Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!  (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
R.  Deo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
November is the month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory since 1888;
2023

BERLIN WALL FALLS! 1989

{Basilica of Saint Mary Minneapolis}
Affiliation with St. John Laterann Feast Day
PLENARY INDULGENCES may be gained
STATIONAL INDULGENCES may be gained
Romæ, in Lateráno, Dedicátio Basílicæ sanctíssimi Salvatóris, quæ ómnium Urbis et Orbis Ecclesiárum est mater et caput.
At Rome in the Lateran, the Dedication of the Basilica of the Saviour, which is the Mother and Head of all churches in the city and the world.

  
The Icon of the Mother of God,
“Quick to Hear” an ancient wonderworking icon

CAUSES OF SAINTS April  2014

 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 Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary .

So, you will ask me, who then are the people most tempted?
They are these, my friends; note them carefully.
The people most tempted are those who are ready, with the grace of God, to sacrifice everything for the salvation of their poor souls, who renounce all those things which most people eagerly seek.
It is not one devil only who tempts them, but millions seek to entrap them.
-- St. John Vianney

November 9, 2006 Dedication of St. John Lateran
St. John Lateran is the pope’s church, the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome where the Bishop of Rome presides.
November 9
Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12;  Psalms 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9;  1 Corinthians 3:9-11, 16-17; John 2:13-22;
THE DEDICATION OF THE ARCHBASILICA OF THE MOST HOLY SAVIOUR,
COMMONLY CALLED ST JOHN LATERAN
THE whole Western church Celebrates to-day the anniversary of the consecration to divine worship
of the basilica of St John Lateran, on whose façade is carved the proud title
OMNEUM URBIS ET 0RBIS ECCLESIARUM MATER ET CAPUT:
The Mother and Head of all churches of the City and of the World;
So, you will ask me, who then are the people most tempted? They are these, my friends; note them carefully. The people most tempted are those who are ready, with the grace of God, to sacrifice everything for the salvation of their poor souls, who renounce all those things which most people eagerly seek.
It is not one devil only who tempts them, but millions seek to entrap them.
-- St. John Vianney
November 9 - Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica
  The Father and Mary behold their Son with Joy
O wonderful girl, Mother of her own Creator!
What a tremendous honor for a woman to give birth to the Son of God, to whom she may say, as the Father said: “You are my Son” (Ps 2:7). And that this girl is to become the Mother of the Child whose Father is God!
The Son, seated at the right hand of the Father, the Mother at the right hand of the Son;
and both Father and Mother joyfully behold their Son with joy.
Saint Thomas of Villenova, O.S.A (1488-1555) was a Spanish friar of the Order of Saint Augustine.
Affiliation with St. John Lateran {Basilica of Saint Mary Minneapolis}
    Only a few churches in this country are affiliated with St. John Lateran, the Mother and Head of all the churches in Rome and in the world.
  That honor can be claimed by the Basilica of St. Mary, as evidenced by the following translation of the official rescript.
THE CHAPTER AND CANONS OF THE HOLY LATERAN CHURCH
To OUR BELOVED IN CHRIST, THE REVEREND JAMES MICHAEL REARDON, PASTOR, OF THE BASILICA OF ST.  MARY, IN THE CITY OF MINNEAPOLIS, AND THE, ARCHDIOCESE OF ST.  PAUL, Minnesota
-EVERLASTING GREETINGS IN THE LORD
The singular devotion which you have manifested towards Our Holy Lateran Basilica merits adequate recognition on Our part, and induces Us to grant you those spiritual favors which are permitted by the Apostolic See, especially as they will promote the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
     The request you have made to Us is a manifest indication that you cherish a deep devotion for Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, as well as for Our Lateran Basilica, dedicated to them.  Inspired by this devotion you desire that the Parish and Basilica of St. Mary of Minneapolis, in the Archdiocese of St. Paul, be aggregated, affiliated, united and incorporated with Our Lateran Basilica, to the end that We may grant and Communicate to your Basilica all the indulgences and spiritual privileges accorded to Our Basilica by Papal concession.
     We have decreed to look with favor on your request, as We are convinced that it is now, and, in future, will be, highly conducive to the salvation of souls.  We, therefore, in union with His Eminence Basil Pompili, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, Vicar of His Holiness Pius XI in the City of Rome, by the mercy of God, Bishop of Veliterno, and Archpriest of Our Holy Lateran Basilica, in chapter assembled, in accordance with the regulations of Our Roman Papal Lateran Patriarchate, by Our ordinary powers, which We enjoy by Apostolic Indults and Privileges, and now administer, and particularly by virtue of the faculties conferred on Us by Pope Benedict XIV, of happy memory, on the fourth day of May, 1751, beginning with the words, “  Assidux Solicitudinis, ” grant and permit, in the fullest measure possible, the aforesaid aggregation, affiliation, union and incorporation of the Basilica of St. Mary in the City of Minneapolis, in the Archdiocese of St. Paul, Minnesota.
     We, likewise, declare the aforesaid Basilica of St. Mary an associate of Our Holy Lateran Basilica according to the faculties granted Us by the Roman Pontiffs and the decrees of the Council of Trent, and by virtue of the constitutions of the Sovereign Pontiffs, in such  {Page 103}
manner that the faithful of both sexes, visiting the aforesaid Basilica of St. Mary, rightly disposed, may enjoy, receive and participate in all the above-mentioned indulgences, privileges and spiritual favors, in the same measure as if they personally visited Our Lateran Basilica.
The following is a summary of the indulgences and spiritual favors they may obtain in the Lord:
PLENARY INDULGENCES may be gained by all who, truly penitent and after confession, visit the Basilica of St. Mary on the feast days of the Ascension of Our Lord; of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist (June 24); of Saints Peter and Paul (June 29) ; of St. John the Evangelist (December 27); of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica (November 9), between the first vespers and sunset of the feast day itself, and pray for the exaltation of Holy Mother Church and for peace among Christian rulers.
     An indulgence of seven years and as many quarantines (forty days) may be gained by all who, truly penitent and after confession, visit the aforesaid church on the feast days of the other Apostles St. Andrew (November 30); St. James the Greater (July 25); St. Thomas (December 21); Sts. Philip and James (May 1); St. Bartholomew (August 24); St. Matthew (September 21); Sts. Simon and Jude (October 29); St. Mathias (February 24), under the same conditions.
     An indulgence of four years and as many quarantines is granted to all who visit the said Basilica on any day between the first Sunday of Advent and Christmas, and between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday, being truly penitent and having the intention of receiving the Sacraments before the expiration of these periods.  On other days of the year an indulgence of one hundred days may be gained.
     The same STATIONAL INDULGENCES may be gained by all who visit the Basilica, that are granted in connection with the Station days of the Lateran Church, as set forth in the Roman Missal, namely, the first Sunday of Lent; Palm Sunday; Holy Thursday; Holy Saturday; Tuesday of Rogation Week; Saturday within the Octave of Easter; and the Vigil of Pentecost, provided they are truly penitent and intend to go to confession.
     By virtue of the foregoing faculties We grant and communicate the indulgences and privileges enjoyed by the Lateran Basilica to the Basilica of St. Mary of Minneapolis, Archdiocese of St. Paul, Minnesota, with the consent of the local Ordinary.  Similar privileges will not be granted to any other church in that city.
     Moreover, We declare that all these indulgences are applicable to the souls in Purgatory, in accordance with the Rescript of Pope Pius VI.
     We decree that, for the future, every fifteen years, computed from the date of this letter, you or your successors shall renew this request and thus obtain from Us the confirmation of this aggregation, union, association and affiliation; otherwise, at the end of this period, if the renewal or confirmation of the above-mentioned {Page 104} letter be not asked and granted, the Basilica of St. Mary will cease to enjoy the aforesaid spiritual favors and after that this letter shall be null and void.
     In testimony of these, one and all, We have had this letter signed by the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Chamberlains and the Reverend Secretary of the Canons, and fortified by the Grand Seal of Our Chapter, as prescribed in such cases.
     Given at the Lateran, February twenty-seven, in the nineteen hundred and twenty-seventh year after the Birth of Our Lord, the sixth year of the Pontificate of Our Holy Father in Christ, Pius XI, by Divine Providence, Pope.
    Joseph Quadrini, Canon.
      Pius Paschini, Canon.
                       V. Misuraca, Canon, Secretary.
               Germanus Straniero,
                                               Dean of Canons of the Lateran Basilica
                                                                                                                                       Seen and approved, May 5, 1927,
+Augustinus Dowling,
Archbishop of St. Paul
The Basilica of St. Mary is, likewise, affiliated with the Basilica of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the Holy Land; but the spiritual privileges thereto annexed are in abeyance until a Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel is officially established in the parish, and the Pious Union under the title of St. Theresa of the Child Jesus is canonically erected and aggregated to the Primary Union under the direction of the Carmelite Order. {page 105}
1927+15=1942+15=1957 +15= 1972 +15 =1987 +15=2012 + 15= 2067 +15 =2082 +15 = 2097 + 15 = 2112 +15 = 2127 + 15 = 2142 + 15 = 2157 +15 = 2172 + 15 = 2189 + 15 = 2204 + 15 = 2219 + 15= 2234
November 9, 1989:  the Berlin Walls Falls
“I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just:
  his justice will not sleep forever.” Thomas Jefferson
It is just possible that God Has Removed His Hedge Of Protection Around Our Nation
When Another Person's Life Is At Risk, Honorable  People Stop Everything Else And Try To Help.
ABORTION IS A MORAL OUTRAGE
On NOVEMBER 9, 1954, President Eisenhower addressed the National Conference on the Spiritual Foundation of American Democracy at the Sheraton-Carlton Hotel, Washington D.C.: “Now Dr. Lowry said something about my having certain convictions as to a God in Heaven and an Almighty power. Well, I don't think anyone needs a great deal of credit for believing in what seems to me to be obvious...This relationship between a spiritual faith...and our form of government is...so obvious that we should really not need to identify a man as unusual because he recognizes it.” Eisenhower continued: “Our whole theory of government finally expressed in our Declaration...said...Man is endowed by his Creator...When you come back to it, there is just one thing...man is worthwhile because he was born in the image of his God...Democracy is nothing in the world but a spiritual conviction...that each of us is enormously valuable, because of a certain standing before our own God.” Eisenhower concluded: “Any group that...awakens all of us to these simple things...is, in my mind, a dedicated, patriotic group that can well take the Bible in one hand and the flag in the other, and march ahead.”
American Minute with Bill Federer http://www.amerisearch.net/ November 09
November 9, 2006 Dedication of St. John Lateran
Most Catholics think of St. Peter’s as the pope’s main church.

St. John Lateran is the pope’s church, the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome where the Bishop of Rome presides.
The first basilica on the site was built in the fourth century when Constantine donated land he had received from the wealthy Lateran family. That structure and its successors suffered fire, earthquake and the ravages of war, but the Lateran remained the church where popes were consecrated until the popes returned from Avignon in the 14th century to find the church and the adjoining palace in ruins.
Pope Innocent X commissioned the present structure in 1646. One of Rome’s most imposing churches, the Lateran’s towering facade is crowned with 15 colossal statues of Christ, John the Baptist, John the Evangelist and 12 doctors of the Church.
Beneath its high altar rest remains of the small wooden table which tradition holds St. Peter himself celebrated Mass.
Unlike the commemorations of other Roman churches
(St. Mary Major, Sts. Peter and Paul), this anniversary is a feast.
The dedication of a church is a feast for all its parishioners. St. John Lateran is, in a sense, the parish church of all Catholics, for it is the pope's parish, the cathedral church of the Bishop of Rome.
This church is the spiritual home of the people who are the Church.
"What was done here, as these walls were rising, is reproduced when we bring together those who believe in Christ.
For, by believing they are hewn out, as it were, from mountains and forests, like stones and timber; but by catechizing, baptism and instruction they are, as it were, shaped, squared and planed by the hands of the workers and artisans. Nevertheless, they do not make a house for the Lord until they are fitted together through love"
(St. Augustine, Sermon 36>).
She Attracted the Holy Trinity
If you knew the gift of God! There is one creature who knew the gift of God and who never lost it.
A creature that was so pure, so luminous that she almost seemed to be the Light herself.
A creature so lost in God, whose life was so simple--speculum justitiae--of whom there is almost nothing to say.
She is the faithful Virgin--Virgo fidelis--the one who "kept all things in her heart." She remained so small, so full of reverence before God, in the secrecy of the temple, that she attracted the kindness of the Holy Trinity.
Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity (1880-1906)

Mary, Model of Reverential Hearts - The Spiritual Life, 1928
November 9 - OUR LADY OF ALMUDENA (Madrid, Spain)
A Gift is Fully a Gift Only if Well Received (II)
The richer and nobler the gift, the better equipped to receive it the recipient should be.
If the Father wanted to give His Son to the world, He couldn't take the risk that His son be half-way welcome, even three-quarters of the way. For the Incarnation to be whole, nothing in the Son could be foreign to humankind. Jesus couldn't be an unwanted child, even as little unwanted as could be.

Now, after the tragic Fall, no human being was capable of total love and total freedom. How then could God make the gift of His Son to the world? The solution could only come from Him, and not from man. God worked on man through a long preparation: a promise to plant in the heart of each member of mankind after the Fall an ever renewed hope; the choice of a man, Abraham, and of a people; a long history with its cost of weightiness and dashing advances; a lineage, a family...
And finally a young girl, "younger than sin," re-instituted, from her conception, in the grace of the origins, "fully pardoned" (clothed with grace), and because of that, able to fully welcome any grace that would fall on our earth. So that nothing may be lost of God's gift, nothing refused, misunderstood or wasted.
Fr. Bernard Vial
The Relation of Grace to Freedom: An Ecumenical Perspective
http://www.mariedenazareth.com/12396.0.html?&L=0
November 9 - Feast of the Icon Mater Domini (Italy, 1060)
She is a Sign of Sure Hope and Comfort (I)
Yes, we want to thank you, Virgin Mother of God and our most beloved Mother, for your intercession for the good of the Church. You, who in embracing the divine will without reserve were consecrated with all of your energies to the person and work of your Son, teach us to keep in our heart the mysteries of Christ's life and to meditate upon them in silence, as you did.
May you who reached Calvary, ever-deeply united to your Son who from the Cross gave you as mother to the disciple John, also make us feel you are always near, at each moment of our lives, especially in the times of darkness and trial.
Excerpt from a Prayer of His Holiness Benedict XVI December 8, 2005
Beryti, in Syria, commemorátio Imáginis Salvatóris, quæ, a Judæis crucifíxa, tam copiósum emísit sánguinem, ut Orientáles et Occidentáles Ecclésiæ ex eo ubértim accéperint.
    At Berytus in Syria, the Commemoration of the Image of our Saviour, which, being fastened to a cross by the Jews, poured out blood so plentifully that the Eastern and Western Churches received abundantly of it.
1846, May 10, - 1847 Our Lady of America Immaculate Conception Patroness of the US.
1854 December 8: Pope Pius IX defines dogma Immaculate Conception" Apostolic Constitution, Ineffabilis Deus.
1858 March 25, Our Lady would confirm that dogma by identifying herself to Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France, as “I am the Immaculate Conception,” that singular privilege that flows from her Divine Maternity announced by the Angel Gabriel.
        St. Ursinus first bishop of Bourges France
  300 St. Agrippinus Bishop of Naples
  304 St. Orestes  Martyr of Cappadocia
  304 Ss Onesiphorus and Porphyrius of Ephesus Holy Martyrs
  306 St. Theodore Tyro Roman martyr  recruit (tiro) in the Roman army at Pontus, on the Black Sea
  310 St. Alexander fourth century Martyr in Salonica
  466 St. Benignus Bishop of Ireland son of Sechnaa
5th v. Saint John the Dwarf of Egypt struggled in the Egyptian desert in the monastery of St Pimen the Great
5th v St Anthony The Holy Martyr a Syrian started to build a church dedicated to the Holy Trinity
  510 St. Pabo Early Scottish monastery founder island of Anglesey
  525 St. Vitonus Bishop Verdun, France  credited with many miracles
6th v. Saint Matrona, Abbess of Constantinople born in Perge Pamphylia (Asia Minor) 5th v.
610 Saint Eustolia, a native of Rome, had come to Constantinople and entered one of the women's monasteries
625 Saint Sopatra of Constantinople transformed palace building into a monastery known for strict monastic Rule
7th v. Eustolia and Sopatra daughters of Emperor Maurice of Constantinople (582-602) VV (RM)
9th v. Saint Theoctiste dwelt on the island of Paros 35 years
10th v. Saints Euthymius and Neophytus, Founders of Docheiariou Monastery Mt Athos, an uncle and his nephew
1148 Saint Onesiphorus the Confessor of the Kiev Caves, Near Caves gift of clairvoyance
1270 Blessed Ilona of Hungary mistress Vesprim Dominican convent first Dominican with the stigmata
1610 Blessed George Napper educated at Corpus Christi College labored in Oxfordshire M (AC)
1920 St. Nectarius Kephalas B canonized by the Orthodox Church many miracles There are more churches dedicated to St Nectarius than to any other modern Orthodox saint.


THE DEDICATION OF THE ARCHBASILICA OF THE MOST HOLY SAVIOUR, COMMONLY CALLED ST JOHN LATERAN
THE whole Western church Celebrates to-day the anniversary of the consecration to divine worship of the basilica of St John Lateran, on whose façade is carved the proud title
OMNEUM URBIS ET 0RBIS ECCLESIARUM MATER ET CAPUT:
The Mother and Head of all churches of the City and of the World;
For this church is the cathedral of Rome and the pope’s permanent cathedra stands in its apse.
It is senior in dignity to St Peter’s itself, and is in some sort the cathedral of the world.

In the earliest days of Christianity worship was carried out in private houses and the Holy Sacrifice was offered at an ordinary table (doubtless a special one was often kept for the purpose); but so early as the first quarter of the third century we hear of a building in Rome specially set apart as a Christian church, at the beginning of the fourth century there are said to have been many there, and Con­stantine’s decree of freedom was naturally followed by great activity in the building of new churches. Following the example of the Jews with their Temple (and indeed of the pagans with theirs), these places of worship were set apart for their purpose by a dedication of them to the service of Almighty God. Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History speaks of the solemn dedication of the church at Tyre in the year 314, and several historians make reference to the magnificence with which Constantine’s basilica at Jerusalem was dedicated in 335, on the anniversary of the finding of the true cross. For long the dedicatory rite consisted simply in the consecration of the altar by the solemn celebration of Mass thereat, to which the deposition of relics was added when there were any, and later certain prayers, sprinklings and anointings, modifications which arose in respect of buildings that had formerly been used for pagan worship and had to be purified. But the develop­ments which went to form the long, complex and imposing ceremony that is now found in the Pontificale Romanum hardly began before the eighth century.

The annual celebration of the anniversary of a church’s dedication is a practice probably as old as that of the dedication itself, and certainly far older than our present rite of consecration. It was undeniably a custom of the Jews, for such a feast was instituted by Judas Machabeus in 164 B.C., when the Temple had been purified after its pollution by Antiochus Epiphanes; St John in his gospel (x 22) speaks of our Lord walking in Solomon’s porch at the time of this feast. This Jewish festival was, and is, kept with an octave and was celebrated not only in the Temple at Jerusalem but in every synagogue as well, somewhat as every Western Catholic church observes the dedication of St John Lateran. These things are referred to in the sixth lesson at Matins in the common office of the octave-day of a dedication anniversary, which is said in the Roman Breviary to be taken from a letter to Pope St Felix IV (III), who died in the year 530. Actually the piece belongs only to the ninth century, but its words represent a much older discipline. In Sozomen’s time, the early part of the fifth century, the anniversary of the dedication of the Martyrion at Jerusalem, referred to above, was observed with an octave and other solemnities. This custom of commemorating the dedication of a church is responsible for the existence of several feasts in the Church’s calendar, and determines the date of others, e.g. St John before the Latin Gate (May 6), St Peter in Chains (August 1), and St Michael the Archangel (September 29).

The mansion of the Laterani at Rome came into the hands of the Emperor Constantine through his second wife, Fausta, and by him it was given to the Church. It was the principal residence of the popes from that time until the exile to Avignon at the beginning of the fourteenth century, a period of a thousand years. The church made there was in all likelihood an adaptation of the great hall of the house, but the famous baptistery was founded and newly built, in its main lines as we see it today. The basilica was dedicated to our Most Holy Saviour and the baptistery in honour of St John the Baptist.*[*It may be here noted that all churches and ecclesiastical buildings are dedicated to God and to God only. Other names by which they may be known are those of saints or mysteries of religion in whose honour or under whose patronage they are dedicated. Never­theless, custom allows the loose expression “dedicated to such-and-such a saint”.]

The now universal practice of calling the church itself St John Lateran arose at a time when it was served by monks from an adjoining monastery of St John the Baptist and St John the Divine.*[ *The Canons Regular of the Lateran are so called because they represent a reformed congregation of Augustinian canons which originated at the Lateran in the eleventh century, when the basilica was served by canons regular.]

In its fifteen hundred years of Christian history the basilica has undergone numerous vicissitudes, from pillage by the barbarians, from earthquakes, from fire; but it retained its ancient basilican form till the seventeenth century, when Francesco Borromini made of it the church that we see today. The apse was enlarged into a choir, in more happy fashion, in 1878. The high altar of St John Lateran, encased in marble, is the only altar in the Western church made not of stone but of wood. It is a relic of the days of persecution, and is believed by some to have been used by St Peter himself. In the ciborium over the altar are enshrined the reputed heads of SS. Peter and Paul.

“As often as we celebrate the dedication festival of an altar or church,” says St Augustine, “if we assist with faith and attention, living holily and righteously, that which is done in temples made with hands is done also in us by a spiritual building. For he lied not who said, ‘The temple of God, which you are, is holy’; and again, ‘Do you not know that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you?’ Therefore, since we are made worthy to become the temple of God-—not by any foregoing worth of our own but by His grace—let us work, as hard as we are able with His help, that our Lord find not in His temple, that is, in us, anything whereby the eyes of His majesty may be offended. . . . If no one in dirty garments would dare to approach the table of an earthly ruler, how much the more ought one who is infected with the poison of envy or hate, or full of unrighteous anger, reverently and humbly to draw back from the table of the eternal King, that is, from the altar of God? For it is written, ‘Go first and be reconciled with thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift’; and again, ‘Friend, how camest thou in hither not having on a wedding-garment?’”

Much has been written about the Lateran basilica and its history, as well as upon the rite of the consecration of churches. Concerning this last topic the reader may be conveni­ently referred to Duchesne, Christian Worship (1919), pp. 399—418; cf. also The Month, June 1910, pp. 621—631. Among the many works dealing with the Lateran that of P. Lauer, Le palais du Latran, Étude historique et archéologique (1911) is perhaps the most comprehensive; and in special relation with the subject of this notice consult also Lauer on the “Date de Ia dédicace de la basilique du Latran” in the Bulletin de la Soc. nat. des antiquaires de France for 1924, pp. 261—265. A very long article on the Lateran with a vast bibliography has been contributed by H. Leclercq to DAC., vol. viii, cc. 1529—1887, in which see especially cc. 1551—1553.
3rd century St. Ursinus first bishop of Bourges France.
Apud Bitúricas, in Aquitánia, sancti Ursíni Confessóris, qui, Romæ ordinátus a successóribus Apostolórum, primus eídem Bituricénsi urbi destinátur Epíscopus.
    At Bourges in Aquitaine, St. Ursinus, confessor, who was ordained at Rome by the successors of the apostles and appointed first bishop of that city.
The. According to legend, he was a disciple of the Apostles and was sent by them to preach the faith in Gaul; however, he is now positively dated to the third century.

Ursinus of Bourges B (RM) (also known as Ursin). Ursin was actually the first bishop of Bourges and lived during the third century. Yet it has been claimed that Ursin was once called Nathaniel, that he was a friend of the apostle Philip, that he read at the Last Supper, that he was present at the martyrdom of Saint Stephen, and that he was one of the many missionaries sent to Gaul by Saint Peter. All of which only proves that Christians have never like doctrinal innovators.

Is all this a lie? Not really. Throughout the ages Christians have gone to great lengths to hold on to Jesus Christ by every possible means. Pseudo-Christs have never been very frequent, nor have they enjoyed much success. The life of Christ is so transcendent that in all ages people have tried to come close to Him, and to the lives of the Apostles, even if in doing so they have had to stretch the historical truth. While it is good and helpful to know the historical truth, it is more important that the stories of the saints convey the Truth, as does the tale of Ursin at Bourges, than that they should be accurate.

What the people at Bourges and elsewhere are saying is that the new religion was not Ursin's, nor Nathaniel's, nor Stephen's, but Jesus Christ's; it seems intelligent of them to have aged Ursin by several centuries to bring him closer to Jesus Christ, and so bring us nearer to Him, too.

When Ursin went to Bourges, he stayed with a poor family. He wasn't a popular orator, nor did he find fault with the great or attack anyone. He didn't prepare learned discourses. Instead he went to live with a poor family, worked during the day and in the evening told them all that he knew about Jesus Christ: This was the first church at Bourges.
Guess who spread the Gospel there? Gossips! Think about it. We who call ourselves Christians often mentally condemn those who would spread every rumor, adding details as they go. Condemnation doesn't belong to the Christian, however, Jesus can use even the sins of others for good.

The poor family where Ursin lived must have repeated his story to their neighbors, who retold it to others, so that within a few days everyone in the area knew the story of Jesus Christ. They all wanted to see this man Ursin, who worked with his hands and wasn't proud--and who listened to them. And so they came to the poor family to hear the Gospel. He retold the story countless times and everyone was impressed. His gossips succeeded as well as Paul and his rhetoricians!

But as generally happens to prophets, Ursin drew the attention of the jealous who soon spread malicious gossip about him, causing him to be scorned by nearly everyone--but Jesus, who wanted Ursin for himself. One day Ursin was chased out of town by dogs, street urchins, and the rabble. It was all over he thought. Ursin was a gentle man, so he didn't reproach the gossips or defend himself. Instead he went to live in a hut in the woods, and waited to see what would happen.

Not long afterwards people came to find him. There had been a change of opinion as people asked themselves why they had let him go because he was such a good man who had done no harm. Everybody knew him well and had a story to tell about his kindness.

So Ursin was persuaded to return and began retelling the story of Jesus Christ. They saw that he didn't ask money from them and he didn't play the prophet, so the again started listening. They even looked for another bigger place for their meetings. Senator Leocade spent only a few days each year in Bourges, so messengers were sent to ask him for the loan of his stables. Leocade agreed, and that was the second church in Bourges.
Everything went so well that soon the stables were too small. Another place had to be found--perhaps Leocade's palace? Ursin didn't like the idea; Leocade was an important man and his palace would be too grand. But he was persuaded to go to Lyons and ask Leocade to allow them to use his palace.

Leocade not only agreed but also converted and gave all his property in the district to found new churches. Ursin then returned to Bourges and moved his church into the palace--the third church in Bourges.

Ursin died, not a martyr, but greatly venerated by the gossips and everybody else.

It was the same Jesus Christ that he taught in the humble cottage, in the big stables, and in the grand palace; and it is the same Jesus Christ that is preached today from the bishop of Bourges in his magnificent cathedral: and that is the most wonderful thing of all (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
300 St. Agrippinus Bishop of Naples.
Neápoli, in Campánia, sancti Agrippíni Epíscopi, miráculis clari.
    At Naples in Campania, St. Agrippinus, bishop, renowned for miracles.
He has been venerated in that city since the earliest times. His remains are in the Naples cathedral, beside Sts. Eutychius and Aucutis.
Agrippinus of Naples B (RM) (also known as Arpinus) 2nd or 3rd century. Bishop Agrippinus of Naples has been highly venerated in that city from time immemorial. His relics are enshrined under the high altar of the cathedral together with the bodies of Saints Eutychius and Acutius, companions of Saint Januarius (Benedictines).
304 St. Orestes  Martyr of Cappadocia.
Tyánæ, in Cappadócia, pássio sancti Oréstis, sub Diocletiáno Imperatóre.
    At Tyana in Cappadocia, the martyrdom of St. Orestes under Emperor Diocletian.
who was put to death by torture under co-Emperor Diocletian.
Orestes of Cappadocia M (RM). A martyr of Cappadocia, tortured to death under Diocletian (Benedictines).
304 Onesiphorus and Porphyrius of Ephesus Holy Martyrs
suffered during the persecution against Christians by the emperor Diocletian (284-305). They beat them and burned them. After this, they tied the saints to wild horses, which dragged them over the stones, after which the Martyrs Onesiphorus and Porphyrius died. Believers gathered the remains of the saints and reverently buried them.
310 St. Alexander fourth century Martyr in Salonica
Thessalonícæ sancti Alexándri Mártyris, sub Maximiáno Príncipe.
    At Thessalonica, under Emperor Maximian, St. Alexander, martyr.
Alexander was executed during the reign of co-Emperor Maximian.
Alexander of Salonica M (RM) 4th century. A martyr of Salonica under Maximian Herculius (Benedictines).

The Martyr Alexander of Thessalonica was arrested by pagans for confessing the Christian Faith. Under the emperor Maximian (284-305)he not only admitted being a Christian, but when told to offer sacrifice to the gods, he overturned the idolatrous sacrifice in indignation. The emperor gave orders to behead the saint.

When the execution was done, the emperor and the executioner saw how an angel came forth bearing the soul of the holy Martyr Alexander up to the heavens. The emperor permitted Christians to bury the body of the saint with honor in the city of Thessalonica, which they did with joy.
306 St. Theodore Tyro Roman martyr  recruit (tiro) in the Roman army at Pontus, on the Black SeaAmaséæ, in Ponto, natális sancti Theodóri mílitis, qui, témpore Maximiáni Imperatóris, pro Christiánæ fídei confessióne, fórtiter cæsus et in cárcerem missus; deínde, Dómino sibi apparénte ac monénte ut constánter et viríliter ágeret, relevátus est; novíssime, postquam in equúleo suspénsus et úngulis ita excarnificátus est, ut ejus interióra apparérent nuda, ardéntibus ígnibus comburéndus tráditur.  Ipsíus vero laudes sanctus Gregórius Nyssénus præcláro encómio celebrávit.
    At Amasea in Pontus, the birthday of St. Theodore, a soldier, in the time of Emperor Maximian.  For the confession of Christ he was severely scourged and sent to prison, where he was comforted by an apparition of our Lord, who exhorted him to act with courage and constancy.  He was finally stretched on the rack, lacerated with iron hooks until his bowels were laid bare, then cast into the flames to be burned alive.  His glorious deeds have been celebrated in a eulogy by Gregory of Nyssa. 
considered to be virtually identical with St. Theodore Stratelates. According to custom, he was a recruit (tiro) in the Roman army at Pontus, on the Black Sea. After refusing to participate in a pagan ceremony, he was brought before the tribune of the legion and the governor of the region. Freed temporarily, he immediately went out and set fire to the temple of Cybele near Amasea in Pontus. For this crime, he was burned to death in a furnace. Beyond the legend of his martyrdom, little is known with certainty of his death. Nevertheless, he was greatly venerated in the Eastern Church as one of the three "Soldier Saints," with George and Demetrios.

306 ST THEODORE TIRO, MARTYR
An early panegyric, attributed to St Gregory of Nyssa, pronounced upon this martyr on his festival, begins by ascribing to his intercession the preservation of Pontus from the inroads of the Scythians, who had laid waste all the neighbouring provinces. Imploring his patronage, it says, “ As a soldier defend us; as a martyr speak for us—ask peace. If we need stronger intercession, gather together your brother martyrs, and with them all pray for us. Stir up Peter, Paul and John, that they be solicitous for the churches which they founded. May no heresies  sprout up, but may the Christian commonwealth become, by your and your companions’ prayers, a fruitful field.” The panegyric says that by St Theodore’s intercession devils were expelled and distempers cured; that many resorted to his church and admired the actions of the saint painted on the wall; then ap­proached the tomb, whose touch, they believed, imparted a blessing, and carried away the dust of the sepulchre as a treasure; if any were allowed to touch the sacred relics, they reverently applied them to their eyes, mouth and ears. “Then they address themselves to the martyr as if he were present, and pray and invoke him, who is before God and obtains gifts as he pleases.” The panegyrist then refers to St Theodore’s life and passion.

The martyr whose shrine at Euchaita was so great a centre of devotion was a young man, newly enlisted in the Roman army, whence he was surnamed Tiro, “the Recruit” (or more probably because he belonged to the Cohors tironum). According to his earliest legend his legion was sent into winter quarters in Pontus, and he was at Amasea when he refused to join his comrades in idolatrous observances. He was presented to the governor of the province and the tribune of his legion and asked how he dare to profess a religion which the emperors punished with death. He boldly replied, “I know not your gods. Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, is my God. If my words offend you, cut out my tongue; every part of my body is ready when God calls for it as a sacrifice.” They dismissed him for the present, but Theodore, being resolved to convince his judges that his resolution was inflexible, set fire to a pagan temple which stood in the city. When he was carried a second time before the governor and his assistant he was ready to anticipate their questions by his confession. They endeavoured to terrify him with threats, and allure him by promises, but he refused to be seduced. He was therefore unmercifully torn with whips, but under all manner of torments maintained his tranquillity. The martyr was remanded to prison, where in the night he was wonderfully comforted by angels. After a third examination, Theodore was condemned to be burnt alive in a furnace and was so executed. His ashes were begged by a lady named Eusebia, who gave them burial at Euchaita.

This account of St Theodore Tiro cannot be relied on, but it has reference to a real martyr who may or may not have been a soldier. In the course of time his “acts” were embellished by further fictitious and fantastic additions, until he became one of the best known of the “warrior-saints” and included in the East among the Great Martyrs. So complicated and contradictory did his story become that, in order to make it less inconsistent, a second soldier St Theodore had to be posited and so we have the St Theodore Stratelates of February 7. St Theodore Tiro’s former popularity in the West is illustrated by thirty-eight of the famous thirteenth-century windows of Chartres cathedral, those in the choir, which depict scenes from his legend. The church of San Teodoro (“Toto”) at the foot of the Palatine hill in Rome is named after him. When in 971, on February 17 (Theo­dore’s feast-day in the East), the Emperor John Zimiskes gained a great victory over the Russians at Dorystolon, it was attributed to the personal leadership of the martyr; the emperor rebuilt his church at Euchaita and renamed the city Theo­doropolis. St Theodore Tiro is still greatly venerated in the East and is mentioned in the “preparation” of the Byzantine Liturgy, together with his fellow dragon-slayer, St George, and a third “warrior”, St Demetrius.

Theodore with a long preliminary discussion. The most ancient evidence of the cultus of the saint is to be found in the sermon attributed to St Gregory of Nyssa. We cannot be quite sure that Gregory was really the author, but it is unquestionably of early date. It is printed in Migne, PG., vol. xlvi, pp. 736—748, as well as in the Acta Sanctorum, November, vol. iv, where Delehaye has again dealt at length with the story of both Theodore the recruit and Theodore the general, editing also as much of these varied “acts”, partly in Greek, partly in ancient Latin versions,- as would serve best to illustrate how the fictitious develop­ments have diverged as they multiplied. Theodore the general has already been noticed separately herein under February 7, which see. Doubt has been cast upon Mgr Wilpert’s identification of the two figures in the mosaic of the church of St Theodore in Rome, which he holds to represent separately the recruit and the general. Consult on this the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xlii (1925), p. 389, and see in the same volume, pp. 41—45, an account of further miracles of St Theodore. In Anatolian Studies presented to Sir W. M. Ramsay (1923) is another paper by Delehaye, on “Euchaita et St Theodore” (pp. 129—134). Kunstle, Ikonographie (vol. ii, pp. 551—552), discusses St Theodore in art, but much might be added from the fuller study of oriental mosaics, etc., by Diehl, Bréhier, Fr de Jerphanion, and other experts.

Theodore Tiro (RM) (also known as Theodore the Recruit)
Died . Theodore was a young man newly enlisted (tiro means recruit) in the Roman army when severe regulations were published continuing under the new rulers of the empire the persecutions that had been started by Diocletian. His legion was wintering at Amasea in Pontus on the Black Sea when orders came that everyone should join in pagan worship. The recruit refused to do so. Though his life was seriously at risk, Theodore made no attempt to conceal his faith in Christianity.
The tribune of the legion and the governor of Pontus summoned the soldier before them, asking why he proclaimed belief in Jesus Christ when the Roman authorities threatened anyone who did so with death. "Jesus Christ is my one God," replied Theodore. "Since you dislike my words so much, why not cut out my tongue. There is no limb that I am not ready to sacrifice when God demands it."

Both the tribune and the governor had no desire to put their new recruit to death. They sent him back to his quarters, resolved to try to convert him to paganism later. Theodore, believing that the time had now come for a public demonstration of his hatred for the pagan idols, went to the center of nearby Euchaïta, where a temple to Cybele, the mother-goddess, had been erected and set fire to it.

Even now the governor and the tribune were disposed to be lenient. They bribed the young soldier with the promise that he would be made a priest of Cybele, if only he would recant and deny Jesus. Theodore pointed out that the pagan priests were the most reprehensible of all, since they misled the rest.
At this the authorities sentenced Theodore to be whipped. He made no cry of pain as his skin was lashed. He spent a further time in jail awaiting sentence, which was that he should be burned alive in the place where he incinerated the temple. On February 17, 306, the young recruit was thrown into a furnace and perished. A good Christian woman name Eusebia buried the ashes.

The story is untrustworthy, and its later forms so contradictory and complicated by incredible embroideries that another Saint Theodore Stratelates, 'the General,' was invented to account for them. There is good evidence that there was a martyred Theodore in Pontus; he was venerated from the fourth century and his burial place at Euchaïta was an important religious center.

He became the third of the highly venerated 'soldier-saints' of the East, with Saint George and Saint Demetrius. A contest with a dragon (metaphoric for evil) seems to have been attributed to Theodore before it was to George (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney).

Saint Theodore is represented as a young warrior with a lance. Pictured may be (1) Saint Acacius (in Byzantine art); (2) Theodore setting fire to the temple with a torch; (3) Christ appearing to him in prison; (4) a crown of thorns; (5) a funeral pyre; or (6) a dragon or crocodile at his feet (Roeder).
Anonymous Byzantine mosaics, Russian icons of Saints Theodore Stratelites and Theodore the Tyro.

He is greatly venerated in the Eastern Church as the patron of soldiers. He is invoked against storm (Roeder).
466 St. Benignus Bishop of Ireland son of Sechnaa.
the psalm singer of St, Patrick. Sechnan was a chief in Meath, Ireland, converted by St. Patrick. Benignus became a disciple of St. Patrick and succeeded him as the chief bishop of Ireland. He converted the Irish in Clare, Kerry, and Connaught. Benignus served as the superior of an abbey at Drumlease, erected by St. Patrick.

467 ST BENIGNUS, OR BENEN, BISHOP
WHILST St Patrick was on his way to Tara from Saul it is said he passed some days at the house of a chieftain named Sechnan, in Meath. This man and his family were converted by the teaching of Patrick, and the gospel made a particular im­pression on his son Benen (latinized as Benignus). The boy, we are told, would scatter flowers over Patrick as he slept, and when the apostle would continue his journey clung to his feet and implored to be allowed to go too. So he was taken, and became Patrick’s dearest disciple and eventually his successor. St Benen was noted for gentleness and charm of disposition and for his good singing, where­fore he was known as “Patrick’s psalmodist”. The first evangelization of Clare and Kerry is attributed to him, and from thence he went north into Connaught. It is also claimed that St Patrick founded a church at Drumlease, in Kilmore diocese, of which Benen was given charge, and that he ruled it for twenty years. It seems certain that Benen was St Patrick’s right-hand, man, their names are coupled in the composition of the code of law called Senchus Mor, and after Patrick’s death he became the chief bishop of the Irish church.

William of Malmesbury relates that St Benen resigned his office in the year 460, and came to Glastonbury, where he found St Patrick, who had preceded him thither. His old master sent him out to live as a hermit, telling him to build his cell at the spot where his staff should burst into leaf and bud. This happened at a swampy place called Feringmere, and there St Benen died and was buried, till in 1091 his relics were removed to Glastonbury Abbey. No doubt somebody’s relics were translated on that occasion, but there is no truth in the legend of the association of St Patrick and St Benen with Glastonbury.

It may be said that in the Acta Sanctorum, November, vol. iv, pp. 145—188, a serious attempt has for the first time been made (by Fr Paul Grosjean) to piece together a consistent account of the history of St Benignus. He has printed the previously inedited life in Irish, the only manuscript copy of which, made by Michael O’Clery, is preserved in Brussels. This, which is rather a panegyric than a biography, is interspersed with fragments of verse and consists mainly of extravagant miracles. It is consequently not very informative. The facts of St Benignus’s career have mainly to be learnt from the Patrician documents published in such collections as Whitley Stokes, The Tripartite Life (Rolls Series). The contributions made to the subject by William of Malmesbury and John of Tynemouth are plainly of little value; they are based largely on the Glastonbury fictions, now completely discredited, as Dean Armitage Robinson has shown in his book, Two Glastonbury Legends. - On The Book Father Delehaye devoted great attention to this martyr. In 1909, in his book Les légendes grecques des saints militaires, he edited five different texts of the passio and miracles of St of Rights, attributed to St Benignus, see Eoin MacNeill, Celtic Ireland, pp. 73—95; on the Senchus Mor, Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, vol. ii, pp. 339 seq.; and Bury, Life of St Patrick, pp. 355—357. It is curious that there seems to be no mention of St Benignus in the Félire of Oengus. See Fr P. Grosjean, “An Early Fragment on St Patrick . . . in the Life of St Benén”, in Seanchas Ardmhacha, vol. i, no. i (Armagh, 1954), pp. 31—44.
Benen of Ireland B (AC) (also known as Benignus) Died c. 468. Son of the Meath chieftain Sechnan (Sessenen or Sesgne), Benen grew up in the district around Duleek. He and his family were converted in his childhood and baptized by Saint Patrick. The story is told that Benen worshipped Patrick as a hero. He had heard the tale of the great saint's chariot driver laying down his life to save Patrick. He was in awe, but too young to do much. So when after baptizing Benen, Patrick fell into an exhausted sleep in a quiet corner of the family's garden, he wondered what he could do to honor the saint. He noticed the dust of the road on Patrick's clothes was attracting insects, so he scattered some strongly scented flowers over the sleeping man. When the boy was chastised for doing this, Patrick responded: "Don't send him away. He's a good boy. It may be that he will yet do wonderful things for the Church."

At that moment Benen became the apostle's disciple and companion. We are told that when the apostle wanted to continue his journey, Benen rolled himself into a ball in Patrick's chariot, clung to the saint's feet, and begged to accompany him to Tara. Patrick agreed to take the youngster with him, although everyone else thought he was too immature. Patrick assured them that Benen would be fine-- and he was. He never returned home.

And so, as Benen matured, he became Patrick's confidant, 'Psalmsinger,' and right-hand man. He sang for every Mass said by Patrick, thereby learning how to teach and preach the faith. Eventually Benen was ordained priest, and in time succeeded Patrick as archbishop of Ireland. Benen is known for his gentleness, charm, and beautiful singing voice.

The story is told that once on an Easter Sunday when Saint Patrick, his eight companions, and the boy Benignus were going from Slane to Tara to confront the high king, Laoghaire, they were miraculously turned into deer and so avoided the attempts of the king's guards to intercept them en route. The fawn in the rear, according to the legend, was Benignus. The Tripartite Life tells it this way:

    "Patrick went with eight young clerics and Benen as a gillie with them, and Patrick gave them his blessing before they set out. A cloak of darkness went over them so that not a man of them appeared. Howbeit, the enemy who were waiting to ambush them, saw eight deer going past them, and behind them a fawn with a bundle on its back. That was Patrick with his eight, and Benen behind them with his tablets on his back."

He is credited with evangelizing Clare, Kerry, and Connaught, and reportedly headed a monastery at Drumlease in Kilmore, built by Patrick, for some 20 years.

Benen's connection with Glastonbury has no historical basis; however, William of Malmesbury relates that Benen resigned his see in 460, and went to Glastonbury, to seek out his old master. Patrick is said to have sent him out to live as a hermit at the first place where his staff should burst into leaf and bud. It is related that this happened in the swampy environs of Feringmere, which is where Benen died and was buried. In 1091, someone's relics were translated from that site to Glastonbury Abbey, but they were not Benen's because there is no truth in the association of Saint Patrick and Saint Benen with Glastonbury (Benedictines, Bieler, Concannon, D'Arcy, Delaney, Curtayne, Healy, Montague, Ryan) .
5th v. Saint John the Dwarf of Egypt struggled in the Egyptian desert in the monastery of St Pimen the Great.
(August 27). From the name of this monastery, wilderness monasteries began to be called "sketes," in which monks pursued asceticism in strict solitude and silence. St John was a gentle, humble and work-loving monk. It was to this monastery that the young John came with his brother Daniel.

Once, St John told his elder brother that he did not want to be concerned about clothing and food, and that he wished to live like the angels in Paradise. Daniel allowed him to go to a deserted place, so that he would be afflicted. He removed his clothing, John went out from the cell. It was very cold at night, and after a week John became hungry.
One night John went back to the monastery and began to knock on the door of the cell. "Who is it?" Daniel asked.
"It is I, your brother John."
Daniel replied, "John has become an angel, and is no longer among men."

John continued to knock, but Daniel would not let him in until morning. Then he said, "You are a man and must work again if you want to eat." St John wept bitterly, asking for forgiveness.

After being brought to his senses St John went to St Pimen, known for his firm and steadfast will, and having asked guidance, he promised to be obedient in all things. Testing the patience of the young monk, St Pimen gave him an unusual obedience. For three years St John carried water and poured it on a dry stick, until it became covered with leaves and bore abundant fruit. His Elder took the fruit to the brethren saying, "Take and eat the fruit of obedience."

Later, Abba John himself became a guide of many people on the way of salvation, among whom were St Arsenius the Great (May 8) and St Thais (May 10).

St John was the author of the Life of St Paisius the Great (June 19).
5th v St Anthony The Holy Martyr a Syrian started to build a church dedicated to the Holy Trinity.
lived during the fifth century and was a stone-mason. With the blessing of the bishop of the Syrian city of Apamea, he started to build a church dedicated to the Holy Trinity. When the pagan townspeople learned of this, they rushed into his house by night and murdered him with a sword.
510 St. Pabo Early Scottish monastery founder island of Anglesey
He was originally a warrior and perhaps the son of a Scottish or Pictish chieftan who gave up his life of combat and embarked on a spiritual life.
Pabo of Brittany (AC). Surnamed 'Post-Prydain,' Pabo was the son of a chieftain on the Scottish border and at first a soldier. Later he came to Wales and founded the monastery called after him Llanbabon, in Anglesey. Britain and Brittany are often confused in old hagiographical records (Benedictines).
525 St. Vitonus Bishop Verdun, France  credited with many miracles from about 500, also listed as Vanne or Vaune.

 .525 ST VITONUS, OR VANNE, BISHOP OF VERDUN
ST Firminus having died while his episcopal city was being besieged by Clovis, it is said that the king, on taking Verdun, nominated an old priest, St Euspicius, to the vacant see. Euspicius refused the office because he wanted to be a monk, and suggested his nephew Vitonus, who was found acceptable. His episcopate lasted over twenty-five years, during which he is said to have converted the remaining pagans of his diocese, but all the information that we have about his life is legendary: as, for example, that he destroyed a dragon by drowning it in the Meuse.
 St Vitonus is now chiefly remembered by the great congregation of Benedictines which bore his name. The foundation of a college of clergy outside the walls of Verdun is attributed to St Vitonus, whose buildings in the year 952 were handed over to Benedictine monks and re-dedicated in honour of the founder as the abbaye de Saint-Vanne. In 1600 the prior, Dom Didier de la Cour, began a thorough-going reformation of the monastery, which with Moyenmoutier became the centre of a group of reformed houses in Lorraine, Champagne and Burgundy. They were united officially as a new congregation, “de Saint-Vanne et Saint­-Hydulphe”, in 1604, the French monasteries withdrawing to form the congregation of St Maur fourteen years later. They were both suppressed at the Revolution, but were nominally revived (with Cluny) in 1837 to form the new congregation of Solesmes. The feast of St Vitonus is therefore observed by that congregation as well as at Verdun.

There is a Latin life, still in manuscript, of which Mabillon speaks in the Acta Sanctorum O.S.B. (vol. vi, Pt I, pp. 496—500); but, written as it was five hundred years after the death of Vitonus, he apparently deemed it not worth printing, though he has published a short collection of miracles worked at the shrine. A compendium of this life was, however, printed by Surius. See also Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux, vol. iii, p. 70. On Moyenmoutier and its reform, consult Gallia Christiana, vol. xiii, pp. 1165 seq., and L. Jerome, L’Abbaye de Moyenmoutier (1902).

  The Benedictine abbey of Lorraine which served as the chief community of the Congregation of St. Vannes was dedicated to him. Vitonus eradicated paganism in the area and started a college for clergy, probably the foundation for St. Vanne's.

Vitonus of Verdun B (AC) (also known as Vanne, Vaune). It is said that Vitonus took the monastic habit in his youth, and then was chosen to be bishop of Verdun about 498. He shepherded his flock for about 26 years until his death--never slacking in his zeal or practice of austerity. Though little is known of his life, Vitonus is credited with many miracles. At a later period a great Benedictine abbey of Lorraine was dedicated to him, which in 1604 became the center of the Congregation of Saint-Vannes. He is the patron of Verdun (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).
6th v. Saint Matrona, Abbess of Constantinople born in Perge Pamphylia (Asia Minor) 5th v.
They gave her in marriage to a wealthy man named Dometian. When her daughter Theodota was born, they resettled in Constantinople. The twenty-five-year-old Matrona loved to walk to the temple of God. She spent entire days there, ardently praying to the Lord and weeping for her sins.

At the church the saint met two pious Eldresses, Eugenia and Susanna, who from their youth lived there in asceticism, work and prayer. Matrona began to imitate the God-pleasing life of an ascetic, humbling her flesh by abstinence and fasting, for which she had to endure criticism by her husband.

Her soul yearned for a full renunciation of the world. After long hesitation, St Matrona decided to leave her family and entreated the Lord to reveal whether her intent was pleasing to Him. The Lord heard the prayer of His servant. Once, during a light sleep, she had a dream that she had fled from her husband, who was in pursuit of her. The saint concealed herself in a crowd of monks approaching her, and her husband did not notice her. Matrona accepted this dream as a divine directive to enter a men's monastery, where her husband would not think to look for her.

She gave her fifteen-year-old daughter to be raised by the Eldress Susanna, and having cut her own hair and disguised herself in men's attire, she went to the monastery of St Bassion (October 10). There the Nun Matrona passed herself off as the eunuch Babylos and was accepted as one of the brethren. Apprehensive lest the monks learn that she was a woman, the saint passed her time in constant quietude and much work. The brethren marveled at the great virtue of Babylos.

One time the saint was working in the monastery vineyard with the other monks. The novice monk Barnabas noted that her ear-lobe was pierced and asked about it. "It is necessary, brother, to till the soil and not watch other people, which is not proper for a monk," answered the saint.

After a certain while it was revealed in a dream to St Bassion, the igumen of the monastery, that the eunuch Babylos was a woman. It was also revealed to Acacius, igumen of the nearby Abraham monastery. St Bassion summoned St Matrona and asked in a threatening voice why she had entered the monastery, to corrupt the monks, or to shame the monastery.

With tears the saint told the igumen about all her past life, about her husband, hostile to her efforts and prayers, and about the vision directing her to go to the men's monastery. Convinced that her intent was pure and chaste, St Bassion sent St Matrona to a women's monastery in the city of Emesa. In this monastery the saint dwelt for many years, inspiring the sisters by her high monastic achievement. When the Abbess died, by the unanimous wish of the nuns the Nun Matrona became head of the convent.

The fame of her virtuous activities, and miraculous gift of healing, which she acquired from the Lord, spread far beyond the walls of the monastery. Dometian also heard about the deeds of the nun. When St Matrona learned that her husband was coming to the monastery and wanted to see her, she secretly went off to Jerusalem, and then to Mount Sinai, and from there to Beirut, where she settled in an abandoned pagan temple. The local inhabitants learned of her seclusion, and began to come to her. The holy ascetic turned many from their pagan impiety and converted them to Christ.

Women and girls began to settle by the dwelling of the nun and soon a new monastery was formed. Having fulfilled the will of God, revealed to her in a dream, the saint left Beirut and journeyed to Constantinople where she learned that her husband had died. With the blessing of her spiritual Father, St Bassion, the ascetic founded a women's monastery in Constantinople, to which sisters from the Beirut convent she founded also transferred. The Constantinople monastery of St Matrona was known for its strict monastic rule and the virtuous life of its sisters.

In extreme old age St Matrona had a vision of the heavenly Paradise and the place prepared for her there after 75 years of monastic labor. At the age of one hundred, St Matrona blessed the sisters,and quietly fell asleep in the Lord.
610 Saint Eustolia, a native of Rome, had come to Constantinople and entered one of the women's monasteries.
The virtuous and strict monastic life of the saint gained her the love and respect of the sisters. Not only monastics, but also many laypeople came to her for advice and consolation.  St Eustolia died in the year 610.
625 Saint Sopatra of Constantinople transformed palace building into a monastery known for strict monastic Rule.
The daughter of the emperor Mauricius (582-602). She was inclined towards monasticism, and met St Eustolia in the church of the Most Holy Theotokos at Blachernae. After speaking with the saint, Sopatra finally decided to leave the world and submit her will to her guide, St Eustolia. She transformed the palace building, which her father had given her, into a monastery known for its strict monastic Rule.  St Sopatra died in the year 625.
7th v. Eustolia and Sopatra daughters of Emperor Maurice of Constantinople (582-602) VV (RM)
Constantinópoli sanctárum Vírginum Eustóliæ Románæ, et Sópatræ, fíliæ Maurítii Imperatóris.
    At Constantinople, the holy virgins Eustolia, a Roman maiden, and Sopatra, the daughter of Emperor Maurice
It is uncertain whether both of these virgins were daughters of Emperor Maurice of Constantinople (582-602) or only one of them. They were from the first revered as saints (Benedictines).
9th v. Saint Theoctiste dwelt on the island of Paros 35 years
was born in the city of Methymna on the island of Lesbos. At an early age she was left a complete orphan, and relatives sent her to a monastery to be raised. The girl was happy to be removed from the world of sin, and she liked the monastic life, the long church services, monastic obedience, the strict fasting and unceasing prayer. She learned much of the singing, prayer and psalmody by heart.

In the year 846 when she was already eighteen years old, she set off with the blessing of the abbess, on the Feast of the Resurrection of Christ, to a neighboring village to visit her sister and she remained there overnight. Arabs invaded the settlement, and they took captive all the inhabitants, loaded them on a ship, and by morning they were at sea.

The brigands took the captives to the desolate island of Paros so that they might examine them in order to assign a value to each when they were sold at the slave-market. The Lord helped the young maiden to flee, and the Arabs did not catch her. From that time St Theoctiste dwelt on the island for 35 years. An old church in the name of the Most Holy Theotokos served as her dwelling, and her food was sunflower seeds. All her time was spent in prayer.

Once, a group of hunters landed upon the island. One of them, pursuing his prey, went far off from the coast into the forest and suddenly he saw the church. He went into the church so as to offer up a prayer to the Lord. After the prayer the hunter saw what looked like a human form in a dim corner, not far from the holy altar table, through thick cobwebs. He went closer and heard a voice, "Stay there, fellow, and come no closer to shame me, since I am a naked woman." The hunter gave the woman his outer clothing and she came out from concealment. He beheld a grey-haired woman with worn face, calling herself Theoctiste. With a weak voice she told of her life fully devoted to God.

When she finished her story, the saint asked the hunter, if he happened to come to this island again, that he should bring her a particle of the Presanctified Gifts. During all her time of living in the wilderness she not once was granted to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.

A year later, the hunter again arrived upon the island and brought a small vessel with a particle of the Holy Mysteries. St Theoctiste met the Holy Gifts in the church, fell down to the ground and prayed long with tears. Standing up, she took the vessel and with reverence and in the fear of God she received the Body and Blood of Christ.

On the following day the hunter saw the dead body of the nun Theoctiste in the church. After digging a shallow grave, the hunter placed the venerable body of the nun in it. As he did so, he impudently cut off her hand, so as to take with him part of the relics of the great saint of God. All night the ship sailed upon a tempestuous sea, and in the morning it found itself at the very place from which it began. The man then perceived that taking the relic was not pleasing to God.

He returned to the grave and placed the hand with the body of the saint. After this the ship sailed off unhindered. On the journey the hunter told his companions everything that had happened on the island. Listening to him, they all decided immediately to return to Paros, to venerate the relics of the great ascetic, but they could not find her holy body in the grave.
10th v. Saints Euthymius and Neophytus, Founders of the Docheiariou Monastery on Mt Athos, an uncle and his nephew
belonged to the highest Byzantine aristocracy. St Euthymius, while still in the world, was the friend of St Athanasius of Mt. Athos (July 5), and he later became a novice and disciple of the great ascetic. For his sincere love of the brethren, gentleness and his particular zeal in the ascetic life, St Athanasius granted the monk the duty of steward, which St Euthymius fulfilled as though entrusted to him by God Himself.

St Euthymius settled with several of the monks in the locale of Daphne, where he founded a monastery dedicated to Saint Nicholas, which he called Docheiariou in memory of his obedience. Guiding his own younger brethren, St Euthymius taught the necessity of attention towards self, to all the stirrings of the soul, explaining that the struggle of Christians, according to the Apostle Paul, is not "against flesh and blood, but against principalities, and against powers, and against the world-rulers of this darkness" (Eph 6:12).

The peaceful ascetic life of the monks was disturbed by the Saracens. The monk led all the brethren into the forest. Returning, they found the monastery razed to its very foundations. St Euthymius did not lose heart, and the monastery was rebuilt. St Neophytus, in the world, was a companion of the emperor Nicephorus Phocas (963-969). Upon the death of his parents he came to Mt Athos, where he was tonsured in the monastery of his uncle St Euthymius. Before his death, St Euthymius handed over the administration of the monastery to his nephew.
Under the spiritual guidance of St Neophytus, the small monastery grew into a Lavra. Asking the emperor Nicephorus to become a benefactor of the monastery, St Neophytus enlarged the monastery to its present size. St Neophytus was deigned to be chosen "protos" (head of the governing Council of Elders of the Holy Mountain) and for many years he labored there. After taking leave of the Council in his declining years, he returned to the Docheiariou monastery, where peacefully he fell asleep in the Lord.

The Icon of the Mother of God, "Quick to Hear" an ancient wonderworking icon, is located on Holy Mount Athos at the Docheiariou monastery. The monastery tradition suggests that it was painted in the tenth century, in the time of the igumen St Neophytus (November 9). In the year 1664 the cook Nilus, came to the kitchen at night with a burning torch. He heard a voice from the icon of the Mother of God which hung over the door, warning him in future not to walk here with a torch and not to darken the icon with soot. The monk thought that this was a prank of one of the brethren, so he disregarded the warning and continued to walk into the kitchen with the sooty torch.

Suddenly he fell blind. With fervent repentance Nilus prayed before the icon of the Mother of God, begging forgiveness. When the brethren heard what had happened, they placed a lamp before the icon, and censed it every night. Again he heard the wondrous voice saying that he had been forgiven, and that his sight would return. The All-Pure One commanded him to announce to all the brethren that She was the protector and guardian of the monastery."Let them and all Orthodox Christians come to Me in their necessities, and I shall not forsake them. All their petitions will be granted by My Son, because of My intercession with Him. My icon shall be called "She who is Quick to Hear, for I shall speedily fulfill the petitions of those who hasten to it." The Most Holy Theotokos then fulfilled and continues to fulfill Her promise of quick help and consolation for all those who come to Her with faith.

In Russia, copies of the wonderworking Athonite image "She who is Quick to Hear" were always venerated with great love and fervent prayer. Many of them were glorified by miracles. In particular, there were cases of healing from the plague and from demonic possession.

In 1938, the Docheiariou monastery presented a copy of the wonderworking Icon of the Mother of God "Quick to Hear" to the Russian Spiritual Mission at Jerusalem.
1148 Saint Onesiphorus the Confessor of the Kiev Caves, Near Caves gift of clairvoyance.
pursued the ascetic life in the Kiev Caves monastery. He was a presbyter and had the gift of clairvoyance. He died in the year 1148 and was buried in the Near Caves beside St Spyridon (October 31). His memory is also celebrated on September 28 and on the second Sunday of Great Lent.
1270 Blessed Ilona of Hungary mistress Vesprim Dominican convent trained Saint Margaret of Hungary
contemplative prayer often led to ecstasy crufixes would come to life for her first Dominican marked with the stigmata The lilies of light that appeared during her prayer is unique in the annals of the Church When Ilona was at the point of death, she was rapt in ecstasy. Her body glowed with a radiance that made it impossible for her sisters to determine the exact moment of her passing. At some point she also received wounds in her side and feet, which healed; however, when her tomb was opened 17 years after her death, the wound in her side reopened of its own volition and rays of light poured forth from it.OP V (PC)

(also known as Helen).
Ilona was the novice mistress of the Dominican convent of Vesprim, where she trained the future Saint Margaret of Hungary in the ways of holiness. She was one of the first sisters in the community founded by Paul of Hungary in 1222. Ilona was known for her gift of contemplative prayer that often led to ecstasy.

Sometimes God gave visible signs of her sanctity, which were not always understood by her community. Once she was watched by another sister as she prayed alone. The corpus on the crucifix came to life, reached down, and took her hand in His. It took a full day for the sisters to pry her hand from that of the corpus. Another time the large crucifix from the altar suspended itself over her until she finished her prayer, at which time she replaced it.

Ilona is reputed to have been the first Dominican marked with the stigmata. Before 1237, she received a mark in her right hand on the Feast of Saint Francis about 10 years after his death as she prayed for some of the saint's intense love for heavenly things. As she went into a state of ecstasy, her hand sparkled and gave off rays of light. In the center of her palm a circle of gold appeared and from this a dazzlingly bright lily grew. When she returned to a normal state of consciousness, she prayed that the wound would be invisible. Later a similar wound appeared in her left hand. God did not answer that prayer until near the time of her death. The lilies of light that appeared during her prayer is unique in the annals of the Church.

Ilona was dearly loved within her community, which she served as novice mistress and then as prioress. Her great desire was that her sisters might remain faithful to the rule and the offering of penance. She also had a "green thumb" with houseplants --her touch could restore withered plants. Other miracles are recorded of her: she levitated; candles lit themselves on the altar at her passing; and she revived a dead, pet goat. Saint Ilona lived for 30 years after Saint Margaret was removed to the more protected monastery at Budapest.

When Ilona was at the point of death, she was rapt in ecstasy. Her body glowed with a radiance that made it impossible for her sisters to determine the exact moment of her passing. At some point she also received wounds in her side and feet, which healed; however, when her tomb was opened 17 years after her death, the wound in her side reopened of its own volition and rays of light poured forth from it.

Ilona is venerated in Hungary and within the Dominican Order although she has never been formally beatified (Benedictines, Dorcy, Harrison).
1610 Blessed George Napper educated at Corpus Christi College labored in Oxfordshire M (AC)
Born at Holywell Manor, Oxford, England; died at Oxford; beatified in 1929. George Napper was educated at Corpus Christi College and then studied for the priesthood at Douai where he was ordained in 1596. Sent to the English mission, he labored in Oxfordshire and was finally condemned for his priesthood and executed (Benedictines).

1610 BD GEORGE NAPPER, MARTYR
THE history of the passion of this martyr has been preserved in a letter written by a fellow prisoner in Oxford jail. George Napper (Napier) was born in 1550 at Holywell manor, Oxford, his mother being a niece of Cardinal William Peto. He was entered at Corpus Christi College when he was fifteen and three years later was ejected as a recusant. At the end of 1580 he was imprisoned and remained so for nearly nine years, when he obtained his release by recognizing the royal supremacy. He repented of this weakness and entered the English College at Douay, where he was ordained in 1596. He was not sent on the mission till 1603, and then worked for seven years in Oxfordshire. Early in the morning of July 19, 1610, he was arrested in the fields at Kirtlington. He had on him at the time a pyx containing two consecrated Hosts and a small reliquary; these in an extra­ordinary way escaped the notice of his searchers, but a breviary and oil-stocks were found, and these were sufficient evidence to secure his condemnation as a priest at the next assizes.

His friends obtained a stay of execution and it is likely that he would have been reprieved altogether, but for the fact that in jail he ministered to a condemned felon, who died declaring himself a Catholic. “The people stormed; the ministers threw all the blame upon the condemned priest, made a heavy rout, called for justice, and went straight away to Abingdon to make complaint to the judges.” When he was examined on the matter by the high sheriff and the vice-chancellor of the university, Mr Napper agreed he had reconciled the man and offered “to do as much for their lordships”. There was a further reprieve, but the prisoner strenuously refused to take the oath of allegiance in the form stigmatizing the pope’s deposing power as “impious, heretical and damnable” (the treatise of the Arch-priest Blackwell approving it was given him to read), and his execution took place on November 9 at Oxford. Before he died he prayed publicly for the king, James I. “His charity was great, for if any poor prisoner wanted either meat to fill him or clothes to cover him he would rather be cold himself than they should”; while on the mission “he was remarkably laborious in gaining souls to God”.

A rather full account of this martyr is preserved by Challoner in MMP., pp. 307—317. It is based upon the letter of a fellow prisoner, who goes into much detail. See also Stapleton, Oxfordshire Missions J. Morris, Troubles . . ., p. 302 ; and especially Bede Camm, Forgotten Shrines, pp. 149—182.

1610 Bl. George Napper, Martyr 1550-1610
     When Queen Elizabeth I came to the throne in 1588, she set her British kingdom against the pope by declaring herself "Supreme Governor" in matters spiritual and temporal, and denouncing loyalty to the Bishop of Rome as an act of treason. Thenceforth all Christians in the realm were required to follow the state religion or else ...
     Many Catholics, motivated by stark fear of the monarch, did enroll in the Church of England, but a good many refused to do so. These were branded as "recusants" (that is, "refusers"), and subjected to various discriminatory laws.
     George Napper (or Napier) belonged to a Catholic recusant family of considerable prominence, (and was grand nephew of the English Franciscan cardinal, William Peyto). Born at Holywell Manor in Oxfordshire, he managed to secure entrance in 1565 at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, but was expelled in 1568 as a recusant. In 1580 he was arrested as a recusant and imprisoned for over eight years.
     Weary of imprisonment at the end of that time, Napper decided to capitulate, and declared his acceptance of the religious supremacy of the Queen. But after his release from jail, he became increasingly ashamed of having given in. Determined to make generous amends for having rejected the pope, he decided to study for the Catholic priesthood. God had given him a second chance.
     Crossing the English Channel to Douay in Flanders, he now sought admission to the English College there. Ordained a Catholic secular priest in 1596, he was sent back to England in 1603 and spent the remaining seven years of his life on the mission in his native Oxfordshire.
     English Catholics abroad had begun in the 1570s to establish schools on the European continent like the English College in Rome and the English College in Douay for the training of young British Catholics for work as priestly missionaries in the homeland. Upset by this undertaking, Queen Elizabeth had enacted in 1585 new anti-Catholic legislation, which established as an act of treason punishable by traitor's execution the return of any native-born men ordained Catholic priests outside of Britain to carry on in England a Catholic ministry. Many more English recusants would die for their faith thereafter, not only the courageous priests but the lay people who abetted them.
     Father Napper naturally followed the policy of working in secrecy, but like many another brave priest, he was at one point apprehended by the police as a suspect. They caught up with him outside a village near Oxford early in the morning of July 19, 1610. Those who had stalked him failed in searching him to find two Eucharistic hosts and a small reliquary that he carried concealed on his person. They did find, however, his breviary and set of holy oils. These provided evidence enough to his priesthood to present at the next court session.
     Napper's friends managed to obtain a stay of his execution when he was arraigned, and were working for a total reprieve. But while in prison Father George ministered to a certain condemned criminal, who died declaring himself a Catholic. Now, "reconciling" a fallen-away Catholic was a particularly heinous crime according to the current anti-Roman legislation. The Anglican clergy therefore raised a row with the court, demanding capital action against the prisoner. Under cross-examination, Napper admitted that he had reconciled the man in question. He even said, wittily, that he would be glad to do the same for the judges. Somehow he was again reprieved. But then he refused to take the oath of allegiance that described the pope's power to depose as "impious, heretical and damnable". That was too much for the court to take. George Napper was condemned to death.
     "Seminary priest" Napper was executed at Oxford on November 9, 1610. Elizabeth herself was by then seven years dead, but the victim priest in his last remarks, prayed publicly for her successor, James 1.
     A fellow prisoner later wrote about Father Napper's missionary career, that he had been "remarkably laborious in gaining souls for God." Even in prison he had been the soul of compassion. "His charity was great, for if any poor prisoner wanted either meat to fill him or clothes to cover him he would rather be cold himself than they should."
     It is clear that Blessed George Napper fully deserved the second chance that God had seen fit to give him.--Father Robert F. McNamara
1920 Nectarius Kephalas B canonized by the Orthodox Church many miracles There are more churches dedicated to St Nectarius than to any other modern Orthodox saint.
Born in Greece, 1846; died on Aegina, Greece; canonized by the Orthodox Church. While rector of the Rhizarion ecclesiastical college, Nectarius began restoring a convent on the island of Aegina in 1904. After 1908, he used his energies full-time on this project. He died on the island where he was revered during his lifetime and where he was buried. His relics at the restored convent have been the destination of pilgrims since 1953 (Attwater).
Saint Nectarius, the great wonderworker of modern times, born Anastasius Kephalas in Selebria, Thrace October 1, 1846.
Since his family was poor, Anastasius went to Constantinople when he was fourteen in order to find work. Although he had no money, he asked the captain of a boat to take him. The captain told him to take a walk and then come back. Anastasius understood, and sadly walked away.  The captain gave the order to start the engines, but nothing happened. After several unsuccessful attempts, he looked up into the eyes of Anastasius who stood on the dock. Taking pity on the boy, the captain told him to come aboard. Immediately, the engines started and the boat began to move.

Anastasius found a job with a tobacco merchant in Constantinople, who did not pay him very much. In his desire to share useful information with others, Anastasius wrote down short maxims from spiritual books on the paper bags and packages of the tobacco shop. The customers would read them out of curiosity, and might perhaps derive some benefit from them.  The boy went about barefoot and in ragged clothing, but he trusted in God. Seeing that the merchant received many letters, Anastasius also wanted to write a letter. To whom could he write? Not to his parents, because there were no mail deliveries to his village. Not to his friends, because he had none. Therefore, he decided to write to Christ to tell Him of his needs.
"My little Christ," he wrote. "I do not have an apron or shoes. You send them to me. You know how much I love you."
Anastasius sealed the letter and wrote on the outside: "To the Lord Jesus Christ in Heaven." On his way to mail the letter, he ran into the man who owned a shop opposite the one in which he worked. The man asked him where he was going, and Anastasius whispered something in reply. Seeing the letter in his hands, the man offered to mail it for him, since he was on his way to the post office.

The merchant put the letter in his pocket and assured Anastasius that he would mail it with his own letters. The boy returned to the tobacco shop, filled with happiness. When he took the letter from his pocket to mail it, the merchant happened to notice the address. Astonished and curious, the man could not resist opening the letter to read it. Touched by the boy's simple faith, the merchant placed some money in an envelope and sent it to him anonymously. Anastasius was filled with joy, and he gave thanks to God.

A few days later, seeing Anastasius dressed somewhat better than usual, his employer thought he had stolen money from him and began to beat him. Anastasius cried out, "I have never stolen anything. My little Christ sent me the money."  Hearing the commotion, the other merchant came and took the tobacco seller aside and explained the situation to him.

When he was still a young man, Anastasius made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
During the voyage, the ship was in danger of sinking in a storm. Anastasius looked at the raging sea, and then at the captain. He went and stood beside the captain and took the helm, praying for God to save them. Then he took off the cross his grandmother had given him (containing a piece of the Cross of Christ) and tied it to his belt. Leaning over the side, he dipped the cross into the water three times and commanded the sea,
"Silence! Be still." At once, the wind died down and the sea became calm.

Anastasius was saddened, however, because his cross had fallen into the sea and was lost. As the boat sailed on, sounds of knocking seemed to come from the hull below the water line. When the ship docked, the young man got off and started to walk away.  Suddenly, the captain began shouting, "Kephalas, Kephalas, come back here." The captain had ordered some men into a small boat to examine the hull in order to discover the source of the knocking, and they discovered the cross stuck to the hull. Anastasius was elated to receive his "Treasure," and always wore it from that time forward. There is a photograph taken many years later, showing the saint in his monastic skufia. The cross is clearly visible in the photo.

On November 7, 1875, Anastasius received monastic tonsure at the Nea Moni Monastery on Chios, and the new name Lazarus. Two years later, he was ordained a deacon. On that occasion, his name was changed to Nectarius.
Later, when he was a priest, Fr Nectarius left Chios and went to Egypt. There he was elected Metropolitan of Pentapolis. Some of his colleagues became jealous of him because of his great virtues, because of his inspiring sermons, and because of everything else which distinguished St Nectarius from them.
Other Metropolitans and bishops of the Patriarchate of Alexandria became filled with malice toward the saint, so they told Patriarch Sophronius that Nectarius was plotting to become patriarch himself. They told the patriarch that the Metropolitan of Pentapolis merely made an outward show of piety in order to win favor with the people. So the patriarch and his synod removed St Nectarius from his See. Patriarch Sophronius wrote an ambiguous letter of suspension which provoked scandal and speculation about the true reasons for the saint's removal from his position.
St Nectarius was not deposed from his rank, however. He was still allowed to function as a bishop. If anyone invited him to perform a wedding or a baptism he could do so, as long as he obtained permission from the local bishop.
St Nectarius bore his trials with great patience, but those who loved him began to demand to know why he had been removed. Seeing that this was causing a disturbance in the Church of Alexandria, he decided to go to Greece. He arrived in Athens to find that false rumors about him had already reached that city. His letter of suspension said only that he had been removed "for reasons known to the Patriarchate," and so all the slanders about him were believed.

Since the state and ecclesiastical authorities would not give him a position, the former Metropolitan was left with no means of support, and no place to live. Every day he went to the Minister of Religion asking for assistance. They soon tired of him and began to mistreat him.
One day, as he was leaving the Minister's office, St Nectarius met a friend whom he had known in Egypt. Surprised to find the beloved bishop in such a condition, the man spoke to the Minister of Religion and Education and asked that something be found for him. So, St Nectarius was appointed to be a humble preacher in the diocese of Vitineia and Euboea. The saint did not regard this as humiliating for him, even though a simple monk could have filled that position. He went to Euboea to preach in the churches, eagerly embracing his duties.

Yet even here, the rumors of scandal followed him. Sometimes, while he was preaching, people began to laugh and whisper. Therefore, the blameless one resigned his position and returned to Athens. By then some people had begun to realize that the rumors were untrue, because they saw nothing in his life or conversation to suggest that he was guilty of anything. With their help and influence, St Nectarius was appointed Director of the Rizarios Seminary in Athens on March 8, 1894. He was to remain in that position until December of 1908.

The saint celebrated the services in the seminary church, taught the students, and wrote several edifying and useful books. Since he was a quiet man, St Nectarius did not care for the noise and bustle of Athens. He wanted to retire somewhere where he could pray. On the island of Aegina he found an abandoned monastery dedicated to the Holy Trinity, which he began to repair with his own hands.

He gathered a community of nuns, appointing the blind nun Xenia as abbess, while he himself served as Father Confessor. Since he had a gift for spiritual direction, many people came to Aegina to confess to him. Eventually, the community grew to thirty nuns. He used to tell them, "I am building a lighthouse for you, and God shall put a light in it that will shine forth to the world. Many will see this light and come to Aegina." They did not understand what he was telling them, that he himself would be that beacon, and that people would come there to venerate his holy relics.

On September 20, 1920 the nun Euphemia brought an old man in black robes, who was obviously in pain, to the Aretaieion Hospital in Athens. This was a state hospital for the poor. The intern asked the nun for information about the patient.

"Is he a monk?" he asked.
"No, he is a bishop."
The intern laughed and said, "Stop joking and tell me his name, Mother, so that I can enter it in the register."
"He is indeed a bishop, my child. He is the Most Reverend Metropolitan of Pentapolis."

The intern muttered, "For the first time in my life I see a bishop without a panagia or cross, and more significantly, without money."

Then the nun showed the saint's credentials to the astonished intern who then admitted him. For two months St Nectarius suffered from a disease of the bladder. At ten thirty on the evening of November 8, 1920, he surrendered his holy soul to God. He died in peace at the age of seventy-four.

In the bed next to St Nectarius was a man who was paralyzed. As soon as the saint had breathed his last, the nurse and the nun who sat with him began to dress him in clean clothing to prepare him for burial at Aegina. They removed his sweater and placed it on the paralyzed man's bed. Immediately, the paralytic got up from his bed, glorifying God.

St Nectarius was buried at the Holy Trinity Monastery on Aegina. Several years later, his grave was opened to remove his bones (as is the custom in Greece). His body was found whole and incorrupt, as if he had been buried that very day.

Word was sent to the Archbishop of Athens, who came to see the relics for himself. Archbishop Chrysostomos told the nuns to leave them out in the sun for a few days, then to rebury them so that they would decay. A month or two after this, they opened the grave again and found the saint incorrupt. Then the relics were placed in a marble sarcophagus.

Several years later, the holy relics dissolved, leaving only the bones. The saint's head was placed in a bishop's mitre, and the top was opened to allow people to kiss his head.

St Nectarius was glorified by God, since his whole life was a continuous doxology to the Lord. Both during his life and after his death, St Nectarius has performed thousands of miracles, especially for those suffering from cancer. There are more churches dedicated to St Nectarius than to any other modern Orthodox saint.
1846, May 10, - 1847 Our Lady of America Immaculate Conception Patroness of the US.
1854 December 8: Pope Pius IX defines dogma “   Immaculate Conception ”  Apostolic Constitution, Ineffabilis Deus.
1858 March 25, Our Lady would confirm that dogma by identifying herself to Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France, as “I am the Immaculate Conception,” that singular privilege that flows from her Divine Maternity announced by the Angel Gabriel.

What is God’s plan for the role of Our Lady of America in the redemption of mankind and the renewing of the face of the earth in these troubled times?

The story of Our Lady of America truly began on May 10, 1846 when one Archbishop and 22 US Bishops met in Baltimore, MD, the first Catholic diocese in the US, for the 6th Provincial Council of Baltimore. On that date they petitioned Rome to have the Blessed Virgin, under the title of the Immaculate Conception, named as Patroness of these United States, 28 at the time. In 1847 that petition was granted by Pope Pius IX and Mary, under the title of her Immaculate Conception, became Patroness of the US.

It was not until eight years later, on December 8, 1854, that Pope Pius IX would define the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in his Apostolic Constitution, Ineffabilis Deus. Less than four years later, on the feast of the Annunciation, March 25, 1858, Our Lady would confirm that dogma by identifying herself to Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France, as “I am the Immaculate Conception,” that singular privilege that flows from her Divine Maternity announced by the Angel Gabriel.

Moved by the great devotion to Mary of Bishop John Carroll, the first Catholic bishop of these United States who had placed this young Nation under Mary’s protection, Bishop Thomas J. Shahan, rector of Washington, DC’s Catholic University of America, presented his hope for a national shrine to Mary to Pope Pius X in 1913. The Pope was so enthusiastic about the shrine that he made a personal contribution of $400. Later in 1913 the University actually donated the land so the effort toward construction of the shrine could begin.

Father Bernard McKenna of Philadelphia assisted Bishop Shahan and was made the first director of the National Shrine in 1915.

Archbishop Giovanni Vincenzo Bonzano, the Apostolic Delegate, blessed the site on May 16, 1920, honoring the first American prelate Archbishop John Carroll, who is the Father of the American Hierarchy, by wearing his vestments and using the “Carroll Altar” for the celebration. On September 23 of that year, James Cardinal Gibbons of the archdiocese of Baltimore laid the cornerstone. The lower crypt church was completed in 1926 but the Great Depression and World War II halted work on the Upper Church until 1953. The Marian Year of 1954 ushered in a huge campaign for donations from America’s Catholics. Washington’s Archbishop Patrick O’Boyle, assisted by Archbishop John Noll of Fort Wayne, IN, brought the Upper Church to completion and America’s Patronal Church, a magnificent hymn to Mary in stone, was dedicated on November 20, 1959. The body of Bishop Thomas J. Shahan is entombed in that great Upper Church to revere him as the Founder of this National Shrine of America’s Catholics. In 1990 Pope John Paul II, the first Pope to visit the United States, raised this Shrine to the level of a Basilica. This beautiful Act of Consecration to Our Blessed Mother was written by Bishop Thomas Grady for the dedication ceremony of the Shrine. It is such an appropriate prayer for our times and touches on the message of Our Lady of America, with its emphasis on the Blessed Trinity and the Christian Family, even though Bishop Shahan would most likely not have heard about the message of Our Lady of America at that time.

Act of Consecration to Our Blessed Mother
Most Holy Trinity: Our Father in Heaven, who chose Mary as the fairest of your daughters; Holy Spirit, who chose Mary as your spouse; God the Son, who chose Mary as your Mother; in union with Mary, we adore your majesty and acknowledge your supreme, eternal dominion and authority.

Most Holy Trinity, we put the United States of America into the hands of Mary Immaculate in order that she may present the country to you. Through her we wish to thank you for the great resources of this land and for the freedom which has been its heritage. Through the intercession of Mary, have mercy on the Catholic Church in America. Grant us peace. Have mercy on our President and on all the officers of our government. Grant us a fruitful economy born of justice and charity. Have mercy on capital and industry and labor. Protect the family life of the nation. Guard the innocence of our children. Grant the precious gift of many religious vocations. Through the intercession of our Mother, have mercy on the sick, the poor, the tempted, sinners – on all who are in need.

Mary, Immaculate Virgin, our Mother, Patroness of our land, we praise you and honor you and give ourselves to you. Protect us from every harm. Pray for us, that acting always according to your will and the Will of your Divine Son, we may live and die pleasing to God.

Imprimatur: Patrick A. O’Boyle, Archbishop of Washington


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 119

Thou shalt hear us, O Lady, in the day of tribulation: and by our prayers turn to us thy merciful countenance.

Cast us not off in the time of our death: but help the soul, when it shall have left the body.

Send an angel to meet it: by whom it may be defended from the enemy.

Show unto it the most serene Judge of ages: who for thy grace will bestow pardon.

Let it feel thy refreshment in its torments: and grant to it a place among the elect of God.

For thy spirit is kind: thy grace fills the whole world.

Thunder, ye heavens, from above, and give praise to her: glorify her, ye earth, with all the dwellers therein.

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

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

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

Join us on CatholicVote.org. Be part of a new movement committed to using powerful media projects to create a Culture of Life. We can help shape the movement and have a voice in its future. Check it out at www.CatholicVote.org

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MIRACLES
– Blessed Alfonso Maria Fusco, diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. John the Baptist (1839-1910);
– Venerable Servant of God John Sullivan, professed priest of the Society of Jesus (1861-1933);
MARTYRDOM
– Servants of God Nikolle Vinçenc Prennushi, O.F.M., archbishop of Durres, Albania, and 37 companions killed between 1945 and 1974;
– Servants of God José Antón Gómez and three companions of the Benedictines of Madrid, Spain, killed 1936;
HEROIC VIRTUES
– Servant of God Thomas Choe Yang-Eop, diocesan priest (1821-1861);
– Servant of God Sosio Del Prete (né Vincenzo), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Congregation of the Little Servants of Christ the King (1885-1952);
– Servant of God Wenanty Katarzyniec (né Jósef), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (1889-1921);
– Servant of God Maria Consiglia of the Holy Spirity (née Emilia Paqualina Addatis), founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Addolorata, Servants of Mary (1845-1900);
– Servant of God Maria of the Incarnation (née Caterina Carrasco Tenorio), founder of the Congregation of the Franciscan Tertiary Sisters of the Flock of Mary (1840-1917);
– Servant of God , founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Family of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1851-1923);
– Servant of God Ilia Corsaro, founder of the Congregation of the Little Missionaries of the Eucharist (1897-1977);
– Servant of God Maria Montserrat Grases García, layperson of the Personal Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei (1941-1959).
LINKS:
Marian Apparitions (over 2000)  India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes Feb 11- July 16, Loreto, Italy 1858 
China Marian shrines May 23, 1995 Zarvintisya Ukraine Lourdes Kenya national Marian shrine    Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798  
Links to Related Marian Websites  Angels and Archangels
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  Uniates, 119 2022