Revue du clergé français, January, 1906, pp. 262 seq., and in DAC., s.v. “Circoncision”; F. Bünger, Geschicte der Neujahrsfeier in der Kirche (1909); D. Bünner, “La fête ancienne de la Circoncision”, in La Vie et les Arts Liturgiques, January, 1924; G. Morin in Anecdota Maredsolana, vol. i, pp. 426—428. See also Mansi, Concilia, vol. ix, p. 796; Maasen, Concilia Merov., p. 526; St Augustine, sermon 198 in Migne, PL., vol. xxxviii, c. 1025; and W. de Grüneisen, Ste Marie Antique, pp. 94, 493. There occurs above a reference to the Hieronymianum, which will be frequently mentioned in these notes. The “Martyrology of Jerome”, so called because it was erroneously attributed to St Jerome, was the foundation of all similar Western calendars of martyrs and other saints. It was compiled in Italy during the second half of the fifth century the archetype on which all existing manuscripts of it are based is a recension made in Gaul about the year 600. Father Delehaye’s Commentary on the Hieronymianum (CMH) is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, November, vol. ii, part 2. 

Mary, Mother of God.
Mary’s divine motherhood broadens the Christmas spotlight. Mary has an important role to play in the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. She consents to God’s invitation conveyed by the angel (Luke 1:26-38). Elizabeth proclaims: “Most blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:42-43, emphasis added). Mary’s role as mother of God places her in a unique position in God’s redemptive plan.
Without naming Mary, Paul asserts that “God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law” (Galatians 4:4). Paul’s further statement that “God sent the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out ‘Abba, Father!’“ helps us realize that Mary is mother to all the brothers and sisters of Jesus.

Some theologians also insist that Mary’s motherhood of Jesus is an important element in God’s creative plan. God’s “first” thought in creating was Jesus. Jesus, the incarnate Word, is the one who could give God perfect love and worship on behalf of all creation. As Jesus was “first” in God’s mind, Mary was “second” insofar as she was chosen from all eternity to be his mother.

The precise title “Mother of God” goes back at least to the third or fourth century. In the Greek form Theotokos (God-bearer), it became the touchstone of the Church’s teaching about the Incarnation.
The Council of Ephesus in 431 insisted that the holy Fathers were right in calling the holy virgin Theotokos. At the end of this particular session, crowds of people marched through the street shouting: “Praised be the Theotokos!” The tradition reaches to our own day. In its chapter on Mary’s role in the Church, Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church calls Mary “Mother of God” 12 times.
Comment: Other themes come together at today’s celebration. It is the Octave of Christmas: Our remembrance of Mary’s divine motherhood injects a further note of Christmas joy. It is a day of prayer for world peace: Mary is the mother of the Prince of Peace. It is the first day of a new year: Mary continues to bring new life to her children—who are also God’s children.
Quote: “The Blessed Virgin was eternally predestined, in conjunction with the incarnation of the divine Word, to be the Mother of God. By decree of divine Providence, she served on earth as the loving mother of the divine Redeemer, an associate of unique nobility, and the Lord’s humble handmaid. She conceived, brought forth, and nourished Christ” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 61).
178 St. Concordius Martyred subdeacon. during the reign of Marcus Aurelius.
He was tried by Torquatus, the governor of Umbria, in Spoleto, Italy. Concordius was beheaded.

178 ST CONCORDIUS, MARTYR
A SUBDEACON who, in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, was apprehended in the desert, and brought before Torquatus, governor of Umbria, then residing at Spoleto. The martyr, paying no regard to promises or threats, in the first interrogatory was beaten with clubs, and in the second was stretched on the rack, but in the height of his torments he cheerfully sang, “Glory be to thee, Lord Jesus!” Three days after, two soldiers were sent by Torquatus to behead him in the dungeon, unless he would offer sacrifice to an idol, which a priest who accompanied them carried with him for this purpose. The saint showed his indignation by spitting upon the idol, upon which one of the soldiers struck off his head.

See his acts in the Acta Sanctorum, January 1; and Tillemont, Mémoires…, vol. ii, p.439. 

2nd v. St. Elvan & Mydwyn.
Supposedly two Britons sent by King St. Lucius to Pope St. Eleutherius (c. 174-189) to ask for missionaries.
3rd v. St. Martina, virgin.
Romæ pássio sanctæ Martínæ, Vírginis et Mártyris; quæ, sub Alexándro Imperatóre, divérsis tormentórum genéribus cruciáta, tandem, gládio percússa, martyrii palmam adépta est.  Ipsíus vero festum tértio Kaléndas Februárii recólitur. At Rome, under Emperor Alexander, St. Martina, virgin, who endured various kinds of torments, and being beheaded, received the palm of martyrdom.  Her feast is kept on the 30th of this month.
228 St. Martina Virgin martyr of Rome
 A basilica was erected in her honor at the Roman Forum. Her remains were discovered there in 1634. There is considerable doubt about her recorded sufferings. Her cult is now confined to her Roman basilica.
 ST MARTINA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR
IN the general calendar of the Western church this day is kept as the feast of St Martina, and accordingly her name stands first today in the Roman Martyrology and in the fuller notice which appears there on January 1, we are told that at Rome under the Emperor Alexander (Severus, 222-235) she was subjected to many kinds of torment and at length perished by the sword. Alban Butler informs us correctly that there was a chapel in Rome consecrated to her memory which was frequented with great devotion in the seventh century. We also may learn from him that her relics were discovered in a vault in the ruins of her old church, and translated in the year 1634 under Pope Urban VIII, who built. a new church in her honour and himself composed the hymns used in her office in the Roman Breviary. He adds further that the city of Rome ranks her amongst its particular patrons.

Despite these attestations, the very existence of St Martina remains doubtful. Though she is represented as suffering in the City itself, there is no early Roman tradition regarding her. The “acts” of her martyrdom are full of preposter­ous miracles—for example, when she is wounded, milk flows from her body in place of blood—and are extravagant to the last degree. The one thing certain about them is that they bear the closest resemblance, as was long ago pointed out, both to those attributed to St Tatiana and those of St Prisca. Pio Franchi de’ Cavalieri has shown with considerable probability that of these three sets, all apocryphal, those belonging to St Tatiana have formed the model for the others.

See Pio Franchi de’ Cavalieri in the Romische Quartalschrift, vol. xvii (1903), pp. 222—236, and Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxiii (1904), pp. 344—345, The Acts of St Martina are printed by the Bollandists under January 1. Cf. also Marucchi, Le Forum Romain et le Palatin (1925), pp. 246—248.

Martina of Rome VM (RM) (also known as Prisca, Tatiana) Died ; feast day was formerly January 20; Martina was removed from the general Roman Calendar in 1969, but not from local ones. In 1634, Pope Urban VIII decided to rebuild an ancient church in honor of Saint Martina that stood under the Capitoline Hill in Rome, overlooking the Forum. The workmen discovered a Christian tomb containing the bones of a Roman lady and her two brothers. These were believed to be the remains of Saints Martina, Concordius, and Epiphanius. Bernini created a magnificent bronze shrine for these relics and today, in the church of Santi Luca e Martino, Rome, lamps burn continually around the shrine. In 1558, Pope Sixtus V added Saint Luke the Evangelist as co-titular of the church, when he gave it and the neighboring building to the Accademia di San Luca.

Although we know little about her, she remains one of the patron saints of the city of Rome itself. Her fabulous acta, which can be traced to the 7th century, closely resemble those of Saints Prisca and Tatiana--they may all be the same person. According to this story, the virgin Martina, born of an illustrious family, was orphaned at an early age. She is said to have been a Roman martyr under Alexander Severus (222-235 AD). It is said that at her martyrdom, milk flowed from her body rather than blood. There is no evidence for an early cultus of a Tatiana or Martina in Rome, and Prisca is difficult to identify (Attwater, Attwater2, Benedictines, Bentley, Coulson, Sheppard).

Saint Martina is pictured as a maiden with a lion. She may be shown beheaded by a sword or martyred with a two-pronged hook, receiving the palm and lily from the Virgin and Child (Roeder).
379 St. Basil the Great, bishop, confessor, and doctor of the Church.
Cæsaréæ, in Cappadócia, deposítio sancti Basilíi, cognoménto Magni, Epíscopi, Confessóris et Ecclésiæ Doctóris; qui, témpore Valéntis Imperatóris, doctrína et sapiéntia insignítus omnibúsque virtútibus exornátus, mirabíliter effúlsit, et Ecclésiam advérsus Ariános et Macedoniános inexpugnábili constántia deféndit.  Ejus autem festívitas potíssimum ágitur décimo octávo Kaléndas Júlii, quo die Epíscopus ordinátus est.
At Caesarea in Cappadocia, the death of St. Basil the Great, bishop, confessor, and doctor of the Church, renowned for his learning and wisdom and gifted with every virtue, who during the reign of Emperor Valens wonderfully displayed his talents as he defended the Church with great constancy against the Arians and Macedonians. 

His feast, however, is appropriately kept on the 14th of June, the day on which he was consecrated bishop.
  St. Telemachus an Eastern ascetic martyred separating gladiators he caused abolishing of contests.  
 Romæ sancti Almáchii Mártyris, qui, cum díceret: « Hódie Octávæ Domínici diéi sunt, cessáte a superstitiónibus idolórum et a sacrifíciis pollútis », proptérea, jubénte Præfécto Urbis Alípio, a gladiatóribus occísus est.
       At Rome, St. Almachius, martyr, who, by the command of Alipius, governor of the city, was killed by the gladiators for saying, “Today is the Octave of our Lord's birth; put an end to the worship of idols, and abstain from unclean sacrifices.”

St. Telemachus (also known as Almachius) was an Eastern ascetic who was stoned to death in Rome when he tried to stop a contest between gladiators in the arena. He entered the stadium During one of the events, while the games were in progress and, going down into the arena, attempted to separate the combatants. The spectators of this cruel pastime were infuriated, and at the instigation of Satan, who delights in blood, they stoned to death this messenger of peace.
His death, according to Theodoret, caused Emperor Honorius to abolish gladiatorial contests.

400 ST ALMACHIUS, OR TELEMACHUS, MARTYR

ALL that we know of this interesting martyr is derived from two brief notices, the one contained in the Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret (bk v, c. 26), the other in the ancient “Martyrology of Jerome” referred to in the note above. In the first we read that the Emperor Honorius abolished the gladiatorial combats of the arena in consequence of the following incident: “An ascetic named Telemachus had come from the East to Rome animated with a holy purpose. Whilst the abominable games were in progress he entered the stadium and, going down into the arena, attempted to separate the combatants. The spectators of this cruel pastime were infuriated, and at the instigation of Satan, who delights in blood, they stoned to death the messenger of peace. On hearing what had happened the excellent emperor had him enrolled in the glorious company of martyrs, and put an end to these criminal sports.”

In the Hieronymianum the notice, preserved to the present day in the Roman Martyrology, reads: “January 1st...the feast of Almachius, who, when he said ‘To-day is the octave day of the Lord, cease from the superstitions of idols and from polluted sacrifices’, was slain by gladiators at the command of Alipius, prefect of the city.”

As against Dom Germain Morin, who is inclined to regard this alleged martyrdom as only an echo of the fantastic legend of the dragon of the Roman Forum, Father H. Delehaye, the Bollandist, believes the incident to be historical, and, in spite of certain difficulties, considers that the martyr’s name was really Almachius, and that he perished about A.D. 400.

See Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxxiii (1914), pp. 421—428. Cf. Morin, in Revue Béné­dictine, vol. xxxi (1914), pp. 321—326, and CMH., p. 21.  
5th  v.  ST EUPHROSYNE, VIRGIN THE Greeks call St Euphrosyne “Our Mother”,  and pay her great honour, but we have no authentic accounts of her life. Her so-called history is nothing but a replica of the story of St Pelagia, as narrated for Western readers in the Vitae Patrum or in the Golden Legend, a tale which struck the popular fancy and which, with slight variations, was adapted as an embellishment to the lives of St Marina, St Apollinaris, St Theodora, etc.

St. Euphrosyne A virgin of Alexandria
Egypt, daughter of Paphnutis, a merchant. She received the veil without the permission of her father and dressed as a monk in order to escape detection, using the name Smaragdus. Her father consulted her without recognizing his daughter on several occasions. She identified herself on her deathbed, and her father took her place in the hermitage.
This tradition is duplicated in other lives of saints and is not considered valid.

According to this fiction, St Euphrosyne was the daughter of Paphnutius, a pious and wealthy citizen of Alexandria. He and his wife had long been childless, but Euphrosyne was born to them in answer to the prayers of a holy monk whose intercession they had sought. The little girl was fascinating and marvelously beautiful, and because of the joy she caused to her parents they named her Euphrosyne.
When she was eleven, her mother died. Her father set about finding her a husband and affianced her to a young man of great wealth. At first she does not seem to have objected, but after an interview with the old monk who had prayed for her before her birth, she began to feel the call to a higher life and ceased to care for the things of this world. She tore off her jewelry and gave it away to the poor, she avoided young people of her own age, consorting only with pious, elderly women, and, in order to make herself less attractive, we are told that she ceased washing her face “even with cold water”. All this seems to have made no impression on her father, who went off to a three days’ retreat in honour of the holy founder of a monastery of which he was a benefactor. As soon as he was gone, Euphrosyne sent a servant she could trust to ask for an interview with the old monk. She told him how she felt, and he replied that our Lord had said that if anyone would not leave father, mother, brothers and everything for the kingdom of Heaven’s sake, he could not be His disciple. She then confessed that she feared to anger her father, as she was the only heir to his property. The monk answered that her father could find as many heirs as he wanted among the poor and the sick. Finally she asked him to give her the veil—which he did then and there.
When the interview was over, and Euphrosyne began to think matters out, she came to the conclusion that she could not count upon being safe from her father in any nunnery in that country, for he would be sure to find her and carry her off by force. She therefore secretly changed into man’s attire and slipped out of the house by night—her father being still away. She found her way to the very monastery her father frequented, and asked for the superior, who was surprised to see this exceptionally beautiful youth. Euphrosyne told him that her name was Smaragdus, that she had been attached to the court but had fled from the distractions of the city and the intrigues of the courtiers, and that she now desired to spend her life in peace and prayer. The abbot was greatly edified and offered to receive her if she would submit to the direction of an elder to teach her the discipline of the religious life— she being evidently quite inexperienced. She replied that, far from objecting to one, she would welcome many masters to teach her the way of perfection. No one ever suspected her sex, and she soon gave proof of extraordinary progress in virtue. She had many trials and temptations, but she overcame them all. Because her beauty and charm were a cause of distraction to the other monks, she retired to a solitary cell where she saw only those who desired her advice. Her fame for holiness and wisdom spread far and wide, and after a time her father, in his despair at losing her, asked leave to consult this venerated ascetic, Smaragdus. She recognized him, but he did not know her, since her face was almost hidden and she was much changed by her austerities. She gave him spiritual consolation, but did not make herself known to him till she was on her deathbed many years later. After her death, her father Paphnutius retired from the world and inhabited her cell for ten years.
See Delehaye, Les légendes hagiographiques (1927), pp. 189—192, and Quentin, Les mar­tyrologes historiques, pp. 165—166. Although a commemoration of St Euphrosyne appears in the Roman Martyrology under January 1, and the Carmelites claim her as belonging to their order and keep her feast on January 2, there is the gravest reason to doubt whether such a person ever existed. No local cultus exists in this case, to which we can trace the origin of the legend. In the Greek synaxaries she is commemorated on September 25, and in the majority of the Latin martyrologies her elogium occurs on January 1 ; but in the Acta Sanctorum her story is given on February is. A Greek life is printed in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. ii, pp. 196-205, and the Latin versions are catalogued in BHL., nn. 2722— 2726. The atmosphere of all these is decidedly one of pure romance. At the same time there do seem to be authentic cases of women hiding themselves in male attire in monasteries and remaining for a while undetected. There is more or less contemporary evidence that this was done by the girl “Hildegund”, who died in the Cistercian abbey of Schönau on April 20, 1188.  But the question of her sanctity is another matter.
475 St. Basil Bishop of Aix, in Provence.  
Cæsaréæ, in Cappadócia, deposítio sancti Basilíi, cognoménto Magni, Epíscopi, Confessóris et Ecclésiæ Doctóris; qui, témpore Valéntis Imperatóris, doctrína et sapiéntia insignítus omnibúsque virtútibus exornátus, mirabíliter effúlsit, et Ecclésiam advérsus Ariános et Macedoniános inexpugnábili constántia deféndit.  Ejus autem festívitas potíssimum ágitur décimo octávo Kaléndas Júlii, quo die Epíscopus ordinátus est.
    At Caesarea in Cappadocia, the death of St. Basil the Great, bishop, confessor, and doctor of the Church, renowned for his learning and wisdom and gifted with every virtue, who during the reign of Emperor Valens wonderfully displayed his talents as he defended the Church with great constancy against the Arians and Macedonians.  His feast, however, is appropriately kept on the 14th of June, the day on which he was consecrated bishop.
France. He was originally a priest in Arles.
510 St. Eugendus 4th abbot of Condat, near Geneva Switzerland.  Also called Oyand, Eugendus was never ordained, but he was a noted Scripture scholar.

510 ST EUGENDUS, or OYEND, ABBOT
AFTER the death of the brothers St Romanus and St Lupicinus, founders of the abbey of Condat, under whose discipline he had been educated from the age of seven, Eugendus became coadjutor to Minausius, their immediate successor, and soon after, upon his demise, abbot of that famous monastery. His life was most austere, and he was so dead to himself as to seem incapable of betraying the least emotion of anger. His countenance was always cheerful; yet he never laughed. He was well skilled in Greek and Latin and in the Holy Scriptures, and a great promoter of studies in his monastery, but no importunities could prevail upon him to consent to he ordained priest.
   In the lives of the first abbots of Condat it is mentioned that the monastery, which was built by St Romanus of timber, being consumed by fire, St Eugendus rebuilt it of stone; and also that he built a handsome church in honour of SS. Peter, Paul and Andrew.
   His prayer was almost continual, and his devotion most ardent during his last illness. Having called the priest among his brethren to whom he had committed the office of anointing the sick, Eugendus caused him to anoint his breast according to the custom then prevalent, and he breathed forth his soul five days after, about the year 510, and of his age sixty-one.*{* The rich abbey of Saint-Claude gave rise to a considerable town built about it, which was made an episcopal see by Pope Benedict XIV in 1748, who, secularizing the monastery, converted it into a cathedral. The canons to gain admittance were required to give proof of their nobility for sixteen degrees, eight paternal and as many maternal.}

 The great abbey of Condat, seven leagues from Geneva, received from this saint the name of Saint-Oyend, till in the thirteenth century it exchanged it for that of Saint-Claude, after the bishop of Besançon who is honoured on June 6.

See the life of St Eugendus by a contemporary and disciple of his, which has been critically edited in modern times by Bruno Krusch in the MGH., Scriptores Merov., vol. iii, pp. 154—166.  Krusch, in his introduction and in a paper on “La falsification des vies des saints burgondes” in Mélanges Julien Havet, pp. 39—56, pronounces this life to be a forgery of much later date; but Mgr L. Duchesne, in Mélanges d’archéologie et d’histoire (1898), vol. xviii, pp. 3—16, has successfully vindicated its authenticity and trustworthiness.
540 St. Justin of Chieti  A patron of Chieti, Italy.
He has been venerated there for centuries and was possibly a bishop.
533 St. Fulgentius Bishop of Ruspe, Tunisia friend of St. Augustine;  
“A person may be endowed with the gift of miracles, and yet may lose his soul. Miracles insure not salvation; they may indeed procure esteem and applause; but what will it avail a man to be esteemed on earth and afterwards be delivered up to torments?”

Born Fabius Claudius Gordianus Fulgentius of Carthage, he was a Roman of senatorial rank. His mother, widowed, opposed Fulgentius’ religious career, but he became a monk. He became abbot with Felix but had to flee the monastery in 499 when Vandals or Numidians invaded, going to Sicca Veneria. Retuming to the area, Fulgentius was named bishop of Ruspe, circa 508. King Thrasamund , an Arian, banished Fulgentius to Sardinia, Italy where he and other bishops were aided by Pope St. Symmachus. Fulgentius founded a monastery and wrote such eloquent defenses of orthodox Catholic doctrines that King Thrasamund returned him to his see, only to banish him again. In 523, Fulgentius returned to his see, where he set about rebuilding the faith.

533 St Fulgentius, Bishop of Ruspe.
Fabius Claudius Gordianus Fulgentius was the descendant of a noble senatorial family of Carthage, born in 468, about thirty years after the Vandals had dismembered Africa from the Roman Empire. He was educated with his younger brother under the care of his mother Mariana, who was left a young widow. Being by her particular direction taught Greek very young, he spoke it with as proper and exact an accent as if it had been his native language. He also applied himself to Latin; yet he knew how to mingle business with study, for he took upon himself the administration of the family concerns in order to ease his mother of the burden. His prudence, his virtuous conduct, his mild carriage to all, and more especially his deference for his mother caused him to be respected wherever his name was known. He was chosen procurator—that is, lieutenant governor and general receiver of the taxes of Byzacena. But it was not long before he grew disgusted with the world; and being justly alarmed at its dangers, he armed himself against them by reading, prayer and severe fasts. His visits to monasteries were frequent; and happening to read a sermon of St Augustine on the thirty-sixth psalm, in which that saint treats of the world and the short duration of human life, he felt within him strong desires of embracing the monastic state.
Huneric, the Arian king, had driven most of the orthodox bishops from their sees. One of these, named Faustus, had founded a monastery in Byzacena. It was to him that the young nobleman addressed himself; but Faustus, taking exception to the weakness of his constitution, discouraged his desires with words of some harshness “Go”, said he, “and first learn to live in the world abstracted from its pleasures. Who can suppose that you, on a sudden relinquishing a life of ease, can put up with our coarse diet and clothing, and can inure yourself to our watchings and fastings?” Fulgentius modestly replied that, “He who hath inspired me with the will to serve Him can also furnish me with courage and strength.”

This humble yet resolute answer induced Faustus to admit him on trial. The saint was then twenty-two. The news of so unthought of an event both surprised and edified the whole country; but Mariana, his mother, ran to the monastery, crying out at the gates, “Faustus! Restore to me my son, and to the people their governor. The Church protects widows; why, then, rob you me, a desolate widow, of my son?” Nothing that Faustus could urge was sufficient to calm her. This was certainly as great a trial of Fulgentius’s resolution as it could well be put to; but Faustus approved his vocation, and accordingly recommended him to the brethren. But soon, persecution breaking out anew, Faustus was obliged to withdraw; and our saint repaired to a neighbouring monastery, of which Felix, the abbot, would fain resign to him the government. Fulgentius was much startled at the proposal, but at length was prevailed upon to consent that they should jointly execute the functions of superior. It was admirable to observe with what harmony these two holy abbots for six years governed the house. No contradiction ever took place between them: each always contended to comply with the will of his colleague. Felix undertook the management of the temporal concerns; Fulgentius’s province was to preach and instruct.

In the year 499, the country being ravaged by an irruption of the Numidians, the two abbots were compelled to fly to Sicca Veneria, a city of the proconsular province of Africa. Here it was that an Arian priest ordered them to be arrested and scourged on account of their preaching the consubstantiality of the Son of God. Felix, seeing the executioners seize first on Fulgentius, cried out, “Spare that poor brother of mine, who is too delicate for your brutalities: let them rather be my portion, who am strong of body.” They accordingly fell on Felix first, and the old man endured their stripes with unflinching resolution. When it was Fulgentius’s turn he bore the lashes patiently enough; but feeling the pain excessive, that he might gain a little respite he requested his judge to give ear to something he had to impart to him. The executioners being commanded to desist, he began to discourse pleasantly of his travels. The cruel fanatic had expected an offer to surrender on terms, but finding himself disappointed he ordered the torments to be redoubled. At length the confessors were dismissed, their clothes rent, their bodies inhumanly torn, their beards and hair plucked out. The very Asians were ashamed of such cruelty, and their bishop offered to punish the priest if Fulgentius would undertake his prosecution. His answer was that a Christian is never allowed to seek revenge, and that a blessing is promised for the forgiveness of injuries.
     Fulgentius went aboard a ship bound for Alexandria, wishing to visit the deserts of Egypt, renowned for the sanctity of the solitaries who dwelt there. But the vessel touching at Sicily, Eulalius, abbot at Syracuse, diverted him from his intended voyage by assuring him that “a perfidious dissension had severed that country from the communion of Peter”, meaning that Egypt was full of heretics, with whom those who dwelt there were obliged either to join in communion, or be deprived of the sacraments.
     Fulgentius, having laid aside the thought of visiting Alexandria, embarked for Rome, to offer up his prayers at the tombs of the apostles. One day he saw Theodoric, the king of Italy, enthroned in state, surrounded by the senate and his court. “Ah!” said Fulgentius, “how beautiful must the heavenly Jerusalem be, if earthly Rome is so glorious! What glory will God bestow on the saints in Heaven, since here He clothes with such splendour the lovers of vanity!” This happened towards the latter part of the year 500, when that king made his first entry into Rome. Fulgentius returned home shortly after, and built a spacious monastery in Byzacena, but retired himself to a cell beside the seashore. Faustus, his bishop, obliged him to resume the government of his monastery; and many places at the same time sought him for their bishop, for King Thrasimund having prohibited by edict the ordination of orthodox bishops, several sees had long been vacant. Among these was Ruspe, now a little place called Kudiat Rosfa in Tunisia.
For this see St Fulgentius was drawn out of his retreat and consecrated bishop in 508.

His new dignity made no alteration in his manners. He never wore the orarium, a kind of stole then used by bishops, nor other clothes than his usual coarse garb, which was the same in winter and summer. He went sometimes barefoot; he never undressed to take rest, and always rose for prayer before the midnight office. It was only when ill that he suffered a little wine to be mingled with the water, which he drank; and he never could be prevailed upon to eat flesh-meat.

His modesty, meekness and humility gained him the affections of all, even of an ambitious deacon Felix, who had opposed his election and whom the saint treated with cordial charity. His love of retirement induced him to build a monastery near his house at Ruspe; but before the building could be completed, orders were issued from King Thrasi­mund for his banishment to Sardinia, with others, to the number of sixty orthodox bishops.

Fulgentius, though the youngest of the band, was their oracle when in doubt and their tongue and pen upon all occasions. Pope St Symmachus, out of his fatherly charity, every year sent provisions in money and clothes to these champions of Christ. A letter of this pope to them is still extant, in which he en­courages and comforts them; and it was at the same time that he sent them certain relics of SS. Nazarius and Romanus, “that the example and patronage (patrocinia),” as he expresses it,” of those generous soldiers of Christ might animate the confessors to fight valiantly the battles of the Lord”.

St Fulgentius with some companions converted a house at Cagliari into a monastery, which immediately became the resort of all in affliction and of all who sought counsel. In this retirement the saint composed many learned treatises for the instruction of the faithful in Africa. King Thrasimund, hearing that he was their principal support and advocate, sent for him. The Arian king then drew up a set of objections, to which he required his answer; the saint complied with the demand: and this is supposed to be his book entitled An Answer to Ten Objections. The king admired his humility and learning, and the orthodox triumphed in the advantage their cause gained by this rejoinder. To prevent the same effect a second time, the king, when he sent him new objections, ordered them to be only read to him. Fulgentius refused to give answers in writing unless he was allowed to take a copy of them. He addressed, however, to the king an ample and modest con­futation of Arianism, which we have under the title of his Three Books to King Thrasimund, The prince was pleased with the work, and granted him permission to reside at Carthage till, upon repeated complaints from the Arian bishops of the success of his preaching, he was sent back to Sardinia in 520. Being ready to go aboard the ship, he said to a Catholic whom he saw weeping, “ Grieve not; I shall shortly return, and we shall see the true faith of Christ flourish again in this kingdom with full liberty; but divulge not this secret to any.”

The event confirmed the truth of the prediction. His humility concealed the multiplicity of miracles that he wrought; and he was wont to say, “A person may be endowed with the gift of miracles, and yet may lose his soul. Miracles insure not salvation; they may indeed procure esteem and applause; but what will it avail a man to be esteemed on earth and afterwards be delivered up to torments?”

Having returned to Cagliari, he erected a new monastery near that city, and was careful to supply his monks with all necessaries, especially in sickness; but would not suffer them to ask for anything, alleging that “We ought to receive all things as from the hand of God, with resignation and gratitude”.

King Thrasimund died in 523, having nominated Hilderic his successor, and in Africa the professors of the true faith called home their pastors. The ship, which brought them back, was received at Carthage with great demonstrations of joy, more particularly when Fulgentius appeared on the upper-deck of the vessel. The confessors went straight to the church of St Agileus to return thanks to God; on their way, being surprised by a sudden storm, the people, to show their singular regard for Fulgentius, made a kind of umbrella over his head with their cloaks to defend him from the downpour.

The saint hastened to Ruspe and immediately set about reforming abuses that had crept in during the seventy years of perse­cution; but this reformation was carried on with a sweetness that won sooner or later the hearts of the most obdurate. St Fulgentius had a wonderful gift of oratory; and Boniface, Archbishop of Carthage, never heard him without tears, thanking God for having given so great a pastor to His Church.

About a year before his death, Fulgentius retired into a monastery on the little island called Circinia to prepare himself for his passage to eternity. The impor­tunities of his flock, however, recalled him to Ruspe a little before the end. He bore the pain of his last illness with admirable patience, having this prayer almost always upon his lips: “Lord, grant me patience now, and hereafter mercy and pardon.” The physicians advised him to take baths, to whom he answered, “Can baths make a mortal man escape death, when his life has reached its term?”

Summoning his clergy and monks, who were all in tears, he begged their forgiveness if he had ever offended any one of them; he comforted them, gave them some moving instructions, and calmly breathed forth his soul in the year 533, of his age the sixty-fifth, on January 1, on which day his name occurs in many calendars. In some few churches his feast is kept on May 16, perhaps the day on which his relics were translated, about 714, to Bourges, in France, where they were destroyed in the Revolution. The veneration for his virtues was such that he was interred within the church, contrary to the law and custom of that age, as is remarked by the author of his life. St Fulgentius had chosen the great St Augustine for his model; and as a true disciple, imitated him in his conduct, faithfully imbibing his spirit and expounding his doctrine.

There is a trustworthy biography of this saint, written by a contemporary, whom many believe to have been his disciple, Fulgentius Ferrandus. It has been printed in the Acta Sanctorum, January 1, and elsewhere. See the important work of G. G. Lapeyre, St Fulgence de Ruspe (1929), which includes the vita in a separate volume. For an account of the theo­logical and controversial writings of St Fulgentius reference may be made to Bardenhewer’s Patrology, pp. 616—618 in the English translation (1908) or to DTC., vol. vi, cc. 968 seq. See also Abbot Chapman in the Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. vi, pp. 316—317; and Dr H. R. Reynolds in DCB., vol. ii, pp. 576—583 .
580 ST FELIX, BISHOP OF BOURGES;  orthodox patriarchate; numerous cures are said obtained by those who drank water in which some of the dust of the old crumbling slab had been mingled.
NOT very much is known of this saint, but there can be no doubt regarding his historical existence or the veneration in which his contemporaries held him. St Germanus of Paris officiated at his consecration; we cannot be sure of the exact date.
     St Felix took part in the Council of Paris (A.D. 573), and Venantius Fortunatus addressed a little poem to him commending a golden pyx (turns) which he had had made for reservation of the Eucharist. St Felix is commemorated in the diocese of Bourges on January 1, but the year of his death cannot be accurately determined. His tomb was in the church of St Austregisilus de Castro, outside the city walls. Twelve years after his death, as we learn from Gregory of Tours, the slab covering his remains was replaced by another of more precious material. The body was then found to be perfectly free from corruption, and numerous cures are said obtained by those who drank water in which some of the dust of the old crumbling slab had been mingled.

See Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux de l’andenne Gaule, vol. ii (1900), p. 28. Venantius Fortunatus, Carmina, bk iii, no. 25 (Migne, PL., vol. lxxxviii, c. 473; in the text edited for MGH. by F. Leo this poem is printed as bk iii, no. 20); and Gregory of Tours, In gloria confessorum, c. 102, in MGH., Scriptores Merov., vol. i.  
585 St. Fanchea lrish abbess foundress of a convent of St. Ends. or Endeus.  Also called Garbh Fanchea founded Rossary Convent in Fermanagh Ireland, and was buried at Killane. She was born in Clogher.
590 St. Connat The abbess of St. Brigid’s convent at Kildare, Ireland.
6th v. St. Cuan Irish abbot founded many churches and monasteries also called Moncan or Mochua.
He supposedly lived almost one hundred years and founded many churches and monasteries in Ireland.
660 ST CLARUS, ABBOT;  many marvellous stories of the miracles he worked, *{* It is perhaps desirable to remind the reader once for all that only Almighty God can do miracles. The use of the above and similar expressions is permissible by custom, but in fact God does the miracle through the agency or at the intercession of the saint concerned.}
ST CLARUS, whose name was given him in his youth from his “brightness”, not so much in human learning as in his perception of the things of God, is believed made abbot of the monastery of St Marcellus at Vienne in Dauphiné, early in the seventh century. A Latin life, which must be more than a hundred years later in date, relates many marvellous stories of the miracles he worked, but it is probably trustworthy when it tells us that Clarus was first a monk in the abbey of St Ferréol, that he was highly esteemed by Cadeoldus, Archbishop of Vienne, that he was made spiritual director of the convent of St Blandina, where his own mother and other widows took the veil, and that he ended his days (January 1, c. 660) as abbot of St Marcellus. His cultus was confirmed in 1903.
See Acta Sanctorum, January 1, and M. Blanc, Vie et culte de S. Clair (2 vols., 1898).
St. Clarus Abbot  numerous miracles  patron of tailors
Clarus was born near Vienne, Dauphine', France. He became a monk at St. Ferreol Abbey and later was spiritual director of St. Blandina Convent, where his mother and sister were nuns. In time he became Abbot of St. Marcellus monastery at Vienne and lived there until his death on January 1. He is reputed to have performed numerous miracles, and his cult was confirmed in 1903 by Pope Pius X. He is the patron of tailors.
837 St Peter of Atroa, Abbot;  numerous miracles; undertook restoration of St Zachary’s and reorganization of 2 other monasteries he established, his own residence hermitage at Atroa; Iconoclast troubles began again and, the local bishop being an opponent of images, Peter judged it wise once more to disperse his monks to more remote houses; ninth-century Byzantine hagiography and for what it tells of monastic life during the Iconoclast troubles; moines de l’Olympe  scanty ruins of St Peter’s monastery of St Zachary, and of numerous others, can still be seen.
A LIFE of St Peter of Atroa, who was born in 773 near Ephesus, was written by one of his own disciples and is still extant. It goes into some detail, but is principally made up of edifying anecdotes of no great interest, particulars of the saint’s numer­ous journeys and, above all, accounts of his even more numerous miracles.

He was the eldest of three children, and was christened Theophylact, and nobody was surprised when, at the age of eighteen, he decided to be a monk. Directed, it is said, by the All-holy Mother of God, he joined St Paul the Hesychast (Recluse) at his hermitage at Crypta in Phrygia, who clothed Theophylact with the holy habit and gave him the name of Peter. Immediately after his ordination to the priest­hood at Zygos some years later, at the very door of the church, there happened the first wonder recorded of him, when he cured a man possessed by an unclean spirit.

Shortly afterwards St Peter accompanied his spiritual father on his first pil­grimage, when they directed their steps towards Jerusalem; but God in a vision turned them aside, telling them to go to the Bithynian Olympus, where St Paul was to establish a monastery at the chapel of St Zachary on the edge of the Atroa. This accordingly was done, the monastery flourished, and before his death in 805 Paul named Peter as his successor. He was then thirty-two years old, and the access of responsibility made him redouble his fervour and his extreme austerities.

The monastery continued to flourish for another ten years, when St Peter decided to disperse his community in the face of the persecution by the Emperor  Leo the Armenian of those who upheld the orthodox doctrine concerning the veneration of images. Peter himself went first to Ephesus and then to Cyprus; on his return, at a conference of some of his refugee brethren, he escaped arrest by imperial troops only by making himself invisible. Then, with one companion, Brother John, he continued his wanderings and visited his home, where his brother Christopher and his widowed mother received the monastic habit at his hands. He tried to settle down as a recluse in several places, one of which was Kalonoros, The Beautiful Mountain, at the end of the Hellespont; but so great was his reputation as a wonder-worker and reader of consciences that he was never left in peace for long. But at Kalorioros he remained for some years, making journeys about western Asia Minor from time to time, each of which was starred with miracles.
The death of Leo the Armenian in 820 made for a little more tranquillity in the Church, and with the stimulus of persecution taken away for a time the pettiness of small minds reasserted itself. Certain bishops and abbots, jealous of his popularity and his miracles, accused St Peter of practising magic and of casting out devils by the power of Beelzebub. When they refused to listen to his modest expostulations, Peter decided to seek the advice of St Theodore Studites, who was living in exile with some of his monks at Kreskentios, on the gulf of Nicomedia. When he had made careful enquiry and questioned Peter closely, St Theodore wrote a letter (it can be found in his works) to all the monks around Mount Olympus, declaring that the conduct and doctrine of Peter of Atroa were irreproachable and that he was as good a monk as could be found. The detractors were thus rebuked, and the vindicated Peter returned to Kalonoros.

He then undertook the restoration of St Zachary’s and the reorganization of two other monasteries that he had established, taking up his own residence in a hermitage at Atroa. But a few years later the Iconoclast troubles began again and, the local bishop being an opponent of images, Peter judged it wise once more to disperse his monks to more remote houses. He was only just in time, for soon after the bishop came to St Zachary’s with the intention of driving them out and arresting those who resisted. St Peter, meanwhile, having seen his community safely housed elsewhere, stayed for a period with a famous recluse called James, near the Monastery of the Eunuchs on Mount Olympus. It was while staying here that he miraculously cured of a fever St Paul, Bishop of Prusias, who had been driven from his see by the image-breakers: the instrument of the bishop’s cure was a good square meal.

Persecution becoming more envenomed in Lydia, Peter and James retired to the monastery of St Porphyrios on the Hellespont, but soon after St Peter decided to go back to Olympus to visit his friend St Joannicius at Balea, from whence he returned to his hermitage at St Zachary’s. A few weeks later St Joannicius had a vision: he seemed to be talking with Peter of Atroa, at the foot of a mountain whose crest reached to the heavenly courts; and as they talked, two shining figures appeared who, taking Peter one by each arm, bore him away upwards in a halo of glory. At the same moment, in the church of St Zachary’s, while the monks were singing the night office with their abbot on a bed of sickness in the choir, death came to St Peter of Atroa, after he had lovingly addressed his brethren for the last time. It was January 1, 837.
There seems to have been no liturgical cultus of St Peter of Atroa, but it is nevertheless curious that his contemporary biography should have been ignored or overlooked by hagiologists for so long. As is said above, it is largely taken up with the Saint’s miracles, but it is interesting as a good specimen of ninth-century Byzantine hagiography and for what it tells of monastic life during the Iconoclast troubles. Rescuing the manuscript “from wherever the caprice of the learned had, hidden it”, as Fr V. Laurent puts it, Fr B. Menthon published a translation in L’Unité de l’Eglise, nos. 60 and 71 (1934—35), as one chapter from his work on Les moines de l’Olympe. Father Menthon was pastor of the Latin Catholics at Brusa, and had an intimate knowledge of the topography and archaeology of the neighbouring mountain, where scanty ruins of St Peter’s monastery of St Zachary, and of numerous others, can still be seen.

1031 St William of Saint Benignus, Abbot;  character was great zeal and firmness joined with tender affection for his subjects;  did not hesitate to oppose, both by action and writings, the most powerful rulers of his time, like Emperor St Henry, Robert, King of France, and Pope John XIX, when he felt the cause of justice was at stake; In interests of the Cluniac reform he was constantly active, making many journeys and travelling as far as Rome.

St William, who must be regarded as one of the remarkable men of his age, was born in the castle of the island of San Giuglio, near Novara, in 962, at the very time when this stronghold was being defended by his father, Count Robert of Volpiano, against the besieging forces of the Emperor Otto. The garrison was eventually forced to capitulate upon honourable terms, and the emperor and his consort, laying aside all resentment, acted as sponsors to the newly born infant.

He was educated in a monastery, and later became a monk at Locadio, near Vercelli. In 987 he met St Majolus, and followed him to join the already famous abbey over which the latter ruled at Cluny. The Cluniac reform was then rapidly extending its sphere of influence, and William, after being sent for a while to reorganize the monastery of Saint-Sernin on the Rhone, was finally chosen to go with twelve other monks to revive the ancient foundation of Saint Benignus at Dijon. William now received the priesthood and was blessed as abbot. In a short time the whole abbey underwent a transformation both materially and spiritually. The edifice was enlarged, a great minster was built, schools were opened, and the arts encouraged, hospitality developed, and works of charity in every form set on foot. Ultimately the community of Saint Benignus became the centre of a great network of associated monasteries, either reformed or newly founded, in Burgundy, Lorraine and Italy.

St William’s own character was one in which great zeal and firmness were joined with tender affection for his subjects. He did not hesitate on occasion to oppose, both by action and by his writings, the most powerful rulers of his time, men like the Emperor St Henry, Robert, King of France, and Pope John XIX, when he felt the cause of justice was at stake.
In the interests of the Cluniac reform he was constantly active, making many journeys and travelling as far as Rome. His biographer claims that he inspired St Odilo, who is also commemorated on this day, with the love of high perfection, and amongst his other works he refounded Fécamp in Normandy, a monastic institution that afterwards had an important influence on the religious life in England.

It was at Fécamp that St William breathed his last, as day was dawning, on Sunday, January 1, 1031.

The life of William, written by his disciple Ralph Glaber shortly after his death, has been printed by the Bollandists, by Mabillon, and others. See also E. Sackur, Die Cluniacenser; Hauck, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands, vol. iii; G. Chevallier, Le Vénérable Guillaume (1875); and B.H.L., n. 1284. 

962 - 1031 St. William of Dijon abbot 40 monasteries
William of Dijon is also known as William of St. Benignus. He was the son of Count Robert of Volpiano. William was born in the family castle on San Giuglio island in lake Orta near Nocera while his father was defending the island against the attacking Emperor Otto, who became his sponsor when he captured the island. William was entered into the Benedictine Abbey of Locadio when he was seven, became a monk there, and joined St. Majolus at Cluny in 987. He reorganized St. Sernin Abbey on the Rhone, was ordained in 990, named abbot of St. Benignus at Dijon, and built the Abbey into a great center of spirituality, education, and culture, and the mother monastery of some forty monasteries in Burgundy, Lorraine, Normandy, and Northern Italy. He traveled widely, spreading the Cluniac reform. He died at Fe'camp Monastery in Normandy which he had rebuilt on January 1.
1048 St. Odilo monk at Cluny  5th abbot ecstacies great austerities inaugurated All Souls' Day.
Odilo was named abbot in 994. He practiced great austerities, and sold church treasures to feed the poor during a famine in 1006. During his abbacy, he increased substantially, the number of abbeys dependent on Cluny, and with Abbot Richard of Saint-Vanne was responsible for the acceptance in France of "the truce of God" and the rule guaranteeing sanctuary to those seeking refuge in a church. He was devoted to the Incarnation and the Blessed Virgin. He inaugurated All Souls' Day with an annual commemoration of the departed faithful, and experienced ecstacies. Ill the last five years of his life, he died while on a visitation of his monasteries at a priory at Souvigny on January 1. He had been abbot for more than fifty years.

Odilo of Cluny, OSB, Abbot (RM) Born in Auvergne, France, c. 962; died at Souvigny, c. 1049. Saint Odilo was a scion of the very aristocratic French family of Mercoeur. He joined the monastery of Cluny when he was still very young. About 991, the abbot, Saint Mayeul, named him coadjutor. Upon the Mayeul's death in 994, Odilo became Cluny's fifth abbot.
During his 54 years in office he brought the other Cluniac houses into closer and closer dependence upon the mother house, and increased the number of foundations from 37 to 65. Among his general activities was the support he gave to Abbot Richard of Saint-Vanne for the acceptance in France of the institution called the Truce of God (Treuga Dei), whereby military hostilities were regularly suspended at certain times (Fridays through Mondays, Advent, and Lent). This measure had economic as well as religious and social significance and also guaranteed sanctuary to those seeking refuge in a church. Odilo also effectively promoted the Pactum Dei, whereby ecclesiastical persons and property were protected against attack in war.

In 998 (or 1031 by some accounts) he ordered that in all Cluniac houses November 2, the day after the Feast of All Saints, should be observed in memory of and prayer for all the dead; this observance, All Souls' Day, afterwards spread to the whole Western Church.

Though he was a friend of princes and popes, he was exceedingly gentle and kind and known throughout Christendom for his liberality to the needy. Odilo's concern for the people was also shown by the lavish help he gave during several famines, especially in 1006, when he sold Church treasures to feed the poor, and again from 1028-1033.

Saint Odilo's physical appearance was unimpressive, belying the strength of his character. He practiced great personal austerities (he wore a hair-shirt and studded iron chains) on himself, but liberality and kindness toward others. He experienced ecstasies. It is obvious that he was beloved by his contemporaries; Fulbert of Chartres surnamed Odilo "the Archangel of Monks."

Odilo united in his character gentleness with firmness, organizational skills with the ability to reconcile enemies. His favorite saying is that he would rather be damned for being too merciful than for being too severe. He promoted the spirit of true monasticism and tried to remove its abuses. During his rule, he sought to promote the close unity of Cluny and the Holy See.

It is appropriate that he should die during the Octave of Christmas because his favorite topic for sermons was the mystery of the Incarnation.
The place of the Blessed Virgin was also worked out by Odilo, to whose writings the Mariology of Saint Bernard owes much.

His duties involved him in much travelling about, though he was ill during the last five years of his life. It was on a journey of inspection that he died, at the priory of Souvigny; he was about 86 (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer).

In art Saint Odilo is portrayed as a Benedictine abbot with a skull and crossbones at his feet. Because he instituted the Feast of All Souls, at times he may be shown (1) saying Mass with purgatory open at his side; or (2) with angels releasing souls from purgatorial fire (Roeder). He is invoked on behalf of souls in purgatory and against jaundice (Roeder).

1049 ST ODILO, ABBOT
ODILO was very young when he received the monastic habit at Cluny from the hands of St Mayeul or Majolus, by whose appointment he was made his coadjutor in 991, though only twenty-nine; and from the death of St Mayeul in 994 he was charged with the entire government of that great abbey. Notwithstanding the austerities practised on himself, his dealings with others were always gentle and kindly. It was usual with him to say that of the two extremes, he chose rather to offend by tenderness than by a too rigid severity. In a great famine in 1006 his liberality to the poor was by many censured as extravagant; for to relieve their necessities he melted down the sacred vessels and ornaments, and sold the gold crown which St Henry had presented to the abbey.
Odilo journeyed to Rome four times, and when out of devotion to St Benedict he paid a visit to Monte Cassino, he earnestly begged leave to kiss the feet of all the monks, obtaining his request with difficulty.
Under the rule of St Odilo the number of abbeys that accepted Cluniac customs and supervision increased, and a greater degree of organization and dependence of the subordinate monasteries on Cluny developed. The particulars varied somewhat according to the status of the monastery concerned and its distance from the motherhouse: but many priories were dependent on Cluny in the strictest sense, and were controlled by her even to the extent of their superiors being nominated by Cluny. In this and in other developments there was a modification of principles laid down in the Rule of St Benedict, and historically a distinction is made between Cluniac monks and Benedictines pure and simple.

Massacres and pillage were so common in that age, owing to the right claimed by every petty lord to avenge his own injuries by private wars, that the agreement called “the truce of God” was set on foot. By this, among other articles, it was agreed that churches should be sanctuaries to all sorts of persons, except those that violated this truce, and that from the Wednesday till the Monday morning no one should offer violence to another. This pact met with much opposition among the Neustrians, but was at length received and observed in most provinces of France, through the exhortations and endeavours of St Odilo, and Richard, Abbot of Saint-Vanne; who were charged with this commission. Prince Casimir, son of Miceslaw, King of Poland, retired to Cluny, where he became a monk, and was ordained deacon. He was afterwards, by a deputation of the nobility, called to the crown. St Odilo referred the matter to Pope Benedict IX, by whose dispensation Casimir mounted the throne in 1041, married, had several children, and reigned till his death in 1058.
It was St Odilo who instituted the annual commemoration of all the faithful departed on November 2, to be observed by the members of his community with alms, prayers and sacrifices for the relief of the suffering souls in Purgatory; and this charitable devotion he often much recommended. He was very devout to the Blessed Virgin; and above all sacred mysteries to that of the divine Incarnation. As the monks were singing that verse in the church, “Thou, about to take upon thee to deliver man, didst not abhor the womb of a virgin”, he was rapt in ecstasy and swooned away.
Most of his sermons and poems treat of the mysteries of our redemption or of the Blessed Virgin. Having patiently suffered during five years many painful diseases, St Odilo died at Souvigny, a priory in the Bourbonnais, whilst employed in the visitation of his monasteries, on January 1, 1049, being eighty-seven, and having been fifty-six years abbot. He insisted on being carried to the church to assist at the Divine Office, and he died, having received the viaticum and extreme unction the day before, lying upon the ground on sackcloth strewn with ashes.
See his life by his disciple Jotsald, edited by the Bollandists and Mabillon. A portion of the text lacking in these copies has been printed in the Neues Archly (1890), vol. xv, pp. 117 seq. Cf. also E. Sackur, Die Cluniacenser P. Jardet, Saint Odilon (1898); BHL., n. 908 ; and Mabillon, Annales, vol. i, p. 57. Ceillier demonstrates against Basnage that the Life of St Alice the Empress is the work of St Odilo, no less than the Life of St Mayeul. We have four letters, some poems, and several sermons of this saint, which may be found in Migne, PL., cxlii. See also Neues Archiv (1899), vol. xxiv, pp. 628-735.
1125 Saint Bonfilius one of the founders of the Servite Order.  
 Apud montem Senárium, in Etrúria, natális sancti Bonfílii Confessóris, e septem Fundatóribus Ordinis Servórum beátæ Maríæ Vírginis, quam cum diem impénse coluísset, ab ipsa in cælum repénte evocátus est.  Illíus porro ac Sociórum festum prídie Idus Februárii celebrátur.
      In Tuscany, on Mount Senario, St. Bonfilius, confessor, one of the seven founders of the Order of the Servites of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who, having honoured her devoutly, was suddenly called to heaven by her.  His feast, with that of his companions, is kept on February 12th.
"Saint Bonfilius" can also refer to Buonfiglio dei Monaldi, one of the founders of the Servite Order.
Saint Bonfilius (ca. 1040—ca. 1125) an Italian saint born in Osimo and a Benedictine monk. He subsequently became bishop of Storace. In 1078, he was elected bishop of Foligno and went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1096. He then entered an abbey when he returned.
His feast day is September 27.
1252 Bl. Berka Zdislava founded Dominican priory of St. Laurence Communion daily.
She died in 1252. Born in the diocese of Litomerici, Bavaria, and married to a noble of her familys choice, she became the mother of four children. Her husband proved unkind, although she was finally able to devote some of their wealth to the poor and the refugees from the Tartar invasion. Eventually she founded the Dominican priory of St. Laurence near her castle, received Communion daily (most unusual at that time) and by the example of her holy death brought about the reform of her husband. She was beatified in 1907. 
1252 BD ZDISLAVA, MATRON
THIS holy associate of the Dominican Order was born early in the thirteenth century in that part of Bohemia that now forms the diocese of Litomerice. Her piety as a child was remarkable, and it is said that at the age of seven she ran off into the forest with the intention of leading a solitary life given up entirely to prayer and penance. She was, of course, brought back, and some years later, in spite of her reluctance, she was constrained by her family to marry. Her husband, a wealthy nobleman, to whom she bore four children, seems to have treated her somewhat brutally, though by her patience and gentleness she secured in the end considerable freedom of action in her practices of devotion, her austerities and her many works of charity.
She made herself at all times the mother of the poor, and especially of the fugitives who, in those troublous days of the Tartar invasion, poured down upon the castle of Gabel, where she and her husband resided. On one occasion her husband, coming indignantly to eject a repulsive fever-stricken mendicant to whom she had given a bed in their house, found in his place, not a living man, but a figure of Christ crucified. Deeply impressed by this (cf. what is said about a similar incident in the life of St Elizabeth of Hungary, November 19), he seems to have left his wife free to found a Dominican priory and to join their third order.
   Zdislava had visions and ecstasies, and even in those days of infrequent communion she is said to have received the Blessed Sacrament almost daily. When she fell grievously ill she consoled her husband and children by saying that she hoped to help them more from the next world than she had ever been able to do in this. She died on January 1, 1252, was buried in the priory of St Laurence which she had founded, and is stated to have appeared to her husband in glory shortly after her death. This greatly strengthened him in his conversion from a life of worldliness. Pope Pius X approved the cult paid to her in her native country in 1907. The alleged connection of Bd Zdislava Berka with the third order of St Dominic remains somewhat of a problem, for the first formal rule for Dominican tertiaries of which we have knowledge belongs to a later date.
See Analecta Ecclesiastica (1907), p. 393; and M. C. Ganay, Les Bienheureuses Dominicaines (Paris, 1913), pp. 49—67.
St. Magnus Martyr noted in the Roman Martyrology.  His Acts are no longer extant.
St. Maelrhys Welsh saint, probably a Breton.  by birth.  He is revered on the island of Bardsey, Wales.
1260 BD HUGOLINO OF GUALDO; entered the Order of the Hermits of St Augustine, and that somewhere about the year 1258 he took over a monastery in his native place, Gualdo in Umbria.
HARDLY anything appears to be recorded concerning the life of this religious beyond the fact that he entered the Order of the Hermits of St Augustine, and that somewhere about the year 1258 he took over a monastery in his native place, Gualdo in Umbria, which monastery had formerly belonged to the Benedictines. There he died in the odour of sanctity only a short time afterwards on January 1, 1260. It would seem that a local cult gradually grew up in the diocese of Spoleto, and that his body, which for many months had remained incorrupt, was translated by Bartholomew Accorambone, Bishop of Spoleto, to the parish church of SS. Antony and Antoninus. This cult was confirmed in 1919.
For the decree confirmationis cultus from which the above is taken, see the Acta Apostolicae Sedis for 1919, p. 181.
1261 St. Bonfilius, confessor, one of the seven founders of the Order of the Servites of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Apud montem Senárium, in Etrúria, natális sancti Bonfílii Confessóris, e septem Fundatóribus Ordinis Servórum beátæ Maríæ Vírginis, quam cum diem impénse coluísset, ab ipsa in cælum repénte evocátus est.  Illíus porro ac Sociórum festum prídie Idus Februárii celebrátur. In Tuscany, on Mount Senario, St. Bonfilius, confessor, one of the seven founders of the Order of the Servites of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who, having honoured her devoutly, was suddenly called to heaven by her.  His feast, with that of his companions, is kept on February 12th.
1713 St. Joseph Mary Tomasi;  Cardinal confessor of Pope Clement XI {1649 1721}; He answered that the days of actual physical martyrdom are over, and that we are now in the days of hidden martyrdom, seen only by God; the lesson of it all being trust in God; Even before his death the sick were healed through touching his clothing, and when the end had come cures multiplied round his bier. Bd Joseph Tommasi was beatified in 1803.
Born the son of the duke of Palermo, he became a member of the Theatine Order. Sent to Rome, he became the confessor of Cardinal Giovanni Francesco Albani, proving instrumental in convincing the cardinal to accept elevation as pope in 1700 under pain of mortal sin. In return, the newly elected pontiff forced Joseph to accept appointment as a cardinal. While he served capably as a cardinal, his first preoccupation was as a brilliant liturgical scholar who published some of his works under the pseudonym J. M. Carus.Among his most notable contributions were: Codices Sacramentorunz Nongentis Annis Vetustiores (1680), including the Missale Gothicurn and the Missale Francorum; Responsalia etA ntiphonaria Ronzanae Ecclesiae a Sancto Gregorio Magno Disposita (1686); and the Antiqua Libri Missaruni Romanae Ecclesiae (1691). Beatified in 1803, he was canonized in 1986 by Pope John Paul II.

1713 Bd Joseph Tommasi, Cardinal of The Holy Roman Church
By the beatification of Cardinal Joseph Mary Tommasi, the Church may be said to have set her seal upon the principle that neither profound learning nor the critical spirit of accurate scholarship nor independence of judgement, so long as it is kept in check by regard for dogmatic truth, are inconsistent with the highest sanctity.

Bd Joseph Tommasi has been described by a high modern authority, Edmund Bishop, as “the prince of liturgists”, and he has been honoured by Anglicans on that ground almost as much as by Catholics; yet amid all his literary labours he practised heroic virtue, and was faithful to the minutest observances of a strict religious rule.
   He was born on September 12, 1649, at Alicata in Sicily. His father was duke of Palermo and prince of Lampedusa, with other honourable titles; his mother’s name was Rosalia Traino. They already had four daughters, who became nuns in the Benedictine monastery at Palma founded by their father. One of them, Isabella, the cardinal’s great confidant (in religion Maria Crocifissa), is also a candidate for beatification and may be styled “Venerable”.

No pains were spared in Joseph’s education, and even as a boy he was a good Greek scholar. The music of the Church also had ever a great attraction for him, and before he was fifteen the superior general of the Theatines was struck with his unusual ability. His distinct call to the religious life came about this time—manifested in his increasing love of prayer and solitude, and his growing distaste for the things of earth. Many obstacles were in the way, besides his father’s wish that he should take up a position at court. One was most unexpected. His mother had already entered a convent as an oblate or tertiary, and now his father determined to do the same and to leave the world, making over everything to Joseph. However, after a time he gave his consent to his son’s fulfilling his vocation. He was drawn to the Theatine clerks regular, as his uncle, Don Carlo, was a distinguished and most saintly member of that order, and his vocation was finally determined by a sermon that he heard.
   He entered the noviciate at Palermo in 1664, and after his profession, being very delicate, he was sent to Palma for change and rest, giving great edification to all he met. He next went to Messina to study Greek, thence to Rome and to the Universities of Ferrara and Modena. In the process of beatification is a letter from Mgr Cavalcante, Bishop of Pozzuoli, speaking of the great virtue, humility and love of silence of the young religious.

A few years later we hear of a prophecy of Maria Crocifissa that her brother would one day be a cardinal, accompanied by a sisterly reminder that, however fine a horse’s trappings may be, he still remains a horse. In 1673 Joseph was called to Rome, being twenty-four years old. His superior offered to ordain him before the full time, but he refused the offer. Maria Crocifissa wrote him a letter of encouragement, telling him rot to shrink from the priesthood, but to see that his soul was like wax, ready to receive its indelible seal. “I give you”, she wrote, “the great book of Christ crucified. Pass your time reading it, for I find your name inscribed there.” He prepared most earnestly for his ordination, and sang his three Christ­mas Masses at San Silvestro, where for forty years, with the exception of a journey to Loreto, he lived the ordinary life of his order.

He was already looked upon as a saint in Rome. At the very sight of him quarrels and disputes, unkind or loose talk ceased. But Don Joseph, like all the chosen of God, passed through a time of bitter spiritual trial and desolation. In 1675 he writes to Maria Crocifissa imploring her prayers. She answered exhorting him to patience and humility in accepting his cross from the hand of God, telling him that she, too, was not without her spiritual trials. He answered that the days of actual physical martyrdom are over, and that we are now in the days of hidden martyrdom, seen only by God; the lesson of it all being trust in God. He was at this time so scrupulous that he could not be allowed to hear confessions or preach.

Don Joseph’s life was almost that of a hermit, devoted to prayer and study.
He made a special study of Greek philosophy, Holy Scripture and the Breviary. Knowledge of eastern languages was a necessity, and his Hebrew teacher, Rabbi Moses da Cave, owed his conversion from Judaism in 1698, at the age of seventy and after long years of resistance, to the prayers of Don Giuseppe and his sisters.

   His first book was an edition of the Speculum of St Augustine. In 1680 appeared the Codices Sacramentorum, being four texts of the most ancient liturgies he could meet with. These precious documents had been stolen from the library of Fleury Abbey, and dispersed by the Calvinists in the sixteenth century. They had been gradually collected together again in Rome, partly by Queen Christina of Sweden. Tommasi’s work became celebrated and Mabillon transcribed a great part of it in his Liturgia Gallicana. Out of modesty his next book, the Psalterium, was pub­lished under the name of Giuseppe Caro. It was a work of very great learning, giving an account of the two most important translations of the psalms, the Roman and the Gallican, and it opened up for liturgists a whole new field of research. There were many other treatises of the same class, particularly on the Antiphonarium, all displaying great erudition and fervent piety. His work on the psalms attracted the notice of Pope Innocent XII, and in 1697 Tommasi entered the Vatican, under obedience, for the first time. 

The year 1704 saw him appointed theologian to the Congregation of Discipline of Regulars. In this latter capacity he laboured for the reform of the orders, and all who came in contact with him were impressed with his zeal and holiness.  Don Tommasi, having been chosen as confessor by Cardinal Albani, had required his penitent in 1700 to accept the papacy under pain of mortal sin. Soon after, Clement XI insisted on raising the Theatine scholar to the cardinalate, saying, Tommasi l’ha fatto a Noi, e Noi lo faremo a lui. (“What Tommasi did to us, we will do to him.”) It was promptly refused, and the whole day was spent in discussion between Don Tommasi and the high ecclesiastics. Eventually he wrote the pope a grateful letter of thanks, “representing to your Holiness the obstacles and impediments, my grave sins, my passions ill-controlled, my ignorance and want of ability, and my conscience bound by vows never to accept any dignity, which make it imperative to implore from your Holiness the permission to refuse the honour”. This letter was read to the Congregation of the Holy Office, and Cardinal Ferrari was deputed by Clement to tell Tommasi that the same reasons applied to him as to the pope, whom he had urged to accept the still more onerous burden of the papacy. Being finally persuaded that it was the will of God, he submitted, saying, Oh via! sara per pochi mese (“ Well it will only be for a few Months”), and went to receive the hat from his Holiness. He wrote to Maria Crocifissa to implore her prayers, saying that Saul among the prophets fell terribly, and that Judas was an apostle and perished.

Joseph Tommasi continued his simple life, going to choir with his brethren, and as much as possible avoiding all ceremony. The members of his household were dressed as poor people; amongst them was an old beggar, a converted Jew. His food was of the plainest, and even of that he ate so little that his doctor remon­strated. The new cardinal took the title of San Martino ai Monti, remembering that he had left home to begin his religious life on St Martin’s day, and also because it had been the title of St Charles Borromeo, who was his great pattern in his life as cardinal.
He found it necessary to leave his monastery in order to live near his church, which belonged to the Carmelites, with whom he frequently joined in their offices as one of themselves. People flocked from all over Rome to be present at his Mass, whereat he allowed nothing but plainsong, accompanied by the organ only. At the classes of Christian doctrine on Sunday he himself instructed the smallest children, explaining the catechism and singing hymns with them. Owing to the extreme moral laxity of the day, he, with the pope’s approval and following the example of Borromeo, insisted on the separation of the sexes in the church and in approaching the altar. This raised a storm of opposition and abuse, but he persevered quietly in what he thought to be right.*{* Separation of men from women at public worship is normal in most parts of the East, and is considered theoretically desirable in the West too: cf. the Code of Canon Law, canon 1262, § 1.}

Bd Joseph was absorbed in the love of God, and often walked about hardly knowing what he was doing. Those who served his Mass bore witness to the extraordinary graces vouchsafed to him, and he was several times found in ecstasy before the Blessed Sacrament or his crucifix. He showed his love for God’s creatures by his almsgiving and care for all who came to him in need—not even allowing the birds to go hungry. The poor and suffering besieged his house and pressed round him when he went out, just as long ago they pressed round his Master. His humility had even, at times, been exaggerated, and his uncle Don Carlo once reproved him for calling himself a ne’er-do-well, telling him not to be abject but humble. To Maria Crocifissa he once called himself a tristo, which may mean scoundrel, to which she replied that she must decline to correspond with such a character. We read also of his patience in bearing constant bad health; of his very severe bodily mortifications, and of the wise moderation of the advice he gave to all who sought his help. He more than once foretold his own death, and when in December 1712 Pope Clement fell ill, the cardinal observed, “The pope will recover; I shall die.” He chose the spot where he should be buried in the crypt of his church, to which he went for the last time on St Thomas’s day and joined the friars at Compline. After the office, he made arrangements with the prior about the alms to be given to the poor, advising him to keep back the coal as the cold would increase after Christmas.

On Christmas Eve he was very ill, but insisted on attending the services at St Peter’s, and offered his three Masses in his own chapel. He suffered greatly from cold, and, refusing all food, could only sit crouching over the fire. After two days he took to his bed. Hearing the lamentations of his famiglia and of the poor people who were crowding into the lower part of the house, he sent them word that he had asked the pope to provide for them. At times he was delirious, but his confessor repeating the name of Jesus he recovered consciousness at once. He would not have the prayers for the dying said until he asked for them. Very shortly before his death he received viaticum, and thus strengthened by the Lord he had so dearly loved, he passed quietly through the janua caeli of death on January 1, 1713. Even before his death the sick were healed through touching his clothing, and when the end had come cures multiplied round his bier. Bd Joseph Tommasi was beatified in 1803.

See D. Bernino, Vita del V. Card. G. M. Tomasi (1722); and the anonymous Theatine biography compiled from the process of beatification, Vita del B. Giuseppe M. Tommasi (1803). Vezzosi published a collected edition of his works in eleven volumes in Rome, 1747—1769; but some few tractates have only been printed in recent times by Cardinal G. Mercati (Studi e Testi, vol. xv, 1905), who points out that the beatus in signing his own name spelt it with one “m”; but the commonly received form is Tommasi. 



THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 224

O God, my God: let Him look at thy merits in me, ever Virgin Mary.

O my Lady, I have cried to thee by day and by night: and thou hast done mercy with thy servant.

Because I have hoped in thy mercy: thou hast taken away from me everlasting reproach.

Mine enemies have mocked me on every side:
but thou under the shadow of thy hand hast bestowed good refreshment on me.

Let all the families of the peoples adore thee: and let all the orders of the angels glorify thee.

Let every spirit praise Our Lady

For thy spirit is kind: thy grace fills the whole world.

Thunder, ye heavens, from above, and give praise to her: glorify her, ye earth, with all the dwellers therein.

 Rejoice, ye Heavens, and be glad, O Earth: because Mary will console her servants and will have mercy on her poor.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost as it was in the beginning and will always be.
God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique, for each is the result of a new idea. 
As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike. It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints. Dear Lord, grant us a spirit that is not bound by our own ideas and preferences. 
Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves. O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory. Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.  Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.   God calls each one of us to be a saint in order to get into heaven:  only saints are allowed into heaven.
The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.
There are over 10,000 named saints beati  from history
 and Roman Martyology Orthodox sources
Patron_Saints.html  Widowed_Saints html  Indulgences The Catholic Church in China
LINKS: Marian Shrines   India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes 1858  China Marian shrines 1995
Kenya national Marian shrine  Loreto, Italy  Marian Apparitions (over 2000)  Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798
  Links to Related MarianWebsites  Angels and Archangels  Saints Visions of Heaven and Hell
Widowed Saints  html
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  Uniates  Chalcedon
Mary the Mother of Jesus Miracles_BC  Lay Saints  Miraculous_Icons  Miraculous_Medal_Novena Patron Saints
Miracles by Century 100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000    1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800  1900 2000
Miracles 100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000  
 1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800   1900 Lay Saints

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

Pope Francis will beatify these martyred Greek-Catholic bishops in Romania
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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
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Sainthood causes advance, including layman who resisted fascism
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Solanus Casey, Cardinal Van Thuan among those advanced toward sainthood
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Pope clears way for canonization of Fatima visionaries
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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, 224 2023