Mary Mother of GOD
 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary
  Saints of Sunday November  27 Sexto Kaléndas Decémbris 
FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
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!)

   On November 27, 1830, which was one Saturday and a day before the first Sunday of Advent, at 5:30 pm, during silent meditation, I thought I heard a noise like the rustling of a silk gown, on the right side of the chapel. I then saw the Blessed Virgin Mary near the painting of Saint Joseph. She was of medium height and her face was so exquisite, that it would be impossible for me to describe the beauty of it. She was standing upright, wearing in a white gown with a high-cut neckline and flat, simple sleeves. Her head was covered with a white veil that draped down to her feet. She wore her hair parted in the middle, with a small lace headband over her hair. Her face was uncovered, and her feet stood on a globe, or rather, a hemisphere globe. At least I could only see half of it. Her hands, raised to the height of her bosom, seemed to be holding another globe with ease. Her eyes looked up to heaven, and her face brightened as she offered the globe to Our Lord.

“This globe represents the whole world and particularly France and each person in particular.”       

Told by Saint Catherine Labouré, About the Apparitions at Rue du Bac in Paris in 1830
The Icon of the Mother of God "Of the Sign"

1392 Saint James, Bishop of Rostov spread bishop's mantiya on water signed himself with the Sign of the Cross sailed off on it as if on a boat, guided by grace of God 1 1/2 versts from the city emerged on shore at site of future monastery

Called in the Gospel “the Mother of Jesus,” Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as “the Mother of my Lord” (Lk 1:43; Jn 2:1; 19:25; cf. Mt 13:55; et al.). In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly “Mother of God” (Theotokos). 
“The Blessed Virgin was eternally predestined, in conjunction with the incarnation of the divine Word, to be the Mother of God. By decree of divine Providence, she served on earth as the loving mother of the divine Redeemer, an associate of unique nobility, and the Lord's humble handmaid. She conceived, brought forth, and nourished Christ.”

THE EUCHARIST, A MYSTERY TO BE BELIEVED POST-SYNODAL APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION
SACRAMENTUM CARITATIS OF THE HOLY FATHER BENEDICT XVI

   THE saints and just, from the beginning of time and throughout the world, who have been made perfect, everlasting monuments of God’s infinite power and clemency, praise His goodness without ceasing; casting their crowns before His throne they give to Him all the glory of their triumphs: “His gifts alone in us He crowns.”

The POPES HTML
Pius IX 1846--1878 • Leo XIII 1878-1903 • Pius X 1903-1914• Benedict XV 1914-1922 • Pius XI 1922-1939 • Pius XII 1939-1958 • John XXIII 1958-1963 • Paul VI 1963 to 1978 • John Paul • John Paul II 10/16/1975-4/2/2005 Benedict XVI

“The answers to many of life's questions can be found by reading the Lives of the Saints. They teach us how to overcome obstacles and difficulties, how to stand firm in our faith, and how to struggle against evil and emerge victorious.”  1913 Saint Barsanuphius
Paul VI_Athenagoras_05_01_1964
 “To withdraw into the desert is for Christians tantamount to associating themselves more intimately with Christ’s passion, and it enables them, in a very special way, to share in the paschal mystery and in the passage of Our Lord from this world to the heavenly homeland” (#1).







Benedict XVI_Archbishop_Hilarion
Benedict XVI receives Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion n September 18th, Pope Benedict XVI;  Archbishop Hilarion, president of the Department for External Church Affairs of the Patriarchate of Moscow.
The Orthodox Archbishop is currently visiting the Vatican at the invitation of Cardinal Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
This Pontifical Council underlined that the visit will confirm the ties of friendship between the Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church, with a view to closer collaboration and to favor the presence of the Church in the lives of the peoples of Europe and the world.
In addition, a further step in ecumenical relations is scheduled for the month of October in Cyprus: the meeting of the Joint International Commission for the Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, which will address the theme of Petrine Primacy.
Aram I Catholicos
Our meeting is an opportunity to pray and reflect together, and to renew our commitment and efforts for Christian unity.
Armenian church members from all over the world join with Catholicos in making pilgrimages to Rome.

THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY  PSALM 62

O God, my God: I will glorify thee by Thy Mother.
For she hath conceived thee in virginity: and without travail she hath brought Thee forth.
Blessed be thou, O Lady: stand for us before the throne of God.
Beauty and brightness are in thy sight.
Keep my soul, O Lady: that it may never fall into sin.

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Saint Frances Xavier Seelos  Practical Guide to Holiness

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.

Nine First Fridays Devotion to the Sacred Heart From the writings of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

How do I start the Five First Saturdays?

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.

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.

Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac
  Christian council held at Edessa early as 197 (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., V,xxiii).
Aramaic continued to be an important language for Jews, alongside Hebrew, and parts of the Talmud are written in it.
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.

Great men covet to embrace martyrdom for a cause and principle.

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. Although it is supposed to be a religion of peace, Islam has been hijacked by Satan and now operates in the dark space of international terrorism.  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. Since his ordination to the priesthood in 1991 Fr. Corapi has traveled over 2,000,000 miles preaching the Gospel. He has preached in 49 of the 50 states, all of the Canadian provinces except NewFoundland, and several other foreign countries. He is currently engaged in preaching and teaching the Catholic faith by way of the means of social communication: television, radio, the internet, and various other multi-media formats.

The Tsarskoe Selo Sign Icon of the Mother of God present by St Athanasius of Constantinople
an ancient wonderworking icon, was brought by way of a present to Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich by one of the Eastern Patriarchs, supposedly by St Athanasius of Constantinople (October 28). Tsar Peter I transferred the icon, together with other sacred items from Moscow, to his new capital city.

In the year 1747, a church was built for the icon at Tsarskoe Selo. Moliebens were served before it during times of national catastrophe, for example, during a plague in 1771, and of cholera in 1831. Through the intercession of the Mother of God, the terrible epidemics almost did not touch Tsarskoe Selo. Prayers before the Tsarsko Selo Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos "of the Sign," were also offered entreating the Mother of God's help during fires and shipwrecks.
On the icon, Cherubim shade the head of the Mother of God. More recent copies of the icon depict the Apostle Peter, Sts Zachariah, Alexis the Man of God, and Righteous Elizabeth.

Aquiléjæ sancti Valeriáni Epíscopi.    At Aquileia, St. Valerian, bishop.

In Pérside sancti Jacóbi intercísi, Mártyris conspícui, qui, témpore Theodósii junióris, cum in Isdegérdis Regis grátiam Christum negásset, et proptérea mater ejus et uxor ab ipsíus se consuetúdine subtraxíssent, hinc, in se revérsus, intrépide coram Vararáne, Isdegérdis fílio ac successóre, se Christiánum esse conféssus est; ideóque ab iráto Rege, lata in eum mortis senténtia, membrátim jussus est concídi et cápite obtruncári.  Quo étiam témpore innúmeri álii Mártyres ibídem passi sunt.
    In Persia, St. James Intercisus, a distinguished martyr.  In the time of Theodosius the Younger he denied Christ in order to please King Isdegerd, but his mother and his wife for this reason withdrew from his company.  Coming to himself, he returned to the king, now Vararanus, the son and successor of Isdegerd, to declare his faith in our Lord, whereupon the angry monarch condemned him to be cut in pieces and beheaded.  Countless other martyrs suffered at this time in the same country.

'Intercisus' means 'cut to pieces,' which is precisely what happened to James, a courtier of the Persian King Yezdigerd I in 421. How much of the legend is true, we're not sure. It seems that it is comprised of the stories of three martyrs who died about the same time: James Intercisus, Mar Peros, and James the Notary.
Once again we are reminded of the opening line of H. P. Van der Speeten's The Life of Saint Catherine of Alexandria: "Legend knows what history doesn't."
King Yezdigerd began to persecute Christians in 420. To his later shame, James of Beit decided it was politically expedient to apostatize from Christianity. When Yezdigerd died, the parents (or mother and wife) of the faithless courtier wrote to their son:
 "We have been told that you have abandoned the eternal God so that you might win the favor of an earthly king and the possession of the perishable riches of this world. We have only one question to ask you, and please answer it. This king, for whom you made so great a sacrifice, where is he now? He is dead, like any other man. He is dust. What can you expect to receive from him now? Can he save you from eternal torture? If you persevere in your apostasy, you will, like him, fall into the hands of an avenging God, and we will withdraw from you just as you have withdrawn from God. We ourselves want nothing more to do with you. It is all over. We no longer exist for you."

Ashamed, James quit the court of Yezdigerd's successor, King Bahram. Learning the James had become a Christian again, Bahram debated with his counsellors what to do with James, and they decreed that unless he once again denied his faith, the saint should be hung from a beam and his body slowly cut to pieces. Those commissioned to perform this cruel deed tried to make him give way. "This supposedly painful death is but little to pay for eternal life," replied James.

In 448, when the Christian Mar Peros apostatized to save his skin, he was treated by his family in the same way. Filled with remorse, he loudly proclaimed his Christian faith, was denounced, and executed.  Those are the principal variants of the great legend of James Intercisus, though, he never really had to repent because he never denied his faith.

  All winter they had to care for the king's elephants--quite a change from court life. In the spring, after celebrating Lent and Easter in the silence of their prison cells, they were sent to work on the new road that was being built to the king's summer residence. They worked like slaves, cutting rocks and breaking stones, whipped and harassed by the overseers. "I would rather be cut up into small pieces. . . ." James would remind himself.
When the king ordered them to apostatize, they bowed down with oriental politeness, but refused. After this, their punishments were increased. They were made to work barefoot and given less to eat. But the crew of Christians stood firm. Then they were handed over to Mihrschabur, who boasted that he would make them renounce their faith without the help of blows or executions.
One night he stripped them naked, bound them hand and foot, and left them on a mountain. After a week many had lost consciousness and their resolve was weakened. Mihrschabur repeated, "Worship the sun, or you will be dragged by your feet through the mountains, and your bodies will be torn to pieces on the stones until only your bones will be left at the end of the rope."

 He, however, was released with the apostates and with energized zeal went to comfort the bishops who had suffered in the persecutions. His house was used as a secret church until the day when a spy among his friends told the king that James had not abjured the faith.  And so one day the police knocked on James' door. "So you still have not given up your faith?" "God preserve me from doing so! I never denied it, and never will. My faith is my life, just as it was the life of my fathers." And so James was again arrested.

In prison he was beaten unmercifully and tortured in other ways, but he still refused to deny Christ. According to the Syrian text this took place during the winter, when the skies were heavy with rain. When ordered by the judge to worship the sun, he responded, "Are you blind? Show me the sun that you want me to worship."
 "And where is the God that you worship," asked the judge.
 "You are not worthy to know it. But so that you won't think me a fool, let me tell you that my God is invisible in his nature and divinity. He shows himself to his people by his grace, providence, and aid. He lives in the souls of those who believe in him."
 "Silence!" shouted the judge. "Do you refuse to worship the fire which you can see before you?"
 "Order your people to carry the fire out into the rain. If it continues to burn, and is not put out by the rain, then I will admit that you are right. But if the clouds hide the sun and the rain puts out the fire, then the sun and the rain are not God, they are only our servants."
 Furious the judge replied, "You are insulting the king who worships and serves fire!"
James answered calmly, "Let the king worship the God who gave him his life, his crown, and his power."
When King Bahram heard of this, he had James brought before him and said: "Haven't you abjured the faith of the Nazarene?"

James didn't flinch for he had been preparing himself to bear witness to Jesus. He humbly reminded the king that his father, Jezdgerd, had also persecuted the Christians and that he had died abandoned by everyone and without burial, a terrible fate.

The writ was signed--it had been prepared a long time ago. James, the rebel against Mazdaism, was handed over to a eunuch assisted by two high priests and a secretary. Along the road that led to the place of torture (the road of Slik-Charobta) the crowd called out for him to obey the king and save his life.  Their efforts were futile for James had long preferred the eternal life of Jesus Christ to the pleasures of short-lived youth. The little group of Christian brothers followed the turbulent crowd in silence. When they arrived at the place of torture, a song rose up, like a choir of old, the song of the Church at prayer:
    "O Lord, mighty God, you who give strength to the weak and health to the sick, you who give life to the infirm and the dying, you who save those who are perishing, come to the aid of your servant and make him emerge the victor of this fearful fight. May he triumph for your glory, O Christ, Prince of victors, King of martyrs!"

James prayed in silence and then offered his body to the executioner. So they began slowly to cut pieces from his body. When they cut off his thumb, he began to pray: "O Savior, receive a branch of this tree. Let it die, corrupt in the grave and bud again, before being covered in glory."

His fingers were cut off--the first death. Many Christians and others in the crowd begged James to give way. But the saint said, "When I had all my fingers and could write and work I did not abjure my faith. Why should I now?"
They cut off his toes--the second death; and his hands, the third. Still James continued to pray, offering each hacked off piece of his body to God. Raising his amputated wrists to heaven, he offered to God everything that was good that this divine gift of human hands could perform--the hands of artists, workers, doctors, priests, mothers--and united with Christ expiated all the evil done by human hands, including thief and murder. He saw two hands lying on the ground and thought of Christ's hands pierced for the salvation of the world.

The fourth death entailed the severing of his feet. He thought of the blessedness of those who bring the Gospel, and the evil of the feet of conquerors and invaders. Then his arms were cut off at the elbow--the fifth death--and his legs at the knees, the sixth death. The martyr, full of pain and the love of God, did not utter a cry. He looked at his bleeding limbs, then at the crowd of fainting women, crying children, laughing youths, and praying Christians. And as the Christians prayed, they thought that tomorrow it might be their turn, but that the way of the Cross was always firmly fixed in the life of a saint, in his heart and in his flesh, and that nothing was spared those who followed in the footsteps of our crucified Master.

    "O God, you see me here with my limbs scattered. I have no fingers to clasp in prayer to you; I have no hands to stretch towards you; I have no feet nor legs nor arms. I am like a ruined house, whose walls are all that remain. O Lord, turn your anger from me and from your people! Give peace and rest to your flock that are persecuted and scattered by tyrants. Gather them together from the ends of the earth. Then I, the least of your servants, will bless and praise you with all the martyrs and confessors, from the East and from the West, from the North and from the South. Praise be to God, the Son, and Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen!"

As he said "Amen!" his head was cut off--the ninth and last death. His dead body lay in no fewer than 28 pieces, but his soul was then born into heaven. He was dead to all the sweet sights, sounds and smells of the world that give joy to life, but he was alive in God.  After his death, the Christians offered a considerable sum to obtain the martyr's relics, but were not allowed to redeem them. Nevertheless, they waited for an opportunity and carried them off by stealth. They placed all 28 pieces with the trunk and linen covered with his congealed blood into a chest or urn. The faithful buried his remains in a place unknown to the heathens.

The price of love is high. It costs little to love a little. It costs a lot more to love a lot; it costs everything to love God above all. May we all come to know this and willingly give up everything for the love of our Redeemer (Attwater 2, Benedictines, Bentley, Coulson, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).

447 Seachnall of Dunshauglin sent from Gaul in 439(?) to assist his uncle, Saint Patrick, in Ireland wrote several hymns, notably the alphabetical hymn Audites, omnes amantes Deum (the oldest known Latin hymn written in Ireland) in honor of Patrick and the earliest Latin hymn in Ireland, and Sancti, venite, Christi corpus sumite B (AC)
(also known as Secundinus, Sechnall)

Born in Devon; 6th century; feast day formerly on November 7 (although this could be a different saint). There may be several saints with this name or only one with two names. It's difficult to determine because of the paucity of documentary evidence. His vita was not produced until the 9th century, and it is moralistic rather than historical in nature. Nevertheless the memory of Saint Cungar survives in the monasteries he founded at Budgworth, Congresbury (Somerset) and at Llangonys (Glamorgan). There are dedications to this Celtic saint in Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany, and legends that suggest his was one of the great monks who evangelized throughout the Celtic lands. It is amazing that his name survived the influx of the heathen Saxons in his day, which again leads to the conclusion that he was an especially great missionary preacher. He is to be identified with Saint Docuinus (Doguinus). This seems to be the name that was later corrupted into Oue and Kew. Saint Cumgar was buried at Congresbury according to many medieval records including pilgrim guides, to which town his own name was given. His feast is celebrated in the diocese of Clifton (Attwater 2, Benedictines, Coulson, Farmer).

St. Virgil of Salzburg Irish monk 40 years he labored to convert Teutons and Slavs, founded monasteries, churches, and schools. (In 774, the council of Bavaria issued its first schools.OSB B (RM)
Salisbúrgi, in Nórico, sancti Virgílii, Epíscopi et Carinthiórum Apóstoli, qui a Gregório Nono, Pontífice Máximo, in Sanctórum númerum adscríptus est.
    At Salzburg in Austria, St. Virgil, bishop and apostle of Carinthia, who was placed among the number of saints by Pope Gregory IX.
(also known as Feargal, Fearghal, Fergal, Virgilius)
Born in Ireland; died in Salzburg, Austria, November 27, c. 781-784; canonized 1233 by Pope Gregory IX.

Virgil was an possibly of Aghaboe, who went abroad about 740 intending to visit Palestine. With him were Dobdagrec, later abbot of a monastery at Chiemsee, and Sidonius, afterwards bishop of Passau. His learning and ability attracted the attention of Blessed Pepin the Short, who kept him at the Merovingian court for two years. About 743, Pepin sent Virgil with letters of recommendation to his brother-in- law, Duke Odilo of Bavaria, who, c. 745, appointed Virgil abbot of Saint Peter's Monastery at Salzburg, with jurisdiction over the local Christians, while Dobdagrec served its episcopal functions.

Instead of visiting Palestine he remained in Bavaria to help Saint Rupert, the apostle of Austria. For 40 years he labored to convert Teutons and Slavs, founded monasteries, churches, and schools. (In 774, the council of Bavaria issued its first pronouncement on the establishment of schools.)

Virgil appears to have been a somewhat difficult character and he incurred the strong disapproval of Saint Boniface, who seems to have detested him. (Perhaps because of differences in the interpretations of Roman observance or jurisdiction, or because Virgil succeeded John whom Boniface had as abbot of Saint Peter's, or just personal differences.) Boniface twice delated him to Rome. On the first occasion Pope Saint Zachary decided in Virgil's favor. Through carelessness or ignorance, a priest had used incorrect Latin wording during a baptism. Virgil and Sidonius ruled that the baptism was valid and need not be repeated; Boniface of Mainz disagreed. Zachary was surprised that Boniface should have questioned it and issued a statement to that effect.

The other case concerned Virgil's cosmological speculations and their implications, which, as reported to Zachary by Boniface, the pope found very shocking. In 748, the pope directed Boniface to convene a council to investigate the questionable views, but the council was never convened. The incident has been the subject of much discussion and has been used and exaggerated for polemical purposes, but in fact it is far from clear what Virgil's ideas really were. It appears that Virgil postulated that the world was round and that people might be living in what would now be called the Antipodes. He was both a man of learning and a successful missionary, and even after his cosmological views were called into question, he was consecrated bishop of the see of Salzburg (c. 766), whose cathedral he rebuilt.

Saint Virgil brought relics and the veneration of Saints Brigid and Samthann of Clonbroney to the areas he evangelized. In fact, Saint Samthann, who may have provided Virgil with his early education, is better known in Austria than in her homeland.

Among his other good works, Virgil sent fourteen missionary monks headed by Saint Modestus into the province of Carinthia, of which he is venerated as the evangelizer. He baptized two successive dukes of Carinthia at Salzburg (Chetimar and Vetune). His influence is revealed by the issuance during the time of duke Chetimar of a Carinthian coin, an old Salzburg rubentaler, with the images of Saint Rupert, who built Saint Peter's monastery, and Virgil. He fell ill and died soon after making a visitation in Carinthia, going as far as the place where the Dravo River meets the Danube.

His feast is kept throughout Ireland, although he is buried at St. Peter's in Salzburg. Virgil is widely venerated in southern Germany, Austria, Yugoslavia, and northern Italy (Attwater, Attwater 2, Benedictines, Coulson, D'Arcy, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Fitzpatrick, Gougaud, Healy, Husenbeth, Kenney, Montague).

Sometimes he is paired with Saint Rupertus in artwork (Roeder). Virgil is the patron of Salzburg, Austria (Farmer).

784 St. Virgilius Benedictine bishop A noted intellectual round World
also called Vergilius, Virgil, Ferghil, and Feargal. A native of Ireland, he entered a monastery and probably served as abbot of Aghaboe before setting out on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He then spent two years in France, later going to Bavaria, Germany, where he assisted St. Rupert, the Apostle of Austria. He was elected abbot of the Benedictine abbey of St. Peter at Salzburg and bishop of the city about 765. A noted intellectual, he believed that the earth was a sphere, which brought him into conflict with St. Boniface of Mainz who twice denounced him to Rome. Both times Virgilius was exonerated, and his reputation as an Apostle of Carinthia (modern southern Austria), where he conducted missionary labors, was unblemished. Besides rebuilding the cathedral of Salzburg, he encouraged a vast missionary venture into Carinthia. Virgilius died after returning from one such mission on November 27, in Salzbwg. He was canonized in 1232.

Farmer gives him two feast days: August 29 and the feast of his translation, August 12. Saint Edwold is reputed to be the brother of Saint Edmund the Martyr, king of East Anglia. He lived on bread and water as a penitential recluse near Cerne in Dorsetshire. He worked many miracles and was buried in his cell near which the abbey of Saint Peter's was built. His relics were later translated into its church (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer).

The Icon of the Mother of God "Of the Sign", depicts the Most Holy Theotokos with prayerfully uplifted hands, and the Divine Infant is at Her bosom in a mandorla (or sphere)

This depiction of the Mother of God is regarded as one of the very first of Her iconographic images. In the mausoleum of St Agnes at Rome is a depiction of the Mother of God with hands raised in prayer with the Infant Christ sitting upon Her knees. This depiction is ascribed to the fourth century. There is also an ancient Byzantine icon of the Mother of God "Nikopea" from the sixth century, where the Most Holy Theotokos is depicted seated upon a throne and holding in Her hands an oval shield with the image of the Savior Emmanuel.

Icons of the Mother of God, known as "The Sign", appeared in Russia during the eleventh-twelfth centuries, and were so called because of a miraculous sign from the Novgorod Icon in the year 1170.

In that year the allied forces of Russian appanage princes, headed by a son of Prince Andrew Bogoliubsky of Suzdal, marched to the very walls of Great Novgorod. For the people of Novgorod, their only remaining hope was that God would help them. Day and night they prayed, beseeching the Lord not to forsake them. On the third night Bishop Elias of Novgorod heard a wondrous voice commanding that the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos be taken out of the church of the Savior's Transfiguration on Ilina street, and carried about on the city walls.

When they carried the icon, the enemy fired a volley of arrows at the procession, and one of them pierced the iconographic face of the Mother of God. Tears trickled from Her eyes, and the icon turned its face towards the city. After this divine Sign an inexpressible terror suddenly fell upon the enemy. They began to strike one another, and taking encouragement from the Lord, the people of Novgorod fearlessly gave battle and won the victory.

In remembrance of the miraculous intercession of the Queen of Heaven, Archbishop Elias established a feastday in honor of the Sign of the Mother of God, which the Russian Church celebrates to the present day. The Athonite hieromonk Pachomius the Logothete, who was present at the festal celebration of the Icon in Russia, composed two Canons for this Feast.

On certain Novgorod Icons of the Sign, the miraculous occurrences of the year 1170 were also depicted. For 186 years afterwards, the wonderworking icon remained in the Savior-Transfiguration church on Ilina street. In 1356 it was transferred to a church built in Novgorod in honor of the Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos "of the Sign," which became the cathedral church of the monastery of the Sign.

Numerous copies of the Sign Icon are known throughout Russia. Many of them were also glorified by miracles in their local churches, and were then named for the place of the appearance of the miracle. Similar copies of the Sign Icon are the icons of Dionysievo-Glushets, Abalaka (July 20), Kursk, Seraphim-Ponetaev and others.

A full account of Bd Bernardino is provided by Fr Van Ortroy in the Acta Sanctorum, November, vol. us, though he has to fall back for the details of the life upon the printed narrative of Mark of Lisbon. This, is supplemented by a memoir which Antony Amici, a grand-nephew of the beatus, contributed to a volume of Bernardino’s sermons. See also a short biography by Ugo de Pescocostanza (1872), and Léon, Auréole Séraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. iv, pp. 42—44.

The Abalaka Icon "Of the Sign" is also commemorated on July 20.

1742 St. Francesco Antonio Fasani
Born 1681 in Lucera (southeast Italy), Francesco entered the Conventual Franciscans in 1695. After his ordination 10 years later, he taught philosophy to younger friars, served as guardian of his friary and later became provincial. When his term of office ended, Francesco became master of novices and finally pastor in his hometown.

In his various ministries, he was loving, devout and penitential. He was a sought-after confessor and preacher. One witness at the canonical hearings regarding Francesco’s holiness testified, "In his preaching he spoke in a familiar way, filled as he was with the love of God and neighbor; fired by the Spirit, he made use of the words and deed of Holy Scripture, stirring his listeners and moving them to do penance." Francesco showed himself a loyal friend of the poor, never hesitating to seek from benefactors what was needed.

At his death in Lucera, children ran through the streets and cried out, "The saint is dead! The saint is dead!" Francesco was canonized in 1986.

Comment:    Eventually we become what we choose. If we choose stinginess, we become stingy. If we choose compassion, we become compassionate. The holiness of Francesco Antonio Fasani resulted from his many small decisions to cooperate with God’s grace.
Quote:   During his homily at the canonization of Francesco, Pope John Paul II reflected on John 21:15 in which Jesus asks Peter if he loves Jesus more than the other apostles and then tells Peter, "Feed my lambs." The pope observed that in the final analysis human holiness is decided by love. "He [Francesco] made the love taught us by Christ the fundamental characteristic of his existence, the basic criterion of his thought and activity, the supreme summit of his aspirations" (L'Osservatore Romano, vol. 16, number 3, 1986).

Francis Antony of Lucera (RM) (also known as Antony Fasani) Born at Lucera, Apulia, Italy, on August 6, 1681; died November 29, 1742; beatified by Pope Pius XII on April 15, 1951; canonized by John Paul II April 13, 1986.

Donato Anthony John Nicholas Fasani was born into a family of farm laborers. Although he was baptized with this august name, he was known simply as Giovanniello (Johnny). His mother remarried after his father died while Giovanniello was still very young. It was Giovanniello's stepfather who sent him to the Friars Conventual for his education. At age 15, the little saint was sent to Monte Gargano to begin his novitiate. Upon making his profession as a Franciscan on August 23, 1696, he took the name Francis Antony.

In 1703, Francis Antony was sent to Assisi, where he was ordained to the priesthood on September 11, 1705. He completed his master's degree in theology at the College of Saint Bonaventure in Rome. From that time he was called "Father Master" in his hometown, where he taught theology from 1707. At the convent of Lucera, he also served as guardian, novice master, and minister provincial of the Province of Sant'Angelo.

Although his scholarship was great, he was better known for his preaching in both the city and countryside. He spoke in a way that all who heard him could understand and directed his catechetical efforts to the poor. He produced several volumes of sermons, which include some in Latin. Francis Antony was devoted to the downtrodden: the poor, the suffering, and the imprisoned. He often accompanied those condemned to death to their execution.

Francis Antony promoted devotion to the Immaculate Conception, which was his own special love at a time when the dogma had not yet been defined. He had brought from Naples a statue of the Immaculate Conception that he put in the church of Saint Francis, and he wrote hymns for the people to sing before it. This statue is still an object of veneration in Lucera. He also established a novena to Our Lady under this appellation. On November 29, the first day of this novena, Francis Antony died, a man revered and loved as another Saint Francis of Assisi (Attwater 2, Walsh).

SS. BARLAAM AND JOSAPHAT
“IN the Indies bordering upon Persia, the birthday of the holy Barlaam and Josaphat, of whose wonderful deeds St John Damascene has written.” Cardinal Baronius added this entry to the Roman Martyrology, but the document upon which he retied is now known not written by St John. The story it tells is that an Indian king persecuted those of his subjects who were Christians, and when it was foretold that his son Josaphat (Joasaph) would become a Christian he had him brought up in the closest confinement. But an ascetic, disguised as a merchant carrying “a pearl of great price”, called Barlaam, nevertheless converted the young man. The king, Abenner, tried to undo the work but, when he failed, himself became a Christian and eventually a hermit. Josaphat, too, resigned his throne, joined his old master Barlaam in the desert, and there passed the rest of his days.

  Not only is this a purely imaginative romance about two saints who never existed, but its source is now recognized as being the legend of Siddartha Buddha, who was kept in confinement by the raja his father to prevent his becoming a professional ascetic. The Christian version of this legend spread in both East and West, and was translated into numerous languages. By this means was preserved a valuable piece of Christian apologetic, written by an Athenian philo­sopher called Aristides in the second century, which the compiler of the Barlaam legend incorporated in his text. This was not recognized as what it is till towards the end of the nineteenth century, when a Syriac version of the “Apology” of Aristides was found in the library of the monastery of Mount Sinai (an Armenian translation had been found by the Mekhitarist monks at Venice a few years before). Thus a story of the Buddha was spread over Christendom in a Christian disguise, and carrying on its back a vindication of the Church’s teaching on the One God.  

A very considerable literature has grown up around this story in modern times. It will be sufficient here to call attention to the article “Joasaph” by H. Leclercq in DAC., vol. vii, cc. 2359—2554, in which abundant references are given. The text and English translation of the Greek novel, ed. G. R. Woodward and H. Mattingly, is in the Loeb Classical Library (1914). It is now argued that the adapter, or rather translator, “John the Monk” of Mar Saba, was St Euthymius the Hagiorite (May 13); it was translated into Latin at Constantinople about 1048: see P. Peeters in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xlix (1931), pp. 276—312 and Byzantion, vol. vii, p. 692. See also J. Sonet, Le roman de Barlaam et Josaphat (1949). There was of course a genuine St Barlaam, a martyr at Antioch (November 19).  

Fictional characters. How should we understand the mythical saints? Puritanical people sometimes become indignant over them, but these fabulous saints have a profound significance. They are the nursery tales of the Church, they testify to its antiquity, and to the wonderful creative power which can take the old, deep things of human nature and consecrate them. "For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." They are the heirlooms of the Church, like the vestments which were once no stranger than the everyday clothing of a Roman gentleman.

Their names suggest that Barlaam and Josaphat came from the Far East, which indeed they did. Their story is a fable containing the entire text of the apologia for Christianity of the 2nd-century Saint Aristides the Athenian, which may otherwise have been lost. The present text of the story was included as a moral tale in Gesta Romanorum, traditionally assigned to Saint John Damascene and repeated by the wandering monks. It is a version of the legend of Siddhartha Buddha.

The story relates that Josaphat (Joseph) was the son of an Indian king, who kept the young man confined in close quarters to prevent him from becoming a Christian. He was nevertheless converted by an ascetic named Barlaam, who disguised himself as a merchant and converted the boy. Eventually Josaphat resigned his throne to become a hermit with Barlaam. There is a genuine Barlaam of Antioch, who was martyred c. 304 (Attwater, Attwater 2, Benedictines, Coulson, Encyclopedia, Sheppard).

You will recognize Barlaam in art as a man in a tree, clinging to it as he grasps at a beehive. Below him is a pit containing a dragon. A mouse gnaws through the tree. One painting shows the two saints praying in a cave (Roeder).