Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary
Mary's Divine Motherhood
 Saints of this Day January  26 Séptimo Kaléndas Februárii
Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас! (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
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.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Saints Timothy and Titus, Bishops (Memorial)
    First Reading:
Psalm:
Gospel:
          
2 Timothy 1:1-8 or Titus 1:1-5
Psalm 96:1-3, 7-8, 10
Mark 4:21-25

I know whom I have believed, and I am certain that I have committed to Him against that day, being a just Judge.
-- 2 Tim. i. 12
Why I Love You Mary - Our Lady of Long Fields (Madrid, Spain, 1261)
"I still have something to do before I die," Therese said to her sister Celine. "I always wanted to express
to the Blessed Virgin in a song everything that I think of her." And she composed a sublime poem in 25 stanzas:
0 Mary I would like to sing why I love you, why your sweet name fills my heart with joy,
and why the thought of your majestic greatness, could never inspire fear within my soul.
Yet, if I were to see you now, in sublime glory, surpassing all the saints in highest heaven above,
scarce could I dream I am your child, O Mary, I would lower my eyes from of you! ...
       St. Timothy Born at Lystra, Lycaenia son of a Greek father and Eunice a converted Jewess 
  96 St. Titus disciple companion of St. Paul "my true child in our common faith"
69-155 St. Polycarp of Smyrna Bishop of Smyrna  Feast day February 25th
       Sts. Timothy and Titus
 262 St. Theogenes Bishop of Hippo Regius in Africa 255 until 262 He attended the Synod of Carthage; defended the
             Unity of Baptism
 404 St. Paula patroness of widows children Toxotius Blesilla Paulina Eustochium and Rufina
 648 St. Conan bishop of Ireland taught St. Fiacre
 690 St. Theofrid Abbot Benedictine bishop of Corbie
 700 St. Thordgith Benedictine nun at the abbey of Barking
 925 St. Ansurius Bishop Benedictine monk founder
1109 St. Alberic Hermit co-founder of the great Cistercian Order  more familiarly known as the Trappists 
1159 St. Robert of Newminster Cistercian abbot helped found Newminster Abbey, Northumberland, its first abbot.
1188  St. Eystein Erlandsson B (RM)
1270 St Margaret Of Hungary Virgin Dominican novice at twelve shortened her life by austerities 
        St. Athanasius Bishop honored in Sorrento

On Death and Life
"Man Needs Eternity -- and Every Other Hope, for Him, Is All Too Brief"
DECREES OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE CAUSES OF SAINTS VATICAN CITY, 19 DEC 2011 (VIS)
  Saints of this Day January  26 Séptimo Kaléndas Februárii  
The saints “a cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.
 BENEDICT XVI'S PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR     JANUARY 2012
General Intention: Victims of Natural Disasters.
That the victims of natural disasters may receive the spiritual and material comfort they need to rebuild their lives.
Missionary Intention: Dedication to Peace.
That dedication of Christians to peace may bear witness to the name of Christ before all men and women of good will.

The Rosary html Mary Mother of GOD -- Her Rosary Here
Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary
Mary's Divine Motherhood
Nine First Fridays Devotion to the Sacred Heart From the writings of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
How do I start the Five First Saturdays?
Called in the Gospel “the Mother of Jesus,” Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as “the Mother of my Lord” (Lk 1:43; Jn 2:1; 19:25; cf. Mt 13:55; et al.). In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly “Mother of God” (Theotokos). 
Catechism of the Catholic Church 495, quoting the Council of Ephesus (431): DS 251.
“The Blessed Virgin was eternally predestined, in conjunction with the incarnation of the divine Word, to be the Mother of God. By decree of divine Providence, she served on earth as the loving mother of the divine Redeemer, an associate of unique nobility, and the Lord's humble handmaid. She conceived, brought forth, and nourished Christ.”
 (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 61).
Feasts of Our Lady.html January to December
breviary.net/martyrology/mart01 26 stlukeorthodox.com/html/saints/  usccb.org  ewtn.com  St Patricks 01 26
domcentral.org/life/martyr Jan syriac   oca.org   glaubenszeugen.de/tage/kai/26 Serbian   http://www.copticchurch.net  Melkite
Monthly Saints with pics here http://www.stfrancisenid.com/memorials.htm  antiochian.org/AW-WomenSaints--wonderful icons
Lutheran Saints  One Saint per day stthomasirondequoit.com/SaintsAlive/index.htm    stjohndc.org  God's Humourous Saints

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

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

Called in the Gospel “the Mother of Jesus,” Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as “the Mother of my Lord” (Lk 1:43; Jn 2:1; 19:25; cf. Mt 13:55; et al.). In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son,  the second person of the Holy Trinity.
Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly “Mother of God” (Theotokos).
Catechism of the Catholic Church 495, quoting the Council of Ephesus (431): DS 251.
Nine First Fridays Devotion to the Sacred Heart ... From the writings of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
On Friday during Holy Communion, He said these words to me, His unworthy slave, if I mistake not:
“I promise you in the excessive mercy of my Heart that its all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on nine first Fridays of consecutive months the grace of final repentance; they will not die under my displeasure or without receiving their sacraments, my divine Heart making itself their assured refuge at the last moment.”
Margaret Mary was inspired by Christ to establish the Holy Hour and to pray lying prostrate with her face to the ground from eleven till midnight on the eve of the first Friday of each month, to share in the mortal sadness.
He endured when abandoned by His Apostles in His Agony, and to receive holy Communion on the first Friday of every month. In the first great revelation, He made known to her His ardent desire to be loved by men and His design of manifesting His Heart with all Its treasures of love and mercy, of sanctification and salvation.
He appointed the Friday after the octave of the feast of Corpus Christi as the feast of the Sacred Heart; He called her “the Beloved Disciple of the Sacred Heart”, and the heiress of all Its treasures. The love of the Sacred Heart was the fire which consumed her, and devotion to the Sacred Heart is the refrain of all her writings. In her last illness she refused all alleviation, repeating frequently: “What have I in heaven and what do I desire on earth, but Thee alone, O my God”, and died pronouncing the Holy Name of Jesus.
With regard to this promise it may be remarked: (1) that our Lord required Communion to be received on a particular day chosen by Him; (2) that the nine Fridays must be consecutive; (3) that they must be made in honor of His Sacred Heart, which means that those who make the nine Fridays must practice the devotion and must have a great love for our Lord; (4) that our Lord does not say that those who make the nine Fridays will be dispensed from any of their obligations or from exercising the vigilance necessary to lead a good life and overcome temptation; rather He implicitly promises abundant graces to those who make the nine Fridays to help them to carry out these obligations and persevere to the end; (5) that perseverance in receiving Holy Communion for nine consecutive First Firdays helps the faithful to acquire the habit of frequent Communion, which our Lord eagerly desires; and (6) that the practice of the nine Fridays is very pleasing to our Lord He promises such great reward, and all Catholics should endeavor to make nine Fridays.
How do I start the Five First Saturdays? by Fr. Tom O'Mahony
On July 13,1917, Our Lady appeared for the third time to the three children of Fatima an showed them the vision of hell and made the now - famous thirteen prophecies. In this vision Our Lady said that 'GOD WISHES TO ESTABLISH IN THE WORLD DEVOTION to Her Immaculate Heart and that She would come TO ASK FOR THE COMMUNION OF REPARATION ON THE FIRST SATURDAYS...'  Eight years later, on December 10, 1925, Our Lady did indeed come back. She appeared (with the Child Jesus) to Lucia in the convent of the Dorothean Sisters in Pontevedra.
The Child Jesus spoke first:
'HAVE COMPASSION ON THE HEART OF YOUR MOST HOLY MOTHER WHICH IS COVERED WITH THORNS WITH WHICH UNGRATEFUL MEN PIERCE IT AT EVERY MOMENT, WHILE THERE IS NO ONE TO REMOVE THEM WITH AN ACT OF REPARATION.'

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

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

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

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

Cross Not Optional, Says Benedict XVI
Reflects on Peter's "Immature" Faith CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, AUG. 31, 2008 (Zenit.org).-
Taking up one's cross isn't an option, it's a mission all Christians are called to, says Benedict XVI.
The Pope said this today before reciting the midday Angelus with several thousand people gathered in the courtyard of the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome.
Referring to the Gospel reading for today's Mass, the Holy Father reflected on the faith of Peter, which is shown to be "still immature and too much influenced by the 'mentality of this world.'”  He explained that when Christ spoke openly about how he was to "suffer much, be killed and rise again, Peter protests, saying: 'God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.'"
"It is evident that the Master and the disciple follow two opposed ways of thinking," continued the Pontiff. "Peter, according to a human logic, is convinced that God would never allow his Son to end his mission dying on the cross.  "Jesus, on the contrary, knows that the Father, in his great love for men, sent him to give his life for them, and if this means the passion and the cross, it is right that such should happen."
Christ also knew that "the resurrection would be the last word," Benedict XVI added.
Serious illness
The Pope continued, "If to save us the Son of God had to suffer and die crucified, it certainly was not because of a cruel design of the heavenly Father.  "The cause of it is the gravity of the sickness of which he must cure us: an evil so serious and deadly that it will require all of his blood. 
"In fact, it is with his death and resurrection that Jesus defeated sin and death, reestablishing the lordship of God."
Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today
Quote: Pope Paul VI’s 1969 Instruction on the Contemplative Life includes this passage:  
 "To withdraw into the desert is for Christians tantamount to associating themselves more intimately with Christ’s passion, and it enables them, in a very special way, to share in the paschal mystery and in the passage of Our Lord from this world to the heavenly homeland" (#1).

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

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

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

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

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

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

Benedict_XVI_Patriarch_Bartholomew

Benedict XVI_Archbishop_Hilarion
 Benedict XVI receives Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion n September 18th, Pope Benedict XVI;  Archbishop Hilarion, president of the Department for External Church Affairs of the Patriarchate of Moscow.
The Orthodox Archbishop is currently visiting the Vatican at the invitation of Cardinal Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
This Pontifical Council underlined that the visit will confirm the ties of friendship between the Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church, with a view to closer collaboration and to favor the presence of the Church in the lives of the peoples of Europe and the world.
In addition, a further step in ecumenical relations is scheduled for the month of October in Cyprus: the meeting of the Joint International Commission for the Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, which will address the theme of Petrine Primacy.
Benedict XVI met with Aram I Catholicos of Cilicia, the highest authority of the Orthodox Church.  The Pope remembered the martyrs of the Armenian Church and the Armenian genocide, without explicitly mentioning it, and denounced the persecution of Christians in modern times.  Benedict XVI
That testimony culminated in the twentieth century, which proved a time of Unspeakable suffering for your people. Most recently we have all been saddened by the escalation of persecution and violence against Christians in parts of the Middle East and elsewhere.
The Catholicos is based in Lebanon. That is why, the Pope said, he prays every day for peace in this country and throughout the Middle East. Benedict XVI said there will only be peace in the region when each country is free to decide its own destiny and when every ethnic and religious group accepts and respects the others. Aram I emphasized that the churches must be means for peace and to achieve that they must recognize “all” genocides, even the Armenian.. The Catholicos recalled his meeting with John Paul II, adding that this visit represents a new step for ecumenical dialogue.
Aram I Catholicos
Our meeting is an opportunity to pray and reflect together, and to renew our commitment and efforts for Christian unity.
Armenian church members from all over the world join with Catholicos in making pilgrimages to Rome.
The great psalm of the Passion, Chapter 22, whose first verse “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Jesus pronounced on the cross, ended with the vision: “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations shall worship before him” For kingship belongs to the LORD, the ruler over the nations. All who sleep in the earth will bow low before God; All who have gone down into the dust will kneel in homage. And I will live for the LORD; my descendants will serve you. The generation to come will be told of the Lord, that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn the deliverance you have brought.
Pope Benedict XVI to The Catholic Church In China {whole article here} 2000 years of the Catholic Church in China
The saints “a cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.
THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY  PSALM 118B

Set before me for a law, O Lady, the holy of holies of thy will: and I shall always seek after it.
Lead me into the path of thy tender mercies, O most beautiful of women: for this same have I desired.
Incline my soul to the love of those above, O Lady: and not to unchasteness.
Behold I have coveted thy chastity from my youth up: in thy mercy strengthen me.
And I will keep the way of thy testimonies forever:
and I will search out the commandments of thy Son, which I have loved.

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

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Saint Frances Xavier Seelos  Practical Guide to Holiness
1. Go to Mass with deepest devotion. 2. Spend a half hour to reflect upon your main failing & make resolutions to avoid it.
3. Do daily spiritual reading for at least 15 minutes, if a half hour is not possible.  4. Say the rosary every day.
5. Also daily, if at all possible, visit the Blessed Sacrament; toward evening, meditate on the Passion of Christ for a half hour, 6.  Conclude the day with evening prayer & an examination of conscience over all the faults & sins of the day.
7.  Every month make a review of the month in confession.
8. Choose a special patron every month & imitate that patron in some special virtue.
9. Precede every great feast with a novena that is nine days of devotion. 10. Try to begin & end every activity with a Hail Mary
My God, I believe, I adore, I trust and I love Thee.  I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not
O most Holy trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly.  I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the Tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended, and by the infite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  I beg the conversion of poor sinners,  Fatima Prayer, Angel of Peace
The voice of the Father is heard, the Son enters the water, and the Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove.
THE spirit and example of the world imperceptibly instil the error into the minds of many that there is a kind of middle way of going to Heaven; and so, because the world does not live up to the gospel, they bring the gospel down to the level of the world. It is not by this example that we are to measure the Christian rule, but words and life of Christ. All His followers are commanded to labour to become perfect even as our heavenly Father is perfect, and to bear His image in our hearts that we may be His children. We are obliged by the gospel to die to ourselves by fighting self-love in our hearts, by the mastery of our passions, by taking on the spirit of our Lord.
These are the conditions under which Christ makes His promises and numbers us among His children, as is manifest from His words which the apostles have left us in their inspired writings. Here is no distinction made or foreseen between the apostles or clergy or religious and secular persons. The former, indeed, take upon themselves certain stricter obligations, as a means of accomplishing these ends more perfectly; but the law of holiness and of disengagement of the heart from the world is general and binds all the followers of Christ.
God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique each the result of a new idea.
As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike.
It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints.
Dear Lord, grant us a spirit not bound by our own ideas and preferences.
 Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves.
O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory.
 Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.
Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.
The 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary ) Revealed to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan)
1.    Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces. 2.    I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary. 3.    The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies. 4.    It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things.  Oh, that soul would sanctify them by this means.  5.    The soul that recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish. 6.    Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying themselves to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune.  God will not chastise them in His justice, they shall not perish by an unprovided death; if they be just, they shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life. 7.    Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church. 8.    Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise. 9.    I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary. 10.    The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.  11.    You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary. 12.    I shall aid all those who propagate the Holy Rosary in their necessities. 13.    I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death. 14.    All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ. 15.    Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
His Holiness Aram I, current (2008) Catholicos of Cilicia of Armenians, whose See is located in Lebanese town of Antelias. The Catholicosate was founded in Sis, capital of Cilicia, in the year 1441 following the move of the Catholicosate of All Armenians back to its original See of Etchmiadzin in Armenia. The Catholicosate of Cilicia enjoyed local jurisdiction, though spiritually subject to the authority of Etchmiadzin. In 1921 the See was transferred to Aleppo in Syria, and in 1930 to Antelias.
Its jurisdiction currently extends to Syria, Cyprus, Iran and Greece.
Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac
The exact date of the introduction of Christianity into Edessa {Armenian Ourhaï in Arabic Er Roha, commonly Orfa or Urfa, its present name} is not known. It is certain, however, that the Christian community was at first made up from the Jewish population of the city. According to an ancient legend, King Abgar V, Ushana, was converted by Addai, who was one of the seventy-two disciples. In fact, however, the first King of Edessa to embrace the Christian Faith was Abgar IX (c. 206) becoming official kingdom religion.
  Christian council held at Edessa early as 197 (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., V,xxiii).
In 201 the city was devastated by a great flood, and the Christian church was destroyed (“Chronicon Edessenum”, ad. an. 201).
In 232 the relics of the Apostle St. Thomas were brought from India, on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written.
Under Roman domination martyrs suffered at Edessa: Sts. Scharbîl and Barsamya, under Decius; Sts. Gûrja, Schâmôna, Habib, and others under Diocletian. 
In the meanwhile Christian priests from Edessa evangelized Eastern Mesopotamia and Persia, established the first Churches in the kingdom of the Sassanides.  Atillâtiâ, Bishop of Edessa, assisted at the Council of Nicæa (325). The “Peregrinatio Silviæ” (or Etheriæ) (ed. Gamurrini, Rome, 1887, 62 sqq.) gives an account of the many sanctuaries at Edessa about 388.
Although Hebrew had been the language of the ancient Israelite kingdom, after their return from Exile the Jews turned more and more to Aramaic, using it for parts of the books of Ezra and Daniel in the Bible. By the time of Jesus, Aramaic was the main language of Palestine, and quite a number of texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls are also written in Aramaic.
Aramaic continued to be an important language for Jews, alongside Hebrew, and parts of the Talmud are written in it.
After Arab conquests of the seventh century, Arabic quickly replaced Aramaic as the main language of those who converted to Islam, although in out of the way places, Aramaic continued as a vernacular language of Muslims.
Aramaic, however, enjoyed its greatest success in Christianity. Although the New Testament wins written in Greek, Christianity had come into existence in an Aramaic-speaking milieu, and it was the Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac, that became the literary language of a large number of Christians living in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire and in the Persian Empire, further east. Over the course of the centuries the influence of the Syriac Churches spread eastwards to China (in Xian, in western China, a Chinese-Syriac inscription dated 781 is still to be seen); to southern India where the state of Kerala can boast more Christians of Syriac liturgical tradition than anywhere else in the world.

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
To Save A Life is Earthly; Saving A Soul is Eternal Donation by mail, please send check or money order to:
Eternal Word Television Network 5817 Old Leeds Rd. Irondale, AL 35210  USA
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Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament
Colombia was among the countries Mother Angelica visited. 
In Bogotá, a Salesian priest - Father Juan Pablo Rodriguez - brought Mother and the nuns to the Sanctuary of the Divine Infant Jesus to attend Mass.  After Mass, Father Juan Pablo took them into a small Shrine which housed the miraculous statue of the Child Jesus. Mother Angelica stood praying at the side of the statue when suddenly the miraculous image came alive and turned towards her.  Then the Child Jesus spoke with the voice of a young boy:  “Build Me a Temple and I will help those who help you.” 

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

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

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

No other issue, not all other issues taken together, can constitute a proportionate reason for voting for candidates that intend to preserve and defend this holocaust of innocent human life that is abortion.
As we watch the spectacle of the world seeming to self-destruct before our eyes, we can’t help but be saddened and even frightened by so much evil run rampant. Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Somalia, North Korea—It is all a disaster of epic proportions displayed in living color on our television screens.  These are not ordinary times and this is not business as usual. We are at a crossroads in human history and the time for Catholics and all Christians to act is now. All evil can ultimately be traced to its origin, which is moral evil. All of the political action, peace talks, international peacekeeping forces, etc. will avail nothing if the underlying sickness is not addressed. This is sin. One person at a time hearts and minds must be moved from evil to good, from lies to truth, from violence to peace.
Islam, an Arabic word that has often been defined as “to make peace,” seems like a living contradiction today. Although it is supposed to be a religion of peace, Islam has been hijacked by Satan and now operates in the dark space of international terrorism.  As we celebrate the birthday of Our Lady, I am proposing that each one of us pray the Rosary for peace. Prayer is what must precede all other activity if that activity is to have any chance of success. Pray for peace, pray the Rosary every day without fail.  There is a great love for Mary among Muslim people. It is not a coincidence that a little village named Fatima is where God chose to have His Mother appear in the twentieth century. Our Lady’s name appears no less than thirty times in the Koran. No other woman’s name is mentioned, not even that of Mohammed’s daughter, Fatima. In the Koran Our Lady is described as “Virgin, ever Virgin.”
Archbishop Fulton Sheen prophetically spoke of the resurgence of Islam in our day. He said it would be through the Blessed Virgin Mary that Islam would be converted. We must pray for this to happen quickly if we are to avert a horrible time of suffering for this poor, sinful world. Turn to our Mother in this time of great peril. Pray the Rosary every day. Then, and only then will there be peace, when the hearts and minds of men are changed from the inside.
Talk is weak. Prayer is strong. Pray!  God bless you, Father John Corapi
Site http://www.fathercorapi

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

Since his ordination to the priesthood in 1991 Fr. Corapi has traveled over 2,000,000 miles preaching the Gospel. He has preached in 49 of the 50 states, all of the Canadian provinces except NewFoundland, and several other foreign countries. He is currently engaged in preaching and teaching the Catholic faith by way of the means of social communication: television, radio, the internet, and various other multi-media formats.
  Father John Corapi goes to the heart of the contemporary world's many woes and wars, whether the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, or the Congo, or the natural disasters that seem to be increasing every year, the moral and spiritual war is at the basis of everything. “Our battle is not against human forces,” St. Paul asserts, “but against principalities and powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness...” (Ephesians 6:12). 
The “War to end all wars” is the moral and spiritual combat that rages in the hearts and minds of human beings. The outcome of that  unseen fight largely determines how the battle in the realm of the seen unfolds.  The title talk, “With the Moon Under Her Feet,” is taken from the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation, and deals with the current threat to the world from radical Islam, and the Blessed Virgin Mary's role in the ultimate victory that will result in the conversion of Islam. Few Catholics are aware of the connection between Islam, Fatima, and Guadalupe. Presented in Father Corapi's straight-forward style, you will be both inspired and educated by him.

About Father John Corapi.
Father Corapi is a Catholic priest .
The pillars of father's preaching are basically:
Love for and a relationship with the Blessed Virgin Mary 
Leading a vibrant and loving relationship with Jesus Christ
Great love and reverence for the Most Holy Eucharist from Holy Mass to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
An uncompromising love for and obedience to the Holy Father and the teaching of the Magisterium of the Church
LINKS:
Marian Apparitions (over 2000)  India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes Feb 11- July 16, Loreto, Italy 1858 
China Marian shrines May 23, 1995 Zarvintisya Ukraine Lourdes Kenya national Marian shrine    Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798  
Links to Related Marian Websites  Angels and Archangels
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  Uniates
DECREES OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE CAUSES OF SAINTS VATICAN CITY, 19 DEC 2011 (VIS)
The Holy Father today received in audience Cardinal Angelo Amato S.D.B., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and authorised the promulgation of decrees concerning the following causes:

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

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

HEROIC VIRTUES
 - Servant of God Donato Giannotti, Italian diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of Sisters Handmaidens of the Immaculate Conception (1828-1914).
 - Servant of God Marie-Eugene of the Child Jesus (ne Henri Grialou), French professed priest of the Order of Discalced Carmelites and founder of the Institute of Notre-Dame de Vie (1894-1967).
 - Servant of God Alphonse-Marie (nee Elisabeth Eppinger), French foundress of the Congregation of Sisters of the Blessed Saviour (1814-1867).
 - Servant of God Marguerite Lucia Szewczyk, Polish foundress of the Congregation of the Daughters of the Sorrowful Mother of God - Seraphic Sisters (1828-1905).
 - Servant of God Assunta Marchetti, Italian co-foundress of the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles (1871-1948).
 - Servant of God Maria Julitta (nee Teresa Eleonora Ritz), German professed sister of the Congregation of Sisters of the Redeemer (1882-1966).
 - Servant of God Maria Anna Amico Roxas, Italian laywoman and foundress of the Society of St. Ursula (1883-1947).  VIS 20111219 (580)
 St. Timothy Born at Lystra, Lycaenia son of a Greek father and Eunice a converted Jewess
Prayer to Saint Timothy    Dear Saint, well known for your gentleness, you were a most faithful disciple of Saint Paul, and like him traveled much to bring the Good News to all people. The Letters Paul wrote to you reveal your zeal and inspire us with confidence in you. You too were cast into prison and you too gave your life for Christ. So with confidence we dare to ask, please obtain relief for {name of sufferer}, if it be God's will.
96 St. Titus disciple companion of St. Paul "my true child in our common faith"
to whom the great saint addressed one of his letters. Paul referred to Titus as "my true child in our common faith". Not mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, he was noted in Galatians where Paul writes of journeying to Jerusalem with Barnabas, accompanied by Titus. He was then dispatched to Corinth, Greece, where he successfully reconciled the Christian community there with Paul, its founder. Titus was later left on the island of Crete to help organize the Church, although he soon went to Dalmatia, Croatia. According to Eusebius of Caesarea in the Ecclesiastical Histor y, he served as the first bishop of Crete. He was buried in Cortyna (Gortyna), Crete; his head was later translated to Venice during the invasion of Crete by the Saracens in 832 and was enshrined in St. Mark’s, Venice, Italy.
 Sts. Timothy and Titus
 Apud Ephesum sancti Timóthei, qui fuit discípulus beáti Pauli Apóstoli; atque, ab eódem Ephesi ordinátus Epíscopus, ibi, post multos pro Christo agónes, cum Diánæ immolántes argúeret, lapídibus óbrutus est, ac paulo post obdormívit in Dómino.
       At Ephesus, St. Timothy, disciple of the apostle St. Paul, who ordained him bishop of that city.  After many labours for Christ, he was stoned for rebuking those who offered sacrifices to Diana, and shortly after went peacefully to his rest in the Lord.
Timothy What we know from the New Testament of Timothy’s life makes it sound like that of a modern harried bishop. He had the honor of being a fellow apostle with Paul, both sharing the privilege of preaching the gospel and suffering for it. Being the product of a “mixed” marriage, he was considered illegitimate by the Jews.

It was his grandmother, Lois, who first became Christian.
Timothy was a convert of Paul around the year 47 and later joined him in his apostolic work. He was with Paul at the founding of the Church in Corinth. During the 15 years he worked with Paul, he became one of his most faithful and trusted friends. He was sent on difficult missions by Paul—often in the face of great disturbance in local Churches which Paul had founded.

Timothy was with Paul in Rome during the latter’s house arrest. At some period Timothy himself was in prison (Hebrews 13:23). Paul installed him as his representative at the Church of Ephesus.

Timothy was comparatively young for the work he was doing. (“Let no one have contempt for your youth,” Paul writes in 1 Timothy 4:12a.) Several references seem to indicate that he was timid. And one of Paul’s most frequently quoted lines was addressed to him: “Stop drinking only water, but have a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent illnesses” (1 Timothy 5:23).

Titus (d. 94?): Titus has the distinction of being a close friend and disciple of Paul as well as a fellow missionary. He was Greek, apparently from Antioch. Even though Titus was a Gentile, Paul would not let him be forced to undergo circumcision at Jerusalem. Titus is seen as a peacemaker, administrator, great friend. Paul’s second letter to Corinth affords an insight into the depth of his friendship with Titus, and the great fellowship they had in preaching the gospel: “When I went to Troas...I had no relief in my spirit because I did not find my brother Titus. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.... For even when we came into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted in every way—external conflicts, internal fears. But God, who encourages the downcast, encouraged us by the arrival of Titus...” (2 Corinthians 2:12a, 13; 7:5-6).

When Paul was having trouble with the community at Corinth, Titus was the bearer of Paul’s severe letter and was successful in smoothing things out. Paul writes he was strengthened not only by the arrival of Titus but also “by the encouragement with which he was encouraged in regard to you, as he told us of your yearning, your lament, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.... And his heart goes out to you all the more, as he remembers the obedience of all of you, when you received him with fear and trembling” (2 Corinthians 7:7a, 15).

The Letter to Titus addresses him as the administrator of the Christian community on the island of Crete, charged with organizing it, correcting abuses and appointing presbyter-bishops.
Comment: In Titus we get another glimpse of life in the early Church: great zeal in the apostolate, great communion in Christ, great friendship. Yet always there is the problem of human nature and the unglamorous details of daily life: the need for charity and patience in “quarrels with others, fears within myself,” as Paul says. Through it all, the love of Christ sustained them. At the end of the Letter to Titus, Paul says that when the temporary substitute comes, “hurry to me.”
Quote: “But when the kindness and generous love of God our Savior appeared, not because of any righteous deeds we had done but because of his mercy, he saved us through the bath of rebirth and renewal by the holy Spirit, whom he richly poured out on us through Jesus Christ our savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life. This saying is trustworthy” (Titus 3:4-8).
St. Timothy Born at Lystra, Lycaenia son of a Greek father and Eunice a converted Jewess
 Apud Ephesum sancti Timóthei, qui fuit discípulus beáti Pauli Apóstoli; atque, ab eódem Ephesi ordinátus Epíscopus, ibi, post multos pro Christo agónes, cum Diánæ immolántes argúeret, lapídibus óbrutus est, ac paulo post obdormívit in Dómino.
      At Ephesus, St. Timothy, disciple of the apostle St. Paul, who ordained him bishop of that city.  After many labours for Christ, he was stoned for rebuking those who offered sacrifices to Diana, and shortly after went peacefully to his rest in the Lord.
He joined St. Paul when Paul preached at Lystra replacing Barnabas, and became Paul's close friend and confidant.

Paul allowed him to be circumcised to placate the Jews, since he was the son of a Jewess, and he then accompanied Paul on his second missionary journey. When Paul was forced to flee Berea because of the enmity of the Jews there, Timothy remained, but after a time was sent to Thessalonica to report on the condition of the Christians there and to encourage them under persecution,
a report that led to Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians when he joined Timothy at Corinth.

Timothy and Erastus were sent to Macedonia in 58, went to Corinth to remind the Corinthians of Paul's teaching, and then accompanied Paul into Macedonia and Achaia.

Timothy was probably with Paul when the Apostle was imprisoned at Caesarea and then Rome, and was himself imprisoned but then freed.

According to tradition, he went to Ephesus, became its first bishop, and was stoned to death there when he opposed the pagan festival of Katagogian in honor of Diana.

Paul wrote two letters to Timothy, one written about 65 from Macedonia and the second from Rome while he was in prison awaiting execution.

St. Timothy has been regarded by some as the "angel of the church of Ephesus", Apoc., ii, 1-17. According to the ancient Roman martyrology he died Bishop of Ephesus. The Bollandists (24 Jan.) give two lives of St. Timothy, one ascribed to Polycrates (an early Bishop of Ephesus, and a contemporary of St. Irenæus) and the other by Metaphrastes, which is merely an expansion of the former.
The first states that during the Neronian persecution St. John arrived at Ephesus, where he lived with St. Timothy until he was exiled to Patmos under Domitian. Timothy, who was unmarried, continued Bishop of Ephesus until, when he was over eighty years of age, he was mortally beaten by the pagans.
According to early tradition Titus continued after St. Paul's death as Archbishop of Crete, and died there when he was over ninety.
Saint Timothy a most beloved and trusted disciple of St. Paul, who accompanied in many of his journeys. Timothy is mentioned in    * Acts, xvi, 1;    * xvii, 14, 15, 1;    * xviii, 5;    * xix, 22;    * xx, 4;    * Rom., xvi, 21;    * I Cor., iv, 17;    * II Cor., i, 1, 19;    * Phil., i, 1;    * ii, 19;    * Col., i, 1;    * I Thess., i, 1;    * iii, 2, 6;    * II Thess., i, 1;    * I Tim., i, 2, 18;    * vi, 20;    * II Tim., i, 2;    * Philem., i, 1;    * Heb., xiii, 23;
69-155 St. Polycarp of Smyrna Bishop of Smyrna  Feast day February 25th
 Romæ sancti Polycárpi Presbyteri, qui, cum beáto Sebastiáno, plúrimos ad Christi fidem convértit, atque ad martyrii glóriam exhortándo perdúxit.
       At Rome, St. Polycarp, priest, who with blessed Sebastian converted many to the faith of Christ, and by his exhortation led them to the glory of martyrdom.
Martyr, and one of the foremost leaders of the Church in the second century. Few details of his life are extant with any reliability beyond his famous martyrdom, which was recounted in the Martyrium Polycarpi. It is believed, however, that he was converted to the faith by St. John the Evangelist about 80 A.D. and became bishop of Smyrna about 96 A.D.

155 ST POLYCARP, BISHOP OF SMYRNA, MARTYR
ST POLYCARP was one of the most famous of the little group of early bishops known as “the Apostolic Fathers”, who, being the immediate disciples of the apostles, received instruction directly from them, as it were from the fountain head.
Polycarp was a disciple of St John the Evangelist, and was respected by the faithful to the point of profound veneration. He trained many holy disciples, among whom were St Irenaeus and Papias.

 When Florinus, who had often visited St Polycarp, broached certain heresies, St Irenaeus wrote to him: “These things were not taught you by the bishops who preceded us. I could tell you the place where the blessed Polycarp sat to preach the word of God. It is yet present to my mind with what gravity he everywhere came in and went out; what was the sanctity of his deportment, the majesty of his countenance, and of his whole exterior; and what were his holy exhortations to the people. I seem to hear him now relate how he conversed with John and many others who had seen Jesus Christ, the words he had heard from their mouths. I can protest before God that if this holy bishop had heard of any error like yours, he would have immediately stopped his ears and cried out, according to his custom, ‘Good God that I should be reserved to these times to hear such things’ That very instant he would have fled out of the place in which he had heard such doctrine.”
We are told that St Polycarp met at Rome the heretic Marcion in the streets, who, resenting the fact that the bishop did not take that notice of him which he expected, said, “Do not you know me?” “Yes”, answered the saint, “I know you, the first-born of Satan.”
He had learned this abhorrence of those who adulterate divine truth from his master St John, who fled from the baths at the sight of Cerinthus.
St Polycarp kissed the chains of St Ignatius when he passed by Smyrna on the road to his martyrdom, and Ignatius in turn recommended to him the care of his distant church of Antioch, supplementing this charge later on by a request that he would write in his name to those churches of Asia to which he had not leisure to write himself. Polycarp addressed a letter to the Philippians shortly after, which is highly commended by St Irenaeus, St Jerome, Eusebius, Photius and others, and is still extant. This letter, which in St Jerome’s time was publicly read in the Asiatic churches, is justly admired both for the excellent instructions it contains and for the perspicuity of the style. Polycarp undertook a journey to Rome to confer with Pope St Anicetus about certain points, especially about the time of keeping Easter, for the Asiatic churches differed from others in this matter. Anicetas could not persuade Polycarp, nor Polycarp Anicetus, and so it was agreed that both might follow their custom without breaking the bonds of charity. St Anicetus, to testify his respect, asked him to celebrate the Eucharist in his own papal church.

We find no further particulars concerning Polycarp recorded before his martyrdom.
In the sixth year of Marcus Aurelius (according to Eusebius) a violent persecution broke out in Asia in which the faithful gave heroic proof of their courage. Germanicus, who had been brought to Smyrna with eleven or twelve other Christians, signalized himself above the rest, and animated the most timorous to suffer. The proconsul in the amphitheatre appealed to him compassionately to have some regard for his youth when life had so much to offer, but he provoked the beasts to devour him, the sooner to quit this wicked world. One Quintus, a Phrygian, quailed at the sight of the beast let loose upon him, and consented to sacrifice. The authors of this letter justly condemn the presumption of those who offered themselves to suffer (as Quintus had done), and say that the martyrdom of Polycarp was conformable to the gospel, because he did not expose himself but waited till the persecutors laid hands on him, as Christ our Lord taught us by His own example. The splendid courage of Germanicus and his companions only whetted the spectators’ appetite for blood. A cry was raised: “Away with the atheists! Look for Polycarp!” The holy man, though fearless, had been prevailed upon by his friends to conceal himself in a neighbouring village during the storm. Three days before his martyrdom he in a vision saw his pillow on fire, from which he understood, and foretold to his companions, that he should be burnt alive. When the persecutors came in search of him he changed his retreat, but was betrayed by a slave, who was threatened with the rack unless he disclosed his whereabouts.
When the chief of police, Herod, sent horsemen by night to surround his lodging, Polycarp was above stairs in bed, but refused to make his escape, saying, “God’s will be done”. He went down, met them at the door, ordered them supper, and desired only some time for prayer before he went with them. This granted, he began his prayer standing, which he continued for two hours, recommending to God his own flock and the whole Church with such intense devotion that some of those who had come to seize him repented of their errand. They set him on an ass, and were conducting him towards the city, when he was met on the road by Herod and Herod’s father, Nicetas, who took him into their chariot and endeavoured to persuade him to some show of compliance. “What harm”, they urged, “is there in saying Lord Caesar, or even in offering incense, to escape death?” The word Lord, however, was not as innocent as it sounded, and implied a recognition of the divinity of the emperor. The bishop at first was silent, but being pressed, he gave them resolute answer, “I am resolved not to do what you counsel me”. At these words they thrust him out of the chariot with such violence that his leg was bruised by the fall.
The holy man went forward cheerfully to the place where the people were assembled. Upon his entering it a voice from Heaven was heard by many, “Be strong, Polycarp, and play the man”. He was led to the tribunal of the proconsul, who exhorted him to have regard for his age, to swear by the genius of Caesar, and to say, “Away with the atheists”, meaning the Christians. The saint, turning towards the crowd of ungodly people in the stadium, said, with a stern countenance, “Away with the atheists” The proconsul repeated, “Swear by the genius of Caesar, and I will discharge you; revile Christ”. Polycarp replied, “Fourscore and six years have I served Him and He hath done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King and my. Saviour? If you require of me to swear by the genius of Caesar, as you call it, hear my free confession: I am a Christian; and if you desire to learn the doctrines of Christianity, appoint a time and hear me.” The proconsul said, “Persuade the people”. The martyr replied, “I address myself to you; for we are taught to give due honour to princes, so far as is consistent with religion. But before these people I cannot justify myself.” Indeed, rage rendered them incapable of hearing him.
The proconsul threatened: “I have wild beasts”. “Call for them”, replied the saint, “for we are unalterably resolved not to change from good to evil. It is only right to pass from evil to good.” The proconsul said, “If you despise the beasts, I will cause you to be consumed by fire”. Polycarp answered, “You threaten me with a fire which burneth for a season, and after a little while is quenched; but you are ignorant of the judgement to come and of the fire of everlasting punishment which is prepared for the wicked. Why do you delay? Bring against me what you please.”
Whilst he said this and many other things, he appeared in a transport of joy and confidence, and his countenance shone with a certain heavenly grace, insomuch that the proconsul himself was struck with admiration. However, he ordered a crier to announce three times in the middle of the stadium, “Polycarp hath confessed himself a Christian”. At this the whole multitude gave a great shout, “This is the teacher of Asia, the father of the Christians, the destroyer of our gods, who teaches the people not to sacrifice or to worship!” They appealed to Philip the governor to let a lion loose upon Polycarp. He told them that it was not in his power, because he had brought the sports to a close. Then they all, heathen and Jews, clamoured that he should be burnt alive.
Their demand was no sooner granted than everyone ran with all speed to fetch wood from the bath-furnaces and workshops. The pile being ready, Polycarp put off his clothes and made to remove his shoes; he had not done this before, because the faithful already sought the privilege of touching his flesh. The executioners would have nailed him to the stake, but he said, “Suffer me to be as I am. He who gives me grace to endure the fire will enable me to remain at the pile unmoved.” They therefore contented themselves with tying his hands behind his back, and looking up towards Heaven, he prayed and said, “0 Almighty Lord God, Father of thy beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, through whom we have received the knowledge of thee, God of angels and powers and of all creation, and of the whole family of the righteous who live in thy presence I bless thee for having been pleased to bring me to this hour, that I may receive a portion among thy martyrs and partake of the cup of thy Christ, unto resurrection to eternal life, both of soul and body, in the immortality of the Holy Spirit. Amongst whom grant me to be received this day as a pleasing sacrifice, such as thou thyself hast prepared, 0 true and faithful God. Wherefore for all things I praise, bless and glorify thee, through the eternal high priest Jesus Christ, thy beloved Son, with whom to thee and the Holy Ghost be glory now and for ever. Amen.” He had scarce said Amen when fire was set to the pile. But behold a wonder, say the authors of this letter, seen by us who were preserved to attest it to others. The flames, forming themselves like the sails of a ship swelled with the wind, gently encircled the body of the martyr, which stood in the middle, resembling not burning flesh but bread that is being baked or precious metal refined. And there was a fragrance like the smell of incense. The order was given that Polycarp should be pierced with a spear, which was done: and a dove came forth, and such quantity of blood as to quench the fire.
Nicetas advised the proconsul not to give up the body to the Christians, lest, said he, abandoning the crucified man, they should worship Polycarp. The Jews suggested this, “not knowing”, say the authors of the letter, “that we can never forsake Christ, nor worship any other. For Him we worship as the Son of God, but we love the martyrs as His disciples and imitators, for the great love they bore their King and Master.” The centurion, seeing the contest raised by the Jews, placed the body in the middle and burnt it to ashes. “We afterward took up the bones”, say they, “more precious than the richest jewels of gold, and laid them decently in a place at which may God grant us to assemble with joy to celebrate the birthday of the martyr.” Thus wrote these disciples and eye-witnesses. It was at two o’clock in the afternoon of February 23 in 155 or 166 or some other year that St Polycarp received his crown.
An immense literature, of which we cannot attempt to take account here, has grown up in connection with the history of St Polycarp. The principal points round which discussion has centred are: (1) the authenticity of the letter written in the name of the church of Smyrna describing his martyrdom; (2) the authenticity of the letter addressed to him by St Ignatius of Antioch; (3) the authenticity of Polycarp’s letter to the Philippians; (4) the trustworthiness of the information concerning him and his relations with the apostle St John supplied by St Irenaeus and other early writers; (5) the date of his martyrdom; (6) the value and bearing of the Life of Polycarp attributed to Pionius. With regard to the first four points, it may be said that the verdict of the best authorities upon Christian origins is now practically unanimous in favour of the orthodox tradition. The conclusions so patiently worked out by Bishop Lightfoot and Funk have in the end been accepted with hardly a dissentient voice. The documents named may therefore be regarded as among the most precious memorials preserved to us which shed light upon the early developments of the life of the Church. For English readers they are accessible in the invaluable work of Lightfoot, The Apostolic Fathers, Ignatius and Polycarp, 3 vols.; or in the one volume abridgement edited by J. R. Harmer (also with full translation), The Apostolic Fathers (1891). As regards the date of the martyrdom, earlier Writers, in accordance with an entry in the Chronicle of Eusebius, took it for granted that Polycarp suffered in 166; but discussions have led almost all recent critics to decide for 155 or 156. See, however, J. Chapman, who in the Revue Bénédictine, vol. xix, pp. 545 seq., gives reasons for still adhering to 166; and H. Grégoire in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lxix (1951), pp. 1—38, where he argues at length for , 177. As for point (6), the Life by Pionius, which describes Polycarp as in his boyhood a slave ransomed by a compassionate lady, there is now an equally general agreement among scholars that this narrative is a pure work of fiction, though it may possibly be as old as the last decade of the fourth century. An attempt has been made by P. Corssen and E. Schwartz to demonstrate that the Life of Polycarp is a genuine work of the martyr St Pionius, who suffered in 180 or 250; but this contention has been convincingly refuted by Fr Delehaye in his Les passions des martyrs et les genres littéraires (1921), pp. 11—59. There is an excellent article on St Polycarp by H. T. Andrews in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition. A handy text and translation of the martyrdom is Kirsopp Lake’s in the Loeb Classical Library, The Apostolic Fathers, vol. ii; and there is a translation only in the Ancient Christian Writers series, vol. vi. On the date see further H. I. Marrou in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lxxi (1953), pp. 5—20.
262 St. Theogenes Bishop of Hippo Regius in Africa 255 until 262 He attended the Synod of Carthage; defended the Unity of Baptism
 Hippóne Régio, in Africa, sanctórum Theógenis Epíscopi, et aliórum trigínta sex; qui, in persecutióne Valeriáni, contemnéntes temporálem mortem, corónam ætérnæ vitæ adépti sunt.
       At Hippo in Africa, the holy bishop Theogenes and thirty-six others, who, despising temporal death, obtained the crown of eternal life in the persecution of Valerian.
404 St. Paula patroness of widows children Toxotius Blesilla Paulina Eustochium and Rufina
 Apud Béthlehem Judæ dormítio sanctæ Paulæ Víduæ, quæ, cum esset e nobilíssimo Senatórum génere, cum beáta Vírgine Christi Eustóchio, fília sua, renúntians sæculo, facultátes suas paupéribus distríbuit, et ad Præsépe Dómini se recépit; ibíque, multis virtútibus prǽdita et longo coronáta martyrio, ad cæléstia regna transívit.  Ipsíus autem vitam, virtútibus admirándum, sanctus Hierónymus scripsit.
       At Bethlehem of Judea, the death of St. Paula, widow, mother of St. Eustochium, a virgin of Christ, who abandoned her worldly prospects, though she was descended from a noble line of senators, distributed her goods to the poor, and retired to our Lord's manger, where, endowed with many virtues, and crowned with a long martyrdom, she departed for the kingdom of heaven.  Her admirable life was written by St. Jerome.

 paulae_ustochium.jpg_with St Jerome

Born in Rome of a noble family on May 5, 347. Paula married Toxotius, and the couple had five
They were regarded as an ideal married couple, and on his death in 379, she renounced the world, lived in the greatest austerity, and devoted herself to helping the poor.
She met St. Jerome in 382 through St. Epiphanius and Paulinus of Antioch and was closely associated with Jerome in his work while he was in Rome.
The death of her daughter Blesilla in 384 left her heartbroken, and in 385 she left Rome with Eustochium, traveled to the Holy Land with Jerome, and a year later settled in Bethlehem under his spiritual direction.
She and Eustochium built a hospice, a monastery, and a convent, which Paula governed. She became Jerome's closest confidante and assistant, taking care of him and helping him in his biblical work, build numerous churches, which were to cause her financial difficulties in her old age, and died at Bethlehem on January 26. She is the patroness of widows.

Born in Rome, 347; died at Bethlehem, 404. She belonged to one of the first families of Rome. Left a widow in 379 at the age of 32 she became, through the influence of St. Marcella and her group, the model of Christian widows. In 382 took place her decisive meeting with St. Jerome, who had come to Rome with St. Epiphanius and Paulinus of Antioch. These two bishops inspired her with an invincible desire to follow the monastic life in the East. After their departure from Rome and at the request of Marcella, Jerome gave readings from Holy Scripture before the group of patrician women among whom St. Paula held a position of honour. Paula was an ardent student. She and her daughter, Eustochium, studied and mastered Hebrew perfectly. By their studies they aimed not so much to acquire knowledge, as a fuller acquaintance with Christian perfection.

She did not, however, neglect her domestic duties. A devoted mother, she married her daughter, Paulina (d. 395), to the senator Pammachius; Blesilla soon became a widow and died in 384. Of her two other daughters, Rufina died in 386, and Eustochium accompanied her mother to the Orient where she died in 419. Her son Toxotius, at first a pagan, but baptized in 385, married in 389 Laeta, daughter of the pagan priest Albinus. Of this marriage was born Paula the Younger, who in 404 rejoined Eustochium in the East and in 420 closed the eyes of St. Jerome. These are the names which recur frequently in the letters of St. Jerome, where they are inseparable from that of Paula.

The death of Blesilla and that of Pope Damasus in 384 completely changed the manner of life of Paula and Jerome. In September, 385, Paula and Eustochium left Rome to follow the monastic life in the East. Jerome, who had preceded them thither by a month, joined them at Antioch. Paula first made in great detail the pilgrimage of all the famous places of the Holy Land, afterward going to Egypt to be edified by the virtues of the anchorites and cenobites, and finally took up her residence at Bethlehem, as did St. Jerome. Then began for Paula, Eustochium, and Jerome their definitive manner of life. The intellectual and spiritual intercourse among these holy persons, begun at Rome, continued and developed. Two monasteries were founded, one for men, the other for women. Paula and Eustochium took a larger share in the exegetical labours of Jerome, and conformed themselves more and more to his direction. An example of their manner of thinking and writing may be seen in the letter they wrote from Bethlehem about 386 to Marcella to persuade her to leave Rome and join them; it is Letter XLVI of the correspondence of Jerome. But God was not sparing of trials to His servants. Their peace was disturbed by constant annoyances, first the controversy concerning Origenism which disturbed their relations with John, Bishop of Jerusalem, and later Paula's need of money, she having been ruined by her generosity. She died in the midst of these trials and good works. The chief and almost the only source of Paula's life is the correspondence of St. Jerome (P. L., XXII). The Life of St. Paula is in Letter CVIII, which, though somewhat rhetorical, is a wonderful production. The other letters which specially concern St. Paula and her family are XXII, XXX, XXXI, XXXIII, XXXVIII, XXXIX, LXVI, CVII.

404 ST PAULA, WIDOW
THIS illustrious pattern of widows surpassed all other Roman matrons in riches, birth and endowments of mind. She was born on May 5 in 347. The blood of the Scipios, the Gracchi and Paulus Aemilius ran in her veins through her mother Blesilla. Her father claimed to trace his pedigree back to Agamemnon, and her husband Toxotius his to Aeneas. By him she had a son, also called Toxotius, and four daughters, Blesilla, Paulina, Eustochium and Rufina. She shone as a pattern of virtue in the married state, and both she and her husband edified Rome by their good example; but her virtue was not without its alloy, a certain degree of love of the world being almost inseparable from a position such as hers. She did not at first discern the secret attachments of her heart, but her eyes were opened by the death of her husband, when she was thirty-two. Her grief was immoderate till such time as she was encouraged to devote herself totally to God by her friend St Marcella, a widow who then edified Rome by her penitential life. Paula thenceforward lived in a most austere way. Her food was simple, she drank no wine; she slept on the floor with no bedding but sackcloth; she renounced all social life and amusements; and everything it was in her power to dispose of she gave away to the poor. She avoided every distraction that interrupted her good works; but she gave hospitality to St Epiphanius of Salamis and to Paulinus of Antioch when they came to Rome; and through them she came to know St Jerome, with whom she was closely associated in the service of God during his stay in Rome under Pope St Damasus.
Paula’s eldest daughter, St Blesilla, dying suddenly, her mother felt this bereavement intensely; and St Jerome, who had just returned to Bethlehem, wrote to comfort her, and also to reprove her for what he regarded as an excess of mourning for one who had gone to her heavenly reward. The second daughter, Paulina, was married to St Pammachius, and died seven years before her mother. St Eustochium, the third, was Paula’s inseparable companion. Rufina died in youth. The more progress St Paula made in the relish of heavenly things, the more insupportable to her became the tumultuous life of the city. She sighed after the desert, longed to live in a hermitage where her heart would have no other occupation than the thought of God. She determined to leave Rome, ready to leave home, family and friends; never did mother love her children more tenderly, yet the tears of the child Toxotius and of the older Rufina could not hold her back. She sailed from Italy with Eustochium in 385, and after visiting St Epiphanius in Cyprus, met St Jerome and others at Antioch. The party made a pilgrimage to all the holy places of Palestine and on to Egypt to visit the monks and anchorets there; a year later they arrived in Bethlehem, and St Paula and St Eustochium settled there under the direction of St Jerome.
Here the two women lived in a cottage until they were able to build a hospice, a monastery for men and a three-fold convent for women. This last properly made but one house, for all assembled in the same chapel day and night for divine service together, and on Sundays in the church that stood hard by. Their food  was coarse and scanty, their fasts frequent and severe. All the sisters worked with their hands, and made clothes for themselves and others. All wore a similar modest habit, and used no linen. No man was ever suffered to set foot within their doors. Paula governed with a charity full of discretion, encouraging them by her own example and instruction, being always among the first at every duty, taking part, like Eustochium, in all the work of the house. If anyone showed herself talkative or passionate, she was separated from the rest, ordered to walk the last in order, to pray outside the door, and for some time to eat alone. Paula extended her love of poverty to her buildings and churches, ordering them all to be built low, and without anything costly or magnificent. She said that money is better expended upon the poor, who are the living members of Christ.
According to Palladius, St Paula had the care of St Jerome and—as might be expected—found it no easy responsibility. But she was also of considerable help to him in his biblical and other work, for she had got Greek from her father and now learned enough Hebrew at any rate to be able to sing the psalms in their original tongue. She too profited sufficiently by the teaching of her master to be able to take an intelligent interest in the unhappy dispute with Bishop John of Jerusalem over Origenism. Her last years were overcast by this and other troubles such as the grave financial stringency that her generosity had brought upon her. Paula’s son Toxotius married Laeta, the daughter of a pagan priest, but herself a Christian. Both were faithful imitators of the holy life of our saint. Their daughter, Paula the younger, was sent to Bethlehem, to be under the care of her grandmother, whom she afterwards succeeded in the government of her religious house. For the education of this child St Jerome sent to Laeta some excellent instructions, which parents can never read too often. God called St Paula to Himself after a life of fifty-six years. In her last illness she repeated almost without intermission certain verses of the psalms that express an ardent desire of the heavenly Jerusalem and of being with God. When she was no longer able to speak, she made the sign of the cross on her lips, and died in peace on January 26, 404.
Practically all that we know of St Paula is derived from the letters of St Jerome, more particularly from letter 108, which might be described as a biography; it is printed in Migne, P.L., vol. xxii, cc. 878—906, and in the Acta Sanctorum for January 26. See also the charming monograph by F. Lagrange, Histoire de Ste Paule, which has gone through many editions since 1868; and R. Génier, Ste Paule (1917).
648 St. Conan bishop of Ireland taught St. Fiacre
possibly from Scotland. It is believed that Conan taught St. Fiacre before going to the Isle of Man, where he served as a missionary and was consecrated bishop.
7th v. ST CONAN, Bishop
THERE are a good many place-names which seem to bear witness to the existence of a Celtic saint named Conan or Conon, but there is no real evidence of cultus, and the statements which have been made about him are by no means consistent with each other. In certain breviary lessons of late date it is said that the hermit St Fiacre, born in Scotland or Ireland, was in his boyhood committed to the care of St Conan, and learnt from him those virtues, which afterwards made the name of Fiacre famous. St Conan, we are told, passed from Scotland to the Isle of Man, and completed the work, begun by St Patrick or some of his disciples, of planting Christianity in that place. Be is also commonly called bishop of Sodor, but the very name is an anachronism, for there is no doubt that Sodor is a corruption of the Norse term Suthr-eyar (Southern Islands), which was used by the Vikings for the islands off the west coast of Great Britain in opposition to the Shetland and Orkney groups, which were northern islands. But the Viking raids did not begin before the close of the eighth century, and the name Sodor as the designation of an episcopal see cannot have been introduced until much later than that. It is quite possible, however, that Conan may have received episcopal consecration, and may have laboured in Man and the Hebrides.
See KSS., pp. 307—308 LIS., vol. i, p. 447; Olaf Kolsrud, “The Celtic Bishops in the Isle of Man” in the Zeitschrift f. Celtische Philologie, vol. ix (1913), pp. 357—379. 
690 St. Theofrid Abbot Benedictine bishop of Corbie
in France, and bishop. Theofrid was a Benedictine trained at Luxcuil Abbe
700 St. Thordgith Benedictine nun at the abbey of Barking
England, also called Theoregitha. She served as the novice-mistress in the community under St. Ethelburga.
925 St. Ansurius Bishop Benedictine monk founder
also called Isauri. In 915, Ansurius was elected the bishop of Orense, Spanish Galicia, Spain, and founded the abbey of Ribas de Sil. After seven years, he retired his see and entered Ribas de Sil.
1109 St. Alberic Hermit co-founder of the great Cistercian Order more familiarly known as the Trappists.
with Stephen Harding and a monk named Robert.
1109 ST ALBERIC, ABBOT OF CITEAUX, CO-FOUNDER OF THE CISTERCIAN ORDER
THE experiences of St Alberic in his efforts to find a religious home in accord with his aspirations after high perfection throw rather a lurid light upon the untamed temper of the recruits who formed the raw material of monastic life in the eleventh century. We know nothing of his boyhood, but we hear of him first as one of a group of seven hermits who were trying to serve God in the forest of Collan, not far from Châtillon-sur-Seine. There was a certain Abbot Robert, a man of good family, who in spite of a previous failure with a community of unruly monks was in high repute for virtue. Him the hermits with some difficulty obtained for a superior, and in 1075 they moved not far off to Molesmes, where they built a monastery, with Robert for abbot and Alberic for prior. Benefactions flowed in upon them, their numbers grew, but religious fervour decayed. In time a turbulent majority set monastic discipline at defiance. Robert lost heart and withdrew elsewhere. Alberic struggled on to maintain order, but things came to such a pass that the monks beat and imprisoned their prior, and eventually, if we may trust our rather confused authorities, Alberic and Stephen Harding, the Englishman, could stand it no longer, and also quitted Molesmes.
Probably, when the news of these scandals leaked out, the alms of the faithful began to dry up and the pinch made itself felt. In any case, amendment was promised, so that Robert and Alberic and Stephen were prevailed upon to return; but the old troubles and relaxed observance soon reappeared, and Alberic seems to have been the leading spirit in persuading a group of the more fervent to establish elsewhere a new community living under a stricter rule.
In the year 1098 twenty-one monks took up their abode in the wilderness of CÎteaux, some little distance to the south of Dijon and more than seventy miles from Molesmes. These were the first beginnings of the great Cistercian Order. Robert, Alberic and Stephen were elected respectively abbot, prior and sub-prior, but shortly afterwards St Robert returned to the community he had quitted. Thus Alberic became abbot in his place, and it is to him that some of the more distinctive features of the Cistercian reform must probably be ascribed; this way of life aimed at a restoration of primitive Benedictine observance, but with many added austerities. One of its external features was the adoption for the choir monks of a white habit (with a black scapular and hood), a change said to have been made in consequence of a vision of our Lady which was vouchsafed to St Alberic. A more notable change was the recognition of a special class of fratres conversi, or lay brothers, to whom the more laborious work, and particularly the field work in the distant granges, was entrusted; but manual work was normal for all the monks, their choir observances were much shortened and simplified, and more time was available for private prayer. 

Alberic was a monk near Chatillon-sur-Seine until he joined a group to form a new monastery at Molesmes. Robert served there as abbot, and Alberic was prior. The monks of Molesmes rebelled against the harsh rule instituted there and imprisoned Alberic and forced Robert to leave the monastery. Released, Alberic tried a second time to reform the members, but he was unsuccessful. In 1098, he and twenty-one other monks left Molesmes and established another religious house at Citeaux. Robert was again abbot, and Alberic prior. They were joined this time by Stephen Harding as subprior.
Thus was founded the Cistercian Order, one of the most distinguished religious houses in the Church. Robert returned to Molesmes within a few years, restoring the primitive Benedictine rule there. The additional austerities that he introduced into Molesmes gave it a true Cistercian character; however, Stephen Harding is credited with providing the overall Cistercian attributes. Alberic remained at Citeaux, where he died on January 26.
1159 St. Robert of Newminster Cistercian abbot helped to found Newminster Abbey, in Northumberland, serving as its first abbot. b. 1000
Born in Yorkshire, England, he entered the Benedictines at Whitby and soon joined the monks at Fountains Abbey who were adopting the harder rule which was gaining prominence at the time. This community embraced the Cistercian rule, and the monastery became one of the spearhead communities for the Cistercians in England. In 1137, Robert helped to found Newminster Abbey, in Northumberland, serving as its first abbot.
1188  St. Eystein Erlandsson B (RM)
Born in Norway; died at Nidaros (Trondheim), Norway, on January 26, 1188.
Saint
Eystein, born of a noble family, was educated at Saint-Victor, Paris. When he returned to Norway, he served as chaplain to King Inge of Norway and, in 1157, was appointed second archbishop of Nidaros (Trondheim). At that time the metropolitan see had been in existence for only five years. In 1152, the Norwegian Church had been reorganized into 10 sees (including Iceland, Greenland, the Orkneys, and the Shetlands) under the archbishopric of  Nidaros by an English legate of the Holy See, Cardinal Nicholas Breakspeare, who later became Pope Adrian IV. Eystein's appointment violated the regulations for canonical appointments established by Breakspeare, but he proved to be the man chosen by God for the work.

Upon his appointment as bishop, Eystein went on a pilgrimage to Rome to be consecrated by Pope Alexander III, who gave him the pallium and made him a papal legate a latere. He returned from Rome late in 1161. Eystein labored to strengthen the ties between the Norwegian Church and Rome, implement the Gregorian Reform, and to free the Church in Norway from interference by the nobles. He brought to the Norwegian Church the practices and customs of the churches of Europe at that time, though celibacy for the clergy was largely unobserved in his country. Perhaps this is the reason he established  communities of Augustinian canons regular to set an example for the parochial clergy.

He crowned the eight-year-old child Magnus as king of Norway at Bergen in 1164, and was closely associated with the boy's father, Jarl Erling Skakke, who approved Eystein's code of laws. Most of Eystein's activities as they have  come down to us are matters of the general history of Norway and were directed towards the free action of the spiritual power among a unified people. This  set him on a collision course with Magnus's rival for the throne, Sverre.  Eystein was forced to flee to England in 1181 when Sverre claimed the throne on the grounds that he was the illegitimate son of King Sigurd and the rightful  heir; from England Eystein excommunicated Sverre.

In England he stayed at the abbey of Saint Edmundsbury (a.k.a., Bury St. Edmunds), and it was probably there that he wrote his account of St. Olaf,  The passion and miracles of the Blessed Olaf, of which a manuscript was  discovered in England. He helped them to obtain from Henry II the free election of Abbot Samson. It is probable, too, that he visited the shrine of St. Thomas of Canterbury, to whose memory he was very devoted, which later became common  in the Norwegian Church. (Eystein may have met Saint Thomas during the Englishman's exile and saw in him another who struggled to free the Church from secular control.)

Eystein returned to Norway in 1183 and was aboard a ship in Bergen Harbor when Sverre's fleet defeated Magnus, causing the king to flee to Denmark. The following year Magnus was killed in battle, Sverre became king, and Eystein  made peace with him. Eystein enlarged Christ Church cathedral, where Saint Olaf was buried; some of his improvements remain to this day.

After his death, his body was enshrined in Nidaros cathedral. Immediately  after his death Eystein was considered a saint, but various papal inquiries were unfinished. Eystein was proclaimed a saint by a Norwegian synod in 1229.
Many miracles occurred at his tomb (Attwater, Attwater2, Coulson, Delaney, Farmer, Walsh).
1270 St Margaret Of Hungary Virgin Dominican novice at twelve shortened her life by austerities
St. Margaret of Hungary Daughterof King Bela IV, she became a Dominican novice at twelve in a royal convent built on an island in the Danube. Although she was a princess among nuns who were of noble descent, she objected to any special treatment and went out of her way to perform the most menial tasks and the most exacting labors on behalf of the squalid poor and most advanced hospital cases. The extend of her labors and fasting and hours of prayer brought on the fatigue of which she died on January 18.

Very great interest attaches to the life of St Margaret of Hungary, because by rare good fortune we possess in her case a complete copy of the depositions of the witnesses who gave evidence in the process of beatification begun less than seven years after her death. No doubt the fact that she was the daughter of Bela IV, King of Hungary, a champion of Christendom at a time when central Europe was menaced with utter destruction by the inroads of the Tatars, has emphasized the details of her extraordinary life of self-crucifixion. The Dominican Order, too, which was much befriended by Bela and his consort Queen Mary Lascaris, was necessarily interested in the cause of one of its earliest and most eminent daughters. But no one can read the astounding record of Margaret's asceticism and charity as recounted by some fifty witnesses who were her everyday companions without realizing that even if she had been the child of a beggar, such courage as hers --one is almost tempted to call it the fanaticism of her warfare against the world and the flesh -- could not but have a spiritualizing influence upon all who came in contact with her. Bela IV has been styled "the last man of genius whom the Arpads produced", but there were qualities in his daughter which, if determination counts for anything in human affairs, showed that the stock was not yet effete.

Margaret had been born at an hour when the fortunes of Hungary were at a low ebb, and we are told that her parents had promised to dedicate the babe entirely to God if victory should wait upon their arms. The boon was in substance granted, and the child at age of three was committed to the charge of the community of Dominican nuns at Veszprem. Somewhat later, Bela and his queen built a convent for their daughter on an island in the Danube near Buda, and there, when she was twelve years old, she made her profession in the hands of Bd Humbert of Romans. Horrifying as are the details of the young sister's thirst for penance and of her determination to conquer all natural repugnances, they are supported by such a mass of concurrent testimony that it is impossible to question the truth of what we read. That she was exceptionally favoured in the matter of good looks seems to be proved by the determination of Ottokar, King of Bohemia, to seek her hand even after he had seen her in her religious dress. No doubt a dispensation could easily have been obtained for such a marriage, and Bela for political reasons was inclined to favour it. But Margaret declared that she would cut off her nose and lips rather than consent to leave the cloister, and no one who reads the account which her sisters gave of her resolution in other matters can doubt that she would have been as good as her word.

Although the majority of the inmates of this Danubian convent were the daughters of noble families, Princess Margaret seems to have been conscious of a tendency to treat her with special consideration. Her protest took the form of an almost extravagant choice of all that was menial, repulsive, exhausting and insanitary. Her charity and tenderness in rendering the most nauseating services to the sick were marvelous, but many of the details are such as cannot be set out before the fastidious modern reader. She had an intense sympathy for the squalid lives of the poor, but she carried it so far that, like another St Benedict Joseph Labre, she chose to imitate them in her personal habits, and her fellow nuns confessed that there were times when they shrank from coming into too intimate contact with the noble princess, their sister in religion. One gets the impression that Margaret's love of God and desire of self-immolation were associated with a certain element of wilfulness. She would have been better, or at least she would assuredly have lived longer, if she had had a strong-minded superior or confessor to take her resolutely in hand; but it was perhaps inevitable that the daughter of the royal founders to whom the convent owed everything should almost always have been able to get her own way.

On the other hand, there are many delightful human touches in the account her sisters gave of her. The sacristan tells how Margaret would stroke her hand and coax her to leave the door of the choir open after Compline, that she might spend the night before the Blessed Sacrament when she ought to have been sleeping. She was confident in the power of prayer to effect what she desired, and she carried this almost to the point of a certain imperiousness in the requests she made to the Almighty. Several of the nuns recall an incident which happened at Veszprem when she was only ten years old. Two Dominican friars came there on a short visit, and Margaret begged them to prolong their stay. They replied that it was necessary that they should return at once; to which she responded, "I shall ask God that it may rain so hard that you cannot get away". Although they protested that no amount of rain would detain them, she went to the chapel, and such a downpour occurred that they were unable, after all, to leave Veszprem as they had intended. This recalls the well-known story of St Scholastica and St Benedict, and there is in any case no need to invoke a supernatural intervention; but there are so many such incidents vouched for by the sisters in their evidence on oath that it is difficult to stretch coincidence so far as to explain them all. Though we hear of ecstasies and of a great number of miracles, there is a certain moderation in the depositions which inspires confidence in the good faith of the witnesses. An incident which is mentioned by nearly all is the saving, at St Margaret's prayer, of a maid-servant who had fallen down a well. Amongst the other depositions we have that of the maid, Agnes, herself. Asked in general what she knew of Margaret, she was content to say that "she was good and holy and edifying in her conduct, and showed greater humility than we serving-maids". As to the accident we learn from her that the evening was so dark that "if anyone had slapped her face she could not have seen who did it", and that the orifice of the well was quite open and without a rail, and that after falling she sank to the bottom three times, but at last managed to clutch the wall of the well until they lowered a rope and pulled her out.

There can be little room for doubt that Margaret shortened her life by her austerities. At the end of every Lent she was in a pitiable state from fasting, deprivation of sleep and neglect of her person. She put the crown on her indiscretions on Maundy Thursday by washing the feet (this probably she claimed as a sort of privilege which belonged to her as the daughter of the royal founders) not only of all the choir nuns, seventy in number, but of all the servants as well. She wiped their feet, the nuns tell us, with the veil which she wore on her head. In spite of this fatigue and of the fact that at this season she took neither food nor sleep, she complained to some of the sisters in her confidence that "Good Friday was the shortest day of the year". She had no time for all the prayers she wanted to say and for all the acts of penance she wanted to perform. St Margaret seems to have died on January 18, 1270, at the age of twenty-eight; the process of beatification referred to above was never finished, but the cultus was approved in 1789 and she was canonized in 1943.
See the Acta Sanctorum for January 28; but more especially G. Fraknoi, Monumenta Romana Episcopatus Vesprimiensis, vol. i, pp. 163-383, where the depositions of the witnesses are printed in full. Cf. also M. C. de Ganay, Les Bienheureuses Dominicaines, pp. 69-89; and Margaret, Princess of Hungary (1945), by "S. M. C."
[1] This neglect of cleanliness was traditionally part of the penitential discipline, and was symbolized by the ashes received on Ash Wednesday. The old English name for Maundy Thursday was "Sheer Thursday", when the penitents obtained absolution, trimmed their hair and beards, and washed in preparation for Easter. It was also sometimes called capitilavium (head-washing).
St. Athanasius Bishop honored in Sorrento in southern Italy.