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
23,000  Lives Saved Since 2007

St. Veronica Giuliani, Virgin (Feast)
July10

CAUSES OF SAINTS

The saints are a “cloud of witnesses over our head”,
showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.


        Konevits Icon of the Mother of God
The holy icon was glorified by many miracles.


Our Bartholomew Family Prayer List
Joyful Mystery on Monday Saturday   Glorius Mystery on Sunday Wednesday
   Sorrowful Mystery 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

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

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. Veronica Giuliani, Virgin (Feast)

THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST  
 165 Saint Alexander martyrdom of the seven holy brothers, sons of the saintly martyr Felicitas
311-324 45 Martyrs of Nicopolis Armenian City martyrs sang Psalms at midnight, Lord's angel appeared & prison blazed with light declared to the martyrs their contest was near its end,
 680 Saint Pascharius A bishop of Nantes, France, and founder of the abbey of Andre
772 Saint Amelberga Benedictine nun Munsterbilsen, Flanders, Belgium; St Willibrord gave her the veil
1073  Saint Anthony Pechersky Ukrainian hermit on Mt. Athos in Greece returned to Ukraine built a hermitage in Kiev became the "Caves of Kiev" first Ukrainian monastery founded by Urainians;
1625 Robe of Our Lord Jesus Christ The Placing of the Precious at Moscow
1727 St. Veronica Giuliani desire to be like Christ crucified answered with the stigmata joined  Poor Clares directed by Capuchins; abbess, an office she held for 11 years until her death

1713-1784 Blessed Junipero Serra 
1840 Saint Peter Tu Vietnamese martyr who became a catechist arrested by authorities. He was beheaded.
1860 Bl. Emmanuel Ruiz Franciscan Spanish Martyr with 11 companions in Lebanon
1860 Martyrs of Damascus 8 Franciscan and 3 Maronite martyrs slain in a Druse uprising in 1860 in Damascus, Syria refused to accept the Muslim faith, they were executed


The Virgin of the Rosary (II) July 10 - Our Lady of the Star (Italy, 1491)
Our Lady of Chiquinquirá patroness of Colombia
     On Friday December 26, 1586, the faded, damaged picture was strangely restored. It now looked brand new. The healing of the image continued as small tears in the canvas self-sealed. It still has traces of its former damage, and the figures seem brighter from a distance than up close. For another 300 years the painting hung unprotected. Thousands of objects were touched against the frail cotton cloth by pilgrims. This rough treatment should have destroyed it, but it still kept self-healing itself and survives.
Pope Pius VII declared Our Lady of Chiquinquirá patroness of Colombia in 1829, and granted a special liturgy. In 1897 a thick glass plate was placed over it for protection against the weather and the excessive touching of the faithful. The image canonically crowned 1919, in 1927 her sanctuary declared a Basilica.
Adapted from Patron Saints Index

July 10 – Pilgrimage of Aachen: Mary’s dress displayed every seven years (Germany) 
Every seven years they are taken out of the gold reliquary 
For over 660 years, people have come on pilgrimage to Aachen, Germany to venerate four relics preserved in its cathedral since the time of Charlemagne.  Historical records show that Emperor Charlemagne received a gift of relics from Jerusalem around the year 800 AD. Since 1349, these relics have been presented to the faithful in Europe and around the world every seven years, and for that purpose, they are taken out of the golden reliquary of the Virgin Mary in the Aachen Cathedral for a period of ten days.

These relics are pieces of ancient fabrics described as:

The dress worn by Mary on the night of Jesus’ birth 
Jesus' swaddling clothes with which Mary protected the Child 
The sheet that wrapped the head of Saint John the Baptist after his beheading 
The loincloth worn by Jesus on the cross
fr.heiligtumsfahrt2014.de


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.


July 10 - Our Lady of Boulogne (France, 1469) My Soul is not for Sale
The childhood of the famous actress, Eve Lavalliere, was tragic.
Her father was a blue-collar worker, card player, drinker and womanizer.
He murdered his wife with a revolver, then her miserable father turned the gun on himself and committed suicide in the view of his daughter who was hiding on the balcony and hardly managed to escape the massacre. But all that she buried in the past. Success carried her away and soon she was able to say: “I don’t even know any more what it’s like to be cold”; luxury had become so much an integral part of her life. She furnished her apartment with the expensive pieces of black and golden furniture, there was a swimming pool in her bathroom, she had a bedroom that seemed to come out of a fairytale and the marble in her dining room was the envy of all Paris.
Fortunately, even in her waywardness, Eve Lavallière never forgot the Blessed Virgin and she wore a medallion of the Virgin around her neck until the moment of her death. The morning after each and every one of her successes, she would regularly send flowers to the Mother of God. One day in 1917, on holiday in a rented castle, she went to the local church and listened to the sermon of a country priest. The great actress made fun of the priest to herself, as he obviously had no talent to speak in public.
Eight days later, she found herself “cornered” so to speak by Jesus Christ.
After her conversion, she spent seventeen months in Lourdes, at the foot of Mary Immaculate, refuge of sinners.
That elegant woman now wore the clothes of a simple boarder.
That wealthy person would eventually get used to living simply with just one trunk and two bags.
  Born again in Christ and spoke to Him like a poor sinner would speak to the man who would take her out of her misery.

That voluptuous woman loved from now on only Jesus Christ and gave Him something she never gave to any other man:
she gave Him herself.
Although she had always enjoyed perfect health, she fell sick: it was even necessary to stitch her eyelid closed without anaesthesia… “I thirst to go to Heaven, to see Jesus,” she said one day.
She had been accustomed to luxury hotels and castles, yet she readily accepted the common room of hospital.
The actress so widely acclaimed in all the newspapers, let herself get forgotten little by little.

However, just one interview would have been enough to earn her riches and acclaim once again.
An American journalist contacted her one day and said, “Here is a blank check with your name on it. Just write down the amount you want me to pay for telling me some of your memories.” Eve answered him, “My soul is not for sale.”
And yet she had nothing left but her faithful friend Leona, who was as poor as herself. Eve died on July 10, 1929 in Tunisia, faithful to the Christ she had discovered twelve years earlier, after entering into religion as Sister Eve Mary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, following in the footsteps of Blessed Charles de Foucauld
Adapted from a text by Brother Albert Pfleger, Marian Collection #12, 1980


        Konevits Icon of the Mother of God:  The holy icon was glorified by many miracles.

 165 Saint Alexander martyrdom of the seven holy brothers, sons of the saintly martyr Felicitas
2nd v. The Seven Brothers And St Felicity, Martyrs
257? SS. RUFINA AND SECUNDA, VIRGINS AND MARTYRS
284-305 Bianor and Silvanus The Holy Martyrs: St Bianor came from the Pisidia district of Asia Minor
311-324 45 Martyrs of Nicopolis Armenian City martyrs sang Psalms at midnight, Lord's angel appeared & prison blazed with light declared to the martyrs their contest was near its end,
  320 Saint Leontius Martyr with Daniel, Maurice, and forty-two companions in Nicopolis; 320 Saint Leontius Saint Rufinus and Secundus Martyrs buried on the Via Comelia, at the eleventh milestone of Rome
        Apollonius from Sardis city of Holy Martyr, located in Lydia (Asia Minor)
 680 Saint Pascharius A bishop of Nantes, France, and founder of the abbey of Andre
 690 Saint Amalberga Mother of saints; relative of Blessed Pepin of Landen, the Duke of Brabant
 770 Saint Lantfrid Abbot of Benediktbeuren in Bavaria, Germany. With his brothers, Saint Elilantus and Saint Waltram, he served the Benedictines.
 772 Saint Amelberga Benedictine nun in Munsterbilsen, Flanders, Belgium. Saint Willibrord gave her the veil
1007 Saint Peter of Perugia member of the noble house of Agello but chose to enter the Benedictines abbot establishing of the monastery of Saint Peter
1073  Saint Anthony Pechersky Ukrainian hermit on Mt. Athos in Greece returned to Ukraine built a hermitage in Kiev became the "Caves of Kiev" first Ukrainian monastery founded by Urainians; gifts of clairvoyance, wonderworking
1074 Saint Theodosius Pechersky Russian monk abbot of the community monastery Caves in Kiev aided the poor, established hospitals one of the founders of Russian monasticism
14th v. Silvanus (Silouan) of the Kiev Caves The Holy Schemamonk, zealously preserved purity of both soul and body; subdued his flesh - fasting/vigils, cleansed his soul - prayer/meditation on God: Lord granted him abundance of spiritual gifts: a prayerful boldness towards God, constant joy in the Lord, clairvoyance, wonderworking
1625 Robe of Our Lord Jesus Christ The Placing of the Precious at Moscow
1727 St. Veronica Giuliani desire to be like Christ crucified answered with the stigmata joined  Poor Clares directed by Capuchins; abbess, an office she held for 11 years until her death
1713-1784 Blessed Junipero Serra 
1840 Saint Peter Tu Vietnamese martyr who became a catechist arrested by authorities. He was beheaded. Pope John Paul II canonized him in 1988.
1860 Bl. Emmanuel Ruiz Franciscan Spanish Martyr with 11 companions in Lebanon
1860 Martyrs of Damascus 8 Franciscan and 3 Maronite martyrs slain in a Druse uprising in 1860 in Damascus, Syria refused to accept the Muslim faith, they were executed


Mary the Mother of God

Konevits Icon of the Mother of God:  The holy icon was glorified by many miracles.
It was with this icon of Greek origin that John, igumen of one of the Athonite monasteries, blessed St Arsenius, founder of the Konevits monastery (June 12).
In the year 1610, during an invasion of the Swedes into the Novgorod territory, the icon was transferred from the Konevits monastery to the Novgorod Derevianits monastery with the blessing of Archbishop Isidore of Novgorod. Each year on July 10 a festal celebration of the Most Holy Theotokos took place at this monastery in honor of Her holy icon. In the year 1799, with the blessing of the Metropolitan Gabriel of Peterburg and Novgorod (+ January 26, 1801), the wonderworking icon was returned to the Konevits monastery. The return of the icon to the Konevits Monastery is celebrated on September 3
.
165 Saint Alexander  martyrdom of the seven holy brothers, sons of the saintly martyr Felicitas
Romæ pássio sanctórum septem Mártyrum fratrum, filiórum sanctæ Felicitátis Mártyris, id est Januárii, Felícis, Philíppi, Silváni, Alexándri, Vitális et Martiális, témpore Antoníni Imperatóris, sub Præfécto Urbis Públio.  Ex ipsis vero Januárius, post virgárum vérbera et cárceris maceratiónem, plumbátis occísus; Felix et Philíppus fústibus mactáti; Silvánus præcipítio interémptus; Alexánder, Vitális et Martiális capitáli senténtia puníti sunt.
    At Rome, the martyrdom of the seven holy brothers, sons of the saintly martyr Felicitas.  They are Januarius, Felix, Philip, Sylvanus, Alexander, Vitalis, and Martial.  They died in the time of Emperor Antoninus, under Publius, prefect of the city.  Januarius, after being scourged with rods and detained in prison, died from the blows inflicted with leaded whips.  Felix and Philip were scourged to death.  Sylvanus was thrown headlong from a great height.  Alexander, Vitalis, and Martial were beheaded.
Tradition states that he was beheaded during the reign of Emperor AntoninusPius in Rome. Felicity, Vitalis, and Martial were slain in some manner; other companions were beaten or drowned. Alexander may be one of the so-called '"Seven Brothers
."
2nd v. The Seven Brothers And St Felicity, Martyrs
HE feast of St Felicity, widow and martyr, is observed on November 23, but it is convenient to speak of her here with those seven commonly referred to as her sons. According to their legend, Felicity was a noble Christian woman who, after the death of her husband, served God in a state of widowhood and employed herself in prayer and works of .charity. By the example of this lady and her family many idolaters were moved to embrace the faith of Christ. This angered the pagan priests, who complained to the Emperor Antoninus Pius that the boldness with which Felicity practised the Christian religion drew many from the worship of the immortal gods, who on that account would be angry with the city and state. The emperor was prevailed upon to send an order to Publius, the prefect of Rome, and he caused the mother and her sons to be apprehended and brought before him. He took Felicity aside and used the strongest inducements to bring her to sacrifice to the gods, that he might not be obliged to proceed with severity against her and her sons; but she answered, "Do not think to frighten me by threats, or to win me by fair speeches. The spirit of God within me will not suffer me to be overcome, and will make me victorious over all your assaults." "Unhappy woman", replied Publius, "if you wish to die, die; but do not destroy your children." "My children", said she, "will live eternally if they are faithful, but must expect eternal death if they sacrifice to idols."
The next day the prefect sent for Felicity and her sons again, and said, "Take pity on your children, Felicity, they are in the bloom of youth." The mother answered, "Your pity is impiety, and your words cruel." Then, turning towards her children, she said, "My sons, look up to Heaven, where Jesus Christ with His saints expects you. Be faithful in His love, and fight courageously for your souls." Publius commanded her to be beaten, saying, "You are insolent to give them such advice in my presence, in contempt of the orders of our prince." He then called the boys to him one after another, and mixed promises with threats to induce them to worship the gods; but they all refused and, after being whipped, were remanded to prison. The prefect laid the whole process before the emperor, who gave an order that they should be sent to different judges and be condemned to different deaths. Januarius was scourged to death, Felix and Philip were beaten with clubs, Silvanus was thrown headlong into the Tiber, and Alexander, Vitalis and Martial were beheaded; the same sentence was executed upon the mother last of all.
Of the death of St Felicity, St Augustine says: "Wonderful is the sight set before the eyes of our faith. We have heard with our ears and seen with our minds a mother choosing for her children to finish their course before herself, contrary to human instincts. But she did not send away her sons, she sent them on; she looked on them as beginning life, not as finishing it. They gave up a life in which they had to die, and began to live the life that is endless. It was not enough that she had to look on; we are yet more astonished that she encouraged them. She was more fruitful in her courage even than in her womb: seeing them contend, she contended, and in the victory of each one she was victorious."
St Gregory the Great delivered a homily on the festival of St Felicity in the church built over her tomb on the Via Salaria. In it he says that this saint, "having seven children, was as much afraid of leaving them behind her on earth, as other mothers are of surviving theirs. She was more than a martyr, for seeing her seven children martyred before her eyes, she was in some sort a martyr in each of them. She was the eighth in the order of time, but was from the first to the last in anguish, beginning her martyrdom in the eldest and finishing it in her own death. She received a crown not only for herself, but likewise for all her children. Seeing them in torments she remained constant, feeling their agony by nature as their mother, but rejoicing for them in her heart by hope." The same father takes notice how weak faith is in us: in her it was victorious over flesh and blood, but in us it is not able to check our passions or wean our hearts from a wicked world.
The force of the eloquence of St Augustine, St Gregory and Alban Butler himself, and of the lessons which they draw from this story, is not weakened by the fact that it cannot be regarded as historical. It is known that a woman named Felicity suffered martyrdom, she was buried in the cemetery of Maximus on the Salarian Way, and her feast was on November 23, as it still is. But there is no evidence, apart from the very doubtful acta, that the Seven Brothers were her sons, or indeed that they were brothers at all. From at least the middle of the fourth century, seven martyrs were commemorated on July 10; two of them, Felix and Philip, were buried in the cemetery of St Priscilla; Martial, Vitalis and Alexander  in the cemetery “Jordanorum"; Januarius in that of Praetextatus, where in 1863 de Rossi discovered a frescoed chapel with a graffito invoking the saint; and Silanus (Silvanus) in the catacomb of Maximus. The contiguity of this last tomb to that of St Felicity may have given rise to the whole identification of the seven martyrs as seven brothers and her sons.
The question of St Felicity and her seven sons was very keenly debated at the close of the last century. Though the “acts", as stated above, are certainly late and of questionable authority, and though there is reason to suspect the influence of the biblical account of the mother of the Machabees, still the early cultus is attested by the Philocalian calendar, the epitaph of St Damasus and the Hieronymianum. The text of the "acts" is in Ruinart's Acta sincera and has been re-edited in modern times by Doulcet and by Künstle. For the more destructive criticism see J. Führer, Ein Beitrag Lösung der Felicitas-Frage (1890) with his subsequent brochure in reply to Künstle. On the other side cf. Duchesne in the Bulletin critique, 1890, p. 425; and the very full discussion of the subject by Leclercq in DAC., vol. v, cc. 1259-1298. Fr Delehaye returned to the question in his CMH. (pp. 362-364) and his Etude sur le légendier romain (1936), pp. 116-123; he concludes that the undoubted seven martyrs of July 10 were arbitrarily made brothers by a hagiographer as a Christian parallel to the seven Machabees (August 1).
257 ? SS. RUFINA AND SECUNDA, VIRGINS AND MARTYRS
Item Romæ sanctárum Vírginum et Mártyrum Rufínæ et Secúndæ sorórum, quæ, in persecutióne Valeriáni et Galliéni, torméntis subáctæ sunt; atque ad últimum, cum álteri caput illísum esset gládio, et álteri cervix cæsa, migrárunt in cælum.  Ipsárum vero córpora in Basílica Lateranénsi, prope Baptistérium, débito honóre servántur.
    Also at Rome, in the persecution of Valerian and Gallienus, the holy virgins and martyrs Rufina and Secunda, sisters.  After being subjected to torments, and one having her head crushed with a sword, the other beheaded, they departed for heaven.  Their bodies are kept with due honour in the Lateran basilica, near the baptistry.
ACCORDING to their unhistorical "acts", these were sisters, daughters of Asterius, a man of senatorial rank in Rome. They were engaged to be married, the one to Armentarius, the other to Verinus, who were also Christians. But when the persecution of the Emperor Valerian fell upon the Church, these two men apostatized. The two girls refused to follow their example and fled secretly from Rome. Their flight being soon discovered, they were overtaken not far from the city and haled before the prefect, Junius Donatus. He imprisoned them with the object of making them apostatize, and when he found that they were unmoved either by arguments or threats, he ordered Rufina to be scourged; whereupon Secunda cried out, "Why do you judge my sister to honour and me to dishonour? Be pleased to beat us both together, for together we declare that Christ is God." After they both had been tortured in divers ways, they were put to death by beheading. A pagan lady named Plautilla gave their bodies burial at a spot eleven miles from Rome on the Aurelian Way, and herself became a Christian from their example. The place where they lay was at that time called Silva Nigra, the Black Forest, but from these martyrs that name was changed to Silva Candida, the White Forest. A church was built over their tomb and a town grew up around it, which also was called Silva Candida, or Santa Rufina; it was made an episcopal see and became appurtenant to the cardinalate in after years. The relics of the martyrs were translated in 1154 to the Lateran basilica, near the baptistery of Constantine. The church dedicated in honour of SS. Rufina and Secunda in the City purports to be built over the site of their dwelling-house. Except their existence, their martyrdom and their early cultus nothing is certainly known of these maidens.
The Latin life, printed in the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. iii, .is a pure romance, but there was an earlier outline by Radbod in the tenth century which is of some value. See the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxxi (1912), pp. 401-409. Bächtold-Stäubli, Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens, vol. i, p. 358, discusses folk-lore elements of the story.
311-324 Forty-five Martyrs of the Armenian City of Nicopolis martyrs sang Psalms at midnight, angel of the Lord appeared to them, prison blazed with light declared to the martyrs their contest was near its end,
They suffered during the reign of the emperor Licinius (311-324), then a coregent with Constantine the Great. Licinius fiercely persecuted Christians and in his Eastern half of the Empire he issued an edict to put to death anyone who would not consent to return to paganism. When the persecutions began at Nicopolis, more than forty of the persecuted of Christ decided to appear voluntarily before their persecutors, to confess openly their faith in the Son of God and accept martyrdom. The holy confessors were headed by Leontius, Mauricius, Daniel, Anthony and Alexander, and were distinguished by their virtuous life. The procurator of the Armenian district, Licius, before whom the holy confessors presented themselves, was amazed at the directness and bravery of those who voluntarily doomed themselves to torture and death. He tried to persuade them to renounce Christ and offer sacrifice to the pagan gods, but the saints remained steadfast. They refuted all the arguments of the governor, pointing out to him all the falseness of faith in the vile and vice-filled pagan gods, leading those that worship them to ruin. The procurator gave orders to beat the confessors about the face with stones, and then shackle and imprison them.
In prison the saints rejoiced and sang the Psalms of David. St Leontius inspired and encouraged the brethren, preparing them to accept new tortures for the true Faith, and telling them of the bravery of all those formerly that had suffered for Christ. In the morning, after repeated refusals to offer sacrifice to the idols, the saints were again given over to torture. St Leontius, seeing the intense suffering of the martyrs and worrying that some of them might falter and lose faith, prayed to God that there might be a quick end of the matter for all.
When the holy martyrs sang Psalms at midnight, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to them, and the prison blazed with light. The angel declared to the martyrs that their contest was near its end, and their names already were inscribed in Heaven. Two of the prison guards, Meneus and Virilad, saw what was happening and believed in Christ. On the following morning, the governor decided to put the martyrs of Christ to death. After beastly tortures they burned them in a fire, and threw their bones in a river. Pious people found the relics, gathered them up and saved them. Later on, when freedom had been bestown to the Church of Christ, a church was built on this spot in the name of the holy 45 Martyrs
.
 320 Saint Leontius Martyr with Daniel, Maurice, and forty-two companions in Nicopolis
Nicópoli, in Arménia, sanctórum Mártyrum Leóntii, Maurítii, Daniélis, et Sociórum; qui, sub Licínio Imperatóre et Lysia Præside, várie excruciáti, tandem, in ignem conjécti, martyrii cursum confecérunt.
    At Nicopolis in Armenia, the holy martyrs Leontius, Mauritius, Daniel, and their companions, who were tortured in different ways, and being lastly cast into the fire, ended their long martyrdom in the time of Emperor Licinius and the governor Lysias.
Apollonius_of_Sardis
Apollonius The Holy Martyr came from the city of Sardis, located in Lydia (Asia Minor)
Icónii, in Lycaónia, sancti Apollónii Mártyris, qui per crucem insígne martyrium consummávit.
    At Iconium, St. Apollonius, martyr, whose glorious martyrdom was fulfilled by death on the cross.
He declared himself a Christian and was arrested. When they demanded that he swear an oath on the name of the emperor, he refused, saying that it was improper to swear on the name of a mortal man. They tortured Apollonius for a long time and then crucified him. This occurred at Iconium either under the emperor Decius (249-251) or the emperor Valerian (253-259).
Saint Rufinus and Secundus Martyrs buried on the Via Comelia, at the eleventh milestone of Rome
Item Romæ sanctárum Vírginum et Mártyrum Rufínæ et Secúndæ sorórum, quæ, in persecutióne Valeriáni et Galliéni, torméntis subáctæ sunt; atque ad últimum, cum álteri caput illísum esset gládio, et álteri cervix cæsa, migrárunt in cælum.  Ipsárum vero córpora in Basílica Lateranénsi, prope Baptistérium, débito honóre servántur.
    Also at Rome, in the persecution of Valerian and Gallienus, the holy virgins and martyrs Rufina and Secunda, sisters.  After being subjected to torments, and one having her head crushed with a sword, the other beheaded, they departed for heaven.  Their bodies are kept with due honour in the Lateran basilica, near the baptistry.
Their relics were translated to the Lateran Basilica in the twelfth century, but since 1969 their cult has been confined to local calendars owing to the scarcity of historical documentation.
284-305 Bianor and Silvanus The Holy Martyrs: St Bianor came from the Pisidia district of Asia Minor
In Pisídia sanctórum Mártyrum Biánoris et Silváni, qui, sævíssima pro Christi nómine passi, demum, cervícibus abscíssis, coronántur.
    In Pisidia, the holy martyrs Bianor and Silvanus, who were merited an immortal crown by being beheaded, after enduring most bitter torments for the name of Christ.
As a confessor of Christianity they brought him to the prefect of the city of Isauria in Lykaonia, who demanded that St Bianor renounce Christ. The saint stood steadfast in the true Faith, in spite of the refined tortures. A man by the name of Silvanus beheld the suffering of the martyr. The endurance and bravery of St Bianor inspired the faith of Christ in Silvanus, and he openly declared this. They cut out his tongue and then cut off his head. St Bianor, after long torturing, was also beheaded.
The date of the suffering of the holy Martyrs Bianor and Silvanus is not precisely known. It is presumed that they died in Pisidia under the Roman emperor Diocletian (284-305) .
680 Saint Pascharius A bishop of Nantes, France, and founder of the abbey of Andre
Also called Pasquier, patron of Saint Hermenland of Fontenelle.
 690 Saint Amalberga Mother of saints; relative of Blessed Pepin of Landen, the Duke of Brabant  
Also called Amelia. A relative of Blessed Pepin of Landen, the Duke of Brabant, she was married to Witgar and was mother of Sts. Emembertus, Gudila, and Reinalda, and perhaps others as well. When Witgar agreed, Amalberga and he separated, becoming religious.
ST AMALBURGA, OR AMELBERGA, WIDOW     (c. A.D. 690)
AMALBURGA (Amelia), born in Brabant, was married to Count Witger, by whom she had three holy children, SS. Gudula, Reineldis, and Emebert of Cambrai. When  eventually Witger became a Benedictine monk at Lobbes, Amalburga became a nun of the same rule at the convent of Maubeuge, where she was professed by St Aubert, Bishop of Cambrai. She passed the rest of her life very ascetically, and after her death was buried beside her husband at Lobbes. There is much confusion between this saint, St Amalburga of Susteren, and the one who follows; the invocation of Amalburga for the cure of bruises is probably due to the second of these confusions.
No trust can be placed in the life printed in the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. iii, and elsewhere; but there is no reason to doubt that Amalburga did end her days as a nun at Maubeuge.
770 Saint Lantfrid Abbot of Benediktbeuren in Bavaria, Germany. With his brothers, Saint Elilantus and Saint Waltram, he served the Benedictines.
772 Saint Amelberga Benedictine nun in Munsterbilsen, Flanders, Belgium. Saint Willibrord gave her the veil
Apud Gandávum, in Flándria, sanctæ Amelbérgæ Vírginis.    At Ghent in Flanders, St. Amelberga, virgin.
Her relics have been in Saint Peter's abbey church in Ghent, Belgium, since 1073.
1007 Saint Peter of Perugia member of the noble house of Agello but chose to enter the Benedictines abbot establishing of the monastery of Saint Peter
Also Peter of Vincioli, a Benedictine abbot. Born near Perugia, he was a member of the noble house of Agello but chose to enter the Benedictines. His principal achievement was the establishing of the monastery of Saint Peter in Perugia
.
1073  SS Anthony & Theodosius Pechersky Ukrainian hermits on Mt. Athos in Greece returned to Ukraine built a hermitage in Kiev became the "Caves of Kiev," first Ukrainian monastery founded by Ukrainians gift of clairvoyance and wonderworking.
SS. ANTONY AND THEODOSIUS PECHERSKY, ABBOTS OF THE CAVES OF KIEV  (A.D. 1073 AND 1074)
THE period of the evangelization of Russia was one during which Byzantine monasticism was particularly flourishing, when the monastery of Studius at Constantinople and its offshoots were still at the height of their influence (though  decay was at hand) and the great foundations on Mount Athos were just beginning.
But in Russia the earliest monasteries, foreign foundations made at the instance of the grand-princes and Greek bishops, did not have much significance. The great monasticism of Russia began only with the foundation of a monastery which at first owed nothing to the great ones of the earth but was established by Russian monks for their own people, that of the Caves of Kiev (Kiev-Pecherskaya Lavra): "the first Russian monastery in point of time, and first also in importance by reason of the amount of spiritual good that it poured into the treasury of Russian religion", says Mgr Alexander Sipiaguin. Its founders, "the first great candles lighted in the name of Russia before the universal image of Christ", were St Antony and St Theodosius Pechersky.
Antony was born in 983 at Lubech, near Chernigov, and early in life made an experiment at living as a solitary after the pattern of the Egyptian anchorites; but he soon realized that one must be trained for that life as for any other, and he went on pilgrimage to Mount Athos, where he became a hermit attached to the monastery   
   
of Esphigmenou. After some years there he was unwilling to leave, but his abbot bade him return to his own land. "The Lord has strengthened you in the way of holiness", he said, "and you must now lead others. Go back home, with the blessing of the Holy Mountain on you. You will be a father of many monks."
Antony did as he was told, but finding insufficient peace and solitude in the prince-founded monasteries, after the strictness of Athos, he took up his abode in a cave in a wooded cliff beside the river Dnieper at Kiev. Here he lived on bread and vegetables and water, passing his time in contemplation and tilling his little patch of land. People came to consult him and ask his blessing, and sometimes made him gifts, which he straightway passed on to the poor. Some of these visitors stayed on with him, the first being the monk Nikon, who was a priest; and after a time there were other aspirants, who dug caves for themselves and larger ones to serve as chapel and dining-room. Unlike the other abbots of that time, St Antony accepted anybody who showed the right dispositions, rich or poor, free men or serfs, with the result that the community outgrew its accommodation. Prince Syaslav offered to give them the land on the hill above their caves, and here the monks built of wood a monastery and a church, dedicated in honour of the Falling-asleep of the All-holy Mother of God. "Many monasteries", says the Chronicle of Nestor, "were built with the wealth of princes and nobles; this was the first built with tears and fasting and prayer. Antony had no gold or silver: he used these means instead."
St Antony had early given up the direction of the community to one Barlaam and, disturbed by strife among the nobles of Kiev, he retired after a while to Chernigov and established another monastery there. But he eventually came back to the Pecherskaya Lavra and died in his cave there in 1073; he was ninety years old.
Forty years before there had come to Pechersk a certain Theodosius, and he it was rather than the severe and solitude-loving Antony who first struck the Russian imagination and gave an impress to indigenous monasticism. He was the son of well-to-do parents, and as a young man had put on serf's clothes and joined the labourers in his father's fields. His mother was horrified, and said so. "My dear mother, listen to me," he replied to her protests. "Our Lord Jesus Christ humbled Himself and underwent degradation, and we have got to follow His example in this too." Later, in face of blows and attempts to shut him up, Theodosius apprenticed himself to a baker and learned how to make the bread for the Holy Mysteries, and then about 1032 he joined the monks at the Caves of Kiev.
St Theodosius soon succeeded Barlaam as abbot, and he- was the real organizer of the monastery, who gave the direction to the first generations of Russian monks. He completed and enlarged the buildings and put the community under the discipline and rule given by St Theodore to the "Studion". Emphasis was put, not on personal sanctification solely by means of prayer and mortification, but on the necessity of the corporal works of mercy and on the need of identifying oneself with all the suffering children of Christ. He followed both the liturgical prescriptions and the social activities of the Studites: a hospital for the sick and disabled and a hostel for travellers were established at the monastery, and every Saturday a cartload of food was sent to the city jails. Nor was Theodosius, as were so many early monks, afraid of contact with the ordinary world of men; his monks played a part in the evangelization of Kiev and he took part in the general life of the country, with the result that his influence was not confined to his community but  was felt all over Varangian Russia: he was able to defend the rights of the poor and oppressed and to protest to his face when Svyatoslav drove his own brother from the throne of Kiev. Moreover, to Theodosius may be traced the beginnings of the institution of startsy, "spiritual directors", so characteristic of Russian religious life; he encouraged the lay people of Kiev, without distinction of sex or age or rank, to come to him with their problems and difficulties, and we are told of a man and wife, John and Mary, of whom he was particularly fond, "because they loved God and loved one another".
To an invitation to dine with the usurper Svyatoslav, St Theodosius replied, "I will not go to Jezebel's table and eat food contaminated by blood and murder". Svyatoslav, he said, had acted against justice and the law, and in a long letter to him compared him to Cain. Svyatoslav considered banishing Theodosius, but decided he did not dare to and instead made a personal appeal to him to withdraw his opposition. The reply of St Theodosius, as one having no worldly authority but bound to uphold the gospel of Christ, was humble and direct: "What can our anger do against your power, 'my good lord? Nevertheless it is our duty to admonish, and to declare whatever is good for the saving of souls; and it is your duty to give heed."
A few short homilies and extracts from the sermons of Theodosius have come down to us, and they are of a piece with the rest that is known about him. He had found the cave monastery of St Antony "narrow and depressing", and he sought spiritual as well as physical enlargement. "Christ's love is overflowing upon us unworthy ones", he said, and love must be met with love and it must flow beyond the cloister. "Mindful of the commandment of the good Lord, my unworthy self declares to you that it is good for us to feed the hungry and the tramps with the fruits of our labour.... If God's grace does not uphold and nourish us through the poor, what should we do with all our works?" In his view monks are not a people apart, spiritual and corporal works of charity cannot be separated: and so equally, "If I could I would not let a day pass without throwing myself in tears at your feet and imploring you not to neglect a single hour of prayer". But certainly one of the most effective and one of the best known of his “exhortations" was a single sentence, a question he asked as he listened to the minstrels in the hall of the ruler of Kiev: "Sir, will it sound the same in the life to come?" St Theodosius of Pechersk has been seen as a forerunner of St Francis of Assisi, a western saint with a great appeal for Russians; and the abbot's gentleness, humility and patience were rooted in love of Jesus Christ as the light of a world that is at the same time beautiful and wicked: "What good have we done to Him that He should choose us and rescue us from this transitory life? Have we not, all of us, erred and become useless for His service?... He sought us out, found us, carried us on his shoulders, and set us at the right hand of the Father. Is He not merciful and the lover of mankind? It was not we who sought Him, but He us...."
It has been pointed out that whereas St Antony Pechersky followed the Egyptian hermits, unsociable, rather frightening, their life sometimes degenerating into a sort of competition in fantastic penances, St Theodosius Pechersky looked for his pattern rather to the monks of Palestine and such saints as Sabas and Euthymius the Great and his namesake Theodosius the Cenobiarch, who never forgot that physical austerity is only a means towards purity of heart and spirit. Virtue, goodness, and therefore closeness to God, is the aim of religion: 
"The young", said Theodosius, "must love their fellows and learn humbly and obediently from their elders; the old must love and help and teach the young, nor must any man make public his own mortifications." He emphasized, too, the importance of community life and the holding of all things in common, so much so that one of his monks declared that a "Lord, have mercy on us" prayed from the heart collectively by the community is of greater spiritual value than the whole psalter said alone in one's cell; nevertheless, there must be times of solitude and retirement (as during Lent). Theodosius thus sought to harmonize the contemplative and the active life, just as he sought to harmonize the needs of men as they are (and not as they ought to be) with the call to bring about the kingdom of God on earth. In all these things he was following the Palestinian tradition and the spirit of St Basil, father of Eastern monks.
Even when he had all the responsibility of ruling a large community and caring for the welfare of numerous spiritual children, St Theodosius still did his share of the ordinary daily work, whether in the fields or in the house. In particular he made it his business for two years to look after the needs of an old monk, Isaac, who was so infirm that he could neither sit up nor turn in his bed nor do anything for himself: Abbot Theodosius fed him, washed him, changed his clothes, did the least honourable offices for him-and then went out to sit at table with the grand-prince in the city. It is not surprising to read that his community was like one family, "where the young respected the old and the old were considerate to the young", where when one was at fault three or four were always at hand to share his penance.
St Theodosius celebrated the Easter of 1074 with his brethren as usual, and a week later he was dead. At his OWL wish he was buried in one of the caves that formed the original monastery, but in 1091 his body was translated to the principal church and in 1108 he was canonized by the bishops of the Kiev province-the second Russian canonization and the first of the prepodobny, "very-like ones", that is, Christlike monks. His feast is kept by the Catholic Ukrainians and Russians on May 3, and that of St Antony on July 10. The names of both these saints occur in the preparation of the eucharistic liturgy according to Slavonic usage.
Some bibliographical notes for the Kievan saints are given on September 25, under St Sergius. There are notices of St Antony and many of his disciples in the Kiev paterik, but for St Theodosius there still exists a detailed vita: it is translated in G. P. Fedotov's Treasury of Russian Spirituality (1950). The Monastery of the Caves was devastated by the Tartars in 1240, in 1299, and again in 1316, and each time it recovered to take its place at the head of Russian monasteries and as one of the chief places of pilgrimage in the country. But never again did it touch the level of Christian life that it attained under the guidance of St Theodosius: it became too wealthy in this world's goods. Until the eighteenth century the monks of the Caves wore a habit resembling that of the Benedictines and had many other special customs, some developed under Western influence. Their great printing press, established in 1651, and the hospice for pilgrims founded by St Theodosius (which in the nineteenth century could accommodate 20,000 people) remained until our own day. Somewhere about its nine-hundredth birthday revolutionary fury brought the monastery to an end; but in 1945 permission was given to the authorities of the Russian Orthodox Church to restore it, the buildings having been destroyed during the second world-war.

Born in 983 in Ljibeck in the Ukraine, Anthony went to the famed monastic community on Mt. Athos in Greece to become a hermit, remaining there for several years. He returned to the Ukraine and built a hermitage in Kiev. The site became the "Caves of Kiev," the first Ukrainian monastery founded by Ukrainians. Land for the monastery was given to Anthony by a local prince. He founded another monastery in Chernagov but died in the Caves of Kiev. Anthony is called one of the fathers of Ukrainian monasticism.


Saint Anthony of the Kiev Caves was born in the year 983 at Liubech, not far from Chernigov, and was named Antipas in Baptism. Possessing the fear of God from his youth, he desired to be clothed in the monastic schema. When he reached a mature age, he wandered until he arrived on Mt. Athos, burning with the desire to emulate the deeds of its holy inhabitants. Here he received monastic tonsure, and the young monk pleased God in every aspect of his spiritual struggles on the path of virtue. He particularly excelled in humility and obedience, so that all the monks rejoiced to see his holy life.  The igumen saw in St Anthony the great future ascetic, and inspired by God, he sent him back to his native land, saying, "Anthony, it is time for you to guide others in holiness. Return to your own Russian land, and be an example for others. May the blessing of the Holy Mountain be with you.
Returning to the land of Rus, Anthony began to make the rounds of the monasteries about Kiev, but nowhere did he find that strict life which had drawn him to Mt. Athos.
Through the Providence of God, Anthony came to the hills of Kiev by the banks of the River Dniepr.
The forested area near the village of Berestovo reminded him of his beloved Athos. There he found a cave which had been dug out by the Priest Hilarion, who later became Metropolitan of Kiev (October 21). Since he liked the spot, Anthony prayed with tears, "Lord, let the blessing of Mt. Athos be upon this spot, and strengthen me to remain here." He began to struggle in prayer, fasting, vigil and physical labor. Every other day, or every third day, he would eat only dry bread and a little water. Sometimes he did not eat for a week. People began to come to the ascetic for his blessing and counsel, and some decided to remain with the saint.
Among Anthony's first disciples was St Nikon (March 23),
who tonsured St Theodosius of the Caves (May 3) at the monastery in the year 1032.
The virtuous life of St Anthony illumined the Russian land with the beauty of monasticism. St Anthony lovingly received those who yearned for the monastic life. After instructing them how to follow Christ, he asked St Nikon to tonsure them. When twelve disciples had gathered about St Anthony, the brethren dug a large cave and built a church and cells for monks within it.
After he appointed Abbot Barlaam to guide the brethren, St Anthony withdrew from the monastery. He dug a new cave for himself, then hid himself within it.
There too, monks began to settle around him. Afterwards, the saint built a small wooden church in honor of the Dormition of the Mother of God over the Far Caves.
At the insistence of Prince Izyaslav, the igumen Barlaam withdrew to the Dimitriev monastery. With the blessing of St Anthony and with the general agreement of the brethren, the meek and humble Theodosius was chosen as igumen. By this time, the number of brethren had already reached a hundred men. The Kiev Great Prince Izyaslav (+ 1078) gave the monks the hill on which the large church and cells were built, with a palisade all around. Thus, the renowned monastery over the caves was established. Describing this, the chronicler remarks that while many monasteries were built by emperors and nobles, they could not compare with those which are built with holy prayers and tears, and by fasting and vigil. Although St Anthony had no gold, he built a monastery which became the first spiritual center of Rus.
For his holiness of life, God glorified St Anthony with the gift of clairvoyance and wonderworking. One example of this occurred during the construction of the Great Caves church. The Most Holy Theotokos Herself stood before him and St Theodosius in the Blachernae church in Constantinople, where they had been miraculously transported without leaving their own monastery. Actually, two angels appeared in Constantinople in their forms (See May 3, the account of the Kiev Caves Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos). Having received gold from the Mother of God, the saints commissioned master architects, who came from Constantinople to the Russian land on the command of the Queen of Heaven to build the church at the Monastery of the Caves. During this appearance, the Mother of God foretold the impending death of St Anthony, which occurred on July 10, 1073.
Through Divine Providence, the relics of St Anthony remain hidden.
1074 Saint Theodosius Pechersky Russian monk abbot of the community monastery Caves in Kiev aided the poor, established hospitals one of the founders of Russian monasticism
Born to a wealthy family, he gave up all connection with the comfortable circumstances of his parents and labored in the fields with the humble peasants before entering the monastery of the Caves in Kiev about 1032. Eventually becoming abbot of the community, he introduced many reforms to end the extreme asceticism which had been long-standing practice and introduced a more moderate rule for the monks. Aside from promoting the spiritual life in the region around Kiev, he also aided the poor, established hospitals, and involved himself in the dynastic politics of the duchy of Kiev. Through his labors, he made "the Caves" one of the foremost monastic institutions in Russia. Canonized in 1108 by the bishop of Kiev, he is venerated by the Russian Orthodox Church as one of the founders of Russian monasticism
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14th v. Silvanus (Silouan) of the Kiev CavesThe Holy Schemamonk, zealously preserved purity of both soul and body; subdued his flesh with fasting and vigils, and he cleansed his soul with prayer and meditation on God:  Lord granted him an abundance of spiritual gifts: a prayerful boldness towards God, constant joy in the Lord, clairvoyance and wonderworking
The monk lived at the end of the thirteenth and beginning of the fourteenth centuries. His relics rest in the Caves

1625 The Placing of the Precious Robe of Our Lord Jesus Christ at Moscow
The Savior's precious Robe [ Greek "himatia", literally "over-garments"] is not identically the same thing as His seamless coat [Greek "khiton", literally "under-garb tunic"]. They are clearly distinct within Holy Scripture. "Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments (ta himatia) and divided them into four parts, to every soldier a part, and the coat (kai ton khitona). Now the coat was without seam, woven whole from the top down. Therefore, they said among themselves, let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it will become. Thus the saying in Scripture was fulfilled: they divided My raiment (ta imatia) among them, and upon My vesture (epi ton himatismon) did they cast lots" (John. 19: 23-24; Ps. 21 [22]: 18-19).
According to the tradition of the Georgian Orthodox Church, the Chiton of the Lord was carried by the Hebrew rabbi Elioz from Jerusalem to Mtsket and at present is beneath a crypt in the foundations of the Mtsket Patriarchal cathedral of Svetitskhoveli (the Feast in honor of the Chiton of the Lord is celebrated on October 1). None of the Mohammedan invaders ever ventured to encroach upon this spot, glorified with a sign by the mercy of God, the Life-Creating Pillar.
The Robe of the Lord, actually one of its four parts, the lower portion specifically (other parts of the Robe of the Lord are also known in Western Europe: in the city of Trier in Germany, and in Argenteuil near Paris in France), just like the Chiton of the Lord, came to be in Georgia. In contrast to the Chiton, the Robe portion was not kept underground, but was in the treasury of the Svetitskhoveli cathedral right up to the seventeenth century. Then the Persian Shah Abbas I, in devastating Georgia, along with other treasures also carried off the Robe of the Lord. In order to ingratiate himself with Tsar Michael Feodorovich, the Shah sent the Robe of the Lord as a gift to Patriarch Philaret (1619-1633) and Tsar Michael in 1625. The authenticity of the Robe was attested by Nectarius, Archbishop of Vologda, also by Patriarch Theophanes of Jerusalem, who had come from Byzantium, and by Joannicius the Greek, but especially also by the miraculous signs worked by the Lord through the venerable relic.
Afterwards two parts of the Robe came to be in Peterburg: one in the cathedral at the Winter Palace, and the other in Sts Peter and Paul cathedral. A portion of the Robe was also preserved at the Dormition cathedral in Moscow, and small portions at Kiev's Sophia cathedral, at the Ipatiev monastery near Kostroma and at certain other old temples. At Moscow annually on July 10 the Robe of the Lord is solemnly brought out of a chapel named for the holy Apostles Peter and Paul at the Dormition cathedral, and it is placed on a stand for veneration during the time of divine services. After Liturgy they carry the Robe to its former place.
On this day a service to the Life-Creating Cross of the Lord is proper, since the Placing of the Robe in the Dormition cathedral in 1625 took place on March 29, which happened to be the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross during the Great Fast .
1713-1784 July 1, 2010 Blessed Junipero Serra 
In 1776, when the American Revolution was beginning in the east, another part of the future United States was being born in California. That year a gray-robed Franciscan founded Mission San Juan Capistrano, now famous for its annually returning swallows. San Juan was the seventh of nine missions established under the direction of this indomitable Spaniard.

Born in Spain’s island of Mallorca, Serra entered the Franciscan Order, taking the name of St. Francis’ childlike companion, Brother Juniper. Until he was 35, he spent most of his time in the classroom—first as a student of theology and then as a professor. He also became famous for his preaching. Suddenly he gave it all up and followed the yearning that had begun years before when he heard about the missionary work of St. Francis Solanus in South America. Junipero’s desire was to convert native peoples in the New World.

Arriving by ship at Vera Cruz, Mexico, he and a companion walked the 250 miles to Mexico City. On the way Junipero’s left leg became infected by an insect bite and would remain a cross—sometimes life-threatening—for the rest of his life.
For 18 years he worked in central Mexico and in the Baja Peninsula. He became president of the missions there.
Enter politics:
the threat of a Russian invasion south from Alaska. Charles III of Spain ordered an expedition to beat Russia to the territory. So the last two conquistadors—one military, one spiritual—began their quest. José de Galvez persuaded Junipero to set out with him for present-day Monterey, California. The first mission founded after the 900-mile journey north was San Diego (1769). That year a shortage of food almost canceled the expedition. Vowing to stay with the local people, Junipero and another friar began a novena in preparation for St. Joseph’s day, March 19, the scheduled day of departure. On that day, the relief ship arrived.
Other missions followed: Monterey/Carmel (1770); San Antonio and San Gabriel (1771); San Luís Obispo (1772); San Francisco and San Juan Capistrano (1776); Santa Clara (1777); San Buenaventura (1782). Twelve more were founded after Serra’s death.
Junipero made the long trip to Mexico City to settle great differences with the military commander. He arrived at the point of death. The outcome was substantially what Junipero sought: the famous “Regulation” protecting the Indians and the missions. It was the basis for the first significant legislation in California, a “Bill of Rights” for Native Americans.
Because the Native Americans were living a nonhuman life from the Spanish point of view, the friars were made their legal guardians. The Native Americans were kept at the mission after Baptism lest they be corrupted in their former haunts—a move that has brought cries of “injustice” from some moderns.
Junipero’s missionary life was a long battle with cold and hunger, with unsympathetic military commanders and even with danger of death from non-Christian native peoples. Through it all his unquenchable zeal was fed by prayer each night, often from midnight till dawn. He baptized over 6,000 people and confirmed 5,000. His travels would have circled the globe. He brought the Native Americans not only the gift of faith but also a decent standard of living. He won their love, as witnessed especially by their grief at his death. He is buried at Mission San Carlo Borromeo, Carmel, and was beatified in 1988.
Comment:  The word that best describes Junipero is zeal. It was a spirit that came from his deep prayer and dauntless will. “Always forward, never back” was his motto. His work bore fruit for 50 years after his death as the rest of the missions were founded in a kind of Christian communal living by the Indians. When both Mexican and American greed caused the secularization of the missions, the Chumash people went back to what they had been—God again writing straight with crooked lines.
Quote: During his homily at Serra’s beatification, Pope John Paul II said: “Relying on the divine power of the message he proclaimed, Father Serra led the native peoples to Christ. He was well aware of their heroic virtues—as exemplified in the life of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha—and he sought to further their authentic human development on the basis of their new-found faith as persons created and redeemed by God. He also had to admonish the powerful, in the spirit of our second reading from James, not to abuse and exploit the poor and the weak.”
1727 St. Veronica Giuliani desire to be like Christ crucified was answered with the stigmata joined the Poor Clares directed by the Capuchins; abbess, an office she held for 11 years until her death [SEE ALSO JULY 09 HERE]
1727 St. Veronica Giuliani Capuchin mystic who had many spiritual gifts; recipient of a stigmata in 1697 and visions
Tiférni, in Umbria, sanctæ Verónicæ de Juliánis, Vírginis, in Urbaniénsis diœcésis óppido Mercatéllo natæ, Moniális e secúndo sancti Francísci Ordine ac Tifernátis ascetérii Abbatíssæ; quam, insígni patiéndi stúdio, ceterísque virtútibus et cæléstibus charismátibus illústrem, Gregórius Papa Décimus sextus in sanctárum Vírginum collégium adscrípsit.
    At Tiferno in Umbria, St. Veronica Giuliani, a nun of the second Order of St. Francis and abbess of the monastery in that town.  Born at Mercatello in the diocese of Urbania, she became illustrious by her great love for suffering and other virtues, and by her heavenly gifts.  She was inscribed among the holy virgins by Pope Gregory XVI.
ST VERONICA GIULIANI, VIRGIN (A.D. 1727)
URSULA GIULIANI was born at Mercatello in Urbino in 1660, her parents being gentlefolk of that city. She is said to have begun to show signs of unusual piety at a very early age; at six and seven she was concerned to give away her own food and clothing to the needy, and at eleven devotion to our Lord's passion had begun to colour her own life. She had the not uncommon fault of resenting when others did not join in her religious practices, which was cured by a vision in which she saw her own heart made, as it were, of steel. When her father received a public office at Piacenza she took a good deal of pleasure in the increased dignity and more affluent circumstances which this meant for the family; no bad thing in itself, but she made it a matter of self-reproach in after years.
In consequence of a vision of our Lady, Ursula made a vow to become a nun, but met with strong opposition from her father, Francis Giuliani: he not only wanted her to marry, but insisted on presenting eligible suitors. This worried her into an illness; Francis gave way, and in 1677 she was clothed a Capuchiness in the convent of Citta di Castello, in Umbria, taking the name of Veronica.
Her noviciate was a difficult one; in addition to interior trials she was subjected to severe discipline by her superiors, for her holy ambition was such that it required careful testing; moreover, the bishop who clothed her had predicted that she would be a saint.
After her profession her absorption in the Passion deepened, she had a vision of our Lord bearing the cross, and she began to have acute pain over her heart. In 1693 she experienced another vision in which the chalice of Christ's sufferings was offered to her; after a great struggle she accepted it, and henceforth reproduced in her own body and soul something of the sufferings of the divine Master. In the following year the imprint of the crown of thorns appeared on her head, and on Good Friday, 1697, the impress of the five sacred wounds. These physical manifestations were subjected to medical treatment, but without any effect on them. These things being reported to the Bishop of Citta di Castello, he referred to the Holy Office for direction, and was told to do nothing and to say no more about it. But when the phenomena became more pronounced he decided to examine them for himself, which he did at the convent grille in the presence of four nuns, and was convinced of their objective reality. To get rid of any possibility of fraud he had every moment of Sister Veronica's time controlled; she was forbidden to receive holy communion, to mix with the other nuns, or to have any sort of communication with the outside world; and she was to be day and night under the eye of a lay-sister. The bishop, moreover, ordered that the wounds were to be dressed and bandaged, and her hands put into gloves with the fastenings sealed with his signet. Veronica suffered these prudent precautions with exemplary patience. They made no difference at all to the phenomena, and the bishop having communicated this and the nun's obedient and humble demeanour to the Holy Office, it was ordered that she should be allowed to return to the normal life of her community.
St Veronica was of the type of St Teresa of Avila and all the greatest contemplatives, adding to her devotion and supernatural gifts common sense and ability in affairs. She was novice-mistress of her convent for thirty-four years, which itself shows how well she fulfilled the office, and eleven years before her death was elected abbess. She would not allow the novices under her to read any books of advanced mysticism. She bade them be content with such practical works as the Christian and Religious Perfection of Rodriguez, and thought that during that time of preparation they had enough to do in laying the foundations of humility, obedience and charity. It may also be supposed that this saint, herself a mystic, knew the damage that may be done to unformed minds and aspiring souls by being excited and puffed up by the doctrine of the great masters, which is as yet too high for them. We expect to find that such a woman improved the convent's water supply by having it piped in, and that she enlarged the conventual buildings-and so she did.
At the end of her life this "spouse of the Lord" who for nearly fifty years had suffered with patience, resignation, and joy, was afflicted with apoplexy, and she died of this disorder on July 9, 1727. She left an account of her life and spiritual experiences, written by order of her confessor, and this was much used in the process of beatification; she was canonized in 1839. Long before her death she had told her confessor that the instruments of our Lord's passion were imprinted on her heart, giving him more than once, for they, as she averred, shifted their position, a rough plan of a heart on which they were sketched. A post-mortem examination in the presence of the bishop, the mayor, surgeons, and other witnesses, revealed in the right ventricle a number of minute objects corresponding to those she had drawn.
So far as concerns the evidence of mystical phenomena, the case of St Veronica is perhaps the most remarkable known to Catholic hagiology. The writer of this note, Father Thurston, had the opportunity in the Bollandist library of consulting the very rare summarium of the evidence presented for her beatification. The sworn testimony of the saint's confessor and fellow religious goes to show that her stigmatic wounds opened and bled at command, and that they closed again and healed perfectly in a short space of time while the bishop waited. And there were many other phenomena of levitations, perfumes, etc., not mentioned above. The least unsatisfactory life is probably that of Father F. M. Salvatore (1839), founded on the process; it was translated into English in 1874. Father Pizzicaria has edited St Veronica's spiritual diary in ten volumes, and there is a good selection therefrom by Fr Désiré des Planches, Le journal de Ste Véronique Giuliani (1931), with medical comment by J. F. Gentili; other extracts in Franciscan Annals for 1944 and 1945. See also an article by Fr L. Veuthey in Vita Cristiana, vol. xv (1943), pp. 481-489, 566-589.
Veronica’s desire to be like Christ crucified was answered with the stigmata. Veronica was born 1660 in Mercatelli. It is said that when her mother Benedetta was dying she called her five daughters to her bedside and entrusted each of them to one of the five wounds of Jesus. Veronica was entrusted to the wound below Christ’s heart.
At the age of 17, Veronica joined the Poor Clares directed by the Capuchins. Her father had wanted her to marry, but she convinced him to allow her to become a nun. In her first years in the monastery, she worked in the kitchen, infirmary, sacristy and served as portress. At the age of 34, she was made novice mistress, a position she held for 22 years. When she was 37, Veronica received the stigmata. Life was not the same after that.
Church authorities in Rome wanted to test Veronica’s authenticity and so conducted an investigation. She lost the office of novice mistress temporarily and was not allowed to attend Mass except on Sundays or holy days. Through all of this Veronica did not become bitter, and the investigation eventually restored her as novice mistress.
Though she protested against it, at the age of 56 she was elected abbess, an office she held for 11 years until her death. Veronica was very devoted to the Eucharist and to the Sacred Heart. She offered her sufferings for the missions. Veronica was canonized in 1839.
Comment:  Why did God grant the stigmata to Francis of Assisi and to Veronica? God alone knows the deepest reasons, but as Celano points out, the external sign of the cross is a confirmation of these saints’ commitment to the cross in their lives. The stigmata that appeared in Veronica’s flesh had taken root in her heart many years before. It was a fitting conclusion for her love of God and her charity toward her sisters.
Quote:  Thomas of Celano says of Francis: "All the pleasures of the world were a cross to him, because he carried the cross of Christ rooted in his heart. And therefore the stigmata shone forth exteriorly in his flesh, because interiorly that deeply set root was sprouting forth from his mind" (2 Celano, #211).
1840 Saint Peter Tu Vietnamese martyr who became a catechist arrested by authorities. He was beheaded. Pope John Paul II canonized him in 1988.
1860 Bl. Emmanuel Ruiz Franciscan Spanish Martyr with 11 companions in Lebanon

Bb. Emmanuel Ruiz, Francis Masabki And Their Companions, The Martyrs Of Damascus     (A.D. 1860)
AFTER the Crimean War the Congress of Paris required of Turkey certain reforms within the Ottoman empire, particularly with regard to the treatment of Christian minorities, and in 1856 the sultan signed a decree whereby all subjects of the empire, without distinction of race or religion, were put on a level in the matter of taxation and public offices. This was an outrage to Mohammedan sentiment: for twelve hundred years the Christian communities had been rayahs, "herds", people of the "lesser breeds without the law", and now the khalifa required them to be treated as equal with the children of the Prophet; resentment smouldered and was aggravated, it is said, by news of the Indian Mutiny. The native Moslems of Syria, notably the Druses, a sect of the Lebanon, were covertly encouraged by the Turks, especially by Khursud Pasha, governor of Bairut, and in 1860 the fire flared up at Bait Mari; the occasion was a quarrel between a Druse and a young Christian, one of the large Catholic body of Maronites which was to suffer more than any other in what followed. A massacre began. The Druses were armed and prepared, but Christians allowed themselves to be disarmed by the Turkish authorities on the plea of restoring order. From May 30 to June 26 every Maronite village of the main and southern Lebanon was pillaged and burned, and six thousand Christians were murdered, mutilated, or outraged; at Zahleh five Jesuits were strangled and at Dair al-Kamar the abbot of the Maronite monastery was flayed alive and his twenty monks pole-axed. Khursud Pasha marched into the district with six hundred soldiers, fired a single gun, and then left his troops to join in the massacre. On July 9 it broke out in Damascus. The governor, Ahmed Pasha, did nothing, but was shamed by the noble Algerian emir Abd-al-Kadar, the champion of Islam, who now in open defiance of his co-religionists gave shelter in his palace to fifteen hundred Christians, including a number of Europeans. In three days thousands died from violence and. terror, adult males alone numbering three thousand. Of all these victims, eleven, eight Friars Minor and three Maronite laymen, were shown by the circumstances of their death, the testimony of approved miracles having been dispensed with, to be specially worthy to be raised to the altars of the Church, and they were accordingly beatified in 1926. When the mob invaded the quarter of the city in which the Franciscan friary was situated, the father guardian gathered into it all the school-children and a number of other Christians; he encouraged them to fortitude, and they said the litany of the saints before the Blessed Sacrament exposed; then they all received absolution and communion. The monastery was a stout building, well protected by heavy doors, and it is probable that the inmates would have been safe but for the treachery of a man, one who had received kindnesses from the friars, who directed the mob to a forgotten back entrance.
The guardian, BD EMMANUEL RUIZ, was a Spaniard born of humble parents in the province of Santander in 1804. When the mob broke into the house on the night of July 9, 1860, he ran to the church and consumed the Blessed Sacrament, then knelt at the altar and awaited his end. He was seized, amid shouts of "Affirm! Affirm!” viz. that there is no god 'but God, and Mohammed is the prophet of God. "I am a Christian and I will die a Christian!” he replied, and laid his head on the altar, where it was split open with axes.
All the other friars were also Spaniards, except BD ENGELBERT KOLLAND, who was an Austrian. After four years in the diocesan seminary he had had to leave because of his restlessness and excessive liveliness; he had then pulled himself together, been accepted by the Friars Minor, and spent the years of his ministry in the Custody. On this night he took refuge on the roof of the house, where somebody wrapped a woman's large veil over his habit; but his sandals gave him away, he was dragged down to the courtyard, refused to apostatize, and was slain. BD CARMEL VOLTA was half-killed by a blow on the head; he lay for an hour, when two Mohammedans, friends of his, found him and offered the shelter of their house, provided he became a renegade. He refused, and they killed him. BD NICANOR ASCANIO had arrived in Syria only in the previous year, and, but for the orders of Father Emmanuel on account of the dangers of the road, would have been in Jerusalem at the time of the massacre. BD PETER SOLER started life in a factory at. Cuevas, where he was a missionary among his fellows. Two young boys who heard him in broken Arabic refusing to give up his faith and saw him murdered in consequence, in after years gave evidence in the process of beatification. BD NICHOLAS ALBERCA, who was' only thirty years old, was found in a corridor of the burning monastery and was shot. The other two Franciscan martyrs were laybrothers. BD FRANCIS PINAZO had been a shepherd, but, when disappointed in his projected marriage, became a lay-brother in the third order regular at Cuelva; thence he was admitted to the first order. BD JOHN JAMES FERNANDEZ received the habit at Hebron, and lived in Spain until he was sent to the East in 1857. On the night of the massacre they hid on the upper floor of the belfry of the church. Here they were found and both were thrown out of the window to the ground. Brother Francis was killed at once, but Brother John lingered in agony all night, till early in the morning a Turkish soldier found him and despatched him with his sword.
Most of the lay-people in the house escaped or were spared, but three Maronite laymen were slain and were beatified with the friars. These were three brothers, BB. FRANCIS, ABDUL-MUYI and RAPHAEL MASABKI. The eldest, Francis, was about seventy years old, head of his family and a wealthy and influential man. Muti, a widower, having retired from commerce, lived with his elder brother and helped the Franciscans by teaching school. Raphael, the youngest, was unmarried and from being the assistant of Francis in his business, had become a sort of unofficial sub-sacristan at the friary. The circumstances of the beatification of these three are remarkable, because the process was complete in less than six months. The cause of the Franciscans was introduced in 1885, but the names of the Masabkis were not added to it until the spring of 1926, at the suggestion of Mgr Giannini, delegate apostolic in Syria. Happily a complete dossier of their case had been kept by the Maronite bishop of Damascus, and it was enabled to be completed at the same time as that of the friars on October 10, 1926.
Fuller details are supplied in H. Lammens, La Syrie (1921), vol ii, pp. 180ff,; P. Paoli, Il beato Emmanuele Ruiz,..(1926); P. Seeböck, P. Engelbert Kolland (1904); and C. Salotti, L'eroismo di tre martiri maroniti (1926). A general account of the outbreak may be found in the Annals of the Propagation of the Faith for 1860, pp. 308-326,
Emmanuel and others were caught up in the rising of the Druses in Lebanon. The Franciscan community, eight in number, and three Maronite laymen were slain by the Islamic rebels. He was beatified in 1926.
1860 Martyrs of Damascus 8 Franciscan and 3 Maronite martyrs slain in a Druse uprising in 1860 in Damascus, Syria refused to accept the Muslim faith, they were executed Pope Pius XI beatified them in 1926.


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 171

Hear my prayer, O Lady: upon a firm rock establish my mind.

Be thou to me a tower of strength: protect me from the face of the cruel destroyer.

Be thou to him terrible as an army in battle array: and may he fall living into the depths of hell.

For thou art shining and terrible: a cloud full of dew, and the rising dawn.

Thou art beautiful and bright as the full moon: thy sacred aspect is as when the sun shines in its strength.

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

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

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

Widowed Saints  html
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  UniateChalcedon

Mary the Mother of Jesus Miracles_BLay Saints  Miraculous_IconMiraculous_Medal_Novena Patron Saints
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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).
LINKS:
Marian Apparitions (over 2000)  India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes Feb 11- July 16, Loreto, Italy 1858 
China
Marian shrines
May 23, 1995 Zarvintisya Ukraine Lourdes Kenya national Marian shrine    Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798  
Links to Related
Marian Websites  Angels and Archangels