According to tradition, the Arapet or Arabian Icon appeared during the time when the holy Apostle Thomas was on his missionary journeys in Ethiopia, Arabia and India.

Saint Thomas The Holy and Glorious Apostle was born in the Galileian city of Pansada a fisherman. Hearing the good tidings of Jesus Christ, he left all and followed after Him. Thomas is included in the number of the holy Twelve Apostles of the Savior. Some icons depicting this event are inscribed "The Doubting Thomas."
This is incorrect. In Greek, the inscription reads, "The Touching of Thomas."
In Slavonic, it says, "The Belief of Thomas." When St Thomas touched the Life-giving side of the Lord, he no longer had any doubts.
Part of the relics of the holy Apostle Thomas are in India, Hungary and on Mt. Athos.
The name of the Apostle Thomas is associated with the Arabian (or Arapet) Icon of the Mother of God (September 6).
According to Holy Scripture, the holy Apostle Thomas did not believe the reports of the other disciples about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ: "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe" (John 20:25).
On the eighth day after the Resurrection, the Lord appeared to the Apostle Thomas and showed him His wounds. "My Lord and my God," the Apostle cried out (John 20:28). "Thomas, being once weaker in faith than the other apostles," says St John Chrysostom, "toiled through the grace of God more bravely, more zealously and tirelessly than them all, so that he went preaching over nearly all the earth, not fearing to proclaim the Word of God to savage nations."
According to Church Tradition, the holy Apostle Thomas founded Christian churches in Palestine, Mesopotamia, Parthia, Ethiopia and India. Preaching the Gospel earned him a martyr's death. For having converted the wife and son of the prefect of the Indian city of Meliapur [Melipur], the holy apostle was locked up in prison, suffered torture, and finally, pierced with five spears, he departed to the Lord.

St. Faith tortured to death for her Christianity
Agénni, in Gállia, natális sanctæ Fídei, Vírginis et Mártyris; cujus exémplo beátus Caprásius, ad martyrium animátus, agónem suum tertiodécimo Kaléndas Novémbris felíciter consummávit.
    At Agen in France, the birthday of St. Faith, virgin and martyr, by whose example blessed Caprasius was aroused to martyrdom, and by martyrdom happily fulfilled his own trial.
St. Faith's unreliable legend is that she was haled before Dacian, procurator at Agen, France, for her Christianity during Diocletian's persecution of the Christians. She was then tortured to death for her Christianity on a red-hot brazier. Also executed with her was St. Alberta (March 11th); when some of the spectators objected, Dacian had them beheaded. “”
   ST FAITH, VIRGIN AND MARTYR
         WHEN this maiden was summoned to answer for her Christianity before the procurator Dacian at Agen she signed herself with the cross and called to Heaven for help. Thus strengthened, she turned to Dacian, who asked her, “What is your name ? She answered, “My name is Faith (Fides) and I endeavour to have that which I am named”. Then he asked, “What is your religion?” and she said, “I have served Christ from my infancy, and to Him I have consecrated myself”.
         Dacian was disposed to be merciful, and appealed to her. “Come, child, remember your youth and beauty. Renounce the religion you profess and sacrifice to Diana; she is a divinity of your own sex and will bestow on you all sorts of good things.”
         But Faith replied, “ The divinities of the Gentiles are evil. How then can you expect me to sacrifice to them ? ”—“ You presume to call our gods evil! ”exclaimed Dacian. “You must instantly offer sacrifice, or die in torment.”— “No!” she cried, “ I am prepared to suffer everything for Christ. I long to die for Him.”
         Dacian ordered a brazen bed to be produced and the saint to be bound on it. A fire was kindled under, the heat of which was made still more intolerable by the addition of oil. Some of the spectators, struck with pity and horror, exclaimed,
         “How can he thus torment an innocent girl only for worshipping God!” There- upon Dacian arrested certain of them, and as these refused to sacrifice they were beheaded with St Faith.
           The legend of St Faith is untrustworthy and confused with that of St Caprasius (October 20), but her cultus was widespread in Europe during the middle ages.
         The chapel in the eastern part of the crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral in London is still called St Faith’s. Its predecessor before the Great Fire was the church of the parishioners of St Faith’s parish in Faringdon Ward Within, their parish church having been pulled down when the choir of the cathedral was lengthened in the year 1240.

The legend of St Faith and of the miracles worked at her shrine was unusually popular in the middle ages. In BHL. thirty-eight distinct Latin texts, nn. 2938—2965, are enumerated, and these gave rise to a considerable literature in the vernacular which is of great philological interest. See, for example, Hoepfener and Alfaric, La Chanson de Ste Foy (2 vols., 1926), and the review of the same work in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xlv (1927), pp. 421—425. An early and relatively sober text of the passio (which does not mention St Caprasius by name) is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. iii. Cf. also Bouillet-Servières, Ste Foy (1900) and Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux, vol. ii, pp. 144—146. The mention of St Faith in the Hieronymianum (CMH., p. 543) affords some presumption that she did actually suffer at Agen, but the date is problematical.

Item sanctæ Erótidis Mártyris, quæ, Christi amóre succénsa, ignis superávit incéndium.
Also, St. Erotis martyr, who, aflame with love for Christ, triumphed over the flames of fire.

Marcellus, Castus, Aemílius, and Saturninus
Cápuæ natális sanctórum Mártyrum Marcélli, Cásti, Æmílii et Saturníni.
At Capua, the birthday of the holy martyrs Marcellus, Castus, Aemílius, and Saturninus.
They were put to death under Roman Governor Rictiovarus during the persecution of Emperor Diocletian.

Marytrs of Trier Innumerable martyrs slain in modern Germany

Tréviris commemorátio innumerabílium fere Mártyrum, qui, in persecutióne Diocletiáni, sub Rictiováro Præside, ob Christi fidem, vário mortis génere necáti sunt.
At Treves, the commemoration of innumerable martyrs, who were put death for the faith in various manners, under the governor Rictiovarus, in the persecution of Diocletian.

175 St. Sagar Martyred bishop of Laodicea in Phrygia (modern Turkey).
Laodicéæ, in Phrygia, beáti Ságaris, Epíscopi et Mártyris; qui éxstitit unus de antíquis Pauli Apóstoli discípulis.
At Laodicea, the blessed bishop and martyr Sagar, one of the first disciples of the apostle Paul.
While supposedly a disciple of St. Paul (an unacceptable tradition), it is known that he was put to death, most likely during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

St. Romanus, venerated as Bishop of Auxerre

Antisiodóri sancti Románi Epíscopi et Mártyris. At Auxerre, St. Romanus, bishop and martyr.

probably identical with this Abbot Romanus whose relics were subsequently translated to Auxerre [cf. “Acta SS.”, May, V, 153 sqq.; October, III, 396 sqq.; Adlhoch in “Studien und Mitteilungen aus dem Benedictiner- und Cisterzienerorden” (1907), 267 seq., 501 seq.; (1908), 103 seq., 327 seq., 587 seq.; Leclerc, “Vie de St Romain, éducateur de St Bénoit” (Paris, 1893)].

7th century St. Ceollach Irish bishop of the Mercians or Middle Angles of England; He retired to lona, Scotland, but died in Ireland.

7th v. St. Magnus Bishop When the Lombards invaded in 638, Magnus transferred his see to Heraclea or Citta Nuova Italy
Opitérgii, in Venetórum fínibus, sancti Magni Epíscopi, cujus corpus Venétiis requiéscit.
At Oderzo, in the neighbourhood of Venice, St. Magnus, bishop, whose body rests at Venice.
He was a Venetian, became bishop of Oderzo. When the Lombards invaded in 638, Magnus transferred his see to Citta Nuova.

8th v. St. Aurea Abbess of Rouen; known for her piety and wisdom
Born Amiens, France, Aurea entered religious life became abbess of a very large community known for her piety and wisdom.

800 St. Epiphania Benedictine nun of Pavia Italy She was reported to be the daughter of King Ratchis of the Lombards, who became a monk at Monte Cassino.

838 St. Nicetas Opponent of Iconoclasticism also called Nicetas of Constantinople
Born in Paphlagonia, Asia Minor (modern Turkey), he was a relative of Empress Irene and served in the imperial court of Constantinople. He served as her official representative to the Council of Nicaea and was named prefect of Sicily.
In 811 he gave up his political career and became a monk in Constantinople. At the onset of the Iconoclast policies of Emperor Leo V the Armenian, Nicetas fled with an icon of Christ, but was caught and placed under arrest. Years later, he and other monks were exiled, finally ending up at a farm in Katisia, Paphlagonia. He spent his remaining years there.
ST NICETAS OF CONSTANTINOPLE (c. A.D. 838)
AMONG the courtiers of the Empress Irene, upholder of the doctrine and practice of the veneration of images of our Lord and the saints, was a young patrician named Nicetas. He came of a Paphlagonian family related to the empress, and is said to have been sent by her to the second œcumenical Council of Nicaea, in the acts of which, however, he is not mentioned as one of her two official representatives. In the palace revolution which put Nicephorus on the throne Nicetas retained his office as prefect of Sicily (his feast is kept at Messina), perhaps at the cost of taking part against his patroness, but when Nicephorus was slain in 811 he entered the monastery of Khrysonike in Constantinople. Here he remained until the Emperor Leo V began his attack on the holy images, when Nicetas and other monks retired to a country house, taking with them a very precious eikon of our Lord. When the emperor heard of this he sent soldiers, who took away the picture by force, and Nicetas was forbidden to leave his place of refuge. Nothing more is known of him for over a dozen years, when the Emperor Theophilus called on him to recognize the communion of the Iconoclast patriarch Antony. This St Nicetas peremptorily refused to do, and with three other monks he was driven from his monastery. As there was a penalty attached to giving shelter to defenders of the images they had great difficulty in finding another refuge; they were pursued from place to place, till at last St Nicetas found peace and security on a farm at Katisia in his native Paphlagonia. Here he lived for the rest of his life.

A brief account of this Nicetas, based mainly upon the Greek Menaia, is given in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. iii. Cf. also the Constantinople Synaxary, ed. Delehaye, cc, 115. 117.

728 Saint Parduiphus Benedictine abbot
Originally from Sardent, Gueret, Limoges, France, He entered the Benedictine monastery at Gueret and subsequently became its much respected abbot. According to tradition, Parduiphus remained behind and alone in the monastery during the onslaught of the Arabs across southern France. He supposedly won the safety of the monastery through his assiduous prayer.

1090 Bl. Adalbero bishop and defender of papal authority of Pope Gregory VII
who endured trials for his loyalty. Adalbero was the son of an Austrian count of Lambach and studied in Paris. He was named the bishop of Wurzberg, Germany, but was forced into exile after defending Pope Gregory VII against King Henry IV. He retired to the Benedictine abbey in Lambach, where he remained until his death.

1101 St. Bruno hermit confessor to Bishop St. Hugh of Grenoble, began the Carthusian Order
In monastério Turris, diœcésis Squillacénsis, in Calábria, sancti Brunónis Confessóris, qui Ordinis Carthusianórum fuit Institútor.
    In the Monastery De Torre, in the diocese of Squillace in Calabria, St. Bruno, confessor, founder of the Order of the Carthusians.

1101 ST BRUNO, FOUNDER OF THE CARTHUSIAN ORDER
             THE religious and learned Cardinal Bona, speaking of the Carthusian monks of whom St Bruno was the founder, calls them, “the great miracles of the world: men living in the flesh as out of the flesh; the angels of the earth, representing John the Baptist in the wilderness; the greatest ornament of the Church ; eagles soaring up to Heaven whose state is justly preferred to the institutes of all other religious orders”.
The originator of this remarkable body of men came of a good family and was born at Cologne about the year 1030. While still young he left home to finish his education at the cathedral school of Rheims, and returned to Cologne where he was ordained and was given a canonry in the collegiate church of St Cunibert (he may have held this even before he went to Rheims). In 1056 he was invited to go back to his school as professor of grammar and theology.
         The fact that he was appointed to such a post when only about twenty-seven years old shows that he was no ordinary man, but at the same time does not suggest the way in which he was to become really distinguished in the memory of Christians. He personally taught “the most advanced, the learned, not young clerics”, and in all his lessons and precepts he had chiefly in view to conduct men to God, and to make them know and respect his holy law. Many eminent scholars in philosophy and divinity did him honour by their proficiency and abilities, and carried his reputation into distant parts; among these, Eudes de Châtillon became afterwards a beatified pope under the name of Urban II.
     He taught in and maintained the reputation of the school of Rheims for eighteen years, when he was appointed chancellor of the diocese by Manasses, a man whose life made him unfit to be in holy orders at all, much less an archbishop. Bruno soon learned the truth about him, and Hugh of St Die, the pope’s legate, summoned Manasses to appear at a council at Autun in 1076, and upon his refusing to obey declared him suspended. St Bruno, another Manasses, the provost, and Pontius, a canon of Rheims, accused him in this council, and Bruno behaved with so much prudence and dignity that the legate, writing to the pope, extolled his virtue and wisdom. Manasses, exasperated against the three canons who had appeared against him, caused their houses to be broken open and plundered, and sold their prebends. The persecuted priests took refuge in the castle of Ebles de Roucy, and remained there till the simoniacal archbishop, by deceiving Pope St Gregory VII (no easy matter), had been restored to his see, when Bruno went to Cologne.
Some time before he had come to a decision to abandon the active ecclesiastical life, of which he himself gives an account in his letter to Raoul or Ralph, provost of Rheims. St Bruno, this Ralph, and another canon, in a conversation which they had one day together in the garden of Bruno’s landlord, discoursed on the vanity and false ambitions of the world and on the joys of eternal life, and being strongly affected by their serious reflections, promised one another to forsake the world. They deferred the execution of this resolve till the third should return from Rome, whither he was going; and he being detained there, Ralph slackened in his resolution and continued at Rheims. But Bruno persevered in his intention of embracing a state of religious retirement. He forsook the world in a time of flattering prosperity, when he enjoyed in it riches, honour and the favour of men, and when the church of Rheims was ready to choose him archbishop. He resigned his benefice and renounced whatever held him in the world, and persuaded some of his friends to accompany him into solitude. They first put themselves under the direction of St Robert, abbot of Molesmes (who was afterwards to help found Citeaux), and lived in a hermitage at Séche-Fontaine near by.[* The often repeated story of the conversion of St Bruno by being a Witness of the declaration of the dead Raymond Diocrès that he was a lost soul is not mentioned by himself or any of his contemporaries, and indeed is not heard of till at least over a hundred years later. It was deleted from the Roman Breviary as apocryphal by Pope Urban VIII 1623-1644.]

In this solitude Bruno, with an earnest desire for true perfection in virtue, considered with himself and deliberated with his companions what it was best for them to do, seeking the will of God in solitude, penance and prayer. He at length decided that their present home was unsuitable and to apply to St Hugh, bishop of Grenoble, who was truly a servant of God and a person well qualified to assist him; moreover, he was told that in the diocese of Grenoble there were woods and deserts most suitable to his desire of finding perfect solitude. Six of those who had accompanied him in his retreat attended him, including Landuin, who afterwards succeeded him as prior of the Grande Chartreuse.
     St Bruno and these six arrived at Grenoble about midsummer in 1084, and came before St Hugh, begging of him some place where they might serve God, remote from worldly affairs and without being burdensome to men. Hugh received them with open arms, for these seven strangers had, it was said, been represented to him in a dream the night before: wherein he thought he saw God Himself building a church in the desert called the Chartreuse, and seven stars which went before him to that place as it were to show him the way. He embraced them very lovingly and assigned them that desert of Chartreuse for their retreat, promising his utmost assistance to establish them there. But that they might be armed against the difficulties they would meet with, lest they should enter upon so great an undertaking without having well considered it, he at the same time warned them of its situation, most difficult of access among the mountains, beset with high craggy rocks, almost all the year covered with snow. St Bruno accepted the offer with joy, St Hugh made over to them all the rights he had in that forest, and they had some spiritual tie with the abtiot of Chaise-Dieu in Auvergne. Bruno and his companions immediately built an oratory there, and small cells at a little distance one from the other, like the ancient lauras of Palestine. Such was the origin of the order of the Carthusians, which took its name from this desert of Chartreuse.[* As does each separate monastery of Carthusians, e.g. in Italian, certosa, in Spanish, cartuja, in English, charterhouse.]
      St Hugh forbade any woman to go into their lands or any person to fish, hunt or drive cattle that way. The monks first built a church on a summit and cells near it, in which they lived two together in each cell (soon after, alone), meeting in church at Matins and Vespers; other hours they recited in their cells. They never took two meals in a day except on the great festivals, on which they ate together in a refectory. On other days they ate in their cells as hermits. Everything amongst them was extremely poor: even in their church they would have no gold or silver, except a silver chalice. Labour succeeded prayer. It was a chief work to copy books, by which they endeavoured to earn their subsistence, and, if all else was poor, the library was rich. The soil of their mountains was poor and its climate hard, so they had few cornfields, but they bred cattle. Bd Peter the Venerable, abbot of Cluny, some twenty-five years after St Bruno, writes of them: “Their dress is poorer than that of other monks; so short and thin and rough that the very sight frightens one. They wear hair shirts next their skin and fast almost perpetually; eat only bran-bread; never touch flesh, either sick or well; never buy fish, but eat it if given them as an alms. . . . Their constant occupation is praying, reading and manual work, which consists chiefly in transcribing books. They celebrate Mass only on Sundays and festivals.”
This manner of life they followed without any written rule, though they conformed to that of St Benedict in some points which were compatible with an eremitical life. St Bruno made his disciples fervent observers of the customs and practices he had established, which Guigo, fifth prior of the Chartreuse, drew up in writing in 1127. Guigo made many changes in the rule, and his Consuetudines remained its foundation. The Carthusian is the only old religious order in the Church which never had any reform and has never stood in need of any, owing to the entire sequestration from the world and to the vigilance of superiors and visitors in never allowing a door to be opened for mitigations and dispensations to creep in. This institute has been regarded by the Church as the most perfect model of a penitential and contemplative state, and yet St Bruno when he established his hermit-monks had no intention of founding a new religious order. That they spread beyond the mountains of Dauphiné is due, under God, to a call which came to him only six years after he went to the Chartreuse and which was as unwelcome as it was unexpected.
         He had “ to come down again to these prisoners and to have part in their toils and honours”.
            St Hugh became so great an admirer of Bruno that he took him for his spiritual father, and without regard to the difficulty of the way often went from Grenoble to the Chartreuse to enjoy his conversation and improve himself by his advice and example. But his fame went beyond Grenoble and reached the ears of Eudes de Châtillon, his former pupil and now Pope Urban II. Hearing of the holy life which he led, and being from his own personal acquaintance fully convinced of his great prudence and learning, the pope sent him an order to come to Rome that he might assist him by his counsels in the government of the Church. Bruno could have scarcely met with a more severe trial of his obedience or made a greater sacrifice. Nevertheless he set out early in 1090, having nominated Landuin prior at the Chartreuse. The departure of the saint was an inexpressible grief to his disciples, and some of them went away. The rest, with Landuin, followed their master to Rome, but they were prevailed upon by Bruno to return to their former habitation, of which the monks of Chaise-Dieu had taken charge upon their leaving.
         They recovered their former cells, which were restored to them by the abbot of Chaise-Dieu.
            St Bruno, meanwhile, had permission to occupy a hermitage among the ruins of the baths of Diocletian, where he would be close at hand when required by the pope. Exactly what part he played in the papal activities of the time we do not know. Work formerly attributed to him is now recognized as having been done by his namesake, St Bruno of Segni, but he certainly helped in the preparation of various synods in which Bd Urban aimed at the reformation of the clergy. That Bruno should efface himself and that his influence should be hidden is what is to be expected from so contemplative a spirit. Soon Urban pressed him to accept the archbishopric of Reggio in Calabria, but the saint excused himself with so great earnestness, and redoubled his importunities for the liberty of living in solitude, that the pope at length consented that he might retire into some wilderness in Calabria where he would be at hand, but not to the Chartreuse—that was too far off. Count Roger, brother of Robert Guiscard, gave him the beautiful and fertile valley of La Torre, in the diocese of Squillace, where he settled with some new disciples whom he had gained in Rome. Here he betook himself to a solitary life with more joy and fervour than ever. Remembering the resolve which his old friend Ralph of Rheims had made, he wrote him from this place a tender letter inviting him to his hermitage, putting him in mind of the obligation he had taken upon himself, and giving him an agreeable and cheerful description of his life, and of the joy and delight which he and his companions found in it. This letter shows how far the saint was from the least disposition of melancholy, moroseness or harsh severity. Gaiety of soul, which always attends true virtue, is particularly necessary in all who are called to a life of solitude, in which nothing is more pernicious than sadness, and to which nothing is more contrary than a tendency to morbid introspection.
           In the year 1099 Landuin, prior of the Chartreuse, went into Calabria to consult St Bruno about the form of living which he had instituted, for the monks were desirous not to depart from the spirit and rule of their master. Bruno wrote them a letter full of tender charity and the spirit of God: in it he instructed them in all the practices of a solitary life, solved the difficulties which they proposed to him, comforted them in their troubles, and encouraged them to perseverance. In his two Calabrian hermitages, St Mary’s and St Stephen’s, Bruno fostered that spirit which guided the monks of the Grande Chartreuse, and on its temporal side he was generously helped by Count Roger, with whom he formed a close friendship.
         Bruno would visit Roger and his family at Mileto, when there was a baptism or some such matter toward, and Roger would go and stay at La Torre; and they died within three months of one another. On one occasion, while besieging Capua, Roger was saved from the treachery of one of his officers by being warned by St Bruno in a dream. The treachery was verified and the man condemned to death, but he was pardoned at Bruno’s request.
           His last sickness came upon him towards the end of September 1101, and when he saw death near he gathered his monks about his bed, and in their presence made a public confession of his life and a profession of faith, which his disciples set down and preserved. He resigned his soul to God on Sunday, October 6, 1101. An account of his death was sent by his monks of La Torre to the chief churches and monasteries of Italy, France, Germany, England and Ireland according to custom to recommend the souls of persons deceased to their prayers. This mortuary-roll of St Bruno, with the elogia written thereon by the one hundred and seventy-eight recipients, is one of the fullest and most valuable of such documents extant. St Bruno has never been formally canonized, the Carthusians being averse from all occasions of publicity; but in 1514 they obtained leave from Pope Leo X to keep his feast, and in 1674 Clement X extended it to the whole Western church. In Calabria he enjoys all the veneration of a “popular” saint; the contrast of contemplative and active in his life is thus mirrored in the circumstances of his cultus.

Although there is nothing in the nature of a contemporary life of St Bruno, a good deal of information is available from other sources. The Vita antiquior, printed by the Bollandists, October, vol. iii, cannot have been written before the thirteenth century. But in Guibert de Nogent’s autobiography, in Guido’s account of St Hugh of Grenoble, and in contemporary chronicles and letters (including two letters of Bruno himself), etc., a vivid picture of the saint is presented. These materials have been collected and turned to account both in the Acta Sanctorum under this day, in the Annales Ordinis Cartusiensis of Dom Le Couteulx, vol. i, and in several modern lives. Mention in particular should be made of H. Löbbel, Der Stifter des Karthduserordens (1899); and of the somewhat less critical Vie de S. Bruno, by a monk of the Grande Chartreuse (1888). See also the slighter sketches by M. Gorse and Boyer d’Argen, both published in 1902. St Bruno’s authentic works, mostly scripture commentaries, were reprinted by the Carthusians at Montreuil-sur-Mer in 1891—92. On his relations with Archbishop Manasses in the earlier part of his life reference may be made to Wiedemann, Gregor VII und Erzbischof Manasses I von Reims (1885), together with Hefele-Leclercq, Conciles, vol. v, pp. 220—226. A tolerably full bibliography of writings concerning St Bruno is contained in the article “Chartreux” in DTC., vol. ii, CC. 2279—2282 ; and see Dictionnaire de spiritualité, vol. ii, CC. 705—776.

   Bruno was born in Cologne of the prominent Hartenfaust family. He studied at the Cathedral school at Rheims, and on his return to Cologne about 1055, was ordained and became a Canon at St. Cunibert's. He returned to Rheims in 1056 as professor of theology, head of the school the following year, and remained there until 1074, when he was appointed chancellor of Rheims by its archbishop, Manasses.
   Bruno was forced to flee Rheims when he and several other priests denounced Manasses in 1076 as unfit for the office of Papal Legate. Bruno later returned to Cologne but went back to Rheims in 1080 when Manasses was deposed, and though the people of Rheims wanted to make Bruno archbishop, he decided to pursue an eremitical life.
   He became a hermit under Abbot St. Robert of Molesmes (who later founded Citeaux) but then moved on to Grenoble with six companions in 1084. They were assigned a place for their hermitages in a desolate, mountainous, alpine area called La Grande Chartreuse, by Bishop St. Hugh of Grenoble, whose confessor Bruno became.

   They built an oratory and individual cells, roughly followed the rule of St. Benedict, and thus began the Carthusian Order. They embraced a life of poverty, manual work, prayer, and transcribing manuscripts, though as yet they had no written rule. The fame of the group and their founder spread, and in 1090, Bruno was brought to Rome, against his wishes, by Pope Urban II (whom he had taught at Rheims) as Papal Adviser in the reformation of the clergy. Bruno persuaded Urban to allow him to resume his eremitical state, founded St. Mary's at La Torre in Calabria, declined the Pope's offer of the archbishopric of Reggio, became a close friend of Count Robert of Sicily, and remained there until his death on October 6.
   He wrote several commentaries on the psalms and on St. Paul's epistles. He was never formally canonized because of the Carthusians' aversion to public honors but Pope Leo X granted the Carthusians permission to celebra te his feast in 1514, and his name was placed on the Roman calendar in 1623.

October 6, 2009 St. Bruno (1030?-1101)
This saint has the honor of having founded a religious order which, as the saying goes, has never had to be reformed because it was never deformed. No doubt both the founder and the members would reject such high praise, but it is an indication of the saint's intense love of a penitential life in solitude.

He was born in Cologne, Germany, became a famous teacher at Rheims and was appointed chancellor of the archdiocese at the age of 45. He supported Pope Gregory VII in his fight against the decadence of the clergy and took part in the removal of his own scandalous archbishop, Manasses. Bruno suffered the plundering of his house for his pains.
He had a dream of living in solitude and prayer, and persuaded a few friends to join him in a hermitage. After a while he felt the place unsuitable and, through a friend, was given some land which was to become famous for his foundation “in the Chartreuse” (from which comes the word Carthusians). The climate, desert, mountaino us terrain and inaccessibility guaranteed silence, poverty and small numbers.
Bruno and his friends built an oratory with small individual cells at a distance from each other. They met for Matins and Vespers each day, and spent the rest of the time in solitude, eating together only on great feasts. Their chief work was copying manuscripts. The pope, hearing of Bruno's holiness, called for his assistance in Rome. When the pope had to flee Rome, Bruno pulled up stakes again, and spent his last years (after refusing a bishopric) in the wilderness of Calabria.

He was never formally canonized, because the Carthusians were averse to all occasions of publicity. Pope Clement extended his feast to the whole Church in 1674.

Comment: If there is always a certain uneasy questioning of the contemplative life, there is an even greater puzzlement about the extremely penitential combination of community and hermit life lived by the Carthusians.

Quote: “Members of those communities which are totally dedicated to contemplation give themselves to God alone in solitude and silence and through constant prayer and ready penance. No matter how urgent may be the needs of the active apostolate, such communities will always have a distinguished part to play in Christ's Mystical Body...” (Decree on the Renewal of Religious Life, 7).

1791 St. Maria Francesca Gallo Mystic and stigmatic, a Franciscan tertiary; MARY FRANCES OF NAPLES
   She was born in Naples became a Franciscan tertiary at the age of sixteen. Maria lived at home where she was abused until she became a priest's housekeeper in 1753. She had visions, bore the wounds of Christ's Passion, and was a known prophetess; among her predictions was the coming of the French Revolution. Maria was canonized in 1867 by Pope Pius IX.
   ST MARY FRANCES OF NAPLES, VIRGIN (A.D. 1791)
         BARBARA BASINSIN, mother of this saint, had much to suffer before the child’s birth from the roughness and bad temper of her husband, Francis Gallo, and from horrible dreams and delusions. In her distress she opened her heart to the Franciscan St John-Joseph-of-the-Cross and the Jesuit St Francis di Girolamo.
         They reassured and comforted her and are moreover said to have prophesied the future holiness of the unborn babe, who was born at Naples in 1715 and baptized Anne Mary Rose Nicolette. When Anne was sixteen her father set his heart on her marrying a wealthy young man of rather better family, who was most anxious to have the virtuous and attractive girl as his wife. But she had already made up her mind to give herself to Christ only, and therefore resolutely opposed her father, to his great indignation. His brutal temper carried him away, and he beat the girl and locked her in her room with only bread and water. She was glad enough to suffer thus for her faithfulness to God’s call, while her mother tried to persuade Francis Gallo to let Anne have her wish of enrolling herself among the tertiaries of St Francis. To help her she called in Father Theophilus, a friar of the Observance, who at length made Gallo see that his conduct was unjust and unreasonible, and got him to drop his insistence on the advantageous match.
Accordingly, on September 8, 1731, Anne received the habit of the third order in the Franciscan church of the Alcantarine reform at Naples. As testimony to her devotion to our Lord’s passion she took the name of Mary-Frances-of-the-Five-Wounds. In accordance with a practice then not entirely obsolete she continued to live at home, wearing the habit of her order and devoting herself to a religious life of piety and material usefulness; during the last thirty-eight years she directed the household of a secular priest, Don John Pessiri. Sister Mary Frances displayed in herself a number of the physical phenomena of mysticism in a marked degree.
     While making the stations of the cross, especially on the Fridays of Lent, she would experience pains corresponding to those of the Passion: of the agony in the garden, the scourging, the crowning with thorns, and so on week by week in order, culminating in an appearance of death. She is said to have received the stigmata.
     But the most remarkable occurrences were with reference to the Blessed Sacrament, which she was allowed to receive every day. It is alleged that three times the Host came to her mouth without visible agency: once from the celebrant’s fingers as he said Ecce Agnus Del, once from the ciborium, and once the piece which is broken off the larger Host to be put into the chalice.     But the Barnabite St Francis Xavier Bianchi testifies to even more astonishing things concerning the Precious Blood. At the Christmas of 1741 Sister Mary Frances received the mystical espousals. While praying at the crib she seemed to see our Lord stretching out His right hand to her and to hear the words, “This night you shall be my bride”. The experience brought on a temporary loss of sight, which lasted till the next day. She was favoured with other visions and was very frequently rapt in ecstasy.
      To the sufferings that have been referred to were added bodily ill-health and distress caused by the unkindness to her of her father and other members of herfamily. But St Mary Frances did not think these enough, and added to them severe voluntary austerities, at the same time asking God that she might take upon herself the pains of those in Purgatory (including, eventually, her father) and of her sick and sinful neighbours. Her confessor one day exclaimed that he wondered there were any souls left in Purgatory at all. Several times, it is said, dead persons appeared to her, asking for particular prayers to be said on their behalf. To the Theatine provincial, Father Gaetano Laviosa, she said that she had endured all that could be endured. Priests, religious and lay people came to her for help and direction. To Friar Peter Baptist, of the Alcantarines, she said, “Take care, father, not to let jealousies arise among your penitents. We poor women are very subject to it, as I know by experience; I have suffered from it. I thank God for prompting my confessor to act in the way he did. He told me to come to confession after all his other penitents, and when I went in he often only said to me sharply, ‘Go to communion.’ Then the Devil whispered in my ear how little sympathy my confessor had for me, how he ignored what I suffered at home from my father and sisters when they complained angrily at my coming back from church so late. But what troubled me most were the remarks of the neighbours because I went to confession so often. I tell you this both that you may be careful and gentle, and also not spare those who need a little severity.”
   St Mary Frances lived till the early years of the French Revolution, and she clearly foresaw in a general way some of the events that were to come. “I can see nothing but disasters”, she said more than once. “Troubles in the present, greater troubles in the future. I pray God that I may not live to witness them.”
     She died on October 6, 1791, and was buried in the church of Santa Lucia del Monte at Naples. She had promised St Francis Xavier Bianchi that she would appear to him three days before his death, and is said actually to have done so on January 28, 1815. St Mary Frances was canonized in 1867.

A short biography by Father Laviosa, who had known the saint personally, was published not long after her death, and this was revised and issued again in 1866, in anticipation of the canonization which took place next year; it bears the title, Vita di Santa Maria Francesca delle Cinque Piaghe di Gesu Cristo. This life was also translated into French; and from the same Source was abbreviated the account in Léon, Auréole Séraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. iii, pp. 278—286. Another life, by L. Montella, was published in 1866. For the physical phenomena cf. H. Thurston, The Physical Phenomena of Mysticism (1952).

1849 Bl. Marie Rose Durocher founded the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary
Neápoli, in Campánia, deposítio sanctæ Maríæ-Francíscæ a Quinque Vulnéribus Dómini nostri Jesu Christi, Vírginis, ex tértio Ordine sancti Francísci, quæ, virtútibus et miráculis clara, a Pio Papa Nono sanctis Virgínibus adscrípta fuit.
At Naples in Campania, the death of St. Mary Frances of the Five Wounds of Our Lord Jesus Christ, a nun of the Third Order of St. Francis. Because of her reputation for virtues and the working of miracles, she was placed among the holy virgins by Pope Pius IX.
Eulalie Durocher was born on October 6, 1811, at St. Antoine in Quebec, Canada. She was youngest of ten children. After her education at the hands of the Sisters of Notre Dame, she helped her brother, a parish priest, and in the process established the first Canadian parish Sodality for young women.

In 1843, she was invited by Bishop Bourget to found a new congregation of women dedicated to Christian education. Accordingly she founded the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary and took the religious name of Marie Rose. Under her saintly and wise leadership, her community flourished in spite of all kinds of obstacles, including great poverty and unavoidable misunderstandings. She remained unswerving in her concern for the poor. Worn out by her many labors, Marie Rose was called to her heavenly reward on October 6, 1849, at the age of thirty-eight. She was declared Blessed by Pope John Paul II on May 23, 1982.

1858 St. Francis Trung Martyr of Vietnam
He was born at Phon-xa, Vietnam, in 1825 and joined the army. Arrested as a Christian, Francis was beheaded at Anhoa. He was canonized in 1988.

1879 St Innocent, Metropolitan of Moscow, Enlightener of the Aleuts and Apostle to America Glorification of; The missionary service of the future Apostle of America and Siberia began with the year 1823. Father John spent 45 years laboring for the enlightenment of the peoples of Kamchatka, the Aleutian Islands, North America, Yakutsk, the Khabarov frontier, performing his apostolic exploit in severe conditions and at great risks to life. Saint Innocent baptized ten thousand people, and built churches, beside which he founded schools and he himself taught the fundamentals of the Christian life. His knowledge of various crafts and arts aided him in his work.

Father John was a remarkable preacher. During the celebration of the Liturgy, memorial services and the all-night Vigil, he incessantly guided his flock. During his time of endless travels, Father John studied the languages, customs and habits of the peoples, among whom he preached. His work in geography, ethnography and linguistics received worldwide acclaim. He composed an alphabet and grammar for the Aleut language and translated the Catechism, the Gospel and many prayers into that language. One of the finest of his works was the Indication of the Way into the Kingdom of Heaven (1833), translated into the various languages of the peoples of Siberia and appearing in more than 40 editions. Thanks to the toil of Father John, the Yakut people in 1859 first heard the Word of God and divine services in their own native language.

In the world John Popov-Veniaminov was born August 26, 1797 in the village of Anginsk in the Irkutsk diocese, into the family of a sacristan. The boy mastered his studies at an early age and by age seven, he was reading the Epistle in church. In 1806 they sent him to the Irkutsk seminary. In 1814, the new rector thought it proper to change the surnames of some of the students. John Popov received the surname Veniaminov in honor of the deceased Archbishop Benjamin of Irkutsk (+ July 8, 1814). On May 13, 1817 he was ordained deacon for the Irkutsk Annunciation church, and on May 18, 1821, he was ordained priest.

The missionary service of the future Apostle of America and Siberia began with the year 1823. Father John spent 45 years laboring for the enlightenment of the peoples of Kamchatka, the Aleutian Islands, North America, Yakutsk, the Khabarov frontier, performing his apostolic exploit in severe conditions and at great risks to life. Saint Innocent baptized ten thousand people, and built churches, beside which he founded schools and he himself taught the fundamentals of the Christian life. His knowledge of various crafts and arts aided him in his work.

Father John was a remarkable preacher. During the celebration of the Liturgy, memorial services and the all-night Vigil, he incessantly guided his flock. During his time of endless travels, Father John studied the languages, customs and habits of the peoples, among whom he preached. His work in geography, ethnography and linguistics received worldwide acclaim. He composed an alphabet and grammar for the Aleut language and translated the Catechism, the Gospel and many prayers into that language. One of the finest of his works was the Indication of the Way into the Kingdom of Heaven (1833), translated into the various languages of the peoples of Siberia and appearing in more than 40 editions. Thanks to the toil of Father John, the Yakut people in 1859 first heard the Word of God and divine services in their own native language.

On November 29, 1840, after the death of his wife, Father John was tonsured a monk with the name Innocent by St Philaret, the Metropolitan of Moscow, in honor of St Innocent of Irkutsk. On December 15, Archimandrite Innocent was consecrated Bishop of Kamchatka, the Kurile and Aleutian Islands. On April 21, 1850 Bishop Innocent was elevated to the rank of archbishop.

By the Providence of God on January 5, 1868, St Innocent succeeded Metropolitan Philaret on the Moscow cathedra. Through the Holy Synod, Metropolitan Innocent consolidated the secular missionary efforts of the Russian Church (already in 1839 he had proposed a project for improving the organization of missionary service).

Under the care of Metropolitan Innocent a Missionary Society was created, and the Protection monastery was reorganized for missionary work. In 1870 the Japanese Orthodox Spiritual Mission headed by Archimandrite Nicholas Kasatkin (afterwards Saint Nicholas of Japan, (February 3) was set up, to whom St innocent had shared much of his own spiritual experience. The guidance by St Innocent of the Moscow diocese was also fruitful, by his efforts, the church of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos was built up into the Moscow Spiritual Academy.

St Innocent fell asleep in the Lord on March 31, 1879, on Holy Saturday, and was buried at the Holy Spirit Church of the Trinity-St Sergius Lavra. On October 6, 1977, St Innocent was glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church. His memory is celebrated three times during the year: on March 31, the day of his blessed repose, on October 5 (Synaxis of the Moscow Hierarchs), and on October 6, the day of his glorification.

To Save A Life is Earthly; To Save A Soul is Eternal

THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 87

On the rivers of Babylon the Hebrews wept: but let us weep over our sins.

Let us cry out humbly to the Virgin and Mother: let us offer her our plaints and our sighs.

There is no propitiation to be found without her: nor salvation apart from her fruit.

By her, sins are purged away: and by her fruit, souls are made white.

By her is made satisfaction for sins; by her fruit health is bestowed.

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.

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Saint Frances Xavier Seelos Practical Guide to Holiness

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

My God, I believe, I adore, I trust and I love Thee. I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not

O most Holy trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly. I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the Tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended, and by the infite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I beg the conversion of poor sinners, Fatima Prayer, Angel of Peace

The voice of the Father is heard, the Son enters the water, and the Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove.

THE spirit and example of the world imperceptibly instil the error into the minds of many that there is a kind of middle way of going to Heaven; and so, because the world does not live up to the gospel, they bring the gospel down to the level of the world. It is not by this example that we are to measure the Christian rule, but words and life of Christ. All His followers are commanded to labour to become perfect even as our heavenly Father is perfect, and to bear His image in our hearts that we may be His children. We are obliged by the gospel to die to ourselves by fighting self-love in our hearts, by the mastery of our passions, by taking on the spirit of our Lord.

These are the conditions under which Christ makes His promises and numbers us among His children, as is manifest from His words which the apostles have left us in their inspired writings. Here is no distinction made or foreseen between the apostles or clergy or religious and secular persons. The former, indeed, take upon themselves certain stricter obligations, as a means of accomplishing these ends more perfectly; but the law of holiness and of disengagement of the heart from the world is general and binds all the followers of Christ.

God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique each the result of a new idea.

As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike.
It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints.
Dear Lord, grant us a spirit not bound by our own ideas and preferences.
Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves.
O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory.
Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.

Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.

The 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary ) Revealed to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan)

1. Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces. 2. I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary. 3. The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies. 4. It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that soul would sanctify them by this means. 5. The soul that recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish. 6. Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying themselves to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise them in His justice, they shall not perish by an unprovided death; if they be just, they shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life. 7. Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church. 8. Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise. 9. I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary. 10. The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven. 11. You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary. 12. I shall aid all those who propagate the Holy Rosary in their necessities. 13. I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death. 14. All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ. 15. Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.

His Holiness Aram I, current (2013) Catholicos of Cilicia of Armenians, whose See is located in Lebanese town of Antelias. The Catholicosate was founded in Sis, capital of Cilicia, in the year 1441 following the move of the Catholicosate of All Armenians back to its original See of Etchmiadzin in Armenia. The Catholicosate of Cilicia enjoyed local jurisdiction, though spiritually subject to the authority of Etchmiadzin. In 1921 the See was transferred to Aleppo in Syria, and in 1930 to Antelias.

Its jurisdiction currently extends to Syria, Cyprus, Iran and Greece.

Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac

The exact date of the introduction of Christianity into Edessa {Armenian Ourhaï in Arabic Er Roha, commonly Orfa or Urfa, its present name} is not known. It is certain, however, that the Christian community was at first made up from the Jewish population of the city. According to an ancient legend, King Abgar V, Ushana, was converted by Addai, who was one of the seventy-two disciples. In fact, however, the first King of Edessa to embrace the Christian Faith was Abgar IX (c. 206) becoming official kingdom religion.

Christian council held at Edessa early as 197 (Eusebius, Hist. Ecc7V,xxiii).

In 201 the city was devastated by a great flood, and the Christian church was destroyed (“Chronicon Edessenum”, ad. an. 201).

In 232 the relics of the Apostle St. Thomas were brought from India, on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written.

Under Roman domination martyrs suffered at Edessa: Sts. Scharbîl and Barsamya, under Decius; Sts. Gûrja, Schâmôna, Habib, and others under Diocletian.

In the meanwhile Christian priests from Edessa evangelized Eastern Mesopotamia and Persia, established the first Churches in the kingdom of the Sassanides. Atillâtiâ, Bishop of Edessa, assisted at the Council of Nicæa (325). The “Peregrinatio Silviæ” (or Etheriæ) (ed. Gamurrini, Rome, 1887, 62 sqq.) gives an account of the many sanctuaries at Edessa about 388.

Although Hebrew had been the language of the ancient Israelite kingdom, after their return from Exile the Jews turned more and more to Aramaic, using it for parts of the books of Ezra and Daniel in the Bible. By the time of Jesus, Aramaic was the main language of Palestine, and quite a number of texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls are also written in Aramaic.

Aramaic continued to be an important language for Jews, alongside Hebrew, and parts of the Talmud are written in it.

After Arab conquests of the seventh century, Arabic quickly replaced Aramaic as the main language of those who converted to Islam, although in out of the way places, Aramaic continued as a vernacular language of Muslims.

Aramaic, however, enjoyed its greatest success in Christianity. Although the New Testament wins written in Greek, Christianity had come into existence in an Aramaic-speaking milieu, and it was the Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac, that became the literary language of a large number of Christians living in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire and in the Persian Empire, further east. Over the course of the centuries the influence of the Syriac Churches spread eastwards to China (in Xian, in western China, a Chinese-Syriac inscription dated 781 is still to be seen); to southern India where the state of Kerala can boast more Christians of Syriac liturgical tradition than anywhere else in the world.

680 Shiite saint Imam Hussein, grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad Known as Ashoura and observed by Shiites across the world, the 10th day of the lunar Muslim month of Muharram: the anniversary of the 7th century death in battle of one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints. Imam Hussein died in the 680 A.D. battle fought on the plains outside Karbala, a city in modern Iraq that's home to the saint's shrine. The battle over a dispute about the leadership of the Muslim faith following Muhammad's death in 632 A.D. It is the defining event in Islam's split into Sunni and Shiite branches. The occasion is the source of an enduring moral lesson. "He sacrificed his blood to teach us not to give in to corruption, coercion, or use of force and to seek honor and justice." According to Shiite beliefs, Hussein and companions were denied water by enemies who controlled the nearby Euphrates. Streets get partially covered with blood from slaughter of hundreds of cows and sheep. Volunteers cook the meat and feed it to the poor. Hussein's martyrdom recounted through a rich body of prose, poetry and song remains an inspirational example of sacrifice to many Shiites, 10 percent of the world's estimated 1.3 billion Muslims.

Meeting of the Saints walis (saints of Allah)

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

So was the case with Hazrat Ali. He could have made a compromise with the evil forces of his time and, as a result, could have led a very comfortable, easy and luxurious life. But he was not a person who would succumb to such temptations. His upbringing, his education and his training in the lap of the holy Prophet made him refuse such an offer.
Rabia Al-Basri (717–801 C.E.) She was first to set forth the doctrine of mystical love and who is widely considered to be the most important of the early Sufi poets. An elderly Shia pointed out that during his pre-Partition childhood it was quite common to find pictures and portraits of Shia icons in Imambaras across the country.
Shah Abdul Latif: The Exalted Sufi Master born 1690 in a Syed family; died 1754. In ancient times, Sindh housed the exemplary Indus Valley Civilisation with Moenjo Daro as its capital, and now, it is the land of a culture which evolved from the teachings of eminent Sufi saints. Pakistan is home to the mortal remains of many Sufi saints, the exalted among them being Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, a practitioner of the real Islam, philosopher, poet, musicologist and preacher. He presented his teaching through poetry and music - both instruments sublime - and commands a very large following, not only among Muslims but also among Hindus and Christians. Sindh culture: The Shah is synonymous with Sindh. He is the very fountainhead of Sindh's culture. His message remains as fresh as that of any present day poet, and the people of Sindh find solace from his writings. He did indeed think for Sindh. One of his prayers, in exquisite Sindhi, translates thus: “Oh God, may ever You on Sindh bestow abundance rare! Beloved! All the world let share Thy grace, and fruitful be.”
Shia Ali al-Hadi, died 868 and son Hassan al-Askari 874. These saints are the 10th and 11th of Shia's 12 most revered Imams. Baba Farid Sufi 1398 miracle, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki renowned Muslim Sufi saint scholar miracles 569 A.H. [1173 C.E.] hermit gave to poor, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti greatest mystic of his time born 533 Hijri (1138-39 A.D.), Hazrat Ghuas-e Azam, Hazrat Bu Ali Sharif, and Hazrat Nizamuddi n Aulia Sufi Saint Hazrath Khwaja Syed Mohammed Badshah Quadri Chisty Yamani Quadeer (RA) 1236-1325 welcomed people of all faiths & all walks of life.

801 Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya Sufi One of the most famous Islamic mystics
(b. 717). This 8th century saint was an early Sufi who had a profound influence on later Sufis, who in turn deeply influenced the European mystical love and troubadour traditions. Rabi'a was a woman of Basra, a seaport in southern Iraq. She was born around 717 and died in 801 (185-186). Her biographer, the great medieval poet Attar, tells us that she was "on fire with love and longing" and that men accepted her "as a second spotless Mary" (186). She was, he continues, “an unquestioned authority to her contemporaries" (218).
Rabi'a began her ascetic life in a small desert cell near Basra, where she lost herself in prayer and went straight to God for teaching. As far as is known, she never studied under any master or spiritual director. She was one of the first of the Sufis to teach that Love alone was the guide on the mystic path (222). A later Sufi taught that there were two classes of "true believers": one class sought a master as an intermediary between them and God -- unless they could see the footsteps of the Prophet on the path before them, they would not accept the path as valid. The second class “...did not look before them for the footprint of any of God's creatures, for they had removed all thought of what He had created from their hearts, and concerned themselves solely with God. (218)
Rabi'a was of this second kind. She felt no reverence even for the House of God in Mecca: "It is the Lord of the house Whom I need; what have I to do with the house?" (219) One lovely spring morning a friend asked her to come outside to see the works of God. She replied, "Come you inside that you may behold their Maker. Contemplation of the Maker has turned me aside from what He has made" (219). During an illness, a friend asked this woman if she desired anything.
"...[H]ow can you ask me such a question as 'What do I desire?' I swear by the glory of God that for twelve years I have desired fresh dates, and you know that in Basra dates are plentiful, and I have not yet tasted them. I am a servant (of God), and what has a servant to do with desire?" (162)
When a male friend once suggested she should pray for relief from a debilitating illness, she said,
"O Sufyan, do you not know Who it is that wills this suffering for me? Is it not God Who wills it? When you know this, why do you bid me ask for what is contrary to His will? It is not well to oppose one's Beloved." (221)
She was an ascetic. It was her custom to pray all night, sleep briefly just before dawn, and then rise again just as dawn "tinged the sky with gold" (187). She lived in celibacy and poverty, having renounced the world. A friend visited her in old age and found that all she owned were a reed mat, screen, a pottery jug, and a bed of felt which doubled as her prayer-rug (186), for where she prayed all night, she also slept briefly in the pre-dawn chill. Once her friends offered to get her a servant; she replied,
"I should be ashamed to ask for the things of this world from Him to Whom the world belongs, and how should I ask for them from those to whom it does not belong?" (186-7)
A wealthy merchant once wanted to give her a purse of gold. She refused it, saying that God, who sustains even those who dishonor Him, would surely sustain her, "whose soul is overflowing with love" for Him. And she added an ethical concern as well:
"...How should I take the wealth of someone of whom I do not know whether he acquired it lawfully or not?" (187)
She taught that repentance was a gift from God because no one could repent unless God had already accepted him and given him this gift of repentance. She taught that sinners must fear the punishment they deserved for their sins, but she also offered such sinners far more hope of Paradise than most other ascetics did. For herself, she held to a higher ideal, worshipping God neither from fear of Hell nor from hope of Paradise, for she saw such self-interest as unworthy of God's servants; emotions like fear and hope were like veils -- i.e., hindrances to the vision of God Himself. The story is told that once a number of Sufis saw her hurrying on her way with water in one hand and a burning torch in the other. When they asked her to explain, she said:
"I am going to light a fire in Paradise and to pour water on to Hell, so that both veils may vanish altogether from before the pilgrims and their purpose may be sure..." (187-188)
She was once asked where she came from. "From that other world," she said. "And where are you going?" she was asked. "To that other world," she replied (219). She taught that the spirit originated with God in "that other world" and had to return to Him in the end. Yet if the soul were sufficiently purified, even on earth, it could look upon God unveiled in all His glory and unite with him in love. In this quest, logic and reason were powerless. Instead, she speaks of the "eye" of her heart which alone could apprehend Him and His mysteries (220).
Above all, she was a lover, a bhakti, like one of Krishna’s Goptis in the Hindu tradition. Her hours of prayer were not so much devoted to intercession as to communion with her Beloved. Through this communion, she could discover His will for her. Many of her prayers have come down to us:
       "I have made Thee the Companion of my heart,
        But my body is available for those who seek its company,
        And my body is friendly towards its guests,
        But the Beloved of my heart is the Guest of my soul." [224]

To Save A Life is Earthly; Saving A Soul is Eternal Donation by mail, please send check or money order to:

Eternal Word Television Network 5817 Old Leeds Rd. Irondale, AL 35210 USA
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Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey

Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament

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

Thus began a great adventure that would eventually result in the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, a Temple dedicated to the Divine Child Jesus, a place of refuge for all. Use this link to read a remarkable story about The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament

Father Reardon, Editor of The Catholic Bulletin for 14 years Lover of the poor; “A very Holy Man of God.”

Monsignor Reardon Protonotarius Apostolicus
Pastor 42 years BASILICA OF SAINT MARY Minneapolis MN

America's First Basilica Largest Nave in the World

August 7, 1907-ground broke for the foundation

by Archbishop Ireland-laying cornerstone May 31, 1908

James M. Reardon Publication History of Basilica of Saint Mary 1600-1932

Index to Part I and Part II 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}.

Saints Simon (saw), Bartholomew (knife), James the Lesser (book), John (eagle), Andrew (transverse cross), Peter keys), Paul (sword), James the Greater (staff), Thomas (carpenter's square), Philip (serpent), Matthew (book), and Jude sword

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, 137 2023