249 St. Monas Bishop of Milan from 193
Medioláni sancti Monæ Epíscopi, qui, cum de Epíscopo eligéndo agerétur, cælésti lúmine circumfúsus, eo signo mirabíliter in Pontíficem illíus Ecclésiæ est assúmptus.
At Milan, St. Monas, bishop. He was chosen as head of that church because a miraculous light from heaven surrounded him when they were deliberating on the choice of a bishop.
He endured many Roman persecutions in his era.
Monas of Milan B (RM). Saint Monas governed the see of Milan from his consecration in 193 until his death. He managed to remain alive and active in his apostolate through several persecutions (Benedictines).

284 St. Maximilian of Lorch Martyred bishop of Lorch Pope Sixtus II sent him to Lorch, near Passau, where he served two decades as a missionary bishop.

Celénæ, in Pannónia, sancti Maximiliáni, Epíscopi Laureacénsis.
At Cilli in Austria, St. Maximilian, bishop of Lorsch.

He was born at Cilli, modem Steiermark, in Styria, Austria, and disposed of his wealth to make a pilgrimage to Rome. Pope Sixtus II sent him to Lorch, near Passau, where he served two decades as a missionary bishop. He was then beheaded by command of the Roman Prefect Numerian at the gate of Cilli for refusing to sacrifice to the gods.
Maximilian of Lorch BM (AC) Born at Novicum; died at Cilli, Styria, Austria, 284. Bishop Saint Maximilian had founded the church of Lorch near Passau, Germany, and became its bishop. He was martyred under Numerian in Styria. Saint Rupert built several churches in honor of Saint Maximilian (Benedictines, Encyclopedia). He is portrayed as a bishop holding a sword. Venerated at Lorch and Salzburg, Austria (Roeder).

284 St Maximilian, Bishop of Lorch, Martyr
Maximilian was an apostle of that part of the Roman Empire formerly called Noricum, between Styria and Bavaria, where it is said he founded the church of Lorch, near Passau, and was martyred; but the particulars depend on acta written so late as the thirteenth century and are quite unreliable. These state that he was born at Cilli (Steiermark) in Styria, and at the age of seven was entrusted to a priest to be educated. His parents were wealthy folk, and when he grew up he gave away his inheritance in charity and undertook a pilgrimage to Rome.

Pope St Sixtus II sent him back to be a missionary in Noricum and he established his episcopal see at Lorch. Maximilian survived persecutions under Valerian and Aurelian and ministered for over twenty years, making many conversions. But under Numerian the prefect of Noricum published an edict of persecution, in consequence of which St Maximilian was called on to sacrifice to the gods. He refused and was beheaded outside the walls of Cilli, at a spot still shown.

The legend is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. vi, with the usual prolegomena. See also Ratzinger, Forschungen z. bayr. Gesch. (1898), pp. 325 seq., and J. Zeiller, Les origines chrétiennes dons let provinces danubiennes (1914).

303 St. Domnina Martyr; died in prison at Anazarbus, Cilicia, from wounds received during her torture

In Lycia sanctæ Domnínæ Mártyris, sub Diocletiáno Imperatóre.
In Lycia, under Emperor Diocletian, St. Domnina, martyr.

who died in the prison of Anazarbus, under the Roman prefect Lysias.
Domnina of Anazarbus M (RM). Saint Domnina died in prison at Anazarbus, Cilicia, from wounds received during her torture under the prefect Lysias (Benedictines).

303 St. Edistius A martyr of Ravenna

Ravénnæ, via Laurentína, natális sancti Edístii Mártyris.
At Ravenna, on the Via Laurentina, the birthday of St. Edistus, martyr.

Italy, who suffered under co-Emperor Diocletian. The Acts of this martyrdom are not extant.
Edistius of Ravenna M (RM). Saint Edistius was martyred under Diocletian at Ravenna (Benedictines).

304 St. Pantalus first bishop of Basel

St. Pantalus is thought to have been the first bishop of Basel, Switzerland. Available documentation indicates that he was a Martyr. By the 12th century his story had become interwoven with the legends of St.Ursula. According to those legends he met St. Ursula on her return trip from Rome to Cologne and accompanied her to Cologne, where he, along with Ursula and her many companions, was killed by the attacking Huns. A scull was found in Cologne in the middle ages which was said to be that of St. Pantalus. The scull is preserved today in the historical museum in Basel. Pantalus' stature as a saint predates the practice of canonization by a Pope

Hans Memling depicted the legend of Saint Ursula on this shrine for her relics .

484 St. Felix and Cyprian Martyred bishops of Africa
In Africa sanctórum Confessórum et Mártyrum quátuor míllium nongentórum sexagínta sex, in persecutióne Wandálica, sub Hunneríco, Rege Ariáno. Hi, cum essent partim Epíscopi Ecclesiárum Dei, partim Presbyteri et Diáconi, associátis sibi turbis fidélium populórum, pro defensióne cathólicæ veritátis in horríbilis erémi exsílium trusi sunt; ex quibus plúrimi, dum crudéliter a Mauris duceréntur, hastílium cuspídibus impúlsi ad curréndum et lapídibus tunsi, álii, ligátis pédibus, velut cadávera per dura et áspera loca tracti et síngulis membris discérpti, ad extrémum, várie excruciáti, martyrium celebrárunt. Erant inter eos præcípui Sacerdótes Dómini, Felix et Cypriánus Epíscopi.
In Africa, four thousand nine hundred and sixty-six holy confessors and martyrs in the persecution of the Vandals under the Arian king Hunneric. Some of them were bishops of the churches of God, some priests and deacons, and there was a multitude of the faithful who were driven into a frightful wilderness for the defence of the Catholic truth. Many of them were cruelly molested by the Moorish leaders, and with sharp-pointed spears and stones were forced to hasten their march; others, with their feet tied, were dragged like corpses through rough places and were mangled in all their limbs. At the end they were tortured in different manners and won the honours of martyrdom. The principal ones among them were the bishops Felix and Cyprian.
Driven out into the Sahara Desert by the Vandals’ King Hunneric, an Arian. They were reportedly accompanied by almost five thousand Catholics. Their trials and tribulations were recorded by Victor of Utica, a contemporary.

Felix, Cyprian BB and Companions MM (RM). Felix and Cyprian were African bishops and leaders of a multitude of Catholics (generally numbered at 4,966) who were driven into the Saharan Desert by King Hunneric to starve to death for opposing the Arian heresy. The contemporary account of their sufferings was recorded by Victor of Utica (Benedictines, Encyclopedia) .

St. Cyprian of Carthage Catholic Encyclopedia
(Thaschus Cæcilius Cyprianus).
Bishop and martyr. Of the date of the saint's birth and of his early life nothing is known. At the time of his conversion to Christianity he had, perhaps, passed middle life. He was famous as an orator and pleader, had considerable wealth, and held, no doubt, a great position in the metropolis of Africa. We learn from his deacon, St. Pontius, whose life of the saint is preserved, that his mien was dignified without severity, and cheerful without effusiveness. His gift of eloquence is evident in his writings. He was not a thinker, a philosopher, a theologian, but eminently a man of the world and an administrator, of vast energies, and of forcible and striking character. His conversion was due to an aged priest named Caecilianus, with whom he seems to have gone to live. Caecilianus in dying commended to Cyprian the care of his wife and family. While yet a catechumen the saint decided to observe chastity, and he gave most of his revenues to the poor. He sold his property, including his gardens at Carthage. These were restored to him (Dei indulgentiâ restituti, says Pontius), being apparently bought back for him by his friends; but he would have sold them again, had the persecution made this imprudent. His baptism probably took place c. 246, presumably on Easter eve, 18 April.

Cyprian's first Christian writing is “Ad Donatum”, a monologue spoken to a friend, sitting under a vine-clad pergola. He tells how, until the grace of God illuminated and strengthened the convert, it had seemed impossible to conquer vice; the decay of Roman society is pictured, the gladiatorial shows, the theatre, the unjust law-courts, the hollowness of political success; the only refuge is the temperate, studious, and prayerful life of the Christian. At the beginning should probably be placed the few words of Donatus to Cyprian which are printed by Hartel as a spurious letter. The style of this pamphlet is affected and reminds us of the bombastic unintelligibilty of Pontius. It is not like Tertullian, brilliant, barbarous, uncouth, but it reflects the preciosity which Apuleius made fashionable in Africa. In his other works Cyprian addresses a Christian audience; his own fervour is allowed full play, his style becomes simpler, though forcible, and sometimes poetical, not to say flowery. Without being classical, it is correct for its date, and the cadences of the sentences are in strict rhythm in all his more careful writings. On the whole his beauty of style has rarely ben equalled among the Latin Fathers, and never surpassed except by the matchless energy and wit of St. Jerome.

Another work of his early days was the “Testimonia ad Quirinum”, in two books. It consists of passages of Scripture arranged under headings to illustrate the passing away of the Old Law and its fulfillment in Christ. A third book, added later, contains texts dealing with Christian ethics. This work is of the greatest value for the history of the Old Latin version of the Bible. It gives us an African text closely related to that of the Bobbio manuscript known as k (Turin). Hartel's edition has taken the text from a manuscript which exhibits a revised version, but what Cyprian wrote can be fairly well restored from the manuscript cited in Hartel's notes as L. Another book of excerpts on martyrdom is entitled “Ad Fortunatum”; its text cannot be judged in any printed edition. Cyprian was certainly only a recent convert when he became Bishop of Carthage c. 218 or the beginning of 249, but he passed through all the grades of the ministry. He had declined the charge, but was constrained by the people. A minority opposed his election, including five priests, who remained his enemies; but he tells us that he was validly elected “after the Divine judgment, the vote of the people and the consent of the bishops”.

THE DECIAN PERSECUTION
The prosperity of the Church during a peace of thirty-eight years had produced great disorders. Many even of the bishops were given up to worldliness and gain, and we hear of worse scandals. In October, 249, Decius became emperor with the ambition of restoring the ancient virtue of Rome. In January, 250, he published an edict against Christians. Bishops were to be put to death, other persons to be punished and tortured till they recanted. On 20 January Pope Fabian was martyred, and about the same time St. Cyprian retired to a safe place of hiding. His enemies continually reproached him with this. But to remain at Carthage was to court death, to cause greater danger to others, and to leave the Church without government; for to elect a new bishop would have been as impossible as it was at Rome. He made over much property to a confessor priest, Rogatian, for the needy. Some of the clergy lapsed, others fled; Cyprian suspended their pay, for their ministrations were needed and they were in less danger than the bishop. Form his retreat he encouraged the confessors and wrote eloquent panegyrics on the martyrs. Fifteen soon died in prison and one in the mines. On the arrival of the proconsul in April the severity of the persecution increased. St. Mappalicus died gloriously on the 17th. Children were tortured, women dishonoured. Numidicus, who had encouraged many, saw his wife burnt alive, and was himself half burnt, then stoned and left for dead; his daughter found him yet living; he recovered and Cyprian made him a priest. Some, after being twice tortured, were dismissed or banished, often beggared.

But there was another side to the picture. At Rome terrified Christians rushed to the temples to sacrifice. At Carthage the majority apostatized. Some would not sacrifice, but purchased libelli, or certificates, that they had done so Some bought the exemption of their family at the price of their own sin. Of these libellatici there were several thousands in Carthage. Of the fallen some did not repent, others joined the heretics, but most of them clamoured for forgiveness and restoration. Some, who had sacrificed under torture, returned to be tortured afresh. Castus and Æmilius were burnt for recanting, others were exiled; but such cases were necessarily rare. A few began to perform canonical penance. The first to suffer at Rome had been a young Carthaginian, Celerinus. He recovered, and Cyprian made him a lector. His grandmother and two uncles had been martyrs, but his two sisters apostatized under fear of torture, and in their repentance gave themselves to the service of those in prison. Their brother was very urgent for their restoration. His letter from Rome to Lucian, a confessor at Carthage, is extant, with the reply of the latter. Lucian obtained from a martyr named Paul before his passion a commission to grant peace to any who asked for it, and he distributed these “indulgences” with a vague formula: “Let such a one with his family communicate”. Tertullian speaks in 197 of the “custom” for those who were not at peace with the Church to beg this peace from the martyrs. Much later, in his Montanist days (c. 220) he urges that the adulterers whom Pope Callistus was ready to forgive after due penance, would now get restored by merely imploring the confessors and those in the mines. Correspondingly we find Lucian issuing pardons in the name of confessors who were still alive, a manifest abuse. The heroic Mappalicus had only interceded for his own sister and mother. It seemed now as if no penance was to be enforced upon the lapsed, and Cyprian wrote to remonstrate.

Meanwhile official news had arrived from Rome of the death of Pope Fabian, together with an unsigned and ungrammatical letter to the clergy of Carthage from some of the Roman clergy, implying blame to Cyprian for the desertion of his flock, and giving advice as to the treatment of the lapsed. Cyprian explained his conduct (Ep. xx), and sent to Rome copies of thirteen of the letter he had written from his hiding-place to Carthage. The five priests who opposed him were now admitting at once to communion all who had recommendations from the confessors, and the confessors themselves issued a general indulgence, in accordance with which the bishops were to restore to communion all whom they had examined. This was an outrage on discipline, yet Cyprian was ready to give some value to the indulgences thus improperly granted, but all must be done in submission to the bishop. He proposed that libellatici should be restored, when in danger of death, by a priest or even by a deacon, but that the rest should await the cessation of persecution, when councils could be held at Rome and at Carthage, and a common decision be agreed upon. Some regard must be had for the prerogative of the confessors, yet the lapsed must surely not be placed in a better position than those who had stood fast, and had been tortured, or beggared, or exiled. The guilty were terrified by marvels that occurred. A man was struck dumb on the very Capitol where he had denied Christ. Another went mad in the public baths, and gnawed the tongue which had tasted the pagan victim. In Cyprian's own presence an infant who had been taken by its nurse to partake at the heathen altar, and then to the Holy Sacrifice offered by the bishop, was though in torture, and vomited the Sacred Species it had received in the holy chalice. A lapsed woman of advanced age had fallen in a fit, on venturing to communicate unworthily. Another, on opening the receptacle in which, according to custom, she had taken home the Blessed Sacrament for private Communion, was deterred from sacrilegiously touching it by fire which came forth. Yet another found nought within her pyx save cinders. About September, Cyprian received promise of support from the Roman priests in two letters written by the famous Novatian in the name of his colleagues. In the beginning of 251 the persecution waned, owing to the successive appearance of two rival emperors. The confessors were released, and a council was convened at Carthage. By the perfidy of some priests Cyprian was unable to leave his retreat till after Easter (23 March). But he wrote a letter to his flock denouncing the most infamous of the five priests, Novatus, and his deacon Felicissimus (Ep. xliii). To the bishop's order to delay the reconciliation of the lapsed until the council, Felicissimus had replied by a manifesto, declaring that none should communicate with himself who accepted the large alms distributed by Cyprian's order. The subject of the letter is more fully developed in the treatise “De Ecclesiae Catholicae Unitate” which Cyprian wrote about this time (Benson wrongly thought it was written against Novatian some weeks later).

This celebrated pamphlet was read by its author to the council which met in April, that he might get the support of the bishops against the schism started by Felicissimus and Novatus, who had a large following. The unity with which St. Cyprian deals is not so much the unity of the whole Church, the necessity of which he rather postulates, as the unity to be kept in each diocese by union with the bishop; the unity of the whole Church is maintained by the close union of the bishops who are “glued to one another”, hence whosoever is not with his bishop is cut off from the unity of the Church and cannot be united to Christ; the type of the bishop is St. Peter, the first bishop. Protestant controversialists have attributed to St. Cyprian the absurd argument that Christ said to Peter what He really meant for all, in order to give a type or picture of unity. What St. Cyprian really says is simply this, that Christ, using the metaphor of an edifice, founds His Church on a single foundation which shall manifest and ensure its unity. And as Peter is the foundation, binding the whole Church together, so in each diocese is the bishop. With this one argument Cyprian claims to cut at the root of all heresies and schisms. It has been a mistake to find any reference to Rome in this passage (De Unit., 4).

CHURCH UNITY
About the time of the opening of the council (251), two letters arrived from Rome. One of these, announcing the election of a pope, St. Cornelius, was read by Cyprian to the assembly; the other contained such violent and improbable accusations against the new pope that he thought it better to pass it over. But two bishops, Caldonius and Fortunatus, were dispatched to Rome for further information, and the whole council was to await their return-such was the importance of a papal election. Meantime another message arrived with the news that Novatian, the most eminent among the Roman clergy, had been made pope. Happily two African prelates, Pompeius and Stephanus, who had been present at the election of Cornelius, arrived also, and were able to testify that he had been validly set “in the place of Peter”, when as yet there was no other claimant. It was thus possible to reply to the recrimination of Novatian's envoys, and a short letter was sent to Rome, explaining the discussion which had taken place in the council. Soon afterwards came the report of Caldonius and Fortunatus together with a letter from Cornelius, in which the latter complained somewhat of the delay in recognizing him. Cyprian wrote to Cornelius explaining his prudent conduct. He added a letter to the confessors who were the main support of the antipope, leaving it to Cornelius whether it should be delivered or no. He sent also copies of his two treatises, “De Unitate” and “De Lapsis” (this had been composed by him immediately after the other), and he wishes the confessors to read these in order that they may understand what a fearful thing is schism. It is in this copy of the “De Unitate” that Cyprian appears most probably to have added in the margin an alternative version of the fourth chapter. The original passage, as found in most manuscripts and as printed in Hartel's edition, runs thus:

If any will consider this, there is no need of a long treatise and of arguments. 'The Lord saith to Peter: 'I say unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it; to thee I will give the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and what thou shalt have bound on earth shall be bound in heaven, and what thou shalt have loosed shall be loosed in heaven.' Upon one He builds His Church, and though to all His Apostles after His resurrection He gives an equal power and says: 'As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you: Receive the Holy Ghost, whosesoever sins you shall have remitted they shall be remitted unto them, and whosesoever sins you shall have retained they shall be retained', yet that He might make unity manifest, He disposed the origin of that unity beginning from one. The other Apostles were indeed what Peter was, endowed with a like fellowship both of honour and of power, but the commencement proceeds from one, that the Church may be shown to be one. This one Church the Holy Ghost in the person of the Lord designates in the Canticle of Canticles, and says, One is My Dove, My perfect one, one is she to her mother, one to her that bare her. He that holds not this unity of the Church, does he believe that he holds the Faith? He who strives against and resists the Church, is he confident that he is in the Church?

The substituted passage is as follows:
. . . bound in heaven. Upon one He builds His Church, and to the same He says after His resurrection, 'feed My sheep'. And though to all His Apostles He gave an equal power yet did He set up one chair, and disposed the origin and manner of unity by his authority. The other Apostles were indeed what Peter was, but the primacy is given to Peter, and the Church and the chair is shown to be one. And all are pastors, but the flock is shown to be one, which is fed by all the Apostles with one mind and heart. He that holds not this unity of the Church, does he think that he holds the faith? He who deserts the chair of Peter, upon whom the Church is founded, is he confident that he is in the Church?

These alternative versions are given one after the other in the chief family of manuscripts which contains them, while in some other families the two have been partially or wholly combined into one. The combined version is the one which has been printed in man editions, and has played a large part in controversy with Protestants. It is of course spurious in this conflated form, but the alternative form given above is not only found in eighth- and ninth-century manuscripts, but it is quoted by Bede, by Gregory the Great (in a letter written for his predecessor Pelagius II), and by St. Gelasius; indeed, it was almost certainly known to St. Jerome and St. Optatus in the fourth century. The evidence of the manuscripts would indicate an equally early date. Every expression and thought in the passage can be paralleled from St. Cyprian's habitual language, and it seems to be now generally admitted that this alternative passage is an alteration made by the author himself when forwarding his work to the Roman confessors. The "one chair" is always in Cyprian the episcopal chair, and Cyprian has been careful to emphasize this point, and to add a reference to the other great Petrine text, the Charge in John, xxi. The assertion of the equality of the Apostles as Apostles remains, and the omissions are only for the sake of brevity. The old contention that it is a Roman forgery is at all events quite out of the question. Another passage is also altered in all the same manuscripts which contain the "interpolation"; it is a paragraph in which the humble and pious conduct of the lapsed "on this hand (hic) is contrasted in a long succession of parallels with the pride and wickedness of the schismatics "on that hand" (illic), but in the delicate manner of the treatise the latter are only referred to in a general way. In the "interpolated" manuscripts we find that the lapsed, whose caused had now been settled by the council, are "on that hand" (illic), whereas the reference to the schismatics -- meaning the Roman confessors who were supporting Novatian, and to whom the book was being sent -- are made as pointed as possible, being brought into the foreground by the repeated hic, "on this hand".

NOVATIANISM
The saint's remonstrance had its effect, and the confessors rallied to Cornelius. But for two or three months the confusion throughout the Catholic Church had been terrible. No other event in these early times shows us so clearly the enormous importance of the papacy in East and West. St. Dionysius of Alexandria joined his great influence to that of the Carthaginian primate, and he was very soon able to write that Antioch, Caesarea, and Jerusalem, Tyre and Laodicea, all Cilicia and Cappadocia, Syria and Arabia, Mesopotamia, Pontus, and Bithynia, had returned to union and that their bishops were all in concord (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., VII, v). From this we gauge the area of disturbance. Cyprian says that Novatian "assumed the primacy" (Ep. lxix, 8) and sent out his new apostles to very many cities; and where in all provinces and cities there were long established, orthodox bishops, tried in persecution, he dared to create new ones to supplant them, as though he could range through the whole world (Ep. lv, 24). Such was the power assumed by a third-century antipope. Let it be remembered that in the first days of the schism no question of heresy was raised and that Novatian only enunciated his refusal of forgiveness to the lapsed after he had made himself pope. Cyprian's reasons for holding Cornelius to be the true bishop are fully detailed in Ep. lv to a bishop, who had at first yielded to Cyprian's arguments and had commissioned him to inform Cornelius that "he now communicated with him, that is with the Catholic Church", but had afterwards wavered. It is evidently implied that if he did not communicate with Cornelius he would be outside the Catholic Church. Writing to the pope, Cyprian apologizes for his delay in acknowledging him; he had at least urged all those who sailed to Rome to make sure that they acknowledged and held the womb and root of the Catholic Church (Ep. xlviii, 3). By this is probably meant "the womb and root which is the Catholic Church", but Harnack and many Protestants, as well as many Catholics, find here a statement that the Roman Church is the womb and root. Cyprian continues that he had waited for a formal report form the bishops who had been sent to Rome, before committing all the bishops of Africa, Numidia, and Mauretania to a decision, in order that, when no doubt could remain all his colleagues "might firmly approve and hold your communion, that is the unity and charity of the Catholic Church". It is certain that St. Cyprian held that one who was in communion with an antipope held not the root of the Catholic Church, was not nourished at her breast, drank not at her fountain.

So little was the rigorism of Novatian the origin of his schism, that his chief partisan was no other than Novatus, who at Carthage had been reconciling the lapsed indiscriminately without penance. He seems to have arrived at Rome just after the election of Cornelius, and his adhesion to the party of rigorism had the curious result of destroying the opposition to Cyprian at Carthage. It is true that Felicissimus fought manfully for a time; he even procured five bishops, all excommunicated and deposed, who consecrated for the party a certain Fortunatus in opposition to St. Cyprian, in opposition to St. Cyprian, in order not to be outdone by the Novatian party, who had already a rival bishop at Carthage. The faction even appealed to St. Cornelius, and Cyprian had to write to the pope a long account of the circumstances, ridiculing their presumption in "sailing to Rome, the primatial Church (ecclesia principalis), the Chair of Peter, whence the unity of the Episcopate had its origin, not recollecting that these are the Romans whose faith was praised by St. Paul (Romans 1:8), to whom unfaith could have no access". But this embassy was naturally unsuccessful, and the party of Fortunatus and Felicissimus seems to have melted away.

THE LAPSED
With regard to the lapsed the council had decided that each case must be judged on its merits, and that libellatici should be restored after varying, but lengthy, terms of penance, whereas those who had actually sacrificed might after life-long penance receive Communion in the hour of death. But any one who put off sorrow and penance until the hour of sickness must be refused all Communion. The decision was a severe one. A recrudescence of persecution, announced, Cyprian tells us, by numerous visions, caused the assembling of another council in the summer of 252 (so Benson and Nelke, but Ritsch and Harnack prefer 253), in which it was decided to restore at once all those who were doing penance, in order that they might be fortified by the Holy Eucharist against trial. In this persecution of Gallus and Volusianus, the Church of Rome was again tried, but this time Cyprian was able to congratulate the pope on the firmness shown; the whole Church of Rome, he says, had confessed unanimously, and once again its faith, praised by the Apostle, was celebrated throughout the whole world (Ep. lx). About June 253, Cornelius was exiled to Centumcellae (Civitavecchia), and died there, being counted as a martyr by Cyprian and the rest of the Church. His successor Lucius was at once sent to the same place on his election, but soon was allowed to return, and Cyprian wrote to congratulate him. He died 5 March, 254, and was succeeded by Stephen, 12 May, 254.

REBAPTISM OF HERETICS
Tertullian had characteristically argued long before, that heretics have not the same God, the same Christ with Catholics, therefore their baptism is null. The African Church had adopted this view in a council held under a predecessor of Cyprian, Agrippinus, at Carthage. In the East it was also the custom of Cilicia, Cappadocia, and Galatia to rebaptize Montanists who returned to the church. Cyprian's opinion of baptism by heretics was strongly expresses: "Non abluuntur illic homines, sed potius sordidantur, nec purgantur delicta sed immo cumulantur. Non Deo nativitas illa sed diabolo filios generat" ("De Unit.", xi). A certain bishop, Magnus, wrote to ask if the baptism of the Novatians was to be respected (Ep. lxix). Cyprian's answer may be of the year 255; he denies that they are to be distinguished from any other heretics. Later we find a letter in the same sense, probably of the spring of 255 (autumn, according to d'Ales), from a council under Cyprian of thirty-one bishops (Ep. lxx), addressed to eighteen Numidian bishops; this was apparently the beginning of the controversy. It appears that the bishops of Mauretania did not in this follow the custom of Proconsular Africa and Numidia, and that Pope Stephen sent them a letter approving their adherence to Roman custom.

Cyprian, being consulted by a Numidian bishop, Quintus, sent him Ep. lxx, and replied to his difficulties (Ep. lxxi). The spring council at Carthage in the following year, 256, was more numerous than usual, and sixty-one bishops signed the conciliar letter to the pope explaining their reasons for rebaptizing, and claiming that it was a question upon which bishops were free to differ. This was not Stephen's view, and he immediately issued a decree, couched apparently in very peremptory terms, that no "innovation" was to be made (this is taken by some moderns to mean "no new baptism"), but the Roman tradition of merely laying hands on converted heretics in sign of absolution must be everywhere observed, on pain of excommunication. This letter was evidently addressed to the African bishops, and contained some severe censures on Cyprian himself. Cyprian writes to Jubainus that he is defending the one Church, the Church founded on Peter-Why then is he called a prevaricator of the truth, a traitor to the truth;? (Ep. lxxiii, 11). To the same correspondent he sends Epp. lxx, lxxi, lxxii; he makes no laws for others, but retains his own liberty. He sends also a copy of his newly written treatise "De Bono Patientiae". To Pompeius, who had asked to see a copy of Stephen's rescript, he writes with great violence: "As you read it, you will note his error more and more clearly: in approving the baptism of all the heresies, he has heaped into his own breast the sins of all of them; a fine tradition indeed! What blindness of mind, what depravity!" -- "ineptitude", "hard obstinacy" -- such are the expressions which run from the pen of one who declared that opinion on the subject was free, and who in this very letter explains that a bishop must never be quarrelsome, but meek and teachable. In september, 256, a yet larger council assembled at Carthage. All agreed with Cyprian; Stephen was not mentioned; and some writers have even supposed that the council met before Stephen's letter was received (so Ritschl, Grisar, Ernst, Bardenhewer). Cyprian did not wish the responsibility to be all his own. He declared that no one made himself a bishop of bishops, and that all must give their true opinion. The vote of each was therefore given in a short speech, and the minutes have come down to us in the Cyprianic correspondence under the title of "Sententiae Episcoporum". But the messengers sent to Rome with this document were refused an audience and even denied all hospitality by the pope. They returned incontinently to Carthage, and Cyprian tried for support from the East. He wrote to the famous Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, Firmilian, sending him the treatise "De Unitate" and the correspondence on the baptismal question. By the middle of November Firmilian's reply had arrived, and it has come down to us in a translation made at the time in Africa. Its tone is, if possible, more violent than that of Cyprian. (See FIRMILIAN.) After this we know no more of the controversy.

Stephen died on 27 August, 257, and was succeeded by Sixtus II, who certainly communicated with Cyprian, and is called by Pontius "a good and peace-loving bishop". Probably when it was seen at Rome that the East was largely committed to the same wrong practice, the question was tacitly dropped. It should be remembered that, though Stephen had demanded unquestioning obedience, he had apparently, like Cyprian, considered the matter as a point of discipline. St. Cyprian supports his view by a wrong inference from the unity of the Church, and no one thought of the principle afterwards taught by St. Augustine, that, since Christ is always the principal agent, the validity of the sacrament is independent of the unworthiness of the minister: Ipse est qui baptizat. Yet this is what is implied in Stephen's insistence upon nothing more than the correct form, "because baptism is given in the name of Christ", and "the effect is due to the majesty of the Name". The laying on of hands enjoined by Stephen is repeatedly said to be in poenitentiam, yet Cyprian goes on to argue that the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands is not the new birth, but must be subsequent to it and implies it. This has led some moderns into the notion that Stephen meant confirmation to be given (so Duchesne), or at least that he has been so misunderstood by Cyprian (d'Alès). But the passage (Ep. lxxiv, 7) need not mean this, and it is most improbable that confirmation was even thought of in this connection. Cyprian seems to consider the laying on of hands in penance to be a giving of the Holy Ghost. In the East the custom of rebaptizing heretics had perhaps arisen from the fact that so many heretics disbelieved in the Holy Trinity, and possibly did not even use the right form and matter. For centuries the practice persisted, at least in the case of some of the heresies. But in the West to rebaptize was regarded as heretical, and Africa came into line soon after St. Cyprian. St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and St. Vincent of Lérins are full of praise for the firmness of Stephen as befitting his place. But Cyprian's unfortunate letters became the chief support of the puritanism of the Donatists. St. Augustine in his "De Baptismo" goes through them one by one. He will not dwell on the violent words quae in Stephanum irritatus effudit, and expresses his confidence that Cyprian's glorious martyrdom will have atoned for his excess.

APPEALS TO ROME
Ep. lxviii was written to Stephen before the breach. Cyprian has heard twice from Faustinus, Bishop of Lyons, that Marcianus, Bishop of Arles, has joined the party of Novatian. The pope will certainly have been already informed of this by Faustinus and by the other bishops of the province. Cyprian urges:

You ought to send very full letters to our fellow-bishops in Gaul, not to allow the obstinate and proud Marcianus any more to insult our fellowship...Therefore send letters to the province and to the people of Arles, by which, Marcianus having been excommunicated, another shall be substituted in his place...for the whole copious body of bishops is joined together by the glue of mutual concord and the bond of unity, in order that if any of our fellowship should attempt to make a heresy and to lacerate and devastate the flock of Christ, the rest may give their aid...For though we are many shepherds, yet we feed one flock.

It seems incontestable that Cyprian is here explaining to the pope why he ventured to interfere, and that he attributes to the pope the power of deposing Marcanus and ordering a fresh election. We should compare his witness that Novatian usurped a similar power as antipope.

Another letter dates perhaps somewhat later. It emanates form a council of thirty seven bishops, and was obviously composed by Cyprian. It is addressed to the priest Felix and the people of Legio and Asturica, and to the deacon Ælius and the people of Emerita, in Spain. It relates that the bishops Felix and Sabinus had come to Carthage to complain. They had been legitimately ordained by the bishops of the province in the place of the former bishops, Basilides and Martialis, who had both accepted libelli in the persecution. Basilides had further blasphemed God, in sickness, had confessed his blasphemy, had voluntarily resigned his bishopric, and had been thankful to be allowed lay communion. Martialis had indulged in pagan banquets and had buried his sons in a pagan cemetery. He had publicly attested before the procurator ducenarius that he had denied Christ. Wherefore, says the letter, such men are unfit to be bishops, the whole Church and the late Pope Cornelius having decided that such men may be admitted to penance but never to ordination; it does not profit them that they have deceived Pope Stephen, who was afar off and unaware of the facts, so that they obtained to be unjustly restored to their sees; nay, by this deceit they have only increased their guilt. The letter is thus a declaration that Stephen was wickedly deceived. No fault is imputed to him, no is there any claim to reverse his decision or to deny his right to give it; it is simply pointed out that it was founded on false information, and was therefore null. But it is obvious that the African council had heard only one side, whereas Felix and Sabinus must have pleaded their cause at Rome before they came to Africa. On this ground the Africans seem to have made too hasty a judgment. But nothing more is known of the matter.

MARTYRDOM
The empire was surrounded by barbarian hordes who poured in on all sides. The danger was the signal for a renewal of persecution on the part of the Emperor Valerian. At Alexandria St. Dionysius was exiled. On 30 August, 257, Cyprian was brought before the Proconsul Paternus in his secretarium. His interrogatory is extant and forms the first part of the "Acta proconsularia" of his martyrdom. Cyprian declares himself a Christian and a bishop. He serves one God to Whom he prays day and night for all men and for the safety of the emperor. "Do you persevere in this?" asks Paternus. "A good will which knows God cannot be altered." "Can you, then, go into exile at Curubis?" "I go." He is asked for the names of the priests also, but replies that delation is forbidden by the laws; they will be found easily enough in their respective cities. On September he went to Curubis, accompanied by Pontius. The town was lonely, but Pontius tells us it was sunny and pleasant, and that there were plenty of visitors, while the citizens were full of kindness. He relates at length Cyprian's dream on his first night there, that he was in the proconsul's court and condemned to death, but was reprieved at his own request until the morrow. He awoke in terror, but once awake he awaited that morrow with calmness. It came to him on the very anniversary of the dream. In Numidia the measurers were more severe. Cyprian writes to nine bishops who were working in the mines, with half their hair shorn, and with insufficient food and clothing. He was still rich and able to help them. Their replies are preserved, and we have also the authentic Acts of several African martyrs who suffered soon after Cyprian.

In August, 258, Cyprian learned that Pope Sixtus had been put to death in the catacombs on the 6th of that month, together with four of his deacons, in consequence of a new edict that bishops, priests, and deacons should be at once put to death; senators, knights, and others of rank are to lose their goods, and if they still persist, to die; matrons to be exiled; Caesarians (officers of the fiscus) to become slaves. Galerius Maximus, the successor of Paternus, sent for Cyprian back to Carthage, and in his own gardens the bishop awaited the final sentence. Many great personages urged him to fly, but he had now no vision to recommend this course, and he desired above all to remain to exhort others. Yet he hid himself rather than obey the proconsul's summons to Utica, for he declared it was right for a bishop to die in his own city. On the return of Galerius to Carthage, Cyprian was brought from his gardens by two principes in a chariot, but the proconsul was ill, and Cyprian passed the night in the house of the first princeps in the company of his friends. Of the rest we have a vague description by Pontius and a detailed report in the proconsular Acts. On the morning of the 14th a crowd gathered "at the villa of Sextus", by order of the authorities. Cyprian was tried there. He refused to sacrifice, and added that in such a matter there was no room for thought of the consequences to himself. The proconsul read his condemnation and the multitude cried, "Let us be beheaded with him!" He was taken into the grounds, to a hollow surrounded by trees, into which many of the people climbed. Cyprian took off his cloak, and knelt down and prayed. Then he took off his dalmatic and gave it to his deacons, and stood in his linen tunic in silence awaiting the executioner, to whom he ordered twenty-five gold pieces to be given. The brethren cast cloths and handkerchiefs before him to catch his blood. He bandaged his own eyes with the help of a priest and a deacon, both called Julius. So he suffered. For the rest of the day his body was exposed to satisfy the curiosity of the pagans. But at night the brethren bore him with candles and torches, with prayer and great triumph, to the cemetery of Macrobius Candidianus in the suburb of Mapalia. He was the first Bishop of Carthage to obtain the crown of martyrdom.

WRITINGS
The correspondence of Cyprian consists of eighty-one letters. Sixty-two of them are his own, three more are in the name of councils. From this large collection we get a vivid picture of his time. The first collection of his writings must have been made just before or just after his death, as it was known to Pontius. It consisted of ten treatises and seven letters on martyrdom. To these were added in Africa a set of letters on the baptismal question, and at Rome, it seems, the correspondence with Cornelius, except Ep. xlvii. Other letters were successively aggregated to these groups, including letters to Cyprian or connected with him, his collections of Testimonies, and many spurious works. To the treatises already mentioned we have to add a well-known exposition of the Lord's Prayer; a work on the simplicity of dress proper to consecrated virgins (these are both founded on Tertullian); "On the Mortality", a beautiful pamphlet, composed on the occasion of the plague which reached Carthage in 252, when Cyprian, with wonderful energy, raised a staff of workers and a great fund of money for the nursing of the sick and the burial of the dead. Another work, "On Almsgiving", its Christian character, necessity, and satisfactory value, was perhaps written, as Watson has pointed out, in reply to the calumny that Cyprian's own lavish gifts were bribes to attach men to his side. Only one of his writings is couched in a pungent strain, the "ad Demetrianum", in which he replies in a spirited manner to the accusation of a heathen that Christianity had brought the plague upon the world. Two short works, "On Patience" and "On Rivalry and Envy", apparently written during the baptismal controversy, were much read in ancient times. St. Cyprian was the first great Latin writer among the Christians, for Tertullian fell into heresy, and his style was harsh and unintelligible. Until the days of Jerome and Augustine, Cyprian's writings had no rivals in the West. Their praise is sung by Prudentius, who joins with Pacian, Jerome, Augustine, and many others in attesting their extraordinary popularity.

DOCTRINE
The little that can be extracted from St. Cyprian on the Holy Trinity and the Incarnation is correct, judged by later standards. On baptismal regeneration, on the Real Presence, on the Sacrifice of the Mass, his faith is clearly and repeatedly expressed, especially in Ep. lxiv on infant baptism, and in Ep. lxiii on the mixed chalice, written against the sacrilegious custom of using water without wine for Mass. On penance he is clear, like all the ancients, that for those who have been separated from the Church by sin there is no return except by a humble confession (exomologesis apud sacerdotes), followed by remissio facta per sacerdotes. The ordinary minister of this sacrament is the sacerdos par excellence, the bishop; but priests can administer it subject to him, and in case of necessity the lapsed might be restored by a deacon. He does not add, as we should at the present day, that in this case there is no sacrament; such theological distinctions were not in his line. There was not even a beginning of canon law in the Western Church of the third century. In Cyprian's view each bishop is answerable to God alone for his action, though he ought to take counsel of the clergy and of the laity also in all important matters. The Bishop of Carthage had a great position as honorary chief of all the bishops in the provinces of Proconsular Africa, Numidia, and Mauretania, who were about a hundred in number; but he had no actual jurisdiction over them. They seem to have met in some numbers at Carthage every spring, but their conciliar decisions had no real binding force. If a bishop should apostatize or become a heretic or fall into scandalous sin, he might be deposed by his comprovincials or by the pope. Cyprian probably thought that questions of heresy would always be too obvious to need much discussion. It is certain that where internal questions of heresy would always be too obvious to need much discussion. It is certain that where internal discipline was concerned he considered that Rome should not interfere, and that uniformity was not desirable -- a most unpractical notion. We have always to remember that his experience as a Christian was of short duration, that he became a bishop soon after he was converted, and that he had no Christian writings besides Holy Scripture to study besides those of Tertullian. He evidently knew no Greek, and probably was not acquainted with the translation of Irenaeus. Rome was to him the centre of the Church's unity; it was inaccessible to heresy, which had been knocking at its door for a century in vain. It was the See of Peter, who was the type of the bishop, the first of the Apostles. Difference of opinion between bishops as to the right occupant of the Sees of Arles or Emerita would not involve breach of communion, but rival bishops at Rome would divide the Church, and to communicate with the wrong one would be schism. It is controverted whether chastity was obligatory or only strongly urged upon priests in his day. The consecrated virgins were to him the flower of his flock, the jewels of the Church, amid the profligacy of paganism.

SPURIA
A short treatise, "Quod Idola dii non sint", is printed in all editions as Cyprian's. It is made up out of Tertullian and Minucius Felix. Its genuineness is accepted by Benson, Monceaux, and Bardenhewer, as it was anciently by Jerome and Augustine. It has been attributed by Haussleiter to Novatian, and is rejected by Harnack, Watson, and von Soden. "De Spectaculis" and "De bono pudicitiae" are, with some probability, ascribed to Novatian. They are well-written letters of an absent bishop to his flock. "De Laude martyrii" is again attributed by Harnack to Novatian; but this is not generally accepted. "Adversus Judaeos" is perhaps by a Novatianist and Harnack ascribes it to Novatian himself. "Ad Novatianum" is ascribed by Harnack to Pope Sixtus II. Ehrhard, Benson, Nelke, and Weyman agree with him that it was written in Rome. This is denied by Julicher, Bardenhewer, Monceaux. Rombold thinks it is by Cyprian. "De Rebaptismate" is apparently the work attributed by Genadius to a Roman named Ursinus, c. 400. He was followed by some earlier critics, Routh, Oudin, and lately by Zahn. But it was almost certainly written during the baptismal controversy under Stephen. It comes from Rome (so Harnack and others) or from Mauretania (so Ernst, Monceaux, d'Arles), and is directed against the view of Cyprian. The little homily "De Aleatoribus" has had quite a literature of its own within the last few years, since it was attributed by Harnack to Pope Victor, and therefore accounted the earliest Latin ecclesiastical writing. The controversy has at least made it clear that the author was either very early or not orthodox. It has been shown to be improbable that he was very early, and Harnack now admits that the work is by an antipope, either Novatianist or Donatist. References to all the brochures and articles on the subject will be found in Ehrhard, in Bardenhewer, and especially in Harnack (Chronol., II, 370 sqq.).

"De Montibus Sina et Sion" is possibly older than Cyprian's time (see Harnack, and also Turner in Journal of Theol. Studies, July 1906). "Ad Vigilium Episcopum de Judaica incredulitate" is by a certain Celsus, and was once supposed by Harnack and Zahn to be addressed to the well-known Vigilius of Thapsus, but Macholz has now convinced Harnack that it dates from either the persecution of Valerian or that of Maxentius. The two "Orationes" are of uncertain date and authorship. The tract "De Singularitate clericorum" has been attributed by Dom Morin and by Harnack to the Donatist Bishop Macrobius in the fourth century. "De Duplici Martyrio ad Fortunatum" is found in no manuscript, and was apparently written by Erasmus in 1530. "De Paschâ computus" was written in the year preceding Easter, 243. All the above spuria are printed in Hartel's edition of Cyprian. The "Exhortatio de paenitentia" (first printed by Trombelli in 1751) is placed in the fourth or fifth century by Wunderer, but in Cyprian's time or Monceaux. Four letter are also given by Hartel; the first is the original commencement of the "Ad Donatum". The others are forgeries; the third, according to Mercati, is by a fourth-century Donatist. The six poems are by one author, of quite uncertain date. The amusing "Cena Cypriani" is found in a large number of Cyprianic manuscripts. Its date is uncertain; it was re-edited by Blessed Rhabanus Maurus. On the use of it at pageants in the early Middle Ages, see Mann, "History of the Popes", II, 289.

The principal editions of the works of St. Cyprian are: Rome, 1471 (the ed. princeps), dedicated to Paul II; reprinted, Venice, 1471, and 1483; Memmingen, c. 1477; Deventer, c. 1477; Paris, 1500; ed. by Rembolt (Paris, 1512); by Erasmus (Basle, 1520 and frequently; the ed. of 1544 was printed at Cologne). A careful critical edition was prepared by Latino Latini, and published by Manutius (Rome, 1563); Morel also went to the manuscripts (Paris, 1564); so did Pamele (Antwerp, 1568), but with less success; Rigault did somewhat better (Paris, 1648, etc.). John Fell, Bishop of Oxford and Dean of Christ Church, published a well-known edition from manuscripts in England (Oxford, 1682). The dissertations by Dodwell and the "Annales Cyprianici" by Pearson, who arranged the letters in chronological order, make this edition important, though the text is poor. The edition prepared by Etienne Baluze was brought out after his death by Dom Prudence Maran (Paris, 1726), and has been several times reprinted, especially by Migne (P.L., IV and V). The best edition is that of the Vienna Academy (C.S.E.L., vol. III, in 3 parts, Vienna, 1868-1871), edited from the manuscripts by Hartel. Since then much work has been done upon the history of the text, and especially on the order of the letters and treatises as witnessing to the genealogy of the codices.

484 Ss. Felix And Cyprian And Many Other Martyrs
The second entry in the Roman Martyrology today runs: “In Africa, the passion of 4966 holy confessors and martyrs in the Vandal persecution under the Arian king, Huneric, some of whom were bishops of the churches of God and some priests and deacons, with the multitudes of the faithful associated with them. They were driven into exile in a horrible desert for defending Catholic truth. Many of them were cruelly treated by the Moors, being compelled to run by the points of spears and struck with stones; others were dragged like corpses, with their legs tied together, over rough and stony ground, and torn limb from limb; all of them, being tortured in various ways, at the last achieved martyrdom. Among them were those distinguished priests of the Lord, the bishops Felix and Cyprian.” Victor of Vita, an African bishop who was contemporary and an eyewitness describe the persecution of orthodox Christians by the Arian Vandals thus summarized at length.
Huneric exiled them by hundreds into the Libyan desert, where they perished under conditions of the greatest barbarity. Numbers were concentrated in a small building, where Bishop Victor, who found prisoners and prison in a state reminiscent of the “black hole” of Calcutta, visited them. When at length the order was brought to lead the Catholics into the wilderness, they came out singing psalms and amid the lamentations of their fellow-Christians. Some even, including women and children, voluntarily followed the confessors to exile and death. St Felix, the bishop of Abbir, was very old and half paralysed, and it was represented to Huneric that he might just as well be left to die at home. But the brutal king replied that if he could not ride a horse he could be tied to a yoke of oxen and dragged. Eventually the old man made the terrible journey tied across the back of a mule. Many even of the young and strong did not reach their destination: stones were thrown at them and they were pricked with spears to make them keep up, till they collapsed by the wayside and perished of thirst and exhaustion. St Cyprian, another bishop, expended all his time, energy and property in caring for the confessors and encouraging them, till he too was apprehended and sent into banishment, where he died a martyr from the hardships he endured.

We know, practically speaking, no more of these martyrs than is told us by Victor of Vita. His text is quoted and discussed in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. vi. It is curious that no identifiable notice of the group seems to occur in the ancient calendar of Carthage or in the “Hieronymianum”.

5th v. St. Fiace An Irish bishop
sometimes listed as Fiech. A disciple of St. Patrick, he wrote a hymn in St. Patrick's honor.

Fiace (Fiacc, Fiach, Fiech) B (AC)
5th century. The story is told that one day Saint Patrick was passing through Leinster and stopped at Donaghmore to visit his disciple at Tara, Dubthach, the royal bard (possibly Bishop Saint Dubtach of Armagh; f.d. October 7?). Patrick asked for the bard's recommendation of a man who fit Saint Paul's description of a man worthy to be ordained bishop: of good morals and the husband of only one wife.
Dubthach suggested the young poet Fiace, a distinguished man of letters. Fiace acquiesced at once and so Patrick gave him a catechism and liturgical books. “And Patrick conferred the degree of bishop upon Fiace; and he gave to Fiace a cumdach [box] containing a bell, and a minister [relics] and a crozier, and a poolire [leather satchel].” In addition, Saint Patrick left with the new bishop seven religious to form the nucleus of a community.

During his long episcopacy, Fiace wrote a still existent hymn, Genair Patraicc, in honor of Saint Patrick, his friend and patron. (His authorship has been disputed, but it is not beyond the realm of feasibility.) The saint left behind many churches, where he had taught the faith. Both he and his son, Saint Fiacre were buried at Sletty in Leix (Benedictines, Concannon, D'Arcy, Healy, Ryan) .

544 Saint Mobhi (Berchan) of Glasnevin (of Dublin) 1/12 the Twelve Apostles of Ireland shaped spirits of Saints Columba, Comgall, Kieran of Clonmacnoise, and Canice (AC)
It is odd that the source containing the most extensive list of Irish saints omitted Saint Berchan, who is generally affectionately called Mobhi. He is listed as one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland, even though his monastery only lasted a few years beyond his death by plague. Perhaps he is revered because he helped to shape the spirits of so many other great men, including Saints Columba, Comgall, Kieran of Clonmacnoise, and Canice. One tradition tells of Saint Columba and his companions swimming across the flooding Tolka River to get to Vespers in the church on the other side. Mobhi himself was formed under the guidance of Saint Finian at Clonard (Bulfin, D'Arcy, Healy, Montague).

Saint Eustace The Vision of about 1438-42 or see below :)
In Syria sancti Eustáchii, Presbyteri et Confessóris.
In Syria, St. Eustace, priest and confessor.

The story is told of Saint Eustace that while out hunting he saw a stag with a Crucifix between its antlers and was converted to Christianity. Pisanello appears to have used both drawings from pattern books as well as studies from life for the animals and birds which appear in the landscape.
The patron of this private devotional work is not known, nor is it known why the cartellino (scroll) at the bottom has remained blank.

Saint Eustace priest and confessor in Syria or a martyr in Egypt (RM)
Date unknown. Either a priest and confessor in Syria, according to the Roman Martyrology, or a martyr in Egypt, according to the Bollandists (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).

The Golden Legend The Life of Saint Eustace Here followeth the Life of Saint Eustace, and first of his name.
Eustace was named tofore his baptism Placidus, which is as much as to say as pleasant to God. And Eustace is said of eu, that is to say, good, and statics, that is, fortune, therefore Eustace is, as it were, good fortune. He was pleasant to God in his conversation, and after, he held him in good works.

Of Saint Eustace.
Eustace, which first was named Placidus, was master of the chivalry of Trajan, the emperor, and was right busy in the works of mercy, but he was a worshipper of idols. And he had a wife of the same rite, and also of the deeds of mercy, of whom he had two sons, which he did do nourish after his estate. And because he was ententive to the works of mercy, he deserved to be enlumined to the way of truth.

So on a day, as he was on hunting, he found an herd of harts, among whom he saw one more fair and greater than the other, which departed from the company and sprang into the thickest of the forest. And the other knights ran after the other harts, but Placidus siewed him with all his might, and enforced to take him. And when the hart saw that he followed with all his power, at the last he went up on a high rock, and Placidus approaching nigh, thought in his mind how he might take him. And as he beheld and considered the hart diligently, he saw between his horns the form of the holy cross shining more clear than the sun, and the image of Christ, which by the mouth of the hart, like as sometime Balaam by the ass, spake to him, saying: Placidus, wherefore followest me hither? I am appeared to thee in this beast for the grace of thee. I am Jesu Christ, whom thou honourest ignorantly, thy alms be ascended up tofore me, and therefore I come hither so that by this hart that thou huntest I may hunt thee. And some other say that this image of Jesu Christ which appeared between the horns of the hart said these words. And when Placidus heard that, he had great dread, and descended from his horse to the ground. And an hour after he came to himself, and arose from the ground, and said: Rehearse again this that thou hast said, and I shall believe thee. And then our Lord said: I am Jesu Christ that formed heaven and earth, which made the light to increase, and divided it from darkness, and established time, days, and hours. Which formed men of the slime of the earth, which appeared on earth in flesh for the health of the lineage human, which was crucified, dead, buried, and arose the third day. And when Placidus heard this, he fell down again to the earth, and said: I believe, Lord, that thou art he that made all things, and convertest them that err.

PISANELLO about 1394? - 1455 NG1436. Bought, 1895. Egg tempera on wood 54.8 x 65.5 cm.

And our Lord said to him: If thou believest, go to the bishop of the city and do thee be baptized. And Placidus said to him: Lord, wilt thou that I hide this thing from my wife and my sons? And our Lord said to him: Tell to them that they also make them clean with thee. And see that thou come again to-morrow hither that I appear again to thee, and may show to thee that which shall come hereafter to thee. And when he was come home to his house, and had told this thing to his wife in their bed, she cried: My Lord! and said: And I saw him this night that is passed, and he said to me: To-morn thou, thy husband, and thy sons, shall come to me. And now I know that it was Christ. Then they went to the bishop of Rome at midnight, which baptized them with great joy, and named Placidus, Eustace, and his wife, Theospis.

And on the morn Eustace went to hunt as he did tofore, and when he came nigh to the place he departed his knights as for to find venison. And anon he saw in the place the form of the first vision, and anon he fell to the ground bfore the figure, and said: Lord, I pray thee to show to me that which thou hast promised to me thy servant, to whom our Lord said: Eustace, thou that art blessed, which hast taken the washing of grace, for now thou hast surmounted the devil, which had deceived thee, and trodden him under foot, now thy faith shall appear. The devil now, because thou hast forsaken him, is armed cruelly against thee, and it behoveth thee to suffer many things and pains. For to have the crown of victory thou must suffer much, because to humble thee from the high vanity of the world, and shalt afterward be enhanced in spiritual riches, thou therefore fail not, ne look not unto thy first glory. For thee behoveth that by temptations thou be another Job, and when thou shalt so be humbled, I shall come to thee, and shall restore thee unto thy first joy. Say to me now whether thou wilt now suffer and take temptations, or in the end of thy life? And Eustace said to him: Lord, if it so behoveth. command that temptation to come now, but I beseech thee to grant to me the virtue of patience. To whom our Lord said: Be thou constant, for my grace shall keep your souls. Then our Lord ascended into heaven, and Eustace returned home and showed all this to his wife.

After this, a few days, the pestilence assailed his servants and his knights, and slew them all, and in a little while after, all his horses and his beasts died suddenly, and after this, some that had been his fellows, seeing his depredation, entered into his house by night and robbed him, and bore away gold and silver, and despoiled him of all other things. And he, his wife, and children thanked God, and fled away by night all naked, and because they doubted shame, they fled into Egypt. And all his great possessions came to nought by ravin of wicked people. Then the king and all the senators sorrowed much for the master of the chivalry, which was so noble, because they might hear no tidings of him. And as they went they approached the sea, and found a ship, and entered into it for to pass, and the master of the ship saw the wife of Eustace was right fair, and desired much for to have her. And when they were passed over, he demanded his reward for their freight, and they had not whereof to pay, so that the master of the ship commanded that the wife should be holden and retained for his hire, and would have her with him. And when Eustace heard that, he gain said it long. Then the master of the ship commanded his mariners to cast him in the sea, so that he might have his wife, and when Eustace saw that, he left his wife much sorrowfully, and took his two children and went weeping, and said: Alas! woe am I for you, for your mother is delivered to a strange husband. And thus sorrowing he and his children came to a river, and for the great abundance of water he durst not pass that river with his both sons at once, which were then young. But at the last he left one of them on the brink of the river, and bare over that other on his shoulders, and when he had passed the river, he set down on the ground the child that he had borne over, and hasted him for to fetch that other that he had left on that other side of the river. And when he was in the midst of the water, there came a wolf and took the child that he had borne over, and fled withal to the woods. And he then, all despaired of him, went for to fetch that other, and as he went, there came a great lion and bare away that other child, so that he might not retain him, for he was in the middle of the river. And then he began to weep and draw his hair, and would have drowned himself in the water if the divine purveyance had not letted him. And the herdmen and ploughmen saw the lion bearing the child all alive, and they followed him with their dogs, so that by divine grace the lion left the child all safe without hurt. And other ploughmen cried and followed the wolf, and with their staves and falchions delivered the child whole and sound from his teeth without hurt. And so both the herdmen and ploughmen were of one village, and nourished these children among them. And Eustace knew nothing thereof, but weeping and sorrowing, saying to himself: Alas! woe is me! for tofore this mishap I shone in great wealth like a tree, but now I am naked of all things. Alas! I was accustomed to be accompanied with a great multitude of knights, and I am now alone, and am not suffered to have my sons. O Lord, I remember me that thou saddest to me: Thee behoveth to be tempted as Job was, but I see that in me is more done to than was to Job. For he lost all his possessions, but he had a dunghill to sit on, but to me is nothing left, he had friends which had pity on him, and I have none but wild beasts, which have borne away my sons. To him was his wife left, and my wife is taken from me and delivered to another. O good Lord, give thou rest to my tribulations, and keep thou so my mouth that mine heart decline not into words of malice, and be cast from thy visage. And thus saying and wailing, in great weeping, went into a street of the town, and there was hired for to keep the fields of the men of that town, and so kept them fifteen years. His sons were nourished in another town, and knew not that they were brethren; and our Lord kept the wife of Eustace, so that the strange man had not to do with her ne touched her, but died and ended his life.

In that time the emperor and the people were much tormented of their enemies, and then they remembered of Placidus, how he many times had fought nobly against them, for whom the emperor was much sorrowful, and sent out, into divers parts, many knights to seek him, and promised to them that found him much riches and great honour. And two knights, which had been under him in chivalry, came into the same street where he dwelled, and anon as Placidus saw them, he knew them, and then he remembered his first dignity and began to be heavy, and said: Lord, I beseech thee to grant to me that I may sometime see my wife, for as for my sons I know well that they be devoured of wild beasts. And then a voice came to him and said: Eustace, have thou good affiance, for anon thou shalt recover thine honour, and shalt have thy wife and thy children. And anon he met with these knights, and they knew him not, but demanded of him if he knew any strange man named Placidus, and had a wife and two children. And he said: Nay, yet he had these home to his hostel, and he served them. And when he remembered of his first estate he might not hold him from weeping. Then he went out and washed his face and returned for to serve them. And they considered and said that one to that other, how that this man resembleth much unto him that we seek, and that other answered: Certainly he is like unto him; now let us see if he have a wound in his head that he gat in a battle. Then they beheld, and saw the sign of the wound, and then they wist well it was he that they sought. Then they arose and kissed him and demanded of his wife and children, and he said that his sons were dead, and his wife was taken away from him. And then the neighbours ran for to hear this thing, because the knights told and recounted his first glory and his virtue. And they said to him the commandment of the emperor, and clad him with noble vestments. Then after the journey of fifteen days they brought him to the emperor. And when he heard of his coming he ran anon against him, and when he saw him he kissed him. Then Eustace recounted tofore them all by order that which had happened to him. And he was re-established unto the office to be again master of the chivalry, and was constrained to do the office as he did tofore.

And then he counted how many knights there were, and saw there were but few as to the regard of their enemies, and commanded that all the young men should be gathered in the cities and towns, and it happed that the country where his sons were nourished should make and send two men of arms. Then all the inhabitants of that country ordained these two young men, his sons, most convenable above all others for to go with the master of the chivalry; and then when the master saw these young men of noble form and adorned honestly with good manners, they pleased him much and ordained that they should be with the first of his table.

Then he went thus to the battle, and when he had subdued his enemies to him, he made his host to rest three days in a town, where his wife dwelt and kept a poor hostelry. And these two young men, by the purveyance of God were lodged in the habitation of their mother, without knowing what she was. And on a time about midday, as they spake that one to that other of their infancy, and their mother, which was there, hearkened what they said much attentively, so that the greatest said to the less: When I was a child, I remember none other thing, save that my father which was master of the knights, and my mother, which was right fair, had two sons, that is to say, me and another, younger than I, and was much fair. And they took us and went out of their house by night, and entered into a ship for to go I wot not whither. And when we went out of the ship our mother was left in the ship, I wot not in what manner, but my father bare me and my brother, and sore weeping. And when he came to a water he passed over with my younger brother, and left me on he bank of the water, and when he returned a wolf came and bare away my brother. And ere my father might come to me, a great lion issued out of the forest, and took me up and bare me, to the wood, but the herdmen that saw him took me from the mouth of the lion, and was nourished in such a town as ye know well, ne I could never know what happened to my brother, nor where he is. And when the younger heard this he began to weep and say: Forsooth, like as I hear, I am thy brother, for they that nourished me said that they had taken me from a wolf. And then they began to embrace and kiss each other, and weep.

And when their mother had heard all this thing, she considered long in herself if they were her two sons, because they had said by order what was befallen them. And the next day following she went to the master of the chivalry and required him, saying: Sir, I pray thee command that I may be brought again to my country, for I am of the country of the Romans, and here I am a stranger. And in saying these words she saw in him signs, and knew by them that he was her husband, and then she might no longer forbear, but fell down at his feet and said to him: Sir, I pray thee to tell of thy first estate, for I ween that thou art Placidus, master of the knights, which otherwise art called Eustace, whom the Saviour of the world hath converted, and hast suffered such temptation and such, and I that am thy wife was taken from thee in the sea, which nevertheless have been kept from all corruption, and haddest of me two sons Agapitus and Theospitus. And Eustace hearing this, and diligently considered and beheld her, anon knew that she was his wife, and wept for joy and kissed her; and glorified much our Lord God, which comforteth the discomforted. And then said his wife: Sir, where be our sons? And he said that they were slain of wild beasts, and recounted to her how he had lost them. And she said: Let us give thankings to God, for I suppose that like as God hath given to us grace each to find other, so shall he give us grace to recover our sons. And he said: I have told thee that they be devoured of wild beasts; and she then said: I sat yesterday in a garden and heard two younglings thus and thus expounding their infancy, and I believe that they be our sons, demand them and they shall tell to thee the truth. Then Eustace called them, and heard their infancy and knew that they were his sons. Then he embraced them and the mother also, and kissed them also. Then all the host enjoyed strongly of the finding of his wife and children, and for the victory of the barbarians. And when he was returned, Trajan was then dead, and Adrian succeeded in the empire, which was worst in all felonies. And as well for the victory as for the finding of his wife and children, he received them much honourably and did do make a great dinner and feast. And on the next day after, he went to the temple of the idols, for to sacrifice for the victory of the barbarians. And then the emperor seeing that Eustace would not do sacrifice, neither for the victory, ne for that he had found his wife and children, warned and commanded him that he should do sacrifice. To whom Eustace said: I adore and do sacrifice to our Lord Jesu Christ, and only serve him. And then the emperor, replenished with ire, put him his wife and his sons in a certain place, and did to go to them a right cruel lion, and the lion ran to them and inclined his head to them, like as he had worshipped them, and departed. Then the emperor did do make a fire under an ox of brass or copper, and when it was fire-hot he commanded that they should be put therein all quick and alive. And then the saints prayed and commended them unto our Lord, and entered into the ox, and there yielded up their spirits unto Jesu Christ. And the third day after, they were drawn out before the emperor, and were found all whole and not touched of the fire, ne as much as an hair of them was burnt, ne none other thing on them. And then the christian men took the bodies of them, and laid them in a right noble place honourably, and made over them an oratory. And they suffered death under Adrian the emperor, which began about the year one hundred and twenty in the calends of November.

Eustace, also known as Eustachius or Eustathius, was a legendary Christian martyr who allegedly lived in the 2nd century AD. Prior to his conversion to Christianity, he was a Roman general named Placidus, who served the emperor Trajan. While hunting a stag in Tivoli near Rome, Placidus saw a vision of Jesus between the stag's antlers. He was immediately converted, had himself and his family baptized, and changed his name to Eustace (meaning “good fortune” or “fruitful”). A series of calamities followed to test his faith: his wealth was stolen; his servants died of a plague; when the family took a sea voyage, the ship's captain kidnapped Eustace's wife; and as Eustace crossed a river with his two sons, the children were taken away by a wolf and a lion. Like Job, Eustace lamented but did not lose his faith. He was then quickly restored to his former prestige and reunited with his family; but when he demonstrated his new faith by refusing to make a pagan sacrifice, the emperor, Hadrian, condemned Eustace, his wife, and his sons to be roasted to death inside a bronze statue of a bull or an ox, in the year AD 118.

The story was popularized in Jacobus de Voragine's Golden Legend (c. 1260). Eustace became known as a patron saint of hunters, and also of anyone facing adversity; he was traditionally included among the Fourteen Holy Helpers.

As with many early saints, there is little evidence for Eustace's existence; elements of his story have been attributed to other saints (notably the French Saint Hubert). His feast day in the Roman Catholic Church was September 20, but this date has not been officially observed since Pope Paul VI removed many of the less well documented saints from the calendar in 1969. He is one of the patron saints of Madrid, Spain. Scenes from the story, especially Eustace kneeling before the stag, became a popular subject of medieval religious art. Early artistic depictions of the legend include a wall painting at Canterbury Cathedral and stained glass windows at the Cathedral of Chartres. There is a Church of Saint Eustace in Paris, and the island of Saint Eustatius in the Netherlands Antilles is named after him.

562 St. Salvinus Bishop of Verona

Verónæ sancti Salvíni Epíscopi. At Verona, St. Salvinus, bishop.

Italy, whose relics are enshrined in that city’s church of St. Stephen. He is believed to have been the successor of St. Valens there.
Salvinus of Verona B (RM). The relics of Saint Salvinus, bishop of Verona, are enshrined in the church of Saint Stephen in that city (Benedictines).

633 St. Edwin a martyr king of Northumbria

633 ST EDWIN, MARTYR
IN the year 616 King Ethelfrith of Bernicia was defeated and slain in battle, between Lincoln and Doncaster, by Redwald, King of the East Angles. By this victory Edwin of Deira was put in possession of the whole kingdom of Northumbria after being an exile for nearly thirty years; and after the death of Redwald he had a certain lordship over the other English kings.
   He asked for the hand of Ethelburga, daughter of St Ethelbert, King of Kent, and was informed “it is not lawful to marry a Christian maiden to a pagan husband”. However, he gave an assurance that she should be free in her religion, and that he would look into it himself, and thereupon the marriage was allowed, St Paulinus being sent north as chaplain to the queen and bishop for his converts. At Easter in 626 an assassin sent from the West Saxons attempted to stab King Edwin. He would have certainly killed him if Lilla, his thegn, had not interposed his own body and so saved the king’s life with the loss of his own.
   Soon Queen Ethelburga gave birth of a daughter, and when the king gave thanks to his gods for her preservation St Paulinus told him it was the effect of the prayers of his queen and her bishop to the true God that she had had an easy and safe delivery. The king seemed pleased with this idea and was prevailed upon to consent that his daughter who was just born should be consecrated to God. She was baptized with twelve others on Whitsunday, and called Eanfleda, and they were the first fruits of the Northumbrians.
   Edwin being, as Bede says, a man of unusual wisdom, “sat much alone by himself, silent of tongue, deliberating in his heart how he should act and to which religion he should adhere”. Pope Boniface V sent him an encouraging letter, and a silver looking glass and an ivory comb to the queen, admonishing her to press him upon that subject. Paulinus continued to instruct him and to pray for his conversion but without visible effect; till one day the bishop came and apparently reminded him of some conditional promise of his early years, and said,

“You see that God has delivered you from your enemies; and He offers you His everlasting kingdom. Take care on your side to perform your promise, by receiving His faith and keeping His commandments.” Edwin answered he would invite his chief counsellors to do the same with him, and assembled his nobles. Coifi, the chief priest, spoke first, declaring that by experience it was manifest their gods had no power. Another said that the short moment of this life is of no weight, if put in the balance with eternity “like the swift flight of a sparrow through the warm room where we sit and sup in winter when there is snow without. It flies in at one door and out at the other, into the dark and cold from which it has just emerged.” Others spoke to the like effect, and then St Paulinus addressed the assembly. Coifi applauded his discourse and advised the king to command fire to be set to the temples and altars of their false gods; and then himself rode to a temple, which he profaned by casting his spear into it. “And the people beholding it, thought he was mad.”

Where this took place, says Bede, is shown not far from York, to the east beyond the Derwent, at Goodmanham, a mile from Market Weighton.
King Edwin was baptized at York at Easter in the year 627, on the site of the present York Minster, in the wooden church of St Peter which he had caused to be built. He afterwards began a large church of stone, which was finished by his successor, St Oswald. Both nobles and people flocked to be instructed and to receive the sacrament of baptism. People being converted in such numbers there were necessarily many who were unworthy of or dishonest in their new profession, but some became changed men, whose first thought now was to serve God in this world and enjoy Him for ever in the next. And of these Edwin was himself an example, being as zealous to spread the truth as to practise it.
Edwin imposed tribute on the north Welsh chieftains and took possession of the island of Mon, later called Anglesey; and in the north consolidated his kingdom to the Forth. He provided that on the highways brass cups should be chained to stakes by springs for the convenience of travellers, nor dare any man touch them for any purpose but that for which they were put there. “There was then”, says St Bede in a well-known passage, “such perfect peace in Britain, wheresoever the rule of King Edwin extended, that, as is still proverbially said, a woman with her new-born babe might walk throughout the island from sea to sea unharmed.” This good king had reigned seventeen years when the Welsh Cadwallon marched in arms against him with Penda of Mercia, a pagan. King Edwin met them at Hatfield Chase on October 12, 633, and in the ensuing battle he was slain.
St Edwin was certainly venerated in England as a martyr, but though his claims to sanctity are less doubtful than those of some other royal saints, English and other, he has had no liturgical cultus so far as is known. His relics were held in veneration; Speed says that churches were dedicated in his honour in London and at Brean in Somerset; and Pope Gregory XIII permitted him to be represented among the English martyrs on the walls of the chapel of the Venerabile at Rome.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and other early sources add little or nothing to the account in Bede’s Historia ecclesiastica. See Plummer’s text and notes, and consult further the bibliography given above under St Paulinus, October 10.

In the year 616, King Ethelfrith was slain in battle by Redwald, King of the East Angles. Edwin of Deira became king of the whole kingdom of Northumbria and after the death of Redwald, he had a certain lordship over the other English kings. He married Ethelburga, daughter of St. Ethelbert, King of Kent after promising to allow her to practice her Christian religion. St. Paulinus was sent as chaplain to the Queen and bishop for his converts. When Queen Ethelburga gave birth to a daughter, she was baptized with twelve others on Whitsunday, and called Eanfleda; they were the first fruits of the Northumbrians. Edwin was a man of unusual wisdom and deliberated in his heart to which religion he should follow. Paulinus continued to instruct him and to pray for his conversion. King Edwin was baptized at York at Easter in the year 627, on the site of the present York Minster, in the wooden church of St. Peter which he had caused to be built. This good king had reigned seventeen years when the Welsh Cadwalon marched in arms against him with Penda of Mercia, a pagan. King Edwin met them at Hatfield Chase on October 12, 633, and in the ensuing battle he was slain. St. Edwin was certainly vernerated in England as a martyr, but though his claims to sanctity are else doubtful than those of some other royal saints, English and other, he has had no liturgical cultus so far as is known. His relics were held in veneration, churches were dedicated in his honour in London and at Brean in Somerset; and Pope Gregory XIII permitted him to be represented among the English martyrs on the walls of the chapel of the Venerabile at Rome.

Edwin, King M (AC) Born c. 585; died October 12, 633. Son of King Aella of Deira (southern Northumbria, Yorkshire area), Saint Edwin was only three when his father died. The saint was deprived of the throne by King Ethelfrith of Bernicia (North Northumbria), who seized Aella's kingdom. Edwin spent the next 30 years in Wales and East Anglia. As a young man he married Cwenburg of Mercia by whom he had two sons. Finally in 616, with the help of King Baedwald (Redwald) of East Anglia who had hosted him during his exile, Edwin was restored to the throne by defeating and killing Ethelfrith at the Battle of Idle River.

Edwin ruled ably and, in 625, after the death of his first wife, married Ethelburga, sister of King Eadbald of Kent, and a Christian. At first his embassy seeking her hand was rebuffed because he was not a Christian. But eventually a contract was reached wherein Ethelburga would be permitted the freedom to practice her religion and Edwin would seriously consider joining her in faith. With the agreement made, Ethelburga brought with her to Northumbria her confessor, Saint Paulinus, a Roman monk who had been sent by Pope Saint Gregory the Great to help Saint Augustine in the conversion of England and who had just been consecrated bishop of York. The bishop also saw this as an opportunity to spread the faith in the northern parts of the island.

The thoughtful and melancholy king was not naturally inclined to impetuous acts and, thus, it took some time before his conversion. The examples of Christian virtue displayed by his wife and her chaplain played an important role in his decision, but three specific events were determinative. First, an unsuccessful assassination attempt by the West Saxons. Second, the abandonment of paganism by Coifi the high priest. And, finally, a reminder by Paulinus of a mysterious experience Edwin had undergone while in exile some years earlier.

Following these incidents, Edwin was converted to Christianity in 627, and baptized by Paulinus at Easter (attested by Bede) after the birth of a daughter. Many in Edwin's court and subjects in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire also came to faith. Thus, began Christianity in Northumbria. The idols and false gods had already been destroyed by the high priest himself.

King Edwin established law and order in the kingdom and soon became the most powerful king in England. He expanded his territory north into the land of the Picts, west into that of the Cumbrians and Welsh, and into Elmet near Leeds. The Venerable Bede relates that during the last year's of King Edwin's reign there was such peace and order in his dominions that a proverb said 'a woman could carry her newborn baby across the island from sea to sea and suffer no harm.'

His intention to build a stone church at York (an unprecedented event in those days) never materialized when his kingdom was invaded by pagan King Penda of Mercia and Cadwallon of North Wales. Edwin was defeated and killed at the Battle of Hatfield Chase in 633. This church was constructed, enshrined his head, and became the center of his cultus.

After his death, Northumbria reverted to paganism and Paulinus had to conduct Ethelburga and her children by sea to safety in Kent, where for the last 10 years of his life, he embellished his diocese of Rochester. The massacres and chaos that followed Edwin's death ended with the accession of Saint Oswald in 634.

Saint Edwin is view as a tribal hero, model Christian king, and martyr. Although his feast was not included in any of the surviving liturgical books of Northumbria, there was at least one ancient church dedication in his honor. Pope Gregory XIII implicitly approved his cultus by including Edwin among the English martyrs in the murals of the English College at Rome.

Edwin's cultus had another locus at Whitby, which had a shrine of his body, supposedly discovered by revelation and brought there from Hatfield Chase. Whitby Abbey was governed in turn by Edwin's daughter, Saint Enfleda, and his granddaughter, Saint Elfleda. It became the burial site for the royal members of the house of Deira and the home of Saint Gregory I's first biographer (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer).

678 Ethelburga (Æthelburh) of Barking attested by miracles V (AC)

678 St Ethelburga, Abbess Of Barking, Virgin
Ethelburga is said to have been born at Stallington in Lindsey, and she was the sister of St Erconwald, of whom it is said they were “bound together by a common love, one in heart and one in soul”. Fired doubtless by the example of her brother, St Ethelburga determined to become a nun, and nothing could shake her resolution, for the world loses all its influence upon a mind which is wholly taken up with the great truths of faith and eternal salvation.
Erconwald, before he became bishop of London, founded a monastery at Chertsey and another for both monks and nuns at Barking in Essex. Over this he set Ethelburga as abbess, and as she and her sisters were quite inexperienced, St Hildelitha was fetched from a French abbey to train her. We are told there was somewhat of a competition in austerity between the two saints, and Ethelburga, when the rule of the house was entrusted to her, by her example and spirit sweetly led on all the other nuns in the path of virtue and Christian perfection.
“She behaved in all respects as became the sister of such a brother, living according to the rule, devoutly and orderly, providing for those under her, as was also manifested by heavenly miracles”, of which St Bede relates several.
When an epidemic carried off some of the monks they were buried in the ground adjoining the church, and a discussion arose among the nuns as to where they should be buried when their time came, in the same part of the churchyard or another part. They could come to no decision, till one morning after Matins they were praying by the graves of the dead brothers, when suddenly a great light (which from Bede’s description would certainly seem to have been summer lightning) fell first upon them and then upon another side of the church; which light they understood “was intended to show the place in which their bodies were to rest and await the day of resurrection”. St Bede tells a touching story of a little boy of three years old, who was being brought up in the monastery and who died calling for one of the nuns, Edith, who shortly followed him; and of another nun who, dying at midnight, asked for the candle to be put out, exclaiming, “I know you think I am mad, but I am not. I see this room so filled with light that your candle there looks dark to me.” And when they left it, she said, “Very well; let it burn. But it is not my light, for my light will come to me at daybreak.” And at the dawn she died.
St Ethelburga’s approaching end was foreseen in a vision by a nun called Theorigitha, who for nine years had been an invalid; and Ethelburga’s life “is known to have been such that no person who knew her ought to question but that the heavenly kingdom was opened to her directly as she left this world”, says Bede. Three years later Theorigitha herself was dying, and had lost the use of her tongue. Suddenly she spoke and said, “Your coming is a great joy to me. You are welcome,” and began to talk with an invisible person about how much longer she had to live. The bystanders asked whom she was talking to, and were told, “With my most dear mother, Ethelburga”. The feast of St Ethelburga is observed in the diocese of Brentwood.

There does not seem much to add to the account given in Bede, Historia ecclesiastica. bk iv (see Plummer’s edition and notes); but the Bollandists have reprinted the short biography of Capgrave. Traces of liturgical cultus, survive both in medieval calendars (noted in Stanton, Menology, p. 486), and in certain antiphons, etc. (Hardy, Materials, vol. i, p. 385). For the life by Goscelin of Canterbury in the Gotha MS., see Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lviii (1940), p. 101.

Born at Stallington, Lindsey, England; died at Barking, England, 678; feast day formerly October 11; feasts of her translations on March 7, May 4, and September 23 at Barking.
The histories of the various saints named Ethelburga are confused almost beyond my ability to sort them one from another. Two, including today's saint, are said to have been the daughters of King Anna of the East Angles and died within 20 years of one another.

Not enough is known about Saint Ethelburga's life to make it remarkable to commemorate it more than a thousand years after her death except that she hailed from one of those incredibly holy families. Her eldest sister Saint Sexburga, married King Erconbert of Kent and greatly influenced her husband to order the complete abandonment and destruction of idols throughout his kingdom. He issued an order that everyone should observe the Lenten fasts.

Her sister Queen Saint Etheldreda was abbess of Ely. Her youngest sister, Saint Withburga, took the veil after Anna died in battle and live mostly in the convent she founded at Dereham. Her brother Erconwald, who later became bishop of London, founded monasteries at Chertsey, which he governed, and at Barking, over which he placed his sister Ethelburga. A late tradition notes that Erconwald invited Saint Hildelith to leave Chelles in France and serve as prioress at Barking in Essex. She was placed in the difficult position of teaching Saint Ethelburga the observance of monastic traditions while remaining in a subordinate role. Eventually Ethelburga learned and governed alone as a great abbess.

The Venerable Bede wrote that "she showed herself in every way worthy of her brother, in holiness of life and constant solicitude for those under her care, attested by miracles from above." He then relates several unusual events that occurred shortly before the death of Ethelburga, including the death of a three-year-old boy after calling out the name Edith three times, and the cure of Saint Tortgith of paralysis after a vision of Ethelburga (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Farmer).

In art, Saint Ethelburga is depicted as an abbess holding Barking Abbey. Sometimes she is shown with Saint Erconwald, her brother, or with Saint Hildelith, who trained her (Roeder) .

709 St. Wilfrid abbot of Ripon in 658 founded many monasteries of the Benedictine Order

Eboráci, in Anglia, sancti Walfrídi, Epíscopi et Confessóris. At York in England, St. Wilfrid, bishop and confessor.

709 St Wilfrid, Bishop of York
St Wilfrid stands out prominently among the early ecclesiastics of the Church in England as an upholder of the customs and discipline of the Roman church and for his own close contacts with the Holy See. The Life of St Wilfrid, by F. W. Faber, published under Newman's editorship in 1844, caused a great outcry on account of its undisguisedly Roman sympathies. Some startling extracts were cited, years later, by Faber's biographer (pp. 224-225). His conversion followed quickly. He took the name of Wilfrid in confirmation, dedicated in honour of St Wilfrid the church he built at Cotton, and chose for himself the name of Brother Wilfrid in the congregation which he founded, the members of which were for the short time of its duration known as “Wilfridians”.

He was born in 634, son of a Northumbrian thegn; {The term thegn (or thane or thayn in Shakespearean English), from Old English þegn, ðegn, "servant, attendant, retainer", "one who serves", is commonly used to describe either an aristocratic retainer of a king or nobleman in Anglo-Saxon England, or, as a class term, the majority of the aristocracy below the ranks of ealdormen and high-reeves. It is also the term for an early medieval Scandinavian class of retainers.}
Ripon claims to be his birthplace, but without producing any evidence. His mother died when he was a child, and the unkindness of his stepmother made him seek the court of Oswy, King of Northumbria, when he was thirteen.
He was befriended by Queen Eanfleda, who sent him to the monastery of Lindisfarne that he might be trained in the study of the sacred sciences. A desire of greater improvement than he could attain to in that house, where he perceived the Celtic discipline that was practised to be imperfect, gave rise to a project of travelling into France and Italy. He made some stay at Canterbury, where he studied the Roman discipline under St Honorius, and learned the psalter according to the Roman version, instead of that which he had used before. In 654 St Benet Biscop, his countryman, passed through Kent on his first journey to Rome; and St Wilfrid, who had set out with the same object, crossed the sea with him.
At Lyons Wilfrid was detained a whole year by St Annemund, bishop of that city, who took so great a liking to him that he offered him his niece in marriage, and promised him a considerable position; but the youth continued steadfast in the resolution he had taken to devote himself to God.
At Rome he put himself under Boniface the archdeacon, a pious and learned man; he was secretary to Pope St Martin, and took much delight in instructing young Wilfrid. After this, Wilfrid returned to Lyons. He stayed three years there and received the tonsure after the Roman manner, thus adopting an outward and visible sign of his dissent from Celtic customs. St Annemund desired to make him his heir, but his own life was suddenly cut short by murder, and Wilfrid himself was spared only because he was a foreigner. He returned to England, where King Alcfrid of Deira, hearing that Wilfrid had been instructed in the discipline of the Roman church, asked him to instruct him and his people accordingly. Alcfrid had recently founded a monastery at Ripon and peopled it with monks from Melrose, among whom was St Cuthbert. These the king required to abandon their Celtic usages, whereupon the abbot Eata, Cuthbert and others, elected to return to Melrose. So St Wilfrid was made abbot of Ripon, where he introduced the Rule of St Benedict, and shortly after he was ordained priest by St Agilbert, the Frankish bishop of the West Saxons.
Wilfrid used all his influence to win over the clergy of the north to Roman ways. The principal trouble was that they followed an erroneous calculation of Easter; and King Oswy and his Queen Eanfleda, who came from Kent, sometimes kept Lent and Easter at different times in the same court. To put an end to this dispute, in 663 or 664 a conference was held in the monastery of St Hilda at Streaneshalch, now Whitby, before Oswy and Alcfrid. As has been related in the account of St Colman (February 18), who was then bishop of Lindisfarne, the pro-Roman party triumphed, and Colman retired to Iona. Tuda was consecrated bishop of the Northumbrians in his room, but soon after died, and Alcfrid desired to have his own priest, Wilfrid, placed in the episcopal see. Wilfrid, quite unjustifiably, looked on the nonconforming northern bishops as schismatics, and so went to France to receive consecration, at Compiègne, at the hands of his old friend St Agilbert, who had returned to his native country. He was then in his thirtieth year. For some reason St Wilfrid did not come back at once, and when he did was delayed by shipwreck. In the meantime King Oswy sent St Chad, Abbot of Lastingham, south, where he was consecrated by Wine, Bishop of the West Saxons, and then appointed him to be bishop at York. Wilfrid on his return to England would not dispute the election of St Chad, but retired to Ripon monastery. He was often called into Mercia by King Wulfhere to ordain, and at the invitation of King Egbert he went to Kent for the same purpose. On his return he brought with him a monk named Eddius Stephanus, who became his friend and biographer.
In 669 St Theodore, the newly appointed archbishop of Canterbury, in his visitation found the election of St Chad to have been irregular, and removed him, and at the same time put St Wilfrid in possession of the see of York. With the help of Eddius, who had been precentor at Canterbury, he established in all the churches of the north the use of Roman chant, he restored the cathedral at York, and discharged all his episcopal duties in a most exemplary way. He made visitations of his large diocese on foot, and was deeply beloved and respected by all his people—but not by his prince, Egfrid, who had succeeded Oswy.
Egfrid had in 659 married St Etheldreda, daughter of King Anna of the East Angles. For ten years she refused to consummate her marriage, and when he had appealed to the bishop, Wilfrid had taken Etheldreda’s part and helped her to leave her husband’s house and become a nun at Coldingham. In these circumstances Egfrid, not without reason, thought he had a grievance against the bishop, and had no intention of letting his resentment remain inactive. When therefore there was indication that St Theodore wanted as metropolitan to subdivide the great diocese of the Northumbrians, he encouraged the project, and moreover slandered St Wilfrid’s administration and demanded his deposition. Theodore appears to have listened to Egfrid, the diocese of York was divided, and Theodore consecrated three bishops in Wilfrid’s own cathedral. Wilfrid protested, and in 677 or 678 appealed to the judgement of the Holy See—the first example of such an appeal in the history of the Church in England. He set out for Rome, and being driven by contrary winds upon the coast of Friesland, during that winter and the following spring he stayed there and converted and baptized many.

Thus he began that harvest which St Willibrord and others afterwards carried on.

After a stay in France, St Wilfrid reached Rome late in 679, and found Pope St Agatho already apprised of what had passed in England by a monk whom Theodore had despatched with letters. To discuss this cause the pope assembled a synod in the Lateran, which decided that Wilfrid was to be restored to his see, and that he himself should choose coadjutors or suffragans to assist him. St Wilfrid stayed over four months at Rome, and assisted at the Lateran council which condemned the monothelite heresy.
When he arrived in England, he went to King Egfrid and showed him the decrees of the pope. The prince cried out that they had been obtained by bribery, and commanded Wilfrid to be taken to prison, where he was detained nine months. He then went by way of Wessex into Sussex. Here Wilfrid was among the still pagan South Saxons, but their King Ethelwalh, who had been lately baptized in Mercia, received him with open arms. The saint by his preaching converted nearly the whole people, and extended his activities to the Isle of Wight. In Sussex he manumitted {emancipated} 250 slaves, men and women.
At his coming the country was oppressed with a dreadful famine and drought, but on the day on which St Wilfrid first administered baptism, with great solemnity, abundant rain fell. The saint also taught the people to fish, which was a great boon to them, for hitherto they had known only how to catch eels. The bishop’s men collected a number of eel-nets and adapted them for sea-fishing; in their first venture they caught three hundred fish, of which the saint gave one hundred to the poor and as many to those of whom they had borrowed the nets, keeping the rest for their own use. The king gave him land at Selsey, whereon he established a monastery this place became an episcopal see, which was afterwards removed to Chichester.
   St Wilfrid chiefly resided in the peninsula of Selsey, and conducted his missions from thence for five years till, upon the death of King Egfrid, St Theodore, who was very old and ill, sent to him requesting that he would meet him at London with St Erconwald, bishop of that city. He confessed to them all the actions of his life, and said to St Wilfrid, “The greatest remorse that I feel is that I consented to your losing your see without any fault committed on your part. I confess this crime to God and St Peter, and I take them to witness that I will do all that lies in my power to make amends for my fault and to reconcile you to all the kings and lords who are my friends. I shall not live to the end of this year, and I wish to establish you in my lifetime archbishop of my see.” St Wilfrid replied: “May God and St Peter pardon all our differences; I will always pray for you. Send letters to your friends that they may restore to me my diocese, according to the decree of the Holy See. The choice of a successor in your see will be afterwards considered in a proper assembly.” Accordingly, St Theodore wrote to Egfrid’s successor, Aldfrid, to Ethelred, King of the Mercians, to St Elfleda, who had succeeded St Hilda in the abbey of Whitby, and others. Aldfrid recalled the bishop towards the end of the year 686, and restored to him his monastery of Ripon.
   How the complicated position in the north then developed is not altogether clear. But within five years there was disagreement between Aldfrid and Wilfrid, and he was again banished, in 691. He then retired to Ethelred of Mercia, who entreated him to take care of the vacant see of Lichfield, which he administered for, some years. The new archbishop of Canterbury, St Berhtwald, was not sympathetic to St Wilfrid, and in 703 he called a synod that decreed, at the instigation of Aldfrid, that Wilfrid should resign his bishopric and retire to his abbey of Ripon. Wilfrid vindicated all he had done for the Church in the north in an impassioned speech, and again appealed to the Holy See. The synod broke up, and he started on his third journey to Rome. He was in his seventieth year.
   St Wilfrid’s opponents also sent representatives to Rome and many sessions were held over a period of four months to examine the cause. The synod was naturally impressed by the previous judgement of Pope St Agatho. Wilfrid’s opponents had always acknowledged his life to be irreproachable: and a bishop cannot be deposed unless a canonical fault be proved against him. If it was necessary to divide his bishopric, this was not to be done without his concurrence and reserving to him his own see, and by the authority at least of a provincial council. Moreover, Wilfrid, being the best skilled in sacred learning and in the canons of the Church in all England, as St Theodore acknowledged him to be, was too great a disciplinarian for some at court. It is noteworthy too that, so far as is known, he never claimed metropolitan jurisdiction for the see of York and the pallium for himself, which had been granted to St Paulinus. St Wilfrid met at Rome with that protection and approval which were due to his heroic virtue. Pope John VI sent letters to the kings of Mercia and Northumbria, charging Archbishop Berhtwald to call a synod that should do him justice in default of which he ordered the parties to make their personal appearance at Rome.
   St Wilfrid on his return found that King Aldfrid still made difficulties; but he died in 705, and in his last sickness repented of the injustice he had done to St Wilfrid, as his sister St Elfleda gave testimony. Restitution, therefore, was agreed to. St Wilfrid, having vindicated the canons and the authority of the Holy See, consented to a compromise: he took possession of the diocese of Hexham, but chiefly resided in his monastery of Ripon, leaving York to St John of Beverley. “On that day”, writes Eddius, “all the bishops kissed and embraced one another, and, having broken bread, communicated. Then, giving thanks to the God of all this happiness, they returned to their own places in the peace of Christ.”

In 709 St Wilfrid made a visitation of the monasteries in Mercia of which he had been the founder, and he died at one of these, at Oundle in Northamptonshire, having divided his goods between his monasteries, churches and the former companions of his exile. His body was buried in his church of St Peter at Ripon.
    Dr T. Hodgkin in his History of England to the Norman Conquest avers that “the life of Wilfrid with all its strange vicissitudes of triumph and disgrace is confessedly one of the most difficult problems in early Anglo-Saxon history”, but further on he tells us “With justice he (Wilfrid) exclaimed again and again, ‘ What are the crimes of which you accuse me?’ They had, it would seem, no crimes to allege against him.” Neither does Dr Hodgkin hesitate to describe him as “the brave old man” and “the greatest ecclesiastic” of Northumbria. St Wilfrid saw the clouds gather and burst over his head, yet was undismayed, and never reviled his persecutors. By his friend and biographer Eddius he was described as “courteous to everybody, active in body, a quick walker, eager for every good work, never cast down”... He is named in the Roman Martyrology and his feast is kept in most dioceses of England, the prayer of his office being taken from the old office of the church of York.

For materials, we have, beside the copious account given in Bede, a full biography by Wilfrid’s companion and disciple Eddius (translated by B. Colgrave, 1927), as well as the somewhat turgid poem of Frithegod (c. 945), and some other sources of much later date, the principal of which is the life, or lives, by Eadmer. These biographical documents may most conveniently be consulted in the first volume of Raine’s Historians of the Church of York (Rolls Series). To discuss the disputed episodes in the series of St Wilfrid’s many conflicts would be impossible here. The account given above is substantially supported by the statements of Bede and Eddius, and though there is ground for suspecting the latter of a partiality which led him to suppress incidents which he deemed derogatory to his hero, there is no proof forthcoming that he was an unscrupulous falsifier of history. See also R. L. Poole, Studies in Chronology and History (1934) pp. 56—81; F. M. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England (1943); W. Levison, England and the Continent in the Eighth Century (1946); E. S. Duckett, Anglo-Saxon Saint: and Scholars (1947). Frithegod’s poem has been edited by Alistair Campbell (1950).

Born in Northumberland in 634, St. Wilfrid was educated at Lindesfarne and then spent some time in Lyons and Rome. Returning to England, he was elected abbot of Ripon in 658 and introduced the Roman rules and practices in opposition to the celtic ways of northern England.

In 664, he was the architect of the definitive victory of the Roman party at the Conference of Whitby. He was appointed Bishop of York and after some difficulty finally took possession of his See in 669. He labored zealously and founded many monasteries of the Benedictine Order, but he was obliged to appeal to Rome in order to prevent the subdivision of his diocese by St. Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury. While waiting for the case to be decided, he was forced to go into exile, and worked hard and long to evangelize the heathen south Saxons until his recall in 686. In 691, he had to retire again to the midland suntil Rome once again vindicated him. In 703, h resigned his post and retired to his monastery at Ripon where he spent his remaining time in prayer and penitential practices, until his death in 709. St. Wilfrid was an outstanding personage of his day, extremely capable and possessed of unbounded courage, remaining firm in his convictions despite running afoul of civil and ecclesiastical authorities. He helped bring the discipline of the English Church into line with that of Rome. He was also a dedicated pastor and a zealous and skilled missionary; his brief time spent in Friesland in 678-679 was the starting point for the great English mission to the Germanic peoples of continental Europe.

Wilfrid (Walfridus, Willferder) of York, OSB B (RM) Born in Ripon, Northumbria, 634; died at Oundle, in 709. Son of a thane, Saint Wilfrid joined the court of King Oswy of Northumbria when he was 13, and became a favorite of Queen Saint Eanfleda, who sent him to Lindisfarne for his education. There he become a monk during the Celtic régime. He studied in Canterbury under Saint Honorius and became an adherent of Roman liturgical practices.
Then he left England for Rome in 653-654 in the company of Saint Benet Biscop. After a year at Lyons, where he refused an offer to marry Bishop Saint Annemund's niece, he arrived in Rome, where he studied under Boniface, Pope Saint Martin's secretary. Wilfrid's studies here convinced him that his own Christian formation, rich in traditional learning and spirituality, was in some respects bereft of some important religious wealth.
He then spent three years at Lyons, where he received the tonsure, Roman instead of Celtic style, but escaped with his life when Annemund was murdered by Ebroin at Châlon-sur-Saône, because he was a foreigner.
He returned to England in about 660, he was appointed abbot of Ripon monastery where he introduced the Roman observance, and was asked by King Alcfrid of Deira to instruct his people in the Roman rite. When the monks at Ripon decided to return to their native Melrose rather than abandon their Celtic customs, Wilfrid was appointed abbot. He introduced the Roman usage and the rule of Saint Benedict to the monastery, was ordained, and was a leader in replacing Celtic practices with Roman in northern England.

The Synod of Whitby was convened at Saint Hilda's monastery at Saint Streaneschalch (Whitby) to determine the practices of the Church in England. A primary question was the dating of Easter, which had troubled many humble Christians in Britain because the Celtic and Roman churches differed in how the date was determined. King Oswy opened the synod by saying that all who serve the one God ought to observe one rule of life.
Bishop Saint Colman of Lindisfarne argued in favor of the Celtic way. He pointed out that they derived their method of calculating the date of Easter from Saint John. Saint Wilfrid countered: "Far be it from me to charge Saint John with foolishness." Then he added that the Roman method derived from Saint Peter.
When he concluded, King Oswy said, "I tell you, Peter is the guardian of the gates of heaven. Our Lord gave him the keys of the kingdom. I shall not contradict him. In everything I shall do my best to obey his commands. Otherwise, when I reach the gates of the kingdom of heaven, he who holds the keys may not agree to open up for me."
When the Roman party triumphed at the council held in 664, largely through his efforts, Alcfrid named him bishop of York, but since Wilfrid regarded the northern bishops who had refused to accept the decrees of Whitby as schismatic, he went to Compiègne, France, to be ordained.

Delayed until 666 in his return, he found that Saint Chad had been appointed bishop of York by King Oswy of Northumbria; rather than contest the election of Chad, Wilfrid returned to Ripon. But in 669 the new archbishop of Canterbury, Saint Theodore, ruled Chad's election irregular, removed him, and restored Wilfrid as bishop of York. He made a visitation of his entire diocese, restored his cathedral, and instituted Roman liturgical chant in all his churches.
Oswy was succeeded by King Egfrid, whom Wilfrid had alienated by encouraging Egfrid's wife, Saint Etheldreda, in refusing the king's marital rights and becoming a nun at Coldingham. At Egfrid's insistence, the metropolitan Theodore in 678 divided the see of York into four dioceses despite the objections of Wilfrid, who was deposed.
Wilfrid went to Rome to appeal the decision in 677--the first known appeal of an English bishop to Rome. He spent the winter in Friesland making converts, and when he arrived in Rome in 679 he was restored to his see by Pope Saint Agatho.
When Wilfrid returned to England in 680, Egfrid refused to accept the pope's order and imprisoned Wilfrid for nine months. When freed he went to Sussex. From Selsey he energetically evangelized the heathen South Saxons, converted practically all the inhabitants, and built a monastery at Selsey on land donated by King Ethelwalh.

On the death of Egfrid in battle in 685, Wilfrid met with Theodore, who asked his forgiveness for his actions in deposing him and ordaining the bishops of the newly formed dioceses in Wilfrid's cathedral at York.
In 686 Egfrid's successor, King Aldfrid, at Theodore's request, recalled Wilfrid and restored him to Ripon, but the peace lasted only five years. Aldfrid quarreled with Wilfrid and exiled him in 691. Wilfrid went to Mercia, where at the request of King Ethelred he administered the vacant see of Litchfield.
In 703 Theodore's successor, Saint Berhtwald, at Aldfrid's instigation, called a synod that ordered Wilfrid to resign his bishopric and retire to Ripon. When he still refused to accept the division of his see, he again went to Rome, where Pope John VI upheld him and ordered Berhtwald to call a synod clearing Wilfrid. Only when Aldfrid died in 705, repenting of his actions against Wilfrid, was a compromise worked out by which Wilfrid was appointed bishop of Hexham while Saint John of Beverly remained as bishop of York.
Wilfrid died at Saint Andrew's Monastery in Oundle, Northamptonshire, while on a visitation of monasteries he had founded in Mercia.
Saint Wilfrid was an outstanding figure of his time, a very able and courageous man, holding tenaciously to his convictions in spite of consequent embroilments with civil and ecclesiastical authorities. He was the first Englishman to carry a lawsuit to the Roman courts and was successful in helping to bring the discipline of the English church more into line with that of Rome and the continent. His vicissitudes and misfortunes have somewhat obscured his abilities as a missionary, not only among the South Saxons but also for a brief period in Friesland in 678-79; his preaching there may be taken as the starting point of the great English mission to the Germanic peoples on the European mainland (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Colgrave, Delaney, Duckett, Encyclopedia, Webb).
In art, Wilfrid is presented as a bishop either (1) baptizing; (2) preaching; (3) landing from a ship and received by the king; or (4) engaged in theological disputation with his crozier near him and a lectern before him. Venerated at Ripon, Sompting (Sussex), and Frisia (Roeder).

750 Herlindis and Relindis friends of Saints Willibrord and Boniface OSB Abbbesses (AC)
Died c. 745 and 750; Relindis has her own feast day on February 6. Count Adelard built a convent at Maaseyk on the Meuse for his daughters, Saints Herlindis and Relindis, who had been educated in the monastery at Valenciennes. Because they were friends of Saints Willibrord and Boniface, the latter appointed Relindis to follow her sister as abbess (Benedictines).

773 St. Amicus martyr French knight, companion of Amelius Charlemagne's champion
These knights took part in Charlemagne's campaign against the Lombards in northern Italy. In Mortara, Lombardy, Amicus and Amelius are venerated as martyrs.
Amicus and Amelius MM (AC). As French knights, Saints Amicus and Amelius participated in Blessed Charlemagne's campaign against the Lombards in northern Italy. Because the fell in battle against heretics, they have been venerated as martyrs in Mortara, Lombardy, Italy (Benedictines).

1604 St. Seraphin of Montegranaro Capuchin Franciscan ordinary work
Born 1540 into a poor Italian family, young Seraphin lived the life of a shepherd and spent much of his time in prayer. Mistreated for a time by his older brother after the two of them had been orphaned, Seraphin became a Capuchin Franciscan at age 16 and impressed everyone with his humility and generosity.
Serving as a lay brother, Seraphin imitated St. Francis in fasting, clothing and courtesy to all. He even mirrored Francis' missionary zeal, but Seraphin's superiors did not judge him to be a candidate for the missions.

Faithful to the core, Seraphin spent three hours in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament daily. The poor who begged at the friary door came to hold a special love for him. Despite his uneventful life, he reached impressive spiritual heights and has had miracles attributed to him.
Seraphin died on October 12, 1604, and was canonized in 1767.

Comment: For many people these days, work has no significance beyond providing the money they need to live. How many share the belief expressed in the Book of Genesis that we are to cooperate with God in caring for the earth? The kind of work Seraphin did may not strike us as earth-shattering. The work was ordinary; the spirit in which he did it was not.

Quote: speaks about ordinary work and holiness: "Now this holiness [of Jesus] became a reality in the most ordinary circumstances of life, those of work, of the family and the social life of a village, and this is an emphatic affirmation of the fact that the most obscure and humdrum human activities are entirely compatible with the perfection of the Son of God." Christians are convinced, he says, "that the evangelical holiness proper to a child of God is possible in the ordinary circumstances of a man who is poor and obliged to work for his living." In Brothers of Men, Rene Voillaume of the Little Brothers of Jesus

1604 St. Seraphinus Capuchin spiritual gifts wisdom spiritual advisor
Asculi, in Picéno, sancti Seraphíni Confessóris, ex Ordine Minórum Capuccinórum, vitæ sanctimónia et humilitáte conspícui; quem Clemens Décimus tértius, Póntifex Máximus, Sanctórum fastis adscrípsit.
At Ascoli in Piceno, St. Seraphinus, confessor, of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, distinguished by his humility and holiness of life. He was enrolled among the saints by the Sovereign Pontiff Clement XIII. also called Seraphino.

1604 ST SERAPHINO
The life of St Seraphino was of that uneventfulness which one associates with the vocation of a lay brother, though spiritually he attained great heights and numerous miracles are related of him. He was born at Montegranaro in 1540, of very humble parentage, and like many another saint he began to earn his living as a shepherd boy.
When he was left an orphan he was taken into the service of his elder brother, a bricklayer and a harsh master. Young Seraphino was treated rather brutally by him, and when he was sixteen he ran away and became a lay brother with the Capuchins. He had always been very devout and good, and now he progressed rapidly on the path of heroic sanctity. Every night he spent three hours in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, and did not go to bed again after Matins; he won sinners by his kindness and moving words, and was beloved by all the poor. Had his superiors allowed, he would have emulated St Francis and gone to work among the infidels; but he unmurmuringly accepted God’s will that he should live and die in obscurity at home. The decree of his canonization (published in 1767) records two of his miracles: namely, that when on a pilgrimage to Loreto he passed the river Potenza in flood not merely unharmed but quite dry, and that when he was reproved for his reckless generosity to the poor the vegetables which he had cut for them overnight in the friary garden were grown up again the next day. With the sign of the cross he cured the sick and he received the gifts of discernment of spirits and reading the future, so that both civil and ecclesiastical dignitaries consulted him. St Seraphino died at Ascoli Piceno on October 12, 1604; his feast is kept on this day by the Capuchins in England, but on the 13th elsewhere.

The story of St Seraphino told in some detail is included in the Annals: Ordinis Capuccini (1639) by Z. Boverio. This has been reprinted in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. vi, and with it the full text of the bull of canonization. There are other lives by C. de Harenberg (1642), P. B. Joannini (1709) and Cardinal Svampa (1904); and see Ernest de Beaulieu, Deux émules de St Felix de Cantalice (1919). Further bibliographical details may be gleaned from Giuseppe da Fermo, Gli Scrittori Cappuccini delle Marche (1928).

Born at Montegranaro, Italy, in 1540, he worked as a shepherd in his youth and was reportedly much abused by his older brother. At the age of sixteen he entered the Capuchins as a lay brother at Ascoli Piceno, earning a reputation for his holiness. He was graced with considerable spiritual gifts and wisdom, as well as devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. Seraphinus gave counsel to ecclesiastical and secular leaders. He was canonized in 1767.
Seraphinus (Serafino) of Ascoli-Piceno, OFM Cap. (RM) Born at Montegranaro, Italy, 1540; died 1604; canonized in 1767. At the age of 16, Saint Seraphinus took the Capuchin habit as a lay-brother. He spent the whole of his uneventful life during good works at the Ascoli-Piceno friary, where he became famous for his charity to the poor and his power to heal sickness. He is also said to have been the spiritual advisor to dignitaries of both the church and the state (Attwater, Benedictines, Encyclopedia).

St. Seraphin of Montegranaro (1540-1604)
1604 Seraphino famous for charity to the poor and power to heal sickness OFM Cap. (RM)
(also known as Seraphinus, Serafino) Born at Montegranaro, Italy, in 1540; canonized 1767; feast day formerly October 12. Seraphino took the Capuchin habit as a lay-brother in 1556 and spent the whole of his uneventful life at the friary of Ascoli-Piceno. He is said to have been the spiritual advisor of high ecclesiastical and civil dignitaries.
He was famous for his charity to the poor and his power to heal sickness (Attwater, Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
1604 St. Seraphinus Capuchin spiritual gifts wisdom spiritual advisor
Asculi, in Picéno, sancti Seraphíni Confessóris, ex Ordine Minórum Capuccinórum, vitæ sanctimónia et humilitáte conspícui; quem Clemens Décimus tértius, Póntifex Máximus, Sanctórum fastis adscrípsit.
At Ascoli in Piceno, St. Seraphinus, confessor, of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, distinguished by his humility and holiness of life. He was enrolled among the saints by the Sovereign Pontiff Clement XIII.

Also called Seraphino. Born at Montegranaro, Italy, in 1540, he worked as a shepherd in his youth and was reportedly much abused by his older brother. At the age of sixteen he entered the Capuchins as a lay brother at Ascoli Piceno, earning a reputation for his holiness. He was graced with considerable spiritual gifts and wisdom, as well as devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. Seraphinus gave counsel to ecclesiastical and secular leaders. He was canonized in 1767.
Seraphinus (Serafino) of Ascoli-Piceno, OFM Cap. (RM) Born at Montegranaro, Italy, 1540; died 1604; canonized in 1767. At the age of 16, Saint Seraphinus took the Capuchin habit as a lay-brother. He spent the whole of his uneventful life during good works at the Ascoli-Piceno friary, where he became famous for his charity to the poor and his power to heal sickness. He is also said to have been the spiritual advisor to dignitaries of both the church and the state (Attwater, Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
St. Seraphin of Montegranaro (1540-1604)
Born into a poor Italian family, young Seraphin lived the life of a shepherd and spent much of his time in prayer. Mistreated for a time by his older brother after the two of them had been orphaned, Seraphin became a Capuchin Franciscan at age 16 and impressed everyone with his humility and generosity.
Serving as a lay brother, Seraphin imitated St. Francis in fasting, clothing and courtesy to all. He even mirrored Francis' missionary zeal, but Seraphin's superiors did not judge him to be a candidate for the missions.
Faithful to the core, Seraphin spent three hours in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament daily. The poor who begged at the friary door came to hold a special love for him. Despite his uneventful life, he reached impressive spiritual heights and has had miracles attributed to him.

Seraphin died on October 12, 1604, and was canonized in 1767.

Comment: For many people these days, work has no significance beyond providing the money they need to live. How many share the belief expressed in the Book of Genesis that we are to cooperate with God in caring for the earth? The kind of work Seraphin did may not strike us as earth-shattering. The work was ordinary; the spirit in which he did it was not.

Quote: In Brothers of Men, Rene Voillaume of the Little Brothers of Jesus speaks about ordinary work and holiness: "Now this holiness [of Jesus] became a reality in the most ordinary circumstances of life, those of work, of the family and the social life of a village, and this is an emphatic affirmation of the fact that the most obscure and humdrum human activities are entirely compatible with the perfection of the Son of God." Christians are convinced, "that the evangelical holiness proper to a child of God is possible in the ordinary circumstances of a man who is poor and obliged to work for his living."

1622 Bl. Camillus Constanzi Jesuit martyr of Japan Originally from Italy
Camillus was a Jesuit missionary in Japan who was banished from the islands when the anti-Christian persecutions began. Despite the dangers, he returned to his flock and was roasted over a slow fire on September 16.
Blessed Camillus Costanzi, SJ (AC) Born in Italy, 1572; died at Firando, Japan, September 15, 1622; beatified in 1867. Blessed Camillus was a Jesuit missionary who was banished from Japan because he was a Christian. He returned secretly, was discovered, and roasted to death over a slow fire (Benedictines).

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

THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 93

O Lady, hear my prayer: incline thine ear to my supplication.

The spiteful enemy hath persecuted my life: he hath cast on to the ground my ways.

He hath blackened me with his darkness: and my spirit is exceedingly troubled.

Turn not thy face away from me: that I may not fall together with them that tumble into the abyss.

Send forth thy light and thy grace: and repair anew my life and my conscience.

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

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

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

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

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

There are over 10,000 named saints beati from history
and Roman Martyology Orthodox sources
Patron_Saints.html Widowed_Saints html Indulgences The Catholic Church in China
LINKS: Marian Shrines India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East Lourdes 1858 China Marian shrines 1995
Kenya national Marian shrine Loreto, Italy Marian Apparitions (over 2000) Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798
Links to Related MarianWebsites Angels and Archangels Saints Visions of Heaven and Hell
Widowed Saints html
Doctors_of_the_Church Acts_Of_The_Apostles Roman Catholic Popes Purgatory Uniates Chalcedon

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

The great psalm of the Passion, Chapter 22, whose first verse “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Jesus pronounced on the cross, ended with the vision: “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations shall worship before him” For kingship belongs to the LORD, the ruler over the nations. All who sleep in the earth will bow low before God; All who have gone down into the dust will kneel in homage. And I will live for the LORD; my descendants will serve you. The generation to come will be told of the Lord, that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn the deliverance you have brought.

Pope Benedict XVI to The Catholic Church In China {whole article here} 2000 years of the Catholic Church in China
The saints “a cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.

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

Saint Frances Xavier Seelos Practical Guide to Holiness

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meeting of the Saints walis (saints of Allah)

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

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

Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey

Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament

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

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

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

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

America's First Basilica Largest Nave in the World

August 7, 1907-ground broke for the foundation

by Archbishop Ireland-laying cornerstone May 31, 1908

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

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, 93 2023