284 St. Crescentia Martyrs St. Crescentia, Vitus and Modestus were Christians who gave their live for the Faith in the Roman province of Lucania, in southern Italy. Crescentia was Vitus' attendant. They were racked on the iron horse until their limbs were dislocated. At this juncture, a great storm arose which destroyed many temples, killing a multitude of pagans. An angel now descended from heaven, set the martyrs free, and led them back to Lucania, where they peacefully expired, worn out by their sufferings.

284 St. Vitus the only son of a senator in Sicily, become a Christian when he was twelve. When his conversions and miracles became widely known to the administrator of Sicily, Valerian, he had Vitus brought before him, to shake his faith. He was unsuccessful, but Vitus with his tutor, Modestus, and servant, Crescentia, fled to Lucania and then to Rome, where he freed Emperor Diocletian's son of an evil spirit.

300? Ss. Vitus, Modestus And Crescentia, Martyrs

The various texts of the acta of St Vitus and his companions are duly registered in BHL together with the accounts of the translations of the relics, etc. (nn. 8711—8723). The more important of these documents are printed in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. iii. A Greek version of the story was also current, and from this it has found its way into the synaxaries. See Delehaye’s edition of the Constantinopolitanum, c. 751. Everything points to the conclusion that St Vitus was at first honoured alone, and that the names of Modestus and Crescentia were only joined to his after some romance-writer had fabricated the story now current. A good deal has been written on the cult of these martyrs. See for example Lanzoni, Le Diocesi d’Italia, pp. 320—322; and Huelsen, Le Chiese di Roma nel medio evo, pp. 499—500. At Corvey, in particular, owing to the presence there of the alleged relics, great interest has been taken in St Vitus, as may be learnt, e.g. from Philippi, Abhandlungen über Gorveyer Geschichtsschreibung (1906), pp. 49—100, and from K. Thiele, Die Reichsabtei Corvey (1928). In Sicily the people still come to the little church of Regalbuto to solicit St Vitus’s help for the cure of mad people, as is proved by a booklet of Mgr Salvatore, Breve Storia di S. Vito, published as recently as 1934.

The cultus of these three saints goes back to very early times: their names appear in the so-called martyrology of St Jerome or Hieronymianum, and it may be taken as certain that they were actually Christians who gave their lives for the faith in the Roman province of Lucania, in southern Italy. Nothing is known of their true history or of the circumstances of their martyrdom; their very date is a matter of conjecture. It is quite possible that they were natives of Sicily as tradition asserts, but their legends are fantastic compilations of a much later time. The reputed relics of St Vitus were conveyed to Saint-Denis, in Paris, in 775, and from thence were translated to Corvey, or New Corbie, in Saxony in 836. So great was the devotion to him which developed in Germany that he was included among the Fourteen Holy Helpers. He came to be regarded as the special protector of epileptics as well as of those suffering from the nervous affection called after him, St Vitus’s Dance, and he is regarded as the patron of dancers and actors. He was also invoked against storms, over-sleeping, the bites of mad dogs, the bites of serpents, and against all injuries that beasts can do to men. Hence he is often represented accompanied by an animal.

The story told in the popular legend may be summarized as follows: Vitus was the only son of a senator of Sicily named Hylas. The boy was converted to Christianity at the age of seven or twelve, and was baptized without the knowledge of his parents. The numerous miracles and conversions he effected, however, attracted the notice of Valerian, the administrator of Sicily, who joined with Hylas in trying to detach him from the faith. But neither promises nor threats nor even torture could shake the boy’s constancy. Moved by divine inspiration, Vitus escaped from Sicily with his tutor, Modestus, and his attendant, Crescentia. An angel guided their boat safely to Lucania, where they remained for a time preaching the Gospel to the people and sustained by food brought them by an eagle. They then went to Rome, and St Vitus cured the son of the Emperor Diocletian by expelling the evil spirit which possessed him; but because he would not sacrifice to the gods his powers were attributed to sorcery. He was cast into a cauldron filled with molten lead, pitch and resin, from which he emerged as from a refreshing bath; a lion to which he was exposed crouched before him and licked his feet. Then Modestus, Crescentia and he were racked on the iron horse until their limbs were dislocated. At this juncture a great storm arose which destroyed many temples, killing a multitude of pagans. An angel now descended from Heaven, set the martyrs free, and led them back to Lucania, where they peacefully expired, worn out by their sufferings.

When Vitus would not sacrifice to the gods, his cure was attributed to sorcery. He, Modestus, and Crescentia were subjected to various tortures from which they emerged unscathed, and were freed when during a storm, temples were destroyed and an angel guided them back to Lucania, where they eventually died. So much for the legend. What is fact is that their cult goes back centuries and that they were Christians who were martyred in Lucania. A great devotion to Vitus developed in Germany when his relics were translated to Saxony in 836. He is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers and is the patron of epileptics, those afflicted with St. Vitus' Dance (named after him}, dancers, and actors, and is a protector against storms.

Vitus, Modestus, & Crescentia MM (RM) (Vitus also known as Guy, Veit, Guido) the only son of Hylas, a senator in Sicily, become a Christian when he was very young-- between the ages of seven and 12--by the influence of the servants who tended him. His Christian tutor, Modestus, and his nurse, Crescentia (wife of Modestus), accompanied him on his journeys throughout Sicily. When his conversions and miracles became widely known to the administrator of Sicily, Valerian, he had Vitus brought before him to shake his faith. (Another version says that his incensed father gave him up to Valerian.) He was unsuccessful, but Vitus with his tutor and nurse fled to Lucania and then to Rome, where he exorcised Emperor Diocletian's son of an evil spirit.

When Vitus would not sacrifice to the gods his cure was attributed to sorcery. He, Modestus, and Crescentia were subjected to various tortures, including a cauldron of molten lead, from which they emerged unscathed. For example, when throw into the den of a hungry lion, the beast merely licked Vitus affectionately. One version says that the tormentors gave up and freed the trio when during a storm temples were destroyed and an angel guided them back to Lucania, where they eventually died.

The facts are that their cultus is ancient. We are not really even certain about when they lived, although most place their martyrdom at the time of Diocletian. There is even some confusion about the site of their martyrdom. It appears that they may be two separate groups: Vitus alone in Lucania (whose cultus is the oldest), and Vitus, Modestus, and Crescentia in Sicily.

The Vitus who is alone is celebrated in the Gelasian Sacramentary and an early South Italian Book of the Gospels, which assigns to his feast a pericope of the cure from demonic possession and sickness. The Martyrology of Bede and the Old English Martyrology also list Vitus by himself. There is an ancient church dedicated to him on the Esquiline Hill of Rome. Vitus's relics were moved to Saint-Denis in Paris. A great devotion to Vitus developed in Germany when his relics were translated to Corvey Abbey in Saxony in 836. Most of the medieval abbeys in England celebrated Vitus and Modestus without Crescentia, but five who followed the Sarum Rite added her name.

Saint Vitus is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, who, as a group, are especially venerated in France and Germany. The Holy Helpers were believed to possess especially efficacious intercessory power. The relics of Vitus are said to possess many healing properties, especially when epileptics prayed before them (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth, Sheppard, White).

In art, Saint Vitus is depicted as a boy with a rooster and a cauldron. At times he may be shown (1) with his Modestus and Crescentia as they refuse to worship idols; (2) being put into an oven; (3) with a palm and cauldron; (4) with a palm and dog; (5) with a chalice and dog; (6) with sword and dog; (7) with a sword and rooster; (8) with a book and rooster; (9) with a wolf or lion; or (10) as a young prince with a palm and sceptre (Roeder).

Saint Vitus is the patron of Prague, dogs, domestic animals, young people, dancers, coppersmiths, actors, comedians, and mummers. He is invoked against epilepsy, lightning, poisoning by dog or snake bite, sleeplessness, snakebite, storm, and Saint Vitus Dance (Sydenham's chorea, a nervous disorder) (Bentley, Roeder).

300 Tatian (Dulas) of Cilicia a Christian of Zepherinum, Cilicia, who was martyred after having undergone horrid tortures (Benedictines).M (RM)

302 Hesychius of Dorostorum a Roman soldier martyred at Dorostorum (Sillistria) in Moesia (Bulgaria) together with the veteran Saint Julius (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).M (RM)

302 St Hesychius, Martyr

See Delehaye, Les Origines du Culte des Martyrs, pp. 248—249, and 285—286, as well as his article “Saints de Thrace et de Mésie” in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxxi (1912), pp. 161—300. On St Julius, see May 27.

All that we know about St Hesychius is derived from the Acts—admittedly genuine—of St Julius, a martyr of Durostorum in Moesia (the present Silistria in Bulgaria), about the year 302. When St Julius was being led to execution Hesychius said to him, “I pray, Julius, that you may happily complete your sacrifice and receive the crown: and that I may follow you. My warmest greetings to Pasicrates and Valentius.” (These were two other Christians of their acquaintance who had been martyred a very short time before.) Julius embraced Hesychius and replied, “Brother, make haste to come. They have already heard your message I can see them now standing beside me even as I see you.” The execution of St Hesychius actually took place soon after that of his friend. St Hesychius, “martyr of Durostorum”, is honoured in the Hieronymianum on June 15 and also in the present Roman Martyrology. Father Delehaye identifies him with the St Hesychius whom the Eastern church assigns to Constantinople and venerates, together with some anonymous companions on May 19. It is highly probable that the remains of St Hesychius were taken to Constantinople, the inhabitants of which (like some other places) were apt to claim as local martyrs any saints whose relics had been translated thither from elsewhere.

303 Lybe, Leonis, and Eutropia Lybe was beheaded; Leonis, her sister, died at the stake; and the 12-year-old slave girl, Eutropia, was used as a target for the soldiers to practice their shots. Their martyrdom took place under Diocletian at Palmyra in Syria (Benedictines). MM (RM)

There seems to be no separate biography of St Orsiesius, but in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. iii, an account has been compiled from what materials were then available concerning St Pachomius and St Theodore. See the bibliography to St Pachomius (May 9). Two letters are extant, addressed by St Athanasius to Orsiesius. See also the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xlvii (1929), pp. 376—377; Bardenhewer, Geschichte der altkirchlichen Literatur, vol. iii, pp. 85—86; and De L. O’Leary, The Saints of Egypt (1937), pp. 156—157.

380 Orsiesius the Cenobite favorite disciple of Saint Pachomius at Tabennisi, and his assistant in drawing up the rules for the cenobites succeeded Pachomius as abbot, (AC)
(also known as Orsisius) Orsiesius was a favorite disciple of Saint Pachomius at Tabennisi, and his assistant in drawing up the rules for the cenobites. He succeeded Pachomius as abbot. He was praised by Saint Antony and Saint Athanasius, but some 12 years before his death he was forced by his monks to resign because of the harshness of his rule. He resumed that office several years later.

He is the author of an ascetical treatise that Saint Jerome translated into Latin (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).

380 St Orsiesius, Abbot
While St Pachomius was ruling the great communities he had formed at Tabennisi and elsewhere in the Egyptian desert he numbered among his disciples two quite young men of exceptional promise: their names were Orsiesius (Horsi-isi) and Theodore. Pachomius trained them with special care, often made them his travelling companions and even consulted them about the rule he was composing. But when he set Orsiesius over the monastery of Khenoboski some of the older monks murmured at the appointment of so young a man. “Is the kingdom of God then only for the old?” asked Pachomius, and he went on to prophesy that Orsiesius would one day diffuse the splendour of a golden lamp over the house of God.

Petronius, who succeeded Pachomius, only survived his predecessor by fifteen days; Orsiesius was then chosen to fill his place. To deputations sent from Tabennisi to St Antony and St Athanasius to inform them of the death of Pachomius and the election of Orsiesius, both those great saints spoke in terms of high praise of their new superior. St Orsiesius indeed proved a holy ruler, but after a time his strictness in enforcing the regulations about property provoked discontent in certain monasteries not immediately under his eye. The opposition increased until at length he felt unable to cope with it.

Rather than be the occasion of a cleavage he resigned in favour of St Theodore who, however, accepted office with the utmost reluctance, and would do nothing without consulting St Orsiesius, to whom he was deeply attached. They even took it in turns to make visitations of the various communities. After the death of St Theodore, in 368, Orsiesius again assumed charge, and he continued to rule alone until his death, the exact date of which is uncertain. He left as a legacy to his monks an ascetic treatise in the form of an abridged compendium of the rules and maxims of the religious life. St Jerome at a later date translated it into Latin.

310 St. Dulas Martyr from Zephyrium, Cilicia, he called Tatian Dulas in some lists. He was arrested and refused to worship Apollo and other Roman gods. Tortured, Dulas died while being taken to Tarsus.

310? St Tatian Dulas, Martyr

About the year 310 a prefect of Cilicia named Maximus held an assize on the promontory of Zephyrium. The first prisoner to be brought before him was a well-known local Christian who had been arrested for his faith. Questioned as to his name, he said that it was Tatianus, but that he was commonly called Dulas, and a douloz he was indeed, the servant of Christ. As he refused to worship the gods, the magistrate ordered that he should be beaten to bring him to his senses. While the lashes were being administered, he rejoiced aloud that he was counted worthy to confess Christ’s holy name. Afterwards also, under cross-examination, he displayed great spirit, and did not scruple to denounce the heathen deities as wood and stone, the work of men’s hands. “Do you call the great god Apollo a work of men’s hands?” demanded the prefect sternly. Dulas in reply cited Apollo’s unsuccessful pursuit of Daphne, and scoffingly asked how a being so unchaste and so powerless could possibly be regarded as a god. The indignant judge ordered him to be scourged across the stomach and then roasted on a gridiron. Even these tortures did not daunt the confessor. The following day, when again led to the court, he once more began to deride the gods, and was punished by having hot coals applied to his head and pepper thrust up his nostrils. Although he refused to eat food which had been offered in sacrifice, some of it was forced down his throat. He was then strung up and his flesh was torn with iron rakes. Maximus was that day returning to Tarsus, and had given orders that all the Christian prisoners should be led after him in chains. But Dulas was so completely shattered by his sufferings that he died after the convoy started. His body was cast into a ditch, where it was discovered by a shepherd’s dog. The Christians obtained possession of the relics and gave them honourable burial.

This martyr seems to be identical with the “Dulas” who is mentioned as having been put to death at Nicomedia on March 25, an entry found in all the texts of the Hieronymianum see Delehaye’s Commentary, p. 160. For this we have the still more reliable testimony of the early Syriac Breviarium, again under March 25, and assigning Nicomedia as the place of his suffering. If this identification be accepted it is clear that the Greek passio, which the Bollandists in the eighteenth century printed under June 15 in the Act Sanctorum (June, vol. iii), and which has been summarized above, is not, as its editors then declared, of the highest character, but open to grave suspicion. Still, the identity of the martyr of Nicomedia with Tatian Dulas is not proved; though it is curious that the Constantinople Synaxary (see Delehaye’s edition, cc. 750—751), while telling the same story, speaks only of Dulas, omitting the name Tatianus.

480 St. Abraham hermit and confessor born near the Euphrates River in modern Iraq. While travelling to Egypt to visit monastic communities, Abraham was taken prisoner by bandits and held as a slave for five years. He escaped and made his way to Gaul where he became a hermit. Recognized for his sanctity, he was ordained a priest and became the abbot of St. Cyriacus Abbey.
Abraham of Saint-Cyrgues, Abbot (RM) Born on the banks of the Euphrates River, Abraham travelled to Egypt, where he was attacked by thieves and held captive for five years. When he escaped, he boarded a ship sailing to Gaul. Thus, the Oriental settled as a hermit near Clermont in the Auvergne. Eventually he was made abbot of the nearby monastery of Saint-Cyrgues (Cyriacus) and ordained a priest. His is invoked against fever (Benedictines).

549 Melan of Viviers Saint Melan was consecrated bishop of Viviers in 519. He was still bishop in 549, when he sent representatives to a council at Orléans (Benedictines). B (AC)

6th v. St. Vouga Irish bishop, also called Vougar, Veho, and Fiech. He gave up his post and went to Briftany, France, where he lived as a hermit near Lesneven.
Vouga of Lesneven B (AC) (also known as Vougar, Veho, Feock, Fiech) 6th century. Saint Vouga, an Irish bishop, settled in Brittany, where he lived as a hermit in a cell near Lesneven (Benedictines).

585 Vauge (Vorech) a holy priest of Armagh, Ireland, fled to Penmarch, Cornwall, when it appeared he was to be consecrated archbishop. There he built himself a hermitage. But that doesn't mean that he kept to himself: He often preached to the local people and instilled the desire for Christian perfection in their breasts. Vauge appears to be the titular saint of Llanlivery in Cornwall under the name of Saint Vorech (Husenbeth). (AC)

6th v. St. Trillo A Welsh saint of whom little is known beyond his status as patron saint of two sites in Gwynedd, Wales. In some lists he is called Drel or Drillo.
Trillo (Drillo, Drel) of Wales (AC) 6th or 7th century. Trillo, son of a Breton chieftain, migrated to Wales with Saint Cadfan. He is the patron of two places named Llandrillo in Denbighshire (now Gwynedd) and Monmouth. At Gwynedd there is an ancient oratory in the Irish style built over a spring that is used for baptisms named after him. Another Llandrillo in Merionethshire (now Gwynedd) had a well where rheumatism was cured. A third church at Lladrygarn in Anglesey still celebrates his feast today in accordance with early Welsh calendars (Benedictines, Farmer).

686 St. Domitian & Hadelin Two disciples of St. Landelinus at abbey of Lobbes, Belgium.
Domitian and Hadelinus (Adelin) of Lobbes, disciples and companions of Saint Landelin at Lobbes Abbey and, apparently, at Créspin Abbey (Benedictines, Encyclopedia). OSB (AC)

686 Landelinus, OSB Abbot (RM)

686 ST LANDELINUS, ABBOT

There are two short biographies of St Landelinus which profess to be of early date, but the earliest of these was written more than a century after his death and cannot be regarded as trustworthy. It has been critically edited in MGH., Scriptores Merov., vol. vi, pp 433—444. We have perhaps more reliable materials in the metrical life of St Ursmar and in the Gesta Abbatum Lobbiensium. On this life of Ursmar there is a useful article by K. Strecker, in the Neues Archiv for 1933, pp. 135—158. See also J. Warichez, L’Abbaye de Lobbes (1909), pp. 5 seq.; U. Berlière, Monasticon Beige, vol. i, pp. 200 seq.; and Van der Essen, Etude critique sur les Saints mérovingiens (1907), pp. 126—133

As the founder of the great abbeys of Lobbes and Crespin, and of two others less celebrated, St Landelinus was held in honour by succeeding generations, though we do not know much about his life. He was born about the year 625 at Vaux, near Bapaume, of Frankish parents, who entrusted him to St Autbertus, bishop of Cambrai. But at the age of eighteen he broke away from his guardian and fell in with evil companions, by whom he was led into robbery and other crimes. The sudden death of one of his associates roused him to a sense of his danger. A humble penitent, he returned to St Autbertus, and then determined to withdraw to one of the places of his former life, Lobbes, in the hope of atoning in solitude for his past excesses. But he soon found himself surrounded by disciples who wished to imitate his life; they were the nucleus from which grew the abbey of Lobbes.

St Landelinus constituted his follower St Ursmar its first abbot, for he regarded himself as totally unworthy to rule a religious house, and from Lobbes he went to Aulne and from thence to Wallens, where, according to one biographer, other communities sprang up round him. Still craving for solitude he penetrated, with St Adelinus and St Domitian, into the vast forest which stretched between Mons and Valenciennes. Even here he was followed, and for his new disciples he founded the abbey of Crespin, which he was obliged to govern himself. Nevertheless, he spent much of his time in a cell at some distance from the rest of the community. He is said to have died in 686 or thereabouts.

Born at Vaux near Bapaume, France, c. 625; Though carefully raised by Bishop Saint Aubert of Cambrai, Saint Landelinus went astray for a time. We often take it for granted that we must teach children about the lures and dangers of the world and the need for continual prayer and watchfulness to avoid the pitfalls. Apparently, Bishop Aubert instilled only innocence and virtue into Landelinus. Unprepared to handle the seductions of the world, Landelinus fell in with bad company and became a robber. He was struck with terror when one of his companions died suddenly. Recognizing his error, he flew to Saint Aubert and threw himself at the feet of the good bishop who had never ceased praying for Landelinus's repentance.

Aubert gave him the penance of making reparations in a monastery for some years. This Landelinus undertook with fervor and contrition. His zeal became such that Aubert ordained him deacon and, at the age of 30, priest. He was assigned to preach but begged to be allowed to continue his penitential life as a hermit. With Aubert's permission, Landelinus retired to Laubach on the banks of the Sambre.

He attracted several disciples to him, who each lived in a separate cell. In 654, they joined in community life by founding the Lobbes (Lanbacum) Abbey. When the abbey was complete, the brothers tried to convince Landelinus to govern them. Feeling himself unworthy to lead saints, he left them under the direction of Saint Ursmar and again sought solitude. A second time, disciples gathered leading to the establishment of Aulne Abbey in 656, which now belongs to the Cistercians. The pattern repeated itself with the founding of the abbey at Walers (657). Finally, Landelinus and his companions Saints Domitian and Hadelinus erected some cells in a thick forest between Mons and Valenciennes. Again, disciples found them and Créspin (Crepy, Crespiacum) Abbey was founded in 670. Realizing that God might be telling him something, Landelinus agreed to govern this flock, which he did until his death. While continuing his penitential courses, Landelinus began preaching in the nearby villages. Thus, he fulfilled God's plan for his life (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).

In art, Saint Landelin is portrayed as he is dying in sackcloth and ashes, while the devil carries his former companion to hell. He might also be shown in Mass vestments, striking water from the earth with his pastoral staff (Roeder). Landelinus is venerated in Cambrai (Roeder).

706 Constantine of Beauvais a monk under Saint Philibert at Jumièges. He later became bishop of Beauvais (Benedictines).B (AC).

853 St. Benildis Spanish woman martyr, converted by the heroic death of St. Athanasius. A priest, St. Athanasius, died in the city of Córdoba at the hands of the Moors, the Islamic rulers of that era. Benildis converted during the martyrdom of St. Athanasius and she died at the stake the following day.
Benildis of Cordova M (RM). Benildis was so moved by the fortitude displayed by St. Athanasius, a Spanish priest, during his martyrdom at the hands of the Moors, that she braved death at the stake on the following day. Her ashes were thrown into the Guadalquivir (Benedictines).

960 Edburga of Winchester; as a child, her royal father offered her precious jewels in one hand and a penitential habit in the other: Edburga chose the latter joyfully relics were enshrined and many miracles have taken place, OSB V Abbess (AC)

St Edburga, whose name, like other Anglo-Saxon names of this class, is variously spelt, seems to have enjoyed a considerable cultus in Worcestershire and the neighbouring region, probably because her relics, or part of them, were preserved at Pershore. See the list of calendar entries in Stanton’s Menology, p. 271. The account given above is derived almost entirely from William of Malmesbury, but there is also a life, apparently still unprinted, by Malmesbury’s contemporary, Osbert of Clare. There is also a life, still unpublished, in the Gotha MS.; see Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lviii (1940), p. 100, n. 54. St Edburga’s fame rested largely on the miracles her relics were believed to have worked; a short summary of these is to be found in one of the Harleian manuscripts at the British Museum.

960 St Edburga Of Winchester, Virgin
Three Anglo-Saxon princesses of the name of Edburga are included in the calendars of the saints. The nun who is venerated on this day was the granddaughter of King Alfred, and the daughter of King Edward the Elder, by his third wife, Edgiva. Her parents, who seem to have destined her to the religious life from the cradle, determined to test her vocation when she was only three years old. Her father took her on his knees and, showing her on the one hand a chalice with a book of the Gospels, and on the other a little pile of necklaces and bracelets, asked her to choose which she would have. The little girl eyed the trinkets with obvious aversion, but held out her arms towards the sacred objects. She was placed in the abbey which King Alfred’s widow had founded at Winchester, and in due course rose to be abbess. She was famous for her charity, her humility and her miracles. It is recorded that she would sometimes rise during the night while the other nuns were sleeping and would silently remove their sandals, clean them, and replace them beside their beds.

Saint Edburga was a granddaughter of King Alfred and the daughter of Edward the Elder. It is reported that, while she was still a young child, her royal father offered her precious jewels in one hand and a penitential habit in the other. Edburga chose the latter joyfully. At that her parents placed her in Saint Mary's Convent, which was founded by Alfred's widow, Alswide, at Winchester, finished by her own father, and placed under the direction of Saint Etheldreda.
Having finished her education, Edburga became a nun and later the abbess of the foundation. After Edburga died of a fever, Bishop Saint Ethelwold placed her remains in a rich shrine, which Abbess Saint Elfleda covered with gold and silver. When the Earl Egilwald of Dorsetshire sought relics for his newly rebuilt foundation of Pershore in Worcestershire after its pillage by the Danes, the abbess give him part of Edburga's skull, some of her ribs, and other bones, which were enclosed in a rich case. She was especially venerated at Pershore in Worcestershire, where these relics were enshrined and many miracles have taken place, and at Saint Mary's in Winchester (Attwater, Benedictines, Husenbeth).

1053 Bardo of Mainz helmet, a lamb, and a Psalter were gifts presented to Bardo as a child, and these symbolized courage, gentleness, and piety, each of which marked his later career education came at Fulda, where he also received the Benedictine habit and became the dean. Upon his ordination as a priest in 1029; succeed the archbishop of Mainz; to the end Bardo preserved the simple habits of a monk; is noted for his love of the poor, the destitute, and animals; lover of birds, many rare specimens of which he collected and tamed, and taught to feed from his own plate; advocated, especially to young people, the virtues of self-discipline and temperance OSB B (AC)

There is a short life by Fulkold, who was the chaplain of Bardo’s successor in the see of Mainz. It was edited for Pertz, MGH., Scriptores, vol. xi, pp. 317—321. This is a much better source than the longer biography by an anonymous monk of Fulda, which was alone accessible to Mabillon and the Bollandists, but which is mainly filled with hagiographical commonplaces. See also H. Bresslau in Jahrbiicher des Deutschen Reichs unter Konrad II (1879), pp. 473-479 F. Schneider, Der hl. Bardo (1871); C. Will, Regesten zur Gesch. der Mainzer Erzbischöfe, vol. i (1877), pp. 165—176; Strunck and Giefers, Westfalia Sancta (1855), pp. 143—153

1053 St Bardo, Archbishop of Mainz
St Bardo was born about the year 982 at Oppershofen in the Welterau, on the right bank of the Rhine. His parents, who were related to the Empress Gisela, sent him to be educated in the abbey of Fulda, where he received the habit. In after days his former fellow students liked to recall how, when they had found him poring over the famous book of St Gregory on the duties of pastors (Regula Pastoralis), he had jokingly remarked in reply to their surprise, “Well, perhaps some silly king will make me a bishop some day if no one else can be found for the work; so I may as well learn how it should be done.” About the year 1029 he was nominated abbot of Kaiserswerth by the Emperor Conrad II, and he subsequently became superior of Horsfeld. Still higher promotion was in store for him. In 1031, after the death of Aribo, he was chosen to occupy the important metropolitan see of Mainz. In his new office he retained all the simplicity and austerity of a monk whilst dispensing alms and hospitality as befitted a bishop. He was esteemed by all classes, but made himself particularly the champion of the poor, whom he defended from their oppressors and to whom his house was ever open.

Bardo played an important part in two synods of Mainz which met under the presidency of Pope Leo IX to put down simony and to enforce clerical celibacy. The pope took occasion on one of his visits to persuade Bardo to relax some of his austerities which were undermining his health and threatened to shorten his life. Always stern with himself, the good archbishop was extraordinarily merciful to others: insults or wrongs against himself he seemed never to resent. One day, at his own table, as he was denouncing the vice of intemperance, his eyes fell upon a young man whose mocking expression and tittering clearly indicated that he was making fun of his host. The archbishop ceased speaking and looked straight at the culprit. Then, instead of administering the rebuke which all present expected, he took up a dish of food and directed that both the vessel and its contents should be presented to the young man.

Bardo’s kind heart also made him a lover of animals. He had a collection of rare birds, many of which he had tamed and had taught to feed from his hand. His death took place on June 10, 1053. He was universally mourned, Jews as well as Christians lamenting his loss.

Born at Oppershofen, Germany, in 982; died in Mainz, in 1053; feast day formerly June 10. A helmet, a lamb, and a Psalter were gifts presented to Bardo as a child, and these symbolized courage, gentleness, and piety, each of which marked his later career. He was a German of good birth, and received his first schooling from an old woman who taught him his letters and to read the Psalms as he sat in her lap.

Years later he still remembered what he owed to her and made good provision for her care.

The balance of his education came at Fulda, where he also received the Benedictine habit and became the dean. Upon his ordination as a priest in 1029, Bardo was appointed an abbot at Werden am Ruhr because of his family connection with the empress. One day, when he was at court, the archbishop of Mainz, seeing in his hand his richly wrought abbot's staff, remarked: "Abbot, I think that staff would become my hand better than yours," to which Bardo replied: "If you think so, it will not be hard for you to get it."

On returning to his quarters, he called one of his attendants and, giving him the staff and other insignia of his office, told him to take them as a gift to the archbishop. When the attendant returned, Bardo asked him how the archbishop had received them, "Middling well," was the answer. "Only middling well?" said the abbot, "Heaven knows, perhaps before long they will be mine again." And sure enough, before long his words came true: he was restored to his abbey. In 1031, Bardo was appointed abbot of Hersfeld and was also appointed to succeed the archbishop of Mainz.

He made, however, an unfortunate beginning. When preaching before the emperor one Christmas morning, through sickness or nervousness he made a very poor impression. "What a man for an archbishop!" said those who heard him. "He is a stick. He cannot preach. Why did your Majesty appoint such a boorish monk?" And the emperor himself felt that he had made a mistake in appointing an ignorant monk to the most important diocese in Germany. Bardo was due to preach again before the emperor a few days later, and his friends advised him not to, but he replied: "To every man his own burden," and faced the ordeal. This time he preached with such ease and power and created so admirable an impression that the emperor was delighted, and said as he sat down to dinner: "The archbishop has restored my appetite."

For a time Bardo was chancellor and grand almoner of the empire, yet to the end Bardo preserved the simple habits of a monk. He practiced austerities so severe that Pope Saint Leo IX advised him to relax them. He was noted for his love of the poor, the destitute, and animals. He was also a lover of birds, many rare specimens of which he collected and tamed, and taught to feed from his own plate. Bardo was diligent in his diocese and, as a prelate, a true father in God. He completed the building of his great cathedral in honor of Saint Martin. He had a great sense of justice, and protected many from the harsh treatment or wrong conviction; and, hating drunkenness and other gross habits, he advocated, especially to young people, the virtues of self-discipline and temperance (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Gill).

1204 Isfrid, O. Praem.Born c. 1114; The Norbertine Saint Isfrid was provost of the church of Jerichow in the diocese of Havelberg. He was elected bishop of Ratzeburg (Regensburg), Germany. He is honored on this day by his order (Norbertines).

Orlando Catanii Servant of God Third Order Franciscan; St. Francis his spiritual director.
June 15, 2010
An unexpected encounter with St. Francis of Assisi in 1213 was to forever change—and enrich—the life of Count Orlando of Chiusi.

On the day a festival was being organized for a huge throng, St. Francis, already well known for his sanctity, delivered a dramatic address on the dangers of worldly pleasures. One of the guests, Orlando (also known as Roland) was so taken by Francis' words that he sought out the saint for advice on how best to lead a life pleasing to God.

A short time later, Francis visited Count Orlando in his own palace, located at the foot of Mount La Verna. Francis spoke again of the dangers of a life of wealth and comfort. The words prompted Orlando to rearrange his life entirely according to the principles outlined by Francis. Furthermore, he resolved to share his wealth by placing at Francis' disposal all of Mount La Verna, which belonged to Orlando. Francis, who found the mountain's wooded recesses and many caves and ravines especially suitable for quiet prayer, gratefully accepted the offer. Orlando immediately had a convent as well as a church built there; later, many chapels were added. In 1224, two years before the death of Francis, Mount La Verna was the location where Francis received the holy wounds of Christ.

In return for his generous gift, Orlando desired only to be received into the Third Order and to have St. Francis as his spiritual director. Under Francis' guidance, Orlando completely detached himself from worldly goods. He zealously performed acts of charity as a Christian nobleman. After his happy death Orlando was laid to rest in the convent church on Mount La Verna.

Comment: Even Francis, Lady Poverty’s favorite knight, needed a suitable place to pray. Captivated by Francis’ preaching, Orlando restructured his life. One of the possessions he parted with was Mt. La Verna, which he offered to the Little Poor Man. There Francis found the solitude he sought. In one mountainside cave, he was branded with Christ’s own wounds. We may not be as wealthy as Orlando, but we have enough to spare. Only God can know who in Lady Poverty’s realm will be nurtured in sanctity because we imitate Orlando in generosity.

1250 St. Aleydis or Adelaide, Virgin born at Shaerbeck, near Brussels entered a Cistercian convent at seven named Camera Sanctae Mariae, and she remained there for the rest of her life; offered up her sufferings for the souls in purgatory and had visions of their being set free through her intercession

1250 St Aleydis, Or Alice, Virgin
This is a very simple life but it leaves the impression of an absolutely sincere record, written down by a contemporary who was probably a Cistercian monk and confessor to the community. Aleydis was a charming and delicate little girl, born at Schaerbeek, near Brussels, who at the age of seven seems of her own choice to have been committed to the care of a community of Cistercian nuns in the neighbouring convent called “Camera Sanctae Mariae”, a name which still survives in the Bois de la Cambre just outside the city. She was, before all else, humble and retiring.

There are some simple miracles recorded of her, such as the spontaneous relighting of a candle which had fallen and been extinguished, and she devoted herself in every possible way to the service of her religious sisters. While still very young she contracted leprosy, and to the great sorrow of all the community had to be segregated. This was only the occasion, we are told, of her taking refuge more completely than before in the wounds of Christ. Her one comfort lay in the reception of holy communion. She was not, however, on account of possible contagion from her lips touching the cup, allowed to receive in both kinds, as the others then did, and this was a matter of great distress to her until our Lord Himself assured her that she lost nothing thereby. “Where there is part”, she was told, “there also is the whole.” On the feast of St Barnabas, 1249, she suddenly became very ill and was anointed, but it was revealed to her that she would remain on earth yet a year longer. She then lived on in great suffering, losing the sight of both eyes, but offering her pains for the souls in purgatory. Moreover, she was sustained by ecstasies and revelations, which came to her more and more frequently as the end drew near. A year later, on Friday, June 10, she was again anointed, and the next morning Aleydis happily breathed her last at daybreak on the feast of St Barnabas.

The life is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. iii, and also in Henriquez, Quinque Prudentes Virgines. Pope Pius X in 1907 formally authorized her cultus under the title of Saint Aleydis. Her feast is kept in the Cistercian Order and in the diocese of Malines, on June 15.

Adelaide of La Cambre, OSB Cist. V (AC) (also known as Aleydis, Alice); cultus confirmed in 1907. Saint Adelaide was a young Cistercian nun of the La Cambre convent who endured many physical afflictions. She became blind, contracted leprosy, and then paralysed. She had to be segregated from her community. Adelaide offered up her sufferings for the souls in purgatory and had visions of their being set free through her intercession. Her life was written by a contemporary (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).

1299 BD JOLENTA OF HUNGARY, WIDOW
JOLENTA, or Helena as she is called by the Poles, was one of four sisters who are honoured with the title of Blessed. They were the daughters of Bela IV, King of Hungary, the nieces of St Elizabeth, the great-nieces of St Hedwig, and lineal descendants of the Hungarian kings St Stephen and St Ladislaus. When she was five years old, Jolenta was committed to the care of her elder sister, Bd Cunegund, or Kinga, who had married Boleslaus II, King of Poland. Under their fostering care, the little girl grew up a pattern of virtue. She became the wife of Duke Boleslaus of Kalisz, with whom she spent a happy married life. Both of them were addicted to good works, and together they made various religious foundations. Jolenta was beloved by all, but especially by the poor, for whom she had a tender love. After the death of her husband, as soon as she had settled two of her daughters, she retired with the third and with Bd Cunegund, now, like herself, a widow, into the convent of Poor Clares which Cunegund had established at Sandeck. Jolenta's later years, however, were spent at Gnesen as superior of the convent of which she had been the foundress. She died there in 1299.

See J. B. Prileszky, Acta Sanctorum Hungariae, vol. ii, Appendix, pp. 54-55; Hueber, Menologium Franciscanum, p. 918; and cf. the bibliography attached to Bd Cunegund on July 24.

1537 Bls. Thomas Green, Thomas Scryven, and Thomas Reding English Carthusian martyrs starved to death at Newgate
Thomas Green studied at St. John's College, Cambridge, entering the London Charterhouse of the Carthusians where he took vows and received ordination. Arrested for opposing King Henry VIII's (r. 1509-1547) claim of spiritual supremacy over the English Church, Thomas was imprisoned with two other Carthusians, the lay brothers Thomas Scryven and Thomas Reding, and four other companions. All were starved to death at Newgate.
BB Thomas Green, Thomas Scryven & Thomas Reding, O.Cart. (AC); beatified in 1886. Thomas Green (or Greenwood), who was a fellow at Saint John's College in Cambridge, took monastic vows and was ordained a priest at the Carthusian Charterhouse in London. Scryven and Reding were lay brothers in the same house. The trio, plus an additional four companions, were starved to death in Newgate Prison because of their refusal to sign the Oath of Supremacy (Benedictines).

1299 Bd Jolenta Of Hungary, Widow
Jolenta, or Helena as she is called by the Poles, was one of four sisters who are honoured with the title of Blessed. They were the daughters of Bela IV, King of Hungary, the nieces of St Elizabeth, the great-nieces of St Hedwig, and lineal descendants of the Hungarian kings St Stephen and St Ladislaus. When she was five years old, Jolenta was committed to the care of her elder sister, Bd Cunegund, or Kinga, who had married Boleslaus II, King of Poland. Under their fostering care, the little girl grew up a pattern of virtue. She became the wife of Duke Boleslaus of Kalisz, with whom she spent a happy married life. Both of them were addicted to good works, and together they made various religious foundations. Jolenta was beloved by all, but especially by the poor, for whom she had a tender love. After the death of her husband, as soon as she had settled two of her daughters, she retired with the third and with Bd Cunegund, now, like herself, a widow, into the convent of Poor Clares which Cunegund had established at Sandeck. Jolenta’s later years, however, were spent at Gnesen as superior of the convent of which she had been the foundress. She died there in 1299.

See J. B. Prileszky, Acta Sanctorum Hungariae, vol. ii, Appendix, pp. 54—55; Hueber, Menologium Franciscanum, p. 918; and cf. the bibliography attached to Bd Cunegund on July 24.

1601 St. Germaine Cousin The Rosary was her only book, and her devotion to the Angelus was so great that she used to fall on her knees at the first sound of the bell, even though she heard it when crossing a stream.
And she had the most important prayer of all -- the Mass. Every day, without fail, she would leave her sheep in God's care and go to Mass.

1601 St Germaine of Pibrac, Virgin
“A SIMPLE maiden, humble, and of lowly birth, but so greatly enlightened by the gifts of divine wisdom and understanding, and so remarkable for her transcendent virtues, that she shone like a star not only in her native France but throughout the Catholic Church.” Such is the description of St Germaine Cousin set down in the apostolic brief which numbered her among the Blessed.

She was the daughter of Laurent Cousin, an agricultural labourer, and was born about the year 1579 at Pibrac, a village near Toulouse. Her mother, Marie Laroche, died when her. little girl was scarcely out of the cradle. From her birth Germaine suffered from ill-health; she was scrofulous, and her right hand was powerless and deformed. Her father had no affection for her, whilst his second wife actively disliked her. She treated her stepdaughter most harshly, and after the birth of her own children she kept Germaine away from her healthier step-brothers and sisters.

The poor girl was made to sleep in the stable, or under the stairs, was fed on scraps, and as soon as she was old enough was sent out to mind sheep in the pastures. She was destined to remain a shepherdess for the rest of her life.

Germaine accepted the treatment she received as though it were her due, and God made use of it to lead her to great perfection. Out in the fields, alone with nature, she learned to commune with her divine Creator, from whom she learnt directly all that she required to know. He spoke to her soul as He speaks to the humble and clean of heart, and she lived ever consciously in His presence. Nothing could keep her from Mass. If she heard the bell when she was in the fields, she would plant her crook and her distaff in the ground, commend her flock to her angel guardian, and hurry off to church. Never once on her return did she find that a sheep had strayed, or had fallen a prey to the wolves that lurked in the neighbouring forest of Boucône, ever-ready to pounce upon unattended sheep. As often as she could she made her communion, and her fervour was long remembered in the village. Although she took no part in the social life of her neighbours, and never mixed with girls of her own age, yet she would often gather the young children round her to teach them the simple truths of religion, and to lead them to love God.

Her neighbours at first accepted the estimate of her family, and were disposed to despise her and to turn her to ridicule. But gradually strange stories began to circulate respecting her. To reach the church from the pastureland, she had to cross a stream which was sometimes swollen by the rain. On one occasion, when it had become a torrent so strong that men feared to cross, people said, “Germaine will not come to Mass to-day!” But they were mistaken; and two villagers who had watched her at the stream confidently asserted that the waters had parted to let her cross, just as the Red Sea had parted for the Israelites of old.

It might have been thought that anyone so poor as Germaine would be unable to exercise the corporal works of mercy. Love, however, can always find a way, and the scanty food that was grudgingly doled out to her was shared with beggars. Even this was made a cause for complaint. One cold winter’s day her stepmother pursued her with a stick, declaring that she was concealing stolen bread in her apron. To the amazement of the pitying neighbours, who would have protected her, that which fell from the apron was not bread, but summer flowers. Contempt now gave way to veneration, and the inhabitants of Pibrac began to realize that they had a saint in their midst. Even her father and stepmother relented towards her; they would now have allowed her to take her proper place in their home, but Germaine chose to continue to live as before. It was not for long. Her feeble frame was worn out; her work on earth was done; and one morning she was found lying dead on her straw pallet under the stairs. She was twenty-two years old. Her body, which was buried in the church of Pibrac, was accidentally exhumed in 1644, forty-three years after her death, and was found in perfect preservation. It was afterwards enclosed in a leaden coffin, which was placed in the sacristy. Sixteen years later it was still flexible and well preserved. This circumstance, and the numerous miracles which were ascribed to her, encouraged a desire for official sanction of her cultus. Owing to the French Revolution, however, and other hindrances, her beatification and canonization were deferred until the pontificate of Pius IX. An annual pilgrimage takes place on June 15 to Pibrac church, where her relics still rest.

A painstaking biography is that of Louis Veuillot, which has been revised for the series “Les Saints”, by his nephew, Francois Veuillot. See also the attractive sketch of H. Ghéon, La Bergère au pays des loups (1923). The most authentic source is D. Bartolini, Commentarium actorum omnium cannonizationis . . . Germanae Cousin . . . (2 vols., 1868).

Born in 1579 of humble parents at Pibrac, a village about ten miles from Toulouse; died in her native place.

When Hortense decided to marry Laurent Cousin in Pibrac, France, it was not out of love for his infant daughter. Germaine was everything Hortense despised. Weak and ill, the girl had also been born with a right hand that was deformed and paralyzed. Hortense replaced the love that Germaine has lost when her mother died with cruelty and abuse.

Laurent, who had a weak character, pretended not to notice that Germaine had been given so little food that she had learned to crawl in order to get to the dog's dish. He wasn't there to protect her when Hortense left Germaine in a drain while she cared for chickens -- and forgot her for three days. He didn't even interfere when Hortense poured boiling water on Germaine's legs.

With this kind of treatment, it's no surprise that Germaine became even more ill. She came down with a disease known as scrofula, a kind of tuberculosis that causes the neck glands to swell up. Sores began to appear on her neck and in her weakened condition to fell prey to every disease that came along. Instead of awakening Hortense's pity this only made her despise Germaine more for being even uglier in her eyes. Germaine found no sympathy and love with her siblings. Watching their mother's treatment of their half-sister, they learned how to despise and torment her, putting ashes in her food and pitch in her clothes. Their mother found this very entertaining.

Hortense did finally get concerned about Germaine's sickness -- because she was afraid her own children would catch it. So she made Germaine sleep out in the barn. The only warmth Germaine had on frozen winter nights was the woolly sheep who slept there too. The only food she had were the scraps Hortense might remember to throw her way. The abuse of Germaine tears at our hearts and causes us to cry for pity and justice. But it was Germaine's response to that abuse and her cruel life that wins our awe and veneration. Germaine was soon entrusted with the sheep. No one expected her to have any use for education so she spent long days in the field tending the sheep. Instead of being lonely, she found a friend in God. She didn't know any theology and only the basics of the faith that she learned the catechism. But she had a rosary made of knots in string and her very simple prayers: "Dear God, please don't let me be too hungry or too thirsty. Help me to please my mother. And help me to please you." Out of that simple faith, grew a profound holiness and a deep trust of God. She frequented the Sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist, and it was observed that her piety increased on the approach of every feast of Our Lady.

The Rosary was her only book, and her devotion to the Angelus was so great that she used to fall on her knees at the first sound of the bell, even though she heard it when crossing a stream.
And she had the most important prayer of all -- the Mass. Every day, without fail, she would leave her sheep in God's care and go to Mass. Villagers wondered that the sheep weren't attacked by the wolves in the woods when she left but God's protection never failed her. On several occasions the swollen waters were seen to open and afford her a passage without wetting her garments..
No matter how little Germaine had, she shared it with others. Her scraps of food were given to beggars. Her life of prayer became stories of God that entranced the village children.
But most startling of all was the forgiveness to showed to the woman who deserved her hatred.
Hortense, furious at the stories about her daughter's holiness, waited only to catch her doing wrong. One cold winter day, after throwing out a beggar that Germaine had let sleep in the barn, Hortense caught Germaine carrying something bundled up in her apron. Certain that Germaine had stolen bread to feed the beggar, she began to chase and scream at the child. As she began to beat her, Germaine opened her apron. Out tumbled what she had been hiding in her apron -- bright beautiful flowers that no one had expected to see for months. Where had she found the vibrant blossoms in the middle of the ice and snow? There was only one answer and Germaine gave it herself, when she handed a flower to her mother and said, "Please accept this flower, Mother. God sends it to you in sign of his forgiveness."
As the whole village began to talk about this holy child, even Hortense began to soften her feelings toward her. She even invited Germaine back to the house but Germaine had become used to her straw bed and continued to sleep in it.
At this point, when men were beginning to realize the beauty of her life, God called her to Himself. One morning in the early summer of 1601, her father finding that she had not risen at the usual hour went to call her; he found her dead on her pallet of vine-twigs. She was then twenty-two years old, overcome by a life of suffering.
With all the evidence of her holiness, her life was too simple and hidden to mean much beyond her tiny village -- until God brought it too light again.

When her body was exhumed forty years later, it was found to be undecayed, what is known as incorruptible.

As is often the case with incorruptible bodies of saints, God chooses not the outwardly beautiful to preserve but those that others despised as ugly and weak. It's as if God is saying in this miracle that human ideas of beauty are not his. To him, no one was more beautiful than this humble lonely young woman.
After her body was found in this state, the villagers started to speak again of what she had been like and what she had done.
Soon miracles were attributed to her intercession and the clamor for her canonization began.
Her remains were buried in the parish church of Pibrac in front of the pulpit. In 1644, when the grave was opened to receive one of her relatives, the body of Germaine was discovered fresh and perfectly preserved, and miraculously raised almost to the level of the floor of the church. It was exposed for public view near the pulpit, until a noble lady, the wife of François de Beauregard, presented as a thanks-offering a casket of lead to hold the remains. She had been cured of a malignant and incurable ulcer in the breast, and her infant son whose life was despaired of was restored to health on her seeking the intercession of Germaine. This was the first of a long series of wonderful cures wrought at her relics. The leaden casket was placed in the sacristy, and in 1661 and 1700 the remains were viewed and found fresh and intact by the vicars-general of Toulouse, who have left testamentary depositions of the fact. Expert medical evidence deposed that the body had not been embalmed, and experimental tests showed that the preservation was not due to any property inherent in the soil. In 1700 a movement was begun to procure the beatification of Germaine, but it fell through owing to accidental causes. In 1793 the casket was desecrated by a revolutionary tinsmith, named Toulza, who with three accomplices took out the remains and buried them in the sacristy, throwing quick-lime and water on them. After the Revolution, her body was found to be still intact save where the quick-lime had done its work.

The private veneration of Germaine had continued from the original finding of the body in 1644,
supported and encouraged by numerous cures and miracles.

The cause of beatification was resumed in 1850. The documents attested more than 400 miracles or extraordinary graces, and thirty postulatory letters from archbishops and bishops in France besought the beatification from the Holy See. The miracles attested were cures of every kind (of blindness, congenital and resulting from disease, of hip and spinal disease), besides the multiplication of food for the distressed community of the Good Shepherd at Bourges in 1845. On 7 May, 1854, Pius IX proclaimed her beatification, and on 29 June, 1867, placed her on the canon of virgin saints. Her feast is kept in the Diocese of Toulouse on 15 June. She is represented in art with a shepherd's crook or with a distaff; with a watchdog, or a sheep; or with flowers in her apron.

In this way, the most unlikely of saints became recognized by the Church. She didn't found a religious order. She didn't reach a high Church post. She didn't write books or teach at universities. She didn't go to foreign lands as a missionary or convert thousands. What she did was live a life devoted to God and her neighbor no matter what happened to her. And that is all God asks.
In Her Footsteps: Do you make excuses not to help others because you have so little yourself? Share something this week with those in need that may be painful for you to give up.
Prayer: Saint Germaine, watch over those children who suffer abuse as you did. Help us to give them the love and protection you only got from God. Give us the courage to speak out against abuse when we know of it. Help us to forgive those who abuse the way you did, without sacrificing the lives of the children who need help. Amen

1601 St. Germaine Cousin 400 miracles parted waters{see below for more}
Her remains were buried in the parish church of Pibrac in front of the pulpit. In 1644, when the grave was opened to receive one of her relatives, the body of Germaine was discovered fresh and perfectly preserved, and miraculously raised almost to the level of the floor of the church. It was exposed for public view near the pulpit, until a noble lady, the wife of François de Beauregard, presented as a thanks-offering a casket of lead to hold the remains. She had been cured of a malignant and incurable ulcer in the breast, and her infant son whose life was despaired of was restored to health on her seeking the intercession of Germaine. This was the first of a long series of wonderful cures wrought at her relics. The leaden casket was placed in the sacristy, and in 1661 and 1700 the remains were viewed and found fresh and intact by the vicars-general of Toulouse, who have left testamentary depositions of the fact. Expert medical evidence deposed that the body had not been embalmed, and experimental tests showed that the preservation was not due to any property inherent in the soil.
In 1700 a movement was begun to procure the beatification of Germaine, but it fell through owing to accidental causes. In 1793 the casket was desecrated by a revolutionary tinsmith, named Toulza, who with three accomplices took out the remains and buried them in the sacristy, throwing quick-lime and water on them. After the Revolution, her body was found to be still intact save where the quick-lime had done its work. The private veneration of Germaine had continued from the original finding of the body in 1644, supported and encouraged by numerous cures and miracles. The cause of beatification was resumed in 1850. The documents attested more than 400 miracles or extraordinary graces, and thirty postulatory letters from archbishops and bishops in France besought the beatification from the Holy See. The miracles attested were cures of every kind (of blindness, congenital and resulting from disease, of hip and spinal disease), besides the multiplication of food for the distressed community of the Good Shepherd at Bourges in 1845. On 7 May, 1854, Pius IX proclaimed her beatification, and on 29 June, 1867, placed her on the canon of virgin saints. Her feast is kept in the Diocese of Toulouse on 15 June. She is represented in art with a shepherd's crook or with a distaff; with a watchdog, or a sheep; or with flowers in her apron.
Her feast is kept in the Diocese of Toulouse on 15 June.

1601 St. Germaine Cousin Born in 1579 of humble parents at Pibrac, a village about ten miles from Toulouse; died in her native place.
When Hortense decided to marry Laurent Cousin in Pibrac, France, it was not out of love for his infant daughter. Germaine was everything Hortense despised. Weak and ill, the girl had also been born with a right hand that was deformed and paralyzed. Hortense replaced the love that Germaine has lost when her mother died with cruelty and abuse. Laurent, who had a weak character, pretended not to notice that Germaine had been given so little food that she had learned to crawl in order to get to the dog's dish. He wasn't there to protect her when Hortense left Germaine in a drain while she cared for chickens -- and forgot her for three days. He didn't even interfere when Hortense poured boiling water on Germaine's legs. With this kind of treatment, it's no surprise that Germaine became even more ill. She came down with a disease known as scrofula, a kind of tuberculosis that causes the neck glands to swell up. Sores began to appear on her neck and in her weakened condition to fell prey to every disease that came along. Instead of awakening Hortense's pity this only made her despise Germaine more for being even uglier in her eyes.
Germaine found no sympathy and love with her siblings. Watching their mother's treatment of their half-sister, they learned how to despise and torment her, putting ashes in her food and pitch in her clothes. Their mother found this very entertaining. Hortense did finally get concerned about Germaine's sickness -- because she was afraid her own children would catch it. So she made Germaine sleep out in the barn. The only warmth Germaine had on frozen winter nights was the woolly sheep who slept there too. The only food she had were the scraps Hortense might remember to throw her way.
The abuse of Germaine tears at our hearts and causes us to cry for pity and justice. But it was Germaine's response to that abuse and her cruel life that wins our awe and veneration. Germaine was soon entrusted with the sheep. No one expected her to have any use for education so she spent long days in the field tending the sheep. Instead of being lonely, she found a friend in God. She didn't know any theology and only the basics of the faith that she learned the catechism. But she had a rosary made of knots in string and her very simple prayers: "Dear God, please don't let me be too hungry or too thirsty. Help me to please my mother. And help me to please you." Out of that simple faith, grew a profound holiness and a deep trust of God.

The Cistercian community was inspired by her spirit of humility. However, at an early age, she contracted leprosy and had to be isolated. The disease caused Aleydis intense suffering, and eventually she became paralyzed and was afflicted with blindness.
Aleydis' greatest consolation came from reception of the Holy Eucharist, although she was not allowed to drink from the cup because of the danger of contagion. However, the Lord appeared to her with assurance that to receive under one species, was sufficient. Known for visions and ecstasies, she died in 1250. Devotion to her was approved in 1907 by Pope Pius X.
There is much sickness and related suffering in the world today. Like St. Aleydis, we must try to turn our suffering into good and pray that God will give us the strength to endure and that we may be consoled through the reception of the Sacraments.

Germaine Cousin V (RM) (also known as Germana of Pibrac) Born at Pibrac (near Toulouse), France, in 1579; died 1601; beatified on May 7, 1854; canonized on June 29, 1867 by Pope Pius IX.
Saint Germaine was the daughter of Laurent Cousin, a farm worker, and his wife, Marie Laroche. Her mother died while she was still an infant. A sickly child, she suffered scrofula among other conditions, and her right hand was deformed. Her father and his second wife (or her half-brother's wife) treated her badly. After her stepmother's children were born, Germaine was kept isolated from her siblings. She slept in the stable or in a cupboard under the stairs and was poorly fed on scraps. At the age of nine, Germaine was put to work as a shepherdess, which is not a terrible business for one who liked to pray.
Germaine was very devout, however, and refused to miss Mass. If she heard the bell calling the faithful to Mass while she was tending the sheep, she set her crook and her distaff in the earth, declared her flock to be under the care of her guardian angel, and went to church. Her sheep never came to any harm during her absences, even though ravening wolves inhabited the nearby forest of Boucône. It is reported that once she crossed the raging Courbet River by walking over the waters so that she could get to church.
Germaine was so poor that it is hard to imagine she would have the resources to exercise the corporal works of mercy. Yet love can always find a way. She was always ready to lend a hand to anyone needing it, especially the children whom she would gather in the fields to teach a simple catechism. She shared what little food she received with those poorer than herself.
The neighbors laughed at her religious devotion and called her 'the little bigot'; Germaine took it all in good humor. Once in the winter her stepmother accused her of stealing bread and pursued her threateningly with a stick. When Germaine opened her apron, summer flowers tumbled out. The neighbors and her parents were awed and began to treat her as a holy person. Her parents invited her to rejoin the household, but Germaine chose to continue living as before.
At 22, she was found dead on her straw pallet under the stairs. Her body was buried in the Church of Pibrac opposite the pulpit. When it was accidentally exhumed in 1644 by workmen renovating the church and identified by the withered hand, it was found incorrupt. After being exposed for one year for veneration, her relics were transferred to a leaden coffin and placed in the sacristy. Sixteen years later, her body was found to be still well preserved, and miracles were attributed to her. Her relics remain in the church at Pibrac, and an annual pilgrimage is made there. The process of canonization, begun in 1700, was delayed for Germaine because of the intervening French Revolution and similar problems. She was, however, successfully invoked by Popes Pius VII in 1813 and Pius IX in 1849 (Attwater, Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Walsh, White).
In art, Saint Germaine is depicted as a peasant girl with flowers falling around her in winter. She might also be portrayed tending sheep or dying alone in poverty (Roeder). She is venerated in Pibrac, Toulouse, France (Roeder). Germaine is the patroness of young country girls (Encyclopedia).

1886 Bd Aloysius Palazolo founder of the brothers of the Holy Family and Sisters of the Poor; His charitable work was particularly concerned witht he reclaiming of prostitutes.
Born at Bergamo in 1827; ordained priest, 1850. His charitable work was particularly concerned witht he reclaiming of prostitutes. He died on 15 June, 1886 and was beatified in 1963.

To Save A Life is Earthly; To Save A Soul is Eternal

THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 136

Give praise to the Lord, for He is good: because by His most sweet Mother, the Virgin Mary, mercy is given to us.

Obtain for us, O Lady, the friendship of Jesus Christ: and keep us lest we should lose our innocence.

Repress our enemy by thy command: lest he should destroy in us the virtue of charity.

Illumine our ways and our paths: that we may know what is pleasing to God.

Preserve in us what is naturally good: and may good graces be multiplied in us.

Let every spirit praise Our Lady

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 heaven: only saints are allowed into heaven. The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.

There are over 10,000 named saints beati from history
and Roman Martyology Orthodox sources
Patron_Saints.html Widowed_Saints html Indulgences 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 2000) Quang 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 Uniates Chalcedon

Mary the Mother of Jesus Miracles_BC Lay Saints Miraculous_Icons Miraculous_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 Nizamuddi n 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

Index to Part I and Part II 1932

James M. Reardon Publication History of the Basilica of Saint Mary 1955 {update}

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

James Michael Reardon Born in Nova Scotia, 1872; Priest, ordained by Bishop Ireland;

Member -- St. Paul Seminary faculty.

Affiliations and Indulgences Litany of Loretto in Stained glass windows here. Nave Sacristy and Residence Here
Sanctuary spaces between them filled with grilles of hand-forged wrought iron the life of our Blessed Lady After the crucifixon

Apostle statues Replicas of those in St John Lateran--Christendom's earliest Basilica.
Ordered by Rome's first Christian Emperor, Constantine the Great, Popes' cathedral and official residence first millennium of Christian history.

The only replicas ever made: in order from west to east {1932}.

Saints Simon (saw), Bartholomew (knife), James the Lesser (book), John (eagle), Andrew (transverse cross), Peter keys), Paul (sword), James the Greater (staff), Thomas (carpenter's square), Philip (serpent), Matthew (book), and Jude sword

Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel
It Makes No Sense Not To Believe In GOD

THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi.

June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.

By Father John Corapi
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi.

June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.

By Father John Corapi

Among the most important titles we have in the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of the most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom. The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7 (date of feast of Our Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for the Christian forces against the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope Pius V led a procession around St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral leadership in recognizing the danger posed to Christendom by the radical Muslim forces, and in using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles require spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that had its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.

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

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

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

Talk is weak. Prayer is strong. Pray! God bless you, Father John Corapi

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

About Father John Corapi.

Father Corapi is a Catholic priest .

The pillars of father's preaching are basically:

Love for and a relationship with the Blessed Virgin Mary
Leading a vibrant and loving relationship with Jesus Christ
Great love and reverence for the Most Holy Eucharist from Holy Mass to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
An uncompromising love for and obedience to the Holy Father and the teaching of the Magisterium of the Church

God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi

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

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

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

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

Pope Francis will beatify these martyred Greek-Catholic bishops in Romania
May 30, 2019 - 03:01 pm .- On Sunday in Blaj, Pope Francis will beatify seven Greek-Catholic bishops of Romania who were killed by the communist regime between 1950 and 1970.

Woman who served Brazil’s poorest to be canonized
May 14, 2019 - 06:53 am .- Pope Francis Tuesday gave his approval for eight sainthood causes to proceed, including that of Bl. Dulce Lopes Pontes, a 20th-century religious sister who served Brazil’s poor.

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

Pope advances sainthood causes of 17 women
Jan 15, 2019 - 11:12 am .- Pope Francis approved Tuesday the next step in the canonization causes of 17 women from four countries, including the martyrdom of 14 religious sisters killed in Spain at the start of the Spanish Civil War.

Nineteen Algerian martyrs beatified
Dec 10, 2018 - 03:08 pm .- Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, were beatified Saturday during a Mass in Oran.

The Algerian martyrs shed their blood for Christ, pope says
Dec 7, 2018 - 10:02 am .- Ahead of the beatification Saturday of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, Pope Francis said martyrs have a special place in the Church.
Algerian martyrs are models for the Church, archbishop says
Nov 16, 2018 - 03:01 am .- Archbishop Paul Desfarges of Algiers has said that Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, are “models for our lives as disciples today and tomorrow.”

Francesco Spinelli to be canonized after healing of a newborn in DR Congo
Oct 9, 2018 - 05:01 pm .- Among those being canonized on Sunday are Fr. Franceso Spinelli, a diocesan priest through whose intercession a newborn was saved from death in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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

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

Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under ‘offering of life’
Jul 11, 2017 - 06:22 am .- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called “offering of life” – in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor.

Twentieth century Polish nurse among causes advancing toward sainthood
Jul 7, 2017 - 06:14 am .- Pope Francis on Friday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Hanna Chrzanowska, a Polish nurse and nursing instructor who died from cancer in 1973, paving the way for her beatification.

Sainthood causes advance, including layman who resisted fascism
Jun 17, 2017 - 09:22 am .- Pope Francis on Friday recognized the heroic virtue of six persons on the path to canonization, as well as the martyrdom of an Italian man who died from injuries of a beating he received while imprisoned in a concentration camp for resisting fascism.

Solanus Casey, Cardinal Van Thuan among those advanced toward sainthood
May 4, 2017 - 10:47 am .- Pope Francis on Thursday approved decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints advancing the causes for canonization of 12 individuals, including the American-born Capuchin Solanus Casey and the Vietnamese cardinal Francis Xavier Nguen Van Thuan.

Pope clears way for canonization of Fatima visionaries
Mar 23, 2017 - 06:44 am .- On Thursday Pope Francis approved the second and final miracle needed to canonize Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the shepherd children who witnessed the Fatima Marian apparitions.
Surgeon and father among sainthood causes moving forward
Feb 27, 2017 - 11:03 am .- Pope Francis recognized on Monday the heroic virtue of eight persons on the path to canonization, including an Italian surgeon and father of eight who suffered from several painful diseases throughout his life.

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

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

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

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

Pope Francis will beatify these martyred Greek-Catholic bishops in Romania
May 30, 2019 - 03:01 pm .- On Sunday in Blaj, Pope Francis will beatify seven Greek-Catholic bishops of Romania who were killed by the communist regime between 1950 and 1970.

Woman who served Brazil’s poorest to be canonized
May 14, 2019 - 06:53 am .- Pope Francis Tuesday gave his approval for eight sainthood causes to proceed, including that of Bl. Dulce Lopes Pontes, a 20th-century religious sister who served Brazil’s poor.

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

Pope advances sainthood causes of 17 women
Jan 15, 2019 - 11:12 am .- Pope Francis approved Tuesday the next step in the canonization causes of 17 women from four countries, including the martyrdom of 14 religious sisters killed in Spain at the start of the Spanish Civil War.

Nineteen Algerian martyrs beatified
Dec 10, 2018 - 03:08 pm .- Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, were beatified Saturday during a Mass in Oran.

The Algerian martyrs shed their blood for Christ, pope says
Dec 7, 2018 - 10:02 am .- Ahead of the beatification Saturday of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, Pope Francis said martyrs have a special place in the Church.
Algerian martyrs are models for the Church, archbishop says
Nov 16, 2018 - 03:01 am .- Archbishop Paul Desfarges of Algiers has said that Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, are “models for our lives as disciples today and tomorrow.”

Francesco Spinelli to be canonized after healing of a newborn in DR Congo
Oct 9, 2018 - 05:01 pm .- Among those being canonized on Sunday are Fr. Franceso Spinelli, a diocesan priest through whose intercession a newborn was saved from death in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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

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

Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under ‘offering of life’
Jul 11, 2017 - 06:22 am .- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called “offering of life” – in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor.

Twentieth century Polish nurse among causes advancing toward sainthood
Jul 7, 2017 - 06:14 am .- Pope Francis on Friday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Hanna Chrzanowska, a Polish nurse and nursing instructor who died from cancer in 1973, paving the way for her beatification.

Sainthood causes advance, including layman who resisted fascism
Jun 17, 2017 - 09:22 am .- Pope Francis on Friday recognized the heroic virtue of six persons on the path to canonization, as well as the martyrdom of an Italian man who died from injuries of a beating he received while imprisoned in a concentration camp for resisting fascism.

Solanus Casey, Cardinal Van Thuan among those advanced toward sainthood
May 4, 2017 - 10:47 am .- Pope Francis on Thursday approved decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints advancing the causes for canonization of 12 individuals, including the American-born Capuchin Solanus Casey and the Vietnamese cardinal Francis Xavier Nguen Van Thuan.

Pope clears way for canonization of Fatima visionaries
Mar 23, 2017 - 06:44 am .- On Thursday Pope Francis approved the second and final miracle needed to canonize Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the shepherd children who witnessed the Fatima Marian apparitions.
Surgeon and father among sainthood causes moving forward
Feb 27, 2017 - 11:03 am .- Pope Francis recognized on Monday the heroic virtue of eight persons on the path to canonization, including an Italian surgeon and father of eight who suffered from several painful diseases throughout his life.

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

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

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

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

Sunday, November 23 2014 Six to Be Canonized on Feast of Christ the King.

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

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

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

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

October 01, 2015 Vatican City, Pope Authorizes following Decrees
(ZENIT.org) By Staff Reporter
Polish Layperson Recognized as Servant of God
Pope Authorizes Decrees
Pope Francis on Wednesday authorised the Congregation for Saints' Causes to promulgate the following decrees:

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

HEROIC VIRTUES
- Servant of God Giovanni Folci, Italian diocesan priest and founder of the Opera Divin Prigioniero (1890-1963);
- Servant of God Franciszek Blachnicki, Polish diocesan priest (1921-1987);
- Servant of God Jose Rivera Ramirez, Spanish diocesan priest (1925-1991);
- Servant of God Juan Manuel Martín del Campo, Mexican diocesan priest (1917-1996);
- Servant of God Antonio Filomeno Maria Losito, Italian professed priest of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (1838-1917);
- Servant of God Maria Benedetta Giuseppa Frey (nee Ersilia Penelope), Italian professed nun of the Cistercian Order (1836-1913);
- Servant of God Hanna Chrzanowska, Polish layperson, Oblate of the Ursulines of St. Benedict (1902-1973).

March 06 2016 MIRACLES authorised the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
Pope Francis received in a private audience Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, during which he authorised the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
MIRACLES

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

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

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

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

LINKS:
Marian Apparitions (over 2000) India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes Feb 11- July 16, Loreto, Italy 1858
China Marian shrines May 23, 1995 Zarvintisya Ukraine Lourdes Kenya national Marian shrine    Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798
Links to Related Marian Websites Angels and Archangels
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Apostles Roman Catholic Popes Purgatory Uniates, PSALTER BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 136 2023