Mary Mother of GOD
Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!  (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
RDeo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
July is the month of the Precious Blood since 1850;
 2023
18,040  Lives Saved Since 2007

St. Thomas, Apostle (Feast)
  The saints are a “cloud of witnesses over our head”,
showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.


CAUSES OF SAINTS

202  Saint Irenaeus writings of Saint Irenaeus entitle him to a high place among the fathers of the Church, for they not only laid the foundations of Christian theology but, by exposing and refuting the errors of the gnostics,
they delivered the Catholic Faith from the real danger of the doctrines of those heretics: 
He was most influenced by Saint Polycarp who had known the apostles or their immediate disciples   see June 28



                       

We are the defenders of true freedom.
  May our witness unveil the deception of the "pro-choice" slogan.
40 days for Life Campaign saves lives Shawn Carney Campaign Director www.40daysforlife.com
Please help save the unborn they are the future for the world

It is a great poverty that a child must die so that you may live as you wish
-- Mother Teresa


 Saving babies, healing moms and dads, 'The Gospel of Life'





It Makes No Sense Not To Believe In GOD
Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel
St. Thomas, Apostle (Feast)
July is the month of the Precious Blood since 1850;
THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST  
St. Thomas a Jew, called to be one of the twelve Apostles Patron of architects Martyred at Calamine
 108 Saint Hyacinthus, a twelve-year-old native of Caesarea in Cappadocia The jailer saw two angels in the cell. One covered the saint's body with his own garment, the other a crown of glory on his head;

 190 St. Dathus (Datus) Bishop of Ravenna, elected when a dove appeared miraculously over his head.
202  Saint Irenaeus writings entitle him a high place among fathers of the Church, they laid foundations of Christian theology by exposing and refuting the errors of the gnostics, they delivered the Catholic Faith from the real danger of the doctrines of those heretics:
400 ST HELIODORUS, BISHOP OF ALTINO met St Jerome at Aquileia 372 and became his disciple
500 St. Gunthiern Welsh prince became a hermit in Brittany, France.
St. Bladus One of the early bishops of the Isle of Man off the Scottish coast.

St. Maelmuire O' Gorman Abbot of Knock, Ireland. He is revered as an Irish poet.

683 SAINT LEO II Pope accomplished good works his name to be blessed by all succeeding generations

752 St. Cillene An abbot of lona, Scotland. He was Irish and became abbot around 726.
 
775 ST RUMOLD, OR ROMBAUT MARTYR
1068 Saint George the God-bearer Recluse labored in the Black Mountains near when churches and monasteries there flourished.
1295 Saint Basil, Bishop of Ryazan and Murom
1316 Bl. Raymond Lull Mystic, philosopher, and Doctor Illuminatus “Enlightened Doctor,” a vision of Christ crucified a profound mystic; considered predecessor of Sts. Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross
1640 Saint Nicodemus of Kozhe Lake God also granted him clairvoyance and the power to heal the sick
1838 St. Joseph Peter Uyen Dominican tertiary, martyr of Vietnam native catechist died of abuse in prison refusing to give up the faith
1853 St. Philip Minh Vietnamese martyr native he joined the Society for Foreign Missions of Paris ordained a priest with the purpose of working for the Church in Vietnam. 
July 3 – The Three Kings or Holy Magi (Cologne, Germany)
Apparitions of Marpingen, from July 3, 1976, to September 3, 1877 (approval pending) 
 
“I am waiting at the gates of Germany”
 The Virgin Mary appeared in Marpingen, Germany, on three different occasions. In 1876, she appeared to three 8-year-old children. As in Lourdes, she introduced herself as "the Immaculate Conception." Then in 1930, she appeared to a man, saying: "I am waiting at the gates of Germany, weeping as Jesus wept over Jerusalem." Finally, in 1999, she appeared to 3 young women, Marion Gutman, Christine Neg and Judith Hiher.
The apparitions ended on October 17, 1999.

This is one of the messages the Virgin Mary gave, dated July 18, 1999:
"God looks at you and loves you. He awaits the conversion of the world and asked me to carry it out. And I ask you with all my heart as only a mother can do: Open your hearts! Carry your cross! Love the cross! Pray! Repent and save the world with me for the glory of the Father in Heaven who awaits those souls. He so loves humanity and wants people to return to him... Love God, my children, and open your hearts. Follow the path that I show you and I tell you that you will find the way to Jesus; and through Jesus, you will come to the Father."
apotres.amour.free.fr

Pope Benedict XVI to The Catholic Church In China {whole article here }

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

Acts of the Apostles

Nine First Fridays Devotion to the Sacred Heart From the writings of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

How do I start the Five First Saturdays?

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

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

Catechism of the Catholic Church 495, quoting the Council of Ephesus (431): DS 251.


Mary at Lesotho (I)  July 03 - Our Lady of la Carolle, (Paris, 1418)
One day Father Oblat was trekking across the high mountains of Lesotho, with a rosary in his hand, visiting the Christians spread here and there scattered throughout the villages. Suddenly, a clap of thunder threw him to the ground. He got up painfully, with the help of his catechist who begged him to turn back.
"The demon is annoyed because there is a soul to save," replied the priest. And they continued their route in prayer.
After a good deal of walking on mountain paths, they heard cries coming from a remote village. The good father stopped, "Someone is calling us, let us go there!" he said. The catechist replied, "No, that village is full of witches, it's a trap." But the priest answered, "Perhaps there is a soul to save there. I must go and find out."
And the priest set off to the village, followed by his reluctant assistant who seemed to be more dead than alive.
When they arrived, several women surrounded the priest and took him into a hut where a girl about 17  was dying.
The women said, "She has been calling for you. She wants to be baptized by a Catholic priest so she can be with the beautiful lady." The father knelt down close to the dying girl who said with great effort, "Are you a Catholic priest?" He replied, "Yes, I am." - "Then baptize me quickly. Please hurry..."
Testimony of a missionary of Lesotho Published in the magazine "Our Lady of New Time" #6 1982
Told in the Marian Collection 1986 by Brother Albert Pfleger, Marist

The Only True Child    Mark my words, child: the Blessed Virgin made neither triumph, nor miracles.
Her Son did not allow human glory to touch her, not even with the thinnest end of its large untamed wing.

Nobody has ever lived, suffered, or died as simply as Mary, nor lived in such pure ignorance of her own dignity, a dignity which however placed her above the angels. She was of course born without sin, what amazing solitude! Mary is a source so pure - so limpid, so limpid and so pure that she could not even see her own reflection. She was made exclusively for the joy of the Father - and this makes her such sacred solitude!
Demons of old well familiar to man, masters and servants united, the terrible patriarchs who guided the first steps of Adam to the threshold of the cursed world, treachery and pride, you can see them all watching this miraculous creature by afar, for she was placed out of their reach, invulnerable and disarmed.  Georges Bernanos (1888-1948)
St. Thomas a Jew, called to be one of the twelve Apostles Patron of architects Martyred at Calamine
 108 Saint Hyacinthus, a twelve-year-old native of Caesarea in Cappadocia The jailer saw two angels in the cell. One covered the saint's body with his own garment, and the other placed a crown of glory on his head; Diomedes suffered with Sts Hyacinthus, Eulampius, Asclepiodotus, and Golinduc
 120 St. Hyacinth Martyred chamberlain of Emperor Trajan. In Caesarea, Cappadocia
 190 St. Dathus Bishop of Ravenna, Italy, who was elected to that see when a dove appeared miraculously over his head. He is also called Datus.
202  Saint Irenaeus writings of Saint Irenaeus entitle him to a high place among the fathers of the Church, for they not only laid the foundations of Christian theology but, by exposing and refuting the errors of the gnostics, they delivered the Catholic Faith from the real danger of the doctrines of those heretics:  He was most influenced by Saint Polycarp who had known the apostles or their immediate disciples   see June 28
3rd v. SS. IRENAEUS AND MUSTIOLA, MARTYRS
 283 St. Anatolius Bishop, noted philosopher, and scientist in Alexandria, Egypt. He was the bishop of Laodicea in Syria, where he wrote ten books on mathematics
St. Tryphon & Companions A group of thirteen martyrs slain in Alexandria, Egypt.
304? SS. JULIUS AND AARON, MARTYRS THESE were Britons who are said to have glorified God by martyrdom at Caerleon in Monmouthshire
4th v. The Holy Martyrs Mocius and Mark were arrested as Christians and brought to trial by the governor Maximian. They refused to offer sacrifice to idols, for which they suffered death by beheading in the fourth century, and an unidentified boy. They were slain with the sword. The boy, a spectator, exhorted them to remain true to Christ, and for this he also suffered martyrdom
 
400 ST HELIODORUS, BISHOP OF ALTINO met St Jerome at Aquileia 372 and became his disciple
 430 Saint Alexander, Founder of the Monastery of the "Unsleeping Ones," built a church for the city-dwellers, and a home for the sick and homeless with the money that charitable Antiochians 50 years of incessant monastic effort 458 St. Anatolius Patriarch and defender of the faith, known for his opposition to the heretic Dioscurus at the Council of Chalcedon. The patriarch of Constantinople, he is called a prophet and a miracle worker, despite the political turmoil that surrounded him. Anatolius also fought the Nestorian heresy at the Council of Ephesus.
 5th v.  St. Byblig Welsh holy man, also called Biblig, Pebliq, Pibliq, Publicus He is associated with Caenarvon, Wales.
 500 St. Gunthiern Welsh prince who became a hermit in Brittany, France.St. Bladus One of the early bishops of the Isle of Man off the Scottish coast.
St. Maelmuire O' Gorman Abbot of Knock, Ireland. He is revered as an Irish poet.

683 SAINT LEO II Pope accomplished good works which cause his name to be blessed by all succeeding generations
  8th v. St. Guthagon An Irish hermit who took residence in Belgium.
  752 St. Cillene An abbot of lona, Scotland. He was Irish and became abbot around 726.
 
775 ST RUMOLD, OR ROMBAUT MARTYR
1068 Saint George the God-bearer and Recluse labored in the Black Mountains near Antioch during a time when the churches and monasteries there flourished.
1249 The holy Princes Basil and Constantine Vsevolodovich of Yaroslav suffered without complaint like a true Christian concerned himself with the unfortunate among his subjects, and built churches 1501 the incorrupt relics of the holy princes were uncovered and now rest in the Yaroslav cathedral.
1295 Saint Basil, Bishop of Ryazan and Murom
1316 Bl. Raymond Lull Mystic, philosopher, and Doctor Illuminatus “Enlightened Doctor,” a vision of Christ crucified a profound mystic; considered a predecessor of Sts. Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross
1589 Blessed John, Fool-for-Christ, Wonderworker of Moscow foretold great misfortunes for Russia, the Time of Troubles and the incursion of the Poles gift of healing
1591 Transfer of the Relics of Saint Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow and Wonderworker of All Russia
1616 ST BERNARDINO REALINO entered the Society of Jesus at 34; self-sacrificing zeal and apostolical fervour had long before earned the veneration of the people, who recognized him as a saint;
1640 Saint Nicodemus of Kozhe Lake God also granted him clairvoyance and the power to heal the sick
1838 St. Joseph Peter Uyen Dominican tertiary, martyr of Vietnam native catechist he died of abuse in prison for refusing to give up the faith and was canonized in 1988 by Pope John Paul II.
1853 St. Philip Minh Vietnamese martyr native he joined the Society for Foreign Missions of Paris and was ordained a priest with the purpose of working for the Church in Vietnam. Seized by anti-Catholic forces, he was beheaded. He was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1988. 
d. 190 Ravénnæ sancti Dathi, Epíscopi et Confessóris.
    At Ravenna, St. Dathus, bishop and confessor.
Mary the Mother of God
It Makes No Sense Not To Believe In GOD
Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel
The great psalm of the Passion, Psalm 21, 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"
(Psalm 21:28)


St. Mark Martyr with Mucian, Paul, and an unidentified boy. They were slain with the sword. The boy, a spectator, exhorted them to remain true to Christ, and for this he also suffered martyrdom
St. Thomas a Jew, called to be one of the twelve Apostles Patron of architects Martyred at Calamine
Edéssæ, in Mesopotámia, Translátio sancti Thomæ Apóstoli ex India; cujus relíquiæ Ortónam, apud Frentános, póstea translátæ sunt.
    At Edessa in Mesopotamia, the translation of the apostle St. Thomas from India.  His relics were afterwards taken to Ortona.

St. Thomas was He was a dedicated but impetuous follower of Christ. When Jesus said He was returning to Judea to visit His sick friend Lazarus, Thomas immediately exhorted the other Apostles to accompany Him on the trip which involved certain danger and possible death because of the mounting hostility of the authorities. At the Last Supper, when Christ told His Apostles that He was going to prepare a place for them to which they also might come because they knew both the place and the way, Thomas pleaded that they did not understand and received the bea But St. Thomas is best known for his role in verifying the Resurrection of his Master. Thomas' unwillingness to believe that the other Apostles had seen their risen Lord on the first Easter Sunday merited for him the title of "doubting Thomas." Eight days later, on Christ's second apparition, Thomas was gently rebuked for his scepticism and furnished with the evidence he had demanded - seeing in Christ's hands the point of the nails and putting his fingers in the place of the nails and his hand into His side. At this, St. Thomas became convinced of the truth of the Resurrection and exclaimed: "My Lord and My God," thus making a public Profession of Faith in the Divinity of Jesus. St. Thomas is also mentioned as being present at another Resurrection appearance of Jesus - at Lake Tiberias when a miraculous catch of fish occurred. This is all that we know about St. Thomas from the New Testament.
   Tradition says that at the dispersal of the Apostles after Pentecost this saint was sent to evangelize the Parthians, Medes, and Persians; he ultimately reached India, carrying the Faith to the Malabar coast, which still boasts a large native population calling themselves "Christians of St. Thomas." He capped his left by shedding his blood for his Master, speared to death at a place called Calamine.  Beutiful assurance that Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life
.
108 Saint Hyacinthus, a twelve-year-old native of Caesarea in Cappadocia The jailer saw two angels in the cell. One covered the saint's body with his own garment, and the other placed a crown of glory on his head Diomedes suffered with Sts Hyacinthus, Eulampius, Asclepiodotus, and Golinduc .
Raised in a Christian family. The emperor Trajan made the boy his "cubicularius" (chamberlain), unaware that he was a secret Christian.

One day, while the emperor and his entourage were offering sacrifice to idols, the young Hyacinthus remained at the palace, shut himself up in a small room, and prayed fervently to the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the servants overheard him praying and denunced him to the emperor. He said that although Hyacinthus was entrusted with an imperial position, he did not honor the Roman gods, and was secretly praying to Christ.
Hyacinthus was brought to trial before Trajan, who tried to persuade him to deny Christ and sacrifice to the deaf and dumb idols, but the holy martyr remained steadfast and declared that he was a Christian. He was whipped and thrown into prison, where the only food given to him was what had already been offered to the idols. They hoped that he would be overcome with hunger and thirst and eat it. St Hyacinthus did not eat the food, and he died after thirty-eight days. When they came to torture him again, they found his dead body.
The twelve-year-old Hyacinthus suffered for Christ in the year 108 in the city of Rome. Later, the saint's relics were transferred to Caesarea.
Saint Diomedes suffered with Sts Hyacinthus, Eulampius, Asclepiodotus, and Golinduc at Rome in the year 108
120 St. Hyacinth Martyred chamberlain of Emperor Trajan. In Caesarea, Cappadocia
Cæsaréæ, in Cappadócia, sancti Hyacínthi, qui Trajáni Imperatóris cubiculárius fuit; et, accusátus quod Christiánus esset, plagis várie afflíctus est, atque, in cárcerem trusus, ibi fame consúmptus exspirávit.
    At Caesarea in Cappadocia, St. Hyacinth, chamberlain of the emperor Trajan.  Accused of being a Christian, he was scourged and thrown into prison where he died of hunger.
Hyacinth was scourged and imprisoned. Given only meat blessed as sacrifices to pagan gods, Hyacinth starved to death.
190 St. Dathus Bishop of Ravenna, Italy, who was elected to that see when a dove appeared miraculously over his head. He is also called Datus
Ravénnæ sancti Dathi, Epíscopi et Confessóris.
    At Ravenna, St. Dathus, bishop and confessor..
3rd v. SS. IRENAEUS AND MUSTIOLA, MARTYRS
Clúsii, in Etrúria, sanctórum Mártyrum Irenæi Diáconi, et Mustíolæ matrónæ; qui sub Aureliáno Imperatóre, divérsis atrocibúsque supplíciis cruciáti, corónam martyrii meruérunt.
    At Chiusi in Tuscany, in the reign of Emperor Aurelian, the holy martyrs Irenaeus, a deacon, and Mustiola, a matron, who were subjected to various atrocious tortures and merited the crown of martyrdom.
THIS Irenaeus was said to be a deacon who buried the body of St Felix, priest of the church of Sutri, who had been put to death for the faith. This coming to the ears of the officer Turcius, who was charged with executing the laws against Christians in that district, he ordered the arrest of Irenaeus; the deacon was manacled and made to run with bare feet before the chariot of Turcius the whole way from Sutri to Chiusi, where he was put in prison. He and the other Christians with him were ministered to by a noble lady, Mustiola, and she was brought before Turcius to give an account of herself and her doings. Being a woman of great beauty, Turcius put aside his duty and pestered her with unwelcome attentions, but she refused to have anything to do with him. Thereupon Turcius worked off his annoyance on the Christians under his charge, and in particular on Irenaeus. He had him racked in Mustiola's presence, and when the martyr gave way to nothing but courage and patience, had his flesh torn with spikes and branded with hot irons until he died under the torture. Mustiola fiercely denounced Turcius for his barbarity and called down the wrath of Heaven on him, whereat his desire was turned to loathing and he had her beaten to death with clubs. Their legend says this took place under Aurelian. Mustiola was buried in a catacomb at Chiusi and she is venerated at that place and at Pesaro as a virgin martyr, but the Roman Martyrology refers to her as a matron.
The brief acta are printed by the Bollandists, July, vol. i. So far at least as concerns Mustiola, we seem to have here an interesting example of legendary accretions which have attached themselves to an historic cultus. An inscription (fourth century) found in the catacombs of Chiusi pays honour to a married lady “ex genere Mustiolae sanctae". See Liverani, Spicilegium Liberianum, p. 778; Leclercq in DAC., vol. iii, cc. 1389-1392; Delehaye, Les Origines du Culte des Martyrs, p. 319, and his Commentary on the Hieronymianum, p. 617.
202  Saint Irenaeus writings of Saint Irenaeus entitle him to a high place among the fathers of the Church, for they not only laid the foundations of Christian theology but, by exposing and refuting the errors of the gnostics, they delivered the Catholic Faith from the real danger of the doctrines of those heretics:  He was most influenced by Saint Polycarp who had known the apostles or their immediate disciples
Lugdúni, in Gállia, sancti Irenæi, Epíscopi et Mártyris; qui (ut scribit sanctus Hierónymus) beáti Polycárpi, Smyrnénsis Epíscopi, discípulus fuit, et Apostolicórum témporum vicínis.  Is, cum advérsus hæréticos verbis ac scriptis plúrimum decertásset, tandem, in persecutióne Sevéri, cum omni fere civitátis suæ pópulo, coronátus est glorióso martyrio.
    At Lyons in France, St. Irenæus, bishop and martyr.  St. Jerome relates that he was the disciple of blessed Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, and lived near the time of the apostles.  After having strenuously opposed the heretics by word and by writing, he was crowned with a glorious martyrdom along with almost all the people of his city, during the persecution of Severus.

ST IRENAEUS, BISHOP OF LYONS (c. A.D. 203)
July 25, 1960, this feast was In a Motu Proprio of John XXIII dated transferred to 3 July.
THE writings of St Irenaeus entitle him to a high place amongst the fathers of the Church, for they not only laid the foundations of Christian theology but, by exposing and refuting the errors of the gnostics, they delivered the Catholic faith from the real danger it ran of being leavened by the insidious doctrines of those heretics. Of his parentage nothing is recorded. He was born, probably about the year 125, in one of those maritime provinces of Asia Minor where the memory of the Apostles was still cherished and where Christians were numerous. He received what must have been an exceptionally liberal education, for it gave him a thorough knowledge of the text of Holy Scripture and a good general acquaintance with Greek philosophy and literature. Moreover, he had the inestimable privilege of sitting at the feet of men who had known the Apostles or their immediate disciples. Of these the one who influenced him the most was St Polycarp. So profound indeed was the impression made upon him by the holy bishop of Smyrna that throughout his after life, as he told a friend, he could recall every detail of St Polycarp's appearance, the sound of his voice, and the very words he used when describing his intercourse with the evangelist St John, and others who had seen the Lord, or when he was expounding the doctrine he had learnt from them. St Gregory of Tours asserts that it was St Polycarp who sent Irenaeus as a missionary to Gaul, but there is no evidence to support this statement.
Commercial relations had existed from early times between the ports of Asia Minor and Marseilles, and in the second century of our era Levantine traders were regularly conveying their wares up the Rhone as far as Lyons, which became in consequence the chief mart of western Europe and the most populous city in Gaul. In the train of the Asiatics, many of whom settled in Lyons, came their priests and missionaries who brought the Gospel to the pagan Gauls and founded a vigorous local church. To this church of Lyons Irenaeus came to serve as a priest under its first bishop, St Pothinus, an oriental like himself; to it he was to remain permanently attached. The high opinion held of him by his brother clergy was evinced in the year 177, when he was dispatched on a somewhat delicate mission to Rome. It was after the outbreak of the terrible persecution, which is dealt with at some length under June 2 in this volume [Butlers Lives of the Saints], and already some of the leaders of the church of Lyons were in prison. Their captivity, however, did not prevent them from continuing to take a deep interest in their fellow Christians in Asia Minor. Conscious of the sympathetic hearing to which they were entitled as confessors in imminent peril of death, they sent to Pope St Eleutherius, by the hands of Irenaeus, what is described by Eusebius as "a most religious and most orthodox" letter, in which they appealed to him-in the interest of the peace and unity of the Church to deal leniently with their Montanist brethren in Phrygia. They commended the bearer of the letter to his notice as a priest" filled with zeal for the testament of Christ", and as one who was, as his name implied, a lover of peace.
   This mission, entailing as it did absence from Lyons, explains how it was that Irenaeus was not called upon to share the martyrdom of St Pothinus and his fellowsufferers, and does not seem to have witnessed it. How long he remained in Rome we do not know, but when he returned to Lyons it was to occupy its vacant bishopric. By that time the persecution was over and the twenty or more years of his episcopate were years of relative peace. Information about his activities is scanty, but it is clear that in addition to his purely pastoral duties he did much to evangelize the neighbouring lands. He is said to have sent SS. Felix, Fortunatus and Achilleus as missionaries to Valence, and SS. Ferrutius and Ferreolus to Besançon. A small indication of the extent to which he identified himself with his flock is supplied by the fact that he habitually spoke the Celtic language instead of his native Greek. It was the spread of Gnosticism in Gaul, and the ravages it was making amongst the Christians of his diocese, that inspired him to undertake the task of exposing its errors. He began by mastering its tenets-no easy matter, since each gnostic master was inclined to introduce variations of his own. Fortunately for Irenaeus he was, Tertullian tells us, “a curious explorer of all kinds of learning", and he found the work not uncongenial. He then produced a treatise in five books in which he sets forth fully the inner doctrines of the various sects, and afterwards contrasts them with the teaching of the Apostles and the text of Holy Scripture.
A good example of his method is provided by his treatment of the gnostic doctrine that the visible world has been created, preserved and governed by angelic beings and not by God, who remains unconnected with it, aloof, indifferent, and incapable of activity in the Pleroma (the invisible spiritual world). Irenaeus states the theory, develops it to its logical conclusion, and by an effective reductio ad absurdum proceeds to demonstrate its fallacy. The true Christian doctrine of the close relationship between God and the world He has created Irenaeus sets forth in the following terms: "The Father is above all, and He is the head of Christ, but the Word is through all things and He is Himself the head of the Church, whilst the Spirit is in us all; and His is the living water which the Lord gave to those who believe in Him and love Him and know that there is one Father above all things and through all things and in all things." Concerned as he is to convert rather than to confound, Irenaeus writes with studied moderation and courtesy, but now and then humorous comments escape him. Referring, for instance, to the attitude of the newly “initiated" he says: "As soon as a man has been won over to their way of salvation he becomes so puffed up with conceit and self-importance that he imagines himself to be no longer in Heaven or on earth, but to have already passed into the Pleroma, and with the majestic air of a cock he goes strutting about-as if he had already embraced his ange1." Irenaeus was firmly convinced that a great part of the attractiveness of Gnosticism lay in the veil of secrecy with which it surrounded itself, and he was determined to "strip the fox", as he expressed it. The event proved him to have been right. His work, written in Greek but quickly translated into Latin, was widely circulated and succeeded in dealing to second century Gnosticism what appears to have been its death-blow. At any rate, from that time onwards, it ceased to offer a serious menace to the Catholic faith.
Thirteen or fourteen years after his mission to Pope Eleutherius, Irenaeus again acted as mediator between a pope and a body of Christians in Asia Minor. Because the Quartodecimans refused to keep Easter in accordance with the Western use they had been excommunicated by Victor III, and there was in consequence a real danger of schism. Irenaeus intervened on their behalf. In a singularly beautiful letter addressed to the pope he pleaded with him to raise the ban, pointing out that they were only following their old tradition, and that a difference of opinion on that very point had not prevented Pope Anicetus and St Polycarp from remaining in communion. The outcome of his representations was the restoration of good relations between the two parties and a peace which proved permanent. After the Council of Nicaea in 325, the Quartodecimans voluntarily conformed to the Roman usage without any pressure from the Holy See.
The date of the death of St Irenaeus is not known: it is usually assigned approximately to the year 202. According to a later tradition he suffered martyrdom, but this is highly improbable. The treatise against the gnostics has come down to us, entire in its Latin version; and an Armenian translation of an exposition of apostolic preaching has comparatively lately been discovered. Though the rest of his writings have perished, in these two works alone may be found all the elements of a complete system of Christian theology.
The bodily remains of St Irenaeus, as we learn from Gregory of Tours, were buried in a crypt under the altar of what was then called the church of St John, but what was later known by the name of St Irenaeus himself. This tomb or shrine was destroyed by the Calvinists in 1562, and all trace of his relics seems to have perished. It is remarkable that though the feast of St Irenaeus has long been observed in the East (on August 23), it has been general in the Western church only since 1922.
We possess nothing in the nature of an early biography of St Irenaeus, but there is a vast literature dealing with his importance as a witness to early traditions, and as a teacher of orthodox belief. The evidence for and against the supposition that he suffered martyrdom is briefly but clearly summarized by Fr Delehaye in his CMH., pp. 341-342. Much interest was roused in 1904 by the discovery of an Armenian version of a work of which little more than the name was previously known, viz., "Proof of the Apostolic Preaching". It is mainly an appeal to the prophecies of the Old Testament, and not much fresh information regarding the mind and thought of the author is to be derived from it. A fuller discussion of the theology of Irenaeus would be out of place here; see the very complete article of F. Vernet (nearly 150 columns) in DTC., vol. vii (1922), cc. 2394-2533, with copious bibliography. There are also good articles in Bardenhewer, and DCB. The originality of St Irenaeus was called in question by T. Loofs in Texte und Untersuchungen, vol. xlvi, part II (1932). A convenient little study of St Irenaeus is that of A. Dufourcq in the series “Les Saints"; and see F. R. M. Hitchcock, Irenaeus of Lugdunum (1914).
St. Irenaeus (130?-220)
The Church is fortunate that Irenaeus was involved in many of its controversies in the second century. He was a student, well trained, no doubt, with great patience in investigating, tremendously protective of apostolic teaching, but prompted more by a desire to win over his opponents than to prove them in error.
As bishop of Lyons he was especially concerned with the Gnostics, who took their name from the Greek word for “knowledge.” Claiming access to secret knowledge imparted by Jesus to only a few disciples, their teaching was attracting and confusing many Christians. After thoroughly investigating the various Gnostic sects and their “secret,” Irenaeus showed to what logical conclusions their tenets led. These he contrasted with the teaching of the apostles and the text of Holy Scripture, giving us, in five books, a system of theology of great importance to subsequent times. Moreover, his work, widely used and translated into Latin and Armenian, gradually ended the influence of the Gnostics.
The circumstances and details about his death, like those of his birth and early life in Asia Minor, are not at all clear.
Comment:    A deep and genuine concern for other people will remind us that the discovery of truth is not to be a victory for some and a defeat for others. Unless all can claim a share in that victory, truth itself will continue to be rejected by the losers, because it will be regarded as inseparable from the yoke of defeat. And so, confrontation, controversy and the like might yield to a genuine united search for God's truth and how it can best be served.
He was probably born about the year 125, in one of those maritime provinces of Asia Minor where the memory of the apostles was still cherished and where Christians were numerous.
Many Asian priests and missionaries brought the gospel to the pagan Gauls and founded a local church. To this church of Lyon, Irenaeus came to serve as a priest under its first bishop, Saint Pothinus, an oriental like himself. In the year 177, Irenaeus was sent to Rome. This mission explains how it was that he was not called upon to share in the martyrdom of St Pothinus during the terrible persecution in Lyons. When he returned to Lyons it was to occupy the vacant bishopric. By this time, the persecution was over.

It was the spread of gnosticism in Gaul, and the ravages it was making among the Christians of his diocese, that inspired him to undertake the task of exposing its errors. He produced a treatise in five books in which he sets forth fully the inner doctrines of the various sects, and afterwards contrasts them with the teaching of the Apostles and the text of the Holy Scripture. His work, written in Greek but quickly translated to Latin, was widely circulated and succeeded in dealing a death-blow to gnosticism. At any rate, from that time onwards, it ceased to offer a serious menace to the Catholic faith.

The date of death of Saint Irenaeus is not known, but it is believed to be in the year 202. The bodily remains of Saint Irenaeus were buried in a crypt under the altar of what was then called the church of Saint John, but was later known by the name of Saint Irenaeus himself. This tomb or shrine was destroyed by the Calvinists in 1562, and all trace of his relics seems to have perished.
283 St. Anatolius Bishop, noted philosopher, and scientist in Alexandria, Egypt. He was the bishop of Laodicea in Syria, where he wrote ten books on mathematics
ST ANATOLlUS, BISHOP OF LAODICEA     (c. A.D. 283)
THIS Anatolius, an Alexandrian, is remembered by his services to his fellow citizens at a time when he was conducting an Aristotelian school in that place. A rebellion broke out in the city and the Roman troops closely invested that part of it called the Bruchium, where Anatolius was living: the people were threatened both by starvation and disease. He communicated with his friend Eusebius, a deacon, who was outside the beleaguered area, and he induced the Roman general to permit all who would to leave the Bruchium without molestation. The rebel leaders would not at first allow anyone to take advantage of this, but Anatolius prevailed on them to the extent of letting non-combatants leave, and many others got away at the same time. Anatolius subsequently went to Palestine and became assistant to the bishop of Caesarea. Eusebius meanwhile had become bishop of Laodicea in Syria, and on his death Anatolius was chosen in his place.
Anatolius was eminent as a philosopher, as a physical scientist, and as a mathematician. Among his works which have survived are parts of ten treatises on arithmetic, and the Roman Martyrology says of his writings that they “are admired not only by religious men but also by philosophers".
Eusebius, the church historian, is our chief authority, but St Jerome also speaks of Anatolius in terms of warm appreciation. Eusebius quotes a considerable fragment of his book about Easter, but the Latin treatise, Liber Anatoli de ratione paschali, purporting to be a translation, is pronounced a forgery, compiled probably in Ireland in the sixth century.
Eusebius, the historian, relates that Anatolius was faced with a rebellion in Alexandria, Egypt, while he was living there. The Romans had the part of the city known as the Bruchium under siege, and the people were starving. Anatolius parleyed with the Romans and managed to have the ill, the elderly, and the women and children released safely. The rebels surrendered as a result. Traveling to Laodicea, Anatolius was hailed by the people and made bishop.
St. Tryphon & Companions A group of thirteen martyrs slain in Alexandria, Egypt.
Alexandríæ sanctórum Mártyrum Tryphónis et aliórum duódecim.
    At Alexandria, the holy martyrs Trypho and twelve others.
4th v. The Holy Martyrs Mocius and Mark were arrested as Christians and brought to trial by the governor Maximian. They refused to offer sacrifice to idols, for which they suffered death by beheading in the fourth century.
Eódem die sanctórum Mártyrum Marci et Muciáni, qui pro Christo sunt gládio cæsi.  Hos cum puer párvulus, ne immolárent idólis, alta voce monéret, verbéribus jussus est cædi; cumque veheméntius Christum confiterétur, tandem, una cum quodam Paulo, Mártyres exhortánte, necátus est.
    The same day, the holy martyrs Mark and Mucian, who were put to the sword for Christ.  A small boy who cried out to them not to sacrifice to idols was then whipped, but confessing Christ still more vehemently, he was put to death with a man named Paul, who had also exhorted the martyrs.

304? SS. JULIUS AND AARON, MARTYRS THESE were Britons who are said to have glorified God by martyrdom at Caerleon in Monmouthshire
THESE were Britons who are said to have glorified God by martyrdom at Caerleon in Monmouthshire in the persecution of Diocletian. St Gildas speaks of their triumph as having been most illustrious, and the Venerable Bede adds, "Very many others of both sexes by unheard-of tortures attained to the crown of heavenly glory" in Britain at that time, but only the names of these and of Alban have come down to us.
However, some doubt attaches to this alleged martyrdom: St Julian's farm near Caerleon, once the home of Edward, Lord Herbert of Chirbury, is said to be really St Julius's, and there are other local evidences of medieval cultus.
See Haddan and Stubbs, Concilia, vol. i, p. 6; LBS., vol. i, pp. 101-103 ; A. W. WadeEvan's edition of Nennius (1938), p. 131; and W. Coxe, Historical Tour through Monmouthshire, pp. 103-104 (1904 ed.).
Bede here seemingly is only quoting Gildas, and there is reason for thinking that Diocletian's edicts of persecution were not carried out in Britain. The feast of SS. Julius and Aaron is observed in the archdiocese of Cardiff on this date.
400 ST HELIODORUS, BISHOP OF ALTINO met St Jerome at Aquileia 372 and became his disciple
HELIODORUS, who had been a soldier, met St Jerome at Aquileia about the year 372 and became his disciple. He went with Jerome and others to the East, but refused to accompany him into retirement in the desert, going back home in answer to the call of duties there instead. Heliodorus was in consequence sharply rebuked by St Jerome in a celebrated letter that was greatly treasured by the early ascetics as a manifesto of their principles.
Soon after his return to Aquileia Heliodorus was named bishop of his native Altino, and the choice proved an excellent one; when his nephew Nepotian was ordained priest, St Jerome-who never lost his affection for the friend he felt had deserted him-wrote telling him to take his uncle Heliodorus as a model of a Christian pastor. St Heliodorus joined with St Chromatius of Aquileia in giving Jerome great encouragement and practical assistance with money and goods in his work of translating the Bible into Latin, help which he acknowledged gratefully in the preface to the books of Solomon.
See the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. i, though the short Latin biography there printed is of little value. The letters of St Jerome remain our chief authority, and cf. DCB., vol. ii, pp. 887-888.
430 Saint Alexander, Founder of the Monastery of the "Unsleeping Ones," built a church for the city-dwellers, and a home for the sick and homeless with the money that charitable Antiochians 50 years of incessant monastic effort
Born in Asia and received his education at Constantinople. He spent some time in military service but, sensing a call to other service, he left the world and accepted monastic tonsure in one of the Syrian wilderness monasteries near Antioch, under the guidance of igumen Elias. He spent four years in strict obedience and monastic effort, after which he received from the igumen blessing to dwell in the desert. Going into the wilderness, the monk took with him nothing from the monastery, except the Gospel. The monk then struggled in the desert for seven years. Afterwards, the Lord summoned him to preach to pagans.

The saint converted to Christ the local city ruler named Rabul, who afterwards was consecrated a bishop and for 30 years occupied the bishop's cathedra of the city of Edessa. Together with Rabul all the local inhabitants accepted Baptism, and before receiving the sacrament they burned their idols in the city square. Having confirmed the newly-converted in the Faith, St Alexander again went into the desert, where by chance he came upon a cave of robbers. Unafraid of the danger that threatened him, he preached the Gospel to them and urged them to repent. In fact, all the robbers did repent. They accepted holy Baptism, and they transformed their cave into a monastery, where they dwelt in prayer and penitence. St Alexander appointed an igumen for them, gave them a monastic rule, and he himself resettled still farther in the desert.

For several years he lived in complete solitude. But even there lovers of solitude began to flock to the monk. A monastery emerged, numbering 400 monks. Desiring at this monastery to establish uninterrupted praise to the Lord, the monk prayed for three years, that the Creator would reveal to him His will, and having then received the revelation, he initiated at the monastery the following order: all the monks were divided into 24 watches of prayer. Changing shifts each hour, day and night they sang in two choirs the Psalms of David, interrupting this only for the times of the divine services. The monastery received the name " the Unsleeping Ones," because the monks sang praise to God throughout the day and night.

St Alexander guided the monastery on the Euphrates for twelve years. Afterwards, leaving one of his disciples, the experienced Elder Trophimus as its igumen, he set out with some chosen brethren through the cities bordering on Persia, preaching the Gospel among the pagans. After this missionary journeying, St Alexander lived with his monks for a certain while at Antioch. There he built a church for the city-dwellers, and a home for the sick and homeless with the money that charitable Antiochians put at his disposal. However, through the intrigues of the jealous, St Alexander was compelled to move to Constantinople.

Here he founded a new monastery, in which he also initiated a monastic rule of "unceasing vigilance." St Alexander and his monks suffered at Constantinople under the Nestorian heretics, enduring beatings and imprisonment. After this, when the storm of unrest abated, St Alexander spent the last days of his life at the Constantinople monastery he founded. He died in extreme old age in about the year 430, after 50 years of incessant monastic effort. He is also commemorated on February 23.
458 St. Anatolius Patriarch and defender of the faith, known for his opposition to the heretic Dioscurus at the Council of Chalcedon. The patriarch of Constantinople, he is called a prophet and a miracle worker, despite the political turmoil that surrounded him. Anatolius also fought the Nestorian heresy at the Council of Ephesus
Laodicéæ, in Syria, sancti Anatólii Epíscopi, qui non solum religiósis viris, sed et philósophis admiránda scripta relíquit.
    At Laodicea in Syria, St. Anatolius, a bishop whose writings were admired not only by religious men, but by philosophers..

ST ANATOLIUS, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE (A.D. 458)
WHEN St Flavian died as the result of the ill-treatment he had received at the Robber Council of Ephesus, Anatolius was appointed to succeed him in the see of Constantinople and was consecrated by Dioscorus of Alexandria, who was a monophysite. He was a native of Alexandria and had distinguished himself at the Council of Ephesus in his opposition to Nestorianism. Almost at once Anatolius held a synod at Constantinople, at which he formally accepted Pope St Leo's dogmatic letter ("The Tome") sent to St Flavian, and he sent copies of the letter, together with a condemnation of Nestorius and Eutyches, to be signed by all his metropolitans. This done, he informed the pope of his action, protested his orthodoxy, and asked to be recognized as Flavian's legitimate successor. To this Leo agreed, but expressly "rather in mercy than in justice", because of his association with and acceptance of consecration from a heretic, Dioscorus. In the following year, at the great Council of Chalcedon, which defined the Catholic faith as against Monophysism and Nestorianism and recognized in unequivocal terms the authority of the Holy See, Anatolius took a prominent part; he occupied the first place after the papal legates and earnestly seconded their efforts on behalf of the true faith of the Church. It is disappointing to find that at the fifteenth session, from which the pope's legates were absent, Anatolius with the Eastern bishops. decreed that the see of Constantinople was second only to that of Old Rome, in defiance of the historical rights of the reputedly apostolic sees of Alexandria and Antioch. St Leo refused to accept this twenty-eighth canon and wrote to Anatolius that "a Catholic, especially if he be a priest of the Lord, should not be corrupted by ambition any more than involved in error".
It is unfortunate that nothing is known of the private life of Anatolius, for his public career is rather equivocal for one who is acclaimed as a saint. Indeed, Baronius condemned him outright for the way he received his see, for ambition, for conniving at heresy, and on other grounds; the Bollandists, on the other hand, acquit him of these charges, and Catholics of the Byzantine rite have always kept his feast on July 3, the day of his death in 458.
The very laudatory Greek life printed from a Paris manuscript by the Bollandists seems to be of no great authority, but there is abundant material in other more general sources. See Hergenröther’s Photius, vol. i, pp. 66 seq., DHG., vol. ii, cc. 1497-1500, and works dealing with the period.
When he was seriously ill, St. Daniel the Stylite restored him to health. Anatolius' death has long been viewed as a possible murder by local heretics.
Saint Anatolius, Patriarch of Constantinople, was born at Alexandria in the second half of the fourth century, at a time when many representatives of illustrious Byzantine families ardently strove to serve the Church of Christ armed with Greek philosophic wisdom. Having studied philosophy, St Anatolius was ordained a deacon by St Cyril of Alexandria (January 18). Anatolius was present at the Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus in the year 431 (September 9), at which the holy Fathers condemned the false teaching of Nestorius.

St Anatolius remained a deacon at Alexandria and after the death of St Cyril (+ 444), when the See of Constantinople was occupied by Dioscorus, a supporter of the heresy being spread by Eutyches, which said that the Divine nature in Christ had fully swallowed up and absorbed His human nature. This false teaching undermined the very basis of the Church's teaching about the salvation and redemption of humankind [trans. note: Since "what is not assumed is not saved", if Christ has only a Divine nature and not a human nature, then the salvation of humankind, and even the Incarnation of Christ would be rendered heretically docetic]. In the year 449 Dioscorus and his followers convened a heretical "Robber Council" at Ephesus, having received also the support of the emperor. The great advocate of Orthodoxy, St Flavian, the Patriarch of Constantinople, was deposed.

Elected to the See of Constantinople, St Anatolius zealously set about restoring the purity of Orthodoxy. In 450, at a local Council in Constantinople, St Anatolius condemned the heresy of Eutyches and Dioscorus. Having died in exile, the confessor Flavian was numbered among the saints and his relics were transferred to the capital.

In the following year, 451, with the active participation of Patriarch Anatolius, the Fourth Ecumenical Council was convened at Chalcedon. The Fathers of the Chalcedon Council affirmed the dogma about the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ, "perfect in divinity and perfect in humanity, true God and true man, made known in two natures without mingling, without change, indivisibly, inseparably" (Greek: "asynkhutos, atreptos, adiairetos, akhoristos").
After a life of constant struggle against heresy and for truth, Patriarch Anatolius died in the year 458.
Among the canons enacted was the 28th Canon of the Fourth Ecumenical Council stating that the See of Constantinople is equal to the throne of Old Rome. The churches of Asia Minor, Greece and the Black Sea region, and all new churches that might arise in these regions were placed under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople, in accord with the 28th Canon.
   St Anatolius also made a large contribution to the literary treasury of the Orthodox Church. He composed liturgical hymns for Sundays, for certain Feasts of the Lord (the Nativity and the Theophany of Christ), for the martyrs ( St Panteleimon the Healer, St George the Victory-Bearer, St Demetrius of Thessalonica). In service books designated simply as "Anatolian" verses .
5th v.  St. Byblig Welsh holy man, also called Biblig, Pebliq, Pibliq, and Publicus. He is associated with Caenarvon, Wales.
500 St. Gunthiern Welsh prince who became a hermit in Brittany, France.
St. Bladus One of the early bishops of the Isle of Man off the Scottish coast.

St. Maelmuire O' Gorman Abbot of Knock, Ireland. He is revered as an Irish poet.
683 SAINT LEO II Pope he accomplished good works which have caused his name to be blessed by all succeeding generations
Romæ natális sancti Leónis Secúndi, Papæ et Confessóris, qui primo sui Pontificátus anno, plenus méritis, migrávit in cælum.
At Rome, the birthday of Pope St. Leo II, confessor, who passed to heaven filled with merits during the first year of his pontificate.
  "Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you shall receive it, and it shall come to you. St. Mark 11:24"
683 ST LEO II, POPE
HIS Leo was a Sicilian by birth and was elected to succeed Pope St Agatho early in 681. His short pontificate is chiefly remembered for his confirmation of the acts of the sixth oecumenical council, which had condemned
the heresy of Monothelism and anathematized the memory of Pope Honorius I for having "'hedged" and not denounced this heresy outright when he ought to have done. Leo translated the relics of many martyrs from the catacombs to a chapel he built to receive them, and another church that he built was identified by Mgr Duchesne with St George in Velabro, the titular church of Cardinal Newman. The Liber Pontificalis speaks of this pope's zeal as a teacher and preacher and of his concern for the needy; he was eloquent, and skilled in music, and the same authority thinks it worth while to mention that he was as proficient in Greek as in Latin-which is only to be expected in a seventh-century Sicilian. The feast of St Leo II was observed on June 28 until 1921. In a Motu Proprio of John XXIII dated July 25, 1960, this feast was. dropped from the Roman Calendar.
Almost all that we know of Pope St Leo II is derived from the Liber Pontificalis (ed. Duchesne, vol. i, pp. 359-362). There is an excellent article on this pope in DTC., vol. ix, cc. 301-304. See also Mann, Lives of the Popes, vol. ii, pp. 49-52.

THIS Leo was a Sicilian by birth and was elected to succeed Pope St Agatho early in 681. His short pontificate is chiefly remembered for his confirmation of the acts of the sixth oecumenical council, which had condemned the heresy of Monothelism and anathematized the memory of Pope Honorius I for having "'hedged" and not denounced this heresy outright when he ought to have done. Leo translated the relics of many martyrs from the catacombs to a chapel he built to receive them, and another church that he built was identified by Mgr Duchesne with St George in Velabro, the titular church of Cardinal Newman. The Liber Pontificalis speaks of this pope's zeal as a teacher and preacher and of his concern for the needy; he was eloquent, and skilled in music, and the same authority thinks it worth while to mention that he was as proficient in Greek as in Latin-which is only to be expected in a seventh-century Sicilian. The feast of St Leo II was observed on June 28 until 1921. In a Motu Proprio of John XXIII dated July 25, 1960, this feast was dropped from the Roman Calendar.
Almost all that we know of Pope St Leo II is derived from the Liber Pontificalis (ed. Duchesne, vol. i, pp, 359-362). There is an excellent article on this pope in DTC., vol. ix, cc. 301-304. See also Mann, Lives of the Popes, vol. ii, pp. 49-52.
The pontificate of this great Pope was very brief but very fruitful, since in the ten months of his reign he accomplished good works which have caused his name to be blessed by all succeeding generations. Born in the seventh century in Sicily, he had been a Canon Regular, that is, an ecclesiastical dignitary who resided in his bishop’s palace, was charged with recitation of the Office in the cathedral, and was relied upon to serve as the auxiliary of the Ordinary. Saint Leo was a devout student of Holy Scripture, and was well versed in the Greek as well as the Latin language.

In his day grave difficulties frequently arose between the Holy See and the emperors of Constantinople, whose representatives at Ravenna tried to control the bishops of that see; the latter had been striving to become autonomous. Saint Leo published a decree ordering that in the future no bishop of Ravenna could enter into function before being consecrated for that office at Rome, by the Roman Pontiff.

He built three churches in Rome, to honor Saint Paul the Apostle, Saint Sebastian, and Saint George. Saint Leo was highly gifted in the domain of music, and he renovated the Gregorian literature or library, then in a state of confusion; he also composed new hymns, still conserved by the Church. He took special care of widows and orphans and the poor in general, relieving their sufferings with a truly apostolic charity.

Saint Leo confirmed the Acts of the Sixth Ecumenical Council which his predecessor had convoked at Constantinople against the Monothelite heresy, and translated its acts into Latin for the benefit of the Occidentals. When he died in July of 683, his death was deeply regretted by all the faithful. He was interred according to established custom in the church of Saint Peter. He is ordinarily pictured embracing a beggar or holding a book of music. Source: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 7
.
683 Pope St. Leo II  Pope (682-83), date of birth unknown; d. 28 June, 683.
He was a Sicilian, and son of one Paul. Though elected pope a few days after the death of St. Agatho (10 January, 681), he was not consecrated till after the lapse of a year and seven months (17 Aug., 682). Under Leo's predecessor St. Agatho, negotiations had been opened between the Holy See and Emperor Constantine Pogonatus concerning the relations of the Byzantine Court to papal elections. Constantine had already promised Agatho to abolish or reduce the tax which for about a century the popes had had to pay to the imperial treasury on the occasion of their consecration, and under Leo's successor he made other changes in what had hitherto been required of the Roman Church at the time of a papal election. In all probability, therefore, it was continued correspondence on this matter which caused the delay of the imperial confirmation of Leo's election, and hence the long postponement of his consecration.
   The most important act accomplished by Leo in his short pontificate was his confirmation of the acts of the Sixth Oecumenical Council (680-1). This council had been held in Constantinople against the Monothelites, and had been presided over by the legates of Pope Agatho. After Leo had notified the emperor that the decrees of the council had been confirmed by him, he proceeded to make them known to the nations of the West. The letters which he sent for this end to the king and to the bishops and nobles of Spain have come down to us. In them he explained what the council had effected, and he called upon the bishops to subscribe to its decrees. At the same time he was at pains to make it clear that in condemning his predecessor Honorius I, he did so, not because he taught heresy, but because he was not active enough in opposing it. In accordance with the papal mandate, a synod was held at Toledo (684) in which the Council of Constantinople was accepted.
During this council, Pope Honorius I was anathematised for his views in the Monothelite controversy as a favourer of heresy. However, Leo took great pains to make it clear that in condemning Honorius, he did so not because Honorius taught heresy, but because he was not active enough in opposing it. In accordance with the papal mandate, a synod was held at Toledo (684) in which the Council of Constantinople was accepted.
Regarding the decision of the council, Leo wrote once and again in approbation of the decision of the council and in condemnation of Honorius, whom he regarded as one who profana proditione immaculatem fidem subvertare conatus est (roughly, "one who 'by betrayal has tried to overthrow the immaculate faith'"). In their bearing upon the question of papal infallibility these words have caused considerable attention and controversy, and prominence is given to the circumstance that in the Greek text of the letter to the emperor which the phrase occurs, the milder expression subverti permisit ("allowed to be overthrown...") is used for subvertare conatus est.
At this time Leo put an end to the attempts of the Ravenna archbishops to get away from the control of the Bishop of Rome. Emperor Constantine revoked the decree of his father Constans in favour of Ravenna. The pope sweetened the deal for the Ravenna bishops by abolishing the tax it had been customary for them to pay when they received the pallium.
Also, in apparent response to Lombard raids, Leo transferred the relics of a number of martyrs from the catacombs to churches inside the walls of the city. He also dedicated two churches, St. Paul's and Sts. Sebastian and George.
The fact that Ravenna had long been the residence of the emperors or of their representatives, the exarchs, had awakened the ambition of its archbishops. They aspired to the privileges of patriarchs and desired to be autocephalous, i.e. free from the direct jurisdiction of the pope, considered as their primate. As they could not succeed in inducing the popes to agree to their wishes, they attempted to secure their accomplishment by an imperial decree recognizing them as autocephalous. But this did not prove sufficient to enable the archbishops to effect their purpose, and Leo obtained from Constantine Pogonatus the revocation of the edict of Constans. On his side, however, Leo abolished the tax which the archbishops had been accustomed to pay when they received the pallium. And though he insisted that the archbishops-elect must come to Rome to be consecrated, he consented to the arrangement that they should not be obliged to remain in Rome more than eight days at the time of their consecration, and that, while they were not to be bound to come again to Rome themselves in order to offer their homage to the pope, they were each year to send a delegate to do so in their name. Perhaps because he feared that the Lombards might again ravage the catacombs, Leo transferred thence many of the relics of the martyrs into a church which he built to receive them. This pope, who is called by his contemporary biographer both just and learned, is commemorated as a saint in the Roman Martyrology on 28 June.

[Note: The feast of Saint Leo II was formerly observed on 3 July with the rank of a semi-double.]
 8th v. St. Guthagon An Irish hermit who took residence in Belgium.
752 St. Cillene An abbot of lona, Scotland. He was Irish and became abbot around 726.
775 ST RUMOLD, OR ROMBAUT MARTYR
IT is the view of the Bollandists that, if this Rumold came from the west at all, it was from England: but he is commonly credited to Ireland, where his feast is kept on this date. There is nothing known of him before the twelfth century, and most of it has no historical value. According to Abbot Theodoric he had faithfully served God for many years as a monk in his own country, when zeal for the salvation of souls induced him to preach the faith to the idolaters. He made a journey first to Rome, to receive his mission from the chief pastor, who consecrated him bishop, and with the apostolic blessing went into Brabant, a great part of which country about Malines he converted. He had a great desire to give his blood for Christ, an offering which was accepted, for having rebuked two men for the wickedness of their lives, they slew him and cast his body into the river. It was miraculously recovered and a great church built around his shrine, whereat many miracles were recorded. This church was dedicated in his honour and is now the cathedral of the city.
The life of St Rumold, by Theodoric of Saint-Trond, is printed in the Acta Sanctorum under July 1. His commemoration in the Roman Martyrology occurs on June 24 where he is described as “Bishop of Dublin and martyr" as well as "son of a king of the Scots" (i.e. Irish). The most thorough discussion of this mythical story is to be found in the work of Canon J. Laenen, Histoire de l’Église metropolitaine de S. Rombaut (1919-20), and cf. Analecta Bollandiana, vol. liv (1936), pp. 12, 17.
1295 Saint Basil, Bishop of Ryazan and Murom
His memory is celebrated by the Church on June 10 and July 3 (the day of his death in 1295). On June 10, 1609 the holy relics of Bishop Basil at Ryazan were uncovered and transferred to the Dormition cathedral church.
St Basil I, Wonderworker of Ryazan, is mentioned in the Lavrentian Chronicles. In the ancient list of Ryazan hierarchs, he is mentioned as the fourth. (Basil II was consecrated as bishop in 1356 by St Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow,). An older tradition connects with St Basil the transfer to Ryazan of the wonderworking Murom Icon of the Mother of God (April 12). St Basil was at first bishop of Murom. But by the slander of the spirit of evil, the citizens rose up against him, unjustly accusing him of transgressions unbecoming an archpastor. Then the saint, after prolonged prayer, left for the River Oka, and spreading out on the water his bishop's mantiya he stood upon it, holding in his hands the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos of Murom. A strong wind carried him against the current and after several hours he reached Ryazan, where he was received with reverence by the prince and people of Ryazan.
Even during his lifetime St Basil was regarded a righteous and pious man. Long before his relics were uncovered at the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Ryazan people cherished his memory and called him "their constant intercessor, helper in sorrows and travail." To him most often they turned before setting out on journeys: seeking his help against problems on dry land, and to protect them from drowning in the water.
In about the year 1540 the monk Erazm Ermolaev wrote "An Account of Basil, Bishop of Ryazan and Murom".
1068 Saint George the God-bearer and Recluse labored in the Black Mountains near Antioch during a time when the churches and monasteries there flourished.
Orthodox Christians from many parts of the world came to settle there, and as a result, tensions often arose between monks of different nationalities. In order to remain detached from the conflicts, Fr. George found refuge in an impregnable cleft of a very high mountain. For this reason he is also called St. George the Recluse.

Nevertheless, the monks of the Black Mountains were well aware of the pious life led by George the Recluse. Venerable George of the Holy Mountain journeyed to the Black Mountains in search of a spiritual guide and, after praying in each and every monastery, finally asked St. George the Recluse, “a man innocent as a dove,” to fill this role.

George the Recluse received the young ascetic and found a home for him in the monastery. His disciple remained with him for three years, leading the strictest ascetic life, until finally George the Recluse clothed him with the schema and “perfected him in the monastic life.”
Then, after sending him on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, he blessed George to resettle at the Iveron Monastery on Mt. Athos and to continue the holy work of St. Ekvtime of Mt. Athos.
George returned to the Holy Mountain but, instead of translating books as his spiritual father had advised him, he performed other obediences for seven years. When St. George the Recluse heard this, he sent his disciple Theodore to Mt. Athos to rebuke him and remind him that he was sent there to translate theological texts from the Greek to the Georgian language. This time George of the Holy Mountain humbly obeyed the will of his teacher.
When he was not with George of the Holy Mountain, St. George the Recluse confined himself to strict solitude and, like his spiritual son, dedicated much of his time to literary pursuits. He was closely acquainted with the writers of Iveron and other Georgian monasteries, and he encouraged his spiritual son to continue his labor of translating Orthodox theological literature.
St. George the Recluse copied Davit Mtbevari’s translations of the Life of Martha (the mother of Simeon of the Wonderful Mountain) and the Life of St. Barlaam (of the Syro-Caucasus). When George heard that no copies of these Lives existed on Mt. Athos, he transcribed the texts and sent them to the Athonites.
St. George the God-bearer and Recluse reposed in 1068, after death of his venerable disciple St. George of the Holy Mountain.
1249 The holy Princes Basil and Constantine Vsevolodovich of Yaroslav suffered without complaint like a true Christian concerned himself with the unfortunate among his subjects, and built churches 1501 the incorrupt relics of the holy princes were uncovered and now rest in the Yaroslav cathedral.
In their youth they lost their father, Vsevolod, who fell in battle with the Tatars (Mongols). St Basil, the elder brother, succeeded to the throne. As prince, he had to face a multitude of concerns, tasks and sorrows. The city and the villages were devastated from the invasion of the Tatars, many households remained without shelter and food, and he had to concern himself about everything and about everyone. Besides this, it was necessary to gain the good will of the Tatar Khan, and the holy prince more than once journeyed for this reason to the Horde. He suffered also a family misfortune, the loss of his only son.
All his tribulations the holy prince suffered without complaint, and he ruled the princedom, like a true Christian. He did not enter into disputes with other princes, he concerned himself with the unfortunate among his subjects, and he built churches. But soon his life, filled with many sorrows, exhausted the strength of the prince, and he took sick and died in the year 1249.
After him holy Prince Constantine succeeded to the throne. He strove to imitate his brother, but to his great dismay, everywhere he saw pillage and murdering done by the Tatars. In 1257 the Tatars fell upon Yaroslavl itself. The prince came out to fight the enemy, but here in this battle he gave up his life for his country. In the year 1501 the incorrupt relics of the holy princes were uncovered and now rest in the Yaroslav cathedral.
1316 Bl. Raymond Lull Mystic, philosopher, and Doctor Illuminatus “Enlightened Doctor,” a vision of Christ crucified a profound mystic and is considered a predecessor of Sts. Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross
Also called Ramon Llull or Lullus. A native born 1232 of Majorca, Spain, he received a post in the court of King James I of Aragon and was wed and had two children. At about the age of thirty, he underwent a personal conversion through a vision of Christ crucified, and he joined the Third Order of St. Francis. Convinced that his mission was to convert the Muslims, he Studied Arabic and Islamic philosophy and journeyed to North Africa and Asia Minor. However, he failed to win the support of the Holy See and the crowns of Christendom. Nevertheless, to further his knowledge and to gather the approval of the Church and kingdoms, he traveled extensively to Italy, France, Germany, and England and studied ceaselessly.
A luminous writer, his chief work was Ars Magna “the Great Art,” comprising the treatises Liber de Ascensu de Descensu Intellectus “The Book of the Ascent and Descent of the Intellect,” and Arber Scientiae “The Tree of Knowledge.” While he had received little training in Scholastic theology, he proved a brilliant theologian While demonstrating a genius in such other fields as alchemy, chemistry, poetry, and philosophy. Raymond was also a profound mystic and is considered a predecessor of Sts. Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross. There is a generally unsupported tradition that Raymond was stoned to death by Muslims in North Africa.

1589 Blessed John, Fool-for-Christ, Wonderworker of Moscow foretold great misfortunes for Russia, the Time of Troubles and the incursion of the Poles gift of healing
Born on the outskirts of Vologda. In his youth he toiled at a saltworks, where he was a water-carrier. The saint combined strict fasting and prayer with his heavy work. Later he moved on to Rostov, where he began his exploit of holy foolishness for the sake of Christ. He wore chains with heavy iron crosses, and on his head was a heavy iron cap, for which they called him "John Big-Cap". In Moscow he went barefoot and almost naked in even the most severe frost, and he foretold the great misfortunes for Russia, the Time of Troubles and the incursion of the Poles, saying that "in Moscow will be many visible and invisible devils."
He fearlessly spoke the truth to everyone, regardless of the position they might occupy. Even to the Tsar himself, Boris Godunov, he often said : "A clever mind, you ask God's doing. God long waits, painfully indeed it breaks". Before death St John indicated for himself a grave at the Pokrov church on Rva, afterwards called the cathedral of Basil the Great. Having prepared himself for the grave, he removed the chains and showered himself with water three times. Before his death (+ 1589) the blessed one displayed the gift of healing. He was venerated at Moscow as a great wonderworker and seer. On June 12, 1672 his relics were uncovered, resting beneath a crypt in one of the chapels of the cathedral of Basil the Great. The Service and Life were preserved in manuscripts of the seventeenth century.

1591 Transfer of the Relics of Saint Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow and Wonderworker of All Russia
After the martyric death of St Philip (January 9), his body was buried at the Otrocha monastery, in Tver. The monks of the Solovki monastery, where he was formerly igumen, in 1591 requested permission for the transfer of his relics to their monastery. The much-suffering and incorrupt body was placed in a grave, prepared by St Philip for himself while still alive, beneath the portico of a temple of Sts Zosima and Sabbatius of Solovki, nearby the grave of the Elder Jonah (Shamin), his beloved guide in monastic deeds.
On April 29, 1649 a grammota by Patriarch Joseph was sent to Elias, the igumen of the Solovki monastery, concerning the solemn uncovering of the relics of St Philip. On May 31 the relics were transferred into a new reliquary and placed in the Transfiguration cathedral.
In 1652 Nikon, then Metropolitan of Novgorod, proposed that the relics of the three martyred hierarchs: Metropolitan Philip, and Patriarchs Job and Hermogenes be transferred to Moscow. With the blessing of Patriarch Joseph, Metropolitan Nikon set off in 1652 to Solovki for the relics of St Philip and solemnly conveyed them to Moscow. Into the hand of the saint was put a document of repentance by Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich, in which he asked the forgiveness of sins of his great-grandfather Ivan the Terrible, "transgressing" his own power afront the power of the Church. On July 3 the holy relics were met in Moscow: "a pastor, innocent and cast out, was returned to his own throne." In the Dormition cathedral, "he stood in his own place for 10 days." All day, from morning until night, the bells rang as if it were Pascha. Afterwards the holy relics were placed in the Dormition Cathedral at the south door of the altar.  At the place where the relics of St Philip were met in Moscow by clergy and people, a cross was set up, which gave its name to the Cross Tollgate in Moscow (at the Rizhsk rail-station).

1616 ST BERNARDINO REALINO entered the Society of Jesus at 34; self-sacrificing zeal and apostolical fervour had long before earned the veneration of the people, who recognized him as a saint;
BERNARDINO was born at Carpi, near Modena, in 1530 and had a somewhat lively youth, softening the rigour of successful studies by excursions into humanist literature. After having been engaged in the profession of the law, he entered the Society of Jesus when he was thirty-four years old. He was admitted at Naples by Father Alphonso Salmeron, one of the first companions of St Ignatius. Father Realino worked for ten years at Naples, preaching, catechizing, devoted to the sick, the poor and the inmates of prisons; he was then transferred to the college at Lecce in Apulia, of which he became rector and where he died at the age of eighty-six. His self-sacrificing zeal and apostolical fervour had long before earned the veneration of the people, who recognized him as a saint, and a spontaneous cultus sprang up which helped to provide evidence for some of the remarkable occurrences which were testified to on oath in the process of beatification.
Six years before his death St Bernardino had a bad fall resulting in two wounds which would not heal; during his last illness the blood discharged from these was collected and kept in phials on account of the great veneration in which he was held. This blood behaved in various extraordinary ways: in some vessels it kept liquid for over a century, in others it even foamed and appeared to increase in volume; in one, according to witnesses at the process, it "boiled" and frothed on the anniversary of Bernardino's death and when it was brought near a reliquary containing his tongue. In 1634 his tomb was opened by the ecclesiastical authorities and a good deal of fleshy tissue was found unimpaired; this was separated from the bones and put in two glass receptacles which were reburied in the same coffin as the skeleton. Seventy-eight years later (ninety-five after his death), in 1711, the contents of the coffin were inspected by the bishop of Lecce, before witnesses, to enable him to verify the relics. One of the glass vessels was found to be broken, but in the other the tissues were in an apparently unaltered state but floating in an inch and a half of dark red liquid; this was carefully examined by physicians and pronounced to be human blood, giving off a sweet smell; moreover, they stated that its preservation and smell under such conditions was miraculous-but there they exceeded their competence. Just over two years later a commission of three bishops, appointed by the Congregation of Sacred Rites to investigate the matter, took the evidence of the witnesses of 1711 and examined the blood: it was then liquid, crimson, and foaming into tiny bubbles. Don Gaetano Solazzo who had charge of a phial of the blood (probably that of 1616) in the cathedral of Leece in 1804 left a statement to the effect that it was liquid, had twice foamed and bubbled, and was regarded by all as miraculous; some nuns saw it do the same thing, and a Jesuit father stated in a sworn deposition that he had personally witnessed the like twice during the year 1852.
It has seemed worth while to give these details, which may not have anything whatever to do with the holiness of St Bernardino Realino, because they are a well authenticated example of such prodigies, which raise an interest and excitement out of all proportion to their importance or significance. In 1895, however, St Bernardino's biographer could find no relic of the blood preserved in a liquid state. At the same time it may be pointed out that, just as the mortal flesh of many saints, known to have been preserved supple, incorrupt and almost life-like for long years after their decease, eventually hardens, blackens and crumbles away, so it seems only reasonable to expect that any similar immunity from putrefaction in the case of the blood, if such immunity be really granted in some instances, should only be temporary in its character.
See the biographies in Italian by E. Venturi (1895) and G. Germier (1943); Lettere spirituali inedite…(1854), ed. G. Boero; and for the “blood miracles", Father Thurston in The Month, January-March, 1927. An English biography by Fr F. Sweeney appeared in 1951. The canonization took place in 1947. 
1640 Saint Nicodemus of Kozhe Lake God also granted him clairvoyance and the power to heal the sick
(in the world Nikita) was born in the village of Ivankovo near Rostov into a peasant family. When he was still a young man working with his father in the fields, he heard someone call, "Nicodemus! Nicodemus!" indicating his future monastic state.
After the death of his parents he learned the trade of blacksmith in Yaroslavl and then went to Moscow. One time, going past Kulishka, Nikita stopped at the hut of the holy fool Elias, who upon seeing him cried out: "the Khuzyugsk ascetic has arrived." These words made a strong impression upon Nikita, and he perceived them as a call to the monastic life.

After giving away everything he owned, he went to Archimandrite Paphnutius of the Chudov (Miracle of the Archangel Michael) monastery, asking to be accepted as one of the brethren.  In this monastery he was tonsured with the name Nicodemus. For eleven years St Nicodemus was an example to the brethren in humility, obedience, non-covetousness and brotherly love. In 1602 the igumen of the monastery, Paphnutius, was made Metropolitan of Sarsk, and he took Nicodemus with him. But the saint wanted a solitary and ascetic life. A year afterwards, with the Metropolitan's blessing, he traveled to the north and at first entered the cenobitic Kozhe Lake monastery, in which he spent a year and a half.
His desire for solitude led him to the Rivulet Khuzyuga, five versts from the Kozhe Lake monastery. There in a forest thicket he built a small cell and lived in it without emerging for thirty-five years, in imitation of St Paul of Thebes (January 15).

St Nicodemus fulfilled his Rule of prayer for the world in total quiet, far from the world. He shared with the brethren of the monastery the fruits of his labor, also the fish, which he loved to catch. Wild deer walked around his hermitage without fear. St Nicodemus spent the night in prayer, and only occasionally did he permit himself to sleep while sitting up.  Through his austere efforts he attained a high degree of spiritual perfection, acquiring the gift of tears and of unceasing prayer. God also granted him clairvoyance and the power to heal the sick.
Once two radiant men appeared to St Nicodemus: St Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow (February 12), and St Dionysius, Archimandrite of the Holy Trinity Sergiev Lavra (May 12), in angelic (monastic) garb. They told him that he would depart to the Lord in forty days, on July 3, 1640. The relics of St Nicodemus rest beneath a crypt in the Theophany church of the Kozhe Lake monastery. The Life of the saint was written by his disciple, the hieromonk James.

1838 St. Joseph Peter Uyen Dominican tertiary, martyr of Vietnam native catechist he died of abuse in prison for refusing to give up the faith and was canonized in 1988 by Pope John Paul II.
1853 St. Philip Minh Vietnamese martyr native he joined the Society for Foreign Missions of Paris and was ordained a priest with the purpose of working for the Church in Vietnam. Seized by anti-Catholic forces, he was beheaded. He was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1988. 


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 54

O Lady, save me in thy name: and deliver me from my injustices.

That the craft of the enemy may not hurt me: hide me under the shadow of thy wings.

O my Lady, help me ! bestow thy grace upon my soul !

Willingly I will offer thee a sacrifice of praise: and I will give praise to thy name, for it is good.

For thou shalt deliver me from all tribulation: and my eye shall despise mine enemies.

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

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

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

Patron_Saints.html  Widowed_Saints htmIndulgences The Catholic Church in China
LINKS: Marian Shrines  
India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes 1858  China Marian shrines 1995
Kenya national Marian shrine  Loreto, Italy  Marian Apparitions (over 2000Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798
 
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Widowed Saints  html
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The great psalm of the Passion, Chapter 22, whose first verse “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Jesus pronounced on the cross, ended with the vision: “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations shall worship before him
For kingship belongs to the LORD, the ruler over the nations. All who sleep in the earth will bow low before God; All who have gone down into the dust will kneel in homage. And I will live for the LORD; my descendants will serve you. The generation to come will be told of the Lord, that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn the deliverance you have brought.
Pope Benedict XVI to The Catholic Church In China {whole article here} 2000 years of the Catholic Church in China
The saints “a cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

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


God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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