Mary Mother of GOD Vigília sancti Jacóbi Apóstoli.  The Vigil of St. James the Apostle.
Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!  (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
RDeo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
July is the month of the Precious Blood since 1850;
2022
23,600  Lives Saved Since 2007

  Mary as the vessel and source of mercy
Ascending the stairway of the saints in our pursuit of vessels of mercy, we come at last to Our Lady. She is the simple yet perfect vessel that both receives and bestows mercy. Her free “yes” to grace is the very opposite of the sin that led to the downfall of the prodigal son.

Her mercy is very much her own, very much our own and very much that of the Church. As she says in the Magnificat, she knows that God has looked with favor upon her humility and she recognizes that his mercy is from generation to generation. Mary can see the working of this mercy and she feels “embraced,” together with all of Israel, by it.
She treasures in her heart the memory and promise of God’s infinite mercy for his people.
Hers is the Magnificat of a pure and overflowing heart that sees all of history and each individual person with a mother’s merci. … I reflected at length on the mystery of Mary’s gaze, its tenderness and its sweetness
 that give us the courage to open our hearts to God’s mercy.

 
CAUSES OF SAINTS

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

Acts of the Apostles

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

How do I start the Five First Saturdays?

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

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

July 24 - Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (Rome, Italy)     Queen Mary Reigns Above
Mary’s Son will deny her nothing that she asks, and herein lies her power.
While Mary defends the Church, neither great monarchs, nor craft of man, nor popular violence, can avail to harm us;
for human life is short, but Mary reigns above, a queen forever.
John Henry Cardinal Newman, Prayers, Verses & Devotions, 1989

    July 24, 2020
  
1594 St. John Boste One of Forty Martyrs of England and Wales; born at Dufton, at Westmoreland, England; studied at Oxford. Becoming a Catholic in 1576, he went to Reims and received ordination in 1581.  John went back to England where he worked in the northern parts of the kingdom
1667  Child SchemaMonk Bogolep  son of Moscow nobleman Yakov Lukich Umakov and wife Ekatarina Numerous miracles of healing through the prayers of the holy SchemaMonk Bogolep; the holy lad had repeatedly appeared to many either in sleep, or awake while walking along the river bank or coming down the hill 
1898 St. Sharbel Makhlouf  from the Monastery of St. Maron at Annaya, Lebanon; l lived as a hermit 23 years; Bishop the second St. Anthony of the Desert
        Zayek wrote:
 “St. Sharbel is called the second St. Anthony of the Desert, the Perfume of Lebanon, the first Confessor of the East to be raised to the Altars according to the actual procedure of the Catholic Church, the honor of our Aramaic Antiochian Church, and the model of spiritual values and renewal."

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

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

250 Christophorus Christophorus gehört auch heute zu den beliebtesten Heiligen und um ihn ranken sich viele Legenden.
         
St. Vincent Roman martyr uncertain year; executed beyond the walls of Rome on the road to Tivoli, Italy.
3rd v.  Christina of Tyre To be a saint is not enough just to avoid sin and obey the commandments; a saint is someone who loves God, lives with God and thinks with God. And when a Christian loves, lives, and thinks with God none of the commandments will be a burden to him, nor will he be tempted to do any of the things that are forbidden, since their effect would be to separate him from God. True happiness comes only from God, and to find this happiness in God is the essence of saintliness. The saints who have gone before us show us the path to this happiness by showing us the path to God. Christina Martyr visited by an angel, who instructed her in the true faith in Christ Savior of the world;  The angel called her a bride of Christ and told her about her future suffering; angel appeared at night, healing her wounds and strengthening her with food VM (RM)
3rd v. Martyrdom of St. Euphemia she cursed the Emperor, his idols, and admonished the Governor saying, "O you
 whose heart is like a stone, do you not have compassion on these holy men! or are you not afraid that their God 
might destroy you?" {Coptic}
 304 Sts. Victor, Stercntius, and Antigones Three martyrs executed during the persecutions under Emperor Diocletian. Supposedly three brothers of Merida, Spain, it is believed that only Victor was a Spaniard; the other two perhaps identified with Armenian martyrs who died with St. Theozonus of Sebaste
 380 St. Ursicinus Bishop of Sens, Gaul (modern France) a known opponent of Arianism, the heresy of that era.
St. Meneus & Capito Martyrs commemorated in Latin & Greek Churches; some accounts
call Meneus Hymenaeus.
St. Niceta and Aquilina Martyred soldiers. In original traditions, they were named Nicetas and Aquila.

4th v.  Christina of Tuscany (of Bolsena) VM (RM)
420 St. Dictinus Bishop of Astorga, in Spain. He was originally a member of the Priscillianism heresy but was converted by St. Ambrose. Dictinus recanted at the Council of Toledo in 400.
5th century St. Menefrida Patron saint of Tredresick, in Cornwall, England; belonged to family Brychan of Brecknock.
5th century St. Lewina Martyred virgin of England, a Briton slain by invading Saxons. In 1058, her relics were translated from Seaford, in Sussex, England, to Berques in Flanders, Belgium; relics honored by numerous miracles, especially at the time of the translation; A history of these miracles was written by Drogo, eyewitness to several of them
425 St. Declan First bishop of Ardmore in Ireland, Baptized by St. Colman, and preached the faith in that country a little before the arrival of St. Patrick, who confirmed the episcopal see of Ardmore, in a synod at Cashel in 448. Many miracles are ascribed to St. Declan, ever been much honored in the viscounty of Dessee, ancient Nandesi.
6th v. Germoc of Cornwall Saint Breaca's brother, Saint Germoc, was an Irish chieftain who settled in Cornwall near Mount's Bay (Benedictines). (AC)
 675 Wulfhade and Ruffinus Martyrs of England; according to tradition they were two princes of Mercia who were baptized by St. Chad; martyred at Stone, Staffordshire.
7th v. Christiana of Termonde said to have been the daughter of an Anglo-Saxon king; crossed over to Flanders where she lived until her death; patron saint of Termonde, Belgium V (AC) (Benedictines).
         St. Meneus & Capito
 690 St. Godo Benedictine abbot and nephew of St. Wandrille. Known also as Gaon, he was born in Verdun, France, and professed at Fontenelle. Godo was founder and abbot of Oye Abbey, near Sezanne en Brie.
8th v. Aliprandus of Ciel d'Oro  abbot of Ciel d'Oro (in coelo aureo) Monastery at Pavia, Italy. He was related to the royal family of the Lombards (Benedictines)., OSB Abbot (AC)  (also known as Leuprandus)
  769 Sigolena of Troclar Daughter and early widow of French noblemen of Aquitaine; became a nun in the convent of Troclar on the Tarn in southern France, where she was later chosen as abbess, OSB Abbess (AC)
1015 Boris and Gleb sons 1st Christian prince of Russia St Vladimir of Kiev and Anne of Constantinople the daughter of Emperor Basil II, the Bulgar slayer (Gleb)  Passion-Bearers, since they did not resist evil with violence  mm ac
1041 Saint Hilarion of Tvali (Tulashvili) abbot of Khakhuli Monastery in southwestern Georgia a famous translator and writer and an eminent theologian.
1182 Saint Polycarp the Archimandrite entered the Kiev Caves Monastery received monastic tonsure and struggled for the salvation of his soul.

1224 Christina the Astonishing "The angels then transported me into Heaven, even to the throne of the Divine Majesty. The Lord regarded me with a favorable eye, and I experienced an extreme joy, because I thought to obtain the grace of dwelling eternally with Him.  "But my Heavenly Father, seeing what passed in my heart, said to me these words:
   "'Assuredly, My dear daughter, you will one day be with Me. Now, however, I allow you to choose, either to remain with Me henceforth from this time, or to return again to earth to accomplish a mission of charity and suffering. In order to deliver from the flames of Purgatory those souls which have inspired you with so much compassion, you shall suffer for them upon earth; you shall endure great torments, without, however, dying from their effects. And not only will you relieve the departed, but the example which you will give to the living, and your life of continual suffering, will lead sinners to be converted and to expiate their crimes. After having ended this new life, you shall return here laden with merits.'"
Her body is preserved in the Redemptorist church at Saint-Trond. Her resurrection was witnessed by the whole town and many saw her escape her various tortures unscathed (Mirabilis)
V (PC)

1292 St. Kinga Princess of Poland and Franciscan tertiary; a niece of St. Elizabeth of Hungary and a great niece of St. Redwig; Prayer, mortification, alms, and daily attendance on the poor in the hospitals, employed her time took the veil in the Sandecz (Sandez) Abbey, which she had built for the Poor Clare nun
1391 Nicholas (Nils) Hermanssön son of Herman and Margaret of Skeninge, was raised to piety; led a life of abstinence;  educated in Paris and Orléans, France, in civil and canon law; ordained priest, served as a canon in Sweden, tutor to  the sons of Saint Bridget of Sweden; he was a devoted friend. In 1361, appointed archdeacon of Linköping. B (AC)
1444 Bd Felicia of Milan; life of chastity and direct service of God'; a Poor Clare convent of St Ursula at Milan 25 years;  her sister followed her example and her brother became a Friar Minor; remarkable in the community for her faultless observance of the rule; perseverance in prayer and penance in spite of diabolical influences active against her.  The gentle nun overcame these fierce trials; many miracles
1446 Blessed John Tavalli of Tossignano; best remembered as the translator of the Bible into Italian; he studied at the University of Bologna before joining the order of the Gesuati; In 1431, he was named bishop of Ferrara. (AC)
1493 Bd Augustine Of Biella; suffered from a painful illness  reputation for miracles earned him publicity most distasteful to him; bore it humbly and patiently; allowed to withdraw to the house of his order at Venice, and there in retirement spent the last ten years of his life
1594 The Durham Martyrs

1594 St. John Boste One of Forty Martyrs of England and Wales; born at Dufton, at Westmoreland, England; studied at Oxford. Becoming a Catholic in 1576, he went to Reims and received ordination in 1581.  John went back to England where he worked in the northern parts of the kingdom
1667  Child SchemaMonk Bogolep  son of Moscow nobleman Yakov Lukich Umakov and wife Ekatarina Numerous miracles of healing through the prayers of the holy SchemaMonk Bogolep; the holy lad had repeatedly appeared to many either in sleep, or awake while walking along the river bank or coming down the hill 
1694 Blessed Antony Turriani several apostolic journeys OSA (AC)
1838 Bl. Joseph Fernandez Dominican martyr of Vietnam. He was sent there in 1805 as an ordained priest and appointed provincial vicar of the mission. He was beheaded. He was beatified in 1988 by Pope John Paul II.
 Bl. Maria Pilar Martinez Garcia & Companions Carmelite nun, with Maria Ange­les Valtierra and Teresa Garcia y Garcia. They were killed in Guadalajara Spain, by communists in the civil war. Maria Pilar Martinez was an older nun from Tarazona, Zaragoza. They were beatified in 1987 by Pope John Paul II.
1877 Johann Heinrich Volkening  In seiner Heimat wurde er auch 1838 Pfarrer
1898 St. Sharbel Makhlouf  from the Monastery of St. Maron at Annaya, Lebanon; l lived as a hermit 23 years; Bishop Zayek wrote:
 “St. Sharbel is called the second St. Anthony of the Desert, the Perfume of Lebanon, the first Confessor of the East to be raised to the Altars according to the actual procedure of the Catholic Church, the honor of our Aramaic Antiochian Church, and the model of spiritual values and renewal."


Vigília sancti Jacóbi Apóstoli.
The Vigil of St. James the Apostle.
250 Christophorus
Orthodoxe Kirche: 09. Mai  Katholische und Evangelische Kirche: 24. Juli

Christophorus gehört auch heute zu den beliebtesten Heiligen und um ihn ranken sich viele Legenden. Christophorus lebte um 250, er stammte vielleicht aus Lykien. Er erlitt wahrscheinlich unter Kaiser Decius das Martyrium. Am 22.9.452 wurde ihm eine Kirche in Chalkedon am Bosporus geweiht. Reliquien werden insbesondere in St. Peter in Rom und in St. Denis bei Paris verehrt. Christophorus gehört auch zu den 14 Nothelfern. Die morgendliche Betrachtung seines Bildes soll Schutz für den ganzen Tag gewähren, weshalb sich früher große Christophorusbilder an Kirchen und belebten Plätzen befanden. Auch die bei Autofahrern beliebte Christophorusplakette am Armaturenbrett oder Schlüsselbund mag hiermit zusammenhängen. Christophorus ist - neben vielen anderen Patronaten - Patron der kroatischen Insel Rab. Hier wird er am 25.7. gefeiert.
3rd v.  Christina of Tyre To be a saint is not enough just to avoid sin and obey the commandments; a saint is someone who loves God, lives with God and thinks with God. And when a Christian loves, lives, and thinks with God none of the commandments will be a burden to him, nor will he be tempted to do any of the things that are forbidden, since their effect would be to separate him from God. True happiness comes only from God, and to find this happiness in God is the essence of saintliness. The saints who have gone before us show us the path to this happiness by showing us the path to God. Christina Martyr visited by an angel, who instructed her in the true faith in Christ Savior of the world;  The angel called her a bride of Christ and told her about her future suffering; angel appeared at night, healing her wounds and strengthening her with food VM (RM)

Tyri, apud lacum Vulsínium, in Túscia, sanctæ Christínæ, Vírginis et Mártyris.  Hæc Virgo, cum patris idóla áurea et argéntea, in Christum credens, comminuísset atque illórum frágmina paupéribus erogásset, ejúsdem patris jussu verbéribus dilaniáta est, aliísque supplíciis diríssime cruciáta, et cum magno saxi póndere in lacum projécta, sed ab Angelo liberáta; deínde, sub álio Júdice, patris sui successóre, acerbióra torménta constánter pértulit; novíssime, sub Juliáno Præside, post fornácem ardéntem, ubi quinque diébus illæsa permánsit, post serpéntes virtúte Christi superátos, martyrii sui cursum abscissióne linguæ et sagittárum infixióne complévit.

At Tiro in Tuscany, on Lake Bolsena, St. Christina, virgin and martyr.  Because she believed in Christ, and broke up her father's gold and silver idols to give them to the poor, she was cruelly scourged at his command, subjected to other most severe torments, and thrown with a heavy stone into the lake from which she was drawn out by an angel.  Then under another judge, who succeeded her father, she bore courageously still more bitter tortures.  Finally, after she had been shut up by the governor Julian in a burning furnace for five days without any injury, after being cured of the sting of serpents, she ended her martyrdom by having her tongue cut out, and being pierced with arrows.

Born into a rich family, and her father was governor of Tyre. By the age of 11 the girl was exceptionally beautiful, and many wanted to marry her. Christina's father, however, envisioned that his daughter should become a pagan priestess. To this end he placed her in a special dwelling where he had set up many gold and silver idols, and he commanded his daughter to burn incense before them. Two servants attended Christina.  In her solitude, Christina began to wonder who had created this beautiful world. From her room she was delighted by the stars of the heavens and she constantly came back to the thought about the Creator of all the world. She was convinced, that the voiceless and inanimate idols in her room could not create anything, since they themselves were created by human hands. She began to pray to the One God with tears, entreating Him to reveal Himself. Her soul blazed with love for the Unknown God, and she intensified her prayer all the more, and combined it with fasting.

One time Christina was visited by an angel, who instructed her in the true faith in Christ, the Savior of the world. The angel called her a bride of Christ and told her about her future suffering. The holy virgin smashed all the idols standing in her room and threw them out the window. In visiting his daughter Christina's father, Urban, asked her where all the idols had disappeared. Christina was silent. Then, having summoned the servants, Urban learned the truth from them.  In a rage the father began to slap his daughter's face. At first, the holy virgin remained quiet, but then she told her father about her faith in the One True God, and that she had destroyed the idols with her own hands. Urban gave orders to kill all the servants in attendance upon his daughter, and he gave Christina a fierce beating and threw her in prison. Having learned about what had happened, St Christina's mother came in tears, imploring her to renounce Christ and to return to her ancestral beliefs. But Christina remained unyielding. On another day, Urban brought his daughter to trial and urged her to offer worship to the gods, and to ask forgiveness for her misdeeds. Instead, he saw her firm and steadfast confession of faith in Christ.
The torturers tied her to an iron wheel, beneath which they lit a fire. The body of the martyr, turning round on the wheel, was scorched on all sides. They then threw her into prison.
An angel of God appeared at night, healing her wounds and strengthening her with food. Her father, seeing her unharmed, gave orders to drown her in the sea. An angel sustained the saint while the stone sank down, and Christina miraculously came out of the water and reappeared before her father. In terror, the torturer imputed this to sorcery and he decided to execute her in the morning. That night he himself suddenly died. Another governor, Dion, was sent in his place. He summoned the holy martyr and also tried to persuade her to renounce Christ, but seeing her unyielding firmness, he again subjected her to cruel tortures. The holy martyr was for a long while in prison. People began to flock to her, and she converted them to the true faith in Christ. Thus about 300 were converted.
In place of Dion, a new governor Julian arrived and resumed the torture of the saint. After various torments, Julian gave orders to throw her into a red-hot furnace and lock her in it. After five days they opened the furnace and found the martyr alive and unharmed. Seeing this miracle take place, many believed in Christ the Savior, and the torturers executed St Christina with a sword.
To be a saint is not enough just to avoid sin and obey the commandments; a saint is someone who loves God, lives with God and thinks with God. And when a Christian loves, lives, and thinks with God none of the commandments will be a burden to him, nor will he be tempted to do any of the things that are forbidden, since their effect would be to separate him from God. True happiness comes only from God, and to find this happiness in God is the essence of saintliness. The saints who have gone before us show us the path to this happiness by showing us the path to God.
Saintliness and happiness, then, are the vocation of every Christian. One of the greatest mysteries and mercies of God is that he asks us to be saints and also gives us the means to become such. The glory of God and the happiness of man are one and the same thing. That is what the saints have learned, and that is what we can learn from them. Moreover the saints who are now living the everlasting life near to the throne of God are watching over us and interceding with the Lord on our behalf. They are not only our examples and models, they are also our friends and protectors.
Saint Christina was born at a time when Christians of the East and West were still united in a single Church. Her acts have come down to us from some ancient Greek texts, among them a papyrus that dates from the 5th century.
We know that her father Urbanus was governor of the tow of Tyre and of the surrounding province, a position in which he was responsible for maintaining the official pagan religion. Christina, of course, was also brought up as a pagan, but by the time she was 12 her virtues were so great that her father, fearing that she might convert to Christianity, locked her away in a tower with two servants.
However, one of the servants was herself a Christian; she instructed Christina in the faith, and later a priest baptized her in secret.
When he heard of this, Urbanus ordered his daughter to abjure her faith and to return to the worship of the idols. Misunderstanding the nature of the Trinity, he said: "You already serve three gods, so why can't you also serve the gods of the empire?" Christina refused; her two former servants were replaced by 12 young ladies of the highest society, but it wasn't long before they had all been converted by Christina and received the baptism in secret. One evening they all escaped from the tower and defaced the statues of Jupiter, Apollo, and Venus.
Urbanus' fury was so great that he at once imprisoned Christina and subjected her to cruel punishments; finding her adamant in her faith, he then ordered her to be thrown into the midst of an enormous bonfire, but the flames left her unharmed. This was but the first of a long series of intended tortures and miraculous deliverances. A large stone was tied around her neck and she was thrown into the middle of a lake, but the stone refused to sink. She was taken back to her prison cell and during the night Urbanus decided to have her beheaded, but by the next morning he was dead.
The new prefect at first tried to persuade Christina to renounce God, but was as unsuccessful as Urbanus. She was flogged by soldiers and cast into a cauldron of boiling oil and sulphur, but once again emerged unharmed. Accused by the pagan priests of practicing black magic, she was taken before the statue of Apollo in the temple. Confident in the power of her faith, she ordered the statue to come down from its pedestal and to walk 15 paces out of the temple; and at once the statue obeyed.
A third prefect ordered her to burn incense to the idols, and was met with the same obstinance. This time Christina was thrown into an oven that had been heated white hot. The door was closed on her and for five days the furnace was kept at extreme heat, but when the door was opened she was found to be safe and unscathed. She was next exposed to poisonous snakes, but instead of stinging her they coiled affectionately round her neck and feet. When the pagan priest attempted to goad them on, they turned on him and stung him to death, but Christina, after calming down the panicked crowd and replacing the snakes in their sacks, restored him to life.
But at length God put an end to her trials. She was taken into an arena where her tongue, which had so often proclaimed her faith, was cut out, and after that she was shot to death with arrows. This legend seems to be a confutation of those of Saints Barbara, Catherine of Alexandria, and Ursula.
Saint Christina is celebrated on the same day in both the Greek and Roman Churches; she was martyred at a time when they both formed one Church, and we may pray to her to hasten the day when we are once again united (Encyclopedia, Farmer).
In 15th- and 16th-century paintings by Cranach and Paul Veronese, her attributes are a millstone, a wheel, pincers, and arrows (Farmer).
THE legend of the Western martyr of this name is summarized in the Roman Martyrology.   She was a young girl belonging to the Roman family of the Anicii who became a Christian and broke up the gold and silver images of the gods in her father's house, selling the fragments to relieve the poor.  He beat her and threw her, with a stone round her neck, into the lake of Bolsena, which their home adjoined.   Being miraculously preserved from drowning she was brought before the magistrate, who ordered her to be put to death by being shot through with arrows, after her tongue had been cut out and she had overcome
serpents by the strength of Christ and remained unharmed in a burning furnace for five days. This is supposed to have happened under Diocletian.  St Christina was formerly a popular saint in the West, but her story has been hopelessly mixed up with that of the equally popular Eastern martyr, St Christina of Tyre, whose feast is kept on the same date.   An attempt has been made to identify them as one by an
imaginary translation of the Tyrian relics to Bolsena (those of the Western Christina are claimed principally by Palermo), while Alban Butler records the legend that her martyrdom was "at Tyro, a city which formerly stood in an island in the lake of Bolsena in Tuscany, but has long since been swallowed up by the waters ".
   The Christina of the Eastern story, which is a collection of absurd and pointless marvels, was imprisoned for refusing to sacrifice to the gods; when her mother came to argue with her she spurned her, and refused, as a child of God, to be called her daughter. Her flesh was torn with hooks from her body and she picked up a piece and threw it in the judge's face; a fire was kindled under her, but it got out of hand and slew hundreds of men without harming her; and when she was thrown into the sea, our Lord Himself came down into the water and baptized her, "in the name of God my Father and of myself His Son, and of the Holy Ghost". And then the archangel Michael brought her safely to land. That same night the judge died and his successor put her into a tub full of boiling pitch and oil, with four men to rock it; and this Christina regarded as no more uncomfortable than a cradle; so her head was shaved and she was led naked through the city to the temple of Apollo, whereat the image of the god fell headlong and was broken.
  And the second judge died. And his successor caused venomous serpents to be cast upon her, which did her no injury, but instead attacked and killed the snake-charmer who stood by. Christina raised him again to life. Then the judge ordered her breasts to be cut off, and milk flowed therefrom;  and her tongue to be cut out, but she spoke none the less clearly, and, picking up her tongue, threw
it at the judge, so that he lost the sight of one eye. But at last being shot through the heart with an arrow she achieved her crown.
   The substantial identity of the two stories is clear. Nothing is known of Christina of Bolsena; her feast was doubtless assigned to this date through confusion with Christina of Tyre, and she entered into the further inheritance of childish fables outlined above.  Whether there ever was a virgin named Christina and connected with Tyre who was martyred is very doubtful.   But there is good evidence for the tradition that a maiden martyred at Bolsena in Italy was afterwards held in great honour and was believed to have been called Christina.  Excavations at Bolsena have proved the existence of a sort of catacomb there with a shrine.
The archaeological evidence is summarized in the article "Bolsena" in DAC., t. ii. The extravagant legend in its various forms will be found most conveniently in Pennazi, Vita e martirio...della gloriosa S. Cristina (1725). Cf. also Delehaye, Origines du culte des martyrs, pp. 181, 320; CMH., p. 394; and Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, vol. ii, CC. 923-924.
Amitérni, in Vestínis, pássio sanctórum mílitum octogínta trium.  
            At Amiterno in Abruzzi, the martyrdom of eighty-three holy soldiers.
304 Sts. Victor, Stercntius, and Antigones Three martyrs executed during the persecutions under Emperor Diocletian. Supposedly three brothers of Merida, Spain, it is believed that only Victor was a Spaniard; the other two are perhaps to be identified with the Armenian martyrs who died with St. Theozonus of Sebaste
Eméritæ, in Hispánia, sancti Victóris, viri militáris, qui, cum frátribus Stercátio et Antinógene, in persecutióne Diocletiáni, per divérsa supplícia martyrium consummávit.
    At Merida in Spain, St. Victor, a soldier who, with his two brothers, Stercatius and Antinogenes, by divers torments fulfilled his martyrdom in the persecution of Diocletian.

Victor, Stercatius and Antinogenes MM (RM). These brothers are said to have been martyred at Merida in Estremadura, Spain. It is likely that Victor was martyred there; however, Stercatius and Antinogenes were probably part of the group who suffered with Saint Theozonus of Sebaste in Armenia (Benedictines)
.
380 St. Ursicinus Bishop of Sens, Gaul (modern France). He was known to be an opponent of Arianism, the heresy of that era.
Apud Sénonas sancti Ursicíni, Epíscopi et Confessóris.
   At Sens, St. Ursicinus, bishop and confessor
Ursicinus of Sens B (RM) Died c. 380. Saint Ursicinus is registered as the fourth bishop of Sens, France. He was an opponent of Arianism (Benedictines).
St. Meneus & Capito Martyrs commemorated in the Latin and Greek Churches. In some accounts Meneus is called Hymenaeus.
Item sanctórum Mártyrum Menéi et Capitónis.
   Also, the holy martyrs Meneus and Capito.
Meneus (Hymenaeus) and Capito MM (RM) Martyrs commemorated in both the Roman and Greek menologies, but about whom nothing is known (Benedictines).
St. Vincent Roman martyr in an uncertain year. He was executed beyond the walls of the city of Rome on the road to Tivoli, Italy.
Vincent of Rome M (RM). Saint Vincent was martyred outside the walls of Rome on the road to Tivoli (Benedictines)
.
St. Niceta and Aquilina Martyred soldiers. In original traditions, they were named Nicetas and Aquila.In Lycia sanctárum Mártyrum Nicétæ et Aquilínæ, quæ, beáti Christóphori Mártyris prædicatióne ad Christum convérsæ, martyrii palmam obtruncatióne cápitis sumpsérunt.
   In Lycia, the holy martyrs Niceta and Aquilina, who were converted to Christ by the preaching of the blessed martyr Christopher, and gained the palm of martyrdom by being beheaded.
3rd v. Martyrdom of St. Euphemia she cursed the Emperor, his idols, and admonished the Governor saying, "O you whose heart is like a stone, do you not have compassion on these holy men! or are you not afraid that their God might destroy you?"
On this day, St. Euphemia, was martyred. When Barsiros (Briskos), one of the deputies of Diocletian, was passing down the road, there were with him some of the saints with iron chains round their necks like dogs. This saint saw them and her heart waxed hot. She was sorry for them and she wept. Then, she cursed the Emperor, his idols, and admonished the Governor saying, "O you whose heart is like a stone, do you not have compassion on these holy men! or are you not afraid that their God might destroy you?" The Governor became enraged and informed the Emperor about what she had done and said. The Emperor brought her and asked her about her belief. She confessed that she was Christian. He tortured her severely by beating and burning until she delivered up her pure soul in the hand of the Lord.
May her prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen .
4th v.  Christina of Tuscany (of Bolsena) VM (RM)
The story of the Roman Saint Christina venerated at Lake Bolsena in Latium (Tuscany) is simply that of Saint Christina of Tyre, imported from the East and adapted to local conditions. It seems that the legend of the latter was adapted for this probably real martyr under Diocletian, but that her name may not have been Christina. Butler's Lives of the Saints says that this Christina died on the island of Tyro in Lake Bolsena, which may be the reason for the confusion. Both legends are narratives of ordeals endured and of miraculous occurrences, but are without any historical value. There are remains of an early Christian cemetery at Bolsena, but the evidence for its being the burial place of a martyred Christina is unsatisfactory.
Farmer does say that there is a surviving shrine and catacomb that bear witness to her existence.
Husenbeth claims that her relics are now at Palermo, Sicily (Attwater, Benedictines, Farmer, Husenbeth).
   In art, Saint Christina is a maiden with a millstone. She may be shown (1) with a millstone and two arrows; (2) holding an arrow, crowned in the company of Saint Ursula; (3) pierced by three arrows; (4) in prison breaking idols; (5) with a knife; (6) with tongs; or (7) with an arrow and scepter (Roeder). There is a 6th-century mosaic at Ravenna, Italy, that purports to portray her, but it has no special attributes and may be that of Christina of Tyre (Farmer) .
5th century St. Menefrida Patron saint of Tredresick, in Cornwall, England. She belonged to the family of Brychan of Brecknock.
Menefrida of Cornwall V (AC). Another saintly progeny of the prolific Saint Brychan of Brecknock, Menefrida is the patron of Menver in Cornwall (Benedictines)
.
420 St. Dictinus Bishop of Astorga, in Spain. He was originally a member of the Priscillianism heresy but was converted by St. Anibrose. Dictinus recanted at the Council of Toledo in 400.
Dictinus of Astorga B (AC). Saint Dictinus was a heretic. Yet the grace of God can overcome even heresy. Saint Ambrose converted Dictinus from Priscillianism, and the latter recanted his errors at the council of Toledo (Spain) in 400. Soon after that he was consecrated bishop of Astorga (Benedictines)
.
5th century St. Lewina Martyred virgin of England, a Briton slain by invading Saxons. In 1058, her relics were translated from Seaford, in Sussex, England, to Berques in Flanders, Belgium; her relics honored by numerous miracles, especially at the time of the translation; A history of these miracles was written by Drogo, an eyewitness to several of them
Lewina of Berg VM (AC). The first extant record of Saint Lewina dates from 1058, when her relics were translated from Seaford (near Lewes) or Alfriston in Sussex, England, with those of Saint Idaberga (not sure which one) and portions of Saint Oswald, to Saint Winnoc's Abbey Church in Bergues, Flanders, where she had been venerated and her relics honored by numerous miracles, especially at the time of the translation. A history of these miracles was written by Drogo, an eyewitness to several of them. Lewina is reputed to have been a British maiden martyred by the invading Saxons (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth).
Lewina is supposed to have suffered martyrdom under the Saxons in Britain before their conversion to Christ.   Nothing is heard of her till 1058 when, on or about July 24, her relics, with those of St Ideberga, virgin, and part of those of St Oswald, were translated from Seaford in Sussex to the church of St Winnoc at Bergues in Flanders.  They were honoured by many miracles, especially at the time of this translation, as Drogo, an eye-witness to several, testifies.   Lewina was among the saints represented on the walls of the chapel of the English College at Rome in the sixteenth century.
There is an account of St Lewina in the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. v, but it is mainly concerned with the translation of her relics .
425 St. Declan First bishop of Ardmore in Ireland, Baptized by St. Colman, and preached the faith in that country a little before the arrival of St. Patrick, who confirmed the episcopal see of Ardmore, in a synod at Cashel in 448. Many miracles are ascribed to St. Declan, and he has ever been much honored in the viscounty of Dessee, ancientl Nandesi.
St. Declan  was born in the territory of the Desi (now Decies, in county Waterford) and was baptized by one of the many Irish saints named Colman. His traditional life contains a number of chronological contradictions, and it is not decided whether he preached before or after the coming of St Patrick. Many miracles
are ascribed to him, and two visits to Rome, on the second of which he met St David while passing through Wales, but these voyages are probably legendary.   He was consecrated bishop and had his episcopal church at .Ardmore, where he was held in great veneration.  St Declan's feast is observed throughout Ireland.
A Latin Life of St Declan will be found in the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. v, but a better text is provided in Pluramer, VSI-L, vol. ii, pp. 32-59.  An ancient Irish version has been edited by the Rev. P. Power for the Irish Texts Society (1914) .
Declan of Ardmore B (AC) Born at Desi (Decies), Waterford, Ireland, 5th century. Declan, an Irish monk, was baptized by and a disciple of Saint Colman. He appears to have been an Irish evangelist before the arrival of Saint Patrick. He may have made two pilgrimages to Rome and later became the first bishop of Ardmore, a see confirmed by Patrick during the synod of Cashel in 448. Many miracles are attributed to Declan, who is much honored in Dessee (formerly Nandesi) (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).
6th v. Germoc of Cornwall Saint Breaca's brother, Saint Germoc, was an Irish chieftain who settled in Cornwall near Mount's Bay (Benedictines). (AC)
675 Wulfhade and Ruffinus Martyrs of England; according to tradition they were two princes of Mercia who were baptized by St. Chad; martyred at Stone, Staffordshire.
Wulfhade and Ruffinus MM (AC). Although the legend that grew up around the names of these martyrs contradicts the known facts of history, they may well have been genuine martyrs. It is said that these two Mercian brothers, sons of King Wulfere who had succeeded Peada, were converted and baptized by Bishop Saint Chad of Litchfield about 670. There is much speculation as to the date of Wulfere's conversion and whether he actually martyred his sons or took responsibility for the acts of some of his courtiers.. Their mother, Queen Emmelinda, had their bodies buried at Stone, Staffordshire, and covered their tombs with stones in the Saxon manner. These stones were later used to build a church over the spot.
Wulhere's father Penda had persecuted Christians, but his elder brother Peada had allowed Christianity to be established in his realm. There is much speculation as to the date of Wulfere's conversion and whether he actually committed the crime or took responsibility for the acts of some of his courtiers.
The procurator of the Peterborough Abbey built at Stone travelled to Rome and prevailed upon the pope to enroll the martyrs among the saints. He left the head of Saint Wulfhade, which he had taken with him, in the church of Saint Laurence at Viterbo (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth).
In art, these two are a pair of princely huntsmen who pursue a stage, which takes refuge with Saint Chad, sitting by a pool (Roeder). They are venerated at Lichfield, York, England (Roeder) and are patrons of the town and monastery of Stone (Husenbeth)
.
7th v. Christiana of Termonde said to have been the daughter of an Anglo-Saxon king; crossed over to Flanders where she lived until her death; patron saint of Termonde, Belgium V (AC) (Benedictines).
690 St. Godo Benedictine abbot and nephew of St. Wandrille. Known also as Gaon, he was born in Verdun, France, and professed at Fontenelle. Godo was founder and abbot of Oye Abbey, near Sezanne en Brie.
8th v. Aliprandus of Ciel d'Oro  the abbot of Ciel d'Oro (in coelo aureo) Monastery at Pavia, Italy. He was related to the royal family of the Lombards (Benedictines)., OSB Abbot (AC)  (also known as Leuprandus)
769 Sigolena of Troclar Daughter and early widow of French noblemen of Aquitaine; became a nun in the convent of Troclar on the Tarn in southern France, where she was later chosen as abbess, OSB Abbess (AC)
(also known as Segolena, Segoulème) (Benedictines, Encyclopedia). In art, Saint Sigolena is an abbess curing a plague sufferer in the train of the emperor (Roeder). She is the patroness of Albi (Roeder)
.
1015 Boris and Gleb sons 1st Christian princes of Russia St Vladimir of Kiev and Anne of Constantinople the daughter of Emperor Basil II, the Bulgar slayer (Gleb)  Passion-Bearers, since they did not resist evil with violence  MM (AC)  (also known as Romanus and David)
   Benedict XIII approved their feast for Russian and Ukrainian Catholics in 1724. Boris and Gleb were the sons of the first Christian prince of Russia, Saint Vladimir of Kiev, and Anne of Constantinople, the daughter of Emperor Basil II, the Bulgar slayer. The boys were baptized Romanus and David. After Vladimir's death, the kingdom was to have been divided among his sons, but their eldest half-brother, Svyatopolk, wished to rule alone.
Boris was forewarned of his brother's plans, but when an army gathered to defend him, he called them off, explaining that he could not raise a hand against his brother who now stood in his father's place. With one attendant, Boris spent the night in prayer on the bank of the Alta River, and expressed how sad it was to leave the "marvelous light" of day and his "good and beautiful body." In the morning a gang of Svyatopolk's followers attacked him with spears while Boris prayed for them. On their way to Kiev with his body, the ruffians discovered he was still alive, and completed the job with swords.

Svyatopolk, under a false pretense of friendliness, invited Gleb to Kiev. On the way, Gleb's boat was boarded on the Dnieper River near Smolensk by armed men. He begged them to spare him, refusing to fight back.

When he saw that he could not alter their purpose, he resigned himself to death, saying, "I am in your hands and in the hands of my brother, your prince, I am being slain; I know not for what; but you, Lord, know. And I know, O my Lord, that you said to your apostles that for your name's sake hands would be laid upon them and they would be betrayed by kinsmen and friends, and that brother would bring death to brother." His final death blow was said to have been delivered by his cook, who came from behind to stab his throat "like a butcher killing sheep."

In 1020, another of Vladimir's sons, Yaroslav, usurped Svyatopolk, who died during his escape to Poland. Yaroslav buried the bodies of Boris and Gleb in the church of Saint Basil at Vyshgorod. Miracles were reported at their tomb, and it became a site of pilgrimage.

From the first, the highest motives were attributed to their attitude of resignation --unwillingness to repel injustice to themselves by force and violently oppose an elder brother. Although they were not considered martyrs in the traditional sense, the Russian Church perceived them as "passion bearers"--blameless men who did not wish to die but refused to defend themselves, thus voluntarily submitting to death like Christ. The Greek authorities apparently did not completely understand the theory, but the popular feeling among the Russian people was so intense that they agreed to canonize the brothers. Boris is the patron said of Moscow (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Fedotov, White). The Novgorod Icon Book has several images of these saints:

After the death of the first Christian prince in Russia, St Vladimir of Kiev, the inheritance should, according to the custom of succession at that time and place, have passed to all his sons and been divided among them.  Elder, Svyatopolk, had other ideas on the subject and determined to remove the two young princes Boris and Gleb, Vladimir's sons by Anne of Constantinople, daughter of the Emperor Basil II the Bulgar-slayer.   Boris was on his way back from an expedition against some troublesome nomadic tribes when he learned what was in the wind, and his military following prepared to defend him.  But he would not allow it.   "It is not right", he said, according to a chronicler, " that I should raise my hand against an elder brother who now stands for me in the place of my father":  like Jesus Christ he would be an innocent victim rather than spill the blood of his brothers in the flesh and in God.  "It is better for me to die alone than to be the occasion of death to many."
   So Boris dismissed his followers, and sat down to wait with one attendant on the bank of the river Alta.  During the night he meditated on those martyrs who had been put to death by near relatives, on the emptiness of all earthly things "except good deeds and true love and right religion ", and he was sad to think that he must leave the "marvellous light" of day and his "good and beautiful body ".  One of his biographers professes to give the very words of his prayer, which are valuable as showing how the Russians of following generations looked on SS. Boris and Gleb:  "Lord Jesus Christ, who came on earth in this bodily form for our salvation and who suffered your passsion and let your hands be nailed to the cross for our sins, give me strength to bear my passion. It does not come from enemies but from my own brother: but, Lord, do not count it to him for wickedness."
   Early in the morning a gang of ruffians sent by Svyatopolk found Boris and set upon him; they ran him through with spears, while he called down peace on them.
As they approached Kiev with the body, Boris was found still to be breathing, so two Varangians finished him with their swords.
   St Gleb, younger than Boris, met his end soon after. Svyatopolk, shamming friendliness, had invited him to come to Kiev. On his way down the Dneiper, near Smolensk, his boat was boarded by strange men, armed and threatening. Gleb was terrified and besought them to spare him: with tears streaming down his face, calling on his father and his brother, he threw himself on his knees and promised to be their slave if only they would not kill him.  But he would not resist; and when he saw that appeals were useless he resigned himself quietly to death.  "I am in your hands and the hands of my brother, your prince.  I am being slain; I know not what for; but thou, Lord, knowest. And I know, O my Lord, that thou didst say to thine apostles that for thy name's sake hands would be laid on them and they would be betrayed by kinsmen and friends, and that brother would bring death to brother." The final blow is said to have been given by his own cook, who crept up behind him and cut his throat, "like a butcher killing a sheep ".
   Five years later, in 1020, another son of St Vladimir, Yaroslav, buried the incorrupt bodies of Boris and Gleb in the church of St Basil at Vyshgorod; their tomb became a place of pilgrimage and miracles were reported there.  The Greek metropolitan of Kiev was asked to declare their formal canonization, but he was more than dubious, for they did not come under any of the categories of saints with which he was familiar: they had not been great ascetics, they had not been bishops or teachers, they had not been martyrs, for they did not die for the faith. But the Russians saw them as strastoterptsy, " passion-bearers ", innocent men who, unwilling to die, had yet repudiated violence and quietly accepted suffering and death in the unresisting spirit of Christ.  It was a conception characteristically Russian, as it is characteristically Christian,*{*Non-violent resistance to evil has persisted throughout Christian history there were for instance, conscientious objectors to military service among the early saints, e.g. St Victricius, St Martin of Tours and the martyr St Maximilian.} and popular feeling was so strong that the Greek ecclesiastical authorities in Russia submitted to what they seem not to have understood, and Boris and Gleb were enrolled among the saints. This verdict was confirmed by Pope Benedict XIII in 1724.
These brothers are sometimes referred to as SS. Romanus and David, names they were given at baptism.   Liturgically they are called martyrs.
There are three sources if not for the life at any rate for the death of these brothers. (r) The chronicle compiled at or near Kiev and attributed to the monk Nestor, now generally referred to as the "Primary Chronicle"; (a) "An Account of the Passion and Glory of the Holy Martyrs Boris and Gleb", attributed to a monk called Jacob who lived at the end of the eleventh century; (3) "A Resdiag of the Life and Assassination of the Blessed Sufferers Boris and Gleb". by a Nestor who was probably not the same as the one named above. See Behr-Sigel in Irénikon, vol. xii (1935), no. 6. Cf. also bibliographical notes under St Sergius on September 25, especially Fedotov's Russian Religious Mind. There is a reproducttion of an interesting picture of these brothers in the "King Penguin" booklet of Russian eikons.
1015 Saint Boris was one of the sons of St Vladimir (July 15), and was named Romanus at his Baptism. After their father's death the eldest son Sviatopolk planned to kill his brothers Boris, Gleb, and Yaroslav in order to seize power. He sent a message to Boris, pretending that he wished to live in peace with him, and to increase Boris's land holdings inherited from their father.
Some of Vladimir's advisers told Boris that he should take the army and establish himelf as ruler of Kiev. St Boris, however, said that he could never lift his hand against his own brother. Unfortunately, Sviatopolk was not so scrupulous. He came to the town of Vyshegorod to ask its leaders if they were loyal to him. They assured him that they were ready to die for him.
Sviatopolk sent assassins to the Alta to kill Boris, who already knew that his brother wanted him dead. When they arrived they heard him chanting psalms and praying before an icon of Christ. He asked the Lord to strengthen him for the suffering he was about to endure. He also prayed for Sviatopolk, asking God not to count this against him as sin.
Then he lay down upon his couch, and the assassins stabbed him with their lances, and also killed some of Boris's servants. Wrapping Boris in a cloth, they threw him onto a wagon and drove off with him. When Sviatopolk saw that he was still breathing, he sent some men to finish him off with swords.
St Boris received the crown of martyrdom in 1015. He and his brother Gleb became known as Passion-Bearers, since they did not resist evil with violence.
1015 Saint Gleb was the son of St Vladimir (July 15) and the brother of Sviatopolk, Yaroslav, and St Boris.
He was named David at his Baptism.
After Sviatopolk had killed Boris, he wondered, "Now how can I kill Gleb?" He sent him a message saying that their father was ill and wished to see him. As he was on his way, he received word from Yaroslav that their father had died and that Sviatopolk had murdered Boris.   St Gleb wept for his father and brother, and was lamenting them when the assassins arrived. They seized his boat and drew their weapons, but it was Gleb's cook Torchin who stabbed him with a knife. The martyr's body was thrown onto the shore between two trees. Later, he was buried beside St Boris in the church of St Basil.
The holy martyrs Princes Boris and Gleb are also commemorated on May 2.
1041 Saint Hilarion of Tvali (Tulashvili) served as abbot of Khakhuli Monastery in southwestern Georgia a famous translator and writer and an eminent theologian.
In his work The Life of George of the Holy Mountain, George the Lesser writes that Venerable Hilarion was outstanding in virtue and celebrated for his sermons and ascetic labors.
St. Hilarion raised the young George of the Holy Mountain to be a brilliant writer, translator, theologian and patriot. From him George also received a blessing to enter the monastic life.
According to the chronicle Life of Kartli, St. Hilarion was a famous translator and writer and an eminent theologian.
Eventually St. Hilarion moved from Khakhuli to Tvali Monastery, not far from Antioch, where he remained the rest of his life. According to the 19th-century historian-iconographer Michael Sabinin, St. Hilarion reposed in the year 1041.

1182 Saint Polycarp the Archimandrite entered the Kiev Caves Monastery received monastic tonsure and struggled for the salvation of his soul.
Soon Polycarp (whose name means "much fruit") began to bear fruits of repentance and virtue. His relative St Simon (May 10), who became Bishop of Vladimir and Suzdal, planted the seeds which St Polycarp developed. As the holy bishop taught Polycarp the principles of the spiritual life, the two became increasingly united in spirit, just as they were related by blood. 
When St Simon left the Monastery of the Caves to assume his hierarchal responsibilities in Vladimir, he took Polycarp with him. St Polycarp wrote down the stories that St Simeon told him of the God-pleasing ascetics of the Kiev Caves so that others might also benefit from them. Therefore, he is also known as St Polycarp the Hagiologist. Although St Polycarp returned to the monastery, he always tried to live according to St Simeon's instructions.
After the repose of Igumen Akindynus, the brethren chose Polycarp to succeed him as the Superior of the Lavra. He proved to be a skilled guide for the brethren in their struggle for salvation, and also for those outside the monastery.
The Great Prince Rostislav was one of many who profited from the teaching of St Polycarp, and asked that he be allowed to become a monk. The saint told him, "God has appointed you to stand for the truth, to judge with justice, and to stand firmly before the Cross."
Rostislav answered, "Holy Father, one cannot be a prince in this world without falling into sin. I am already exhausted and weakened by daily cares and labors. Now in my old age I would like to serve God and emulate those who have followed the narrow and sorrowul path and received the Kingdom of Heaven. I have heard of how Constantine (May 21), great among kings, appeared to a certain Elder and said, 'If I had known what glory the monks receive in heaven… I would have taken off my crown and royal purple, and replaced them with the monastic garb'."
St Polycarp told him, "If you desire this from your heart, then may it be God's will."
However, as the prince was passing through Smolensk, he fell ill and asked to be taken home to Kiev. Seeing how weak he was, his sister Rogneda urged him to remain in Smolensk and be buried in the church they had built there.  Rostislav would not accept this suggestion. He said, "If I do not make it back to Kiev, then let me be placed in the church my father built in the Monastery of St Theodore. If God delivers me from this illness and grants me health, then I vow to become a monk at the Monastery of the Caves under Polycarp."
As he lay at death's door, Rostislav said to the priest Simeon, "You must answer before God since you hindered me from being tonsured by the holy one in the Caves Monastery, for I truly desired that. May the Lord not count it as a sin that I did not fulfill this."

St Polycarp went to the Lord on July 24, 1182. After this, no successor was chosen for a long time. Although there were many worthy Elders in the Lavra, they all declined the office of igumen out of humility. The brethren realized that they could not remain for long without a shepherd. They assembled in the church and prayed to Sts Anthony and Theodosius and St Polycarp to help them find someone worthy to take his place.
Then a voice was heard saying, "Let us go to the priest Basil in Schekovitsa. Let him be our Superior and rule the monastery in the monastic rank."
The monks went to the widowed priest Basil and asked him to be their Superior, but he refused for a long time. After many entreaties, he finally agreed and went with them to the monastery. He was tonsured as a monk and installed as igumen by Metropolitan Nicephorus of Kiev, Bishops Laurence of Turov and Nicholas of Polotsk. Igumen Basil proved to be a model of virtues and a worthy successor to St Polycarp.
1224 Christina the Astonishing "The angels then transported me into Heaven, even to the throne of the Divine Majesty. The Lord regarded me with a favorable eye, and I experienced an extreme joy, because I thought to obtain the grace of dwelling eternally with Him.  "But my Heavenly Father, seeing what passed in my heart, said to me these words: 'Assuredly, My dear daughter, you will one day be with Me. Now, however, I allow you to choose, either to remain with Me henceforth from this time, or to return again to earth to accomplish a mission of charity and suffering. In order to deliver from the flames of Purgatory those souls which have inspired you with so much compassion, you shall suffer for them upon earth; you shall endure great torments, without, however, dying from their effects. And not only will you relieve the departed, but the example which you will give to the living, and your life of continual suffering, will lead sinners to be converted and to expiate their crimes. After having ended this new life, you shall return here laden with merits.' Her body is preserved in the Redemptorist church at Saint-Trond. Her resurrection was witnessed by the whole town and many saw her escape her various tortures unscathed (Mirabilis) V (PC)
St Christina The Astonishing, Virgin
Christina was born at Brusthem in the diocese of Liege, in 1150, and at the age of fifteen was left an orphan, with two elder sisters.  They belonged to the peasant class.  When she was about twenty-two Christina had a seizure, which was probably a cataleptic fit, was assumed to be dead, and in due course was carried in an open coffin to the church, where a Mass of requiem was begun. Suddenly, after the Agnus Dei, Christina sat up, soared to the beams of the roof, “like a bird”, as her biographer says, and there perched herself.   Everyone fled from the church except her elder sister, who, though thoroughly frightened, gave a good example of recollection to the others by stopping till the end of Mass, immobilis perseverans. The priest then made Christina come down (it was said that she had taken refuge up there because she could not bear the smell of sinful human bodies), and she averred that she had been actually dead; that she had gone down to Hell and there recognized many friends, and to Purgatory, where she had seen more friends, and then to Heaven; that she had been offered the choice of stopping there or of returning to earth and liberating by her prayers and sufferings those whom she had seen in Purgatory; that she had elected to return, and that within the space of the threefold Agnus Dei her soul had been restored to her body.
   This was only the beginning of a series of hardly less incredible occurrences.  Christina fled into remote places, climbed trees and towers and rocks, and crawled into ovens, to escape from the smell of humans. She would handle fire with impunity and, in the coldest weather, dash into the river, or into a millrace and be carried unharmed under the wheel.   She prayed balancing herself on the top of a hurdle or curled up on the ground in such a way that she looked like a ball.  Not unnaturally, everyone thought she was mad or “full of devils”, and attempts were made to confine her, but she always broke loose.  Eventually she was caught by a man who had to give her a violent blow on the leg, and it was thought her leg was broken.  She was therefore taken to the house of a surgeon in Liege, who put splints on the limb and chained her to a pillar for safety.  She escaped in the night.  On one occasion when a priest, not knowing her and frightened by her appearance, had refused to give her communion, she rushed wildly through the streets, jumped into the Meuse, and swam away.  She lived by begging, dressed in rags, and in many ways behaved in a very terrifying manner.  There is even a faint hint of relief in her biographer when he says, when she had climbed into the font at Wellen and sat down in the baptismal water, “after that her way of living was more conformed to that of men, she was quieter, and better able to bear the smell of human beings”.
   The last years of her life Christina passed in the convent of St Catherine at Saint-Trond, and there she died at the age of seventy-four.  Even while she lived there were some who regarded her with great respect.  Louis, Count of Looz, treated her as a friend, welcoming her to his castle, accepting her rebukes, and on his deathbed insisting on manifesting his conscience to her.  Bd Mary of Oignies had regard for her, the prioress of St Catherine's praised her obedience, and St Lutgardis sought her advice.
   The things narrated above are not from the acta of a saint written up from all sorts of sources long after her death; we have the first-hand evidence of Cardinal James de Vitry, and Christina's biographer was also a contemporary, a Dominican friar, Thomas de Cantimprd, who, if he did not know her personally, got his information from those who did.  Allowances must be made for exaggeration, misunderstanding and the desire to be edifying according to the mind of the writer and his time; but even when this has been done, there is little in the recorded history of Christina of Brusthem to make us think she was other than a pathological case.
By far the most valuable testimony we possess to Christina's extraordinary phenomena is that of Cardinal James de Vitry in the preface to his life of Mary of Oignies. This is extracted in the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. v, and printed together with the biography by Thomas de Cantimpré. See the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xix (1900), pp. 58 and 365; Fr Thurston in The Month, August 1922, pp. 122-131; and E. Michael, Geschichte des deutschen Volkes seit dem 13 Jahr., vol. iii, pp. 160 seq.
Orthodoxe und Katholische Kirche: Christina von Tyros - 24. Juli Katholische Kirche: Christina von Bolsena - 24. Juli
Born in Brustheim, near Liège, Belgium, 1150; feast day formerly July 4. Fifteen-year-old Christina was left an orphan with her two older sisters. When she was about 22 (some sources say 32, which is more reasonable given the balance of the evidence), she had an epileptic fit and was thought to be dead.
   As was the custom Christina was carried into the church in an open coffin, where a Requiem Mass was beginning. Suddenly, after the Agnus Dei, Christina sat up, soared to the beams of the roof, and perched there. The congregation fled in fright, except her elder sister. When the Mass was completed, the priest persuaded Christina to come down from the rafters, where she is said to have taken refuge to escape the smell of sinful human bodies.
Christina told the priest that she had died, gone to hell, to purgatory, and then to heaven. She was allowed to return to earth to pray for the suffering souls in purgatory. In each place she saw many she knew. In her own words:
    "As soon as my soul was separated from my body, it was received by angels, who conducted it to a very gloomy place, entirely filled with souls. The torments which they there endured appeared to me so excessive, that it is impossible for me to give any idea of their rigor. I saw among them many of my acquaintances, and, deeply touched by their sad condition, I asked what place it was, for I believed it to be Hell.
    "My guide answered me that it was Purgatory, where sinners were punished who, before death, had repented of their faults, but had not made worthy satisfaction to God. From thence I was conducted into Hell, and there also I recognized among the reprobates some whom I had formerly known.
    "The angels then transported me into Heaven, even to the throne of the Divine Majesty. The Lord regarded me with a favorable eye, and I experienced an extreme joy, because I thought to obtain the grace of dwelling eternally with Him.
    "But my Heavenly Father, seeing what passed in my heart, said to me these words: 'Assuredly, My dear daughter, you will one day be with Me. Now, however, I allow you to choose, either to remain with Me henceforth from this time, or to return again to earth to accomplish a mission of charity and suffering. In order to deliver from the flames of Purgatory those souls which have inspired you with so much compassion, you shall suffer for them upon earth; you shall endure great torments, without, however, dying from their effects. And not only will you relieve the departed, but the example which you will give to the living, and your life of continual suffering, will lead sinners to be converted and to expiate their crimes. After having ended this new life, you shall return here laden with merits.'
    "At these words, seeing the great advantages offered to me for souls, I replied, without hesitation, that I would return to life, and I arose at that same instant. It is for this sole object, the relief of the departed and the conversion of sinners, that I have returned to this world. Therefore be not astonished at the penances I shall practice, nor at the life that you will see me lead from henceforward. It will be so extraordinary that nothing like to it has ever been seen."
Thereafter, behaved as one of the great eccentrics of Christendom. Christina fled to remote places, climbed trees and towers and rocks, and even hid in ovens to escape the smell of humans. But more importantly, she did everything possible to suffer in the extreme for the good of other souls. After her resurrection, Christina dressed in rags bound together with saplings, lived by begging in extreme poverty, and renounced all the comforts of life- -even a home.
She would jump into a burning furnace until she could no longer handle it, or into the river in the coldest weather and stay for weeks. Once she was even said to have gotten into a mill-race and been carried under the wheel. She would pray while balancing on a hurdle or curled up in a ball on the ground. In a church at a placed called Wellen, she climbed into the large font and sat in the water. Of course, many thought that she was insane.
Once she was caught by a man who struck her so hard on the leg that it was thought to be broken. She was taken to a surgeon's home where her leg was splinted, and she was chained to a pillar for her own safety. She escaped at night. On one occasion, a priest refused her Communion; she ran wildly down the street and jumped into the Meuse River.
Yet many people came to Christina for good advice.
Christina spent the last years of her life in the convent of Saint Catherine at Saint-Trond. While she lived there, she was held in high respect by Louis, the count of Looz, who treated her as a friend, accepted her criticism, and welcomed her at his castle. Blessed Marie d'Oignies respected her as well, the prioress of Saint Catherine's praised her obedience, and Saint Lutgardis sought her counsel. She lived this life of penance for 52 years after she had been raised from the dead.
Christina's experiences were recorded by a contemporary Dominican, Cardinal James de Vitry, in the preface to the Life of Marie d'Oignies, and by the Dominican Bishop Thomas de Cantimpre'. Her body is preserved in the Redemptorist church at Saint-Trond. Her resurrection was witnessed by the whole town and many saw her escape her various tortures unscathed. Her cultus has never been officially confirmed (Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Schouppe, Walsh, White).
In art, Blessed Christina is a maiden with dishevelled hair sitting on a wheel with serpents around her. At times she may be shown (1) with a serpent around her wrist (Husenbeth erroneously gives this as Christina of Bolsena or Tuscany (today); (2) with a serpent and palm; or (3) with a wheel and palm (easily confused with Saint Catherine of Alexandria, but she is not crowned and her wheel has no spikes) (Roeder). Christina is venerated at Liège and Trond (Roeder). Some of these emblems seem more appropriate for Christina of Tyre; there may be some confusion.
Christina von Bolsena
Orthodoxe und Katholische Kirche: Christina von Tyros - 24. Juli Katholische Kirche: Christina von Bolsena - 24. Juli
Christina, Tochter heidnischer Eltern, wurde als junges Mädchen von einer Dienerin zum Christetum bekehrt. Ihr Vater liess sie mit vielen goldenen und silbernen Götzenbildern in einem Turm im See von Bolsena einsperren. Als sie aber standhaft beim Christentum blieb, liess er sie foltern und schliesslich töten.
Am 18.06.1263 ereignete sich an ihrem Sarg in Bolsena das Blutwunder von Bolsena, das zu der allgemeinen Einführung des Fronleichnamfestes durch Urban IV. führte.  In der orthodoxen Kirche wird der Märtyrerin Christina von Tyros gedacht. Ihr Vater, Gouverneur der Stadt, wollte, dass das elfjährige Mädchen heidnische Priesterin wurde. Als sie sich weigerte, sperrte er sie mit vielen goldenen und silbernen Götzenbildern in einen Turm und liess sie schließlich um 300 hinrichten.  Die Lebensgeschichten der beiden Märtyrerinnen wurden im Lauf der Jahrhunderte offensichtlich vermischt und sind heute kaum unterscheidbar. Es handelt sich aber wohl tatsächlich um zwei Märtyrerinnen.
1292 St. Kinga Princess of Poland and Franciscan tertiary; a niece of St. Elizabeth of Hungary and a great niece of St. Redwig; Prayer, mortification, alms, and daily attendance on the poor in the hospitals, employed her time took the veil in the Sandecz (Sandez) Abbey, which she had built for the Poor Clare nun
Sometimes called Cunegunde, Zinga, or Kioga, she was married to Prince Boleslaus of Poland. Kinga founded a monastery at Sandez.
1292 Bd Cunegund, Or Kinga, Virgin
Cunegund, whose Magyar name was Kinga, was born in the year 1224, daughter of Bela IV, King of Hungary, and niece of St Elizabeth; her mother, who had suffered greatly at former births, was on this occasion delivered with ease, and other marvels of a more unlikely nature are recorded of her birth and infancy, as that her first cry took the form of a salutation to the Queen of Heaven. Cunegund was brought up at the court, learning "Latin and the fear of the Lord", and in her sixteenth year was married to Boleslaus V, Ring of Poland. She had agreed to the maniage, but on her wedding night asked the king to observe continence towards her, as she had given herself to God; to this he agreed for one year, and at the end of that time took with her a vow of perpetual chastity before the bishop of Cracow, whence he is known in history as Boleslaus the Chaste.
   The queen led a most austere life, wearing a hair-shirt under her royal garments and giving much time to the care of the needy and sick.  When her husband died in 1279 she refused the wish of the nobles that she should carry on the government of the kingdom and became a Poor Clare in the convent she had founded at Sandeck, and there passed the rest of her life, dying on July 24, 1292. She built churches and hospitals, paid the expenses of chapters of the Friars Minor, and ransomed Christians from the Turks.  When in 1287 Poland was overrun by the Tartars, the nuns of Sandeck had to take refuge in the castle of Pyenin which was besieged by the invaders; but at the prayers of Cunegund they drew off. Her last years were marked by many miracles and supernatural manifestations.  Her popular cultus was approved in 1690.
Of this saint there are two medieval biographies. The first, attributed erroneously to a Franciscan named Stanislaus, has been printed in the Monumenta Polon. histor., vol. iv, pp. 682-744; the second, by Jan Dlugosz, may be found in the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. v, and in the collected edition of the works of Dlugosz (1863-1887). Cf. F. Banfl, Sponsus Marianus filius regit Hungariae (1930)
Kinga of Poland, OFM Tert. V (AC) (also known as Cunegunde(s), Kioga, Zinga) Died July 24, 1292. Saint Kinga was the daughter of King Bela IV of Hungary and his wife, Mary, daughter of Emperor Theodorus Lascharis of Constantinople. Her lineage, however, included more than secular nobility. Kinga was the niece of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary and great-niece of Saint Hedwig. In 1239, Kinga married Prince Boleslas the Chaste, sovereign of Lesser Poland (Cracow, Sandomire, and Lublin), but by mutual consent the couple never consummated the marriage. Prayer, mortification, alms, and daily attendance on the poor in the hospitals, employed her time. During their 40 years of marriage Kinga and Boleslas shared the many sufferings to which the Tartar invasion subjected them. After Boleslas's death in 1279, Kinga took the veil in the Sandecz (Sandez) Abbey, which she had built for the Poor Clare nuns. She was venerated with singular piety in the diocese of Cracow and other parts of Poland, and her name was solemnly inscribed among the saints by Alexander VIII, in 1690 (Benedictines, Husenbeth).
1391 Bd Nicholas (Nils) Hermanssön son of Herman and Margaret of Skeninge, was raised to piety; led a life of abstinence; educated in Paris and Orléans, France, in civil and canon law; ordained priest, served as a canon in Sweden, tutor to the sons of Saint Bridget of Sweden to whom he was a devoted friend. In 1361, he was appointed archdeacon of Linköping. B (AC)
Bd Nicholas Hermansson
In spite of the labours of St Anskar in the ninth century, and the activities of English and German missionaries during the eleventh, Christianity had not an extensive and permanent hold in Sweden until the twelfth, and even then its progress was laborious. Until Uppsala was made a metropolitan see by Pope Alexander III, Linkoping was the principal ecclesiastical centre, and even afterwards its position was to a considerable extent maintained by a succession of capable and energetic bishops, of whom Bd Nicholas Hermansson was one of the most noteworthy. He was born in 1331 and was educated at the University of Paris and at Orleans. After his ordination to the priesthood he was taken into the royal household and appointed tutor to the young princes.
    When he was promoted to the bishopric of Linkoping, Nicholas soon was noted both for his reforming zeal and his personal example of austerity.  He enforced the celibacy of the clergy, which was still a cause of discontent in the Swedish church, and stoutly upheld the very extensive prerogatives of clerics in the country; but unlike some of the later Swedish bishops he used the episcopal power and wealth solely for the good of religion and the poor. Bd Nicholas was a poet and wrote several liturgical offices in rime ; such compositions were very popular in the middle ages, and amid a large number, of which most are anonymous and of no credit to their writers, the contributions of several known Swedish prelates stand out as better than most; Nicholas was the best of these, and after the death of St Bridget he wrote an office in her honour which included his best verse, the hymn Rosa rorans bonitatem.  The abbey of Vadstena, the headquarters of the Bridgettine Order which she had founded, was in his diocese, and he received her body when it was brought thither from Rome by her daughter St Catherine in  1374, the first year of his episcopate.  He died on May 2, 1391, and is generally referred to as Bd Nicholas, though it has been claimed that he was canonized.
A complete Latin life of this holy bishop, compiled about twenty-five years after his death by one of the canons of Linköping, has been edited by H. Schtick in Tva svenska biografler fran medeltiden (1895). We have also in the same volume a fragment of another biography and a letter from Bishop Canine of Linköping addressed to the pope and cardinals at Constance urging the beatification of Nicholas. Naturally the bishop is frequently mentioned in the various lives of St Bridget of Sweden.
Born in Skeninge, Sweden, c. 1326-1331; said to have been canonized in 1414 (or 1416).
Nicholas, the son of Herman and Margaret of Skeninge, was raised to piety. He was educated in Paris and Orléans, France, in civil and canon law. He was ordained a priest, served as a canon in Sweden, and became tutor to the sons of Saint Bridget of Sweden to whom he was a devoted friend. In 1361, he was appointed archdeacon of Linköping.
Nicholas led a life of abstinence: On Fridays he fasted on bread with a little salt and water; sometimes fasting completely from Thursday evening until midday on Saturday. In 1374, he was promoted to bishop of Linköping. In that dignity Nicholas had to overcome considerable opposition from both the civil authorities and a reluctant clergy who resented his attempts at reforming both the organization of the church and morality. Nicholas persisted patiently and eventually overcame the opposition.
He is highly honored in Sweden as a liturgist and poet, who devoted his talents to liturgical compositions. This was especially so after the return of the body of Saint Bridget to her convent of Vladstena in Linköping. He had already helped Vladstena by writing its constitutions. Nicholas worked tirelessly for his friend's canonization, which became official about the time of his death.
Nicholas's cult arose immediately thereafter; vita were written and cures described. An enquiry into his life and miracles began in 1417, and Pope Martin V confirmed his cultus. The translation of relics occurred in 1515, and eight years later his Office was authorized. His cultus ended with the Reformation.
The Benedictines note that this canonization cannot be proven; he might be better considered as a beatus.
In some places, his feast is given as May 2 (Benedictines, Farmer, Husenbeth).
1444 Bd Felicia of Milan; life of chastity and direct service of God'; a Poor Clare convent of St Ursula at Milan 25 years; her sister followed her example and her brother became a Friar Minor; remarkable in the community for her faultless observance of the rule; perseverance in prayer and penance in spite of the diabolical influences that were active against her.  The gentle nun overcame these fierce trials; many miracles
Felicia Meda was born at Milan in 1378, the eldest of three children of good family. The sudden death of both her parents when she was a child disposed her mind to serious things, and soon after she was twelve she bound herself to a life of chastity and direct service of God, which she followed in the world for ten years. Then she became a Poor Clare in the convent of St Ursula at Milan; shortly afterwards her sister followed her example and her brother became a Friar Minor.   For twenty-five years Bd Felicia led the hidden and austere life of her order, remarkable in the community for her faultless observance of the rule; perseverance in prayer and penance in spite of the diabolical influences that were active against her. The gentle nun overcame these fierce trials, and her experience and tempered character caused her to be elected abbess.
Under her loving and skilful direction the devotion and virtue of the nuns of St Ursula's became famous, and when, some fourteen years later, in 1439, the wife of Galeazzo Malatesta, Duke of Pesaro, wished to found a Poor Clare convent in that city she asked for an affiliation from Milan.  The Franciscan minister general sent Felicia herself to make the new foundation. The sadness with which the Milanese nuns parted from their abbess was equalled by the rejoicing with which she was received at Pesaro, whither her reputation preceded her.  The wife of Galeazzo, accompanied by townspeople, came out to meet her and her seven nuns, but could not persuade them to get into the ducal carriages and drive in in state, so they made their entry into the city altogether on foot.   Bd Felicia presided over the new convent for only four years, in which time she filled it with devoted religious, and died on September 30, 1444.  The people of Pesaro, who had attributed their deliverance from war and plague to her prayers, flocked to venerate her tomb and were rewarded by many miracles.  This cultus was approved in 1812.
In the Acta Sanctorum, September, vol. viii, a tolerably full account, based mainly on Mark of Lisbon, is given of this beata. An article, however, in the Archivum Franciscanum Historicum, vol. xx (1927), pp. 241-259, supplies a more thorough discussion of the sources, and points out with reference to the sending of Bd Felicia to Pesaro that the minister general's, Guglielmo da Casale, letter imposing this obedience is still preserved. A life of the beata by Fra Agostino Gallucci was printed in 1637.
1446 Blessed John Tavalli of Tossignano; best remembered as the translator of the Bible into Italian; he studied at the University of Bologna before joining the order of the Gesuati; In 1431, he was named bishop of Ferrara. (AC)
Born at Tossignano near Imola, Italy; cultus confirmed by Benedict XIV. John Tavalli studied at the University of Bologna before joining the order of the Gesuati. In 1431, he was named bishop of Ferrara. He is best remembered, however, as the translator of the Bible into Italian (Benedictines).
John Tavalli   is generally called "of Tossignano" after his birthplace, near Imola.  He studied at the University of Bologna and then joined the Jesuats (Gesuati), a lay nursing congregation, of whose founder, Bd John Colombini, he wrote a biography.  He also made translations into Italian of parts of the Bible, of the Moralia of St Gregory, and of the sermons of St Bernard, and himself wrote several devotional works, including a treatise on perfection in the spiritual life. In 1431 he was chosen bishop of Ferrara, and seven years later welcomed to his cathedral city and assisted at the council, convoked by Pope Eugenius IV at the suggestion of the emperor, John VIII Palaiologos, to effect a union of the Western and Eastern churches against the encroachments of Islam; until the council was removed to Florence he was the host of the pope, the emperor and the patriarch of Constantinople.  But his duties to the Church at large did not prevent him from having a tender care for those committed to his special charge in his own diocese, and he was loved for his charity and benevolence.  In 1444 he devoted the whole of a big legacy to building a hospital.  Bd John died two years later, and his popular cultus was approved in 1748.
There is a Latin life written by one of the Gesuati which is printed, with introductory matter, in the Acta Sanctontm, July, vol. v cf. also the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. iv, pp. 31-41; and Ughelli, Italia sacra, vol. ii, cc. 591-592 .
1493 Bd Augustine Of Biella; suffered from a painful illness  reputation for miracles earned him publicity most distasteful to him; bore it humbly and patiently; allowed to withdraw to the house of his order at Venice, and there in retirement spent the last ten years of his life
Augustine Fangi was born in 1430 at Biella in Piedmont and became a Dominican at his birth-place.  His life was outwardly uneventful, being passed in a careful observance of his duties as a religious.  For a long time he suffered from a painful illness, which was made more painful by the remedies of the physicians, and his patience was the admiration both of them and his brethren. He was in turn the prior of several friaries, which he governed capably and restored to a stricter observance when it had become lax.  The success of his preaching and a reputation for miracles earned him a publicity that was most distasteful to him; having borne it humbly and patiently for some time he was allowed to withdraw to the house of his order at Venice, and there in retirement spent the last ten years of his life.  With the words, "Praise be to God!  Praise be to the Most High!" on his lips he died on July 22, 1493.  The cultus of Bd Augustine was approved in 1872.
Besides a life by D. Riccardi, Il beato Agostino di Biella (1874), there is also a sketch by M. Cicognani (1873).  See further, Procter, Dominican Saints, pp. 208-210, and cf. Mortier, Maîtres Généraux O.P., vol. iv, p. 648.
1594 The Durham Martyrs of
In the year 1594 four men in the county of Durham gave their lives for the Church, and they were beatified with other English martyrs in 1929. The first, on February 4, was a layman, BD JOHN SPEED (alias Spence), who was hanged in the city of Durham for "being aiding and assisting to priests, whom he used to serve in guiding and conducting from one Catholic house to another.  He died with constancy, despising the proffers that were made to him to bring him to conform" (Challoner).
  Bd John Bone was born at Dufton in Westmorland about the year 1544 and educated at Queen's College, Oxford, of which he became fellow.  He was received into the Church in 1576 and four years later went to Rheims, where he was ordained priest in the following year and returned to England.  He laboured with such energy and success in the North that he became one of the most sought- after of priests, whether by his friends or his enemies. He was betrayed by one Francis Ecclesfield.  To forward his purpose by inspiring confidence in Mr Boste, this Ecclesfield had sacrilegiously received the sacraments from his hands; he then informed Sir William Bowes, and the priest was taken in his hiding-place at Waterhouses, the residence of Mr William Claxton, near Durham.
  He was taken up to London, where he was so terribly racked in the Tower to induce him to betray his friends that he was permanently crippled.  He was sent back to Durham for trial at the July assizes. With him was arraigned Bd George Swallowell, a converted Protestant minister; he was wavering in his resolution, but the sight of Mr Boste's "resolute, bold, joyful and pleasant" bearing encouraged him to stand firm and make in open court a declaration of his faith, whereupon the priest equally publicly absolved him. The man suffered a few days later at Darlington. Mr Boste was condemned for his priesthood, and on July 24, 1594, was put to death at Dryburn, outside Durham. An eye-witness (the Ven. Christopher Robinson, afterwards martyred) states that he recited the Angelus as he mounted the ladder, and that he was cut down so soon ("after the space of a Paternoster") that he revived while being carried for dismemberment, which was begun while he was yet living. Another witness states that he prayed, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus forgive thee I" for his executioner even as his heart was being torn from his body.
  Two days after the passion of John Boste there was hanged, drawn, and quartered for his priesthood at Gateshead Bd John Ingram, who had been condemned at Durham at the same time as Boste and Swallowell.  He was born at Stoke Edith, in Herefordshire, and educated at New College, Oxford. After his conversion he went to the English College at Rheims and afterwards to Rome, where he was ordained in 1589 and three years later was sent on the Scottish mission.  At the end of 1593 he was arrested on Tyneside and sent to London, where he was tortured under the eye of Topcliffe but, in his own words, "I take God to witness that I have neither named house, man, woman, or child, in time of or before my torments".
See Challoner's MM?., pp. 197, 202-208, and 597-600. Cf. also the many references to these martyrs which occur in the Catholic Record Society Publications, vol. v. Bd John Ingram was an expert in Latin verse and many of his "Epigrams" are there printed (pp. 270-285), together with two letters to his fellow prisoners.
1594 St. John Boste One of Forty Martyrs of England and Wales; born at Dufton, at Westmoreland, England; studied at Oxford. Becoming a Catholic in 1576, he went to Reims and received ordination in 1581. John went back to England where he worked in the northern parts of the kingdom
He became the object of a massive manhunt. He was betrayed, arrested, and taken to London. There he was crippled on the rack and returned to Dryburn near Durham. On July 24, he was hanged, drawn, and quartered. John was canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970 as a martyr of Durham.
John Boste, Priest M (RM) Born at Dufton, Westmorland, England, c. 1544; died at Dryburn near Durham, England, July 24, 1594; beatified in 1929; canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. John Boste studied at Queen's College, Oxford, and was a fellow there. He became a Catholic in 1576, went to Rheims in 1580, and was ordained there the following year. Father Boste was sent to the English mission, ministered to the Catholics of northern England, and became an object of an intensive manhunt. He was betrayed by a Francis Ecclesfield near Durham, and taken to London, where he was crippled for the rest of his life by the racking he was subjected to. Sent back to Durham, he was condemned to death for his priesthood and hanged, drawn, and quartered at Dryburn near Durham (Benedictines, Delaney)
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1667  The Child SchemaMonk Bogolep was the son of a Moscow nobleman Yakov Lukich Umakov and his wife Ekatarina Numerous miracles of healing through the prayers of the holy SchemaMonk Bogolep; the holy lad had repeatedly appeared to many either in sleep, or awake while walking along the river bank or coming down the hill 
He was born in 1660 at Moscow. During Baptism they gave the new-born the name Boris, in honour of the holy nobleborn Prince PassionBearer ("Strastoterpets") Boris (Comm. 24 July).
Umakov was appointed voevoda (military-commander) in the city of Chernyi Yar, situated 250 versts from Astrakhan. He was known for his integrity. Boris from infancy displayed unusual traits. On Wednesdays and Fridays he would not suckle the milk from his mother's breasts; when the bells pealed at the church, he began to cry and at once became quiet, when they brought him into the church. When they did not take the infant to church, he cried all day and ate nothing.
In 1662 a deadly pestilence spread about in Russia. The child fell ill -- the pestilence afflicted him in the legs. He became lame, but continued to walk to church. The parents prayed about the health of their son and they tried everything in their power, that he would be healed. But no sooner had the one illness gone, than upon his face there appeared another, called scales.
One time during his illness the child saw a wandering monk, who visited at their home. The angelic garb so impressed the child, that he began to implore his parents to dew him suchlike garb and permit him to take monastic tonsure. Amidst this the holy lad proclaimed: "Lo, ye wilt see for yourselves, when ye tonsure and grant me the angelic garb, I shall be well". The parents consented. The child was invested in the schema with the name Bogolep (the Russian version of the Greek name Theoprepios, meaning -- "in the semblance of God"). On the next day the holy schema-monk was completely healthy, his face was clear and there remained not a trace of the illness. But on the third day there was a new illness, he was feverish, and it mortally struck down the lad. He died on 1 August 1667 and was buried at the left wall of the wooden Chernoyarsk church in honour of the Resurrection of Christ. (This church was erected, following a great conflagration in Chernyi Yar, in the year 1652 on 24 July, the day of memory of Saint Boris). Over the grave of the lad was built a chapel.
Numerous miracles of healing through the prayers of the holy SchemaMonk Bogolep appear to be the basis of establishing the feastday to him on his name-day in common ("tezoimenitstvo") with the holy nobleborn Prince Boris -- 24 July.  The life of the holy SchemaMonk Bogolep was compiled under a vow by the Chernoyarsk merchant Savva Tatarinov during the years 1731-1732.  Icons of the saint, with the tropar and kondak to him, were widely dispersed throughout the Astrakhan region. In 1750 on the place of the wooden church was built a stone church with a side altar in honour of the holy Martyr John the Warrior.
The grave of the holy schema monk was enclosed in this side-altar. The bank of the river, at which the church of the Resurrection of Christ was situated, was constantly eroding. By the mid XIX Century the structure of the church was threatened, and they removed all the holy things from it. But for a long time the Chernoyarsk people did not remove the chief holy thing -- the grave of the holy schema-monk. Finally, in 1851 when the water had already approached 2 arshin [4 ft. 8 in.], the people recoursed to the MostHoly Synod with a request to transfer the holy remains of the Schema-Monk Bogolep, and they received permission for this. The small child's coffin was laid bare, but just when the city head took it into his hands, it slid out from his hands and together with the crumbled earth it disappeared into the waters of the Volga.
This disappearance just at the opening of the grave was accepted as happening at the Will of God, since the holy lad had repeatedly appeared to many either in sleep, or awake while walking along the river bank or coming down the hill. Amidst this he gave the consolation, that spiritually he would be present with believers.
The simple life, but full of the mysteries of God, of the holy Schema-Monk Bogolep manifests the power of the words of the Saviour concerning children: "Let the children come unto Me and hinder them not, for of such is the Kingdom of God. Truly I tell ye: whoso cometh not to the Kingdom of God as a little child, shalt not enter therein. And, having hugged them, He raised His hands over them and He blessed them" (Mk. 10: 14-16)
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1694 Blessed Antony Turriani several apostolic journeys OSA (AC)
(also known as Turriano, of Torre) Born in Milan, Italy; died in Aquila, Naples, cultus confirmed in 1759. Antony studied medicine at Padua. After practicing as a physician in Milan, he became an Augustinian Friar hermit. He made several apostolic journeys, including a three-year stay at Santiago de Compostella, Spain, before settling again in Aquila (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
1694 Blessed Antony Turriani studied medicine at Padua; practicing physician in Milan; became an Augustinian Friar hermit; made several apostolic journeys, including a three-year stay at Santiago de Compostella, Spain, before settling again in Aqila, OSA (AC)
(also known as Turriano, of Torre) Born in Milan, Italy; died in Aquila, Naples, 1694; cultus confirmed in 1759. (Benedictines, Encyclopedia)
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1838 Bl. Joseph Fernandez Dominican martyr of Vietnam. He was sent there in 1805 as an ordained priest and appointed provincial vicar of the mission. He was beheaded. He was beatified in 1988 by Pope John Paul II.
Blessed Joseph Fernandez, OP M (AC) Born in Spain, 1774; died in Tonkin (Vietnam), 1838; beatified in 1900 by Pope Leo XIII. Joseph was professed a friar in the Dominican Order. Thereafter, he was ordained a priest and sent into the mission field of Tonkin (1805), where he served as provincial vicar. Father Fernandez is honored with Ignatius Delgado and Companions for his beheading for the faith (Benedictines, Dorcy)
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Bl. Maria Pilar Martinez Garcia & Companions Carmelite nun, with Maria Ange­les Valtierra and Teresa Garcia y Garcia. They were killed in Guadalajara, Spain, by communists in the civil war. Maria Pilar Martinez was an older nun from Tarazona, Zaragoza. They were beatified in 1987 by Pope John Paul II.
1877 Johann Heinrich Volkening In seiner Heimat wurde er auch 1838 Pfarrer
Evangelische Kirche: 24. Juli
Johann Heinrich Volkening wurde am 10.5.1796 im Ravensberger Land geboren. In seiner Heimat wurde er auch 1838 Pfarrer, und zwar in Jöllenbek bei Bielefeld, einer verwahrlosten und toten Gemeinde. In beharrlicher Arbeit konnte er die Gemeinde wieder zu einem reichen Leben erwecken. Seine Arbeit hat noch viele Jahrzehnte im Ravensberger und Mindener Land nachgewirkt. Er blieb bis ins zweiundsiebzigste Lebensjahr seiner Gemeinde treu und schlug manche Berufung aus. Volkening starb am 25. Juli 1877
.
1898 St. Sharbel Makhlouf  from the Monastery of St. Maron at Annaya, Lebanon; l lived as a hermit 23 years; Bishop Zayek wrote: “St. Sharbel is called the second St. Anthony of the Desert, the Perfume of Lebanon, the first Confessor of the East to be raised to the Altars according to the actual procedure of the Catholic Church, the honor of our Aramaic Antiochian Church, and the model of spiritual values and renewal."
(1828-) Although this saint never traveled far from the Lebanese village of Beka-Kafra, where he was born, his influence has spread widely.  Joseph Zaroun Maklouf was raised by an uncle because his father, a mule driver, died when Joseph was only three. At the age of 23, Joseph joined the Monastery of St. Maron at Annaya, Lebanon, and took the name Sharbel in honor of a second-century martyr. He professed his final vows in 1853 and was ordained six years later.
Following the example of the fifth-century St. Maron, Sharbel lived as a hermit from 1875 until his death. His reputation for holiness prompted people to seek him to receive a blessing and to be remembered in his prayers. He followed a strict fast and was very devoted to the Blessed Sacrament. When his superiors occasionally asked him to administer the sacraments to nearby villages, Sharbel did so gladly.
He died in the late afternoon on Christmas Eve. Christians and non-Christians soon made his tomb a place of pilgrimage and of cures. Pope Paul VI beatified him in 1965 and canonized him in 1977.
Comment: Pope John Paul II has often said that the Church has two lungs (East and West) and it must learn to breathe using both of them. Remembering saints like Sharbel helps the Church to appreciate both the diversity and unity present in the Catholic Church. Like all the saints, Sharbel points us to God and invites us to cooperate generously with God's grace, no matter what our situation in life may be. As our prayer life becomes deeper and more honest, we become more ready to make that generous response. Quote: When Sharbel was canonized in 1977, Bishop Francis Zayek, head the U.S. Diocese of St. Maron, wrote a pamphlet entitled “A New Star of the East.” Bishop Zayek wrote: “St. Sharbel is called the second St. Anthony of the Desert, the Perfume of Lebanon, the first Confessor of the East to be raised to the Altars according to the actual procedure of the Catholic Church, the honor of our Aramaic Antiochian Church, and the model of spiritual values and renewal. Sharbel is like a Cedar of Lebanon standing in eternal prayer, on top of a mountain.”
The bishop noted that Sharbel's canonization plus other beatification cases prove “that the Aramaic Maronite Antiochian Church is indeed a living branch of the Catholic Church and is intimately connected with the trunk, who is Christ, our Savior, the beginning and the end of all things.”


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 4

We will praise thee, O Lady: and we will praise thy name: make us to delight in thy praises.

Sing ye to her, ye dwellers upon earth: and announce her praise to the peoples.

Praise and magnificence are before her: fortitude and exultation are in her throne.

Adore ye her in her beauty: glorify the Maker of her beauty.

Be mindful in eternity of her mercy: keep in mind her virtues and her wonders.

Praise ye her, ye heaven of heavens: and the whole earth will glorify her name.


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

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

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

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

Widowed Saints  html
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  UniateChalcedon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

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


God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MIRACLES
– Blessed Alfonso Maria Fusco, diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. John the Baptist (1839-1910);
– Venerable Servant of God John Sullivan, professed priest of the Society of Jesus (1861-1933);
MARTYRDOM
– Servants of God Nikolle Vinçenc Prennushi, O.F.M., archbishop of Durres, Albania, and 37 companions killed between 1945 and 1974;
– Servants of God José Antón Gómez and three companions of the Benedictines of Madrid, Spain, killed 1936;
HEROIC VIRTUES
– Servant of God Thomas Choe Yang-Eop, diocesan priest (1821-1861);
– Servant of God Sosio Del Prete (né Vincenzo), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Congregation of the Little Servants of Christ the King (1885-1952);
– Servant of God Wenanty Katarzyniec (né Jósef), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (1889-1921);
– Servant of God Maria Consiglia of the Holy Spirity (née Emilia Paqualina Addatis), founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Addolorata, Servants of Mary (1845-1900);
– Servant of God Maria of the Incarnation (née Caterina Carrasco Tenorio), founder of the Congregation of the Franciscan Tertiary Sisters of the Flock of Mary (1840-1917);
– Servant of God , founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Family of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1851-1923);
– Servant of God Ilia Corsaro, founder of the Congregation of the Little Missionaries of the Eucharist (1897-1977);
– Servant of God Maria Montserrat Grases García, layperson of the Personal Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei (1941-1959).
LINKS:
Marian Apparitions (over 2000)  India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes Feb 11- July 16, Loreto, Italy 1858 
China
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May 23, 1995 Zarvintisya Ukraine Lourdes Kenya national Marian shrine    Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798  
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Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  Uniates, PSALTER  BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 4 2022