Inauguration of the New St. Mark Cathedral in the Monastery of Anba Rowais. {Coptic}
On this day, of the year 1684 A.M., that coincided with Tuesday the 25th of June, 1968 A.D., and in the tenth year of the papacy of Pope Kyrillos the Sixth, 116th Pope of Alexandria, the holy church celebrates the inauguration of the new St. Mark Cathedral in Dair El-Anba Rowais, which was known also as Dair El-Khandaq.
For this occasion and for the return of the relics of St. Mark the Apostle from Rome, after being in the city of Venice in Italy for eleven centuries, i.e. since the ninth century, a great religious celebration was organized. The celebration was headed by H.H. Pope Kyrillos the Sixth and was attended by President Gamal Abdel Naser, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Emperor Haile Selassie the First, Emperor of Ethiopia, and many of the heads of different religions and representatives of churches from all around the world. Among those religious leaders was Mari Ignatius Yacoub the Third, the Antiochian Patriarch for the Syrian Orthodox.
Many momentous speeches, were delivered in different languages for this occasion. The speakers were, Pope Kyrillos the Sixth, the Patriarch of the Syrian Orthodox, Cardinal Doval, the head of the Roman Papal delegation, the Catholicos Patriarch of Ethiopia, the secretary general of the World Council of Churches, and the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia. They all expressed their joy on this happy and blessed day, saluting the church of Alexandria, which had a glorious history, with salutation of appreciation and respect.
At the end of the speeches the Pope along with the President of Egypt and the Emperor of Ethiopia went to the entrance of the new Cathedral. They unveiled the curtains from the commemorative plaque that was prepared to perpetuate this historical day.
This celebration was attended by the journalists, the international news agencies' reporters, radio, television and more than six thousand Egyptians and foreigners.

May the blessings of St. Mark be with us all. Amen.

65 Departure of St. Damianos, 35th Pope of Alexandria. {Coptic}
On this day also, of the year 321 A.M. (June 25th, 65 A.D.) St. Damianos, 35th Pope of Alexandria, departed. He became a monk in his early years in the desert of Scete. He continued to fight and to devote himself to God for sixteen years. He was ordained a deacon in the monastery of St. John the Short. Then he went to the monastery of the fathers which is to the west of Alexandria, and there he increased his asceticism.
When Pope Peter (34) was enthroned on the See of St. Mark, he brought and appointed Damianos a private secretary. Damianos pursued a good course of life and everyone loved him. When Pope Peter departed, the bishop unanimously agreed to ordain him a patriarch. He was enthroned a patriarch on the second of Abib 285 A.M. (June 26th, 569 A.D.). He cared for his flock well and he wrote many epistles and discourses.
In the wilderness of Scete, there were some followers of Melitius El-Assyuty, who drank wine a few times during the night before they intended to partake of the Holy Communion. They claimed that the Lord Christ gave to His disciples two cups: the first He did not say, "This is My Blood" but when he gave them the second cup he said, "This is My Blood." St. Damianos showed them their error. He clarified to them that the first cup was the cup of the Jewish passover, and He nullified it with the second cup. He also told them that the canons of the church ban those that eat before communion from partaking of the Holy Eucharist. Some of them turned from their evil, but those that did not turn from their evil council were driven out of the wilderness.
When Anba Theophanius, the Antiochian Patriarch departed, they ordained a successor to him called Peter, who sent a letter to Pope Damianos which said, "There is no need for us to say that God is the three Persons." When Pope Damianos read this letter he became enkindled with zeal. He wrote him a letter which explained that God is, in no doubt, one in His Godhead, one in essence, but He is Three persons, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, One God. He wrote to him many testimonies from the Holy Scriptures and from the sayings of the holy fathers. Nevertheless, Peter refused to return to the truth, and insisted on his error. Pope Damianos ordered that his name not be mentioned in the Divine Liturgy for twenty years until the heretic died.
Pope Damianos remained for thirty five years, eleven month, and sixteen days, teaching and preaching to his flock. He departed at a good old age. May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.

2nd v. Sosipater (Sopater) son of Pyrrhus, kinsman of Saint Paul, and Christian of Beroea, accompanied Saint Paul on his journey from Greece to Jerusalem (Acts 20:4) (RM)
Apud Berœam natális sancti Sosípatris, qui fuit discípulus beáti Pauli Apóstoli.
At Beraea, the birthday of St. Sosipater, disciple of the blessed apostle Paul.
2nd century. Sopater, son of Pyrrhus, kinsman of Saint Paul, and Christian of Beroea, accompanied Saint Paul on his journey from Greece to Jerusalem (Acts 20:4). Many scholars believe that he is the Sosipater whom Paul calls a compatriot and includes his greetings to the Romans from Corinth (Romans 16:21). According to tradition, he later went to Corfu (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).

304 Febronia of Nisibis nun of extraordinary beauty VM (RM)
Febronia invented at end of the sixth or the beginning of the seventh century, No trace of such a martyr exists before that period

Sibápoli, in Mesopotámia, sanctæ Febróniæ, Vírginis et Mártyris; quæ, in persecutióne Diocletiáni, sub Siléno Júdice, ob fidem et pudicítiam servándam, primo virgis cæsa et equúleo torta, deínde pectínibus laniáta atque igne succénsa, demum, excússis déntibus ac mammis pedibúsque abscíssis, cápitis damnáta, tot passiónum ornáta monílibus migrávit ad Sponsum.
At Sibapolis in Syria, under the governor Silenus, in the persecution of Diocletian, St. Febronia, virgin and martyr. She was scourged and racked for defending her faith and her chastity, then torn with iron combs and exposed to fire. Finally her teeth were broken out, her breasts and feet cut away, and she was condemned to capital punishment, going to her Spouse adorned with sufferings as with so many jewels.

Febronia Orthodoxe und Katholische Kirche: 25. Juni

ST FEBRONIA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR (A.D. 304?)
IT must be frankly admitted that the virgin martyr St Febronia is in all probability a purely fictitious personage, but she is venerated by all the churches of the East, including that of Ethiopia, and in the West by such towns as Trani, in Apulia, and Patti, in Sicily. which claim to possess some of her relics. She is supposed to have suffered at Nisibis in Mesopotamia, somewhere about the year 304, in the persecution under Diocletian. No genuine records of her life and passion are available, but the legend attributed to her survives in the form of an attractive romance purporting to have been written by Thomaîs, a nun of her convent, who is said to have witnessed the events she describes. Only a mere outline of the story can be given here. Febronia, as a child of two, was placed by her parents under the charge of her aunt, Bryene, who ruled a convent of nuns at Nisibis. There she grew up, lovely in body and in soul, in ignorance of the outside world, and intent only upon adorning herself with virtues to fit her for her heavenly Bridegroom. Bryene took great pains with her education, and, in order to guard her against the temptations likely to assail her, she allowed her niece food only every other day and made her sleep upon a narrow plank of wood. So well did Febronia profit by the instruction she received that when she was eighteen she was set to read and expound the Holy Scriptures to the nuns every Friday. Great ladies from the town also attended these readings, but Bryene veiled her from their sight lest their attention should be distracted by Febronia's amazing beauty and also because the girl had never seen anyone but her fellow nuns.
The peaceful life of the convent was brought to a sudden termination by the
outbreak of persecution. At Nisibis the cruel edicts of Diocletian were enforced with great ferocity by the prefect Selenus. The clergy, together with their bishop, took refuge in flight and their example was followed by all the nuns with the exception of Bryene, of Febronia, who was recovering from a serious illness, and of Thomais. When the prefect's officials came to search the convent, they did not trouble to arrest the two old women, but they carried off Febronia.
The following day she was brought up for trial and Selenus told his nephew, Lysimachus, to cross-examine her. This the young man proceeded to do courteously and somewhat diffidently, for he was the son of a Christian mother and all his sympathies were with the prisoner. Selenus interrupted him impatiently and prompted perhaps by a touch of malice, he offered to give Febronia liberty and wealth if she would renounce her religion and consent to marry Lysimachus. She replied that she had treasure in Heaven-not made with hands: that she was already espoused to an immortal Bridegroom, and possessed a dowry which was the kingdom of Heaven. Infuriated by her reply, Selenus ordered her to be stripped, to be fastened to four posts over a slow fire, and to be scourged. Seventeen of her teeth were then pulled out and her breasts were cut off-regardless of the indignant protests of the crowd that filled the court-house. As the martyr survived all these tortures her limbs were lopped off and she was finally despatched by blows from an axe. Retribution promptly overtook Selenus: in a sudden fit of madness he struck his head against a marble pillar and fell down, dead. By order of Lysimachus, Febronia's remains were then reverently gathered up and she was given a magnificent funeral. Her martyrdom led immense numbers of pagans to seek baptism, amongst them Lysimachus, who became a monk in the days of the Emperor Constantine.

This story, as stated above, had an immense diffusion. It is to be found not only in Syriac, Greek and Latin, but also in Armenian, Georgian, and other tongues. In an important article in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xlii (1924), pp. 69-76, J. Simon has shown that the original was almost certainly Syriac. He conjectures that the people of Nisibis, in opposition to the monophysites, were anxious to show that they had ancient martyrs who formed part of the old orthodox Byzantine tradition; and so they, at the end of the sixth or the beginning of the seventh century, invented Febronia. No trace of such a martyr exists before that period. The Greek and Latin texts of the story will be found in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. vii; the Syriac is printed by Bedjan, Acta Martyrum et Sanctorum vol. v, pp. 573-615.

The Virgin Martyr Febronia suffered during the reign of Diocletian (284-305). She was raised at a monastery in the city of Sivapolis (Assyria). The head of the women's monastery was the abbess Bryaena, the aunt of St Febronia. Being concerned about her niece's salvation, she assigned her a stricter form of life than the other nuns. According to their monastic rule, on Fridays the sisters put aside their other duties and spent the whole day in prayer and the reading of Holy Scripture. The abbess usually assigned the reading to St Febronia. News of her pious life spread throughout the city. The illustrious young widow Hieria, a pagan, began to visit her, and under the influence of her guidance and prayer she accepted holy Baptism, bringing her parents and kinsfolk to the Christian Faith. Diocletian sent a detachment of soldiers to Assyria under the command of Lysimachus, Selinus and Primus for the destruction of Christians. Selenos, the uncle of Lysimachus, was noted for his fierce attitude against Christians, but Lysimachus was of a different frame of mind from him, since his mother had sought to inspire love for the Christian faith in her son, and she had died a Christian. Lysimachus had discussed with his kinsman Primus how it would be possible to deliver Christians from the hands of the torturer. When the detachment of soldiers approached the convent, its inhabitants hid. There remained only the abbess Bryaena, her helper Thomais and St Febronia, who was seriously ill at the time.
It grieved the abbess terribly that her niece might fall into the hands of the torturers, who might defile her. She prayed fervently that the Lord would preserve her and strengthen her in the confession of Christ the Savior. Selinus gave orders to bring him all the nuns of the convent. Primus with the detachment of soldiers found no one, except the two old women and St Febronia. He regretted that they had not hidden, and he suggested to the nuns that they flee. But the nuns decided not to leave the place of their labors and they entrusted themselves to the will of the Lord. Primus told Lysimachus about the particular beauty of St Febronia and advised him to take her for himself. Lysimachus said that he would not seduce a virgin dedicated to God, and he asked Primus to hide the other nuns somewhere so that they would not fall into the hands of Selinus. One of the soldiers overheard the conversation and told Selinus. They led St Febronia off to the military commander with her hands bound and a chain around her neck. Selinus urged her to deny Christ, promising her honors, rewards, and marriage with Lysimachus. The holy virgin firmly and fearlessly answered that she had an Immortal Bridegroom, and she would not exchange Him for any mortal man. Selinus subjected her to fierce torture. The saint prayed, "My Savior, do not abandon me in this terrible hour!"

They beat the martyr for a long time, and blood flowed from her wounds. In order to intensify the suffering of St Febronia, they tied her to a tree and set a fire under it. The tortures were so inhuman, that the people began to demand an end to the torture, since there was no confession of guilt by the girl. Selinus continued to mock and jeer at the martyr, but St Febronia became silent. Because of weakness she was unable to utter a word. In a rage Selinus gave orders to tear out her tongue, smash her teeth, and finally, to cut off both hands and feet. The people were unable to bear such a horrid spectacle and they left the scene of the torture, cursing Diocletian and his gods. Among the crowd was the nun Thomais, who afterwards recorded St Febronia's martyrdom in detail, and also her student Hieria. She came forth out of the crowd and in the hearing of all reproached Selinus for his boundless cruelty. He gave orders to arrest her, but learning that Hieria was of illustrious standing whom he could not readily subject to torture, he said, "By your speech you have brought on Febronia even greater torment." Finally, they beheaded the holy Martyr Febronia.
Departing the place of execution, Lysimachus wept and withdrew to his quarters. Selinus made ready to eat, but he was not able to take food, and went off to the quiet of his own chambers. Suddenly, he became like one deranged. Looking up to the heavens, he raved and bellowed like a bull, then fell down and struck his head on a marble column and died. When Lysimachus learned of this, he said, " Great is the God of the Christians, Who has avenged Febronia's blood, so unrighteously shed!" He prepared a coffin, placed the martyr's body in it, and took it to the convent. Abbess Bryaena fell senseless, seeing the mutilated remains of St Febronia. Later, she recovered her senses and gave orders to open the convent gates so that all would be able to come and venerate the holy martyr and glorify God Who had given her such endurance in suffering for Christ. Lysimachus and Primus renounced their idol worship and accepted both Baptism and monasticism. Hieria gave her wealth to the convent and petitioned Abbess Bryaena to accept her at the convent in place of St Febronia.
Every year, on the day of the martyric death of St Febronia, a solemn feast was celebrated at the convent . During the time of the all-night Vigil the nuns always saw St Febronia, at her usual place in church. From the relics of St Febronia occurred numerous miracles and healings. The Life of St Febronia was recorded by the nun Thomais, an eyewitness to her deeds.
In the year 363 the relics of St Febronia were transferred to Constantinople.

Soon after the death of St Febronia, St James the Bishop of Nisibis (January 13) built a church and transferred into it a portion of the of the holy martyr's relics.

Our Holy Mother, the Martyr Fevronia (June 25) SerbianOrthodoxChurch.net
She was the daughter of Prosphorus, a Roman senator. In order to escape marriage with a mortal man, she betrothed herself to Christ and became a nun in the East, in Assyria, in a monastery where her aunt, Bryaena, was abbess. Lysimachus, a nobleman's son, was desirous of entering into marriage with Fevronia, but the Emperor Diocletian, suspecting him of being a secret Christian, sent him to the East with his uncle, Silenus, to seize and kill the Christians. Silenus was as ferocious as a wild beast and mercilessly exterminated the Christians wherever he could. Lysimachus, on the contrary, protected the Christians whenever possible and hid them from his bestial uncle. Having emptied Palmyra of Christians, Silenus came to the city of Nisibis, close to which there was the monastery of fifty ascetic virgins in which Fevronia was a nun. Although she was barely twenty years old, Fevronia was held in respect both in the monastery and in the city for her meekness, wisdom and restraint. The monastery followed the rule of a former abbess, Blessed Platonida, and every Friday the nuns would spend their time in prayer and reading sacred books, with no other work. Bryaena had appointed Fevronia to read to the other sisters while standing behind a curtain, so that no-one would be distracted or captivated by the beauty of her face. When Silenus heard about Fevronia, he ordered that she be brought before him. When the holy maiden refused to renounce Christ and enter into marriage with a mortal man, he ordered them to whip her and then cut off her hands, breasts and feet and finally to slay her with the sword. But a fearful divine punishment came upon her tormentor that very day. n demon entered into him, and a fearful terror took hold of him. In his terror, he struck his head on a marble pillar and fell down dead. Lysimachus ordered that Fevronia's body be gathered together and brought to the monastery for solemn burial, and he, together with many of the soldiers, was baptised. Many healings were wrought through Fevronia's holy relics, and she herself appeared on the day of her Feast, standing in her usual place among the sisters. They beheld her with both fear and joy. St Fevronia suffered and went to eternal blessedness in the year 310, and her relics were translated to Constantinople in 363.

Febronia Orthodoxe und Katholische Kirche: 25. Juni

Febronia war Nonne in einem Frauenkloster in Nisibis (Nusaybin) und in der Stadt wegen ihrer Frömmigkeit bekannt. Der Präfekt Lysimachus und der Richter Selenus wurden von Kaiser Diokletian beauftragt, die Christen hinzurichten. Die Nonnen des Klosters konnten fliehen, nur die Äbtissin und Febronia, die krank war, blieben zurück. Febronia wurde gefoltert und, da sie standhaft blieb, enthauptet. Sie starb um 305. Schon kurz nach ihrem Tod ereigneten sich Wunder an ihrem Grab. Ihr Leben wurde von einer Nonne aus dem Kloster aufgezeichnet, Bischof Jakobus (Gedenktag 13.01. - gestorben 350) errichtete eine Kirche zu ihren Ehren. Reliquien kamen 363 nach Konstantinopel.
Saint Febronia is the heroine of a ghastly tale that relates that she was a nun of extraordinary beauty at Nisibis in Mesopotamia (not at Sybapolis in Syria). During Diocletian's persecution the prefect Selenus offered her freedom if she would renounce her religion and marry his nephew Lysimachus, a young man suspected of inclining towards Christianity. When Febronia refused she was tortured, mutilated, and battered to death; whereupon Selenus went mad and killed himself.
Lysimachus and many of the spectators were converted and baptized. This story, which gained immense popularity, is not heard of before the 7th century and there is nothing to suggest that Febronia was more than a fictional character (Attwater, Benedictines). In art, Saint Febronia holds the palm and shears with which her breasts were cut off. At times there may be a crown and sword (Roeder).

362 Saint Gallicanus of Ostia high officer in the army of Constantine and consul at Rome (RM)

fabricated at a late date, not before the seventh century his reputed "acts" are spurious;
they are a late compilation and abound with anachronisms and inaccuracies.

Alexandríæ sancti Gallicáni Mártyris, viri Consuláris, qui, sublimátus ínfulis triumphálibus et Constantíno Augústo carus, a sanctis Joánne et Paulo ad Christi fidem convérsus est; eáque suscépta, cum sancto Hilaríno secéssit ad Ostia Tiberína, atque ibi hospitalitáti et infirmórum servítio totum se dedit. Cujus rei fama in toto Orbe divulgáta, multi úndique illuc veniéntes vidébant virum ex Patrício et Cónsule laváre páuperum pedes, pónere mensam, aquam mánibus effúndere, languéntibus sollícite ministráre et cétera pietátis offícia exhibére. Ipse póstmodum, sub Juliána Apóstata, inde expúlsus, Alexandríam perréxit; ibíque, cum a Rauciáno Júdice sacrificáre cogerétur et contémneret, ideo, percússus gládio, Christi Martyr efféctus est.
At Alexandria, St. Gallicanus, exconsul and martyr who had been honoured with a triumph, and was held in affection by the emperor Constantine. Converted by Saints John and Paul, he withdrew to Ostia with St. Hilarinus, and consecrated himself entirely to the duties of hospitality and to the service of the sick. The report of such an event spread throughout the whole world, and from all sides many people came to see a man who had been a senator and consul now washing the feet of the poor, preparing their table, serving them, carefully waiting on the infirm, and exercising other works of mercy. Driven from this place by Julian the Apostate, he repaired to Alexandria, where, for refusing to sacrifice to idols, at the command of the judge Raucian, he was put to the sword, and thus became a martyr of Christ.
ST GALLICANUS (A.D. 352?)
THERE was a Gallicanus who was an illustrious Roman patrician, and possibly a great benefactor to the Church, in the fourth century. He was not, however, a martyr, as is asserted in the Roman Martyrology. In all probability he was the Gallicanus who was consul with Symmachus in 330. A record has been preserved in the Liber Pontificalis of the generosity of Gallicanus to the church of SS. Peter, Paul and John the Baptist, which Constantine had built at Ostia. Amongst his donations were a silver crown with dolphins, weighing twenty pounds, and a silver cup or chalice with bas-reliefs, weighing fifteen pounds. He also endowed the church with four landed estates. This is all that is actually recorded of the patrician of that name. Despite the abnormally long notice accorded to him in the Roman Martyrology, his reputed "acts" are spurious; they are a late compilation and abound with anachronisms and inaccuracies. According to them Gallicanus was a great general who, in the days of Constantine, routed first the Persians and then the Scythians, in two victorious campaigns. Whilst he was engaged in the second expedition, he was converted to Christianity by the brothers SS. John and Paul.
Retiring from Rome, Gallicanus settled down at Ostia. He built a church, liberated his slaves, and enlarged his house to make it a hospice for pilgrims. In all his good works he was assisted by a companion named Hilarinus. "His fame", we read, "spread throughout the world, and men came from the east and from the west to see the ex-patrician and ex-consul, the friend of the emperor, washing the feet of pilgrims, laying the table, pouring water on their hands, ministering to the infirm, and generally giving an example of sublime virtue." These activities are supposed to have been brought to an end by Julian the Apostate, who commanded Gallicanus to sacrifice to the gods or to go into exile. The saint chose banishment, and withdrew to Egypt, where he joined a group of hermits. Persecution, however, followed him even into the desert, and he was beheaded, while his friend Hilarinus was scourged to death.

The whole of this story must have been fabricated at a late date, not before the seventh century. Mgr Duchesne (Liber Pontificalis, vol. i, p. 199) has shown that the Acts of Gallicanus were in all probability evolved out of a misinterpretation of what is recorded in the account of St Silvester regarding the donations to the churches made at that time. In reality, the generous benefactor who here figures as Gallicanus was an entirely different historical personage, viz. St Pammachius (August 30), and the hospice for pilgrims mentioned above is an idea borrowed from the xenodochium which Pammachius organized, not in Ostia, but at Perto What lends point to this interpretation is the fact that the story of Gallicanus is bound up with that of the martyrs SS. John and Paul, whose church in Rome on the Coelian Hill was known as the titulus Pammachii. The gift of the four landed estates is also borrowed from the Liber Pontificalis, which mentions such an endowment immediately before the name of Gallicanus occurs, connecting it with the basilica built at Ostia, but the donor was in this case not Gallicanus, but the Emperor Constantine. The legend of Gallicanus. which really forms part of the Acts of SS. John and Paul, is printed by the Bollandists in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. vii. See also J. P. Kirsch, Die römischen Titelkirchen im Altertum (1918), pp. 156-158; and H. Quentin, Les Martyrologes historiques, pp. 431 and 533.

Gallicanus is described as a high officer in the army of Constantine and consul at Rome. In 330, he retired to Ostia, where he founded a hospital and ministered to the sick. The Roman Martyrology makes him a martyr at Alexandria under Julian the Apostate; but both his banishment to Alexandria and his martyrdom are questioned by historians (Benedictines). Saint Gallicanus is depicted in art as a Roman patrician washing the feet of the poor. He is venerated at Longchamps near Paris (Roeder) .

434 Saint Solomon of Brittany husband of Saint Gwen and father of Saints Cuby and Cadfan M (AC)
Born in Cornwall; King Solomon of Brittany was the husband of Saint Gwen and father of Saints Cuby and Cadfan. He was murdered by heathen malcontents among his subjects (Benedictines, Encyclopedia) .

463 Saint Prosper of Aquitaine study of theological questions wrote poetry and treatises, notably his Chronicle, a universal history from creation to the Vandal capture of Rome in 455 (RM)

Prosper von Aquitanien Katholische und Evangelische Kirche: 25. Juni

ST PROSPER OF AQUITAINE (c. A.D. 465)
ST PROSPER of Aquitaine, whose feast is kept at Tarbes as The Aquitainian Doctor, is well known in his writings but little known in his life, though there are several ancient references to him as "learned and holy" and the like. He was neither bishop nor priest (the Roman Martyrology calls him bishop of Reggio by confusion with another Prosper: see below); he seems always to have been a layman, possibly married-a point not settled by the disputed attribution to him of a Poem from a Husband to his Wife, expressive of trust in God whatever befalls.
Prosper went from Aquitaine into Provence, and from Marseilles in 428 wrote, at the instance of his friend Hilary, to St Augustine at Hippo. The matters raised drew from St Augustine his treatises Concerning Predestination and Concerning the Gift of Perseverance, and Prosper thus became involved in the semi-Pelagian controversy, opposing St John Cassian and perhaps St Vincent of Lérins. Prosper and Hilary went to Rome, and returned with a letter from Pope St Celestine I to the bishops of Gaul, praising the zeal of the bearers and calling for peace. But the disputes continued. Prosper eventually went again to Rome, where he is said to have been secretary to Pope St Leo the Great. He died there some time after 463.
The writings of Prosper of Aquitaine, whether in verse or prose, are mostly concerned with the controversy about grace and free will in defence of St Augustine's doctrine. His longest poem is a dogmatic treatise of 1002 hexameters, "A Song about the Graceless"; but the most widely known of his works is his Chronicle, from the Creation to the capture of Rome by the Vandals in A.D. 455.

L. Valentin, St Prosper d'Aquitaine (1900); G. Bardy in DTC.; H. W. Phillott in DCB. Cf. also note to St Prosper of Reggio, below. An English translation of his treatise on Divine Grace and Free Will, against Cassian, was published in New York in 1950.

Born in Aquitaine, France, c. 390; died in Rome, Italy, c. 463. Saint Prosper was probably a layman who may have been married. He left Aquitaine for Provence and settled at Marseilles. Prosper devoted his fine intellect to the study of theological questions. He wrote to Saint Augustine in 428, and in response, Augustine wrote his treatises on perseverance and predestination.
Prosper opposed the semi-Pelagianism of Saint John Cassian (which is why he has never been canonized in the West), accompanied his friend Hilary, who had asked him to write to Augustine, on a trip to visit Pope Saint Celestine I in Rome. He is said to have become a secretary to Pope Saint Leo the Great in Rome, where Prosper died. He wrote poetry and treatises, notably his Chronicle, a universal history from creation to the Vandal capture of Rome in 455. Saint Prosper was a prolific writer and a powerful controversialist (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).

Prosper von Aquitanien Katholische und Evangelische Kirche: 25. Juni

Prosper wurde um 390 in der gallischen Provinz Aquitanien geboren. In Marseille führte er ein mönchisches Leben nach dem Vorbild des Paulinus von Nola. Er studierte die Schriften Augustins und betonte mit ihm, daß der Mensch allein durch Gottes Gnade erwählt werde. Viele Geistliche vertraten dagegen die Auffassung, der Mensch müsse an der Erlangung des Heils mitwirken. Prosper wurde Sekretär Leo des Großen und bekämpfte auch hier diese Lehre, die schließlich als Pelagianismus verworfen wurde. Er starb an einem 25.6. nach 455 (um 463?) .

466 Saint Prosper of Reggio renown for his charity B (RM)
ST PROSPER, BISHOP OF REGGIO (A.D. 466?)
THERE is evidence that from the ninth century St Prosper, known as bishop of Reggio (not the Reggio in Calabria), has been much venerated in the Italian province of the Emilia. He appears to have flourished in the fifth century, but history can tell us little that is definite about him. An unreliable tradition asserts that he distributed all his goods to the poor in order to fulfil our Lord's precept to the rich young man, and that he died on June 25, 466, in the midst of his priests and deacons after a beneficent episcopate which had lasted twenty-two years. He was buried in the church of St Apollinaris, which he had built and consecrated, outside the walls of Reggio. In the year 703 his relics were translated to a great new church erected in his honour by Thomas, Bishop of Reggio, and he is the principal patron of the city. The Roman Martyrology is here gravely at fault, in that it identifies Prosper of Reggio with Prosper of Aquitaine (above). The two were entirely distinct, and there is no trace of any attempt to identify them earlier than the tenth century.

The whole matter has been convincingly dealt with in an article by Dom Germain Morin, in the Revue Benedictine, vol. xii (1895), pp. 241-257, entitled “St Prosper de Reggio". No serious scholar now defends the identity of these two Prospers, nor did the Bollandists and Tillemont in the eighteenth century. See also J. M. Mercati, in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xv (1896), pp. 161-256; and Lanzoni, Le Diocesi d’Italia, vol. i, pp. 615-618.

Died in Reggio, Emilia, Italy, on June 25, c. 466. Little is known of Saint Prosper, except that he was renown for his charity. Visitors to Reggio Nell'Emilia, Italy, will be surprised to find that the city's patron saint, Bishop Prosper, is commemorated not by the great cathedral but by the little church of San Prospero, which he had built in honor of Saint Apollinaris, tucked away behind the cathedral in the market square.

None of this would have troubled the humble Saint Prosper. He cared so little about his own glory that he built and consecrated this church outside the walls of Reggio, and directed that he should be buried there. But, far from forgetting about him, the people of Reggio claimed them for their own.

When a rich young man asked Jesus, "What have I to do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus replied, "Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven: then come, follow me."

Tradition holds that Prosper, a true follower of Jesus, took His command seriously. He distributed his goods to the poor and died after ruling as bishop of Reggio, Emilia, Italy, for 22 years. His relics were translated in 703 to a new church built in his honor by Thomas, the bishop of Reggio. This Saint Prosper should not be confused with Prosper of Aquitaine (above), his contemporary (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, White) .

470 Saint Maximus of Turin Bishop indefatigable in his preaching B (RM)
ST MAXIMUS, BISHOP OF TURIN (c. A.D. 467)
MUCH of the literary work of St Maximus of Turin survives, but very little is known about its writer. He appears to have been born about the year 380, and, from inferences drawn from some of his writings, it is conjectured that he was a native either of Vercelli or of some place in the province of Rhaetia. He states that in 397 he witnessed the martyrdom of three missionary bishops at Anaunia, in the Rhaetian Alps. The historian Gennadius in the Book of Ecclesiastical Writers, which he compiled towards the end of the fifth century, describes St Maximus, Bishop of Turin, as a profound student of the Bible, a preacher well able to instruct the people, and the author of many books, the titles of some of which he specifies. The notice concludes by saying that St Maximus flourished in the reigns of Honorius and of Theodosius the Younger. As a matter of fact he long survived them. In 451 he attended the synod of Milan, presided over by his metropolitan, St Eusebius, and with the other prelates of northern Italy he signed the letter addressed to Pope St Leo the Great, which declared the assembly's adhesion to the orthodox doctrine of the Incarnation as set forth in his so-called "Dogmatic Epistle". St Maximus was also present at the Council of Rome in 465. His signature on that occasion follows immediately after that of Pope St Hilarus and, as precedence was then regulated by age, it is clear that he must have been a very old man. He is believed to have died shortly afterwards."
A collection made of his reputed writings, as edited by Bruno Bruni in 1784, comprises some 116 sermons, 118 homilies, and six treatises; but this classification is very arbitrary, and of these probably a considerable number should be assigned to other authorship. They are chiefly interesting for the light they throw on curious old customs and on the condition of the people of Lombardy at the time of the Gothic invasions. He mentions the destruction of Milan by Attila in one of his homilies: in another, which treats of the martyrs Octavius, Solutor and Adventus, whose relics were preserved at Turin, he says: “All the martyrs are to be honoured by us, but especially those whose relics we possess: they preserve us as to our bodies in this life and receive us when we depart hence."
In two homilies on thanksgiving he inculcates the duty of daily giving praise to God, and recommends the psalms as being a particularly suitable means to that end. No one, he insists, should ever omit morning and evening prayer, or thanksgiving before and after meals. Maximus exhorts all Christians to make the sign of the cross before every action, “that by the sign of Jesus Christ (devoutly used) a blessing may be insured to us in all things". Dealing in one of his sermons with abuses in connection with New Year's day, he deprecates the practice of giving presents to the well-off at that season without bestowing alms also on the poor, and denounces the hypocritical semblance of friendship in which the heart has no share. Elsewhere he attacks " heretics who sell the pardon of sins", whose pretended priests exacted money for absolving penitents instead of bidding them do penance and weep for their offences.

In the Journal of Theological Studies, vol. xvi, pp. 161-176, and pp. 314-322, as well as in vol. xvii, pp. 225-232, Professor C. H. Turner was inclined to attribute to St Maximus certain Latin pieces, the text of which he there edited; but Dom Capelie, in the Revue Benedictine, vol. xxxiv, pp. 81-108, has shown pretty conclusively that these are the work of the Arian bishop Maximinus. There is a short but good article on St Maximus by E. Amann, in DTC., vol. x, cc. 464-466. See also DCB., vol. iii, pp. 881-882; and Bardenhewer, Geschichte der altkirchlichen Literatur, vol. iv, pp. 610-613. Cf. E. Dekkens, Clavis Patrum Latinorum.

Born in Vercelli, Italy; Bishop Saint Maximus of Turin (Italy) was indefatigable in his preaching. Many of his famous homilies about the primary feasts, several saints (Stephen, Agnes, Cyprian, Laurence, and others, especially the martyrs of Turin), and other associated writings are still available for our study. He writes: "All the martyrs are to be honored by us, but especially those whose relics we possess. They assist us by their prayers; they preserve us as to our bodies in this life, and receive us when we depart hence."

In his two homilies on thanksgiving, he earnestly inculcates the duty of praising God daily, especially using the Psalms. He strongly insists that no one ought ever to neglect morning and evening prayer, or his thanksgiving before and after every meal. This saintly bishop exhorts us to make the sign of the cross before every action, saying, "that by the sign of Jesus Christ (devoutly used) a blessing is ensured to us in all things." The saint criticizes the abuses of New Year's Day, especially the then prevalent custom of giving presents to the rich without at the same time giving alms to the poor, and the hypocritical formalities of friendship in which the heart has no share. He also wrote "Against heretics who sell the pardon of sins," whose pretended priests exacted money for absolving penitents instead of bidding them do penance, and weep for their offenses.

Maximus participated in the council of Milan in 451, and at that of Rome under Pope Saint Hilary, in 465, in which latter he subscribed just after the pope. He had to endure much during his episcopacy because of the barbarian incursions into Italy (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth). In art, Saint Maximus is a bishop with a hind near him (Roeder) .

460 b. Saint Selyf Saint Salom, King of Cerniw holding the post of Chief Military Officer of the British
(Welsh-Selyf, Latin-Solomanus, English-Solomon) Hermit in Cornwall. He is perhaps to be identified with Saint Solomon, who has the same feast day.
King Salom appears to have succeeded his cousin, Mark as King of Cerniw in the early 6th century. Little is known about his reign, though he has been recorded as holding the post of Chief Military Officer of the British. He was a younger son of King Erbin of Dumnonia and married Saint Wenna, the daughter of an Irish Prince who had settled at Caer-Goch near Mynyw (Saint Davids). Their son was the famous Saint Cybi.
Salom seems to have been considered something of a holyman himself, who founded the Church of Lansalos in Cerniw. His memorial may be the Chi-Rho inscribed stone to be seen at Saint Just-in-Penwith recording "Selus lies here". Salom should not, however, be confused with his nephew, Saint Selevan.

467 Saint Maximus of Turin
Bishop of Turin and an outstanding Biblical scholar and preacher. He was born probably in Vercelli, Italy, and became famous before being named to his see. Maximus attended the Synod of Milan in 451 and the Council of Rome in 465. He is revered for his writings. Several hundred sermons and other ascetical treatises and homilies are extant.

475 Saint Tiro Prosper of Aquitaine b. 403
Probably a layman who may have been married, Prosper left Aquitaine for Provence and settled at Marseilles. He wrote to Saint Augustine in 428, and in response, Augustine wrote his treatises on perseverance and predestination. It was about this time that, Prosper wrote what was really a short treatise on grace and free will, under the form of a letter to a certain Rufinus, and his great dogmatic poem of over a thousand hexameter lines, "De Ingratis", on the semi-Pelagians, who were enemies of grace and are represented as reviving the errors of Pelagianism. Prosper opposed the semi-Pelagianism of Saint John Cassian, accompanied his friend Hilary, who had asked him to write to Augustine, on a trip to visit Pope St. Celestine I in Rome, 431,and is said to have become a secretary to Pope St. Leo the Great 440 in Rome, where Prosper died. He wrote poetry and treatises, notably his Chronicle, a universal history from creation to the Vandal capture of Rome in 455.

541 Saint Gallicanus 5th bishop of Embrun France founded hospital spent remainder of his life caring for sick
Nothing else is known. Second Referrence to Saint Gallicanus Ranking officer in the imperial army of Constantine. Roman consul. In 330 he retired from his military and political duties, moving to Ostia where he founded a hospital and spent the remainder of his life caring for the sick. In earlier times times he was described as being exiled to Alexandria, and martyred, but this was apparently not the case.
Gallicanus of Embrun B (AC) Died after 541. The fifth bishop of Embrun in France (Benedictines).

572 Saint Moloc Scottish bishop missionary
ST MOLOC, OR LUAN, BISHOP (A.D. 572 ?)
ST MOLOC, Molluog, or Murlach was formerly honoured throughout Scotland, and his widespread cultus may be traced in the numerous place-names of which he is the eponym. Whether he was a native of Britain or of Ireland is still a moot point. However, the notice in the Aberdeen Breviary, to the effect that he was of noble Scottish extraction and a native of Scotland, seems to be borne out by an entry under the date of June 25 in the Félire of Oengus. It runs: “Sinchell's feast, Telle's feast: they were heights of Ireland, with Moluoc pure-fair sun of Lismore of Alba." The name of the saint's father was Lanneon, and his own was originally Lugaidh, but it was modified to Moloc, or Moluanus, in Ireland, where he received his education. He is said to have been trained at Birr, under St Brendan the Elder. At what date he returned to Scotland is not known. Landing in Argyllshire, he evangelized the inhabitants of Lismore in Loch Linnhe, and, after preaching at Tyle-wherever that may be-and visiting islands as far north as the Hebrides, he appears to have devoted the rest of his life to missionary work in Ross and in the province of Mar. He died at Rossmarkie, probably about the year 572, but his relics were translated to Murlach. King Malcolm II attributed his victory over the Danes, near Murlach, to the intercessions of our Lady and of St Murlach. As an act of thanksgiving, he founded in 1010, at Murlach (Mortlach), under their joint patronage, an abbey, a cathedral church and an episcopal see. The bishopric was subsequently transferred to Aberdeen. He was apparently a bishop, and the Duke of Argyll claims to possess the bacul, or crozier, of St Moloc, it having been for generations an heirloom in the family of Livingstone of Lismore. His feast, under the form of his name Luan, is still observed in the diocese of Argyll and the Isles.

It would hardly seem probable that the Moluoc, commemorated in the Félire on this day, June 25, can be identical with the Molua of August 4. Of the latter, we have three recensions of a Latin life. Moreover, in this ease the story printed by Whitley Stokes tells us distinctly that he was “Moluoc of Lismore in Scotland." Consult, in any case, Forbes, KSS., pp. 409-411, where the lesson in the Aberdeen Breviary is quoted at length.

Sometimes called Lugaidh, Molvanus, Molluog, or Murlach. The son of a Scottish noble, he was educated in Ireland under St. Brendan the Elder and evangelized the Hebrides region of Scotland. He died at Rossmarkie, Scotland. His shrine was at Martlach, and he is venerated in Argyll.
Moloc of Mortlach B (AC) (also known as Lua, Luan, Lugaidh, Moloag, Molluog, Molua, Murlach) Born in Scotland; died at Rossmarkie, c. 572. Saint Moluag was educated in the monastery school of Bangor in Ireland and then returned to his native land as a missionary. (Some say that he was actually from Ulster and may have been an O'Neill.) Saint Bernard of Clairvaux in his biography of Saint Malachy tells us that the monk Moluag of Bangor was the founder of 100 monasteries in Scotland. In fact, Moluag ranked alongside Saint Columba as a missionary: While Columba was the apostle to the Gaels; Moluag evangelized the Picts. His main work as a bishop was the evangelization of the Hebrides. Inevitably, legends have grown around his name according to which there was a bitter rivalry between Moluag and Columba, but it appears that they worked among to distinct national groups.
Moluag actually arrived about a year before Columba in Scotland. He was accompanied by Saint Comgall, an Irish Pict, who presented him to King Brude to obtain his authority for the mission. Columba, incidentally, had Comgall perform the same service for him. It is possible that King Brude preferred Moluag to Columba, and that is what led Moluag to concentrate more on the Picts. It would be quite natural that the Pictish king might have some reservations about the Ulster prince Columba, who was a natural leader of the Gaelic people in Scotland. Whatever happened, the two missionaries gradually brought an end to the armed conflict between the two nations.
The blackthorn crozier (Bachuill Mor) of Saint Moluag is in the possession of the Campbells, dukes of Argyle, who traditionally carried it with them into battle. His shrine was at Mortlach. On the island of Lewis, the custom persisted, despite the Scottish reformers' attempts to stop it, until the 19th century of conducting a ritual service of intercession to Moluag at his titular church Teampall Mo Luigh. Although the cultus of Moluag decreased together with the power of the Pictish people he evangelized, there are many memorials to Moluag in the form of ancient churches and placenames. Kilmoluag is a common example. The name "Luke," which is very common among men in Scotland, is reliably stated to be derived from Moluag.
Saint Moluag is invoked against insanity and his intercession sought to heal wounds and to send wooden replicas of the cured limbs (Benedictines, Montague)

7th v. Molonachus of Lismore Saint Brendan became bishop of Lismore in Argyle B (AC)
7th century. Molonachus, a disciple of Saint Brendan, became bishop of Lismore in Argyle (Benedictines).

714 Eurosia (Orosia) of Jaca VM she is venerated patron saint of Jaca diocese (AC)
8th v. ST EUROSIA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR
IN a modem German essay entitled, "An Apocryphal Saint of the Late Middle Ages", its scholarly writer deals exhaustively and convincingly with St Eurosia, and with the devotion of which she became the centre, first at Jaca in Spain, where it originated in the fifteenth century; and afterwards in Lombardy also. Father Delehaye, whose own conclusions coincided with those of the author, reviewing the treatise in the Analecta Bollandiana, says: "Everything is suspect in the origins of this cultus which was propagated in the north of Italy, thanks to the political relations between Spain and Lombardy.... A considerable number of places in the dioceses of Como, Cremona, Pavia and Novara possess chapels, altars, images and relics of St Eurosia, who is honoured as the protector of the fruits of the field." Devotion to the new saint would seem to have been spread by Spanish soldiers, and by the religious congregation of the Somaschi, whose headquarters were in the diocese of Cremona. According to the popular tradition, Eurosia was a noble maiden from the province of Bayonne, who, at some time during the eighth century, refused to marry a Moorish chieftain, and was slain by the Saracens in the cavern to which she had fled for safety. Although relics reputed to be hers are preserved in Jaca cathedral, it is not improbable that Eurosia was an entirely fictitious character. She is invoked against bad weather.

Without going quite so far as to say that Eurosia is a pure myth, Fr Papebroch in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. vii, points out the lack of all early evidence, as well as the contradictions in the legends which were circulated regarding her. The essay above referred to is that of the Swiss E. A. Stückelberg, "Eine apokryphe Heilige des späten Mittelalters", which appeared in the Archiv fur Religionswissenschaft, vol. xvii (1914), pp. 159-164. It would seem that already in the sixteenth century there was an office and Mass in honour of Eurosia, though the celebration was then confined to the town of Jaca alone.

Born in Bayonne; cultus confirmed by Leo XIII in 1902. According to the legend, Eurosia was martyred by the Saracens at Jaca in the Aragonese Pyrenees, close to the French border. Even today she is venerated at the patron saint of the diocese of Jaca, and her cultus has spread throughout southern France and northern Italy. Her existence, however, is doubtful. Some versions of the story make her a native of Bohemia (Benedictines) .

740 Saint Adalbert missionary in Ireland whose tomb became a center for pilgrims miracles after his death
ST ADALBERT OF EGMOND (A.D. 705 OR AFTER 714 ?)
AMONGST the band of missionaries who left the monastery of Rathmelsigi in 690, under the leadership of St Willibrord, to evangelize Friesland, was a deacon named Adalbert. He was a Northumbrian, and had followed 8t Egbert to Ireland in order to obey out' Lord's counsels of perfection. It was that same aspiration, coupled with a great love for souls, which prompted him to volunteer for missionary work amongst the heathen. The messengers of the Gospel were assisted by the protection of Pepin of Herstal, and also by the fact that they found little difficulty in making themselves understood by the Frieslanders, but their personality had much to do with their ultimate success. Adalbert's gentleness, his patience and his humility made a deep impression upon those to whom he brought the Christian faith. The nucleus of his activities was Egmond, and he converted the greater part of its inhabitants. It was perhaps out of humility that Adalbert does not seem to have offered himself for the priesthood. St Willibrord is said, indeed, to have appointed him archdeacon of Utrecht, but an archdeacon in those days was simply a chief deacon, and St Willibrord may well have wished to confer upon him some authority.

St Adalbert died in an unknown year. His tomb afterwards became a place of pilgrimage and the scene of many reported miracles. In the tenth century Duke Theodoric built at Egmond a Benedictine abbey dedicated under the name of this Adalbert, and when in recent times the Benedictines of Solesmes restored monastic life at Egmond the same titular was chosen.

The sources upon which we depend for our knowledge of St Adalbert's life are very unsatisfactory. The Latin biography written about 200 years after his death by Rupert, a monk at Mettlach-it is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. vii-contains little but generalities and the miracles said to have been worked after his death. Another Latin life has been published by C. Pijnacker Hordijk in Bijdragen voor Vaderlandsche Geschiedenis (1900), pp. 145-174, but it is little better than an abridgement of the first. Adalbert's claim to the title of archdeacon has been contested by Holder-Egger and others, but, on the other hand, they are disposed to identify him with the Adalbert who succeeded St Willibrord as abbot of Epternach. This last conjecture is rejected by W. Levison. The date of Adalbert's death is quite uncertain. See also DHG., vol. i, C. 441; and W. Levison, "Wilhelm Procurator von Egmond..." in Neues Archiv, vol. xl (1916), pp. 793-804.

Adalbert was born in Northumbria, England, and was educated at Rathmelgisi Monastery. Accompanying Saint Willibrord and others to Friesland, he gained many converts in an area called Egmont. Adalbert was also a companion of Saint Egbert to Ireland. It is believed that he became Saint Willibrord's successor as the abbot of Epternach. Adalbert's shrine was noted for miracles after his death.
Adalbert of Egmond, OSB (RM) Born in Northumberland, England; Saint Adalbert, a prince by birth, became a monk at Rathmelgisi and accompanied Saint Willibrord as one of his deacons to Friesland. He labored especially around Egmont, of which Benedictine abbey he is the patron (Benedictines). Adalbert is venerated in Friesland. Depicted as a deacon with a crown and scepter at his feet; sometimes in dalmatic, crowned, and holding the scepter (Roeder) .

843 Saint Gohardus Bishop of Nantes, France, martyred by marauding Normans
SS. GOHARD, BISHOP OF NANTES, AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS (A.D. 843)
THE heathen Northmen who raided the coasts of Anglo-Saxon England and of contemporary France seem especially to have singled out for attack religious foundations of all kinds. In so doing they were animated partly by a hatred to the Christian faith, partly by the expectation of securing, without serious opposition, treasure belonging to the communities or entrusted to their care. If they met with disappointment or resistance-sometimes if they met with neither-they would destroy the buildings and massacre all connected with them.
In the year 843 a number of Norman ships appeared at the mouth of the Loire, and were piloted up the river by a traitor named Larabert, who had aspired to the countship of Nantes but had been driven out by the citizens. Great was the alarm felt by the inhabitants when the foreigners reached Nantes. The monks of a neighbouring monastery carried their ecclesiastical treasure into the church of SS. Peter and Paul, where Gohard, the bishop, was actually engaged in celebrating the feast of the Birthday of St John the Baptist. Although the sacred edifice was filled with people who had fled there for safety, the Northmen broke down the doors and the windows. Forcing their way to the altar, they slew St Gohard just as he had reached Sursum corda at the beginning of the preface, and the priests who surrounded him were killed by his side. The monks also were murdered. After setting fire to the church, the barbarians kidnapped the leading citizens, setting a ransom upon their heads. Before they finally retired, they had pillaged the whole city. The body of St Gohard was rescued, and his relics were taken to Angers, his native town.

There is a short Latin life printed in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. vii (in the Appendix, pp. 682-683), but of no great authority. See Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux, vol. iii, p. 369.

Gohardus was celebrating Mass in Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Nantes when the Normans attacked. He was slain as were many priests, monks, and laity when the city was looted and destroyed.
Gohard(us) of Nantes B and Companions MM (AC) When Northmen raided the coasts of Anglo-Saxon England and France, they attacked religious foundations, motivated by distaste for Christianity and greed for the treasure held by the foundations. Massacres of the inhabitants were common.
In 843, a Norman named Lambert, who had wished for the countship of Nantes but had been driven out by the citizens, returned to Nantes on a ship. The monks of a local monastery carried their ecclesiastical treasure to the church of SS. Peter and Paul, where Bishop Gohard was celebrating a feast of Saint John the Baptist.
The church was filled with people who had gathered there in fear of the Normans. The Normans broke down the doors and windows and murdered Gohard and the priests and monks who were present. They burned the church, sacked the city, and kidnapped leading citizens, placing a ransom on their heads.
The body of Gohard was recovered, and his relics were taken to his native town of Angers. He is portrayed in art being beheaded on an altar (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, White) .

874 Saint Solomon (Selyf) III warrior against Franks Norsemen his own rebellious subjects M (AC)
Several centuries after the death of Solomon I of Brittany, this saint was born to be king of Brittany during a brutal time. He was a warrior against the Franks, Norsemen, and his own rebellious subjects, which has made him a hero among the Bretons. During his early years he committed many crimes, but later did penance for them. When he was assassinated, his people immediately acclaimed him a martyr (Benedictines) .

1122 Blessed Burchard of Mallersdorf monk of the Benedictine abbey of Saint Michael at Bamberg, OSB Abbot (AC)
Burchard was a monk of the Benedictine abbey of Saint Michael at Bamberg, Germany, and the first abbot of Mallersdorf in Bavaria (Benedictines) .

1142 Saint William of Vercelli hermit on Monte Vergine founded monasteries through out Naples
In território Guléti, prope Nuscum, sancti Guliélmi Confessóris, Patris Eremitárum Montis Vírginis.
In the territory of Guletto near Nusco, St. William, confessor, founder of the hermits of Monte Vergine.
ST WILLIAM OF VERCELLI, ABBOT OF MONTE VERGINE (A.D. 1142)
THE founder of the religious congregation known as the Hermits of Monte Vergine came of a Piedmontese family and was born at Vercelli in 1085. After the death of his parents, whom he lost in infancy, he was kindly cared for by relations, but at the age of fourteen he abandoned his home and set out as a poor pilgrim for Compostela in Spain. Not satisfied with the hardships such a journey entailed, he had two iron bands fastened round his body. How long William remained in Spain is not recorded. We hear of him next in 1106, when he was at Melfi in the Italian Basilicata, and then at Monte Solicoli, on the slopes of which he remained for two years, leading a penitential life with a hermit. To this period belongs St William's first miracle, the restoration of sight to a blind man. The cure made him famous, and to avoid being acclaimed as a wonder-worker he left the neighbourhood to stay with St John of Matera. They were kindred spirits and became close friends. It was St William's intention to proceed on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and he would not allow himself to be deterred by John's assurance that God had other work for him to do. He actually started, but he had not got far when he was attacked by robbers. He took this as a sign that John was right, and relinquished his journey.
He now betook himself to a height between Nola and Benevento, which was then called Monte Virgiliano-possibly after the great Virgil, who is said to have sojourned there. At first William attempted to live there as a hermit, but he was soon joined by would-be disciples, both priests and laymen. He formed them into a community and from the church which he built in 1124, under the name of our Lady, the mountain has derived its present name of Monte Vergine. The rule he instituted was most austere: no wine, meat or dairy produce was allowed, and on three days of the week only vegetables and dry bread. After the first fervour had cooled, murmurs arose and there was a general demand for relaxation. William had no desire to constrain the malcontents, though for himself any relaxation seemed unthinkable. He therefore chose a prior to rule the community, and then departed with five faithful followers. With St John of Matera, who now joined him, he made a second settlement at Monte Laceno, in Apulia. Here, however, the barrenness of the soil, the exposed position and the high altitude made life a misery to all but the most hardy, and even they could with difficulty hold out through the winter. St John had more than once urged removal, when a fire which destroyed their huts compelled them to descend into the valley. There the two holy men parted: John to go east and found one monastery at Pulsano on Monte Gargano, and William to found another on Monte Cognato in the Basilicata.
When that community was well established St William treated it as he had treated the monastery at Monte Vergine-he gave it a prior and left it to govern itself. At Conza, in Apulia, he founded a monastery for men, and at Guglietto, near Nusco, he established two communities, one of men and the other of women. King Roger II of Naples afterwards drew him to Salerno, in order that he might have the benefit of his counsel and help. St William's beneficent influence over the monarch was, however, resented by some of the courtiers who lost no opportunity of discrediting and decrying him as a hypocrite and a humbug. With the knowledge of the king, they set a trap by sending to him, on some specious excuse, a woman of loose life, charged with the task of luring him to sin. William received her in a room at one end of which a great fire was burning; and as soon as she began to exercise her blandishments he walked away to the fireplace, parted the glowing coals with his bare hands, and then stretched himself down at full length in the space he had cleared, inviting her to lie down with him. Her horror was only exceeded by her amazement, when he presently arose, completely unharmed. The miracle led to her conversion: she gave up her life of sin and took the veil in the convent of Venosa. As for King Roger, he continued to patronize William's foundations, and endowed other houses which he placed under the saint's control.
St William died at Guglietto on June 25, 1142. He left no written constitutions, but a code of regulations bringing the order into conformity with the Benedictine rule was drawn up by the third abbot general, Robert. The only monastery of William's foundation which exists at the present day is that of Monte Vergine. It now belongs to the Benedictine congregation of Subiaco, and has a much venerated picture of our Lady of Constantinople, to which pilgrimages are frequently made.

There is a biography, not devoid of personal touches, which purports to have been written by the saint's disciple, John of Nusco. It is printed from a faulty manuscript in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. vii. A better text, which fills certain lacunae in the earlier copy. was discovered in the present century at Naples and was edited by Dom C. Mercuro in the Rivista Storica Benedettina, vol. i (1906), vol. ii (1907), and vol. iii (1908), in several articles, which include an historical commentary, as well as the document itself. Cf· also P. Lugano, L'Italia Benedettina (1929), pp. 379-439; and E. Capobianco, Sant' Amato da Nusco (1936), pp. 145-164.

William of Vercelli, founder, born 1085 in Vercelli Italy he was brought up as an orphan became a hermit on Monte Vergine, Italy after a pilgrimage to Compostella and attracted so many followers that a monastery was buillt. By 1119 his followers were united in the Benedictine congregation, the Hermits of Monte Vergine (Williamites) which he headed. The austerity of his rule led to dissension among his monks to restore peace he left and was taken under the protection of Roger I of Naples who built a monastery for him in Salerno. He founded monasteries through out Naples, and died at the Guglielmo monastery near Nusco Italy. He is also called William of Monte Vergine.
William of Vercelli (Monte Vergine), Abbot (RM) Born at Vercelli, Italy, 1085; died at Guglietto (near Nusco), Italy, June 25, 1142; feast day formerly celebrated on April 25.
Saint William was born to noble parents. He was orphaned while still an infant and was raised by relatives. When he was 14, William made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella, Spain. William was at Melfi in 1106 and then spent two years as a hermit on Monte Solicoli, where he imposed rigorous penances on himself.
Thereafter he decided to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. His friend, Saint John of Matera tried to dissuade him but William insisted on going. After abandoning a pilgrimage to Jerusalem when attacked by robbers, he became a hermit on Monte Virgiliano (Vergine) between Nola and Benevento and attracted so many disciples that he organized them into a community that by 1119 became known as the Hermits of Monte Vergine (in honor of the Blessed Virgin), and he built a monastery. Under his Rule, based on that of Saint Benedict, the monks led a life of extreme austerity, with special emphasis on fasting and manual labor.
When objections arose against the strictness of his rule based on that of Saint Benedict, he and his friend Saint John of Matera with five followers founded a community on Monte Laceno in Apulia, one of the most inhospitable places in the region. The soil was so poor that almost nothing could grow in it and in winter the weather was so bitter that the monks, who were living in wooden huts, could barely survive. William was urged to move to a more sheltered location, but refused. When fire destroyed their hermitages, William moved to Monte Cognato in the Basilicata. Again he left and founded monasteries at Conza, Guglietto, and Salerno opposite the palace where he became advisor to King Roger I of Naples. He died at Guglietto, while visiting the nuns of San Salvatore. Though his other foundations have disappeared, his monastery at Monte Vergine still exists (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).
Saint William is depicted in art as an abbot near a wolf wearing a saddle. He may also be portrayed as he saddles the wolf that killed his ass, as a pilgrim, or with Christ appearing to him (Roeder). He is venerated at Benevento, Giuleto (near Nusco), Nola, and Vercelli (Roeder) .

1150 Blessed Henry Zdik elected bishop of Olmütz founded an abbey O. Praem. B (PC)
BD HENRY ZDIK, BISHOP OF OLOMUC (A.D. 1150)
ALTHOUGH Bishop Henry Zdik's cultus has never been officially approved, yet the great services he rendered to the Church in his own diocese and beyond it have caused him to be honoured as a beatus in what is now known as Czechoslovakia. He is said to have been closely connected with the rulers of Bohemia, but what the relationship actually was is a contested point. All that seems certain about his origin is that he was born in Moravia. In 1126 he became bishop of Olomuc (Olmütz), and under his auspices Duke Wenceslaus I undertook the rebuilding of the cathedral. The completion and decoration of the basilica were the bishop's own doing. In 1137 or 1138 Bd Henry made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. While he was there he took the Premonstratensian habit and experienced a spiritual awakening which, in the words of his biographer, led him to return home “a new man". His zeal for the Church now expressed itself in various ways. In 1141 he joined a mission or crusade to convert the Prussians-with what result we are not told. Two years later we find him associated with others in founding the abbey of Strahov. He entitled it Mount Sian and brought to it Premonstratensians from Steinfeld, near Cologne. At a later date he restored the monastery of Litomerice, of which he was reckoned the second founder. To this community he gave another name reminiscent of his Palestinian pilgrimage: he called it Mount Olivet. The difficulty he found in bringing his clergy back to regular observance, and especially in enforcing the rule of celibacy, decided him to go to Rome to confer with the pope. Scarcely had he started, however, when he was set upon by would-be assassins, from whose hands he barely escaped with his life. He made no second attempt, for it was rendered unnecessary by the timely arrival in Bohemia of a papal legate, who gave him the support and authority he required to enable him to carry out his reforms. Bd Henry Zdik died in 1150 or 1151, and was buried at Strahov, a monastery that still exists.

An account will be found in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. vii, but there seems to be no formal biography of this holy bishop dating from the middle ages. See. further, I. van Spilbeeck, Hagiologium Norbertinum (1887); and A. Zark in Annales de L’Ordre de Prémontré, 1908 and 1910.

Blessed Henry, son of King Wratislas I of Bohemia, was elected bishop of Olmütz. He became a Premonstratensian during a visit to Jerusalem in 1137. When he returned home, he introduced the order in many places and founded an abbey for them at Strahov (Benedictines) .

1160 Blessed John the Spaniard drew up the first constitutions for the Carthusian sisters O. Cart. (AC)
BD JOHN THE SPANIARD (A.D. 1160)
THIS John was born in 1123, probably at Almanza, in Leon. He was a studious boy, and at the age of thirteen he went to France with a companion to seek the educational advantages he could not obtain nearer home. The two lads made their way to Arles, where they found excellent teachers, but where they were occasionally reduced to great straits. Later, however, John was befriended by a wealthy man, who took him to live in his own house. His studies completed, John bade farewell to his kind friends, and betook himself to a hermit, under whom he trained for two years and a half. He then obtained admittance to the Carthusian priory of Montrieu, or Mons Rivi, and from the moment he entered the noviciate he set himself to tread faithfully in the footsteps of St Bruno. For six years he filled the office of sacristan, and afterwards he was chosen to be prior. In that capacity he strove to encourage learning, and with his own hand copied and corrected manuscripts-from which last activity it may be judged he was a man of strong nerves.
At the close of his tenure of office-which he appears to have resigned-he was transferred to the Grande Chartreuse. St Anthelm, who was then the superior of that great monastery, held him in very high esteem; and when Haymo de Fulciano asked that some Carthusians might be sent to make a foundation on one of his estates near the Lake of Geneva, St Anthelm selected Bd John to go as their prior. Not without considerable difficulty was this new charterhouse started, but once it was established it was called Reposoir, from the atmosphere of peace that pervaded it. Another work John performed at the request of St Anthelm was the compilation of a constitution for Carthusian nuns. After ruling the community of Reposoir for nine years, Bd John died in the year 1160. By his express desire he was interred beside two shepherds who had been killed by an avalanche, and whom he had buried. A chapel was built over his tomb, but in 1649 his remains were translated to the sacristy of the monastery church. This was done by Charles Augustus de Sales, Bishop of Geneva, the nephew of St Francis de Sales; and the formal instrument drawn up by him, with a description of what occurred, is still preserved. Bd John’s cultus was confirmed in 1864.

There is a very simple straightforward life, containing, however, little detail, which seems to have been compiled at the charterhouse where he died. It is printed both in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. vii and in the Annales Ordinis Cartusiensis of Dam Le Couteulx, vol. ii, pp. 199-212.

Born in Almanza, Spain, in 1123; cultus approved in 1864. When John was a boy he studied at Arles, France, then became a Carthusian monk at Montreuil. Later he migrated to the Grand Chartreuse under Saint Anthelmus, who sent him to found the charterhouse of Reposoir near Lake Geneva. He drew up the first constitutions for the Carthusian sisters (Benedictines) .

1264 Blessed Jutta of Thuringia patroness of Prussia began her life amidst luxury and power became a Secular Franciscan, taking on the simple garment of a religiousdied the death of a simple servant of the poor
1260 St. Jutta Widowed noblewoman of Thuringia: Jutta received wonderful graces, for besides being favoured with many visions and revelations, she was given an infused understanding of the Holy Scriptures. She once said that three things could bring one very near to God— painful illness, exile from home in a remote corner of a foreign land, and poverty voluntarily assumed for God’s sake
1260 ST JUTTA, Widow
AMONGST the numerous women who were inspired by the example of St Elizabeth of Hungary, one of the most remarkable was St Jutta, or Judith, patroness of Prussia. Like her great exemplar she was a native of Thuringia, having been born at Sangerhausen, to the south-west of Eisleben. Married at the age of fifteen to a man of noble rank, she proved an admirable wife, besides being a great benefactress to the poor. Once, in a vision, our Lord had said to her, “Follow me”; and she strove not only to obey Him herself, but to lead her household to do the same. In the early days of her married life, her husband had remonstrated with her for the simplicity of her dress, but she gradually won him over to her own point of view. He was actually on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land when he died—to the great grief of his widow, who was left to bring up her children alone.
As they grew up, one after another entered religious orders, and Jutta was left free to follow the call which she had long cherished in her heart. She gave everything she possessed to the poor, and then, clad in a miserable dress, she begged bread for herself and the poor from those who had been her dependents. Though some scoffed, others treated her with reverence, knowing what she had given up, and she resolved to go forth among strangers in order that she might be despised by all. As she wandered on, walking barefoot in summer and winter, she relieved on the road many tramps by dressing their wounds and feeding them with food supplied to her in charity. At last she made her way into Prussia, the land of the Teutonic Knights, whose grand-master, Hanno of Sangerhausen, was a relation of her own. There she settled as a solitary in a ruinous building on the shore of a sheet of water called the Bielcza, half a mile or so from Kulmsee.
St Jutta received wonderful graces, for besides being favoured with many visions and revelations, she was given an infused understanding of the Holy Scriptures. She once said that three things could bring one very near to God— painful illness, exile from home in a remote corner of a foreign land, and poverty voluntarily assumed for God’s sake. The inhabitants of the neighbouring villages who passed her dwelling declared that they had often seen her raised from the ground, as if upheld by angels. On Sundays she attended the church at Kulmsee, and she had as her directors at first a Franciscan, John Lobedau, and afterwards a Dominican, Henry Heidenreich. For four years she remained in her solitude, praying fervently for the conversion of the heathen and the perseverance of the newly baptized. Then she was seized by a fever which proved fatal. Many miracles were recorded as having taken place at her grave, and she has been associated in the veneration of the Prussian Catholics with Bd John Lobedau and with another female recluse, Bd Dorothy of Marienwerder.

The very full account of this recluse printed in the Acta Sanctorum is a translation of a Polish life by Father Szembek. This claims to have been based upon a mass of materials collected for the process of canonization, but the originals unfortunately could not be traced by the Bollandists at the date at which they wrote. See also the Mittheilungen des Vereins f. Gesch., etc., v. Sangerhausen, vol. i (1881), pp. 82 seq.; P. Funk, in Festschrift für W. Goetz (1927), pp. 81--44; and a sketch by H. Westpfahl, Jutta von Sangerhausen (1938).

June 25, 2010 Blessed Jutta of Thuringia (d. 1264?)
Today's patroness of Prussia began her life amidst luxury and power but died the death of a simple servant of the poor.
In truth, virtue and piety were always of prime importance to Jutta and her husband, both of noble rank. The two were set to make a pilgrimage together to the holy places in Jerusalem, but her husband died on the way. The newly widowed Jutta, after taking care to provide for her children, resolved to live in a manner utterly pleasing to God. She disposed of the costly clothes, jewels and furniture befitting one of her rank, and became a Secular Franciscan, taking on the simple garment of a religious.
From that point her life was utterly devoted to others: caring for the sick, particularly lepers; tending to the poor, whom she visited in their hovels; helping the crippled and blind with whom she shared her own home. Many of the townspeople of Thuringia laughed at how the once-distinguished lady now spent all her time. But Jutta saw the face of God in the poor and felt honored to render whatever services she could.
About the year 1260, not long before her death, Jutta lived near the non-Christians in eastern Germany. There she built a small hermitage and prayed unceasingly for their conversion. She has been venerated for centuries as the special patron of Prussia.

Comment: Jesus once said that a camel can pass through a needle’s eye more easily than a rich person can enter God’s realm. That’s pretty scary news for us. We may not have great fortunes, but we who live in the West enjoy a share of the world’s goods that people in the rest of the world cannot imagine. Much to the amusement of her neighbors, Jutta disposed of her wealth after her husband’s death and devoted her life to caring for those who had no means. Should we follow her example, people will probably laugh at us, too. But God will smile.

Germany, noted for visions and miracles. She married at fifteen and raised children. When her husband died on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Jutta moved to Prussia, becoming a recluse at Kulmsee. She is the patroness of Prussia, in eastern Germany.
Jutta of Kulmsee, Widow (AC) Born at Sangerhausen, Thuringia; died at Kulmsee, Prussia, in 1250 or 1260. The written life of this young noblewoman, bears a curious resemblance to that of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, who was almost her contemporary. Jutta, too, was happily married with a family of children and she was prostrated by the loss of her husband, who died on a pilgrimage or crusade to the Holy Land. Thereafter, she provided for her children, divested herself of her property, and passed her few remaining years in religious retirement and care for the poor. In Jutta's case this was in the territory of the Teutonic Knights, whose grand-master was a relative of hers. After her death at her hermitage near Kulmsee a strong local cultus of her grew up in Prussia, where she is venerated as patroness (Attwater, Benedictines).
Today's patroness of Prussia began her life amidst luxury and power but died the death of a simple servant of the poor.
In truth, virtue and piety were always of prime importance to Jutta and her husband, both of noble rank. The two were set to make a pilgrimage together to the holy places in Jerusalem, but her husband died on the way. The newly widowed Jutta, after taking care to provide for her children, resolved to live in a manner utterly pleasing to God. She disposed of the costly clothes, jewels and furniture befitting one of her rank, and became a Secular Franciscan, taking on the simple garment of a religious.
From that point her life was utterly devoted to others: caring for the sick, particularly lepers; tending to the poor, whom she visited in their hovels; helping the crippled and blind with whom she shared her own home. Many of the townspeople of Thuringia laughed at how the once-distinguished lady now spent all her time. But Jutta saw the face of God in the poor and felt honored to render whatever services she could.
About the year 1260, not long before her death, Jutta lived near the non-Christians in eastern Germany. There she built a small hermitage and prayed unceasingly for their conversion. She has been venerated for centuries as the special patron of Prussia.
Comment: Jesus once said that a camel can pass through a needle’s eye more easily than a rich person can enter God’s realm. That’s pretty scary news for us. We may not have great fortunes, but we who live in the West enjoy a share of the world’s goods that people in the rest of the world cannot imagine. Much to the amusement of her neighbors, Jutta disposed of her wealth after her husband’s death and devoted her life to caring for those who had no means. Should we follow her example, people will probably laugh at us, too. But God will smile.

1228 Holy Prince Peter (David in monasticism) and Holy Princess Febronia (Euphrosyne in monasticism), Wonderworkers of Murom The holy couple was famous for their piety and charity. They died on the same day and hour, June 25, 1228, having received the monastic tonsure
Prince Peter was the second son of the Murom prince Yuri Vladimirovich. He entered upon the throne of Murom in the year 1203. Several years before this St Peter had fallen ill with leprosy, from which no one was able to heal him. In a vision it was revealed to the prince that the daughter of a bee-keeper would be able to heal him: the pious maiden Febronia, a peasant of Laskova village in Ryazan gubernia. St Peter sent his emissaries to this village.

When the prince saw St Febronia, he fell in love with her because of her piety, wisdom and virtue, and vowed to marry her after being healed. St Febronia healed the prince and became his wife. The holy couple loved each other through all their ordeals. The haughty boyars did not wish to have a princess of common origin, and they urged that the prince leave her. St Peter refused, and so they banished the couple. They sailed off on a boat from their native city along the River Oka, and St Febronia continued to console St Peter. Soon the wrath of God fell upon the city of Murom, and the people begged the prince return together with St Febronia.

The holy couple was famous for their piety and charity. They died on the same day and hour, June 25, 1228, having received the monastic tonsure with the names David and Evphrosyne. The bodies of the saints were put in the same grave.
Sts Peter and Febronia showed themselves exemplary models of Christian marriage, and are considered as the patron saints of newly-weds.

1391 Blessed Guy Maramaldi Dominican Guy Maramaldi taught philosophy and theology OP (AC)
BD GUY MARAMALDI (A.D. 1391)
AMONG the Dominicans who preached and taught in Italy during the second half of the fourteenth century, Guy Maramaldi deserves a prominent place. He came of a Neapolitan family, and each of his three brothers-like himself-was a man of mark. Guy was still a mere stripling when he presented himself at the Neapolitan house of the Order of Preachers, and asked for the habit. His request was granted, after some hesitation due to the fear that his delicate upbringing would unfit him for the stern discipline of a friary. The apprehension proved groundless, and in his austerities and obedience, as well as in his studies, he soon outstripped his fellow novices. In later life he became a great theologian and preacher. After teaching theology and philosophy at Naples, he went to Ragusa, where the success of his preaching and his fame as a wonder-worker caused him to be acclaimed as an apostle. Upon his return home he was appointed inquisitor general for the kingdom of Naples-a post which brought him on several occasions into serious danger. He died in the year 1391, and his cultus was approved in 1612.

A short account is to be found in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. vii. See also Touron, Hommes illustres Dominicains (1745), vol. ii, pp. 627-631; and Année Dominicaine, vol. vi (1893), pp. 534-536.

Born in Naples, Italy; cultus confirmed in 1612. The Dominican Guy Maramaldi taught philosophy and theology, established a friary at Ragusa, and died as inquisitor general for the Kingdom of Naples (Benedictines) .

1838 Saint Dominic Henares Bishop martyr of Vietna; Spanish Dominican beheaded with Saint Francis Chien; canonized in 1988.
He became coadjutor to Saint Ignatius Delgado, vicar apostolic of Vietnam.
Blessed Dominic Henares, OP, and Francis Chien MM (AC) Died in Tonkin (Vietnam) in 1838; beatified in 1900 by Pope Leo XIII; they may be included in the list of those canonized as Martyrs of Vietnam. Nearly 100 years after the death of Blessed Peter Sanz, two more Dominicans died for the faith, one of whom is celebrated today. Bishop Dominic Henares and the tertiary catechist Francis Chien died together with many others during the Annamite persecution.
Bishop Henares was born in Spain in 1765. He became bishop- coadjutor to Blessed Ignatius Delgado in 1803. In 1838, Bishop Henares, Bishop Ignatius Delgado, the apostolic-vicar of Tonkin, and Francis Chien were captured during a persecution stirred up by the mandarin. The prelates and a young priest had been hidden in the village of Kien-lao, and were accidentally betrayed by a little child who was cleverly questioned by a pagan teacher searching for the foreigners.
Alarmed at the sudden activities, the captors of Bishop Delgado put him into a small cage which was locked around him, and then put into jail with criminals. Delgado was tortured but refused to hint at the location of the others and was eventually killed. The young priest escaped.
Bishop Henares was captured at the same time. He had hidden himself in a boat, and the nervousness of the boatmen gave him away. Five hundred soldiers were detached to bring in the two dangerous criminals--the bishop and his catechist. They, too, were questioned endlessly. Two weeks after the death of Bishop Delgado, Henares was led out and beheaded in company with Chien.
The relics of all three martyrs were recovered in part, and were honorably buried by the next Dominicans to come on the scene-- Bishop Hermosilla and his companions, who would, as they knew, also be the next to die. Many of the records of these brave men were lost or deliberately destroyed, and many of them--we hope--may still be found in various neglected spots which war and trouble have caused to be overlooked (Benedictines, Dorcy) .

1931 Saint Nikon a priest 1917; remembered prophecy of Fr Barsanuphius made beforeRussian Revolution foresaw times of difficulty for monasteries when Christians would be persecuted and suffer martyrdom; predicted he would be dead before this happened, and that Fr Nikon would live through those terrible times; jailed 9/18/1919 because he was a monk; released return to Optina
Born on September 26, 1888, the son of Metrophanes and Vera Belyaev, and was named Nicholas at his Baptism. His parents, who were both very devout, belonged to one of Moscow's merchant families.
The Belyaev family received a visit from St John of Kronstadt when Nicholas was in his first year. He blessed Vera and gave her a signed photograph of himself.
Both Nicholas and his brother John loved going to church and reading the Holy Scriptures and other spiritual books. When John and Nicholas decided to embrace monasticism, they cut up a list of Russia's monasteries from an old book, and Nicholas was asked to pick one of the strips after praying to God. The strip he selected read, "The Optina Hermitage of the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple, Kozelsk." Until that moment, neither of them had ever heard of this monastery.
The brothers traveled to Optina on February 24, 1907 with their mother's blessing, and were accepted into the monastery on December 9, the commemoration of the "Unexpected Joy" Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. Nicholas was assigned as secretary to Fr Barsanuphius, the Superior of the Skete, in October 1908. Except for reading and serving in church, this became his chief monastic obedience for the rest of his life. St Barsanuphius (April 1) foresaw that he would become an excellent monk as well as a worthy disciple. Nicholas was devoted to the Elder, and followed his will in all matters. Fr Barsanuphius gave him the benefit of his knowledge and experience, guiding him to ascend the spiritual ladder of virtues.

Nicholas was tonsured into the Lesser Schema on May 24, 1915 with the new name Nikon in honor of the martyr St Nikon (September 28). He was ordained as a deacon on April 30, 1916, and as a priest on November 3, 1917. Fr Nikon could not help but remember the prophecy of Fr Barsanuphius made several years before the Russian Revolution. St Barsanuphius foresaw times of difficulty for monasteries when Christians would be persecuted and suffer martyrdom. He predicted that he himself would be dead before this happened, and that Fr Nikon would live through those terrible times.
Fr Nikon was arrested and jailed on September 18, 1919 without the benefit of a trial, just because he was a monk. He was later released and permitted to return to Optina, where the monks had formed a farming cooperative.

The Soviets closed the cooperative in 1923, and the monastery was turned into a museum. Two monks were allowed to stay and work in the museum, while the others were expelled and told to go wherever they wished. Fr Nikon was blessed by Fr Isaac to serve in the church dedicated to the Kazan Icon and to receive visitors. When people came to him for advice, he always quoted the words of the Optina Elders.
The last church at Optina was closed early in 1924, and Fr Nikon was obliged to leave in June. He went to live at Kozelsk with Father Cyril Zlenko. There he continued to receive visitors and offer spiritual counsel, sharing money and food with those who were too old, or too sick to work. Fr Nikon was a wise spiritual Father, who was able to help people overcome their shame and reveal the sins which had troubled them for a long time. People would leave Fr Nikon feeling cleansed and renewed.
Fr Nikon, Fr Cyril, and Fr Agapitus Taub were arrested and thrown into prison in June of 1927. Fr Nikon and Fr Agapitus were sent to the "Kemperpunkt" camp, where Fr Nikon was assigned the duty of guarding the storehouses.
St Nikon wrote to his spiritual children from the camp with cheerful words of encouragement. Although he accepted his imprisonment as God's will, it was nevertheless difficult for him to endure. When their prison term ended, the two monks were sent into exile at Archangelsk. Before leaving the camp, Fr Nikon was examined and found to have tuberculosis. The doctors advised him to request that his place of exile be changed to a place with a more suitable climate.
He asked the advice of Fr Agapitus, who told him not to make such a request. At Archangels, Fr Nikon lodged in the home of an elderly woman who gave him little rest or peace. Every week he had to travel three kilometers to present himself before the authorities in the city of Pinyega.
While shoveling snow at the beginning of Great Lent, Fr Nikon's leg began to hemorrhage, and he developed a high fever. His landlady did not feel any pity for him, but told him that he must leave her house so that the others would not become infected with tuberculosis.
Soon, Fr Nikon was visited by Fr Peter, who had once lived at Optina. He begged Fr Peter to take him in, which he did. Fr Peter cared for the Elder to the best of his ability. For the last two months of his life, Fr Nikon received Holy Communion almost every day, and his sufferings seemed to grow less severe. He often dictated letters to his spiritual children to Fr Peter. One day, Fr Nikon saw St Macarius of Optina (September 7) in a vision and told Sister Irene to pull up a chair for him. She was slow to obey him so he said, "Forgive her, Father, for she is not very experienced."
On June 25, 1931 Fr Nikon was so weak that he could not speak. Archimandrite Nikita was called to bring him Communion, and to read the Canon for the Departure of the Soul. That night the Elder fell asleep in the Lord at the age of forty-three.

The Moscow Patriarchate authorized local veneration of the Optina Elders on June 13,1996, glorifying them for universal veneration on August 7, 2000.

We are called upon with the whole Church militant on earth to join in praising and thanking God for the grace and glory he has bestowed on his saints. At the same time we earnestly implore Him to exert His almighty power and mercy in raising us from our miseries and sins, healing the disorders of our souls and leading us by the path of repentance to the company of His saints, to which He has called us.
They were once what we are now, travellers on earth they had the same weaknesses, which we have. We have difficulties to encounter so had the saints, and many of them far greater than we can meet with; obstacles from kings and whole nations, sometimes from the prisons, racks and swords of persecutors. Yet they surmounted these difficulties, which they made the very means of their virtue and victories. It was by the strength they received from above, not by their own, that they triumphed. But the blood of Christ was shed for us as it was for them and the grace of our Redeemer is not wanting to us; if we fail, the failure is in ourselves.
THE saints and just, from the beginning of time and throughout the world, who have been made perfect, everlasting monuments of God’s infinite power and clemency, praise His goodness without ceasing; casting their crowns before His throne they give to Him all the glory of their triumphs: “His gifts alone in us He crowns.”

“The saints must be honored as friends of Christ and children and heirs of God, as John the theologian and evangelist says: ‘But as many as received him, he gave them the power to be made the sons of God....’ Let us carefully observe the manner of life of all the apostles, martyrs, ascetics and just men who announced the coming of the Lord. And let us emulate their faith, charity, hope, zeal, life, patience under suffering, and perseverance unto death, so that we may also share their crowns of glory” Exposition of the Orthodox Faith

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.

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

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

There are over 10,000 named saints beati from history
and Roman Martyology Orthodox sources
Patron_Saints.html Widowed_Saints html Indulgences The Catholic Church in China
LINKS: Marian Shrines India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East Lourdes 1858 China Marian shrines 1995
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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 Nizamuddi n Aulia Sufi Saint Hazrath Khwaja Syed Mohammed Badshah Quadri Chisty Yamani Quadeer (RA) 1236-1325 welcomed people of all faiths & all walks of life.

801 Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya Sufi One of the most famous Islamic mystics
(b. 717). This 8th century saint was an early Sufi who had a profound influence on later Sufis, who in turn deeply influenced the European mystical love and troubadour traditions. Rabi'a was a woman of Basra, a seaport in southern Iraq. She was born around 717 and died in 801 (185-186). Her biographer, the great medieval poet Attar, tells us that she was "on fire with love and longing" and that men accepted her "as a second spotless Mary" (186). She was, he continues, “an unquestioned authority to her contemporaries" (218).
Rabi'a began her ascetic life in a small desert cell near Basra, where she lost herself in prayer and went straight to God for teaching. As far as is known, she never studied under any master or spiritual director. She was one of the first of the Sufis to teach that Love alone was the guide on the mystic path (222). A later Sufi taught that there were two classes of "true believers": one class sought a master as an intermediary between them and God -- unless they could see the footsteps of the Prophet on the path before them, they would not accept the path as valid. The second class “...did not look before them for the footprint of any of God's creatures, for they had removed all thought of what He had created from their hearts, and concerned themselves solely with God. (218)
Rabi'a was of this second kind. She felt no reverence even for the House of God in Mecca: "It is the Lord of the house Whom I need; what have I to do with the house?" (219) One lovely spring morning a friend asked her to come outside to see the works of God. She replied, "Come you inside that you may behold their Maker. Contemplation of the Maker has turned me aside from what He has made" (219). During an illness, a friend asked this woman if she desired anything.
"...[H]ow can you ask me such a question as 'What do I desire?' I swear by the glory of God that for twelve years I have desired fresh dates, and you know that in Basra dates are plentiful, and I have not yet tasted them. I am a servant (of God), and what has a servant to do with desire?" (162)
When a male friend once suggested she should pray for relief from a debilitating illness, she said,
"O Sufyan, do you not know Who it is that wills this suffering for me? Is it not God Who wills it? When you know this, why do you bid me ask for what is contrary to His will? It is not well to oppose one's Beloved." (221)
She was an ascetic. It was her custom to pray all night, sleep briefly just before dawn, and then rise again just as dawn "tinged the sky with gold" (187). She lived in celibacy and poverty, having renounced the world. A friend visited her in old age and found that all she owned were a reed mat, screen, a pottery jug, and a bed of felt which doubled as her prayer-rug (186), for where she prayed all night, she also slept briefly in the pre-dawn chill. Once her friends offered to get her a servant; she replied,
"I should be ashamed to ask for the things of this world from Him to Whom the world belongs, and how should I ask for them from those to whom it does not belong?" (186-7)
A wealthy merchant once wanted to give her a purse of gold. She refused it, saying that God, who sustains even those who dishonor Him, would surely sustain her, "whose soul is overflowing with love" for Him. And she added an ethical concern as well:
"...How should I take the wealth of someone of whom I do not know whether he acquired it lawfully or not?" (187)
She taught that repentance was a gift from God because no one could repent unless God had already accepted him and given him this gift of repentance. She taught that sinners must fear the punishment they deserved for their sins, but she also offered such sinners far more hope of Paradise than most other ascetics did. For herself, she held to a higher ideal, worshipping God neither from fear of Hell nor from hope of Paradise, for she saw such self-interest as unworthy of God's servants; emotions like fear and hope were like veils -- i.e., hindrances to the vision of God Himself. The story is told that once a number of Sufis saw her hurrying on her way with water in one hand and a burning torch in the other. When they asked her to explain, she said:
"I am going to light a fire in Paradise and to pour water on to Hell, so that both veils may vanish altogether from before the pilgrims and their purpose may be sure..." (187-188)
She was once asked where she came from. "From that other world," she said. "And where are you going?" she was asked. "To that other world," she replied (219). She taught that the spirit originated with God in "that other world" and had to return to Him in the end. Yet if the soul were sufficiently purified, even on earth, it could look upon God unveiled in all His glory and unite with him in love. In this quest, logic and reason were powerless. Instead, she speaks of the "eye" of her heart which alone could apprehend Him and His mysteries (220).
Above all, she was a lover, a bhakti, like one of Krishna’s Goptis in the Hindu tradition. Her hours of prayer were not so much devoted to intercession as to communion with her Beloved. Through this communion, she could discover His will for her. Many of her prayers have come down to us:
       "I have made Thee the Companion of my heart,
        But my body is available for those who seek its company,
        And my body is friendly towards its guests,
        But the Beloved of my heart is the Guest of my soul." [224]

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Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey

Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament

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

Thus began a great adventure that would eventually result in the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, a Temple dedicated to the Divine Child Jesus, a place of refuge for all. Use this link to read a remarkable story about The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament

Father Reardon, Editor of The Catholic Bulletin for 14 years Lover of the poor; “A very Holy Man of God.”

Monsignor Reardon Protonotarius Apostolicus
Pastor 42 years BASILICA OF SAINT MARY Minneapolis MN

America's First Basilica Largest Nave in the World

August 7, 1907-ground broke for the foundation

by Archbishop Ireland-laying cornerstone May 31, 1908

James M. Reardon Publication History of Basilica of Saint Mary 1600-1932

Index to Part I and Part II 1932

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

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

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

Member -- St. Paul Seminary faculty.

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

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

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

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

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

THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi.

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

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

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

By Father John Corapi

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

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

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

About Father John Corapi.

Father Corapi is a Catholic priest .

The pillars of father's preaching are basically:

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

God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi

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).

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

THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 157

Preserve me, O Lady, for I have hoped in thee: do thou bestow on me the dew of thy grace.

Thy virginal womb has begotten the Son of the Most High.

Blessed be thy breasts, by which thou hast nourished the Savior with deific milk.

Let us give praise to the glorious Virgin: whosoever ye be that have found grace and mercy through her.

Give glory to her name: and praise forever her conception and her birth.

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.

Saint Frances Xavier Seelos Practical Guide to Holiness

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

The voice of the Father is heard, the Son enters the water, and the Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove.

God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique each the result of a new idea.

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)

Its jurisdiction currently extends to Syria, Cyprus, Iran and Greece.

Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac

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.

Aramaic continued to be an important language for Jews, alongside Hebrew, and parts of the Talmud are written in it.

Meeting of the Saints walis (saints of Allah)

Great men covet to embrace martyrdom for a cause and principle.

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
Catholic Television Network Supported entirely by donations from viewers help spread the Eternal Word, online Here

Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey

Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament

Father Reardon, Editor of The Catholic Bulletin for 14 years Lover of the poor; “A very Holy Man of God.”

Monsignor Reardon Protonotarius Apostolicus
Pastor 42 years BASILICA OF SAINT MARY Minneapolis MN

America's First Basilica Largest Nave in the World

August 7, 1907-ground broke for the foundation

by Archbishop Ireland-laying cornerstone May 31, 1908

James M. Reardon Publication History of Basilica of Saint Mary 1600-1932

Index to Part I and Part II 1932

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

Member -- St. Paul Seminary faculty.

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

Father Corapi is a Catholic priest .

The pillars of father's preaching are basically:

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.

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

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

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

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

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

LINKS:
Marian Apparitions (over 2000) India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes Feb 11- July 16, Loreto, Italy 1858
China Marian shrines May 23, 1995 Zarvintisya Ukraine Lourdes Kenya national Marian shrine    Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798
Links to Related Marian Websites Angels and Archangels
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Apostles Roman Catholic Popes Purgatory Uniates, PSALTER BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 157 2023