Vigília Epiphaníæ Dómini. The Vigil of the Epiphany of our Lord.
Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary
to those who recite the Rosary

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's Divine Motherhood
 Saints of this Day January  05 Nonis Januárii.
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!)
Thursday, January 05, 2012
St. John Neumann, Bishop (Memorial)
    First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
       
1 John 3:11-21
Psalm 100:1-5
John 1:43-51

Almsgiving proceeds from a merciful heart and is more useful for the one who practices it than for the one who recieves it, for the man who makes a practice of almsgiving draws out a spiritual profit from his acts, whilst those who recieve his alms recieve only a temporal benefit.
-- St. Thomas Aquinas
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.

You Will be Next to My Mother  January 5 - Our Lady of Abundance or Prosperity (Cursi, Italy, 1641)
A poor man was praying, aware of his unworthiness. He said to God, "I am not worthy to enter your kingdom, but because of your mercy, I know that you cannot close your door to me. I simply ask for the last place."
And Jesus answered, "I will give you the last place. You will be next to my Mother."
    
Saint John, Son of Mary (V) January 5 - Our Lady of Abundance or Prosperity (Cursi, Italy, 1641)
After the Ascension of Jesus, John lived with Mary for about 20 years. From 30 to 36, after Pentecost, the 20 year-old John was very close to Peter. He accompanied Peter almost everywhere, but owing to his character John usually let Peter do the talking. He remained in Jerusalem during the early evangelization,
until persecution following the revocation of Pontius Pilate forced the Apostles to leave.

Undoubtedly, around the year 37, John took the Blessed Virgin to settle in Ephesus. This theory is reinforced by strong local tradition, and mentioned in 431 in an official letter that the Fathers of the Council of Ephesus sent to Nestorius. But curiously enough, John and Mary were not the founders of the Church in Ephesus:
Paul was to found it 17 years later when he came and spent 2 years there.
How can this be explained, while all the other Apostles had taken advantage of the dispersion to found churches and spread the Good News? It appears that John and Mary inaugurated a new kind of lifestyle to Ephesus, without direct apostolate, in silence and prayer. Using the language of the Revelation, let us say that the Woman pursued by the Dragon fled to the desert where God had prepared a place for her;
it was in this hidden life in the desert that God took care of her for a few years.

Jesus entrusted John to the Virgin Mary to be like her son and the obedient Virgin lived with him in Ephesus what she had lived with Jesus in Nazareth, teaching him in the same way as she had taught Jesus during the 30 years of hidden life in Nazareth. The House of Mary in Ephesus is a bit like the first monastery where John could take the time to deepen the powerful mystery of Christ, with Mary, in a life of silence, prayer and contemplation.
This life had a huge posterity since the Marian devotion of the whole Church, the Church of the religious, based on a life of prayer, contemplation and deepening the mystery of Christ, far from the world, in the silence of a hidden life,
is linked in a special way to the experience of Mary and John in Ephesus.

The first monks called Saint John their "father," as Evagrius Ponticus mentioned, and Epiphanius of Salamis confirmed they lived in a community "to imitate the life of Mary and John in Ephesus" (Monastic Rule of Agapeta).
Later, Saint Augustine and many others chose Saint John as their model of contemplative life.
"John is at the origin of the highest form of spirituality. Like him, the "silent" experience of this mysterious exchange of hearts--invoke the presence of John--and their hearts ignite."
(Athenagoras, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople)
Adapted from Dialogues with Athenagoras (Dialogues avec Athënagoras) By O. Clement, Turin 1972

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.
9 BC Micah The Holy Prophet; Micah  companion of holy prophet Elias; prophesied ruin of King Ahab in war with
         Assyrians, for which he was cast into prison; Set free after downfall of Ahab (3 Kings 22: 8-22); died as a martyr
       The fourth day of the Forefeast of Theophany falls on January 5.
 126 ST TELESPHORUS Pope in the time of Antoninus Pius, St. Telesphorus, pope, who, after many
       sufferings for the confession of Christ, underwent a glorious martyrdom.
  303 Ss Theopemptus bishop in Nicomedia and Theonas Holy Martyrs; Theopemptus Speaking
        against idolatry, defended the faith in Christ  became first victims of the Diocletian persecution.
 305 Thebais In Egypt commemoration of many holy martyrs
 400 St. Syncletica consecrated her virginity to God
 459 ST SIMEON THE STYLITE; By invincible patience bore all afflictions and rebukes without a word of complaint;
       sincerely looked upon himself as outcast of the world; spoke to all with the most engaging sweetness and charity.
 470 Saint Apollinaria was a daughter of Anthemias, a former proconsul of the Byzantine Empire during the minority
        of Theodosius the Younger (408-450).
 550 St. Emiliana Mystic aunt of Pope St. Gregory the Great
6th v. Saint Menas lived in asceticism 50 years in Sinai monastery; Myrrh flowed from his holy relics. St John
          Climacus speaks of this wonderful man in THE LADDER OF DIVINE ASCENT (Step 4:34).
 592 St  Simeon Stylites The Younger
 593 St. Lomer Hermit founder of Corbion Monastery
        St. Cera An Irish abbess
7th v. Saint Phosterius the Hermit led an ascetical life on a lofty mountain, where he was fed by an angel. He brought
         many back to the Church from the heresy of Iconoclasm by his miracles and saintly life.
 820 Saint Gregory of Akrita (Sea of Marmora);  led a life of piety on Seleukia; 12 years persecuted by Jews in
        Jerusalem; accomplished great ascetic deeds
 868 St. Convoyon Benedictine abbot exiled by Norseman in Brittany
1004 St. Gaudentius Benedictine bishop friend of St. Adalbert
11th v. ST DOROTHEUS THE YOUNGER, Abbot; Among many miracles credited multiplied corn, saved from shipwreck a vessel far away out at sea and on another occasion by invoking the Holy Trinity to have caused a huge stone which crashed down during the building operations to rise unassisted and resume its proper place
1066 In England, St. Edward, king and confessor, illustrious by the virtue of chastity and the gift of miracles
1170 St. Gerlac Dutch soldier/sailor Hermit correspondent with St. Hildegard
1236 St. Roger  da Todi  received the habit from St. Francis of Assisi
1368 St. Paula Camaldolese  peaceful resolution to the feud between Florence and Pisa
1694 St. Romanus of Karpenisi Martyr monk on Mt. Athos; suffered for Christ at Constantinople, beheaded Turks
1860  St. Bd John Nepomucen Neumann. Born in Bohemia, 1811; he was ordained priest in New York City in 1836 and joined the Redemptorist congregation; consecrated fourth bishop of Philadelphia in 1852; he died there on 5 January 1860  Bd John NEPOMUCEN NEUMANN. Born in Bohemia, 1811; he was ordained priest in New York City in 1836 and joined the Redemptorist congregation; consecrated fourth bishop of Philadelphia in 1852; he died there on 5 January 1860. Bishop Neumann, a naturalized American citizen, organized Catholic schools into a diocesan system. He was beatified in 1963.
        St. Talida Abbess head of convents in Egypt
        St. Charles of Sezze a lay brother at Naziano
 1893 Fr. Charles of St. Andrew; the saint of Mount Argus; received by Blessed Dominic Barberi, Passionist; Due to his poor mastery of the English language, he was never a formal preacher and he never preached missions. Rather he very successfully dedicated himself to spiritual direction, especially through the sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession). The fame of his virtue was such that great crowds of people would gather at the monastery to seek his blessing. There are also numerous testimonies to the outstanding miraculous cures that he worked to the extent that even during his lifetime he was known as a miracle worker.
On Death and Life
"Man Needs Eternity -- and Every Other Hope, for Him, Is All Too Brief"
DECREES OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE CAUSES OF SAINTS VATICAN CITY, 19 DEC 2011 (VIS)
   Saints of this Day January  05 Nonis Januárii.  
The saints “a cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.
 BENEDICT XVI'S PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR     JANUARY 2012
General Intention: Victims of Natural Disasters.
That the victims of natural disasters may receive the spiritual and material comfort they need to rebuild their lives.
Missionary Intention: Dedication to Peace.
That dedication of Christians to peace may bear witness to the name of Christ before all men and women of good will.

The Rosary html Mary Mother of GOD -- Her Rosary Here
Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary
Mary's Divine Motherhood
Nine First Fridays Devotion to the Sacred Heart From the writings of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
How do I start the Five First Saturdays?
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.
“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).
Feasts of Our Lady.html January to December
breviary.net/martyrology/mart01 05 stlukeorthodox.com/html/saints/  usccb.org  ewtn.com  St Patricks 01 05
domcentral.org/life/martyr Dec syriac   oca.org   glaubenszeugen.de/tage/kai/05 Serbian   http://www.copticchurch.net  Melkite
Monthly Saints with pics here http://www.stfrancisenid.com/memorials.htm  antiochian.org/AW-WomenSaints--wonderful icons
Lutheran Saints  One Saint per day stthomasirondequoit.com/SaintsAlive/index.htm    stjohndc.org  God's Humourous Saints

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

http://www.worldpriest.com/
THE EUCHARIST, A MYSTERY TO BE BELIEVED POST-SYNODAL APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION
SACRAMENTUM CARITATIS OF THE HOLY FATHER BENEDICT XVI
Morning Prayer and Hymn    Meditation of the Day    Prayer for Priests    Our Bartholomew Family Prayer List  Here
How to Stay Out of PURGATORY -- How to Get others Out     POPES html    Parents of Saints html   
The_Litany_of_the_Blessed_Virgin.html   Patron_Saints.html    Angels and Archangels html
Marian Apparitions. html
   We are called upon with the whole Church militant on earth to join in praising and thanking God for the grace and glory he has bestowed on his saints. At the same time we earnestly implore Him to exert His almighty power and mercy in raising us from our miseries and sins, healing the disorders of our souls and leading us by the path of repentance to the company of His saints, to which He has called us.
   They were once what we are now, travellers on earth they had the same weaknesses, which we have. We have difficulties to encounter so had the saints, and many of them far greater than we can meet with; obstacles from kings and whole nations, sometimes from the prisons, racks and swords of persecutors. Yet they surmounted these difficulties, which they made the very means of their virtue and victories. It was by the strength they received from above, not by their own, that they triumphed. But the blood of Christ was shed for us as it was for them and the grace of our Redeemer is not wanting to us; if we fail, the failure is in ourselves.
   THE saints and just, from the beginning of time and throughout the world, who have been made perfect, everlasting monuments of God’s infinite power and clemency, praise His goodness without ceasing; casting their crowns before His throne they give to Him all the glory of their triumphs: “His gifts alone in us He crowns.”
“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


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.
Nine First Fridays Devotion to the Sacred Heart ... From the writings of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
On Friday during Holy Communion, He said these words to me, His unworthy slave, if I mistake not:
“I promise you in the excessive mercy of my Heart that its all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on nine first Fridays of consecutive months the grace of final repentance; they will not die under my displeasure or without receiving their sacraments, my divine Heart making itself their assured refuge at the last moment.”
Margaret Mary was inspired by Christ to establish the Holy Hour and to pray lying prostrate with her face to the ground from eleven till midnight on the eve of the first Friday of each month, to share in the mortal sadness.
He endured when abandoned by His Apostles in His Agony, and to receive holy Communion on the first Friday of every month. In the first great revelation, He made known to her His ardent desire to be loved by men and His design of manifesting His Heart with all Its treasures of love and mercy, of sanctification and salvation.
He appointed the Friday after the octave of the feast of Corpus Christi as the feast of the Sacred Heart; He called her “the Beloved Disciple of the Sacred Heart”, and the heiress of all Its treasures. The love of the Sacred Heart was the fire which consumed her, and devotion to the Sacred Heart is the refrain of all her writings. In her last illness she refused all alleviation, repeating frequently: “What have I in heaven and what do I desire on earth, but Thee alone, O my God”, and died pronouncing the Holy Name of Jesus.
With regard to this promise it may be remarked: (1) that our Lord required Communion to be received on a particular day chosen by Him; (2) that the nine Fridays must be consecutive; (3) that they must be made in honor of His Sacred Heart, which means that those who make the nine Fridays must practice the devotion and must have a great love for our Lord; (4) that our Lord does not say that those who make the nine Fridays will be dispensed from any of their obligations or from exercising the vigilance necessary to lead a good life and overcome temptation; rather He implicitly promises abundant graces to those who make the nine Fridays to help them to carry out these obligations and persevere to the end; (5) that perseverance in receiving Holy Communion for nine consecutive First Firdays helps the faithful to acquire the habit of frequent Communion, which our Lord eagerly desires; and (6) that the practice of the nine Fridays is very pleasing to our Lord He promises such great reward, and all Catholics should endeavor to make nine Fridays.
How do I start the Five First Saturdays? by Fr. Tom O'Mahony
On July 13,1917, Our Lady appeared for the third time to the three children of Fatima an showed them the vision of hell and made the now - famous thirteen prophecies. In this vision Our Lady said that 'GOD WISHES TO ESTABLISH IN THE WORLD DEVOTION to Her Immaculate Heart and that She would come TO ASK FOR THE COMMUNION OF REPARATION ON THE FIRST SATURDAYS...'  Eight years later, on December 10, 1925, Our Lady did indeed come back. She appeared (with the Child Jesus) to Lucia in the convent of the Dorothean Sisters in Pontevedra.
The Child Jesus spoke first:
'HAVE COMPASSION ON THE HEART OF YOUR MOST HOLY MOTHER WHICH IS COVERED WITH THORNS WITH WHICH UNGRATEFUL MEN PIERCE IT AT EVERY MOMENT, WHILE THERE IS NO ONE TO REMOVE THEM WITH AN ACT OF REPARATION.'

THE GREAT PROMISE
Our Lady then said: 'MY DAUGHTER LOOK AT MY HEART SURROUNDED WITH THORNS WITH WHICH UNGRATEFUL MEN PIERCE IT AT EVERY MOMENT BY THEIR BLASPHEMIES AND INGRATITUDE. YOU, AT LEAST, TRY TO CONSOLE ME, AND SAY THAT I PROMISE TO ASSIST AT THE HOUR OF DEATH WITH ALL THE GRACES NECESSARY FOR SALVATION, ALL THOSE WHO, ON THE FIRST SATURDAY OF FIVE CONSECUTIVE MONTHS GO TO CONFESSION AND RECEIVE HOLY COMMUNION, RECITE FIVE DECADES OF THE ROSARY AND KEEP ME COMPANY FOR A QUARTER OF AN HOUR WHILE MEDITATING ON MYSTERIES OF THE ROSARY, WITH THE INTENTION OF MAKING REPARATION TO ME.'

The Five Reasons
Lucia once asked this question of Our Lord and received as an answer: 'MY DAUGHTER, THE MOTIVE IS SIMPLE, THERE ARE FIVE KINDS OF OFFENCES AND BLASPHEMIES UTTERED AGAINST THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY: (1) BLASPHEMIES AGAINST THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION: (2) BLASPHEMIES AGAINST HER VIRGINITY: (3) BLASPHEMIES AGAINST HER DIVINE MATERNITY: (4) BLASPHEMIES OF THOSE WHO OPENLY SEEK TO FOSTER IN THE HEARTS OF CHILDREN INDIFFERENCE OR EVEN HATRED FOR THIS IMMACULATE MOTHER: (5) THE OFFENCES OF THOSE WHO DIRECTLY OUTRAGE HER IN HOLY IMAGES.'
From the above, it is easy to see that each of the Five Saturdays can correspond to a specific offence. By offering the graces received during each First Saturday as reparation for the offence being prayed for, the participant can hope to help remove the thorns from Our Lady's Heart.
What Do I Have To Do?
The devotion of First Saturdays, as requested by Our Lady of Fatima, carries with it the assurance of salvation. However, to derive profit from such a great promise of Our Lady, the devotion must be properly understood and duly performed.
The requirements as stipulated by Our Lady are as follows:
(1) CONFESSION, (2) COMMUNION, (3) FIVE DECADES OF THE ROSARY, (4) MEDITATION ON ONE OR MORE OF THE ROSARY MYSTERIES FOR FIFTEEN MINUTES, (5) TO DO ALL THESE THINGS IN THE SPIRIT OF REPARATION TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY, and (6) TO OBSERVE ALL THESE PRACTICES ON THE FIRST SATURDAY OF FIVE CONSECUTIVE MONTHS.
(1) CONFESSION: A reparative confession means that the confession should not only be good (valid and licit), but also be offered in the spirit of reparation, in this case, to Mary's Immaculate Heart. This confession may be made on the First Saturday itself or some days before or after the First Saturday within the preceding octave would suffice.
(2) COMMUNION: The communion of reparation must be sacramental duly received with the intention of making reparation. This offering, like the confession, is an interior act and so no external action to express the intention is needed.
(3) THE ROSARY: The Rosary mentioned here was indicated by the Portuguese word 'terco' which is commonly employed to denote a Rosary of five decades, since it forms a fourth of the full Rosary of 20 decades. This too must recited in a spirit of reparation.
(4) MEDITATION FOR FIFTEEN MINUTES: Here the meditation on one mystery or more is to be made without simultaneous recitation of the Rosary decade. As indicated, the meditation may be either on one mystery alone for 15 minutes, or on all 20 mysteries, spending about one minute on each mystery, or again, on two or more mysteries during the period. This can also be made before each decade spending three minutes or more in considering the mystery of the particular decade. This meditation has likewise to be made in the spirit of reparation to the Immaculate Heart.
(5) THE SPIRIT OF REPARATION: All these acts, as said above, have to be done with the intention of offering reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for the offences committed against Her. Everyone who offends Her commits, so to speak, a two-fold offence, for these sins also offend her Divine Son, Christ, and so endanger our salvation. They give bad example to others and weaken the strength of society to withstand immoral onslaughts. Such devotions therefore make us consider not only the enormity of the offence against God, but also the effect of sins on human society as well as the need for undoing these social effects even when the offender repents and is converted. Further, this reparation emphasises our responsibility towards sinners who, themselves, will not pray and make reparation for their sins.
(6) FIVE CONSECUTIVE FIRST SATURDAYS: The idea of the Five First Saturdays is obviously to make us persevere in the devotional acts for these Saturdays and overcome initial difficulties. Once this is done, Our Lady knows that the person would become devoted to Her immaculate Heart and persist in practising such devotion on all First Saturdays, working thereby for personal self-reform and for the salvation of others.

Unless Russia is converted, the movement against God and for sin will continue to spread, promoting wars and persecutions, and making the attainment for peace and justice impossible for this world. One means of obtaining Russia's conversion is to practise the Fatima Message. The stakes are so great that to encourage Catholics to practise the devotion of the First Saturdays, Our Lady has assured us that She will obtain salvation for all those who observe the first Saturdays for five consecutive months in accordance with Her conditions.
At the supreme moment the departing person will be either in the state of grace or not. In either case Our Lady will be by his side. If in the state of grace, She will console and help him to resist whatever temptations the devil might put before him in his last attempt to take the person with him to hell. If not in the state of grace, Our Lady will help the person to repent in a manner agreeable to God and so benefit by the fruits of redemption and be saved.
Miracles 100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000  
 1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800   1900 Lay Saints
The POPES HTML
Pius IX 1846--1878 • Leo XIII 1878-1903 • Pius X 1903-1914• Benedict XV 1914-1922 • Pius XI 1922-1939 • Pius XII 1939-1958 • John XXIII 1958-1963 • Paul VI 1963 to 1978 • John Paul • John Paul II 10/16/1975-4/2/2005 Benedict XVI

"The answers to many of life's questions can be found by reading the Lives of the Saints. They teach us how to overcome obstacles and difficulties, how to stand firm in our faith, and how to struggle against evil and emerge victorious."  1913 Saint Barsanuphius of Optina
The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR benefit of others.
Non est inventus similis illis

God calls each one of us to be a saint in order to get into heaven.

Cross Not Optional, Says Benedict XVI
Reflects on Peter's "Immature" Faith CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, AUG. 31, 2008 (Zenit.org).-
Taking up one's cross isn't an option, it's a mission all Christians are called to, says Benedict XVI.
The Pope said this today before reciting the midday Angelus with several thousand people gathered in the courtyard of the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome.
Referring to the Gospel reading for today's Mass, the Holy Father reflected on the faith of Peter, which is shown to be "still immature and too much influenced by the 'mentality of this world.'”  He explained that when Christ spoke openly about how he was to "suffer much, be killed and rise again, Peter protests, saying: 'God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.'"
"It is evident that the Master and the disciple follow two opposed ways of thinking," continued the Pontiff. "Peter, according to a human logic, is convinced that God would never allow his Son to end his mission dying on the cross.  "Jesus, on the contrary, knows that the Father, in his great love for men, sent him to give his life for them, and if this means the passion and the cross, it is right that such should happen."
Christ also knew that "the resurrection would be the last word," Benedict XVI added.
Serious illness
The Pope continued, "If to save us the Son of God had to suffer and die crucified, it certainly was not because of a cruel design of the heavenly Father.  "The cause of it is the gravity of the sickness of which he must cure us: an evil so serious and deadly that it will require all of his blood. 
"In fact, it is with his death and resurrection that Jesus defeated sin and death, reestablishing the lordship of God."
Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today
January 5 - OUR LADY OF ABUNDANCE OR PROSPERITY (Cursi, Italy) - (d. 1066) Saint Edward the Confessor
Nazareth is the School of the Gospel (II)
It is first a lesson of silence. May the esteem of silence be born in us anew, this admirable and indispensable condition of the spirit, in us who are assailed by so much clamor, noise and shouting in our modern life, so noisy and hyper sensitized. O silence of Nazareth, teach us recollection, interiority, disposition to listen to the good inspirations and words of the true masters; teach us the need and value of preparation, study, meditation, personal and interior life, and prayer that God alone sees in secret.
It is a lesson of family life. May Nazareth teach us what a family is, with its communion of love, its austere and simple beauty, its sacred and inviolable character; let us learn from Nazareth how sweet and irreplaceable is the formation one receives within it; let us learn how primordial its role is on the social level.
It is a lesson of work. Nazareth, the house of the carpenter's son; it is there that we would like to understand and celebrate the severe and redeeming law of human labor; there, to reestablish the conscience of work's nobility; to remind people that working cannot be an end in itself, but that its freedom and nobility come, in addition to its economic value, from the value that finalize it; how we wish to salute here all the workers of the world and show them their great model, their divine brother, the prophet of all their just causes, Christ Our Lord.
Homily of Paul VI in Nazareth January 5, 1964

125-136 pope St. Telesphorus
St. Telesphorus was the seventh Roman bishop in succession from the Apostles,  Martyr
125-136 Romæ sancti Telésphori, Papæ et Mártyris; qui, sub Antoníno Pio,
post multos labóres, pro Christi confessióne, illústre martyrium duxit.
At Rome, in the time of Antoninus Pius, St. Telesphorus,
pope, who, after many sufferings for the confession of Christ, underwent a glorious martyrdom.
Telesphorus_Pope.jpg

Paul VI_Athenagoras_05_01_1964
  Quote: Pope Paul VI’s 1969 Instruction on the Contemplative Life includes this passage:  
 "To withdraw into the desert is for Christians tantamount to associating themselves more intimately with Christ’s passion, and it enables them, in a very special way, to share in the paschal mystery and in the passage of Our Lord from this world to the heavenly homeland" (#1).

Christianity is not a moral code or a philosophy, but an encounter with a person”
 -- Benedict XVI

Benedict_XVI_Patriarch_Bartholomew

Benedict XVI_Archbishop_Hilarion
 Benedict XVI receives Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion n September 18th, Pope Benedict XVI;  Archbishop Hilarion, president of the Department for External Church Affairs of the Patriarchate of Moscow.
The Orthodox Archbishop is currently visiting the Vatican at the invitation of Cardinal Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
This Pontifical Council underlined that the visit will confirm the ties of friendship between the Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church, with a view to closer collaboration and to favor the presence of the Church in the lives of the peoples of Europe and the world.
In addition, a further step in ecumenical relations is scheduled for the month of October in Cyprus: the meeting of the Joint International Commission for the Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, which will address the theme of Petrine Primacy.
Benedict XVI met with Aram I Catholicos of Cilicia, the highest authority of the Orthodox Church.  The Pope remembered the martyrs of the Armenian Church and the Armenian genocide, without explicitly mentioning it, and denounced the persecution of Christians in modern times.  Benedict XVI
That testimony culminated in the twentieth century, which proved a time of Unspeakable suffering for your people. Most recently we have all been saddened by the escalation of persecution and violence against Christians in parts of the Middle East and elsewhere.
The Catholicos is based in Lebanon. That is why, the Pope said, he prays every day for peace in this country and throughout the Middle East. Benedict XVI said there will only be peace in the region when each country is free to decide its own destiny and when every ethnic and religious group accepts and respects the others. Aram I emphasized that the churches must be means for peace and to achieve that they must recognize “all” genocides, even the Armenian.. The Catholicos recalled his meeting with John Paul II, adding that this visit represents a new step for ecumenical dialogue.
Aram I Catholicos
Our meeting is an opportunity to pray and reflect together, and to renew our commitment and efforts for Christian unity.
Armenian church members from all over the world join with Catholicos in making pilgrimages to Rome.
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.
THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY  PSALM 100

To thee, O Lady, will I sing mercy and judgment:
I will sing to thee in joy of heart, when thou shalt have made my soul glad.
I will praise thee and thy glory: and thou shalt bestow refreshment upon my soul.
I have been zealous for thy love and thy honor: therefore wilt thou defend my cause before the judge of ages.
I am drawn by thy goodness and grace: I pray thee, let me not be defrauded of my hope and good confidence.
Strengthen thou my soul in my last days: and in this my flesh make me to behold my Savior.

Glory be to the Father who created Heaven and earth; His only Son who lived and died for all of us;
and the Holy Spirit the Lord giver of life, Who proceeds from the Father and Son, with the Father and Son He is Worshiped and Glorified, and He has spoken through the prophets:  Amen.

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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.
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. Eccl., V,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.
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

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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. Site http://www.fathercorapi
  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, SOLT
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. Although it is supposed to be a religion of peace, Islam has been hijacked by Satan and now operates in the dark space of international terrorism.  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
Site http://www.fathercorapi

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.

Since his ordination to the priesthood in 1991 Fr. Corapi has traveled over 2,000,000 miles preaching the Gospel. He has preached in 49 of the 50 states, all of the Canadian provinces except NewFoundland, and several other foreign countries. He is currently engaged in preaching and teaching the Catholic faith by way of the means of social communication: television, radio, the internet, and various other multi-media formats.
  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
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_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  Uniates
DECREES OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE CAUSES OF SAINTS VATICAN CITY, 19 DEC 2011 (VIS)
The Holy Father today received in audience Cardinal Angelo Amato S.D.B., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and authorised the promulgation of decrees concerning the following causes:

MIRACLES
 - Blessed Giovanni Battista Piamarta, Italian priest and founder of the Congregation of the Holy Family of Nazareth and of the Congregation of the Humble Sister Servants of the Lord (1841-1913).
 - Blessed Jacques Berthieu, French martyr and priest of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) (1838-1896).
 - Blessed Maria del Carmen (born Maria Salles y Barangueras), Spanish foundress of the Conceptionist Missionary Sisters of Teaching (1848-1911).
 - Blessed Maria Anna Cope, nee Barbara, German religious of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis in Syracuse U.S.A. (1838-1918).
 - Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, American laywoman (1656-1680).
 - Blessed Pedro Calungsod, Filipino lay catechist and martyr (1654-1672).
 - Blessed Anna Schaffer, German laywoman (1882-1925).
 - Servant of God Louis Brisson, French priest and founder of the Oblates of St. Francis of Sales (1817-1908).
 - Servant of God Luigi Novarese, Italian diocesan priest and founder of the Silent Workers of the Cross (1914-1984).
 - Servant of God Maria Luisa (nee Gertrude Prosperi), Italian abbess of the convent of the Order of St. Benedict of Trevi (1799-1847).
 - Servant of God Mother St. Louis (nee Maria Luisa Elisabeth de Lamoignon, widow of Mole de Champlatreux), French foundress of the Sisters of St. Louis (1763-1825).
 - Servant of God Maria Crescencia (nee Maria Angelica Perez), Argentinean professed religious of the Congregation of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Orchard (1897-1932).

MARTYRDOM
- Servant of God Nicola Rusca, Swiss diocesan priest, killed in hatred of the faith (1563-1618).
- Servants of God Luis Orencio (ne Antonio Sola Garriga) and eighteen companions of the Institute of Brothers of Christian Schools; Antonio Mateo Salamero, diocesan priest, and Jose Gorostazu Labayen, layman, all killed in hatred of the faith in Spain in 1936.
- Servants of God Alberto Maria Marco y Aleman and eight companions of the Order of Carmelites of the Ancient Observance, and Agustin Maria Garcia Tribaldos and fifteen companions of the Institute of Brothers of Christian Schools; all killed in hatred of the faith in Spain between 1936 and 1937.
- Servants of God Mariano Alcala Perez and eighteen companions of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy, killed in hatred of the faith in Spain between 1936 and 1937.

HEROIC VIRTUES
 - Servant of God Donato Giannotti, Italian diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of Sisters Handmaidens of the Immaculate Conception (1828-1914).
 - Servant of God Marie-Eugene of the Child Jesus (ne Henri Grialou), French professed priest of the Order of Discalced Carmelites and founder of the Institute of Notre-Dame de Vie (1894-1967).
 - Servant of God Alphonse-Marie (nee Elisabeth Eppinger), French foundress of the Congregation of Sisters of the Blessed Saviour (1814-1867).
 - Servant of God Marguerite Lucia Szewczyk, Polish foundress of the Congregation of the Daughters of the Sorrowful Mother of God - Seraphic Sisters (1828-1905).
 - Servant of God Assunta Marchetti, Italian co-foundress of the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles (1871-1948).
 - Servant of God Maria Julitta (nee Teresa Eleonora Ritz), German professed sister of the Congregation of Sisters of the Redeemer (1882-1966).
 - Servant of God Maria Anna Amico Roxas, Italian laywoman and foundress of the Society of St. Ursula (1883-1947).  VIS 20111219 (580)

9 BC Micah The Holy Prophet
Micah  was a companion of the holy prophet Elias. He prophesied the ruin of King Ahab in a war with the Assyrians, for which he was cast into prison.
Set free after the downfall of Ahab (3 Kings 22: 8-22), the holy prophet Micah died as a martyr.

Micah
      The prophet Micah (not to be confused with Micaiah ben Imlah who lived in the reign of Ahab, 1 K 22) was a Judaean, a native of Moresheth to the west of Hebron. He exercised his ministry under kings Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, that is to say, before and after the fall of Samaria in 721. He was therefore a contemporary of Hosea and for a longer period of Isaiah.
Being of peasant extraction he has much in common with Amos: suspicion of city life, concrete and at times coarse expression, a taste for swift strokes of imagery and for play on words.
        The book falls into four parts, threat alternating with promise: 1:2—3:12, arraignment of Israel; 4:1-5:14, promises to Zion; 6:1-7:7, Israel arraigned for the second time; 7:8-20, hopes. The contrast between the promises to Zion and the threats that precede and follow is altogether too violent, and this symmetrical arrangement must be due to editorial work. It is hard to determine the extent of this editorial adjustment, performed by those who cherished the prophet’s memory. Scholars are agreed that 7:8-20 clearly belongs to the period of return from exile. To this period also are best assigned the oracle of 2:12-13, out of place among the threats, and the prophecies of 4:6-7; 5:6-7. But 4:1-5 is found almost identically in Is 2:2-5 and in neither context does it seem original. These possible additions, however, do not justify the excision of all promises for the future from the authentic message of Micah. They are a recurrent theme of all prophetic preaching, and the promises of Micah are in harmony with the hopes expressed by his contemporary, Isaiah.
     Of the life of Micah and the circumstances of his call we know nothing. He was, however, keenly aware that God had called him to the office of prophet, and this makes him fearless in prophesying disaster, as the false prophets are not, 2:6-11; 3:5-8. He is the bearer of God’s message, which is at first a message of condemnation. Yahweh tries his people, 1:2; 6: 1f, and finds them guilty; their religion and above all their morals are corrupt. Micah scourges the moneyed capitalist, the inexorable usurer, the swindling tradesman, families divided by rivalry, avaricious priests and prophets, tyrants, venal judges. These are the very antithesis of the divine ideal: ‘to deal justly, to love tenderly, to walk humbly with God’, 6:8, an admirable formula summing up the spiritual demands of the prophets, and most particularly Hosea. God has decreed punishment he will come to judge and to punish his people in a world upheaval, 1:3-4; Samaria will be destroyed, 1:6-7, and the towns of the lowlands where Micah lives, 1:8-15; even Jerusalem, will be a heap of ruins, 3:12.
  But the prophet is not without hope, 7:7. This is affirmed in ch. 4-5 where the messianic doctrine of the remnant is developed, 4:7; 5:2, a doctrine touched on by Amos; these chapters foretell the birth in Bethlehem of a peaceful king who will pasture the flock of Yahweh, 5:1-5.
            The influence of Micah was persistent; the contemporaries of Jeremiah knew
           and quoted one of his oracles against Jerusalem, Jr 26:18. The New Testament
           particularly seizes on Micah’s text concerning the birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem Ephrathah, Mt 2:6; Jn 7:42.
The fourth day of the Forefeast of Theophany falls on January 5.
If January 5th falls on a weekday, the following order is observed:  Vespers on the evening of the 4th, then Matins. The First Hour is not read after Matins.  On the 5th we read the Royal Hours, followed by Vespers and the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great.

If the Eve of Theophany falls on Saturday: The Royal Hours are read on Friday, but there is no Liturgy. Vespers on the evening of the 4th, followed by Matins. The Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is celebrated on Saturday morning.

If the Eve of Theophany falls on a Sunday: The Royal Hours are read on Friday, but there is no Liturgy. Vigil is served on Saturday evening, and the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is celebrated on Sunday.

There are thirteen readings at Vespers on the Eve of Theophany, and the entrace is made with the Gospel.
There is fasting today, whatever day of the week it may be.

126 ST TELESPHORUS, who figures in the list of popes as the seventh bishop of Rome, is said to have been a Greek by birth. Towards the year 126 he succeeded St Sixtus I, and saw the havoc which the persecution of Hadrian made in the Church. “He ended his life by a glorious martyrdom “, says Eusebius, and he is the first one of the successors of St Peter whom St Irenaeus and other early writers refer to as a martyr. The ordinances attributed to him in the Liber Pontificalis, e.g. that the Mass of Christmas—a feast that did not then exist—should be celebrated at midnight, cannot with any probability be ascribed to his pontificate. St Teles­phorus is commemorated to-day in the Mass and Office of the vigil of the Epiphany.

See the Acta Sanctorum, January 5 and the Liber Pontificalis (ed. Duchesne), vol. i, p. 129. In the calendar of the Carmelites this pope is claimed as a member of their order, but it is difficult to understand what historical basis can be pleaded for such a claim.
303 Ss Theopemptus bishop in Nicomedia and Theonas Holy Martyrs; Theopemptus Speaking out against idolatry, he defended the faith in Christ. Because of this, he became one of the first victims of the Diocletian persecution.

The saint refused to obey the emperor's order to worship an idol of Apollo. St Theopemptus was thrown into a red-hot furnace, but by the power of God he remained alive. The emperor came to the furnace by night with a detachment of soldiers, and there he saw the saint alive and praying to God. Ascribing the miracle to magic, Diocletian thought to exhaust St Theopemptus by depriving him of food and drink for twenty-two days, but the martyr was preserved by the will of God.

The emperor brought the famous sorcerer Theonas to overcome Bishop Theopemptus' supposed magical power.
Theonas prepared a poison for St Theopemptus, put it into a little cake, and offered it to him to eat. The poison did no harm at all to St Theopemptus. Then Theonas tried an even stronger poison on the martyr. Seeing that St Theopemptus remained unharmed, he came to believe in Christ. They threw him into prison together with the holy bishop, who taught and baptized him, giving him the name Synesios (which means "full of understanding").
At dawn Diocletian summoned St Theopemptus, and again tried to turn him to pagan impiety. Seeing that the bishop remained firm in his faith, he subjected him to many grievous tortures, after which the saint was beheaded. The holy martyr Theonas refused to offer sacrifice to idols, so he was buried alive in a deep ditch. This occurred at Nicomedia in the year 303.
1860 Bd John Nepomucen Neumann. Born in Bohemia, 1811; he was ordained priest in New York City in 1836 and joined the Redemptorist congregation; consecrated fourth bishop of Philadelphia in 1852; he died there on 5 January 1860.  Bishop Neumann, a naturalized American citizen, organized Catholic schools into a diocesan system. He was beatified in 1963.
This American saint was born in Bohemia in 1811. He was looking forward to being ordained in 1835 when the bishop decided there would be no more ordinations. It is difficult for us to imagine now, but Bohemia was overstocked with priests. John wrote to bishops all over Europe but the story was the same everywhere no one wanted any more bishops. John was sure he was called to be a priest but all the doors to follow that vocation seemed to close in his face.

But John didn't give up. He had learned English by working in a factory with English-speaking workers so he wrote to the bishops in America. Finally, the bishop in New York agreed to ordain him. In order to follow God's call to the priesthood John would have to leave his home forever and travel across the ocean to a new and rugged land.

In New York, John was one of 36 priests for 200,000 Catholics. John's parish in western New York stretched from Lake Ontario to Pennsylvania. His church had no steeple or floor but that didn't matter because John spent most of his time traveling from village to village, climbing mountains to visit the sick, staying in garrets and taverns to teach, and celebrating the Mass at kitchen tables.

Because of the work and the isolation of his parish, John longed for community and so joined the Redemptorists, a congregation of priests and brothers dedicated to helping the poor and most abandoned.

John was appointed bishop of Philadelphia in 1852. As bishop, he was the first to organize a diocesan Catholic school system. A founder of Catholic education in this country, he increased the number of Catholic schools in his diocese from two to 100.

John never lost his love and concern for the people -- something that may have bothered the elite of Philadelphia. On one visit to a rural parish, the parish priest picked him up in a manure wagon. Seated on a plank stretched over the wagon's contents, John joked, "Have you ever seen such an entourage for a bishop!"

The ability to learn languages that had brought him to America led him to learn Spanish, French, Italian, and Dutch so he could hear confessions in at least six languages. When Irish immigration started, he learned Gaelic so well that one Irish woman remarked, "Isn't it grand that we have an Irish bishop!"

Once on a visit to Germany, he came back to the house he was staying in soaked by rain. When his host suggested he change his shoes, John remarked, "The only way I could change my shoes is by putting the left one on the right foot and the right one on the left foot. This is the only pair I own."

John died on January 5, 1860 at the age of 48.

In His Footsteps:  John was a Redemptorist priest. To learn more about the Redemptorists visit the Web site for Redemptorist Publications in England, www.redempt.org.
Prayer:   Saint John Neumann, you helped organize Catholic education in the United States. Please watch over all Catholic schools and help them be a model of Christianity in their actions as well as their words. Amen

St. John Neumann  (1811-1860)   
Perhaps because the United States got a later start in the history of the world, it has relatively few canonized saints, but their number is increasing.  John Neumann was born in what is now the Czech Republic. After studying in Prague, he came to New York at 25 and was ordained a priest. He did missionary work in New York until he was 29, when he joined the Redemptorists and became its first member to profess vows in the United States. He continued missionary work in Maryland, Virginia and Ohio, where he became popular with the Germans.
At 41, as bishop of Philadelphia, he organized the parochial school system into a diocesan one, increasing the number of pupils almost twentyfold within a short time.
Gifted with outstanding organizing ability, he drew into the city many teaching communities of sisters and the Christian Brothers. During his brief assignment as vice provincial for the Redemptorists, he placed them in the forefront of the parochial movement.
Well-known for his holiness and learning, spiritual writing and preaching, on October 13, 1963, he became the first American bishop to be beatified. Canonized in 1977, he is buried in St. Peter the Apostle Church in Philadelphia.
Comment:  Neumann took seriously our Lord’s words, “Go and teach all nations.” From Christ he received his instructions and the power to carry them out. For Christ does not give a mission without supplying the means to accomplish it. The Father’s gift in Christ to John Neumann was his exceptional organizing ability, which he used to spread the Good News. Today the Church is in dire need of men and women to continue in our times the teaching of the Good News. The obstacles and inconveniences are real and costly. Yet when Christians approach Christ, he supplies the necessary talents to answer today’s needs. The Spirit of Christ continues his work through the instrumentality of generous Christians.
Quote:  All people of whatever race, condition or age, in virtue of their dignity as human persons, have an inalienable right to education. This education should be suitable to the particular destiny of the individuals, adapted to their ability, sex and national cultural traditions, and should be conducive to amicable relations with other nations in order to promote true unity and peace in the world. True education aims to give people a formation which is directed towards their final end and the good of that society to which they belong and in which, as adults, they will have their share of duties to perform.” (Declaration on Christian Education, 1, Austin Flannery translation).
1656 St. Charles of Sezze a lay brother at Naziano
John Charles Marchioni was born at Sezze, Italy, on October 19, of humble parents. He became a shepherd and wanted to become a priest. When unable to do so because of his poor scholarship (He barely learned to read and write), he became a lay brother at Naziano, served in various menial positions - cook, porter, gardener - at different monasteries near Rome and became known for his holiness, simplicity, and charity.
He wrote several mystical works, lived a life of great mortifications, and worked heroically to help the stricken in the plague of 1656. He died in Rome on January 6. His family name may have been Melchior, and he is also known as Charles of Sezze. He was canonized by Pope John XXIII in 1959. 
1236 St. Roger da Todi  received the habit from St. Francis of Assisi
Ruggiero da Todi (Roger) was appointed spiritual director of Blessed Philippa Mareri's Community at Rieti by Francis.
Roger died at Todi, shortly after Philippa's death January 5; his cult was confirmed by Pope Benedict XIV.
St. Syncletica consecrated her virginity to God
In Ægypto sanctæ Apollináris Vírginis. In Egypt, St. Apollinaris, virgin.
She was born at Alexandria in Egypt, of wealthy Macedonian parents. From her infancy she had imbibed the lore of virtue, and in her tender years she consecrated her virginity to God. Her great fortune and beauty induced many young noblemen to become her suitors for marriage, but she had already bestowed her heart on her heavenly spouse. Flight was her refuge against exterior assaults, and, regarding herself as her own most dangerous enemy, she began early to subdue her flesh by austere fasts and other mortifications. She never seemed to suffer more than when obliged to eat oftener than she desired.

Her parents, at their death, left her heiress to their opulent estate; for the two brothers she had died before them; and her sister being blind, was committed entirely to her guardianship.
Syncletica, having soon distributed her fortune among the poor, retired with her sister into a lonesome monument, on a relation's estate; where, having sent for a priest, she cut off her hair in his presence, as a sign whereby she renounced the world, and renewed the consecration of herself to God. Mortification and prayer were from that time her principal employment; but her close solitude, by concealing her pious exercises from the eyes of the world, has deprived us in a great measure of the knowledge of them.

The fame of her virtue being spread abroad, many women resorted to her abode to confer with her upon spiritual matters. Her humility made her unwilling to take upon herself the task of instructing, but charity, on the other side, opened her mouth. Her pious discourses were inflamed with so much zeal, and accompanied with such an unfeigned humility, and with so many tears, that it cannot be expressed what deep impressions they made on her hearers. "Oh" said the saint, "how happy should we be, did we but take as much pains to gain heaven and please God, as worldlings do to heap up riches and perishable goods! By land they venture among thieves and robbers; at sea they expose themselves to the fury of winds and storms; they suffer shipwrecks, and all perils; they attempt all, try all, hazard all but we, in serving so great a master, for so immense a good, are afraid of every contradiction." At other times, admonishing them of the dangers of this life, she was accusoned to say, "We must be continually upon our guard, for we are engaged in a perpetual war; unless we take care, the enemy will surprise us, when we are least aware of him. A ship sometimes passes safe through hurricanes and tempests, yet, if the pilot, even in a calm, has not a great care of it, a single wave, raised by a sudden gust, may sink her. It does not signify whether the enemy clambers in by the window, or whether all at once he shakes the foundation, if at last he destroys the house. In this life we sail, as it were, in an unknown sea. We meet with rocks, shelves, and sands; sometimes we are becalmed, and at other times we find ourselves tossed and buffeted by a storm. Thus we are never secure, never out of danger; and, if we fall asleep, are sure to perish. We have a most intelligent and experienced pilot at the helm of our vessel even Jesus Christ himself, who will conduct us safe into the haven of salvation if, by our supineness, we cause not our own perdition." She frequently inculcated the virtue of humility, in the following words: "A treasure is secure so long as it remains concealed; but when once disclosed, and laid open to every bold invader, it is presently rifled; so virtue is safe so long as secret, but, if rashly exposed, it but too often evaporates into smoke. By humility, and contempt of the world, the soul, like an eagle, soars on high, above all transitory things, and tramples on the backs of lions and dragons. By these, and the like discourses, did this devout virgin excite others to charity, humility, vigilance, and every other virtue.

 The devil, enraged to behold so much good, which all his machinations were not capable to prevent, obtained permission of God, for her trial, to afflict this his faithful servant, like another Job: but even this served only to render her virtue the more illustrious. In the eightieth year of her age she was seized with an inward burning fever, which wasted her insensibly by its intense heat; at the same time an imposthume was formed in her lungs; and a violent and most tormenting scurvy, attended with a corroding hideous stinking ulcer, ate away her jaws and mouth, and deprived her of her speech. She bore all with incredible patience and resignation to God's holy will; and with such a desire of an addition to her sufferings, that she greatly dreaded the physicians would alleviate her pains. It was with difficulty that she permitted them to pare away or embalm the parts already dead. During the three last months of her life, she found no repose. Though the cancer had robbed her of her speech, her wonderful patience served to preach to others more movingly than words could have done. Three days before her death she foresaw, that on the third day she should be released from the prison of her body; and on it, surrounded by a heavenly light, and ravished by consolatory visions, she surrendered her pure soul into the hands of her Creator, in the eighty-fourth year of her age.
The Greeks keep her festival on the 4th, the Roman Martyrology mentions her on the 5th of January.
The ancient beautiful life of St Syncletica is quoted in the Lives of the Fathers published by Rosweyde, bk i, and in the writings of St John Climacus. It appears from the work itself that the author was personally acquainted with the saint. It has been ascribed to St Athanasius, but without sufficient grounds. See Acta Sanctorum for January 5.
305 Thebais In Egypt commemoration of many holy martyrs, during the persecution of Diocletian, the commemoration of many holy martyrs who were put to death in Thebais by various kinds of torments.
   In Ægypto commemorátio plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum, qui in Thebáide, sub persecutióne Diocletiáni, divérso tormentórum génere cæsi sunt.
400 St. Apollinaris Syncletica
Alexandríæ sanctæ Syncléticæ Vírginis, cujus res præcláre gestas sanctus Athanásius monuméntis litterárum commendávit.
   At Alexandria, St. Syncletica, whose noble deeds have been recorded by St. Athanasius.
Hermitess listed in the Roman Martyrology and having a somewhat romantic origin. Apollinaris was supposedly the daughter of an emperor of Rome; she put on male clothes and lived as hermit called Dorotheus in the desert. Apollinaris lived in Egypt as a disciple of St. Macrius. Her true story was revealed at her death.

 400 ST SYNCLETICA VIRGIN
SHE was born at Alexandria in Egypt, of wealthy Macedonian parents. Her great fortune and beauty induced many young men to become her suitors, but she had already bestowed her heart on her heavenly Spouse. Flight was her refuge against exterior assaults, and, regarding herself as her own most dangerous enemy, she began early to subdue her flesh by fasts and other mortifications. She never seemed to suffer more than when obliged to eat oftener than she desired. Her parents at their death left her sole heiress to their estate, for her two brothers had died before them and her sister, being blind, was committed entirely to her guardianship. Syncletica, having distributed her fortune among the poor, retired with her sister to a disused sepulchral chamber on the estate of a relative, where,
470 ST APOLLINARIS, VIRGIN
ALTHOUGH the Roman Martyrology on January 5 has an entry, “In Egypt, St Apollinaris, Virgin “, the pretended biography which is found in the Metaphrast and the Greek menaia, under the name of Apollinaris Syncletica, belongs to the category of religious romances. It turns on the familiar theme of a girl putting on male attire and living for many years undiscovered. In this case Apollinaris, who is the daughter of the “Emperor” Anthemius, runs away from home, dis­guises herself as a man, calls herself “Dorotheus,” and leads a hermitical life in the desert under the direction of the renowned ascetic, Macarius. Meanwhile her sister at home is possessed by the devil, and being brought to the desert to be exorcised, is eventually consigned to the care of “Dorotheus”. The sister is restored to her right mind, but owing to the machinations of the Evil One, “Doro­theus” is suspected of improper conduct. She is brought before her own father to answer the charge and then reveals herself to him. However, after obtaining her sister’s complete cure by her prayers, she insists on returning to the desert, where her fellow hermits only discover her sex after her death. The entry has probably been attracted to this day by the identity of the name Syncletica with that of the saint who is commemorated on the previous day in the Greek synaxaries and today in the Roman Martyrology (see below).
See Acta Sanctorum, January 5 and cf. herein St Pelagia, under October 8.
470 Saint Apollinaria was a daughter of Anthemias, a former proconsul of the Byzantine Empire during the minority of Theodosius the Younger (408-450). Disdaining marriage, she requested her parents' permission to make a pilgrimage to the holy places of the East. Arriving in Alexandria from Jerusalem, she slipped away from her servants and changed into monastic garb. She hid in a marsh, where she practised asceticism for several years in strict fasting and prayer.

An angel appeared to her in a dream and told her to go to the monastery of Sketis, which was under the spiritual direction of St Macarius of Egypt (January 19), and to call herself Dorotheus. St Macarius accepted her as one of the brethren, and she quickly distinguished herself by her ascetical life.

St Apollinaria's parents had another daughter who was possessed by demons. They sent her to Sketis to St Macarius, who brought the afflicted girl to Dorotheus (Apollinaria). By her prayers, the maiden received healing. After she returned home, the maiden was attacked by a violent demon, who made her appear pregnant. The demon spoke through the girl's lips, saying that Dorotheus had forced himself on her. Her outraged parents sent soldiers to the monastery to find the one who had defiled their daughter.

St Apollinaria took the blame and accompanied the envoys to the home of her parents. There she revealed her secret to her parents, healed her sister, and returned to Sketis. She died shortly thereafter in the year 470. Only after the death of Dorotheus was it revealed that "he" was actually a woman.
The saint was buried in a cave in the monastery church of St Macarius of Egypt.
4th v. St. Talida Abbess head of convents in Egypt
She was visited in her eightieth year by Palladius.
459 ST SIMEON THE STYLITE; By an invincible patience he bore all afflictions and rebukes without a word of complaint; he sincerely looked upon himself as the outcast of the world; and he spoke to all with the most engaging sweetness and charity.

ST SIMEON was, in his life and conduct, a subject of astonishment not only to the whole Roman empire, but also to many barbarous and infidel peoples who had the highest veneration for him. The Roman emperors solicited his prayers, and consulted him on matters of importance. It must, nevertheless, be acknowledged that his most remarkable actions are a subject of admiration, not of imitation. They may serve, notwithstanding, for our spiritual edification, as we cannot well reflect on his fervour without being confounded at our own indolence in the service of God.
St Simeon was the son of a shepherd in Cilicia, on the borders of Syria, and at first kept his father’s sheep. Being only thirteen, about the year 402, he was much moved by hearing the beatitudes one day read in church, particularly the words, “Blessed are they that mourn; blessed are the clean of heart”. The youth addressed himself to a certain old man to learn their meaning, and begged to know how the happiness they promised was to be obtained. He was told that continual prayer, watching, fasting, weeping, humiliation and the patient suffering of persecution were pointed out by these texts as the road to true happiness; and that a solitary life afforded the best opportunity for the practice of virtue. Simeon upon this withdrew to a little distance where, falling upon the ground, he besought Him who desires all to be saved to conduct him in the paths that lead to happiness and perfection. At length, falling asleep, he had a vision, which he often related afterwards. He seemed to himself to be digging for the foundation of a house, and that as often as he stopped to take a little breath, which was four times, he was commanded each time to dig deeper, till at length he was told he might desist, the pit being deep enough to receive the intended foundation, on which he would be able to raise a superstructure of what kind and to what height he pleased. “The event”, says Theodoret, “verified the prediction; the actions of this wonderful man were so much above nature, that they might well require deep foundations to build such a structure securely.”
Rising from the ground, he went to a monastery near at hand ruled by an abbot called Timothy. There he remained at the gate for several days, without either eating or drinking, begging to be admitted on the footing of the lowest servant in the house. His petition was granted, and he complied with the terms of it for four months. During this time he learned the psalter by heart, and his familiarity with the sacred words greatly helped to nourish his soul. Though still no more than a boy, he practised all the austerities of the house, and by his humility and charity gained the good will of all the monks. Having here spent two years, he removed to the monastery of Heliodorus, who had spent sixty-two years in that community so abstracted from the world as to be utterly ignorant of it, as Theodoret relates, who knew him well. Here Simeon much increased his mortifications. Judging the tough rope of the well, made of twisted palm leaves, a proper instrument of penance, he tied it close about his naked body, where it remained, unknown both to the community and his superior, till it ate into his flesh. Three days successively his clothes, which clung to it, had to be softened with liquids to disengage them; and the incisions made to cut the cord out of his body were attended with such pain that he lay for some time as dead. On his recovery the abbot, as a warning to the rest to avoid such dangerous singularities, dismissed him.
After this he repaired to a hermitage at the foot of Mount Telanissae, where he resolved to pass the whole forty days of Lent in total abstinence, after the example of Christ, without either eating or drinking. Bassus, a priest to whom he communicated his design, gave him ten loaves and some water that he might eat if he found it necessary. At the expiration of the forty days Bassus came to visit him, and found the loaves and water untouched, but Simeon lay stretched on the ground almost without any signs of life. Taking a sponge, he moistened his lips with water, and then gave him the blessed Eucharist. Simeon having recovered a little rose up, and by degrees found himself able to swallow a few lettuce-leaves. This was his method of keeping Lent during the remainder of his life; and he had passed twenty-six Lents after this manner when Theodoret wrote his account of him; in which he adds other particulars—that Simeon spent the first part of Lent in praising God standing; growing weaker, he continued his prayer sitting; while towards the end, being unable to support himself in any other posture, he lay on the ground. However, it is probable that in his advanced years he admitted some mitigation of this incredible austerity. When on his pillar, he kept himself during this fast tied to a pole; but in the end was able to fast the whole term without any support. Some attribute this to the strength of his constitution, which was naturally very robust, and had been gradually habituated to an extreme privation of food. It is well known that the hot climate affords surprising instances of long abstinence among the Indians. A native of France has, within our memory, fasted the forty days of Lent almost in the same manner. *{* Dom Claude Léauté, a Benedictine monk of the congregation of Saint-Maur. This fact is attested by his brethren and superiors in a relation printed at Sens in 1731; and recorded by Dom L’Isle in his History of Fasting. (Some other remarkable examples may be found cited by Father Thurston in two articles in The Month, February and March, 1921, on “The Mystic as a Hunger Striker”.)} But few examples occur of persons abstaining entirely from food for many days unless prepared and inured by habit.
   After three years spent in this hermitage the saint removed the top of the same mountain, where he made an enclosure, but without any roof or shelter to protect him from the weather; and to confirm his resolution of pursuing this manner of life, he fastened his right leg to a rock with a chain. Meletius, vicar to the patriarch of Antioch, told him that a firm will, supported by God’s good grace, would enable him to abide in his solitary enclosure without having recourse to any bodily restraint; whereupon the obedient servant of God sent for a smith and had his chains knocked off. But visitors began to throng to the mountain, and the solitude his soul sighed after came to be interrupted by the multitudes that flocked to receive his benediction, by which many sick recovered their health. Some were not satisfied unless they also touched him.
   So Simeon, to remove these causes of distraction, projected for himself a new and unprecedented manner of life. In 423 he erected a pillar six cubits +{+ A cubit was a measure of from 18 to 22 inches.} high, and on it he dwelt four years; on a second, twelve cubits high, he lived three years on a third, twenty-two cubits high, ten years; and on a fourth, forty cubits high, built for him by the people, he spent the last twenty years of his life.
   Thus he lived thirty-seven years on pillars, and was called Stylites, from the Greek word stylos, which signifies a pillar. This singularity was at first censured by all as a piece of extravagance. To make trial of his humility an order was sent him in the name of the neighbouring bishops and abbots to quit his pillar and give up his new manner of life. The saint at once made ready to come down; but the messenger said that, as he had shown a willingness to obey, it was their desire that he should follow his vocation in God.
His pillar did not exceed six feet in diameter at the top, which made it difficult for him to lie extended on it; neither would he allow a seat. He only stooped, or leaned, to take a little rest, and often in the day bowed his body in prayer. A visitor once reckoned 1,244 such profound reverences made by him at one time. He made exhortations to the people twice a day. His garments were the skins of beasts, and he never suffered any woman to come within the enclosure where his pillar stood. His disciple Antony mentions that he prayed most fervently for the soul of his mother after her decease.
God is sometimes pleased to conduct certain souls through extraordinary paths, in which others would find only danger of illusion and self-will. We should, notwithstanding, consider that the holiness of these persons does not consist in such wonderful actions or in their miracles, but in the perfection of their charity, patience and humility; and it was these solid virtues which shone so conspicuously in the life of St Simeon. He exhorted people vehemently against the horrible custom of swearing; as also to observe strict justice, to take no usury, to be earnest in their piety, and to pray for the salvation of souls.
   The great deference paid to his instructions, even by barbarians, cannot be described.
   Many Persians, Armenians and Iberians were converted by his miracles or by his discourses, which they crowded to hear.
   The Emperors Theodosius and Leo I often consulted him and desired his prayers.
   The Emperor Marcian visited him in disguise. By an invincible patience he bore all afflictions and rebukes without a word of complaint; he sincerely looked upon himself as the outcast of the world; and he spoke to all with the most engaging sweetness and charity.
Domnus, Patriarch of Antioch, and others brought him Holy Communion on his pillar. In 459, on a Wednesday, September 2 (or as some say, on the previous July 24, a Friday), this incomparable penitent, bowing on his pillar as if intent on prayer, gave up the ghost, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. Two days later his body was conveyed to Antioch, attended by the bishops and the whole country. Many miracles, related by Evagrius, Antony and Cosmas, were wrought on this occasion.
Incredible as some of the feats of endurance may seem which are attributed to St Simeon the Elder and to the other Stylites, or “Pillar-Saints”, his imitators, there can be no doubt that the facts are vouched for by the best historical evidence. The church historian Theo­doret, for example, who is one of our principal authorities, knew Simeon well, possessed his confidence, and wrote his account while the saint was still living. Hippolyte Delehaye discusses the whole question of this extraordinary phase of asceticism with great thoroughness, in his monograph Les Saints Stylites (1923). This supersedes all previous works on the subject. A popular summary by Fr Thurston of the outstanding features of this mode of life, based upon Delehaye’s researches, may be found in the Irish quarterly Studies, December, 1923, pp. 584—596. Besides the account of Theodoret, we have two other primary authorities for the life of St Simeon one the Greek biography by his disciple and contemporary Antony, the other the Syriac, which also must certainly have been written within fifty years of the saint’s death. Both these texts have been critically edited by Lietzmann in his Das Leben des heiligen Symeon Stylites (1908); see also P. Peeters on Simeon’s earliest biographers, in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lxi (1943), pp. 71 seq. Between the Syriac and the Greek accounts there are a good many points of divergence in matters of detail which cannot be gone into here. In the Roman Martyrology St Simeon is commemorated on January 5, and the Bollandists and Butler have followed this example. On a tree-dweller (dendrite) see A. Vasiliev, “Life of David of Thessalonika”, in Traditio, vol. iv (1946), pp. 115-147.
6th v. Saint Menas lived in asceticism for more than fifty years in the monastery of Sinai, where he died peacefully in the second half of the sixth century. Myrrh flowed from his holy relics. St John Climacus speaks of this wonderful man in THE LADDER OF DIVINE ASCENT (Step 4:34).
7th v. St. Cera An Irish abbess
also called Ciar, Cior, Cyra, or Ceara. She was born in Tipperary and served as abbess of a monastery at Kilkeary and another one at Tehelly.
7th v. Saint Phosterius the Hermit led an ascetical life on a lofty mountain, where he was fed by an angel. He brought many back to the Church from the heresy of Iconoclasm by his miracles and saintly life.
Tradition teaches that Saint Phosterius the Hermit dwelt on a high mountain most likely in the wilderness of modern day Turkey.  He is said to have been fed by an angel which serves as a testament to his holiness.  Phosterius gained renown amongst his contemporaries during the Iconoclastic Controversy in the seventh century. Due to the testimony to the truth of the Christian faith given by the witness of his holy life many people left the heresy of Iconoclasm.
Saint Phosterius is commemorated 5 January in the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic Churches.
820 Saint Gregory of Akrita (Sea of Marmora);  led a life of piety on Seleukia; 12 years persecuted by Jews in Jerusalem; accomplished great ascetic deeds
Born on the island of Crete in the year 760, and was raised by pious parents. At this time the iconoclast heretics persecuted the Orthodox. The youth Gregory, wanting to preserve his Orthodox Faith, went to Seleukia and led a life of piety.

At the age of twenty, St Gregory went to Jerusalem and lived there for twelve years, enduring fierce persecution from the Jews. From there St Gregory journeyed to Rome, where he entered a monastery. He became acquainted with St Michael, Bishop of Synnada (May 23), who took him along and settled in a monastery on the Cape of Akrita (Sea of Marmora).
The saint accomplished great ascetic deeds and died there around the year 820.
Gregory of Akrita (= Gregorius Acritensis). In the Greek liturgy on Jan 5. He was born in Crete, he spent his youth as a shepherd, and later went to Seleucia. At the death of Emperor Leo IV, the Khazar (750-780) Gregory went to Jerusalem. There he suffered from the Jews. He went to Rome where he entered a monastery. During the reign of Michael Rhangabe the Isaurian, Gregory was taken by a representative of Nikephorus I to a monastery in Akrita, Chalcedon, where he spent the rest of his life. (AA.SS. Jan 5)
868 St. Convoyon Benedictine abbot exiled by Norseman in Brittany
France. A Breton, Convoyon was an archdeacon of Vannes and then a hermit. He became a Benedictine monk and then abbot-founder of St. Savior Monastery near Redon in 831. Norseman attacked and drove him from the abbey. He was canonized in 1866.
868 ST CONVOYON, ABBOT
IN 1866 Pope Pius IX approved the cultus, which from time immemorial had been paid in the neighbourhood of Redon in Brittany to the Benedictine monk who was the founder and abbot of the monastery of Saint Saviour. He was himself a Breton by birth, and it was in 831 that he, with six companions, obtained a grant of land on which to build an abbey. In the disturbed political conditions of the time, the early years of the new foundation seem to have been full of privation and hardship. Owing in part to a charge of simony brought against certain bishops of the province, Convoyon in 848 found himself a member of a deputation sent to Rome to appeal to Pope Leo IV. He is said to have brought back with him to his monastery a chasuble which Leo gave him, and also the relics of Pope St Marcellinus.
Later Convoyon was driven from his monastery by the incursions of the Norsemen, and was absent from it at the time of his death in 868. In 1866 the abbey of Saint Saviour at Redon had passed into the hands of a community of the Eudist fathers, who were very active in procuring the confirmation of cultus for this local saint.

Mabillon (vol. iv, 2, pp. 188 seq.) prints two lives of St Convoyon, one of which purports to be written by a contemporary. An interesting summary of the case presented to obtain confirmation of the cult may he found in the Analecta Juris Pontificii (1866), vol. viii, pp. 2177 seq. See also Lobineau, Saints de la Bretagne, vol. ii, pp. 261 seq.  

550 St. Emiliana Mystic aunt of Pope St. Gregory the Great
Romæ sanctæ Æmiliánæ Vírginis, ámitæ sancti Gregórii Papæ; quæ, vocánte Tharsílla soróre, quæ ad Deum præcésserat, hac ipsa die migrávit ad Dóminum.
   At Rome, the holy virgin Emiliana, aunt of Pope St. Gregory.  Being called to God by her sister Tharsilla, who had preceded her, she departed to heaven on this day.
She and a sister, Tharsilla, lived in Rome, in the home of their brother, Gregory’s father, practicing great austerity. Emiliana died on January 5, just a few days after Tharsilla.
592 St  Simeon Stylites The Younger
Antiochíæ sancti Simeónis Mónachi, qui, multos annos in colúmna stans vixit, unde et Stylítæ cognómen accépit; cujus vita et conversátio éxstitit admirábilis.
    At Antioch, St. Simeon, monk, admirable both for his life and for his conversation.  He lived for many years standing on a pillar, and was for that reason called Stylites.
Simeon was born about the year 517 at Antioch, and his mother Martha was revered as a saint.  His father, who was from Edessa, was killed in an earthquake when Simeon was five years old. The child, of whom strange things were already recorded, eventually wandered off into the mountains, where he came to a small monastery and put himself in the care of a well known stylite called John.  For the rest of his life John looked after the boy, who also had his pillar near by, on which he took up his abode at the age of seyen, "before he had lost his first teeth.”  The reputation, not simply of his eccentricity, but of his holiness and powers was such that, to avoid if he might the attentions of pilgrims, Simeon retired to live on a rock in a more inaccessible place on another mountain, which became known as the Hill of Wonders. He was then twenty.  Ten years later, in consequence of a vision, he established a monastery for his disciples, and had a new column built for himself to which he was solemnly conducted by two bishops.
  Simeon lived in this extraordinary but indubitably historically true fashion for another forty-five years  from time to time he moved to another pillar, and without coming down to the ground he was ordained priest when he was thirty-three, the bishop going up to impose hands on him.   Apparently there was a platform on his pillar sufficiently large to enable him to celebrate Holy Mysteries there, and his disciples climbed up by a ladder to receive communion at his hands. It is recorded that God manifested his sanctity by a number of miracles, which he performed chiefly in curing the sick, foretelling things to come, and knowing the secret thoughts of others.  Evagrius, the Syrian historian, was an eye-witness to many and assures us that he had experienced Simeon's knowledge of the thoughts of others in himself, when he visited him for spiritual advice, and that the fame of his holiness was unsurpassed.
  Crowds of people of many races flocked to St Simeon for his spiritual advice and hoping to witness or be healed by a miracle.  After the death of St John Stylites there was no one who could or would restrain his austerities, and Evagrius says that he supported life entirely on one sort of fruit or vegetable.  He wrote to the Emperor Justin II urging him to punish the Samaritans who had attacked their Christian neighbours, and St John Damascene attributes to Simeon a passage praising the veneration of sacred images.   There are other writings, homilies and hymns, also attributed to him but without sufficient reason.   Simeon had foretold that Justin II would succeed Justinian, and told John the Scholastic that he would be elected to the see of Constantinople: and so he was.
That he became a stylite when a child and displayed spiritual understanding from his tenderest years, that he came to live almost without sleep and nourishment, that the contests with evil spirits, physical mortifications and numerous miracles are of so startling a character, may well make the reader of St Simeon's life ask whether it be not entirely a work of imagination: and Father Delehaye did not fail to remark that it is an unusual document that must be read with corresponding discrimination.  But many of its statements can be checked and compared, and it certainly is not entirely wanting in historical value.   The saint fell ill in the May of 592, and
1004 St. Gaudentius Benedictine bishop friend of St. Adalbert
While going to Prussia with St. Adalbert, Gaudentius escaped a massacre that claimed his brother’s life. He became the first bishop of Gnesen, appointed by Emperor Otto III in 1000.
11th v. ST DOROTHEUS THE YOUNGER, Abbot; Among many miracles credited multiplied corn, saved from shipwreck a vessel far away out at sea and on another occasion by invoking the Holy Trinity to have caused a huge stone which crashed down during the building operations to rise unassisted and resume its proper place
TREBIZOND, on the Black Sea, was the birthplace of St Dorotheus the Younger, who is also known as St Dorotheus of Khiliokomos. He came of a patrician family, but ran away from home at the age of twelve to escape from a marriage that his parents were forcing upon him. After wandering for some time he reached the monastery of Genna at Amisos (the present Samsun), in Pontus, where he received the habit from the Abbot John. He became a pattern of monastic virtue and was raised to the priesthood. Besides being endowed with the gift of prophecy he was frequently rapt in ecstasy.
   One day when he was on an errand outside the monastery, a mysterious stranger told him to found a community on a mountain near Amisos, at a spot that he indicated, and to dedicate it to the Holy Trinity. Dorotheus was loath to leave his brethren, besides being uncertain as to the nature of the call, but his abbot bade him obey. The saint accordingly began to build, having at first only one companion to assist him. Other disciples soon gathered round him and he became the abbot of a great monastery to which he gave the name of Khiliokomos. Among many miracles with which he is credited he is said to have multiplied corn, to have saved from shipwreck a vessel far away out at sea and on another occasion by invoking the Holy Trinity to have caused a huge stone which crashed down during the building operations to rise unassisted and resume its proper place.
The text of the Greek life written by his disciple John Mauropus is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. i.
1170 St. Gerlac Dutch soldier/sailor Hermit correspondent with St. Hildegard
He reformed when his wife died. After serving the sick and poor in Rome for seven years, he became a hermit, living in a hollow tree near Valkenburg, Holland. Gerlac was never formally canonized.
1170 ST GERLAC
IN the neighbourhood of Valkenburg (Holland) there is still a holy well called after St Gerlac. According to an almost contemporary biography, the hermit used this water while for seven years he lived his solitary life in the hollow of a tree. In early manhood he was devoted to feats of arms, and gave himself up to all the vices of the camp, but the news of the sudden death of his wife opened his eyes to the danger of his position. He said good-bye to the world and set out for Rome. There he did seven years’ penance, tending the sick in the hospitals and practising great austerities. Afterwards he obtained the pope’s sanction to become a hermit without entering a religious order. For the place of his solitary life he chose a hollow tree, situated on his own estate, although, on his coming back to his native city, he had given his possessions to the poor. The nearest church was at a considerable distance, yet for seven years he made his way thither over difficult ground at all seasons of the year, to be present at the divine offices. The monks considered his vocation an anomaly, and tried to force the bishop to make him enter their monastery. The quarrel was embittered by calumny, and the feeling against Gerlac became so incredibly violent that the monks refused him the sacraments as he lay dying. According to his biographer, Gerlac received the last rites from a venerable old man who entered his cell, gave him viaticum, anointed him, and then was never seen again.

Acta Sanctorum, January 5; F. Wesselmann, Der hl. Gerlach von Houthem (1897). Although Gerlac was never canonized, fragments are extant of a liturgical office that was recited in his honour.

1066 In England, St. Edward, king and confessor, illustrious by the virtue of chastity and the gift of miracles.  His feast, by order of Pope Innocent XI, is celebrated on the 13th of October, on which day his holy body was transferred.
     In Anglia natális sancti Eduárdi, Regis Anglórum et Confessóris; qui virtúte castitátis et grátia miraculórum fuit insígnis.  Ejus autem festívitas, ex decréto Innocéntii Papæ Undécimi, tértio Idus Octóbris, quo die sacrum ejus corpus translátum fuit, potíssimum celebrátur.
St. Edward the Confessor
King of England, born in 1003; died 5 January, 1066. He was the son of Ethelred II and Emma, daughter of Duke Richard of Normandy, being thus half-brother to King Edmund Ironside, Ethelred's son by his first wife, and to King Hardicanute, Emma's son by her second marriage with Canute. When hardly ten years old he was sent with his brother Alfred into Normandy to be brought up at the court of the duke his uncle, the Danes having gained the mastery in England. Thus he spent the best years of his life in exile, the crown having been settled by Canute, with Emma's consent, upon his own offspring by her. Early misfortune thus taught Edward the folly of ambition, and he grew up in innocence, delighting chiefly in assisting at Mass and the church offices, and in association with religious, whilst not disdaining the pleasures of the chase, or recreations suited to his station. Upon Canute's death in 1035 his illegitimate son, Harold, seized the throne, Hardicanute being then in Denmark, and Edward and his brother Alfred were persuaded to make an attempt to gain the crown, which resulted in the cruel death of Alfred who had fallen into Harold's hands, whilst Edward was obliged to return to Normandy. On Hardicanute's sudden death in 1042, Edward was called by acclamation to the throne at the age of about forty, being welcomed even by the Danish settlers owing to his gentle saintly character. His reign was one of almost unbroken peace, the threatened invasion of Canute's son, Sweyn of Norway, being averted by the opportune attack on him by Sweyn of Denmark; and the internal difficulties occasioned by the ambition of Earl Godwin and his sons being settled without bloodshed by Edward's own gentleness and prudence. He undertook no wars except to repel an inroad of the Welsh, and to assist Malcolm III of Scotland against Macbeth, the usurper of his throne. Being devoid of personal ambition, Edward's one aim was the welfare of his people. He remitted the odious "Danegelt", which had needlessly continued to be levied; and though profuse in alms to the poor and for religious purposes, he made his own royal patrimony suffice without imposing taxes. Such was the contentment caused by "the good St. Edward's laws", that their enactment was repeatedly demanded by later generations, when they felt themselves oppressed.

Yielding to the entreaty of his nobles, he accepted as his consort the virtuous Editha, Earl Godwin's daughter. Having, however, made a vow of chastity, he first required her agreement to live with him only as a sister. As he could not leave his kingdom without injury to his people, the making of a pilgrimage to St. Peter's tomb, to which he had bound himself, was commuted by the pope into the rebuilding at Westminster of St. Peter's abbey, the dedication of which took place but a week before his death, and in which he was buried. St. Edward was the first King of England to touch for the "king's evil", many sufferers from the disease were cured by him. He was canonized by Alexander III in 1161. His feast is kept on the 13th of October, his incorrupt body having been solemnly translated on that day in 1163 by St. Thomas of Canterbury in the presence of King Henry II.
1694 Romanus of Karpenisi New Martyr monk on Mt. Athos; suffered for Christ at Constantinople, beheaded Turks
Born in Karpenisi central Greece. He was a monk on Mt. Athos for a time, and suffered for Christ at Constantinople, beheaded by the Turks in the year 1694. His relics were taken by ship to England. The Greek liturgy remembers him on Jan 5.
1860  Bd John NEPOMUCENE NEUMANN. Born in Bohemia, 1811; he was ordained priest in New York City in 1836 and joined the Redemptorist congregation; consecrated fourth bishop of Philadelphia in 1852; he died there on 5 January 1860. Bishop Neumann, a naturalized American citizen, organized Catholic schools into a diocesan system. He was beatified in 1963.

The first American bishop to be canonized and the fourth bishop of Philadelphia. A native of Bohemia, he studied at the University of Prague, became a noted scholar, and entered the religious life. Deeply inspired by the letters of Father Frederic Baraga to the Leopold Missionary Society, he volunteered to labor in America, arriving in New York and receiving ordination on June 25, 1836. The next four years were spent in missionary work among the members of the German community around Niagara Falls. In 1840, he joined the Redemptorists in 1842- the first member to be professed in America - and ten years later, on March 28, 1852, he was consecrated bishop of Philadelphia at the suggestion of Archbishop Francis Kenrick of Baltimore. As bishop, Neumann founded fifty churches in the diocese, advanced the program on the cathedral, and was noted especially for his contribution to Catholic education. Finding only two parochial schools at his arrival, Neumann established nearly one hundred by the time of his passing. He also cared for the poor and orphans, and founded the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis. Beatified by Pope Paul VI in 1963, he was canonized in 1977.

 January 5, 2010 St. John Neumann (1811-1860)
   
Perhaps because the United States got a later start in the history of the world, it has relatively few canonized saints, but their number is increasing.
John Neumann was born in what is now the Czech Republic. After studying in Prague, he came to New York at 25 and was ordained a priest. He did missionary work in New York until he was 29, when he joined the Redemptorists and became its first member to profess vows in the United States. He continued missionary work in Maryland, Virginia and Ohio, where he became popular with the Germans.
At 41, as bishop of Philadelphia, he organized the parochial school system into a diocesan one, increasing the number of pupils almost twentyfold within a short time.
Gifted with outstanding organizing ability, he drew into the city many teaching communities of sisters and the Christian Brothers. During his brief assignment as vice provincial for the Redemptorists, he placed them in the forefront of the parochial movement.
Well- known for his holiness and learning, spiritual writing and preaching, on October 13, 1963, he became the first American bishop to be beatified. Canonized in 1977, he is buried in St. Peter the Apostle Church in Philadelphia.
Comment: Neumann took seriously our Lord’s words, “Go and teach all nations.” From Christ he received his instructions and the power to carry them out. For Christ does not give a mission without supplying the means to accomplish it. The Father’s gift in Christ to John Neumann was his exceptional organizing ability, which he used to spread the Good News.
Today the Church is in dire need of men and women to continue in our times the teaching of the Good News. The obstacles and inconveniences are real and costly. Yet when Christians approach Christ, he supplies the necessary talents to answer today’s needs. The Spirit of Christ continues his work through the instrumentality of generous Christians.
Quote:  “All people of whatever race, condition or age, in virtue of their dignity as human persons, have an inalienable right to education. This education should be suitable to the pa rticular destiny of the individuals, adapted to their ability, sex and national cultural traditions, and should be conducive to amicable relations with other nations in order to promote true unity and peace in the world. True education aims to give people a formation which is directed towards their final end and the good of that society to which they belong and in which, as adults, they will have their share of duties to perform.” (Declaration on Christian Education, 1, Austin Flannery translation).
593 St. Lomer Hermit founder of Corbion Monastery
near Chartres, France, sometimes called Laudomarius. He lived to be more-than one hundred.
1368 St. Paula Camaldolese  peaceful resolution to the feud between Florence and Pisa
A saintly member of the Camaldolese Order. Born in Tuscany, she was placed into the care of the local Camaldolese nuns while she was very young and remained with the order for the rest of her life. Paula is best known for her efforts to bring about a peaceful resolution to the feud between Florence and Pisa.
1893 Fr. Charles of St. Andrew; the saint of Mount Argus; received by Blessed Dominic Barberi, Passionist; Due to his poor mastery of the English language, he was never a formal preacher and he never preached missions. Rather he very successfully dedicated himself to spiritual direction, especially through the sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession). The fame of his virtue was such that great crowds of people would gather at the monastery to seek his blessing. There are also numerous testimonies to the outstanding miraculous cures that he worked to the extent that even during his lifetime he was known as a miracle worker.

Fr. Charles of St. Andrew, known in secular life as John Andrew Houben, was born on 11 December 1821 in Munstergeleen, in the diocese of Ruremond (Holland), the fourth of eleven children. He was baptized the same day with the name John Andrew. He received his First Communion on 26 April 1835 and the sacrament of Confirmation on 28 June in the same year. He began his formal education in Sittard and then in Broeksittard. In 1840 he had to interrupt his studies to enter the military. It was during this latter period that he first heard about the Congregation of the Passion. At the end of his military service he completed his studies and requested to be admitted to the Congregation. He was received by Blessed Dominic Barberi, Passionist, and he entered the novitiate in the Belgium city of Ere, near Tournai on 5 November 1845. In December of that same year he was vested with the Passionist religious Habit and was given the name of Charles of St. Andrew. Having completed the canonical year of novitiate he professed First Vows on 10 December 1850. At the conclusion of his studies he was ordained a priest by Bishop Labis, the ordinary of Tournai.

Immediately he was sent to England where the Passionists had founded three monasteries and it was here that, for a period of time, he undertook the ministry of vice-master of novices in the monastery of Broadway. He also did parochial ministry in the parish of St. Wilfred and neighboring areas until 1856 when he was transferred to the newly established monastery of Mount Argus, on the outskirts of Dublin.

Blessed Charles Houben lived almost the remainder of his life in this retreat and was greatly loved by the Irish people to point that they referred to him ­ a native of Holland ­ as Father Charles of Mount Argus. He was a particularly pious priest. He was outstanding in exercising obedience, in the practice of poverty, humility and simplicity and to an even greater degree, to devotion to the Passion of the Lord.

Due to his poor mastery of the English language, he was never a formal preacher and he never preached missions. Rather he very successfully dedicated himself to spiritual direction, especially through the sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession). The fame of his virtue was such that great crowds of people would gather at the monastery to seek his blessing. There are also numerous testimonies to the outstanding miraculous cures that he worked to the extent that even during his lifetime he was known as a miracle worker.

Precisely because of this fame that extended throughout all of Great Britain as well as in America and Australia that in 1866, in order to afford him some rest, he was transferred to England where he lived for a time in the communities at Broadway, Sutton and London. There he ministered as usual and there too, inside and outside the monastery, he was sought by the faithful, both Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
He returned to Dublin in 1874 where he remained until his death that took place at dawn on 5 January 1893.
During his very solemn funeral that was attended by people from all of Ireland there was definite proof of the popular devotion that had surrounded him throughout his life. In a newspaper of the time we read: "Never before has the memory of any man sparked an explosion of religious sentiment and profound veneration as that which we observed in the presence of the mortal remains of Father Charles." The Superior of the monastery wrote to his family: "The people have already declared him a saint."

The cause of his Beatification and Canonization was introduced on 13 November 1935, and on 16 October 1988, His Holiness John Paul II proceeded with the beatification of the one whom everyone called the saint of Mount Argus.

The miracle that led to his canonization was obtained through his intercession on behalf of Mr. Adolf Dormans of Munstergeleen, the birthplace of the Blessed. The diocesan inquiry super miro was also undertaken in the diocese of Roermond (Holland) from 6 November 2002 until 19 February 2003 at which time the validity of the miracle was recognized by a Decree from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on 7 November 2003.

The medical consulta was convoked on 24 November 2005 and following the investigation of the matter, the members unanimously expressed that the cure of Mr. Dormans of "perforated, gangrenous appendicitis with generalized peritonitis that was multi-organically compromising and included extenuating and prolonged agony" was "not scientifically explainable".

The theologian consultors, in the particular Congress of 21 February 2006 and the Ordinary Congregation of Cardinals and Bishops of 12 December 2006 also gave their unanimous approval of the supernatural aspect of the said healing.

The Decree concerning the miracle was given in the presence of the Holy Father, Benedict XVI on 21 December 2006.