Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!  (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
RDeo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
March is the month of Saint Joseph since 1855;
2023
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We are the defenders of true freedom.
  May our witness unveil the deception of the "pro-choice" slogan.
  Campaign saves lives Shawn Carney Campaign Director www.40daysforlife.com ,
 
Please help save the unborn they are the future for the world

It is a great poverty that a child must die so that you may live as you wish -- Mother Teresa
 Saving babies, healing moms and dads, 'The Gospel of Life'


Joseph, Husband of Mary (RM)

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

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


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

March 19 – Saint Joseph, Husband of Mary (Solemnity)
Joseph and Mary…the same noble spirit and the same holiness
Let us talk now about the relationship between Saint Joseph and Our Lady. It is a natural law that people wanting to unite in wedlock, as husband and wife, share a strong resemblance in their physical and spiritual qualities.
This is why the only man who could be chosen as the husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, by divine predisposition, had to possess similar nobility in the temporal order and similar holiness in the spiritual order.
But since God's works are perfect, it was fitting that this resemblance continue to exist beyond the limits of this life, and last in heaven through all eternity; so that, as the Bride was first in glory, the Bridegroom has true precedence over all the saints.  
Cardinal Lépicier  Saint Joseph, Our Lady’s Bridegroom:
A Theological Treatise (Saint Joseph, Époux de la Très Sainte Vierge, Traité théologique
)
 
We must also mortify our tongue, by abstaining from words of detraction, abuse, and obscenity.
An impure word spoken in jest may prove a scandal to others, and sometimes a word of double meaning, said in a witty way, does more harm than a word openly impure. -- St. Alphonsus Liguori


Saint Therese's Thoughts about Loreto March 19 - Our Lady Fair (Nogent, France)     
This is what Saint Therese of Lisieux wrote about her visit to Loreto November 13, 1887:
 "I remember the great sense of happiness I had on my way to Loreto. What a perfect location the Virgin had chosen for her blessed house! Everything all around is poor, simple and primitive: the women have conserved their graceful Italian costume and haven't, like in the other cities, adopted the fashion of Paris.
Loreto absolutely charmed me. What can I say about the Holy House?
My emotion was so great as I stood under the same roof as the Holy Family, to contemplate the walls where Our Lord set His divine eyes, to trod the earth that St Joseph had sprinkled with his perspiration, where Mary had carried Jesus in her arms, after having carried Him in her virginal womb.
I saw the small room of the Annunciation and I placed my rosary in the bowl of the Child Jesus.
What delightful memories I have! But our biggest consolation was to receive Jesus in His house and thus to be made His living temple, in the very place He actually honored with His divine presence. (...)
In Loreto, the altar is found in the Basilica which encloses the Holy House like a precious diamond in a marble case.
This was not to our liking. We wanted to receive the bread of the angels in the diamond and not in its case. (...)

What will it be like then when we will eternally have communion in the House of Our Heavenly King!"
See: http://www.mariedenazareth.com

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.

 284 Chrysanthus and Daria Claudius the Tribune wife Hilaria sons Jason and Maurus Diodorus the Presbyter
       Marianus the Deacon
Holy Martyrs
 303 St. Pancharius Roman martyr senator imperial court surrounding co-Emperor Maximian
       St. Quintius Martyr
       Apollonius and Leontius (Leontinus) BB MM (RM)
6th v. St. John the Syrian hermit of Pinna abbot of a large monastic colony tree was in full bloom dead of winter
 640 St. Leontius Bishop of Saintes, France, and a friend of St. Malo
 668 St. Adrian Martyr disciple of St. Landoald  after their deaths became renowned for their miracles.
 668 St. Landoald Roman priest Missionary to Belgium ne France with
deacon  Amantius after deaths miracles.
        St. Gemus Benedictine monk whose relics are enshrined at Hurbach
 672 St. Lactali Abbot founder disciple of St. Comgall in Ireland miracles include cures of paralytics and mentally ill  
 800 Alcmund martyr virtuous prince--humble and generous miracles at his tomb M (AC)
1103 The Smolensk
Icon "Tenderness" of the Mother of God
1251 Blessed Andrew de'Gallerani extraordinary penance and charity (AC)
1256 Blessed Clement of Dunblane
founded monasteries "labored with zeal to uproot superstition and destroy vice
15th v. Icon_Tenderness_Lubyatovskaya
1521 Saint Innocent of Komel and Vologda wande  Luke 15: 1 - 3, 11 - 32

Joseph, Husband of Mary (RM)
March 19 - Feast of Saint Joseph, Husband of the Virgin Mary   Blessings on Saint Joseph!
Blessings on you, loving heart of Mary, for all the affection that you have for great Saint Joseph!
Blessings on your noble heart forever, Saint Joseph, for all the love that it held and will hold eternally for Jesus and Mary, for all the care that it provided for the needs of the Son and the Mother and for all the pains and anguish that it suffered for their sufferings, contempt and ill treatment, which it saw them receiving on behalf of ungrateful people!
Great Saint Joseph, we offer our hearts to you; bind them to yours, and to Jesus’ and Mary’s.
Beg them to make this union inviolable and eternal.   Saint John Eudes

Joseph, Husband of Mary (RM)
 In Judæa natális sancti Joseph, Sponsi beatíssimæ Vírginis Maríæ, Confessóris et Ecclésiæ universális Patróni; quem Pius Nonus, Póntifex Maximus, votis et précibus ánnuens totíus cathólici Orbis, universális Ecclésiæ Patrónum declarávit.
In Judea, the birthday of St. Joseph, spouse of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Confessor and Patron of the Universal Church.  Pope Pius IX, yielding to the desires and prayers of the whole Catholic world, declared him Patron of the Universal Church.


ST JOSEPH, HUSBAND OF OUR LADY ST MARY
ACCORDING to the Roman Martyrology March 19 is “the [heavenly] birthday of St Joseph, husband of the most Blessed Virgin Mary and confessor, whom the Supreme Pontiff Pius IX, assenting to the desires and prayers of the whole Catholic world, has proclaimed patron of the Universal Church”.

The history of his life, says Butler, has not been written by men, but his principal actions, through the inspired evangelists, are recorded by the Holy Ghost Himself. What is told in the gospels concerning him is so familiar that it needs no commentary. He was of royal descent and his genealogy has been set out for us both by St Matthew and by St Luke. He was the protector of our Lady’s good name, and in that character of necessity the confidant of Heaven’s secrets, and he was the foster-father of Jesus, charged with the guidance and support of the holy family, and responsible in some sense for the education of Him  who, though divine, loved to call Himself “the son of man”. It was Joseph’s trade that Jesus learnt, it was his manner of speech that the boy will have imitated, it was he whom our Lady herself seemed to invest with full parental rights when she said without qualification, “Thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing”. No wonder that the evangelist adopted her phrase and tells us, in connection, with the incidents which attended the Child’s presentation in the Temple, that “His father and mother were wondering at those things which were spoken concerning Him.”

None the less our positive knowledge concerning St Joseph’s life is very re­stricted, and the “tradition” enshrined in the apocryphal gospels must be pro­nounced to be quite worthless. We may assume that he was betrothed to Mary his bride with the formalities prescribed by Jewish ritual, but the nature of this ceremonial is not clearly known, especially in the case of the poor; and that Joseph and Mary were poor is proved by the offering of only a pair of turtle-doves at Mary’s purification in the Temple. By this same poverty the story of the com­petition of twelve suitors for Mary’s hand, of the rods deposited by them in the care of the High Priest and of the portents which distinguished the rod of Joseph from the rest, is shown to be quite improbable. The details furnished in the so-called “Protevangelium”, in the “Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew”, in the “History of Joseph the Carpenter”, etc., are in many respects extravagant and inconsistent with each other. We must be content to know the simple facts that when Mary’s pregnancy had saddened her husband his fears were set at rest by an angelic vision, that he was again warned by angels—first to seek refuge in Egypt, and afterwards to return to Palestine—that he was present at Bethlehem when our Lord was laid in the manger and the shepherds came to worship Him, that he was present also when the Infant was placed in the arms of Holy Simeon, and finally that he shared his wife’s sorrow at the loss of her Son and her joy when they found Him debating with the doctors in the Temple. St Joseph’s merit is summed up in the phrase that “he was a just man”, that is to say, a godly man. This was the eulogy of Holy Writ itself.

Although St Joseph is now specially venerated in connection with prayers offered for the grace of a happy death, this aspect of popular devotion to the saint was late in obtaining recognition. The Rituale Romanum, issued by authority in 1614, while making ample provision of ancient formularies for the help of the sick and dying, nowhere—the litany not excepted —introduces any mention of the name of St Joseph.

Many Old Testament examples are cited, our Lady of course is appealed to, and there are references to St Michael, SS. Peter and Paul, and even to St Thecla, but St Joseph is passed over, and it is only in recent times that the omission has been repaired. What makes this silence the more remarkable is the fact that the account given of the death of St Joseph in the apocryphal “History of Joseph the Carpenter” seems to have been very popular in the Eastern church, and to have been the real starting-point of the interest aroused by the saint. More­over, it is here that we find the first suggestion of anything in the nature of a litur­gical celebration. The recognition now universally accorded to St Joseph in the West is commonly said to have been derived from Eastern sources, but the matter is very obscure.

In any case it is worthy of note that the “History of Joseph the Carpenter” was almost certainly first written in Greek, though it is now known to us only through Coptic and Arabic translations. In this document a very full account is given of St Joseph’s last illness, of his fear of God’s judgements, of his self-reproach, and of the efforts made by our Lord and His mother to comfort him and to ease his passage to the next world, and of the promises of protection in life and death made by Jesus to such as should do good in Joseph’s name.
It is easy to understand that such alleged promises will have made a deep impression upon simple folk, many of whom no doubt believed that they carried with them a divine warrant of fulfilment. At all periods of the world’s history we find such extrava­gances developing hand in hand with great popular movements of devotion. The wonder would seem to be that for nearly a thousand years we find no recognizable traces either in East or West of any great response to such an appeal. Dr L. Stern, a high authority, who interested, himself much in this document, believed that the Greek original of the “History of Joseph the Carpenter “ might be as old as the fourth century, but this estimate of its antiquity, as Father Paul Peeters thinks, is probably excessive.

As regards the West and certain Irish references, Father Paul Grosjean con­cludes (see bibliography below) that the oldest explicit mention of St Joseph about March 19 that we have is in a manuscript preserved at Zurich (Rh. 30, 3); this martyrology, from Rheinau, is of the eighth century, and originated in northern France or Belgium. The references in the Martyrology of Tallaght and the Felire of Oengus, writes Father Grosjean, are concordant witnesses (depending on one another) to a continental tradition, that of the copy or abridgement of the “Martyrology of Jerome” that the writers used; and that tradition is further attested, a little later, by two abridgements of the Hieronymianum from Reichenau and one from Rheims.

The idea that the Irish Culdees celebrated a feast of St Joseph on March 19 is a mistaken one. The Felire is indeed the work of a Culdee, but it is not a calendar: it is a devotional poem commemorating certain saints whose names are taken arbitrarily, day by day, from an abridged martyrology of continental origin, with supplements for Ireland. The evidence of Oengus is very valuable, because it testifies to the presence of the names of the saints he mentions in the document that he used; but a martyrology is not a liturgical calendar, and it does not enable us to conclude that such and such a saint was celebrated on such and such a day at Tallaght or in some other Irish monastery.

These early references were a starting-point for future developments, but they only came slowly.

In the first printed Roman Missal (1474) no com­memoration of St Joseph occurs, nor does his name appear even in the calendar. We find a Mass in his honour at Rome for the first time in 1505, though a Roman Breviary of 1482 assigns him a feast with nine lessons. But in certain localities and under the influence of individual teachers a notable cultus had begun long before this. Probably the mystery plays in which a prominent role was often assigned to St Joseph contributed something to this result. Bd Herman, a Premonstratensian who lived in the second half of the twelfth century, took the name of Joseph, and believed that he had received assurance of his special protection. St Margaret of Cortona, Bd Margaret of Città di Castello, St Bridget of Sweden and St Vincent Ferrer seem to have paid particular honour to St Joseph in their private devotions. Early in the fifteenth century influential writers like Cardinal Peter d’Ailly, John Gerson and St Bernardino of Siena warmly espoused his cause, and it was no doubt mainly due to the influence they exercised that before the end of the same century his feast began to be liturgically celebrated in many parts of western Europe.

The claim which has been made that the. Carmelites introduced the devotion from the East is quite devoid of foundation; St Joseph’s name is nowhere mentioned in the “Ordinarium” of Sibert de Beka, and though the first printed Carmelite Breviary (1480) recognized his feast, this seems to have been adopted from the usage already accepted in Belgium, where this breviary was set up in type. The Carmelite chapter of 1498 held at Nimes was the first to give formal authorization to this addition to the calendar of the order.
   But from that time forward the devotion spread rapidly, and there can be no question that the zeal and enthusiasm displayed by the great St Teresa in St Joseph’s cause produced a profound im­pression upon the Church at large. In 1621 Pope Gregory XV made St Joseph’s feast a holiday of obligation, and though this has been subsequently abrogated in England and elsewhere there has been no diminution down to our own time in the earnestness and the confidence of his innumerable clients. The number of churches now dedicated in his honour and the many religious congregations both of men and women which bear his name are a striking evidence of the fact.

The vast devotional literature which centres round the cultus of St Joseph does not call for attention here. From the historical point of view we must he content to refer to the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. iii, and to a small selection of modern essays of which the best seems to be that of J. Seitz, Die Verehrung des hi. Joseph in ihrer geschichtlichen Entwicklung Us sum Konzil von Treat dargestellt (1908). See also three articles in the Revue Benedictine for 1897; Canon Lucot, St Joseph Etude historique soy son culte (1875) Pf ülf in the Stimmen aus Maria Laach, 1890, pp. 137--I61, 282—302 Leclercq in DAC., vol. vii and Cardinal L. E. Dubois, St Joseph (1927), in the series “Les Saints”. On the festivals celebrated in honour of the saint see especially F. G. Holweck, Calendarium Festorum Del et Del Matris (1925), p. 448. The Man Nearest to Christ (1944). by Fr. F. L. Filas is an excellent popular work, well documented. U. Holzmeister’s De sancto Joseph Quaestionès biblicae (1945) is a very useful summary of history and tradition. The last word to date on the subject of the earliest liturgical references is from Fr P. Grosjean, in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lxxii (1954) fasc. 4, “Notes d’hagiographie Celtique”, no. 26. My grateful thanks are due to Fr Grosjean for an advance copy of this article.

1st century; declared patron of the Universal Church by Pope Pius IX in 1870, patron of workers by Pope Benedict XV, patron of social justice by Pope Pius XI; name added to the canon of the Mass by John XXIII in 1962; second feast at Saint Joseph the Worker on May 1. 

"How can a truly virtuous man fail in anything? In what situation will he not be powerful; in what state of poverty will he not be rich; in what obscurity will he not be brilliant; in what inaction will he not be industrious; in what infirmity will he not be vigorous; in what weakness will he not be strong; in what solitude will he not be accompanied? for he will have for company the hope of a happy eternity; for clothing, he will have the grace of the Most High; for ornament, the promises of a halo of glory!
"Let us recollect that the saints were not of a more excellent nature than ours, but were more orderly and regular: that they were not exempt from sins, but that they took pains to correct their faults." --Saint Ambrose in De Joseph.

All that is known about Joseph is found in the Gospels (primarily Matthew 1-2, but also in Luke 1-2). Matthew broadly represents Joseph's viewpoint, while the Infancy narratives in Luke seem to come from Mary's. 
    Descended from the royal line of David, Saint Joseph was the husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who defended her good name, and foster father and protector of the God Who made him, yet Who wished to be known throughout His life as the son of Joseph. He saw to Jesus's education and taught him his trade of carpentry or building. Joseph's disappointment upon learning of Mary's pregnancy was said to be assuaged by an angelic vision, and he was the recipient of two more visions: one telling him to seek refuge in Egypt to escape Herod's persecution, and the second, to return to Palestine.
  Saint Joseph bore the responsibilities of a father perfectly. A dream told him that King Herod planned to kill the infant Jesus.

Joseph took Mary and Jesus away by night to Egypt and thus saved the life of the Savior. He kept the child hidden from Herod's son in case he, too, would have harmed Jesus.
Joseph was with Mary in the stable at Bethlehem when Jesus was born. He was looking after the mother and child when the shepherds and the Magi came to worship him. He took Mary and Jesus to Jerusalem to present him to God in the Temple.
He shared Mary's anxieties for her son when Jesus was presumed lost, after their visit to the Temple when he was 12.

After this no more is heard of Joseph in the New Testament except in Luke 4:22, where he is named as the father of Jesus. He is not mentioned as being present at the crucifixion, a fact that persuaded many artists to portray him as an old man who had presumably died by the time Jesus was in his early thirties. The few Biblical particulars give an impression of a just, kind, dignified and level-headed man, prompt in action but self-effacing. The apocryphal Protoevangelium of James holds that he was an old man when Jesus was born, but this appears unlikely when one considers the fact that he reared Jesus and fulfilled the family duties.
Pauly Fongemie
Special veneration to Joseph began in the East, where the apocryphal History of Joseph the Carpenter enjoyed great popularity in the fifth to seventh centuries. It led to devotion from the 17th century to Joseph by all those desiring a happy death because the History tells that Joseph was afraid of death and filled with self-reproach, but was comforted by the words of Mary and Jesus, who promised protection and life to all who do good in the name of Joseph.
Martyrology entries in the West date from the 8th century (Rheinau) and slightly later Irish martyrologies. The 9th-century Irish metrical hymn Félire of Saint Aengus mentions a commemoration, but it was not until the 15th century that veneration of Saint Joseph became widespread in the West, when his feast was introduced into the Roman Calendar in 1479.
  Carmelite breviaries from 1480 commemorate his feast, as does the Roman breviary of 1482 and the Roman Missal of 1505.
The notion of Joseph as the foster-father of Jesus fired the imagination of the medieval Church. Saint John Chrysostom pointed to the anxieties of Joseph as a pattern of the trials of all Christians--relieved as they are by God's intervention. Saints Vincent Ferrer (d. 1419), Bridget of Sweden (d. 1373), and Bernardino of Siena (d. 1444) all propagated his devotion, partially in reaction against Medieval mystery plays, in which he is the channel for comic relief.
In the 15th century the French churchman Jean Gerson wrote twelve poems in his honor.

Saint Teresa of Ávila chose him as the practical saint who should be patron of the Discalced Carmelite friars and nuns [see her paean, Go to Joseph].
Pope Gregory XV made his feast a day of obligation, but this is not widely observed today.
In Quanquam pluries (1889), Pope Leo XIII declared Joseph a model for fathers of families and confirmed that his sanctity was second only the that of the Blessed Virgin.
In 1989, Pope John Paul II issued Redemptoris custos (Guardian of the Redeemer) (Attwater, Attwater2, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Filas, Rondet, White).
  Saint Joseph is generally pictured as an elderly man holding a flowering rod with the Christ Child in his arms or led my his hand (this emblem is also associated with Saint Joseph of Arimathea).

According to an ancient legend, Mary and the other virgins of the Temple were commanded to return to their homes and marry. When the Blessed Virgin refused, the elders prayed for guidance and a voice from the sanctuary instructed them to call together the unwed males of the House of David. In accordance with the voice, the priest Zacharius instructed the gathered males to leave their staffs on the altar of the temple overnight. Nothing happened. So Zacharius next included those of the widowers, including Joseph.  When Joseph's rod was found the next morning, in flower ("the flower of the rod of Jesse"), he was told to take the Blessed Virgin to wife and keep her for the Lord (Appleton, Tabor). Many times the flowering rod is replaced by a stalk of lilies (Appleton).
At times he may be shown (1) with the Christ Child, two doves in a cage, and a lily; (2) with the Christ Child and a lily; (3) in scenes with the Holy Family; (4) with carpenter's tools; (5) as the angel appears to him in a dream; (6) working in a carpenter's shop with the boy Jesus near him; or (7) dying, supported by Christ and the Virgin (Roeder).

As head of the Holy Family, Saint Joseph is the patron of the Universal Church, of fathers, of opposition to atheistic Communism (he was a worker), of workers, doubters (he married Mary despite her pregnancy), of a happy death (he is said to have died before Jesus and Mary), Austria, Bohemia, Canada, Mexico, Belgium, Peru, Russia, South Vietnam, missions to the Chinese (Sandoval, White), bursers, procurators (Farmer), as well as of carpenters, confectioners (Naples), the dying, engineers, the family, married couples, house-hunters, pioneers, and travellers (Roeder).
He is invoked when in doubt, hesitation or when looking for a house (Roeder).

A novena of prayers to Saint Joseph as well as his Seven Joys and Sorrows and various aspirations can be found on Saint Patrick's homepage http://www.saintpatrickdc.org.
The Catholic Tradition web site contains other prayers and images of Saint Joseph.
St. Joseph
The Bible pays Joseph the highest compliment: he was a “just” man. The quality meant a lot more than faithfulness in paying debts. When the Bible speaks of God “justifying” someone, it means that God, the all-holy or “righteous” One, so transforms a person that the individual shares somehow in God’s own holiness, and hence it is really “right” for God to love him or her. In other words, God is not playing games, acting as if we were lovable when we are not.
By saying Joseph was “just,” the Bible means that he was one who was completely open to all that God wanted to do for him.

He became holy by opening himself totally to God.  The rest we can easily surmise. Think of the kind of love with which he wooed and won Mary, and the depth of the love they shared during their marriage.
It is no contradiction of Joseph’s manly holiness that he decided to divorce Mary when she was found to be with child.
The important words of the Bible are that he planned to do this “quietly” because he was “a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame” (Matthew 1:19).

The just man was simply, joyfully, wholeheartedly obedient to God—in marrying Mary, in naming Jesus, in shepherding the precious pair to Egypt, in bringing them to Nazareth, in the undetermined number of years of quiet faith and courage.
Comment:  The Bible tells us nothing of Joseph in the years after the return to Nazareth except the incident of finding Jesus in the Temple (see Luke 2:41–51). Perhaps this can be taken to mean that God wants us to realize that the holiest family was like every other family, that the circumstances of life for the holiest family were like those of every family, so that when Jesus’ mysterious nature began to appear, people couldn’t believe that he came from such humble beginnings: “Is he not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother named Mary...?” (Matthew 13:55a). It was almost as indignant as “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (John 1:46b).
Quote:  “He was chosen by the eternal Father as the trustworthy guardian and protector of his greatest treasures, namely, his divine Son and Mary, Joseph’s wife. He carried out this vocation with complete fidelity until at last God called him, saying: ‘Good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord’” (St. Bernardine of Siena).
March 19 - Saint Joseph
He carried the greatest secret in his heart
 After that of the Blessed Virgin, has there ever been on earth a simpler and more loving gaze than that of the humble carpenter, when he looked at Jesus? …

He carried the greatest secret in his heart, that of the redemptive Incarnation; the hour had not yet come to reveal it. The Jews would not understand, would not have believed; many of them expected a temporal Messiah covered with glory, and not a poor Messiah, suffering for us... The poor craftsman had in his house the Word of God made flesh, he had the Desire of nations, announced by the prophets, and he would not say a word. He was witness to this mystery, and he relished it secretly, by keeping silent.

Contemplating in this manner called for the greatest abnegation..., when he remembered the words of Simeon: "This child will be a sign of contradiction," and the words that were said to Mary: "As for you, a sword will pierce your chest."

The acceptance of the mystery of Redemption through suffering appeared to Joseph as the painful consumption of the mystery of the Incarnation, and he needed all the generosity of his love to offer to God, as a supreme sacrifice, the Child Jesus and his holy Mother, whom he loved incomparably more than his own life.
 
Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange (1877 – 1964)
In: La Prééminence de saint Joseph sur tout autre saint, La Vie Spirituelle, t.19

 
284 Holy Martyrs Chrysanthus and Daria Claudius the Tribune wife Hilaria sons Jason and Maurus Diodorus the Presbyter Marianus the Deacon. 
 Saint_Daria
St Chrysanthus came from a pagan family who had moved to Rome from Alexandria. He received a fine education, and among the books he read were those in which pagans discussed Christianity. The young man, however, wanted to read books written by Christians themselves. He finally managed to find a copy of the New Testament, which enlightened his rational soul.
Seeking someone to instruct him in the Holy Scriptures, he found the presbyter Carpophoros hiding from persecution, and received holy Baptism from him.
After this, he began to preach the Gospel. Chrysanthus' father tried to turn his son from Christianity, and finally married him to Daria, a priestess of Minerva.

St Chrysanthus managed to convert his wife to Christ, and the young couple mutually agreed to lead celibate lives. After the death of the father, they began to live in separate houses.
St Chrysanthus converted several young men to Christ, and many pious women gathered around St Daria.

The people of Rome complained to the eparch Celerinus that Sts Chrysanthus and Daria were preaching celibacy and attracting too many young men and women to monasticism. St Chrysanthus was sent to the tribune Claudius for torture. The torments, however, did not shake the bravery of the young martyr, since the power of God clearly aided him.
Struck by this, the tribune Claudius himself came to believe in Christ and accepted holy Baptism together with his wife Hilaria, their sons Jason and Maurus, and all his household and soldiers.
Claudius_Hilaria_Jason_Maurus
Claudius_Hilaria_Jason_Maurus

When news of this reached the emperor Numerian (283-284), he commanded them all to be executed. The Martyr Claudius was drowned in the sea, and his sons and soldiers were beheaded. Christians buried the bodies of the holy martyrs in a nearby cave, and St Hilaria constantly went there to pray. Once, they followed her and led her off for torture. The saint asked that they give her a few moments to pray, and as soon as she finished, she gave up her soul to God. A servant buried the saint in the cave beside her sons.

The torturers sent St Daria to a brothel, where she was protected by a lion sent by God. A certain man who tried to defile the saint was knocked to the ground and pinned down by the lion, but the lion did not kill him. The martyr preached to them about Christ and set them to the path of salvation.

They threw St Chrysanthus into a foul-smelling pit, into which all the filth of the city flowed. But a heavenly light shone on him, and the pit was filled with a sweet fragrance.

Then the emperor Numerian ordered Sts Chrysanthus and Daria to be turned over to the executioners. After many cruel tortures, the martyrs were buried alive in the ground.

In a cave near the place of execution, Christians began to gather to honor the anniversary of the saints' martyrdom. They celebrated Church services and partook of the Holy Mysteries. Learning of this, the pagan authorities sealed the entrance to the cave, and those within received the crown of martyrdom.

Two of these martyrs are known by name: the Presbyter Diodorus and the Deacon Marianus.
303 St. Pancharius  Roman martyr senator imperial court surrounding co-Emperor Maximian
 Nicomedíæ sancti Panchárii Románi, qui, sub Diocletiáno Imperatóre, in hujus grátiam Christum pro diis inánibus ejurávit, sed, matre ac soróre instántibus, ad veram fidem mox redívit, et ob immótam in ea constántiam, nervis cæsus, et cápite truncátus, martyrii corónam accépit.
       At Nicomedia, St. Pancharius, a Roman, who apostatized for the sake of Emperor Diocletian, but by the persuasion of his mother and sister immediately returned to the true faith.  Because of his subsequent constancy in it, he was beaten with clubs and beheaded, obtaining thus the crown of martyrdom.
According to tradition, he was a respected member of the imperial court surrounding co-Emperor Maximian. When, in 303, the order for the persecution of Christians was given, Pancharius either denied the Christian faith or perhaps found a way to hide his Christian membership. However, when he received an encouraging letter from his mother and sister, he came forward and proclaimed his fidelity to Christ. He was seized and beheaded at Nicomedia.
Pancharius of Nicomedia M (RM). Saint Pancharius, a Roman senator, was a favorite officer of the emperor Maximian. At the outbreak of the persecution he denied, or at any rate concealed, his religion, but on receiving a letter from his mother and sister, he nobly confessed Christ and was beheaded at Nicomedia (Benedictines).

The Holy Martyr Pancharius was a friend of the emperor Diocletian. He abandoned Christianity and became a pagan. His mother and sister sent him a letter in which they urged the apostate to fear God and the dread Last Judgment. Having repented, St Pancharius openly confessed his faith before the emperor, for which he suffered torture at Rome. Then he was sent to Nicomedia and beheaded in 303.

Apollonius and Leontius (Leontinus) BB MM (RM)
 Eódem die sanctórum Apollónii et Leóntii Episcopórum.
       The same day, the holy Bishops Apollonius and Leontius.

Date unknown. Though we know neither the sees nor the dates of martyrdom of these two bishops, their names already occurred in the martyrology of Saint Jerome (d. 420).
The Portuguese have claimed them for their see of Braga (Benedictines).
St. Quintius Martyr
 Surrénti sanctórum Mártyrum Quincti, Quinctíllæ, Quartíllæ et Marci, cum áliis novem.
       At Sorrento, the holy martyrs Quinctus, Quinctilla, Quartilla, Mark, and nine others.
He was put to death with Quintilla, Mark, Quartilla, and others at Sorrento, near Naples, Italy. Quintus, Quartilla, and Quintilla may have been a brother and sisters.
640 St. Leontius Bishop of Saintes, France, and a friend of St. Malo
 Gandávi, in Flándria, sanctórum Landoáldi, Presbyteri Románi, et Amántii Diáconi; qui, a sancto Martíno Papa ad prædicándum Evangélium missi, ambo apostólicum sibi commíssum opus fidéliter implevérunt, ac multis post óbitum sunt illustráti miráculis.
At Ghent in Flanders, Saints Landoald, a Roman priest, and the deacon Amantius, who were sent to preach the Gospel by Pope St. Martin.  They faithfully fulfilled this apostolic appointment, and after their deaths became renowned for their miracles.
Leontius of Saintes B (AC)
Bishop Leontius of Saintes was a friend of Saint Malo, whom he received into his diocese when he was exiled from Brittany (Benedictines).
6th v. St. John the Syrian hermit of Pinna abbot of a large monastic colony 44 years tree was in full bloom dead of winter
Apud Pinnénsem civitátem natális beáti Joánnis, magnæ sanctitátis viri; qui de Syria ad Itáliam venit, atque ibi, constrúcto monastério, multórum servórum Dei per quátuor et quadragínta annos Pater éxstitit, et, clarus virtútibus, in pace quiévit.

       In the city of Pinna, the birthday of blessed John, a man of great sanctity, who came from Syria into Italy, and there founded a monastery.  After being the spiritual guide for many of God's servants for forty-four years, he rested in peace.

6 th v.    ST JOHN OF PANACA, ABBOT
DURING the monophysite disturbances in the East, a Syrian called John left his native land and, coming to the West, settled not far from Spoleto. There he built an abbey of which he became superior, and he also founded another religious house near Pesaro. An untrustworthy legend informs us that when the holy man was leaving Syria, he prayed Lord God of Heaven and earth, God of Abraham, 
Isaac and Jacob, I beseech thee, the true light, to enlighten me who hope in thee and to prosper my way before me, and to let it be to me for a sign of my resting-place when the person to whom I shall give my psalter shall not return it to me that same day.
 He landed in Italy and had travelled as far as the neighbourhood of Spoleto when he met a handmaid of the Lord, to whom he lent his psalter. When he asked her to return it, she said, “Where are you going, servant of God? Remain here and resume your journey to-morrow.” John agreed to tarry the night, and remembering his prayer he said to himself, “This is indeed what I asked of the Lord here will I stay.” The next morning he received back his psalter and had walked the distance of four bow-shots when there appeared an angel, who led him to a tree under which he told him to sit, adding that it was the Lord’s will that he should remain in that place and that there he would have a great congregation and would find rest.

It was the month of December and the ground was hard with frost, but the tree under which John was seated was blossoming like a lily. Some passing huntsmen asked him whence he came and what he was doing there. The holy man told them his whole history and they were filled with astonishment—especially at his clothes, the like of which they had never seen. “Please do not hurt me, my sons“, said John, “for I have come here in the service of God.” But the request was un­necessary, as they had already noticed the tree which was blossoming and recognized that the Lord was with him. Far from wishing to do him harm they were eager to announce his arrival to the bishop of Spoleto, who hurried out to greet him and found him praying under the tree. They wept for joy when they met, and all who were present gave glory to God. In that place John built his monastery, and there he lived until forty-four years later, when he fell asleep in peace and was buried with hymns and songs.

St John, who in the Roman Martyrology is said to have built his abbey “apud Pinnensem civitatem”, appears in the Martyrology of Ado. His festival is still kept at Spoleto. See the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. iii.

A Syrian hermit and founder who settled in Pinna, Italy. He was recognized as a holy man immediately. According to one legend, hunters saw him sitting under a tree in the dead of winter, but the tree was in full bloom. He also founded an abbey at Pinna and another at Pesaro.
John the Syrian, Hermit (RM) (also known as John of Pinna or John of Panaca). According to the Roman Martyrology, John was a Syrian monk may have been driven from his homeland by the Monophysite persecution. He settled at Pinna near Spoleto, Italy, where he founded a religious house. For 44 years he was abbot of a large monastic colony (Attwater2, Benedictines).

St. Gemus Benedictine monk whose relics are enshrined at Hurbach.  
He is believed to have been a member of Moyenmoutier, in Alsace, France.

668 St. Landoald Roman priest Missionary to Belgium and northeastern France with Amantius his deacon after their deaths became renowned for their miracles.
 Gandávi, in Flándria, sanctórum Landoáldi, Presbyteri Románi, et Amántii Diáconi; qui, a sancto Martíno Papa ad prædicándum Evangélium missi, ambo apostólicum sibi commíssum opus fidéliter implevérunt, ac multis post óbitum sunt illustráti miráculis.
       At Ghent in Flanders, Saints Landoald, a Roman priest, and the deacon Amantius, who were sent to preach the Gospel by Pope St. Martin.  They faithfully fulfilled this apostolic appointment, and after their deaths became renowned for their miracles.

668 SS. LANDOALD AND HIS Companions
FOR the life of St Landoald and his companions we have only a very untrustworthy biography written in 981, three hundred years after their death, to replace their original acts said to have been lost in 954. When St Amand decided to resign the see of Maestricht, in order to resume work as a missionary bishop in the provinces which are now Holland and Belgium, he went to Rome to obtain the pope’s sanc­tion. St Martin I not only signified his warm approval, but selected several companions to assist him in his labours. Of these the principal was Landoald, a priest of the Roman church who came of a Lombard family and was filled with missionary zeal. A deacon, St Amantius, and nine other persons completed the party, which included St Adeltrudis, St Bavo’s daughter, and St Vindiciana, Landoald’s sister. They reached the territory between the Meuse and the Scheldt, and here Landoald remained, at the request of St Remaclus. He found a wide scope for his energies in the huge diocese of Maestricht, the country having been only partly evangelized and the people still addicted to gross superstitions and vices.

At Wintershoven, on the river Herck, Landoald made his headquarters, and there he built a church which St Remaclus dedicated about the year 659. Childeric II, King of Austrasia, made Maestricht one of his residences, and there he became interested in the little community at Wintershoven, to whose support he contributed. It was necessary to send a messenger from time to time to receive the royal gifts, and one of St Landoald’s disciples, Adrian by name, was deputed for that purpose. Returning from one of these expeditions, he was attacked and murdered by thieves, and was honoured as a martyr. St Landoald did not long survive his disciple, and is thought to have died before St Lambert succeeded to the see of Maestricht after the murder of St Theodard. He was buried in the church of Wintershoven, but his body was several times moved, eventually to Ghent in 980. There is said to have been another translation of part of the relics back to Wintershoven in 1624, which seems to have been the occasion for the fabrication of other spurious documents.

See the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. iii; Analecta Bollandiana, vol. iv (1885), pp. 196—198, and vol. xxvii (1908), p. 475. See also Pirenne in Biographie nationale (de Belgique), vol. xi, pp. 256—257 Balau, Sources de l’histoire de Liege, pp. 135—139, but especially Holder-Egger in the Aufsätze an Georg Waitz gewidmet, pp. 622—665, and L. Van der Essen, Saints Mérovingiens, pp. 357—368.
Landoald was a Lombard, and was ordained a priest in Rome. Pope St. Martin I sent Landoald with St. Amand to the missions, and Landoald built a church in Wintershaven, Belgium.
Landoald, Amantius & Comps. (RM) Died c. 668. Landoald is said to have been a Roman priest and Amantius, his deacon. They were sent by the pope to evangelize what is now the Maestricht region of Belgium and northeastern France. Landoald founded a church at Wintershoven (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
668 St. Adrian Martyr disciple of St. Landoald after their deaths became renowned for their miracles
 Gandávi, in Flándria, sanctórum Landoáldi, Presbyteri Románi, et Amántii Diáconi; qui, a sancto Martíno Papa ad prædicándum Evangélium missi, ambo apostólicum sibi commíssum opus fidéliter implevérunt, ac multis post óbitum sunt illustráti miráculis.
      At Ghent in Flanders, Saints Landoald, a Roman priest, and the deacon Amantius, who were sent to preach the Gospel by Pope St. Martin.  They faithfully fulfilled this apostolic appointment, and after their deaths became renowned for their miracles.
He was begging for alms when set upon by thieves and slain near Maastricht, Netherlands.
Adrian of Maestricht M (AC) Saint Adrian disciple of Saint Landoald was murdered by robbers while begging alms for his community near Maestricht, and afterwards locally venerated as a martyr (Attwater2, Benedictines).
St. Gemus Benedictine monk
whose relics are enshrined at Hurbach. He is believed to have been a member of Moyenmoutier, in Alsace, France.
Gemus of Moyenmoutier, OSB (AC) Date unknown. Gemus was a monk, probably of Moyenmoutier in Alsace, whose relics were enshrined at Hürbach (Benedictines).

672 St. Lactali Abbot founder disciple of St. Comgall in Ireland miracles include cures of paralytics mentally ill
Lactan was from County Cork and was educated in Bangor by Sts. Comgall and Molua. He became the abbot-founder of Achadh-Ur Abbey at Freshford, Kilkenny.

Lactan of Freshford, Abbot (AC) (also known as Lactinus) Born near Cork, Ireland; Saint Lactan was educated at Bangor under Saints Comgall and Molua (Luanis or Lugid). Saint Comgall sent him to be abbot-founder of Achadh-Ur, now Freshford, in Kilkenny. He is credited with many miracles, including cures of paralytics and the mentally ill (Benedictines, Montague).

800 Alcmund martyr virtuous prince--humble and generous miracles at his tomb M (AC)
(also known as Alchmund, Ealhmund) Died in England c. 800. Prince Alcmund was born into the royal house of Northumbria as the son (or nephew) of Alchred (765-74) and brother of Osred. He was described as a virtuous prince--humble and generous. During the Danish invasions of England, he and his father were exiled.

800 ST ALCMUND, MARTYR
THERE were two Alcmunds to whom honour was paid in the north of England. One was a bishop of Hexham who died in 781, and is commemorated on September 17. The other is styled martyr and is said to have been put to death on March 19. This Alcmund was the son or nephew of Alhred, King of Northumbria, who according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was driven from York in 774. It would seem that somewhere about 792, Osred, stated to have been the brother of Alcmund, made an attempt to regain possession of the Northumbrian kingdom, which he had previously ruled for a while, but was “seized and slain”. It is possible that Alcmund took part in, or repeated, this attempt and shared his brother’s fate. Eardwulf, who was “hallowed for king” in 795, is said to have been responsible for the crime. The slender items of information preserved by different writers are hopelessly inconsistent. If veneration was paid to Alcmund’s remains shortly afterwards, this would seem to be due to the fact that many miracles were alleged to have been worked at his tomb at Lilleshall; these relics were afterwards trans­lated to Derby. Several churches were dedicated in his honour in Shropshire and Derbyshire.
See Stanton, Menology, pp. 124, 636; Dugdale, Monasticon, vol. vi, p. 262; and Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lviii (1940), pp. 178—183.
His subjects, who were being maltreated convinced him to fight for the throne out of compassion for their distress.
He met his death at Deorham in Shropshire after more than 20 years of exile among the Picts of Scotland. King Eardwulf was held responsible. The circumstances of his death were such that he was venerated as a martyr, first at Lilleshall, where there were miracles at his tomb, and then at Derby. Several churches were dedicated to him in Shropshire and Derbyshire (Attwater2, Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth). In art, Saint Alcmund is an Anglo-Saxon king with a crown and a sword. He is venerated at Derby, Lilleshall, Shropshire (Roeder).
1103 The Smolensk "Tenderness" Icon of the Mother of God
The Smolensk Icon manifested itself in the year 1103 at Smolensk.
There is another Smolensk "Tenderness" Icon from the vicinity of Okopa (down from Smolensk).
This icon was in the encampment of the Russian armies of the military commander Shein, restraining the Polish besiegers from destroying Smolensk for twenty months (1611-1613).
15th v. Icon_Tenderness_Lubyatovskaya

This holy icon, which dates from the fifteenth century, was in the St Nicholas monastery church in the Pskov region.

There was once a silver plaque with an inscription from 1890 on the reverse of the icon. It told of how Tsar Ivan the Terrible came to the monastery of St Nicholas at Lubyatov during Great Lent in 1570. He had stopped there on his way to punish the people of Pskov, for he believed that they were about to give their allegiance to the Prince of Lithuania.

During the morning service, he happened to gaze at the icon of the Mother of God, and his heart was moved to compunction. "Let the killing stop," he said. "Put away your swords."
Soldiers of the Polish king Stephen Batory shot at the icon as they were on their way to attack Pskov in 1581.
Communists confiscated the icon in 1928, and in 1930 it was placed in the Tretiakov Gallery.
The icon has elements from three other types of icons of the Mother of God. Essentially, it belongs to the Eleousa type, like the Vladimir Icon (May 21, June 23, August 26). The gesture of the divine Child resembles the "Sweet-Kissing" or "Tenderness" Icon of Smolensk (March 19).  The scroll seems to come from the Hodigitria Icon (July 28).
1251 Blessed Andrew de'Gallerani extraordinary penance and charity (AC)

1251 BD ANDREW OF SIENA

BD ANDREW DE’ GALLERANI was a distinguished soldier, who led the Sienese to victory against the Orvietans. Having killed a man for openly blaspheming God, he was obliged to escape from justice or from the vengeance of his victim’s friends, and retired to a family estate near the sea-coast. When he returned to Siena, it was to devote himself entirely to good works. He founded in that city the Society of Mercy to assist the sick, and established a hospital. The rest of his life was divided between charitable activities and prayer. His society, the members of which wore a special kind of cloak bearing a cross and the letter M, continued until the year 1308, when it was merged in the Dominican Order. Many miracles were attributed to Bd Andrew. Once he healed a foot which had already begun to mortify once he walked dry-shod and untouched by the rain through the streets of Siena whilst a violent downpour was raging on another occasion, when he returned to his home late at night from a distant errand of mercy, the gates and doors of his house opened to him of their own accord.

There is an early and seemingly trustworthy Latin life which has been printed in the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. iii.

Andrew was a distinguished Sienese solider, who accidentally killed a man whom he had heard blaspheming. Exiled from Siena, he led a life of extraordinary penance and charity until he was allowed to return to his native city. There he founded the Brothers of Mercy, an order that lasted until 1308 (Benedictines).

1256 Blessed Clement of Dunblane monasteries founded "labored with unflagging zeal to uproot superstition and destroy vice, OP (AC)
Died 1256-58. One of the pioneers about whom we hear little is the colorful and resourceful Bishop Clement of Dunblane, who received his habit from Saint Dominic's hands and introduced the Dominicans as he preached in Scotland. The monasteries he founded within a few years of the beginning of the Dominican Order served the Church well, and the Church annals are begemmed with the names of the people who made history in that interesting country.
We read the names of Robert Bruce and Lord Douglas on the rolls of benefactors of the Blackfriars. James Beaton, archbishop of Saint Andrews, fled for sanctuary to the Dominican church in 1517; and in 1554, John Knox was called to give an account of his strange doctrines in the Blackfriars Church of Edinburgh.
Clement was Scottish by birth, and having met Saint Dominic at the University of Paris and being received into the order, he was vocal and active in bringing the friars to his homeland. Tradition holds that the Scottish king, Alexander II, in Paris on a diplomatic mission, made a personal appeal to Saint Dominic for missionaries. It is an historical fact that this monarch was their first benefactor when the mission band at last arrived, shortly after Dominic's death.
The priory in the lovely, seaside town of Ayr was founded in 1230, and seven other large houses soon followed. There is record of transactions with the rulers of the region at this time, and, a few years later, King Robert Bruce granted the Dominicans the privilege of grinding their grain at his mill.
Clement was appointed bishop of Dunblane in 1233, by Pope Gregory IX, a devoted friend of Saint Dominic.

He worked in this see for 23 years, and, according to an old record, he "labored with unflagging zeal to uproot superstition and destroy vice, to make true and solid piety known and practiced, and to draw the faithful entrusted to his charge to the imitation of all the virtues of Christian perfection, as he himself fulfilled al the duties of a watchful and loving pastor"--a description of a bishop that can hardly be bettered. He is described as being poor himself, and the father of the poor, and all the old writers speak of his zeal in restoring the ruined churches and the neglected rights of the Church.
According to surviving records, he must have been a busy man, this rugged missionary in an equally rugged land. He rebuilt Dunblane Cathedral, visited tirelessly among the outlying regions of his diocese, setting things in order, and solicited most of the funds for reconstruction himself. He was appointed on several papal commissions, once to inquire into the heroic virtues of Margaret of Scotland, another time to determine the validity of a bishop's appointment. He was sent to collect alms for the Holy Land in 1247, at a time when he badly needed the money to rebuild his own diocese.
Through his influence, the episcopal see was transferred from the Isle of Iona, which was frequently inaccessible and always in danger from stormy seas, to a place where it could be readily in touch with the rest of Scotland. He attended the general chapter of the Order held in London in 1250. At one time he had to pronounce a sentence of excommunication on all those who had tried to murder the king.
In spite of these varied and absorbing labors, we are interested to find that he wrote at least three books: a life of Saint Dominic, a book on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and the history of the Dominican Order in Scotland.
When Clement died, he left a legacy of personal holiness so great that even a Protestant historian would say of him:
"This man was an excellent preacher, learned above many of that time, and of singular integrity of conversation" (Benedictines, Dorcy).
1521 Saint Innocent of Komel and Vologda wandered the East visiting Palestine, Constantinople, and spent several years at monasteries of Mt. Athos
Born at Moscow descended from the Moscow princely family of Okhlyabinin. He became a monk in the monastery of St Cyril of White Lake (June 9), and was put under guidance of St Nilus of Sora (May 7).

Sts Innocent and Nilus wandered through the East visiting Palestine, Constantinople, and spent several years at the monasteries of Mt. Athos.

Having returned to Rus, the saints did not return to their original St Cyril of White Lake monastery, but to solitary cells for monastic seclusion. Out of love for wilderness-life they then withdrew into the impassable forest at the River Sora, some fifteen versts from the monastery. Here they set up a cross, dug a well, and built separate cells, after the manner of the skete monasteries. A church was built on a marshy spot, and there the hermits led strict lives.
Foreseeing his own demise, St Nilus sent St Innocent to the River Nurma and predicted to him: "God is sending you there, and yours shall be a cenobitic monastery; after my death, my wilderness monastery will remain as it was during my life, with the brothers living separately each in his own cell."
Upon death of St Nilus, his holy disciple withdrew into the Vologda hinterland and in 1491 he built a cell at the River Eda, which flows into the River Nurma. In a short while disciples began to gather to him.

Following the final command of his teacher, St Innocent did not seek any donations for it. St Innocent labored for thirty years at building his monastery.

He left behind an instruction for the brethren, based on the works of the holy Fathers, particularly the writings of St Nilus of Sora. St Innocent bade them first of all to avoid wrangling and disputes and asked them to preserve love for Christ and spiritual peace. The saint forbid young and beardless monks to be accepted and tonsured at his monastery, and he forbid women to enter the monastery. A monk who left the monastery lost his right to a cell, and if he returned, then he could occupy it only with the consent of the igumen and the brethren. The monk asked that a future church be consecrated in the name of St John the Forerunner, and Baptizer of the Lord, in commemoration of the Third Finding of his Venerable Head (25 May), because St John is a patron for all monks and wilderness dwellers (later, the monastery was called Transfiguration after its chief temple).
St Innocent died on March 19, 1521. In accordance with his last wish, he was buried in a corner of the monastery near a marsh. A stone was placed on his grave inscribed with the year, month and day of his repose.



THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 290

Sing with joy to Our Lady, ye men of the earth: serve her in joy and pleasantness.

With all your soul draw nigh unto her: and in all your strength keep her ways.

Search her out, and she will be manifested to you: be clean of heart, and you will take hold of her.

To them whom thou shalt help, O Lady, will be the refreshment of peace:
and they from whom thou turnest away thy face shall have no hope of salvation.

Be mindful of us, O Lady, and let evil not take hold of us: help us in the end, and we shall find eternal life.

Let every spirit praise Our Lady

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

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

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

Patron_Saints.html  Widowed_Saints htmIndulgences The Catholic Church in China
LINKS: Marian Shrines  
India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes 1858  China Marian shrines 1995
Kenya national Marian shrine  Loreto, Italy  Marian Apparitions (over 2000Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798
 
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Widowed Saints  html
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1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800   1900 Lay Saints

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

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


God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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