Mary Mother of GOD
Philomena.html HERE
December 31 - Saint Maria Odigitria Church (Rome) - Catherine Labouré (d. 1876)
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

Mary's Divine Motherhood
How do I start the Five First Saturdays?
Saints of this Day January  15 Décimo octávo Kaléndas Februárii.
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!)

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

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.
Benedict XVI’s monthly prayer intention will focus on unity during January.

The Apostleship of Prayer announced the general intention chosen by the Pope:
"That the Church may strengthen her commitment to full visible unity in order to manifest in an ever growing degree her nature as community of love, in which is reflected the communion of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit."

The Holy Father also chooses an apostolic intention for each month. In January, he will pray that "the Church in Africa, which is preparing to celebrate her Second Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, may continue to be the sign and instrument of reconciliation and justice in a continent which is still marked by war exploitation and poverty."

The Marian Model  January 15 - Our Lady of Banneux (Belgium, 1933) - First Apparition
What is most important about this motherhood to which she gave her free consent is that it places her in union with God uniquely so on a physical level and also, in an archetypical way representative of the whole human race, on a spiritual level through grace.
Since all of this happens to her precisely as woman, she also signifies "the fullness of the perfection of what is characteristic of woman, of what is feminine. Here we find ourselves, in a sense, at the culminating point, the archetype, of the personal dignity of women."
Pope John Paul II (d. April 2, 2005),Message for the XXVIII  World Day of Peace, December 8, 1994. January 1, 1995

    250 St. Secundina Martyred virgin
 
250 St. Maximus of Nola Bishop suffered greatly
  303 St. Ephysius martyr revered on Sardinia
        St. Sawl Welsh chieftain and the father of St. Asaph
 342 St. Paul the Hermit
4th v. St. Maura & Britta Virgins
       St. Macarius the Great Egyptian hermit enemy of Arianism
  404 ST ISIDORE OF ALEXANDRIA governor of the great hospital at Alexandria
  450 St. John Calabytes Hermit (at 12) lived unknown in a small hut famous for prayers penances He sanctified his
         soul by wonderful patience, meekness and prayer
 510 Saint Maurus was the first disciple of St. Benedict of Nursia
 511 St. Eugyppius African priest of Rome companion of St. Severinus of Noricum
6th v. St. Liewellyn & Gwrnerth Welsh monks of Welshpool and Bardsey, Wales
570 St. Ita virgin founded a community of women dedicated to God extravagant miracles attributed

6th v. St. Lleudadd Welsh abbot, companion of St. Cadfan to Brittany
 600 St. Tarsicia Virgin hermit granddaughter of the Frankish king Clotaire I
 700 St. Bonitus resigned the See Bishop of Clermont in 689 doubts of election
 710 St. Emebert bishop of Cambrai, in Flander
 764 St. Ceolwulf King of Northumbria patron of St. Bede

7th V
St. Malard Bishop of Chartres, in France
 823 St. Blaithmaic Irish abbot who sought martyrdom among the Danes
1208 Bl. Peter of Castelnau Martyred Cistercian papal legate and inquisitor
        St. Teath may also be St. Ita
1648 Bl. Frances de Capillas The Proto martyr of China Dominican missionary
1909 Bl. Arnold Jansen Founder of the Society of the Divine Word 

Christ said his coming would bring not peace but a sword (see Matthew 10:34).
The Gospels offer no support for us if we fantasize about a sunlit holiness that knows no problems.
Christ did not escape at the last moment, though he did live happily ever after—after a life of controversy, problems, pain and frustration.

St. Hilary  (315?-368), like all saints, simply had more of the same.
Decrees of Vatican's Saint Congregation
Testify to 10 Miracles; 10 Cases of Heroic Virtue; 1 Martyrdom

“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

BENEDICT XVI'S PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR     JANUARY 2010
Young people and Social Communications Media
General: That young people may learn to use modern means of social communication for their personal growth
and to better prepare themselves to serve society.
Christian Unity
Missionary: That every believer in Christ may be conscious that unity among all Christians
is a condition for more effective proclamation of the Gospel.


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.


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

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. Patron_Saints.html

THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY  PSALM 57
If indeed you will truly speak justice: honor the Queen of justice and mercy.
For this belongs to the praise and the glory of the Savior:
whatever of honor is bestowed upon the Mother.
The roses of martyrs surround thee, O Queen: and the lilies of virgins encompass thy throne.
Praise ye her, all together, ye morning stars: the seas and the rivers and the foundations of the world.
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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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
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.

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;
and 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

breviary.net/martyrology/mart01/mart0115 stlukeorthodox.com/html/saints/january/ usccb.org  ewtn.com  Irondequoit .org Saints Alive
domcentral.org/life/martyrJanuary syriac   oca.org  glaubenszeugen.de/tage/January   Serbian   http://www.copticchurch.net  Melkite
Monthly Saints with pics here http://www.stfrancisenid.com/memorials.htm
 One Saint per day stthomasirondequoit.com/SaintsAlive/index.htm    stjohndc.org  God's Humourous Saints
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 since He promises such great reward, and that all Catholics should endeavor to make the 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 third of the full Rosary of 15 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 15 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.
God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique, for each is the result of a new idea.  As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike. It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints. Dear Lord, grant us a spirit that is not bound by our own ideas and preferences.  Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves. O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory. Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.  Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.   God calls each one of us to be a saint in order to get into heavenonly saints are allowed into heaven. The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.
Mary the Mother of Jesus Miracles_BLay Saints  Miraculous_IconMiraculous_Medal_Novena Patron Saints
Miracles by Century 100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000    1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800  1900 2000
The POPES HTML
God calls each one of us to be a saint in order to get into heaven.

"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

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

"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).
His Holiness Aram I, current (2008) Catholicos of Cilicia of Armenians, whose See is located in Lebanese town of Antelias.
  The Catholicosate was founded in Sis, capital of Cilicia, in the year 1441 following the move of the Catholicosate of All Armenians back to its original See of Etchmiadzin in Armenia.
The Catholicosate of Cilicia enjoyed local jurisdiction, though spiritually subject to the authority of Etchmiadzin.
In 1921 the See was transferred to Aleppo in Syria, and in 1930 to Antelias.
Its jurisdiction currently extends to Syria, Cyprus, Iran and Greece.
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.
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.

680 Shiite saint Imam Hussein, grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad Known as Ashoura and observed by Shiites across the world, the 10th day of the lunar Muslim month of Muharram: the anniversary of the 7th century death in battle of one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints.  Imam Hussein died in the 680 A.D. battle fought on the plains outside Karbala, a city in modern Iraq that's home to the saint's shrine.  The battle over a dispute about the leadership of the Muslim faith following Muhammad's death in 632 A.D. It is the defining event in Islam's split into Sunni and Shiite branches.  The occasion is the source of an enduring moral lesson. "He sacrificed his blood to teach us not to give in to corruption, coercion, or use of force and to seek honor and justice."  According to Shiite beliefs, Hussein and companions were denied water by enemies who controlled the nearby Euphrates.  Streets get partially covered with blood from slaughter of hundreds of cows and sheep. Volunteers cook the meat and feed it to the poor.  Hussein's martyrdom recounted through a rich body of prose, poetry and song remains an inspirational example of sacrifice to many Shiites, 10 percent of the world's estimated 1.3 billion Muslims.
Meeting of the Saints  walis (saints of Allah)
Great men covet to embrace martyrdom for a cause and principle.
So was the case with Hazrat Ali. He could have made a compromise with the evil forces of his time and, as a result, could have led a very comfortable, easy and luxurious life. But he was not a person who would succumb to such temptations. His upbringing, his education and his training in the lap of the holy Prophet made him refuse such an offer.
Rabia Al-Basri (717–801 C.E.) She was first to set forth the doctrine of mystical love and who is widely considered to be the most important of the early Sufi poets.
An elderly Shia pointed out that during his pre-Partition childhood it was quite common to find pictures and portraits of Shia icons in Imambaras across the country.
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 AzamHazrat Bu Ali Sharif, and Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia 1236-1325 welcomed people of all faiths & all walks of life Sufi Saint Hazrath Khwaja Syed Mohammed Badshah Quadri Chisty Yamani Quadeer (RA)
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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
Father Reardon, Editor of The Catholic Bulletin for 20 years
Lover of the poor; "A very Holy Man of God"
Monsignor Reardon P.A.  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 5/31/1908
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 B. 1872, Nova Scotia; Priest, ordained by Bishop Ireland; Member  St. Paul Seminary faculty
Litany of Loretto in Stained glass windows Here.  Nave Sacristy and Residence Here
Sanctuary
spaces filled
between with grilles of hand-forged wrought iron  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.  It became the Popes' own cathedral and official residence for the first millennium of Christian history. The only replicas ever made:  in order from west to east {1932}. Saints Simon (saw), Bartholomew (knife), James the Lesser (book), John (eagle),  Andrew (transverse cross), Peter (keys), Paul (sword), James the Greater (staff),
Thomas (carpenter's square), Philip (serpent), Matthew (book), and Jude (sword).
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 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.
Father John Corapi, SOLT
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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.

THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM
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

A New Series by Fr. Corapi! The Moon Under Her Feet CD-Audio Set: $39.00 DVD-Video Set: $45.00  call 1-888-800-7084 or go to Site http://www.fathercorapi.com
In this four part series 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 this four part series on topics more timely than ever.
The four titles are:  1. The Real War We Fight 2. The Battle for Hearts & Minds 3. Leadership: Essential for Victory 4. With the Moon Under Her Feet
2010     LOCATION     THEME/TITLE
May 1, 2010     Chaifetz Arena
St. Louis, MO     Be Not Afraid, There Is Truth     Metrotix
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June 12, 2010     Fox Cities Performing Arts Center
Appelton, WI     To Be Announced     SOLD OUT!
July 17, 2010     Cintas Center
Cincinnati, OH     The Social Teachings of the Church     The Catholic Shop
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August 7, 2010     AT&T Center
San Antonio, TX     Life, Love, and the Purpose of Our Existence     Event Info
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October 30, 2010     The Prudential Center
Newark, NJ     Spiritual Warfare     To Be Announced
DEC. 19, 2009 Decrees of Vatican's Saint Congregation Testify to 10 Miracles; 10 Cases of Heroic Virtue; 1 Martyrdom
VATICAN CITY, DEC. 19, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here are the 21 decrees of the Congregation for Saints' Causes approved today by Benedict XVI.  Five of the decrees are for miracles attributed to those who are beatified, and are now qualified for canonization. Five decrees are for miracles attributed to those who are venerable, and are now qualified for beatification.
One decree testifies to martyrdom, and another is a decree of the heroic virtue of a blessed. The nine remaining decrees testify to the heroic virtue of servants of God.
[Decrees of miracles for blesseds]
-- a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Stanislaw Soltys, called Kazimierczyk, professed priest of the Canons Regular of the Lateran, born Sept. 27, 1433 in Kazimierz (Poland) and died in the same place May 3, 1489;
-- a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed André Bessette (born Alfred), religious of the Congregation of the Holy Cross; born in Saint-Grégoire d'Iberville, Canada, Aug. 9, 1845, and died in Montreal, Canada, Jan. 6, 1937.
-- a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Mary MacKillop (born Mary Helen), founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart; born Jan. 15, 1842 in Fitzroy, Australia, and died Aug. 8, 1909, in Sydney, Australia;
-- a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Giulia Salzano, founder of the Congregation of the Catechetical Sisters of the Sacred Heart; born Oct. 13, 1846, in Santa Maria Capua Vetere, Italy, and died May 17, 1929, in Casoria, Italy;
-- a miracle attributed to the intercession of Camilla Battista da Varano, sister of the Poor Clares and founder of the monastery of St. Clare in Camerino; born April 0, 1458, in Camerino, Italy, and died in the same city May 31, 1524;
[Decrees of miracles for venerables]
-- a miracle attributed to the intercession of Venerable José Tous y Soler, priest and professed of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin and founder of the Congregation of the Capuchin Sisters of the Mother of the Divine Pastor; born March 21, 1811, in Igualada, Spain, and died Feb. 21, 1871, in Barcelona, Spain.
-- a miracle attributed to the intercession of Venerable Leopoldo de Alpandeire Sánchez Márquez (born Francisco), a professed brother of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin; born July 24, 1866, in Alpandeire, Spain, and died Feb. 9, 1956, in Granada, Spain.
-- a miracle attributed to the intercession of Venerable Manuel Lozano Garrido, a layman; born Aug. 9, 1920, in Linares, Spain, and died in the same city Nov. 3, 1971;
-- a miracle attributed to the intercession of Venerable  Teresa Manganiello, a laywoman, of the Third Order of St. Francis; born in Montefusco, Italy, Jan. 1, 1849, and died Nov. 4, 1876;
-- a miracle attributed to the intercession of Venerable Chiara Badano, lay; born in Sassello, Italy, Oct. 29, 1971, and died Oct. 7, 1990;
[Decree recognizing marytrdom]
-- the martyrdom of the Servant of God Jerzy Popieluszko, diocesan priest; born Sept. 14, 1947, in Okopy Suchowola, Poland, and killed for hatred of the faith Oct. 20, 1984, near Wloclawek, Polond;
[Decree recognizing heroic virtue of a blessed]
-- the heroic virtue of Blessed Giacomo Illirico da Bitetto, a professed brother of the Order of the Friars Minor, born in 1400 in Zara, Dalmacia, and died around the year 1496 in Bitetto, Italy;
[Decrees recognizing heroic virtue for servants of God]
-- the heroic virtues of Servant of God Pius XII (Eugenio Pacelli), supreme pontiff; born in Rome on March 2, 1876, and died in Castel Gandolfo on Oct. 9, 1958;
-- the heroic virtues of Servant of God John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla), supreme pontiff; born May 18, 1920, in Wadowice, Poland, and died in April 2, 2005, in Rome;
-- the heroic virtues of Servant of God Louis Brisson, priest and founder of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales; born June 23, 1817, in Plancy, France, and died n the same city Feb. 2, 1908;
-- the heroic virtues of Servant of God Giuseppe Quadrio, professed priest of the Salesians of St. John Bosco; born Nov. 28, 1921, in Vervio, Italy, and died in Turin, Italy, Oct. 23, 1963;
-- the heroic virtues of Servant of God Mary Ward, founder of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, born in Mulwith, England, Jan. 23, 1585, and died in Hewarth, England, Jan. 30, 1645;
Father Giuseppe Quadrio (1921-63), a Salesian.
Sister Mary Ward (1545-1615), an Englishwoman who founded the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Loreto Sisters).
-- the heroic virtues of Servant of God Antonia Maria Verna, founder of the Sisters of Charity of the Immaculate Conception of Ivrea; born in Pasquaro di Rivarolo, Italy, June 12, 1773, and died in the same city Dec. 25, 1838;
-- the heroic virtues of Servant of God Maria Chiara Serafina de Jesús Farolfi (born Francisca), founder of the Missionary Franciscan Clarists of the Blessed Sacrament; born Oct. 7, 1853, in Tossignano, Italy, and died June 18, 1917, in Badia di Bertinoro, Italia;
-- the heroic virtues of Servant of God Enrica Alfieri (born Maria Angela), professed religious of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Charity of St. Juana Antide Thouret; born Feb. 23, 1891, in Borgovercelli, Italy, and died in Milan, Italy, on Nov. 23, 1951;
-- the heroic virtues of Servant of God Giunio Tinarelli, layman, member of the Silent Workers of the Cross, born in Terni, Italy, May 27, 1912, and died in the same city Jan. 14, 1956.
DECREES OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE CAUSES OF SAINTS
VATICAN CITY, 17 JAN 2009 (VIS) - Today, during a private audience with Archbishop Angelo Amato S.D.B., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Pope authorised the congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
All Servants of God
MIRACLES:
- 1909 Ciriaco Maria Sancha y Hervas, Spanish cardinal archbishop of Toledo, founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of
          Charity of Cardinal Sancha (1833-1909).
-
1956 Carlo Gnocchi, Italian diocesan priest and founder of the "Pro Juventute" Foundation (1902-1956).
-
1735 Bernardo Francisco de Hoyos, Spanish professed priest of the Company of Jesus (1711-1735).
-
1919 Raphael Rafiringa (ne Louis), Madagascan professed religious of the Institute of Brothers of Christian Schools
          (1856-1919).
-
1946 Eustachio Kugler, (ne Joseph), German professed religious of the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God (1867-1946).
 
HEROIC VIRTUES
-
1659 Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, Spanish bishop of Osma (1600-1659).
-
1888 Robert Spiske, diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of Sisters of St. Hedwig (1821-1888).
- 1
932 Carolina Beltrami, Italian foundress of the Institute of "Immaculatine" Sisters of Alessandria (1869-1932).
-
1998 Mary of the Immaculate e Conception Salvat y Romerio (nee Maria Isabella), Spanish superior general of the Institute of
          Sisters of the Company of the Cross (1926-1998).
-
1842 Liberata Ferrarons y Vives, Spanish laywoman of the Third Order of Carmelites (1803-1842).
  In the course of a private audience with Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. on 22 December 2008, the Pope authorised the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate a decree regarding the heroic virtues of
1871 Jose Tous y Soler, Servant of God Spanish professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchins and founder of the
        Capuchin sisters of the Mother of the Divine Shepherd (1811-1871).
CSS/DECREES/AMATO VIS 090119 (320)
RITES OF BEATIFICATION APPROVED BY THE HOLY FATHER VATICAN CITY, 8 SEP 2009 (VIS)
The Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff today announced that the following rites of beatification,
approved by the Holy Father, will take place over the coming months:
- Servant of God Eustachio Kugler (ne Joseph), German professed religious of the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God: at 2 p.m. on Sunday 4 October in the cathedral of Regensburg, Germany.
- Servant of God Ciriaco Maria Sancha y Hervas, Spanish cardinal and archbishop, founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Cardinal Sancha, at 10 a.m. on Sunday 18 October in the cathedral of Toledo, Spain.
- Servant of God Carlo Gnocchi, Italian diocesan priest and founder of the "Pro Juventute" Foundation: at 10 a.m. on Sunday 25 October in the Piazza del Duomo in Milan, Italy.
- Servant of God Zoltan Lajos Meszlenyi, Hungarian bishop and martyr: at 10.30 a.m. on Saturday 31 October in the cathedral of Esztergom, Hungary.
- Servant of God Maria Alfonsina Danil Ghattas (nee Soultaneh Maria), co-foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary of Jerusalem: at 10.30 a.m. on Sunday 22 November, Solemnity of Christ the King, in the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, Israel.
OCL/BEATIFICATIONS/... VIS 090908 (220)
Holy Land Christians Welcome Beatification Maria Alfonsina Danil Ghattas to Be Named Blessed in Nazareth  JERUSALEM, SEPT. 10, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Holy Land Christians are rejoicing over the forthcoming beatification, the first to take place in their country, of Maria Alfonsina Danil Ghattas, which is planned for Nov. 22 in Nazareth.
 
Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Custos of the Holy Land, affirmed this Wednesday, the day after the Holy See publicized the place and date of the beatification. The Vatican communiqué reported that "Mother Ghattas," born Soultaneh Maria, co- founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary of Jerusalem, will be beatified on the solemnity of Christ the King in the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth. Father Pizzaballa told the Italian agency Sir that this celebration will be "an important event, which will bring the Palestinian Christian community together again after Benedict XVI's visit."  He explained, "This beatification gives local Christians a symbol and spiritual example at a difficult time, in which their number is diminishing, with so many challenges such as secularization, formation and the political problems that continue unresolved."
 
Mother Ghattas' spiritual daughters, the Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary, were very enthusiastic when the news was made public. Sister Ildefonsa, secretary general of the congregation, explained to Sir that not only her congregation but the whole Christian community, especially in Galilee have been preparing for a long time. She stated, "We have sent a letter from the congregation to all the convents spread across the Middle East, so that they will pray and fast faced to the beatification."
 
The beatification "will be, for our Christian communities, an invitation to courage, to stay despite the difficulties," the nun added. "On our part we intend to give them education and instruction." 
Daughter of Palestine 
Ghattas was born on October 4, 1843 in Jerusalem. She entered religious life at age 14, with the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition, taking the name Alfonsina. She had visions of the Virgin Mary, who requested that she found a congregation dedicated to the Holy Rosary. In 1880, together with Father Joseph Tannous, she initiated the new religious community, which soon spread all over the Holy Land. The Custos of the Holy Land stated that Mother Ghattas was "a daughter of Palestine who lived in the Holy Land and who understood the importance of instruction and formation to give Christian witness in this tormented region of the world."
HOLY FATHER TO CANONISE FIVE BLESSEDS ON 11 OCTOBER
VATICAN CITY, 1 OCT 2009 (VIS) - At 10 a.m. on Sunday 11 October the Holy Father will celebrate Mass in St. Peter's Square, during which he will canonise five blesseds, according to a communique released today by the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff.
  The five future saints are: Zygmunt Szczesny Felinski (1822-1895), Polish former archbishop of Warsaw and founder of the Congregation of Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary; Francesc Coll y Guitart (1812-1875), Spanish professed priest of the Order of Friars Preachers and founder of the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary; Jozef Damian de Veuster (1840-1889), Belgian professed priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and of the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar (PICPUS); Blessed Rafael Arnaiz Baron (1911-1938), Spanish oblate friar of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, and Mary of the Cross Jugan (nee Jeanne) (1792-1879), French virgin and foundress of the Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Poor.
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 In Judæa sanctórum Hábacuc et Michǽæ Prophetárum, quorum corpora, sub Theodósio senióre, divína revelatióne sunt repérta.
       In Judea, the holy prophets Habakkuk and Micah, whose bodies were found by divine revelation in the days of Theodosius the Elder.

250 St. Secundina Martyred virgin
 Anágniæ sanctæ Secundínæ, Vírginis et Mártyris; quæ sub Décio Imperatóre passa est.
      At Anagni, St. Secundina, virgin and martyr, who suffered under Emperor Decius.
She was a maiden flogged to death during the persecution under Emperor Trajanus Decius in Rome.
250 St. Maximus of Nola Bishop suffered greatly
 Nolæ, in Campánia, sancti Máximi Epíscopi.
      At Nola in Campania, St. Maximus, bishop.
of Nola, Italy, who ordained St. Felix of Nola. During the Roman persecutions, Maximus fled to the mountains where he suffered greatly. He died at Nola from the sufferings he endured.
303 St.  Ephysius martyr revered on Sardinia
 Cárali, in Sardínia, sancti Ephísii Mártyris, qui, in persecutióne Diocletiáni, sub Flaviáno Júdice, plúrimis torméntis divína virtúte superátis, demum, abscíssis cervícibus, victor migrávit in cælum.
      At Cagliari in Sardinia, St. Ephisius, martyr, who, in the persecution of Diocletian and under the judge Flavian, having, by the assistance of God, overcome many torments, was beheaded and ascended to heaven.

Italy. He was martyred on that island.
342 St. Paul the Hermit
 Sancti Pauli, primi Eremítæ, Confessóris; qui quarto Idus Januárii inter beatórum ágmina translátus fuit.
       St. Paul, the first hermit, who was carried to the home of the blessed on the tenth of this month.

342 ST PAUL THE HERMIT
ELIAS and St John the Baptist sanctified the desert, and Jesus Christ Himself was a model of the eremitical state during His forty days' fast in the wilderness. But while we cannot doubt that the saint of this day was guided by the Holy Ghost to live in solitude far from the haunts of men, we must recognize that this was a special vocation, and not an example to be rashly imitated. Speaking generally, this manner of life is beset with many dangers, and ought only to be embraced by those already well-grounded in virtue and familiar with the practice of contemplative prayer.
   St Paul was a native of the lower Thebaid in Egypt, and lost both his parents when he was fifteen.  He was proficient in Greek and Egyptian learning, gentle and modest, and feared God from his earliest youth. The cruel persecution of Decius disturbed the peace of the Church in 250; and Satan by his ministers sought not so much to kill the bodies, as by subtle artifices to destroy the souls of men. During these times of danger Paul kept himself concealed in the house of a friend; but finding that a brother-in-law coveting his estate was inclined to betray him, he fled into the desert. There he found certain caverns said to have been the retreat of money-coiners in the days of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt. He chose for his dwelling a cave in this place, near which were a palm tree and a clear spring; the former by its leaves furnished him with raiment, and by its fruit with food; and the latter supplied him with water to drink. Paul was twenty-two when he entered the desert. His first intention was to enjoy liberty in serving God till the persecution should cease; but relishing the sweets of solitude and heavenly contemplation, he resolved to return no more and never to concern himself with the things of the world; it was enough for him to know that there was a world, and to pray that it might grow better. He lived on the fruit of his tree till he was forty-three, and from that time till his death, like Elias, he was miraculously fed with bread brought him every day by a raven. His method of life, and what he did in this place during ninety years, is hidden from us; but God was pleased to make His servant known a little before his death.
     The great St Antony, who was then ninety years of age, was tempted to vanity, thinking that no one had served God so long in the wilderness as he had done, since he believed himself to be the first to adopt this unusual way of life; but the contrary was made known to him in a dream, and the saint was at the same time commanded by Almighty God to set out forthwith in quest of a solitary more perfect than himself. The old man started the next morning. St Jerome relates that he met a centaur, or creature with something of the mixed shape of man and horse, and that this monster or phantom of the devil (St Jerome does not profess to determine which it was), upon his making the sign of the cross, fled away, after having pointed out the road. Our author adds that St Antony soon after met also a satyr, who gave him to understand that he dwelt here in the desert, and was one of those beings whom the deluded gentiles worshipped.* {*Educated pagans were no less credulous than their Christian contemporaries. Plutarch, in his life of Sylla, says that a satyr was brought to that general at Athens and St Jerome tells us that one was shown alive at Alexandria, and after its death was embalmed, and sent to Antioch that Constantine the Great might see it. Pliny and others assure us that centaurs have been seen.}

St Antony, after two days and a night spent in the search, discovered the saint’s abode by a light that shone from it and guided his steps. Having begged admittance at the door of the cell, St Paul at last opened it with a smile; they embraced, and called each other by their names, which they knew by revelation. St Paul then inquired whether idolatry still reigned in the world. While they were discoursing together, a raven flew towards them, and dropped a loaf of bread before them. Upon which St Paul said, “Our good God has sent us a dinner. In this manner have I received half a loaf every day these sixty years past; now you have come to see me, Christ has doubled His provision for His servants.” Having given thanks to God, they both sat down by the spring. But a little contest arose between them as to who should break the bread; St Antony alleged St Paul’s greater age, and St Paul pleaded that Antony was the stranger: both agreed at last to take up their parts together. Having refreshed themselves at the spring, they spent the night in prayer.
    The next morning St Paul told his guest that the time of his death approached, and that he had been sent to bury him, adding, “Go and fetch the cloak given you by Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, in which I desire you to wrap my body.” This he probably said that he might be left alone in prayer, while expecting to be called out of this world as also that he might testify his veneration for St Athanasius, and his high regard for the faith and communion of the Catholic Church, on account of which that holy bishop was then a great sufferer.
   St Antony was surprised to hear him mention the cloak, of which he could only have known by revelation. Whatever was his motive for desiring to be buried in it, St Antony acquiesced in what was asked of him, and he hastened to his monastery to comply with St Paul’s request. He told his monks that he, a sinner, falsely bore the name of a servant of God; but that he had seen Elias and John the Baptist in the wilderness, even Paul in Paradise. Having taken the cloak, he returned with it in all haste, fearing lest the hermit might be dead; as, in fact, it happened. Whilst on the road he saw his soul carried up to Heaven, attended by choirs of angels, prophets and apostles. St Antony, though he rejoiced on St Paul’s account, could not help lamenting on his own, for having lost a treasure so lately discovered. He arose, pursued his journey, and came to the cave.
   Going in he found the body kneeling, and the hands stretched out. Full of joy, and supposing him yet alive, he knelt down to pray with him, but by his silence soon perceived Paul was dead. Whilst he stood perplexed how to dig a grave, two lions came up quietly, and as it were mourning; and, tearing up the ground, made a hole large enough. St Antony then buried the body, singing psalms according to the rite then usual in the Church. After this he returned home praising God, and related to his monks what he had seen and done. He always kept as a great treasure, and wore himself on great festivals, the garment of St Paul, of palm-tree leaves patched together. St Paul died in the year 342, the hundred and thirteenth of his age, and the ninetieth of his solitude, and is usually called the First Hermit “, to distinguish him from others of that name. He is commemorated in the canon of the Mass according to the Coptic and Armenian rites.


The summary which Alban Butler has here given of the life of the First Hermit is taken from the short biography edited in Latin by St Jerome, and afterwards widely circulated in the West. It seems possible, though this has been much disputed, that St Jerome himself did little more than translate a Greek text of which we have versions in Syriac, Arabic and Coptic, and which contained a good deal of fabulous matter. Jerome, however, undoubtedly regarded the life as in substance historical. The Greek original seems to have been written as a supplement, and in some measure a correction, to the Life of St Antony by St Athanasius.
See on the whole question F. Nau in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xx (1901), pp. 121—157. The two principal Greek texts have been edited by J. Bidez (1900), the Syriac and Coptic by Pereira (1904). Cf. also J. de Decker, Contribution à l’etude des vies de Paul de Thebes (1905) ; Plenkers in Der Katholik (1905), vol. ii, pp. 294—300; Schiwietz, Das morgenländische Monchturn (1904), pp. 49—51; Cheneau d’Orleans, Les Saints d’Egypte (1923), vol. i, pp. 76—86. For a French translation of Jerome’s Life of Paul, see R. Draguet, Les Pères du desert (1949); and cf. H. Waddell, The Desert Fathers (1936), pp. 35—53.
Also known as Paul the First Hermit and Paul of Thebes, an Egyptian hermit and friend of St. Jerome. Born 229 in Lower The baid, Egypt, he was left an orphan at about the age of fifteen and hid during the persecution of the Church under Emperor Trajanus Decius. At the age of twenty two he went to the desert to circumvent a planned effort by his brother in law to report him to authorities as a Christian and thereby gain control of his property. Paul soon found that the eremitical life was much to his personal taste, and so remained in a desert cave for the rest of his reportedly very long life.

His contemplative existence was disturbed by St. Anthony, who visited the aged Paul. Anthony also buried Paul, supposedly wrapping him in a cloak that had been given to Anthony by St. Athanasius. According to legend, two lions assisted Anthony in digging the grave. While there is little doubt that Paul lived, the only source for details on his life are found in the Vita Pauli written by St. Jerome and preserved in both Latin and Greek versions.

345 St. Paul the Hermit
It is unclear what we really know of Paul's life, how much is fable, how much fact.
Paul was reportedly born 233 in Egypt, where he was orphaned by age 15. He was also a learned and devout young man. During the persecution of Decius in Egypt in the year 250, Paul was forced to hide in the home of a friend. Fearing a brother-in-law would betray him, he fled in a cave in the desert. His plan was to return once the persecution ended, but the sweetness of solitude and heavenly contemplation convinced him to stay.

He went on to live in that cave for the next 90 years. A nearby spring gave him drink, a palm tree furnished him clothing and nourishment.  After 21 years of solitude a bird began bringing him half of a loaf of bread each day. Without knowing what was happening in the world, Paul prayed that the world would become a better place.

St. Anthony attests to his holy life and death. Tempted by the thought that no one had served God in the wilderness longer than he, Anthony was led by God to find Paul and acknowledge him as a man more perfect than himself. The raven that day brought a whole loaf of bread instead of the usual half. As Paul predicted, Anthony would return to bury his new friend.

Thought to have been about 112 when he died, Paul is known as the "First Hermit." His feast day is celebrated in the East; he is also commemorated in the Coptic and Armenian rites of the Mass.

Comment:  The will and direction of God are seen in the circumstances of our lives. Led by the grace of God, we are free to respond with choices that bring us closer to and make us more dependent upon the God who created us. Those choices might at times seem to lead us away from our neighbor. But ultimately they lead us back both in prayer and in fellowship to one another.   
4th v. St. Maura & Britta Virgins
Virgins whose relics were discovered by St. Euphronius. St. Gregory of Tours related the discovery.
390 St. Macarius the Great Egyptian hermit enemy of Arianism
 In Ægypto sancti Macárii Abbátis, qui fuit discípulus beáti Antónii, ac vita et miráculis celebérrimus éxstitit.
       In Egypt, St. Macarius, abbot, disciple of St. Anthony, very celebrated for his life and miracles.

390 ST MACARIUS THE ELDER
THIS Macarius was born in Upper Egypt, about the year 300, and spent his youth in tending cattle. By a powerful call of divine grace he retired from the world at an early age and, dwelling in a little cell, made mats, in continual prayer and the practice of great austerities. A woman falsely accused him of having offered her violence, for which supposed crime he was dragged through the streets, beaten and insulted, as a base hypocrite under the garb of a monk. He suffered all with patience, and sent the woman what he earned by his work, saying to himself, “Well, Macarius! having now another to provide for, thou must work the harder”.
But God made his innocence known; for the woman falling in labour, lay in extreme anguish, and could not be delivered till she had named the true father of her child. The fury of the people turned into admiration for the saint’s humility and patience. To escape the esteem of men he fled to the vast and melancholy desert of Skete, being then about thirty. In this solitude he lived sixty years, and became the spiritual parent of innumerable holy persons who put themselves under his direction and were governed by the rules he laid down for them; but all occupied separate hermitages. St Macarius admitted only one disciple to dwell with him, whose duty it was to receive strangers. He was compelled by an Egyptian bishop to receive the priesthood that he might celebrate the divine mysteries for the convenience of this colony. When the desert became better peopled, there were four churches built in it, which were served by so many priests.

The austerities of St Macarius were excessive; he usually ate but once a week. Evagrius, his disciple, once asked him leave, when tortured with thirst, to drink a little water; but Macarius bade him content himself with reposing awhile in the shade, saying, “For these twenty years I have never once eaten, drunk or slept as much as nature required”. His face was very pale, and his body feeble and shrivelled. To go against his own inclinations he did not refuse to drink a little wine when others desired him; but then he would punish himself for this indulgence by abstaining two or three days from all manner of drink; and it was for this reason that his disciple besought strangers never to offer him wine. He delivered his instructions in few words, and recommended silence, retirement and continual prayer, especially the last, to all sorts of people. He used to say, “In prayer you need not use many or lofty words. You can often repeat with a sincere heart, ‘Lord, show me mercy as thou knowest best.’ Or, ‘0 God, come to my assistance.’” His mildness and patience were invincible, and wrought the conversion of a heathen priest and many others.
A young man applying to St Macarius for spiritual advice, he directed him to go to a burying-place and upbraid the dead; and after that to go and flatter them. When he returned the saint asked him what answer the dead had made. “None at all”, said the other, “either to reproaches or praises.” “Then”, replied Macarius, “go and learn neither to be moved by abuse nor by flattery. If you die to the world and to yourself, you will begin to live to Christ.”
   He said to another, “Receive from the hand of God poverty as cheerfully as riches, hunger and want as readily as plenty; then you will conquer the Devil, and subdue your passions.” A certain monk complained to him that in solitude he was always tempted to break his fast, whereas in the monastery he could fast the whole week cheerfully. “Vain-glory is the reason”, replied the saint; “Fasting pleases when men see you; but seems intolerable when the craving for esteem is not gratified.”
   One came to consult him who was molested with temptations to impurity; the saint examining into the source, convinced himself the trouble was due to indolence. Accordingly, he advised him never to eat before sunset, to meditate fervently at his work, and to labour vigorously without slackening the whole day. The other faithfully complied, and was freed from his torment.
 God revealed to St Macarius that he had not attained to the perfection of two married women, who lived in a certain town. The saint thereupon paid them a visit, and learned the means by which they sanctified themselves. They were careful never to speak idle or rash words they lived in humility, patience, charity and conformity to the humours of their husbands; and they sanctified all their actions by prayer, consecrating to the divine glory all the powers of their soul and body.

A heretic of the sect of the Hieracites, called so from Hierax, who denied the resurrection of the dead, had caused some to be unsettled in their faith. St Macarius, to confirm them in the truth, raised a dead man to life, as Socrates, Sozomen, Palladius and Rufinus relate. Cassian says that he only made a dead body to speak for that purpose; then bade it rest till the resurrection.

Lucius, the Arian usurper of the see of Alexandria, sent troops into the desert to disperse the zealous monks, several of whom sealed their faith with their blood. The leading ascetics, namely the two Macariuses, Isidore, Pambo and some others were banished to a little island in the Nile delta, surrounded with marshes. The inhabitants, who were pagans, were all converted by the example and preaching of these holy men. In the end Lucius suffered them to return to their cells. Macarius, knowing that his end drew near, paid a visit to the monks of Nitria, and exhorted them in such moving terms that they all fell weeping at his feet. “Let us weep, brethren, said he, “and let our eyes pour forth floods of tears before we go hence, lest we fall into that place where tears will only feed the flames in which we shall burn.” He went to receive the reward of his labours at the age of ninety, after having spent sixty years in Skete. Macarius seems to have been, as Cassian asserts, the first anchoret who inhabited this vast wilderness. Some style him a disciple of St Antony; but it appears that he could not have lived under the direction of Antony before he retired to Skete. It seems, however, that later on he paid a visit, if not several, to that holy patriarch of monks, whose dwelling was fifteen days’ journey distant. Macarius is commemorated in the canon of the Mass according to the Coptic and Armenian rites.

See Palladius, Historia Lausiaca, c. 19 seq. Acta Sanctorum, January 15 Schiwietz, Morgenländ. Mönchtum, vol. i, pp. 97 seq. Bardenhewer, Patrology (Eng. ed), pp. 266—267  Gore in Journ. of Theol. Stud., vol. viii, pp. 85—90; Cheneau d’Onleans, Les saints d’Egypte (1923), vol. i, pp. 117—138

Also called "Macarius of Egypt” or “the Elder.” He was born in Upper Egypt, and went to the desert of Skete, where he was falsely accused of assaulting a woman, but was proven innocent. He was ordained and served as a counselor for thousands. An enemy of Arianism, Macarius was exiled to a small island in the Nile with Macarius the Younger by Lucius of Alexandria. a heretic of the era. Eventually he returned to the desert, and Macarius , considered the pioneering hermit, spent six decades in the wilderness.
404 ST ISIDORE OF ALEXANDRIA governor of the great hospital at Alexandria
 Alexandríæ beáti Isidóri, sanctitáte vitæ, fide et miráculis clari.
       At Alexandria, blessed Isidore, renowned for holiness of life, faith, and miracles.

IN early life Isidore, after distributing his large fortune to the poor, became an ascetic in the Nitrian desert. Afterwards he fell under the influence of St Athanasius, who ordained him and took him to Rome in 341. The greater part of his life, however, seems to have been passed as governor of the great hospital at Alexandria. When Palladius, the author of the Lausiac History, came to Egypt to adopt an ascetic life, he addressed himself first to Isidore, who advised him simply to practise austerity and self-denial, and then to return for further instruction. During his last days the saint, when over eighty years of age, was overwhelmed with persecutions, misrepresentations and troubles of every description. St Jerome denounced him in violent terms for his supposed Origenist sympathies, and his own bishop, Theophilus, who had once been his friend, excommunicated him, so that Isidore was driven to take refuge in the Nitrian desert, where he had spent his youth. In the end he fled to Constantinople to seek the protection of St John Chrysostom, and there shortly afterwards he died at the age of eighty-five.

See Palladius, Historia Lausiaca, and Dialogus de vita Chrysostomi; and Acta Sanctorum, January 15.

450 St. John Calabytes Hermit (at 12) lived unknown in a small hut famous for prayers penances He sanctified his soul by wonderful patience, meekness and prayer
 Constantinópoli sancti Joánnis Calybítæ, qui aliquándiu in ángulo domus patérnæ, deínde in tugúrio, ignótus paréntibus, habitávit; a quibus in morte ágnitus, miráculis cláruit.  Ipsíus corpus póstea Romam translátum, et in Insulæ Tiberínæ Ecclésia, in ejus honórem erécta, collocátum est.
       At Constantinople, St. John Calybita.  For some time living unknown to his parents in a corner of their house, and later in a hut on an island in the Tiber, he was recognized by them only at his death.  Being renowned for miracles, his body was afterwards taken to Rome and buried on the Island in the Tiber, where a church was subsequently erected in his honour.

ST JOHN CALYBITES
IT was at Gomon on the Bosphorus, among the “sleepless “ monks founded by St Alexander Akimetes, that St John sought seclusion, leaving his father and a large fortune. After six years he returned disguised in the rags of a beggar, and lived unrecognized upon the charity afforded him by his parents, close to their door in a little hut (
καλνβη) whence he is known as “Calybites”. He sanctified his soul by wonderful patience, meekness and prayer. When at the point of death he is said to have revealed his identity to his mother, producing in proof the book of the gospels, bound in gold, which he had used as a boy. He asked to be buried under the hut he had occupied, and this was granted, but a church was built over it, and his relics were at a later date translated to Rome. The legend of Calybites has either originated from, or been confused with, those of St Alexis, St Onesimus, and one or two others in which the same idea recurs of a disguise long persisted in.
See the Acta Sanctorum for January 15 and Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xv (1896), pp. 256 -267,  Cf. also Synaxarium Cp. (ed. Delehaye) p. 393
He was born in Constantinople to a wealthy family at Gomon on the Bosporus and became a hermit at the age of twelve. After six years at Gomon he returned to his family’s estate as a beggar. Given a small calybe, he became famous for his prayers and penances, residing there until his death when his identity was at last revealed to his mother.
510 Saint Maurus was the first disciple of St. Benedict of Nursia
From the time of Bollandus and of Mabillon (who in his Acta Sanctorum, 0.S.B., vol. i, pp. 275—298 printed the Life of St Maurus by pseudo-Faustus as an authentic document) down to the present day a lively controversy has raged over the question of St Maurus’s connection with Glanfeuil. Bruno Krusch (Neues Archiv, vol. xxxi, pp. 245—247) considers that we have no reason to affirm the existence of any such monk as Maurus, or any abbey at Glanfeuil in Merovingian times. Without going quite so far as this, Fr Poncelet, in many notes in the Analecta Bollandiana (e.g. vol. xv, pp. 355—356), and U. Berlière in the Revue Bénédictine (vol. xxii, pp. 541—542) are agreed that the life by Faustus “is quite untrust­worthy. An admirable review of the whole discussion, summing it up in the same sense, has been published by H. Leclercq in DAC., S.T’. “Glanfeuil” (vol. vi, cc. 1283—1319). See also J. McCann, St Benedict (1938), pp. 274—281.
584 ST MAURUS, ABBOT
 In território Andegavénsi beáti Mauri Abbátis, qui fuit discípulus sancti Benedícti; et, hujus disciplínis usque ab infántia erudítus, quantum in eis profécerit, inter ália quæ apud eum pósitus gessit (res nova et post Petrum fere inusitáti), pédibus super aquas incédens patefécit.  In Gállias inde ab ipso Benedícto diréctus, ibi, constrúcto célebri monastério, cui quadragínta annis præfuit, miraculórum glória clarus, in pace quiévit.
       In the diocese of Angers, blessed Maurus, abbot and disciple of St. Benedict.  Beginning his discipline in infancy, he made great progress with so able a master, for while he was still under the saint's instruction he miraculously walked upon the water, a prodigy unheard of since the days of St. Peter.  Sent later to France by St. Benedict, he built a famous monastery, which he governed for forty years, and after performing striking miracles, he rested in peace.
AMONG other noblemen who placed their sons under the care of St Benedict to be brought up in piety and learning a certain Equitius left his son Maurus, then but twelve years old; and when he was grown up St Benedict made him his assistant in the government of Subiaco. The boy Placid, going one day to fetch water, fell into the lake and was carried the distance of a bow-shot from the bank. St Benedict saw this in spirit in his cell, and bade Maurus run and draw him out. Maurus obeyed, walked unknowingly upon the water, and dragged out Placid by the hair. He attributed the miracle to the prayers of St Benedict; but the abbot declared that God had rewarded the obedience of the disciple. Not long after, the holy patriarch retired to Monte Cassino, and St Maurus may have become superior at Subiaco.

This, which we learn from St Gregory the Great, is all that can be told with any probability regarding the life of St Maurus. It is, however, stated upon the authority of a pretended biography by pseudo-Faustus—i.e. Abbot Odo of Glanfeuil—that St Maurus, coming to France, founded by the liberality of King Theodebert the great abbey of Glanfeuil, afterwards called Saint-Maur-­sur-Loire, which he governed until his seventieth year. Maurus then resigned the abbacy, and passed the remainder of his life in solitude to prepare himself for his passage to eternity. After two years he fell sick, and died on January 15 in the year 584. He was buried on the right side of the altar in the church of St Martin, and on a roll of parchment laid in his tomb was inscribed this epitaph

“Maurus, a monk and deacon, who came into France in the days of King Theodebert, and died the eighteenth day before the month of February.” That this parchment was really found in the middle of the ninth century is probable enough; but there is no reliable evidence to establish the fact that the Maurus so described is identical with the Maurus who was the disciple of St Benedict.

He is mentioned in St. Gregory the Great's biography of the latter as the first oblate; offered to the monastery by his noble Roman parents as a young boy to be brought up in the monastic life. Four stories involving Maurus recounted by Gregory formed a pattern for the ideal formation of a Benedictine monk. The most famous of these involved St. Maurus's rescue of Saint Placidus, a younger boy offered to St. Benedict at the same time as St. Maurus. The incident has been reproduced in many medieval and Renaissance paintings.
Saints Maurus and Placidus are venerated together on 5 October.
 In território Andegavénsi beáti Mauri Abbátis, qui fuit discípulus sancti Benedícti; et, hujus disciplínis usque ab infántia erudítus, quantum in eis profécerit, inter ália quæ apud eum pósitus gessit (res nova et post Petrum fere inusitáti), pédibus super aquas incédens patefécit.  In Gállias inde ab ipso Benedícto diréctus, ibi, constrúcto célebri monastério, cui quadragínta annis præfuit, miraculórum glória clarus, in pace quiévit.
       In the diocese of Angers, blessed Maurus, abbot and disciple of St. Benedict.  Beginning his discipline in infancy, he made great progress with so able a master, for while he was still under the saint's instruction he miraculously walked upon the water, a prodigy unheard of since the days of St. Peter.  Sent later to France by St. Benedict, he built a famous monastery, which he governed for forty years, and after performing striking miracles, he rested in peace.

511 St. Eugyppius African priest of Rome companion of St. Severinus of Noricum
a companion of St. Severinus of Noricum, on the Danube. He wrote the life of St. Severinus.

hermit at the Benedictine Abbey of Manglieu at Clermont, and died at Lyons while returning from his pilgrimage to Rome.
6th v. St. Liewellyn & Gwrnerth Welsh monks of Welshpool and Bardsey, Wales
570 St. Ita virgin founded a community of women dedicated to God extravagant miracles attributed

570 ST ITA, VIRGIN
AMONG the women saints of Ireland, St Ita (also called Ida and Mida, with other variant spellings) holds the foremost place after St Brigid. Although her life has been overlaid with a multitude of mythical and extravagant miracles, there is no reason to doubt her historical existence. She is said to have been of royal descent, to have been born in one of the baronies of Decies, near Drum, Co. Waterford, and to have been originally called Deirdre. A noble suitor presented himself, but by fasting and praying for three days Ita, with angelic help, won her father’s consent to her leading a life of virginity. She accordingly migrated to Hy Conaill, in the western part of the present county of Limerick, There at Killeedy she gathered round her a community of maidens and there, after long years given to the service of God and her neighbour, she eventually died, probably in the year 570. We are told that at first she often went without food for three or four days at a time, An angel appeared and counselled her to have more regard for her health, and when she demurred, he told her that in future God would provide for her needs. From that time forth she lived entirely on food sent her from Heaven. A religious maiden, a pilgrim from afar, asked her one day, “Why is it that God loves thee so much? Thou art fed by Him miraculously, thou healest all manner of diseases, thou prophesiest regarding the past and the future, the angels converse with thee daily, and thou never ceasest to keep thy thoughts fixed upon the divine mysteries.” Then Ita gave her to understand that it was this very practice of continual meditation, in which she had trained herself from childhood, which was the source of all the rest. Ita is said to have been sought out and consulted by the most saintly of her countrymen.
   It appears that St Ita conducted a school for small boys, and we are told that the bishop St Erc committed to her care one who was afterwards destined to be famous as abbot and missionary, the child Brendan, who for five years was trained by her. One day the boy asked her to tell him three things which God specially loved. She answered: “True faith in God with a pure heart, a simple life with a religious spirit, openhandedness inspired by charity—these three things God specially loves.” “And what”, continued the boy, “are the three things which God most abhors?”  “A face”, she said, “which scowls upon all mankind, obstinacy in wrong-doing, and an overweening confidence in the power of money; these are three things which are hateful in God’s sight.”
   Not a few of the miracles attributed to St Ita are very preposterous, as, for example, the story that a skilful craftsman whose services she had retained, and to whom she gave her sister as wife, promising that he should become the father of a famous and holy son, went out to battle against a party of raiders and had his head cut off. On making a search for him, they found the trunk, but the head had been carried away by the victors. Then Ita, because her promise was still unfulfilled, set to work to pray; whereupon the head, by the power of God, flew back through the air to unite itself to the body, and an hour later the man, standing up alive, returned with them to the convent. Afterwards he had a son who was known as St Mochoemog (hypocoristic for Coemgen), the future abbot of Liath-mor or Leagh, in Tipperary. It was St Ita who had care of him, and gave him his name, which means “ my beautiful little one sometimes latinized as Pulcherius. St Ita’s feast is celebrated throughout Ireland.
The life of St. Ita has been critically edited by C. Plummer in VSH. vol. ii, pp. 116-130. See also the Acta Sanctorum, January 15; J. Colgan, Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae LIS., vol. i, p. 200; J. Ryan, Irish Monasticism (1931), pp, 138—140 and J. Begley, Diocese of Limerick, Ancient and Modern (1906), ch. iv.
Ita was reputedly of royal lineage. She was born at Decies, Waterford, Ireland, refused to be married, and secured her father's permission to live a virginal life. She moved to Killeedy, Limerick, and founded a community of women dedicated to God. She also founded a school for boys, and one of her pupils was St. Brendan. Many extravagant miracles were attributed to her (in one of them she is reputed to have reunited the head and body of a man who had been beheaded; in another she lived entirely on food from heaven), and she is widely venerated in Ireland. She is also known as Deirdre and Mida.
Saint Ita, called the "Brigid of Munster"; b. in the present County of Waterford, about 475; d. 15 January, 570. She became a nun, settling down at Cluain Credhail, a place-name that has ever since been known as Killeedy--that is, "Church of St. Ita"--in County Limerick. Her austerities are told by St. Cuimin of Down, and numerous miracles are recorded of her. She was also endowed with the gift of prophecy and was held in great veneration by a large number of contemporary saints, men as well as women. When she felt her end approaching she sent for her community of nuns, and invoked the blessing of heaven on the clergy and laity of the district around Killeedy. Not alone was St. Ita a saint, but she was the foster-mother of many saints, including St. Brendan the Voyager, St. Pulcherius (Mochoemog), and St. Cummian Fada. At the request of Bishop Butler of Limerick, Pope Pius IX granted a special Office and Mass for the feast of St. Ita, which is kept on 15 January.
600 St. Tarsicia Virgin hermit granddaughter of the Frankish king Clotaire I
spending most ofher life living as a hermit near Rodez, France.Tarsicia was the sister of St. Ferrolus of Uzes.

7th v. St. Malard Bishop of Chartres, in France
All that is known of him definitely is that he attended the Council of Chalons-sur-saone in 650.

700 St. Bonitus resigned the See Bishop of Clermont in 689 doubts of election
 Arvérnis, in Gállia, sancti Boníti, Epíscopi et Confessóris.
       In Auvergne in France, St. Bonitus, bishop and confessor.

706 ST BONITUS, OR BONET, BISHOP OF CLERMONT
ST BONITUS was referendary or chancellor to St Sigebert III, king of Austrasia and by his zeal, religion and justice flourished in that kingdom under four kings. In 677 Thierry III made him governor of Marseilles, an office he carried out with distinction and liberality. His elder brother, St Avitus II, Bishop of Clermont in Auvergne, having recommended him for his successor, died in 689, and Bonet was consecrated. But after having governed that see some years with exemplary piety, he had a scruple whether his election had been perfectly canonical; and having consulted St Tillo, then leading an eremitical life at Solignac, resigned his dignity, led a most penitential life in the abbey of Manglieu, and after having made a pilgrimage to Rome died at Lyons in 706. The colloquial form of this saint’s name is Bont.

See his life, written by a monk of Sommon in Auvergne, published in the Acta Sanctorum, January 15 MGH., Scriptores Merov., vol. vi; and CMH., pp. 37-38.
Also known as Bonet, Bonitus was born in Auvergne, France. He became chancellor of Sigebert III of Austrasia, was appointed governor of Marseilles by Thierry III in 667, and was named Bishop of Clermont in 689. He resigned the See because of doubts about the validity of his election, led a life of holiness as a
710 St. Emebert bishop of Cambrai, in Flanders
Belgium. He was a brother of Sts. Gudula and Reineldis.

764 St. Ceolwulf King of Northumbria patron of St. Bede
760? ST CEOLWULF
IT is difficult to find any trace of late medieval cultus of this Northumbrian king, but he was held in high honour after his death, his body in 830 being trans­lated to Norham, and the head to Durham. Bede speaks enthusiastically of his virtues and his zeal, and dedicated to him his Ecclesiastical History, which he submitted to the king’s criticism. Ceolwulf ended his days as a monk at Lindisfarne, and it is recorded that through his influence the community, who previously had drunk nothing but water or milk, were allowed to take beer, and even wine. His relics were said to work many miracles. Simeon of Durham assigns his death to 764, but in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle the date given is 760.
Practically all available information will be found collected in Plummer’s edition of Bede, especially vol. ii, p. 340.
England, and patron of St. Bede. He resigned in 738 and became a monk at Lindisfame. St. Bede dedicated his Ecclesiastical History to “the most gracious King Ceolwulf.”
823 St. Blaithmaic Irish abbot who sought martyrdom among the Danes
he went to England encountered Danes and murdered on the altar steps of the abbey church at Iona.

6th v. St. Lleudadd Welsh abbot, companion of St. Cadfan to Brittany
France, also listed as Laudatus. He was formerly the abbot of Bardsey, in Gwynedd, Wales.

6th v. St. Sawl Welsh chieftain and the father of St. Asaph
the great Welsh saint.

St. Teath may also be St. Ita
 Possibly a daughter of Brychan of Brecknock in Wales. A Cornwall church bears her name. She may also be St. Ita.

1208 Bl. Peter of Castelnau  Martyred Cistercian papal legate and inquisitor

<>1208 BD PETER OF CASTELNAU, MARTYR
This Cistercian monk was born near Montpellier, and in 1199 we hear of him as archdeacon of Maguelone, but he entered the Cistercian Order a year or two later. To him, aided by another of his religious brethren,
Pope Innocent III
in 1203 confided the mission of taking action as apostolic delegate and inquisi­tor against the Albigensian heretics, a duty which Peter discharged with much zeal, but little success. The opposition against him, which was fanned by Raymund VI, Count of Toulouse, ended in his assassination on January 55, 1209, not far from the abbey of Saint-Gilles. Pierced through the body by a lance, Bd Peter cried to his murderer, “May God forgive thee as fully as I for­give thee”. His relics were enshrined and venerated in the abbey church of Saint-Gilles.

See Acta Sanctorum, March 5; Hurter in Kirchenlexikon, vol. ii, cc. 2031-2035 ; H. Nickerson, The Inquisition, pp. 77—95.
Peter was born near Montpellier and served as archdeacon of Maguelone before entering the Cistercians at Fontfroide, circa 1202. Known for his devout nature and his intelligence, in 1203 he was appointed by Pope Innocent III to the post of papal legate and inquisitor with the task of returning the heretic Albigensians to the Church. Among those who took part in his campaign was St. Dominic. The Albigensians were ill disposed to heed his call, and a group of overzealous heretics murdered Peter near Saint Gilles Abbey, probably at the connivance of Raymond VI, count of Toulouse, who harbored political ambitions and hoped to manipulate the crisis of the Albigensians to advantage. According to tradition, Peter’s dying words were: “May God forgive thee, brother, as I fully forgive thee.”
His murder was the spark that launched the Albigensian Crusade against the heretics in Southern France.
1648 Bl. Frances de Capillas The Proto martyr of China Dominican missionary
He was born in Old Castile, Spain, in 1608 and entered the Domini cans at Valladolid. Sent to China, Francis was successful in Fukien, China, until he was arrested as a spy by the local authorities. He was martyred as a result. Francis was beatified in 1909.
<>1648 BD FRANCIS DE CAPILLAS, MARTYR
THE Dominicans followed the Jesuits to China early in the seventeenth century, and to the Order of Preachers belongs the honour of having produced the first native Chinese priest and bishop, Gregory La (1616—1691), and the first beatified martyr in China, Francis Ferdinand de Capillas. He was born of humble stock in the province of Valladolid, and joined the Preachers when he was seventeen.

He volunteered for the mission in the Philippines, and received the priesthood at Manila in 1631. For ten years he laboured under a tropical sun in the Cagayan district of Luzon, regarding this apostolic field as a sort of training-ground for the still more arduous mission to which he felt himself destined. Here it was, accordingly, that he already practised great austerities, lying, for example, upon a wooden cross during the short hours he gave to sleep, and deliberately ex­posing his body to the bites of the insects which infest these regions. At last, in 1642, he was chosen to accompany the pioneer missionary, Father Francis Diaz, o.p., who was returning by way of Formosa to take up again the apostolate he had already begun in the Chinese province of Fokien. After learning the language an immense success is said to have attended the labours of Father de Capillas, and in Fogan, Moyan, Tingteu and other towns, he made. many converts.

Unfortunately it was just at this epoch that great revolutionary disturbances shook the whole Chinese empire. The Ming dynasty came to an end, and the Manchu Tatars were called in to help to quell one party of the rebels, with the result that they themselves eventually became masters of the country. In Fokien a stout resistance was offered to the Tatars, and although they occupied Fogan they were besieged there by the armies of the Chinese viceroy. It would seem that while the town was thus invested Father de Capillas entered it by stealth to render spiritual assistance to some of his converts. The mandarins of the old adminis­tration had been tolerant and often friendly to the Christians. The new masters were bitterly hostile to the religion of the foreigner. Father de Capillas was caught, cruelly tortured, tried as a spy who was believed to be conveying information to the besiegers, and in the end put to death by having his head cut off, on January 15, 1648. In view of the question raised in the case of some of our English martyrs as to whether they really died for the faith, or were only put to death as political offenders, it is interesting to note that although Fathers Ferrando and Fonseca in their Spanish History of the Dominicans in the Philippines admit that sedition (rebeldia) was the formal charge upon which Father de Capillas was sentenced to death, the Holy See has pronounced him to be a true martyr.

In reference to this same holy Dominican, a quotation may not be out of place from Sir Robert K. Douglas:

“Why do you so much trouble yourselves”, the emperor [K’anghsi] asked on one occasion of a missionary, “about a world which you have never yet entered?” and adopting the, to him, canonical view, he expressed his opinion that it would be much wiser if they thought less of the world to come and more of the present life. It is possible that when he said this he may have had in his mind the dying word of Ferdinand de Capillas, who suffered martyrdom in 1648: “I have had no home but the world”, said this priest, as he faced his last earthly judge, “no bed but the ground, no food but what Providence sent me from day to day, and no other object but to do and suffer for the glory of Jesus Christ and for the eternal happiness of those who believe in His name.”

See Touron, Histoire des hommes illustres O.P., vol. vi, pp. 732—735; but especially Juan Ferrando and Joaquin Fonseca, Historia de los PP. Dominicos en las Islas Filipinas, vol. ii, pp. 569—587. Cf. R. K. Douglas, China, in the Story of the Nations series, pp. 61—62. For other martyrs in China see herein under February 17, May 26, July 9 and September 11. Bd Francis de Capillas was beatified in 1909.

1909 Bl. Arnold Jansen Founder of the Society of the Divine Word
Born in Goch, Germany, on November 5, 1837, Arnold studied at Gaesdonck, Munster, and Bonn. He was ordained in 1861 and served as a parish priest. He also served as a chaplain at an Ursuline convent at Kempen. In 1875, he founded the Society of the Divine Word in a mission house in Steyl, Holland. This society was designed to provide priests and lay brothers for the missions. The congregation was approved in 1901. Arnold also founded the Servant Sisters of the Holy Ghost for the missions in 1889. He died in Steyl on January 5, 1909, and was beatified in 1975 by Pope Paul VI.