Mary Mother of GOD
"Do not desire that things turn out the way you would like, but desire whatever happens.
That way you will be at peace" ( rule of St Dorotheus Seventeenth Instruction).

Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!  (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
RDeo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
June is the month of the Sacred Heart since 1873;

16,894  Lives Saved Since 2007

Joyful Mystery on Monday Saturday   Glorius Mystery on Sunday Wednesday
  
Sorrowful Mystery on Friday Tuesday   Luminous Mystery on Thursday Veterens of War

It was such a pilgrimage to La Louvesc that St John Vianney, the Cure d' Ars, made in 1806:
he ascribed to St Francis Regis the realization of his vocation to the priesthood.


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

Tell us about God, Jesus, and his Mother
 In the Soviet Union (U.R.S.S.) in 1960, a clandestine religious community housing a novitiate was eventually discovered by the police. All the novices were arrested and sent into exile in Siberia.
Sheltered in a hut in the forest, the women had to cut down a certain number of trees every week.
Further away, there were other huts and barracks housing other convicts forced to do the same labor.

One night, while the young women were praying the Virgin, they heard a hard knock on their door.
Trembling, they opened the door... to about twenty rough-looking men who entered the cabin.
One of them explained: "We were told that you are nuns. Tell us about God, Jesus and his Mother.
We have been here for thirty years already, without a priest."
From that day on, the novices’ cabin became a church. The convicts gathered there quietly but regularly.
The young women retaught them their forgotten prayers, preached, and baptized children and adults.
The other detainees released them from labor and cut down trees in their place so that they had more time to pray. Thus, in the gulag, the Virgin Mary came to relieve her suffering children.

  
June 16 - Canonization of Padre Pio in 2002
Prayer to Our Lady of Grace
Saint Pio of Pietrelcina presented himself to everyone - priests, men and women, religious and lay people - as a credible witness to Christ and his Gospel. Canonization of Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Capuchin Franciscan Friar, Address of John Paul II, June 16, 2002.
212 St. Ferreolus a priest possibly French, & Ferrutio, a deacon; Martyred brothers of Asia Minor; sent by St. Irenaeus to Besancon, France, area where they labored for  three decades and were marytred by the Roman authorities.
4th v. Actinea and Graecina (Gracinea) Actinea was beheaded at Volterra, Etruria, during the persecution of Diocletian;
477 Simplicius of Bourges a husband and father of a large family when local bishops elected him to the episcopate of Bourges; defended Church against Arian Visigoths and ambitions of lay magnates B (AC)
551 St. Aurelian Bishop and papal vicar of Gaul named bishop of Arles in 546; He founded a monastery and convent there enriched them with the relics of many saints, including a piece of the True Cross, and Saints Stephen, Peter and Paul, John, James, Andrew, Gennesius, Symphorianus, Victor, Hilary, Martin, Caesarius, and others; Pope vigilius named him a papal vicar of Gaul.
6th v. St. Curig Welsh bishop in the see of Llanbadarn. Several churches in Wales are dedicated to Curig.
1106 St. Benno bishop educated in the abey of St. Michael, he bacame a canon at Gozlar in Hanover, chaplain to  Emperor Henry III; in 1066 bishop of Meissen; watched diligently over his flock, enforced discipline on his clergy,
1245 Blessed Guy Vignotelli known for charities recieved Franciscan habit from Francis 1211 famed for his holiness, miracles

1246 St. Luthgard  outstanding mystic of the Middle Ages, Cistercian nun, A vision of Christ compelled Lutgard to become a Benedictine. levitated, form of stigmata spiritual wisdom and miracles,  prayers efficacious in conversion of sinners and the release of souls from purgatory;  gifts of healing and prophecy as well as an infused knowledge of the meaning of the Holy Scriptures
1503  St Tikhon of Lukh, and Kostroma copied books with skill, a fine lathe turner. Out of humility he did not become a priest
1752 Joseph Butler seiner Ordination 1718; 1736 wurde er Kaplan am englischen Königshof. Im gleichen Jahr veröffentlichte er sein Hauptwerk 'The Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, To the Constitution and Course of Nature' oft verkürzt 'Butler's Analogy' genannt,

Our Bartholomew Family Prayer List
Acts of the Apostles

Nine First Fridays Devotion to the Sacred Heart From the writings of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
How do I start the Five First Saturdays?
Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary  .

"The laws of nature that enable us to fly to the Moon
also enable us to destroy our home planet with the atom bomb.
Science itself does not address the question whether we should use the power at our disposal for good or for evil.
The guidelines of what we ought to do are furnished in the moral law of God.  It is no longer enough that we pray that God may be with us on our side. We must learn to pray that we may be on God's side."
To the California State Board of Education, September 14, 1972,
"Some...challenge science to prove the existence of God. But must we light a candle to see the sun?"
In American Weekly, February 10, 1963:
"It is difficult for me to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality
 behind the existence of the universe...Viewing the awesome reaches of space...
should only confirm our belief in the certainty of its Creator."

The father of the American space program died JUNE 16, 1977.

He developed the V-2 rocket for Germany before emigrating to the US; in 1958, he launched America's first satellite.
He was director of NASA and the U.S. guided missile program. Founder of the National Space Institute
--
Wernher von Braun.

June 16 - Canonization of Padre Pio (2002)  
 God may be like a "devouring fire"
 When we want to evoke that burning devotion present in the heart of Saint Padre Pio, remember the devotion he had for the Virgin of his childhood, the Madonna della Libera who was venerated in his parish church in Pietrelcina, Italy.
Indeed, we remark specific signs that show that his soul was transformed and configured to Mary and to Christ through the light of the Holy Spirit. The Virgin can mold a soul to the image of God.
In this way, Padre Pio was brought to intimacy with the Trinity.
And Christ communicates the flames of his Spirit to the purified soul that gives itself to Mary.

At this point, the "mystic" is plunged into a "flame of love" that spreads in his heart and ignites even his body.
It is this phenomenon that produced hyperthermia in Padre Pio, with a body temperature sometimes reaching up to 118° and even 125° recorded several times by the same medical physician during his military service.
This gives reason to believe that God may be like a "devouring fire."  Father Jean Derobert


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

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

The Mother of Love June 16 - Our Lady of Aix la Chapelle (Germany, 804)
Our Lord thought it better for me to be in the tunnel-so He is gone again-leaving me alone.
- I am grateful to Him for the mother of love He gave me. Please ask Our Lady to keep me close to herself
that I may not miss the way in the darkness. (Mother Teresa to Archbishop Perier, November 16, 1958)

As Mother Teresa had entered fully into the core of her vocation-the mystery of the thirst of Jesus Crucified-she willingly accepted being in the "tunnel" again, enwrapped in pitch-black darkness. What mattered to her was that she loved God, whether or not He granted her the consolation and joy of His felt presence. And Christ preferred to unite her, as He did His sorrowful Mother, to His "terrible thirst" on the Cross. She was to embody that thirsting love of Jesus for the poor and suffering whom she served. Not knowing when the light would appear again,
she clung to Mary, trusting that with her help she would not lose the way.

Excerpts from Come Be My Light - The Private Writings of the 'Saint' of Calcutta,
edited and with commentary by Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C., Wheeler Publishing, (2008, p. 291-292)
June 16 - Canonization of Padre Pio in 2002
Prayer to Our Lady of Grace
Saint Pio of Pietrelcina presented himself to everyone - priests, men and women, religious and lay people - as a credible witness to Christ and his Gospel. May his example and intercession spur everyone to greater love for God and a concrete solidarity with their neighbor, especially those who are in greatest need.

May the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom Padre Pio called by the beautiful name of "Our Lady of Grace" (Santa Maria delle Grazie), help us to follow in the footprints of this religious who is so beloved by the people!

Canonization of Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, Capuchin Franciscan Friar, Address of John Paul II, June 16, 2002.

 212 St. Ferreolus a priest possibly French, & Ferrutio, a deacon; Martyred brothers of Asia Minor; sent by St. Irenaeus to Besancon, France, area where they labored for  three decades and were marytred by the Roman authorities.
        St. Aureus Bishop and martyr with his sister and their companions, Justina; bishop of Mainz, in Germany
        St. Claudius Martyrdom of son of Ptolemy (Abtelmawos), who was Emperor Numerianus' (1) brother. He was loved by the people of Antioch for his courage and good appearance. Because they loved him so greatly, they
 painted a picture of him on the doors of the city of Antioch.

 304 St. Quiriacus and Julitta Martyrs of Tarsus. Quiricus was the three year old son of Julitta, a noble widow of that city. Arrested for being a Christian, Julitta enraged the Roman magistrate by scratching his face.
 310 Similian (Sambin) of Nantes Saint Gregory of Tours testifies to the sanctity of this third bishop of Nantes in Brittany, France (Benedictines). B (RM)
4th v. Actinea and Graecina (Gracinea) Actinea was beheaded at Volterra, Etruria, during the persecution of Diocletian; relics were found 1140 in the Camaldolese church of SS. Justus and Clement Volterra, Italy VV MM
 404 Hieromartyr Tigrius the Presbyter and the Martyr Eutropius the Reader were contemporaries of St John Chrysostom (November 13) were among his clergy: As they took his body for burial, angelic singing was heard in the sky above them.
 425 St. Tychon Bishop of Amathus, Cyprus;  gift of wonderworking; appeared in St Tikhon at quite a young age a dedicated missionary among the last elements of pagan culture on the island
 477 Simplicius of Bourges a husband and father of a large family when local bishops elected him to the episcopate of Bourges; defended the Church against Arian Visigoths and ambitions of lay magnates B (AC)
5th v. St. Cettin Bishop and disciple of St.Patrick, also called Cetagh consecrated bishop to help St. Patrick; His shrine
 at Oran was a pilgrimage center for 13 centuries.
 540 St. Berthaldus A hermit ordained by St. Remigius. Berthaldus, also called Bertaud, lived in the Ardennes region of France indulgences granted for pilgrimages to his shrine.
 551 St. Aurelian Bishop and papal vicar of Gaul named bishop of Arles in 546; He founded a monastery and convent there enriched them with the relics of many saints, including a piece of the True Cross, and Saints Stephen, Peter and Paul, John, James, Andrew, Gennesius, Symphorianus, Victor, Hilary, Martin, Caesarius, and others; Pope vigilius named him a papal vicar of Gaul.
6th v. Ismael (Ysfael, Osmail); Saint Teilo disciple, who consecrated him "bishop of Menevia" to succeed Saint David
6th v. St. Colman McRhoi deacon abbot and disciple of St. Columba. He founded the monastery of Reachrain, now Lamboy Island, in Dublin, Ireland, ruling as abbot.
6th v. St. Curig Welsh bishop in the see of Llanbadarn. Several churches in Wales are dedicated to Curig.
6th v. St. Felix & Maurus Palestinian pilgrims, father, son; journeyed to Rome and settled in San Felice, central Itlay.

1106 St. Benno bishop educated in the abey of St. Michael, he bacame a canon at Gozlar in Hanover, chaplain to
Emperor Henry III; in 1066 bishop of Meissen; watched diligently over his flock, enforced discipline on his clergy, preached frequently, made regular visitations, gave liberally to the poor, set the example of a holy ascetic life, restored the public singing of the Divine Offices
1245 Blessed Guy Vignotelli known for his charities and recieved the Franciscan habit from Francis at Cortona in 1211 famed for his holiness and miracles
1246 St. Luthgard One of the outstanding mystics of the Middle Ages, a Cistercian nun, sometimes called Lutgardis A vision of Christ compelled Lutgard to become a Benedictine. She had  many mystical experiences, levitated, had a form of the stigmata famed for her spiritual wisdom and miracles,  prayers were so efficacious in obtaining the conversion of sinners and the release of souls from purgatory;  gifts of healing and prophecy as well as an infused knowledge of the meaning of the Holy Scriptures
1492 Saint Tikhon of Medin and Kaluga lived in asceticism in a deep dense forest, on bank of the River Vepreika, in the hollow of an ancient giant oak; wonder worker; built a monastery in honor of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos
1503  St Tikhon of Lukh, and Kostroma copied books with skill, and was a fine lathe turner. Out of humility he did not become a priest
1537 Bl. William Greenwood Carthusian martyr of England with six companions; A lay brother in the Carthusian London Charterhouse, he was arrested for opposing the policies of King Henry VIII (r. 1509-1547) and starved to death in Newgate Prison with six companions.
1640 St. St Jean François Regis Confessor of the Society of Jesus:  True virtue, or Christian perfection, consists not in great or shining actions, but resides in the heart, and appears to great edification, though in the usual train of common and religious duties constantly performed fidelity and fervor.
1752 Joseph Butler seiner Ordination 1718; 1736 wurde er Kaplan am englischen Königshof. Im gleichen Jahr veröffentlichte er sein Hauptwerk 'The Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, To the Constitution and Course of Nature' oft verkürzt 'Butler's Analogy' genannt,
1862 Saint Moses (Putilov) went to live with the hermits of the Roslavl forests. There he received the monastic tonsure from Fr Athanasius and was named Moses: priest;


212 St. Ferreolus a priest possibly French, & Ferrutio, a deacon; Martyred brothers of Asia Minor; sent by St. Irenaeus to the area around Besançon, France, where they labored for three decades and were marytred by the Roman authorities.
Vesontióne, in Gálliis, sanctórum Mártyrum Ferreóli Presbyteri, et Ferruntiónis Diáconi, qui, a beáto Irenæo Epíscopo missi ad prædicándum verbum Dei, póstea, sub Cláudio Júdice, divérsis pœnis excruciáti, gládio feriúntur.
 At Besançon in France, the holy martyrs Ferreol, a priest, and Ferruntion, a deacon, who were sent by the blessed bishop Irenæus to preach the word of God, and after being exposed to various torments under Judge Claudius, were put to the sword.
There are two or three short texts of the passio (see e.g. the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. iv), but none of them have any historical value. Ferreolus and Ferrutio are entered in the Hieronymianum as martyrs of Besançon, but under September 5. See also Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux, vol. i, pp. 48—62; W. Meyer in the Abhandlungen of the Göttingen Scientific Society, n.s., vol. viii (1904), part x, pp. 69 seq.; and Quentin, Martyrologes Historiques, p. 74, note.

Ferreolus and Ferrutio MM (RM). Ferreolus, a priest, and Ferrutio, a deacon, are said to have been brothers who were native to Asia Minor. They were sent by Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, who had ordained them, to evangelize the country around Besançon, France. After working in the mission field for 30 years and then were tortured and beheaded during the persecution of Severus. Saint Gregory of Tours says, that their relics were glorified by miracles in his time, including his brother-in-law who was cured of a dangerous distemper at their intercession. Their relics are still treasured in the cathedral of Besançon (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).

Ferreolus And Ferrutio, Martyrs (c. A.D. 212?)  St Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, ordained St Ferreolus to be a priest and St Ferrutio (Ferjeux) to be a deacon and sent them forth to evangelize Besançon with the surrounding districts. They may have been Greeks, but more probably they were natives of Gaul who had studied in the East where they had come under Christian influence. (Their legendary history represents them as having been converted by St Polycarp.)
  After laboring with success for some thirty years on their mission, they were apprehended for their faith, subjected to many tortures, and finally beheaded about the year 212—presumably during the reign of Caracalla. Their relics, which discovered in 370 at Besançon, and enshrined by Bishop Anianus, were greatly venerated in the days of St Gregory of Tours, who asserts that his brother-in-law was cured through them of a dangerous malady. St Gregory’s sister went to worship at the shrine, and while praying prostrate before it her hand accidentally clasped a leaf of certain herbs strewn there. She thought this providential, and coming home dipped the leaf in water, which she gave her husband to drink. By this means he recovered his health.

This St Ferreolus is not to be confused with another St Ferreolus, a martyr at Vienne (September 18), who is mentioned more than once by the same St Gregory of Tours. One satisfactory testimony to the actuality of the cultus of SS. Ferreolus and Ferrutio is the occurrence in the Missale Gothicum (c. A.D. 700) of a full “proper” Mass in their honour. As it is inserted just before the birthday of St John the Baptist, it seems likely that June 16 was even then kept as their feast day.

304 St. Quiriacus and Julitta Martyrs of Tarsus. Quiricus was the three year old son of Julitta, a noble widow of that city. Arrested for being a Christian, Julitta enraged the Roman magistrate by scratching his face.

     It is distressing to have to discard a story so piously credited both in the East and the West throughout the middle ages, but the legend, preserved as it is in many varying forms, is certainly a fiction. The "Acts of Cyricus and Julitta" were proscribed in the decree of Pseudo-Gelasius regarding books which ought not to be received, and though this ordinance did not emanate from Pope St Gelasius himself, it comes to us with the authority of high antiquity and general acceptance.
     Father Delehaye inclines to the opinion that Cyricus was the real martyr and the nucleus upon which the legend was afterwards fabricated. He may have come from Antioch, as stated in the Hieronymianum, but what is certain is that his name, not associated with Julitta, recurs in very many church dedications and place-names all over Europe and the Near East.


Tarsi, in Cilícia, sanctórum Mártyrum Quírici et Julíttæ matris, sub Diocletiáno Imperatóre.  Ex eis Quíricus, triénnis puéllus, cum matrem, quæ ante Alexándrum Præsidem nervis diríssime cædebátur, implacábili luctu lugéret, ad gradus tribunális illísus intériit; Julítta vero, post dira vérbera et grávia torménta, martyrii sui cursum obtruncatióne cápitis implévit.
 At Tarsus in Cilicia, in the reign of Emperor Diocletian, the holy martyrs Cyricus and Julitta, his mother.  Cyricus, a child of three years, seeing his mother cruelly scourged with whips in the presence of the governor Alexander, and crying bitterly, was killed by being dashed against the steps of the tribunal.  Julitta, after being subjected to severe lashings and grievous torments, closed the course of her martyrdom by beheading.
  SS. CYRICUS AND JULITTA, MARTYRS     (A.D. 304?)
WHEN the edicts of Diocletian against the Christians were being enforced with great severity in Lycaonia, JuIitta, a widow of Iconium, judged it prudent to  withdraw from a district where she occupied a prominent position and to seek safety in obscurity under a more clement rule. With her three-year-old son Cyricus, or Quiricus, [-The name is spelt in a great variety of ways, Ciricus, Cirycus. Ciriacus. In the Roman Martyrology it is now printed Quiricus. In French he is Cyr or Cirgues.-] and two maidservants she went first to Seleucia, only to discover that persecution was raging there under Alexander, the governor, and from thence to Tarsus. Her arrival, however, proved ill-timed, for it coincided with that of Alexander, some of whose officials recognized the little party. Almost immediately Julitta found herself under arrest and in prison. Brought up for trial, she appeared before the court leading her child by the hand. She was of noble lineage and had great possessions at Iconium, but in answer to questions as to her name, her position and her country she would give no other reply than that she was a Christian . She was accordingly condemned to be racked and scourged. Before the sentence could be carried out, Cyricus was separated from her in spite of his tears and protestations. He is described in the legend as a very attractive child and the governor, we are told, took him upon his knee in a vain attempt to pacify him. The boy had eyes and ears only for his mother. Piteously he held out his hands towards her as she was being racked, and when she exclaimed, "I am a Christian!" he cried out, "I am a Christian too!"
   Finally, in a desperate struggle to release himself in order to get to her, the child kicked Alexander and scratched his face with his little nails. His action, natural enough in such circumstances, roused Alexander to fury. Seizing the child by the foot, he hurled him down the steps leading to his tribune, fracturing his skull and killing him on the spot. Instead of exhibiting distress, Julitta exultantly gave thanks to God for granting to her child the crown of martyrdom. Her attitude only increased the governor's rage. After her sides had been torn with the hooks, he ordered that she should be beheaded and that her child's body should be cast out of the city with the carcasses of malefactors. After her execution Julitta's body, with that of Cyricus, was rescued by the two maids who interred them privately in a field near the city. When Constantine had given peace to the Church their burial-place was revealed by one of the maids, and the faithful came in crowds to venerate the two martyrs. Reputed relics of St Cyricus are said to have been brought from Antioch in the fourth century by St Amator, bishop of Auxerre, and this translation led to an extensive cultus of St Cyricus in France, under the name of St Cyr, but actually there is no evidence to connect the historical SS. Julitta and Cyricus, assuming their real existence, with the city of Antioch. Although they appear to have suffered on July 15-the day on which their festival is observed in the East-the Roman Martyrology commemorates them on June 16.
     It is distressing to have to discard a story so piously credited both in the East and the West throughout the middle ages, but the legend, preserved as it is in many varying forms, is certainly a fiction. The "Acts of Cyricus and Julitta" were proscribed in the decree of Pseudo-Gelasius regarding books which ought not to be received, and though this ordinance did not emanate from Pope St Gelasius himself, it comes to us with the authority of high antiquity and general acceptance.
     Father Delehaye inclines to the opinion that Cyricus was the real martyr and the nucleus upon which the legend was afterwards fabricated. He may have come from Antioch, as stated in the Hieronymianum, but what is certain is that his name, not associated with Julitta, recurs in very many church dedications and place-names all over Europe and the Near East.
The number of variant forms in which the legend is preserved to us may be taken as testimony to its popularity. In the three divisions of the Bibliotheca Hagiographica published by the modern Bollandists, the various texts will be found catalogued. In the Graeca there is mention of five such documents (nn. 314-318), in the Latina of eight (nn. 1801-1808), and in the Orientalis of two (nn. 193-194). More than one of these texts has been printed in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. iv. On the whole question, consult Delehaye, Origines du Culte des Martyrs, pp. 167-168, and his CMH., pp. 321 and 254. See also Dillmann in the Sitzungsberichte of the Prussian Academy for 1887, vol. i, pp. 339-352; H. Stocks in the Zeitschrift. Kirchengeschichte, 1910, pp. 1-47; Wilpert, Rom. Mosaiken und Malereien (1924), vol. ii, part II, pp. 685-694, and vol. iv, pp. 179--181.
Her punishment before execution was to watch while Quiricus was beaten to death.  Julitta may be based on a Cornish saint named Juliot. Quiricus is called Cyr in France.
Cyricus and Julitta (Giulietta) MM (RM) (Cyricus also known as Cyr, Cyriacus, Quiriac, Quiricus). Although the legend of Julitta and Cyricus was proscribed by pseudo-Gelasius, it still persists in various forms. We are told that when persecution was raging against Christians under Diocletian, a wealthy and pious noblewoman named Julitta was widowed with a three-year-old son named Cyricus. As a Christian Julitta decided that life in her native Iconium in Lycaonia was too dangerous.  Taking Cyricus and two maids, she fled to Seleucia and to her alarm found that the governor there, Alexander, was savagely persecuting Christians. The four fugitives journeyed on to Tarsus in Antioch. Unfortunately, Alexander was paying a visit to that city when the fugitives were recognized and arrested.

Julitta was put on trial. She brought her young son with her to the courtroom. She refused to answer any questions about herself, except to say that she was a Christian. The court pronounced its sentence: Julitta was to be stretched on the rack and then beaten.  The guards, about to lead Julitta away, separated Cyricus from his mother. The child was crying, and Alexander, in a vain attempt to pacify him, took Cyricus on his knee. Terrified and longing to run back to his mother, Cyricus kicked the governor and scratched his face. Alexander stood up in a rage and flung the toddler down the steps of the tribune, fracturing the boy's skull and killing him.

Cyricus's mother did not weep. Instead she thanked God and went cheerfully to torture and death. Her son had been granted the crown of martyrdom. This made the governor even angrier. He decreed that her sides should be ripped apart with hooks, and then she was beheaded. Both she and Cyricus were flung outside the city, on the heap of bodies belonging to criminals, but the two maids rescued the corpses of the mother and child and buried them in a nearby field.

There is some evidence for an otherwise unknown child-martyr named Cyricus at Antioch, and it may have been about him that this fictitious tale was evolved in several different versions. There are places named after Cyricus all over Europe and the Middle East, but without the name Julitta attached. As early as the sixth century the acta of Cyricus and Julitta were rejected in a list of apocryphal documents (the list was formerly attributed to Pope Saint Gelasius I).

Cyricus is the Saint-Cyr found in several French place names, where his cultus is strong because some relics were brought back from Antioch by the 4th-century Bishop Saint Amator of Auxerre. A Nivernaise story that is reproduced in the Golden Legend also fuels the flames of devotion. According to this tale, Blessed Charlemagne dreamed he was saved from death by a wild boar during a hunt by the appearance of a child, who promised to save him from death if he would give him clothes to cover his nakedness. The bishop of Nevers interpreted this to mean that he wanted the emperor to repair the roof of the cathedral dedicated to Saint Cyr. From this story comes the iconographic emblem of a naked child riding on a wild boar (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth).

In art, Saint Julitta leads Cyricus by the hand. The pair may also be shown (1) as Cyricus is dashed to the ground by Alexander and a fountain springs from his blood; (2) as a fountain springs from Julitta's blood; (3) with Julitta burned at the stake; (4) with oxen near Julitta; (5) with Cyricus mounted on a wild boar; or (6) as Julitta holds a cross and palm (Roeder). The oldest known representations of Cyricus is a series of frescoes (8th century) at Santa Maria Antiqua in Rome. A 12-century antependium at the Museum of Barcelona depicts scenes from the legend, as do stained- glass windows at Issoudun (Farmer).
St. Claudius Martyrdom of son of Ptolemy (Abtelmawos), who was Emperor Numerianus' (1) brother. He was loved by the people of Antioch for his courage and good appearance. Because they loved him so greatly, they painted a picture of him on the doors of the city of Antioch.
On this day, the honorable St. Claudius, was martyred. He was the son of Ptolemy (Abtelmawos), who was Emperor Numerianus' brother. He was loved by the people of Antioch for his courage and good appearance. Because they loved him so greatly, they painted a picture of him on the doors of the city of Antioch.

When Diocletian reneged the faith and incited the persecution against the Christians, this Saint agreed with St. Boctor (Victor) Ebn Romanus to be martyred for the sake of the Name of Christ.

Satan appeared to them in the form of an old man and told them, "O my sons, you are young men, the sons of nobility, and I am afraid for you from this infidel Emperor; so if he asked you to worship the idols, accept his command, and in your houses you can worship Christ in secret." They realized that he was satan disguised as an old man and told him, "O you who are filled with all evil, go away from us." Straightway the old man changed his appearance and became like a black slave and told them, "Behold, I will go before you to the Emperor and instigate him to shed your blood."

The Emperor brought St. Claudius and proposed to him the worship of the idols, and promised to give him his father's position. Claudius neither accepted his promise, nor submitted to his order. He spoke to him boldly and fearlessly reviling him for worshipping the idols. The Emperor did not dare to harm him for the people of Antioch loved him. Romanus, St. Victor's father, advised the Emperor to send him to Egypt to be killed there. He sent him with a letter to the Governor of Ansena (Antinoe) stating in it: "Claudius neither obeyed our orders, nor hearkened our words. Persuade him with all your power first, and if he does not return on his counsel, cut off his head." When the Saint heard that, he called Sidrakhos, his sister's husband, asked him to care for his sister, his possessions and bid him farewell. The Saint went with the soldiers to Egypt. When he arrived to Arianus, the governor of Ansena, he received him standing, kissed his hand, and said, "O my master Claudius, do not transgress the command of the Emperor." The Saint replied, "I was not sent to you for you to lead me astray by your words, but that you might fulfil what the emperor commanded." They argued with each other till Arianus became enraged with the answers of the Saint, and he drove the spear into the Saint. He delivered up his pure spirit and received the crown of martyrdom. Some of the believers, took his body and shrouded it. They placed it with the body of St. Victor who was martyred shortly before that. After the end of the time of persecution, Victor's mother came, and took their bodies to Antioch.   May their prayers be with us. Amen.
310 Similian (Sambin) of Nantes Saint Gregory of Tours testifies to the sanctity of this third bishop of Nantes in Brittany, France (Benedictines). B (RM)
Nannéte, in Británnia minóre, sancti Similiáni, Epíscopi et Confessóris.   At Nántes in Brittany, St. Similian, bishop and confessor.
4th v. Actinea and Graecina (Gracinea) Actinea was beheaded at Volterra, Etruria, during the persecution of Diocletian. Their relics were found in 1140 in the Camaldolese church of SS. Justus and Clement in Volterra, Italy VV MM (AC)
 (Benedictines, Roeder). In art the two are depicted as maidens with daggers (Roeder).
St. Aureus Bishop and martyr with his sister and their companions, Justina; bishop of Mainz, in Germany
Mogúntiæ pássio sanctórum Auræi Epíscopi, et Justínæ soróris, ac ceterórum Mártyrum; qui, synáxim in Ecclésia agéntes, ab Hunnis, Germániam diripiéntibus, trucidáti sunt.
 At Mainz, the passion of the Saints Aureus and Justina, his sister, and other martyrs who were massacred by the Huns, at that time devastating Germany, while they were in church at Mass.

When the Huns attacked the city, he went into exile but later returned to celebrate Mass in the cathedral. There, during the Eucharist, Aureus, his sister, Justina, and their companions were martyred.
Aureus, Justina, and Companions MM (RM). During an invasion of the Huns, Saint Aureus, bishop of Mainz, Germany, was driven from his see and was followed by his sister, Justina, as well as others. On their return, while the bishop was celebrating Mass, he and the others were murdered in the church (Benedictines). Saint Aureus is pictured as a bishop murdered by the Huns at the altar, while celebrating Mass. Sometimes he is shown with his sister Justina murdered by him (Roeder).
404 Hieromartyr Tigrius the Presbyter and the Martyr Eutropius the Reader were contemporaries of St John Chrysostom (November 13) and were among his clergy: As they took his body for burial, angelic singing was heard in the sky above them.
Amathúnte, in Cypro, sancti Tychónis Epíscopi, témpore Theodósii junióris.   At Amathus in Cyprus, St. Tychon, a bishop in the time of Theodosius the Younger.
The holy presbyter Tigrius was a mild and kindly pastor, and St Eutropius was distinguished for his prudence and purity of life.
When St John Chrysostom was banished from Constantinople in 404, St Tigrius and the reader Eutropius were arrested as his partisans and were accused of setting fire to churches and buildings belonging to the opponents of St John Chrysostom.
Tigrius_Presbyter_of_Constantinople
St Tigrius was put to torture, beaten with leather and banished to Mesopotamia, where he was imprisoned and died. St Eutropius was flogged, suspended, struck with iron rods, and thrown into prison. When the torments were repeated, he died. His body, which had been thrown to the dogs, was taken by night and buried by Christians. As they took his body for burial, angelic singing was heard in the sky above them.

425 St. Tychon Bishop of Amathus, Cyprus;  gift of wonderworking appeared in St Tikhon at quite a young age a dedicated missionary among the last elements of pagan culture on the island
ST TYCHON, BISHOP OF AMATHUS     (FIFTH CENTURY?)
ALL that can be confidently asserted about St Tychon is that he was a very early bishop of Amathus, the site of the modern Limassol in Cyprus, and that he has been for many centuries greatly venerated by the inhabitants of the island, who style him "the Wonder-worker" and regard him as the patron of vine-growers.
The two things his biographer specially emphasizes in his life are: first, that as a boy, being the son of a baker, he used to give away to the poor the bread he was sent out to sell. His father was very angry, but when he opened the granary where he kept his flour, he found that by miracle it was full to overflowing and that his loss had many times over been made good.
Secondly, when Tychon had become a bishop he possessed a small vineyard but had no means to stock it. He accordingly took one of the cuttings which other vine-growers had thrown away because it was dead, and planted it with a prayer that God would grant four favours, viz. that the sap should run in it again, that it should produce abundance of fruit, that the fruit should be sweet, and that it should ripen early. Ever afterwards the grapes in this vineyard ripened long in advance of all others, and this is the reason why St Tychon's feast and the blessing of the grape harvest take place there on June 16. Elsewhere in Cyprus the vine-gathering festival could not be celebrated until many weeks later.
Although no credence whatever can be placed in his legendary history, and notwithstanding the attempts made by some recent German writers, notably H. Usener, to identify him with the pagan god Priapus, it may be accepted as certain that he was a real personage and a Christian prelate. On the strength of a tradition that he once caused the vintage to mature before its season, part of the ceremonial locally observed on his feast-day, June 16, consists of squeezing into a chalice the juice of a bunch of partially ripened grapes. Before the end of the sixth century St Tychon's tomb was a famous shrine, and during the ninth century St Joseph the Hymnographer composed an office in his honour.
There is a Greek life of St Tychon which was prepared for the press by H. Usener, Der heilige Tychon (1907). This biography was written by St John the Almoner (see January 23), and from a literary point of view it is held a very elegant example of Byzantine Greek composition, but it tells us little that is reliable in the way of historical fact. An epitome of this text was previously printed in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxvi (1907), pp. 229-232 from the MS. Paris, 1488. See also Delehaye in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxviii (1909), pp. 119-122; A. Brinkmann in Rheinisches Museum (1908), pp. 304-310, and the notice of St. Tychon in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. iv.
The son of a baker opposed to the worship of Aphrodite, he was a dedicated missionary among the last elements of pagan culture on the island. He is patron of wine growers on Cyprus. Tychon brought a dead vine leaf back to life.
Tychon of Cyprus B (RM) (also known as Tikhon of Amathus). The life of Tychon, an early bishop of Amathus, Cyprus, was recorded by Saint John the Almsgiver. He energetically fought against the last remnants of paganism in the island, especially against the cult of Aphrodite (Attwater, Benedictines).

Saint Tikhon, Bishop of Amathus, was born in the city Amathus on the island of Cyprus. His parents raised their son in Christian piety, and taught him the reading of sacred books. It is said that the gift of wonderworking appeared in St Tikhon at quite a young age.
His father was the owner of a bakery, and whenever he left his son alone in the shop, the holy youth would give free bread to those in need. Learning of this, his father became angry, but the son said that he had read in the Scriptures, that in giving to God one receives back a hundredfold. "I," said the youth, "gave to God the bread which was taken," and he persuaded his father to go to the place where the grain was stored. With astonishment the father saw that the granary, which formerly was empty, was now filled to overflowing with wheat. From that time the father did not hinder his son from distributing bread to the poor.

A certain gardener brought the dried prunings of vines from the vineyard. St Tikhon gathered them, planted them in his garden and besought the Lord that these branches might take root and yield fruit for the health of people. The Lord did so through the faith of the holy youth. The branches took root, and their fruit had a particular and very pleasant taste.
It was used during the lifetime of the saint and after his death for making wine for the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist.

They accepted the pious youth into the church clergy, made him a reader. Later, Mnemonios, the Bishop of Amathus ordained him a deacon. After the death of Bishop Mnemonios, St Tikhon by universal agreement was chosen as Bishop of Amathus. St Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus (May 12), presided at the service.

St Tikhon labored zealously to eradicate the remnants of paganism on Cyprus; he destroyed a pagan temple and spread the Christian Faith. The holy bishop was generous, his doors were open to all, and he listened to and lovingly fulfilled the request of each person who came to him. Fearing neither threats nor tortures, he firmly and fearlessly confessed his faith before pagans.
In the service to St Tikhon it is stated that he foresaw the time of his death, which occurred in the year 425.

The name of St Tikhon of Amathus was greatly honored in Russia. Temples dedicated to the saint were constructed at Moscow, at Nizhni Novgorod, at Kazan and other cities. But he was particularly venerated in the Voronezh diocese, where there were three archpastors in succession sharing the name with the holy hierarch of Amathus: St Tikhon I (Sokolov) (+ 1783, August 13), Tikhon II (Yakubovsky, until 1785) and Tikhon III (Malinin, until 1788).
 477 Simplicius of Bourges a husband and father of a large family when local bishops elected him to the episcopate of Bourges; defended the Church against Arian Visigoths and ambitions of lay magnates B (AC)
Died March 1, 477. Simplicius was a husband and father of a large family when the local bishops elected him to the episcopate of Bourges. He defended the Church against the Arian Visigoths and the ambitions of lay magnates (Benedictines).
5th v. St. Cettin Bishop and disciple of St.Patrick, also called Cetagh; consecrated a bishop to help St. Patrick; His shrine at Oran was a pilgrimage center for 13 centuries .
Cettin of Oran B (AC) (also known as Cethach, Cethagh). Saint Cettin was consecrated by Saint Patrick as auxiliary bishop. Some authorities distinguish Cethagh and Cettin, but they appear to be the same person. His shrine at Oran was a pilgrimage center for 13 centuries (Benedictines, Montague).
540 St. Berthaldus A hermit ordained by St. Remigius. Berthaldus, also called Bertaud, lived in the Ardennes region of France indulgences granted for pilgrimages to his shrine.
Berthaldus, Hermit (AC) (also known as Bertaud, Berthold). Saint Berthaldus was a hermit in the Ardennes who was ordained a priest by Saint Remigius.
The town of Chaumont grew up around his titular abbey and church in the diocese of Rheims. Many miracles occurred at his death. Several popes, including Nicholas VI in 1451 and Paul II in 1466, have granted indulgences for pilgrimages to his shrine (Benedictines, Montague).
551 St. Aurelian Bishop and papal vicar of Gaul named bishop of Arles in 546; He founded a monastery and convent there enriched them with the relics of many saints, including a piece of the True Cross, and Saints Stephen, Peter and Paul, John, James, Andrew, Gennesius, Symphorianus, Victor, Hilary, Martin, Caesarius, and others; Pope Vigilius named him a papal vicar of Gaul.
Lugdúni, in Gállia, deposítio beáti Aureliáni, Epíscopi Arelaténsis.   At Lyons, the death of blessed Aurelian, bishop of Arles.

ST AURELIAN; BISHOP OF ARLES (A.D. 551)
  Aurelian founded a monastery for men, which he enriched with many relics and for which he composed a rule, and also established at Arles a convent for women. In the interest of sound doctrine he wrote a letter to Pope Vigilius, who was then in Constantinople, asking for an explanation of his qualified condemnation of what were known as the Three Chapters-a condemnation which had been urged upon him by the Emperor Justinian, but which was regarded with apprehension in the West as reflecting on the validity of the Council of Chalcedon. In return, he received from the pope a letter of reassurance, kindly, but couched in somewhat vague terms. St Aurelian died in Lyons, where his grave was discovered in 1308.
A short notice is devoted to St Aurelian in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. iv. A letter of this saint addressed to King Theodebert is critically edited in MGH., Epistolae, vol. iii, p. 124. On the controversy over the Three Chapters, see Hefele-Leclercq, vol. iii, pp. 1-67. On Aurelian's place in the bishop lists of Arles, consult Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux, vol. i, pp. 258-259.
 Aurelian of Arles B (RM) Died in Lyons, France, June 16, c. 550. Aurelian became bishop of Arles in 546. Pope Vigilius appointed him papal legate in Gaul. He founded a monastery and a convent dedicated to Our Lady. He enriched them with the relics of many saints, including a piece of the True Cross, and Saints Stephen, Peter and Paul, John, James, Andrew, Gennesius, Symphorianus, Victor, Hilary, Martin, Caesarius, and others. For each of his foundations he drew up a rule based on that of Saint Caesarius, which can still be seen in the Code of Saint Benedict of Aniane. In the rules he mentions the commemoration of the faithful departed and the living at the altar. In the commemoration of the saints he adds in particular those martyrs and confessors whose relics the church possessed. The self-styled Aurelian the Sinner assisted at the council of Orléans in 549.
His tomb, discovered in 1308, is in the chapel of Saint Nizier in Lyons (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).
6th v. St. Curig Welsh bishop in the see of Llanbadarn. Several churches in Wales are dedicated to Curig.
Curig of Wales B (AC)  There is confusion of many saints with similar names to Curig. Nevertheless, he is believed to have been bishop of Llanbadarn, Wales, where several churches are dedicated to his honor (Benedictines).
6th v. Ismael (Ysfael, Osmail)  a disciple of Saint Teilo, who consecrated him "bishop of Menevia" to succeed Saint David B (AC)
Saint Ismael, according to the Life of Oudoceus (Teilo), was a disciple of Saint Teilo, who consecrated him "bishop of Menevia" to succeed Saint David. We are told that he was the son of Prince Budic of Cornouaille, who was forced into exile in Dyfed. Budic returned to Brittany, but his sons later returned to Wales where each became the disciple of another saint.
There are several churches in Wales (Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire) dedicated to his honor (Benedictines, Farmer).
6th v. St. Colman McRhoi deacon abbot and disciple of St. Columba. He founded the monastery of Reachrain, now Lamboy Island, in Dublin, Ireland, ruling as abbot.
Colman McRoi, Abbot (AC). The deacon Saint Colman was a disciple of Saint Columcille. He founded and governed the abbey at Reachrain (now called Lambay Island) in Dublin (Benedictines).
6th v. St. Felix & Maurus Palestinian pilgrims, father, and son. They journeyed to Rome and settled in San Felice,  now named after the father, in central Itlay.
Felix and Maurus (AC) Born in Palestine. Felix and his son Maurus made a pilgrimage to Rome. Thereafter they settled at a place now named after the father, San Felice, near Narni, Italy (Benedictines).
1106 St. Benno bishop educated in the abey of St. Michael, he bacame a canon at Gozlar in Hanover, chaplain to Emperor Henry III and in 1066 bishop of Meissen
Misnæ, in Germánia, sancti Bennónis Epíscopi.   At Meissen in Germany, St. Benno, bishop.
1106 ST BENNO, BISHOP OF MEISSEN
THE little that contemporary history has to tell us about St Benno, bishop of Meissen, consists of casual references to him in chronicles and archives. He was one of the canons attached to the imperial collegiate church of Goslar when, in 1066, he was made bishop of Meissen. Because he sided with the Saxon nobles in their revolt against Henry IV he was imprisoned for a year, although he seems to have taken no active part in the struggle.
After 
St Benno's release he identified himself with the supporters of Pope Gregory, and in 1085 at the synod of Mainz he was deposed from his bishopric by the assembled German prelates, the greater part of whom were entirely subservient to the emperor.
He regained his see, however, three years later, through the good offices of the antipope Guibert, to whom he made submission. In 1097, when the star of the emperor had waned and that of Pope Urban II was in the ascendant, Benno again changed his allegiance and declared himself an adherent of the true pope.
But if this is all that historians of his own age have to tell us about St Benno, later writers have supplied ample and picturesque biographies based largely on tradition and legend. According to them he was born in 1010 at Hildesheim, the son of Count Frederick of Bultenburg, who sent him to be educated by his kinsman St Bernward, bishop of Hildesheim. Eventually he was made bishop of Meissen by St Anno of Cologne.
His biographers wax eloquent over the benefits St Benno conferred upon the diocese. Meissen had never known such a prelate. He watched diligently over his flock, enforced discipline on his clergy, preached frequently, made regular visitations, gave liberally to the poor, set the example of a holy ascetic life, restored the public singing of the Divine Offices, and introduced into his church the chants to which he had been accustomed at Hildesheim. A lover of good music, he was one day disturbed as he was walking in the fields by the harsh croaking of frogs, and silenced them by a peremptory command. Scarcely had he done so when there flashed into his mind the words of the canticle: Benedicite, cete, et omnia quae moventur in aquis, Domino-"Ye whales and all that move in the waters, bless the Lord!" Addressing the frogs once more he withdrew his prohibition, bidding them sing on and give glory to God in their own manner.
His beneficent activities were suspended for a time through the imprisonment to which he was subjected by the emperor, but he resumed them as soon as he was liberated. He exerted himself particularly to combat the shameless simony which, together with the question of investitures, constituted the main grounds for the struggle between Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII. Although summoned with the other German prelates to the Council of Worms which, under imperial pressure, dared to declare the deposition of the pope, he took no part in its deliberations; realizing at the outset the futility of any attempt at opposition he escaped and made his way to Rome, where he was warmly received. He had previously sent a message to the canons of Meissen instructing them to throw the keys of the cathedral into the Elbe as soon as they should hear of the excommunication which he foresaw would fall on Henry. They obeyed him: but when the storm had abated sufficiently for him to return to his diocese, lo! the keys, we are told, were found entangled in the gills of a fish which was brought by a fisherman to the bishop's kitchen.
St Benno died about 1106, and was canonized in 1523. This canonization drew from Martin Luther a violent polemical treatise entitled: "Against the New Idol and the Old Devil about to be set up at Meissen." Fifty-three years later, when Meissen had become a Protestant city, the relics of St Benno were translated to Munich, of which he remains the principal patron.
The materials for a biography of St Benno are unfortunately by no means satisfactory.
The long life by Jerome Emser, which occupies twenty-four folio pages in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. iv, was only written early in the sixteenth century, and though it professes to be based on earlier sources it does not inspire confidence. There is also a short epitome of uncertain origin, but again this is a document which lacks adequate confirmation. The question of St Benno's career has perhaps been most carefully investigated by O. Langer in the Mitteilungen des Vereins f. Geschichte Meissens. See vol. i, part III (1884), pp. 70-95; vol. i, part V (1886), pp. 1-38; and vol. ii, part II (1888), pp. 99-144. Cf. also Neues Archiv fur sächs. Geschichte, vol. vii (1886), pp. 131-144; and E. Machatschek, Geschichte der Bischöfe der Hochstifer Meissen (1884), pp. 65-94; and a study by E. Klein (1904). Both these last seem to place somewhat undue reliance on the statements of Emser.
 Born 1010 in Hildesheim, Germany and educated in the abey of St. Michael, he bacame a canon at Gozlar in Hanover, chaplain to Emperor Henry III and in 1066 bishop of Meissen. He was imprisoned for a year for backing the nobility againsty Henry IV supported Pope Gregory VII was desposed by the bishops who sold out to the emperor shifted his allegiance to the antipope Guibert and appears to have been heavily enmeshed in contemporary pollitics.  In his last years he was a missioner to the Wends. He was canonized in 1523.

Benno of Meissen B (RM)  Born at Hildesheim, Germany, in 1010; died on June 16, 1106; canonized in 1523 or 1525 by Pope Adrian VI; feast day formerly August 3.
Benno, a spirited saint who died at a great age, was a noble Saxon by birth. He was educated at Saint Michael's Abbey in Hildesheim. After serving at court, he became a canon of Goslar, an important imperial chapel, and chaplain to Emperor Henry IV. The emperor also nominated him to be bishop of Meissen, Saxony. Benno is one of the protagonists in the quarrel between Pope Gregory VII (Hildebrand) and Henry IV over lay investiture. He upheld the former but not at all times with equal zeal.

Thus the history begins. During the war between Henry and the Saxons, Benno provided lukewarm support to his compatriots. In consequence of his disloyalty to the emperor, when Henry invaded Meissen, his soldiers occupied the bishopric's property until Henry was excommunicated by the pope. At that time Benno regained his liberty.  Then Benno participated in the synod of Forcheim (1078), when Rudolf was elected emperor. In 1085 Benno supported Gregory VII, but was deposed by Henry's partisans at the Diet of Mainz. After Gregory's death that year, Benno pledged allegiance to the antipope Guibert and recovered his see. In 1097, however, he once again supported the lawful pope, Urban II.
In the midst of all this strife, Benno remained a zealous diocesan bishop. He preached frequently, visited his diocese, enforced discipline, and abolished simony as much as possible. He was also an accomplished musician, who was especially devoted to the chants of his native Hildesheim. He also found the time and the energy to write exegetical works on the Gospels.

Before obeying one summons to Rome, he took the precaution of bidding two trusty canons to lock his cathedral doors in case Henry should try to occupy it and throw the keys into the Elbe. He did. When the bishop returned the keys were recovered--under the fin of an obliging fish.  In his later years he preached to the Wends. Bishop Benno was buried in his cathedral. When the cathedral was rebuilt in 1285, his relics were translated--an occasion of many cures. When Saxony became Protestant, the bishop translated Benno's relics to his castle at Stolp. From there they were moved to Munich in 1580, at which time Benno became the patron of the city.

Benno's life was written in 1512 by Jerome Emser, a doctor of canon law, author of a dialogue as to whether potation is to be tolerated in a properly constituted State, and of tracts against the more spiritual intemperances of Luther and Zwingli. Benno's canonization in 1525 roused Luther to fury. In response he composed a diatribe against his cultus, which was refuted by Jerome Emser (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer).
The following story is related about Saint Benno (His erudite frog in the story had to know his Pliny to catch the allusion.)

"It was often the habit of the man of God to go about hte fields in meditation and prayer; and once as he passed by a certain marsh, a talkative frog was croaking in its slimy waters: and lest it should disturb his contemplation, he bade it to be a Seraphian, inasmuch as all the frogs in Seraphus are mute. But when he had gone on a little way, he called to mind the saying in Daniel: 'O ye whales and all that move in the waters, bless ye the Lord. O all ye beasts and cattle, bless ye the Lord.'
"And fearing lest the singing of the frogs might perchance be more agreeable to God than his own praying, he again issued his command to them, that they should praise God in their accustomed fashion: and soon the air and the fields were vehement with their conversation" (Emser).
In art, Saint Benno is a bishop holding a fish with the keys of Meissen Cathedral in its mouth. At times the fish may be laying on a book and hold two keys (Roeder). Benno is the patron of cloth weavers, fishermen (Roeder), and Munich (Farmer).
1245 Blessed Guy Vignotelli known for his charities and recieved the Franciscan habit from Francis at Cortona in 1211 famed for his holiness and miracles
Born1185 in Cortona, Italy. He was known for his charities and recieved the Franciscan habit from Francis at Cortona in 1211. Guy built a cell on a bridge near Cortona, was ordained, became famed for his holiness and miracles and died in the Cortona convent of the Franciscans.
1245 BD GUY OF CORTONA
OF the parentage and early years of Guy VignotelIi, nothing is known. He is introduced to our notice as a young citizen of Cortona, living partly upon his patrimony, partly by the work of his hands, and giving away in charity all that he did not actually require for his own use. When St Francis of Assisi with one of his companions paid a first visit to Cortona in 1211, Guy gave them hospitality, and at the close of a meal he asked the Seraphic Father to receive him as a disciple. Upon being told that he must first abandon all things, he went out and sold his possessions, the proceeds of which he and his two guests immediately distributed in alms. The following day, St Francis formally clothed him with the habit. A little friary called Cella was built at or near Cortona, but Guy received permission to occupy a cell on a bridge. Because he was a man of education it was thought desirable that he should be ordained, and he was accordingly raised to the priesthood.
On a subsequent visit to Cortona, St Francis spoke in high terms of Bd Guy to the people who, for their part, had already learnt to appreciate his sanctity, his eloquence and his gifts. Amongst the miracles ascribed to him are many cures, the resuscitation of a girl who had apparently been drowned, and the multiplication of meal in a time of famine. When he was sixty years of age, St Francis appeared to him in a vision and said: "My son, the time has come for you to receive the reward of your labours. In three days, at the hour of None, I will return to lead you, by the grace of God, into Paradise." Bd Guy passed away at the hour predicted, in the convent of Cortona; the date of his death is given by some authorities as 1245, by others as 1250.
See the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. iii; Wadding, Annales Ord. Minorum, vol. iii, pp. 601-607; and Léon, Auréole Séraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. ii, pp. 379-381.
Blessed Guy (Guido) Vignotelli, OFM Tert. (AC) Born in Cortona, Italy, c. 1185; died c. 1245. After hearing a sermon by Saint Francis, the wealthy Guy invited Francis home for a meal. At the end of the meal he asked to become a disciple. He liquidated his goods and with Francis distributed the money among the poor. Guy received the Franciscan habit of a tertiary from the order's founder, was ordained a priest, built a cell on a bridge near Cortona, and lived there. He became well known for his holiness and for his miracles, which were said to include resuscitating a girl who had drowned and multiplying food during a famine. At age 60, Saint Francis appeared to him in a dream and foretold his death--the exact hour at which Guy died (Benedictines, White).
1246 St. Luthgard One of the outstanding mystics of the Middle Ages, a Cistercian nun, sometimes called Lutgardis A vision of Christ compelled Lutgard to become a Benedictine. She had many mystical experiences, levitated, had a form of the stigmata famed for her spiritual wisdom and miracles, prayers were so efficacious in obtaining the conversion of sinners and the release of souls from purgatory
In monastério Aquiriénsi, in Brabántia, sanctæ Lutgárdis Vírginis.    In the monastery of Aywieres in Brábant, St. Lutgard, virgin.

1246 ST LUTGARDIS, VIRGIN
AMONGST the notable women mystics of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries there is no more sympathetic or lovable figure than that of St Lutgardis. Born in 1182, the daughter of a citizen of Tongres in the Netherlands, she was placed at the age of twelve in the Benedictine convent of St Catherine near Saint- Trond, for no better reason than that the money intended for her marriage-portion had been lost in a business speculation, and that without it she was unlikely to find a suitable husband. She was an attractive girl, fond of pretty clothes and of innocent amusement, without any apparent religious vocation, and she seems to have lived at first as a kind of boarder, free to come and go, as well as to receive visitors of both, sexes. One day, however, while she was entertaining a friend, our Lord appeared to her, and, showing her His sacred wounds, bade her love Him and Him only. Accepting Him instantly as her heavenly Bridegroom, she renounced from that moment all earthly concerns. Some of the nuns who observed her sudden fervour prophesied that it would not last; but it only increased.
   So vividly did she come to realize God's presence that, when engaged in prayer, she beheld our Lord as with her bodily eyes. She would speak with Him familiarly, and if summoned away to perform some duty she would say, quite simply, "Wait here, Lord Jesus, and I will come back directly I have finished this task."
  Our Lady frequently appeared to her, and once she had a vision of St Catherine, the patroness of the convent; on another occasion she saw St John the Evangelist, under the semblance of an eagle. Sometimes during her frequent ecstasies she would be upraised from the ground, or a strange light would be seen above her head.
In her meditations on our Lord's passion she was permitted to have a mystical share in her Saviour's sufferings, and her forehead and hair appeared at such seasons to be bedewed with drops of blood. Her sympathy was extended to all for whom Christ died; she felt their sorrows and sufferings as though they were her own. Indeed, in the ardour of her intercession for others she would entreat God to blot her name out of the Book of Life rather than withhold His mercy from the soul for whom she was pleading.
Lutgardis had been at St Catherine's twelve years when she was inspired or counselled to place herself under the stricter rule of the Cistercians. Although she would have preferred a German-speaking house, she selected the convent of Aywieres, upon the advice of her confessor and of her friend, St Christine the Astonishing, who was then living at St Catherine's. Only French was spoken at Aywieres, and St Lutgardis never mastered French. In after years, her ignorance of the language served her as a valid excuse for refusing to hold office at Aywieres or elsewhere.
Her humility was at all times extraordinary; she continually bewailed the inadequate response she was making to the graces bestowed upon her. In the vehemence of her prayer that she might at least lay down her life for our Lord, she once burst a blood-vessel, and it was said to be revealed to her that this effusion of blood was accepted as equivalent to martyrdom.
God endowed her with the gifts of healing and prophecy as well as an infused knowledge of the meaning of the Holy Scriptures. In spite of her imperfect French, she had great success in imparting spiritual consolation, and Bd Mary of Oignies was wont to assert that there was no one whose prayers were so efficacious in obtaining the conversion of sinners and the release of souls from purgatory.
Eleven years before her death, she lost her sight, and this affliction she accepted with joy, as a God-sent means of detaching her from the visible world. It was after she had become blind that she undertook the last of several prolonged fasts. Our Lord appeared to her to warn her of her approaching death, and to bid her prepare for it in three ways. She was to give praise to God for what she had received; she was to pray unremittingly for the conversion of sinners; and she was to rely in all things on God alone, awaiting the time when she would possess Him for ever.
St Lutgardis died, as she had predicted, on the Saturday night after the feast of the Holy Trinity, just as the night office for Sunday was beginning. It was June 16, 1246.
The life of St Lutgardis was written by Thomas of Cantimpre, who died in 1270, and consequently was in part her contemporary. The text is printed (from a collation of three or four manuscript copies) in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. iv. It is a very attractive record, though the author's obvious credulity, as evidenced not only here but in other writings of his, must rather tend to lessen our confidence in the accuracy of his report of supernatural incidents. Other sources are apparently lacking, but there seems to be a translation of part of this life in the Low-German vernacular, possibly made before the end of the same thirteenth century. This version has been attributed with some probability to William of Affiighem, abbot of Saint-Trond; see F. Van Veerdeghem, in the Bulletin de I'Academie de Belgique, vol. xxxiv (1897), pp. 1055-1086. Other modern accounts of St Lutgardis will be found in H. Nimal, Vies de quelques-unes de nos grandes Saintes au pays de Liege (1898), and in Jonquet (1906). See also articles by S. Roisin and others in Collectanea ordinis Cisterciensium Reformatorum, nos. 3 and 4 of 1946; and the study by Fr L. (Thomas) Merton, What Are These Wounds? (Milwaukee, 1950).
 She was born in Tongres, Brabant, Belgium. When she was twelve she was placed in St. Catherine’s Benedictine Convent at Saint-Trond because her dowry for marriage had been lost by her family. A vision of Christ compelled Lutgard to become a Benedictine. She had many mystical experiences, levitated, and had a form of the stigmata. In order to avoid being made an abbess, Lutgard joined the Cistercians at Aywieres. She lived a mystical life there for three decades and was famed for her spiritual wisdom and miracles. During the last eleven years of her life she was blind. She died on June 16 and is still revered as a leading mystic of the thirteenth century.

Lutgardis of Aywières, OSB Cist. V (RM) Born at Tongres, Brabant, the Netherlands, in 1182; died at Aywières, June 16, 1246.  Lutgardis is a very sympathetic and lovable figure among women mystics of the 12th and 13th centuries. She was sent to the Black Benedictine convent of Saint Catherine near Saint Trond when she was 12 years old, presumably because her dowry had been lost in a business venture. She had no particular vocation to the religious life, but with no dowry there was little hope of finding a suitable husband. One day, however, the pretty girl who was fond of fine clothes and innocent amusements, experienced a vision of Christ that changed her outlook on life.

He appeared while she was entertaining a friend, showed her His wounds, and asked her to love only Him. Instantly she accepted Jesus as her Bridegroom and, at the age of 20, she became a Benedictine nun. Many of her sisters were skeptical that her sudden fervor would last, but it only increased over time.

So vivid did God's presence become to her that, when engaged in prayer, she saw Jesus as she would with her bodily eyes. She would speak with Him familiarly. If summoned away to perform some task she was say, quite simply, "Wait here, Lord Jesus, and I will come back as soon as I have finished this duty." During the next 12 years, she experienced numerous ecstasies, during which she had visions of our Lord, our Lady, and several of the saints. She levitated and dripped blood from her forehead and hair when she shared in the Passion of Christ.

Though the nuns of Saint Catherine's wanted to make her abbess, in 1208, she left in quest of a stricter rule and became a Cistercian at their convent in Aywières near Brussels. Although she would have preferred a German-speaking house, she selected Aywières on the advice of her confessor and her friend, Saint Christine the Astonishing, who was living at Saint Catherine's that time. Later, her inability to speak French in a French-speaking house gave her a good excuse to refuse the office of abbess.

She lived there the 30 remaining years of her life, famed for her spiritual wisdom. God endowed her with the gifts of healing and prophecy, as well as an infused knowledge of the meaning of Holy Scriptures. Despite her imperfect French, she had great success at imparting spiritual consolation. She was blind the last 11 years of her life and accepted the affliction as a joyful gift from God to assist her in detaching herself from the visible world.

God endowed her with the gifts of healing and prophecy as well as an infused knowledge of the meaning of the Holy Scriptures. In spite of her imperfect French, she had great success in imparting spiritual consolation, and Blessesd Mary of Oignies was wont to assert that there was no one whose prayers were so efficacious in obtaining the conversion of sinners and the release of souls from purgatory. Eleven years before her death, she lost her sight, and this affliction she accepted with joy, as a God-sent means of detaching her from the visible world. It was after she had become blind that she undertook the last of several prolonged fasts. Our Lord appeared to her to warn her of her approaching death, and to bid her prepare for it in three ways. She was to give praise to God for what she had received; she was to pray unremittingly for the conversion of sinners; and she was to rely in all things on God alone, awaiting the time when she would possess Him forever. St Lutgardis died, as she had predicted, on the Saturday night after the feast of the Holy Trinity, just as the night office for Sunday was beginning. It was June 16, 1246.

Jesus appeared to Lutgardis and told her when and how she was to prepare for death. She was to praise God for what she had received; pray unremittingly for the conversion of sinners; and rely on God alone for all things while awaiting the time she would possess Him forever. Saint Lutgardis died as predicted: On the Saturday night after the feast of the Holy Trinity, just as the night office for Sunday was beginning.

Lutgardis is considered one of the leading mystics of the 13th century. Many visions and mystical experiences are recorded of her, but her almost contemporary biographer was somewhat credulous (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Merton, Walsh).

In art, Christ shows Saint Lutgardis His wounded Heart to blind the Cistercian nun. At times, she may be shown (1) as Christ shows His wounds to the Father; (2) as Christ shows her His wounded side; (3) as Christ extends His hand to her from the crucifix; (4) as a blind Cistercian abbess (she was not an abbess, but is sometimes represented as such) (Roeder). She is venerated in Tongres, Brabant, and is invoked in childbirth (Roeder).
1492 Saint Tikhon of Medin and Kaluga lived in asceticism in a deep dense forest, on the bank of the River Vepreika, in the hollow of an ancient giant oak wonder worker built a monastery in honor of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos
< Tikhon_of_Kaluga_Or_Medin

In his youth received monastic tonsure at the Chudov monastery in Moscow, but through his love for solitude he settled at an isolated spot near Maloyaroslavl. He lived in asceticism in a deep dense forest, on the bank of the River Vepreika, in the hollow of an ancient giant oak. Once, during a hunt, Prince Basil Yaroslavich (grandson of Vladimir the Brave), came upon St Tikhon, angrily ordered him to leave his property immediately, and dared to raise his whip against the monk.
At once, the hand of the prince grew numb. Taken aback by such punishment, the prince repented of his conduct and with humility asked forgiveness.

He received healing through the prayer of St Tikhon. The prince entreated the monk to remain always on his property and to build a monastery there for monks, promising to provide it with everything necessary.

St Tikhon built a monastery in honor of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, which he headed. He guided the monastery until he reached a great old age, and he died in the year 1492, after receiving the great schema.
St Tikhon's body was buried at the cathedral church of the monastery he founded.
-The celebration of St Tikhon was established at the Council of 1584.
1503  St Tikhon of Lukh, and Kostroma copied books with skill, and was a fine lathe turner. Out of humility he did not become a priest
In the world Timothy, was born within the bounds of the Lithuanian princedom and was in military service there. In the year 1482, not wanting to accept Uniatism, he went from Lithuania to Russia. The saint gave away everything that he had, accepted monastic tonsure with the name Tikhon, and settled in the Kostroma diocese in the Lukhov region. The city of Lukh was at that time given to Prince Theodore Belsky, with whom St Tikhon had come from Lithuania. On the banks of the boundary of the Kopitovka St Tikhon built his cell. When two monks, Photius and Gerasimus, came to him in the wilderness, because of them Tikhon moved three versts from the Koptovka to a more satisfactory location.

St Tikhon died on June 16, 1503 in such poverty that his disciples did not know how they would bury him. But to their comfort the Archbishop of Suzdal sent a monastic burial shroud, in which to bury him. Soon after his death, at the place of his labors, a monastery was built in his honor.
The monks earned their living by the work of their hands. St Tikhon copied books with skill, and was a fine lathe turner. Out of humility he did not of St Nicholas the Wonderworker.

In 1569 there were healings of the sick at the grave of St Tikhon, and his relics were found to be incorrupt. But the igumen Constantine, who uncovered the relics, was struck blind. After repenting and then recovering his eyesight, he placed the relics of St Tikhon back into the ground. The veneration of St Tikhon dates from this time. His Life and an account of 70 posthumous miracles was compiled in the year 1649.

1612 St. Kaikhosro the Georgian The life of has been passed down to our century in the works of Archbishop Timote (Gabashvili), a famous Church figure and historian of the 18th century.

In a passage describing the frescoes and commemoration books of the Holy Cross Monastery in Jerusalem, Bishop Timote writes that an image of St. Kaikhosro the Georgian is among the sacred frescoes.

According to the commemoration books of the Holy Cross Monastery, St. Kaikhosro the Georgian was tortured to death by Shah Abbas I in 1612 for his pious veneration of the holy icons.
1537 Bl. William Greenwood Carthusian martyr of England with six companions; A lay brother in the Carthusian London Charterhouse, he was arrested for opposing the policies of King Henry VIII (r. 1509-1547) and starved to death in Newgate Prison with six companions.
1640 St Jean François Regis Confessor of the Society of Jesus:  True virtue, or Christian perfection, consists not in great or shining actions, but resides in the heart, and appears to great edification, though in the usual train of common and religious duties constantly performed fidelity and fervor.
Such a life has its trials, and often a severer martyrdom than that which stands the test of the flames. 
This we find in the life of the holy servant of God, John Francis Regis.
ST JOHN FRANCIS REGIS (A.D. 1640)
ST JOHN FRANCIS REGIS was born in 1597 at Fontcouverte, in the diocese of Narbonne, of a family that had recently emerged from the bourgeoisie into the ranks of the small landed gentry. He was educated at the Jesuit college of Beziers, and in 1615 sought admittance into the Society of Jesus. His conduct from the time he was allowed to begin his noviciate was exemplary: so marked was his severity towards himself and his tenderness towards others that it was said that he vilified himself beyond measure but canonized everyone else. The first year of noviciate ended, he passed on to follow courses of rhetoric and philosophy at Cahors and Tournon. Whilst at Tournon, every Sunday and holiday, he accompanied the father who served the little town of Andance, and through the catechetical instructions he gave when the priest was hearing confessions he gained a wonderful influence not only over the children but also over their elders. He was then only twenty-two years of age.
In 1628 he was sent to Toulouse to begin his theology course. A companion who shared his room at this time informed the superior that Regis spent the greater part of the night at prayer in the chapel. The reply he received was prophetic; "Take care not to disturb his devotions", said Father Francis Tarbes, "nor to hinder his communion with God. He is a saint; and if I am not greatly mistaken, the Society will some day celebrate a feast in his honour." In 1631 he was ordained, and on Trinity Sunday, June 15, he celebrated his first Mass. His superiors had already destined him for the missionary work that was to occupy the last ten years of his life: beginning in Languedoc, it was to extend throughout the Vivarais, and to end in the Velay, of which Le Puy was the capital. The summers were spent in the towns, but the winter months were to be devoted to the villages and the countryside. He may be said to have initiated his campaign in the autumn of that same year, 1631, by a mission which he conducted in the Jesuit church at Montpellier. Unlike the formal rhetorical sermons of the day, his discourses were plain-even homely-but so eloquently expressive of the fervour that burnt within him that they attracted enormous congregations, drawn from all classes. He addressed himself particularly to the poor: the rich, he was wont to say, never lack confessors. He would himself convey to his humble protégés any comforts he could procure for them, and when warned that he was making himself ridiculous he retorted, "So much the better: we are doubly blest if we can relieve a poor brother at the expense of our dignity." His mornings were spent in the confessional, at the altar and in the pulpit: the afternoons he devoted to prisons and hospitals. Very often he was so busy that he forgot to take his meals. Before he left Montpellier he had converted several Huguenots and many lax Catholics, he had formed a committee of ladies to look after prisoners, and had reclaimed a number of women from a life of sin. To the critics who contended that the penitence of such rescue cases is seldom sincere, he replied, "If my efforts do no more than to hinder one sin I shall consider them well expended." After Montpellier he made his temporary headquarters at Sommières, from whence he penetrated into the most out-of-the-way places, winning the confidence of the people by talking to them and instructing them in their own patois.
His success at Montpellier and Sommières prompted Mgr de la Baume, bishop of Viviers, to apply for the services of Father Regis and of another Jesuit to help him in his diocese. No part of France had suffered more as the result of prolonged civil and religious strife than the wild, mountainous regions of south-eastern France known as the Vivarais and the Velay. Law and order seemed to have disappeared, the poverty-stricken peasantry were lapsing into savagery, and the nobles were often no better than brigands. Absentee prelates and negligent priests had allowed the churches to fall into ruin, whole parishes having been deprived of the sacraments for twenty years or more. A considerable proportion of the inhabitants, indeed, were traditionally Calvinist, but their Protestantism in many cases was a mere party badge, and in laxity of morals and indifference to religion there was little to choose between Catholics and Protestants. With the help of his Jesuit assistants Bishop de la Baume undertook a thorough visitation of his diocese, and Father Regis went everywhere a day or two in advance of him, conducting a kind of mission. It proved the beginning of a three-years' ministry, during the course of which he succeeded in effectively bringing back religious observance, as well as in converting a great number of Protestants.
That such a vigorous campaign should remain unopposed was scarcely to be expected, and in fact there was actually a moment when those who resented his activities were on the point of obtaining his recall. He himself never said a word in his own defence; but the bishop's eyes were opened in time to the baselessness of the charges that had been made against him. About this time Father Regis made the first of several unsuccessful applications to be sent on the Canadian mission to the North American Indians. His superiors were no doubt satisfied with the work he was doing in France, but he always regarded it as a punishment for his sins that he was not allowed the chance of winning the crown of martyrdom. So instead he extended his missions to the wildest and most desolate part of all that highland district, a region where no man went unarmed, and where the winters were rigorous in the extreme. On one occasion he was held up by a snow-drift for three weeks, with only a little bread to eat and with the bare ground for a bed.
Graphic and touching descriptions of those expeditions are to be found in the depositions for the saint's canonization furnished by those who could still remember them. "After the mission I did not recognize my own parishioners, so completely had he reformed them", stated the curè of Marlhes. "No cold, no snow-blocked path, no mountains, no rain-swollen torrent could stop him. His fervour inspired others with courage, for wherever he went countless multitudes followed him and came out to bid him welcome, in spite of danger and difficulties. I have seen him stop in the middle of a forest to satisfy a crowd who wished to hear him. I have seen him stand all day on a heap of snow at the top of a mountain instructing and preaching, and then spend the whole night hearing confessions." Another witness had been passing through the district when he noticed a procession winding its way in the distance. "It is the saint", he was told, "and the people are following." As he entered the town of Saint-Andre he came upon a huge crowd assembled in front of the church. "We are waiting for the saint", was the explanation he received. "He is coming to give us a mission." Men and women would walk a dozen leagues or more to seek him, confident that however late they might arrive Father Regis would always be ready to minister to them. He, on his part, would often set off to visit a distant hamlet at three o'clock in the morning with a few apples in his pocket. Never did he fail to keep an appointment. Once he had stumbled and broken his leg: nevertheless, with the help of a stick and the shoulder of his companion, he arrived at his destination and entered the confessional as though nothing had happened. When after his day's work was over he submitted himself to a medical examination, the leg was found to be healed.
The four last years of the saint's life were spent in Velay. All through the summer he worked in Le Puy, where the Jesuit church proved too small for congregations which often numbered four or five thousand. His influence reached all classes and brought about a very real and lasting spiritual revival. He established and organized a complete social service with prison visitors, sick-nurses and guardians of the poor drawn from his women penitents. With the help of money freely given to him by the well-to-do he set up a granary for the poor, and a refuge for women and girls who had been leading sinful lives. This last enterprise involved him in many difficulties. Evil men, robbed of their victims, assaulted him and blackened his character, whilst some of his own brethren questioned his prudence. For a short time his activities were checked by an over-timorous superior, and Father Regis made no attempt to justify himself; but God, who exalts the humble, was pleased to set the seal of His approval upon His servant by granting him the gift of miracles. Numerous cures were wrought by him, including the restoration of sight to a boy, and to a middle-aged man who had been blind for eight years. In a time of dearth, when many demands upon his granary had to be satisfied, the store of corn was three times miraculously renewed-to the utter bewilderment of the good woman who had been left in charge.
The work went on until the autumn of 1640, when St John Francis seems to have realized that his days were numbered. He had to give a mission at La Louvesc towards the end of Advent. Before doing so he made a three-days' retreat at the college of Le Puy and settled a few small debts. On the eve of his departure he was invited to stay on until the semi-annual renewal of vows, but replied: "The Master does not wish it. He wishes me to leave to-morrow," adding," I shall not be back for the renewal of vows: my companion will." They set out in appalling weather, lost their way, and were overtaken by night in the woods. They were obliged to rest in a ruined house open to the piercing wind, and Father Regis, already completely exhausted, contracted pleurisy. Nevertheless, the next morning he managed to crawl to La Louvesc, where he opened his mission. He preached three times on Christmas day, three times on St Stephen's day, and spent the rest of those days in the tribunal of penance. At the close of the last address when he again entered the confessional he fainted twice. He was carried to the cure's house and was found to be dying. On December 31, during the whole day, he kept his eyes on the crucifix: in the evening he suddenly exclaimed, "Brother! I see our Lord and His Mother opening Heaven for me!" Then with the words: "Into Thy hands I commend my spirit", he passed to his eternal reward. He was forty-three years of age.

His body remains to this day at La Louvesc, where he died, and his tomb is annually visited by some fifty thousand pilgrims from every part of France. It was such a pilgrimage to La Louvesc that St John Vianney, the Cure d' Ars, made in 1806: he ascribed to St Francis Regis the realization of his vocation to the priesthood.
There are many excellent lives of St John Francis Regis (who was canonized in 1737) especially in French. The biography by C. de la Broüe, printed ten years after his death has a special charm, but much fuller detail is available in more modern works, especially those of de Curley and L. J. M. Cros. An excellent short life is that of J. Vianney in the series "Les Saints". See also L. Pize, La perpetuelle mission de St jean François Regis (1924); the admirable account by Fr Van Ortroy in the Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. viii. pp. 464-465, and that by Fr Martindale which forms a chapter of his little book, In God's Army.
June 16, 2012 St. John Francis Regis (1597-1640) 
Born into a family of some wealth, John Francis was so impressed by his Jesuit educators that he himself wished to enter the Society of Jesus. He did so at age 18. Despite his rigorous academic schedule he spent many hours in chapel, often to the dismay of fellow seminarians who were concerned about his health. Following his ordination to the priesthood, he undertook missionary work in various French towns. While the formal sermons of the day tended toward the poetic, his discourses were plain. But they revealed the fervor within him and attracted people of all classes. Father Regis especially made himself available to the poor. Many mornings were spent in the confessional or at the altar celebrating Mass; afternoons were reserved for visits to prisons and hospitals.

The Bishop of Viviers, observing the success of Father Regis in communicating with people, sought to draw on his many gifts, especially needed during the prolonged civil and religious strife then rampant throughout France. With many prelates absent and priests negligent, the people had been deprived of the sacraments for 20 years or more. Various forms of Protestantism were thriving in some cases while a general indifference toward religion was evident in other instances. For three years Father Regis traveled throughout the diocese, conducting missions in advance of a visit by the bishop. He succeeded in converting many people and in bringing many others back to religious observances.

Though Father Regis longed to work as a missionary among the North American Indians in Canada, he was to live out his days working for the Lord in the wildest and most desolate part of his native France. There he encountered rigorous winters, snowdrifts and other deprivations. Meanwhile, he continued preaching missions and earned a reputation as a saint. One man, entering the town of Saint-Andé, came upon a large crowd in front of a church and was told that people were waiting for "t he saint" who was coming to preach a mission.

The last four years of his life were spent preaching and in organizing social services, especially for prisoners, the sick and the poor. In the autumn of 1640, Father Regis sensed that his days were coming to a conclusion. He settled some of his affairs and prepared for the end by continuing to do what he did so well: speaking to the people about the God who loved them. On December 31, he spent most of the day with his eyes on the crucifix. That evening, he died. His final words were: "Into thy hands I commend my spirit."  He was canonized in 1737.

He was born on the 31st of January, in 1597, at Foncouverte, a village in the diocese of Narbonne in Languedoc. His parents, John Regis, who was descended from a younger branch of the noble house of Deplas, in Rovergue, and Magdalen Darcis, daughter to the lord of Segur, were distinguished amongst the nobility of Lower Languedoc by their virtue.
Their eldest son was killed in the siege of Villemur, in a rally made by the Huguenot garrison. Francis was one of the youngest brothers.

At five years of age he fainted away hearing his mother speak of the horrible misfortune of being eternally damned; which discourse made a lasting impression on his tender heart. In his childhood he never discovered any inclination to the amusements of that age. The same disposition made him refuse at his school to join his companions in the innocent diversions of an age generally too eager for play.
His first master was one of a morose, hasty temper, under whom this modest and bashful child had much to suffer; all which he bore without the least complaint.

The Jesuits having opened a public school at Beziers, he was one of the first whom the reputation of its professors drew to the new college. His gravity increased with his years, nor was he to be seen in the beautiful walks which were chiefly crowded by his school fellows. Avaricious of his time, he scarcely allowed himself any for necessary relaxation. Sundays and holidays were a most precious time to him, and he divided them entirely between pious reading and devotions at home and in the church.


He was often seen on those days retired in a chapel and bathed in tears in the presence of Jesus Christ, the tender object of his affections. His conduct made him for some time the subject of his young companions' score and railleries; which his constancy changed at last into veneration. He performed many exercises in honor of the Blessed Virgin, with a particular confidence in her patronage, especially after he was enrolled in a confraternity under her name erected in the Jesuits college. He had a singular devotion to his good angel, and improved every escape from any danger into a motive of redoubling his fervor and gratitude towards God.
By the influence of his holy example, and by his religious discourses, which were animated with a peculiar unction and divine fire, he inflamed many of his companions with the love of virtue, and reclaimed several from dangerous courses. Six of the most fervent associated themselves with him in the same lodgings, and formed a kind of regular seminary, looking upon him as their living rule, and honoring him as a saint and their master in a spiritual life.
In the eighteenth year of his age he was visited with a dangerous sickness, under which his patience and piety moved exceedingly all that came to see him. Soon after his recovery he made a spiritual retreat to deliberate on the choice of a state of life; and finding in his heart a strong impulse to devote himself to labor in procuring the salvation of souls in the Society of Jesus, and being confirmed by the advice of his confessor that this desire was a call of God, he earnestly begged to be admitted, and was readily received by F. Francis Suarez, provincial of the Jesuits, then at Beziers, upon his visitation of that college.

The postulant entered his noviceship with great joy at Toulouse, in the nineteenth year of his age, on the 8th of December, 1616. Here being no longer divided between study and prayer, he gave himself to so close a union with God as to seem to he never without attention to his presence.  His punctual exactness and fervor in the minutes actions and duties, raised them all to a great value: and by the excellence and purity of his motives, they became steps to an eminent into nor perfection.  Here he laid the deep foundation of those virtues which formed his distinguishing character during his whole life, humility, contempt of the world, holy hatred of himself, charity to the poor, and love of God, and zeal for his glory.

The meanest employs were his delight, such as the most humbling duties of a religious state, to wait at table, and cleanse the house: also to make the beds, and dress the sores of the poorest and most loathsome patients in the hospital, where he considered Jesus Christ in his most afflicted members.  He was as austere to himself as he was tender to others, which made his companions say, that he was his own eternal persecutor. He seemed never to do anything to indulge his senses, which he studied to curb and mortify.  The spirit of prayer accompanied all his actions. The interior fire of his breast appeared in his looks.
He was often seen at the foot of the altar without motion as in a kind of rapture; and he spoke of God with such a feeling unction, that he inspired all that heard him with his holy love, and excited the most tepid to fervor.

After two years of probation, he made his religious vows in 1618, and was then sent to Cahors to finish his rhetoric, and the following year to Tournon to perform his course of philosophy; but to preserve the fire of devotion in his heart under the dissipation of those studies, he joined to them frequent visits of the blessed sacrament, pious reading, and set times of holy recollection, though he made even his studies a continuation of his commerce with God, in a continual recourse to him by devout aspirations. Such was his fidelity in every action, that his superiors attested they never observed in him the least breach of any college duty; which procured him the name of the angel of the college.
Desiring to form himself principally to the sacred function of teaching the poor the ways of salvation he undertook, by his superior's consent, the charge of instructing the menial servants, and the poor of the town of Tournon, to whom he distributed the alms of the college.  On Sundays and holidays he preached in the adjacent villages, and summoned the children to catechism with a little bell. The little township of Andance having the happiness to fall under his particular care, it quite changed its face: the saint's zeal soon banished out of it drunkenness licentiousness, and swearing, restored the frequent use of the sacraments and established there first the confraternity of the blessed sacrament, the rules of which this holy man, then only two-and-twenty years old, but full of the spirit of devotion, drew up, and which was afterwards propagated to other places. He regulated families, composed differences, and reformed all manner of irregularities: such was the authority which his sanctity and holy prudence procured him.
Having finished his course of philosophy in 1621, he was sent to teach the schools of humanity at Billom, Auch, and Puy; in which employ he spared no application for the assistance of his scholars, both in their studies and in exciting them to virtue, loving them as a tender mother does her children, and being beloved and reverenced by them as a saint.
He was particularly diligent in procuring them all relief in sickness, and by his prayers obtained the sudden recovery of one whose life was despaired of but he was most sensible to their spiritual infirmities.
Being informed of a grievous sin committed by one of them, he burst into a torrent of tears, and after a short recollection, he made, in the transport that had seized him, so pathetic a discourse to his scholars on the severity of God's judgments, that the terrors with which it struck their minds never forsook them their whole lives after, as several of them used to say.

The edifying example, simplicity, humility, modesty, and penitential air of the master, was a most moving and continual sermon to them; and such was the powerful influence it had, that they were visibly distinguished from others by the regularity of their lives.
To solicit the blessings of heaven for them he always spent some time at the foot of the altar before he entered the school, and implored the assistance of their angel guardians in their behalf.
His union with God was perpetual; and from hence flowed his other virtues, particularly his saintly exterior comportment. To animate himself in spirit, notwithstanding the fatigues of his employment, he added many other devotions to the daily hour's meditation, and other prayers enjoined by the rules of the society. He often begged leave of the superior to make extraordinary communions, besides those that were regular in the house; and having obtained it, broke out in transports of joy, which testified his insatiable desire of, and the great comfort he received from that divine food. He prepared himself to receive it by private austerities and public humiliations, and by spending a great part of the night before in the church.  On Sundays and holidays he continued to instruct the poor people with wonderful unction and fruit, and even in his familiar conversation turned all to some spiritual advantage.   After he had taught the lower classes seven years; two at Billom, one at Auch, and four at Puy; he began the study of divinity at Toulouse, in 1628, in which, by his assiduity and the pregnancy of his wit, he made an uncommon progress; yet, out of a fear of applause, he sought to make himself contemptible by an affected simplicity and pretended ignorance.
In the vacation, at the time which the students spent in their country-house for the necessary relaxation of their mind, Regis withdrew into private places to converse with God almost the whole day; and in the night, after a short sleep, he arose and stole secretly into the domestic chapel; which a companion having discovered, and informed the superior thereof, he received this answer: "Interrupt not the sweet communications of that angel with God."
  Notice being given him by his superiors, in the beginning of the year 1630, to prepare himself for holy orders, he felt in his breast the struggle of the strongest sentiments of an humble terror and a glowing zeal; but as he saw the will of God intimated in the order of his superiors, his fears were calmed, and he disposed himself for that sacrament, by retirement, austerities, prayer, and fervorous desires. He then longed for the happiness of approaching the altars, so that he promised his superior to say thirty masses for him, because he had hastened the time of his ordination. When ordained, he took time to prepare, by prayer and penance, to offer the divine sacrifice, and celebrated his first mass with the most tender devotion, and in one continued torrent of tears, so that those who were present could not contain theirs, and, by the divine fire which sparkled in his countenance, thought him like an angel than a man at the altar.
The same year, Toulouse being afflicted with a violent plague, Francis made pressing instances to obtain leave to serve the sick.
 In 1631, after the course of his studies was over, he made the third year of his novitiate, during which he was obliged to go to Foncouverte to settle some family affairs, where he spent his time in visiting the poor and sick, catechizing the children every morning, and preaching to the people twice a day. His begging for the poor, going through the streets followed by crowds of them and children, and carrying upon his shoulders a fagot, a straw bed, or such like things for the necessitous, drew on him many insults, once from the very soldiers, and bitter remonstrances from his brothers and other friends; but he rejoiced in the humiliations of the cross, and answered that they became a minister of the gospel which had been established by them. Their contempt of him was at last converted into admiration, and everyone discerned in his actions a divine wisdom and zeal which differs from worldly prudence, and rejoices with David if its simplicity appeals contemptible to men.

He lived among his kindred as one truly deal to the world: not like those religious persons, who, wanting the spirit of a their vocation, seek earthly comforts among them. Having composed the differences his relations, and edified them by his humility and heavenly life, he was ordered to go to the college of Pamiers to supply the place of a master who was fallen sick.
In the mean time his superiors, from the experience they had of his vocation and talents for an apostolic life, resolved to apply him solely to the missions; in which he accordingly spent the last ten years of his life, beginning them in Languedoc, continuing them through the Vivarez, and ending them with his life in the Velay, of which Le Puy is the capital.
The summer he employed in cities and towns, as the husbandmen then were taken up with their tillage; but the winter seasons he consecrated to the villages and the country.
F. Regis entered upon his apostolic course at Montpellier in 1631 arriving there in the beginning of summer; and immediately opening his mission by instructing the children and preaching to the people upon Sundays and holidays in the church of the college.  His discourses were plain and familiar; after a clear exposition of the Christian truth, which he had taken for his subject, he closed them with moral and pathetic exhortations he delivered them with such vehemence that sometimes his voice and strength failed him; and with such unction that both preacher and audience often were dissolved in tears, anti the most hardened left the church with hearts full of compunction.
He was always resorted to by a numberless audience of all ranks, though principally of the poor. A famous preacher was astonished to see how his catechisms were admired, and the great conversions they effected, while elegant sermons had so few to hear them, and produced so little fruit.  The reason was, the word of God became a two edged sword in the mouth of Regis, who spoke it from a heart full of the spirit of God, whereas it was lost under the pomp of an affected rhetoric
The saint never refused himself to the rich, but he used to say they would never want confessors,
and that the poor destitute part of Christ's flock were his share and his delight.
He thought that he ought to live only for them.

He spent usually the whole morning in the confessional, at the altar, or in the pulpit; the afternoon he devoted to the hospitals and prisons, sometimes forgetting his meals, having, as he once said, no leisure to think of them.  He begged from door to door for the poor; procured them physicians and all necessaries when sick, and dressed himself their most loathsome sores. 
He was seen loaded with bundles of straw for them; and when laughed a by the children, and told that this made him ridiculous, he answered:
"With all my heart, we receive a double advantage when we purchase a brother's relief with our own disgrace."
He established an association of thirty gentlewomen to procure assistance for the prisoners.
He converted several Huguenots, and many lewd women; and when told the repentance of these latter is seldom sincere, he answered;
"If my labors hinder one sin they will be well bestowed."
Towards winter he went to Sommiers, the capital of Lavonage, twelve miles from Montpellier, and with incredible labor declaring war against vice and extreme ignorance, saw his endeavors crowned with the most surprising success all over that country, penetrating into the most inaccessible places, and deterred by no rigors of weather, living chiefly on bread and water, taking sometimes a little milk; always abstaining from fish, flesh, eggs, and wine;  allowing himself very little rest at night on some hard bench or floor and wearing a hair-shirt.
With a crucifix in his hand, he boldly stopped a troop of enraged soldiers from plundering a church, and another time demanded and obtained of a Calvinist officer the restitution of a poor man's goods which had been plundered, without mentioning the high indignities and ill treatment he had received from the soldiers to the commander's great astonishment.


The Vivarez had been for fifty years the center of Calvinism in France, and the seat of horrible wars and desolation.
The pious bishop of Viviers, in 1633, by earnest entreaties drew Regis into his diocese, received him with great veneration, and took him with him in his visitation, during which the father made a most successful mission over that whole diocese. The count de la Mothe Brion, who had lived as a wise man of the world, was so moved with the unction of the holy man's sermons, as entirely to devote himself to fasting, prayer, and alms. This nobleman, by his zeal and charities, very much contributed to assist the saint in his holy enterprises; in which he was seconded by another gentleman, named De la Suchere, who had formerly been the saint's scholar.

At Puy, Regis undertook the reformation of many negligent pastors, brought many lewd women, and some the most obstinate and abandoned, to become patterns of fervor among the penitents, and converted a Calvinist lady of great reputation at Usez.  About that time God permitted a storm to be raised against his servant for his trial; for amidst these glorious successes he was accused loudly as a disturber of the peace of families by his indiscreet zeal, and as a violent man, who spared no one in his invectives and satires.
The bishop defended him, till wearied out with repeated complaints, he wrote to his superior to recall him, and sending for the saint, gave him a severe reprimand; adding that he found himself under a necessity of dismissing him.

Regis, who had all along neglected to take any measures for his own justification, answered him with such humility, and with such an unfeigned love of humiliations and the cross, that the prelate was charmed with his virtue; and being undeceived by others in regard to him, he praised him in public, and continued him with his employ till the beginning of the year 1634, when the missionary was ordered by his superiors to repair to Puy, but went loaded with letters full of the highest commendations of his virtue and prudence from the good bishop.

The saint wrote earnestly to the general of the society, desiring to be employed on a mission to the barbarous Hurons and Iroquois in Canada, and received a favorable answer; but at the request of count de la Mothe, he returned early the next year to the diocese of Viviers, to labor in the conversion of Calvinists, and in the instruction of the ignorant at Cheylard, and on the other estates of that gentleman. It is incredible how much the apostolic man underwent in this rough country, in the highest mountains, in which he was once locked up three weeks by the snows, lying on the bare ground, eating only black bread, and drinking water, with the addition of astonishing voluntary mortification,- fasts, disciplines to blood, and hair shirts. The count was so edified, and so moved with the inexpressible fruits of his labors, that he founded a perpetual mission for two Jesuits at Cheylard, giving to it a principal of sixteen thousand livres, and his fine house there for their residence.

Regis made his next mission at Privas with equal fruit, and thence was called by the bishop of Valence to St. Aggreve, a mountainous savage place, the nest of heresy in his diocese. Among his heroic actions and virtues here, it is recorded, that one Sunday going into an inn to stop the excesses committed by lewd company assembled in it, he received from one a box on the ear, without any other reply than this: "I thank you; if you knew me you would judge that I deserve much more."
Which meekness overcame their obstinacy. After three months' labors in this neighborhood, by the same bishop's orders he repaired to Saint Andre des Fangas, and was from thence recalled to Marlhes in the Vivarez about the end of the year 1635
In the first of these two places, a boy falling from the top of a high pair of stairs to the bottom near the holy man,
then at his prayer in a corner, was found without hurt;

in the latter, a woman would take his tapered cloak to mend, keeping two rags as relics by applying them to two of her children,  cured one of a fever, the other her of a formed dropsy.

The curate of Marlhes, in a deposition upon oath, for the process of the canonization of the servant of God, gave this testimony of him:
 "He was indefatigable, and employed both night and day in his sacred functions."
He was under the bitterest affliction whenever he was informed that God had been offended.
Then he forgot his natural meekness, and appearing transported with holy anger, he with a voice of thunder deterred the most resolute libertines.  He would have sacrificed a thousand lives to prevent one sin.  A word from him sufficed to inflame the coldest hearts and to soften the hardest. After the mission, I knew not my own parishioners, so much I found them reformed. No violence of cold, no snows blocking up all passages, no mountains, or torrents swelled by rains, could be an obstacle to his zeal. His ardor communicated an intrepidity to others; for when he went to any place, innumerable troops followed, and met him through all sorts of difficulties and dangers.
I have seen him in the most rigorous season stop in the middle of a forest, to content the crowds, desirous to hear him speak concerning salvation.
I have seen him at the top of a mountain, raised on a heap of snow, hardened by the frost, preach and instruct the whole day, and after that spend the whole night in hearing confessions.

Winter being over he returned to Puy about the end of April, in 1636, testifying that he found his strength and courage not abated, but increased by his labors. He met at the college here his general's refusal of the mission of Canada, which frustrated his hopes of martyrdom. This refusal he imputed to his sins.

The four remaining years of his life were taken up in missions in the Velay, a mountainous country, the winters in the villages, the summers in Puy, the bishop of which city made use of his counsels and ministry to reform his flock. He preached and catechized at Puy, first in the Jesuits' church; but this being too little, he removed to that of St. Peter le Monstiers, belonging to the Benedictines. His discourses were without art, but clear to the meanest capacities, and delivered with that emotion of heart, and so moving a tone of voice, that he seemed transported by a divine fire above himself; and all who heard him declared, that "Francis preached the word of God as it is in itself; whereas others seemed, in comparison of him, to preach themselves." His audience usually consisted of four or fire thousand. His provincial in his visitation, hearing him, wept during the whole sermon. He formed an association of virtuous ladies to relieve the poor, and another in favor of the prisoners; for both which incredible funds were raised; and in times of need God miraculously multiplied the corn he had stored up, three several times: of which verbal processes were drawn up, and juridical information taken before ecclesiastical and secular judges: and these miracles were confirmed by fourteen credible witnesses in the acts of his canonization.

His constant readiness and extreme diligence to run to the sick, and his happy success in assisting them in spirituals, were recompensed by several cures effected on the spot by his prayers, the unexceptionable relation of which may be read at length in F. Daubenton's History of his life. Nor were the conversions of many sinners less miraculous. Among these, a certain voluptuous rich merchant had long endeavored to blacken the saint's reputation by his slanders; who in return bought of him all he wanted for his poor. Having softened him to a more tractable temper by these and other good offices, he laid hold of a favorable opportunity of representing to sum what could be the end of his pains, and the fruit of all his riches which death must soon bereave him of; the man was struck, and having revolved in his mind all night the reflections the words of the man of God raised in him, came the next day to lay open the agitation of his soul to him.

The saint having for some time continued to excite in him still l ivelier apprehensions of the divine judgments, and conducted him through sentiments of hope and divine love to the dispositions of a perfect penitent, he heard his general confession, which the other made with such a flood of tears that the confessor judged the greatness of his contrition might require a smaller penance. The penitent asked him why he had so much spared his weakness. The zealous pastor answered that he took upon himself to discharge the rest of his debt, which mildness added still more to the fervor of this repenting sinner. His meekness and patience made a conquest of those souls which were so hardened as to be able to resist his zeal. A young man enraged that the saint had converted and drawn from him the object of his impure passion, resolved to kill him. The man of God discovered by a divine light his wicked intention, and said to him: "Dear brother, why do you bear this ill-will to one that would hazard his life to procure you the greatest of blessings, eternal salvation?" The sinner, overcome by his sweetness, fell at his feet, begged his pardon, and became a sincere convert.

Three other young noblemen, on a like occasion, resolved revenge Regis met them with courage, saying to them:
"You come with a design upon my life. What concerns me is not death,
which is the object of my wishes: but the state of damnation that you are in, and regard so little."

The libertines stood as if stunned: Regis embracing them with the tenderness of a parent, induced them to repent; and they made their confessions to him, and led regular lives till their deaths.

Addressing drunkards and other sinners, with his eyes all on fire with zeal, he often by one moving sentence reclaimed them from their disorders. When he had received a blow on the cheek, the magistrates could not prevail upon him to denounce the delinquent; but the offender, moved by his charity, became of his own accord his sincere penitent.    

The servant of God was extremely solicitous in removing all occasions of sin, and preventing the promiscuous company of young men and women. He converted many prostitutes with the help of charitable contributions, founded a retreat to secure the virtue of such penitents, till his rector fearing that house could not be maintained, forbade him to meddle in it; he moreover gave him many severe reprimands even in public, accused his zeal as too forward, and forbade him to hear confessions, instruct the poor, or visit the sick, only on certain days and at appointed times.

Regis suffered many humiliations and mortification under this superior, without even allowing anyone to speak in his justification; till the succeeding rector, convinced of his innocence and prudence, restored to him the care of the refuge, and the whole field of his former labors.

His zeal exposed him often to occasions of martyrdom, and to open insults; and once he was cruelly beaten. He was also censured bitterly by many, and even by several of his own brethren; but his rector undertook his defense, and God crowned his labors with incredible success; in which he was seconded by the great vicar Peter le Blanc, his constant friend, without whose counsel he undertook nothing.

 This is the summary of his transactions at Puy during the four last summers of his missions: the winters he employed in laboring in the country, the most abandoned part of which was his first care and chief delight.
     The country inhabitants of the Velay in some parts, especially in the mountains, were very rustic, and perfectly savage: Calvinism had insinuated itself, and ignorance and the grossest vices prevailed in many of the wilder places. The boroughs and villages are situated in the diocese of Puy Vienne, Valence, and Viviers. The saint's first mission among them was in the beginning of the year 1636, to Fay and the neighboring places. Hugh Sourdon, LL. D. engaged him to lodge in his house.
The man of God finding his kind host's son Claudius Sourdon, aged fourteen years, entirely deprived of all sight for the six months past, from a deflection; upon his eyes, with excessive pain, he exhorted him to confidence in God, and retired into a neighboring room to prayer with some of the family, which he had not ended when the child recovered his sight, and distinguished everybody in the assembly which then met to hear the first catechistical instruction; and from that time never felt any more either of that pain or deflection, as he attested before the bishops of Puy and Valence, being then fourscore years old.

Upon this, another man forty years of age, who had been blind eight years, was brought to the saint, who making the sign of the cross over him, immediately restored his sight. By the fame of these two miracles, this mission was opened with wonderful concourse and fruit. His conduct in it is thus described by Claudius Sourdon, with whom he lodged, in a juridical deposition that grave person gave before two bishops:
 "His whole behavior breathed sanctity. Men could neither see nor hear him without being inflamed with the love of God. He celebrated the divine mysteries with such devotion that he seemed like an angel at the altar. I have observed him in familiar intercourse become silent and recollected, and all on fire: then speaking of God with a fervor and rapidity that proved his heart to be carried away with an impulse from heaven."

John Francis Regis, SJ (PC) (also known as Jean-François Regie)  Born at Fontcouverte near Narbonne, Languedoc, France, on January 31, 1597; died at La Louvesc in Dauphine, France, on December 30, 1640; canonized in 1737; feast day formerly December 31; he may have another feast on July 2.
While John Francis Regis was born into a family of landed gentry, he preferred the company of humble people. His father was a prosperous merchant. He attended the Jesuit college of Béziers before seeking admission into the Society of Jesus when he was 18. After a successful year as a novice, John Francis went to study at Cahors, Le Puy, Auch, and Tournon. While in Tournon, he accompanied the priest who served the town of Andance on Sundays and holidays, and his catechism instruction was so effective that he inspired the parents through their children.
He returned to Toulouse to begin his theology course, and he spent much of each night in prayer. The plague raged in the town for four consecutive years and he was sent into the country. Finally, he was ordained in 1631. He tended the plague-stricken in Saint James Hospital in Toulouse, where "he did the most menial tasks in the kitchens with greater willingness and pleasure than vain people derive from the glory of dignified offices." But when his companion in this work died, he was sent to Pamiers to teach.
So successful was the preaching of John Francis Regis that, in 1632, he was commissioned to devote himself entirely to evangelization of the illiterate farmers in the diocese of Montpellier. The area had suffered tragically during the Wars of Religion, which ended in France with the Edict of Nantes in 1598. The Huguenots had overrun the churches and many Catholics had abandoned their faith. The rest of his life was spent in this missionary work among the lapsed. He worked in Languedoc, throughout the Vivarais, and ended in Velay.
To some people his preaching was "banal and common, mediocre and crude, and even quite vulgar." To such people he appeared as a "man of wretched appearance, dressed in tattered clothes, without any talent for preaching. . . . Father Regis, no matter how saintly he may be, is a disgrace to his ministry because of the triviality and indelicacy of his language."

One of his colleagues said, "Ah, how vainly do we study to polish and ornament our sermons!
Crowds hasten to hear the simple catechisms of this man and conversions multiply, while our own studied eloquence produces nothing."
This tall, attractive, physically strong man had a simple, homely style of preaching that drew large crowds. He gained the confidence of the people by speaking to them in their own patois. While people of all ranks were eager to hear him, Regis preferred a congregation of poor and unlettered people, saying "the rich never lack confessors." There was little that he would not do for the poor, and when he was warned that by doing so he appeared foolish, he responded, "So much the better."
He was as severe with himself as he was gentle with others. He loved the poor and wished to associate himself with them. He never ate meat or fish, and his usual diet was apples and black bread. But sometimes there were so many penitents after his preaching, he had no time for any meal.
"I cannot remember my dinner," he said, "when I am ministering to these poor wounded souls." Like his admirer, the Curé d'Ars, he spent long hours in the confessional and slept no more than three hours a night. Among the many mortifications he inflicted upon himself, he used to expose his hands to the freezing cold "so that they were sometimes so red and blotched that they aroused compassion."
For ten years he preached his way through France with simplicity, joy, emotion, and fierceness. He concentrated his efforts on the Auvergne and Languedoc. In the summer he preached in the towns and in winter he evangelized in the villages, when the farmers had time to listen. In Montpellier he converted several Huguenots and many lapsed Catholics, and also established hostels for fallen women, called "Daughters of Refuge," for which he was physically assaulted numerous times.
Among his converts were people of wealth and distinction. At Puy Regis devoted himself to the care of the poor, the sick, and prostitutes. He helped the young country girls who did not want to leave the city but could not find employment by providing them materials with which they could make a living. They worked at home, making lace, embroidering, and doing other types of needlework. Regis collected and sold the work for them at the best possible price.
To handle the rest, Regis made two lists: one of those in need, and the other a register of the devout who were ready to engage in acts of charity. This was the beginning of his social service called the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament. To the ladies of high society he offered the "gift" of a few hungry mouths to feed. To others he sent notes such as: "Sir, you will provide food for the poor people who names are listed below and you will give them six sous for their lodging. If you are unable to provide them with food, you will give them a further six sous so that they may buy it themselves. For this is the decision that has been made by the office of the poor at the town hall on May 9, 1631." Pretty audacious, isn't it?  Not really; for the simple reason that he engaged others with his unstinted enthusiasm. Regis established a granary for the poor. Several times it was miraculously refilled. He called for nurses and doctors, asked pharmacists to provide medicine, sought out guardians of the poor, and assigned overseers of prisons to ensure humane conditions. Nothing could deter him: vermin, ulcers, outbreaks of plague. He faced them all and entered hovels and hospitals "with joy, as if he were entering a palace."

He became the infirmarian of sick bodies and sick souls. When a Jesuit visiting from Lyons asked Regis to show him the most interesting sights of Puy, the saint took him to see a sick pauper who "was rotting in his bed." Afterwards the visitor reported, "I was more pleased than if I had seen all the wonders of Europe." Occasionally John effected miraculous cures by commanding something as simple as:
"Fever, leave this young girl for she needs her health to earn her living." And the girl was immediately cured.
He did not put much stock in this kind of miracle. He was known to say:
"Every time that God converts a hardened sinner he is working a far greater miracle."

His greatest effort, however, was the establishment of the Daughters of the Refuge in imitation of Saint Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, who opened the Refuge of Saint Martha at Rome for repentent women. When Regis experimented with the idea at Montpellier, he placed the girls in private homes, but found it necessary to house them under one roof. His second and more important Refuge was at Puy. He succeeded with these women because he treated them
 "in a manner full of honor and respect... So great was his deference and politeness he might have been talking to queens."
The refuge for women and girls was endangered by the vindictive slander of unprincipled people who had lost the supply of females that they wished to exploit, and his activities were stopped for a time. But the bishop of Puy, Just de Serres, stoutly defended Regis before the rector of the Jesuit College.
But Regis did not limit himself to healing bodies; souls were more important.
The regions of the Vivarais had experienced civil and religious discord, and the people had become uncivilized. Churches were neglected and some parishes had not received the sacrament for twenty years. In the course of a three-year ministry launched by Bishop de la Baume and his assistants, with John traveling a day or so ahead of them, the mission returned the area to religious observance, in addition to converting a large number of Protestants.
Charges made by those who resented his zeal. Such "signs of simplicity and indiscretion" were forbidden and he was ordered to make reparation by "being recalled to the College from the mission where he is conducting himself so badly." Nor was that enough for "he must also be punished in proportion to his fault." These accusations came close to causing his recall, but the excellent bishop of Viviers, Louis de Suze, recognized them for what they were: the attack of lethargic priests whose comfort had been disturbed. After this, Regis asked to be allowed to go to Canada. But the answer from the Jesuit general in Rome, Father Vitelleschi, was categorically: "Your Canada is the Vivarais."
And, indeed, it was as difficult to evangelize these former Catholics and Huguenots as it would be those who had never heard the name Jesus.

In 1629, the Edict of Alès reneged on the guarantees made in the Edict of Nantes. Protestants were now deprived of the "places of security" they had been promised. Those who refused to surrender were subject to the "Dragonnades"--a persecution whereby "dragons" (soldiers) were quartered in Protestant homes with permission to behave as badly as they willed. It was very difficult for a missionary to follow in the wake of these troops and encounter the bitter hostility of the Protestants. Nevertheless, Regis continued. He sought out the peasants in the mountains, slept in barns and forests, often lost his way, and wherever he went he kindled a flame of evangelism.
Men hung on his words, were moved by his very presence, and came in their need to seek his guidance and blessing.
One day as he was leaving the church after preaching, he found a group of weary peasants waiting at the gate. "We have walked all night," they said, "we have come 12 leagues to hear you, and now we are too late!" Though Regis himself was exhausted, he answered, "No, my children, you are not too late. Come with me." And returning with them into the church, he preached to them with his usual power.
On another occasion, a Jesuit father, on a journey, saw from a hilltop a swarm of people approaching in the distance and, as they came nearer, heard them singing. He enquired what it meant, and was told: "It is the saint followed by the inhabitants of whole villages who cannot leave him." As he was about to proceed on his way, he was overtaken by another crowd, approaching from the opposite direction. "And who are these?" he asked. "We are going out to meet the saint," was their answer.
When he reached his destination he found the small town full of excitement, with lines waiting at the church doors. Again he asked and again received the answer: "The saint! We are waiting to hear the saint." Then he remembered how in the ancient days men came to Christ from every quarter and the common people heard Him gladly.
"That man," said one who went to hear Regis, "is full of God. I do not know his equal. I would walk forty leagues to hear him."
In mid-September 1640 (age 43), Regis had a premonition of his death. He spent the next three days in retreat, made a general confession, and continued his mission to Louvesc, a remote mountain village. Thus, on a cold December day, he travelled to his last mission. Overtaken by a snowstorm, he slept that night in a wayside barn and developed pleurisy. The next day he continued his journey in great pain and discomfort.  They reached the village on Christmas Eve and travelled directly to the church, where Regis began to preach immediately without stopping to rest. He spent the whole of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day without intermission conducting services, preaching, and giving counsel. Zealous to save souls, the following day he preached three times in the draughty church and contracted pneumonia. On leaving the pulpit the third time, he fainted. Four days later he died, his last words were: "Jesus, my Savior, I recommend my soul to You."

John Francis Regis was one of those saints, like the Curé d'Ars and Saint Vincent de Paul, who was eminently likeable and approachable.
He is one of those saints for whom sanctity is not a personal adventure but something which is to be put to the service of others. His tomb is still the destination of thousands of pilgrims each year (Attwater, Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Gill, Farmer, White).
In art, he is a Jesuit wearing a leather cape and holding a staff surmounted by a crucifix. He is venerated in the Auvergne, particularly Montfauçon and Puy (Roeder). A contemporary portrait shows that Regis was a handsome, distinguished-looking man. John Francis Regis is the patron of lace-makers (Encyclopedia).

There are many excellent lives of St John Francis Regis (who was canonized in 1737), especially in French. The biography by C. de Ia Broüe, printed ten years after his death, has a special charm, but much fuller detail is available in more modern works, especially those of de Curley and L. J. M. Cros. An excellent short life is that of J. Vianney in the series “Les Saints“. See also L. Pize, La perpetuelle mission de St Jean François Regis (1924) ; the admirable account by Fr Van Ortroy in the Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. viii, pp. 464—465, and that by Fr Martindale which forms a chapter of his little book, In God’s Army.
1752 Joseph Butler seiner Ordination 1718 1736 wurde er Kaplan am englischen Königshof. Im gleichen Jahr veröffentlichte er sein Hauptwerk 'The Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, To the Constitution and Course of Nature' oft verkürzt 'Butler's Analogy' genannt,
Anglikanische Kirche: 16. Juni

Joseph Butler wurde 1692 geboren. Nach seiner Ordination 1718 war er in mehreren Pfarreien tätig. 1726 veröffentlichte Butler einen Predigtband und 1736 wurde er Kaplan am englischen Königshof. Im gleichen Jahr veröffentlichte er sein Hauptwerk 'The Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, To the Constitution and Course of Nature' oft verkürzt 'Butler's Analogy' genannt, in dem er ich gegen den Deismus (Gott hat zwar die Welt geschaffen, kümmert sich aber seitdem nicht mehr um sie) wendet. 1737 wurde Butler Bischof von Bristol und 1750 Bischof von Durham. Hier starb er am 16.06.1752.
1862 Saint Moses (Putilov) went to live with the hermits of the Roslavl forests. There he received the monastic tonsure from Fr Athanasius and was named Moses: priest;
Born on January 15, 1782 in the city of Borisogleb in the Yaroslavl province, and was baptized with the name Timothy. His siblings were called Jonah, Basil, Cyril, Anysia, and Alexander. John Putilov named all his children after the saint commemorated on the eighth day after their birth, so the future St Moses was named for the holy Apostle Timothy of the Seventy (January 22). The children were educated at home, since their parents feared they would be corrupted in some way if they were sent away to school.

When Timothy was nineteen, his father sent him and his younger brother Jonah to work in Moscow. While in Moscow they met the Elders Alexander and Philaret of the Novospassky Monastery, who had spiritual ties to St Paisius Velichkovsky (November 15). Through their aquaintance with these two ascetics of piety, the brothers decided that they also wished to become monks. In May of 1805 they visited the Sarov monastery (which their widowed brother-in-law Cosmas Krundishev had entered in November 1804) and spoke with St Seraphim (January 2). The brothers remained at Sarov for two and a half years. At first they were assigned to the bakery, and then to other obediences.
In 1811, following the advice of Hieromonk Alexis of Moscow's Simonov Monastery, Timothy went to live with the hermits of the Roslavl forests. There he was placed under the guidance of Elder Athanasius, a disciple of St Paisius Velichkovsky. In time, he received the monastic tonsure from Fr Athanasius and was named Moses. His sponsor at his tonsure was Elder Dositheus, who had lived in the Rostov forests for forty years.

Alexander, the youngest brother of Fr Moses, came to the Roslavl forest on January 15, 1816 to share the life of the monks. Four years later, he was tonsured with the name Anthony. He was placed in the care of Fr Moses, to whom he remained obedient for the rest of his life.
In 1821 Bishop Philaret of Kaluga (later Metropolitan of Kiev) suggested that the Putilov brothers move to the Optina Hermitage with a few monks and establish a skete near the monastery, where they could live in greater solitude. Sts Moses and Anthony arrived at Optina on July 6, 1822 to begin their labors. Their first task was to clear away some trees from the place they had chosen, and to uproot the stumps. They built a small cell and enclosed it with a fence, and also built a church dedicated to St John the Baptist.

Bishop Philaret suggested that Fr Moses be ordained, but he absolutely refused to consider it. The bishop said, "If you do not agree to this, I will call you to account for it at the Dread Judgment of the Lord." Only then would Fr Mose consent. He was ordained as a deacon on December 22, 1822, and to the holy priesthood on December 25.
At the same time, he was appointed Father Confessor for the whole monastery.
Fr Moses was chosen to be the Superior of Optina Hermitage in 1826 when he was forty-three, serving in this capacity for thirty-seven years. He was prepared for this service by his years of living in the wilderness under the guidance of his Elder, and by his study of patristic writings. He was mature in years, and he had also acquired a spiritual maturity through his patient endurance of tribulations and acceptance of God's will in all things.
Optina underwent many changes during this time, and the number of monks increased. The size of the monastery's property was doubled, orchards of fruit trees and berry bushes were planted, a library was established, and many buildings were constructed, including a cathedral and two churches.  St Moses did not have the money for all these projects, but he undertook them anyway, trusting in God to provide the means. Sometimes he would even travel to Moscow to solicit donations to the monastery. When people asked if he had enough money for his projects, he would show them a few roubles. Someone would say, "Father, that is nothing!"
Then Fr Moses would reply, "Are you forgetting about God? I may have nothing, but He has everything."
During a time of famine there was scarcely enough food to feed the monks.
It was just then that Fr Moses began the construction of guest houses on the monastery grounds and hired people from the neighboring towns and villages to do the work. The monastery not only paid their wages, but also fed their families. One of the monks was concerned that the coming famine would force them to postpone the construction and lay off the workers. St Moses told him that the people would not starve, because as long as God sent gifts to the monastery they would share them with the people.

Though he was short-tempered by nature, St Moses struggled to acquire patience and meekness. If he felt himself becoming angry, he would leave to pray by himself for a while. Once he had calmed down, he would return. He would also advise people to keep the rule of St Dorotheus (June 5) for being at peace:

"Do not desire that things turn out the way you would like, but desire whatever happens.
That way you will be at peace" ( rule of St Dorotheus Seventeenth Instruction).
St Moses did not sleep much. He would arise before midnight, and usually came to church for Matins. He said that the Bloodless Sacrifice was offered for us at Liturgy, and so the monk should sacrifice his own rest at Matins.

During Fr Moses' time the monastery published sixteen volumes of patristic writings under the direction of St Macarius (September 7). St Moses would send these books free of charge to various monasteries and individuals for their spiritual benefit.

Although St Moses concerned himself with every aspect of the monastery's life, his greatest achievement was to establish eldership at Optina. He received St Leonid (October 11) and St Macarius into the monastery, yet he submitted his will to them. He made no decisions, and would not tonsure any monk without first seeking their counsel. St Moses had the gift of eldership himself, but preferred not to offer spiritual counsel to the brethren. He left this to Fr Leonid or Fr Macarius.

The saint endeavored to hide his spiritual gifts from others, but people knew that he was clairvoyant, and that his holy prayers were answered by God. Whenever anyone praised him for anything, he would smile and say, "I do not agree with you. I have my doubts."

On June 15, 1862 Father Archimandrite Moses became very weak, and had to be supported by others when he received Holy Communion because he did not wish to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ while lying down. That evening he listened as the Gospel according to St John was being read for him. At midnight he received Holy Communion again, although this time he received lying down.

A few hours later, St Moses raised his right hand and those in the room came to receive his blessing. He continued to bless, even when there was no one there. Evidently, he was blessing people he knew in other places. Later the monastery received a letter from a person in St Petersburg who said that he had seen St Moses in a dream at the very hour when he was dying and blessing those who were absent. He seemed to see the Elder lying on a bed and blessing each individual member of this person's family.

Then it was decided to resume reading the Gospel over Fr Moses. The monks took turns reading until about ten o'clock when the Elder breathed a little sigh and surrendered his soul to God. At that very moment, the monk who was reading reached the end of the sixtenth chapter of the Gospel of St Matthew: "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Truly I say unto you, there are some standing here who shall not taste of death until they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom." (Matthew 16:27-28).

Early in his life, when he visited the Sarov monastery and saw the life of the monks there, he resolved not to possess anything during his life. Ironically, he was forced to deal with raising money for building projects, and with paying the workers at Optina. After his death the money coffer in which he kept the monastery funds was opened. Inside they found a single ten kopek coin stuck between the bottom and side of the chest. His brother St Anthony remarked, "Fr Moses probably did not notice it, otherwise he would have spent it."
Several years after his death, the holy relics of St Moses were found incorrupt.
The Moscow Patriarchate authorized local veneration of the Optina Elders on June 13,1996. The work of uncovering the relics of Sts Leonid, Macarius, Hilarion, Ambrose, Anatole I, Barsanuphius and Anatole II began on June 24/July 7, 1998 and was concluded the next day. However, because of the church Feasts (Nativity of St John the Baptist, etc.) associated with the actual dates of the uncovering of the relics, Patriarch Alexey II designated June 27/July 10 as the date for commemorating this event. The relics of the holy Elders now rest in the new church of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God.
The Optina Elders were glorified by the Moscow Patriarchate for universal veneration on August 7, 2000.


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 136

On the rivers of Babylon the Hebrews wept: but let us weep over our sins.

Let us cry out humbly to the Virgin and Mother: let us offer her our plaints and our sighs.

There is no propitiation to be found without her: nor salvation apart from her fruit.

By her, sins are purged away: and by her fruit, souls are made white.

By her is made satisfaction for sins; by her fruit health is bestowed.


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 heavenonly saints are allowed into heaven. The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.
There are over 10,000 named saints beati  from history
 and Roman Martyology Orthodox sources

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

Widowed Saints  html
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  UniateChalcedon

Mary the Mother of Jesus Miracles_BLay Saints  Miraculous_IconMiraculous_Medal_Novena Patron Saints
Miracles by Century 100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000    1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800  1900 2000
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The great psalm of the Passion, Chapter 22, whose first verse “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Jesus pronounced on the cross, ended with the vision: “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations shall worship before him
For kingship belongs to the LORD, the ruler over the nations. All who sleep in the earth will bow low before God; All who have gone down into the dust will kneel in homage. And I will live for the LORD; my descendants will serve you. The generation to come will be told of the Lord, that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn the deliverance you have brought.
Pope Benedict XVI to The Catholic Church In China {whole article here} 2000 years of the Catholic Church in China
The saints “a cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.

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

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

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

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

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

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

To Save A Life is Earthly; Saving A Soul is Eternal Donation by mail, please send check or money order to:
Eternal Word Television Network 5817 Old Leeds Rd. Irondale, AL 35210  USA
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Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey  Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament
Colombia was among the countries Mother Angelica visited. 
In Bogotá, a Salesian priest - Father Juan Pablo Rodriguez - brought Mother and the nuns to the Sanctuary of the Divine Infant Jesus to attend Mass.  After Mass, Father Juan Pablo took them into a small Shrine which housed the miraculous statue of the Child Jesus. Mother Angelica stood praying at the side of the statue when suddenly the miraculous image came alive and turned towards her.  Then the Child Jesus spoke with the voice of a young boy:  “Build Me a Temple and I will help those who help you.” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

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


God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MIRACLES
– Blessed Alfonso Maria Fusco, diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. John the Baptist (1839-1910);
– Venerable Servant of God John Sullivan, professed priest of the Society of Jesus (1861-1933);
MARTYRDOM
– Servants of God Nikolle Vinçenc Prennushi, O.F.M., archbishop of Durres, Albania, and 37 companions killed between 1945 and 1974;
– Servants of God José Antón Gómez and three companions of the Benedictines of Madrid, Spain, killed 1936;
HEROIC VIRTUES
– Servant of God Thomas Choe Yang-Eop, diocesan priest (1821-1861);
– Servant of God Sosio Del Prete (né Vincenzo), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Congregation of the Little Servants of Christ the King (1885-1952);
– Servant of God Wenanty Katarzyniec (né Jósef), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (1889-1921);
– Servant of God Maria Consiglia of the Holy Spirity (née Emilia Pasqualina Addatis), founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Addolorata, Servants of Mary (1845-1900);
– Servant of God Maria of the Incarnation (née Caterina Carrasco Tenorio), founder of the Congregation of the Franciscan Tertiary Sisters of the Flock of Mary (1840-1917);
– Servant of God , founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Family of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1851-1923);
– Servant of God Ilia Corsaro, founder of the Congregation of the Little Missionaries of the Eucharist (1897-1977);
– Servant of God Maria Montserrat Grases García, layperson of the Personal Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei (1941-1959).
LINKS:
Marian Apparitions (over 2000)  India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes Feb 11- July 16, Loreto, Italy 1858 
China
Marian shrines
May 23, 1995 Zarvintisya Ukraine Lourdes Kenya national Marian shrine    Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798  
Links to Related
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Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  Uniates, PSALTER  BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 136 2020