Mary Mother of GOD
Saints of this Day July 22 Undécimo Kaléndas Augusti
Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
R.  Deo grátias.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
R.  Thanks be to God.

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

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

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

Pope Benedict XVI Prayer Intentions for 2009 July
General: That the Christians of the Middle East may live their faith in full freedom
and be an instrument of peace and reconciliation.
Mission: That the Church may be the seed and nucleus of a humanity reconciled and reunited in God's one and only family, thanks to the testimony of all the faithful in every country in the world.

THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY  PSALM 34

Judge, O Lady, them that harm me: arise against them and avenge my cause.
My soul will rejoice in thee: and I will devoutly exult in thy benefits.

The heavens and the earth are full of thy grace and sweetness:
from every side thy kindness surrounds us.
For wherever we may walk: the fruit of thy virginal womb meets us.

Let us run, therefore, dearly beloved, and salute the noble Virgin
overflowing with sweetness: that we may rest in the bosom of her sweetness.
  Glory be to the Father, etc.

God's Masterpiece of Mercy July 22 - Our Lady of Safe Hiding, (Overloon, Holland)
The Blessed Virgin is given to us like God's masterpiece of mercy, as the one whose sole purpose in life is to let us enter the Father's mercy by this narrow, yet royal, door.
Since Mary is really the masterpiece of this mercy, she is, so to speak, the personification of the Father's mercy. Our Lord is the source of mercy for us, but in his close relationship with the Father, he is beyond mercy because he is the only Son of the Father.
However in the case of the Son, the Father does not adopt an attitude of mercy but an attitude of love.
Mary is a creature, a creature who is pure. Mercy completely enveloped her from the starting point; all her life she never ceased receiving the Father's mercy in plenitude. This mercy is intended to introduce her into love, but it is a love that takes on a special nuance, because when God's love is communicated to a creature, it necessarily takes the form of a merciful love.

Father Marie-Dominique Philippe (1912-2006)
Three Mysteries of Mercy - (Parole et Silence Editions, 2000)

July 22 - Our Lady of Safe Hiding (Overloon, Holland) - Birth of Saint Marguerite Mary Alacoque (1647)
I Spoke to Her Like a Child
I always ran to Mary in all my needs. I had the habit of giving the small crown of the Rosary to her,
kneeling on the floor on my bare knees, genuflecting or kissing the floor as many times as I said a ‘Hail Mary.’
She has always been a mother to me and has never refused to help me.
I ran to her with so much trust that it seemed like I had nothing to fear under her maternal protection.
I consecrated myself to Mary as her slave forever, begging her not to refuse my vow.
I spoke to her like a child, with simplicity, just like I would have spoken to my own good mother for whom I felt,
as a consequence, a strong and tender love.
I entered the Convent of the Visitation, because I was attracted to the very sweet name of Mary.
I believed that what I sought was there.
Saint Marguerite Mary Alacoque (d.1690) Her feast is celebrated on 17 October
        St. Mary Magdelene "The Penitent" Tradition informs us that Mary of Magdala was young and pretty, and led a sinful life. It says in the Gospels that the Lord expelled seven devils from Mary (Luke. 8:2) followed the Lord, with Apostles through cities and villages of Judea Galilee preaching the Kingdom of God; together with pious women Joanna, wife of Choza (steward of Herod), Susanna and others, she served Him from her own possessions (Luke 8:1-3); According to Tradition, she took Emperor Tiberias a red egg as a symbol of the Resurrection, a symbol of new life with the words: "Christ is Risen!"
1st v. Saint Syntyche of Philippi She was a fellow-worker of Saint Paul in spreading the Gospel; She is mentioned by Saint Paul (Philippians 4:2-3) as being a female member of the Church at Philippi and one of those "whose names are in the book of life" (RM) (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
  300 Saint Cyril of Antioch succeeded Timaeus as patriarch of Antioch in 280. Although persecuted by Diocletion, he
        appears to have died in peace (Benedictines).B (RM)
  306 St. Plato and brother of St. Antiochus Martyr;  A much revered saint in the Eastern Church, he was put to death
        at Ancyra during the persecution of the early fourth century.
  356 St Joseph of Palestine,  mentioned in the Roman Martyrology, appears nowhere venerated liturgically in the world, not even country where he was so conspicuous a figure; he privately exorcised an indwelling demon in the name of our Lord, and the energumen was delivered; making the sign of the cross upon a vessel of water, poured it on the kilns, and the fire instantly burst forth and burned; Constantine the Great gave Joseph the rank of comes with authority to build churches over Galilee, particularly in Jewish towns; Scythopolis (Bethsan), lodged St Eusebius of Vercelli; harboured other servants of God, like St Epiphanius; at Tiberias produced Massoretic doctors, who are famous for the invention of the vowel points to preserve the pronunciation of written Hebrew
 356  St. Pancharius Bishop of Besancon in Gaul during the height of the Arian controversy in the Church. He
         endured considerable hardships at the hands of the heretical Arians who support of Arian Emperor Constantius
403 or 404 Phokas The Transfer of the Relics of the Priest-Martyr from Sinope to Constantinople occurred on 22 July
          in either the year . The account about him is located under 22 September.
          St. Movean Abbot and companion of St. Patrick, also called Biteus. Movean was abbot of Inis-Coosery, County
          Down, Ireland. He served as a missionary in Perthshire and died as a hermit.
   668 St. Wandrille Benedictine abbot  a noble family and related to Blessed Pepin of Landen, he was sent to the court
          of the Frankish king Dagobert I
         St. Dabius Irish missionary to Scotland, called Davius in some lists. He was part of the great monastic missionary
         effort in the British Isles, and then in Europe. Several churches there bear his name
   720 St. Meneleus Abbot and restorer of Menat Monastery, near Clermont, France. Also listed as Mauvier or Menele,
          he was born in Anjou and started his career as a monk of Carmery, Auvergne
   789 St. Theophilus Admiral and martyr. An officer in charge of the Byzantine fleet stationed at Cyprus, he was
         captured in battle against an Arab fleet, despite the pleas of his officers to retreat when the cause was hopeless.
         He spent one year in a Muslim prison and was then martyred after he refused to abjure the Christian faith.
1088  Bd Benno, Bishop of Osnabruck; noteworthy work as an architect "official architect" to the Emperor Henry III;
         sent more than once as imperial envoy to pope St Gregory; founded Iburg monastery
1493 Blessed Augustine Fangi; Miracles during life; raised dead, removed devils, mended broken jar and refilled it;
        Miracles around the tomb of Augustine of Biella led to his beatification in 1878, after forgotten by everyone,
        except residents of the little town at the foot of the Alps where he lived; His life noted for piety and regularity, but
        quite unremarkable for unusual events or venturesome projects, OP (AC)
1622  Blessed Kiprian, fool-for-Christ's-sake, gatekeeper of the church in Voskresensk, near the city of Kovrov in
         Vladimir Diocese. Saint Kiprian pursued calling in silence on island mouth of rivers Kliazma and Uvod
1679 Bds. Philip Evans priest S.J. and John Lloyd a secular priest, missionary to minister in his own country;
        Martyred "as priests who had come unlawfully into the realm"
1693 Saint Cornelius of Pereyaslavl sacristan in church, served in the trapeza, also toiled in garden relics incorrupt

Called in the Gospel "the Mother of Jesus," Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as "the Mother of my Lord" (Lk 1:43; Jn 2:1; 19:25; cf. Mt 13:55; et al.). In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh,
was none other than the Father's eternal Son,
the second person of the Holy Trinity.
Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos).
Catechism of the Catholic Church 495, quoting the Council of Ephesus (431): DS 251.
THE EUCHARIST, A MYSTERY TO BE BELIEVED POST-SYNODAL APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION
SACRAMENTUM CARITATIS OF THE HOLY FATHER BENEDICT XVI
Morning Prayer and Hymn   Meditation of the Day  Prayer for Priests
The great psalm of the Passion, Chapter 22, whose first verse "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
Jesus pronounced on the cross, ended with the vision: "All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations shall worship before him" For kingship belongs to the LORD, the ruler over the nations.  All who sleep in the earth will bow low before God; All who have gone down into the dust will kneel in homage.  And I will live for the LORD; my descendants will serve you.  The generation to come will be told of the Lord, that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn the deliverance you have brought.

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

 breviary.net/martyrology/mart07/mart0702 stlukeorthodox.com/html/saints/january/ usccb.org  ewtn.com  St Patricks 07022
domcentral.org/life/martyrJuly  syriac    oca.org   glaubenszeugen.de/tage/July/   Serbian   http://www.copticchurch.net  Melkite
Monthly Saints with pics here http://www.stfrancisenid.com/memorials.htm
 One Saint per day stthomasirondequoit.com/SaintsAlive/index.htm    stjohndc.org  God's Humourous Saints
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 heaven:  only saints are allowed into heaven. The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.
Mary the Mother of Jesus Miracles_BC  Lay Saints  Miraculous_Icons  Miraculous_Medal_Novena Patron Saints
100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000    1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800   1900
God calls each one of us to be a saint in order to get into heaven.
The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.
"The answers to many of life's questions can be found by reading the Lives of the Saints. They teach us how to overcome obstacles and difficulties, how to stand firm in our faith, and how to struggle against evil and emerge victorious."  1913 Saint Barsanuphius of Optina
 Paul VI_Athenagoras_05_01_1964
Quote: Pope Paul VI’s 1969 Instruction on the Contemplative Life includes this passage:  
 "To withdraw into the desert is for Christians tantamount to associating themselves more intimately with Christ’s passion, and it enables them, in a very special way, to share in the paschal mystery and in the passage of Our Lord from this world to the heavenly homeland" (#1).
Benedict_XVI_Patriarch_Bartholomew I
"Christianity is not a moral code or a philosophy,
but an encounter with a person" -- Benedict XVI

"Evil, is only eradicated by holiness, not by harshness. And holiness introduces into society a seed that heals and transforms.  It is like the tectonic plates of the earth’s crust: The deepest layers need only shift a few millimeters to shatter the world’s surface. Yet for this spiritual revolution to occur, we must experience radical 'metanoia'--a conversion of attitudes, habits and practices--for ways that we have misused or abused God’s Word, God’s gifts and God’s creation. The challenge before us is the discernment of God’s Word in the face of evil, the transfiguration of every last detail and speck of this world in the light of Resurrection." "The victory is al ready present in the depths of the Church, whenever we experience the grace of reconciliation and communion."
Patriarch_Bartholomew I: SYNOD OF BISHOPS VATICAN CITY, OCT. 17, 2008

"The answers to many of life's questions can be found by reading the Lives of the Saints.
They teach us how to overcome obstacles and difficulties,how to stand firm in our faith,
and how to struggle against evil and emerge victorious." 
1913 Saint Barsanuphius of Optina
God calls each one of us to be a saint in order to get into heaven.
The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.
Non est inventus similis illis
His Holiness Aram I, current (2008) Catholicos of Cilicia of Armenians, whose See is located in Lebanese town of Antelias.
  The Catholicosate was founded in Sis, capital of Cilicia, in the year 1441 following the move of the Catholicosate of All Armenians back to its original See of Etchmiadzin in Armenia.
The Catholicosate of Cilicia enjoyed local jurisdiction, though spiritually subject to the authority of Etchmiadzin.
In 1921 the See was transferred to Aleppo in Syria, and in 1930 to Antelias.
Its jurisdiction currently extends to Syria, Cyprus, Iran and Greece.
Christian priests from Edessa evangelized Eastern Mesopotamia and Persia, established the first Churches in the kingdom of the Sassanides.  Atillâtiâ, Bishop of Edessa, assisted at the Council of Nicæa (325). The "Peregrinatio Silviæ" (or Etheriæ) (ed. Gamurrini, Rome, 1887, 62 sqq.) gives an account of the many sanctuaries at Edessa about 388.

Although Hebrew had been the language of the ancient Israelite kingdom, after their return from Exile the Jews turned more and more to Aramaic, using it for parts of the books of Ezra and Daniel in the Bible. By the time of Jesus, Aramaic was the main language of Palestine, and quite a number of texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls are also written in Aramaic.  Aramaic continued to be an important language for Jews, alongside Hebrew, and parts of the Talmud are written in it. After Arab conquests of the seventh century, Arabic quickly replaced Aramaic as the main language of those who converted to Islam, although in out of the way places, Aramaic continued as a vernacular language of Muslims. Aramaic, however, enjoyed its greatest success in Christianity. Although the New Testament wins written in Greek, Christianity had come into existence in an Aramaic-speaking milieu, and it was the Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac, that became the literary language of a large number of Christians living in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire and in the Persian Empire, further east. Over the course of the centuries the influence of the Syriac Churches spread eastwards to China (in Xian, in western China, a Chinese-Syriac inscription dated 781 is still to be seen), to southern India where the state of Kerala can boast more Christians of Syriac liturgical tradition than anywhere else in the world.
Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac: The exact date of the introduction of Christianity into Edessa {Armenian Ourhaï in Arabic Er Roha, commonly Orfa or Urfa, its present name} is not known. It is certain, however, that the Christian community was at first made up from the Jewish population of the city. According to an ancient legend, King Abgar V, Ushana, was converted by Addai, who was one of the seventy-two disciples. In fact, however, the first King of Edessa to embrace the Christian Faith was Abgar IX (c. 206) becoming official kingdom religion.Christian council held at Edessa early as 197 (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., V,xxiii). In 201 the city was devastated by a great flood, and the Christian church was destroyed ("Chronicon Edessenum", ad. an. 201). In 232 the relics of the Apostle St. Thomas were brought from India, on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written. Under Roman domination martyrs suffered at Edessa: Sts. Scharbîl and Barsamya, under Decius; Sts. Gûrja, Schâmôna, Habib, and others under Diocletian.

680 Shiite saint Imam Hussein, grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad Known as Ashoura and observed by Shiites across the world, the 10th day of the lunar Muslim month of Muharram: the anniversary of the 7th century death in battle of one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints.  Imam Hussein died in the 680 A.D. battle fought on the plains outside Karbala, a city in modern Iraq that's home to the saint's shrine.  The battle over a dispute about the leadership of the Muslim faith following Muhammad's death in 632 A.D. It is the defining event in Islam's split into Sunni and Shiite branches.  The occasion is the source of an enduring moral lesson. "He sacrificed his blood to teach us not to give in to corruption, coercion, or use of force and to seek honor and justice."  According to Shiite beliefs, Hussein and companions were denied water by enemies who controlled the nearby Euphrates.  Streets get partially covered with blood from slaughter of hundreds of cows and sheep. Volunteers cook the meat and feed it to the poor.  Hussein's martyrdom recounted through a rich body of prose, poetry and song remains an inspirational example of sacrifice to many Shiites, 10 percent of the world's estimated 1.3 billion Muslims.
Meeting of the Saints  walis (saints of Allah)
Great men covet to embrace martyrdom for a cause and principle.
So was the case with Hazrat Ali. He could have made a compromise with the evil forces of his time and, as a result, could have led a very comfortable, easy and luxurious life. But he was not a person who would succumb to such temptations. His upbringing, his education and his training in the lap of the holy Prophet made him refuse such an offer.
Rabia Al-Basri (717–801 C.E.) She was first to set forth the doctrine of mystical love and who is widely considered to be the most important of the early Sufi poets.
An elderly Shia pointed out that during his pre-Partition childhood it was quite common to find pictures and portraits of Shia icons in Imambaras across the country.
Shia Ali al-Hadi, died 868 and son Hassan al-Askari 874. These saints are the 10th and 11th of Shia's 12 most revered Imams.  Baba Farid Sufi 1398 miracle, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki renowned Muslim Sufi saint scholar miracles
569 A.H. [1173 C.E.] hermit gave to poor, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti  greatest mystic of his time born 533 Hijri (1138-39 A.D.) , Hazrat Ghuas-e Azam,  Hazrat Bu Ali Sharif, and Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia 1236-1325 welcomed people of all faiths & all walks of life Sufi Saint Hazrath Khwaja Syed Mohammed Badshah Quadri Chisty Yamani Quadeer (RA)
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Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey
Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament
Colombia was among the countries Mother Angelica visited.  In Bogotá, a Salesian priest - Father Juan Pablo Rodriguez brought Mother and the nuns to the Sanctuary of the Divine Infant Jesus to attend Mass.  After Mass, Father Juan Pablo took them into a small Shrine which housed the miraculous statue of the Child Jesus. Mother Angelica stood praying at the side of the statue when suddenly the miraculous image came alive and turned towards her.  Then the Child Jesus spoke with the voice of a young boy: 
"Build Me a Temple and I will help those who help you." 
Thus began a great adventure that would eventually result in the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, a Temple dedicated to the Divine Child Jesus, a place of refuge for all. Use this link to read a remarkable story about
Father Reardon, Editor of The Catholic Bulletin for 20 years
Lover of the poor; "A very Holy Man of God"
Monsignor Reardon P.A.  BASILICA OF SAINT MARY Minneapolis MN
America's First Basilica
Largest Nave in the World
August 7, 1907-ground broke for the foundation by Archbishop Ireland-laying cornerstone 5/31/1908
James M. Reardon Publication History of Basilica of Saint Mary 1600-1932
James M. Reardon Publication  History of the Basilica of Saint Mary 1955 {update}
Brief History of our Beloved Holy Priest Here and his published books of Catholic History in North America

Reardon, J.M. Archbishop Ireland; Prelate, Patriot, Publicist,1838-1918.
A Memoir (St. Paul; 1919);
George Anthony Belcourt Pioneer Catholic Missionary of the Northwest 1803-1874 (1955);
The Catholic Church IN THE DIOCESE OF ST. PAUL from earliest origin to centennial achievement 1362-1950 (1952);
The Church of Saint Mary of Saint Paul 1875-1922;  (1932)
The Vikings in the American Heartland;
The Catholic Total Abstinence Society in Minnesota;

James Michael Reardon B. 1872, Nova Scotia; Priest, ordained by Bishop Ireland; Member  St. Paul Seminary faculty
Litany of Loretto in Stained glass windows Here.  Nave Sacristy and Residence Here
Sanctuary spaces filled between with grilles of hand-forged wrought iron  Life of our Blessed Lady After the Crucifixon
Apostle statues Replicas of those in St John Lateran--Christendom's earliest Basilica. Ordered by Rome's first Christian Emperor, Constantine the Great.  It became the Popes' own cathedral and official residence for the first millennium of Christian history. The only replicas ever made:  in order from west to east {1932}. Saints Simon (saw), Bartholomew (knife), James the Lesser (book), John (eagle),  Andrew (transverse cross), Peter (keys), Paul (sword), James the Greater (staff),
Thomas (carpenter's square), Philip (serpent), Matthew (book), and Jude (sword).
Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel
 It Makes No Sense Not To Believe In GOD
The 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary ) Revealed to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan)
1.    Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces. 2.    I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary. 3.    The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies. 4.    It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things.  Oh, that soul would sanctify them by this means.  5.    The soul that recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish. 6.    Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying themselves to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune.  God will not chastise them in His justice, they shall not perish by an unprovided death; if they be just, they shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life. 7.    Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church. 8.    Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise. 9.    I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary. 10.    The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.  11.    You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary. 12.    I shall aid all those who propagate the Holy Rosary in their necessities. 13.    I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death. 14.    All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ. 15.    Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
By Father John Corapi, SOLT
Among the most important titles we have in the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of the most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom. The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7 (date of feast of Our Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for the Christian forces against the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope Pius V led a procession around St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral leadership in recognizing the danger posed to Christendom by the radical Muslim forces, and in using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles require spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that had its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.

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

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

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

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

A New Series by Fr. Corapi! The Moon Under Her Feet CD-Audio Set: $39.00 DVD-Video Set: $45.00  call 1-888-800-7084 or go to Site http://www.fathercorapi.com
In this four part series Father John Corapi goes to the heart of the contemporary world's many woes and wars, whether the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, or the Congo, or the natural disasters that seem to be increasing every year, the moral and spiritual war is at the basis of everything. "Our battle is not against human forces," St. Paul asserts, "but against principalities and powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness..."
(Ephesians 6:12).  The "War to end all wars" is the moral and spiritual combat that rages in the hearts and minds of human beings. The outcome of that  unseen fight largely determines how the battle in the realm of the seen unfolds.  The title talk, "With the Moon Under Her Feet," is taken from the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation, and deals with the current threat to the world from radical Islam, and the Blessed Virgin Mary's role in the ultimate victory that will result in the conversion of Islam.  Few Catholics are aware of the connection between Islam, Fatima, and Guadalupe. Presented in Father Corapi's straight-forward style, you will be both inspired and educated by this four part series on topics more timely than ever.
The four titles are:  1. The Real War We Fight 2. The Battle for Hearts & Minds 3. Leadership: Essential for Victory 4. With the Moon Under Her Feet
DECREES OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE CAUSES OF SAINTS
VATICAN CITY, 17 JAN 2009 (VIS) - Today, during a private audience with Archbishop Angelo Amato S.D.B., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Pope authorised the congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
All Servants of God
MIRACLES:
- 1909 Ciriaco Maria Sancha y Hervas, Spanish cardinal archbishop of Toledo, founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of
          Charity of Cardinal Sancha (1833-1909).
- 1956 Carlo Gnocchi, Italian diocesan priest and founder of the "Pro Juventute" Foundation (1902-1956).
- 1735 Bernardo Francisco de Hoyos, Spanish professed priest of the Company of Jesus (1711-1735).
- 1919 Raphael Rafiringa (ne Louis), Madagascan professed religious of the Institute of Brothers of Christian Schools
          (1856-1919).
- 1946 Eustachio Kugler, (ne Joseph), German professed religious of the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God (1867-1946).
 
HEROIC VIRTUES
- 1659 Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, Spanish bishop of Osma (1600-1659).
- 1888 Robert Spiske, diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of Sisters of St. Hedwig (1821-1888).
- 1932 Carolina Beltrami, Italian foundress of the Institute of "Immaculatine" Sisters of Alessandria (1869-1932).
- 1998 Mary of the Immaculate e Conception Salvat y Romerio (nee Maria Isabella), Spanish superior general of the Institute of
          Sisters of the Company of the Cross (1926-1998).
- 1842 Liberata Ferrarons y Vives, Spanish laywoman of the Third Order of Carmelites (1803-1842).
  In the course of a private audience with Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. on 22 December 2008, the Pope authorised the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate a decree regarding the heroic virtues of
1871 Jose Tous y Soler, Servant of God Spanish professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchins and founder of the
        Capuchin sisters of the Mother of the Divine Shepherd (1811-1871).
CSS/DECREES/AMATO VIS 090119 (320)
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St. Mary Magdelene "The Penitent" Tradition informs us that Mary of Magdala was young and pretty, and led a sinful life. It says in the Gospels that the Lord expelled seven devils from Mary (Luke. 8:2) followed the Lord, with Apostles through cities and villages of Judea Galilee preaching the Kingdom of God; together with pious women Joanna, wife of Choza (steward of Herod), Susanna and others, she served Him from her own possessions (Luke 8:1-3); According to Tradition, she took Emperor Tiberias a red egg as a symbol of the Resurrection, a symbol of new life with the words: "Christ is Risen!"
She is called "the Penitent". St. Mary was given the name 'Magdalen' because, though a Jewish girl, she lived in a Gentile town called Magdale, in northern Galilee, and her culture and manners were those of a Gentile. St. Luke records that she was a notorious sinner, and had seven devils removed from her. She was present at Our Lords' Crucifixion, and with Joanna and Mary, the mother of James and Salome, at Jesus' empty tomb. Fourteen years after Our Lord's death, St. Mary was put in a boat by the Jews without sails or oars - along with Sts. Lazarus and Martha, St. Maximin (who baptized her), St. Sidonius ("the man born blind"), her maid Sera, and the body of St. Anne, the mother of the Blessed Virgin. They were sent drifting out to sea and landed on the shores of Southern France, where St. Mary spent the rest of her life as a contemplative in a cave known as Sainte-Baume. She was given the Holy Eucharist daily by angels as her only food, and died when she was 72. St. Mary was transported miraculously, just before she died, to the chapel of St. Maximin, where she received the last sacraments.

More about this saint: St. Mary Magdalen (Feast day - July 22) Mary Magdalen was well known as a sinner when she first saw Our Lord. She was very beautiful and very proud, but after she met Jesus, she felt great sorrow for her evil life. When Jesus went to supper at the home of a rich man named Simon, Mary came to weep at His feet. Then with her long beautiful hair, she wiped His feet dry and anointed them with expensive perfume. Some people were surprised that Jesus let such a sinner touch Him, but Our Lord could see into Mary's heart, and He said: "Many sins are forgiven her, because she has loved very much." Then to Mary He said kindly, "Your faith has made you safe; go in peace." From then on, with the other holy women, Mary humbly served Jesus and His Apostles. When Our Lord was crucified, she was there at the foot of His cross, unafraid for herself, and thinking only of His sufferings. No wonder Jesus said of her: "She has loved much." After Jesus' body had been placed in the tomb, Mary went to anoint it with spices early Easter Sunday morning. Not finding the Sacred Body, she began to weep, and seeing someone whom she thought was the gardener, she asked him if he knew where the Body of her beloved Master had been taken. But then the person spoke in a voice she knew so well: "Mary!" It was Jesus, risen from the dead! He had chosen to show Himself first to Mary Magdalen, the repentent sinner.
Mary Magdalene The Holy Myrrh-Bearer Equal of the Apostles On the banks of Lake Genesareth (Galilee), between the cities of Capharnum and Tiberias, was the small city of Magdala, the remains of which have survived to our day. Now only the small village of Mejhdel stands on the site.

Mary Magdalene (RM) 1st century; feast of her translation, especially in the Eastern Church, is May 4. Saint Mary Magdalene, the "Apostle to the Apostles," was the first to encounter the Risen Jesus. Just when it seems the real Mary Magdalene is revealed in Scripture, there are questions. She is further obscured by the legends that surround her following the Resurrection. There is a considerable difference of opinion, particularly between the exegetes of the East and the West as to the identity of Mary Magdalene.  Largely due to the influence of Saint Gregory the Great's writings, the Western liturgies have identified her with the unnamed sinner (Luke 7:36ff; cf. Luke 8:2) and Mary of Bethany, the sister of SS. Lazarus and Martha (see John 11). There is also a third Mary, who came from Magdala on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee near Tiberias in Judea. This is the woman from whom Jesus "had cast out seven devils" (Mark 16:9; Luke 8:2). She was one of the women present at Calvary and was the first to witness the Resurrection, which Jesus told her to announce to the disciples.

In the opinion of the Eastern liturgists (and the venerable opinion of Saint Ambrose), there are three different people, and it certainly seems doubtful that Mary of Bethany and Mary the Sinner were the same person. Or does it?  Modern scholars do not believe they are the same woman because there is the question of the two different origins (Bethany and Magdala). But it has been suggested that if they are identical, it would be easier to explain why three adults siblings were living together without their spouses.
If Mary of Bethany is the sinful woman (assumed to be a prostitute or whore) and her brother and sister took her in after she repented, they would be considered tainted.
Nevertheless, Eastern tradition of the repentant woman, Mary of Bethany, and Mary Magdalene being three different women has been adopted in the revised Roman calendar of 1969.

However, it is very probable that after the repentance of Mary the Sinner, she should have followed Jesus to the last and have been present at the Crucifixion. Such, at any rate, is the belief of the many faithful who have venerated her as the classic example of the repentant woman who was forgiven by Jesus and who thereafter followed and served him.

Mary Magdalene, the woman exorcised of seven devils, ministered to the Lord in Galilee (Luke 8:2) and was among the women at the Crucifixion (Matt. 27:56; Mark 15:40; John 19:25). With Joanna and Mary, the mother of James, and Salome, she discovered the empty tomb and heard the angelic announcement of the resurrection of Christ (Matt. 28:1ff; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:1-10). She was the first person to see Christ later that same day (Matt. 28:9; Mark 16:9), to which Saint John (20:1-18) adds the moving account that the Master gave her a message to deliver to the brethren.

According to an ancient Eastern tradition, Mary Magdalene accompanied John and the Blessed Virgin to Ephesus, where she died and was buried. One of the tales of the Middle Ages was that she was betrothed to Saint John the Evangelist when Jesus called him, and that in anger "gave herself to all delight." Jesus, not wishing to damn her when the cause of her behavior was his calling of Saint John, converted her to penance.
A later pious legend in the West tells of her travelling to Provence, France, with Martha, Lazarus, and others to evangelize Gaul. These sources hold that she spent the last 30 years of her life in a cavern of La Sainte-Baume in the Maritime Alps, and was miraculously transported just before her death to the Chapel of Saint-Maximin, from whom she received the last sacraments and by whom she was buried at Aix.
Her relics have been claimed by various places at various times, but none of the stories can be authenticated. Saint Willibald is said to have seen her tomb in Ephesus in the 8th century. Vézelay (France) has claimed her relics since the 11th century (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, White).
In art, Mary Magdalene's emblem is a jar of ointment and she always has long hair. Among the scenes that may be portrayed, she is shown (1) wiping Christ's feet at the house of Simon; (2) anointing Him at Bethany; (3) with Martha [Caravaggio's painting]; (4) with Martha at the raising of Lazarus from the dead; (5) clinging to the foot of the Cross; (6) kissing or anointing Christ's feet at the Lamentation; (7) with the other two Marys at the tomb; (8) at His feet at Noli me Tangere (do not touch me) [view Fra Angelico's, Correggio's or Alonso Cani's versions]; (9) casting aside her jewels in the presence of Christ; (10) wringing her hands and spurning jewels; (11) weeping; (12) penitent in the desert with long hair and an ointment jar; (13) with Saint Mary of Egypt; (14) old and haggard, clad only in her long hair; (15) uplifted by angels at the canonical hours; or (16) in various scenes of shipwreck with Martha and Lazarus on their way to Marseilles (Roeder).

Because Mary Magdalene is described as weeping at Jesus' tomb on Easter Sunday, she is often portrayed in art as weeping, or with eyes red from having wept. This is the source of the English word "maudlin," meaning "effusively or tearfully sentimental." There is a Magdalene College at Oxford and a Magdalene College at Cambridge (different spelling), both pronounced "Maudlin."  Saint Mary Magdalene is especially venerated in Marseilles, Saint Maximin le Sainte-Baume, and Vézelay, France (Roeder). She is the patron of repentant sinners and of the contemplative life (Farmer).
Noli Me Tangere by Correggio Image courtesy of Pauly Fongemie
A woman whose name has entered forever into the Gospel account was born and grew up in Magdala. The Gospel tells us nothing of Mary's younger years, but Tradition informs us that Mary of Magdala was young and pretty, and led a sinful life. It says in the Gospels that the Lord expelled seven devils from Mary (Luke. 8:2). From the moment of her healing Mary led a new life, and became a true disciple of the Savior.
The Gospel relates that Mary followed after the Lord, when He went with the Apostles through the cities and villages of Judea and Galilee preaching about the Kingdom of God. Together with the pious women Joanna, wife of Choza (steward of Herod), Susanna and others, she served Him from her own possessions (Luke 8:1-3) and undoubtedly shared with the Apostles the evangelic tasks in common with the other women. The Evangelist Luke, evidently, has her in view together with the other women, stating that at the moment of the Procession of Christ onto Golgotha, when after the Scourging He took on Himself the heavy Cross, collapsing under its weight, the women followed after Him weeping and wailing, but He consoled them. The Gospel relates that Mary Magdalene was present on Golgotha at the moment of the Lord's Crucifixion. While all the disciples of the Savior ran away, she remained fearlessly at the Cross together with the Mother of God and the Apostle John.
The Evangelists also list among those standing at the Cross the mother of the Apostle James, and Salome, and other women followers of the Lord from Galilee, but all mention Mary Magdalene first. St John, in addition to the Mother of God, names only her and Mary Cleopas. This indicates how much she stood out from all the women who gathered around the Lord.
She was faithful to Him not only in the days of His Glory, but also at the moment of His extreme humiliation and insult. As the Evangelist Matthew relates, she was present at the Burial of the Lord. Before her eyes Joseph and Nicodemus went out to the tomb with His lifeless Body. She watched as they covered over the entrance to the cave with a large stone, entombing the Source of Life.
Faithful to the Law in which she was raised, Mary together with the other women spent following day at rest, because it was the great day of the Sabbath, coinciding with the Feast of Passover. But all the rest of the peaceful day the women gathered spices to go to the Grave of the Lord at dawn on Sunday and anoint His Body according to the custom of the Jews.
It is necessary to mention that, having agreed to go on the first day of the week to the Tomb early in the morning, the holy women had no possibility of meeting with one another on Saturday. They went separately on Friday evening to their own homes. They went out only at dawn the following day to go to the Sepulchre, not all together, but each from her own house.

The Evangelist Matthew writes that the women came to the grave at dawn, or as the Evangelist Mark expresses, extremely early before the rising of the sun. The Evangelist John, elaborating upon these, says that Mary came to the grave so early that it was still dark. Obviously, she waited impatiently for the end of night, but it was not yet daybreak. She ran to the place where the Lord's Body lay.  Mary went to the tomb alone. Seeing the stone pushed away from the cave, she ran away in fear to tell the close Apostles of Christ, Peter and John. Hearing the strange message that the Lord was gone from the tomb, both Apostles ran to the tomb and, seeing the shroud and winding cloths, they were amazed. The Apostles went and said nothing to anyone, but Mary stood about the entrance to the tomb and wept. Here in this dark tomb so recently lay her lifeless Lord.
Wanting proof that the tomb really was empty, she went down to it and saw a strange sight. She saw two angels in white garments, one sitting at the head, the other at the foot, where the Body of Jesus had been placed. They asked her, "Woman, why weepest thou?" She answered them with the words which she had said to the Apostles, "They have taken my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him." At that moment, she turned around and saw the Risen Jesus standing near the grave, but she did not recognize Him.
He asked Mary, "Woman, why weepest thou? Whom dost thou seek?" She answered thinking that she was seeing the gardener, "Sir, if thou hast taken him, tell where thou hast put Him, and I will take Him away."
Then she recognized the Lord's voice. This was the voice she heard in those days and years, when she followed the Lord through all the cities and places where He preached. He spoke her name, and she gave a joyful shout, "Rabbi" (Teacher).
Respect and love, fondness and deep veneration, a feeling of thankfulness and recognition at His Splendor as great Teacher, all came together in this single outcry. She was able to say nothing more and she threw herself down at the feet of her Teacher to wash them with tears of joy. But the Lord said to her: "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and tell them: "I ascend to My Father, and your Father; to My God and to your God."
She came to herself and again ran to the Apostles, to do the will of Him sending her to preach. Again she ran into the house, where the Apostles still remained in dismay, and proclaimed to them the joyous message, "I have seen the Lord!" This was the first preaching in the world about the Resurrection.
The Apostles proclaimed the Glad Tidings to the world, but she proclaimed it to the Apostles themselves.
Holy Scripture does not tell us about the life of Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection of Christ, but it is impossible to doubt, that if in the terrifying minutes of Christ's Crucifixion she was the foot of His Cross with His All-Pure Mother and St John, she must have stayed with them during the happier time after the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ. Thus in the Acts of the Apostles St Luke writes that all the Apostles with one mind stayed in prayer and supplication, with certain women and Mary the Mother of Jesus and His brethren.
Holy Tradition testifies that when the Apostles departed from Jerusalem to preach to all the ends of the earth, then Mary Magdalene also went with them. A daring woman, whose heart was full of reminiscence of the Resurrection, she went beyond her native borders and went to preach in pagan Rome. Everywhere she proclaimed to people about Christ and His teaching. When many did not believe that Christ is risen, she repeated to them what she had said to the Apostles on the radiant morning of the Resurrection: "I have seen the Lord!" With this message she went all over Italy.
Tradition relates that in Italy Mary Magdalene visited Emperor Tiberias (14-37 A.D.) and proclaimed to him Christ's Resurrection. According to Tradition, she took him a red egg as a symbol of the Resurrection, a symbol of new life with the words: "Christ is Risen!" Then she told the emperor that in his Province of Judea the unjustly condemned Jesus the Galilean, a holy man, a miracleworker, powerful before God and all mankind, had been executed at the instigation of the Jewish High Priests, and the sentence confirmed by the procurator appointed by Tiberias, Pontius Pilate.

Mary repeated the words of the Apostles, that we are redeemed from the vanity of life is not with perishable silver or gold, but rather by the precious Blood of Christ.  Thanks to Mary Magdalene the custom to give each other paschal eggs on the day of the Radiant Resurrection of Christ spread among Christians over all the world. On one ancient Greek manuscript, written on parchment, kept in the monastery library of St Athanasius near Thessalonica, is a prayer read on the day of Holy Pascha for the blessing of eggs and cheese. In it is indicated that the igumen in passing out the blessed eggs says to the brethren: "Thus have we received from the holy Fathers, who preserved this custom from the very time of the holy Apostles, therefore the holy Equal of the Apostles Mary Magdalene first showed believers the example of this joyful offering."

Mary Magdalene continued her preaching in Italy and in the city of Rome itself. Evidently, the Apostle Paul has her in mind in his Epistle to the Romans (16: 6), where together with other ascetics of evangelic preaching he mentions Mary (Mariam), who as he expresses "has bestowed much labor on us." Evidently, she extensively served the Church in its means of subsistence and its difficulties, being exposed to dangers, and sharing with the Apostles the labors of preaching.
According to Church Tradition, she remained in Rome until the arrival of the Apostle Paul, and for two more years following his departure from Rome after the first court judgment upon him. From Rome, St Mary Magdalene, already bent with age, moved to Ephesus where the holy Apostle John unceasingly labored. There the saint finished her earthly life and was buried.
Her holy relics were transferred in the ninth century to Constantinople, and placed in the monastery Church of St Lazarus. In the era of the Crusader campaigns they were transferred to Italy and placed at Rome under the altar of the Lateran Cathedral. Part of the relics of Mary Magdalene are said to be in Provage, France near Marseilles, where over them at the foot of a steep mountain a splendid church is built in her honor.
The Orthodox Church honors the holy memory of St Mary Magdalene, the woman called by the Lord Himself from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God.
Formerly immersed in sin and having received healing, she sincerely and irrevocably began a new life and never wavered from that path. Mary loved the Lord Who called her to a new life. She was faithful to Him not only when He was surrounded by enthusiastic crowds and winning recognition as a miracle-worker, but also when all the disciples deserted Him in fear and He, humiliated and crucified, hung in torment upon the Cross. This is why the Lord, knowing her faithfulness, appeared to her first, and esteemed her worthy to be first to proclaim His Resurrection.

St Mary Magdalen  The story of St Mary Magdalen, as generally received in the West following St Gregory the Great, is one of the most moving and encouraging in the Holy Scriptures.  Mention is made in the gospels of a woman who was a sinner (Luke VII 37-50, etc.), of Mary Magdalen, a follower of our Lord (John xx 10-18, etc.), and of Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus (Luke X 38-42, etc.), and the liturgy of the Roman church by identifying these three as one single individual has set its approval on the ancient tradition and popular belief of Western Catholics.
 {The identification of Mary Magdalen, the sister of Lazarus and the Sinner as one person is still by no means unchallenged in the West.  Though most Latin writers since the time of Pope St Gregory have supported the identity, St Ambrose, St Jerome, St Augustine, St Albert the Great and St Thomas leave the question undecided; most of the Greek fathers distinguish three, or at least two, different persons.  This is the common view in the East, not only among the dissidents but also among those in communion with the Holy See.  Thus the Catholic Byzantines keep the feast of Mary Magdalen the Myrrh-bearer on July 22, and of the other two on other dates.}

    Mary Magdalen, whom our English ancestors called "Mawdleyn ", probably received her name from Magdala, a place on the western shore of the sea of Galilee, near to Tiberias, and our Lord first met her when on His Galilean ministry.       St Luke records that she was a sinner, and evidently a notorious sinner (though he says nothing to suggest that she was a public harlot, as is commonly supposed), and goes on to describe how, Christ having accepted an invitation to dine with a Pharisee, she came into the house while they were at table, fell weeping before Jesus, and, having wiped His feet with her own hair, anointed them with ointment from an alabaster box.    The Pharisee murmured at what seemed to him the unbecoming acquiescence of a prophet in the presence of a great sinner, and Jesus, knowing his thoughts, rebuked him; first by asking which of two released debtors, a great and a small, had the more cause to be grateful to their creditor, and then directly:
"Dost thou see this woman?  I entered into thy house-thou gayest me no water for my feet.  But she with tears hath washed my feet, and with her hairs hath wiped them.
 Thou gavest me no kiss. But she, since she came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet.   My head with oil thou didst not anoint-but she with ointment hath anointed my feet.
 Wherefore I say to thee: Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much.  But to whom less is forgiven, he loveth less."
And to the penitent woman he said, "Thy sins are forgiven thee.         Thy faith hath made thee safe.   Go in peace."

    In his very next chapter St Luke, in speaking of the missionary travels of our Lord in Galilee, tells us that He and His apostles were accompanied and ministered to by certain women, among them (by name) Mary Magdalen, "out of whom seven devils had gone forth ".  Later, He entered into a certain town and was received by Martha and her sister Mary, who supposedly had come to live with their brother. Lazarus at Bethany in order to be nearer the Master who, at their instance, had restored him to life.   Martha, busy about the house, appealed to Him to urge Mary to help her, rather than to sit continually at His feet listening to His words, and received that answer which has puzzled and consoled all succeeding ages:
"Martha, Martha, thou art careful and art troubled about many things.  But one thing is necessary.  Mary hath chosen the best part, which shalt not be taken away from her."    Mary the sinner had become Mary the contemplative.
   On the day before the triumphal entry into Jerusalem which was the prelude to His passion, Jesus supped with the family of Lazarus at Bethany (Jesus loved them, St John tells us), and on this occasion Mary again anointed His head and feet and wiped them with her hair, so that " the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment ".   And again there was a critic present, this time Judas Iscariot the apostle, scandalized not because he was self-righteous but because he was dishonest and avaricious ;  and even the other disciples were distressed at what seemed a waste.   And again Jesus vindicated Magdalen:
   "Let her alone      Why do you molest her?     She hath wrought a good work upon me.     For the poor you have always with you, and whensoever you will you may do them good; but me you have not always.      She bath done what she could: she is come beforehand to anoint my body for the burial.   Amen, I say to you-wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, that also which she hath done shall be told for a memorial of her."   "And behold !" says St John Chrysostom, "what He said has come to pass.       Wherever you go you will hear her praises sung. . . . The dwellers in Persia, in India   . . in the British isles celebrate this deed."
   And yet Mary Magdalen is remembered at least as well for other things.   In the darkest hour of our Lord's life she stood at some distance, watching Him on the cross ; and with "the other Mary " she saw the great stone rolled before the door of the tomb wherein lay the body of the Lord.   But the crowning mercy of the life of Mary Magdalen was yet to come, for it was she who, bearing sweet spices and weeping by the sepulchre early on the first day of the week, was the first to see, to be greeted by, and to recognize, the risen Christ; she, the contemplative, was the first witness to that resurrection without which our faith and our preaching are alike vain ; it was to the abused flesh of the penitent that the radiant and glorified body of the Son of God was first na'de manifest.
   Jesus saith to her, " Mary "  She, turning, saith to Him, "Master ! "  Jesus saith to her: "Do not touch me, for I am not yet ascended to my Father.    But go to my brethren and say to them: I ascend to my Father and to your Father, to my God and to your God."
   According to Eastern tradition, Mary Magdakn after Pentecost accompanied our Lady and St John to Ephesus where she died md was buried; the English pilgrim St Willibald was shown her shrine there in the middle of the eighth century. But according to the tradition of France, in the Roman Martyrology and by the granting of various local feasts, she, with Lazarus, Martha. and others, evangelized Provence.    The last thirty years of her life, it is claimed, she spent in a cavern of a rock, La Sainte Baume, high up among the Maritime Alps, to be transported miraculously, just before she died, to the chapel of St Maxiinin; she received the last sacraments from and was buried by that saint.
    The earliest known reference to the coming of the Palestinians to France is of the eleventh century, in connection with the relics of St Mary Magdalen claimed by the abbey of Vézelay in Burgundy; the elaborations of the story seem to have spread in Provence only during the thirteenth.   From 1279 the relics of the Magdalen are said to be in the keeping of the monks of Vézelay and of the Dominican friars of Saint-Maximin, to the shrine in which church and the cave at La Sainte Baume pilgrimage is still popular.
      But research, especially by Mgr Duchesne, has demonstrated more and more clearly that neither the relics nor the story of the voyage of the friends of our Lord to Marseilles can be relied on as authentic; in spite of the defence of those piously concerned on behalf of the local belief, it cannot be doubted that the whole story is a fabrication.
  Among the other curious and baseless tales current about the saint in the middle ages is that she was affianced to St John the Evangelist when Christ called him. "She had thereof indignation that her husband was taken from her, and went and gave herself to all delight; but because it was not fitting that the calling of St John should be the occasion of her damnation, therefore our Lord mercifully converted her to penance, and because He had taken from her sovereign delight of the flesh, He replenished her with sovereign spiritual delight before all other, that is, the love of God" (The Golden Legend).
  Much has been written on the subject of St Mary Magdalen's coming to Provence, but it is impossible to allow any sort of probability to the view which venerates the Sainte Baume as the home of her last years.  The destructive criticism which began with J. de Launoy in the seventeenth century has been supported and developed by Catholic scholars of the highest name.   The modern Bollandists have many times recurred to the subject (see for example the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xii, 296 ; xvi, 515 ; xvii, 361, etc.). where in reviewing different phases of the controversy they have expressed themselves in the most unequivocal terms.  Particular attention may be directed to the essay of Mgr Duchesne, now reprinted in his Fastes Episcopaux, vol. i, pp. 325-359; to the paper of G. de Manteyer in Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire, vol. xvii (1897), pp. 467-489; to G. Morin in the Revue Benedictine, vol. xxvi (1909), pp. 24-33; to an article of E. Vacandard in the Revue des questions historiques for 1924, pp. 237-305  and another by Fr H. Thurston in Studies, vol. xxiii (1934), pp. 110-123 (it may be noticed that on the last page of this article, " Saint-Marcellin "has by an oversight been misprinted for Saint-Maximin); and H. Hansel, Die Maria Magdalena-Legende (1937).  There is an excellent summary in Baudot and Chaussin, Vies des Saints..., t. vii (1949), pp. 526-543.   The case of the believers in these traditions is presented very fully in books by J. Veran (1868), and by J. Sagette in 1880.  A fuller bibliography may be found in Leclercq, DAC., vol. viii, cc. 2038-2086, s.v.  Lazare ", an article which supplies an admirably documented discussion of the whole subject.      There is a well-known Life of St Mary Magdalen by Lacordaire (Eng. trans.), but however excellent it may be from a literary and devotional point of view it is historically quite uncritical.  A discussion of the problem of the Manes in Provence by C. M. Girdlestone appeared in Black friars, vol. xxxii (1951), pp. 407-414, 478-488.
1st v. Saint Syntyche of Philippi was a fellow-worker of Saint Paul in spreading the Gospel. She is mentioned by Saint Paul (Philippians 4:2-3) as being a female member of the Church at Philippi and one of those "whose names are in the book of life" (RM) (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
300 Saint Cyril of Antioch succeeded Timaeus as patriarch of Antioch in 280. Although he was persecuted by Diocletion, he appears to have died in peace (Benedictines).B (RM)
306 St. Plato Martyr and brother of St. Antiochus. A much revered saint in the Eastern Church, he was put to death at Ancyra during the persecution of the early fourth century.
Plato of Ancyra M (RM). Saint Plato, brother of Saint Antiochus, was a rich young man, who was martyred at Ancyra (Ankara) in Galatia. He is held in high veneration in the East (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
356 St Joseph of Palestine,  mentioned in RM, appears nowhere venerated liturgically in the world, not even country where he was so conspicuous a figure; he privately exorcised an indwelling demon in the name of our Lord, and the energumen was delivered; making the sign of the cross upon a vessel of water, poured it on the kilns, and the fire instantly burst forth and burned; Constantine the Great gave Joseph the rank of comes with authority to build churches over Galilee, particularly in Jewish towns; Scythopolis (Bethsan), lodged St Eusebius of Vercelli; harboured other servants of God, like St  Epiphanius; at Tiberias produced Massoretic doctors, who are famous for the invention of the vowel points to preserve the pronunciation of written Hebrew
   
356 St. Joseph of Palestine A convert from Judaism and patron of St. Eusebius of Vercelli and St. Epiphanus. One tradition states that Joseph was so moved by the deathbed Baptism of the great Jewish rabbi, Hillel, that he became a Christian. His Jewish congregation beat him and threw him in a river, but he still refused to abjure the faith. He was made a comes by Emperor Constantine and built Christian churches in Galilee. Joseph protected St. Eusebius of Vercelli and St. Epiphanus. St. Epiphanius wrote Joseph’s biography.

Joseph of Palestine (RM). Saint Joseph was a Jew, who belonged to the Biblical school of Tiberias, one of several established by the Jews following the destruction of the Temple. The one at Tiberias produced Massoretic doctors, who are famous for the invention of the vowel points to preserve the pronunciation of written Hebrew. After prolonged interior resistance, he became a Christian and was much favored by Emperor Constantine, who bestowed on him the title of comes (count). He devoted himself to building churches and spreading the Gospel in the Holy Land. He hosted Saint Eusebius of Vercelli, Saint Epiphanius, and others (Benedictines).

 356 St Joseph of Palestine
The Jews after the destruction of Jerusalem those one among their chief teachers to whom they gave the title of patriarch or "prince of the captivity ".  The most celebrated person who ever bore this honour was the Rabbi Hillel (who must not be confounded with the more famous Hillel of whom the Talmud speaks); he was very learned and a leading founder and ornament of their biblical school at Tiberias.  This Hillel a few days before his death sent for a Christian bishop in the character of a physician, who ordered a bath to be prepared in his room, as if it had been for his health, and baptized him in it.   Hillel received the divine Mysteries, and died.  Joseph, one of his assistants, was witness to this secret transaction, and having always been a confidant of Hillel had the care of his son given to him (this youth was "named Judas, I think, but it is some time since I was told and so I'm not sure ", says St Epiphanius, Joseph's biographer), together with the rabbi's books.  These included a number of Christian works, which Joseph read, and much impressed by them. He was by no means converted yet, though feeling from time to time a strong attraction towards Christianity.    He was encouraged by the firm stand of a Christian girl against the amorous overtures of his ward Judas, who failed to seduce her even with the help of magic.  One night he seemed in a dream to see Christ, and to hear from His mouth the words, "I am Jesus whom thy fathers crucified; believe in me ".  He received another sign when he privately exorcised an indwelling demon in the name of our Lord, and the energumen was delivered.  Still, though practically convinced, he did nothing and allowed himself to be appointed ruler of the synagogue at Tarsus.   In this position he was exceedingly unhappy and excited the suspicions of the Jews, who, already
dissatisfied with his conduct, found him one day reading the Gospels.  They beat him and threw him into the river Cydnus.    At the touch of persecution his heart was opened to grace and he was baptized.
   Constantine the Great gave Joseph the rank of comes (he is sometimes referred to as "Count Joseph "), with authority to build churches over Galilee, wherever he should judge proper, but particularly in the Jewish towns.    It is said that, the Jews having employed many artifices to hinder the work and stopped his lime-kilns from burning, he, making the sign of the cross upon a vessel of water, poured it on the kiln, and the fire instantly burst forth and burned.  But Joseph eventually had to leave Tiberias, and went to live at Scythopolis (Bethsan), where in 355 he lodged St Eusebius of Vercelli, banished by the Asians.       He harboured other servants of God, among the rest St Epiphanius, who had from his own mouth the particulars here related.    Joseph was then seventy years of age, and died soon after, about the year 356.   It is matter for remark that, though he is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology, his name having been added by Baronius, St Joseph appears to have been venerated liturgically nowhere in the world, not even in the country of which he was so conspicuous a figure.
   See the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. v, where a Latin translation is provided of the textof St Epiphanius.
356 St. Pancharius Bishop of Besancon in Gaul during the height of the Arian controversy in the Church. He endured considerable hardships at the hands of the heretical Arians who had the support of the Arian Emperor Constantius.
Pancharius of Besançon was much persecuted by the officials of the Arian Emperor Constantius M (AC)
Bishop Pancharius of Besançon was much persecuted by the officials of the Arian Emperor Constantius (Benedictines).
403 or 404 Phokas The Transfer of the Relics of the Priest-Martyr from Sinope to Constantinople occurred on 22 July in either the year . The account about him is located under 22 September.
St. Movean Abbot and companion of St. Patrick, also called Biteus. Movean was abbot of Inis-Coosery, County Down, Ireland. He served as a missionary in Perthshire and died as a hermit.
Dabius (Davius) of Scotland (AC). The Irish priest Dabius preached effectively in his homeland before migrating to Albany, Scotland. He is the titular patron of several churches, including the parish of Domnach Cluana in the County Down, and of Kippau in the Highlands. May be identical with Saint Movean (Biteus), a disciple of Saint Patrick (Benedictines, Husenbeth).
Movean (Biteus) of Inis-Coosery Abbot (AC).  Movean was a disciple of Saint Patrick and abbot of Inis-Coosery in County Down.
He seems to have also worked in Perthshire, where he is thought to have died as a hermit (Benedictines).
St. Dabius Irish missionary to Scotland, called Davius in some lists. He was part of the great monastic missionary effort in the British Isles, and then in Europe. Several churches there bear his name.
668 St. Wandrille Benedictine abbot  a noble family and related to Blessed Pepin of Landen, he was sent to the court of the Frankish king Dagobert I
Also called Wandregisilus and Vandrille. Born near Verdun, France, to a noble family and related to Blessed Pepin of Landen, he was sent to the court of the Frankish king Dagobert I (r. 629-639) of Austrasia (parts of modern Germany and France). There he wed in accordance with the wishes of his family. In 628, after a pilgrimage to Rome, he and his wife separated by mutual agreement so that each could enter the religious life. After living for a time as a hermit, he entered the Benedictine monastery of Montfaucon, in Champagne, France, where he lived for ten years. Wandrille then left the abbey to become a hermit at St. Ursanne, Jura. He then went to Roumain-Moutier, where he was ordained. He founded the monastery of Fontenelle, in Normandy a school as well as what was to become a leading missionary center and one of the respected monastic institutions of France.

Wandregisilus (Wandrille, Vandrille), OSB Abbot (RM) Born near Verdun about 600, France. Saint Wandrille was born into a noble family related to Blessed Pepin of Landen and raised at the Austrasian court. He was a courtier of King Dagobert of Austrasia, where he had among his fellows seven or eight future saints. In spite of his desire for the monastic life, Wandrille was appointed count of the palace and married out of deference to his parents. About 628, by mutual agreement, he separated from his wife. She became a nun and he became a monk at the Benedictine abbey of Montfauçon in Champagne under Saint Balderic (Baudry).  A few months later he left to become a hermit at Saint-Ursanne in the Jura Mountains, where lived in a log hut for about five years. Then Wandrille went to Bobbio. After a pilgrimage to Rome, in 637, he entered Romain-Moûtier Abbey on the Isere, where he spent the next decade and where he was ordained by Saint Ouen of Rouen.  He left Romain-Moûtier to found the famous abbey of Fontenelle in Normandy, which he developed into a missionary and spiritual center, including a school of arts and crafts. He became involved in helping and preaching to the inhabitants of the surrounding area. The abbey- church, which came to be called Saint-Wandrille, was consecrated in 657. Soon Fontenelle had a community of over 300 monks, which adopted the Rule of Saint Benedict after his death.
Wandrille's relics were moved during the Viking invasion to Étaples, Chartres, Boulogne, and Mont-Blandin (Ghent).
His feast spread from Ghent and was celebrated in southern England before the Norman Conquest. His abbey had at least three cells in England-- the most important at Ecclesfield in South Yorkshire and Upavon (Wiltshire). From these cells, his cultus spread to other English monasteries, including York and Hereford. A fine, 11th- century illustrated Life of Wandrille survives at Saint-Omer. At least some of his relics were recovered by his abbey, where his feast is still celebrated (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer).

Wandrille (Wandregisilus) was born at the end of the sixth century, or the beginning of the seventh, in the neighbourhood of Verdun, a relative of Bd Pepin of Landen, the ancestor of the Carolingian dynasty; he was brought up in a sober and Christian home, where he was taught the rudiments of secular learning.  For the Frankish nobility all advancement and successful careers began at the royal court, and when he was old enough to the Austrasian court Wandrille went.    In accordance with the wishes of his parents he married.   He did not want to, for his heart was, set on the monastic life, but he found that his bride shared his wishes they therefore lived together as brother and sister (though it is also said that they were first the parents of St Landrada), until such time as Wandrille could arrange his secular affairs, when each went into a monastery.  This happened about the year 628, and not without objection from King Dagobert, who did not want to lose so reliable and efficient a servant.  Wandrille first of all put himself under the direction of St Baudry at Montfaucon, near Verdun, and a few months here showed him that he needed a life of complete solitude for a time.   So he retired to the wooded banks of the river Doubs, at Saint-Ursanne in the Jura, and there built himself a log hut, in which he lived for five or six years.  His way of life and the nature of the austerities he practised (eating only twice a week, sleeping only an hour or two, saying his office with bare limbs on the frozen ground) are very reminiscent of the monks of Ireland, it has been said that probably the memory of St Columban haunted his mind; the district in which he was now living had been sanctified by the life and death of St Ursicinus, one of Columban's disciples, and Wandrille even projected a visit to Ireland.  He left this place and the disciples who had gradually gathered round him there, and went for a time to St Columban`s abbey at Bobbio, and from thence to the abbey of Romain-Moñtier, on the I'sere.  Here he remained for ten years, perfecting himself in the rules and exercises of the cenobitical life and receiving holy orders from the hands of St Ouen, Archbishop of Rouen, in whose diocese he worked for a time.
  Then, the instrument of God's purpose being at last formed, Wandrille learned that the time had come for him to undertake his own particular great work.  This was the foundation of the abbey of Fontenelle, near Caudebec-en-Caux. In a short time he was the head of a large community; the abbey church, dedicated in honour of St Peter, was consecrated by St Ouen in 657.       Fontenelle was a characteristic monastery of the early middle ages: in the first place, a home of ascetics then, a missionary centre; then, a school of the fine and useful arts and of letters.  St Wandrille was particularly careful for well-being of the people of the surrounding country; not content with ministering to the large number of dependents of the monastery he extended his labours to the whole country of Caux, where there were still many heathen.  Wandrille's kindliness sweetened and transformed bitter hearts; his humilityencouraged the proud wanderer to return; his teaching and preaching gained many souls for God.
  In July 668 St Wandrille took to his bed with a slight illness, and during it was caught up in an ecstasy.  When he came to himself he knew that he was about to die, and gathered his community round him.            "Rest assured ", he told them, "that if you are faithful to my teaching, if you remember what I have told you, strengthening yourselves in unity and love and humbleness in such a way that there is no division among you, the house will prosper.     The Lord will always be amongst you; He will be your comfort and your help in every need."
  There are two lives of this saint, printed in the Acta Sanctorum (July, vol. v) and elsewhere; but only the first, composed in very barbarous Latin by a monk of Fontenelle about the year 700, is of any historical value.  This has been critically edited by B. Krusch in the fifth volume of MGH., Scriptores Merov., pp. 1-24.    The other life, which dates only from the middle of the ninth century, is quite worthless.  From a misapprehension of the character of this second text a good deal that has been written popularly about St Wandregisilus is unreliable  this remark applies notably to the life published by Dom Besse in the series Les Saints ".   See also Gesta sanct. patrum Fontaneliensis coenobii, ed. Lohier-Laporte (1936), pp. 114.
720 St. Meneleus Abbot and restorer of Menat Monastery, near Clermont, France. Also listed as Mauvier or Menele, he was born in Anjou and started his career as a monk of Carmery, Auvergne.
Meneleus of Ménat, OSB Abbot (RM) (also known as Menele, Mauvier) Born at Anjou, France. Saint Meneleus, whose family was closely allied to Emperor Charlemagne, always wanted to serve Christ whole- heartedly. When he reached his majority, his parents forced him to accept a ring sent to him by a great lord, named Baronte, as a token of his betrothal to the lord's daughter. Wanting only to serve God, he fled to Auvergne where he became a monk of Corméry-en-Velay Abbey near Puy, probably at the hands of Saint Chaffre. Here Menelaus lived for seven years under Abbot Saint Eudo. Thereafter, he became the abbot-restorer of the monastery of Ménat near Clermont. Menelaus is highly venerated in Auvergne and Anjou (Benedictines, Husenbeth).
789 St. Theophilus Admiral and martyr; officer in charge of the Byzantine fleet stationed at Cyprus, he was captured in battle against an Arab fleet, despite the pleas of his officers to retreat when the cause was hopeless. He spent one year in a Muslim prison and was then martyred after he refused to abjure the Christian faith.

Theophilus of Cyprus M (RM). Theophilus, an officer of the imperial forces, was captured by invading Saracens at Cyprus when he was stationed there. As admiral of the Christian fleet, he refused to flee when the battle went against him. After a year's imprisonment, he was martyred for refusing to deny his faith (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
1088  Bd Benno, Bishop Of Osnabruck; noteworthy work as an architect "official architect" to the Emperor Henry III; sent more than once as imperial envoy to pope St Gregory; founded Iburg monastery
This Benno was born at Lohningen in Swabia and was educated from an early age under Bd Herman the Cripple at Reichenau.  He soon attracted attention by his knowledge of the art of building and was made "official architect " to the Emperor Henry III.  His most spectacular performance in this capacity was the saving of the cathedral of Speyer, which had been begun only in 1030, from being underscoured by the wash of the Rhine. In 1047 he was put in charge of the cathedral school at Hildesheim.       He was taken away to accompany his bishop when he followed the emperor in his campaign against the Hungarians, and on his return was made provost of the cathedral and archpriest of Goslar.   In 1068 he was appointed to the see of Osnabruck, and eight years later the struggle began between the Emperor Henry IV and Pope St Gregory VII in which the German bishops were inevitably involved.     Benno was among those who at first sided with the emperor, and at the Synod of Worms signed the attempted "deposition " of the pope.  St Gregory at once retorted by excommunicating all who had taken part in this infamous proceeding, and Benno with other bishops went into Italy to make their peace.   Gregory received them at the castle of Canossa, and, upon hearing their explanations and expressions of penitence, absolved them.      After Henry had been again excommunicated in  108o Benno hid himself to avoid having again to take sides against the pope, to whom he was sent more than once as imperial envoy.
  These, and other political activities of Bishop Benno are less edifring than the justice, goodness and honesty which were attested by the affection which his flock had for him;    he is said once to have dispersed a plague of grasshoppers by his prayers, and for that reason his intercession against them was sought in after ages. He had the unhappiness of seeing his cathedral, a timber building, burnt to the ground, but his own building days were over, and it was the work of his successor to replace it.  The last years of his life were spent in peace at Iburg, where he had founded a monastery, and here he died.  An account of his life was written by Norbert, the third abbot of Iburg, who was elected while the bishop was living there, and it was principally at Iburg and Osnabrilck that Bd Benno was venerated.
  There is no account given of Benno in the Acta Sanctorum, though he is mentioned among the praetermissi under July 22; the Bollandists remarked that they had no life of him or evidence of cultus.  Later, however, a biography by Norbert was found in a seventeenth-century manuscript, alleged to be a copy of an ancient text destroyed by fire.   This was reproduced in MGH., vol. xii.  Of recent years a codex of the genuine text of Norbert has been discovered, which shows that the former version was a copy which had been extensively interpolated and falsified, apparently by Maur Rost, abbot of Iburg in 1666.  The correct text, first discovered and edited by 1-1. Bresslau, has now been reprinted in the folio
continuation of the MGH., 1926, vol. xxx, Pt. 2.   Benno's work as an architect seems to have been noteworthy.
1493 Blessed Augustine Fangi; Miracles during life; raised dead, removed devils, mended broken jar and refilled it;  and Miracles around the tomb of Augustine of Biella led to his beatification in 1878, after forgotten by everyone, except residents of the little town at the foot of the Alps where he lived; His life noted for piety and regularity, but quite unremarkable for unusual events or venturesome projects, OP (AC)
Born at Biella, Italy, 1430; died in Venice, 1493; beatified in 1872. Miracles around the tomb of Augustine of Biella led to his beatification in 1878, after he had long been forgotten by everyone, except the residents of the little town at the foot of the Alps where he lived. His is another example of a life noted for piety and regularity, but quite unremarkable for unusual events or venturesome projects.  Augustine's father was a member of the Fangi family, who were wealthy and noble, and, because of this, he had planned a secular career for his son. But when the Dominicans came to Biella, his plans were changed, for Augustine was completely charmed by their way of life and begged to be admitted. He entered, while quite young, the new convent that the Dominicans had built at Biella.
Augustine's had a reputation for penance, even at a time when people were not as squeamish as they are today. Not only did he inflict harsh penances upon himself, he also bore with patience whatever pain and annoyance life granted him gratuitously. At one time he was required to undergo a surgical operation without, of course, any anaesthetic. He did so without making the slightest outcry. In fact, he said afterwards that his mind was so intensely focused on something else that he hardly noticed what was being done to him.
His mind was on that "something else" most of the time, for he prayed continually.
In 1464, Augustine was made prior at Soncino. Several of his best known miracles were performed there. At one time, a deformed child, who had died without baptism, was restored to life, by Augustine's prayer, long enough to be baptized. At another time, when he was passing down the street, he met a little boy who was crying bitterly, because he had broken a jug of wine. Augustine gathered up the shards and put them back together again. Then, with a prayer, he refilled the jug and handed it back to the startled child.
Still another time, through his intercession, a woman was delivered from possession of five devils.
Augustine spent his last ten years in the convent in Venice, and he died there on the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene. He was buried in a damp place. Forty years later, on the occasion of some repairs to the church, his coffin, found floating on water, was opened. His body and habit were still intact. This did much to promote interest in his cause. Nevertheless, it was more than three centuries before he was finally beatified (Benedictines, Dorcy).
1622  Blessed Kiprian, fool-for-Christ's-sake, gatekeeper of the church in Voskresensk, near the city of Kovrov in Vladimir Diocese. Saint Kiprian pursued his calling in silence on an island near the mouth of the rivers Kliazma and Uvod
At his death on 22 July 1622 the body of the saint of God was buried near the church in the village of Voskresensk. In the year 1751 diligent admirers of the saint added a chapel to the church near his grave, in honour of the "Pokrov/Protection" of the Mother of God. On the iconographic original of the saint it says: "22 July the death of the holy righteous Kiprian, fool-for-Christ's-sake in the village Voskresensk and wonderworker of Suzdal'; in appearance dark-featured, hair hung behind the ears, a beard like (Saint John) the Theologian forked, in clothes of green, legs barefooted, hands in prayer".
1679 Bds. Philip Evans priest S.J. and John Lloyd a secular priest, missionary to minister in his own country; Martyred " as priests who had come unlawfully into the realm"
Philip Evans was born at Monmouth in 1645, was educated at Saint-Omer, and joined the Society of Jesus at the age of twenty.  in 1675 he was ordained at Liege and sent to South Wales.   He was soon well known for his zeal, but no active notice was taken by the authorities until the scare of  "Oates's  plot ", when in the November of 1678 John Arnold, of Llanvihangel Court near Abergavenny, a justice of the peace and hunter of priests, offered a reward of £200 for his arrest.   Father Evans refused to leave his flock, and early in December was caught at the house of Christopher Turberville at Sker in Glamorgan. He refused the oath and was confined alone in an underground dungeon in Cardiff Castle.  Two or three weeks afterwards he was joined by Mr John Lloyd, a secular priest, who had been taken at Penlline in Glamorgan.    He was a Breconshire man, who had taken the missionary oath at Valladolid in 1649 and been sent to minister in his own country.
  After five months the two prisoners were brought up for trial at the shire-hall in Cardiff, charged not with complicity in the "plot" but as priests who had come unlawfully into the realm.   It had been difficult to collect witnesses against them, and they were condemned and sentenced by Mr Justice Owen, Wynne principally on the evidence of two poor women who were suborned to say that they had seen Father Evans celebrating Mass.  On their return to prison they were better treated and allowed a good deal of liberty, so that when the under-sheriff came on July 21 to announce that their execution was fixed for the morrow, Father Evans was playing a game of tennis and would not return to his cell till he had finished it.  Part of his few remaining hours of life he spent playing on the harp and talking to the numerous people who came to say farewell to himself and Mr Lloyd when the news got around.     The execution took place on Gallows Field (at the northeastern end of what is now Richmond Road, Cardiff).
     Bd Philip died first, after having addressed the people in Welsh and English, and saying, "Adieu, Mr Lloyd, though for a little time, for we shall shortly meet again ", to Bd John, who made only a very brief speech because, as he said, "I never was a good speaker in my life ".
  See Challoner, MMP., pp. 544-547.  Challoner cites the Florus Anglo-Bavaricus, and there was also a broadsheet printed the same year (1679), of which there is a copy at the British Museum, describing the martyr's death.  See also T. P. Ellis, Catholic Martyrs of Wales (1933),  pp. 119-125 and Catholic Record Society Publications, vol. xlvii (1953), pp. 296-299

1679 Sts. Philip Evans & John Lloyd
Philip Evans was born at Monmouth in 1645, was educated at Saint-Omer, and joined the Society of Jesus at the age of twenty. In 1675 he was ordained at Liege and sent to South Wales. He was soon well known for his zeal, but no active notice was taken by the authorities until the scare of Oates plot, when in the November of 1678 John Arnold, of Llanvihangel Court near Abergavenny, a justice of the peace and hunter of priests, offered a reward of £200 for his arrest. Father Evans refused to leave his flock, and early in December was caught at the house of Christopher Turberville at Sker in Glamorgan. He refused the oath and was confined alone in an underground dungeon in Cardiff Castle. Two or three weeks afterwards he was joined by Mr John Lloyd, a secular priest, who had been taken at Penlline in Glamorgan. He was a Breconshire man, who had taken the missionary oath at Valladolid in 1649 and been sent to minister in his own country. After five months the two prisoners were brought up for trial at the shire-hall in Cardiff, charged not with complicity in the plot but as priests who had come unlawfully into the realm. It had been difficult to collect witnesses against them, and they were condemned and sentenced by Mr Justice Owen Wynne principally on the evidence of two poor women who were suborned to say that they had seen Father Evans celebrating Mass. On their return to prison they were better treated and allowed a good deal of liberty, so that when the under-sheriff came on July 21 to announce that their execution was fixed for the morrow, Father Evans was playing a game of tennis and would not return to his cell till he had finished it. Part of his few remaining hours of life he spent playing on the harp and talking to the numerous people who came to say farewell to himself and Mr Lloyd when the news got around. The execution took place on Gallows Field (at the north-eastern end of what is now Richmond Road, Cardiff). St Philip died first, after having addressed the people in Welsh and English, and saying ‘Adieu, Mr Lloyd, though for a little time, for we shall shortly meet again , to St John, who made only a very brief speech because, as he said, ‘I never was a good speaker in my life .

Philip Evans, SJ, and John Lloyd, Priests MM (RM) Died at Cardiff, Wales, on July 22, 1679; beatified in 1929; canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970 as two of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
Philip Evans was born in Monmouthshire, Wales, in 1645, and educated at Saint-Omer. He joined the Society of Jesus when he was 20 and was ordained at Liège, Belgium, in 1675. Father Philip was sent back to Wales to minister to the Catholics in the southern part of the country. For several years he zealously ministered to his flock unmolested, but the civil authorities turned a blind eye until November 1678. Although John Arnold, a justice of the peace and hunter of priests, offered a 200 pound bounty for his arrest, Father Evans refused to leave his flock untended.
Meanwhile, John Lloyd, a native of Breconshire (Brecknockshire), Wales, was educated at Ghent, Belgium, and Valladolid, Spain, where he was ordained in 1653. The following year he returned to Wales and ministered to his fellow countrymen for 24 years.
In December 1678, Father Evans was arrested at the home of Christopher Turberville at Sker, Glamorgan. When he refused to take the Oath of Supremacy, he was imprisoned alone in Cardiff Castle, until he was joined several weeks later by John Lloyd, who was arrested at Penllyn, Glamorgan. They had both been arrested in the hysteria of the Titus Oates plot to kill King Charles II.
After five months, the two priests were brought to trial, but when no evidence of their complicity could be produced, they were charged with being priests, which was illegal in the realm. Few were willing to serve as witnesses against them. Finally, they were convicted on the evidence of two poor women who were suborned to say that they had seen Father Evans celebrating Mass.
Following the trial they were returned to prison, where they were allowed a great deal of liberty- -so much liberty that when an official came to tell them they were be executed the following day, Father Evans was playing tennis and would not return to his cell until he had finished it. Father Evans spent his remaining hours playing the harp and talking to his well-wishers who came to visit them. It almost seems as though the local people were reluctant to have treated them in such an uncharitable manner.
They were executed on Gallows Field (at the northeastern end of what is now Richmond Road). Father Evans addressed the onlookers in Welsh and English and, turning to his fellow martyr, said: "Adieu, Mr. Lloyd, though for a little time, for we shall shortly meet again." After Evans death, Father Lloyd made only a brief speech because, as he said, "I never was a good speaker in my life" (Benedictines, Delaney, Walsh)
1693 Saint Cornelius of Pereyaslavl the sacristan in church, he served in the trapeza, and also toiled in the garden relics were found incorrupt
In the world Konon, was the son of a Ryazan merchant. In his youth he left his parental home and lived for five years as a novice of the Elder Paul in the Lukianov wilderness near Pereyaslavl. Afterwards the young ascetic transferred to the Pereyaslavl monastery of Sts Boris and Gleb on the Sands [Peskakh]. Konon eagerly went to church and unquestioningly did everything that they commanded him.
The holy novice did not sit down to eat in the trapeza with the brethren, but contented himself with whatever remained, accepting food only three times a week. After five years, he received monastic tonsure with the name Cornelius. From that time no one saw the monk sleeping on a bed. Several of the brethren scoffed at St Cornelius as foolish, but he quietly endured the insults and intensified his efforts. Having asked permission of the igumen to live as a hermit, he secluded himself into his own separately constructed cell and constantly practiced asceticism in fasting and prayer.
Once the brethren found him barely alive, and the cell was locked from within. Three months St Cornelius lay ill, and he could take only water and juice. The monk, having recovered and being persuaded by the igumen, stayed to live with the brethren. St Cornelius was the sacristan in church, he served in the trapeza, and also toiled in the garden. As if to bless the saint's labors, excellent apples grew in the monastery garden, which he lovingly distributed to visitors.
The body of St Cornelius was withered up from strict fasting, but he did not cease to toil. With his own hands he built a well for the brethren. For thirty years St Cornelius lived in complete silence, being considered by the brethren as deaf and dumb. Before his death on July 22, 1693, St Cornelius made his confession to the monastery priest Father Barlaam, received the Holy Mysteries and took the schema.
He was buried in the chapel. Nine years later, during the construction of a new church, his relics were found incorrupt. In the year 1705, St Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov (October 28), saw the relics of St Cornelius, and they were in the new church in a secluded place. The holy bishop composed a Troparion and Kontakion to the saint.