Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!  (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
R.  Deo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
March is the month of Saint Joseph since 1855;
2023
22,600 lives saved since 2007
http://www.haitian-childrens-fund.org/

For the Son of man ... will repay every man for what he has done.

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

 Pope Francis  PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR MARCH 2023

For victims of abuse
“We pray for those who have suffered harm from members of the Church; may they find within the Church herself a concrete response to their pain and suffering.”

“If Children Are Seen as a Burden, Something Is Wrong”
A society that does not like to be surrounded by children and considers them a concern, a weight, or a risk, is a depressed society.  
“When life multiplies, society is enriched, not impoverished.”
Children are a gift of society, never a possession. Pope Francis

ABORTION IS A MORAL OUTRAGE
 Marian spirituality: all are invited.


 
40 Days for Life  11,000+ saved lives in 2015
We are the defenders of true freedom.
  May our witness unveil the deception of the "pro-choice" slogan.
40 days for Life Campaign saves lives Shawn Carney Campaign Director www.40daysforlife.com , 
Please help save the unborn they are the future for the world

March 4 – Our Lady of Sorrows (Italy, 1603) – 15th apparition of Lourdes
 
They can leave truly knowing that Mary is ever at their side
Pope Francis
 
It is most fitting that on this day we invoke the Blessed Virgin Mary above all as Mother of mercy.
The door we have opened is, in fact, a Door of Mercy. Those who cross its threshold are called to enter into the merciful love of the Father with complete trust and freedom from fear; they can leave this Basilica knowing – truly knowing – that Mary is ever at their side.

She is the Mother of mercy, because she bore in her womb the very Face of divine mercy, Jesus, Emmanuel, the Expectation of the nations, the “Prince of Peace” (Is 9:5). The Son of God, made incarnate for our salvation, has given us his Mother, who joins us on our pilgrimage through this life, so that we may never be left alone, especially at times of trouble and uncertainty.

Mary is the Mother of God, she is the Mother of God who forgives, who bestows forgiveness, and so we can rightly call her Mother of forgiveness… Following Jesus’ example and by his grace, she herself could forgive those who killed her innocent Son.  For us, Mary is an icon of how the Church must offer forgiveness to those who seek it.
 
Holy mass and opening of the Holy Door – Basilica of St Mary Major – Friday, January 1, 2016 - Mary Most Holy, the Holy Mother of God
www.vatican.va
 
The saints are a “cloud of witnesses over our head”,
showing us that a life of Christian perfection is not impossible.

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

March 4 – Our Lady of Sorrows (Italy, 1603)
- 15th Apparition of Lourdes (France, 1858)
Her Heart was Pierced by Seven Swords
 To illustrate the sorrows of the Virgin Mother, painters represent her Heart pierced by seven swords, a symbol of the seven principal sorrows of the Mother of God, which is why she is crowned as Queen of Martyrs. Here is a list of the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady, whose evocation is dear to her true children:
1. Saint Simeon’s Prophecy (Luke 2:34-35)
2. The Flight into Egypt (Matthew 2:13-21)
3. The Loss of Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:41-51)
4. The Meeting of Mary and Jesus on the Way to Calvary (Luke 23:27-31)
5. The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus on the Cross (John 19:25-27)
6. After His Descent from the Cross, Mary Receives the Body of Her Dead Son
7. The Burial of Jesus.
 
March 3 – Our Lady of Help (Italy) – 14th apparition of Lourdes (France, 1858)
"You will be all right: Mary is here, she can see us"
The 68th unexplained healing in Lourdes was officially acknowledged by Bishop Delmas, the bishop of Angers, France, on Sunday, March 27, 2011. The beneficiary, Serge François, said:

"Following surgery in June 1997, my left leg was left semi- paralyzed ... I never asked Mary for help. I always prayed for the other invalids.  It happened in the afternoon of April 12, 2002. I was at the Saint Bernadette Church, across from the grotto, for the anointing the sick. At the end of the celebration, a young lady next to me started sobbing. I put my arms around her shoulders to comfort her, as I would have done to my own daughter.
"It's all right, Mary is here, she sees us," I told her.

At that time, an unusual shiver ran through my whole body... I turned and suddenly walked away. It was only at the top of Saint Joseph Hill that I realized the change. I usually would go up using the wrought iron fence as a handrail! I was stunned... I went to see the priest who accompanied us. And the Anjou Hospitality House filled out a declaration of healing at the Medical Findings Office three days later."
 
www.famillechretienne.fr
 
Mary's Divine Motherhood
Called in the Gospel "the Mother of Jesus," Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as "the Mother of my Lord" (Lk 1:43; Jn 2:1; 19:25; cf. Mt 13:55; et al.). In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity.
Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos).
Catechism of the Catholic Church 495, quoting the Council of Ephesus (431): DS 251.

Our Lord gives to souls of prayer a deep understanding of Himself.
He never deceives them. -- St. Peter Julian Eymard
  254 St. Lucius I a Roman elected Pope to succeed Pope St. Cornelius
  254 Item pássio sanctórum Archelái, Cyrílli et Phótii.
          St. Caius Palatinus and twenty-seven others who were cast into the sea.
4th v. St. Basil and Companions Martyred bishop with others
4th v. St. Adrian and twenty-three others
 475 Saint Gerasimus; lived in the Thebaid, then wilderness near the Jordan river where he built a monastery and became renowned for the virtue of his life; During 5 days no cooked food was eaten only small amount of dried bread, roots and water brought from the monastery; Saturdays and Sundays all monks went to monastery attend Divine Liturgy receive Holy Communion, then served cooked food and a little wine at the refectory; work completed during week given to the abbot. On Sunday, afternoon each monk departed once again for his solitary cell in the wilderness, taking only a little bread, roots, a vessel of water and palm branches to weave baskets; lion for a pet.
 680 St. Owen Benedictine monk  
 705 St. Basinus Benedictine bishop of Trier Germany  
 800 St. Appian Benedictine hermit and missionary  
 875 St. Adrian bishop martyred missionary possibly royal blood
1038 St. Felix of Rhuys Benedictine abbot hermit
1123 St. Peter of Pappacarbone Benedictine bishop leadership, care, and wisdom
1188 BD HUMBERT III OF SAVOY
1310 Blessed Romeo Italian Carmelite lay brother  (Romaeus) of Limoges, OC (AC)
1483 St. Casimir born of kings slept little, spending his nights in prayer
1590 BD CHRISTOPHER BALES, MARTYR received his education abroad at the English College in Rome and at the Douai College at Rheims
1877 St. Placide Viel Nun and mother general relief during Franco Prussian War
Quote: Pope Paul VI’s 1969 Instruction on the Contemplative Life includes this passage:
 "To withdraw into the desert is for Christians tantamount to associating themselves more intimately with Christ’s passion, and it enables them, in a very special way, to share in the paschal mystery and in the passage of Our Lord from this world to the heavenly homeland" (#1). 
March 4 - 15th Apparition at Lourdes  Our Lady of Healing (I)
In the city that is regarded as the world’s largest crystal factory, in a tower that is the only remnant of the thirteenth-century Franciscan Friary known a Saint Savior’s, is enshrined a small oaken figure of the Blessed Virgin that is known locally as Our Lady of Waterford or as Our Lady of Healing.  The history of the statue begins with the Reverend Nicholas Fagan, an Irishman by birth, who took the habit of religion in the famous Cistercian Abbey of Farrara in Castile, Spain, in the latter part of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. After some years he was sent back to Ireland.
He managed to preserve his life and engage in apostolic labors, in spite of being exposed to many dangers. More than once he was beaten and wounded by his enemies.

Reverend Fagan was very intent on promoting devotion to the Blessed Virgin as a powerful means of restoring and strengthening the Catholic Faith in Ireland. For this purpose he brought with him from Seville an image of Our Blessed Lady, which he enshrined in the hospital of St John in the city of Waterford. Don Gaspard Jongelino relates in his work entitled, Propora di S. Bernardo, that “Large numbers of Catholics devoutly visited the image where Our Lord, through the intercession of His Blessed Mother, worked many and astounding miracles at the shrine.”
Joan Carroll Cruz, Miraculous Images of Our Lady, Tan Books, 1993, page 135. (www.tanbooks.com)
March 4 - Our Lady of Guard (Arragon, Spain) - 15th Apparition in Lourdes - Saint Casimir
  Prayer of Saint Casimir, Patron Saint of Lithuania, Poland and Russia
Prince Casimir chose a life of celibacy and asceticism. He died at the age of twenty-six from tuberculosis, on March 4, 1484. He was buried in the cathedral at Vilna (now Vilnius, Lithuania). When in 1604 his tomb was opened for translation to the church that Sigismund III built in his name, his body was found to be fresh and whole. He was holding this prayer to the Virgin in his hands:

Every day, O my soul, pay your respects to Mary, Make her feasts solemn and celebrate her brilliant virtues; Contemplate and admire her elevation;
Proclaim her blessedness both as Mother and Virgin; Honor her so that she delivers you from the weight of your sins;
Invoke her so as not to be driven by the torrent of passion; I do know if anybody can honor Our Lady worthily Yet he who keeps silent in her praises is senseless; Everyone should exalt and love her in a special way, And never cease to cherish and pray to her;
O Mary, the honor and glory of all women, You who God has raised above all creatures;
O Virgin of Mercy, hear the prayers of those who never stop praising you; Purify those who are guilty and make them worthy of heaven;
Hail, O holy Virgin, through whom the gates of heaven were opened to undeserving souls
You, who, the old serpent's snares never managed to seduce; You repair and console despairing souls Preserve us from the evils that will fall on the wicked; Obtain perpetual peace for me, And save me from the misfortune of the flames of Gehenna;
Obtain for me to be chaste and modest, gentle, kind, sober, pious, prudent, upright and the enemy of all falsehood;
Grant me meekness, love of harmony and purity; Make me strong and constant on the path of righteousness.
Saint Casimir (d. 1484)

254 St. Lucius I a Roman elected Pope to succeed Pope St. Cornelius on June 25, 253, and ruled only eighteen months.
Rom æ, via Appia, natális sancti Lúcii Primi, Papæ et Mártyris; qui, primo in persecutióne Valeriáni ob Christi fidem exsílio relegátus, et póstmodum divíno nutu ad Ecclésiam suam redíre permíssus, tandem, cum plúrimum advérsus Novatiános laborásset, cápitis obtruncatióne martyrium complévit.  Eum vero sanctus Cypriánus summis láudibus celebrávit.
At Rome, on the Appian Way, during the persecution of Valerian, the birthday of St. Lucius, pope and martyr, who was first exiled for the faith of Christ, but being permitted by divine Providence to return to his church, after labouring long against the Novatians, he suffered martyrdom by beheading.  His praises have been published by St. Cyprian.
254 ST LUCIUS I, Pope
ALMOST immediately after his accession the persecution which had been initiated by Decius was renewed under Gallus, and Pope Lucius I was banished to a place the name of which has not been recorded. But he had been but a short time in exile when he and his companions were recalled, to the great joy of his people who flocked in crowds to meet him. On this occasion St Cyprian wrote him a letter of congratulation. In it he assures the pope that he had not lost the palm of martyr­dom, although, like the three children in the fiery furnace, he had been preserved by God from death.
The letter adds:
“We do not cease in our sacrifices and prayers to God the Father and to Christ His Son, giving thanks and offering supplication that He who perfects all may consummate in you the glorious crown of your confession. He perhaps has only recalled you that your glory may not be hidden, for it is fitting that the victim who owes to his brethren an example of virtue and faith should be sacrificed in their presence.”

In another letter, which St Cyprian afterwards wrote to Pope St Stephen, he quotes St Lucius as having condemned the Novatian heretics for their refusal of absolution and communion to those who had fallen but were penitent.

According to Eusebius, St Lucius did not occupy the pontifical chair for more than eight months. Although in the Roman Martyrology on this day Lucius is described as “Martyr in the persecution of Valerian”, it is practically certain that he was no longer living when the persecution of Valerian began, and it is improbable that he suffered death as a martyr. The chronographer of 354 does not insert his name in the “depositio martyrum”, but in the “depositio episcoporum”, and the remnants of the catacomb inscription discovered by De Rossi supply no indica­tion of martyrdom. No credence can be given to the statement of the Liber Pontificalis that St Lucius, as he was being led to death, virtually nominated Stephen as his successor.

Certain relics of St Lucius are said to be treasured in Bologna, whilst a head, reputed to be that of this pope, was long venerated in the cathedral of Roeskilde, near Copenhagen—the burial-place of the Danish kings—and Pope Lucius is honoured as chief patron of that city; but most probably the relics in Sweden and in Bologna are the remains of one of the two other saints of the name of Lucius who are commemorated on this same day. The pope’s body was buried in the catacomb of St Callistus, but the remains after an early translation were transferred to the church of St Cecilia, where they now lie, by order of Clement VIII.
See Duchesne, Liber Pontificalis, vol. i, pp. xcvii and 153. St Cyprian (Hartel), Pt ii Pp. 695 and 748; De Rossi, Roma Sotterranea, vol. ii, 62—70; and cf. the Acta Sanctorum. March, vol. i, and Allard, Histoire des persecutions, vol. iii, pp. 27 seq.
He was exiled briefly during the persecution of Emperor Gallus, but was allowed to return to Rome. A letter of St. Cyprian praises him for condemning the Novatians for their refusal of the sacraments to those who had fallen but were penitent. He did not suffer martyrdom, as a erroneously stated in the Liber Pontificalis, but died probably on March 4 in Rome and was buried in St. Callistus' catacomb. The remains after an early translation were transferred to the church of St. Cecilia, where they now lie, by order of Clement VIII.
4th v. Nicomedíæ sancti Hadriáni Mártyris, cum áliis vigínti tribus, qui omnes, sub Diocletiáno Imperatóre, martyrium crurifrágio consummárunt.  Eórum relíquiæ, a Christiánis Byzántium delátæ, reverénti honóre sepúltæ fuérunt; inde póstea sancti Hadriáni corpus Romam translátum fuit sexto Idus Septémbris, quo die festívitas ejus potíssimum celebrátur.
At Nicomedia, in the reign of Emperor Diocletian, the martyr St. Adrian and twenty-three others, who endured martyrdom by having their limbs crushed. 

Their remains were taken to Byzantium by the Christians, and buried there with reverence and honour.  Afterwards the body of St. Adrian was transferred to Rome on the 8th of September, on which day his feast is observed.
4th v. St. Basil and Companion Martyred bishop with others
Apud Chersonésum pássio sanctórum Episcopórum Basilíi, Eugénii, Agathodóri, Elpídii, Æthérii, Capitónis, Ephræm, Néstoris et Arcádii.
In Chersonesus, the passion of the saintly bishops, Basil, Eugene, Agathodorus, Elpidius, Aetherius, Capito, Ephrem, Nestor, and Arcadius.  Agathodorus, Elpidius, Ephraem, slftherius, Eugene, Arcadius, Capito, and Nestor.
These prelates served as bishops. Nestor and Arcadius were rnartyred on Cyprus. The others died in the Crimean area and elsewhere in southern Russia.
  Eódem die sancti Caji Palatíni, in mare demérsi, et aliórum vigínti septem.  

On the same day, St. Caius Palatinus and twenty-seven others who were cast into the sea.
254 Item pássio sanctórum Archelái, Cyrílli et Phótii.
Caius, Palatinus und 27 Gefährten MM Nikomedia
Also, the passion of Saints Archelaus, Cyril and Photius.
475 Saint Gerasimus; lived in the Thebaid, then wilderness near the Jordan river where he built a monastery and became renowned for the virtue of his life; During 5 days no cooked food was eaten only small amount of dried bread, roots and water brought from the monastery; Saturdays and Sundays all monks went to monastery attend Divine Liturgy receive Holy Communion, then served cooked food and a little wine at the refectory; work completed during week given to the abbot. On Sunday, afternoon each monk departed once again for his solitary cell in the wilderness, taking only a little bread, roots, a vessel of water and palm branches to weave baskets.
   Born in the province of Lycia in the southern part of Asia Minor. His parents were wealthy, prosperous people. From a very early age St. Gerasimus developed a great love of God and, as he grew older, he found he had little in common with other young people of his own age, whw were only interested in having fun. He realized that the world and an attachment to it only brought many needless cares and sufferings, so he yearned to serve God and to be pleasing to Him.

    Thus it was that St. Gerasimus became a monk and departed for the desert of Egypt, to the region known as the Thebaid. He spent some time there, growing in Spiritual strength and wisdom, and then he again returned to his native province of Lycia. Later, towards the end of the reign of the holy Emperor Theodosius the Younger (who ruled from 408-450), he went to Palestine, where he settled in the wilderness near the Jordan river. There he built a monastery and became renowned for the virtue of his life.

     The monastery of St. Gerasimus was built approximately 25 miles from Jerusalem and about 100 vards from the Jordan River. At that time there were more than 70 desert dwellers there and St. Gerasimus established the following rule for these strugglers. Five days a week each monk was to keep silent in a solitary cell, doing simple handiwork such as weaving mats or baskets out of palm leaves. During these five days no cooked food was eaten; the only food was a small amount of dried bread, roots and water brought from the monastery. On Saturdays and Sundays all the monks went ,to the monastery to attend the Divine Liturgy and receive Holy Communion. Afterwards they were served cooked food and a little wine at the refectory. The work that had been completed during the week was given to the abbot. On Sunday, afternoon each monk departed once again for his solitary cell in the wilderness, taking only a little bread, roots, a vessel of water and palm branches to weave baskets. Each monk had only a single old robe, a mat on which to sleep and a small vessel for water. Whenever the monks left their cells, the doors were left open so that anyone could enter and take whatever he wished of the monks' few possessions. In this way they prevented any attachment to material possessions. During Great Lent St. Gerasimus ate nothing at all until the radiant day of Pascha. His bodily and spiritual strength was sustained solely by receiving the Holy Mysteries.

    Monks of his monastery were fond of recalling how a lion came to greatly love the saint and served him obediently and with great humility. One day, as St. Gerasimus was walking through the Jordan desert, he met a lion. The lion stretched out his paw and St. Cerasimus saw that it was infected and very swollen. The lion gazed pleadingly and meekly at the elder who sat down immediately to inspect the paw. He discovered that a thorn had lodged in the lion's paw and this was the cause of his suffering. The saint carefully removed the thorn, cleansed the wound of all the pus and then wrapped it with his handkerchief. From then on the lion faithfully followed the saint like a disciple. St. Gerasimus marveled at the lion's intelligence, meekness and willingness to eat bread and whatever else could be found for him. The lion was given an obedience in the monastery. The monks had a donkey which carried water from the Jordan River for the brethren. The lion was entrusted with the task of accompanying the donkey to the river and guarding it while it grazed on the riverbank.

     One day the lion fell asleep in the sun, leaving the donkey to graze peacefully. Just then an Arabian merchant happened to pass by with his caravan of camels and saw the donkey. Thinking the animal was a stray, he tied it to his line of camels and took it with him. The lion awoke and began to search for the donkey, but it was nowhere to be found. The beast returned to the monastery and went immediately to St. Gercsimus who, seeing his dejected expression, thought he had eaten the donkey and asked, "Where is the donkey?" The lion stood in silence, hanging his head in shame. The elder praised the lion for not running away after his evil deed and instructed him to do the work of the donkey from then on. The monks loaded a large barrel on the lion's hack, as they had done before with the donkey, and sent him to the river to fetch water. One day a soldier came to the monastery to pray, and seeing the lion carrying the water, took pity on him and gave the monks three gold pieces to buy another donkey. The lion once again resumed his former obedience of guarding the donkey.

      Some time later, the Arabian merchant once again passed by the Jordan on his way to sell wheat in Jerusalem. The donkey was still with him. That day, the lion happened to be near the river and as the caravan approached he recognized the donkey. Roaring loudly, he rushed towards him, frightening the merchant and his companions who fled in great terror. The lion grasped the donkey's reins in his teeth, as he had done previously, and led it together with the string of camels to the saint. When he saw the saint he roared joyously at having found the lost donkey. St. Getanimus smiled gently and told his monks that the lion had been blamed most unfairly. The lion was given the name 'Jordan' and he continued to be a most faithful 'disciple'. He was never absent from the monastery for more than five days at a time.

     St. Gerasimus departed to the Lord in the year 475 and was buried by his sorrowing brethren there in his monastery. The lion was not in the monastery at that time. When later he arrived, he began to search for the saint. ... Father Sabbatius tried to explain why it was that the elder could not be found. “Jordan, our elder has left us orphans; he has departed to the Lord." The lion was not to be comforted; he refused the food that was offered and continued searching for his St. Gerasimus, roaring in great confusion. Fr. Sabbatius and the other monks stroked Jordan gently on the back and pleaded, "The elder has gone to the Lord; he has left us!" No words or explanations could stop the sorrowful roaring of the lion. He kept searching, now in great distress. Finally Fr. Sabbatius said, "If you do not believe us, then come with us: we will show you the place where the elder rests." Jordan was led to the tomb near the church where St. Gerasimus was buried. Fr. Sabbatius explained to the lion, "We have buried our elder here." Fr. Sabbatius then fell to his knees and with a heavy heart began to weep. The Lion now realized what had happened. He gave one last mighty roar, struck his head on the ground and died on the elder's grave.

    The lion's love and devotion for St. Gerasimus is an example of the love and obedience the animals had for Adam before his fall into sin and his expulsion from Paradise. From this account we also learn how St. Gerasimus pleased the Lord, from his youth unto old age, until he was granted to be numbered among the saints with whom he now glorifies the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
680 St. Owen Benedictine monk.
Once a steward in the household of St. Etheldreda, he entered a Benedictine monastery at Last
705 St. Basinus Benedictine bishop of Trier Germany.
He was abbot of St. Maximin Abbey in Trier until succeeding St. Numerian as bishop. Basinus was a patron of the English missionaries of the time, including St. Willibrord. Basinus retired to his former abbey, where he died.
800 St. Appian Benedictine hermit and missionary.
Appian was born in Liguria, in Italy. He entered the Benedictine monastery of St. Peter of Ciel d'Oro in Pavia, where he adopted the life of a hermit. Appian lived as a recluse on the shores of the Adriatic Sea, but his mere presence served to convert many in the area.
875 St. Adrian bishop martyred missionary possibly royal blood
Adrian was born in Pannonia, in modern Hungary, and was appointed bishop of the local diocese. He resigned to undertake a missionary project. After laboring among the Scots, he retired to a monastery in the area of Firth of Forth. He and his fellow religious were murdered by Danish Viking invaders. In some records, St. Adrian is identified with St. Odhern of Ireland, and in other accounts he is listed as a missionary to Ireland.
875? SS. ADRIAN AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS
IN the ninth century, during one of their numerous descents upon the coast of Scotland, the Danes massacred St Adrian and a number of his companions who, after having helped to evangelize Fifeshire, had retired into a monastery on the Isle of May in the Firth of Forth. The early history of these saints is uncertain. According to the Aberdeen Breviary, St Adrian was of royal descent and a native of Pannonia in Hungary, where he became a bishop. Fired by missionary zeal, he came to Scotland with Clodion, Gaius, Stolbrand, Monan and 6602 other com­panions—all of whom perished with him. As a missionary bishop he appears to have had no fixed see, but he has been credited with the bishopric and even the archbishopric of Saint Andrews. Some modern historians identify St Adrian with the Irish St Odhran, and are disposed to follow Boece, who states that all the martyrs were Angles and Scots. The Angles may well have been the followers of St Acca who, when driven from Northumberland, founded a bishopric among the Picts, whilst the Scots or Irish will have been Arian and his friends, who were probably obliged by Danish invasions to leave Ireland and so came to the Firth of Forth. Fordun gives the number of martyrs as 100; there certainly was a battle in 875 between the Scots and the Danes, in the course of which many of the Scots were killed. In the Aberdeen Breviary, printed in 1509, the martyrs had an office with nine lessons, and Wyntoun celebrates their death in a metrical chronicle:

And upon Haly Thurysday
Saint Adrian thai sloe in May
With mony of his cumpany
In that haly lIe thai ly.

St David I built a priory on the island and placed it under the Benedictines of Reading, but it afterwards passed to the canons regular of Saint Andrews. The Isle of May became a favourite place of pilgrimage, and as such it was visited several times by the Scottish King James IV.

See the Aberdeen Breviary, and KSS., pp. 266—268.
900 holy martyrs who were buried in the cemetery of St. Cecilia.
Romæ, via Appia, sanctórum Mártyrum nongentórum, qui pósiti sunt in cœmetério ad sanctam Cæcíliam.
At Rome, on the Appian Way, nine hundred holy martyrs who were buried in the cemetery of St. Cecilia.
1038 St. Felix of Rhuys Benedictine abbot hermit
Born in Brittany, France, he was a recluse on Quessant Island and then entered the Benedictines at Flery, Saint Benoit sur Loire. He restored Rhuys Abbey.
1123 St. Peter of Pappacarbone Benedictine bishop leadership, care, and wisdom
Born at Salerno, he entered the Benedictines and was a monk at Cava, in southern Italy Sent to Cluny in 1062, he spent six years there and then was named bishop of Policastro in 1079. This office was not to his temperament, and he resigned to return to Cava where he was appointed coadjutor abbot. His first effort at being abbot was troubled with difficulties as the monks found his rule too severe. He departed the house of Cava for a time, but then came back at the request of the monks, and distinguished himself with renewed leadership, care, and wisdom. Through him, Cava became the center of numerous and thriving Benedictine houses.
1123 ST PETER OF CAVA, BISHOP OF POLICASTRO
PETER PAPPACARBONE was a native of Salerno in Italy, a nephew of St Alferius, founder of the monastery of Cava, and entered upon the religious life at a very early age under St Leo, the second abbot. He distinguished himself at once by his piety, abstemiousness and love of solitude. At this time the fame of the abbey of Cluny had spread far and wide, and the young monk was so attracted by what he had heard that about 1062 he obtained permission to leave Cava and go to France. When the older monks at Cluny would have sent him to the school to be trained, their abbot, St Hugh, disagreed, saying that Peter might be young in years but that he was a full-grown man in devotion. The abbot’s opinion was abundantly justified, for Peter proved himself well among that household of holy men and he remained there for some six years. He was then recalled to Italy, having been released by St Hugh apparently at the request of the archdeacon of Rome, Hilde­brand (who was afterwards Pope St Gregory VII).

St Peter was appointed the first bishop of Policastro, but he found himself unfitted for the turmoil of the world and for the secular cares which devolved upon him. He obtained permission to resign and retired to Cava, where Abbot Leo, realizing that he himself was becoming too old to govern, nominated him as his successor and withdrew. The monks by their votes had confirmed the election of their new superior, but soon found the strict rule he had brought from Cluny extremely irksome: they began to murmur and rebel, and some of them carried their complaints to the aged Leo in his retirement. St Peter, far from resisting and equally far from relaxing the rule, quietly left and betook himself to another monastery. It was not long before the monks of Cava, urged by Abbot Leo, came to entreat St Peter to return, which he consented to do. Thereafter it was remarked that those who had the most vehemently opposed him were now foremost in welcoming the rule they had previously spurned.

Under the government of Abbot Peter the monastery flourished amazingly. Not only did numbers of aspirants to the religious life flock to him from all sides, but men and women in the world showered money and lands upon the community, which was enabled to minister far and wide to the sick and the poor. The abbey itself had to be enlarged to admit the new members, and a new church was built, to the dedication of which came Pope Urban II, who had been with St Peter at Cluny and had remained his close friend. The description of this occasion was preserved in the chronicles of Cava, where it is stated that Bd Urban talked freely with the abbot and monks, as though “forgetting that he was pope”. St Peter lived to a great age and died in 1123.

The abbey of Cava still exists, and in 1912 the monks gave proof of their devotion to the founders of their observance by reprinting from the unique ancient manuscript in their possession the Lives of Alferius, Peter and two other early abbots, purporting to be written by Hugh of Venosa, a younger contemporary of St Peter. It is to this biography, which may be found in the Acta Sanctorum (March, vol. i) as well as in Ughelli and Muratori, that we owe all our knowledge of St Peter of Cava.
1188 BD HUMBERT III OF SAVOY
HUMBERT III, Count of Savoy, was born in 1136 at Avigliana, and his parents, Amadeus III of Savoy and Matilda of Vienne, were at pains to give him a good and religious education. They entrusted his training to Bd Amadeus, Bishop of Lausanne, under whom the youth made great progress, especially in the life of prayer.
   Called to rule at his father’s death, he sacrificed a desire for solitude to the task imposed upon him, and though a mere boy when he took up the reins of government he showed himself fully equal to his position, finding it quite possible to reconcile the duty of a secular ruler with that of self-sanctification. When his wife died childless, the count sought in the monastery of Aulps the consolation he needed, and would fain have remained there, but his vassals came to entreat him not to abandon them and to take steps to ensure the succession in his family. Yielding to these representations he again took up the burden and contracted two, if not three, more marriages. By his second wife, Germana of Zahringen, he had a child, Agnes, who was betrothed to John Lackland, afterwards king of England, but both mother and daughter died before the marriage could take place.
   During this period Humbert had occasion to repel aggression by force of arms, and he then proved himself as capable in warfare as in peace. “Brave in contest, undaunted in reverse, just and moderate in victory, he was ever unflinching in his adherence to what he held to be just.” His reputation for wisdom and probity reached far beyond the limits of his own country, and won for him the confidence of his con­temporaries. We read, however, that on one occasion he came into violent conflict with St Anthelmus, Bishop of Belley. Happily the two holy men, though they had lost their tempers badly, arrived at a very edifying reconciliation.

The time came at last when Count Humbert felt that he was justified in retiring from the world to prepare himself for death. He accordingly withdrew to the Cistercian abbey of Hautecombe, where he gave himself up to the humblest and most austere practices of the religious life. According to some authorities, how­ever, he was not suffered to remain long in retirement the call of his people, who were again threatened with invasion from Germany, summoned him from the cloister to take command of the army. Though forewarned of his approaching death he marched with them as far as Chambéry, where he died in 1188.
     This account of the close of his troubled career is, it must be confessed, very doubtful. There is good reason to believe that Bd Humbert died peacefully in his Cistercian retreat, where also was buried nearly a century later Bd Boniface of Savoy, who had been archbishop of Canterbury. The cultus of Bd Humbert was approved in 1838.

There seems to be no early biography of Bd Humbert. The facts have to be gathered from the imperfect and often conflicting accounts of the chroniclers. Most of the story can be gleaned from the important work of Samuel Guichenon, Histoire généalogique de la royale Maison de Savoye, of which the first edition appeared in 1660. See also the convenient little volume of F. G. Allaria I1 b. Umberto III storia e leggende (1879). It is noteworthy that Guichenon strongly maintains that Humbert was married, not three, but four times, and that his fourth wife, when he retired to his Cistercian abbey, herself became a nun at Messines in Flanders.
1310 Blessed Romeo Italian Carmelite lay brother  (Romaeus) of Limoges, OC (AC)
Romeo was an Italian Carmelite lay brother and the companion of Saint Avertanus.
Having set out together from Limoges on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, both died at Lucca, apparently of the plague (Benedictines).
1483 St. Casimir born of kings slept little, spending his nights in prayer
Vilnæ, in Lithuánia, beáti Casimíri Confessóris, e Casimíro Rege progéniti; quem Leo Décimus, Románus Póntifex, in Sanctórum númerum rétulit.
At Vilnius in Lithuania, blessed Casimir, confessor, the son of King Casimir, whom Pope Leo X inscribed in the roll of the saints. 
b. 1458 Miracles were reported at his tomb
Casimir in line (third among 13 children) to be a king himself, was filled with exceptional values and learning by a great teacher, John Dlugosz. Even his critics could not say that his conscientious objection indicated softness. Even as a teenager, Casimir lived a highly disciplined, even severe life, sleeping on the ground, spending a great part of the night in prayer and dedicating himself to lifelong celibacy.
 
When nobles in Hungary became dissatisfied with their king, they prevailed upon Casimir’s father, the king of Poland, to send his son to take over the country. Casimir obeyed his father, as many young men over the centuries have obeyed their government. The army he was supposed to lead was clearly outnumbered by the “enemy”; some of his troops were deserting because they were not paid. At the advice of his officers, Casimir decided to return home. His father was irked at the failure of his plans, and confined his 15-year-old son for three months. The lad made up his mind never again to become involved in the wars of his day, and no amount of persuasion could change his mind. He returned to prayer and study, maintaining his decision to remain celibate even under pressure to marry the emperor’s daughter. He reigned briefly as king of Poland during his father’s absence. He died of lung trouble at 23 while visiting Lithuania, of which he was also Grand Duke. He was buried in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Comment:  For many years Poland and Lithuania faded into the gray prison on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Despite repression, the Poles and Lithuanians remained firm in the faith which has become synonymous with their name. Their youthful patron reminds us: Peace is not won by war; sometimes a comfortable peace is not even won by virtue, but Christ’s peace can penetrate every government repression of religion.
St. Casimir Patron of Poland and Lithuania
Casimir grew up in a world where his life was not his own. As a prince of Poland, the second son of King Casimir IV and Elizabeth of Austria, his life was scheduled to cement his father's authority and increase Poland's power. Casimir realized from an early age that his life belonged to someone else, but to a much higher King than his father. Despite pressure, humiliation, and rejection, he stood by that loyalty through his whole life. Born the third of thirteen children in 1461, Casimir was committed to God from childhood. Some of that commitment was the result of a tutor, John Dlugosz, whose holiness encouraged Casimir on his own journey.

It may be hard for us to imagine royal luxury as a pressure. But for Casimir, the riches around him were temptations to forget his true loyalties. Rebelling against the rich, fashionable clothes he was expected to enjoy, he wore the plainest of clothes. Rejecting even ordinary comforts, he slept little, spending his nights in prayer. And when he did sleep, he lay on the floor not on a royal bed. Even though he was a prince, many of those around him must have laughed and joked at his choices. Yet, in the face of any pressure, Casimir was always friendly and calm.

Though his father must have wondered about him, he must have seen and admired Casimir's strength. He showed that he misunderstood this strength when he sent Casimir as head of an army to take over the throne of Hungary at the request of some nobles there. Casimir felt the whole expedition was wrong but was convinced to go out of obedience to his father. He could not help but feel at every step that it was disobedient to his other Father. So when soldiers started deserting, he was only too glad to listen to the advice of his officers and turn back home. His feelings were confirmed when he discovered that Pope Sixtus IV had opposed the move.

His father, however, was furious at being deterred from his plans and banished Casimir to a castle in Dobzki, hoping that imprisonment would change Casimir's mind. Casimir's commitment to what he believed was right only grew stronger in his exile and he refused to cooperate with his father's plans any more despite the pressure to give in. He even rejected a marriage alliance his father tried to form. He participated in his true King's plans wholeheartedly by praying, studying, and helping the poor.

He died at the age of 23 in 1484 from lung disease. He was buried with his favorite song, a Latin hymn to Mary called "Omni die dic Mariae" which we know as "Daily, Daily Sing to Mary." Because of his love for the song, it is known as the Hymn of St. Casimir though he didn't write it.

1484 ST CASIMIR OF POLAND
ST CASIMIR, to whom the Poles gave the title of “The Peace-maker”, was the third of the thirteen children of Casimir IV, King of Poland, and of Elizabeth of Austria, daughter of the Emperor Albert II. Casimir was the second son; he and his two brothers, Ladislaus and John, had as their tutor John Dlugosz, the historian, a canon of Cracow and a man of extraordinary learning and piety. All the princes were warmly attached to the holy man, but Casimir profited the most by his teaching and example. Devout from his infancy, the boy gave himself up to devotion and penance, and had a horror of anything approaching softness or self-indulgence. His bed was often the ground, and he was wont to spend a great part of the night in prayer and meditation, chiefly on the passion of our Saviour. His clothes were plain, and under them he wore a hair-shirt. Living always in the presence of God he was invariably serene and cheerful, and pleasant to all. The saint’s love of God showed itself in his love of the poor who are Christ’s members, and for the relief of these the young prince gave all he possessed, using in their behalf the influence he had with his father and with his brother Ladislaus when he became king of Bohemia. In honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary Casimir frequently recited the long Latin hymn “Omni die dic Mariae”, a copy of which was by his desire buried with him. This hymn, part of which is familiar to us through Bittleston’s version, “Daily, daily sing to Mary”, is not uncommonly called the Hymn of St Casimir, but it was certainly not composed by him; it is three centuries older than his time.

The nobles of Hungary, dissatisfied with their king, Matthias Corvinus, in 1471 begged the King of Poland to allow them to place his son Casimir on the throne. The saint, at that time not fifteen years old, was very unwilling to consent, but in obedience to his father he went to the frontier at the head of an army. There, hearing that Matthias had himself assembled a large body of troops, and withal finding that his own soldiers were deserting in large numbers because they could not get their pay, he decided upon the advice of his officers to return home. The knowledge that Pope Sixtus IV had sent an embassy to his father to deter him from the expedition made the young prince carry out his resolution with the firmer conviction that he was acting rightly. King Casimir, however, was greatly incensed at the failure of his ambitious projects and would not permit his son to return to Cracow, but relegated him to the castle of Dobzki. The young man obeyed and remained in confinement there for three months. Convinced of the injustice of the war upon which he had so nearly embarked, and determined to have no further part in these internecine conflicts which only facilitated the further progress into Europe of the Turks, St Casimir could never again be persuaded to take up arms, though urged to do so by his father and invited once more by the disaffected Hungarian magnates. He returned to his studies and his prayers, though for a time he was viceroy in Poland during an absence of his father. An attempt was made to induce him to marry a daughter of the Emperor Frederick III, but he refused to relax the celibacy he had imposed on himself.

St Casimir’s austerities did nothing to help the lung trouble from which he suffered, and he died at the age of twenty-three in 1484 and was buried at Vilna, where his relics still rest in the church of St Stanislaus. Miracles were reported at his tomb, and he was canonized in 1521.

A Latin life of St Casimir by Zachary Ferreri was printed at Cracow in 1521 and has been reproduced in the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. i, and there is also a biography by Prileszky in the Acts Sanctorum Hungariae (1743), vol. i, pp. 125—132. A popular account in German is that of Felix Iózefowicz, Der heilige Kasimir, commending the saint as a patron for young students. In the article devoted to St Casimir in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Prof. L. Abraham gives references to several works in Polish of more modern date. Casimir is sometimes referred to as king of Poland and Hungary, though he never occupied the throne of either country. The fact that he is accorded apparently only one line in the Cambridge History of Poland, vol. (1950) shows perhaps how little impression he made in secular affairs. The so-called Hymn of St Casimir forms one division of the great Mariale, a remarkable rhyming Latin lyric of the twelfth century, which has been attributed both to St Anselm and to St Bernard of Clairvaux. The true author is probably Bernard of Morlaix, or Cluny. Casimir’s love of these verses is a testimony at once to his good literary taste and to his devotion to the Mother of God. At a time when certain enthusiastic sympathizers with Polish aspirations were eager to claim the Omni die dic Manse as a sort of national anthem, a book was brought out which printed the text of the hymn along with translations in various modern languages in the metre of the original. When a second edition was in contemplation, Cardinal Wiseman was invited to contribute an English version of this hymn. His rendering was afterwards published separately, with a musical setting, but it is now little known.

Casimir is patron saint of Poland and Lithuania.
In His Footsteps:  Where do your loyalties lie? Is there a part of your life where you feel your loyalties divided and feel pressure to follow worldly commitment? Today choose the action that best serves Christ the King.
Prayer:  Saint Casimir, help us to remember that our true King is Jesus Christ and always serve him with joy and love. Help us to turn to our true Father for guidance and protection. Amen

March 4, 2007 St. Casimir (1458-1483)  
Casimir, born of kings and in line (third among 13 children) to be a king himself, was filled with exceptional values and learning by a great teacher, John Dlugosz. Even his critics could not say that his conscientious objection indicated softness. Even as a teenager, Casimir lived a highly disciplined, even severe life, sleeping on the ground, spending a great part of the night in prayer and dedicating himself to lifelong celibacy.
When nobles in Hungary became dissatisfied with their king, they prevailed upon Casimir’s father, the king of Poland, to send his son to take over the country. Casimir obeyed his father, as many young men over the centuries have obeyed their government. The army he was supposed to lead was clearly outnumbered by the “enemy”; some of his troops were deserting because they were not paid. At the advice of his officers, Casimir decided to return home. His father was irked at the failure of his plans, and confined his 15-year-old son for three months. The lad made up his mind never again to become involved in the wars of his day, and no amount of persuasion could change his mind. He returned to prayer and study, maintaining his decision to remain celibate even under pressure to marry the emperor’s daughter. He reigned briefly as king of Poland during his father’s absence. He died of lung trouble at 23 while visiting Lithuania, of which he was also Grand Duke. He was buried in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Comment:   For many years Poland and Lithuania faded into the gray prison on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Despite repression, the Poles and Lithuanians remained firm in the faith which has become synonymous with their name. Their youthful patron reminds us: Peace is not won by war; sometimes a comfortable peace is not even won by virtue, but Christ’s peace can penetrate every government repression of religion.
1590 BD CHRISTOPHER BALES, MARTYR received his education abroad at the English College in Rome and at the Douai College at Rheims
Coniscliffe in the diocese of Durham was the birthplace of Christopher Bayles, or Bales (who also took the name of Rivers). He received his education abroad at the English College in Rome and at the Douai College at Rheims, and was then ordained and sent on the English mission in 1588. After labouring for nearly two years, he was arrested and imprisoned. The misery of his confinement was aggravated by his bodily weakness, for he was consumptive, but nothing could overcome his courage and patience. He was cruelly racked in prison to force him to admit where he had said Mass and by whom he had been harboured, and on one occasion he was left hanging by the wrists for twenty-four hours.

Eventually he was brought to trial and found guilty of treason, for having been ordained priest beyond the seas and for coming to England to exercise his priestly office. When the judge asked him in the usual form whether he had anything to say in his defence, Bales answered that he wished to put one question “Was St Augustine, the monk sent by the Pope of Rome to preach the Catholic faith in England, guilty of treason in complying with that commission?“ The court replied in the negative. “Why, then”, asked the martyr, “do you arraign and condemn me for a traitor who do the same thing as he did, and to whom nothing can be objected but what might equally be objected against him?” They replied that the difference lay in the fact that, by English law, such action had now been made treason. Having been accordingly sentenced to death he was hanged, disembowelled and quartered in Fleet Street on March 4, 1590.

See MMP., p. 160, and J. H. Pollen, Acts of English Martyrs. The Penkevel Papers in the Westminster Archives and Fr Grene’s Collectanea at Stonyhurst furnish contemporary evidence, and cf John Gerard’s autobiography (ed. Caraman, 1951), pp. 8—9.
1877 St. Placide Viel Nun and mother general relief during Franco Prussian War
b.1815 in Normandy, France, she joined the Sisters of the Christian Schools in 1833 after meeting St. Marie Madeleine Postel, mother general of the congregation. In 1841 she was appointed assistant general of the sisters, a promotion which earned much resentment from other sisters. Nevertheless, after proving herself, she became mother general of the congregation in 1846 after Marie Madeleine’s passing. With much effort, in 1859 she won final approval of the institute from Pope Pius IX.
She was quite active in organizing relief during the Franco Prussian War.
1877 BD PLACIDA VIEL, VIRGIN
Victoria EULALIA Jacqueline VIEL, who was to become second superior general of the Sisters of the Christian Schools, was born in the Norman village of Val­Vacher in 1815, the eighth child of a farmer. The only schooling she had herself was seven years at a sort of dame’s school in the near-by town of Quettehou. She was serious and shy by disposition, leading the quiet ordered life of a farmer’s daughter and housekeeping for her brother until she was seventeen, when she went on a visit to her aunt, who was a member of St Mary Magdalen Postel’s community at Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte. Victoria was so impressed by what she saw there that she offered herself to the community and was accepted, receiving the name of Placida at her clothing.

Mother Mary Postel was then nearly eighty, and by the end of Sister Placida’s noviciate had decided that this young sister was the one most likely to succeed herself at the head of the community. Placida was therefore sent for a short period of intensive training to the normal-school in Argentan; on her return she was set to teach in the boarding-school, and the foundress quietly initiated her into the duties and responsibilities of administration, even to the extent of sending her to open new houses. In five years’ time Placida was made novice-mistress; but this was soon interrupted by her being sent to Paris to beg funds for the restoration of the abbey church at Saint-Sauveur and to do other important convent business.

On July 16, 1846 St Mary Magdalen Postel died, and at the ensuing general chapter of the Sisters of the Christian Schools Sister Placida was chosen in her place. Her aunt, Sister Mary, had expected to be the choice; and although the new superioress gave her a maximum of authority and responsibility, Sister Mary, who had already shown hostility to her niece, was the source of much worry and unpleasantness to Mother Placida for the next ten years. Indeed, she stayed at the mother-house as little as possible so long as her aunt lived, directing her society from the rough winding highways and byways of central and western France” which she traversed so often collecting funds and on other business of the rapidly-growing convents: notably the getting of official civil recognition, a long and weari­some business, which once took her on a mysterious secret visit to the Count de Chambord in Vienna.

Mother Placida directed the institute for thirty years, and it was a period of great expansion: orphanages, nursery-schools, workrooms and free elementary schools were opened, one of the largest and best-loved foundations being the orphanage of the Holy Heart of Mary in Paris, where by 1877 there were 500 children being looked after; and the foundress’s undertaking of the rebuilding of the great church at the mother-house was carried to a triumphant conclusion. Cardinal Guibert, Archbishop of Bordeaux, speaking of the state of France in the 1870s echoed what had been said of Bd Anne Javouhey, and remarked, “I know only one man capable of restoring order in France. He is at Saint-Sauveur-le­Vicomte, and his name is Mother Placida.” In reading of her life and achievements one gets an impression of great charm and good-humour, and of quietness and confidence in her determination that what St John Baptist de la Salle had done for boys should be spread wider yet among girls; thirty-six poor-schools were opened in Normandy—and Les ordonnances de Louis XIV was abolished as a reading-book for beginners, or for anyone else.

Bd Placida’s life was of the simplest from every point of view. We read of no great spiritual trials or mystical graces; but occurrences to all seeming miraculous were not wanting. These and other things she consistently attributed to the inter­cession in Heaven of Mother Postel, the preliminary steps towards whose beatifica­tion she took. Bd. Placida herself died on March 4, 1877, being only 62 years old; and she was beatified in 1951. During the time she was at the head of the Sisters of the Christian Schools their convents in France had risen from 37 to 105, and their religious from 150 to over 1000.

See, in French, D. Meunier, Une gerbe de merveilles (1931); L. Canuet, Bonne Mère Placide (1925) and the biography by P. de Crisenoy (1943); in English, Bd Placide Viel (1951), by S[ister] C[allista). Cf. also lives of St Mary M. Poste1 (July 16).


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 274

O Lady, thou hast blessed thy house: thou hast consecrated thy dwelling.

This one is fair among the daughters of Jerusalem: whose memory is in blessing.

The holy angels have proclaimed her blessed: glorify her, ye Virtues and Dominations.

Ye peoples and nations, seek out her prudence: and search out the treasures of her mercy.

Think of her in goodness: and seek her in simplicity of heart.

Let every spirit praise Our Lady


God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique, for each is the result of a new idea. 
As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike. It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints. Dear Lord, grant us a spirit that is not bound by our own ideas and preferences. 
Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves. O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory. Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.  Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.   God calls each one of us to be a saint in order to get into heaven:  only saints are allowed into heaven.
The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.
There are over 10,000 named saints beati  from history
 and Roman Martyology Orthodox sources
Patron_Saints.html  Widowed_Saints html  Indulgences The Catholic Church in China
LINKS: Marian Shrines   India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes 1858  China Marian shrines 1995
Kenya national Marian shrine  Loreto, Italy  Marian Apparitions (over 2000)  Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798
  Links to Related MarianWebsites  Angels and Archangels  Saints Visions of Heaven and Hell
Widowed Saints  html
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  Uniates  Chalcedon
Mary the Mother of Jesus Miracles_BC  Lay Saints  Miraculous_Icons  Miraculous_Medal_Novena Patron Saints
Miracles by Century 100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000    1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800  1900 2000
Miracles 100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000  
 1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800   1900 Lay Saints

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

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Saint Frances Xavier Seelos  Practical Guide to Holiness
1. Go to Mass with deepest devotion. 2. Spend a half hour to reflect upon your main failing & make resolutions to avoid it.
3. Do daily spiritual reading for at least 15 minutes, if a half hour is not possible.  4. Say the rosary every day.
5. Also daily, if at all possible, visit the Blessed Sacrament; toward evening, meditate on the Passion of Christ for a half hour, 6.  Conclude the day with evening prayer & an examination of conscience over all the faults & sins of the day.
7.  Every month make a review of the month in confession.
8. Choose a special patron every month & imitate that patron in some special virtue.
9. Precede every great feast with a novena that is nine days of devotion. 10. Try to begin & end every activity with a Hail Mary
My God, I believe, I adore, I trust and I love Thee.  I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not
O most Holy trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly.  I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the Tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended, and by the infite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  I beg the conversion of poor sinners,  Fatima Prayer, Angel of Peace
The voice of the Father is heard, the Son enters the water, and the Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove.
THE spirit and example of the world imperceptibly instil the error into the minds of many that there is a kind of middle way of going to Heaven; and so, because the world does not live up to the gospel, they bring the gospel down to the level of the world. It is not by this example that we are to measure the Christian rule, but words and life of Christ. All His followers are commanded to labour to become perfect even as our heavenly Father is perfect, and to bear His image in our hearts that we may be His children. We are obliged by the gospel to die to ourselves by fighting self-love in our hearts, by the mastery of our passions, by taking on the spirit of our Lord.
   These are the conditions under which Christ makes His promises and numbers us among His children, as is manifest from His words which the apostles have left us in their inspired writings. Here is no distinction made or foreseen between the apostles or clergy or religious and secular persons. The former, indeed, take upon themselves certain stricter obligations, as a means of accomplishing these ends more perfectly; but the law of holiness and of disengagement of the heart from the world is general and binds all the followers of Christ.
God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique each the result of a new idea.
As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike.
It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints.
Dear Lord, grant us a spirit not bound by our own ideas and preferences.
 Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves.
O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory.
 Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.
Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.
The 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary ) Revealed to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan)
1.    Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces. 2.    I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary. 3.    The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies. 4.    It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things.  Oh, that soul would sanctify them by this means.  5.    The soul that recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish. 6.    Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying themselves to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune.  God will not chastise them in His justice, they shall not perish by an unprovided death; if they be just, they shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life. 7.    Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church. 8.    Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise. 9.    I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary. 10.    The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.  11.    You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary. 12.    I shall aid all those who propagate the Holy Rosary in their necessities. 13.    I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death. 14.    All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ. 15.    Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
His Holiness Aram I, current (2013) Catholicos of Cilicia of Armenians, whose See is located in Lebanese town of Antelias. The Catholicosate was founded in Sis, capital of Cilicia, in the year 1441 following the move of the Catholicosate of All Armenians back to its original See of Etchmiadzin in Armenia. The Catholicosate of Cilicia enjoyed local jurisdiction, though spiritually subject to the authority of Etchmiadzin. In 1921 the See was transferred to Aleppo in Syria, and in 1930 to Antelias.
Its jurisdiction currently extends to Syria, Cyprus, Iran and Greece.
Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac
The exact date of the introduction of Christianity into Edessa {Armenian Ourhaï in Arabic Er Roha, commonly Orfa or Urfa, its present name} is not known. It is certain, however, that the Christian community was at first made up from the Jewish population of the city. According to an ancient legend, King Abgar V, Ushana, was converted by Addai, who was one of the seventy-two disciples. In fact, however, the first King of Edessa to embrace the Christian Faith was Abgar IX (c. 206) becoming official kingdom religion.
Christian council held at Edessa early as 197 (Eusebius, Hist. Ecc7V,xxiii).
In 201 the city was devastated by a great flood, and the Christian church was destroyed (“Chronicon Edessenum”, ad. an. 201).
In 232 the relics of the Apostle St. Thomas were brought from India, on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written.

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

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

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

Brief History of our Beloved Holy Priest Here and his published books of Catholic History in North America
Reardon, J.M. Archbishop Ireland; Prelate, Patriot, Publicist, 1838-1918.
A Memoir (St. Paul; 1919); George Anthony Belcourt Pioneer Catholic Missionary of the Northwest 1803-1874 (1955);
The Catholic Church IN THE DIOCESE OF ST. PAUL from earliest origin to centennial achievement 1362-1950 (1952);
The Church of Saint Mary of Saint Paul 1875-1922;  (1932)
The Vikings in the American Heartland;
The Catholic Total Abstinence Society in Minnesota;
James Michael Reardon Born in Nova Scotia, 1872;  Priest, ordained by Bishop Ireland;
Member -- St. Paul Seminary faculty.
Affiliations and 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}.
Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel
 It Makes No Sense Not To Believe In GOD
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi. 
  June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.
By Father John Corapi
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi. 
  June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.
By Father John Corapi
Among the most important titles we have in the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of the most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom. The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7 (date of feast of Our Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for the Christian forces against the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope Pius V led a procession around St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral leadership in recognizing the danger posed to Christendom by the radical Muslim forces, and in using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles require spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that had its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

Father Corapi's academic credentials are quite extensive. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Pace University in the seventies. Then as an older man returned to the university classrooms in preparation for his life as a priest and preacher. He received all of his academic credentials for the Church with honors: a Masters degree in Sacred Scripture from Holy Apostles Seminary and Bachelor, Licentiate, and Doctorate degrees in dogmatic theology from the University of Navarre in Spain.
Father John Corapi goes to the heart of the contemporary world's many woes and wars, whether the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, or the Congo, or the natural disasters that seem to be increasing every year, the moral and spiritual war is at the basis of everything. “Our battle is not against human forces,” St. Paul asserts, “but against principalities and powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness...” (Ephesians 6:12). 
The “War to end all wars” is the moral and spiritual combat that rages in the hearts and minds of human beings. The outcome of that  unseen fight largely determines how the battle in the realm of the seen unfolds.  The title talk, “With the Moon Under Her Feet,” is taken from the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation, and deals with the current threat to the world from radical Islam, and the Blessed Virgin Mary's role in the ultimate victory that will result in the conversion of Islam. Few Catholics are aware of the connection between Islam, Fatima, and Guadalupe. Presented in Father Corapi's straight-forward style, you will be both inspired and educated by him.

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

God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under ‘offering of life’
Jul 11, 2017 - 06:22 am .- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called “offering of life” – in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor.
 
Twentieth century Polish nurse among causes advancing toward sainthood
Jul 7, 2017 - 06:14 am .- Pope Francis on Friday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Hanna Chrzanowska, a Polish nurse and nursing instructor who died from cancer in 1973, paving the way for her beatification.
 
Sainthood causes advance, including layman who resisted fascism
Jun 17, 2017 - 09:22 am .- Pope Francis on Friday recognized the heroic virtue of six persons on the path to canonization, as well as the martyrdom of an Italian man who died from injuries of a beating he received while imprisoned in a concentration camp for resisting fascism.
 
Solanus Casey, Cardinal Van Thuan among those advanced toward sainthood
May 4, 2017 - 10:47 am .- Pope Francis on Thursday approved decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints advancing the causes for canonization of 12 individuals, including the American-born Capuchin Solanus Casey and the Vietnamese cardinal Francis Xavier Nguen Van Thuan.
 
Pope clears way for canonization of Fatima visionaries
Mar 23, 2017 - 06:44 am .- On Thursday Pope Francis approved the second and final miracle needed to canonize Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the shepherd children who witnessed the Fatima Marian apparitions.
Surgeon and father among sainthood causes moving forward
Feb 27, 2017 - 11:03 am .- Pope Francis recognized on Monday the heroic virtue of eight persons on the path to canonization, including an Italian surgeon and father of eight who suffered from several painful diseases throughout his life.
8 Martyrs Move Closer to Sainthood 8 July, 2016
Posted by ZENIT Staff on 8 July, 2016

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

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

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

On the List Are Lay Founder of a Hospital and Eastern Catholic Religious
VATICAN CITY, June 12, 2014 (Zenit.org) - Today, the Vatican announced that during the celebration of the feast of Christ the King on Sunday, November 23, an ordinary public consistory will be held for the canonization of the following six blesseds, who include a lay founder of a hospital for the poor, founders of religious orders, and two members of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See:
-Giovanni Antonio Farina (1803-1888), an Italian bishop who founded the Institute of the Sisters Teachers of Saint Dorothy, Daughters of the Sacred Hearts
-Kuriakose Elias Chavara (1805-1871), a Syro-Malabar priest in India who founded the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate
-Ludovico of Casoria (1814-1885), an Italian Franciscan priest who founded the Gray Sisters of St. Elizabeth
-Nicola Saggio (Nicola da Longobardi, 1650-1709), an Italian oblate of the Order of Minims
-Euphrasia Eluvathingal (1877-1952), an Indian Carmelite of the Syro-Malabar Church
-Amato Ronconi (1238-1304), an Italian, Third Order Franciscan who founded a hospital for poor pilgrims
CAUSES OF SAINTS July 2015.
Pope Recognizes Heroic Virtues of Ukrainian Archbishop
Recognition Brings Metropolitan Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky Closer to Beatification
By Junno Arocho Esteves Rome, July 17, 2015 (ZENIT.org)
Pope Francis recognized the heroic virtues of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky. According to a communique released by the Holy See Press Office, the Holy Father met this morning with Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MIRACLES
– Blessed Alfonso Maria Fusco, diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. John the Baptist (1839-1910);
– Venerable Servant of God John Sullivan, professed priest of the Society of Jesus (1861-1933);
MARTYRDOM
– Servants of God Nikolle Vinçenc Prennushi, O.F.M., archbishop of Durres, Albania, and 37 companions killed between 1945 and 1974;
– Servants of God José Antón Gómez and three companions of the Benedictines of Madrid, Spain, killed 1936;
HEROIC VIRTUES
– Servant of God Thomas Choe Yang-Eop, diocesan priest (1821-1861);
– Servant of God Sosio Del Prete (né Vincenzo), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Congregation of the Little Servants of Christ the King (1885-1952);
– Servant of God Wenanty Katarzyniec (né Jósef), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (1889-1921);
– Servant of God Maria Consiglia of the Holy Spirity (née Emilia Paqualina Addatis), founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Addolorata, Servants of Mary (1845-1900);
– Servant of God Maria of the Incarnation (née Caterina Carrasco Tenorio), founder of the Congregation of the Franciscan Tertiary Sisters of the Flock of Mary (1840-1917);
– Servant of God , founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Family of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1851-1923);
– Servant of God Ilia Corsaro, founder of the Congregation of the Little Missionaries of the Eucharist (1897-1977);
– Servant of God Maria Montserrat Grases García, layperson of the Personal Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei (1941-1959).
LINKS:
Marian Apparitions (over 2000)  India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes Feb 11- July 16, Loreto, Italy 1858 
China 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, 274 2023
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