Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!  (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
R.  Deo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
March is the month of Saint Joseph since 1855;
2023
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For the Son of man ... will repay every man for what he has done.

Shawn Carney Campaign Director www.40daysforlife.com , 
Please save the unborn from painful deaths
It is a great poverty that a child must die so that you may live as you wish -- Mother Teresa

Jesus brings us many Blessings
Cheerfulness strengthens the heart and makes us persevere in a good life.
Therefore the servant of God ought always to be in good spirits. -- St. Philip Neri

"Time is not our own and we must give a strict accounting of it."
1606 St. Toribio Alfonso de Mogrovejo Bishop defender of the native Indians in Peru's rights

SCRIPTURE
My power is made perfect in weakness. -- 2 Corinthians 12:9

Do not reject my petitions, Mother of Mercy! Have pity on me, and do not abandon me during life or at the moment of my death. Amen.
 
Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart
and yield a harvest through perseverance.

Please pray for those who have no one to pray for them.

Now there is a great difference between believing in Christ, and in believing that Jesus is the Christ.
For that he was the Christ even the devils believed;
but he believes in Christ who both loves Christ, and hopes in Christ.  -- St. Augustine

The Virgin Mary of Nazareth
The First Moment of Christian Tradition Began in Mary's Heart (III)
Today her intercession has proved to be amazingly powerful...
 
When faith is strong it works wonders ( Mk 16:17 ).
 
Mary's heart is not a document, it's a source. "She stored up all these things in her heart"
(Lk 2:19 & 51), and that was the Word of God.
Excerpt from "Follow the Lamb" (Suivre l'Agneau)  Father Marie-Dominique Philippe Saint Paul Ed. 2005
THE HOLY NAME OF JESUS
  Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday
260 St. Alexander Martyred soldier of Pannonia  performing many miracles (Hungary) may be anonymous martyr of Thrace listed on May 13
        St. Castor & Dorotheus early persecutions of Tarsus Martyrs in Cilicia
 327 JONAS and BARACHISIUS, MARTYRS
 4th v. Saint Jonah was one of those martyred with Sts Jonah and Barachisius.
 365 SS. MARK, Bishop OF ARETHUSA, AND CYRIL, MARTYR
        St. Castor & Dorotheus early persecutions of Tarsus Martyrs in Cilicia
 440 Pope St. Sixtus III approved Acts of the Council of Ephesus endeavoured to restore peace between Cyril of Alexandria and John of Antioch prominent among the Roman clergy and in correspondence with St. Augustine
434 450? Hesychius Priest famous exegete of Jerusalem
 455 SS. ARMOCASTES, ARCHIMIMUS and SATURUS, MARTYRS
 513 Spes of Campi Abbot regained eyesight 15 days before death 40 yrs blind
 592 Saint Guntramnus, King protector of oppressed care-giver to sick many miracles performed before and after death (Saint Gregory of Tours)
 750 St. Gundelindis Benedictine succeeded St. Ottilia as abbess of Niedermunster
 754 Saint Hilarion the New, Igumen of Peleke Monastery {Dardanelles} granted gifts of clairvoyance /wonderworking
 815 St Stephen the Confessor Igumen of Triglia Monastery
 830 + Saint Kortyla one of the ten or twelve Irish bishops of Verden B (D'Arcy).
 830 Boyan, Prince of Bulgaria The Holy Martyr filled with a love of prayer, fasting and contemplation of God
 915 St. Tutilo Monk artist adherence to obedience recollection
1096 Eustratius of the Caves martyred incorrupt relics were found in a cave and worked many miracles
1236 St. Conon Basilian abbot Greek monastery at Nesi Sicily holiness; working of miracles
1346 St. Venturino of Bergamo Dominican preacher; missionary; crusader
1476 St Hilarion of Gdov and Pskov Lake; high level of pious and ascetic life
1456   Sancti Joánnis de Capistráno, Sacerdótis ex Ordine Minórum et Confessóris
1588 St. James Claxton, Blessed  devout Catholic Martyr in England

March 28 – Beginning of the Great Return of Our Lady of Boulogne (France, 1943)
 
A boat steered by a wooden statue of the Virgin
In the 7th century, a boat steered by a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary landed on the shore of Boulogne-sur-Mer, in northern France. A church was then built on the site of this "miraculous apparition" to house the statue. In the 12th and 13th centuries, Boulogne was a major step on the road to Santiago de Compostela, attracting crowds of pilgrims. Unfortunately, the original statue was burned during the Revolution.

The statue of Our Lady of Boulogne reappeared during World War II. Carried from parish to parish, four copies of the statue crisscrossed France from 1943 to 1948, from Lourdes to Boulogne-sur-Mer. This spectacular journey was organized by the Catholic Church who wanted to instigate a revival of the faith and foster conversions.

The term "Great Return" meant both the return of the statue to Boulogne and a return to the faith. And in France, ravaged by war, the people saw a third meaning—the return of peace.

The statue actually arrived in Boulogne at the time of the Liberation. It was in Lussault-sur-Loire on July 14, 1944, just a few days before that town was freed. And she stopped by Pithiviers in May 1945, just in time for the Victory celebrations...memoire.ciclic.fr

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 

The Great Return of Our Lady of Boulogne (I)  March 28 -
Departure of Our Lady of the Great Return (Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, 1938)
Towards the end of the reign of Dagobert, about the year 633, an unmanned ship entered the mouth of the Liane River and docked where the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer is now located. On board was found a luminous statue of the Virgin Mary. A St Jerome version, manuscript Bible was found next to the statue. From the 13th to the 16th century, pilgrimages to Boulogne were extremely popular; the kings of France themselves came to pray before the miraculous statue. The wooden statue stood approximately three and a half feet high and showed the Blessed Virgin holding the Christ Child on her left arm. Unfortunately the statue no longer exists today.
The popularity of Our Lady of Boulogne or Virgin of the Sea continued to increase until the year 1544, when the church was pillaged and the miraculous statue was taken to England and not returned for many years. The cathedral flourished until the French Revolution, when the 1790 Civil Constitution of the Clergy brought it under government control. The miraculous statue of the "Virgin of the Sea" was burned and reduced to ashes in 1793.

The world would have peace if only men of politics would follow the Gospels.
-- St. Bridget of Sweden

March 28 – Our Lady of Bocciola (Italy, 1543)
So I prayed a “Hail Mary”…
 
On our vacation together last January, my grand-nephew Augustine—13 years of age and quite good at winter sports-wanted to go backcountry skiing. He went off alone and later fell into a rather deep ravine.
He was injured and could not move. He had no cell phone, and was unable to shout. So, he told us that he prayed a “Hail Mary.”
Immediately, he was able to move enough to be seen by other skiers, who called for help. And thanks to the Virgin Mary, he was rescued.  Fr. Guy Frenod, O.S.B.

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.
  Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday
260 St. Alexander Martyred soldier of Pannonia  performing many miracles (Hungary) may be anonymous martyr of
        Thrace listed on May 13
PRISCUS, MALCHUS, AND ALEXANDER, MARTYRS.
        St. Castor & Dorotheus early persecutions of Tarsus Martyrs in Cilicia
 327 JONAS and BARACHISIUS, MARTYRS

 4th v. Saint Jonah was one of those martyred with Sts Jonah and Barachisius.
 365 SS. MARK, Bishop OF ARETHUSA, AND CYRIL, MARTYR
        St. Castor & Dorotheus early persecutions of Tarsus Martyrs in Cilicia
 440 Pope St. Sixtus III approved Acts of the Council of Ephesus endeavoured to restore peace between Cyril of
       Alexandria and John of Antioch prominent among the Roman clergy and in correspondence with St. Augustine
434 450? Hesychius Priest famous exegete of Jerusalem
 455 SS. ARMOCASTES, ARCHIMIMUS and SATURUS, MARTYRS
 513 Spes of Campi Abbot regained eyesight 15 days before death 40 yrs blind
 592 Saint Guntramnus, King protector of oppressed care-giver to sick many miracles performed before and after
       death (Saint Gregory of Tours)
 750 St. Gundelindis Benedictine succeeded St. Ottilia as abbess of Niedermunster
 754 Saint Hilarion the New, Igumen of Peleke Monastery {Dardanelles} granted gifts of clairvoyance /wonderworking
 815 St Stephen the Confessor Igumen of Triglia Monastery
 830 + Saint Kortyla one of the ten or twelve Irish bishops of Verden B (D'Arcy).
 830 Boyan, Prince of Bulgaria The Holy Martyr filled with a love of prayer, fasting and contemplation of God
 915 St. Tutilo Monk artist adherence to obedience recollection
1096 Eustratius of the Caves martyred incorrupt relics were found in a cave and worked many miracles
1236 St. Conon Basilian abbot Greek monastery at Nesi Sicily holiness; working of miracles
1346 St. Venturino of Bergamo Dominican preacher; missionary; crusader
1476 St Hilarion of Gdov and Pskov Lake; high level of pious and ascetic life
1456   Sancti Joánnis de Capistráno, Sacerdótis ex Ordine Minórum et Confessóris
1588 St. James Claxton, Blessed  devout Catholic Martyr in England

Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday

Visible triumphs are few in the earthly life of our Lord Jesus Christ. He preached a kingdom "not of this world." At His nativity in the flesh there was "no room at the inn." For nearly thirty years, while He grew "in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man" (Luke 2:52), He lived in obscurity as "the son of Mary." When He appeared from Nazareth to begin His public ministry, one of the first to hear of Him asked: "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" (John I :46). In the end He was crucified between two thieves and laid to rest in the tomb of another man.

Two brief days stand out as sharp exceptions to the above - days of clearly observable triumph. These days are known in the Church today as Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday. Together they form a unified liturgical cycle which serves as the passage from the forty days of Great Lent to Holy Week. They are the unique and paradoxical days before the Lord's Passion. They are days of visible, earthly triumph, of resurrectional and messianic joy in which Christ Himself is a deliberate and active participant. At the same time they are days which point beyond themselves to an ultimate victory and final kingship which Christ will attain not by raising one dead man or entering a particular city, but by His own imminent suffering, death and resurrection.

By raising Lazarus from the dead before Thy Passion, Thou didst confirm the universal resurrection, 0 Christ God! Like the children with the palms of victory, we cry out to Thee, 0 Vanquisher of Death: Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord! (Troparion of the Feast, sung on both Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday)

Lazarus Saturday
In a carefully detailed narrative the Gospel relates how Christ, six days before His own death, and with particular mindfulness of the people "standing by, that they may believe that thou didst send me" (John I I :42), went to His dead friend Lazarus at Bethany outside of Jerusalem. He was aware of the approaching death of Lazarus but deliberately delayed His coming, saying to His disciples at the news of His friend's death: "For your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe" (John 11:14).

When Jesus arrived at Bethany, Lazarus was already dead four days. This fact is repeatedly emphasized by the Gospel narrative and the liturgical hymns of the feast. The four-day burial underscores the horrible reality of death. Man, created by God in His own image and likeness, is a spiritual-material being, a unity of soul and body. Death is destruction; it is the separation of soul and body. The soul without the body is a ghost, as one Orthodox theologian puts it, and the body without the soul is a decaying corpse. "I weep and 1 wail, when I think upon death, and behold our beauty, fashioned after the image of God, lying in the tomb dishonored, disfigured, bereft of form." This is a hymn of St John of Damascus sung at the Church's burial services. This "mystery" of death is the inevitable fate of man fallen from God and blinded by his own prideful pursuits.

With epic simplicity the Gospel records that, on coming to the scene of the horrible end of His friend, "Jesus wept" (John 11:35). At this moment Lazarus, the friend of Christ, stands for all men, and Bethany is the mystical center of the world. Jesus wept as He saw the "very good" creation and its king, man, "made through Him" (John 1:3) to be filled with joy, life and light, now a burial ground in which man is sealed up in a tomb outside the city, removed from the fullness of life for which he was created, and decomposing in darkness, despair and death. Again as the Gospel says, the people were hesitant to open the tomb, for "by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days" (John 11:39).

When the stone was removed from the tomb, Jesus prayed to His Father and then cried with a loud voice: "Lazarus, come out." The icon of the feast shows the particular moment when Lazarus appears at the entrance to the tomb. He is still wrapped in his grave clothes and his friends, who are holding their noses because of the stench of his decaying body, must unwrap him. In everything stress is laid on the audible, the visible and the tangible. Christ presents the world with this observable fact: on the eve of His own suffering and death He raises a man dead four days! The people were astonished. Many immediately believed on Jesus and a great crowd began to assemble around Him as the news of the raising of Lazarus spread. The regal entry into Jerusalem followed.

Lazarus Saturday is a unique day: on a Saturday a Matins and Divine Liturgy bearing the basic marks of festal, resurrectional services, normally proper to Sundays, are celebrated. Even the baptismal hymn is sung at the Liturgy instead of Holy God: "As many as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ."  Very Rev. Paul Lazor
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday is the celebration of the triumphant entrance of Christ into the royal city of Jerusalem. He rode on a colt for which He Himself had sent, and He permitted the people to hail Him publicly as a king. A large crowd met Him in a manner befitting royalty, waving palm branches and placing their garments in His path. They greeted Him with these words: "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel! (John 12:13).
This day together with the raising of Lazarus are signs pointing beyond themselves to the mighty deeds and events which consummate Christ's earthly ministry. The time of fulfillment was at hand. Christ's raising of Lazarus points to the destruction of death and the joy of resurrection which will be accessible to all through His own death and resurrection. His entrance into Jerusalem is a fulfillment of the messianic prophecies about the king who will enter his holy city to establish a final kingdom. "Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of an ass" (Zech 9:9).
Finally, the events of these triumphant two days are but the passage to Holy Week: the "hour" of suffering and death for which Christ came. Thus the triumph in a earthly sense is extremely short-lived. Jesus enters openly into the midst of His enemies, publicly saying and doing those things which most. enrage them. The people themselves will soon reject' Him. They misread His brief earthly triumph as a sign of something else: His emergence as a political. messiah who will lead them to the glories of an earthly kingdom.
Our Pledge
The liturgy of the Church is more than meditation or praise concerning past events. It communicates to us the eternal presence and power of the events being celebrated and makes us participants in those events. Thus the services of Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday bring us to our own moment of life and death and entrance into the Kingdom of God: a Kingdom not of this world, a Kingdom accessible in the Church through repentance and baptism.
On Palm Sunday palm and willow branches are blessed in the Church. We take them in order to raise them up and greet the King and Ruler of our life: Jesus Christ. We take them in order to reaffirm our baptismal pledges. As the One who raised Lazarus and entered Jerusalem to go to His voluntary Passion stands in our midst, we are faced with the same question addressed to us at baptism: "Do you accept Christ?" We give our answer by daring to take the branch and raise it up: "I accept Him as King and God!"
Thus, on the eve of Christ's Passion, in the /celebration of the joyful cycle of the triumphant days of Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday, we reunite ourselves to Christ, affirm His Lordship lover the totality of our life and express our :readiness to follow Him to His Kingdom:
... that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that if possible 1 may attain the resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3:10-11).  Very Rev. Paul Lazor
St. Castor & Dorotheus early persecutions of Tarsus Martyrs in Cilicia.
 Tarsi, in Cilícia, sanctórum Mártyrum Cástoris et Doróthei.
       At Tarsus in Cilicia, the holy martyrs Castor and Dorotheus. 

Castor and Dorotheus MM (RM). Castor and Dorotheus were martyred in one of the early persecutions at Tarsus in Cilicia (Benedictines).
260 St. Alexander Martyr companion of Sts. Malchus and Priscus.
PRISCUS, MALCHUS, AND ALEXANDER, MARTYRS.
 Cæsaréæ, in Palæstína, natális sanctórum Mártyrum Prisci, Malchi et Alexándri.  Hi tres, in persecutióne Valeriáni, cum in suburbáno agéllo supradíctæ urbis habitárent, atque in ea cæléstes martyrii proponeréntur corónæ, ultro Júdicem, divíno fídei calóre succénsi, ádeunt, et cur tantum in sánguinem piórum desævíret, objúrgant; quos ille contínuo, pro Christi nómine, béstiis trádidit devorándos.
       At Caesarea in Palestine, the birthday of the holy martyrs Priscus, Malchus, and Alexander.  In the persecution of Valerian, they were living the suburbs of Caesarea, but knowing that in the city the heavenly crown of martyrdom was to be gained, and burning with the divine ardour of faith, they went to the judge of their own accord, rebuked him for shedding in torrents the blood of the faithful, and were immediately condemned to be devoured by beasts for the Name of Christ.
The men, devout Christians in Caesarea, Palestine, were caught up in the persecutions conducted by Emperor Valerian. The martyrs were killed by wild beasts in an arena.

Martyrdom of the Saints Alexander, Agabius, Alexander, Timol (Timolaos), Dionysius, Romulus, and Blesius (Valesius)
        On this day also is the commemoration of the seven holy martyrs: Alexander the Egyptian, Agabius and Alexander from the city of Gaza, Timol (Timolaos) from Pontus, Dionysius from the city of Tripoli, and Romulus, and Blesius (Valesius) from the villages of Egypt. These men were joined together with the Christian love, and they came to the Governor of Caesarea, Palestine, and confessed before him the Lord Christ. They all were martyred and received the crown of martyrdom during the days of Diocletian.
May their prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.

Priscus, Malchus & Alexander MM (RM) Died 260. This trio of martyrs was thrown to the wild beasts during the public games at Caesarea, Palestine, under Valerian. During the height of the persecution they had secretly reproached themselves for their cowardice in hiding. Unable to suppress the emotions they felt, they said to one another, "While the secure gate of heaven is open, shall we shut it against ourselves? Shall we be so faint-hearted as not to suffer for the name of Christ, who died for us? Our brethren invite us by their example: their blood is a loud voice, which presses us to tread in their steps. Shall we be deaf to a cry calling us to the combat, and to a glorious victory?" Full of the Holy Spirit, they returned to Caesarea and presented themselves to the governor as Christians. Some were struck with admiration at this act of courage, but it incite the judge. They were tried, tortured, and exposed to wild beasts in the arena. (Benedictines).

                                          MARCH XXVIII.
PRISCUS, MALCHUS, AND ALEXANDER, MARTYRS.
A.D 260
THESE eminent Christians, Priscus, Malchus, and Alexander, led a retired holy life in the country near Caesarea, in Palestine. During the fury of the persecution under Valerian, they often called to mind the triumphs of the martyrs, and secretly reproached themselves with cowardice, as living like soldiers who passed their time in softness and ease, while their brethren and fellow-warriors bore all the heat of the battle. They could not long smother these with sentiments in their breast; but expressed them to one another. What "said they, while the secure gate of heaven is open, shalt we shut it again ourselves?   Shall we be so faint-hearted as not to suffer Fr the name of Christ, who died for us?  Our brethren invite us by their example their blood is a loud voice, which presses us to tread in their steps.  Shall we be deaf to a cry calling us to the combat, and to a glorious victory?" Full of this holy ardor, they all, with one mind, repaired to Caesarea, and of their own accord, by a particular instinct of grace, presented themselves before the governor, declaring themselves Christians.  While all others were struck with admiration at the sight of their generous courage, the barbarous judge appeared not able to contain his rage. After having tried on them all the tortures which he employed on other martyrs, he condemned them to be exposed to wild beasts.    They are honored on this day in the Roman Martyrology.

  To consecrating ourselves to the service of God, and to his pure love, the first and most essential condition is that we do it without reserve, with an earnest desire of attaining to the perfection of our state, and a firm resolution of sparing nothing, and being deterred by no difficulties from pursuing this end with our whole strength and it must be our chief care constantly to maintain, and always increase this desire in our souls. Upon this condition depends all out spiritual progress.  This is more essential in a religious state than the vows themselves; and it is this which makes the difference betwixt the fervent and the lukewarm Christian. Many deceive themselves in this particular, and flatter themselves their resolution of aspiring after perfection, with all their strength, is sincere, whereas it is very imperfect.  Of this we can best judge by their earnestness to advance in a spirit of prayer, and in becoming truly spiritual; in crucifying self-love, overcoming their failings, and cutting off all occasions of dissipation, and all impediments of their spiritual advancement.  Mortification and prayer, which are the principal means, present usually the greatest difficulties but these, as St. Teresa observes, are better than half vanquished and reinvigorated  by a firm resolution of not being discouraged by any obstacles, but of gathering from them fresh vigor and strength.  Patience and fortitude crown in the saints what this fervent resolution began.

4th v. Saint Jonah was one of those martyred with Sts Jonah and Barachisius.
The brothers Jonah and Barachisius were Christians who lived in the village of Yasa in Persia during the time of the emperor Sapor (310-331), a fierce persecutor of Christians.
Learning that Christians were being tortured in the city of Baravokh, they went there to the prison where Sts Zanithas, Lazarus, Maruthas, Narses, Elias, Marinus, Habib, Sivsithina and Sava were being held.
They encouraged them to adhere to the Christian Faith until the very end. The holy martyrs firmly confessed their faith in Christ and would not agree to the demands of the pagans. Therefore, they were subjected to fierce torments and death.
The bodies of the holy martyrs Jonah, Barachisius and the other martyrs were buried by a pious Christian named Habdisotes.
 327 JONAS and BARACHISIUS, MARTYRS.
WE are able to quote here from what purport to be the genuine acts of the martyrs SS. Jonas and Barachisius, compiled by an eye-witness called Isaias, an Armenian in the service of King Sapor II. The Greek versions contain certain additions and interpolations, but the original Syriac text has been published by Stephen Assemani and by Bedjan.

In the eighteenth year of his reign, Sapor or Shapur, King of Persia, began a bitter persecution of Christians. Jonas and Barachisius, two monks of Beth-Iasa, hearing that several Christians lay under sentence of death at Hubaham, went thither to encourage and serve them. Nine of the number received the crown of martyrdom. After their execution, Jonas and Barachisius were apprehended for having exhorted them to persevere and to die. The president began by appealing to the two brothers, urging them to obey the King of Kings, i.e. the Persian monarch, and to worship the sun. Their answer was that it was more reasonable to obey the immortal King of Heaven and earth than a mortal prince. Barachisius was then cast into a narrow dungeon, whilst Jonas was detained and commanded to sacrifice. He was laid flat on the ground, face downwards, with a sharp stake under the middle of his body, and beaten with rods. The martyr continued all the time in prayer, so the judge ordered him to be placed in a frozen pond but this also was without effect. Later on the same day Barachisius was summoned and told that his brother had sacrificed. The martyr replied that he could not possibly have paid divine honours to fire, a creature, and spoke so eloquently of the power and infinity of God that the Magians in astonishment said to one another that if he were permitted to speak in public he would draw many to Christianity. They therefore decided for the future to conduct their examinations by night. In the meantime they tortured him too.

In the morning Jonas was brought from his pool and asked whether he had not spent a very uncomfortable night. “No”, he replied. “From the day I came into the world I never remember a more peaceful night, for I was wonderfully refreshed by the memory of the sufferings of Christ.” The Magians said, “Your companion has renounced!” but the martyr, interrupting them, exclaimed, “I know that he long ago renounced the Devil and his angels”. The judges waned him to beware lest he perish abandoned by God and man, but Jonas retorted, “If you possess your vaunted wisdom judge whether it is not wiser to sow corn rather than to hoard it. Our life is seed, sown to rise again in the world to come, where it will be renewed by Christ in immortal life.” He continued to defy his tormentors, and after further tortures he was squeezed in a wooden press till his veins burst, and finally his body was divided piecemeal with a saw and the mangled segments thrown into a cistern. Guards were appointed to watch the relics lest the Christians should steal them away.

Jonas having been thus disposed of, Barachisius was once more advised to save his own body. His reply was: “This body I did not frame, neither will I destroy it. God who made it will restore it, and will judge you and your king.” So he was again subjected to torments, and was finally killed by having hot pitch and brimstone poured into his mouth. Upon receiving news of their death, an old friend bought the martyrs’ bodies for five hundred drachmas and three silk garments, promising never to divulge the sale.

The Syriac text may be found in S. E. Assemani, Acta Sanctorum Martyrum Orientalium, vol. i, with a Latin translation. Bedjan in the last century reedited the text, without a translation, in his Acta Martyrum et Sanctorum, vol. ii. The Greek version was first printed by Delehaye in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxii (1903), pp. 395—407, and subsequently with a Latin translation in vol. ii of the Patrologia Orientalis, pp. 421—439. The account given in the synaxaries is also of some value: see Delehaye’s edition of the Synax. Constant., cc. 567—570.
St. Rogatus band of 18 martyrs put to death in proconsular Africa.
In Africa sanctórum Mártyrum Rogáti, Succéssi et aliórum séxdecim.
       In Africa, the holy martyrs Rogatus, Successus, and sixteen others.
One of a group of eighteen martyrs put to death in Roman Africa during the persecution of the Church under the Romans. Successus was one of these martyrs.

Rogatus, Successus & Comp. MM (RM) Date unknown. A band of 18 martyrs put to death in proconsular Africa (Benedictines).
365 SS. MARK, Bishop OF ARETHUSA, AND CYRIL, MARTYR
THE Eastern churches commemorate on this day St Mark, Bishop of Arethusa on Mount Lebanon. Baronius in the Roman Martyrology substituted St Cyril of Heliopolis, excluding Mark as a teacher of doubtful orthodoxy. St Mark’s Confession of Faith in itself is unexceptionable, but amongst the anathemas which follow it is a strange and ambiguous passage which might easily be understood in an heretical sense. It may well he that it has been incorrectly reported, and the Bollandists have vindicated the bishop’s orthodoxy. In any case the encomiums passed upon him by St Gregory Nazianzen, Theodoret and Sozomen when they relate his sufferings would lead us to conclude that, even if tainted at one time with Semi-Arianism, he had subsequently joined the strictly orthodox party and had fully expiated any previous vacillation.

During the reign of the Emperor Constantius, Mark of Arethusa had demolished a heathen temple, and had built a church and made many converts to the Christian faith. He had by so doing incurred the resentment of the pagan population who, however, could take no revenge whilst the emperor was a Christian. Their opportunity came when Julian the Apostate succeeded to the throne and enacted that those who had destroyed heathen temples must either rebuild them or pay a heavy fine. Mark, who was both unable and unwilling to obey, fled from the fury of his enemies, but upon learning that some of his flock had been apprehended he returned and gave himself up. The old man was dragged by the hair through the streets, stripped, scourged, thrown into the city sewer, and then handed over to the tender mercies of schoolboys to be pierced and torn by their pointed iron styles or pens. They bound his legs with cords so tight as to cut his flesh to the bone and screwed off his ears with small cord. Finally they smeared him over with honey and, shutting him in a kind of cage, hung him up at midday in the heat of summer to be the prey of wasps and gnats.
He was so calm in the midst of his sufferings that he derided his tormentors for having raised him nearer heaven whilst they themselves were grovelling upon earth.
At length the fury of the people was turned to admiration and they set him free, whilst the governor appealed to Julian for his pardon. The emperor eventually consented, saying that it was not his wish to give the Christians any martyrs. Even the pagan rhetorician Libanius seems to have realized that the cruelty which evoked such heroism only lent strength to the Christian cause, and he implored the persecutors to desist. Then we are told by the historian Socrates that the people of Arethusa were so much impressed by the bishop’s fortitude that they asked to be instructed in a religion which was capable of inspiring such resolution, and that many of them embraced Christianity. Thus Mark was left in peace to the end of his life and died during the reign of Jovian or of Valens.
St Cyril was a deacon of Heliopolis, a city near the Lebanon. In the reign of Constantius, by destroying many idols, he too had earned the hatred of the pagan population. Upon the accession of Julian, they set upon him and killed him, ripping open his stomach and, it is stated, eating his liver.
See the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. iii ; and Delehaye, Synax. Constant., pp. 565—568
440 Pope St. Sixtus III approved Acts of the Council of Ephesus endeavoured to restore peace between Cyril of Alexandria and John of Antioch prominent among the Roman clergy and in correspondence with St. Augustine
Romæ sancti Xysti Tértii, Papæ et Confessóris.    At Rome, St. Sixtus III, pope and confessor.
(XYSTUS).

ST. SIXTUS III., POPE.  HE was a priest among the Roman clergy in 418, when pope Zozimus condemned the Pelagian heretics. Sixtus was the first, after his sentence, who pronounced publicly anathema against them, to stop their slander in Africa that he favored their doctrine, as we are assured by St. Austin and St. Prosper in his chronicle.  The former sent him two congratulatory letters the same year, in which he applauds this testimony of his zeal, and in the first of these letters professes a high esteem of a treatise written by him in defense of the grace of God against its enemies.  It was that calumny of the Pelagian heretics that led Garriier into the mistake that our saint at first favored their errors.   But a change of this kind would not have been buried in silence.  After the death of St. Celestine, Sixtus was chosen pope in 432.  He wrote to Nestorius to endeavor to reclaim him after his condemnation at Ephesus, in 131 but his heart was hardened, and he stopped his ears against all wholesome admonitions.   The pope had the comfort to see a happy reconciliation made, by his endeavors, between the Orietitals and St. Cyril in which he much commended the humility and pacific dispositions of the latter.   He says that he was charged with the care and solicitude of all the churches in the world, and that it is unlawful for anyone to abandon the faith of the apostolic Roman church, in which St. Peter teaches in his successors what he received from Christ." When Bassus, a nobleman of Rome had been condemned by the emperor, and excommunicated by a synod of bishops for raising a grievous slander against the good pope, the meek servant of Christ visited and assisted him in person, administered him the viaticum in his last sickness, and buried him with his own hands. Julian of Eclanum or Eculanum, the famous Pelagian, earnestly desiring to recover his see, made great efforts to be admitted to the communion of the church, pretending that he was become a convert, and used several artifices to convince our saint that he really was so: but he was too well acquainted with them to be imposed on.  This holy pope died soon after, on the 28th of March, in 440, having sat in the see near eight years.  See his letters, Anastasias’ Pontifical, with the notes of Bianchini, &c.

Consecrated 31 July, 432; d. 440. Previous to his accession he was prominent among the Roman clergy and in correspondence with St. Augustine. He reigned during the Nestorian and Pelagian controversies, and it was probably owing to his conciliatory disposition that he was falsely accused of leanings towards these heresies. As pope he approved the Acts of the Council of Ephesus and endeavoured to restore peace between Cyril of Alexandria and John of Antioch. In the Pelagian controversy he frustrated the attempt of Julian of Eclanum to be readmitted to communion with the Catholic Church.
   He defended the pope's right of supremacy over Illyricum against the local bishops and the ambitious designs of Proclus of Constantinople. At Rome he restored the Basilica of Liberius, now known as St. Mary Major, enlarged the Basilica of St. Lawrence-Without-the-Walls, and obtained precious gifts from the Emperor Valentinian III for St. Peter's and the Lateran Basilica. The work which asserts that the consul Bassus accused him of crime is a forgery. He is the author of eight letters (in P.L., L, 583 sqq.), but he did not write the works "On Riches", "On False Teachers", and "On Chastity" ("De divitiis", "De malis doctoribus", "De castitate") attributed to him. His feast is kept on 28 March.
440 ST SIXTUS, OR XYSTUS, III, POPE
Sixtus was one of the principal clergy of the Roman church before his pontificate, and when he succeeded Pope St Celestine I in 432 St Prosper of Aquitaine wrote that, “We trust in the protection of the Lord, and that what He has done for us in Innocent, Zosimus, Boniface and Celestine He will do also in Sixtus; and as they guarded the flock against declared and openly professed wolves, so he may drive off the hidden ones”, referring to the teachers of Semi-Pelagianism. He was not disappointed; but St Sixtus was of a peace-loving nature and conciliatory in his policy, so that some of the hot-heads of orthodoxy were dissatisfied and did not scruple to accuse the pope of Pelagian and Nestorian leanings.
Among other buildings in the City, St Sixtus III restored the Liberian basilica, now called St Mary Major, and in it he set up this noble inscription “0 Virgin Mary, I, Sixtus, have dedicated a new temple to thee, an offering worthy of the womb that brought to us salvation. Thou, a maiden knowing not man, didst bear and bring forth our Salvation. Behold! These martyrs, witnesses to Him who was the fruit of thy womb, bear to thee their crowns of victory, and beneath their feet lie the instruments of their passion—sword, flame, wild beast, water and cruel poison: one crown alike awaits these divers deaths.” Over the arch of the apse can still be read the words in mosaic: “Sixtus the bishop for the people of God.”

This pope consecrated a number of churches, and the dedications of two of them are feasts universal in the Western church, St Peter ad Vincula (August 1) and St Mary Major (August 5).
The Liber, Pontificalis, with Duchesne’s notes, vol. i, pp. 232—237, is the most important source. See also Grisar, Geschichte Roms und der Pâpste, §§ 224—226, and cf. § 468. Some further references are given above in the bibliographical notes to St Peter ad Vincula and Our Lady of the Snow.
434 450? Hesychius Priest famous exegete of Jerusalem.
Saint Hesychius was a priest and a famous exegete of Jerusalem (Encyclopedia).

The writings of Hesychius of Jerusalem have been in part lost, in part handed down and edited as the work of other authors, and some are still buried in libraries in MS. Whoever would collect and arrange the fragments of Hesychius which have come down to us must go back to the MSS.; for in the last edition of the Fathers (P.G., XCIII, 787-1560) the works of various writers named Hesychius are thrown together without regard for order under the heading "Hesychius, Presbyter of Jerusalem".

450 St. Hesychius of Jerusalem
Not only is the name of today's saint a bit hard to pronounce and spell. It's also difficult to learn about such a modest and gentle man who lived in the fourth and fifth century and who is better known in the Russian Orthodox Church.

The birth date of Hesychius (pronounced HESH-us) is unclear, but we know that he was a priest and monk who wrote a history of the Church, unfortunately lost. He also wrote about many of the burning issues of his day. These included the heresy of Nestorianism, which held that there were two separate persons in Jesus—one human, one divine—and the heresy of Arianism, which denied the divinity of Christ. Some of his commentaries on the books of the Bible as well, along with meditations on the prophets and homilies on the Blessed Virgin Mary, still survive.

It's believed Hesychius delivered Easter homilies in the basilica in Jerusalem thought to be the place of the crucifixion.

His words on the Eucharist, written centuries ago, speak to us today: "Keep yourselves free from sin so that every day you may share in the mystic meal; by doing so our bodies become the body of Christ." Hesychius died around the year 450

455 SS. ARMOCASTES, ARCHIMIMUS and SATURUS, MARTYRS

GENSERIC, King of the Vandals, after he had renounced the orthodox faith, became a fierce persecutor of his Catholic subjects, and enacted that no Catholic should hold any post in his household. Armogastes, who had been in the service of Genseric’s son Theodoric, was accordingly deprived of his honours and dignities in the court and most cruelly tortured. Cords were bound tightly round his head and legs, but as he lifted up his eyes to heaven and made the sign of the cross, they broke of themselves. This happened several times, although stronger and yet stronger cords were employed. He was then suspended by one foot, with his head hanging down, but he still refused to conform. Theodoric would have beheaded him, but the Arian priests deterred him, saying that it would only cause Armogastes to be honoured by the people as a martyr. Theodoric therefore banished him to Byzacena to work in the mines, but afterwards, in order publicly to disgrace him, ordered him to be transferred to Carthage and there set to mind cattle. This brave man, however, regarded it as a glorious thing to be dishonoured before men in the cause of God. Not long afterwards he was divinely warned that his end was drawing near. He accordingly gave instructions as to his place of burial to a devout Christian called Felix and died at the time he had foretold.

Archinimus is supposed to have been a native of Mascula who, refusing to abjure the eternal Godhead of Christ, was threatened with death, but reprieved at the last moment. Saturus, the third of the martyrs, was master of the house­hold to Huneric, who, on the score of his faith, threatened to deprive him of his estate. His wife besought him to purchase his pardon at the expense of his conscience; but he refused, saying to her in the words of Job, “You have spoken like one of the foolish women”. He was deprived of everything and reduced to beggary, but, says Victor of Vita, “of his baptismal robe they could not rob him.” 

Victor of Vita is our only authority for these martyrdoms. The text is quoted by the Bollandists in the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. iii. Some difficulty is caused by the word Archinimus, which in the Roman Martyrology appears as archimimus, so that the second martyr figures as “Mascula, the chief actor,” whereas the true reading probably is Archi­nimus, a native of Mascula”, Archinimus being a proper name; but there are other possi­bilities.
513 Spes of Campi Abbot regained eyesight 15 days before death 40 yrs blind.
 Apud Núrsiam sancti Spei Abbátis, miræ patiéntiæ viri, cujus ánima (ut refert sanctus Gregórius Papa), cum ex hac vita migráret, in colúmbæ spécie a cunctis frátribus visa est in cælum ascéndere.
At Norcia, Abbot St. Spes, a man of extraordinary patience, whose soul at its departure from this life (as Pope St. Gregory relates) was seen by all his brethren to ascend to heaven in the shape of a dove. (RM)
Though totally blind for forty years, Saint Spes, abbot of Campi in central Italy, regained his eyesight 15 days before his death (Attwater2, Benedictines).
592 Saint Guntramnus, King protector of oppressed care-giver to sick many miracles performed before and after death (Saint Gregory of Tours)
 Cabillóne, in Gálliis, deposítio sancti Gunthrámni, Regis Francórum, qui spiritálibus actiónibus ita se mancipávit, ut, relíctis, sæculi pompis, thesáuros suos lárgiter Ecclésiis et paupéribus erogáret.
       At Chalons in France, the death of St. Guntram, king of the Franks, who devoted himself to exercises of piety, despising the ostentation of the world, and who bestowed his treasures on the Church and the poor. ( (RM)
(also known as Contran, Gontran, Gontram, Gunthrammus)
Died March 28, 592. Saint Guntramnus, son of King Clotaire and Saint Clothildis, was crowned king of Orléans and Burgundy in 561, while his brothers Charibert reigned in Paris and Sigebert at Metz.



            ST. GONTRAN, KING AND CONFESSOR
He was son of King Clotaire, and grandson of Clovis I. and St. Clotildis. Being the second son, while his brothers Charibert reigned at Paris, and Sigebert in Austrasia, residing at Metz, he was crowned King of Orleans and Burgundy in 561, making Challons on the Saone his capital. When compelled to take up arms against his ambitious brothers and the Lombard’s, he made no other use of his victories under the conduct of a brave general called Mommol, than to give peace to his dominions.
   He protected his nephews against the practices of the wicked dowager queens, Brunehault of Sigebert, and Fredegonde of Chilperic, the firebrands of France. The putting to death the physicians of the queen, at her request, on her deathbed, and the divorcing his wile Mercatrude, are crimes laid to his charge, in which the barbarous manners of his nation involved him: but these he effaced by tears of repentance.
   He governed his kingdom, studying rather to promote the temporal happiness of others than his own, a stranger to the passions of pride, jealousy, and ambition, and making piety the only rule of his policy.  The prosperity of his reign, both in peace and war, condemn those who think that human policy cannot be modelled by the maxims of the gospel, whereas nothing can render a government more flourishing.
   He always treated the pastors of the church with respect and veneration, regarding them, as his fathers, and honoring and consulting them as his masters. He was the protector of the oppressed, and the tender parent of his subjects, whom he treated as his children. He poured out his treasures among them with a holy profusion especially in the lime of a pestilence and famine. He gave the greatest attention to the care of the sick.  He fasted, prayed, wept, and offered himself to God night and day, as a victim ready to be sacrificed on the altar of his justice, to avert his indignation, which he believed he himself had provoked, and drawn down upon his innocent people.
   He was a severe punisher of crimes in his officers and others, and, by many wholesome regulations, restrained the barbarous licentiousness of his troops, but no man was more ready to forgive offences against his own person. He contented himself with imprisoning a man who, through the instigation of queen Fredegonde, had attempted to stab him, and he spared another assassin sent by the same wicked woman, because he had taken shelter in a church.  With royal magnificence he built and endowed many churches amid monasteries.
    St. Gregory of Tours relates many miracles performed by him both before and after his death, to some of which he was an eyewitness.  This good king, like another penitent David, having spent his life after his conversion, though on the throne, in the retirement and penance of a recluse, (as St. Hugh of Cluny says of him, exhorting king Philip I to imitate his example, died on the 28th of March, in 593, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, having reigned thirty-one and some months. He was buried in the church of St. Marcellus, which he had founded.  The Huguenots scattered his ashes in the sixteenth century only his skull escaped their fury, and is now kept there in a silver case. He is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology. See St. Gregory of Tours
Fredegarius, and Baillet.

592 ST GUNTRAMNUS
GUNTRAMNUS (Gontran), king of Burgundy and part of Aquitaine from 561 to 592, is said to have been very popular among his people, who certainly honoured him as a saint after his death; and his name has found its way into the Roman Martyrology. But his claims to holiness scarcely would obtain formal canonization for him today. Nearly all we know of him is derived from the pages of St Gregory of Tours. Though far from disciplined himself (he divorced one wife and executed the unsuccessful physicians of another), he encouraged the holding of three synods to improve the discipline of the clergy, endowed churches and monasteries, and dealt justly with his subjects.
The relevant chapters of Gregory of Tours are reprinted in the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. iii. There is an excellent summary in DCB., vol. ii, pp. 820—822.
In general, his life was that of a peacemaker. He protected his nephews against the wickedness of the dowager queens, Sigebert's Brunehault and Chilperic's Fredegonde.  But he had a period of intemperance. He divorced his wife, Mercatrude, and hastily ordered the execution of his physician. He was overcome with remorse and lamented these sins for the rest of his life, both for himself and for his nation. In atonement, he fasted, prayed, wept, and offered himself to the God he had offended.
Throughout the balance of his prosperous reign he gave examples of how the maxims of the Gospel could be rendered into effective policy. He was the protector of the oppressed, care-giver to the sick, and the tender parent to his subjects. He was open-handed with his wealth, especially in times of plague and famine. He strictly and justly enforced the law without respect to person, yet was ever ready to forgive offenses against himself, including two attempted assassins.

Guntramnus munificently built and endowed many churches and monasteries. Saint Gregory of Tours relates many miracles performed by the king, both before and after his death, some of which he witnessed himself.

At the time of his death, Guntramnus had reigned for 31 years. Almost immediately he was proclaimed a saint by his subjects. He was buried in the church of Saint Marcellus, which he had founded. The Huguenots, who scattered his ashes in the 16th century, left only his skull untouched in their fury. It is now kept there in a silver case (Attwater2, Benedictines, Husenbeth)

In art, Saint Guntramnus is depicted as a king finding treasure and giving it to the poor. Sometimes there may be three treasure chests before him, a globe, and cross on one (Roeder).
750 St. Gundelindis Benedictine succeeded St. Ottilia as abbess of Niedermunster.
also called Gwendoline. She was the daughter of the duke of Alsace, France, and a niece of St. Ottilia.

Gundelindis of Niedermünster, OSB V (AC) (also known as Guendelindis)
Died c. 750. Saint Gundelindis, daughter of the duke of Alsace and niece of Saint Ottilia, succeeded her aunt as abbess in the convent of Niedermünster (Benedictines).
754 Saint Hilarion the New, Igumen of Peleke Monastery {Dardanelles} granted gifts of clairvoyance and wonderworking
From his youth, he devoted himself to the service of God and spent many years as a hermit. Because of his holy and blameless life he was ordained to the holy priesthood, and later he was made igumen of the Pelekete monastery (near the Dardanelles). St Hilarion was granted gifts of clairvoyance and wonderworking by the Lord.

Through prayer he brought down rain during a drought, and like the Prophet Elisha he separated the waters of a river, he drove harmful beasts from the fields, he filled the nets of fishermen when they had no success in fishing, and he did many other miracles.
In addition to these things, he was able to heal the sick and cast out demons.
St Hilarion suffered on Great and Holy Thursday in the year 754, when the military commnander Lakhanodrakon suddenly descended upon the Pelekete monastery in pursuit of icon-venerators, boldly forcing his way into the church, disrupting the service and throwing the Holy Gifts upon the ground. Forty-two monks were arrested, slapped into chains, sent to the Edessa district and murdered. The remaining monks were horribly mutilated, they beat them, they burned their beards with fire, they smeared their faces with tar and cut off the noses of some of the confessors.
St Hilarion died for the veneration of icons during this persecution.
St Hilarion left behind spiritual works containing moral directives for spiritual effort. St Joseph of Volokolamsk (September 9 and October 18) was well acquainted with the work of St Hilarion, and he also wrote about the significance of monastic struggles in his own theological works.
815 St Stephen the Confessor Igumen of Triglia Monastery
suffered under the iconoclast emperor Leo the Armenian (813-820). From a young age, the holy ascetic dedicated his life to God and received monastic tonsure. He later became head of the Triglia monastery near Constantinople.

When persecution again began against holy icons, the saintly igumen was summoned for questioning, and they tried to force him to sign a document rejecting the veneration of icons.

St Stephen steadfastly refused to betray Orthodoxy and he boldly denounced the emperor for his impiety.
They subjected the saint to cruel torments, after which they sent him to prison in the year 815.

Weakened and sick, the holy Confessor Stephen soon died in prison from his sufferings.
830 + Saint Kortyla one of the ten or twelve Irish bishops of Verden B (D'Arcy).
830 The Holy Martyr Boyan, Prince of Bulgaria filled with a love of prayer, fasting and contemplation of God.
Suffered for Christ around the year 830. When his pagan brother Malomir [Vladimir] ascended the Bulgarian throne, Prince Boyan asked him to free the learned Christian Kinamon, who had been in prison for a long time for refusing to participate in pagan sacrifices under Prince Obrit (Krutogon), Prince Malomir's predecessor.

Malomir consented and gave Kinamon to Prince Boyan as a slave. Boyan spoke to Kinamon about Christianity, telling him of the errors of paganism and that belief in Christ is necessary for salvation. At the end of their conversation he told the prince, "Without Jesus Christ there is no light for the mind, no life for the soul. He alone is the Teacher of mankind and our Savior. By His death, He has reconciled fallen mankind with God. If you do not wish to perish, believe in the Lord Jesus."
Prince Boyan recognized the truth of his words, and was inspired to ask for Baptism.
The newly-converted prince was filled with a love of prayer, fasting and contemplation of God. Malomir, learning about the conversion of his brother to Christianity, demanded that he renounce the Christian Faith and return to paganism.
Instead, the holy Prince Boyan answered, "I despise the pagan idols and I revere Christ, the true God. No one shall separate me from the love of Christ." Malomir, hearing his brother's reply, sentenced him to death.

Before his martyric death, the holy martyr-prince declared: "The faith for which I now die will spread throughout the Bulgarian land. You vainly imagine that you will stop it by killing me. Temples to the true God will be built, and priests will offer Him true worship. The idols and their foul sacrifices, however, will vanish."
Then he said to his brother Malomir, "You will gain nothing from your cruelty, and death will soon overtake you."
The holy martyr was killed by the sword, and his predictions to his brother were the first to be fulfilled. Malomir soon died, and since he had no heir, his elder brother Presian (836-852) succeeded to the throne. Prince Presian's son, the holy Prince Boris, in holy Baptism Michael (May 2) later Christianized the Bulgarian nation.
Thus the prophecy of the holy Martyr Prince Boyan was fulfilled.
915 St. Tutilo Monk artist adherence to obedience recollection.
A member of the Benedictines at St. Gall, Switzerland, he distinguished himself through his abilities as a painter, sculptor, musician, poet, metalworker, and orator there. He taught at the abbey school and was noted for his particular adherence to obedience.

915 ST TUTILO
ST TUTILO was educated by Iso and Marcellus in the celebrated Benedictine monastery of Saint-Gall, where he had as schoolfellows Bd Notker Balbulus and Ratpert. They all three became monks in the abbey, Tutilo being appointed head of the cloister school and Notker librarian. Handsome, eloquent and quick-witted, St Tutilo appears to have been a universal genius, for he is described as a poet, an orator, an architect, a painter, a sculptor, a metal worker and a mechanic. Music, however, was his passion, and he could play all the various instruments taught to the monastery scholars. Although he did not invent liturgical tropes, he certainly cultivated them, and he was probably associated with his friend Notker in writing sequences and in fitting words to the final Alleluia in the gradual. King Charles the Fat had a great admiration for St Tutilo, and remarked that it was a pity such a genius should be hidden away in a monastery. The saint himself shrank from publicity, and when obliged to go to large cities like Metz and Mainz, where his artistic talents were in great request, he strove to avoid notice and shrank from compliments. He was wont to adorn his pictures and sculptures with an epigram or motto, and there are still at Constance, Metz, Saint—Gall and Mainz paintings attributed to him, but of his poetical and musical works only three little elegies and one hymn have been printed. He died about the year 915 and was buried in the chapel of St Catherine, which was renamed St Tutilo’s in his honour.
See Histoire littéraire de la France, vol. v, pp. 671—673 Wagner, Einführung in die Gregor. Melod., vol. i, p. 282 L. Gauthier, Bin. Poés. Liturg., vol. i (Tropes), pp. 35—36.
Tutilo of Saint-Gall, OSB (AC) Died at Saint-Gall, Switzerland, c. 915. The handsome, eloquent, quick-witted Saint Tutilo was a giant in strength and stature and a friend of Saint Notker Balbulus, with whom he received musical training from Moengal. Tutilo, a monk of Saint-Gall, may have been Tuathal, a younger member of the party of the Irish Bishop Marcus and his nephew who stopped at the abbey on their return from Rome. Tutilo was a painter, musician and composer of music for harp and other strings, poet, orator, architect, metal worker, mechanic, head of the cloister school, and sculptor, but he is best known for his obedience, recollection, and aversion to publicity. Some of his paintings can be found in Constance, Metz, Saint-Gall, and Mainz. The chapel in which he was buried, dedicated to Saint Catherine, was later renamed for him (Attwater2, Benedictines, D'Arcy, Encyclopedia, Fitzpatrick2).
1096 Martyr Eustratius of the Caves martyred incorrupt relics were found in a cave and worked many miracles
Born in the eleventh century at Kiev into a wealthy family. As an adult, he received monastic tonsure at the Kiev Caves monastery, after giving away all his possesions to the poor. St Eustratius humbly underwent obediences at the monastery, strictly fulfilling the rule of prayer and passing his days in fasting and vigilance.

In 1096 the Polovetsians captured Kiev and ravaged the monastery of the Caves, doing away with many of the monks. St Eustratius was taken into captivity, and was sold into slavery with thirty monastic laborers and twenty inhabitants of Kiev to a certain Jew living in Korsun.

The impious Jew tried to make the captives to deny Christ, threatening to kill those who refused by starving them. St Eustratius encouraged and exhorted his brother Christians, "Brothers! Let none of us who are baptized and believe in Christ betray the vows made at Baptism. Christ has regenerated us through water and the Spirit. He has freed us from the curse of the Law by His Blood, and He has made us heirs of His Kingdom. If we live, we shall live for the Lord. If we die, we shall die in the Lord and inherit eternal life."

Inspired by the saint's words, the captives resolved to die of starvation, rather than renounce Christ, Who is the food and drink of Eternal Life. Exhausted by hunger and thirst, some captives perished after three days, some after four days, and some after seven days. St Eustratius remained alive for fourteen days, since he was accustomed to fasting from his youth. Suffering from hunger, he still did not touch food nor water.
The impious Jew, seeing that he had lost the money he had paid for the captives, decided to take revenge on the holy monk.
The radiant Feast of the Resurrection of Christ drew near, and the Jewish slave owner was celebrating the Jewish Passover with his companions. He decided to crucify St Eustratius. The cruel tormentors mocked the saint, offering to let him share their Passover meal. The Martyr replied, "The Lord has now bestown a great grace upon me. He has permitted me to suffer on a cross for His Name just as He suffered."
The saint also predicted a horrible death for the Jew.
Hearing this, the enraged Jew grabbed a spear and stabbed St Eustratius on the cross. The martyr's body was taken down from the cross and thrown into the sea. Christian believers long searched for the holy relics of the martyr, but were not able to find them. But through the Providence of God the incorrupt relics were found in a cave and worked many miracles.
Later, they were transferred to the Near Caves of the Kiev Caves monastery.
The prediction of the holy Martyr Eustratius that his blood would be avenged was fulfilled soon after his death. The Byzantine Emperor issued a decree expelling all Jews from Korsun, depriving them of their property, and putting their elders to death for torturing Christians. The Jew who crucified St Eustratius was hanged on a tree, receiving just punishment for his wickedness.
1236 St. Conon Basilian abbot Greek monastery at Nesi Sicily holiness working of miracles -- Italy.
Conon of Nesi, Abbot (AC) Died 1236. A Basilian monk and abbot of the Greek monastery of Nesi in Sicily, Saint Conon was revered for his holiness demonstrated by the working of miracles (Attwater2, Benedictines).
1346 St. Venturino of Bergamo Dominican preacher missionary crusader.
A native of Bergamo, Italy, he joined the Dominicans in 1319 and soon distinguished himself as a brilliant preacher, attracting huge crowds throughout northern Italy. Pleased with his ability to reach large numbers of believers, he announced in 1335 his intention to go on a pilgrimage to Rome. When Pope Benedict XII (r. 1334-1342) learned of the pilgrimage, he feared Venturino might be planning to crown himself pope, and so forbade the friar to proceed. This decree was joined by one issued by the Dominicans themselves at the Chapter in London (1335). Ignorant of these bans, Venturino proceeded to Rome and then to Avignon where he was arrested and imprisoned until 1343.
He is also known for helping to organize a crusade, at the behest of Pope Clement VI (r. 1342-1352), against the Turks who were then menacing Europe.
1476 St Hilarion of Gdov and Pskov Lake high level of pious and ascetic life.
A disciple of St Euphrosynus of Pskov (May 15). In 1460 on the banks of the River Zhelcha, not far from Gdov, he founded the Ozersk [Lake] Monastery of the Protection of the Mother of God. The monastery bordered the territory of the Livonian Knights, and the monks constantly suffered the incursions of that military order. Despite harsh conditions and insufficient means, St Hilarion maintained a high level of pious and ascetic life at the monastery, and made great efforts to adorn and build up the monastery.

St Hilarion reposed on March 28, 1476 and was buried in the church of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos in the monastery he founded. Afterwards, a church was built at the monastery in honor of the Nativity of Christ. The left chapel was dedicated to the founder of the Gdov monastery.
St Hilarion of Gdov is also commemorated on October 21, on the Feast of his heavenly patron and namesake.
1588 St. James Claxton, Blessed  devout Catholic Martyr in England.
A native of Yorkshire and a devout Catholic, he studied at Reims and was ordained in 1582. Returning home to conduct missionary work in his former region, he was soon arrested and hanged, drawn, and quartered at Isleworth.
  1456, Sancti Joánnis de Capistráno, Sacerdótis ex Ordine Minórum et Confessóris, cujus memória recólitur décimo Kaléndas Novémbris.
       St. John Capistrano, confessor, a priest of the Order of Friars Minor, who is mentioned on the 23rd of October.

ST JOHN OF CAPISTRANO
CAPISTRANO is a little town in the Abruzzi, which of old formed part of the kingdom of Naples.

Here in the fourteenth century a certain free-lance —whether he was of French or of German origin is disputed—had settled down after military service under Louis I and had married an Italian wife. A son, named John, was born to him in 1386 who was destined to become famous as one of the great lights of the Franciscan Order.

From early youth the boy’s talents made him conspicuous. He studied law at Perugia with such success that in 1412 he was appointed governor of that city and married the daughter of one of the principal inhabitants. During hostilities between Perugia and the Malatestas he — was imprisoned, and this was the occasion of his resolution to change his way of life and become a religious.

How he got over the difficulty of his marriage is not altogether clear. But it is said that he rode through Perugia on a donkey with his face to the tail and with a huge paper hat on his head upon which all his worst sins were plainly written. He was pelted by the children and covered with filth, and in this guise presented himself to ask admission into the noviceship of the Friars Minor. At that date, 1416, he was thirty years old, and his novice-master seems to have thought that for a man of such strength of will who had been accustomed to have his own way, a very severe training was necessary to test the genuineness of his vocation. (He had not yet even made his first communion.) The trials to which he was subjected were most humiliating and were apparently sometimes attended with supernatural manifestations. But Brother John persevered, and in after years often expressed his gratitude to the relentless instructor who had made it clear to him that self-conquest was the only sure road to perfection.

In 1420 John was raised to the priesthood. Meanwhile he made extraordinary progress in his theological studies, leading at the same time a life of extreme austerity, in which he tramped the roads barefoot without sandals, gave only three or four hours to sleep and wore a hair-shirt continually.

In his studies he had St James of the Marches as a fellow learner, and for a master St Bernardino of Siena, for whom he conceived the deepest veneration and affection.

Very soon John’s exceptional gifts of oratory made themselves perceptible. The whole of Italy at that period was passing through a terrible crisis of political unrest and relaxation of morals, troubles which were largely caused, and in any case accentuated, by the fact that there were three rival claimants for the papacy and that the bitter antagonisms between Guelfs and Ghibellines had not yet been healed.

Still, in preaching throughout the length and breadth of the peninsula St John met with wonderful response. There is undoubtedly a note of exaggeration in the terms in which Fathers Christopher of Varese and Nicholas of Fara describe the effect produced by his discourses. They speak of a hundred thousand or even a hundred and fifty thousand auditors being present at a single sermon. That was certainly not possible in a country depopulated by wars, pestilence and famine, and in view of the limited means of locomotion then available. But there was good evidence to justify the enthusiasm of the latter writer when he tells us: “No one was more anxious than John Capistran for the conversion of heretics, schismatics and Jews. No one was more anxious that religion should flourish, or had more power in working wonders; no one was so ardently desirous of martyrdom, no one was more famous for his holiness. And so he was welcomed with honour in all the provinces of Italy. The throng of people at his sermons was so great that it might be thought that the apostolic times were revived. On his arrival in a pro­vince, the towns and villages were in commotion and flocked in crowds to hear him. The towns invited him to visit them, either by pressing letters, or by deputations, or by an appeal to the Sovereign Pontiff through the medium of influential persons.”

But the work of preaching and the conversion of souls by no means absorbed all the saint’s attention. There is no occasion to make reference here in any detail to the domestic embarrassments which had beset the Order of St Francis since the death Of their Seraphic Founder. It is sufficient to say that the party known as the “Spirituals” held by no means the same views of religious observance as were entertained by those whom they termed the “Relaxed”.

The Observant reform which had been initiated in the middle of the fourteenth century still found itself hampered in many ways by the administration of superiors general who held a different standard of perfection, and on the other hand there had also been exaggerations in the direction of much greater austerity culminating eventually in the heretical teachings of the Fraticelli. All these difficulties required adjustment, and Capistran, working in harmony with St Bernardino of Siena, was called upon to bear a large share in this burden. After the general chapter held at Assisi in 1430, St John was appointed to draft the conclusions at which the assembly arrived, and these “Martinian statutes”, as they were called, in virtue of their confirmation by Pope Martin V, are among the most important in the history of the order.

So again John was on several occasions entrusted with inquisitorial powers by the Holy See, as for example to take proceedings against the Fraticelli and to inquire into the grave allegations which had been made against the Order of Gesuats founded by Bd John Colombini. Further, he was keenly interested in that reform of the Franciscan nuns which owed its chief inspiration to St Colette, and in the tertiaries of the order. In the Council of Ferrara, later removed to Florence, he was heard with attention, but between the early and the final sessions he had been compelled to visit Jerusalem as apostolic commissary, and incidentally had done much to help on the inclusion of the Armenians with the Greeks in the accommodation, unfor­tunately only short-lived, which was arrived at in Florence.

When the Emperor Frederick III, finding that the religious faith of the countries under his suzerainty was suffering grievously from the activities of the Hussites and other heretical sectariès, appealed to Pope Nicholas V for help, St John Capistran was sent as commissary and inquisitor general, and he set out for Vienna in 1451 with twelve of his Franciscan brethren to assist him. It is beyond doubt that his coming produced a great sensation. Aeneas Sylvius (the future Pope Pius II) tells us how, when he entered Austrian territory, “priests and people came out to meet him, carrying the sacred relics. They received him as a legate of the Apostolic See, as a preacher of truth, as some great prophet sent by God. They came down from the mountains to greet John, as though Peter or Paul or one of the other apostles were journeying there. They eagerly kissed the hem of his garment, brought their sick and afflicted to his feet, and it is reported that very many were cured. . . . The elders of the city met him and conducted him to Vienna. No square in the city could contain the crowds. They looked on him as an angel of God.”

John’s work as inquisitor and his dealings with the Hussites and other Bohemian heretics have been severely criticized, but this is not the place to attempt any justification. His zeal was of the kind that sears and consumes, though he was merciful to the submissive and repentant, and he was before his time in his attitude to witchcraft and the use of torture. The miracles which attended his progress wherever he went, and which he attributed to the relics of St Bernardino of Siena, were sedulously recorded by his companions, and a certain prejudice was afterwards created against the saint by the accounts which were published of these marvels. He went from place to place, preaching in Bavaria, Saxony and Poland, and his efforts were everywhere accompanied by a great revival of faith and devotion. Cochlaeus of Nuremberg tells us how “those who saw him there describe him as a man small of body, withered, emaciated, nothing but skin and bone, but cheerful, strong and strenuous in labour. . . . He slept in his habit, rose before dawn, recited his office and then celebrated Mass. After that he preached, in Latin, which was afterwards explained to the people by an interpreter.” He also made a round of the sick who awaited his coming, laying his hands upon each, praying, and touching them with one of the relics of St Bernardino.

It was the capture of Constantinople by the Turks which brought this spiritual campaign to an end. Capistran was called upon to rally the defenders of the West and to preach a crusade against the infidel. His earlier efforts in Bavaria, and even in Austria, met with little response, and early in 1456 the situation became desperate. The Turks were advancing to lay siege to Belgrade, and the saint, who by this time had made his way into Hungary, taking counsel with the great general Hunyady, saw clearly that they would have to depend in the main upon local effort. St John wore himself out in preaching and exhorting the Hungarian people in order to raise an army that could meet the threatened danger, and himself led to Belgrade the troops he had been able to recruit. Very soon the Turks were in position and the siege began. Animated by the prayers and the heroic example in the field of Capistran, and wisely guided by the military experience of Hunyady, the garrison in the end gained an overwhelming victory. The siege was abandoned, and western Europe for the time was saved. But the infection bred by thousands of corpses which lay unburied round the city cost the life first of all of Hunyady, and then a month or two later of Capistran himself, worn out by years of toil and of austerities and by the strain of the siege. He died most peacefully at Villach on October 23, 1456, and was canonized in 1724. His feast was in 1890 made general for all the Western church, and was then transferred to March 28.

The more important biographical materials for the history of St John of Capistrano are printed in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. x. See BHL., nn. 4360—4368. But in addition to these there is a considerable amount of new information concerning St John’s writings, letters, reforms and other activities which has been printed during the present century in the Archivum Franciscanum Historicum edited at Quaracchi; attention may be called in particular to the papers on St John and the Hussites in vols. xv and xvi of the same periodical. This and other material has been used by J. Hofer in his St John Capistran, Reformer (1943), a work of much erudition and value. English readers may also be referred to a short life by Fr V. Fitzgerald, and to Léon, Auréole Séraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. iii, pp. 388—420.


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 118

O Lady, despise not my praise: and deign to accept this Psalter dedicated to thee.

Look upon the will of my heart: and make my affection well-pleasing to thee.

Hasten to visit thy servants: under the protection of thy hand may they be preserved unhurt.

May they receive through thee the illumination of the Holy Spirit: and refreshment against the heat of cupidity.

Heal, O Lady, the contrite of heart: and revive them by the ointment of piety.

Let every spirit praise Our Lady

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

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

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

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

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

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

680 Shiite saint Imam Hussein, grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad Known as Ashoura and observed by Shiites across the world, the 10th day of the lunar Muslim month of Muharram: the anniversary of the 7th century death in battle of one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints.  Imam Hussein died in the 680 A.D. battle fought on the plains outside Karbala, a city in modern Iraq that's home to the saint's shrine.  The battle over a dispute about the leadership of the Muslim faith following Muhammad's death in 632 A.D. It is the defining event in Islam's split into Sunni and Shiite branches.  The occasion is the source of an enduring moral lesson. "He sacrificed his blood to teach us not to give in to corruption, coercion, or use of force and to seek honor and justice."  According to Shiite beliefs, Hussein and companions were denied water by enemies who controlled the nearby Euphrates.  Streets get partially covered with blood from slaughter of hundreds of cows and sheep. Volunteers cook the meat and feed it to the poor.  Hussein's martyrdom recounted through a rich body of prose, poetry and song remains an inspirational example of sacrifice to many Shiites, 10 percent of the world's estimated 1.3 billion Muslims.
Meeting of the Saints  walis (saints of Allah)
Great men covet to embrace martyrdom for a cause and principle.
So was the case with Hazrat Ali. He could have made a compromise with the evil forces of his time and, as a result, could have led a very comfortable, easy and luxurious life.  But he was not a person who would succumb to such temptations. His upbringing, his education and his training in the lap of the holy Prophet made him refuse such an offer.
Rabia Al-Basri (717–801 C.E.) She was first to set forth the doctrine of mystical love and who is widely considered to be the most important of the early Sufi poets. An elderly Shia pointed out that during his pre-Partition childhood it was quite common to find pictures and portraits of Shia icons in Imambaras across the country.
Shah Abdul Latif: The Exalted Sufi Master born 1690 in a Syed family; died 1754. In ancient times, Sindh housed the exemplary Indus Valley Civilisation with Moenjo Daro as its capital, and now, it is the land of a culture which evolved from the teachings of eminent Sufi saints. Pakistan is home to the mortal remains of many Sufi saints, the exalted among them being Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, a practitioner of the real Islam, philosopher, poet, musicologist and preacher. He presented his teaching through poetry and music - both instruments sublime - and commands a very large following, not only among Muslims but also among Hindus and Christians. Sindh culture: The Shah is synonymous with Sindh. He is the very fountainhead of Sindh's culture. His message remains as fresh as that of any present day poet, and the people of Sindh find solace from his writings. He did indeed think for Sindh. One of his prayers, in exquisite Sindhi, translates thus: “Oh God, may ever You on Sindh bestow abundance rare! Beloved! All the world let share Thy grace, and fruitful be.”
Shia Ali al-Hadi, died 868 and son Hassan al-Askari 874. These saints are the 10th and 11th of Shia's 12 most revered Imams. Baba Farid Sufi 1398 miracle, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki renowned Muslim Sufi saint scholar miracles 569 A.H. [1173 C.E.] hermit gave to poor, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti greatest mystic of his time born 533 Hijri (1138-39 A.D.), Hazrat Ghuas-e Azam, Hazrat Bu Ali Sharif, and Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia Sufi Saint Hazrath Khwaja Syed Mohammed Badshah Quadri Chisty Yamani Quadeer (RA) 1236-1325 welcomed people of all faiths & all walks of life.
801 Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya Sufi One of the most famous Islamic mystics
(b. 717). This 8th century saint was an early Sufi who had a profound influence on later Sufis, who in turn deeply influenced the European mystical love and troubadour traditions.  Rabi'a was a woman of Basra, a seaport in southern Iraq.  She was born around 717 and died in 801 (185-186).  Her biographer, the great medieval poet Attar, tells us that she was "on fire with love and longing" and that men accepted her "as a second spotless Mary" (186).  She was, he continues, “an unquestioned authority to her contemporaries" (218).
Rabi'a began her ascetic life in a small desert cell near Basra, where she lost herself in prayer and went straight to God for teaching.  As far as is known, she never studied under any master or spiritual director.  She was one of the first of the Sufis to teach that Love alone was the guide on the mystic path (222).  A later Sufi taught that there were two classes of "true believers": one class sought a master as an intermediary between them and God -- unless they could see the footsteps of the Prophet on the path before them, they would not accept the path as valid.  The second class “...did not look before them for the footprint of any of God's creatures, for they had removed all thought of what He had created from their hearts, and concerned themselves solely with God. (218)
Rabi'a was of this second kind.  She felt no reverence even for the House of God in Mecca:  "It is the Lord of the house Whom I need; what have I to do with the house?" (219) One lovely spring morning a friend asked her to come outside to see the works of God.  She replied, "Come you inside that you may behold their Maker.  Contemplation of the Maker has turned me aside from what He has made" (219).  During an illness, a friend asked this woman if she desired anything.
"...[H]ow can you ask me such a question as 'What do I desire?'  I swear by the glory of God that for twelve years I have desired fresh dates, and you know that in Basra dates are plentiful, and I have not yet tasted them.  I am a servant (of God), and what has a servant to do with desire?" (162)
When a male friend once suggested she should pray for relief from a debilitating illness, she said,
"O Sufyan, do you not know Who it is that wills this suffering for me?  Is it not God Who wills it?  When you know this, why do you bid me ask for what is contrary to His will?  It is not  well to oppose one's Beloved." (221)
She was an ascetic.  It was her custom to pray all night, sleep briefly just before dawn, and then rise again just as dawn "tinged the sky with gold" (187).  She lived in celibacy and poverty, having renounced the world.  A friend visited her in old age and found that all she owned were a reed mat, screen, a pottery jug, and a bed of felt which doubled as her prayer-rug (186), for where she prayed all night, she also slept briefly in the pre-dawn chill.  Once her friends offered to get her a servant; she replied,
"I should be ashamed to ask for the things of this world from Him to Whom the world belongs, and how should I ask for them from those to whom it does not belong?"  (186-7)
A wealthy merchant once wanted to give her a purse of gold.  She refused it, saying that God, who sustains even those who dishonor Him, would surely sustain her, "whose soul is overflowing with love" for Him.  And she added an ethical concern as well:
"...How should I take the wealth of someone of whom I do not know whether he acquired it lawfully or not?" (187)
She taught that repentance was a gift from God because no one could repent unless God had already accepted him and given him this gift of repentance.  She taught that sinners must fear the punishment they deserved for their sins, but she also offered such sinners far more hope of Paradise than most other ascetics did.  For herself, she held to a higher ideal, worshipping God neither from fear of Hell nor from hope of Paradise, for she saw such self-interest as unworthy of God's servants; emotions like fear and hope were like veils -- i.e., hindrances to the vision of God Himself.  The story is told that once a number of Sufis saw her hurrying on her way with water in one hand and a burning torch in the other.  When they asked her to explain, she said:
"I am going to light a fire in Paradise and to pour water on to Hell, so that both veils may vanish altogether from before the pilgrims and their purpose may be sure..." (187-188)
She was once asked where she came from.  "From that other world," she said.  "And where are you going?" she was asked.  "To that other world," she replied (219).  She taught that the spirit originated with God in "that other world" and had to return to Him in the end.  Yet if the soul were sufficiently purified, even on earth, it could look upon God unveiled in all His glory and unite with him in love.  In this quest, logic and reason were powerless.  Instead, she speaks of the "eye" of her heart which alone could apprehend Him and His mysteries (220).
Above all, she was a lover, a bhakti, like one of Krishna’s Goptis in the Hindu tradition.  Her hours of prayer were not so much devoted to intercession as to communion with her Beloved.  Through this communion, she could discover His will for her.  Many of her prayers have come down to us:
       "I have made Thee the Companion of my heart,
        But my body is available for those who seek its company,
        And my body is friendly towards its guests,
        But the Beloved of my heart is the Guest of my soul."  [224]
To Save A Life is Earthly; Saving A Soul is Eternal Donation by mail, please send check or money order to:
Eternal Word Television Network 5817 Old Leeds Rd. Irondale, AL 35210  USA
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Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey  Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament
Colombia was among the countries Mother Angelica visited. 
In Bogotá, a Salesian priest - Father Juan Pablo Rodriguez - brought Mother and the nuns to the Sanctuary of the Divine Infant Jesus to attend Mass.  After Mass, Father Juan Pablo took them into a small Shrine which housed the miraculous statue of the Child Jesus. Mother Angelica stood praying at the side of the statue when suddenly the miraculous image came alive and turned towards her.  Then the Child Jesus spoke with the voice of a young boy:  “Build Me a Temple and I will help those who help you.” 

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

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

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MIRACLES
– Blessed Alfonso Maria Fusco, diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. John the Baptist (1839-1910);
– Venerable Servant of God John Sullivan, professed priest of the Society of Jesus (1861-1933);
MARTYRDOM
– Servants of God Nikolle Vinçenc Prennushi, O.F.M., archbishop of Durres, Albania, and 37 companions killed between 1945 and 1974;
– Servants of God José Antón Gómez and three companions of the Benedictines of Madrid, Spain, killed 1936;
HEROIC VIRTUES
– Servant of God Thomas Choe Yang-Eop, diocesan priest (1821-1861);
– Servant of God Sosio Del Prete (né Vincenzo), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Congregation of the Little Servants of Christ the King (1885-1952);
– Servant of God Wenanty Katarzyniec (né Jósef), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (1889-1921);
– Servant of God Maria Consiglia of the Holy Spirity (née Emilia Pasqualina Addatis), founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Addolorata, Servants of Mary (1845-1900);
– Servant of God Maria of the Incarnation (née Caterina Carrasco Tenorio), founder of the Congregation of the Franciscan Tertiary Sisters of the Flock of Mary (1840-1917);
– Servant of God , founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Family of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1851-1923);
– Servant of God Ilia Corsaro, founder of the Congregation of the Little Missionaries of the Eucharist (1897-1977);
– Servant of God Maria Montserrat Grases García, layperson of the Personal Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei (1941-1959).
LINKS:
Marian Apparitions (over 2000)  India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes Feb 11- July 16, Loreto, Italy 1858 
China Marian shrines May 23, 1995 Zarvintisya Ukraine Lourdes Kenya national Marian shrine    Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798  
Links to Related Marian Websites  Angels and Archangels
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  Uniates, PSALTER  BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 118 2022