Mary's Divine Motherhood

Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!  (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
RDeo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
January is the month of the Holy Name of Jesus since 1902;
2023
22,600 lives saved since 2007

Our Bartholomew Family Prayer List
Joyful Mystery on Monday Saturday   Glorius Mystery on Sunday Wednesday
   Sorrowful Mystery on Friday Tuesday   Luminous Mystery on Thursday Veterens of War


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.

January 21 - Our Lady of Consolation (Rome, 1471)
  The Memorare
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help, or sought your intercession was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto you, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother. To you I come, before you I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions,
but in your mercy hear and answer me. Amen.   Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (d. 1153

  Oh how precious time is! Blessed are those who know how to make good use of it. Who can assure us that we will be alive tomorrow? Let us listen to the voice of our conscience, to the voice of the royal prophet:
 "Today if you hear God's voice, harden not your heart." Let us not put off for one moment to another what we "should" do, because the next moment is not yet ours! -- Saint Pio of Pietrelcina


January 21: From the past to the future - forgiveness and healing of memories.
"Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy times seven " (Matthew 18: 22).

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

Our Lady of Altagracia - Our Lady of Altagracia (Dominican Republic, 1650)
A rich Spanish colonist was in the habit of going to the city of Santo Domingo for his shopping.
One time, his pious daughter Nina, asked him to bring her back a portrait of Our Lady of Altagracia
 (High Grace), the Blessed Virgin Mary who has received many graces, is still "full of grace"
and was prepared for the highest of all graces, that of becoming the Mother of God.

But the father was forced to return from San Domingo empty handed
because no one had ever heard of Our Lady of Altagracia.
On his way home, he stopped over at an inn in Higuey, and described his problem to an old friend he met there.
A third person joined the conversation at that point, and pulled a rolled up canvas out of his bag representing Our Lady of High Grace, a portrait of the Virgin Mary in a Nativity scene
praying before the Child Jesus, with St Joseph in the background.
Full of joy, the father asked to buy it, but the stranger would only give it to him free of charge.
By dawn the next morning, the mysterious person was gone, not to be seen again.
Nina came to meet her father and discovered the wonderful painting on January 21st.

A shrine was built, at the place where the father and daughter met in Higuey. It is the largest Marian shrine in the Dominican Republic, and the Feast of the shrine, on January 21, is a national holiday in Mary's honor.

Adapted from the book Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia,
by Bishop Ramón de la Rosa, Bishop of Altagracia, Dominican Republic, 1977

The saints are a “cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us that a life of Christian perfection is not impossible.
January 21 - Our Lady of Consolation (Rome, 1471)   The Memorare
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection,
implored your help, or sought your intercession was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto you, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother. To you I come, before you I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in your mercy hear and answer me.
Amen.  Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (d. 1153)

January 21 - Our Lady of Altagracia (Dominican Republic, Central America, 1650)
Mary's only wish was to make Jesus known in his Sacrament

Our Lady was completely devoted to the Eucharistic glory of Jesus. She knew that the heavenly Father's desire was that all men would know, love and serve the holy Eucharist; that the Heart of Jesus needed to communicate itself to men through all his gifts of grace and glory; that the Holy Spirit's mission was to spread and render perfect the reign of Jesus Christ in all hearts; and that the Church had been founded only as a means to give Jesus to the world. Therefore, Mary's only wish was to make Jesus known in his Sacrament. Her immense love for Jesus needed to expand and dedicate its energy so as to be relieved, so to speak, of the powerlessness she felt in herself to glorify him as much as she desired. Saint Julian Aymard
The Vatopedi "Comfort" or "Consolation" Icon of the Mother of God
is in the old Vatopedi monastery on Athos, in the church of the Annunciation. It was called "Vatopedi" because near this monastery Arcadius, the son of Empreor Theodosius the Great, fell off a ship into the sea, and by the miraculous intercession of the Mother of God he was carried to shore safe and unharmed. He was found sleeping by a bush, not far from the monastery. From this event the name "Vatopedi" ("batos paidion," the bush of the child") is derived. The holy Emperor Theodosius the Great (January 17), in gratitude for the miraculous deliverance of his son, embellished and generously endowed the Vatopedi monastery.

On the Vatopedi Icon, the Mother of God is depicted with Her face turned towards Her right shoulder. This is because on January 21, 807 She turned Her face towards the igumen of the monastery, who was standing near the holy icon, about to hand the keys of the monastery to the porter. A voice came from the icon and warned him not to open the monastery gates, because pirates intended to pillage the monastery. Then the Holy Child placed His hand over His Mother's lips, saying, "Do not watch over this sinful flock, Mother, but let them fall under the sword of the pirates." The Holy Virgin took the hand of Her Son and said again, "Do not open the gates today, but go to the walls and drive off the pirates." The igumen took precautionary measures, and the monastery was saved.
In memory of this miraculous event a perpetual lamp burns in front of the wonderworking icon. Every day a Canon of Supplication is chanted in honor of the icon, and on Fridays the Divine Liturgy is celebrated. On Mt. Athos this icon is called "Paramythia," "Consolation" ("Otrada"), or "Comfort" ("Uteshenie").

  112 Publius of Malta prefect host to Saint Paul BM (RM).
   Zacchaeus the tax-collector he "sought to see who Jesus was" (Luke 19:3).
  258 The holy Virgin Martyr Agnes Many miracles occurred at the grave relics rest in the church built in her honor,
along the Via Nomentana
born at Rome during the third century.
    Holy_Martyr_Eugene & others 284-311
  Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia 1236-1325  Sultan-Ul-Mashaikh Hazrat Khwaja Syed Nizamuddin Aulia, affectionately
  known as Mehboob-i Elahi or "Beloved of God".

  Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki  renowned Muslim Sufi saint scholar miracles in the Chishti Order from Delhi, India. He was the disciple and spiritual successor (khalifa) Moinuddin Chishti as head of the Chishti Order. His most famous disciple and spiritual successor was Fariduddin Ganjshakar. More Here
   Baba Sheikh Farid Ji was a great Sufi saint  On the banks of the river Sutlej at a place called Pak Pattan,
  tamerlane horses suddenly stopped. The horsement whipped their animals. The stallions started bleeding but
  refused to move further voice came from somewhere and called, "Baba Farid, the King of Kings" More Here

 259 Fructuosus B bishop Augurius & Eulogius deacons the heavens open and the saints carried up with crowns on
        their head
s MM (RM)
 279 Patroclus of Troyes invoked against demons and fever M (RM)
 284-305 The Holy Martyr Neophytus red-hot oven holy martyr remained unharmed 3 days and 3 nights in it
 284 311 The Holy Martyrs Eugene, Candidus, Valerian and Aquila suffered for their faith in Christ red-hot oven
   emerged from it unharmed
reign of Diocletian (284-305) and Maximian (305-311), under regimental commander Lycius.
 497 Epiphanius of Pavia reputation for sanctity, charity to the poor; bishop and confessor. B (RM)
 6th v. Vimin Scottish bishop his many miracles
 6th v St. Brigid also known as Briga 6th century
 6th century Lawdog titular patron of four churches in the diocese of Saint David's in Wales (AC)
 662 Saint Maximus the Confessor 3 candles burned miraculously over the grave proving his fight against the
       Monothelite heresy

 662 The Holy Martyr Anastasius disciple of St Maximus the Confessor
 861 St. Meinrad martyr hermit founder of the Benedictine abbey of Einsiedeln
       Blessed Inez practiced severe austerities prophesies Augustinian hermitesses at Beniganim taking the name Sister
       Josepha Maria of St. Agnes.

 978 Maccallin of Waulsort hermit founded Saint Michael's monastery at Thiérache OSB, Abbot (AC)
1556 Saint Maximus the Greek translate patristic and liturgical books into Slavonic translated St John Chrysostom's
       Commentaries on the Gospels of Matthew and John

1586 Blessed Edward Stransham priest five years martyred at Tyburn M (AC)
1642 St. Alban Bartholomew Roe Missionary martyr 1/40 of England and Wales
1642 Blessed Thomas Reynolds priest for nearly 50 years  M (AC)
1696 Blessed Inés de Beniganim barefoot Augustinian hermits OSA Disc., V (AC)
  St. Maccalin Benedictine abbot of St. Michael's at Thierache

112 Publius of Malta prefect host to Saint Paul BM (RM).
 Athénis natális sancti Públii Epíscopi, qui Atheniénsium Ecclésiam, post sanctum Dionysium Areopagítam, nobíliter rexit; et, præclárus virtútibus ac doctrínæ laude præfúlgens, ob Christi martyrium glorióse coronátur.
      At Athens, the birthday of St. Publius, bishop, who, as successor of St. Denis the Areopagite, nobly governed the Church of Athens.  No less celebrated for the lustre of his virtues than for the brilliancy of his learning, he was gloriously crowned for having borne testimony to Christ.

Tradition identifies Saint Publius as the prefect or "chief man of the island of Malta." He was host to Saint Paul when the apostle was on his way to Rome as a prisoner; Paul cured his father of fever and dysentery (Acts 28:7-10). According to tradition, Publius later became the first bishop of Malta, though another tradition has him bishop of Athens and suffering martyrdom there during the reign of Emperor Trajan (Benedictines, Delaney).
Zacchaeus the tax-collector he "sought to see who Jesus was" (Luke 19:3).
The paschal season of the Church is preceded by the season of Great Lent, which is also preceded by its own liturgical preparation.
The first sign of the approach of Great Lent comes five Sundays before its beginning. On this Sunday the Gospel reading is about Zacchaeus the tax-collector. It tells how Christ brought salvation to the sinful man, and how his life was changed simply because he "sought to see who Jesus was" (Luke 19:3). The desire and effort to see Jesus begins the entire movement through Lent towards Pascha. It is the first movement of salvation.

Our lenten journey begins with a recognition of our own sinfulness, just as Zacchaeus recognized his. He promised to make restitution by giving half of his wealth to the poor, and by paying to those he had falsely accused four times as much as they had lost. In this, he went beyond the requirements of the Law (Ex. 22:3-12).

258 The holy Virgin Martyr Agnes Many miracles occurred at the grave relics rest in the church built in her honor, along the Via Nomentana born at Rome during the third century. Romæ pássio sanctæ Agnétis, Vírginis et Mártyris; quæ, sub Præfécto Urbis Symphrónio, ígnibus injécta, sed iis per oratiónem ejus exstínctis, gládio percússa est.  De ea beátus Hierónymus hæc scribit: « Omnium géntium lítteris atque linguis, præcípue in Ecclésiis, Agnétis vita laudáta est; quæ et ætátem vicit et tyránnum, et títulum castitátis martyrio consecrávit ».
       At Rome, the passion of St. Agnes, virgin, who under Symphronius, governor of the city, was thrown into the fire, but after it was extinguished by her prayers, she was slain with the sword.  Of her, St. Jerome writes: "Agnes is praised in the writings and by the tongues of all nations, especially in the churches.  She overcame the weakness of her age, conquered the cruelty of the tyrant, and consecrated her chastity by martyrdom."

304 ST AGNES, VIRGIN AND MARTYR   
ST AGNES has always been looked upon in the Church as a special patroness of bodily purity. She is one of the most popular of Christian saints, and her name is commemorated every day in the canon of the Mass. Rome was the scene of her triumph, and Prudentius says that her tomb was shown within sight of that city. She suffered perhaps not long after the beginning of the persecution of Diocletian, whose cruel edicts were published in March in the year 303. We learn from St Ambrose and St Augustine that she was only thirteen years of age at the time of her glorious death. Her riches and beauty excited the young noblemen of the first families in Rome to contend as rivals for her hand. Agnes answered them all that she had consecrated her virginity to a heavenly husband, who could not be beheld by mortal eyes. Her suitors, finding her resolution unshakable, accused her to the governor as a Christian, not doubting that threats and torments would prove more effective with one of her tender years on whom
allurements could make no impression. The judge at first employed the mildest expressions and most seductive promises, to which Agnes paid no regard, repeating always that she could have no other spouse but Jesus Christ. He then made use of threats, but found her endowed with a masculine courage, and even eager to suffer torment and death. At last terrible fires were made., and iron hooks, racks and other instruments of torture displayed before her, with threats of immediate execution. The heroic child surveyed them undismayed, and made good cheer in the presence of the fierce and cruel executioners. She was so far from betraying the least symptom of terror that she even expressed her joy at the sight, and offered herself to the rack. She was then dragged before the idols and commanded to offer incense, but could, St Ambrose tells us, by no means be compelled to move her hand, except to make the sign of the cross.

The governor, seeing his measures ineffectual, said he would send her to a house of prostitution, where what she prized so highly should be exposed to the insults of the brutal and licentious youth of Rome.* {* On such vile methods of breaking down the constancy of Christian maidenhood Ter­tullian in his Apologia comments as follows “By condemning the Christian maid rather to the lewd youth than to the lion, you have acknowledged that a stain of purity is more dreaded by us than any torments or death. Yet your cruel cunning avails you not, but rather serves to gain men over to our holy religion.”} Agnes answered that Jesus Christ was too jealous of the purity of His chosen ones to suffer it to be violated in such a manner, for He was their defender and protector. “You may”, said she, “stain your sword with my blood, but you will never be able to profane my body, conse­crated to Christ.

The governor was so incensed at this that he ordered her to be immediately led to the place of shame with liberty to all to abuse her person at pleasure. Many young profligates ran thither, full of wicked desires, but were seized with such awe at the sight of the saint that they durst not approach her; one only excepted, who, attempting to be rude to her, was that very instant, by a flash, as it were of lightning from Heaven, struck blind, and fell trembling to the ground. His companions, terrified, took him up and carried him to Agnes, who was singing hymns of praise to Christ, her protector. The virgin by prayer restored his sight and his health.

The chief accuser of the saint, who had at first sought to gratify his lust and avarice, now, in a spirit of vindictiveness, incited the judge against her, his passion­ate fondness being changed into fury. The governor needed no encouragement, for he was highly exasperated to see himself set at defiance by one of her tender age and sex. Being resolved therefore upon her death, he condemned her to be beheaded. Agnes, filled with joy on hearing this sentence, “went to the place of execution more cheerfully”, says St Ambrose, “than others go to their wedding”. The executioner had instructions to use all means to induce her to give way, but Agnes remained constant; and having made a short prayer, bowed down her neck to receive the death stroke. The spectators shed tears to see this beautiful child loaded with fetters, and offering herself fearlessly to the sword of the executioner, who with trembling hand cut off her head at one stroke. Her body was buried at a short distance from Rome, beside the Nomentan road.

It is necessary to add to the account (based mainly on Prudentius), which is given above by Alban Butler, that modern authorities incline to the view that little reliance can be placed on the details of the story. They point out that the “acts of St Agnes, attributed unwarrantably to St Ambrose, can hardly be older than A.D. 415, and that these seem to represent an attempt to harmonize and embroider the discordant data found in the then surviving traditions. St Ambrose, as just quoted, in his quite genuine sermon De virginibus (A.D. 377), says of St Agnes’s martyrdom cervicem inflexit, “she bent her neck”, from which it is commonly inferred that she was decapitated. *{* A. S. Walpole, Early Latin Hymns (1922), p. 6g. urges that inflexit “may mean bent aside in order to admit the point of the sword”, and quotes parallel passages from the classics in support of this view. This is also the view of Father Jubaru. There can be no question that stabbing in the throat was a common way of despatching the condemned, and was regarded as the most merciful form of coup de grace. St Ambrose calls the execu­tioner “percussor”. This view is supported by Prudentius’s explicit statement that her head was struck off at one blow. On the other hand, the epitaph written by Pope St Damasus speaks of “flames”, and beyond this says nothing as to the manner of her death; while from the beautiful hymn, Agnes beatae virginis (which Walpole, Dreves and others now recognize as a genuine work of St Ambrose), it clearly follows that she was not beheaded, otherwise she could not after the blow was struck (percussa) have drawn her cloak modestly around her and have covered her face with her hand. It seems plain that in the writer’s view she was stabbed in the throat or breast. From these apparent contradictions many critics conclude that already in the second half of the fourth century all memory of the exact circum­stances of the martyrdom had been forgotten, and that only a vague tradition survived.

In any case, however, there can be no possible doubt of the fact that St Agnes was martyred, and that she was buried beside the Via Nomentana in the cemetery afterwards called by her name. Here a basilica was erected in her honour before 354 by Constantina, daughter of Constantine and wife of Gallus; and the terms of the acrostic inscription set up in the apse are still preserved, but it tells us nothing about St Agnes except that she was “a virgin and “victorious. Again, the name of St Agnes is entered in the Depositio martyrum of A.D. 354, under the date January 21, together with the place of her burial. There is also abundant sub­sidiary evidence of early cultus in the frequent occurrence of representations of the child martyr in “gold glasses, etc., and in the prominence given to her name in all kinds of Christian literature. “Agnes, Thecla and Mary were with me, said St Martin to Sulpicius Severus, where he seems to assign precedence to Agnes even above our Blessed Lady. St Agnes is, as remarked above, one of the saints named in the canon of the Mass.

It is quite possible that Father Jubaru is right in his attempt to reconcile the data supplied by Pope Damasus and St Ambrose, but it would not follow as a necessary consequence that he is also right in his theory that in the Greek “acts” we have an amalgamation of the story of two different St Agneses. With regard to the great St Agnes, he contends that she was a child in Rome, that she con­secrated to God her virginity, that she turned away from all suitors, and when persecution came that she deliberately left her parents’ house and offered herself to martyrdom, that she was threatened with death by fire in an attempt to shake her constancy, but that, as she gave no sign of yielding, she was in fact stabbed in the throat. Father Jubaru in his elaborate monograph further claims to have discovered the reliquary, containing the greater portion of the skull of the youthful martyr, in the treasury of the Sancta sanctorum at the Lateran. This treasury was opened in 1903 after it had been hidden from view for many hundred years, permission to do so having been obtained from Pope Leo XIII. The relic is considered by Father Grisar, s.j., and by many other archaeologists to be in all probability authentic, since a regular custom had grown up in the ninth century of separating the head from the rest of the bones when entire bodies of saints were enshrined in the churches. It also seems certain that the body of St Agnes was at that date preserved under the altar of her basilica, and further that on opening the case in 1605 it was found without a head. From a medical examination of the fragments of the skull in the Sancta sanctorum, Dr Lapponi pronounced that the teeth showed conclusively that the head was that of a child about thirteen years of age. The more extravagant miracles which occur in the so-called “acts” are now admitted by all to be a fiction of the biographer. The case of St Agnes is, therefore, typical, and affords conclusive proof that the preposterous legends so often invented by later writers who wish to glorify the memory of a favourite saint cannot in themselves be accepted as proof that the martyrdom is fabulous and that the saint never existed.

In art St Agnes is commonly represented with a lamb and a palm, the lamb, no doubt, being originally suggested by the resemblance of the word agnus (a lamb) to the name Agnes. In Rome on the feast of St Agnes each year, while the choir in her church on the Via Nomentana are singing the antiphon Stans a dextris ejus agnus nive candidior (On her right hand a lamb whiter than snow), two white lambs are offered at the sanctuary rails. They are blessed and then cared for until the time comes for shearing them. Out of their wool are woven the pallia which, on the vigil of SS. Peter and Paul, are laid upon the altar in the Confessio at St Peter’s immediately over the body of the Apostle. These pallia are sent to archbishops throughout the Western church, “from the body of Blessed Peter”, in token of the jurisdiction which they derive ultimately from the Holy See, the centre of religious authority.

Until the feast of St Peter Nolasco, displaced by that of St John Bosco, was fixed for January 28, there was in the general Western calendar on that day a “second feast” of St Agnes (she still has a commemoration in the Mass and Office of the 28th). This observance can be traced back to the Gelasian and Gregorian Sacramentaries, and is not altogether easy to explain. The addition of the words de nativitate or in genuinum, which meets us in certain liturgical texts of the seventh or eighth centuries, would seem to suggest that January 28 was the day on which St Agnes actually died, while the feast of January 21—de passione, as it is sometimes described—marks the day when the martyr was brought to trial and threatened with torture. In view, however, of the prominence which the “octave” has in later times acquired in our Christian liturgy, it is curious that the one feast should occur exactly a week after the other. We have evidence that the Circumcision was called “Octavas Domini” already in the sixth century, and it must be remembered that our present Missal, following usages still more ancient, which were in fact pre­ Christian in their origin, provides a special commemoration for the departed in die septimo, trigesimo et anniversario—in other words, the week day, the month day and the year day. It does not, therefore, seem by any means impossible that we have here a vestige of some primitive form of octave. Dom Baumer has called atten­tion to the fact that the primitive octave implied no more than a commemoration of the feast at the week-end without any reference to it upon the intermediate days.

The “acts” of St Agnes are printed in the Acta Sanctorum, January 21. The Greek “acts” were first edited by P. Franchi de Cavalieri, S.  Agnese nella tradizione e nella legenda (1899), together with a valuable discussion of the whole question. See also the monograph of F. Jubaru, Sainte Agnes d’apres de nouvelles recherches (1907) and further Sainte Agnes, vierge et martyre (1909) ; DAC., vol. i, cc. 905—965 ; Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xix (1900), pp. 227—228 ; P. Franchi in Studi e Testi, vol. xix, pp. 141—164; Bessarione, vol. viii (1911), pp. 218—245 ; the Liber Pontificalis (ed. Duchesne), vol. i, p. 196; CMII., pp. 52—53, 66; S. Baumer, Geschichte des Breviers (1895), p. 325; and, for the relics, Grisar, Die Römische Kapelle Sancta Sanctorum und ihr Schatz (1909), p. 103. And cf. St Ambrose, De virginibus in Migne, PL., vol. xvi, cc. 200—202; and Prudentius, Peristephanon, 14. 
Her parents were Christians and they raised her in the Christian Faith. From her youth she devoted herself to God, and dedicated herself to a life of virginity, refusing all other suitors.

When she refused to enter into marriage with the son of the city official Symphronius, one of his associates revealed to him that Agnes was a Christian. The wicked Eparch decided to subject the holy virgin to shame and he ordered that she be stripped and and sent to a brothel for disdaining the pagan gods. But the Lord would not permit the saint to suffer shame. As soon as she was disrobed, long thick hair grew from her head covering her body. An angel was also appointed to guard her.
Standing at the door of the brothel, he shone with a heavenly light which blinded anyone who came near her.

The son of the Eparch also came to defile the virgin, but fell down dead before he could touch her. Through the fervent prayer of St Agnes, he was restored to life. Before his father and many other people he proclaimed, "There is one God in the heavens and on earth: the Christian God, and the other gods are but dust and ashes!" After seeing this miracle, 160 men believed in God and were baptized, and then suffered martyrdom.

St Agnes, at the demand of the pagan priests, was given over to torture. They tried to burn her as a witch, but the saint remained unharmed in the fire, praying to God. After this they killed her by stabbing her in the throat. Through her death at the age of thirteen, St Agnes escaped everlasting death and inherited eternal life. The holy virgin martyr was buried by her parents in a field they owned outside of Rome.

Many miracles occurred at the grave of St Agnes. Her holy and grace-filled relics rest in the church built in her honor, along the Via Nomentana.
  
Almost nothing is known of this saint except that she was very young—12 or 13—when she was martyred in the last half of the third century. Various modes of death have been suggested—beheading, burning, strangling.

Legend has it she was a beautiful girl whom many young men wanted to marry. Among those she refused, one reported her to the authorities as being a Christian. She was arrested and confined to a house of prostitution. The legend continues that a man who looked upon her lustfully lost his sight and had it restored by her prayer. She was condemned, executed and buried near Rome in a catacomb that eventually was named after her. The daughter of Constantine built a basilica in her honor.

Comment:    Like that of modern Maria Goretti, the martyrdom of a virginal young girl made a deep impression on a society enslaved to a materialistic outlook. Like Agatha, who died in similar circumstances, Agnes is a symbol that holiness does not depend on length of years, experience or human effort. It is a gift God offers to all.
Holy_Martyr_Eugene & others 284-311
Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia 1236-1325
Sultan-Ul-Mashaikh Hazrat Khwaja Syed Nizamuddin Aulia, affectionately known as Mehboob-i Elahi or "Beloved of God".
   The khanqah, or centre, established there since the thirteenth century has been a centre of spiritual inspiration and pilgrimage for countless visitors.
   It is also a welfare centre, distributing food and clothing to the needy and existing without government support but soley on the gifts of futuh or donations.
   Hazrat Nizamuddin was famous in his lifetime for welcoming people of all faiths and from all walks of life, without distinction and extending the hand of bayat or discipleship to persons regardless of their professed faith or background.
Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki  renowned Muslim Sufi saint scholar miracles in the Chishti Order from Delhi, India. He was the disciple and spiritual successor (khalifa) Moinuddin Chishti as head of the Chishti Order. His most famous disciple and spiritual successor was Fariduddin Ganjshakar.

Hazrat Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki r.a. was born in 569 A.H. [1173 C.E.] in a town called "Aush" or Awash in Mawar-un-Nahar (Transoxania). Khwaja Qutbuddin's r.a. original name was "Bakhtiyar" but his title was "Qutbuddin". The name "Kaki" to his name was attributed to him by virtue of a miracle that emanated from him at a later stage of his life in Delhi. He also belonged to the direct lineage of the Holy Prophet Muhammad s.a.w.s., descending from Hazrat Imam Hussain r.a.. Hazrat Khwaja Bakhtiyar Khaki r.a. was one and half years old when his father passed away. His mother arranged for him very good education and training.

When Hazrat Khwaja Mu'inuddin Chishti r.a. went to Isfahan, 40 days before his demise, he took oath of allegiance at his hands and received the Khilafat and Khirqah (Sufi cloak) from him. Thus, he was the first spiritual successor of Hazrat Khwaja Gharib Nawaz, Khwaja Mu'inuddin Chishti r.a. Thereafter, his spiritual master asked him to go to India and stay there. 

When Khwaja Qutbuddin r.a. intended to kiss the feet of his Pir-o-Murshid and seek his permission to depart, Hazrat Khwaja Sahib understood it and asked him to be nearer, and when Khwaja Bakhtiyar r.a. stepped up and fell at his Pir’s feet, Khwaja Mu’inuddin r.a. raised him up and embraced him affectionately. A Fateha was then recited and Khwaja Mu’inuddin r.a. advised his Murid: Never turn your face from the right path of Sufism and Truth. Prove yourself to be a brave man in this Divine Mission.”  When he again fell at the feet of Khwaja Mu'inuddin r.a. overwhelmed with love and grief at this tragic hour of parting, he was again raised and embraced affectionately by his Pir-o-Murshid. Following this order, he went to Delhi and stayed there. It was the period of Sultan Shamsuddin Iltutmish.

   More Here
Baba Sheikh Farid Ji was a great Sufi saint  On the banks of the river Sutlej at a place called Pak Pattan, tamerlane horses suddenly stopped. The horsement whipped their animals. The stallions started bleeding but refused to move further voice came from somewhere and called, "Baba Farid, the King of Kings" More Here
Farid was to Punjabi what Chaucer was to English.
He made Punjabi poetry and poetry Punjabi. Later when Adi Granth (Sikh scripture) was compiled by the fifth Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Arjun Dev Ji, Farid’s ‘slokas’ (sacred couplets) were given the place of honour along with those of Kabir, Ramdev and Guru Ravidas. "Farid return thou good for evil; In thy heart bear no revenge. Thus thy body will be free of maladies, And thy life have all blessings."

Baba Sheikh Farid Ji was a great Sufi saint, very sweet of tongue and who lived an austere life. He asked for only one blessing from God....a life of prayer and meditation. His following insight forms the subject of the painting above- "Sweet are candy, sugar, honey, and buffalo's milk. Yea, sweet are these but sweeter by far is God."

The year was 1398. Timur was returning home after ransacking Delhi -light of mind but laden with gold, trampling corn, killing men and cattle alike. It was a typical Punjab winter and the air in the fields mingled with the blood of the innocents. On the banks of the river Sutlej at a place called Pak Pattan, his horses suddenly stopped. The horsement whipped their animals. The stallions started bleeding but refused to move further. There was panic among the soldiers, hysteria among the officers, total confusion in the army. There was consternation and alarm writ large on every face.
Not used to such unscheduled halts, the Turk chief leapt forward, roared like a lion and demanded answers.

Nobody replied. He shouted again. Everyone remained totally speechless. At last an old man came forward and said, "Your honour, this place is sanctified". "By one saint whose ancestors had migrated from Iran to escape death at the hands of your ancestors", the old man replied. Everyone looked at everyone else. The general’s hands reached for his sword but before they could go any further, a miracle happened. As goes the legend, a voice came from somewhere and called, "Baba Farid, the King of Kings". Every tongue felt that it had an ear on it. A vision came to the advancing marauder. He felt elated. The armies were ordered to spare the town.
Timur bowed low in the ‘Khanqah’, heard the Sufi hymns, spent the night in the ‘dargah’. He ate the same austere food, which the Devotees ate, slept on the same mat and pledged not to kill any more innocents, only to break the pledge later.   
   
259 Fructuosus B bishop  Augurius & Eulogius deacons the heavens open and the saints carried up with crowns on their heads MM (RM)
Tarracóne, in Hispánia, sanctórum Mártyrum Fructuósi Epíscopi, Augúrii et Eulógii Diaconórum.  Hi, témpore Galliéni, primo in cárcerem trusi, deínde flammis injécti, et, exústis vínculis, mánibus in modum crucis expánsis orántes, martyrium complevérunt;  in quorum die natáli sanctus Augustínus sermónem ad pópulum hábuit.
         At Terragona in Spain, during the reign of Gallienus, the holy martyrs Fructuosus, a bishop, Augurius and Eulogius, deacons.  They were taken from prison, cast into the fire, where, their bonds being burnt, they extended their arms in the form of a cross, and thus in prayer they died.  On their anniversary, St. Augustine preached a sermon to his people.

Fructuosus was the bishop of Tarragoña, Spain, who was martyred with his deacons SS Augurius and Eulogius, during the persecutions of Valerian and Gallienus {253-260}--that is all that is really known about him.
259 St Fructuosus, Bishop Of Tarragona, Martyr   
St Fructuosus was the zealous and truly apostolic bishop of Tarragona, then the capital city of Spain. When the persecution of Valerian and Gallienus was raging in the year 259, he was arrested by order of Emilian the governor, along with two deacons, Augurius and Eulogius, on Sunday, January i6. He was then lying down in his bed, and only asked time to put on his shoes; after which he cheerfully followed the guards, who committed him and his two companions to prison. Fructuosus gave his blessing to the faithful who visited him, and on Monday he baptized in gaol a catechumen named Rogatian. On Wednesday he kept the usual fast of the stations till three o’clock in the afternoon. *{*Wednesdays and Fridays were fast-days at that time; but only till none, that is, three in the afternoon. This was called the fast of the stations.}
On Friday, the sixth day after their commitment, the governor ordered them to be brought before him, and asked Fructuosus if he knew the contents of the edict of the emperors. The saint answered that he did not, but that whatever they were he was a Christian. “The emperors”, said Emilian, “command all to sacrifice to the gods.” Fructuosus answered, “I worship one God, who made heaven and earth and all things therein.” Emilian said, “Do you not know that there are other gods?” “No”, replied the saint. The proconsul said, “I will make you know it shortly. What is left to any man to fear or worship on earth if he despises the worship of the immortal gods and of the emperors?”  Then, turning to Augurius, he bade him pay no regard to what Fructuosus had said, but the deacon assured him that he worshipped the same Almighty God. Emilian addressed himself to the other deacon, Eulogius, asking him if he too worshipped Fructuosus. The holy man answered, “I do not worship Fructuosus, but the same God whom he worships”. Emilian asked Fructuosus if he were a bishop, and added upon his confessing it, “Say, rather, you have been one”, meaning that he was about to lose that dignity along with his life ; and immediately he condemned them to be burnt alive.
The pagans themselves could not refrain from tears on seeing them led to the amphitheatre, for they loved Fructuosus on account of his rare virtues. The Christians accompanied them, overwhelmed by a sorrow mixed with joy. The martyrs exulted to be hold themselves on the verge of a glorious eternity. The faithful offered St Fructuosus a cup of wine, but he would not taste it, saying it was not yet the hour for breaking the fast, which was observed on Fridays till three o’clock and it was then only ten in the morning. The holy man hoped to end the station or fast of that day with the patriarchs and prophets in Heaven. When they were come into the amphitheatre, Augustalis, the bishop’s lector, came to him weeping, and begged he would permit him to pull off his shoes. The martyr said he could easily put them off himself, which he did. Felix, a Christian, stepped forward and desired he would remember him in his prayers. Fructuosus said aloud, “I am bound to pray for the whole Catholic Church spread over the world
from the east to the west,” as if he had said, observes St Augustine, who much applauds this utterance, “ If you wish that I should pray for you, do not leave her for whom I pray”. Martial, one of his flock, desired him to speak some words of comfort to his desolate church. The bishop, turning to the Christians, said, “My brethren, the Lord will not leave you as a flock without a shepherd. He is faithful to His promises. The hour of our suffering is short.” The martyrs were fastened to stakes to be burnt, but the flames seemed at first to respect their bodies, consuming only the bands with which their hands were tied and giving them liberty to stretch out their arms in prayer. It was thus, on their knees, that they gave up their souls to God before the fire had touched them. Babylas and Mygdonius, two Christian servants of the governor, saw the heavens open and the saints carried up with crowns on their heads; but Emilian himself, summoned to see too, was not accounted worthy to behold them. The faithful came in the night, extinguished the fire with wine, and took out the half-burnt bodies. Everyone carried some part of their remains home with him, but being admonished from Heaven, brought them back and laid them in the same sepulchre. St Augustine has left us a panegyric on St Fructuosus, pronounced on the anniversary day of his martyrdom.

This account of the passion of St Fructuosus belongs to that comparatively small class of the acts of the martyrs which all critics agree in regarding as authentic. Even Harnack says (Chronologie bis Eusebius, vol. ii, p. 473) that the document “awakens no suspicion”. It is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, January 21, in Ruinart and elsewhere. See Delehaye, Les passions des martyrs...(1921), p. 544, and also his Origines du culte des martyrs (1933), pp. 66—67. What more especially establishes authenticity of the Acts of St Fructuosus is the fact that both St Augustine and Prudentius were evidently acquainted with them.
Their authentic 'acts' relate that they were arrested on Sunday, January 16, just as they were going to bed. The bishop asked for permission to put on his shoes, after which he cheerfully followed the arresting guards. In prison they spent their time in fervent prayer, full of joy at the prospect of the crown prepared for them. Fructuosus blessed those who visited him and on Monday baptized a catechumen named Rogatianus. On Wednesday they kept the usual fast of the stations until 3:00 p.m.

A few days later, on Friday, January 21, the three were brought before the governor. Their examination was short and to the point: the prisoners affirmed their worship of one God, and were sentenced to be burned to death.

Officers were posted to prevent any demonstration because even the pagans loved Fructuosus due to his rare virtues. The Christians accompanied them with sorrow tempered with joy. The faithful offered Saint Fructuosus a cup of wine, which he refused because, being it was only 10:00 a.m., it was too early to break the fast.

Even with the guards at the gate of the amphitheater some of the Christians were able to get close. The bishop's lector, Augustalis, weepingly asked permission to remove his bishop's shoes. Felix, a Christian soldier stepped in and asked the bishop for his prayers. Fructuosus replied so that all could hear, "I am bound to bear in mind the whole universal church from East to West. Remain always in the bosom of the Catholic Church, and you will have a share in my prayers" and added words of comfort to his flock. As the flames enveloped them and burned through their bonds, say the 'acts,' "they stretched forth their arms in token of the Lord's victory, praying to him till they gave up their souls." The account of their examination is still extant and thoroughly authentic.

Tradition adds that Babylas and Mygdone, two Christian servants of the governor, saw the heavens open and the saints carried up with crowns on their heads. By night the faithful came and each took some part of the martyrs' bodies to their own home, but heaven admonished them and they each returned the relics to a single grave. (Attwater, Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).

In art this trio is portrayed as a bishop and two deacons singing on their funeral pyre. They are venerated at Tarragona and in Africa (Husenbeth, Roeder).

Saint Fructuosis lived during the persecution of Valerian and Gallienus in the third century, during the consulship of Amelianus and Bassus.

On Sunday, January 21, 259 Bishop Fructuosis of Tarragona, Spain was arrested with his deacons Augurius and Eulogius. He had already retired to his chamber when soldiers of the VII Gemina Legion came for him. Hearing them approach, he went to meet them.
"Come with us," they told him, "the proconsul summons you and your deacons."
When they arrived, they were thrown into a prison where other Christians were also being held. They comforted the bishop and asked him to remember them. The next day, Bishop Fructuosis baptized Rogatianus in the prison.
On Friday, January 21, Bishop Fructuosis and his deacons were brought out for their hearing. When the proconsul Aemelianus asked to have the bishop and his deacons brought before him, he was told that they were present. The proconsul asked St Fructuosis whether he was aware of the emperors' orders.
"I do not know their orders," he replied, "I am a Christian."
Aemelianus said, "They have ordered that you worship the gods."
Bishop Fructuosis answered, "I worship the one God Who made heaven and earth, and all that is in them" (Acts 4:24).
Then the proconsul asked, "Do you know that the gods exist?"
"No," said the bishop, "I do not."
"You will know later."
Bishop Fructuosis raised his eyes to heaven and began to pray. The proconsul said, "The gods are to be obeyed, feared, and adored. If the gods are not worshiped, then the images of the emperors are not adored."
Aemilianus the proconsul said to Augurius, "Do not listen to the words of Fructuosis."
Deacon Augurius replied, "I worship almighty God."
Turning to Deacon Eulogius, the proconsul Aemilianus asked, "Don't you also worship Fructuosis?
"No," said the deacon, "I do not worship Fructuosis, but I do worship Him Whom he worships."
Aemilianus inquired of St Fructuosis, "Are you a bishop?"
The holy bishop replied, "Yes, I am."
"You were," said Aemilianus, then he ordered them to be burned alive.

As St Fructuosis and his deacons were being taken to the amphitheatre, many people felt sympathy for them, for the bishop was loved by both Christians and pagans. The Christians were not sad, but happy, because they knew that through martyrdom the saints would inherit everlasting life.

When offered a cup of drugged wine, St Fructuosis refused saying, "It is not yet time to break the fast." In those days, Christians did not eat or drink anything on Wednesdays and Fridays until after sundown (Didache 8:1).

As they entered the amphitheatre, the Reader Augustalis asked the bishop to permit him to remove his sandals. St Fructuosis replied, "No, my son. I shall remove my own sandals."

A Christian by the name of Felix took the bishop's hand and asked him to remember him. The martyr said that he would remember the entire catholic Church throughout the world from East to West.

Now the time was at hand for the martyrs to receive their crowns of unfading glory. The officers who arrested them were standing nearby as Bishop Fructuosis addressed the crowd in a loud voice. He told them that they would not remain long without a shepherd, and that the Lord's promises would not fail them in this life or in the next. He added that what they were about to witness represented the weakness of a single hour.

The three martyrs were tied to posts and a fire was lit. When the flames burned through their bonds, they knelt down and extended their arms in the form of a cross. They continued to pray in the midst of the fire until their souls were separated from their bodies.

Several people saw the heavens opened and beheld the three martyrs wearing crowns and ascending to heaven. They told Aemilianus to see how the martyrs had been glorified, but he was not worthy to behold them.

That night Christians went to the amphitheatre to put out the fire and gather the relics of the martyrs. Each one took a portion for himself. St Fructuosis later appeared to these Christians and admonished them for dividing their relics, saying that they had not done well. He ordered them to bring all of the relics together without delay. The holy relics were brought to the church with reverence, and were buried beneath the altar.
279 Patroclus of Troyes invoked against demons and fever M (RM)
 Trecis, in Gállia, sancti Pátrocli Mártyris, qui martyrii corónam sub Aureliáno Imperatóre proméruit.
       At Troyes in France, St. Patroclus, martyr, who won the crown of martyrdom under Emperor Aurelian.

259 St Patroclus, Martyr
Concerning the martyr St Patroclus, St Gregory of Tours comments that the popular devotion to him was greatly increased by the discovery of a copy of ‘his passio. He was buried at or near Troyes, where he suffered, and over his tomb was a little oratory, but the only cleric who served it was a lector (one of the minor orders), and we may fairly infer from Gregory’s language that no great interest was taken in the shrine. One fine day, however, this lector went to the bishop and showed him a hastily written manuscript which professed to be a copy of the Acts of St Patroclus. The account he gave of it was that a stranger had asked for hospitality, who had in his possession a manuscript containing the Passion of St Patroclus. The lector said he had borrowed it, and by sitting up all night had copied the document, but had, of course, returned the original to the owner who went away next morning. It is an extremely significant fact, well worthy of the attention of every student of Merovingian hagiography, that the Bishop of Troyes only scolded and cuffed him well, declaring that the lector had invented the whole story and that there had been no traveller and no manuscript. Obviously the rulers of the Church at that period were well aware that the fabrication of fictitious acts was going on freely.

St Gregory, however, declares that in this case, when a military expedition invaded Italy a short time afterwards, some of the members brought back with them a Passion of St Patroclus identical with that which the lector had copied. The result was an immense revival of devotion to the saint. He was a prominent Christian of exceptional charity and holiness. He was arrested either when a certain governor called Aurelian (259) or when the Emperor Aurelian himself came to Troyes (275). Answering fearlessly and defiantly, he was sentenced to death. In an attempt to drown him in the Seine he escaped from the executioners, but was recaptured and then beheaded. His relics were eventually carried to Soest in Westphalia, where they still repose.

See Acta Sanctorum for January 21 Allard, Histoire des persecutions,
vol. iii, pp. 101 seq. Giefers, Acta S. Patrocli (1857).
 


Died at Troyes, France, c. 275 or 279. Saint Patroclus was a very wealthy, good, and exceedingly charitable Christian of Troyes, who was martyred by beheading in that city during the reign of Aurelian (269). He was highly venerated after the discovery of his acta. In 960, his relics were translated to Soerst in Westphalia (Attwater2, Benedictines, Coulson, Roeder). In art Saint Patroclus is a warrior pointing to a fish with a pearl in its mouth (Roeder). He is invoked against demons and fever (Roeder).

Confessor, also listed as Patroccus. He was a wealthy Christian who lived in Troyes, Gauland was arrested during the persecution of the Church launched by Emperor Aurelian. When Roman officials tried to drown him in the Seine River, he escaped their clutches for a brief time. Recaptured, he was beheaded.

284-305 The Holy Martyr Neophytus red-hot oven holy martyr remained unharmed 3 days and 3 nights in it
a native of the city of Nicea in Bithynia, was raised by his parents in strict Christian piety. For his virtue, temperance and unceasing prayer, it pleased God to glorify St Neophytus with the gift of wonderworking, while the saint was still just a child!
Like Moses, the holy youth brought forth water from a stone of the city wall and gave this water to those who were thirsty. In answer to the prayer of St Neophytus' mother, asking that God's will concerning her son might be revealed to her, a white dove miraculously appeared and told of the path he would follow. The saint was led forth from his parental home by this dove and brought to a cave on Mt. Olympus, which served as a lion's den. It is said that he chased the lion from the cave so that he could live there himself. The saint remained there from the age of nine until he was fifteen, leaving it only once to bury his parents and distribute their substance to the poor.
During the persecution by Diocletian (284-305), he went to Nicea and boldly began to denounce the impiety of the pagan faith. The enraged persecutors suspended the saint from a tree, they whipped him with ox thongs, and scraped his body with iron claws. Then they threw him into a red-hot oven, but the holy martyr remained unharmed, spending three days and three nights in it. The torturers, not knowing what else to do with him, decided to kill him.

One of the pagans ran him through with a sword (some say it was a spear), and the saint departed to the Lord at the age of sixteen.

284 311 The Holy Martyrs Eugene, Candidus, Valerian and Aquila suffered for their faith in Christ red-hot oven emerged from it unharmed reign of Diocletian (284-305) and Maximian (305-311), under regimental commander Lycius.

Valerian, Candidus and Aquila had hidden themselves in the hills near Trebizond, preferring life among the wild beasts to living with the pagans. They were soon found, however, and brought to Trebizond.

For their bold and steadfast confession of faith in Christ the holy martyrs were whipped with ox thongs, scraped with iron claws, then were burned with fire. Several days later St Eugene was also arrested, and subjected to the same tortures. Later, they poured vinegar laced with salt into his wounds. After these torments, they threw the four martyrs into a red-hot oven.

When they emerged from it unharmed, they were beheaded, receiving their incorruptible crowns from God.

6th v. Vimin Scottish bishop his many miracles
(Vivian, Wynnin, Gwynnin) of Holywood B (AC)
Saint Vimin, a Scottish bishop whose history is very confused, is said to have been the founder of the monastery of Holywood at Nithsdale. It is related that Vimin was an abbot in Fifeshire when he was consecrated bishop. He actively evangelized the region. In order to avoid the temptations to pride that accompanied his many miracles, he moved to a deserted place and founded Holywood (Sacrumboscum), which later became famous for producing many holy and learned men, particularly the 13th- century John of Sacrobosco. The family of Wemse in Fifeshire is said to be of the same lineage as Vimin (Attwater2, Benedictines, Husenbeth).

Lawdog 6th century titular patron of four churches in the diocese of Saint David's in Wales (AC)
He is the titular patron of four churches in the diocese of Saint David's in Wales and, perhaps, identical with Saint Lleuddad (Laudatus), abbot of Bardsey (Benedictines).

662 Saint Maximus the Confessor 3 candles burned miraculously over the grave proving his fight against the Monothelite heresy

born in Constantinople around 580 and raised in a pious Christian family. He received an excellent education, studying philosophy, grammar, and rhetoric. He was well-read in the authors of antiquity and he also mastered philosophy and theology. When St Maximus entered into government service, he became first secretary (asekretis) and chief counselor to the emperor Heraclius (611-641), who was impressed by his knowledge and virtuous life.

St Maximus soon realized that the emperor and many others had been corrupted by the Monothelite heresy, which was spreading rapidly through the East. He resigned from his duties at court, and went to the Chrysopolis monastery (at Skutari on the opposite shore of the Bosphorus), where he received monastic tonsure.
Because of his humility and wisdom, he soon won the love of the brethren and was chosen igumen of the monastery after a few years. Even in this position, he remained a simple monk.

In 638, the emperor Heraclius and Patriarch Sergius tried to minimize the importance of differences in belief, and they issued an edict, the "Ekthesis" ("Ekthesis tes pisteos" or "Exposition of Faith), which decreed that everyone must accept the teaching of one will in the two natures of the Savior. In defending Orthodoxy against the "Ekthesis," St Maximus spoke to people in various occupations and positions, and these conversations were successful. Not only the clergy and the bishops, but also the people and the secular officials felt some sort of invisible attraction to him, as we read in his Life.

When St Maximus saw what turmoil this heresy caused in Constantinople and in the East, he decided to leave his monstery and seek refuge in the West, where Monothelitism had been completely rejected. On the way, he visited the bishops of Africa, strengthening them in Orthodoxy, and encouraging them not to be deceived by the cunning arguments of the heretics.

The Fourth Ecumenical Council had condemned the Monophysite heresy, which falsely taught that in the Lord Jesus Christ there was only one nature (the divine). Influenced by this erroneous opinion, the Monothelite heretics said that in Christ there was only one divine will ("thelema") and only one divine energy ("energia").
Adherents of Monothelitism sought to return by another path to the repudiated Monophysite heresy. Monothelitism found numerous adherents in Armenia, Syria, Egypt. The heresy, fanned also by nationalistic animosities, became a serious threat to Church unity in the East. The struggle of Orthodoxy with heresy was particularly difficult because in the year 630, three of the patriarchal thrones in the Orthodox East were occupied by Monothelites: Constantinople by Sergius, Antioch by Athanasius, and Alexandria by Cyrus.

St Maximus traveled from Alexandria to Crete, where he began his preaching activity. He clashed there with a bishop, who adhered to the heretical opinions of Severus and Nestorius. The saint spent six years in Alexandria and the surrounding area.

Patriarch Sergius died at the end of 638, and the emperor Heraclius also died in 641. The imperial throne was eventually occupied by his grandson Constans II (642-668), an open adherent of the Monothelite heresy. The assaults of the heretics against Orthodoxy intensified. St Maximus went to Carthage and he preached there for about five years. When the Monothelite Pyrrhus, the successor of Patriarch Sergius, arrived there after fleeing from Constantinople because of court intrigues, he and St Maximus spent many hours in debate. As a result, Pyrrhus publicly acknowledged his error, and was permitted to retain the title of "Patriarch." He even wrote a book confessing the Orthodox Faith.
St Maximus and Pyrrhus traveled to Rome to visit Pope Theodore, who received Pyrrhus as the Patriarch of Constantinople.

In the year 647 St Maximus returned to Africa. There, at a council of bishops Monotheletism was condemned as a heresy. In 648, a new edict was issued, commissioned by Constans and compiled by Patriarch Paul of Constantinople: the "Typos" ("Typos tes pisteos" or "Pattern of the Faith"), which forbade any further disputes about one will or two wills in the Lord Jesus Christ. St Maximus then asked St Martin the Confessor (April 14), the successor of Pope Theodore, to examine the question of Monothelitism at a Church Council. The Lateran Council was convened in October of 649. One hundred and fifty Western bishops and thirty-seven representatives from the Orthodox East were present, among them St Maximus the Confessor. The Council condemned Monothelitism, and the Typos. The false teachings of Patriarchs Sergius, Paul and Pyrrhus of Constantinople, were also anathematized.

When Constans II received the decisions of the Council, he gave orders to arrest both Pope Martin and St Maximus. The emperor's order was fulfilled only in the year 654.
St Maximus was accused of treason, locked up in prison and 656 he was sent to Thrace, and was later brought back to a Constantinople prison.

The saint and two of his disciples were subjected to the cruelest torments. Each one's tongue was cut out, and his right hand was cut off. Then they were exiled to Skemarum in Scythia, enduring many sufferings and difficulties on the journey.

After three years, the Lord revaled to St Maximus the time of his death (August 13, 662). Three candles appeared over the grave of St Maximus and burned miraculously. This was a sign that St Maximus was a beacon of Orthodoxy during his lifetime, and continues to shine forth as an example of virtue for all. Many healings occurred at his tomb.

In the Greek Prologue, August 13 commemorates the Transfer of the Relics of St Maximus to Constantinople, but it could also be the date of the saint's death. It may be that his memory is celebrated on January 21 because August 13 is the Leavetaking of the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord.

St Maximus has left to the Church a great theological legacy. His exegetical works contain explanations of difficult passages of Holy Scripture, and include a Commentary on the Lord's Prayer and on Psalm 59, various "scholia" or "marginalia" (commentaries written in the margin of manuscripts), on treatises of the Hieromartyr Dionysius the Areopagite (October 3) and St Gregory the Theologian (January 25). Among the exegetical works of St Maximus are his explanation of divine services, entitled "Mystagogia" ("Introduction Concerning the Mystery").

The dogmatic works of St Maximus include the Exposition of his dispute with Pyrrhus, and several tracts and letters to various people. In them are contained explanations of the Orthodox teaching on the Divine Essence and the Persons of the Holy Trinity, on the Incarnation of the Word of God, and on "theosis" ("deification") of human nature.

"Nothing in theosis is the product of human nature," St Maximus writes in a letter to his friend Thalassius, "for nature cannot comprehend God. It is only the mercy of God that has the capacity to endow theosis unto the existing... In theosis man (the image of God) becomes likened to God, he rejoices in all the plenitude that does not belong to him by nature, because the grace of the Spirit triumphs within him, and because God acts in him" (Letter 22).

St Maximus also wrote anthropological works (i.e. concerning man). He deliberates on the nature of the soul and its conscious existence after death. Among his moral compositions, especially important is his "Chapters on Love." St Maximus the Confessor also wrote three hymns in the finest traditions of church hymnography, following the example of St Gregory the Theologian.

The theology of St Maximus the Confessor, based on the spiritual experience of the knowledge of the great Desert Fathers, and utilizing the skilled art of dialectics worked out by pre-Christian philosophy, was continued and developed in the works of St Simeon the New Theologian (March 12), and St Gregory Palamas (November 14).
662 The Holy Martyr Anastasius disciple of St Maximus the Confessor
Suffered and with him persecution under the Monothelites. St Maximus and two of his disciples were subjected to the cruelest torments. Each one's tongue was cut out, and his right hand was cut off. Then they were exiled to Skemarum in Scythia, enduring many sufferings and difficulties on the journey.
St Anastasius wrote the Life of his teacher, and died in the year 662.
861 St. Meinrad martyr hermit founder of the Benedictine abbey of Einsiedeln
 In monastério Einsidlénsi, apud Helvétios, sancti Meinrádi, Presbyteri et Mónachi; qui eodem in loco, ubi póstea monastérium ipsum excrévit, eremíticæ inténtus vitæ, a latrónibus interféctus est.  Ipsíus vero beáti viri corpus, olim in Augiénsi Germániæ monastério sepúltum, ad Einsidlénse monastérium deínde relátum fuit.
       In the monastery of Einsiedeln in Switzerland, St. Meinrad, priest and monk, who was slain by robbers after having lived as a hermit in this place where the monastery was later built.  The body of this holy man was first buried in the monastery of Reichenau in Germany, and from there it was transferred to the monastery of Einsiedeln.


861 ST MEINRAD, MARTYR
As the patron and in some sense the founder of the famous abbey of Einsiedeln in Switzerland, one of the few which have preserved unbroken continuity since Carolingian times, St Meinrad (Meginrat) cannot here be passed over. By birth he is supposed to have been connected with the family of the Hohenzollerns. He became a priest, entered the Benedictine abbey at Reichenau, and later on was given some teaching work beside the upper Lake of Zurich. His soul, however, pined for solitude, and for the opportunity of devoting himself entirely to contemplation. He consequently sought out a spot in a forest, and there, with the permission of his superiors, he settled about the year 829. The fame of his sanctity, however, brought him many visitors, and seven years later he found it necessary to move still farther south and farther from the abodes of men. The place where he finally took up his abode is now called Einsiedeln (i.e. Hermitage). There he lived for twenty-five years, carrying on a constant warfare with the Devil and the flesh, but favoured by God with many consolations.
On January 21, 861, he was visited by two ruffians who had conceived the idea that he had treasure somewhere stored away. Though he knew their purpose, he courteously offered them food and hospitality. In the evening they smashed in
his skull with clubs, but finding nothing, took to flight. The legend says that two ravens pursued them with hoarse croakings all the way to Zurich. By this means the crime was eventually discovered, and the two murderers burnt at the stake. The body of the saint was conveyed to Reichenau and there preserved with great veneration. Some forty years later Bd Benno, a priest of noble Swabian family, went to take up his abode in St Meinrad’s hermitage at Einsiedeln. Though forced, much against his inclination, in 927 to accept the archbishopric of Metz, he returned to Einsiedeln later on, gathering round him a body of followers who eventually became the founders of the present Benedictine abbey.

See the Acta Sanctorum for January 21, also the Life of St Meinrad in MGH., Scriptores, vol. xv, pp. 445 seq. There are many modern accounts of St Meinrad; see e.g. 0. Ringholz, Wallfahrtsgeschichte von U. L. Frau von Einsiedeln, pp. 1—6. The two ravens appear in the arms of Einsiedeln and are also used as the emblems of the saint. 
St. Meinrad, martyr is venerated as the patron and in some sense the founder of the Benedictine abbey of Einsiedeln in Switzerland which has kept an unbroken continuity since Carolingian times. He settled as a hermit at Einsiedeln, where he was murdered by two ruffians to whom he had given hospitality in 861.

Meinrad of Einsiedeln, OSB Hermit M (RM) (also known as Maynard, Meginrat)  Born at Solgen (Sulichgau near Wurtemberg), Swabia; died at Einsiedeln, Switzerland, c. 861-63. The abbey of Saint Meinrad at Einsiedeln near Lake Zurich takes its name from this saint. It's interesting that several sources (who may have copied from each other or another single source) say that Saint Meinrad was born of the noble Hohenzollern family. Farmer reports that his parents were free peasants. In either case, he was educated, professed, and ordained at the abbey of Reichenau, Switzerland. He had some teaching assignment near the upper lake of Zurich.

Meinrad's soul, however, longed for solitude, and to devote itself to contemplation. He looked for and found the perfect place in a forest. With the permission of his superiors, about 829, Meinrad went to live as a hermit at the place. Like many hermits before him, Meinrad practiced austerity. Word of his holiness spread and attracted many visitors. So many that he found it necessary to move to a remoter spot, where the abbey was built 40 years after his death.

On January 21, 861, courteously received two visitors, whom he fed and provided shelter although he knew them to be ruffians. They were robbers who murdered Meinrad with clubs upon finding he had no tangible treasure. Because Meinrad was a holy man, he was regarded as a martyr. The thieves were found, judged, and executed. Meinrad's body was enshrined at Reichenau, where it was venerated.

Beginning about 900 with Blessed Benno, a succession of solitaries occupied his hermitage (which is what the name 'Einseideln' means), and eventually, in the 10th century, a regular Benedictine monastery was established there. It became a great monastery and pilgrimage center that has an unbroken history of over 1,000 years. The statue of the Blessed Virgin in the huge church is said to have belonged to Meinrad himself. He is the patron of Einsiedeln (Switzerland) and Swabia (Germany) (Attwater, Attwater2, Benedictines, Coulson, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Walsh).

In art Saint Meinrad is generally grouped with Saint Benedict, holding a club and ciborium. Sometimes he may be pictured (1) beaten to death with clubs by two men; (2) as a monk with a tau staff going into the wilderness; (3) with two ravens near him, or pursuing his murderers; or (4) eating fish with a widow (Roeder).

Blessed Inez practiced severe austerities prophesies Augustinian hermitesses at Beniganim taking the name Sister Josepha Maria of St. Agnes.
Inez was born near Valencia, Spain, of poor parents. She joined the Augustinian hermitesses at Beniganim taking the name Sister Josepha Maria of St. Agnes. She practiced severe austerities, was known for her prophesies, and was consulted by people from all walks of life for her spiritual insights.
She died on January 21, and was beatified in 1888.

304 AgnesVM (RM)
 Romæ pássio sanctæ Agnétis, Vírginis et Mártyris; quæ, sub Præfécto Urbis Symphrónio, ígnibus injécta, sed iis per oratiónem ejus exstínctis, gládio percússa est.  De ea beátus Hierónymus hæc scribit: « Omnium géntium lítteris atque linguis, præcípue in Ecclésiis, Agnétis vita laudáta est; quæ et ætátem vicit et tyránnum, et títulum castitátis martyrio consecrávit ».
       At Rome, the passion of St. Agnes, virgin, who under Symphronius, governor of the city, was thrown into the fire, but after it was extinguished by her prayers, she was slain with the sword.  Of her, St. Jerome writes: "Agnes is praised in the writings and by the tongues of all nations, especially in the churches.  She overcame the weakness of her age, conquered the cruelty of the tyrant, and consecrated her chastity by martyrdom."
 
I think its a happy coincidence that St. Agnes (purity) is one of seven women in the canon of the Mass with Cecilia (married but continent), Felicity (happiness) (married), Perpetua (steadfastness) (married), Agatha (goodness) (widowed), Lucy (light) (virgin), and Anastasia (resurrection) (probably married). The canon thereby represents various vocations and three important centers of Western Christianity: Carthage, Sicily and Rome.

No saint was more revered in the early Church than this young girl who suffered persecution under the Emperor Diocletian and who, according to her 5th-century acta, was only 13-years-old when she died. The name Agnes in Greek means 'chaste' and in Latin signifies a 'lamb' (Saint Augustine, Sermon 274). Thus, she represents all that is pure and virtuous in womanhood.

The feast of Saint Agnes was formerly a special holiday for women, as evidenced in the Council of Worcester in 1240. On the Eve of Saint Agnes, it was supposed that a maiden might divine knowledge of her future by plucking pins, repeating an Our Father, and then dreaming of her destiny. (Or, in the German-American tradition, if I remember my grandmother correctly, there was a tradition of placing a bit of wrapped fruitcake under a maiden's pillow on the eve of Saint Agnes in order to dream of her future husband.)
On the feast day, 21 January, the Trappist fathers of the Monastery of Tre Fontane (near Saint Paul's Basilica) provide two lambs from their sheepfold to the Benedictine nuns of Saint Cecilia. They arrive at Saint Agnes' Basilica wearing crowns, lying in "baskets decorated with red and white flowers and red and white ribbons--red for martyrdom, white for purity."

For the festal Mass, the church, titular cardinal, and concelebrants are decorated with red, white and gold. During the Mass, there is a procession of little girls veiled and dressed in white lace with pale blue ribbons, followed by four resplendent carabinieri carrying the baby lambs. The lambs are blessed and incensed before being taken to the Vatican for the Pope's blessing. Then they are delivered to the Convent of Saint Cecilia to become the pets of the sisters until Holy Thursday (when the are shorn) before being sacrificed on Good Friday.

The wool from these lambs is woven into 12 archbishops' palliums. The pallium is an older symbol of the papacy than the famed tiara. The elect becomes "Shepherd of Christ's Flock" when the pallium touches his shoulder and symbolizes that the new bishop is being 'yoked' with the bishop of Rome, who is visible head of the Church. About 204, Saint Felician of Foligno is the first recorded recipient of a pallium from a pope (Saint Victor I). (So, the concept of papal primacy was very old indeed.)

Agnes was martyred at the beginning of the Diocletian persecutions undertaken between 303 and 305 to wipe out the scourge of Christian impiety. From a Roman viewpoint, Christians were not killed for their faith but for treason, since they would not sacrifice to the gods who protected the empire. Afterall, the Romans were able to incorporate the gods of all other people they conquered--why were Christians so obstinate? There were Jews who were considered good Romans, but they kept to themselves for the most part (see R. L. Wilken, The Christians as the Romans saw them, New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1984, which incorporates the writings of Pliny, Celsus, Galen, Porphyry, and Julian the Apostate).

Unlike the Jews, Christianity gained converts from among the nobility, even after earlier persecutions. They became a threat to the world order. According to Markus, the Roman Empire was based on racial distinctions, patriarchal authority, and slavery--each of these patterns were threatened by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Christian military recruits could not be trusted to defend Rome (cf. Maximilian in Numidia and Marcellus in Tangier).

The Christian rejection of the Roman view of marriage was also a threat. It was a civic obligation for each woman to have as many children as possible because Romans believed they lived through their progeny. The Christians, believing in eternal life, did not see marriage and family as absolutely necessary for everyone. And, in fact, the Encratites, who highly prized perpetual virginity of both male and female, strongly influenced Christianity during this period. With this background in mind, we come to the story of Saint Agnes.

Agnes was born of a noble Roman family--probably the Clodia Crescentiana. About age 10, Agnes consecrated herself to Christ, probably with her parent's permission, otherwise she would have been forced to marry the man of her father's choosing. It is likely that her father was also a Christian. About age 12 or 13, she rejected the advances of the son of a high official (the Prefect Maximum Herculeus?) with the words, "The one to whom I am betrothed is Christ whom the angels serve. He was the first to choose me. I shall be His alone." Thereupon she was denounced as a Christian.

Gill reports another version that says the prefect's son was attracted by her beauty and wealth, sought her hand in marriage, and was rebuffed because she had given her life to Christ 'to whom I keep my troth.' When he pressed her and she still refused his suit, he complained to her father, who, greatly disturbed when he discovered she was a Christian, considered her mad and treated her as such. She was urged by her family to submit, and when she still refused, they planned to make her a vestal virgin in a Roman temple. But young though she was, she showed great maturity and a determined will, "Do you think that I shall dedicate myself to gods of senseless stone!" "You are only a child," they replied. "I may be a child," she answered, "but faith dwells not in years, but in the heart" (Gill).

In Gill's version, when it was realized that they could not prevail, they removed her clothes and thrust her into the open street, where, in shame, she loosened her hair to cover her nakedness.

Everyone thought that the sight of the tools of torture would cause Agnes to waver; when these elicited joy rather than terror in her, the governor became enraged and threatened to send her to a house of prostitution. "You may," said Agnes, "stain your sword with my blood; but you will never be able to profane my body, consecrated to Christ."

In all versions she was thrown into a brothel, but untouched because of her meekness and purity. She is said to have had blonde hair that was long enough to cover her nakedness (or spontaneously grew to do so) or that an angel brought her a robe, white as snow, to cover her body. Because of her declaration that God would not allow her body to be profaned, men were afraid to touch her. One man who was rude to her was suddenly blinded, but she restored his sight by prayer.

The brothel was included in the inscription of the scholarly Pope Damasus I, so it is probably true, says Keyes (others would dispute his version of history). The brothel was that under the arch in the Stadium Domitian, in what is now the Piazza Navona. It forms the Crypt in the Church of Saint Agnes in Agone. Because the church is near the palace of Pope Innocent X (formerly Prince Battista Pamphili), he transformed it into an important church. On February 7, 1653, he bestowed on it the patronage of his family and made it independent of all other jurisdiction, except for that of the Cardinal Protector.

Finally, she was sentenced to death. But first she was mocked and insulted, and they cried after her in the streets. When the executioner hesitated, Agnes told him, "Do not delay. This body draws from some a kind of admiration that I hate. Let it perish."

Martyrdom may have been by fire, sword, decapitation, or strangulation during the Diocletian persecutions in the early 4th century. She could not be shackled because her wrists were too small. Some stories use all three successively:

A fire was kindled, and when she was placed on the pyre she prayed, "Thy Name I bless and glorify, world without end. I confess Thee with my lips, and with my heart I altogether desire Thee." When she had finished praying, it was found that the fire had extinguished itself. Then they bound her with fetters, but the fetters fell from her. She was killed in the end by a sword, and after her death crowds followed her to her grave.

Because of the influence of her family, her body was not thrown into the river (the usual), but was buried in the family cemetery, which formed part of the catacombs that now bear her name and that adjoin the church, also dedicated to her, on the Via Nomentana. Her fame quickly spread.

When the Emperor Constantine wished to have his daughter baptized, he did so near the spot where Agnes was buried. And, in 324 (or 350?), just a few years after her death the church of Sant'Agnese Fuori le Mura (which still stands today) was erected by Constantine over her grave. In 382, Pope Damasus I, who first called Rome the Apostolic See, restored the Church of Saint Agnes Outside-the-Walls. So, soon after her martyrdom her cultus was recognized. During the reign of Pope Paul V the relics of Saint Agnes and those of Saint Emerentiana, Agnes's martyred foster sister, where found within the church.

Although her feast is January 21, the octave of her feast (January 28) was her actual birthday. "On that day her parents went to pray at her tomb. There they were granted a vision in which they saw her surrounded by a bevy of virgins, resplendent with light; and on her right hand was seen a lamb whiter than snow. The second feast day is still celebrated some places according to Keyes.

"Every people, whatever their tongue, praise the name of Saint Agnes," Saint Girolamus declared in a letter written near the end of the 4th century.

Saint Ambrose wrote: "At such a tender age a young girl has scarcely enough courage to bear the angry looks of her father and a tiny puncture from a needle makes her cry as if it were a wound. And still this little girl had enough courage to face the sword. She was fearless in the bloody hands of the executioner. She prayed, she bowed her head. Behold in one victim the twofold martyrdom of chastity and faith."

The Hymn of Prudentius says: "With a single stroke she was beheaded, death was faster than pain and her resplendent soul, made free, flew to heaven where the angels met her as she proceeded along the white path that leads to Paradise."

Though much of her story is unreliable (it wasn't recorded until about 415), there is no doubt that Agnes suffered martyrdom and was buried on the Via Nomentana. Her name and the date of her feast was included in the calendar of martyrs (Depositio Martyrum) drawn up in 354. Saint Martin of Tours was singularly devoted to Agnes. Thomas a Kempis honored her as his special patroness, as his works declare in many places. He relates many miracles wrought and graces received through her intercession. There are no less than five ancient church dedications to her honor in England (Attwater, Balsdon, Benedictines, Bentley, Butler, Cenci, Cioran, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Gill, Husenbeth, Keyes, Markus, Martindale, White).
St. Agnes
Saint Agnes image courtesy of
Saint Charles Borromeo Church     In art, Agnes is pictured as a young maiden with long hair and a lamb (agnus), because of the resemblance of her name with that of the animal, since the 6th century mosaics at San Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna (Farmer). Sometimes she may be shown: (1) with a sword in her throat; (2) naked, covered by an angel or by her long hair; (3) crowned and holding a scroll; (4) with a lamb (symbol of her purity and sacrifice) and a palm; (5) with a dove having a ring in its beak (Roeder, White).

Many portrayals of Saint Agnes survive from throughout the centuries. There are Renaissance paintings by Duccio and Tintoretto; medieval stained glass windows; and a cycle of painting of her on a gold and enamel cup which previously belonged to the Duke of Berry and passed through the Duke of Bedford to King Henry VI of England and on to the British Museum (Farmer).
Agnes is patroness of virginal innocence, betrothed couples, gardeners, and maidens. She is invoked for chastity (Roeder, White).
6th v St. Brigid also known as Briga 6th century
Known as St. Brigid of Kilbride, venerated in the diocese of Lismore.  St. Brigid of Kildare, one of the patrons of Ireland, visited Kilbride.This Brigid is also known as Briga.  It is recorded that her famous namesake of Kildare visited her more than once at Kilbride.

497 Epiphanius of Pavia reputation for sanctity, charity to the poor; bishop and confessor. B (RM)
 Papíæ sancti Epiphánii, Epíscopi et Confessóris.
       At Pavia, St. Epiphanius, bishop and confessor.

496 St Epiphanius, Bishop Of Pavia
The reputation of Epiphanius for holiness and miracles gave him the highest credit with the weak Roman emperors of his time, and with the Kings Odoacer and Theodoric, though all of opposite interests. By his eloquence and charity he tamed savage barbarians, won life and liberty for whole armies of captives, and secured the abolition of many oppressive laws, with the mitigation of heavy public imposts and taxes. By his profuse charities he preserved many of the famine-stricken from perishing, and by his zeal he stemmed the torrent of iniquity in times of universal disorder. Epiphanius undertook an embassy to the Emperor Anthemius, and another to King Euric at Toulouse: both in the hope of averting war. He rebuilt Pavia, which had been destroyed by Odoacer, and mitigated the fury of Theodoric in the heat of his victories. He set out on a journey into Burgundy to redeem the captives detained by Gondebald and Godegisilus, but on his return died of cold and fever at Pavia, in the fifty-eighth year of his age. His death was really that of a martyr of charity, and during his lifetime he seems to have been honoured by his flock with profusion of endearing and complimentary names. They called him the “peacemaker”, the “glory of Italy”, the “light of bishops”, and also Papa —i.e. the Father. His body was translated to Hildesheim in Lower Saxony, in 963; Brower thinks it lies in a silver coffin near the high altar.


See his panegyric in verse by Ennodius, his successor, reputed to be the masterpiece of that author, edited in the Acta Sanctorum, as also in MGH., Auctores antiquissimi, vol. vii, pp. 84—110. Cf. Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xvii (1898), pp. 124—127. 
Born in Pavia, Italy, 439; died in Burgundy, France, in 497. Saint Epiphanius, popularly called the "glory of Italy" and "light of bishops," was elected bishop of Pavia in 467. He had a reputation for sanctity, charity to the poor, and working miracles, which put him in good standing with the Roman emperors as well as Kings Odoacer and Theodoric. His eloquence sometimes moved seemingly immovable forces to act justly.

Epiphanius served as ambassador to Emperor Anthemius and King Euric at Toulouse. During his episcopate, Odoacer destroyed Pavia and the bishop rebuilt it. In order to ransom some of his flock who were held captive by Kings Gondebald and Godegisile, he travelled to Burgundy and there contracted a fever that caused is death at age 58. His relics were translated to Hildesheim in Lower Saxony in 963, where they may lie in a silver coffin near the high altar. His successor at Pavia, Saint Ennodius, wrote a panegyric about Epiphanius in verse (Attwater2, Benedictines, Coulson, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).
Although the image does not seem to match the story, in art, Epiphanius is supposed to be portrayed as a bishop going to his martyrdom with three maidens: Luminosa, Speciosa, and Liberata (Roeder).

978 Maccallin of Waulsort hermit founded Saint Michael's monastery at Thiérache OSB, Abbot (AC)
(also known as Malcallan, Maolcalain)
Died 978. Maccallin was an Irishman who made a pilgrimage to Saint Fursey's shrine at Péronne during the Viking terror. He entered the Benedictine abbey of Gorze. Later he became a hermit and was given a grant of land on which he founded Saint Michael's monastery at Thiérache and governed it as abbot. Soon after he made a second foundation at Waulsort (Valciodorum) Abbey, near Dinant, Belgium, on the River Meuse, over which he placed Saint Cadroe. In 946, Emperor Otto I issued a charter that stipulated that Waulsort should be governed by an Irish abbot so long as one was available within the community (Benedictines, D'Arcy, Fitzpatrick, Montague, O'Hanlon).

1556 Saint Maximus the Greek translate patristic and liturgical books into Slavonic translated St John Chrysostom's Commentaries on the Gospels of Matthew and John

Son of a rich Greek dignitary in the city of Arta (Epiros), and he received a splendid education.

In his youth he travelled widely and he studied languages and sciences (i.e. intellectual disciplines) in Europe, spending time in Paris, Florence, and Venice.  Upon returning to his native land, he went to Athos and became a monk at the Vatopedi monastery. And with enthusiasm he studied ancient manuscripts left on Athos by the Byzantine Emperors Andronicus Paleologos and John Kantakuzenos (who became monks).
During this period the Moscow Great Prince Basil III (1505-1533) wanted to make an inventory of the Greek manuscripts and books of his mother, Sophia Paleologina, and he asked the Protos of the Holy Mountain, Igumen Simeon, to send him a translator. St Maximus was chosen to go to Moscow, for he had been brought up on secular and ecclesiastical books from his youth. Upon his arrival, he was asked to translate patristic and liturgical books into Slavonic, starting with the Annotated Psalter.
St Maximus tried to fulfill his task, but since Slavonic was not his native language, there were certain imprecisions in the translations.  Metropolitan Barlaam of Moscow highly valued the work of St Maximus, but when the See of Moscow was occupied by Metropolitan Daniel, the situation changed.

The new Metropolitan ordered St Maximus to translate the Church History of Theodoritus of Cyrrhus into Slavonic. St Maximus absolutely refused this commission, pointing out that "in this history are included letters of the heretic Arius, and this might present danger for the semi-literate." This refusal caused a rift between Maximus and the Metropolitan.
Despite their differences, St Maximus continued to labor for the spiritual enlightenment of Rus. He wrote letters against Moslems, Roman Catholics, and pagans. He translated St John Chrysostom's Commentaries on the Gospels of Matthew and John, and he also wrote several works of his own.

When the Great Prince wished to divorce his wife Solomonia because of her infertility, the dauntless confessor Maximus sent the Prince his "Instructive Chapters on Initiating Right Belief," in which he persuasively demonstrated that the Prince was obliged not to yield to bestial passions. The Prine never forgave Maximus for his audacity, and locked St Maximus in prison. From that moment a new period began in the life of the monk, filled with much suffering.

Mistakes in his translations were regarded as deliberate and intentional corruptions of the text by St Maximus. It was difficult for him in prison, but in his sufferings the saint also gained the great mercy of God.
An angel appeared to him and said, "Endure, Abba! Through this temporary pain you will be delivered from eternal torments."

In prison the Elder wrote a Canon to the Holy Spirit in charcoal upon a wall, which even at present is read in the Church: "Just as Israel was nourished with manna in the wilderness of old, so Master, fill my soul with the All-Holy Spirit, that through Him I may serve Thee always...."
After six years, St Maximus was set free from prison and sent to Tver.  There he lived under the supervision of the good-natured Bishop Acacius, who dealt kindly with guiltless sufferer. The saint then wrote in his autobiography: "While I was locked in prison and grieving, I consoled and strengthened myself with patience." Here are some more words from this vivid text: "Neither grieve, nor be sad, beloved soul, that you have suffered unjustly, for it behooves you to accept all for your benefit."

Only after twenty years at Tver did they decide to let Maximus live freely, and remove the church excommunication. St Maximus, now about seventy years of age, spent the final years of his life at the Trinity-Sergiev Lavra. Oppression and work took their toil on his health, but his spirit remained vigorous, and he continued with his work.
Together with his cell-attendant and disciple Nilus, the saint translated the Psalter from Greek into Slavonic.

St Maximus reposed on January 21, 1556. He was buried at the northwest wall of the Holy Spirit church of the Trinity-Sergiev Lavra. Many manifestations of grace took place at the grave of St Maximus, and a Troparion and Kontakion were composed in his honor. St Maximus is depicted on the icon of the Synaxis of the Saints of Radonezh (July 6).
1586 Blessed Edward Stransham priest five years martyred at Tyburn M (AC)
Born at Oxford, England; died 1586; beatified in 1929. Edward was educated at Saint John's College in Oxford, studied for the priesthood at Douai and Reims, and was ordained in 1580. He set off for the English mission the following year to work in London and Oxford for the next five years until his condemnation. Edward was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn for his priesthood (Attwater2, Benedictines).

1642 St. Alban Bartholomew Roe Missionary martyr 1/40 of England and Wales
Alban is believed to have been born in Bury St. Edmund's, England, about 1580. He converted to Catholicism and went to the English College at Douai, where he was dismissed for an infraction of discipline. In 1612 he became an ordained Benedictine at Dieulouard, France. From there he was sent to England. In 1615 he was arrested and banished. In 1618 he returned to England and was imprisoned again. This imprisonment lasted until 1623, when the Spanish ambassador obtained his release. In 1625, once again having returned to England to care for Catholics, Alban was arrested for the last time. For seventeen years he remained in prison and was then tried and condemned. Alban was sentenced with Thomas Reynolds, another English martyr. They were hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn on January 21, 1642.

Born in Bury Saint Edmunds, Suffolk, England, c. 1583; died at Tyburn, England, 1642; canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

Bartholomew Roe was a student at Cambridge when he met an imprisoned Catholic and was so impressed by his faith that he was converted to Catholicism. He studied at Douai in France, but was dismissed for an infraction of discipline. Then he became a Benedictine monk at Dieulouard (Dieuleward, now Ampleforth), France, in 1612, taking the name Alban, was ordained, and sent on the English mission.

Father Alban was arrested in 1615, imprisoned, and then banished; but he was back in England four months later and again arrested in 1618 and imprisoned in the New Prison until 1623, when he was released through the intercession of the Spanish ambassador.

Father Alban was exiled a second time. After a short stay at Douai, he returned to England and worked until his arrest in 1625 during the reign of King Charles I. He spent the next 17 years in prison until he was finally tried, convicted on January 19 of being of Catholic priest, and two days later hanged, drawn, and quartered together with Blessed Thomas Reynolds. Apparently, Alban Roe had a lively disposition; he laughed and joked on the scaffold at Tyburn (Attwater2, Benedictines, Delaney).

1642 Blessed Thomas Reynolds priest for nearly 50 years  M (AC)
(also known as Thomas Green)
Born at Oxford; died 1642; beatified 1929. Thomas's true name was Green, but like many Catholics of his time used an alias. After being educated for the priesthood at Rheims, Valladolid, and Seville, he was ordained in 1592 and returned to the English mission, where he worked for nearly 50 years (for once the alias worked!).
He must have been about 80 years old when he was hanged, drawn, and quartered for his priesthood at Tyburn together with Saint Bartholomew Roe (Attwater2, Benedictines).

1696 Blessed Inés de Beniganim barefoot Augustinian hermits OSA Disc., V (AC)
(also known as Agnes of Beniganim)
Born near Valencia, Spain, 1625; died at Beniganim, Spain, in 1696; beatified in 1888. Blessed Inés entered the convent of barefoot Augustinian hermits at Beniganim and took the name Josepha Maria. In Spain she is usually called by her baptismal name (Attwater2, Benedictines).

St. Maccalin Benedictine abbot of St. Michael's at Thierache
on the French portion of the Meuse and Waulsort. An Irishman also called Macallan. he made a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Fursey in Peronne. France. He became a Benedictine at Gorze. and later became an abbot of that monastery.



THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 241

Blessed is the man, O Virgin Mary, who loves thy name; thy grace will comfort his soul.

He will be refreshed as by fountains of water; thou wilt produce in him the fruit of justice.

Blessed art thou among women; by the faith of thy holy heart.

By the beauty of thy body thou surpassest all women;
by the excellence of thy sanctity thou surpassest all angels and archangels

Thy mercy and thy grace are preached everywhere; God has blessed the works of thy hands.

Glory be to the Father, etc.


Let every spirit praise Our Lady

Glory be to thee forever, O Queen of Heaven: and never forget us at any time.

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

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost as it was in the beginning and will always be.

God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique, for each is the result of a new idea.  As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike. It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints. Dear Lord, grant us a spirit that is not bound by our own ideas and preferences.  Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves.
O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory. Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.  Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.   God calls each one of us to be a saint in order to get into heavenonly saints are allowed into heaven. The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.
There are over 10,000 named saints beati  from history
 and Roman Martyology Orthodox sources

Patron_Saints.html  Widowed_Saints htmIndulgences The Catholic Church in China
LINKS: Marian Shrines  
India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes 1858  China Marian shrines 1995
Kenya national Marian shrine  Loreto, Italy  Marian Apparitions (over 2000Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798
 
Links to Related MarianWebsites  Angels and Archangels  Saints Visions of Heaven and Hell

Widowed Saints  html
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  UniateChalcedon

Mary the Mother of Jesus Miracles_BLay Saints  Miraculous_IconMiraculous_Medal_Novena Patron Saints
Miracles by Century 100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000    1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800  1900 2000
Miracles 100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000  
 
1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800   1900 Lay Saints

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

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Saint Frances Xavier Seelos  Practical Guide to Holiness
1. Go to Mass with deepest devotion. 2. Spend a half hour to reflect upon your main failing & make resolutions to avoid it.
3. Do daily spiritual reading for at least 15 minutes, if a half hour is not possible.  4. Say the rosary every day.
5. Also daily, if at all possible, visit the Blessed Sacrament; toward evening, meditate on the Passion of Christ for a half hour, 6.  Conclude the day with evening prayer & an examination of conscience over all the faults & sins of the day.
7.  Every month make a review of the month in confession.
8. Choose a special patron every month & imitate that patron in some special virtue.
9. Precede every great feast with a novena that is nine days of devotion. 10. Try to begin & end every activity with a Hail Mary

My God, I believe, I adore, I trust and I love Thee.  I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not
O most Holy trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly.  I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the Tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended, and by the infite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  I beg the conversion of poor sinners,  Fatima Prayer, Angel of Peace
The voice of the Father is heard, the Son enters the water, and the Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove.
THE spirit and example of the world imperceptibly instil the error into the minds of many that there is a kind of middle way of going to Heaven; and so, because the world does not live up to the gospel, they bring the gospel down to the level of the world. It is not by this example that we are to measure the Christian rule, but words and life of Christ. All His followers are commanded to labour to become perfect even as our heavenly Father is perfect, and to bear His image in our hearts that we may be His children. We are obliged by the gospel to die to ourselves by fighting self-love in our hearts, by the mastery of our passions, by taking on the spirit of our Lord.
   These are the conditions under which Christ makes His promises and numbers us among His children, as is manifest from His words which the apostles have left us in their inspired writings. Here is no distinction made or foreseen between the apostles or clergy or religious and secular persons. The former, indeed, take upon themselves certain stricter obligations, as a means of accomplishing these ends more perfectly; but the law of holiness and of disengagement of the heart from the world is general and binds all the followers of Christ.
God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique each the result of a new idea.
As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike.
It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints.

Dear Lord, grant us a spirit not bound by our own ideas and preferences.
 
Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves.

O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory.
 
Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.
Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.
The 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary ) Revealed to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan)
1.    Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces. 2.    I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary. 3.    The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies. 4.    It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things.  Oh, that soul would sanctify them by this means.  5.    The soul that recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish. 6.    Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying themselves to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune.  God will not chastise them in His justice, they shall not perish by an unprovided death; if they be just, they shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life. 7.    Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church. 8.    Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise. 9.    I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary. 10.    The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.  11.    You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary. 12.    I shall aid all those who propagate the Holy Rosary in their necessities. 13.    I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death. 14.    All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ. 15.    Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
His Holiness Aram I, current (2013) Catholicos of Cilicia of Armenians, whose See is located in Lebanese town of Antelias. The Catholicosate was founded in Sis, capital of Cilicia, in the year 1441 following the move of the Catholicosate of All Armenians back to its original See of Etchmiadzin in Armenia. The Catholicosate of Cilicia enjoyed local jurisdiction, though spiritually subject to the authority of Etchmiadzin. In 1921 the See was transferred to Aleppo in Syria, and in 1930 to Antelias.
Its jurisdiction currently extends to Syria, Cyprus, Iran and Greece.
Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac
The exact date of the introduction of Christianity into Edessa {Armenian Ourhaï in Arabic Er Roha, commonly Orfa or Urfa, its present name} is not known. It is certain, however, that the Christian community was at first made up from the Jewish population of the city. According to an ancient legend, King Abgar V, Ushana, was converted by Addai, who was one of the seventy-two disciples. In fact, however, the first King of Edessa to embrace the Christian Faith was Abgar IX (c. 206) becoming official kingdom religion.
Christian council held at Edessa early as 197 (Eusebius, Hist. Ecc7V,xxiii).
In 201 the city was devastated by a great flood, and the Christian church was destroyed (“Chronicon Edessenum”, ad. an. 201).
In 232 the relics of the Apostle St. Thomas were brought from India, on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written.

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

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

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Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey  Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament
Colombia was among the countries Mother Angelica visited. 
In Bogotá, a Salesian priest - Father Juan Pablo Rodriguez - brought Mother and the nuns to the Sanctuary of the Divine Infant Jesus to attend Mass.  After Mass, Father Juan Pablo took them into a small Shrine which housed the miraculous statue of the Child Jesus. Mother Angelica stood praying at the side of the statue when suddenly the miraculous image came alive and turned towards her.  Then the Child Jesus spoke with the voice of a young boy:  “Build Me a Temple and I will help those who help you.” 

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

Brief History of our Beloved Holy Priest Here and his published books of Catholic History in North America
Reardon, J.M. Archbishop Ireland; Prelate, Patriot, Publicist, 1838-1918.
A Memoir (St. Paul; 1919); George Anthony Belcourt Pioneer Catholic Missionary of the Northwest 1803-1874 (1955);
The Catholic Church IN THE DIOCESE OF ST. PAUL from earliest origin to centennial achievement
1362-1950 (1952);

The Church of Saint Mary of Saint Paul 1875-1922;
  (1932)
The Vikings in the American Heartland;
The Catholic Total Abstinence Society in Minnesota;
James Michael Reardon Born in Nova Scotia, 1872;  Priest, ordained by Bishop Ireland;
Member -- St. Paul Seminary faculty.
Affiliations and Indulgence Litany of Loretto in Stained glass windows here.  Nave Sacristy and Residence Here
Sanctuary
spaces between them filled with grilles of hand-forged wrought iron the
life of our Blessed Lady After the crucifixon
Apostle statues Replicas of those in St John Lateran--Christendom's earliest Basilica.
Ordered by Rome's first Christian Emperor, Constantine the Great, Popes' cathedral and official residence first millennium of Christian history.

The only replicas ever made:  in order from west to east {1932}.
Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel
 
It Makes No Sense
Not To Believe In GOD
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi
  June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.
By Father John Corapi
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi
  June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.
By Father John Corapi
Among the most important titles we have in the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of the most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom. The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7 (date of feast of Our Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for the Christian forces against the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope Pius V led a procession around St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral leadership in recognizing the danger posed to Christendom by the radical Muslim forces, and in using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles require spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that had its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.

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

No other issue, not all other issues taken together, can constitute a proportionate reason for voting for candidates that intend to preserve and defend this holocaust of innocent human life that is abortion.

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

Father Corapi's academic credentials are quite extensive. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Pace University in the seventies. Then as an older man returned to the university classrooms in preparation for his life as a priest and preacher. He received all of his academic credentials for the Church with honors: a Masters degree in Sacred Scripture from Holy Apostles Seminary and Bachelor, Licentiate, and Doctorate degrees in dogmatic theology from the University of Navarre in Spain.

Father John Corapi goes to the heart of the contemporary world's many woes and wars, whether the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, or the Congo, or the natural disasters that seem to be increasing every year, the moral and spiritual war is at the basis of everything. “Our battle is not against human forces,” St. Paul asserts, “but against principalities and powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness...” (Ephesians 6:12). 
The “War to end all wars” is the moral and spiritual combat that rages in the hearts and minds of human beings. The outcome of that  unseen fight largely determines how the battle in the realm of the seen unfolds.  The title talk, “With the Moon Under Her Feet,” is taken from the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation, and deals with the current threat to the world from radical Islam, and the Blessed Virgin Mary's role in the ultimate victory that will result in the conversion of Islam. Few Catholics are aware of the connection between Islam, Fatima, and Guadalupe. Presented in Father Corapi's straight-forward style, you will be both inspired and educated by him.

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


God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

Pope Francis will beatify these martyred Greek-Catholic bishops in Romania
May 30, 2019 - 03:01 pm .- On Sunday in Blaj, Pope Francis will beatify seven Greek-Catholic bishops of Romania who were killed by the communist regime between 1950 and 1970.
 
Woman who served Brazil’s poorest to be canonized
May 14, 2019 - 06:53 am .- Pope Francis Tuesday gave his approval for eight sainthood causes to proceed, including that of Bl. Dulce Lopes Pontes, a 20th-century religious sister who served Brazil’s poor.

Seven 20th-century Romanian bishops declared martyrs
Mar 19, 2019 - 12:01 pm .- Pope Francis declared Tuesday the martyrdom of seven Greek-Catholic bishops killed by the communist regime in Romania in the mid-20th century.

Pope advances sainthood causes of 17 women
Jan 15, 2019 - 11:12 am .- Pope Francis approved Tuesday the next step in the canonization causes of 17 women from four countries, including the martyrdom of 14 religious sisters killed in Spain at the start of the Spanish Civil War.
 
Nineteen Algerian martyrs beatified
Dec 10, 2018 - 03:08 pm .- Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, were beatified Saturday during a Mass in Oran.

The Algerian martyrs shed their blood for Christ, pope says
Dec 7, 2018 - 10:02 am .- Ahead of the beatification Saturday of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, Pope Francis said martyrs have a special place in the Church.
Algerian martyrs are models for the Church, archbishop says
Nov 16, 2018 - 03:01 am .- Archbishop Paul Desfarges of Algiers has said that Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, are “models for our lives as disciples today and tomorrow.”
 
Francesco Spinelli to be canonized after healing of a newborn in DR Congo
Oct 9, 2018 - 05:01 pm .- Among those being canonized on Sunday are Fr. Franceso Spinelli, a diocesan priest through whose intercession a newborn was saved from death in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Algerian martyrs to be beatified in December
Sep 14, 2018 - 06:01 pm .- The Algerian bishops' conference has announced that the beatification of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in the country between 1994 and 1996, will be held Dec. 8.

Now a cardinal, Giovanni Angelo Becciu heads to congregation for saints' causes
Jun 28, 2018 - 11:41 am .- Newly-minted Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu will resign from his post as substitute of the Secretariat of State tomorrow, in anticipation of his appointment as prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints later this summer.

Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under ‘offering of life’
Jul 11, 2017 - 06:22 am .- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called “offering of life” – in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor.
 
Twentieth century Polish nurse among causes advancing toward sainthood
Jul 7, 2017 - 06:14 am .- Pope Francis on Friday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Hanna Chrzanowska, a Polish nurse and nursing instructor who died from cancer in 1973, paving the way for her beatification.
 
Sainthood causes advance, including layman who resisted fascism
Jun 17, 2017 - 09:22 am .- Pope Francis on Friday recognized the heroic virtue of six persons on the path to canonization, as well as the martyrdom of an Italian man who died from injuries of a beating he received while imprisoned in a concentration camp for resisting fascism.
 
Solanus Casey, Cardinal Van Thuan among those advanced toward sainthood
May 4, 2017 - 10:47 am .- Pope Francis on Thursday approved decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints advancing the causes for canonization of 12 individuals, including the American-born Capuchin Solanus Casey and the Vietnamese cardinal Francis Xavier Nguen Van Thuan.
 
Pope clears way for canonization of Fatima visionaries
Mar 23, 2017 - 06:44 am .- On Thursday Pope Francis approved the second and final miracle needed to canonize Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the shepherd children who witnessed the Fatima Marian apparitions.
Surgeon and father among sainthood causes moving forward
Feb 27, 2017 - 11:03 am .- Pope Francis recognized on Monday the heroic virtue of eight persons on the path to canonization, including an Italian surgeon and father of eight who suffered from several painful diseases throughout his life.

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

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

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

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

Pope Francis will beatify these martyred Greek-Catholic bishops in Romania
May 30, 2019 - 03:01 pm .- On Sunday in Blaj, Pope Francis will beatify seven Greek-Catholic bishops of Romania who were killed by the communist regime between 1950 and 1970.
 
Woman who served Brazil’s poorest to be canonized
May 14, 2019 - 06:53 am .- Pope Francis Tuesday gave his approval for eight sainthood causes to proceed, including that of Bl. Dulce Lopes Pontes, a 20th-century religious sister who served Brazil’s poor.

Seven 20th-century Romanian bishops declared martyrs
Mar 19, 2019 - 12:01 pm .- Pope Francis declared Tuesday the martyrdom of seven Greek-Catholic bishops killed by the communist regime in Romania in the mid-20th century.

Pope advances sainthood causes of 17 women
Jan 15, 2019 - 11:12 am .- Pope Francis approved Tuesday the next step in the canonization causes of 17 women from four countries, including the martyrdom of 14 religious sisters killed in Spain at the start of the Spanish Civil War.
 
Nineteen Algerian martyrs beatified
Dec 10, 2018 - 03:08 pm .- Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, were beatified Saturday during a Mass in Oran.

The Algerian martyrs shed their blood for Christ, pope says
Dec 7, 2018 - 10:02 am .- Ahead of the beatification Saturday of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, Pope Francis said martyrs have a special place in the Church.
Algerian martyrs are models for the Church, archbishop says
Nov 16, 2018 - 03:01 am .- Archbishop Paul Desfarges of Algiers has said that Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, are “models for our lives as disciples today and tomorrow.”
 
Francesco Spinelli to be canonized after healing of a newborn in DR Congo
Oct 9, 2018 - 05:01 pm .- Among those being canonized on Sunday are Fr. Franceso Spinelli, a diocesan priest through whose intercession a newborn was saved from death in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Algerian martyrs to be beatified in December
Sep 14, 2018 - 06:01 pm .- The Algerian bishops' conference has announced that the beatification of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in the country between 1994 and 1996, will be held Dec. 8.

Now a cardinal, Giovanni Angelo Becciu heads to congregation for saints' causes
Jun 28, 2018 - 11:41 am .- Newly-minted Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu will resign from his post as substitute of the Secretariat of State tomorrow, in anticipation of his appointment as prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints later this summer.

Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under ‘offering of life’
Jul 11, 2017 - 06:22 am .- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called “offering of life” – in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor.
 
Twentieth century Polish nurse among causes advancing toward sainthood
Jul 7, 2017 - 06:14 am .- Pope Francis on Friday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Hanna Chrzanowska, a Polish nurse and nursing instructor who died from cancer in 1973, paving the way for her beatification.
 
Sainthood causes advance, including layman who resisted fascism
Jun 17, 2017 - 09:22 am .- Pope Francis on Friday recognized the heroic virtue of six persons on the path to canonization, as well as the martyrdom of an Italian man who died from injuries of a beating he received while imprisoned in a concentration camp for resisting fascism.
 
Solanus Casey, Cardinal Van Thuan among those advanced toward sainthood
May 4, 2017 - 10:47 am .- Pope Francis on Thursday approved decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints advancing the causes for canonization of 12 individuals, including the American-born Capuchin Solanus Casey and the Vietnamese cardinal Francis Xavier Nguen Van Thuan.
 
Pope clears way for canonization of Fatima visionaries
Mar 23, 2017 - 06:44 am .- On Thursday Pope Francis approved the second and final miracle needed to canonize Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the shepherd children who witnessed the Fatima Marian apparitions.
Surgeon and father among sainthood causes moving forward
Feb 27, 2017 - 11:03 am .- Pope Francis recognized on Monday the heroic virtue of eight persons on the path to canonization, including an Italian surgeon and father of eight who suffered from several painful diseases throughout his life.

8 Martyrs Move Closer to Sainthood 8 July, 2016
Posted by ZENIT Staff on 8 July, 2016

The angel appears to Saint Monica
This morning, Pope Francis received Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Angelo Amato. During the audience, he authorized the promulgation of decrees concerning the following causes:

***
MIRACLES:
Miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Servant of God Luis Antonio Rosa Ormières, priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Guardian Angel; born July 4, 1809 and died on Jan. 16, 1890
MARTYRDOM:
Servants of God Antonio Arribas Hortigüela and 6 Companions, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart; killed in hatred of the Faith, Sept. 29, 1936
Servant of God Josef Mayr-Nusser, a layman; killed in hatred of the Faith, Feb. 24, 1945
HEROIC VIRTUE:

Servant of God Alfonse Gallegos of the Order of Augustinian Recollects, Titular Bishop of Sasabe, auxiliary of Sacramento; born Feb. 20, 1931 and died Oct. 6, 1991
Servant of God Rafael Sánchez García, diocesan priest; born June 14, 1911 and died on Aug. 8, 1973
Servant of God Andrés García Acosta, professed layman of the Order of Friars Minor; born Jan. 10, 1800 and died Jan. 14, 1853
Servant of God Joseph Marchetti, professed priest of the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles; born Oct. 3, 1869 and died Dec. 14, 1896
Servant of God Giacomo Viale, professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, pastor of Bordighera; born Feb. 28, 1830 and died April 16, 1912
Servant of God Maria Pia of the Cross (née Maddalena Notari), foundress of the Congregation of Crucified Sisters Adorers of the Eucharist; born Dec. 2, 1847 and died on July 1, 1919
Sunday, November 23 2014 Six to Be Canonized on Feast of Christ the King.

On the List Are Lay Founder of a Hospital and Eastern Catholic Religious
VATICAN CITY, June 12, 2014 (Zenit.org) - Today, the Vatican announced that during the celebration of the feast of Christ the King on Sunday, November 23, an ordinary public consistory will be held for the canonization of the following six blesseds, who include a lay founder of a hospital for the poor, founders of religious orders, and two members of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See:
-Giovanni Antonio Farina (1803-1888), an Italian bishop who founded the Institute of the Sisters Teachers of Saint Dorothy, Daughters of the Sacred Hearts
-Kuriakose Elias Chavara (1805-1871), a Syro-Malabar priest in India who founded the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate
-Ludovico of Casoria (1814-1885), an Italian Franciscan priest who founded the Gray Sisters of St. Elizabeth
-Nicola Saggio (Nicola da Longobardi, 1650-1709), an Italian oblate of the Order of Minims
-Euphrasia Eluvathingal (1877-1952), an Indian Carmelite of the Syro-Malabar Church
-Amato Ronconi (1238-1304), an Italian, Third Order Franciscan who founded a hospital for poor pilgrims

CAUSES OF SAINTS July 2015.
Pope Recognizes Heroic Virtues of Ukrainian Archbishop
Recognition Brings Metropolitan Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky Closer to Beatification
By Junno Arocho Esteves Rome, July 17, 2015 (ZENIT.org)
Pope Francis recognized the heroic virtues of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky. According to a communique released by the Holy See Press Office, the Holy Father met this morning with Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

The Pope also recognized the heroic virtues of several religious/lay men and women from Italy, Spain, France & Mexico.
Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky is considered to be one of the most influential 20th century figures in the history of the Ukrainian Church.
Enthroned as Metropolitan of Lviv in 1901, Archbishop Sheptytsky was arrested shortly after the outbreak of World War I in 1914 by the Russians. After his imprisonment in several prisons in Russia and the Ukraine, the Archbishop was released in 1918.

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic prelate was also an ardent supporter of the Jewish community in Ukraine, going so far as to learn Hebrew to better communicate with them. He also was a vocal protestor against atrocities committed by the Nazis, evidenced in his pastoral letter, "Thou Shalt Not Kill." He was also known to harbor thousands of Jews in his residence and in Greek Catholic monasteries.
Following his death in 1944, his cause for canonization was opened in 1958.
* * *
The Holy Father authorized the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees regarding the heroic virtues of:
- Servant of God Andrey Sheptytsky, O.S.B.M., major archbishop of Leopolis of the Ukrainians, metropolitan of Halyc (1865-1944);
- Servant of God Giuseppe Carraro, Bishop of Verona, Italy (1899-1980);
- Servant of God Agustin Ramirez Barba, Mexican diocesan priest and founder of the Servants of the Lord of Mercy (1881-1967);
- Servant of God Simpliciano della Nativita (ne Aniello Francesco Saverio Maresca), Italian professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Hearts (1827-1898);
- Servant of God Maria del Refugio Aguilar y Torres del Cancino, Mexican founder of the Mercedarian Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament (1866-1937);
- Servant of God Marie-Charlotte Dupouy Bordes (Marie-Teresa), French professed religious of the Society of the Religious of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (1873-1953);
- Servant of God Elisa Miceli, Italian founder of the Rural Catechist Sisters of the Sacred Heart (1904-1976);
- Servant of God Isabel Mendez Herrero (Isabel of Mary Immaculate), Spanish professed nun of the Servants of St. Joseph (1924-1953)
October 01, 2015 Vatican City, Pope Authorizes following Decrees
(ZENIT.org) By Staff Reporter
Polish Layperson Recognized as Servant of God
Pope Authorizes Decrees
Pope Francis on Wednesday authorised the Congregation for Saints' Causes to promulgate the following decrees:

MARTYRDOM
- Servant of God Valentin Palencia Marquina, Spanish diocesan priest, killed in hatred of the faith in Suances, Spain in 1937;

HEROIC VIRTUES
- Servant of God Giovanni Folci, Italian diocesan priest and founder of the Opera Divin Prigioniero (1890-1963);
- Servant of God Franciszek Blachnicki, Polish diocesan priest (1921-1987);
- Servant of God Jose Rivera Ramirez, Spanish diocesan priest (1925-1991);
- Servant of God Juan Manuel Martín del Campo, Mexican diocesan priest (1917-1996);
- Servant of God Antonio Filomeno Maria Losito, Italian professed priest of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (1838-1917);
- Servant of God Maria Benedetta Giuseppa Frey (nee Ersilia Penelope), Italian professed nun of the Cistercian Order (1836-1913);
- Servant of God Hanna Chrzanowska, Polish layperson, Oblate of the Ursulines of St. Benedict (1902-1973).
March 06 2016 MIRACLES authorised the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
Pope Francis received in a private audience Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, during which he authorised the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
MIRACLES

– Blessed Manuel González García, bishop of Palencia, Spain, founder of the Eucharistic Missionaries of Nazareth (1877-1940);
– Blessed Elisabeth of the Trinity (née Elisabeth Catez), French professed religious of the Order of Discalced Carmelites (1880-1906);
– Venerable Servant of God Marie-Eugène of the Child Jesus (né Henri Grialou), French professed priest of the Order of Discalced Carmelites, founder of the Secular Institute “Notre-Dame de Vie” (1894-1967);
– Venerable Servant of God María Antonia of St. Joseph (née María Antonio de Paz y Figueroa), Argentine founder of the Beaterio of the Spiritual Exercise of Buenos Aires (1730-1799);
HEROIC VIRTUE

– Servant of God Stefano Ferrando, Italian professed priest of the Salesians, bishop of Shillong, India, founder of the Congregation of Missionary Sisters of Mary Help of Christians (1895-1978);
– Servant of God Enrico Battista Stanislao Verjus, Italian professed priest of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, coadjutor of the apostolic vicariate of New Guinea (1860-1892);
– Servant of God Giovanni Battista Quilici, Italian diocesan priest, founder of the Congregation of the Daughters of the Crucified (1791-1844);
– Servant of God Bernardo Mattio, Italian diocesan priest (1845-1914);
– Servant of God Quirico Pignalberi, Italian professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (1891-1982);
– Servant of God Teodora Campostrini, Italian founder of the Minim Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Sorrows (1788-1860);
– Servant of God Bianca Piccolomini Clementini, Italian founder of the Company of St. Angela Merici di Siena (1875-1959);
– Servant of God María Nieves of the Holy Family (née María Nieves Sánchez y Fernández), Spanish professed religious of the Daughters of Mary of the Pious Schools (1900-1978).

April 26 2016 MIRACLES authorised the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
Here is the full list of decrees approved by the Pope:

MIRACLES
– Blessed Alfonso Maria Fusco, diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. John the Baptist (1839-1910);
– Venerable Servant of God John Sullivan, professed priest of the Society of Jesus (1861-1933);
MARTYRDOM
– Servants of God Nikolle Vinçenc Prennushi, O.F.M., archbishop of Durres, Albania, and 37 companions killed between 1945 and 1974;
– Servants of God José Antón Gómez and three companions of the Benedictines of Madrid, Spain, killed 1936;
HEROIC VIRTUES
– Servant of God Thomas Choe Yang-Eop, diocesan priest (1821-1861);
– Servant of God Sosio Del Prete (né Vincenzo), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Congregation of the Little Servants of Christ the King (1885-1952);
– Servant of God Wenanty Katarzyniec (né Jósef), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (1889-1921);
– Servant of God Maria Consiglia of the Holy Spirity (née Emilia Pasqualina Addatis), founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Addolorata, Servants of Mary (1845-1900);
– Servant of God Maria of the Incarnation (née Caterina Carrasco Tenorio), founder of the Congregation of the Franciscan Tertiary Sisters of the Flock of Mary (1840-1917);
– Servant of God , founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Family of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1851-1923);
– Servant of God Ilia Corsaro, founder of the Congregation of the Little Missionaries of the Eucharist (1897-1977);
– Servant of God Maria Montserrat Grases García, layperson of the Personal Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei (1941-1959).
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