Mary Mother of GOD
Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!  (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
RDeo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
May, the month of Mary, is the oldest
and most well-known Marian month, officially since 1724;

2022
22,600  Lives Saved Since 2007

Mystical ecstasy:  elevation of the spirit to God in such a way that the person is aware of this union with God both internal and external senses are detached from the sensible world.
Saint Mary Magdalene de Pazzi so generously given this special gift of God that she is called the "ecstatic saint."
Today is the feast of St Augustine of Canterbury In England and Wales; see May 28, his date in the general calendar.

Two Epistles (Acts 28:1-31, I Thess. 4:13-17) and two Gospels (JN 21:14-25, JN 5:24-30) are appointed to be read at Liturgy. The readings from Acts and the Gospel of St John, which began on Pascha, now come to an end. The book of Acts does not end, as might be expected, with the death of Sts Peter and Paul, but remains open-ended.

In his article "With all the Saints," Fr Justin Popovich says that the Lives of the Saints are nothing less than a "continuation of the Acts of the Apostles." Just as the book of Acts describes the works of Christ which the Apostles accomplished through Christ, Who was dwelling in them and working through them, the saints also preach the same Gospel, live the same life, manifest the same righteousness, love, and power from on High. As we prepare for the Sunday of All Saints, we are reminded that each of us is called to a life of holiness.

On this seventh Saturday of Pascha, St John Chrysostom's "Homily on Patience and Gratitude" is appointed to be read in church. It is also prescribed to be read at the funeral service of an Orthodox Christian.


CAUSES OF SAINTS April

Today we remember all pious and Orthodox Christians
who have fallen asleep in the Lord, and also recall the dread Day of Judgment.
May Christ our God be merciful to them, and to us.

May 26 - Our Lady of Caravaggio (Italy, 1432) - St Philip Neri (d. 1594)
Would you like to know if this is the Virgin Mary?
Saint Philip Neri was often consulted by bishops to judge the authenticity of mystics. The practice of humility and obedience allowed him to infallibly test false mystics, because the devil is proud and independent. One day in 1560, the cardinals were divided about a nun who was having visions. Since they sought his opinion, Philip went to see the young sister. He looked at her warmly and said, "Sister, I didn't want to see you, I wanted to see the saint."
And the nun replied, "But I am the saint!" Philip turned on his heels, retorting,
"Ah, you're the saint? Thank you."

And the verdict he gave the Cardinals was, "It's not from God..."
Another time, one of his penitents confided to him that the Virgin had come in the night in her room, filling it with joy and light! So Philip said, "Listen, the next time she comes you should spit in her face." The following night, the apparition spoke to her of God, but remembering the promise she had made to her spiritual director she spat in her face. The apparition immediately disappeared in a cloud of sulphur smoke: it was the devil. That same night, she awoke in the room full of light with a new apparition that smiled at her. This time the figure was not sitting on her bed, she standing in a corner of the room. The seer went over to spit again, but the apparition just said, "You can spit if you want." The apparition was too far to spit on, but she congratulated her for her obedience to her spiritual director!  And Father Neri told her that that time it was the Virgin Mary.
From the magazine the Etoile Notre Dame, October 2006.

Rosary in hand, she held out until the return of missionaries
 Inside the tomb of the Catholic missionaries in Madagascar there is a wall plaque indicating the presence of the bones of Victoire Rasoamanarivo. Only the Rosary she held helped distinguish her from her relatives buried with her, all Protestants, when Church officials decided to bring her remains back to Ambohipo (a district of Antananarivo).

The expulsion of Catholic missionaries took place under the reign of the terrible xenophobic Queen Ranavalona (1828-1861). Protestantism had become the state religion. Victoire, daughter of the Prime Minister, was Catholic and wished to remain so. It was to her—a married laywomen—that the expelled missionaries had entrusted the mission to keep the Catholics in the faith.
So Victoire began reciting the Rosary publicly in a prominent church every day. Thanks to her, the courage of Catholics shaken by the political and religious maneuvers of the cruel Queen Ranavalona was gradually revived. Alone, without a priest, despite receiving ridicule from some and contempt from her husband, she held out until the return of the missionaries. Pope Saint John Paul II beatified her on April 30, 1989.


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

1595 Saint Philip Neri Patron of Rome showed the humorous side of holiness known to be spontaneous and
        unpredictable, charming and humorous.
Would you like to know if this is the Virgin Mary?

   85 St. Alphaeus father of St. James the Less, mentioned in Matthew. His legends were popular in the early Church.
       Saint Carpus was one of the Seventy Apostles chosen and sent forth to preach by Christ (Luke 10:1). He was bishop of Verria in Macedonia.

 106 St. Zachary Bishop and martyr of Vienne, Gaul, he was martyred during the reign of Emperor Trajan.
 130 St. Quadratus Martyr Apostle of the 70 THE first of the great line of Christian apologists preached the Word of God as Bishop of Athens and at Magnesia (eastern peninsula of Thessaly)
2nd v St. Eleutherius,
martyred pope; converted to the Christian faith many noble Romans Sts. Fugatius and Damian
 272 SS. PRISCUS, OR PRIX, AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS
 303 St. Felicissimus Martyr with Heraclius and Paulinus. They suffered martyrdom at Todi, Umbria, Italy.
       Romæ sanctórum Mártyrum Simítrii Presbyteri, et aliórum vigínti duórum; qui sub Antoníno Pio passi sunt.
       At Rome, the holy martyrs Simitrius, priest, and twenty-two others who suffered under Antoninus Pius.
6th v. ST  ELEUTHERIUS, ABBOT
St. Dyfan He is also called Deruvianus and Damian Missionary to the Britons sent by Pope St. Eleutherius when a local Briton king requested missionaries from the pope
  600 St. Becan 6th century Irish hermit in Cork lived in the time of St. Columba and was known for his sanctity.
  604 Saint Augustine was from Italy, and a disciple of St Felix, Bishop of Messana
  695 St. Oduvald Scottish abbot native of Scotland entered monastic life became abbot of Melrose,  then a great spiritual center of the era.
  800 Saint John Psichaita the Confessor Because of his holy life and deeds, he received from God the gift to cast out demons and to heal the sick called emperor Leo the Isaurian a heretic
1050 St. Guinizo Benedictine of Spain who was a hermit at Monte Cassino, in Italy. He was greatly revered as a model eremite. 1050 St. Guinizo
1154 ST LAMBERT, BISHOP OF VENICE instructing the people and healing many sick persons by prayer and the laying-on of hands. He was famous for his learning and for his miracles.
1258 Blessed Eva of Liege together w/Blessed Juliana prioress of Mount Cornillon, their enthusiastic purpose was to obtain the institution of a feast in honor of the Blessed Sacrament--granted by Pope Urban IV
1293 St. Berencardus Benedictine monk known for his charity. He was a member of the community of St. Papoul Abbey in Languedoc, France. 1293 St. Berencardus
1515 George the New Holy Martyr attentively studied the Holy Scriptures pious and chaste refused to accept Islam bright light over his burnt relics
1521 Uncovering Relics of St Macarius of Kalyazin a grave was discovered, exuding an ineffable fragrance. Igumen Joasaph immediately recognized the grave of the monastery's founder, St Macarius, who reposed in the year 1483

1595 Saint Philip Neri Patron of Rome showed the humorous side of holiness known to be spontaneous and unpredictable, charming and humorous.

1645  St. Mariana de Paredes Solitary and the “Lily of Quito,” Ecuador
1747 Bl. Peter Sanz  Martyred bishop in China native of Catalonia, Spain Dominican
1861 St. John Hoan  Martyr of Vietnam a Vietnamese priest beheaded during the anti-Christian persecutions. Pope John Paul II canonized him in 1988.
1861 St. Matthew Phuong Martyr of Vietnam A native catechist and an ardent Christian

Today we remember all pious and Orthodox Christians who have fallen asleep in the Lord, and also recall the dread Day of Judgment. May Christ our God be merciful to them, and to us.

Two Epistles (Acts 28:1-31, I Thess. 4:13-17) and two Gospels (JN 21:14-25, JN 5:24-30) are appointed to be read at Liturgy. The readings from Acts and the Gospel of St John, which began on Pascha, now come to an end. The book of Acts does not end, as might be expected, with the death of Sts Peter and Paul, but remains open-ended.

In his article "With all the Saints," Fr Justin Popovich says that the Lives of the Saints are nothing less than a "continuation of the Acts of the Apostles." Just as the book of Acts describes the works of Christ which the Apostles accomplished through Christ, Who was dwelling in them and working through them, the saints also preach the same Gospel, live the same life, manifest the same righteousness, love, and power from on High. As we prepare for the Sunday of All Saints, we are reminded that each of us is called to a life of holiness.

On this seventh Saturday of Pascha, St John Chrysostom's "Homily on Patience and Gratitude" is appointed to be read in church. It is also prescribed to be read at the funeral service of an Orthodox Christian.
15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary
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


Saint Carpus was one of the Seventy Apostles chosen and sent forth to preach by Christ (Luke 10:1).
He was bishop of Verria in Macedonia.
1st v. St. Alphaeus father of St. James the Less, mentioned in Matthew. His legends were popular in the early Church.
St Carpos and St Alphaeus were numbered with the Seventy, and ministered to the holy Apostle Paul, journeying with him and conveying his epistles to those to whom they were written. St Carpos became Bishop of Beroea in Thrace, where he endured great tribulations while bringing many of the heathen to holy Baptism, and suffered martyrdom there. St Paul mentions him in 2 Timothy 4:13

The Holy Apostle Alphaeus of the Seventy from the Galilean city of Capernaum  father of the Apostles James and Matthew.


According to Tradition, the Holy Martyrs Abercius and Helen were children of the holy Apostle Alphaeus.

For confessing faith in Christ, St Abercius was tied naked to a beehive and died from the bees' sting.

For confessing faith in Christ, St Helen, was pelted with stones.

Abercius_son_of_Apostle_Alphaeus St Helen
130 St. Quadratus Martyr Apostle of the 70; THE first of the great line of Christian apologists preached the Word of God as Bishop of Athens and at Magnesia (eastern peninsula of Thessaly)
Athénis item natális beáti Quadráti, Apostolórum discípuli, qui, in persecutióne Hadriáni, fide et indústria sua cóngregans Ecclésiam grándi terróre dispérsam, librum pro Christiánæ religiónis defensióne, valde útilem et Apostólica doctrína dignum, eídem Imperatóri porréxit.
    At Athens, during the persecution of Hadrian, the birthday of blessed Quadratus, a disciple of the apostles, who collected by his zealous work the faithful who had dispersed through terror, and presented to the emperor a book which was an excellent apology of the Christian religion, worthy of an apostle

In Africa sancti Quadráti Mártyris, in cujus solemnitáte sanctus Augustínus sermónem hábuit.
    In Africa, St. Quadratus, martyr, on whose feast day St. Augustine preached a sermon..

129 ST QUADRATUS, BISHOP OF ATHENS
THE first of the great line of Christian apologists was St Quadratus or Codratus who, as some suppose, became bishop of Athens after the death of St Publius. Eusebius and other ecclesiastical writers speak of a certain Quadratus (who may or may not be identical with the apologist) with special respect, as a prophet and as a holy man who had been the disciple of the Apostles.
   When the Emperor Hadrian came to Athens to be present at the Eleusinian games, St Quadratus addressed to him a written treatise in defence of the Christians, which had the effect of checking the persecution, or at least of preventing the promulgation of any fresh decrees against them. The apology was known to Eusebius and possibly to St Jerome, but it has now unfortunately been lost. In it he quotes our Lord’s miracles as an evidence of the truth of His teaching, and mentions the fact that he himself had actually known persons who had been healed or raised to life by Jesus Christ. The date of his death is uncertain: it probably occurred about the year 129 or a little later.

The passages from Eusebius and St Jerome upon which we depend for all our knowledge of St Quadratus are quoted in the Acta Sanctorum, May, vol. vi. Quadratus was not an uncommon name, and it is very doubtful whether the apologist, the bishop of Athens, and the prophet in Asia Minor were one and the same person. See Bardenhewer, Geschichte der altkirchlichen Literatur, vol. i, pp. 168—169 ; Harnack in Texte und Untersuchungen, vol. part i, pp. 100 seq.; Harnack, Chronologie der altchristlichen Literatur, vol. i, pp. 269—271 and DTC., vol. xiii, CC. 1429—1431.

He was put to death in Africa and was honored by St. Augustine with a panegyric. Apostle of the 70 preached the Word of God at Athens and at Magnesia (eastern peninsula of Thessaly), and was Bishop of Athens. His biographer called him "a morning star" among the clouds of paganism. He converted many pagans to the true faith in Christ the Savior, and his preaching aroused the hatred of the pagans. Once, an angry mob fell upon the saint to pelt him with stones. Preserved by God, St. Quadratus remained alive, and they threw him into prison, where he died of starvation. His holy body was buried in Magnesia.

In the year 126, St. Quadratus wrote an Apologia in defence of Christianity. Presented to the emperor Hadrian (117-138), the Apologia affected the persecution of Christians, since the emperor issued a decree saying that no one should be convicted without just cause. This Apologia was known to the historian Eusebios in the fourth century. At the present time, only part of this Apologia survives, quoted by Eusebios: "The deeds of our Savior were always witnessed, because they were true. His healings and raising people from the dead were visible not only when they were healed and raised, but always. They lived not only during the existence of the Savior upon the earth, but they also remained alive long after His departure. Some, indeed, have survived to our own time."

Troparion of St Quadratus Tone 1 Thy life became radiant with wisdom; thou didst draw down the fire of the Spirit/ and discern the doctrines of life,/ Quadratus, Apostle of Christ./ We cry to thee as to an enlightener:/ Glory to Christ Who has glorified thee; glory to Him Who has crowned thee:/ glory to Him Who through thee works healings for all.

Kontakion of St Quadratus Tone 8 O Lord, the world offers to Thee the Apostle Quadratus as a holy Hierarch and Martyr./ As we hymn his memory we pray Thee/ to grant forgiveness to those who sing: Alleluia.
106 St. Zachary Bishop and martyr of Vienne, Gaul, he was martyred during the reign of Emperor Trajan
Viénnæ, in Gállia, sancti Zacharíæ, Epíscopi et Mártyris, qui sub Trajáno passus est.
    At Vienne, St. Zacharas, bishop and martyr, who suffered under Trajan.
 2nd v.  St. Eleutherius, pope and martyr, who converted to the Christian faith many noble Romans
Item Romæ sancti Eleuthérii, Papæ et Mártyris, qui multos nóbiles Romanórum ad fidem Christi perdúxit, et sanctos Damiánum et Fugátium in Británniam misit, qui Lúcium Regem, cum uxóre ipsíus ac toto fere pópulo, baptizárunt.
    Also at Rome, St. Eleutherius, pope and martyr, who converted to the Christian faith many noble Romans.  He sent Saints Damian and Fugatius to England, and they baptized King Lucius, his wife, and almost all his people.
Damian and Fugatius  Missionaries sent by Pope St. Eleutherius  to Britain. They are also listed as Phaganus and Diruvianus Fagan and Deruvian, or as Hager and Dyfan.
272 SS. PRISCUS, OR PRIX, AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS
in território Antisiodorénsi pássio sancti Prisci Mártyris, qui, cum ingénti multitúdine fidélium Christi, cápite cæsus est.
           In the territory of Auxerre, the passion of St. Priscus, martyr, along with a great multitude of other Christians.

THE persecution initiated under the Emperor Aurelian was carried on with peculiar ferocity in Roman Gaul, notably in the town of Besançon. Mindful of the precept “When they persecute you in one city, flee to another”, two prominent citizens, Priscus and Cottus, went with a number of other Christians to Auxerre, which was surrounded by forests. They were, however, hunted down and slain by the sword. The bodies of the saints were discovered in the first half of the fifth century by St Germanus, who built two churches in their honour and who propagated a cultus of these martyrs of Auxerre which became very general. Besançon and Sens still celebrate the feast of St Priscus.
Although the legend of these martyrs printed in the Acta Sanctorum, May, vol. vi, is comparatively free from extravagance, it cannot be regarded as trustworthy. On the other hand, the insertion of the name of Priscus in the Hieronymianum points to the existence of a genuine and early cultus.
Romæ sanctórum Mártyrum Simítrii Presbyteri, et aliórum vigínti duórum; qui sub Antoníno Pio passi sunt.
    At Rome, the holy martyrs Simitrius, priest, and twenty-two others who suffered under Antoninus Pius.
303 St. Felicissimus Martyr with Heraclius and Paulinus. They suffered martyrdom at Todi, Umbria, Italy
Tudérti, in Umbria, natális sanctórum Mártyrum Felicíssimi, Heráclii et Paulíni.
    At Todi in Umbria, the birthday of the holy martyrs Felicíssimus, Heraclius, and Paulinus.
6th v. ST  ELEUTHERIUS, ABBOT
"THE holy man, old father Eleutherius ",is spoken of several times in the Dialogues of St Gregory, wherein are chronicled certain miracles reported of him by his monks.  He was abbot of the monastery of St Mark, near Spoleto, and once when lodging at a convent of nuns he was asked to take over the care of a boy who was nightly troubled by an evil spirit. St Eleutherius did so, and for long nothing untoward happened to the boy, so that the abbot said, "The Devil is having a game with those sisters ; but now that he has to deal with the servants of God he daren't come near the child ". As if in rebuke of a speech that certainly savoured of boasting, the boy was at once afflicted by his former trouble.  Eleutherius was conscious-stricken, and said to the brethren that stood by, "None of us shall eat food to-day until this boy is dispossessed ".  All fell to prayer, and did not cease until the child was cured.
   One Holy Saturday St Gregory was ill and could not fast, whereat, he tells us, he was considerably disturbed.  "When I found on this sacred vigil, when not only adults but even children fast, that I could not refrain from eating, I was more grieved thereby than troubled by my illness." So he asked Eleutherius to pray for him that he might join the people in their penance, and soon by virtue of that prayer Gregory found himself enabled to abstain from food. St Eleutherius lived for many years in Gregory's monastery at Rome, and died there.
 We know practically nothing more about St Eleutherius than St Gregory tells us in his Dialogues, notably in bk , ch. 33   but the story is discussed by the Bollandists in the Acta Sanctorum, September, vol. ii.
  600 St. Becan; 6th century Irish hermit in Cork lived in the time of St. Columba and was known for his sanctity.
604 Saint Augustine from Italy, disciple of St Felix, Messana Bishop, first Archbishop of Canterbury wonderworker
St. Augustine, bishop Cantuáriæ, in Anglia, natális sancti Augustíni, Epíscopi et Confessóris; qui, una cum áliis, a beáto Gregório Papa missus, genti Anglórum sacrum Christi Evangélium prædicávit., ibíque, virtútibus et miráculis gloriósus, obdormívit in Dómino.  Ejus tamen festívitas quinto Kaléndas Júnii recólitur.
         At Canterbury in England, St. Augustine, bishop, who was sent there with others by blessed Pope Gregory, and who preached the Gospel of Christ to the English nation.  Celebrated for virtues and miracles, he went peacefully to his rest in the Lord.  The 28th of May is observed as his feast.
St Gregory Dialogus (March12) chose him to lead a mission of forty monks to evangelize the people of Britain.
They arrived at Ebbsfleet (on the isle of Thanet) in Kent in 597.
King Ethelbert, whose Frankish wife Bertha was a Christian, welcomed them. They were allowed to base their mission at the ancient church of St Martin in Canterbury, which was restored for their use. This church had been built during the Roman occupation of Britain, and the queen often went there to pray. At first, the king was reluctant to give up his pagan beliefs, but he promised not to harm them, and to supply them with whatever they needed. He also promised that he would not prevent them from preaching Christianity. St Augustine later converted the king to Christianity, along with thousands of his subjects. The holy right-believing King Ethelbert is commemorated on February 25.

Bede says that St Augustine was consecrated as Archbishop of Britain by Archbishop Etherius of Arles (others say that it was his successor St Virgilius of Arles [March 5] who consecrated St Augustine). Returning to Britain, he threw himself into the work of evangelizing the country with renewed zeal. St Augustine built Christ Church, predecessor of the present cathedral at Canterbury, and consecrated it on June 9, 603 (according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle). He also founded the monastery of Sts Peter and Paul east of the city. Here St Augustine, the Archbishops of Canterbury, and the Kings of Kent were buried. The monastery, now in ruins, was later known as St Augustine's Monastery.

The saint was instrumental in founding the dioceses of Rochester and London. In 604 he consecrated St Justus (November 10) and St Mellitus (April 24) as bishops for those Sees. St Augustine also helped the king draft the earliest Anglo-Saxon laws, and founded a school in Canterbury.
Saint Augustine was not completely successful in all his efforts, however. He was not able to achieve unity with the already existing Christian communities who followed Celtic practices. He met with some of their bishops to urge them to abandon their Celtic traditions and to accept the Roman practices. He invited them to cooperate with him in evangelizing the country, but they refused to give up their ancient traditions. Before meeting with St Augustine in 603, the Celtic bishops asked a holy hermit whether or not to accept Augustine as their leader. The hermit replied, "If he rises to greet you, then accept him. If he remains seated, then he is arrogant and unfit to be your leader, and you should reject him." Unfortunately, St Augustine did not rise to greet them. Perhaps St Augustine was, to some degree, a bit tactless and too insistent on conformity to Roman customs. On the other hand, Celtic resentment against Roman authority also contributed to the stormy relationship.

Known in his lifetime as a wonderworker, St Augustine fell asleep in the Lord on May 26, 604. He was laid to rest at the entrance of the unfinished church of Sts Peter and Paul. When the church was dedicated in 613, his holy relics were placed inside. An epitaph was composed for his tomb. In part, it reads: "Here lies the Lord Augustine, first Archbishop of Canterbury, sent here by blessed Gregory, bishop of the city of Rome, who with the help of God, and aided by miracles, guided King Ethelbert and his people from the worship of idols to the Faith of Christ."
St Bede (May 27) gives detailed information about St Augustine's mission to Britain in his HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH AND PEOPLE (Book I, 23-33. Book II, 1-3).
695 St. Oduvald Scottish abbot native of Scotland entered monastic life became abbot of Melrose,  then a great spiritual center of the era.
800 Saint John Psichaita the Confessor; Because of his holy life and deeds, he received from God the gift to cast out demons and to heal the sick; called emperor Leo the Isaurian a heretic
Lived during the end of the eighth or the beginning of the ninth century. In his youth he left the secular world and became a monk in the Psichaita Lavra (in the suburbs of Constantinople).
Because of his holy life and deeds, he received from God the gift to cast out demons and to heal the sick. During this time the heresy of the iconoclasts was raging, and those venerating holy icons were subjected to persecution.

St John was led away for interrogation, and they tried to force him to sign a document renouncing the veneration of holy icons. Instead of renouncing the holy icons, the saint denounced his persecutors, calling the emperor Leo the Isaurian (717-741) a heretic.
Therefore, they sent St John into exile.
He died, having suffered much from the iconoclasts.
1050 St. Guinizo Benedictine of Spain who was a hermit at Monte Cassino, in Italy. He was greatly revered as a model eremite.
1154 ST LAMBERT, BISHOP OF VENICE instructing the people and healing many sick persons by prayer and the laying-on of hands. He was famous for his learning and for his miracles.
ST LAMBERT was born at Bauduen, in the diocese of Riez, and became a monk in the abbey of Lérins, where he had lived from his childhood. Though kindly to all and popular with his brethren, he was so great a lover of solitude and study that he never left his cell except when obedience required him to do so. Much against his will he was made bishop of Vence in 1114. For forty years he ruled his diocese, instructing the people and healing many sick persons by prayer and the laying-on of hands. He was famous for his learning and for his miracles. Beloved of all, he died in the year 1154, and was buried in his cathedral church.
The life printed in the Acta Sanctorum, May, vol. vi, seems to have been written within ten years of St Lambert’s death, but its dullness is only relieved by the narration of some very dubious miracles. A copy of his epitaph has been published in the Revue des Sociétés savantes, vol. iv (1876), p. 196.
1258 Blessed Eva of Liege enthusiastic purpose obtain the institution of a feast in honor of the Blessed Sacrament. --granted by Pope Urban IV
B  1192  Retinnes, Flanders  -  5 April 1258
1265 BD EVA OF LIEGE, VIRGIN
WHEN Bd Juliana was prioress of Mount Cornillon, one of her closest friends was a holy recluse, Eva, or Heva, of Liège, whom she inspired with her own enthusiastic purpose to obtain the institution of a feast in honour of the Blessed Sacrament. It was in Eva’s cell near the church of St Martin that Juliana found refuge when she was driven for the first time from Cornillon, and it was Eva who took up her mission after she died. The accession of Pope Urban IV raised her hopes, for he had formerly shown himself sympathetic when, as Archdeacon James Pantaleon, he had been approached on the subject by Bd Juliana. Eva’s hopes were fulfilled. Not only did he institute the festival of Corpus Christi, but he sent to her the bull of authorization as well as the special office for the day which St Thomas Aquinas had compiled at his desire. The cultus of Bd Eva was confirmed in 1902.
Thomas Aquinas had compiled at his desire. The cultus of Bd Eva was confirmed in 1902. The brief authorizing the cultus may be read in the Analecta Ecclesiastica, vol. x (1902), p. 245. See also Demarteau, La premiere auteur wallonne, Eve de Saint-Martin (1898); Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xvi (1897), pp. 531—532; and cf. the bibliography given under Bd Juliana on April 5.

When Blessed Juliana was prioress of Mount Cornillon, one of her closest friends was a holy recluse, Eva, or Heva, of Liege, whom she inspired with her own enthusiastic purpose to obtain the institution of a feast in honor of the Blessed Sacrament.
It was in Eva's cell near the church of St. Martin that Juliana found refuge when she was driven for the first time from Cornillon, and it was Eva who took up her mission after she died. The accession of Pope Urban IV raised her hopes, for he had formerly shown himself sympathetic when, as archdeacon James Pantaleon, he had been approached on the subject by Blessed Juliana. Eva's hopes were fulfilled. Not only did he institute the festival of Corpus Christi, but he sent to her the bull of authorization as well as a special office for the day St. Thomas Aquinas had compiled at his desire. The cultus of Blessed Eva was confirmed in 1902.
1293 St. Berencardus Benedictine monk known for his charity. He was a member of the community of St. Papoul Abbey in Languedoc, France.
St. Dyfan He is also called Deruvianus and Damian Mssioary to the Britons sent by Pope St. Eleutherius when a local Briton king requested missionaries from the pope
Dyfan is remembered with a church at Merthyr-Dyfan, Britain.
1515 George the New Holy Martyr attentively studied the Holy Scriptures pious and chaste refused to accept Islam bright light over his burnt relics
Born into an illustrious Bulgarian family, living in the capital city of Bulgaria, Sredets (now the city of Sofia). St George's childless parents, John and Mary, in their declining years entreated the Lord to send them a child. Their prayer was answered, and they baptized the infant with the name of the holy Great Martyr George (April 23).
Young George received a fine upbringing, he attentively studied the Holy Scriptures, and he was pious and chaste. His parents died when George was twenty-five. At that time Bulgaria found itself under the rule of the Turks, who forcibly converted Christians to Islam. Once, several Moslems tried to convert George. They put a fez on the saint's head. This is a red circular hat which Moslems wear to enter their house of prayer. But George threw the fez on the ground. The Turks brought the martyr to their governor with beatings and abuse.

The governor was impressed with St George's appearance and bearing, and he urged him to accept Islam, promising honors and wealth from Sultan Selim (1512-1520). The saint boldly and steadfastly confessed his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and reproached the errors of Islam. The governor in a rage gave orders to beat St George with rods, but the saint persevered in his confession of faith in Christ.

The governor ordered the tortures to be increased. The passion-bearer bore all his sufferings, calling on the Lord Jesus Christ for help. Then they led the martyr through the city to the beat of a drum and shouts: "Do not insult Mohammed nor abase the Moslem faith".
Finally, a large fire was lit in the city, to burn St George. Weakened by his wounds, the saint fell to the ground. They threw him into the fire still alive, and they threw corpses of dogs on top of him so that Christians would not be able to find the relics of the martyr.

Suddenly, a heavy rain fell and extinguished the fire. With the onset of darkness, the place where the body of the martyr was thrown was illumined with a bright light. They gave permission to a certain Christian priest to take the venerable relics of the martyr for burial. Informed about the occurrence, Metropolitan Jeremiah and his clergy went to the place of execution. In the ashes of the fire they located the body of the holy Martyr George and carried it to the church of St George the Great Martyr in the city of Sredets.

1521 Uncovering of the Relics of St Macarius of Kalyazin a grave was discovered, exuding an ineffable fragrance. Igumen Joasaph immediately recognized the grave of the monastery's founder, St Macarius, who reposed in the year 1483
Occurred on May 26, 1521. A merchant from the city of Dmitrov, Michael Voronkov, offered the means for the construction of a stone church to replace the decaying wooden one at the Kalyazin monastery.
The igumen of the monastery, Joasaph, set up a cross at the spot designated for the altar, and gave a blessing to dig the trench for the foundation. During the work a grave was discovered, exuding an ineffable fragrance. Igumen Joasaph immediately recognized the grave of the monastery's founder, St Macarius, who reposed in the year 1483.
The brethren of the monastery and a crowd of people sang a Panikhida during the transfer of the coffin to the church. From that day the incorrupt relics of the saint began to work healings. A report about this was made to Metropolitan Daniel of Moscow (1522-1539), who convened a Council at Moscow. After examining testimony about the sanctity of Macarius, he established a Feast day for the newly-appeared saint. The relics were solemnly transferred to the church of the Holy Trinity.
Theodosius of Tver composed the service for the Uncovering of the Relics. Until 1547, St Macarius was venerated only at this monastery. During the Moscow Council of 1547 under Metropolitan Macarius (1543-1564), St Macarius of Kalyazin was numbered among the saints, and his name added to the calendar of other Russian saints to be celebrated throughout all of Russia.
The Life of St Macarius of Kalyazin is found under March 17, the day of his blessed repose.
 1595 Saint Philip Neri Patron of Rome  showed the humorous side of holiness
Romæ sancti Philíppi Nérii, Presbyteri et Confessóris, qui Congregatiónis Oratórii Fundátor fuit, ac virginitate, prophetíæ dono, et miráculis éxstitit insígnis.
    At Rome, St. Philip Neri, priest and confessor, founder of the Congregation of the Oratory, celebrated for his virginal purity, the gift of prophecy, and miracles.
Born at Florence, Italy, 22 July, 1515; died 27 May, 1595 
If one had to choose one saint who showed the humorous side of holiness that would Philip Neri.
ST PHILIP NERI was born in Florence in the year 1515 and was one of the four children of a notary called Francis Neri. Their mother died while they were very young, but her place was well supplied by an excellent stepmother. From infancy Philip was remarkable for his docility and sweet disposition, which caused him to be spoken of as “Pippo buono”—“good little Phil.” Indeed, the only time he ever merited and received a reprimand from his elders was when he once pushed away his elder sister because she persisted in interrupting him and his little sister while they were reciting some of the psalms.
His first religious teachers were the Dominicans of San Marco, whose instructions and example made a deep and permanent impression. He grew up a pious, attractive, cheerful lad— very popular with all who came in contact with him. When he was eighteen he was sent to San Germano, to a childless kinsman who was supposed to have a flourishing business and who was likely to make him his heir. Philip, however, did not stay there long. Soon after his arrival he passed through a mystical experience which in after years he spoke of as “conversion”, and from thenceforth worldly affairs had no more attraction for him. The atmosphere in which he was living became uncongenial, and he set out for Rome, without money and without plans, trusting entirely to the guidance of divine providence. In Rome he found shelter under the roof of Galeotto Caccia, a Florentine customs-official, who provided him with an attic and the bare necessaries of life. It was little enough that Philip needed. His entire fare consisted of bread, water and a few olives or vegetables, which he usually took once a day: and his room was practically bare except for a bed, a chair, some books, and a line on which he hung his clothes. In return for his hospitality Philip gave lessons to his host’s two small sons who, if we may accept the testimony of their mother and their aunt, became veritable little angels under his direction.
Except for the hours he devoted to his charges, St Philip seems to have spent the first two years of his residence in Rome almost like a recluse, giving up whole days and nights to prayer in his garret. It proved to be a period of inward preparation, at the close of which he emerged from his retreat, with his spiritual life strengthened and his determination to live for God confirmed, while he proceeded to take up courses of philosophy and theology at the Sapienza and at Sant’ Agostino. For three years he worked with diligence and with such success that he was regarded as a promising scholar. Then, quite suddenly—perhaps in response to some intuition or intimation—he threw up his studies, sold most of his books and embarked upon an apostolate amongst the people.

Religion at that time was at a low ebb in Rome, which was very slowly recovering from the effects of the sacking in 1527. There were several contributory causes. Grave abuses had crept into the Church: they had long been generally recognized, but nothing was being done to remove them. Elections to the Sacred College had been controlled by the Medici, with the result that the cardinals, with few exceptions, were princes of the state rather than of the Church. The enthusiasm for classical authors fostered by the Renaissance had gradually substituted pagan for Christian ideals, thereby lowering the moral standard and weakening faith. Indifference, if not corruption, was rife amongst the clergy, many of whom seldom celebrated Mass, let their churches fall into disrepair and neglected their flocks. It was small wonder that the people were lapsing into semi-godlessness. To re-evangelize Rome was to be St Philip’s life-work, and he accomplished it with such success as to earn from posterity the title of “the Apostle of Rome”.
He began in a small way. He would stand about the street-corners and market place, entering into conversation with all sorts of people—especially with the young Florentines employed in the banks and shops of the Sant’ Angelo quarter. He had an attractive personality with a notable sense of humour, and he readily won a hearing. Then he would put in a word in season or speak to his audience about the love of God and the state of their souls. In this manner he gradually prevailed upon many to give up evil practices and to reform their lives. His customary greeting, “Well, brothers, when shall we begin to do good?” found them willing enough to respond provided he would show them the way. So he took them with him to wait upon the sick in the hospitals and to visit the Seven Churches—a favourite devotion of his own. His days were given up to men; but towards evening he would retire into solitude, sometimes spending the night in a church porch, sometimes in the catacombs of St Sebastian beside the Appian Way. Here, in the grotte as they were then called, he was fervently praying for the gifts of the Holy Spirit on the eve of Pentecost 1544 when there appeared to him as it were a globe of fire which entered his mouth and which he afterwards felt dilating his breast. Immediately he was filled with such paroxysms of  divine love that he rolled upon the ground exclaiming, “Enough, enough, Lord, I can bear no more!”
When he had risen and was more composed, on putting his hand to his heart he discovered a swelling as big as a man’s fist, but neither then nor subsequently did it give him pain. From that day, under the stress of spiritual emotion he was apt to be seized with violent palpitations, which caused his whole body to tremble and sometimes the chair or the bed on which he rested to be violently shaken. The fervour which consumed him often obliged him to bare his breast to relieve the heat within and he would ask God to mitigate His consolations lest he should die with love. After his death it was discovered that two of the saint’s ribs were broken and had formed an arch which added to the normal space for the beating of his heart.
In the year 1548, with the help of his confessor, Father Persiano Rossa, who lived at San Girolamo della Carità, St Philip founded a confraternity of poor laymen who met for spiritual exercises in the church of San Salvatore in Campo. With their aid he popularized in Rome the devotion of the forty hours and undertook the care of needy pilgrims. This work was greatly blessed and developed into the celebrated hospital of Santa Trinità dei Pellegrini, which in the year of jubilee 1575 assisted no less than 145,000 pilgrims, and afterwards undertook the charge of poor convalescents. Thus by the time he was thirty-four, St Philip Neri had accomplished much but his confessor was convinced that he could do still more as a priest.
    Though the saint’s humility made him shrink from the idea of taking holy orders, he eventually deferred to his director’s wishes. He was ordained on May 23, 1551, and went to live with Father Rossa and other priests at San Girolamo della Carità. His apostolate was now exercised mainly through the confessional. From before daybreak until nearly midday and often again in the afternoon he sat in the tribunal of penance, to which flocked a host of penitents of all ages and ranks. He had a wonderful power of reading the thoughts of those who resorted to him and effected an enormous number of conversions. For the benefit of these penitents he would hold informal spiritual conferences and discussions, followed by visits to churches or attendance at Vespers and Complin. Often they would read aloud the lives of martyrs and missionaries. The account of the heroic career and death of St Francis Xavier so inspired St Philip himself that he was tempted to volunteer for the foreign mission field. However, a Cistercian whom he consulted assured him that Rome was to be his Indies, and the saint accepted the decision.
   A large room was built over the nave of San Girolamo to accommodate the increasing numbers of those who attended the conferences, in the direction of which St Philip was aided by several other priests. The people called them Oratorians, because they rang a little bell to summon the faithful to prayers in their oratory, but the real foundation of the congregation so-named was laid a few years later, when St Philip presented five of his young disciples for ordination and sent them to serve the church of San Giovanni, the charge of which had been entrusted to him by his fellow Florentines in Rome. For these young priests, amongst whom was Cesare Baronius, the future historian, he drew up some simple rules of life. They shared a common table and spiritual exercises under his obedience, but he forbade them to bind themselves to this state by vows or to renounce their property if they had any. Others joined them and their organization and work developed rapidly— the more so, perhaps, because it met with opposition and even persecution in certain quarters. However, in 1575, the new society received the formal approbation of Pope Gregory XIII, who afterwards gave to it the ancient church of Sta Maria in Vallicella. The edifice, besides being in a ruinous condition, was far too small, and St Philip decided to demolish it and to rebuild it on a large scale. He had no money, but contributions came in from rich and poor. The pope and St Charles Borromeo were generous in their donations, as were many of the most prominent men in Rome.
Cardinals and princes were amongst his disciples, though he not infrequently disconcerted them by the strange things he did and said—sometimes spontaneously, for he was the most unconventional of saints, but often deliberately in order to conceal his spiritual emotion or to lower himself in the esteem of onlookers. Humility was the virtue which, of all others, he strove to practise himself and to instil into his penitents. He could not succeed, however, in blinding others to his own sanctity or in wholly concealing from them the extraordinary gifts and graces with which he was endowed.
           Always a delicate man, he was once cured of a severe attack of stone by our Lady, who appeared to him in a vision. He had been lying in a state of exhaustion when he suddenly rose with outstretched arms exclaiming, “ Oh, my beautiful Madonna Oh, my holy Madonna!” A doctor who was present took him by the arm, but St Philip entreated him to let him be. “Would you not have me embrace my holy Mother who has come to visit me ? “ he asked. Then, realizing the presence of two physicians at his side, he hid his head in the bedclothes like a bashful child.
         Many sick persons were restored by him to health, and on several occasions he prophesied future events—all of which came to pass. He lived in such constant touch with the supernatural that sometimes it was with the greatest difficulty that he could pursue his worldly avocations. He would fall into an ecstasy when saying his office, when offering Mass, or even while he was dressing. Men looking upon his face declared that it glowed with celestial radiance.
           By April 1577, work on the Chiesa Nuova, as it was called, had advanced sufficiently for the Congregation of the Oratory to be transferred to the Vallicella, but their superior went on living at San Girolamo as before. He had become attached to the room he had occupied for thirty-three years, and it was not until 1584 that he took up residence at the Chiesa Nuova, in compliance with the pope’s expressed wish. Even then he continued to live and have his meals apart from the community, although his spiritual sons had free access to him. So far, indeed, was he from leading the life of a solitary that his room was constantly crowded by visitors of all descriptions.
     The Roman people in his later years held him in extraordinary veneration: the whole college of cardinals resorted to him for counsel and spiritual refreshment; and so great was his reputation that foreigners coming to Rome were eager to obtain an introduction. It was thus, in his own room, that he continued his apostolate when increasing age and infirmities precluded him from going about freely. Rich and poor mounted the steep steps that led to his apartment at the top of the house, with its loggia looking out above and beyond the roofs—the holy man always loved open spaces—and to each person he gave advice suited to his special needs.
           Towards the close of his life St Philip had several dangerous attacks of illness from which he rallied wonderfully after being anointed. Two years before the end he succeeded in laying down his office of superior in favour of his disciple Baronius.  He also obtained permission to celebrate Mass daily in a little oratory adjoining his room. So enraptured did he become when offering the Holy Sacrifice that it became the practice for those who attended his Mass to retire at the Agnus Dei.
Even the server would leave the chapel after extinguishing the candles, lighting a little lamp and placing outside the door a notice to give warning that the Father was saying Mass. Two hours later he would return, relight the candles and the Mass would be continued.
    On the feast of Corpus Christi, May 25, 1595, the saint appeared to be in a radiantly happy mood, bordering on exultation, and his physician told him he had not looked so well for ten years. St Philip alone realized that his hour had come. All day long he heard confessions and saw visitors as usual, but before retiring he said, “Last of all, we must die”. About midnight he was seized with an attack of haemorrhage so severe that the fathers were called. He was obviously dying, and Baronius, who read the commendatory prayers, besought him to say a parting word, or at least to bless his sons. Though St Philip was past speaking, he raised his hand, and in bestowing his blessing passed to his eternal reward. He was eighty years of age and his work was done. His body rests in the Chiesa Nuova, which the Oratorians serve to this day. St Philip Neri was canonized in 1622.

Abbé Louis Ponnelle and Abbé Louis Bordet, in the best documented and most painstaking life of St Philip which has yet been published (St Philip Neri and the Roman Society of his Times, translated by Father B. F. Kerr, 1932), devote a preliminary chapter to an exhaustive review of the sources. It is therefore only necessary here to indicate a few of those earlier publications by which Catholics, and more particularly those of English speech, have become familiarized with the lovable personality of the Apostle of Rome. The earliest biography is that of the Oratorian Father Gallonio, written in Latin and published in 1600. It is reproduced in the Acta Sanctorum, May, vol. vi, together with another by Father Bernabei, probably chosen because it amounts to little more than a summary of the beati­fication process. The life by Bacci appeared in Italian in 1622, and it was supplemented by G. Ricci in 1678. This standard work was translated into English as part of the Oratorian Series, edited by Father Faber (1847). Another edition, revised by Father Antrobus, was issued in 1902. The life by Cardinal Capecelatro, written in Italian, has also been twice printed in English, in 1882 and 1926. Finally may be mentioned an excellent sketch, in much more compendious form, published by Father V. J. Matthews in 1934; A. Baudrillart’s book in the series “Les Saints” (1939) and .T. Maynard’s good popular life, Mystic in Motley (1946)—a bad example of American “striking” titles.
Born in 1515 in Florence, he showed the impulsiveness and spontaneity of his character from the time he was a boy. In fact one incident almost cost him his life. Seeing a donkey loaded with fruit for market, the little boy had barely formed the thought of jumping on the donkey's back before he had done it. The donkey, surprised, lost his footing, and donkey, fruit, and boy tumbled into the cellar with the boy winding up on the bottom! Miraculously he was unhurt.
His father was not successful financially and at eighteen Philip was sent to work with an older cousin who was a successful businessman. During this time, Philip found a favorite place to pray up in the fissure of a mountain that had been turned into a chapel. We don't know anything specific about his conversion but during these hours of prayer he decided to leave worldly success behind and dedicate his life to God.
After thanking his cousin, he went to Rome in 1533 where he was the live-in tutor of the sons of a fellow Florentine. He studied philosophy and theology until he thought his studies were interfering with his prayer life. He then stopped his studies, threw away his books, and lived as a kind of hermit.

Night was his special time of prayer. After dark he would go out in the streets, sometimes to churches, but most often into the catacombs of St. Sebastiano to pray. During one of these times of prayer he felt a globe of light enter his mouth and sink into his heart. This experience gave him so much energy to serve God that he went out to work at the hospital of the incurables and starting speaking to others about God, everyone from beggars to bankers.
In 1548 Philip formed a confraternity with other laymen to minister to pilgrims who came to Rome without food or shelter. The spiritual director of the confraternity convinced Philip that he could do even more work as a priest. After receiving instruction from this priest, Philip was ordained in 1551.
At his new home, the church of San Girolamo, he learned to love to hear confessions. Young men especially found in him the wisdom and direction they needed to grow spiritually. But Philip began to realize that these young men needed something more than absolution; they needed guidance during their daily lives. So Philip began to ask the young men to come by in the early afternoon when they would discuss spiritual readings and then stay for prayer in the evening. The numbers of the men who attended these meetings grew rapidly. In order to handle the growth, Philip and a fellow priest Buonsignore Cacciaguerra gave a more formal structure to the meetings and built a room called the Oratory to hold them in.
Philip understood that it wasn't enough to tell young people not to do something -- you had to give them something to do in its place. So at Carnival time, when the worst excesses were encouraged, Philip organized a pilgrimage to the Seven Churches with a picnic accompanied by instrumental music for the mid-day break. After walking twelve miles in one day everyone was too tired to be tempted!

In order to guide his followers, Philip made himself available to everyone at any hour -- even at night. He said some of the most devout people were those who had come to him at night. When others complained, Philip answered, "They can chop wood on my back so long as they do not sin."

Not everyone was happy about this growing group and Philip and Buonsignore were attacked by the priests they lived with. But eventually Philip and his companions were vindicated and went on with their work.  In 1555, the Pope's Vicar accused Philip of "introducing novelties" and ordered him to stop the meetings of the Oratory. Philip was brokenhearted but obeyed immediately. The Pope only let him start up the Oratory again after the sudden death of his accuser. Despite all the trouble this man had caused, Philip would not let anyone say anything against the man or even imply that his sudden death was a judgment from God.  One church, for Florentines in Rome, had practically forced him to bring the Oratory to their church. But when gossip and accusations started, they began to harass the very people they had begged to have nearby! At that point, Philip decided it would be best for the group to have their own church. They became officially known as the Congregation of the Oratory, made up of secular priests and clerics.

Philip was known to be spontaneous and unpredictable, charming and humorous.

He seemed to sense the different ways to bring people to God. One man came to the Oratory just to make fun of it. Philip wouldn't let the others throw him out or speak against him. He told them to be patient and eventually the man became a Dominican. On the other hand, when he met a condemned man who refused to listen to any pleas for repentance, Philip didn't try gentle words, but grabbed the man by the collar and threw him to the ground. The move shocked the criminal into repentance and he made a full confession.
Humility was the most important virtue he tried to teach others and to learn himself.

Some of his lessons in humility seem cruel, but they were tinged with humor like practical jokes and were related with gratitude by the people they helped. His lessons always seem to be tailored directly to what the person needed. One member who was later to become a cardinal was too serious and so Philip had him sing the Misere at a wedding breakfast. When one priest gave a beautiful sermon, Philip ordered him to give the same sermon six times in a row so people would think he only had one sermon.
Philip preferred spiritual mortification to physical mortification.

When one man asked Philip if he could wear a hair shirt, Philip gave him permission -- if he wore the hair shirt outside his clothes! The man obeyed and found humility in the jokes and name-calling he received.
There were unexpected benefits to his lessons in humility. Another member, Baronius, wanted to speak at the meetings about hellfire and eternal punishment. Philip commanded him instead to speak of church history. For 27 years Baronius spoke to the Oratory about church history. At the end of that time he published his talks as a widely respected and universally praised books on ecclesiastical history!
Philip did not escape this spiritual mortification himself. As with others, his own humbling held humor. There are stories of him wearing ridiculous clothes or walking around with half his beard shaved off. The greater his reputation for holiness the sillier he wanted to seem. When some people came from Poland to see the great saint, they found him listening to another priest read to him from joke books.
Philip was very serious about prayer, spending hours in prayer.
He was so easily carried away that he refused to preach in public and could not celebrate Mass with others around. But he when asked how to pray his answer was, "Be humble and obedient and the Holy Spirit will teach you."

Philip died in 1595 after a long illness at the age of eighty years.
In his footsteps:  We often worry more about what others think that about what God thinks. Our fear of people laughing us often stops us from trying new things or serving God. Do something today that you are afraid might make you look a little ridiculous. Then reflect on how it makes you feel. Pray about your experience with God.
Prayer:  Saint Philip Neri, we take ourselves far too seriously most of the time. Help us to add humor to our perspective -- remembering always that humor is a gift from God. Amen
     
May 26, 2010 St. Philip Neri (1515-1595)  
Philip Neri was a sign of contradiction, combining popularity with piety against the background of a corrupt Rome and a disinterested clergy, the whole post-Renaissance malaise. At an early age, he abandoned the chance to become a businessman, moved to Rome from Florence and devoted his life and individuality to God. After three years of philosophy and theology studies, he gave up any thought of ordination. The next 13 years were spent in a vocation unusual at the time—that of a layperson actively engaged in prayer and the apostolate.

As the Council of Trent was reforming the Church on a doctrinal level, Philip’s appealing personality was winning him friends from all levels of society, from beggars to cardinals. He rapidly gathered around himself a group of laypersons won over by his audacious spirituality. Initially they met as an informal prayer and discussion group, and also served poor people in Rome.  At the urging of his confessor, he was ordained priest and soon became an outstanding confessor, gifted with the knack of piercing the pretenses and illusions of others, though always in a charitable manner and often with a joke. He arranged talks, discussions and prayers for his penitents in a room above the church. He sometimes led “excursions” to other churches, often with music and a picnic on the way.

Some of his followers became priests and lived together in community. This was the beginning of the Oratory, the religious institute he founded. A feature of their life was a daily afternoon service of four informal talks, with vernacular hymns and prayers. Giovanni Palestrina was one of Philip’s followers, and composed music for the services.  The Oratory was finally approved after suffering through a period of accusations of being an assembly of heretics, where laypersons preached and sang vernacular hymns! (Cardinal Newman founded the first English-speaking house of the Oratory.)

Philip’s advice was sought by many of the prominent figures of his day. He is one of the influential figures of the Counter-Reformation, mainly for converting to personal holiness many of the influential people within the Church itself. His characteristic virtues were humility and gaiety.

Comment:  Many people wrongly feel that such an attractive and jocular personality as Philip’s cannot be combined with an intense spirituality. Philip’s life melts our rigid, narrow views of piety. His approach to sanctity was truly catholic, all-embracing and accompanied by a good laugh. Philip always wanted his followers to become not less but more human through their striving for holiness. 
Quote:  Philip Neri prayed, "Let me get through today, and I shall not fear tomorrow."

1645  St. Mariana de Paredes Solitary and the “Lily of Quito,” Ecuador
In civitáte Quiténsi, Æquatoriánæ Ditiónis, sanctæ Maríæ Annæ a Jesu de Parédes Vírginis, e tértio Ordine sancti Francísci, austeritáte et in próximum caritáte præcláræ, quam Pius Papa Duodécimus sanctárum Vírginum catálogo adnumerávit.
    In the city of Quito in Ecuador, St. María Ana de Jesù de Paredes, a third order Franciscan, well known for her austerity and charity towards her neighbour.  Pope Pius XII numbered her in the book of Virgins.
1645 ST MARIANA OF QUITO, VIRGIN the recipient of many spiritual favours and was endowed with the gifts of prophecy and miracles.
THE present capital of Ecuador was a Peruvian town in 1618, the year which saw the birth of its famous citizen, Mariana Paredes y Flores, “the Lily of Quito”.
Her parents, who came of noble Spanish stock, died when she was very young, leaving her to the care of an elder sister and brother-in-law, who loved her as they did their own daughters. She was remarkable for her piety almost from infancy and, when a mere child, liked to engage her nieces, still younger than herself, in saying the rosary or making the stations of the cross, and she would manufacture disciplines for her own use from thorn bushes or prickly leaves. So precocious did she appear that her sister obtained permission for her to make her first communion at the then unusually early age of seven. When she was twelve she decided to start off with a few companions to convert the Japanese, and after that scheme had been frustrated she inspired them with the idea of living as hermits on a mountain near Quito. Somewhat perturbed at the adventurous turn her piety was taking, her relations proposed placing her in a convent to try her vocation. But although on two occasions all preparations were made, her departure was prevented at the last moment by what appeared to be some special interposition of Providence. Mariana accordingly remained at home, and, under the direction of her Jesuit confessor, entered upon the life of a solitary in her brother-in-law’s house, which she never again left except to go to church.
Gradually she embarked upon a succession of austerities which can only be regarded as horrifying when practised by a frail young girl delicately reared, and one cannot but ask why her spiritual adviser did not restrain her. She kept a coffin, in which she spent each Friday night: at other times it contained the semblance of a corpse, as a constant reminder of death. Chains bound her arms and legs, and besides a wire girdle, she wore a hair shirt. Every Friday she put on two crowns, the one of thorns and the other of spiked iron, followed by other practices whose recital hardly tends to edification. She is said never to have slept more than three hours, the rest of her time being employed in religious exercises, according to a detailed time-table which was found after her death. Little by little she reduced her food until she came to subsist on a small portion of bread taken once a day. Towards the end of her life she deprived herself of drink in order the better to realize our Lord’s thirst on the cross; to add to her sufferings she would raise a glass of water to her parched lips in very hot weather and would then withdraw it untasted. She was, we are told, the recipient of many spiritual favours and was endowed with the gifts of prophecy and miracles.
In 1645 Quito was visited by earthquakes, followed by an epidemic which swept away many of the inhabitants. On the fourth Sunday in Lent Mariana, after listening to an eloquent sermon preached by her confessor in the Jesuit church, was moved to offer herself publicly as a victim for the sins of the people. We read that the earthquakes ceased immediately, but that as soon as the epidemic began to abate, Mariana was seized with a complication of maladies which soon brought her to the grave. She died on May 26, 1645, at the age of twenty-six. The whole city mourned for one whom they regarded as their saviour. St Mariana was canonized in 1950, ninety-six years after her beatification.
There is a life in Italian and in French by Father Boero (1854), and in Spanish others by J. Moran de Betrôn (1854) and A. Bruchez (1908).
She was born Mariana de Paredes y Flores and called herself Mariana of Jesus. Born in Quito she was a hermitess in her brother-in-law’s residence. Mariana offered herself as a victim for the city during an earthquake in 1645 and died. She was canonized in 1950.
 1747 Bl. Peter Sanz  Martyred bishop in China native of Catalonia, Spain Dominican
Peter entered the Dominicans in 1697 and was sent to the Pacific. In 1712 he arrived in the Philippines and then went to China the following year.
Nominated a vicar apostolic in 1730, he later became the titular bishop of Mauricastro. Arrested by anti-Christian forces in 1746, he was imprisoned and finally beheaded. He was beatified in 1893.
1747 1748 BB. PETER SANZ, BISHOP, AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS
IT is one of the glories of the Church of Christ that so many of her sons in the prime of life have always been eager to surrender all that the world prizes in order to risk persecution and death on the foreign mission field. Amongst the number must be reckoned the five Dominican priests who were martyred in the Chinese province of Fu-kien in the years 1747 and 1748. Their names were Peter Martyr Sanz, Francis Serrano, Joachim Royo, John Alcober and Francis Diaz: all five were Spaniards and all five from early youth were inflamed with the desire to spread the gospel of Christ amongst the heathen. Their future leader, Peter San a native of Asco in Catalonia, was sent in 1714 to the Chinese province of Fu-kien, where he laboured successfully until 1730 when he was named bishop of Mauricastro i.p.i. and vicar apostolic of Fu-kien, with the general supervision of the whole mission.
The previous year persecution had broken out against the Christians and it had required great circumspection on the part of the bishop to escape capture. The storm had died down, but in 1746 it began again on a much greater scale. A man at Fogan, who had applied to the bishop for money and been refused, drew up a formal indictment of the European missionaries who, as he complained, were infringing the laws and winning thousands in the city to the Catholic faith. The case came before the viceroy, a bitter enemy to Christianity, and stern measures were adopted. Bishop Peter, Father Royo and Father Alcober were imprisoned. After some time they were transferred, loaded with chains and emaciated by hunger, to the city of Foochow, where their patience under barbarous ill-treatment won the admiration even of their enemies. For a year they languished in prison under appalling conditions, and then Bd Peter was beheaded. His last words to his companions were: "Be of good courage: must we not rejoice that we are to die for the law of our God?"
The other four captives-Father Serrano and Father Diaz had by now joined their brethren in prison-had not very long to wait. The arrival of a document appointing Father Francis Serrano coadjutor to Bishop Sanz, the news of whose death had not yet reached Rome, sealed their fate. Father Serrano--bishop elect of Tipasa i.p.i.-Father Royo, Father Alcober and Father Diaz were cruelly executed in prison. They were all beatified in 1893.

See M. J. Savignol, Les Martyrs Dominicains de la Chine au XVIIIe siècle (1894); A. Marie, Missions Dominicaines dans l’Extrême Orient (1865); Monumenta 0. P. historica, vol. xiv, pp. 128 seq. Wehofer, Die Apostel Chinas (1894).
1861 St. John Hoan  Martyr of Vietnam a Vietnamese priest beheaded during the anti-Christian persecutions. Pope John Paul II canonized him in 1988.
1861 St. Matthew Phuong Martyr of Vietnam A native catechist and an ardent Christian
 Matthew was arrested by government officials for his faith. He was tortured and then beheaded. Pope John Paul II canonized him in 1988.


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 16

Wonderful are thy testimonies, O kind Mother: and by thy words my heart is enlightened.

All the rich of the people shall entreat thy countenance: and the daughters of kings shall praise thy face.

The word of thy lips is burning exceedingly: He who shall make haste to come to thee, shall share in it.

I am as a trembling reed before thee: hold me, Lady, under thy yoke, and I shall not be confounded.

The dragons of hell attack thy servants above all others: but do thou, O Lady, defend us.

Let every spirit praise Our Lady

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

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

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

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

Widowed Saints  html
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  UniateChalcedon

Mary the Mother of Jesus Miracles_BLay Saints  Miraculous_IconMiraculous_Medal_Novena Patron Saints
Miracles by Century 100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000    1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800  1900 2000
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]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

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


God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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