Saint of the Day October 19

800 B.C. The Prophet Joel predicted the desolation of Jerusalem. He also prophesied that the Holy Spirit would be poured out upon all people, through the Savior of the world (Joel 2:28-32).
The hymnographer Anatolius links Joel's prophecy to the Nativity of the Lord. In the Praises at Matins on the Sunday following the Nativity, he refers to Joel 2:30, saying that the blood refers to the Incarnation, the fire to the Divinity, and the pillars of smoke to the Holy Spirit.
The Book of Joel falls naturally into two parts. In the first, an invasion of locusts lays Judah waste; this calls for a religious ceremony of lamentation and prayer; to this Yahweh replies by promising the cessation of the plague and the return of prosperity, 1:2-2:27. The second part describes in apocalyptic style the judgement on the nations and the final triumph of Yahweh and of Israel, ch. 3-4. The unity of the two parts is demonstrated by reference to the day of Yahweh, the actual theme of ch. 3-4 but mentioned already in 1:15; 2:1-2,10-11. As the book stands, the plague of locusts is the sign that heralds the great judgement of God. It may be that this connection between the parts existed in the original text, but it is also possible that ch. 3-4 were added by another inspired author. The two parts are in any case of much the same date, since they suppose the same conditions, those of the post-exilic community, namely, no king, prominence given to public worship, borrowings from earlier prophets, especially Ezekiel and Obadiah who is quoted in 3:5. The book must have been written about 400 B.C.
Joel’s contribution is to prophesy the outpouring of the Spirit on all God’s people in the messianic age, 3:1-5. This will be fulfilled with the coming of the Spirit on the apostles of Christ, and St Peter quotes the entire passage, Ac 2:16-21; Joel is the prophet of Pentecost. He is also the prophet of penance, and his exhortations to fasting and prayer, either borrowed from the Temple ceremonial or modelled on it, later found a natural place in the Lenten liturgy of the Church.

St. Beronicus Syrian martyr with Pelagia 49 companions
Antiochíæ sanctórum Mártyrum Beroníci, Pelágiæ Vírginis, et aliórum quadragínta novem.
At Antioch, the holy martyrs Beronicus, the virgin Pelagia, and forty-nine others.

They were slain for the faith in Antioch, Syria. Beronigus (Veronicus), Pelagia & Comp. MM (RM).
Part of a group of 51 Christians put to death at Antioch, Syria, in one of the early persecutions (Benedictines).

165 Ptolomaeus (Ptolemy) and Lucius MM (RM)
Romæ natális sanctórum Mártyrum Ptolomǽi et Lúcii, sub Marco Antoníno. Horum prior (ut scribit Justínus Martyr), cum impúdicam mulíerem ad Christi convertísset fidem, et castitátem cólere docuísset, ídeo, ab impúro viro apud Præféctum Urbícium accusátus, multo témpore squalóre cárceris macerátus est, et ad últimum, cum de Christi magistério pública confessióne testarétur, jussus est duci ad mortem; Lúcius quoque, cum Urbícii senténtiam improbáret et se Christiánum líbere faterétur, símilem senténtiam excépit; quibus et álius tértius adjúnctus est, qui étiam eódem supplício damnátus fuit.
At Rome, the birthday of the holy martyrs Ptolemy and Lucius, in the time of Marcus Antoninus. The former, as we learn from the martyr Justin, converted a certain immodest woman to the faith of Christ and induced her to practice chastity. He was accused by an evil man before the prefect Urbicius and made to undergo a long imprisonment in a foul dungeon. At length, because he declared by a public confession that Christ was his master, he was led to execution. Lucius protested against the sentence of Urbicius, and freely proclaimed himself to be a Christian, whereby he received the same sentence. To them was added still a third martyr, who was condemned to suffer a like punishment.

161 Ss. Ptolemaeus, Lucius And Another, Martyrs
The Roman Martyrology mentions today these three martyrs, the circumstances of whose passion at Rome are known from the evidence of a contemporary, St Justin Martyr. A certain married woman of dissolute life was converted to Christianity, and in turn tried to reform her husband and to induce him to become a catechumen. Her efforts failed, and the blasphemies and immoralities of her husband becoming unsupportable, she separated from him. He thereupon denounced her as a Christian, but the woman obtaining permission to delay her defence, the man instead informed against her instructor in the faith, Ptolemaeus. He was therefore arrested, and after being kept in prison for a long time was brought before the magistrate Urbicius. In reply to the question if he were a Christian, Ptolemaeus said that he was, and without more ado was sentenced to death. Thereupon a Christian named Lucius who was present protested to Urbicius, saying, “How is it that this man can be condemned when he is guilty of no crime whatever? Your judgement does no credit to our wise emperor and the senate.” Urbicius turned on him and exclaimed, “You also seem to be one of these Christians”, and when Lucius admitted that he was, he also was condemned. Another man, whose name is not recorded, suffered with the others.

In the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. viii, the extract is printed which Eusebius has quoted front St Justin’s Apology. See also Urbain, Ein Martyrologium der Christlichen Gemeinde du Rom, but it should be read in the light of Delehaye’s comments in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxi (1902), pp. 89—93.

The Roman Ptolomaeus was sentenced for teaching the catechism and converting a woman who had previously engaged in unspecified sexual sins with her husband. Her husband wanted to continue their indulgence; therefore, the woman requested a divorce. Consistent with Saint Paul's admonition, her friends persuaded her to remain with her husband in the hope of bringing him to faith. Word came from Alexandria that his behavior was worsening, so she finally issued a declaration of dissolution. Her husband filed a complaint against her for leaving him without his consent and reported that she was a Christian. He also persuaded a centurion to ask Ptolomaeus whether he was a Christian. The honest man, upon answering that he was, was put in chains and imprisoned for a long time until he was taken before Urbicius. He again confessed that he was a Christian because he was “fully aware of the benefits he enjoyed because of Christ's doctrine.” When Urbicius ordered him to be executed, the Christian bystander, Lucius, protested that Ptolomaeus had not been convicted of adultery, fornication, murder, clothes-stealing, or any crime. “Your sentence, Urbicius, does not befit the Emperor Pius nor his philosopher son [Marcus Aurelius] nor the holy senate.” Urbicius answered, “I think you too are one of them.” Lucius responded, “Indeed I am.” Thereupon, he too was executed. Their passion under Antoninus Pius is recounted by Saint Justin Martyr, their contemporary (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer.

3rd v. Hieromartyr Sadoc, Bishop of Persia, and 128 Martyrs with him He was the hierarch of a Persian district.
When the Persian emperor Sapor learned that Sadoc was preaching faith in Christ, he gave orders to arrest and imprison him together with 128 Christian believers. For several months they attempted to persuade the righteous martyrs to repudiate the holy Faith, but unable to accomplish this, they executed them.

St. Altinus Bishop and possible martyr 1st or 4th century
In one record Altinus was a disciple of Christ, credited with founding the churches of Orleans and Chartres, France. Another states that he was a martyr of the fourth century.
Altinus (Attinus) of Orléans BM (AC). As is the case with many of the early founders of Christian churches, Saint Altinus was alleged to be a disciple of Our Lord--which he was in establishing the churches of Orléans and Chartres. However, it is unlikely that he lived during the time of Christ; more likely he was a martyr of the 4th century (Benedictines).

307 St. Varus Soldier and martyr Upper Egypt visited and comforted seven holy

monks who were kept in prison. When one of them died he wished to be accepted in his place, and after suffering most cruel torments with them he obtained the palm of martyrdom.
In Ægypto sancti Vari mílitis, qui, sub Maximíno Imperatóre, dum sanctos septem Mónachos in cárcere deténtos visitáret atque refíceret, vóluit, uno ex ipsis defúncto, in ejus locum subrogári; atque ita cum illis, sævíssima passus, martyrii palmam adéptus est.
In Egypt, St. Varus, a soldier, who, under Emperor Maximian, visited and comforted seven holy monks who were kept in prison. When one of them died he wished to be accepted in his place, and after suffering most cruel torments with them he obtained the palm of martyrdom.
According to his generally reliable and authentic Acts, he was a soldier stationed in Upper Egypt who had the task of guarding a group of monks awaiting execution. When one of the monks died while incarcerated, Varus embraced the Christian faith and asked to be able to fill the place of the deceased. He was taken and hanged from a tree.
Varus of Upper Egypt M (RM). His authenticated acta report that Varus was a Roman soldier in Upper Egypt ordered to guard a prison in which certain monks condemned to death were confined. Upon seeing one of them expire in his dungeon, Varus insisted on taking his place and was immediately hanged from a tree (Benedictines). Varus is depicted as a Roman soldier holding a flail (Roeder).

Martyr Varus lived in Egypt during the period of several persecutions against Christians (late third to early fourth century). Varus (Ouaros) was a military commander and secretly a Christian. He gave assistance to many of the persecuted and imprisoned Christians, and he visited the prisoners at night. He also brought food to the prisoners, dressed their wounds, and gave them encouragement.

Once Varus spent a whole night talking with seven imprisoned monks. These men were Christian teachers who had been beaten and starved. Varus marched with the teachers when they were led to their execution. The judge, seeing Varus' strong faith, had him fiercely beaten. Varus died during the beating. After his death, the monks were beheaded.

319 St. Cleopatra Widow -- St. Varus miraculously came to comfort her
St Varus, Martyr, And St Cleopatra, Widow
The circumstances of the passion of St Varus in Egypt are summarized thus by the Roman Martyrology: “Varus, a soldier, in the time of the Emperor Maximinus, visited and fed seven holy monks while they were kept in prison. When one of them died offered himself as a substitute in his place. And so, after suffering most cruel torments, he received the martyr’s palm with them.”
The mangled body of St Varus was secured by a Christian woman named Cleopatra, who hid it in a bale of wool and, so disguised, transported it to Adraha (Dera’s, east of Lake Tiberias), where she lived, and many Christians came to visit the martyr’s tomb. When Cleopatra’s son, John, was about to become a soldier, she determined to build a basilica in honour of Varus and to translate his body thereto, and at the same time to put her son and his fortunes under the particular patronage of this martyr who had himself been a soldier. She therefore built a church, and at its dedication she and John themselves carried the bones of St Varus to their new shrine under the altar.
That same evening John was taken suddenly ill, and during the night he died. Cleopatra had his body carried into the new church and laid before the altar, and she gave way to her grief and reviled the saint in whose honour she had done so much. She called on God to restore to life her only child whose body lay there, and so she remained till the following night, when she sank into a deep sleep, exhausted by weeping and sorrow. While she slept she dreamed that St Varus appeared to her in glory, leading John by the hand, and that she laid hold of their feet in mute supplication. And Varus looked down on her and said, “Have I forgotten all the love you have shown for me? Did I not pray to God that He would give health and advancement to your son? And behold! The prayer is answered. He has given him health for evermore and raised him to be among the hosts who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.” “I am satisfied”, replied Cleopatra, “but I pray you that I also may be taken, that I may be with my son and you.”
St Varus replied, “No. Leave your son with me, and wait awhile, and then we will fetch you.” When Cleopatra awoke she did as she had been bidden in her dream and had the body of John lain beside that of Varus. And she lived a life of devotion and penitence until, when seven years were passed, she also was called to God, and her body was buried with John and Varus in the basilica she had built.

The Roman Martyrology does not mention either St Cleopatra or her son, but they are referred to in the Greek Menaion under the date October 19. There is a Greek passio edited in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. viii, but in the absence of early cultus this pathetic story must be regarded with great suspicion.

Widow of Palestine who rescued the remains of St. Varus, martyred in some earlier persecution. She enshrined the saint’s remains in her home in Dera, in Syria. When a church was dedicated to St. Varus, Cleopatra’s young son died, and the saint miraculously came to comfort her.
Cleopatra of Syria, Widow, and Varus M (AC). The Palestine widow Saint Cleopatra secured the body of Saint Varus, and enshrined it in her home at Derâ'a, Syria. On the day it was dedicated as a church, her 12-year-old son died. The grieving mother was comforted, however, when her son and Saint Varus appeared to her in a vision (Benedictines).
Saint Cleopatra and her son John came from the village of Edra near Mount Tabor in Palestine. She was a contemporary of the holy Martyr Varus and witnessed his voluntary suffering. After the execution, St Cleopatra brought the body of the holy martyr to her own country and buried him with reverence. Cleopatra had one beloved son, John, who had attained the honorable rank of officer. To the great sorrow of his mother, John suddenly died. Cleopatra with tears of grief turned to the relics of the holy Martyr Varus, begging him for the return of her son.
Varus and her son appeared to Cleopatra in a dream, radiant in bright attire with crowns upon their heads. She realized that the Lord had received her son into the heavenly Kingdom, and was comforted. After this vision blessed Cleopatra started to live by a church she built over the relics of the holy martyr Varus and her son John, and performed many good deeds. She distributed her property to the poor and spent her time in prayer and fasting. After seven years she fell asleep in the Lord.

5th v. Eusterius fourth bishop of Salerno B (RM)

Apud Salérnum sancti Eustérii Epíscopi. At Salerno, St. Eusterius, bishop.

Died 5th century. All that remains of Eusterius's memory is that he was the fourth bishop of Salerno (Benedictines).

540 St. Lupus Bishop of Soissons
France, and a relative of St. Remigius of Reims.
Lupus of Soissons B (AC) Saint Lupus was a nephew of Saint Remigius of Reims. He became bishop of Soissons (Benedictines).

590 St. Veranus Bishop of CavailIon charitable works miracles recorded by Gregory of Tours
In território Aurelianénsi deposítio sancti Veráni Epíscopi.
In the diocese of Orleans, the death of St. Veranus, bishop.
France. He was a leader in the development of charitable works and served as a patron to local monastic centers.
Veranus of Cavaillon B (RM) Born at Vaucluse, France. The miracles of Bishop Saint Veranus of Cavaillon were recorded by Gregory of Tours (Benedictines, Encyclopedia) .

6th v. Ethbin of Kildare, Abbot; famous for his virtues and miracles (RM)

In monastério Silvæ Necténsis, in Hibérnia, sancti Ethbíni Abbátis.
In Ireland, in the monastery of the Forest of Kildare, St. Ethbin, abbot.

ST ETHBIN
His father dying when Ethbin was fifteen his mother entrusted him to the care of St Samson, and later he became a monk under St Winwaloe in Brittany. He was one day walking with his master, when they saw a leper lying helpless at the side of the way. “What shall we do with this poor fellow?” asked Winwaloe. “Do as the apostles of Christ did. Bid him to rise up and walk”, replied St Ethbin promptly. Winwaloe had faith both in his monk and in the power of God, and the sufferer was healed. When the monastery was destroyed by the Franks, Ethbin took refuge in Ireland, where he lived for twenty years, and there died, famous for his virtues and miracles. He is named in the Roman Martyrology, but is unknown to Irish calendars. The name Ethbin sounds Anglo-Saxon.

We cannot put trust in the short life, which has been printed in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. viii. See also LBS., vol. ii, p. 466, and Duine, St Samson (1909).

Born in Great Britain. Saint Ethbin's noble father died when he was only about 15 years old. His widowed mother then entrusted his education to his countryman, the great Saint Samson, at Dol Abbey in Brittany. At Mass one day, he really heard the words: “Every one of you that cannot renounce all that he possesses, cannot be my disciple.” He immediately resolved to renounce the world.
Because he was a deacon, Ethbin sought the permission of his bishop to withdraw from the world. Upon receiving it, Ethbin retired to the abbey of Taurac in 554. For his spiritual director, the saint chose another: Saint Winwaloë. The community was dispersed by a Frankish raid in 556 and Winwaloë died soon thereafter. Ethbin then crossed over to Ireland, where he led the life of a hermit in a forest near Kildare called Nectensis (unidentified) for 20 years. There was no cultus for Saint Ethbin in Ireland. His relics are claimed by Montreuil and Pont-Mort (Eure), France. It has been suggested by P. Grosjean that the silva called Necensis could be a corruption of Silvanectensis (i.e., Senlis, France), rather than Ireland (Benedictines, Farmer, Husenbeth).

695 Aquilinus of Evreux served Clovis II 40 years; hermit; blind bishop giving alms; his zeal, which God approved by the gift of miracles B (RM)
Ebróicis, in Gállia, sancti Aquilíni, Epíscopi et Confessóris. At Evreux in France, St. Aquilinus, bishop and confessor.

695 St Aquilinus, Bishop of Evreux; his zeal, which God approved by the gift of miracles
Like many other Frankish saints of the Merovingian era, Aquilinus spent years in courts and camps before entering the clerical state and attaining the episcopate. He was a native of Bayeux, born there about the year 620. He fought in the wars of Clovis II, and on returning from a campaign against the Visigoths met his wife at Chartres. They there determined to devote the rest of their days to the direct service of God and His poor, he being then about forty years old. They went to Evreux, where they lived quietly for ten years when, on the death of St Aeternus, St Aquilinus was considered the most worthy to succeed to the see.
He was frightened of the distractions inseparable from the episcopate and sought to live rather as a hermit than a bishop. He had a cell built near to his cathedral, whither he retired whenever opportunity offered to spend long hours in prayer and penance on behalf of the flock which he had been called on to govern. During his last years St Aquilinus was deprived of his sight, but it made no difference to his zeal, which God approved by the gift of miracles.

There is a late biography, which is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. viii. See also Mesnel, Les saints du diocese d’ Évreux, part v (1916); and Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux, vol. ii, p. 227.

Born in Bayeux, France, c. 620. Saint Aquilinus served Clovis II for 40 years. Upon returning from the war against the Visigoths, he and his wife retired to Evreux to devote themselves to works of charity. Although Aquilinus was consecrated bishop of the city when his virtue became known, he managed to continue his life as a hermit while fulfilling the duties of this office. In art, Aquilinus is portrayed as a blind bishop giving alms (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Roeder)
A military man who served King Clovis II. Aquilinus was born about 620 in Bayeux, France, and became a soldier, serving for forty years in the military. In 660, he returned to Chartres, in France, and married. He and his wife moved to Evreux and worked for the poor and suffering. In 670, Aquilinus was named bishop of Evreux, but he lived as a hermit most of the time.

705 St. Desiderius Benedictine monk disciple of St. Sigiranus
He was a hermit at La Brenne, near Bourges, France.
Desiderius of Lonrey OSB, Monk (AC). The monk Desiderius of Lonrey became a disciple of Saint Sigiran and a recluse at Le Brenne (Ruriacus) in the diocese of Bourges, France (Benedictines).

728 St. Theofrid Abbot and martyred by Saracens
He was serving as abbot of Carmery-en-Velay when the community was attacked by a band of Saracens. He died as a result of the injuries he received at their hands and was thereafter venerated as a martyr.
In some lists he is called Chaffre or Theoftoy.
Theofrid of Carmery OSB, Abbot (AC) (also known as Theofroy, Chaffre) Born in Orange, France; died 728. Theofrid, a monk and abbot of Carmery-en-Velay (later renamed Monastier-Saint-Chaffre), died as a result of the ill-treatment of the invading Saracens. He has always been venerated as a martyr (Benedictines).

735 St. Frideswide Benedictine hermitess nun founded the St. Mary’s Convent in Oxford

Oxónii, in Anglia, sanctæ Fredeswíndæ Vírginis.
At Oxford in England, St. Frideswide, virgin.

735 St Frideswide, Virgin
Frideswide is the patron saint of Oxford. William of Malmesbury, writing just before 1125, first tells her legend in its simplest form. According to it Frideswide, having miraculously got rid of the unwelcome attentions of a king, founded a nunnery at Oxford and there spent the rest of her life. In its more developed form we are told that her kingly father was named Didan and her mother Safrida, and that her upbringing was entrusted to a governess called Algiva. Her inclinations early led her towards the religious state, for she had learned that “whatever is not God is nothing”. But Algar, another prince, smitten with her beauty, tried to carry her off. Frideswide thereupon fled down the Isis with two companions, and concealed herself for three years, using a pig’s cote as her monastic cell. Algar continued to pursue her and eventually, on her invoking the aid of St Catherine and St Cecily, he was struck with blindness and only recovered on leaving the maiden in peace. From which circumstance it was said that the kings of England up to Henry II made a special point of avoiding Oxford!
   In order to live more perfectly to God in closer retirement, St Frideswide built herself a cell in Thornbury wood (now Binsey), where by fervour of her penance and heavenly contemplation she advanced towards God and His kingdom. The spring, which the saint made use of at Binsey, was said obtained by her prayers, and was a place of pilgrimage in the middle ages. Her death is put in 735; her tomb at Oxford was honoured with many miracles and became one of the principal shrines of England.

The extant legend of St Frideswide seems to represent no real tradition, and little reliance can be put on it; but she probably founded a monastery at Oxford in the eighth century, and after various vicissitudes it was refounded in the early twelfth century for canons regular of St Augustine. In 1180 the relics of St Frideswide were solemnly translated to a new shrine in the church of her name; and twice a year, at mid-Lent and on Ascension Day, the chancellor and members of the university visited it ceremonially. By permission of Pope Clement VII the priory of St Frideswide was dissolved by Cardinal Wolsey, who in 1525 founded Cardinal College on its site, the priory church becoming the college chapel.
In 1546 the college was re-established by King Henry VIII as Christ Church (Aedes Christi: “The House”), and the church, which had been St Frideswide’s, became, as well as college chapel, the cathedral of the new diocese of Oxford (and was so recognized by the Holy See on the reconciliation in Mary’s reign).
   The relics of the saint had by this time been removed from their shrine, but apparently they were not scattered. For in the year 1561 a certain canon of Christ Church, named Calfhill, went to such trouble to desecrate them that it would seem he must have been insane with fanaticism.
   During the reign of Edward VI there had been buried in the church the body of an apostate nun, Catherine Cathie, who had been through a form of marriage with the friar Peter Martyr Vermigli. Calfhill had Catherine’s remains dug up (they had been removed from the church under Mary), mixed them with the alleged relics of St Frideswide, and thus reinterred them in the church. In the following year an account of this performance was published in Latin (and another in German) which contained a number of pseudo-pious reflections on the text Hic jacet religio cum superstitione: “Here lies Religion with Superstition.” It does not appear that these words were actually inscribed on the tomb or coffin, though that they were is asserted by several writers, including Alban Butler, whose comment is, “the obvious meaning of which [epitaph] would lead us to think these men endeavoured to extinguish and bury all religion”.

St Frideswide is named in the Roman Martyrology, and her feast is observed in the archdiocese of Birmingham.
She is said also to have a cultus at Borny in Artois (under the name of Frévisse).

The legend of St Frideswide has been transmitted in several varying texts (see BHL., nn. 3162—3169). The more important have been printed or summarized in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. viii, and have also been discussed by J. Parker, The Early History of Oxford (1885), pp. 85-101. Cf. also Hardy, Descriptive Catalogue (Rolls Series), vol. i, pp. 459—462; DNB., vol. xx, pp. 275—276; an article by E. F. Jacob, in The Times, October 58, 1935, pp. 15—16; and another by F.M. Stenton in Oxoniensia, vol. i (1936), pp. 103—112 (both reprinted, O.U.P., 1953). There is a popular account by Fr F. Goldie, The Story of St Frideswide (1881); see also E. W. Watson, The Cathedral Church of Christ in Oxford (1935).

Daughter of Prince Didan of the Upper Thames region of England. She is sometimes called Fredeswinda. When Prince Algar of a neighboring kingdom asked for her hand in marriage, Frideswide fled to Thomwry Wood in Birnsey, where she became a hermitess. She founded the St. Mary’s Convent in Oxford and is patroness of the university of that city. Her relics are extant. In liturgical art she is depicted as a Benedictine, sometimes with an ox for companion.

Frideswide of Oxford, OSB V (RM) (also known as Fredeswinda, Frevisse); second feast day is February 12. Her maxim from childhood is said to be: "Whatsoever is not God is nothing."
Little can be said for certain about Frideswide because the earliest written account dates only from the 12th century, when her abbey became an Augustinian foundation. William of Malmesbury recorded the legend from a version attributed to Prior Robert of Cricklade. Nevertheless, recent historical and archeological research has clarified the background and some of the details of the saint's traditional legend.
This account follows the archetypical miracles of God preserving His holy virgins. The story goes that Frideswide was a Mercian princess, the daughter of Didian (or Dida) of Eynsham, whose lands included the upper reaches of the River Thames. Her father, a sub- king under the Mercian overlordship, endowed minster churches at Bampton and Oxford.
Frideswide took a vow of perpetual virginity, but Algar, a local prince, (or Æthelbald of Mercia) could not believe that she would not marry him. Desiring to fulfill her vow, she fled into hiding at Binsey (near the current Oxford), where she remained for three years as Algar continued to search for her. Then Algar was struck blind. When he renounced his desire to marry her, his sight was restored at Bampton upon Frideswide's intercession.
Eventually, Frideswide was appointed the first abbess of the Benedictine Saint Mary's double monastery at Oxford, where she peacefully lived out the balance of her life. The convent flourished becoming the site of Christ Church and her name was not forgotten as the town of Oxford arose around the abbey.
Most of the early records of the monastery were destroyed in a fire set in 1002 while Scandinavians were inside the church in the attempted massacres triggered by the notorious decree of Ethelred II. The existence of her shrine is formally attested by 'On the Resting Places of the Saints' in Die Heiligen Englands in the 11th century. In the twelfth century her convent was refounded for Augustinian canons .

In 1180 in the presence of the archbishop of Canterbury and King Henry II of England, her remains were translated to a new shrine in the monastery church. A yet greater shrine was built nine years later. Countless pilgrims visited her relics. Twice a year Oxford University held a solemn feast in her honor and came to venerate her bones. In 1440, the archbishop of Canterbury declared her patroness of the university.
Then in 1525 Cardinal Wolsey suppressed Saint Frideswide's monastery. Two decades later the monastery church became the new cathedral of Oxford. But the shrine containing Frideswide's relics had been broken up by Protestant reformers to use in other buildings in 1538. Happily some Catholics preserved the saints bones.
Meanwhile Catherine Dammartin, the wife of the Protestant professor Peter Martyr Vermigli, had been buried in the cathedral. About 1558-1561, in an extraordinary burst of fanaticism James Calfhill, a Calvinist canon, dug up her bones and mixed them with those of Saint Frideswide, adding the epitaph Hic jacet religio cum superstitione ('Here lies religion with superstition').
Part of her shrine has been reconstructed from pieces found in a well at Christ Church, where her remains are marked with four elegant candlesticks in Christ Church.
It may be assumed that Frideswide was foundress and abbess of a religious house at Oxford in the 8th century; her shrine was in the church of a monastery there in 1004, on the site of Christ Church. It is unexplained how this obscure saint, under the name of Frevisse, came to have a cultus at the village of Bomy in the middle of Artois (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Farmer, Stenton).
In art she is a crowned abbess with an ox near her. Sometimes she is shown being rowed down the Thames by an angel with her two sisters. Frideswide is the patroness of Oxford and Oxford University (Roeder) .

864 St. Laura widowed; martyr. Born in Cordova; murdered by Moors
St. Laura died in Spain, she became a nun at Cuteclara after she was widowed, and was scalded to death by her Moorish captors. Laura of Córdova, Abbess M (AC) Born in Córdova, Spain. In her widowhood Laura became a nun at Cuteclara, then its abbess. She was martyred by the Moorish conquerors who threw her into a cauldron of boiling pitch or molten lead (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).

946 John of Rila, Abbot; one of the earliest native Bulgarian monks; spent 60 years in the Rhodope mountains south of Sofia, where he founded the great monastery of Rila
Born in Bulgaria; died at Rila. Saint John was one of the earliest native Bulgarian monks. He spent 60 years in the Rhodope mountains south of Sofia, where he founded the great monastery of Rila. This monastery survived until the buildings were converted into a meteorological station by the Communist government in 1947. It is unstated, but I believe that Saint John is only on the Orthodox calendars (Attwater).

1016 St. Eadnot martyr Bishop of Dorchester; closely associated with Saint Oswald of York. Eadnot died in a battle against the Danes,
England, who was a champion of St. Oswald of York. He is listed as a martyr in some records, having been slain in an invasion by the Danes. Eadnot of Dorchester, OSB B. Eadnot, a monk of Worcester and later abbot of Ramsey, was chosen as bishop of Dorchester in 1006. In this office he was closely associated with Saint Oswald of York. Eadnot died in a battle against the Danes, and is sometimes termed a martyr (Benedictines).

1066 Saint Prokhore the Georgian, a descendant of the noble Shavteli family; began the reconstruction of the Holy Cross Georgian Monastery near Jerusalem; According to tradition, at this spot Abraham’s nephew Lot planted three trees—a cypress, a pine, and a cedar. Eventually these three trees miraculously grew into one large tree. When the Temple of Solomon was being built, this tree was cut down but left unused. It is said that the Cross on which Christ our Savior was crucified was constructed from the wood of this tree.

Born at the end of the 10th century and grew up in a monastery. When he reached manhood he was ordained a hieromonk and labored for one year at the Lavra of St. Sabbas in Jerusalem. Then, with the blessing of his spiritual father Ekvtime Grdzeli, he began the reconstruction of the Holy Cross Georgian Monastery near Jerusalem. According to tradition, at this spot Abraham’s nephew Lot planted three trees—a cypress, a pine, and a cedar. Eventually these three trees miraculously grew into one large tree. When the Temple of Solomon was being built, this tree was cut down but left unused. It is said that the Cross on which Christ our Savior was crucified was constructed from the wood of this tree.

In the 4th century, the land on which the miraculous tree had grown was presented to Holy King Mirian, the first Christian king of Georgia. Then in the 5th century, during the reign of Holy King Vakhtang Gorgasali, the Holy Cross Monastery was founded on that land. The monastery was destroyed several times between the 7th and 9th centuries.
Finally, in the 11th century, King Bagrat Kuropalates offered much of his wealth to Fr. Prokhore for the restoration of the monastery. St. Prokhore beautified the monastery, then gathered eighty monks and established the typicon (the monastic rule) for the community in accordance with that of the St. Sabbas Lavra.

When St. Prokhore had labored long and lived to an advanced age, he chose his disciple Giorgi to be the monastery’s next abbot. Then he departed for the wilderness with two of his disciples, and after some time the righteous monk yielded up his spirit to God. Beyond this, little is known about the life of St. Prokhore. According to Georgian researchers and scholars, he was probably born sometime between 985 and 990. He spent the years 1010 to 1015 in Jerusalem, and labored at the Lavra of St. Sabbas until 1025. He reposed in the year 1066, between the ages of 76 and 81.

1277 Luka of Jerusalem The holy martyr lived in the 13th century at the Holy Cross Monastery
He was born to an honorable, pious Georgian family by the name of Mukhaisdze. After the repose of Luka’s father, his mother left her children and went to labor at a monastery in Jerusalem.
When Luka reached the age of twenty, he traveled to Jerusalem to visit his mother and venerate the holy places. After spending some time there he decided to remain and be tonsured a monk. He was later ordained a deacon and became fluent in Arabic. Soon the brothers of the monastery recognized his wisdom and asked him to guide them as abbot. For three years Luka directed the monastery in an exemplary manner.

But the devil was envious of the holy father and provoked a certain Shekh-Khidar, an influential Persian at the court of Sultan Penducht, (Probably Sultan Zakhir-Rukedin-Baibars-Bundukdar of Egypt (1260–1277)) to take up arms against St. Luka. Sultan Penducht then transferred possession of the Holy CrossMonastery to Shekh-Khidar, who “treated the Georgian monks in a beastly manner and finally ousted them from the monastery altogether.” Fulfilling his God-given duty, the blessed Luka insisted on personally confronting Shekh-Khidar in defense of his brotherhood.
Luka’s Christian brothers and sisters warned him, saying, “Shekh-Khidar is threatening you.… Flee and hide fromhim!” But Luka paid no heed to their admonitions, certain that it was more fitting to die for Christ than to live for the world. As he had insisted, he himself approached Shekh-Khidar and asked for the release of the imprisoned fathers.

Luka told him that he was prepared to accept any demands. The wicked Persian leader demanded nothing from Luka except that he convert to Islam, promising to make him emir if he consented. When he refused, the furious Shekh-Khidar ordered St. Luka’s beheading. After the terrible deed had been performed, St. Luka’s severed head turned toward the east and gave thanks to God with an expression of pure peace. Soon after, his precious body was set on fire at the command of the bewildered Shekh-Khidar. This occurred in 1277.

1314 St. Nikoloz Dvali the Martyr; pilgrimage to Jerusalem and remained in the holy city, settling at the Holy Cross Monastery.
Born at the end of the 13th century to a God-fearing couple who directed his path toward the spiritual life.
At the age of twelve Nikoloz traveled to the Klarjeti Wilderness and was tonsured a monk. From there he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and remained in the holy city, settling at the Holy Cross Monastery. Burning with desire for the apostolic life, Monk Nikoloz was determined to die a martyr’s death.

In Jerusalem a group of godless men arrested and tormented St. Nikoloz for publicly confessing the Christian Faith, but a group of Christians succeeded in rescuing him from prison. Then, in accordance with his abbot’s counsel, St. Nikoloz relocated to a Georgian monastery on Cyprus. There the pious monk beseeched the Lord to make him worthy of the crown of martyrdom. One day, while he was praying before the icon of St. John the Baptist, he heard a voice saying, “Nikoloz! Arise and go to Jerusalem. There you will find a Georgian monk who will teach you the way of righteousness and encourage you on the path of martyrdom. He has been appointed to guide you.”

Accordingly, St. Nikoloz returned to Jerusalem, met the monk whom God had appointed, and informed him of what had been revealed. The Most Holy Theotokos and St. John the Baptist appeared to St. Nikoloz’s spiritual father, who had been praying intensely for guidance, and told him that it was the Lord’s will for Nikoloz to journey to Damascus.

While in Damascus, the holy father entered a mosque and openly confessed Christ to be the Savior, reproving those present for their folly. The angry Muslims seized St. Nikoloz, beat him, and cast him into prison. After a great struggle, the metropolitan and local Christians succeeded in recovering him from captivity, but he immediately returned to the Muslims and began again to denounce their ungodly ways. Again they beat him mercilessly, lashed him five hundred times, and cast him in prison for a second time. But the holy martyr’s wounds were healed through the miraculous intercession of St. John the Baptist, and after two months he was released from prison.

By chance the emir of the city caught a glimpse of St. Nikoloz as he was preparing to return to Jerusalem. The emir recognized him and sent him to Dengiz, the emir of emirs. Dengiz flattered him and offered to convert him to Islam, but St. Nikoloz bravely defended his faith in Christ. In response, Dengiz ordered his execution.

At the hour appointed by Dengiz, the blessed martyr turned to the east, joyfully bowed his neck to the sword, and prayed, “Glory to Thee, O Christ God, Who hast accounted me worthy to die for Thy name’s sake.” The sword pierced his neck, but the severed head glorified God seven times, crying out, “Glory to Thee, O Christ our God!”

The Persians burned the saint’s body, and for three days a pillar of light shone at the place where it lay.

When St.Nikoloz’s spiritual father heard about his martyrdom, he prayed to God to reveal to him whether Nikoloz would be numbered among the saints. Then one day while he was reading, he saw a vision of a host of saints standing atop a mountain, illumined and surrounded by a cloud of incense. Among them the Great-martyr George shone especially brightly, and he called St. Nikoloz, saying, “Nikoloz! Come and see the monk, your spiritual father. He has shed many tears for you.”

Nikoloz greeted his spiritual father, saying,

“Behold me and the place where I am, and from this day cease your sorrowing for me.”

St. Nikoloz Dvali was tortured to death on Tuesday, October 19, in the year 1314. The Georgian Church continues to commemorate him on that date.

1238 Saint John, Abbot of Rila in Bulgaria Today we commemorate the transfer of the relics.
The relics of St John were transferred from the city of Sredets [Sofia] to Trnovo, the capital of the Bulgarian realm, in the year 1238. See August 18 for his Life.

1257 Blessed Thomas Hélye, Confessor ascetic; led an ascetic life in his parents' home and devoted part of his time to teaching the catechism to the poor. His bishop requested that he receive presbyterial ordination. Thereafter he was an itinerant preacher throughout Normandy. Later he was appointed almoner to the king (AC)

1257 Bd Thomas of Biville
Around the district of Biville in Normandy, where he was born about the year 1187, Thomas Hélye is known as “the Wonder-worker” and enjoys a widespread cultus that was confirmed in 1859. His parents seem to have been people of some local importance particularly to please his mother, Thomas was sent to school. When he was a young man he decided to put the fruits of this privilege at the disposal of other children, and he became a sort of village schoolmaster and catechist in his native place. The good results of his teaching reached the ears of the citizens of Cherbourg, the nearest town, and he was invited to go and instruct the children there, which he did until sickness drove him home again. When he was recovered he continued to live in his father’s house, in a manner more like that of monk than of a layman, and he soon became known to the bishop of Coutances, who ordained him deacon. Thomas then undertook pilgrimages to Rome and to Compostela, before going to Paris to complete his studies; after four years he was made priest. He increased his austerities, spending pan of the night in prayer that he might have the more time in the day for pastoral care and preaching, for which he had a great gift. Thomas was presented to the parochial benefice of Saint-Maurice, but he was by nature a missionary and, appointing a vicar for his cure, he took up his former work of preaching, catechizing, visiting the sick and sinners, encouraging the poor and oppressed, exhorting the lukewarm and indifferent, wherever it seemed that God was calling him, not only in Coutances but in the neighbouring dioceses of Avranches, Bayeux and Lisieux as well. In the midst of these missionary journeys Bd Thomas was taken ill at the castle of Vauville in La Manche, and died there on October 19, 1257 the first miracle after his death was the healing of the withered hand of his hostess.
Relics of Bd Thomas Hélye have an interesting history. His body was buried in the cemetery of Biville, and later translated to the church itself. At the Revolution the church was profaned and the tomb of Thomas, left in situ, used as a desk, when M. Lemarié, vicar general of Coutances, determined to save the relics before it was too late. At 10.15 in the evening of July 13, 1794, he, with the parish priest and several of the faithful, secretly opened the shrine. The skeleton of the saint was found with nearly all the bones in place. It was quickly wrapped in linen and transferred to a wooden coffin, together with an affidavit of the proceedings, sealed up, and conveyed to the church at Virandeville, where it was hidden. The revolutionary authorities of Biville were unable to fix the responsibility for the “crime” and visited their annoyance on the “constitutional” curé, who was imprisoned for neglect of duty and for concealing the names of the delinquents, which he did not know. The relics were returned to their proper shrine in 1803. There, seven hundred years after the death of Bd Thomas, they still rest.

There is a valuable medieval life by a certain Clement, a contemporary, who was an actual witness of much that he records. Four years after the death of Bd Thomas an investigation was held at which Clement assisted, and he quotes in his biography from the depositions made regarding the holy missionary’s virtues and miracles. The text has been edited both in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. viii, and by L. Delisle in the Mémoirs de la Soc. Acad. de Cherbourg, 1861, pp. 203—238. See also lives by L. Couppey (1903) and P. Pinel (1927). There seems, however, as Fr Van Ortroy has pointed out, no adequate evidence for the statement that Bd Thomas was ever appointed chaplain to St Louis IX cf the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxii (1903), p. 505.

Born at Biville, Normandy, in 1187; died at the castle of Vauville, Manche, in 1257; cultus confirmed in 1859. Blessed Thomas led an ascetic life in his parents' home and devoted part of his time to teaching the catechism to the poor. His bishop requested that he receive presbyterial ordination. Thereafter he was an itinerant preacher throughout Normandy. Later he was appointed almoner to the king (Benedictines).

1562 Peter of Alcántara practiced asceticism from 16 until death; apeared to Teresa Avila; Two months after the opening of St Joseph’s St Peter was seized with a mortal sickness, and he was carried to the convent of Arenas that he might die in the arms of his brethren. In his last moments he repeated those words of the psalmist,

“I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord”. Then he rose upon his knees, and in that posture calmly died. St Teresa wrote: “his departure our Lord has been pleased to let me enjoy more of him than I did when he was alive; he has given me advice and counsel in many things, and I have frequently seen him in great glory…Our Lord told me once that men should ask nothing in the name of St Peter of Alcantara wherein He would not hear them. I have recommended many things to him that he might beg them of our Lord, and I have always found them granted.”

Besides his natural talents and learning God enriched him with an experimental and infused knowledge and sense of spiritual things, which is the fruit only of divine grace gained by an eminent spirit of prayer and habits of virtue. His presence alone seemed a powerful sermon, and it was said that he had but to show himself to work conversions. patron of Brazil OFM (RM)

Arénis, in Hispánia, natális páriter sancti Petri de Alcántara, Sacerdótis ex Ordine Minórum et Confessóris; quem, propter admirábilem pæniténtiam múltaque mirácula, Clemens Nonus, Póntifex Máximus, Sanctórum número adscrípsit. Ejus autem festum sequénti die celebrátur.
At Arenas in Spain, the birthday of St. Peter of Alcantara, confessor and priest of the Order of Friars Minor. He was canonized by Pope Clement IX because of his admirable penance and many miracles, and his feast is observed on the day following.

Born at Alcántara, Estremadura, Spain, in 1499; died at Arenas, 1562; canonized in 1669.

1562 St Peter Of Alcantara

Peter Garavita the younger was born at Alcantara, a small town in the province of Estremadura in Spain in 1499. His father was a lawyer and governor of that town; his mother was of good family; and both were eminent for their piety and personal merit. Peter was sent to school locally, and had not finished his philosophy when his father died. His stepfather sent him to Salamanca University, where he decided to become a Franciscan, and at 16 he took the habit of that order in the convent of Manjaretes, situated in the mountains that run between Castile and Portugal. An ardent spirit of penance determined his choice of this friary, for it was a house of those who, among the friars of the Observance, aimed at a yet stricter observance.

During his novitiate he had first the care of the sacristy, then refectory, and afterwards the gate, all which offices he discharged without prejudice to his recollection, but not always with exactitude; he seems, indeed, to have been rather absent-minded. After having charge of the refectory for half a year he was chidden for never having given the friars any fruit. To which he answered that he had not seen any: he had never, in fact, lifted his eyes to the ceiling, where fruit was hanging in bunches.

In time he seemed by long habits of mortification to have lost the sense of taste, for when vinegar and salt was thrown into a porringer of warm water, he took it for his usual bean soup. He had no other bed than a skin lain on the floor, on which he knelt a part of the night and slept sitting, leaning his head against a wall. His watches were the most difficult and remarkable of all austerities he practised, and in consequence of them he has been regarded in after-ages as the patron saint of night watchmen. He inured himself gradually to them, that they might not be prejudicial to his health.

A few years after his profession, Peter was sent to Badajoz to establish a small friary there, though he was at that time but twenty-two years old and not yet a priest. When the three years of his guardianship were elapsed he was promoted to the priesthood, in 1524, and soon after employed in preaching. The ensuing year he was made guardian of Robredillo and later of Plasencia. In all stations of superiority he set the strictest example by the literal acceptance of evangelical counsels, as in the matter of having only one coat: when his habit was being washed or mended he had to seek a warm retired spot in the garden, and wait there with nothing on.

During this period he preached much throughout Estremadura, and great was the fruit his sermons produced. Besides his natural talents and learning God enriched him with an experimental and infused knowledge and sense of spiritual things, which is the fruit only of divine grace gained by an eminent spirit of prayer and habits of virtue. His presence alone seemed a powerful sermon, and it was said that he had but to show himself to work conversions.

He loved particularly to preach to the poor and from the words of the sapiential books and the prophets of the Old Law. The love of retirement was always St Peter’s predominant inclination, and he made petition to his superiors that he might be placed in some remote convent, where he could give himself up to contemplation. Accordingly, he was sent to the friary at Lapa, a solitary place, but at the same time he was commanded to take up the charge of guardian. In that house he composed his book on prayer. This famous treatise was justly esteemed a masterpiece by St Teresa, Louis of Granada, St Francis of Sales and others, and has been translated into most European languages.

St Peter was himself a proficient in the school of divine love, and his union with God was habitual; his ecstasies in prayer were frequent, sometimes of long continuance and accompanied by remarkable phenomena. The reputation of St Peter reached the ears of John III, King of Portugal, who summoned him to the court at Lisbon and tried in vain to keep him there.

   St Peter was in 1538 chosen minister provincial of the stricter observance friars’ province of St Gabriel of Estremadura. Whilst he discharged this office he drew up even more severe rules, which he wished the whole province to accept in a chapter held at Plasencia in 1540, but his ideas met with strong opposition. He therefore resigned, and went to join Friar Martin-of-St-Mary, who interpreted the Rule of St Francis as an eremitical life, and was building his first hermitage upon a barren mountain called Arabida, at the mouth of the Tagus on the opposite bank to Lisbon. St Peter animated the fervour of these religious, and suggested many regulations that were adopted. They wore nothing on their feet, slept on vine-twigs or on the bare ground, never touched flesh or wine, and would have no library. A number of Spanish and Portuguese friars were attracted to this way of life, and other small communities were formed. That of Palhaes being appointed for the novitiate, St Peter was nominated guardian and charged with the direction of the novices.
   Peter was greatly distressed at the trials, which the Church was then undergoing, and to oppose prayer and penance to the effects of ill-living and false doctrine he in 1554 formed a design of establishing a congregation of friars upon a yet stricter plan. His project was disapproved by the minister provincial of Estremadura, but welcomed by the bishop of Coria, in whose diocese the saint, with one companion, made an essay of this manner of living in a hermitage.
   A short time after he went to Rome, travelling barefoot all the way, to obtain the support of Pope Julius III. He got no encouragement from the minister general of the Observance, but he prevailed on the pope to put him under the minister general of the Conventuals and was authorized to build a friary according to his plan. At his return a friend built such a one, as he desired near Pedrosa, which is the beginning of the group of Franciscans called of the observance of St Peter of Alcantara. The cells were exceedingly small, and half of each was filled with a bed, consisting of three boards; the church was of a piece with the rest. It was impossible for persons to forget their engagement in a penitential life while their habitations seemed rather to resemble graves than rooms.

Among the supporters of this “reform” was a friend of St Peter to whom, when he one day bewailed the wickedness of the world, the saint replied, “The remedy is simple. You and I must first be what we ought to be: then we shall have cured what concerns ourselves. Let each one do the same, and all will be well. The trouble is that we all talk of reforming others without ever reforming ourselves.”

   Other houses received the new observance, and in the statutes which he drew up for them St Peter orders that each cell should be only seven feet long; that the number of friars in a convent should never exceed eight; that they should always go barefoot; that they should employ three hours every day in mental prayer, and never receive any stipend for offering Mass; and reenacted the other extreme points of the observance of Arabida. In 1561 this new custody was made a province with the title of St Joseph, and Pope Pius IV removed it from the jurisdiction of the Conventuals to that of the Observants. (These “Alcantarines” disappeared as a separate body when Pope Leo XIII united the different branches of the Observants in 1897.)
   As is usual in affairs of this sort, the action of St Peter was not well received by those he had left, in this case, the province of St Gabriel. He was a hypocrite, traitor, disturber of peace, ambitious, and was sent for to be told so. “My fathers and brothers”, he replied, “make allowance for the good intention of my zeal in this matter, and if you are convinced it were better that it should not succeed, spare no pains to stop it.” They did not spare them, but the “reform” nevertheless spread.
   During the course of a visitation towards the year 1560, St Peter came to Avila, according to some in consequence of a direct instruction from Heaven. Here St Teresa, still at the Incarnation convent, was suffering exterior and interior trials from scruples and anxiety, for many told her that an evil spirit deluded her. A friend of St Teresa got leave that she might pass eight days in her house, and arranged that St Peter should there talk with her at leisure. From his own experience and knowledge in heavenly communications he understood hers, cleared her perplexities, gave her strong assurances that her visions and prayer were from God, and spoke to her confessor in their favour.

It is from St Teresa’s autobiography that we learn much concerning St Peter’s life and miraculous gifts, for he told her in confidence many things concerning the way in which he had lived for seven-and-forty years. “He told me”, says she, “that, to the best of my remembrance, he had slept but one hour and a half in twenty-four hours for forty years together; and that in the beginning it was the greatest and most troublesome mortification of all to overcome himself against sleep, and that for this he was obliged to be always either kneeling or standing…In all these years he never put up his hood, however hot the sun or heavy the rain; nor did he ever wear anything upon his feet or any other garment than his habit of thick coarse cloth (without anything next his skin) and this short and scanty and as straight as possible, with a cloak of the same over it. He told me that when the weather was extremely cold, he was wont to put off his mantle and to leave the door and the window of his cell open, that when he put it on again and shut his door his body might be somewhat refreshed with this additional warmth. It was usual with him to eat but once in three days, and he asked me why I wondered at it: for it was quite possible to one who had accustomed himself to it. One of his companions told me that sometimes he ate nothing at all for eight days. But that perhaps might be when he was in prayer: for he used to have great raptures and vehement transports of divine love, of which I was once an eyewitness. His poverty was as extreme as his mortification, even from his youth…When I came to know him he was very old, and his body so shrivelled and weak that it seemed to be composed as it were of the roots and dried bark of a tree rather than flesh. He was very pleasant but spoke little unless questions were asked him; and he answered in a few words, but in these he was worth hearing, for he had an excellent understanding.”

When St Teresa returned from Toledo to Avila in 1562 she found St Peter there. He spent much of the last months of his life and what strength remained to him in helping her carry through the foundation of her first house of reformed Carmelites. Her success was in good measure due to his encouragement and advice, and to the use which he made of his influence with the bishop of Avila and others. On August 24 he was present when the first Mass was celebrated in the chapel of the new convent of St Joseph. In the troublous times, which followed, St Teresa was strengthened and comforted by several visions of St Peter of Alcantara, who was by then dead. According to her testimony, quoted in the decree of his canonization, it was St Peter who did more for her nascent reform than anyone else. That he approached things in a way that would appeal to her may be judged from the opening of his letter to her defending absolute poverty for the new foundation:

“I confess I am surprised that you have called in learned men to solve a question which they are not competent to judge. Litigation and cases of conscience belong to canonists and theologians, but questions of the perfect life must be left to those who lead it. To be able to deal with a matter one must know something about it, and it is not for a learned man to decide if you and I shall or shall not practise the evangelical counsels…He who gives the counsel will provide the means…The abuses in monasteries which have given up revenues arise from this—that poverty in them is endured rather than desired.”

Two months after the opening of St Joseph’s St Peter was seized with a mortal sickness, and he was carried to the convent of Arenas that he might die in the arms of his brethren. In his last moments he repeated those words of the psalmist, “I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord”. Then he rose upon his knees, and in that posture calmly died. St Teresa wrote: “his departure our Lord has been pleased to let me enjoy more of him than I did when he was alive; he has given me advice and counsel in many things, and I have frequently seen him in great glory…Our Lord told me once that men should ask nothing in the name of St Peter of Alcantara wherein He would not hear them. I have recommended many things to him that he might beg them of our Lord, and I have always found them granted.” St Peter of Alcantara was canonized in 1669.

As compared with such mystics as St Teresa of Avila and St John-of-the-Cross, the life of St Peter of Alcantara seems only to have aroused languid interest. The earliest printed biography which we now possess did not appear until 1615, fifty-three years after the saint’s death. It was written by Fr John-of-St-Mary and a Latin version of it is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. viii. With this the Bollandists have coupled a somewhat longer life by Fr Laurence-of-St-Paul, first published in 1669. In 1667 Fr Francis Marchese brought out a life in Italian in which he claims to have made use of the depositions of witnesses in the process of canonization. This has been translated into many languages, and an English version in two volumes was printed in the Oratorian Series in 1856. See also Leon, Auréole Séraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. iv; and S. J. Piat’s short account in the “Profils franciscains” series (1942).

Sixteenth century Spain provided the Church with a wealth of heroes--most of whom seemed to know one another. I hope you enjoy this story of a man who truly fell in love with God at an early age. Peter Garavito's father, who was a lawyer and governor of the province, died in 1513 and two years later, after studying law in Salamanca, 16-year-old Peter entered the Observant Franciscans at Manxarretes (Manjaretes). At 22 he was sent to Badajoz to found a friary.

He was ordained at the age of 25 (1524), and preached missions in Spain and Portugal. After serving as superior at Robredillo, Plasencia, and Estremadura, Peter finally had his request for solitude granted with an appointment to the friary at Lapa, though he was also named its superior. For a time he served as chaplain to the court of King John III of Portugal. This period of his life is uneventful, but all the time he was longing for a yet more rigorous following of the Franciscan rule.
After he was elected provincial for Saint Gabriel at Estremadura in 1538, he was able to take definite steps to begin the reform, but his efforts were not well received during the provincial chapter at Placensia in 1540. So, he resigned as minister provincial. For two years (1542-44) he lived as a hermit with Friar Martin of Saint Mary on Arabida Mountain near Lisbon and was named superior of Palhaes community for novices when numerous friars were attracted to their way of life. During that period he had become convinced of the need for a vigorous Catholic reform, a Counter-Reformation with which to oppose the Protestant Reformation.
Unable to secure approval for a stricter congregation of friars from his provincial, his idea was accepted by the bishop of Coria. Finally, with the approval of Pope Julius III, c. 1556, he founded the Reformed Friars Minor of Spain, usually called the Alcatarine Franciscans, which established not only monasteries but also Houses of Retreat where anyone could go and try to live according to the Rule of Saint Francis. The friars lived in small groups, in great poverty and austerity, going barefoot, abstaining from meat and wine, spending much time in solitude and contemplation.

Three years later, in 1559, the new order was enlarged with the addition of a new province, that of Saint Joseph. But the Reformed Franciscans failed to win the support of the other Franciscans; Conventuals and Observants, both jealous of their privileges, continued to quarrel over the inheritance of Saint Francis.

At the time of his death in 1562, Saint Peter was still uncertain of the future of his work, which had been placed under the Conventuals. But the example which he set was followed by Saint Teresa of Ávila and there was thus born Saint Joseph of Ávila, the first Reformed Carmel in Spain. Even if Peter's work was surpassed by that of Saint Teresa, it was instrumental in releasing in Spain, and then throughout Europe, a movement of vigorous revival which gave strength to the Church at a time when it was sorely needed.
Teresa and Peter were intimate friends for the last four years of her life. After they met in 1560, he became her confessor, advisor, and admirer. His ferocious and almost unbelievable asceticism is not myth, but rather described by Teresa in a celebrated chapter of her autobiography. She wrote with awe that his penances were “incomprehensible to the human mind.” They had reduced him, she tells us, to a condition in which he looked as if “he had been made of the roots of trees.”
He practiced asceticism from the age of 16 until his death, opposing a will of iron against the doubtlessly acute temptations of his body. He slept for no more than two hours each night, and even then he did not lie down, but slept either in a hard wooden chair or kneeling against the wall. His cell was no more than 4- ½ feet long. He ate extremely little, at first going for three days, and then for a week without food. When he did eat, he destroyed the taste of the food by sprinkling it with ashes or earth. He never drank wine.
He never wore shoes, or even sandals, and went about barefoot. He never wore a hat or a hood, and exposed his head to the icy rains of winter or the scorching sun of summer. He wore a hair shirt, and though he possessed a cloak, he never wore it in cold weather. He went everywhere on foot, or at the most would ride on a donkey.
Consumed with fever, he refused a glass of water, saying “Jesus was ready to die of thirst on the cross.” For three years he never raised his eyes from the ground. And yet, “With all his holiness,” wrote Saint Teresa of Ávila, “he was very kindly, though spare of speech except when asked a question, and then he was delightful, for he had a keen understanding.”

Such asceticism may seem self-centered and excessive to us today. Some may think that there are sufficient mortifications in the normal course of life without adding to them. But asceticism has been in the Church since the days of the Desert Fathers, and though the practices of the ascetics might seem horrible, unnecessary, or even ridiculous to us, the Church has never reproved them; indeed, they are to be recommended for the active as well as for the contemplative. And who is to say that the present unhappy state of the world would not be greatly changed for the better if people did follow ascetic practices?
Peter's asceticism, however, is only one aspect of his life of great holiness and incessant labor devoted to the restoration in Spain of the primitive Franciscan rule.
Saint Peter was one of the great Spanish mystics and his Treatise on Prayer and Meditation (1926 English translation) was said by Pope Gregory XV to be “a shining light to lead souls to heaven and a doctrine prompted by the Holy Spirit.” This treatise was used later by Saint Francis de Sales. His mystical works, intended purely for edification, follow traditional lines.

“He had already appeared to me twice since his death,” wrote Teresa of Ávila, “and I witnessed the greatness of his glory. Far from causing me the least fear, the sight of him filled me with joy. He always showed himself to me in the state of a body which was glorious and radiant with happiness; and I, seeing him, was filled with the same happiness. I remember that when he first appeared to me he said, to show me the extent of his felicity, 'Blessed be the penitence which has brought me such a reward'” (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Underhill).

In art he is depicted as a Franciscan in radiance levitated before the Cross, angels carry a girdle of nails, chain, and discipline. Sometimes he is shown (1) walking on water with a companion, a star over his head; (2) praying before a crucifix, discipline (scourge), and hairshirt; or (3) with a dove at his ear, cross and discipline in the picture. He is venerated at Alcántara and Pedrosa (Roeder). In 1862, he was declared the patron of Brazil (Delaney).

(1694-1775)

St. Paul Danei was one of the outstanding home missionaries of the 18th century, and the Passionists, the religious order that he founded, have since then continued his tradition of parish missions around the world.
Paul Francis Danei was born near Genoa, Italy, on January 3, 1694. His parents, though of noble background, had to struggle to raise their 16 children, and because of their budgetary problems, Paul, the second oldest, had to curtail his schooling, and even, on one occasion, had to pawn his own possessions to assist them. Yet Luke and Anna Maria Danei gave to their brood a still greater treasure: a strong religious sense. His mother, in fact, taught Paul Francis to fervently love the cross. Whenever he was pained or frustrated, she would show him a crucifix and remind him how Jesus bore His own cross to Calvary.
When he was 15, young Danei heard a sermon that made him aware that he was not corresponding sufficiently to God's grace. He therefore made a general confession and began a program of intensive prayer and mortification. His gift of leadership now began to show itself. He induced his younger brother, John Baptist Danei, to join him in his project, and soon he had persuaded several other teenagers to join them. Of these recruits several eventually entered religious orders.
Just where God was leading Paul, however, did not at once appear. In 1714 he enlisted in the Venetian army to fight against the Moslem Turks, a cause promoted by Pope Clement XI. But a year of soldiering convinced him that he was not called to the military life. He decided against marrying, declined to accept a generous inheritance, and began to lead the life of a quasi-hermit in his own home, devoting himself to constant prayer. During the summer of 1720, Paul received three extraordinary visions. In them he was shown a black religious habit bearing a breastbadge inscribed with a white heart and cross and the words, "The Passion of Jesus Christ." Our Lady, dressed in this garb, appeared to him and instructed him to found a religious congregation dedicated to constant mourning for the passion and death of her Son.
Now the career of Paul Danei became clear. He wrote a monastic rule of life, and in 1727, with papal permission, having received, with his brother, ordination to the priesthood, he launched the Passionists, officially called "The Congregation of Discalced Clerks of the Most Holy Cross and Passion of our Lord."
This religious order aimed to preserve the austerity of the hermit life and at the same time to heal souls by reminding them of the debt they owed to the passion and death of Jesus. In preaching parish missions internationally and by offering their own austere example as well as the word of God, the Passionist Fathers achieved amazing success in bringing people back to God. One interesting phase of their campaign was their constant prayer for the conversion of England, begun by the founder in 1720. Significantly, it was a Passionist, B1. Dominic Barberi, who in 1845 received the Anglican convert John Henry Newman into the Church.

St. Paul of the Cross also established the Passionist nuns, a strictly cloistered congregation. An able administrator and an influential guide of souls, he continued to be the recipient of astonishing spiritual graces up to the end of his life - a life fraught, incidentally, with great difficulties, but fortified by faith. The self-sacrificing priest, both organizer and mystic, died at 80, and was canonized in 1867, eight years short of the centenary of his death.
In reading the lives of the male and female saints who have received mystical graces and powers like healing and prophecy, we may wonder why God has not given more of us a share of such gifts. One reason, doubtless, is that you and I are not so prayerful as the canonized saints have been. A surer reason is that God gives graces as He chooses, and is not bound to explain His generosities to the rest of us. But finally, we must remember that the more "extravagant" graces are bestowed not for the benefit of the recipients so much as for the benefit of others. Thus the visions God granted to Paul of the Cross did not make him holier per se, but impelled him to remind all of us of what too often we forget, that Christ died a bitter death to save us. --Father Robert F. McNamara.
1562 St. Peter of Alcantara Observant Franciscans Church reform

Born at Alcántara, Spain, 1499; died 18 Oct., 1562. [Note: In 1826, St. Peter of Alcántara was named Patron of Brazil, and in 1962 (the fourth centenary of his death), of Estremadura. Because of the reform of the general Roman calendar in 1969, his feast on 19 October is observed only in local and particular liturgical calendars.] His feast is 19 Oct.
Peter was a contemporary of well-known 16th-century Spanish saints, including Ignatius of Loyola and John of the Cross.

He served as confessor to St. Teresa of Avila. Church reform was a major issue in Peter’s day, and he directed most of his energies toward that end. His death came one year before the Council of Trent ended.
Born 1499 into a noble family (his father was the governor of Alcantara in Spain), Peter studied law at Salamanca University and, at 16, joined the so-called Observant Franciscans (also known as the discalced, or barefoot, friars). While he practiced many penances, he also demonstrated abilities which were soon recognized. He was named the superior of a new house even before his ordination as a priest; at the age of 39, he was elected provincial; he was a very successful preacher. Still, he was not above washing dishes and cutting wood for the friars. He did not seek attention; indeed, he preferred solitude.
Peter’s penitential side was evident when it came to food and clothing. It is said that he slept only 90 minutes each night. While others talked about Church reform, Peter’s reform began with himself.
His patience was so great that a proverb arose: "To bear such an insult one must have the patience of Peter of Alcantara."
In 1554, Peter, having received permission, formed a group of Franciscans who followed the Rule of St. Francis with even greater rigor. These friars were known as Alcantarines. Some of the Spanish friars who came to North and South America in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries were members of this group. At the end of the 19th century, the Alcantarines were joined with other Observant friars to form the Order of Friars Minor.
As spiritual director to St. Teresa, Peter encouraged her in promoting the Carmelite reform. His preaching brought many people to religious life, especially to the Secular Franciscan Order, the friars and the Poor Clares.
He was canonized in 1669.

Comment: Poverty was a means and not an end for Peter. The goal was following Christ in ever greater purity of heart. Whatever obstructed that path could be eliminated with no real loss. The philosophy of our consumer age—you are worth what you own—may find Peter of Alcantara’s approach severe. Ultimately his approach is life-giving while consumerism is deadly.

Quote: "I do not praise poverty for poverty's sake; I praise only that poverty which we patiently endure for the love of our crucified Redeemer and I consider this far more desirable than the poverty we undertake for the sake of poverty itself; for if I thought or believed otherwise, I would not seem to be firmly grounded in faith" (Letter of Peter to Teresa of Avila).

St. Peter of Alcántara
His father, Peter Garavita, was the governor of the place, and his mother was of the noble family of Sanabia. After a course of grammar and philosophy in his native town, he was sent, at the age of fourteen, to the University of Salamanca. Returning home, he became a Franciscan in the convent of the Stricter Observance at Manxaretes in 1515. At the age of twenty-two he was sent to found a new community of the Stricter Observance at Badajoz. He was ordained priest in 1524, and the following year made guardian of the convent of St. Mary of the Angels at Robredillo. A few years later he began preaching with much success. He preferred to preach to the poor; and his sermons, taken largely from the Prophets and Sapiential Books, breathe the tenderest human sympathy. The reform of the "Discalced Friars" had, at the time when Peter entered the order, besides the convents in Spain, the Custody of Sta. Maria Pietatis in Portugal, subject to the General of the Observants.
Having been elected minister of St. Gabriel's province in 1538, Peter set to work at once. At the chapter of Plasencia in 1540 he drew up the Constitutions of the Stricter Observants, but his severe ideas met with such opposition that he renounced the office of provincial and retired with John of Avila into the mountains of Arabida, Portugal, where he joined Father Martin a Santa Maria in his life of eremitical solitude. Soon, however, other friars came to join him, and several little communities were established. Peter being chosen guardian and master of novices at the convent of Pallais. In 1560 these communities were erected into the Province of Arabida. Returning to Spain in 1553 he spent two more years in solitude, and then journeyed barefoot to Rome, and obtained permission of Julius III to found some poor convents in Spain under the jurisdiction of the general of the Conventuals. Convents were established at Pedrosa, Plasencia, and elsewhere; in 1556 they were made a commissariat, with Peter as superior, and in 1561, a province under the title of St. Joseph. Not discouraged by the opposition and ill-success his efforts at reform had met with in St. Gabriel's province, Peter drew up the constitutions of the new province with even greater severity. The reform spread rapidly into other provinces of Spain and Portugal.
In 1562 the province of St. Joseph was put under the jurisdiction of the general of the Observants, and two new custodies were formed: St. John Baptist's in Valencia, and St. Simon's in Galicia (see Friars Minor). Besides the above-named associates of Peter may be mentioned St. Francis Borgia, John of Avila, and Ven. Louis of Granada. In St. Teresa, Peter perceived a soul chosen of God for a great work, and her success in the reform of Carmel was in great measure due to his counsel, encouragement, and defence. (See Carmelites.) It was a letter from St. Peter (14 April, 1562) that encouraged her to found her first monastery at Avila, 24 Aug. of that year. St. Teresa's autobiography is the source of much of our information regarding Peter's life, work, and gifts of miracles and prophecy.
Perhaps the most remarkable of Peter's graces were his gift of contemplation and the virtue of penance. Hardly less remarkable was his love of God, which was at times so ardent as to cause him, as it did St. Philip Neri, sensible pain, and frequently rapt him into ecstasy. The poverty he practised and enforced was as cheerful as it was real, and often let the want of even the necessaries of life be felt. In confirmation of his virtues and mission of reformation God worked numerous miracles through his intercession and by his very presence. He was beatified by Gregory XV in 1622, and canonized by Clement IX in 1669. Besides the Constitutions of the Stricter Observants and many letters on spiritual subjects, especially to St. Teresa, he composed a short treatise on prayer, which has been translated into all the languages of Europe. His feast is 19 Oct.

1595 St. Philip Howard One of 40 Martyrs of England and Wales
1595 Bd Philip Howard, Martyr
Thomas Howard, fourth Duke of Norfolk, was beheaded by order of Queen Elizabeth in 1572, and in consequence of the attainder his son Philip did not succeed to the dukedom of Norfolk; but he became earl of Arundel and Surrey by right of his mother. His early education was partly under John Foxe and partly under Dr Gregory Martin, but the Protestant influence predominated and he went to Cambridge for two years, where “he received no small detriment”. At the age of twelve he had been married to Anne, daughter of Thomas, Lord Dacre of Gillesland. When he went to the court of Elizabeth, Philip suffered yet more detriment: he neglected his admirable wife, impoverished his estates, and earned the brief favour of the queen. But in 1581 he was deeply impressed by hearing a disputation in the Tower of London between Bd Edmund Campion and others and some Protestant divines; he returned and became devoted to his wife, and in 1584 they were both reconciled to the Church by Father William Weston, S.J.
Before this event they had begun to be under suspicion, and Philip was for a time imprisoned in his own house in London. After that, the manifest change in his way of life gave a further handle by intrigues of his enemies. Then he determined, with his family and his brother William, to flee to Flanders. Philip wrote a long letter to the queen, explaining his conduct—he was come to the point “in which he must consent either to the certain destruction of his body or the manifest endangering of his soul”—and embarked in Sussex. But all his movements had been watched. He was captured at sea, brought back to London, and committed to the Tower. After twelve months, a charge of treason not being able to be substantiated, he was arraigned on lesser charges, vindictively fined £10,000, and sentenced to imprisonment during the royal pleasure.

During the Armada scare he was again brought to trial, before his peers, for high treason in favouring the Queen’s enemies. The evidence was partly fraudulent, partly worthless (extorted by fear of torture), but Philip was sentenced to death. The sentence was never executed; why, is not known. He was instead held a prisoner in the Tower for another six years, and he died there on October 19, 1595 (not without suspicion of poison). His dying request that he might see his wife and son, born after his imprisonment, was refused because he would not comply with a condition of attending Protestant worship, which would have also bought his release.
Bd Philip Howard was thirty-eight years old at his death, and had been for ten years uninterruptedly in prison, wherein his patience and conduct were not merely exemplary but heroic. His conversion had been whole-hearted, and he spent much of his time in writing and translating works of devotion. As if close confinement were not sufficient mortification, until his health failed he fasted three days a week, and got up every day for morning prayers at five o’clock. He was particularly penitent for the way he had treated his faithful wife. To Bd Robert Southwell he wrote: “I call our Lord to witness that no sin grieves me anything so much as my offences to that party”; and to her: “He that knows all things knows that which is past is a nail in my conscience and burden the greatest I feel there; my will is to make satisfaction if my ability were able.” He died “in a most sweet manner, without any sign of grief or groan, only turning his head a little aside, as one falling into a pleasing sleep”. In a declaration prepared for his expected execution he wrote: “The Catholic and Roman faith which I hold is the only cause (as far as I can any way imagine) why either I have been thus long imprisoned or why I am now ready to be executed.”
In the Beauchamp tower of the Tower of London may be seen two inscriptions cut in the wall by the hand of Bd Philip in May and June 1587, and one referring to him after his death by another Catholic prisoner named Tucker. Philip Howard’s relics are at Arundel.

Vol. xxi (1919) of the publications of the Catholic Record Society is entirely devoted to Philip Howard, and these documents, taken in conjunction with the narrative printed in 1857 from the original manuscript under the title Life’s of Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel, and of Anne Dacres his wife, afford a more perfect insight into the career and character of the earl than is perhaps available in the ease of any other of the Elizabethan martyrs. The biography of the earl and countess, as Father Newdigate has shown in The Month (March 1931, p. 247), was written in 1635, five years after Lady Arundel’s death; the author was a Jesuit who acted as her chaplain but his name is not recorded.

Philip was the earl of Arundel and Surrey and, although a Catholic, led a religiously apathetic life until his personal conversion, after which he was a zealous Catholic in the midst of Elizabethan England. Arrested by authorities, he was placed in the Tower of London in 1585 and condemned to death in 1589. The sentence was never carried out, and Philip languished in the Tower until his death at the age of thirty eight. Beatified in 1929, he was included among the English martyrs canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI.

Philip Howard M (RM) Born in 1557; died October 19, 1595; beatified in 1929; canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. Philip was the eldest son of Thomas Howard, fourth duke of Norfolk, who had been beheaded under Queen Elizabeth I in 1572. Philip's godfather was Philip II of Spain. On his mother's side, Philip was earl of Arundel and Surrey. His life's story is not so surprising given this heritage of high-birth and martyrdom.
Although Philip was baptized as a Catholic, he was raised as a Protestant. For years he was an indifferent Christian, neglectful of his faith. At the tender age of 12 or 14, he was married to Anne Dacre, his foster sister. He studied at Cambridge for two years. Although Queen Elizabeth had executed his father, she made Philip one of her favorites. The son was dazzingly handsome, witty, and a good dancer. Philip became a wastrel at Elizabeth's court, involved in many love affairs, refusing to set eyes on his young wife who waited patiently at Arundel House.
Even during this period of dissipation, Philip was extravagant in helping the poor and sick. He servants worshipped him because he treated every individual courteously. About this time his grandfather died and he inherited the title and estates of the earl of Arundel. Deeply impressed by Saint Edmund Campion when he debated theology with the deans of Windsor at London, Philip reformed his life, was reconciled to his neglected wife, and eventually fell deeply in love with her.
About the same time as Campion's defense of the faith, Anne Dacre and Philip's favorite sister, Lady Margaret Sackville, were reconciled to the Catholic Church. Elizabeth immediately banished Anne Dacre and placed her under house arrest in Surrey, where she gave birth to their first daughter. Philip was imprisoned in the Tower of London for a short time. Upon his release, he, too, returned to the Catholic Church in 1584 with fervor and conscientiousness.
In late April 1585, Philip tried to escape across the English Channel to Flanders with his family and brother William as so many Catholics of his country had done before. But the captain of the ship he had hired betrayed him. Again, he was thrown into the Tower, where he was severely beaten and accused of treason for working with Mary, Queen of Scots. The charge was not provable, but he was fined 10,000 pounds. His pleas for mercy and to be allowed to see his wife, daughter, and newborn son went unanswered by the queen .

On various occasions it was reported to his wife that the earl was drinking in prison, that he had affairs with all kinds of loose women, and was entirely indifferent to religious concerns. Even where he was at the point of death in 1596, it was made a condition that he must renounce his faith if he wanted to see Anne and the children before he died.
At the time of the Spanish Armada, he was again accused of treason (though he was in the Tower of London at the time) and ordered executed--a sentence that was never carried out. He was kept imprisoned in the Tower and died there six years later, on October 19, perhaps poisoned (Benedictines, Delaney, Undset).

1646 Isaac Jogues, John de Brébeuf Companions first martyrs of the North America
(1607-1646)
When France laid claim to Canada, she sent over missionaries to preach the Faith to the Native Americans. Most numerous of these missionaries were the Jesuits, who began their official apostolate in 1633. Some of the Jesuits who were working among the Indians north of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River eventually crossed the border into New York State, and established missions among the Iroquois nations. Their sojourn here eventually had some success, but it was inaugurated in bloodshed. Father Isaac Jogues and his two lay companions, killed on New York State soil by the Iroquois, are today honored as martyrs by the Church.
Isaac Jogues was born in Orleans, France, in 1607. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1624, taught literature in Rouen, France, for a few years, and in 1636 was sent on the Canadian Mission. Destined for work with fellow Jesuits among the Hurons near Georgian Bay, Ontario, he first spent some time traveling through the Great Lakes country to see where to project future Indian missions.
Thus he and his companions were apparently the first white men to view Lake Superior. On the basis of what he saw, he proposed, on his return to Quebec, that mission centers be set up among the Indians of the western Great Lakes, and even among the Sioux, near the headwaters of the Mississippi.

With the landing at Quebec on July 15, 1632, of Fathers Paul le Jeune and Anne de None, with a lay brother, the Jesuits resumed the task of christianizing the aborigines, and the Huron mission became one of the glories of the Church in the New World by the fervent faith and heroic virtue of the neophytes, one of whom, Kateri Tekakwitha, awaits the cachet of canonization before her statue will occupy a niche in our sanctuaries. The hatred and fury of the Iroquois drove the Hurons westward and the missionaries followed them.

In 1641 Fathers Jogues and Raymbaut were the first white men to pass through Sault Ste. Marie and stand on the shore of Lake Superior whence they could turn their gaze to the land of the Ojibways in the upper valley of the Mississippi. Here, as Shea writes, “the two Jesuits planted the Cross of Christianity, looking still further west, and forming plans for the conversion of the Dakotas, of whom they had heard by their Algonquin name, Nadouessis”. With the exception of Father Joseph de la Roche Daillon, a Recollect, they were the first priests from Canada to penetrate into the present territory of the United States. The Jesuits continued their missionary work among the Hurons. Jogues and his companions were taken prisoners by the warlike Iroquois and were among the eight sons of Ignatius, six priests and two lay brothers, who fertilized the soil of New France with martyr blood during the decade prior to 1650.

Leaving Quebec for the Huron country, Father Jogues and his party, on August 3, 1642, were attacked and seized by a band of Iroquois guerrillas raiding the St. Lawrence River. The Indians tortured them and marched the priest and his lay assistant, Rene Goupil, all the way down to the Mohawk capital Ossernenon, near the present Auriesville, N.Y.
Here they were again cruelly tortured, and their forefingers chewed off. On September 29, Goupil, a “paramedic” (born May 13, 1008), was killed by an Iroquois for making the sign of the cross on the forehead of a native child. Father Jogues was allowed to live, but as a slave. Ready for martyrdom, he was also ready to accept slavery, for it gave him at least an opportunity to baptize 69 dying children and to stand as a symbol of Christianity.
After 13 months, however, Dutch Protestant traders from Albany (Fort Orange) warned him that his death was being planned. He therefore accepted their help in escaping. The Dutch sent him down the Hudson River to New Amsterdam. (He thus became the first priest to set foot in Manhattan.) They shipped him thence to France, where he landed on Christmas morning 1643.
France hailed the tortured missionary as a hero, and the Queen Regent, Anne of Austria, received him with honor. Pope Urban VIII also gave Jogues permission to say Mass despite the loss of his fingertips. “It would be unjust,” the pope said, “that a martyr for Christ should not drink the blood of Christ.”
But Father Jogues ached to return to Canada, and he was able to do so finally in 1644. In 1646, the Iroquois sought peace with the French. The missionary was sent back to his old “killing field” on the Mohawk River as a government representative. (On the trip downward he viewed and gave the name “Lake of the Blessed Sacrament” to the lovely body of water now called Lake George.) When he arrived at Ossernenon his former captors received him well, and an agreement of peace was reached. Jogues then started back to Quebec on June 16. But since he planned to come back as an accredited missionary, he left at Ossernenon a box of religious articles. That box was to be his doom.
On September 27, 1646, the priest set out for Ossernenon once more, with another lay aide, John Lalande. Meanwhile sickness and blight had stricken the Mohawks. Although the other clans refused to think that Jogues's box was to blame for the pestilences, the Bear Clan insisted that Isaac was a sorcerer.
A band of Bear clansmen captured the priest, his aide, and a Huron, near Lake George, tortured them, and brought them back to Ossernenon. On the evening of October 18, 1646, one of the Mohawks invited the priest to dine in his lodge. As soon as Isaac stepped inside, a brave split his skull with a tomahawk. They then cut off his head and mounted it on a pole facing north. John Lalande was killed in the same way on October 19. His body was thrown into the river.

Five Jesuits working within the present Canada were likewise martyred in 1648-49, during the course of the Iroquois-Huron War. In 1930 Pope Pius XI canonized these five, along with SS. Isaac Jogues, Rene Goupil, and John Lalande.
The blood shed at Ossernenon may not have produced a great harvest, but out of that reddened soil there sprang, a decade later, the wonderful little Mohawk saint, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha. --Father Robert F. McNamara

Isaac Jogues (1607-1646): Isaac Jogues and his companions were the first martyrs of the North American continent. As a young Jesuit, Isaac Jogues, a man of learning and culture, taught literature in France. He gave up that career to work among the Huron Indians in the New World, and in 1636 he and his companions, under the leadership of John de Brébeuf, arrived in Quebec. The Hurons were constantly warred upon by the Iroquois, and in a few years Father Jogues was captured by the Iroquois and imprisoned for 13 months. His letters and journals tell how he and his companions were led from village to village, how they were beaten, tortured and forced to watch as their Huron converts were mangled and killed.

An unexpected chance for escape came to Isaac Jogues through the Dutch, and he returned to France, bearing the marks of his sufferings. Several fingers had been cut, chewed or burnt off. Pope Urban VIII gave him permission to offer Mass with his mutilated hands: “It would be shameful that a martyr of Christ be not allowed to drink the Blood of Christ.” Welcomed home as a hero, Father Jogues might have sat back, thanked God for his safe return and died peacefully in his homeland. But his zeal led him back once more to the fulfillment of his dreams. In a few months he sailed for his missions among the Hurons.

In 1642 the Huron country was in great distress. Harvests were poor, sickness abounded, and clothing was scarce. Quebec was the only source of supplies, and Isaac Jogues was chosen to lead an expedition. It reached its objective safely and started back well supplied with goods for the mission, but the Iroquois, the bitter enemies of the Hurons, and fiercest of all Indian tribes, were on the war-path and ambushed the returning expedition. Jogues and his assistant, Rene Goupil, besides being beaten to the ground and assailed several times with knotted sticks and fists, had their hair, beards and nails torn off and their forefingers bitten through. What grieved them far more, was the cruelty practiced on their Christian converts.

The first of all the martyrs to suffer death was Rene Goupil, who was tomahawked on September 29, 1642. This Rene Goupil was a remarkable man. He had tried hard to be a Jesuit and had even entered the Novitiate, but his health forced him to give up the attempt. He then studied surgery and found his way to Canada, where he offered his services to the missionaries, whose fortitude he emulated. Rene Goupil is one of the North American martyrs who died at the hands of the Indians between the years 1642-1649.
In 1646 he and Jean de Lalande, who had offered his services to the missioners, set out for Iroquois country in the belief that a recently signed peace treaty would be observed. They were captured by a Mohawk war party, on October 18 Father Jogues was tomahawked and beheaded. Jean de Lalande was killed the next day at Ossernenon, a village near Albany, New York.

Jean de Brébeuf (1593-1649): Jean de Brébeuf was a French Jesuit who came to Canada at the age of 32 and labored there for 24 years. He went back to France when the English captured Quebec (1629) and expelled the Jesuits, but returned to his missions four years later. Although medicine men blamed the Jesuits for a smallpox epidemic among the Hurons, Jean remained with them.
He composed catechisms and a dictionary in Huron, and saw 7,000 converted before his death. He was captured by the Iroquois and died after four hours of extreme torture at Sainte Marie, near Georgian Bay, Canada.
Father Anthony Daniel, working among Hurons who were gradually becoming Christian, was killed by Iroquois on July 4, 1648. His body was thrown into his chapel, which was set on fire.

(1593-1649)
     On October 19 Catholics in the United States and Canada observe the feast of the North American Jesuit Martyrs: eight priests and two laymen killed by the Indians in the mid-17th century.
     In many ways the most remarkable of these men was the priest Father Jean de Brébeuf, who pioneered the mission to the Hurons then residing in Ontario south of Lake Huron's Georgian Bay.
     Brébeuf was a native of Condé-sur-Vire in Normandy, France. He entered the Jesuits in 1617. His request to be admitted as a simple lay brother was denied; but then he took ill, and it seemed for a while that he might not make it to priestly ordination. He recovered, however, and was ordained in 1622. In 1625 he and a few other priests set sail for Quebec, pledged to work among the Indians in Canada. His sickness disappearing along the line, this very tall man would become noted among the Indians for his physical and spiritual strength and vigor.   The Hurons would nickname him "Echon, the man who drags the loads."
     After a year working among the Algonquins, Father John set out in 1626 for Huron country, traveling by canoe down the Ottawa River. Left alone among these pagan Indians, he quickly developed real expertise in their language. This impressed the Hurons, as did his physical prowess, but except for baptizing a few dying infants, he made no converts. When in 1629 the English captured Quebec, he and the other French missionaries were obliged to return to France.
     Political winds having changed by 1630, he went back to Canada and began anew in Huronia. It was a bitterly hard life. The climate was demanding and the Hurons were long inhospitable and often threatening. In fact, when Father John prepared a list of instructions for future missionaries to Huronia, he told them that they must expect to give until it hurts, and beyond.
     He had to wait until 1636 before he had his first adult convert.   This was a Seneca Indian from New York State who had been condemned to death. A year later, however, he received a healthy adult Huron into the Faith, and "Peter" proved to be a model Christian. Even so, the Hurons remained antagonistic to Christ. Indeed, in 1637 John and the four other Jesuits by then working with him, sent a letter to their superior in Quebec stating that they expected to be killed any minute. Actually, the threat passed. By that time, Brébeuf knew his people so well that he could put them in their place with a calm smile.
     The Hurons began to yield only when their pride was broken. They were finally humbled by the Iroquois invaders, who at mid-century declared total war on their nation. Raiding parties of Iroquois from New York State killed off or scattered the Huron nation forever. One whole Huron village, St. Michel, migrated to near Victor, N.Y., as a captive community. All but one of the Canadian Jesuit martyrs were killed by these Iroquois invaders. In the face of war, many Hurons asked Brébeuf for baptism. The enemy came upon him and his newly arrived associate Father Gabriel Lalemant, at St. Joseph village on March 16, 1649. Them they reserved for the most fierce torture-deaths. They flayed them, roasted their flesh, "baptized" them with boiling water. The veteran missionary spoke out to the bystanding Christians, urging them not to falter in their faith. Despite the exquisite torments, this giant of a man never winced, infuriating and amazing his persecutors by his fortitude. Finally they split his skull, tore out his heart, and drank its blood, thinking to imbibe his courage.

Providence made good use of the Missionaries' sacrifice. By taking Christian Hurons back to western New York, they gave Christianity a bridge-head on U.S. soil. From 1656 on, for the next fifty years, Jesuit missionaries were able to preach the Good News among the Iroquois themselves. The exiled Hurons welcomed them, and many who had refused baptism in Huronia now asked for it. One of the missionaries' chief aides was a grand old Christian Huron whom St.Jean de Brébeuf had baptized, Francis Tehoronhiongo. A natural leader and one well instructed in the Faith, he served as catechist. He eventually moved to Montreal, where he died in 1690. His granddaughter, Marie-Therese Gannensagouas, became a nun and achieved a reputation for great holiness. What a thrilling story! --Father Robert F. McNamara

Gabriel Lalemant had taken a fourth vow—to sacrifice his life to the Indians. He was horribly tortured to death along with Father Brébeuf. Father Charles Garnier was shot to death as he baptized children and catechumens during an Iroquois attack.
Father Noel Chabanel was killed before he could answer his recall to France. He had found it exceedingly hard to adapt to mission life. He could not learn the language, the food and life of the Indians revolted him, plus he suffered spiritual dryness during his whole stay in Canada. Yet he made a vow to remain until death in his mission.

These eight Jesuit martyrs of North America were canonized in 1930.

Comment: Faith and heroism planted belief in Christ's cross deep in our land. The Church in North America sprang from the blood of martyrs. Are we as eager to keep that cross standing in our midst? Do we bear witness to deep-seated faith in us, the Good News of the cross (redemption) into our home, our work, our social world?

Quote: “My confidence is placed in God who does not need our help for accomplishing his designs. Our single endeavor should be to give ourselves to the work and to be faithful to him, and not to spoil his work by our shortcomings” (from a letter of Isaac Jogues to a Jesuit friend in France, September 12, 1646, a month before he died).

1775 Paul of the Cross; Priest, vision of our Lady in a black habit with the name Jesus and a cross in white on the chest Blessed Virgin told him to found a religious order devoted to preaching the Passion of Christ (RM)
Romæ item natális sancti Pauli a Cruce, Presbyteri et Confessóris; qui Congregatiónis a Cruce et Passióne Dómini nostri Jesu Christi nuncupátæ Institútor fuit. Ipsum vero, mira innocéntia ac pæniténtia conspícuum et singulári in Christum crucifíxum caritáte incénsum, Pius Papa Nonus fastis Sanctórum adjúnxit, et ejúsdem festivitátem quarto Kaléndas Maji recoléndam indíxit.
At Rome, the birthday of St. Paul of the Cross, priest, confessor, and founder of the Congregation of the Cross and Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Known for his remarkable innocency of life and his penitential spirit, and aflame with love for Christ crucified, he was canonized by Pope Pius IX, and the 28th of April was assigned as his feast day.
quintodécimo Kaléndas Novémbris. His feast occurs on 28 April. [Editor's note: It was later transferred to 19 October.]
St. Paul of the Cross, priest and confessor, founder of the Congregation of the Cross and Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. He went to his repose in the Lord on the 18th of October.
St. Paul of the Cross Paul Francis Daneii, born at Ovada, Genoa, Italy, 3 January, 1694; died in Rome, 18 October, 1775.

1775 St Paul Of The Cross, Founder Of The Barefooted Clerks Of The Holy Cross And Passion

THE founder of the Passionists, St Paul-of-the-Cross, was born at Ovada in the republic of Genoa in 1694—the year which saw also the birth of Voltaire. Paul Francis, as he was called, was the eldest son of Luke Danei, a business man of good family, and his wife, both exemplary Christians. Whenever little Paul shed tears of pain or annoyance his mother used to show him the crucifix with a few simple words about the sufferings of our Lord, and thus she instilled into his infant mind the germs of that devotion to the Sacred Passion which was to rule his life. The father would read aloud the lives of the saints to his large family of children, whom he often cautioned against gambling and fighting. Although Paul seems to have been one of those chosen souls who have given themselves to God almost from babyhood, yet at the age of fifteen he was led by a sermon to conclude that he was not corresponding to grace. Accordingly, after making a general confession, he embarked on a life of austerity, sleeping on the bare ground, rising at midnight, spending hours in prayer, and scourging himself. In all these practices he was imitated by his brother John Baptist, his junior by two years. He also formed a society for mutual sanctification among the youths of the neighbourhood, several of whom afterwards joined religious communities.
In 1714 Paul went to Venice in response to the appeal of Pope Clement XI for volunteers to fight in the Venetian army against the Turks, but a year later he obtained his discharge, having discovered that the army was not his vocation. Convinced that he was not meant to lead the ordinary life in the world he refused a good inheritance and a promising marriage; but before he or his directors could perceive his true vocation he was to spend (at Castellazzo in Lombardy, then his home) several years in almost unbroken prayer which sometimes attained to the highest degree of contemplation.
During the summer of 1720, in three extraordinarily vivid visions, Paul beheld a black habit with the name of Jesus in white characters, surmounted by a white cross, emblazoned upon the breast. On the third occasion our Lady, attired in the tunic, told him that he was to found a congregation, the members of which would wear that habit and would mourn continually for the passion and death of her Son. A written description of these visions was submitted to the bishop of Alessandria, who consulted several spiritual guides, including Paul’s former director, the Capuchin Father Columban of Genoa. In view of the heroic life of virtue and prayer led by the young man since his childhood, all agreed that the call must have come from God. The bishop therefore authorized him to follow his vocation and invested him with the black habit, stipulating, however, that the badge was not to be worn until papal approval had been obtained. Paul’s next step was to compose a rule for the future congregation. He retired for a forty days’ retreat into a dark, damp, triangular cell adjoining the sacristy of St Charles’s church at Castellazzo, where he lived on bread and water and slept on straw. The rules which he drew up at that time, without book or earthly guide, are substantially the regulations followed by the Passionists to-day. It was during this retreat that the saint first felt impelled to pray for the conversion of England: “That country is always before my eyes”, he said in later years. “If England again becomes Catholic, immeasurable will be the benefits to Holy Church.”
For a short time after the retreat he remained with John Baptist and another disciple in the neighbourhood of Castellazzo, rendering assistance to the local clergy by catechizing the children and giving missions, which were very successful. Nevertheless he soon realized that if he wished to carry out his vocation he must seek the highest sanction. Bareheaded, barefoot and penniless, he set out for Rome, refusing the escort of John Baptist beyond Genoa. Upon his arrival he presented himself at the Vatican, but as he had not thought of providing himself with an introduction or credentials he was turned away. He accepted the rebuff as a sign that his hour was not yet come, and started on his homeward journey, visiting on the way the solitary slopes of Monte Argentaro, which the sea almost severs from the mainland. So great was the attraction he felt to this spot that he soon returned to it, accompanied by John Baptist, to lead in one of its derelict hermitages a life almost as austere as that of the fathers in the desert. They left for a time to stay in Rome, where they were ordained to the sacred ministry, but in 1727 they made their way back to Monte Argentaro, prepared to start their first house of retreat on the strength of the papal permission Paul had received to accept novices.
Numerous were the difficulties with which they had to contend. Their first recruits found the life too hard and all withdrew; war was threatening; benefactors who had offered assistance declared themselves unable to fulfil their undertakings; a serious epidemic broke out in the nearest villages. Paul and John Baptist, who had received faculties for missionary work soon after they had left Rome: went about fearlessly ministering to the dying, nursing the sick, and reconciling sinners to God. The missions they thus inaugurated proved so fruitful that more distant towns applied for the services of the missioners. Fresh novices came—not all of whom remained—and in 1737 the first Passionist Retreat (as their monasteries are called) was completed. The little band could now move from its inadequate quartets in the old hermitage. From this time onwards there was a steady progress, although many trials and disappointments had still to be faced. In 1741 Pope Benedict XIV granted a general approbation to the rules after their severity had been somewhat mitigated, and immediately a number of promising candidates offered themselves. Six years later, when the congregation had three houses, the first general chapter was held. By this time the fame of the Passionists, of their missions and of their austerity, was spreading throughout Italy. St Paul himself evangelized in person nearly every town in the Papal States as well as a great part of Tuscany, taking always as his theme the Sacred Passion. When, cross in hand, with arms outstretched, he preached about the sufferings of Christ, his words seemed to pierce the stoniest hearts and when he scourged himself pitilessly in public for the offences of the people, hardened soldiers and even bandits wept, confessing their sins. “Father, I have been in great battles without ever flinching at the cannon’s roar”, exclaimed an officer who was attending one of the missions. “But when I listen to you I tremble from head to foot.” Afterwards in the confessional the apostle would deal tenderly with his penitents, confirming them in their good resolutions, leading them on to amendment of life and suggesting practical aids to perseverance.

St Paul-of-the-Cross was endowed with extraordinary gifts. He prophesied future events, healed the sick, and even during his lifetime appeared on various occasions in vision to persons far away. In the cities which he visited crowds followed him, desiring to touch him or to carry off some fragment of his habit as a relic, but he deprecated all tokens of esteem. In 1765 he had the grief of losing John Baptist, from whom he had scarcely ever been separated and to whom he was united by a bond of love as rare as it was beautiful. Unlike in disposition, the one brother seemed the complement of the other as they strove side by side to attain to perfection. Since their ordination they had been each other’s confessors, inflicting penances and reproofs in turn. Once only had a shadow of disagreement ever arisen between them, and that was upon the only occasion John Baptist ever ventured to praise his brother to his face. St Paul’s humility was so deeply wounded that he put them both to penance, forbidding his brother to approach him. Not until the third day, when John Baptist crept on his knees to implore pardon, did the cloud lift—never to descend again. It was in memory of the close association between the two men that Pope Clement XIV long afterwards bestowed upon St Paul-of-the-Cross the Roman basilica dedicated in the names of Saints John and Paul.

The new institute in 1769 received from Clement XIV the final authorization which placed it on the same footing as other approved religious institutes. Now St Paul would fain have retired into solitude, for his health was failing and he thought that his work was done. His sons, however, would have no other superior, whilst the pope, who was greatly attached to him, insisted upon his spending part of the year in Rome. During the latter part of his life, he was much preoccupied by arrangements for the establishment of Passionist nuns. After many disappointments the first house was opened at Corneto in 1771, but the founder was not well enough to be present, nor did he ever see his spiritual daughters in their habit. So ill was he indeed during this year, that he sent to ask for the papal blessing, only to be told by Pope Clement that he must live a little longer because he could not yet be spared. The saint actually rallied and survived for three years, dying in Rome on October 18, 1775, at the age of eighty. His canonization took place in 1867.

Apart from the depositions of witnesses in the process of beatification, the most important contribution which has been made to the history of the founder of the Passionists is the publication in 1924 of his letters, in four volumes Lettere di S. Paolo della Croce, disposte ed annotate dal P. Amadeo della Madre del Buon Pastore. In particular the spiritual journal of the forty days’ retreat made at Castellazzo in 1720 is worthy of attention as enabling the reader better than any other document to enter into the workings of St Paul’s soul. Other biographies are numerous in most European languages. The earliest was that written by St Vincent Strambi of which an English version in three volumes was published in 1853 in the Oratorian series. A revised edition of the English life by Father Pius a Spiritu Sancto was issued in 1924, and there is a study by Father Edmund, c.p., Hunter of Souls (1946). Several others might be cited, but the religious names of their authors, such as “Father Pius of the Name of Mary”, “Father Louis of Jesus Agonizing”, not to speak of “Father Amadeus of the Mother of the Good Shepherd”, mentioned above, do not encourage the bibliographer to make a long catalogue.

His parents, Luke Danei and Anna Maria Massari, were exemplary Catholics. From his earliest years the crucifix was his book, and the Crucified his model. Paul received his early education from a priest who kept a school for boys, in Cremolino, Lombardy. He made great progress in study and virtue; spent much time in prayer, heard daily Mass, frequently received the Sacraments, faithfully attended to his school duties, and gave his spare time to reading good books and visiting the churches, where he spent much time before the Blessed Sacrament, to which he had an ardent devotion. At the age of fifteen he left school and returned to his home at Castellazzo, and from this time his life was full of trials. In early manhood he renounced the offer of an honourable marriage; also a good inheritance left him by an uncle who was a priest. He kept for himself only the priest's Breviary.

Inflamed with a desire for God's glory he formed the idea of instituting a religious order in honour of the Passion. Vested in a black tunic by the Bishop of Alessandria, his director, bearing the emblem of our Lord's Passion, barefooted, and bareheaded, he retired to a narrow cell where he drew up the Rules of the new congregation according to the plan made known to him in a vision, which he relates in the introduction to the original copy of the Rules. For the account of his ordination to the priesthood, of the foundation of the Congregation of the Passion, and the approbation of the Rules, see PASSIONISTS. After the approbation of the Rules and the institute the first general chapter was held at the Retreat of the Presentation on Mount Argentaro on 10 April, 1747. At this chapter, St. Paul, against his wishes, was unanimously elected first superior general, which office he held until the day of his death. In all virtues and in the observance of regular discipline, he became a model to his companions.

“Although continually occupied with the cares of governing his religious society, and of founding everywhere new houses for it, yet he never left off preaching the word of God, burning as he did with a wondrous desire for the salvation of souls” (Brief of Pius IX for St. Paul's Beatification, 1 Oct., 1852). Sacred missions were instituted and numerous conversions were made. He was untiring in his Apostolic labours and never, even to his last hour, remitted anything of his austere manner of life, finally succumbing to a severe illness, worn out as much by his austerities as by old age.

Among the distinguished associates of St. Paul in the formation and extension of the congregation were: John Baptist, his younger brother and constant companion from childhood, who shared all his labours and sufferings and equaled him in the practice of virtue; Father Mark Aurelius (Pastorelli), Father Thomas Struzzieri (subsequently Bishop of Amelia and afterwards of Todi), and Father Fulgentius of Jesus, all remarkable for learning, piety, and missionary zeal; Venerable Strambi, Bishop of Macerata and Tolentino, his biographer. Constant personal union with the Cross and Passion of our Lord was the prominent feature of St. Paul's sanctity. But devotion to the Passion did not stand alone, for he carried to a heroic degree all the other virtues of a Christian life. Numerous miracles, besides those special ones brought forward at his beatification and canonization, attested the favour he enjoyed with God. Miracles of grace abounded, as witnessed in the conversion of sinners seemingly hardened and hopeless. For fifty years he prayed for the conversion of England, and left the devotion as a legacy to his sons. The body of St. Paul lies in the Basilica of SS. John and Paul, Rome. He was beatified on 1 October, 1852, and canonized on 29 June, 1867. His feast occurs on 28 April. [Editor's note: It was later transferred to 19 October.] The fame of his sanctity, which had spread far and wide in Italy during his life, increased after his death and spread into all countries. Great devotion to him is practiced by the faithful wherever Passionists are established.

Born at Ovada, Piedmont, Italy, in 1694; died in Rome, Italy, October 18, 1775; canonized in 1867; feast day formerly on April 28. Paolo Francesco Danei was well brought up by devout, middle-class parents (a.k.a. impoverished nobility). At 15, while still living with his parents in Castellazzo, Lombardy, Paul adopted a lifestyle of rigorous austerity and great mortifications. When he was 20 he volunteered for the Venetian army to fight against the Turks, but he soon found he was not meant to be a soldier. After his discharge, he resumed his life of prayer and penance. He refused marriage, and spent several years in retreat at Castellazzo.
In 1720, had a vision of our Lady in a black habit with the name Jesus and a cross in white on the chest. In the vision, the Blessed Virgin told him to found a religious order devoted to preaching the Passion of Christ (hence their name, Passionists). Paul experienced such mystical communications all his life, and came to distrust them; however, he acted promptly on these first ones.
The bishop of Alessandria discerned that Paul's visions were authentic, and gave him permission to proceed to draw up a rule for the new order. Thus, Paul wrote the Passionist rule during a 45- day retreat. With his brother, Giovanni Baptista, who became his inseparable companion and closest confidant, he went to Rome to seek papal approval, which was refused at first. On their return to Rome in 1725, they were granted permission by Pope Benedict XIII to accept novices. Two years later (1727), the holy father ordained the two brothers as priests in the Vatican basilica.
After their ordination he and his brother started the first Passionist house, on the Monte Argentaro peninsula (near Orbitello) in Tuscany. The first ten years were difficult, for both internal and external reasons. Many of their first novices left because of the severity of the rule. Perseverance won. In the end austere life of the missioners and the fervent preaching of their founder made their mark.

The first monastery was opened in 1737. In 1741, Pope Benedict XIV approved a modified rule, and the "Barefoot Clerks of the Holy Cross and Passion" began to spread throughout Italy. They were in great demand for their missions, which became famous.
Paul was elected first superior general, against his will, at the first general chapter at Monte Argentaro and held that position the rest of his life. He preached all over the Papal States to tremendous crowds, raised them to a fever pitch as he scourged himself in public, and brought back to the faith the most hardened sinners and criminals (What would Saint Hippolytus say to that!).
He was blessed with supernatural gifts--prophecy, miracles of healing, appearances to people in visions at a distance--and was one of the most celebrated preachers of his day. People fought to touch him and to get a piece of his tunic as a relic. Though the two main objectives of the order were service to the sick and the dying, Paul's special concern was the conversion of sinners, for which he prayed for 50 years.
The Passionists received final approbation from Pope Clement XIV in 1769. Two years later, Paul's efforts to create an institute of nuns came into being with the opening of the first house of Passionist nuns at Corneto. Paul lived to see the congregation firmly established. After a three-year illness, Paul died and was buried in the Basilica of SS John and Paul, given to the order by Pope Clement.
Saint Paul of the Cross was always interested in the religious state of England. Thus, it is heartening to note that the leader of the first Passionists to work there, Father Dominic Barberi (d. 1849), who received John Henry Newman into the Catholic Church, was also beatified in 1963 (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, White).

The POPES HTML
Pius IX 1846--1878 • Leo XIII 1878-1903 • Pius X 1903-1914• Benedict XV 1914-1922 • Pius XI 1922-1939 • Pius XII 1939-1958 • John XXIII 1958-1963 • Paul VI 1963 to 1978 • John Paul • John Paul II 10/16/1975-4/2/2005
• Benedict XVI (2005 - 2013) • Francis (2013
Pope Leo XIII

The best way to make our pleas heard
The Rosary, a kind of prayer that seems to contain, as it were, a final pledge of affection and to sum up in itself the honor due to Our Lady… There has seemed to be no better means of conducting sacred solemnities or of obtaining protection and favors. (Encyclical Octobri Mense).

There are, of course, more ways than one to win her protection by prayer, but as for Us, We think that the best and most effective way to her favor lies in the Rosary. (Encyclical Adjutricem populi, 1895).

So that our pleas have the greatest effect… let us has recourse to Mary… through the Rosary (1891).

Mrs Adjoubei’s Rosary Bishop Roncalli, the future Pope John XXIII

As he left Bulgaria in 1934, Bishop Roncalli, the future Pope John XXIII, stated,

"If a Slavic, catholic or not, knocks on my door, it will be opened and he will be greeted like a true friend." Later, a Slavic arrived one day at the airport of Fiumicino who asked to see Pope John XXIII. His reply was immediate, "Let him come!"

The meeting was set for March 7th.

After the general audience, the Pope called for Mr. Adjoubei and his wife, Rada, a young woman from Khrushchev. He received them in his library and asked them to be seated.
They spoke about many things including the Saints of Russia and the beauty of Orthodox liturgy.
Then John XXIII picked up a string of rosary beads that was laid on his table.

"Madam, this is for you. My entourage taught me that I should give currencies or stamps to a non-Catholic princess; but I still give you a Rosary because priests, in addition to the biblical prayer of the psalms, also have this popular form of prayer. For me, the Pope, it is like fifteen open windows - fifteen mysteries - through which I contemplate, in the light of the Lord, the events of the world. I say a rosary in the morning, another at the beginning of the afternoon, and another in the evening.

Look, I made a great impression by telling the journalists that in the fifth joyful mystery - "he listened and questioned them" - I was really praying for... I made an impression on those people when I said that, in the third joyful mystery - the Birth of Jesus - I prayed for all the babies who are born in the past twenty-four hours, because, Catholics or not, they will find the wishes of the Pope upon their entry into life.
When I recite the third mystery, I will also remember your children, Madam."
Mrs Adjoubei, who held the Rosary in her hands, answered,
"Thank you, Holy Father, how grateful I am to you! I will tell my children what you said...

" The Pope looked at her smiling, "I know the name of your sons... the third is called Yan, or John like me...
When you are back home, give him a special hug from me... " Rosary for the Church, #14 - 1973

“Where there is no honor for the elderly, there is no future for young people.”

During his weekly General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis made this strong statement while continuing his catechesis on the family, with this and next week focusing on the elderly. Confining this week’s address to their problematic current condition, the Holy Father said the elderly are ignored and that a society that does this is perverse.

While noting that life has been lengthened thanks to advances in medicine, he lamented that while the number of older people has multiplied, "our societies are not organized enough to make room for them, with proper respect and concrete consideration for their fragility and their dignity.”

“As long as we are young, we are led to ignore old age, as if it were a disease to be taken away. Then when we become older, especially if we are poor, sick and alone, we experience the shortcomings of a society planned on efficiency,
which consequently ignores the elderly.”

He went on to quote his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI, who, when visiting a nursing home in November 2012, “used clear and prophetic words: ‘The quality of a society, I would say of a civilization, is judged also on how the elderly are treated and the place reserved for them in the common life.’" Without a space for them, Francis highlighted, society dies.

Cultures, he decried, see the elderly as a burden who do not produce and should be discarded.
“You do not say it openly, but you do it!” he exclaimed. "Out of our fear of weakness and vulnerability, we do not tolerate and abandon the elderly," he said. “It’s sickening to see the elderly discarded. It is ugly. It’s a sin. Abandoning the elderly is a mortal sin.”
“Children who do not visit their elderly and ill parents have mortally sinned. Understand?”

The Pope expressed his dismay at children who go months without seeing a parent, or how elderly are confined to little tables in their kitchens alone, without anyone caring for them. He noted that he observed this reality during his ministry in Buenos Aires. Unwilling to accept limits, society, he noted, doesn’t allow elderly to participate and gives into the mentality that only the young can be useful and enjoy life.
The whole society must realize, the Pope said, the elderly contain the wisdom of the people.
The tradition of the Church, Pope Francis reaffirmed, has always supported a culture of closeness to the elderly, involving affectionately and supportively accompanying them in this final part of life. The Church cannot, and does not want to, Francis underscored, comply with a mentality of impatience, and even less of indifference and contempt towards old age.
Sooner or later, we will all be old, he said. If we do not treat the elderly well, he stressed we will not be treated well either.
“We must awaken the collective sense of gratitude, of appreciation, of hospitality, which make them feel the elderly living part of his community.”

Concluding his address, Pope Francis noted how old age will come to all one day and reminded the faithful how much they have received from their elders. He also challenged them to not take a step back and abandon them to their fate.

The Church without Mary is an orphanage
Pope Francis:

Cross Not Optional, Says Benedict XVI

Reflects on Peter's "Immature" Faith CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, AUG. 31, 2008 (Zenit.org).-
Taking up one's cross isn't an option, it's a mission all Christians are called to, says Benedict XVI.

The Pope said this today before reciting the midday Angelus with several thousand people gathered in the courtyard of the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome.

Referring to the Gospel reading for today's Mass, the Holy Father reflected on the faith of Peter, which is shown to be "still immature and too much influenced by the 'mentality of this world.'” He explained that when Christ spoke openly about how he was to "suffer much, be killed and rise again, Peter protests, saying: 'God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.'"
"It is evident that the Master and the disciple follow two opposed ways of thinking," continued the Pontiff. "Peter, according to a human logic, is convinced that God would never allow his Son to end his mission dying on the cross. "Jesus, on the contrary, knows that the Father, in his great love for men, sent him to give his life for them, and if this means the passion and the cross, it is right that such should happen."

Christ also knew that "the resurrection would be the last word," Benedict XVI added.

Serious illness
The Pope continued, "If to save us the Son of God had to suffer and die crucified, it certainly was not because of a cruel design of the heavenly Father. "The cause of it is the gravity of the sickness of which he must cure us: an evil so serious and deadly that it will require all of his blood.

"In fact, it is with his death and resurrection that Jesus defeated sin and death, reestablishing the lordship of God."

Popes Html link here:

“Where there is no honor for the elderly, there is no future for young people.” Pope Francis:
“It Is a Mortal Sin When Children Don't Visit Their Elderly Parents.”

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today October 20 2017

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today October 19 2017

1667-1669 Pope Clement IX; elected to the papacy by the unanimous Sacred College vote; idol of the Romans erudition application to business, his extreme charity, affability towards great and small;
2 days/week occupied confessional in St. Peter's church heard any one who wished to confess;
frequently visited hospitals, lavish in alms to the poor; he did little or nothing to advance or enrich his family;
aversion to notoriety, refused to permit his name to be placed on the buildings erected during his reign;
declared blessed, Rose of Lima, first American saint, solemnly canonized S. Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi and St. Peter of Alcantara;
death of the beloved pontiff was long lamented by Romans, who considered him, if not the greatest, at least the most amiable of the popes.

1562 Peter of Alcántara practiced asceticism from 16 until death appeared to Teresa Avila; 1562 Peter of Alcántara practiced asceticism from 16 until death apared to Teresa Avila; Two months after the opening of St Joseph’s St Peter was seized with a mortal sickness, and he was carried to the convent of Arenas that he might die in the arms of his brethren. In his last moments he repeated those words of the psalmist, “I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord”. Then he rose upon his knees, and in that posture calmly died. St Teresa wrote: “his departure our Lord has been pleased to let me enjoy more of him than I did when he was alive; he has given me advice and counsel in many things, and I have frequently seen him in great glory…Our Lord told me once that men should ask nothing in the name of St Peter of Alcantara wherein He would not hear them. I have recommended many things to him that he might beg them of our Lord, and I have always found them granted.” Besides his natural talents and learning God enriched him with an experimental and infused knowledge and sense of spiritual things, which is the fruit only of divine grace gained by an eminent spirit of prayer and habits of virtue. His presence alone seemed a powerful sermon, and it was said that he had but to show himself to work conversions. patron of Brazil; patron of Brazil At Arenas in Spain, the birthday of St. Peter of Alcantara, confessor and priest of the Order of Friars Minor. He was canonized by Pope Clement IX because of his admirable penance and many miraclesOFM (RM) At Arenas in Spain, the birthday of St. Peter of Alcantara, confessor and priest of the Order of Friars Minor. He was canonized by Pope Clement IX because of his admirable penance and many miracles, and his feast is observed on the day following.

Born at Alcántara, Estremadura, Spain, in 1499; died at Arenas, 1562; canonized in 1669.

1595 St. Philip Howard One of 40 Martyrs of England and Wales Arundel’s death; the author was a Jesuit who acted as her chaplain but his name is not recorded.
Philip was the earl of Arundel and Surrey and, although a Catholic, led a religiously apathetic life until his personal conversion, after which he was a zealous Catholic in the midst of Elizabethan England. Arrested by authorities, he was placed in the Tower of London in 1585 and condemned to death in 1589. The sentence was never carried out, and Philip languished in the Tower until his death at the age of thirty eight. Beatified in 1929, he was included among the English martyrs canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI.

1646 Isaac Jogues, John de Brébeuf and Companions first martyrs of the North America France hailed the tortured missionary as a hero, and the Queen Regent, Anne of Austria, received him with honor. Pope Urban VIII also gave Jogues permission to say Mass despite the loss of his fingertips. “It would be unjust,” the pope said, “that a martyr for Christ should not drink the blood of Christ.”

1775 Paul of the Cross Priest vision of our Lady in a black habit with the name Jesus and a cross in white on the chest Blessed Virgin told him to found a religious order devoted to preaching the Passion of Christ (RM) At Rome, the birthday of St. Paul of the Cross, priest, confessor, and founder of the Congregation of the Cross and Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Known for his remarkable innocency of life and his penitential spirit, and aflame with love for Christ crucified, he was canonized by Pope Pius IX, and the 28th of April was assigned as his feast day.
quintodécimo Kaléndas Novémbris. His feast occurs on 28 April. [Editor's note: It was later transferred to 19 October.]
St. Paul of the Cross, priest and confessor, founder of the Congregation of the Cross and Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. He went to his repose in the Lord on the 18th of October.
St. Paul of the Cross Paul Francis Daneii, born at Ovada, Genoa, Italy, 3 January, 1694; died in Rome, 18 October, 1775.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today October 18 2017

none mentioned today

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today October 17 2017

780 St. Nothlem Archbishop of CanterburyOriginally a priest in London, he was named archbishop in 734. Nothelm conducted research on the history of Kent which was collected by Abbot Albinus and in turn utilized by the Venerable Bede in the writing of his Ecclesiastical History. 740 St Nothelm, Archbishop Of Canterbury, whom St Bede refers to as “a devout priest of the church of London”, succeeded St Tatwin in the see of Canterbury in the year 734. Two years later he received the pallium from Pope St Gregory III. He was consulted by St Boniface from Germany and furnished him with a copy of the famous letter of instruction from Pope St Gregory I to St Augustine of Canterbury about how to deal with the English converts. But St Nothelm’s name is principally remembered for his part in the composition of St Bede’s Ecclesiastical History.
In the preface thereto, addressed to King Ceolwulf, Bede says that his chief aid and authority for his work had been the learned abbot Albinus at Canterbury, who transmitted to him
“either by writing or by word of mouth of the same Nothelm, all that he thought worthy of memory that had been done in the province of Kent, or the adjacent parts, by the disciples of the blessed Pope Gregory, as he had learned them either from written records or the traditions of his ancestors. The said Nothelm afterwards went to Rome and, having with leave of the present Pope Gregory [III] searched into the archives of the holy Roman church, found there some letters of the blessed Pope Gregory and other popes. When he returned home he brought them to me, by the advice of the aforesaid most reverend father Albinus, to be inserted in my history. Thus . . . what was transacted in the church of Canterbury by the disciples of St Gregory or their successors, and under which kings they happened, has been conveyed to us by Nothelm through the industry of abbot Albinus. They also partly informed me by what bishops and under what kings the provinces of the East and West Saxons, as well as of the East Angles and the Northumbrians, received the faith of Christ.”

1584 St. Richard Gwyn One of Forty Martyrs of England and Wales first Welsh martyr of Queen Elizabeth I's reign Also called Richard White, he was born in Montgomeryshire, Wales, in 1547, and studied at Cambridge University, England. Converted from Protestantism, he returned to Wales in 1562, married, had six children, and opened a school. Arrested in 1579, he spent four years in prison before his execution by being hanged, drawn, and quartered at Wrexham on October 15, for being a Catholic. While jailed, he composed many religious poems in Welsh. He is considered the protomartyr of Wales and was included among the canonized martyrs of England and Wales by Pope Paul VI in 1970.

1690 St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Apostle of the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus; France of the seventeenth century, love of God had gone cold, on the one hand because of widespread rebellion and sinfulness, on the other the numbing influence of Jansenism, which presented God as not loving all mankind alike. To rekindle that love there flourished, between 1625 and 1690, three saints, John Eudes, Claud La Colombière, and Margaret-Mary Alacoque, who between them brought and taught to the Church, in the form that we have had it ever since, devotion to our divine Lord in His Sacred Heart, “the symbol of that boundless love which moved the Word to take flesh, to institute the Holy Eucharist, to take our sins upon Himself, and, dying on the cross, to offer Himself as a victim and a sacrifice to the eternal Father.” At Paray, in the diocese of Autun, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. She made her profession in the Order of the Visitation of Blessed Mary the Virgin, and she excelled with great merit in spreading devotion to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and in furthering its public veneration. Pope Benedict XV added her name to the list of holy virgins. While serving a second term as assistant superior St Margaret-Mary was taken ill in October 1690. “I shall not live”, she said, “for I have nothing left to suffer”, but the doctor did not think anything was very seriously wrong. A week later she asked for the last sacraments, saying, “I need nothing but God, and to lose myself in the heart of Jesus”. The priest came and began to administer the last rites; at the fourth anointing, of the lips, she died. St Margaret-Mary Alacoque was canonized in 1920.

1794 Bl. Marie Magdalen Desjardin Ursuline martyr of the French Revolution. 1794 The Ursuline Martyrs Of Valenciennes.
Ursuline nuns established themselves at Valenciennes in the year 1654; nearly a hundred and forty years later, after devoting themselves throughout that time to the interests of their fellow-citizens by teaching their children and looking after the poor, their convent was suppressed under the Revolution and the nuns took refuge in the house of their order at Mons. When the Austrians occupied Valenciennes in 1793 they returned, reopened their school, and remained in the town after the French had recaptured it. In September 1794 they were arrested at the instance of Citizen Lacoste’s commission, on the charge of being émigrées who had unlawfully returned and reopened their convent, and confined in the public prison. On October 17 five of them were brought up for trial, and on their stating openly that they had come back to Valenciennes to teach the Catholic faith they were sentenced to death. They were led to the guillotine in the great marketplace amid the tears of their sisters. “Mother, you taught us to be valiant, and now we are going to be crowned you weep!” exclaimed Bd Mary Augustine (Mother Dejardin) to the mother superior. Five days later the superior herself, Bd Mary Clotilde (Mother Paillot) and the other five nuns suffered in the same place, among the last victims of the Revolution. “We die for the faith of the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church”, said Bd Mary Clotilde.

1794 BB. JOHN BAPTIST TURPAN DU CORMIER, MARY L’HUILIER and their companions. Fourteen priests, three nuns and a lay woman martyred at Laval in 1794 during the French Revolution. They were beatified in 1955.

1833 St. Francis Isidore Gagelin Martyr of Vietnam Born in Montperreux France in 1799, he entered the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris. He was sent to Vietnam in 1822, where he was ordained a priest. In 1833, Francis was seized by anti-Christian forces and was martyred by strangulation. He was canonized in 1988. Blessed Francis Isidore Gagelin M (AC) Born Montperreux (diocese of Besançon), France, 1799; died in Cochin-China, 1833; beatified in 1900. Blessed Francis was sent by the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris to Cochin-China in 1822. Upon his arrival he was ordained a priest. He worked zealously until the persecution broke out, when he gave himself up to the mandarin of Bongson and was strangled (Benedictines) .

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today October 16 2017

439 St. Maxima Africa slaves. Martinian, his brother Saturian and their two brothers were slaves in Africa at the time of Arian King Jenseric's persecution of Catholics. They were converted to Christianity by another slave, Maxima. When their master insisted that Martinian marry Maxima, who had taken a vow of virginity, they fled to a monastery but were brought back and beaten for their attempt to escape. When their master died, his widow gave them to a Vandal, who freed Maxima (she later entered a monastery) and sold the men to a Berber chief. They converted many, petitioned the Pope Leo I to send them a priest, and were then tortured and dragged to their deaths by horses for their Faith.

787 St. Lull Benedictine bishop relative of St. Boniface. 786 ST LULL, BISHOP of MAINZ

LULL was an Englishman, doubtless a native of the kingdom of the West Saxons. The foundation of his education was laid in the monastery of Malmesbury, where he remained as a young man and was ordained deacon. Hearing the call of the foreign missions when he was about twenty years old, he passed into Germany, and was received with joy by St Boniface, who is thought to have been related to him. From this time Lull shared with that great saint the labours of his apostleship, and the persecutions which were raised against him. St Boniface promoted him to priest’s orders and in 751 sent him to Rome to consult Pope St Zachary on certain matters which he did not care to commit to writing. Upon his return, St Boniface selected him for his successor he was consecrated as coadjutor, and when Boniface departed on his last missionary journey into Frisia St Lull took over the see of Mama.

1085 St. Anastasius Hermit papal legate. This Anastasius was a native of Venice and a man of considerable learning who, by the middle of the eleventh century, was a monk at Mont-Saint-Michel. The abbot there was not a satisfactory person—he was accused of simony—and Anastasius eventually left the monastery in order to live as a hermit on Tombelaine off Normandy. About the year 1066 St Hugh of Cluny induced him to join the community at Cluny. After seven years there he was ordered by Pope St Gregory VII to go into Spain, perhaps to help in inducing the Spaniards to give up their Mozarabic liturgy for the Roman, an undertaking begun by Cardinal Hugh of Remiremont (rather inappropriately called Candidus), who was then legate in France and Spain. St Anastasius was soon back at Cluny, where he lived quietly for another seven years, and then went to be a hermit in the neighbourhood of Toulouse. Here he preached to the people of the countryside (and is said to have shared his solitude with Hugh of Remiremont, who had been deposed and excommunicated for repeated acts of simony) and lived in contemplation until he was recalled to his monastery in 1085. On his way he died and was buried at Doydes.

1123 St. Bertrand of Comminges Bishop. This happening is commemorated locally on May 2 every year, and Pope Clement V, who had been bishop of Comminges, granted a plenary indulgence to be gained at the then cathedral church of St Bertrand every year that the feast of the finding of the Holy Cross falls on a Friday. St Bertrand was canonized some time before 1309, probably by Pope Honorius III.

1243 St. Hedwig Duchess widow Cistercain patroness of Silesia At Cracow in Poland, St. Hedwig, duchess of Poland, who devoted herself to the service of the poor, and was renowned for miracles. She was inscribed among the saints by Pope Clement IV.

1399 Queen St. Jadwiga of Poland cultural institutions to both state and church Pope John Paul II canonized Blessed

Jadwiga
Sanctæ Hedwígis Víduæ, Polonórum Ducíssæ, quæ prídie hujus diéi obdormívit in Dómino.
St. Hedwig, widow, duchess of Poland, who went to her rest in the Lord on the day previous.
(1371-1399)
There are two Polish women of royal blood who have long been venerated by Polish Catholics. Up to 1997 they were referred to as Saint Jadwiga and Blessed Jadwiga. (Hedwig is the form of their name in German.) Now both are called saints, for in June 1997, on a solemn visit to Krakow, where he had formerly been archbishop, Pope John Paul II canonized Blessed Jadwiga.

1771 St. Marguerite d'Youville Canada "Mother of Universal Charity." O our sweet hope let us feel your power over the loveable Heart of Jesus, and use your credit so as to make a place for us there forever! Ask Him to exert his sovereignty on our hearts, making his love reign in our heart, that He may consume us and change everything into Himself. May He be our Father, our Husband, our guard, our treasure, our delight, our love and our everything; destroying and annihilating in us all that there is of ourselves to fill us only with all that is of Him, so that we may be pleasing to Him! May He be the support of our impotence, the force of our weakness, the joy of all our sadness! Amen. The General Hospital in Montreal became known as the Hotel Dieu (House of God) and set a standard for medical care and Christian compassion. When the hospital was destroyed by fire in 1766, she knelt in the ashes, led the Te Deum (a hymn to God's providence in all circumstances) and began the rebuilding process. She fought the attempts of government officials to restrain her charity and established the first foundling home in North America.
Pope John XXIII, who beatified her in 1959, called her “the Mother of Universal Charity.” She was canonized in 1990.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today October 15 2017

1243 St. Hedwig Duchess widow Cistercain patroness of Silesia Miracles; Her feast is celebrated on the following day. At Cracow in Poland, St. Hedwig, duchess of Poland, who devoted herself to the service of the poor, and was renowned for miracles. She was inscribed among the saints by Pope Clement IV.

1582 St. Teresa of Avila Doctor of the Church miracles levitated At Avila in Spain, the virgin St. Teresa, mother and mistress of the Brothers and Sisters of the Carmelite Order of the Strict Observance. (also known as Teresa of Jesus); At this time Pope St Pius V appointed visitors apostolic to inquire into relaxations in religious orders with a view to reform, and he named a well-known Dominican, Peter Fernandez, to be visitor to the Carmelites of Castile. At Avila he not surprisingly found great fault with the convent of the Incarnation, and to remedy its abuses he sent for St Teresa and told her she was to take charge of it as prioress. It was doubly distasteful to her to be separated from her own daughters and to be put from outside at the head of a house which opposed her activities with jealousy and warmth. The nuns’ at first refused to obey her; some of them went into hysterics at the very idea. She told them that she came not to coerce or instruct but to serve, and to learn from the least among them.

“My mothers and sisters, our Lord has sent me to this house by the voice of obedience, to fill an office of which I was far from thinking and for which I am quite unfitted...I come solely to serve you...Do not fear my rule. Though I have lived among and exercised authority over those Carmelites who are discalced, by God’s mercy I know how to rule those who are not of their number.”

St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) Teresa lived in an age of exploration as well as political, social and religious upheaval. It was the 16th century, a time of turmoil and reform. Her life began with the culmination of the Protestant Reformation, and ended shortly after the Council of Trent.

1617 Blessed Victoria Strata Blue Nuns Religious vision of Our Lady Pope Clement VIII approved the order's constitutions in 1604 and Maria Victoria and ten companions made their solemn vows in the late summer of 1605.1617 Mary Victoria Fornari a vision of Mary established "Le Turchine", i.e. the "Turquoise Annunziate", or "Blue Nuns" sky-blue scapulars and cloaks. (1562-1617). Mary Victoria Fornari was a native of Genoa Italy. When seventeen she desired to enter the convent, but out of respect for her father's wishes she married Angelo Strata.
It was a happy marriage. Angelo encouraged his wife in her charitable works and defended her against those who said she should take more part in social events. Mary Victoria bore him six children, four boys and two girls. Unfortunately, Signor Strata died after only nine years of married life.
His death was traumatic to Victoria. She worried that she could not raise so large a family alone. When a local nobleman asked her to marry him, she thought at first that it might be wise to accept, for the sake of her own boys and girls. But then she had a vision of Mary (which she wrote up at the request of her confessor) in which Our Lady told her, “My child Victoria, be brave and confident, for it is my wish to take both the mother and the children under my protection. I will care for your household. Live quietly and without worrying. All I ask is that you trust yourself to me and henceforth devote yourself to the love of God above all things.”
Mary's words settled Victoria's mind completely. She took a vow of chastity, and lived in retirement, giving all her time to prayer, the care of her family, and the needs of the poor.
When eventually her children were raised (five of the six entered religious orders), Signora Strata revealed to the archbishop of Genoa a proposal that she had long been considering. It was to found a strict new religious order of contemplative nuns. Dedicated to Mary's Annunciation, the sisters would imitate her hidden life at Nazareth, devoting themselves to prayer and making vestments and altar linens for poor churches. Each member would add the names “Maria Annunziata” to her baptismal name.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today October 14 2017

222 St. Calixtus (Callistus) Pope; a slave with power behind the Church, mercy, equality embrace sinners. At Rome, on the Aurelian Way, the birthday of blessed Callistus I, pope and martyr. By order of Emperor Alexander, he was kept in prison for a long time without food, and was daily scourged with rods. He was finally hurled from a window of the house in which he had been shut up, and was cast into a well, and thus merited the triumph of victory.

Pope Paul I. and his successors, seeing the cemeteries without walls, and neglected after the devastations of the barbarians, withdrew from thence the bodies of the most illustrious martyrs, and had them carried to the principal churches of the city. Those of SS. Callistus and Calepodius were translated to the church of St. Mary, beyond the Tiber. Count Everard, lord of Cisoin or Chisoing, four leagues from Tournay, obtained of Leo IV., about the year 854, the body of St. Callistus, pope and martyr, which he placed in the abbey of Canon Regulars which he had founded at Cisoin fourteen years before; the church of which place was on this account dedicated in honor of St. Callistus.
These circumstances are mentioned by Fulco, archbishop of Rheims, in a letter which he wrote to pope Formosus in 890. The relics were removed soon after to Rheims for fear of the Normans, and never restored to the abbey of Cisoin. They remain behind the altar of our Lady at Rheims. Some of the relics, however, of this pope are kept with those of St. Calepodius martyr, in the church of St. Mary Trastevere at Rome.

A portion was formerly possessed at Glastenbury.

Among the sacred edifices which, upon the first transient glimpse of favor, or at least tranquillity that the church enjoyed at Rome, this holy pope erected, the most celebrated was the cemetery which he enlarged and adorned on the Appian road, the entrance of which is at St. Sebastian's, a monastery founded by Nicholas I., now inhabited by reformed Cistercian monks.

In it the bodies of SS. Peter and Paul lay for some time, according to Anastasius, who says that the devout lady Lucina buried St. Cornelius in her own farm near this place; whence it for some time took her name, though she is not to be confounded with Lucina who buried St. Paul's body on the Ostian way, and built a famous cemetery on the Aurelian way.

Among many thousand martyrs deposited in this place were St. Sebastian, whom the lady Lucina interred, St. Cecily, and several whose tombs pope Damasus adorned with verses.
In the assured faith of the resurrection of the flesh, the saints, in all ages down from Adam, were careful to treat their dead with religious respect, and to give them a modest and decent burial. The commendations which our Lord bestowed on the woman who poured precious ointments upon him a little before his death, and the devotion of those pious persons who took so much care of our Lord's funeral, recommended this office of charity; and the practice of the primitive Christians in this respect was most remarkable.
Julian the Apostate, writing to a chief priest of the idolaters, desires him to observe three things, by which he thought Atheism (so he called Christianity) had gained most upon the world, namely, "Their kindness and charity to strangers, their care for the burial of their dead, and the gravity of their carriage."
Their care of their dead consisted not in any extravagant pomp, in which the pagans far outdid them, but in a modest religious gravity and respect which was most pathetically expressive of their firm hope of a future resurrection, in which they regarded the mortal remains of their dead precious in the eyes of God, who watches over them, regarding them as the apple of his eye, to be raised one day in the brightest glory, and made shining lusters in the heavenly Jerusalem.

754 St. Burkard or Buchard, Bishop, Benedictine. In 749 he was appointed by Pepin the Short to go with St Fulrad, Abbot of Saint Denis, to lay before Pope St Zachary the question of the succession to the throne of the Franks, and brought back a reply favourable to the ambitions of Pepin.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today October 13 2017

909 St. Gerald of Aurillac Confessor gave much time to meditation, study, and prayer piety generosity to the poor a layman who devoted himself to his neighbors and dependents founded the monastery at Aurillac. Saint Odo of Cluny wrote a Life of Saint Gerald that made him celebrated in medieval France. A later member of Saint Gerald of Aurillac's family was Saint Robert of Chaise-Dieu (d. 1087; canonized c. 1095) who founded the great abbey of that name in Auvergne (Attwater, Encyclopedia, Sitwell, White).

1066 St. Edward the Confessor built St. Peter's Abbey at Westminster; son of King Ethelred III     St. Edward, king of England and confessor, who died on the 5th day of January. He is specially honoured on this day because of the translation of his body. Son of King Ethelred III and his Norman wife, Emma, daughter of Duke Richard I of Normandy; born at Islip, England, and sent to Normandy with his mother in the year 1013 when Danes under Sweyn and his son Canute invaded England.    Canute remained in England and the year after Ethelred's death in 1016, married Emma, who had returned to England, and became King of England.
EDWARD(US) REX. Edward the Confessor enthroned , opening scene of the Bayeux Tapestry King of England; He died in London on January 5, and he was canonized in 1161 by Pope Alexander III.
   St Edward during exile in Normandy had made a vow to go on pilgrimage to St Peter’s tomb at Rome if God should be pleased to put an end to the misfortunes of his family. When he was settled on the throne he held a council, in which he declared the obligation he lay under. The assembly commended his devotion, but represented that the kingdom would be left exposed to domestic divisions and to foreign enemies. The king was moved by their reasons, and consented that the matter should be referred to Pope St Leo IX.
He, considering the impossibility of the king’s leaving his dominions, dispensed his vow upon condition that by way of commutation he should give to the poor the sum he would have expended in his journey and should build or repair and endow a monastery in honour of St Peter. King Edward selected for his benefaction an abbey already existing close to London, in a spot called Thorney. He rebuilt and endowed it in a magnificent manner out of his own patrimony, and obtained of Pope Nicholas II ample exemptions and privileges for it. From its situation it had come to be called West Minster in distinction from the church of St Paul in the east of the city. The new monastery was designed to house seventy monks, and, though the abbey was finally dissolved and its church made collegiate and a “royal peculiar” by Queen Elizabeth, the ancient community is now juridically represented by the monks of St Laurence’s Abbey at Ampleforth. The present church called Westminster Abbey, on the site of St Edward’s building, was built in the thirteenth century and later.
   Some years afterwards two English pilgrims, having lost their way as they were travelling in the Holy Land, “were succoured and put in the right way by an old man”, who at parting told them he was John the Evangelist, adding, as the legend proceeds, “Say ye unto Edwarde your Kying that I grete hym well by the token that he gaaf to me this Ryng wyth his own handes at the halowyng of my Chirche, whych Rynge ye shall deliver to hym agayn: and say ye to hym, that he dyspose his goodes, for wythin six monethes he shall be in the joye of Heven wyth me, where he shall have his rewarde for his chastitie and his good lyvinge”. At their return home, the two pilgrims waited upon the king, who was then at this Bower, and delivered to him the message and the ring; from which circumstance this place is said to have received the name of Have-Ring. Havering is really “Haefer’s people”.
In 1161 he was canonized, and two years later his incorrupt body was translated to a shrine in the choir by St Thomas Becket, on October 13, the day now fixed for his feast; the day of his death, January 5, is also mentioned in the Roman Martyrology. There was a further translation, in the thirteenth century, to a shrine behind the high altar, and there the body of the Confessor still lies, the only relics of a saint (except those of the unidentified St With at Whitchurch Canonicorum in Dorsetshire) remaining in situ after the violence and impiety of Henry VIII and those who followed him.

1191 St. Maurice of Carnoët Sistercian abbot and reformer; St Maurice has always had a cultus in his order and in the dioceses of Quimper, Vannes and Saint-Brieuc, and Pope Clement XI permitted the Cistercians to observe his feast liturgically, as is done in those dioceses.

1503 Bd Magdalen Panattieri, Virgin; she seems to have been spared all external contradiction and persecution, soon becoming a force in her town of Trino. Her care for the poor and young children (in whose favour she seems several times to have acted miraculously) paved the way for her work for the conversion of sinners; she prayed and suffered for them and supplemented her austerities with exhortation and reprimands, especially against the sin of usury; She seems to have foreseen the calamities that overtook northern Italy during the invasions of the sixteenth century and made several covert references to them; it was afterwards noticed and attributed to her prayers that, when all around was rapine and desolation, Trino was for no obvious reason spared; When she knew that she was dying she sent for all her tertiary sisters, and many others pressed into her room. She made her last loving exhortation to them, promising to intercede for them all in eternity, adding, “I could not be happy in Heaven if you were not there too”. Then she peacefully made an end, while the bystanders were singing the thirtieth psalm. From before the day of her death, October 13, 1503, the grateful people of Trino had venerated Bd Magdalen Panattieri as a saint, a cultus that was confirmed by Pope Leo XII.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today October 12 2017

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.

304 St. Pantalus first bishop of Basel; The scull is preserved today in the historical museum in Basel. Pantalus' stature as a saint predates the practice of canonization by a Pope.

484 St. Felix and Cyprian Martyred bishops of Africa -- 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.

Saint Eustace The Vision of about 1438-42 or see below; 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.

633 St. Edwin a martyr king of Northumbria 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.

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

1604 St. Seraphin of Montegranaro Capuchin Franciscan ordinary work; 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.

1622 Bl. Camillus Constanzi Jesuit martyr of Japan Originally from Italy; Blessed Camillus Costanzi, SJ (AC) Born in Italy, 1572; died at Firando, Japan, September 15, 1622; beatified in 1867.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today October 11 2016

The Motherhood of Our Lady
Pope Pius XI enjoined the celebration on this day throughout the Western church of a feast in honour of the Motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, in the encyclical “Lux veritatis”, published on December 25, 1931, in view of the fifteenth centenary of the Council of Ephesus.

1379 St. John of Bridlington; Augustinian prior; Born at Thwing, Yorkshire, England, in 1319; died October 10, 1379; canonized by Pope Boniface IX in 1401 or 1403. At the age of 19, while still a student at Oxford, John joined the community of Augustinian canons at Bridlington near his hometown. He filled various offices until he was elected its prior and held that position for 17 years--until his death. Saint John is the patron of women in difficult labor (Benedictines, Delaney).

1592 St. Alexander Sauli The Apostle of Corsica; bishop; miracles of prophecy healing calming of storms; during his life and death; spiritual advisor to St. Charles Borromeo to Cardinal Sfondrato -- Pope Gregory XIV The order the congregation of Clerks Regular of Saint Paul became known as the Barnabites. At Calozzo, in the diocese of Asti, formerly that of Pavia, St. Alexander Sauli, bishop and confessor of the Clerics Regular of St. Paul. He was of noble birth and renowned for virtues, learning, and miracles. Pope Pius X placed him in the canon of the saints.

He came from a prominent family of Lombard, Italy, born in Milan in 1533. At an early age he entered the Barnabite Congregation {Anthony Mary Zaccaria, Priest Born in Cremona, Italy, 1502; died there, July 15, 1539; canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1897. Alexander was a noted miracle worker. He was also spiritual advisor to St. Charles Borromeo and to Cardinal Sfondrato, who became Pope Gregory XIV. He was canonized in 1904 by Pope St. Pius X.

1833 St. Peter Tuy Vietnamese martyr native priest he was beheaded by Vietnamese authorities. Peter was canonized in 1988 by Pope John Paul II.

1867 St Francis Xavier Seelos mission preaching Miracle worker. He was considered an expert confessor, a watchful and prudent spiritual director and a pastor always joyfully available and attentive to the needs of the poor and the abandoned. In 1860, he was a candidate for the office of Bishop of Pittsburgh. Having been excused from this responsibility by Pope Pius IX, from 1863 until 1866 he became a full-time itinerant missionary preacher. He preached in English and German in the states of Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. He was named pastor of the Church of St. Mary of the Assumption in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he died of the yellow fever epidemic caring for the sick and the poor of New Orleans on October 4, 1867, at the age of 48 years and nine months. The enduring renown for his holiness which the Servant of God enjoyed occasioned his Cause for Canonization to be introduced in 1900 with the initiation of the Processo Informativo. On January 27, Your Holiness declared him Venerable, decreeing the heroism of his virtues.

1887 SS Maria- Desolata (Emmanuela) Torres Acosta Handmaids of Mary V (RM). Born at Madrid, Spain, in 1826; died there in 1887; beatified in 1950; canonized in 1970. Emmanuela, a truly great woman who overcame many obstacles, was the daughter of Francis Torres and Antonia Acosta, who earned their living by running a little business in Madrid. Born into poverty, she tried unsuccessfully to become a Dominican in the convent she frequented. But she did not despair. Instead she waited patiently for God to demonstrate his will for her.
His will became apparent in 1848, and she responded to the call of a Servite tertiary priest, Michael Martinez y Sanz, to found an institute for the care of the neglected sick of his parish in their own homes. In 1851, he gathered together seven women for agreed to devote themselves to service in a religious community. Among them was the 25-year-old Emmanuela, who took the name Maria-Desolata (after Our Lady of Sorrows) together with the religious habit. In 1856, Father Martinez took half the members with him to found a new house in Fernando Po, while leaving Maria-Desolata as superioress in Madrid.

1899 Blessed Angela Truszkowska the Felician Sisters Pope John Paul II beatified her in 1993; Today we honor a woman who submitted to God's will throughout her life—a life filled with pain and suffering.
Born in 1825 in central Poland and baptized Sophia, she contracted tuberculosis as a young girl. The forced period of convalescence gave her ample time for reflection. Sophia felt called to serve God by working with the poor, including street children and the elderly homeless in Warsaw's slums. In time, her cousin joined her in the work.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today October 10 2016

644 St. Paulinus bishop of York; Missionary; Eboráci, in Anglia, sancti Paulíni Epíscopi, qui fuit beáti Gregórii Papæ discípulus; et, una cum áliis, ad prædicándum Evangélium illuc ab eo missus, Edwínum Regem ejúsque pópulum ad Christi fidem convértit.

At York in England, the holy bishop Paulinus, disciple of the blessed pope Gregory. He was sent there by that pope along with others to preach the Gospel, and he converted King Edwin and his people to the faith of Christ. Born 584. A Roman monk, in 600 he was named by Pope St. Gregory I the Great to accompany Sts. Justus and Mellitus on their mission to England to advance the cause of evangelization undertaken by St. Augustine of Canterbury Paulinus labored for some twenty four years in Kent and, in 625, was ordained bishop of Kent. He was also responsible for bringing Christianity to Northumbria, baptizing the pagan king Edwin of Northumbria on Easter 627, and then converting thousands of other Northumbrians. Following the defeat and death of Edwin by pagan Mercians at the Battle of Hatfield in 633, Paulinus was driven from his see, and he returned to Kent with Edwin’s widow Ethelburga, her two children, and Edwin’s grandson Osfrid. Paulinus then took up the see of Rochester, which he headed until his death.

1227 Ss. Daniel Samuel, Angelus, Leo, Nicholas, Ugolino, and Domnus, all of whom were priests except Domnus; Franciscan martyrs of Morocco. Neither threats nor bribes could move them, they continued to affirm Christ and to deny Mohammed, so they were ordered put to death. Each one of the martyrs went up to Brother Daniel, knelt for his blessing, and asked permission to give his life for Christ; and they were all beheaded outside the walls of Ceuta. Their bodies were mangled by the infuriated people, but the local Christians managed to rescue and bury them. Later on the relics were carried into Spain, and in 1516 Pope Leo X permitted the Friars Minor to observe the martyrs’ feast liturgically.

1572 St. Francis Borgia humble Jesuit priest Born at Gandia, Valencia, Spain in 1510; died shortly after midnight on September 30, 1572, in Rome; canonized 1671.
The name of Borgia (Borja) is understandably ill-sounding; however, Saint Francis was outstanding among those who brought honor to it. He was the scion of the family that produced Pope Callistus III (1455-1458) and a great-grandson of the man who became Pope Alexander VI of unhappy memory (who had fathered four children at the time of his elevation).

October 10 - Canonization of Father Kolbe, Saint of Auschwitz (1982)
1941 Saint Maximilian Kolbe Apostle of Consecration to MaryCanonized 10 October 1982 by Pope John Paul II; declared a martyr of charity
Profile Second of three sons born to a poor but pious Catholic family in Russian occupied Poland. His parents, both Franciscan lay tertiaries, worked at home as weavers. His father, Julius, later ran a religious book store, then enlisted in Pilsudski's army, fought for Polish independence from Russia, and was hanged by the Russians as a traitor in 1914. His mother, Marianne Dabrowska, later became a Benedictine nun. His brother Alphonse became a priest.

Raymond was known as a mischievous child, sometimes considered wild, and a trial to his parents. However, in 1906 at Pabianice, at age twelve and around the time of his first Communion, he received a vision of the Virgin Mary that changed his life.
“I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked if I was willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr. I said that I would accept them both.” -Saint Maximilian Kolbe

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today October 09 2016

258 Sts Denis patron saint of France, Rusticus, and Eleutherius; The Martyrology of Jerome mentions St. Dionysius on October 9, together with Rusticus and Eleutherius, assumed by later writers to be Denis's priest and deacon. The Denis is presumed to be the bishop-martyr of Paris, one of the seven missionary bishops sent from Rome to convert Gaul. He was martyred between 250-258 AD.
Writing in the 6th century, St. Gregory of Tours tells the story of these three martyrs. Born in Italy, Denis was sent with six other bishops to Gaul in 250 as missionaries and became the first bishop of Paris. He was so effective in converting the inhabitants around Paris that he was arrested with his priest, St. Rusticus, and deacon, St. Eleutherius, and imprisoned. The three of them were beheaded on October 9 in Montmartre (Martyrs' Hill) near Paris during Decius's persecution. Their bodies were rescued from the River Seine, and a chapel built over their tomb later became the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Denis (Delaney).
Roeder claims that the deacon Eleutherius was beheaded in 286 and is shown as a deacon carrying his head. He is invoked against headache, frenzy, and strife. Venerated in Salzburg and Paris (Roeder).
In 1215 Pope Innocent III translated the presumed relics of the Areopagite to the popular Basilica of St. Denis in Paris. This also added additional confusion to the stories of the three saints .

1085 St. Alfanus Benedictine archbishop; a monk at Monte Cassino until appointed archbishop of Salerno; assisted Pope St. Gregory VII on his deathbed.

1609 St. John Leonardi miracles and religious fervor founder; John Leonardi was born at Diecimo, Italy. He became a pharmacist's assistant at Lucca, studied for the priesthood, and was ordained in 1572. He gathered a group of laymen about him to work in hospitals and prisons, became interested in the reforms proposed by the Council of Trent, and proposed a new congregation of secular priests. Great opposition to his proposal developed, but in 1583, his association (formally designated Clerks Regular of the Mother of God in 1621) was recognized by the bishop of Lucca with the approval of Pope Gregory XIII. John was aided by St. Philip Neri and St. Joseph Calasanctius, and in 1595, the congregation was confirmed by Pope Clement VIII, who appointed John to reform the monks of Vallombrosa and Monte Vergine. He died in Rome on October 9th of plague contracted while he was ministering to the stricken. He was venerated for his miracles and religious fervor and is considered one of the founders of the College for the Propagation of the Faith. He was canonized in 1938 by Pope Pius XI.

1890 Blessed John Henry Newman; Pope Benedict XVI beatified Newman on September 19, 2010, at Crofton Park (near Birmingham). The pope noted Newman's emphasis on the vital place of revealed religion in civilized society but also praised his pastoral zeal for the sick, the poor, the bereaved and those in prison.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today October 08 2016

1287 Ambrose Sansedoni of Siena unknown pilgrim said, “Do not cover that child's face. He will one day be the glory of this city.” A few days later the child suddenly stretch out his twisted limbs, pronounced the name “Jesus”, and all deformity left him. Mystic with deep contemplative prayer life. Received ecstacies. Visionary. Known to levitate when preaching, and was seen circled in a mystic light in which flew bright birds; Studied in Paris, France, and Cologne, Germany with Saint Thomas Aquinas and Blessed Pope Innocent V under Saint Albert the Great. Beatified 8 October 1622 by Pope Gregory XV (cultus confirmed)

1609 St. John Leonardi; formed Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; congregation confirmed by Pope Clement in 1595; deliberate policy of the founder, the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God never had more than 15 churches and today form only a very small congregation

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today October 07 2016

Our Lady of the Rosary Pope St. Pius V established this feast in 1573. The purpose was to thank God for the victory of Christians over the Turks at Lepanto—a victory attributed to the praying of the rosary. Clement XI extended the feast to the universal Church in 1716.

336 Pope Mark successor to St. Sylvester I; elected January 18, 336; During pontificate erected two basilicas on land donated by Emperor Constantine I. He died in Rome on October 7 after only eight months. Pope St. Mark; Constantine the Great's letter, which summoned a conference of bishops for the investigation of the Donatist dispute, is directed to Pope Miltiades and one Mark (Eusebius, Church History X.5). This Mark was evidently a member of the Roman clergy, either priest or first deacon, and is perhaps identical with the pope. The date of Mark's election (18 Jan., 336) is given in the Liberian Catalogue of popes (Duchesne, “Liber Pontificalis”, I, 9), and is historically certain; so is the day of his death (7 Oct.), which is specified in the same way in the “Depositio episcoporum” of Philocalus's “Chronography”, the first edition of which appeared also in 336.

1101-1206 St. Artaldus; cultus of St. Artaldus, called simply “Blessed by the Carthusians”, was confirmed for the diocese of Belley in 1134; like his master St. Bruno, he was consulted by the Pope, and when he was well over eighty, he was called from his monastery to be bishop of Belley, in spite of his vehement and reasonable protest. However, after less than two years of episcopate, his resignation was accepted, and he thankfully returned to Arvieres, where he lived in peace for the rest of his days. During his last years, he was visited by St. Hugh of Lincoln, who had come into France, and who, while he was prior of the charterhouse of Witham, had induced Henry II to become a benefactor of Arvieres.

1470 BD MATTHEW OF MANTUA; OP successful preacher, preparing himself for that ministry by long periods of recollection, and an upholder of strict observance in his order; pirates set free the friar but when he saw that among the other prisoners were a woman and her young daughter, he went back to the pirate captain and offered himself in their place. The ruffian was so astonished at the request that he let all three of them go; Bd Matthew died (after having asked his prior’s permission to do so) twelve years later Pope Sixtus IV allowed his solemn translation and a liturgical commemoration.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today October 06 2016

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

1101 St. Bruno hermit confessor to Bishop St. Hugh of Grenoble, began the Carthusian Order Many eminent scholars in philosophy and divinity did him honour by their proficiency and abilities, and carried his reputation into distant parts; among these, Eudes de Châtillon became afterwards a beatified pope under the name of Urban II.

1791 St. Maria Francesca Gallo Mystic and stigmatic, a Franciscan tertiary; MARY FRANCES OF NAPLES She was born in Naples became a Franciscan tertiary at the age of sixteen. Maria lived at home where she was abused until she became a priest's housekeeper in 1753. She had visions, bore the wounds of Christ's Passion, and was a known prophetess; among her predictions was the coming of the French Revolution. Maria was canonized in 1867 by Pope Pius IX.

1849 Bl. Marie Rose Durocher founded Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary At Naples in Campania, the death of St. Mary Frances of the Five Wounds of Our Lord Jesus Christ, a nun of the Third Order of St. Francis. Because of her reputation for virtues and the working of miracles, she was placed among the holy virgins by Pope Pius IX. Worn out by her many labors, Marie Rose was called to her heavenly reward on October 6, 1849, at the age of thirty-eight. She was declared Blessed by Pope John Paul II on May 23, 1982.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today October 05 2016

1938 Saint Faustina Divine Mercy in my Soul, has become the handbook for devotion to the Divine Mercy “Neither graces, nor revelations, nor raptures, nor gifts granted to a soul make it perfect, but rather the intimate union of the soul with God. These gifts are merely ornaments of the soul, but constitute neither its essence nor its perfection.
My sanctity and perfection consist in the close union of my will with the will of God” (Diary 1107). Pope John Paul II beatified her in 1993 and canonized her in 2000.

6th v. St. Placid Disciple of St. Benedict at Subiaco and Monte Cassino
Messánæ, in Sicília, natális sanctórum Mártyrum Plácidi Mónachi, e beáti Benedícti Abbátis discípulis, et ejus fratrum Eutychii et Victoríni, ac soróris eórum Fláviæ Vírginis, itémque Donáti, Firmáti Diáconi, Fausti et aliórum trigínta Monachórum, qui omnes a Manúcha piráta, pro Christi fide, necáti sunt.
At Messina in Sicily, the birthday of the holy martyrs Placidus, a monk who was a disciple of the blessed Abbot Benedict, and of his brothers Eutychius and Victorinus, and the virgin Flavia, their sister; also of Donatus, Firmatus, a deacon, Faustus, and thirty other monks, who were murdered for the faith of Christ by the pirate Manuchas. It was not till 1588 that the veneration of St Placid spread to the faithful at large. In that year the church of St John at Messina was rebuilt, and during the work a number of skeletons were found. These were hailed as the remains of St Placid and his martyred companions, and Pope Sixtus V approved their veneration as those of martyrs.

550 St. Galla Widowed Roman noblewoman caring for sick and poor; Her church in Rome, near the Piazza Montanara, once held a picture of Our Lady, which according to tradition represents a vision vouchsafed to St. Galla. It is considered miraculous and was carried in recession in times of pestilence, now over high altar Santa Maria in Campitelli. The letter of St Fulgentius, Bishop of Ruspe, “Concerning the State of Widowhood”, is supposed to have been addressed to St Galla; her relics are said to rest in the church of Santa Maria in Portico. 590-604 Pope St. Gregory I ("the Great") wrote about her, and St. Fulgentius of Ruspe delivered a treatise, in her honor.

1009 St. Attilanus Benedictine bishop; Mozarabic saints, St. Attilanus, Bishop of Zamora and St. Iñigo of Calatayud; ranked among the saints by Pope Urban II. When the Moors took Tarazona they were able to hold it for a long time on account of its fortified position near the Moncaya, between the Douro and the Ebro. The names of its Mozarabic bishops have not come down to us, although it is very probable there were such; on the other hand we know of the Mozarabic saints, St. Attilanus, Bishop of Zamora and St. Iñigo of Calatayud.

1399 Bl. Raymond of Capua second founder of the Dominican Order; made acquaintance of St. Catherine of Siena, serving as spiritual director 1376; became her closest advisor When in 1378 Gregory XI died, Urban VI succeeded him, the opposition party elected Clement VII, and the Schism of the West began. St Catherine and Bd Raymund had no doubt as to which was the legitimate pope, and Urban sent him to France to preach against Clement and to win over King Charles V. Catherine was in Rome and had a long farewell talk with this faithful friar who had been active in all her missions for God’s glory and had sometimes sat from dawn till dark hearing the confessions of those whom she had brought to repentance; “We shall never again talk like that”, she said on the quayside, and fell on her knees in tears. For the six last and most important years of her life Raymund of Capua was the spiritual guide and right-hand man of Catherine of Siena, and would be remembered for that if he had done and been nothing else of note.

Their first work in common was to care for the sufferers from the plague by which Siena was then devastated. Father Raymund became a victim and had symptoms of death: Catherine prayed by him for an hour and a half without intermission, and on the morrow he was well. Thenceforward he began to believe’ in her miraculous powers and divine mission, and when the pestilence was stayed he co-operated in her efforts to launch a new crusade to the East, preaching it at Pisa and elsewhere and personally delivering Catherine’s famous letter to that ferocious freebooter from Essex, John Hawkwood. This was interrupted by the revolt of Florence and the Tuscan League against the pope in France, and they turned their efforts to securing peace at home and working for Gregory’s return to Rome. Bd Raymund of Capua died on October 5, 1399, at Nuremberg, while working for Dominican reform in Germany. Beatified in 1899 20 February, 1878; 20 July, 1903; Pope Leo XIII .

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today October 04 2016

445 St. Petronius Bishop of Bologna Sent by Byzantine emperor Theodosius to Pope re: Nestorius

1226 St. Francis of Assisi; Founder: Animals, Merchants & indulgences Ecology; The Christmas crèche first popularized St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) Francis of Assisi was a poor little man who astounded and inspired the Church by taking the gospel literally—not in a narrow fundamentalist sense, but by actually following all that Jesus said and did, joyfully, without limit and without a mite of self-importance. Serious illness brought the young Francis to see the emptiness of his frolicking life as leader of Assisi's youth. Prayer—lengthy and difficult—led him to a self- emptying like that of Christ, climaxed by embracing a leper he met on the road. It symbolized his complete obedience to what he had heard in prayer: “Francis! Everything you have loved and desired in the flesh it is your duty to despise and hate, if you wish to know my will. And when you have begun this, all that now seems sweet and lovely to you will become intolerable and bitter, but all that you used to avoid will turn itself to great sweetness and exceeding joy.”

From the cross in the neglected field-chapel of San Damiano, Christ told him, “Francis, go out and build up my house, for it is nearly falling down.” Francis became the totally poor and humble workman. He must have suspected a deeper meaning to “build up my house.” But he would have been content to be for the rest of his life the poor “nothing” man actually putting brick on brick in abandoned chapels. He gave up every material thing he had, piling even his clothes before his earthly father (who was demanding restitution for Francis' “gifts” to the poor) so that he would be totally free to say, “Our Father in heaven.” Francis was a man of action. His simplicity of life extended to ideas and deeds. If there was a simple way, no matter how impossible it seemed, Francis would take it. So when Francis wanted approval for his brotherhood, he went straight to Rome to see Pope Innocent III. You can imagine what the pope thought when this beggar approached him! As a matter of fact he threw Francis out. But when he had a dream that this tiny man in rags held up the tilting Lateran basilica, he quickly called Francis back and gave him permission to preach. In the following year he was in Rome, where he probably met his fellow friar St Dominic, who had been preaching faith and penance in southern France while Francis was still a “young man about town” in Assisi. St Francis also wanted to preach in France, but was dissuaded by Cardinal Ugolino (afterwards Pope Gregory IX); so he sent instead Brother Pacifico and Brother Agnello, who was afterwards to bring the Franciscans to England. The good and prudent Ugolino considerably influenced the development of the brotherhood. The members were so numerous that some organization and systematic control was imperatively necessary. The order was therefore divided into provinces, each in charge of a minister to whom was committed “the care of the souls of the brethren, and should anyone be lost through the minister’s fault and bad example, that minister will have to give an account before our Lord Jesus Christ”. The friars now extended beyond the Alps, missions being sent to Spain, Germany and Hungary.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today October 03 2016

1282 St Thomas Cantelupe, Bishop Of Hereford; in Oxford lectured in canon law; in 1262 chosen chancellor of the university. Thomas was always noted for his charity to poor students; he was also a strict disciplinarian; went to confession every day; buried at Orvieto; soon his relics were conveyed to Hereford, where his shrine in the cathedral became the most frequented in the west of England; Miracles were soon reported (four hundred and twenty-nine are given in the acts of canonization) and the process was begun at the request of King Edward I it was achieved in the year 1320. He is named in the Roman Martyrology on the day of his death, but his feast is kept by the Canons Regular of the Lateran and the dioceses of Birmingham (commemoration only) and Shrewsbury on this October 3, by Cardiff and Salford on the 5th, and Westminster on the 22nd. Here Thomas was probably ordained, and received from Pope Innocent IV dispensation to hold a plurality of benefices, a permission of which he afterwards freely availed himself. Miracles were soon reported (four hundred and twenty-nine are given in the acts of canonization) and the process was begun at the request of King Edward I it was achieved in the year 1320. He is named in the Roman Martyrology on the day of his death, but his feast is kept by the Canons Regular of the Lateran and the dioceses of Birmingham (commemoration only) and Shrewsbury on this October 3, by Cardiff and Salford on the 5th, and Westminster on the 22nd. Some bishops refused to publish the sentence, and St Thomas publicly announced his appeal to Pope Martin IV, whom he set out to see in person. Some of Peckham’s letters to his procurators at Rome are extant, but in spite of their fulminations the pope at Orvieto very kindly received St Thomas. Pending the consideration of his cause he withdrew to Montefiascone, but the fatigues and heat of the journey had been too much for him and he was taken mortally sick. It is related that, seeing his condition, one of his chaplains said to him, “My lord, would you not like to go to confession?” Thomas looked at him, and only replied, “Foolish man”. Twice more he was invited, and each time he made the same reply. The chaplain was not aware that his master went to confession every day.

1645 Saint John Masias Marvelous Dominican Gatekeeper of Lima, Peru truly a "child of God." saint of simplicity and charity Many miracles saved souls in purgatory Historians have often criticized the Spaniards who colonized Peru and other parts of Latin America for greed and harshness. But we must not forget the bright side, the holy side of their colonial efforts.
Thus, Lima itself could boast of two saints early canonized: St. Rose of Lima and Archbishop St. Toribio de Mogrovejo. More recent popes have added to that calendar two more, saints of simplicity and charity: St. Martin de Porres (canonized in 1962 by Pope John XXIII) and St. John Masias (canonized in 1975 by Pope Paul VI). Of such is the kingdom of heaven.
--Father Robert F. McNamara

1888 St. Maria Giuseppe Rossello Foundress of the Daughters of Our Lady of Mercy
“The saints must be honored as friends of Christ and children and heirs of God, as John the theologian and evangelist says: ‘But as many as received him, he gave them the power to be made the sons of God....’ Let us carefully observe the manner of life of all the apostles, martyrs, ascetics and just men who announced the coming of the Lord. And let us emulate their faith, charity, hope, zeal, life, patience under suffering, and perseverance unto death, so that we may also share their crowns of glory” Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. When Pope John Paul II beatified this remarkable religious in Rome on October 25, 1998, he gave a Christian model not only to the Hoosiers (Indianans) but to all Americans who appreciate greatness of character; --Father Robert F. McNamara

St. Maria Giuseppe Rossello Foundress of the Daughters of Our Lady of Mercy

“The saints must be honored as friends of Christ and children and heirs of God, as John the theologian and evangelist says: ‘But as many as received him, he gave them the power to be made the sons of God....’ Let us carefully observe the manner of life of all the apostles, martyrs, ascetics and just men who announced the coming of the Lord. And let us emulate their faith, charity, hope, zeal, life, patience under suffering, and perseverance unto death, so that we may also share their crowns of glory” Exposition of the Orthodox Faith.

The congregation was devoted to charitable works, hospitals, and educating poor young women. In 1840, Maria Giuseppe, also called Josepha, was made superior. By the time she died on December 7, 1888, she had made sixty-eight foundations. She was canonized in 1949.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today October 02 2016

Guardian Angels In Spain it became customary to honour the Guardian Angels not only of persons, but of cities and provinces. An office of this sort was composed for Valencia in 1411. Outside of Spain, Francis of Estaing, Bishop of Rodez, obtained from Pope Leo X a bull in 1518 which approved a special office for an annual commemoration of the Guardian Angels on March 1. In England also there seems to have been much devotion to them. Herbert Losinga, Bishop of Norwich, who died in 1119, speaks eloquently on the subject; and the well-known invocation beginning Angele Dei qui custos es mei is apparently traceable to the verse-writer Reginald of Canterbury, at about the same period. Pope Paul V authorized a special Mass and Office and at the request of Ferdinand II of Austria granted the feast to the whole empire. Pope Clement X extended it to the Western church at large as of obligation in 1670 and fixed it for the present date, being the first free day after the feast of St Michael.

1817 St Theodore, one of Russia's greatest naval heroes of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; frequently gave alms to the poor and needy. He never sought earthly glory or riches, but spent his life in serving God and his neighbor; The unvanquished Admiral was the terror of his country's enemies, and the deliverer of those whom the barbarians had taken captive. He served during the Russo-Turkish War (1787 - 1791), and also fought against the French. Although he fought many naval battles in the Black Sea and in the Mediterranean, he never lost a single one, and he was never wounded.
He was born in 1745. St Theodore was glorified by the Orthodox Church of Russia in 2004, and a reliquary in the shape of a naval vessel was made to enshrine his holy relics.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today October 01 2016
217 Pope Saint Zephyrinus was pope from 199 .
He was a Roman who had ruled as head bishop for close to 20 years, and was elected to the Papacy upon the death of the previous pope, Victor. Zephyrinus was succeeded, upon his death on December 20, 217, by his principal advisor, Callixtus.

286 St. Piaton Martyr, also called Piat sent by the pope (283, to 22 April, 296 Pope Caius), to evangelize Chartres and the Tournai district of Belgium
1350 BD FRANCIS OF PESARO became known and loved far and wide for his goodness and benevolence; number of remarkable occurrences cultus confirmed by Pope Pius IX
1897 Saint Thérèse of Lisieux; Dr. of the Church Since death she worked innumerable miracles; one of the patron saints of the missions; She was beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1923, and in 1925 the same pope declared Teresa-of-the-Child-Jesus to have been a saint. Her feast was made obligatory for the whole Western church, and in 1927 she was named the heavenly patroness of all foreign missions, with St Francis Xavier, and of all works for Russia. A few months later she was in Rome with her father and a French pilgrimage on the occasion of the sacerdotal jubilee of Pope Leo XIII. At the public audience, when her turn came to kneel for the pope’s blessing, Teresa boldly broke the rule of silence on such occasions and asked him, “In honour of your jubilee, allow me to enter Carmel at fifteen”.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 30 2016

420 ST JEROME, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH JEROME (EUSEBIUS HIERONYMUS SOPHRONIUS) Born at Stridon, Hungary; Upon St Gregory’s leaving Constantinople in 382, St Jerome went to Rome with Paulinus of Antioch and St Epiphanius to attend a council which St Damasus held about the schism at Antioch. When the council was over, Pope Damasus detained him and employed him as his secretary; Jerome, indeed, claimed that he spoke through the mouth of Damasus.

653 ST HONORIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY; He was consecrated at Lincoln by St Paulinus, Bishop of York, and received the pallium sent by Pope Honorius I together with a letter, in which his Holiness ordained that whenever either the see of Canterbury or York should become vacant, the other bishop should ordain the person that should be duty elected, “because of the long distance of sea and land that lies between us and you”. And to confirm this delegation of the patriarchal power of consecrating all bishops under him, a pallium was sent also to the bishop of York.

1082 ST SIMON OF CREPY helped reconcile kings and subjects; great negotiator for Pope St Gregory VII; When Pope St Gregory VII, in view of his conflict with the emperor, determined to come to terms with Robert Guiscard and his Normans in Italy, he sent for St Simon to help him in the negotiations. These were brought to a successful conclusion at Aquino in 1080, and the pope kept Simon by his side.

1872 Quarto Nonas Januárii 1873 Lexóvii, in Gállia, item natális sanctæ Terésiæ a Jesu Infánte, ex Ordine Carmelitárum Excalceatórum; quam, vitæ innocéntia et simplicitáte claríssimam, Pius Undécimus, Póntifex Máximus, sanctárum Vírginum albo adscrípsit, peculiárem ómnium Missiónum Patrónam declarávit, ejúsque festum quinto Nonas Octóbris recoléndum esse decrévit.
At Lisieux in France, the birthday of St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, of the Order of Discalced Carmelites. Seeing her to be most wonderful for her innocence of life and simplicity, Pope Pius XI placed her name among the holy virgins and appointed her as special patron before God of all missions, decreeing that her feast should be observed on the 3rd of October.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 29 2016

Apart from the veneration of St Michael, the earliest liturgical recognition of the other great archangels seems to be found in the primitive Greek form of the Litany of the Saints. Edmund Bishop was of opinion (Liturgica Historica, pp. 142—151) that this may be traced back to the time of Pope Sergius (687—701). In it St Michael, St Gabriel and St Raphael are invoked in succession just as they are today, the only difference being that they there take precedence, not only of St John the Baptist, but also of the Blessed Virgin herself. See Dictionnaire de la Bible, vol. iv, cc. 1067—1075 DAC., vol. xi, CC. 903—907 DTC., vol. i, cc. 1189—1271; Acta Sanctorum, September, vol. vii; K. A. Kellner, Heortology (1908), pp. 328—333; and on the archangels in art it is sufficient to give a reference to Kunstle, Ikonographie, vol. i, pp. 239—264, though the subject has also been fully treated by A. Didron, van Drival, and others. For the angels in the church fathers, see J. Danie!ou, Les anges et leur, mission (1952).

1364 BD CHARLES OF BLOIS would always rather been Franciscan friar than prince; provided for poor /suffering.; Charles, the man who would always rather have been a Franciscan friar than a prince, was killed on the field. Numerous and remarkable miracles were reported at his tomb at Guingamp, and there was a strong movement for his canonization in spite of the opposition of John IV de Montfort, whose cause in Brittany might suffer were his late rival to be canonized. Pope Gregory XI seems in fact to have decreed it, but in the turmoil of his departure from Avignon in 1376 the bull was never drawn up. The people nevertheless continued to venerate Bd Charles, his feast was celebrated in some places, and finally in 1904 this ancient cultus was confirmed by St Pius X.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 28 2016

220s St. Privatus, martyr
Romæ sancti Priváti Mártyris, qui, ulcéribus plenus, a beáto Callísto Papa est sanátus; inde, sub Alexándro Imperatóre, ob Christi fidem plumbátis cæsus est usque ad mortem.
    St. Privatus, martyr, who was cured of ulcers by blessed Pope Callistus At Rome. In the time of Emperor Alexander he was scourged to death with leaded whips for the faith of Christ.

404 Saint Eustochium addressee of one of Jerome's most famous letter (Ep. 22)--a lengthy treatise on virginity V (RM)
In Béthlehem Judæ sanctæ Eustóchii Vírginis, quæ cum beáta Paula, matre sua, ex urbe Roma in Palæstínam profécta est; ibíque, ad Præsépe Dómini cum áliis Virgínibus enutríta, præcláris méritis fulgens migrávit ad Dóminum.
    At Bethlehem of Juda, the holy virgin Eustochium, daughter of blessed Paula, who was brought up at the manger of our Lord with other virgins, and being celebrated for her merits, went to our Lord.

412 St Exsuperius, Bishop Of Toulouse; earning the thanks and commendation of St Jerome, who dedicated to him his commentary on Zacharias and wrote of him
“To relieve the hunger of the poor he suffers it himself. The paleness of his face shows the rigour of his fasts, but he is grieved by the hunger of others. He gives his all to the poor of Christ but rich is he who carries the Body of the Lord in an osier-basket and His Blood in a glass vessel. His charity knew no bounds, it sought for objects in the most distant parts, and the solitaries of Egypt felt its beneficial effects.” At home as well as abroad there was ample scope for his benefactions, for in his time Gaul was overrun by the Vandals.St Exsuperius wrote to Pope St Innocent I for instruction on several matters of discipline and enquiring about the canon of Holy Scripture. In reply the pope sent him a list of the authentic books of the Bible as they were then received at Rome, and that list was the same as today, including the deuterocanonical books. The place and year of the death of Exsuperius are not known, but he seems to have suffered exile before the end. St Paulinus of Nola referred to him as one of the most illustrious bishops of the Church in Gaul, and by the middle of the sixth century he was held in equal honour with St Saturninus in the church of Toulouse.

782 Saint Lioba an Anglo-Saxon nun who was part of Boniface's mission to the Germans; credited with quelling a storm with her command; Several miracles were attributed to her gravesite 782 saint Lioba an Anglo-Saxon nun who was part of Boniface's mission to the Germans; credited with quelling a storm with her command; Several miracles were attributed to her gravesite
Schorneshémii, prope Mogúntiam, sanctæ Líobæ Vírginis, miráculis claræ.
    At Fulda near Mayence, St. Lioba, virgin, renowned for miracles
Also Leoba and Leofgyth born .; In the year 722 St Boniface was consecrated bishop by Pope St Gregory II and sent to preach the gospel in Saxony, Thuringia and Hesse. He was a native of Crediton, not very far from Wimborne

929 St. Wenceslaus martyred patron saint of Bohemia patron saint of Bohemia Miracles reported at his tomb

Comment: “Good King Wenceslaus” was able to incarnate his Christianity in a world filled with political unrest. While we are often victims of violence of a different sort, we can easily identify with his struggle to bring harmony to society. The call to become involved in social change and in political activity is addressed to Christians; the values of the gospel are sorely needed today.

Quote: “While recognizing the autonomy of the reality of politics, Christians who are invited to take up political activity should try to make their choices consistent with the gospel and, in the framework of a legitimate plurality, to give both personal and collective witness to the seriousness of their faith by effective and disinterested service of men” (Pope Paul VI, A Call to Action, 46).

1102 St. Thiemo Benedictine bishop; martyr at Ascalon (modern Israel); Journeying to Palestine to aid crusading movement, he was captured by Muslims and murdered for refusing to abjure the faith. His office brought him into conflict with the German King Henry IV (r. 1056-1106) during the Investiture Controversy and, as Thiemo sided with Pope St. Gregory VII (r.1073-1085) in the struggle, Henry exiled him.

1102 St. Thiemo Benedictine bishop; martyr at Ascalon (modern Israel); Journeying to Palestine to aid crusading movement, he was captured by Muslims and murdered for refusing to abjure the faith.

1484 BD JOHN OF DUKLA by preaching and example brought back many to the Church from Ruthenians Hussite and other sects; He died on September 29, 1484, and the devotion of his people was answered with miracles; in 1739 Pope Clement XII approved his cultus as a principal patron of Poland and Lithuania.

1494 Blessed Bernardine of Feltre; Franciscan priest missionary labors throughout the larger cities of Italy; “Prayer”, he said, “is a better preparation than study: it is both more efficacious and quicker.”; Hitherto Friar Bernardino had done no public preaching, and when in 1469 a chapter at Venice appointed him a preacher he was much troubled. He was nervous, lacked confidence in himself, and seemed physically ill-equipped, for he was very short in stature. This was sufficiently noticeable to earn him the nickname of Parvulus from Pope Innocent VIII, and he used to sign himself “piccolino e poverello.”

1457 BD LAURENCE OF RIPAFRATTA “The most persuasive tongue becomes silent in death, but your heavenly pictures will go on speaking of religion and virtue throughout the ages.” “How many souls have been snatched from Hell by his words and example and led from depravity to a high perfection; how many enemies he reconciled and what disagreements he adjusted; to how many scandals did he put an end. I weep also for my own loss, for never again shall I receive those tender letters wherewith he used to stir up my fervour in the duties of this pastoral office.” His tomb was the scene of many miracles, and in 1851 Pope Pius IX confirmed his cultus.

1507 BD FRANCIS OF CALDEROLA a great missioner, with an unwearying zeal for the reform of sinners. He was active with Bd Bernardino of Feltre in the establishment of charitable pawnshops. Francis died at the friary of Colfano on September 12, 1507, and the cultus that at once manifested itself was confirmed by Pope Gregory XVI.

1624 BD SIMON DE ROJAS: Rojas exercised strong influence in royal entourage contributed much to high standard of religion and morality; Several references to the beatification process of this friar occur in the great work of Benedict XIV, De...beatificatione, bk ii. When Bd Simon was beatified there was published in Rome a Compendio della Vita del B. Simone de Roxas (1767). See also P. Deslandres, L’Ordre des Trinitaires (i9o3), vol. i, p. 6s8, etc.

1624 BD SIMON DE ROJAS: Rojas exercised strong influence in royal entourage contributed much to high standard of religion and morality beatified in 1766..
1630 Bl. Peter Kufioji Martyr in Japan native Japanese; for giving aid and shelter to Augustinian missionaries.
1630 Bl. Michael Kinoshi Martyr of Japan; for sheltering Catholic missionaries. beatified in 1867.
1630 Bl. Lawrence Shizu Martyr of Japan native Augustinian tertiary; for sheltering priests beatified in 1867.
1630 St. Lawrence Ruiz Martyr in Japan Philipino; Layman; he told his executioner that he was "ready to die for God
and give himself for many thousands of lives if he had them!" canonized in 1987.
1630 St. John Kokumbuko Martyr of Japan Augustinian tertiary beatified in 1867.
1630 Bl. Thomas Kufioji Japanese martyr

1637 St. Lorenzo Ruiz first Filipino saint & martyred in Japan; He and fifteen companions, martyred in the same persecution, were beatified by Pope John Paul II in Manila on February 18, 1981 and elevated to full honors of the altar by canonization on October 18, 1987 in Rome.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 27 2016

1323 St. Elzear; He managed his estate with firmness, prudence, and ability; Elzear and Delphina were regarded as an ideal married couple, known for their holiness and piety. About the year 1309 St Elzear had assisted as godfather at the baptism of William of Grimoard, his nephew, a sickly child whose health was restored at the prayers of his sponsor. Fifty-three years later this William became pope as Urban V, and in 1369 he signed the decree of canonization of his godfather Elzear, who is named in the Roman Martyrology on this day.

Lutétiæ Parisiórum sancti Elzeárii Cómitis. At Paris, St. Eleazar, a count.

1392 Saint Sergius of Radonezh named Bartholomew by parents the pious and illustrious nobles Cyril and Maria (September 28); For his angelic manner of life St Sergius was granted an heavenly vision by God. One time by night Abba Sergius was reading the rule of prayer beneath an icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. Having completed the reading of the canon to the Mother of God, he sat down to rest, but suddenly he said to his disciple, St Mikhei (May 6), that there awaited them a wondrous visitation. After a moment the Mother of God appeared accompanied by the holy Apostles Peter and John the Theologian. Due to the extraordinary bright light St Sergius fell down, but the Most Holy Theotokos touched Her hands to him, and in blessing him promised always to be Protectress of his holy monastery.

1660 St. Vincent de Paul, priest and confessor; At Paris, the birthday of

Lutétiæ Parisiórum item natális sancti

Vincéntii a Paulo, Presbyteri et Confessóris, Congregatiónis Presbyterórum Missiónis et Puellárum Caritátis Fundatóris, viri apostólici et páuperum patris; quem Leo Décimus tértius, Póntifex Máximus, ómnium Societátum caritátis, in toto cathólico Orbe exsisténtium et ab eódem Sancto quomodólibet promanántium, cæléstium Patrónum apud Deum constítuit. Ipsíus tamen festívitas quartodécimo Kaléndas Augústi celebrátur.
At Paris, the birthday of St. Vincent de Paul, priest and confessor, founder of the Congregation of the Mission and of the Sisters of Charity, an apostolic man and father to the poor. Pope Leo XIII appointed this saint as the heavenly patron before God of all charitable societies in the world which in any way whatever draw their origin from him. His feast is celebrated on the 19th of July.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 26 2016

September 26 - Our Lady of Victory (Tourney, 1340)

Mrs Adjoubei’s Rosary Bishop Roncalli, the future Pope John XXIII

As he left Bulgaria in 1934, Bishop Roncalli, the future Pope John XXIII, stated,

The meeting was set for March 7th.

" The Pope looked at her smiling, "I know the name of your sons... the third is called Yan, or John like me...

When you are back home, give him a special hug from me... "

Rosary for the Church, #14 - 1973

600 St. Amantius Patron saint of Cittá di Castello; At Tiferno in Umbria, St. Amantius, a priest distinguished for the gift of miracles; Italy. Amantius was a parish priest in the city, venerated by Pope St. Gregory I the Great because of his sanctity.

1004 St. Nilus the Younger Abbot Born in Calabria In the Tuscan plain, the blessed Abbot Nilus, founder of the monastery of Grottaferrata, a man of eminent sanctity.

ST NILUS OF ROSSANO, ABBOT (A.D. 1004); When in the year 998 the Emperor Otto III came to Rome to expel Philagathos, Bishop of Piacenza, whom the senator Crescentius had set up as antipope against Gregory V, St Nilus went to intercede with the pope and emperor that the antipope might be treated with mildness. Philagathos (“John XVI”) was a Calabrian like himself, and Nilus had tried in vain to dissuade him from his schism and treason. The abbot was listened to with respect, but he was not able to do much to modify the atrocious cruelty with which the aged antipope was treated. When a prelate was sent to make an explanation to Nilus, who had protested vigorously against the injuries done to the helpless Philagathos, he pretended to fall asleep in order to avoid an argument about it. Some time after Otto paid a visit to the laura of St Nilus; he was surprised to see his monastery consisting of poor scattered huts, and said, “These men who live in tents as strangers on earth are truly citizens of Heaven.” Nilus conducted the emperor first to the church, and after praying there entertained him in his cell. Otto pressed the saint to accept some spot of ground in his dominions, promising to endow it. Nilus thanked him and answered, “If my brethren arc truly monks our divine Master will not forsake them when I am gone”.
In taking leave the emperor vainly asked him to accept some gift: St Nilus, laying his hand upon Otto's breast, said, “The only thing I ask of you is that you would save your soul. Though emperor, you must die and give an account to God, like other men.”

1159 St. John of Meda abbot Rule of St. Benedict to Milan; A secular priest from Como, Italy, John joined the Humiliati, a penitential institute of laymen; A secular priest from Como, Italy, John joined the Humiliati, a penitential institute of laymen who brought the Rule of St. Benedict to the Humiliati in Milan, Italy.
A secular priest from Como, Italy, John joined the Humiliati, a penitential institute of laymen. He introduced the Little Office of Our Lady and the rule of St. Benedict. Pope Alexander III canonized him.

13th v. BD LUCY OF CALTAGIRONE, VIRGIN; 13th v. BD LUCY OF CALTAGIRONE, VIRGIN special devotion to the Five Wounds; and miracles were attributed to her both before and after her death
CALTAGIRONE, a town in Sicily well-known in later times as the home of Don Luigi Sturzo, was the birthplace of this beata, but she seems to have spent her life in a convent of Franciscan regular tertiaries at Salerno. Very little is known about her. She became mistress of novices, and instilled into her charges her own, the date of which is not known. Bd Lucy's cultus seems to have been approved by Popes Callistus III and Leo X.

1642-1649 THE MARTYRS OF NORTH AMERICA
1649 St. Noel Chabanel Jesuit missionary to Hurons in Canada; Jogues remained a slave among the Mohawks, one of the Iroquois tribes, who, however, had decided to kill him. He owed his escape to the Dutch, who, ever since they had heard of the sufferings he and his friends were enduring, had been trying to obtain his release. Through the efforts of the governor of Fort Orange and of the governor of New Netherlands he was taken on board a vessel and, by way of England, got back to France, where his arrival roused the keenest interest. With mutilated fingers he was debarred from celebrating Mass, but Pope Urban VII granted him special permission to do so, saying, “It would be unjust that a martyr for Christ should not drink the blood of Christ”.

1885 St. Theresa Coudere Foundress Our Lady of Retreat Society of Our lady of the Cenacle at La Louvesc, France. She was born on February 1, at Masle, France. Joining Father J. Terme in his parish work in Aps, she founded the Daughters of St. Regis, the original group that became the Society. She served as superior until 1838 and then resumed the role of a simple member of the community until her death on September 26. Murió el 26 de septiembre de 1885.
By the time of her death, her congregation spread rapidly. Pope Paul VI canonized her in 1970.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 25 2016

2nd v. St. Herculafilis Martyred Roman soldier
Eódem die, via Cláudia, sancti Herculáni, mílitis et Mártyris; qui, sub Antoníno Imperatóre, miráculis in passióne beáti Alexándri Epíscopi ad Christum convérsus, atque ob fídei confessiónem, post multa torménta, gládio cæsus est.
At Rome, on the Claudian Way, under Emperor Antoninus, St. Herculanus, soldier and martyr, who was converted to Christ by the miracle wrought during the martyrdom of the blessed bishop Alexander. After enduring many torments he was put to the sword.
Martyred Roman soldier reportedly converted by Pope St. Alexander I.

633 St. Finbar Bishop founded monastery developed into city of Cork Many extravagant miracles
FINBAR, or Bairre, founder of the city and see of Cork, is said to have been the natural son of a royal lady and of a master smith. He was baptized Lochan, but the monks who educated him at Kilmacahill in Kilkenny changed his name to Fionnbharr, Whitehead, because of his fair hair. Legends say that he went to Rome on pilgrimage with one of his preceptors, and on his way back passed through Wales and visited St David in Pembrokeshire. As he had no means of getting to Ireland, David lent him a horse for the crossing, and in the channel he sighted and signalled St Brendan the Navigator, voyaging eastward. St Finbar is fabled to have gone again to Rome, in company with St David and others, when Pope St Gregory would have made him a bishop but was deterred hy a vision in which he learned that Heaven had reserved this prerogative for itself.

7th v. St. Fymbert Bishop of western Scotland; He was ordained by Pope St. Gregory the Great.

716 St. CEOLFRID, ABBOT OF WEARMOUTH Ceolfrid Benedictine abbot St. Paul Monastery produced oldest Vulgate Bible at Wearmouth-Jarrow, England; St Bede, who had the happiness to live under this great man, has left authentic testimonies of his learning, abilities and sanctity. He was a great lover of sacred literature, and enriched the libraries of his two monasteries with a large number of books. To how high a pitch he carried the sacred sciences in his monasteries St Bede himself is the foremost example. He says of St Ceolfrid that:

“Whatever good works his predecessor had begun he with no less energy took pains to finish.”

It is now established beyond doubt that Codex Amiatinus was written (not necessarily by an Englishman) in the abbey of Wearmouth or Jarrow at the beginning of the eighth century and is the very book which St Ceolfrid carried with him to give to Pope St Gregory II.

1215 St. Albert of Jerusalem Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Carmelite Order When therefore the Patriarch Michael died in the year 1203 the canons regular of the Holy Sepulchre, supported by King Amaury II de Lusignan, petitioned Pope Innocent III to send to succeed him a prelate whose holiness and abilities were well known even in Palestine. This was Albert, Bishop of Vercelli. He belonged to a distinguished family of Parma, and after brilliant theological and legal studies had become a canon regular in the abbey of the Holy Cross at Mortara in Lombardy. When he was about thirty-five years old, namely in 1184, he was made bishop of Bobbio and almost at once translated to Vercelli. His diplomatic ability and trustworthiness caused him to be chosen as a mediator between Pope Clement Ill and Frederick Barbarossa. By Innocent III he was made legate in the north of Italy, and in that capacity he brought about peace between Parma and Piacenza in 1199. Innocent did not want to spare him for Jerusalem, but approved the choice of the canons; he invested him with the pallium and created him his legate in Palestine, and in 1205 St Albert set out.

1523-1534 Clement VII (GIULIO DE’ MEDICI). ; Cardinal, Pope 1523-1534. Born 1478; died 25 September, 1534. Giulio de' Medici was born a few months after the death of his father, Giuliano, who was slain at Florence in the disturbances which followed the Pazzi conspiracy. Although his parents had not been properly married, they had, it was alleged, been betrothed per sponsalia de presenti, and Giulio, in virtue of a well-known principle of canon law, was subsequently declared legitimate. The youth was educated by his uncle, Lorenzo the Magnificent. He was made a Knight of Rhodes and Grand Prior of Capua, and, upon the election of his cousin Giovanni de' Medici to the papacy as Leo X, he at once became a person of great consequence. On 28 September, 1513, he was made cardinal, and he had the credit of being the prime mover of the papal policy during the whole of Leo's pontificate. He was one of the most favoured candidates in the protracted conclave which resulted in the election of Adrian VI; neither did the Cardinal de' Medici, in spite of his close connection with the luxurious regime of Leo X, altogether lose influence under his austere successor. Giulio, in the words of a modern historian, was "learned, clever, respectable and industrious, though he had little enterprise and less decision" (Armstrong, Charles V, I, 166).

1569 Bl. Mark Criado Trinitarian martyr
He was born in Andujar, Spain, in 1522, and joined the Trinitarians in 1536 . Mark was martyred by the Moors in Almeria. Mark joined the Order of the Holy Trinity and was later assigned to the apostolate of preaching. He set out for the provinces of Almeria and Granada, where he zealously proclaimed the Gospel to the Moors as well as to the Christians. Captured by the Moors, he died a martyr near the town of La Peza in 1569. Mark Criado was beatified by Pope Leo XIII on 24 July 1899.

1622 Bl. Mancius Shisisoiemon Martyr native Japan His beatification was declared in 1867.
1622 Bl. Augustine Ota native martyr of Japan His beatification was declared in 1867.

1824 St. Vincent Strambi Passionist after attending a retreat given by St. Paul of the Cross; became a professor of theology, was made provincial in 1781, and in 1801, was appointed bishop of Macera and Tolentino. He was expelled from his See when he refused to take an oath of alliance to Napoleon in 1808,
Later there was an outbreak of typhus and a dearth of provisions which bordered on famine, but in all these emergencies the bishop set an heroic example. In the fierce resentment excited by some of his reforms his life is said to have been more than once attempted. On the death of Pope Pius VII he resigned his see, and at the instance of Leo XII, who was Strambi's devoted friend, he took up his quarters at the Quirinal, where he acted as the pope's confidential adviser. During all these vicissitudes he had never relaxed anything of the austerity of his private life; but his strength was now exhausted, and, as Bd Anna Maria Taigi, his penitent, had prophesied, he received holy communion for the last time on December 31, and passed away on his seventy-ninth birthday, on January 1, 1824. St Vincent Strambi was canonized in 1950

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 24 2016

JOHN PAUL I ANGELUS Sunday, 24 September 1978

Yesterday afternoon I went to St. John Lateran. Thanks to the Romans, to the kindness of the Mayor and some authorities of the Italian Government, it was a joyful moment for me.

On the contrary, it was not joyful but painful to learn from the newspapers a few days ago that a Roman student had been killed for a trivial reason, in cold blood. It is one of the many cases of violence which are continually afflicting this poor and restless society of ours.

The case of Luca Locci, a seven-year-old boy kidnapped three months ago, has come up again in the last few days. People sometimes say: "we are in a society that is all rotten, all dishonest." That is not true. There are still so many good people, so many honest people. Rather, what can be done to improve society? I would say: let each of us try to be good and to infect others with a goodness imbued with the meekness and love taught by Christ. Christ's golden rule was: "do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself. Do to others what you want done to yourself." 'And he always gave. Put on the cross, not only did he forgive those who crucified him, but he excused them. He said: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." This is Christianity, these are sentiments which, if put into practice would help society so much.

This year is the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Georges Bernanos, a great Catholic writer. One of his best-known works is "Dialogues of the Carmelites". It was published year after his death. He had prepared it working on a story of the German authoress, Gertrud von Le Fort. He had prepared it for the theatre.

It went on the stage. It was set to music and then shown on the screens of the whole world. It became extremely well known. The fact, however, was a historical one.
Pius X, in 1906, right here in Rome, had beatified the sixteen Carmelites of Compiègne, martyrs during the French revolution. During the trial they were condemned "to death for fanaticism". And one of them asked in her simplicity:

"Your Honour, what does fanaticism mean?" And the judge: "It is your foolish membership of religion." "Oh, Sisters, she then said, did you hear, we are condemned for our attachment to faith. What happiness to die for Jesus Christ!"

They were brought out of the prison of the Conciergerie, and made to climb into the fatal cart. On the way they sang hymns; when they reached the guillotine, one after the other knelt before the Prioress and renewed the vow of obedience. Then they struck up "Veni Creator"; the song, however, became weaker and weaker, as the heads of the poor Sisters fell, one by one, under the guillotine. The Prioress, Sister Theresa of St Augustine, was the last, and her last words were the following: "Love will always be victorious, love can do everything." That was the right word, not violence, but love, can do everything. Let us ask the Lord for the grace that a new wave of love for our neighbour may sweep over this poor world. © Copyright 1978 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Feast of Our Lady of Ransom
Festum beátæ Maríæ Vírginis de Mercéde nuncupátæ, Ordinis redemptiónis captivórum sub ejus nómine Institutrícis, de cujus Apparitióne ágitur quarto Idus Augústi.
The feast of our Lady of Ransom, Foundress of the Order for the Redemption of Captives. The apparition of the same Blessed Virgin occurred on the 10th of August.
24 September, a double major, commemorates the foundation of the Mercedarians.

1721 ST PACIFICO OF SAN SEVERINO At Mass he was often rapt in ecstasy; gift of prophecy ability to read the consciences of his penitents Miracles took place at his tomb, as they had done in his lifetime; "Moreover, I advise and admonish the friars that in their preaching, their words should be examined and chaste. They should aim only at the advantage and spiritual good of their listeners, telling them briefly about vice and virtue, punishment and glory, because our Lord himself kept his words short on earth" (St. Francis, Rule of 1223, Ch. 9). Septémpedæ, in Picéno, deposítio sancti Pacífici, Sacerdótis ex Ordine Minórum et Confessóris, exímiæ patiéntiæ viri et solitúdinis amóre præclári, quem Gregórius Papa Décimus sextus in Sanctórum cánonem rétulit.
At San Severino in Piceno, the death of St. Pacificus, priest and confessor of the Order of Friars Minor of St. Francis of the Reformed Observance. Illustrious for his great patience and his love of solitude, he was enrolled in the canon of the saints by Pope Gregory XVI.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 23 2016

67 Saint Linus a native of Tuscany succeeded St. Peter as Pope; Romæ sancti Lini, Papæ et Mártyris, qui, primus post beátum Petrum Apóstolum, Romanum Ecclésiam gubernávit, et, martyrio coronátus, sepúltus est in Vaticano, prope eundem Apóstolum. At Rome, St. Linus, pope and martyr, who governed the Roman Church next after the blessed apostle Peter. He was crowned with martyrdom and was buried on the Vatican Hill beside the same apostle. IT is now not disputed that St Linus was the first successor of St Peter in the see of Rome, but practically nothing is known about him. St Irenaeus, writing about the year 189, identifies him with the Linus mentioned by St Paul in his second letter to Timothy (iv zi), and implies that he was appointed bishop before the death of Peter. St Linus is named among the martyrs in the canon of the Mass and his feast as a martyr is kept throughout the Western church today, but his martyrdom is very doubtful as no persecution is recorded in his time moreover, Irenaeus names only St Telesphorus as a martyr among the earliest popes after Peter.

1520 Bd Helen Of Bologna, Widow; BD HELEN DUGLIOLI has been selected by popular acclamation from among the unknown numbers of those who have served God heroically "in the world" to be exalted at the altars of the Church. She was born at Bologna, and when she was about seventeen years old married Benedict dali' Oglie. Husband and wife lived together for thirty years in amity and happiness, supporting and encouraging one another in the life of Christians, and when Benedict died, Helen shortly after followed him to the grave. The common people, who have an almost unerring instinct for detecting true holiness, knew she was a saint, and the continual cultus they had given her was confirmed in 1828.
The most important part of the notice devoted to her by the Bollandists consists of an extract from the De Servorum Dei beatificatione of Prosper Lambertini (afterwards Pope Benedict XIV), written when he was archbishop of Bologna. In this he quotes the tributes paid to Bd Helen at Bologna as an almost typical case of a spontaneous and immemorial cultus, and refers to sundry local publications which bore witness to the devotion of the citizens. Among other evidence cited by the Bollandists it is curious to find a passage from the Ragionamenti of Pietro Aretino, of all people, a contemporary of the beata, who refers satirically to the crowds of candles, pictures and ex votos deposited " alla sapoltura di santa Beata Lena dalI' Olio a Bologna."

See the Acta Sanctorum, September, vol. vi .

1968 St. Padre Pio da Pietrelcina b.1887; Born Francesco Forgione, Padre Pio grew up in a family of farmers in southern Italy. Twice (1898-1903 and 1910-17) his father worked in Jamaica, New York, to provide the family income.
September 23, 2005

In one of the largest such ceremonies in history, Pope John Paul II canonized Padre Pio of Pietrelcina on June 16, 2002. It was the 45th canonization ceremony in Pope John Paul's pontificate. More than 300,000 people braved blistering heat as they filled St. Peter's Square and nearby streets. They heard the Holy Father praise the new saint for his prayer and charity. "This is the most concrete synthesis of Padre Pio's teaching," said the pope. He also stressed Padre Pio's witness to the power of suffering. If accepted with love, the Holy Father stressed, such suffering can lead to "a privileged path of sanctity."

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 22 2016

530 ST FELIX III (IV), POPE revered in his day as a man of great simplicity, humility and kindness to the poor. Having been given two ancient buildings in the Roman Forum, Felix built on their site the basilica of SS. Cosmas and Damian the mosaics to be seen today in the apse and on the triumphal arch of that church are those made at his direction

1637 St. Lawrence Ruiz and Companions; Lorenzo: "That I will never do, because I am a Christian, and I shall die for God, and for him I will give many thousands of lives if I had them. And so, do with me as you please." Pope John Paul II canonized these six and 10 others, Asians and Europeans, men and women, who spread the faith in the Philippines, Formosa and Japan. Lorenzo Ruiz is the first canonized Filipino martyr.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 21 2016

The martyrdom of St. Alexander, bishop. His body was afterwards carried into the city by blessed Pope Damasus on the 26th of November.

13th v. In July of 1274, the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII accepted a union with the Roman Church at Lyons, France. Faced with dangers from Charles of An cojou, the Ottoman Turks, and other enemies, the emperor found such an alliance with Rome expedient. The Union of Lyons required the Orthodox to recognize the authority of the Pope, the use of the Filioque in the Creed, and the use of azymes (unleavened bread) in the Liturgy. Patriarch Joseph was deposed because he would not agree to thesenditions. The monastic clergy and many of the laity, both at home and in other Orthodox countries, vigorously opposed the Union, denouncing the emperor for his political schemes and for his betrayal of Orthodoxy.

1838 St. Thomas Dien Vietnamese martyr native. He entered the seminary program of the Paris Foreign Missions but was put to death before he could complete his studies.Thomas was flogged and strangled. Pope John Paul 11 canonized him in 1988.

1839 Sts. Chastan & Imbert beatified as the Martyrs of Korea; A letter is extant written by the Koreans to Pope Pius VII, imploring him to send them priests at once; their little flock had already given martyrs to the Church. In 1831 the vicariate apostolic of Korea was created, but the first vicar never reached there. His successor, Mgr Laurence Joseph Mary Imbert, Titular Bishop of Capsa and a member of the Paris Foreign Missions, who had been in China for twelve years, entered the country in disguise at the end of 1837, having been preceded by Bd PETER PHILIBERT MAUBANT and BD JAMES HONORÉ CHASTAN, priests of the same missionary society. 1925 Bd Laurence and his companions were beatified. The first Korean priest martyr was BD ANDREW KIM in 1846. They were canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1984.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 20 2016

536 St. Pope Agapitus I Pope from 535-536 and apologist; translation of the body; able to put down a religious revolt spearheaded by a bishop named Anthemius and Empress Theodora.

1713 BD FRANCIS DE POSADAS; gave missions all over the southwest of Spain, adding to the fatigues of preaching, hearing confessions, and travelling on foot voluntary mortifications of a most rigorous kind. His combination of example and precept won him a great influence over all with whom he came in contact, and in his native city he brought about a much-needed reform and improvement in public and private morals; disorderly places of amusement shut up for lack of business. He was always at the service of the poor and learned from them a humility that made him avoid not only the offices of his order but also bishoprics that were offered to him. Bd Francis wrote several books—The Triumph of Chastity, lives of St Dominic and other holy ones of his order, moral exhortations—and died at Scala Caeli after forty years of uninterrupted work for souls on September 20, 1713. He was beatified in 1818. interesting account of his levitations when he was celebrating Mass (pp. 42—45), and of his sensations in endeavouring to resist this lifting of his body into the air

1839 Sts. Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang, and Companions
Martyrs of Korea of 1839, 1846, and 1867; intellectuals of that land, eager to learn about the world, discovered some Christian books procured through Korea’s embassy to the Chinese capital. One Korean, Ni-seung-houn, went to Beijing in 1784 to study Catholicism and was baptized Peter Ri. Returning to Korea, he converted many others. In 1791, when these Christians were suddenly viewed as foreign traitors, two of Peter Ri’s converts were martyred, men named Paul Youn and Jacques Kuen. The faith endured, however, and when Father James Tsiou, a Chinese, entered Korea three years later, he was greeted by four thousand Catholics. Father Tsiou worked in Korea until 1801 when he was slain by authorities. were canonized in Korea in 1984 by Pope John Paul II.

Quote "The Korean Church is unique because it was founded entirely by lay people. This fledgling Church, so young and yet so strong in faith, withstood wave after wave of fierce persecution. Thus, in less than a century, it could boast of 10,000 martyrs. The death of these martyrs became the leaven of the Church and led to today's splendid flowering of the Church in Korea. Even today their undying spirit sustains the Christians in the Church of silence in the north of this tragically divided land" (Pope John Paul II, speaking at the canonization).

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 19 2016

690 St. Theodore of Tarsus united all of Catholic England one of the greatest; St Theodore was the first bishop whom the whole English church obeyed, the first metropolitan of all England, and his fame penetrated into the remotest corners of the land. Many students gathered round these two foreign prelates who knew Greek as well as Latin, for Theodore and Adrian themselves expounded the Scriptures and taught the sciences, particularly astronomy and arithmetic (for calculating Easter), and to compose Latin verse. Many under them became as proficient in Latin and Greek as they were in their own tongue. Britain had never been in so happy a condition as at this time since the English first set foot in the island. The kings were so brave, says Bede, that the barbarous nations dreaded their power; and men such good Christians that they aspired only after the joys of the kingdom of Heaven which had been but lately preached to them. All who desired to learn could find instructors. Pope St Vitalian, who then sat in St Peter’s chair, chose Adrian, abbot of a monastery near Naples, to be raised to that dignity. This abbot was by birth an African, understood Greek and Latin perfectly, was thoroughly versed in theology and in the monastic and ecclesiastical discipline. But so great were his fears of the office that the pope was compelled to yield to his excuses. He insisted, however, that Adrian should find a person equal to the charge, and Adrian first named a monk called Andrew; but he was judged incapable on account of his bodily infirmities. Adrian then suggested another monk, Theodore of Tarsus. He was accepted, but on condition that Adrian should accompany him to Britain, because he had already travelled twice through France and also to watch over Theodore lest he introduce into his church anything contrary to the faith (“as the Greeks have a habit of doing”, comments St Bede).

1299, 1321 SS Theodore, David and Constantine They died in 1321 and were buried with their father, and were equally with him venerated as saints, the relics of all three being solemnly enshrined in 1464. Throughout their lives Theodore and his sons walked worthily of their calling, both as Christians and as noblemen; they were forgiving of injuries, more mindful of their own obligations than delinquencies of others. At Canterbury, the holy bishop Theodore, who was sent to England by Pope Vitalian, and who was renowned for learning and holiness.
ST THEODORE, called “the Black”, duke of Yaroslavl and Smolensk, was a great-grandson of that Kievan prince, Vladimir Monomakh, whose “Charge to my Children” is one of the most precious documents of early Russian Christianity. As a ruler Theodore was sincerely concerned for the poor and the uncared-for. He defended his people against the Tartars, and did all he could for the promotion of religion, building a church in honour of St Michael and several others. A few days before his death, which happened on September 19, 1299, he was clothed with the monastic habit, and buried in the monastery of the Transfiguration at Yaroslavl. On the death of his first wife, mother of his son Michael, Theodore married again, and of this second wife his sons David and Constantine were born.

1591 Bl. Alphonsus de Orozco St. Thomas of Villanova, his instructor, imbuing him with a spirit of recollection and prayer. Alphonsus, a popular preacher and confessor, served as prior of the Augustinians in Seville then in 1554, at Valladolid. In 1556 he became a court preacher, in 1561 accompanied King Philip II of Spain to Madrid. Throughout his court life, he did not engage in the pleasures or intrigues around him. His example of holiness made a great impression on the royal family and the nobles of Madrid. Alphonsus was given a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and wrote treatises on prayer and penance as Our Lady instructed him. He was beatified in 1881. He was beatified by Pope Leo XIII on January 15, 1882.

1852 St. St. Emily De Rodat, Virgin, Foundress of the Congregation of the Holy Family of VillefrancheIRGIN, FOUNDRESS OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE HOLY FAMILY OF VILLEFRANCHE: “It is good to be an object of contempt”, St Emily declares; “Don’t you know that we are the scum of the earth, and that anyone is entitled to tread on us?” Such abnegation can be sustained by no ordinary means, and it is not surprising to learn that it was often impossible to interrupt St Emily at prayer until her state of ecstasy had passed. Pope Pius XII canonized her during the Holy Year of 1950.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 18 2016

895 St. Richardis Empress and wife of Emperor Charles the Fat. The daughter of the count of Alsace, she wed the future emperor and served him faithfully for nineteen years until accused of infidelity with Bishop Liutword of Vercelli. To prove her innocence, she successfully endured the painful ordeal of fire, but she left Charles and lived as a nun, first at Hohenburg, Germany, and then Andlau Abbey. She remained at Andlau until her death.

1645 St. John de Massias Dominican monk at Lima austerities, miracles, and visions; He was born in Ribera, Spain, to a noble family and was orphaned at a young age. John went to Peru to work on a cattle ranch before entering the Dominicans at Lima as a lay brother, assigned to serve as a doorkeeper, or porter. He was known for his austerities, miracles, and visions. John cared for all the poor of Lima, dying there on September 16. Pope Paul VI canonized him in 1975 .

1663 St. Joseph of Cupertino Franciscan mystic patron saint of pilots /air passengers; From time of his ordination St Joseph’s life was one long succession of ecstasies, miracles of healing and supernatural happenings on a scale not paralleled in the reasonably authenticated life of any other saint. When Cardinal Lauria asked him what souls in ecstasy saw during their raptures he replied: “They feel as though they were taken into a wonderful gallery, shining with never-ending beauty, where in a glass, with a single look, they apprehend the marvellous vision which God is pleased to show them.”

Anything that in any way could be particularly referred to God or the mysteries of religion was liable to ravish him from his senses and make him oblivious to what was going on around him; the absent-mindedness and abstraction of his childhood now had an end and a purpose clearly seen. The sight of a lamb in the garden of Capuchins at Fossombrone caused him to be lost in contemplation of the spotless Lamb of God and, it is said, be caught up into the air with the animal in his arms.
At Osimo in Piceno, St. Joseph of Cupertino, priest and confessor of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, who was placed among the saints by Clement XIII.

1842 St. Dominic Trach Vietnamese martyr and a priest; member of the Dominican Third Order. Caught up in the persecution against Christians, Dominic was beheaded. He was canonized in 1988.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 17 2016

1145-1153 Bd Eugenius III, Pope Cistercian monk at Clairvaux; he took in religion the name of Bernard, his great namesake being his superior at Clairvaux

1145-1153 EUGENIUS III. (Bernardo Paganelli), pope from the 15th of February 1145 to the 8th of July 1153, a native of Pisa, was abbot of the Cistercian monastery of St Anastasius at Rome when suddenly elected to succeed Lucius II.
St Hildegards visions recorded in the Scivias received the guarded approbation of Pope Eugenius III, but this and similar approvals of private revelations impose no obligation of belief. The Church receives them only as probable, and even those most worthy of faith may be prudently rejected by individuals.

His friend and instructor, Bernard of Clairvaux, the most influential ecclesiastic of the time, remonstrated against his election on account of his "innocence and simplicity," but Bernard soon acquiesced and continued to be the mainstay of the papacy throughout Eugenius's pontificate.

Eugene is said to have gained the affection of the people by his affability and generosity. He died at Tivoli, whither he had gone to avoid the summer heats, and was buried in front of the high altar in St. Peters, Rome. St. Bernard followed him to the grave (20 Aug.). "The unassuming but astute pupil of St. Bernard", says Gregorovius, "had always continued to wear the coarse habit of Clairvaux beneath the purple; the stoic virtues of monasticism accompanied him through his stormy career, and invested him with that power of passive resistance which has always remained the most effectual weapon of the popes."

St. Antoninus pronounces Eugene III "one of the greatest and most afflicted of the popes". Pius IX by a decreed of 28 Dec., 1872, approved the cult which from time immemorial the Pisans have rendered to their countryman, and ordered him to be honoured with Mass and Office ritu duplici on the anniversary of his death

1179 St. Hildegarde visions and prophecies works written called Scivias; the first of the great German mystics a poet, a physician, and a prophetess. Hildegarde was known for visions and prophecies, which at her spiritual directors request, she recorded. They were set down in a work called Scivias {written between 1141 and 1151, relating twenty six of her visions} and approved by the archbishop of Mainz and Pope Eugenius III at the recommendation of St. Bernard of Clairvaux.

1485 St. Peter Arbues; Augustinian inquisitor; a master of Canon Law at the University of Bologna. At Saragossa in Spain, St. Peter of Arbues, first inquisitor of the faith in the kingdom of Aragon, who received the palm of martyrdom by being barbarously massacred by apostate Jews for courageously defending the Catholic faith, according to the duties of his office. He was added to the list of martyr saints by Pius IX. In the year 1478 Pope Sixtus IV, at the urgent request of King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile, issued a bull empowering them to appoint a tribunal to deal with Jewish and other apostates and sham converts. Thus was established the institution known in history as the Spanish Inquisition. It may be noted in passing that, though primarily an ecclesiastical tribunal, it acted, independently and often in defiance of the Holy See;

1621 St. Robert Bellarmine; important writings works of devotion and instruction; spiritual father of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, helped St. Francis de Sales obtain formal approval of the Visitation Order, and in his prudence opposed severe action in the case of Galileo; Pope Pius XI bestowed honours of the Saints, declared him Doctor of the Universal Church, and appointed May 13 as his festival day. Born 1542 at Montepulciano, Italy, October 4, the third of ten children. His mother, Cinzia Cervini, a niece of Pope Marcellus II, was dedicated to almsgiving, prayer, meditation, fasting, and mortification of the body. Bellarmine was made a cardinal by Pope Clement VIII on the grounds that "he had not his equal for learning." Among many activities, he became theologian to Pope Clement VIII, preparing two catechisms which have had great influence in the Church. In 1931 Pius XI declared him a Doctor of the Church.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 16 2016

255 St. Cornelius elected Pope to succeed Fabian; There was no pope for 14 months after the martyrdom of St. Fabian because of the intensity of the persecution of the Church. During the interval, the Church was governed by a college of priests.
St. Cyprian, a friend of Cornelius, writes that Cornelius was elected pope "by the judgment of God and of Christ, by the testimony of most of the clergy, by the vote of the people, with the consent of aged priests and of good men." A document from Cornelius shows the extent of organization in the Church of Rome in the mid-third century: 46 priests, seven deacons, seven subdeacons. It is estimated that the number of Christians totaled about 50,000. The story of St Cornelius forms an important episode in ecclesiastical history, and from Eusebius downwards it has engaged the attention of all writers who deal with the Christian Church in the early centuries.

Cornelius died as a result of the hardships of his exile in what is now Civitavecchia (near Rome).

258 ST CYPRIAN, BISHOP OF CARTHAGE, MARTYR ; The leaders of the schematics were excommunicated, and Novatus departed to Rome to help stir up trouble there, where Novatian had set himself up as antipope. Cyprian recognized Cornelius as the true pope and was active in his support both in Italy and Africa during the ensuing schism; with St Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, he rallied the bishops of the East to Cornelius, making it clear to them that to adhere to a false bishop of Rome was to be out of communion with the Church. In connection with these disturbances he added to his treatise on Unity one on the question of the Lapsed.

303 ST EUPHEMIA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR; miracles during persecution with soldiers Victor and Sosthenes Evagrius, the historian, testifies that emperors, patriarchs and all ranks of people resorted to Chalcedon to be partakers of the blessings which God conferred on men through her patronage, and that manifest miracles were wrought. A great church was erected there in her honour and in it was held in the year 451 the fourth general council, which condemned Monophysism. A legend says that at this council the Catholic fathers agreed with their opponents that each side should write down its views in a book, lay them down, and ask Almighty God to show by a sign which expressed the truth. This was done and the two books were sealed up in the shrine of St Euphemia. After three days of prayer the shrine was opened the monophysite hook lay at the feet of the martyr but the Catholic book was held in her right hand. It is hardly necessary to say that this great council reached its conclusions by no such methods; but it seems that the fact that this epoch-making synod was held in the church of St Euphemia accounts for some of the remarkable prestige that she formerly enjoyed, and Pope Pius XII invoked her name in his encyclical letter “Sempiternus Christus rex” on the fifteen hundredth anniversary of the council in 1951. The martyr is often referred to in the East as Euphemia the Far-renowned, and she is among the saints named in the canon of the Milanese Mass and in the preparation according to Russian usage of the Byzantine rite.

649-655 St. Martin I, pope and martyr The birthday of; feast, however, is observed on the 12th of November
He had called together a council at Rome and condemned the heretics Sergius, Paul and Pyrrhus. By order of the heretical Emperor Constantius he was taken prisoner through a deceit, brought to Constantinople, and exiled to the Chersonese. There he ended his life, worn out with his labours for the Catholic faith and favoured with many virtues. His body was afterwards brought to Rome and buried in the church of Saints Sylvester and Martin. His feast, however, is observed on the 12th of November.

1087 BD VICTOR III, POPE -- Desiderius, one of the greatest abbots of Monte Cassino; He had attracted the favourable notice of Pope St Leo IX, and about 1054 he was at the court of Victor II.
Here he met monks from Monte Cassino, went on a pilgrimage to that cradle of Benedictine monasticism, and joined the community. In the year 1057 Pope Stephen X summoned Desiderius to Rome, intending to send him as his legate to Constantinople. Stephen had been abbot of Monte Cassino and retained the office on his elevation to the papacy, but now, believing himself to be dying, he ordered the election of a successor. The choice fell on Desiderius, and he had got to Bari on his way to the East when he learned of the pope’s death and was told to return. There was a disputed succession to Stephen X, in which Desiderius supported Pope Nicholas II, who made him a cardinal before he was permitted to go and take up his duties at his monastery.

1628 Bl. Michael Fimonaya Martyr of Japan Dominican tertiary native; Michael was beatified in 1867 by Pope Pius IX.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 15 2016

90 St. Nicomedes of Rome priest refused to aposate M (RM). At Rome, on the Via Nomentana, the birthday of blessed Nicomedes, priest and martyr. Because he said to those who would compel him to sacrifice: "I offer sacrifice only to the omnipotent God who reigneth in heaven," he was for a long time scourged with leaded whips, and thus passed to the Lord.
The Emperor Constantine Copronymus thought that the relics of the saints and martyrs were worthless objects, and that anyone who collected the bones of the holy ones was a fool. He therefore set about finding as many of these sacred remains as he could and throwing them into the sea.
Pope Saint Paschal I, who was elected in 817, 32 years after the emperor's death, disagreed. Whereas Constantine Copronymus had got rid of saintly bones, Paschal I conceived it as his duty to find as many replacements as possible. The church of Santa Prassede in Rome is filled with all that he collected, their names inscribed on marble tablets close by the sanctuary.

1510 St. Catherine (Caterinetta) of Genoa, Widow; "He who purifies himself from his faults in the present life, satisfies with a penny a debt of a thousand ducats; and he who waits until the other life to discharge his debts, consents to pay a thousand ducats for that which he might before have paid with a penny." Saint Catherine, Treatise on purgatory. (RM)
16th v. Saint Bessarion, Archbishop of Larissa, founded the Dusika monastery in Thessaly. In Genoa, St. Catherine, a widow, renowned for her contempt of the world and her love of God.
Born in Genoa, Italy, 1447; died there, September 14, 1510; beatified in 1737 and equipollently canonized by Pope Benedict XIV a few years later (others say she was canonized in 1737); feast day formerly on March 22.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 14 2016

Triumph of the Cross

Although believers spoke of the cross as the instrument of salvation, it seldom appeared in Christian art
unless disguised as an anchor or the Chi-Rho until after Constantine's edict of toleration.

258 Pope St. Sixtus II Elected 31 Aug., 257, martyred at Rome, 6 Aug., 258

(XYSTUS).
During the pontificate of his predecessor, St. Stephen, a sharp dispute had arisen between Rome and the African and Asiatic Churches, concerning the rebaptism of heretics, which had threatened to end in a complete rupture between Rome and the Churches of Africa and Asia Minor (see SAINT CYPRIAN OF CARTHAGE). Sixtus II, whom Pontius (Vita Cyprian, cap. xiv) styles a good and peaceful priest (bonus et pacificus sacerdos), was more conciliatory than St. Stephen and restored friendly relations with these Churches, though, like his predecessor, he upheld the Roman usage of not rebaptizing heretics.
253 Pope Cornelius; predecessor, Fabian, put to death by Decius, 250. March, 251 persecution slackened, owing to absence of the emperor, (two rivals had arisen); 16 bishops at Rome elected Cornelius against his will was; "What fortitude in his acceptance of the episcopate, what strength of mind, what firmness of faith, that he took his seat intrepid in the sacerdotal chair, at a time when the tyrant in his hatred of bishops was making unspeakable threats, when he heard with far more patience that a rival prince was arising against him, than that a bishop of God was appointed at Rome" (Cyprian, Ep. lv, 24). Is he not, asks St. Cyprian, to be numbered among the glorious confessors and martyrs who sat so long awaiting the sword or the cross or the stake and every other torture?
Cornelius Martyr (251 to 253).
236-250, Pope Saint Fabian succeeded Saint Antheros governed as bishop of Rome 14 peaceful years
Died 250. On January 10, his martyrdom under Decius. He was a layman, who, according to Eusebius, was chosen because a dove flew in through a window during the election and settled on his head. This 'sign' united the votes of the clergy and people for this layman and stranger.

Pope St. Fabian (FABIANUS) Pope (236-250), extraordinary circumstances of whose election is related by Eusebius (Hist. Eccl., VI, 29). After the death of Anterus he had come to Rome, with some others, from his farm and was in the city when the new election began. While the names of several illustrious and noble persons were being considered, a dove suddenly descended upon the head of Fabian, of whom no one had even thought. To the assembled brethren the sight recalled the Gospel scene of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Saviour of mankind, and so, divinely inspired, as it were, they chose Fabian with joyous unanimity and placed him in the Chair of Peter. 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.

At Comana in Pontus, the birthday of St. John, bishop of Constantinople, confessor and doctor of the Church, surnamed Chrysostom because of his golden eloquence. He was cast into exile by a faction of his enemies, but was recalled by a decree of Pope Innocent I. However, he suffered many evils on the journey at the hands of the soldiers who guarded him, and he rendered up his soul unto God. His feast is kept on the 27th of January, on which day his holy body was translated to Constantinople by Theodosius the Younger. Pope Pius X declared and appointed this glorious preacher of the divine Word as heavenly patron of those preaching of holy things.

629 The Exaltation Of The Holy Cross, Commonly Called Holy Cross Day; On this day the Western church celebrates, as we learn from the Roman Martyrology and lessons at Matins, the veneration of the great relics of Christ’s cross at Jerusalem after the Emperor Heraclius had recovered them from the hands of the Persians, who had carried them off in 614, fifteen years before. According to the story, the emperor determined to carry the precious burden upon his own shoulders into the city, with the utmost pomp; but stopped suddenly at the entrance to the Holy Places and found he was not able to go forward. The patriarch Zachary, who walked by his side, suggested to him that his imperial splendour was hardly in agreement with the humble appearance of Christ when He bore His cross through the streets of that city. Thereupon the emperor laid aside his purple and his crown, put on simple clothes, went along barefoot with the procession, and devoutly replaced the cross where it was before. It was still in the silver case in which it had been carried away. The patriarch and clergy, finding the seals whole, opened the case with the key and venerated its contents. The original writers always speak of this portion of the cross in the plural number, calling it the pieces of the wood of the true cross. This solemnity was carried out with the most devout thanksgiving, the relics were lifted up for the veneration of the people, and many sick were miraculously cured.

1313 St. Notburga Patroness of poor peasants servants in Tyrol; famous for her miracles and concern for the poor. Before she died she particularly recommended her beloved poor to her master, and asked him to lay her body on a farm-wagon and bury it wherever the oxen should finally rest. This was done, and after a journey of which the usual miraculous accompaniments are recorded, the oxen brought the burden to a halt before the door of the church of St Rupert at Eben. Here accordingly St Notburga was buried. In 1862. Pope Pius IX confirmed her local cultus as patroness of poor peasants and hired servants.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 13 2016

407 St. John Chrysostom "golden-mouthed" When it came to justice and charity, John acknowledged no double standards. The ambiguity and intrigue surrounding John, the great preacher (his name means "golden-mouthed") from Antioch, are characteristic of the life of any great man in a capital city. Brought to Constantinople after a dozen years of priestly service in Syria, John found himself the reluctant victim of an imperial ruse to make him bishop in the greatest city of the empire. Ascetic, unimposing but dignified, and troubled by stomach ailments from his desert days as a monk, John began his episcopate under the cloud of imperial politics. If his body was weak, his tongue was powerful. The content of his sermons, his exegesis of Scripture, were never without a point. Sometimes the point stung the high and mighty. Some sermons lasted up to two hours.

His life-style at the imperial court was not appreciated by some courtiers. He offered a modest table to episcopal sycophants hanging around for imperial and ecclesiastical favors. John deplored the court protocol that accorded him precedence before the highest state officials. He would not be a kept man. ; Two prominent personages who personally undertook to discredit John were Theophilus, Archbishop of Alexandria, and Empress Eudoxia. Theophilus feared the growth in importance of the Bishop of Constantinople and took occasion to charge John with fostering heresy. Theophilus and other angered bishops were supported by Eudoxia. The empress resented his sermons contrasting gospel values with the excesses of imperial court life. Whether intended or not, sermons mentioning the lurid Jezebel and impious Herodias were associated with the empress, who finally did manage to have John exiled. He died in exile in 407.
The saint wrote to Pope St Innocent I, begging him to invalidate all that had been done, for the miscarriage of justice had been notorious. So the cabal proceeded to a sentence of deposition against him, which they sent to the Emperor Arcadius, accusing him at the same time of treason, apparently in having called the empress “Jezebel “. Thereupon the emperor issued an order for his banishment. For three days Constantinople was in an uproar, and Chrysostom delivered a vigorous manifesto from his pulpit.

“Violent storms encompass me on all sides: yet I am without fear, because I stand upon a rock. Though the sea roar and the waves rise high, they cannot overwhelm the ship of Jesus Christ. I fear not death, which is my gain; nor banishment, for the whole earth is the Lord’s; nor the loss of goods, for I came naked into the world, and I can carry nothing out of it.”

He declared that he was ready to lay down his life for his flock, and that if he suffered now, it was only because he had neglected nothing that would help towards the salvation of their souls. Then he surrendered himself, unknown to the people, and an official conducted him to Praenetum in Bithynia. But his first exile was short. The city was slightly shaken by an earthquake. This terrified the superstitious Eudoxia, and she implored Arcadius to recall John; she got leave to send a letter the same day, asking him to return and protesting her own innocence of his banishment. All the city went out to meet him, and the Bosphorus blazed with torches. Theophilus and his party fled by night.

607 St Eulogius, Patriarch Of Alexandria celebrated for learning and sanctity; Of the numerous writings of St Eulogius, chiefly against heresies, only a sermon and a few fragments remain one treatise was submitted to St Gregory before publication, and he approved it with the words, “I find nothing in your writings but what is admirable”. St Eulogius did not long survive his friend, dying at Alexandria about the year 607.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 12 2016

Holy Name of Mary: The feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary began in Spain in 1513 and in 1671 was extended to all of Spain and the Kingdom of Naples. In 1683, John Sobieski, king of Poland, brought an army to the outskirts of Vienna to stop the advance of Muslim armies loyal to Mohammed IV in Constantinople.

After Sobieski entrusted himself to the Blessed Virgin Mary, he and his soldiers thoroughly defeated the Muslims.

Pope Innocent XI extended this feast to the entire Church to commemorate victory at the Battle of Vienna in 1683.

At Pavia, St. Juventius, bishop, mentioned on the 8th of February. The blessed Hermagoras, disciple of the evangelist St. Mark, sent him to that city along with St. Cyrus, who is mentioned on the 9th of December. They both preached the Gospel of Christ there, and being renowned for great virtues and miracles, enlightened the neighbouring cities by divine works. They closed their glorious careers in peace, invested with the episcopal office.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 11 2016

258 St. Cyprian development of Christian thought and practice northern Africa: see Saint_of_the_Day September16. html Butler Lives - Thurston ; During a plague in Carthage, he urged Christians to help everyone, including their enemies and persecutors. A friend of Pope Cornelius, Cyprian opposed the following pope, Stephen. He and the other African bishops would not recognize the validity of Baptism conferred by heretics and schismatics. This was not the universal view of the Church, but Cyprian was not intimidated even by Stephen's threat of excommunication. He was exiled by the emperor and then recalled for trial. He refused to leave the city, insisting that his people should have the witness of his martyrdom.

253-268 SS. PROTUS AND HYACINTH, MARTYRS; The relics of St Protus are supposed to have been removed into the city by Pope St Leo IV in the middle of the ninth century, and parts thereof have been translated several times since. In an epitaph by Pope St Damasus, these martyrs are referred to as brothers.

1840 Bl. John-Gabriel Perboyre Martyr of China Vincentian from Puech; Pope Leo XIII beatified him in 1889, making him the first martyr in China to be so honored. Pope John Paul II canonized him in 1996.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 10 2016

453 St. Pulcheria Empress of the Eastern Roman Empire, eldest daughter of the Emperor Arcadius; opposition to the doctines of Nestorius and Eutyches; she built churches, hospitals, houses for pilgrims, and gave rich gifts to churches . In 449 Pope St Leo the Great appealed to St Pulcheria and to the emperor to reject Monophysism, and the answer of Theodosius was to approve the acts of the “Robber Synod” of Ephesus, and to drive St Flavian from the see of Constantinople. Puicheria was firmly orthodox, but her influence with her brother had been weakened. The pope wrote again, and the archdeacon of Rome, Hilarus, wrote, and the Western emperor, Valentinian III, with Eudoxia his wife (Theodosius’s daughter) and Galla Placidia, his mother—and amid all these appeals Theodosius suddenly died, killed by a fall from his horse while hunting.

584 St. Salvius Bishop of Albi friend of Pope St. Gregory I the Great; ransomed prisoners and brought King Chilperic back to orthodox teachings.

1160 St. Cosmas bishop and martyr. He was named bishop of Aphrodisia, ordained by Pope Eugene III. When the Saracens captured his see, Cosmas was seized and died as a result of harsh abuse. His cult was approved by Pope Leo XIII.

1305 Saint Nicholas of Tolentino Patron of Holy Souls in Purgatory, and, with St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church hundreds of miracles. Born 1245 at Sant'Angelo, March of Ancona, diocese of Fermo, Italy Died 10 September 1305 at Tolentino, Italy following a long illness; relics rediscovered at Tolentino in 1926; in previous times they were known exude blood when the Church was in danger Canonized 5 June (Pentecost) 1446 by Pope Eugene IV; over 300 miracles were recognized by the Congregation.

1622 Bb. Apollinaris Franco, Charles Spinola and Their Companions, Martyrs In The Great Martyrdom In Japan. IN 1867, the same year in which persecution began again in Urakami, though not to blood, Pope Pius IX beatified 295 of the martyrs of Japan, of whom the Franciscan Martyrology today refers to eighteen members of its first order and twenty-two tertiaries. Owing to various causes—among them it seems we must sadly recognize national jealousies and even religious rivalries between the missionaries of various orders—the shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa in 1614 decreed that Christianity should be abolished, and these Franciscan beati suffered between the years 1617 and 1632.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 09 2016

556 Saint Ciaran of Clonmacnoise 1/12 Apostles of Ireland his holiness spread abroad: miraculous events. When Pope John Paul II visited Ireland, it was the only school that he visited. The monastery survived many invasions and raids until 1552, and there are still many notable ruins remaining from its early days. Although Ciaran's shrine was plundered several times during the medieval period, the Clonmacnoise crozier remains in the National Museum in Dublin.

1478 Blessed Seraphina Sforza, Poor Clare V (AC); But Sueva entered the convent in 1457, when she was twenty-five years old, and whatever she may have had to repent of she had more than twenty years in which to grow holy in the living of a most austere religious rule. This she did, and the local cultus of Bd Seraphina was approved by Pope Benedict XIV in 1754.

1654 Saint Peter Claver, SJ Priest unable to abolish the slave trade Though Father Claver's activities were not confined

to the Negroes, the "slave of the slaves" regarded himself as, above all, consecrated to their service.(RM) Sometimes St Peter would spend almost the whole day in the great square of the city, where the four principal streets met, preaching to all who would stop to listen, he became the apostle of Cartagena as well as of the Negroes, and in so huge a work was aided by God with those gifts that particularly pertain to apostles, of miracles, of prophecy, and of reading hearts.

The conditions under which they were conveyed across the Atlantic were so foul and inhuman as to be beyond belief, and it was reckoned that there would be a loss in each cargo by death during the six or seven weeks’ voyage of at least a third; but in spite of this an average of ten thousand living slaves was landed in Cartagena every year. In spite of the condemnation of this great crime by Pope Paul III and by many lesser authorities, this “supreme villainy”, as slave-trading was designated by Pius IX, continued to flourish; all that most of the owners did in response to the voice of the Church was to have their slaves baptized. They received no religious instruction or ministration, no alleviation of their physical condition, so that the sacrament of baptism became to them a very sign and symbol of their oppression and wretchedness. The clergy were practically powerless; all they could do was to protest and to devote themselves to the utmost to individual ministration, corporal and material, among the tens of thousands of suffering human beings. They had no charitable funds at their disposal, no plaudits from well-disposed audiences; they were hampered and discouraged by the owners and often rebuffed by the Negroes themselves. St Peter Claver was never again forgotten and his fame spread throughout the world: he was canonized at the same time as his friend St Alphonsus Rodriguez in 1888, and he was declared by Pope Leo XIII patron of all missionary enterprises among Negroes, in whatever part of the world. His feast is observed throughout the United States.

1853 Blessed Frédèric Ozanam Both mystical and practical; humble no pride of intellect; faught secularism and anti-clericalism in Europe; Born in Lyons, France, in 1813; beatified in 1997 by Pope John Paul II.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 08 2016

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 08 2016

701 St Sergius I, Pope; Sergius was an alumnus of the Roman schola cantorum, and he seems to have been actively concerned with the liturgy and its music in particular, the Liber pontificalis states that he directed that the Agnus Dei "should be sung by clergy and people at the breaking of the Lord's body" at Mass, and he ordained that the Roman church should observe the four feasts of our Lady already kept at Constantinople, namely, her birthday, her purification, the Annunciation and her "falling alseep"... In the words of Alcuin, "a holy and most worthy successor of St Peter, second to none in piety".

730 St. Corbinian "bear" A bishop ordained by Pope St. Gregory II

1071 St. Adela Benedictine noblewoman; Adela was the wife of Count Baldwin IV of Flanders. When the count died, she entered the Benedictines, receiving the habit from Pope Alexander II. Retiring to the Benedictine convent near Ypres, Adela served as a nun until her death.

1628 Bl. Michael Jamada Japan native martyr Dominican tertiary of Japan.
Michael converted and became an outstanding Catholic. He was arrested for aiding foreign missionaries and was beheaded at Nagasaki. Pope Pius IX beatified all these martyrs in 1867.
1622 Bl. John Inamura Japanese martyr
1628 Bl. Anthony of St. Bonaventure Franciscan Spanish martyr of Japan
1628 Bl. Thomas of St. Hyacinth Japanese martyr native catechist
1628 Bl. Thomas Tomaki Japanese martyr young boy
1628 Bl. John Tomaki Japanese martyr and Dominican tertiary
1628 Bl. Dominic of Nagasaki Japanese martyr native
1628 St. James Fayashida, Blessed Japanese martyr native
1628 Bl. Lawrence Jamada Martyr of Japan
1628 Bl. Leo Kombiogi Martyr of Japan Dominican tertiary
1628 Bl. Louis Nifaki Martyred Japanese Dominican tertiary
1628 St. Louis of Omura She Martyr of Japan
1628 St. Romanus Aybara Father of Blessed Paul Aybara and martyr
1628 Bl. Matthew Alvarez Japanese martyr native Dominican tertiary
1628 Bl. Michael Jamada Japan native martyr Dominican tertiary
1626 Bl. Michael Tomaki A thirteen-year-old Japan martyr
1628 St. Paul Aybara Japanese martyr
1628 Bl. Paul Tomaki young Japanese martyr

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 07 2016

400 St. Pamphilus Bishop of Capua A Greek, consecrated bishop by Pope Siricius. Pamphilus’ relics are in Benevento

450 Augustalis as the first historical bishop of Gaul; Duchesne saya assisted at councils in 441 and 442 and signed in 449 and 450 the letters addressed to Pope Leo I from the province of Arles France.

1211 Eustace of Flay, OSB Cist. Abbot apostolic legate of Pope Innocent III to England and represented the holy father against the Albigensians (PC) St. Eustace abbot, was apostolic legate to England
St. Eustace was born at Beauvais, France. He was ordained and served as a priest in his native diocese until he joined the Cistercians at Flay (St. Germer). He later was elected abbot, was apostolic legate to England for Pope Innocent III {1161 1216}, and was later sent by Innocent as his legate to combat Albigensianism in southern France.

1619 Bb. Mark, Stephen And Melchior, Martyrs at the instigation of the Calvinists; They were canonized in 1995 as the Martyrs of Kosice by Pope John Paul II.

1627 Bl. Louis Maki Martyr of Japan layman The adopted son of Blessed Louis Maki. A Christian, he refused to abjure the faith when arrested and was burned alive at Nagasaki. Pope Pius IX beatified him in 1867.

1644 Bl. John Duckett Martyr of England
1644 Bl. Ralph Corby Jesuit martyr of England; Both were beatified in 1929 and also 1644 Bl. Ralph Corby Jesuit martyr of England

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 06 2016

585-590 Eleutherius of Spoleto, OSB Abbot one favored by God with the gift of miracles (RM); At Rome, the holy abbot Eleutherius, a servant of God, who, according to the testimony of Pope St. Gregory, raised a dead man to life by his prayers and tears.

7th v. St. Felix and Augebert 2 martyred English who were captured and sold into slavery in France. Ransomed by Pope St. Gregory I the Great, Felix became a priest and Augebert a deacon.

1258 Liberatus of Loro, OFM introduced initial austerity of Friars Minor with help of Blesseds Humilis and Pacificus(AC); The cultus of this beato was approved by Pope Pius IX in 1868, but his history is involved in a good deal of obscurity.

1997 Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta Albania now Skopje, Macedonia Ottoman
Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the tiny woman recognized throughout the world for her work among the poorest of the poor, was beatified October 19, 2003. Among those present were hundreds of Missionaries of Charity, the Order she founded in 1950 as a diocesan religious community. Today the congregation also includes contemplative sisters and brothers and an order of priests.
Speaking in a strained, weary voice at the beatification Mass, Pope John Paul II declared her blessed, prompting waves of applause before the 300,000 pilgrims in St. Peter's Square. In his homily, read by an aide for the aging pope, the Holy Father called Mother Teresa “one of the most relevant personalities of our age” and “an icon of the Good Samaritan.”

1947 Blessed Claudio Granzotto Friars Minor sculptur; Pope John Paul II said that Claudio made his sculpture "the privileged instrument" of his apostolate and evangelization. "His holiness was especially radiant in his acceptance of suffering and death in union with Christ’s Cross. Thus by consecrating himself totally to the Lord’s love, he became a model for religious, for artists in their search for God’s beauty and for the sick in his loving devotion to the Crucified" (L’Osservatore Romano, Vol. 47, No. 1, 1994).

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 05 2016

1316 BD RAYMUND LULL, MARTYR; Although Ramón’s whole life was a record of disappointment, his literary activity was incredible. Three hundred and thirteen different treatises are attributed to him, most of them in Latin or Catalan, but not a few are in Arabic. Some of his writings have been thought to deserve a note of theological censure, but there is also difficulty in determining in certain cases what is authentically his composition. Nearly all of it gives proof of a tender piety, but he speaks fearlessly of the abuses then prevalent in the Church. Lull is celebrated liturgically by the Friars Minor and others, and Pope Pius XI speaks highly of him in his encyclical letter “Orientalium rerum” (1928), but without according him the title Blessed.

1340 Blessed Gentilis (Gentil) of Matelica sowed faith in Italy, Islamics of Egypt, Arabia, finally martyrd in Persia OFM M. In 1433 Pope Eugenius IV appointed St Laurence to the bishopric of Castello, a diocese which included part of Venice. He tried hard to avoid this dignity and responsibility, and he took possession of his cathedral-church so privately that his own friends knew nothing of the matter till the ceremony was over. As a religious so as a prelate he was admirable for his sincere piety towards God and the greatness of his charity to the poor. He remitted nothing of the austerities which he had practised in the cloister, and from his prayer drew a light, courage and vigour which directed and animated him in his whole conduct; he pacified dissensions in the state and governed a diocese in most difficult times with as much ease as if it had been a single well-regulated convent.

1455 St. Lawrence Giustiniani Bishop of Venice; prior of San Giorgios; deep prayer life; raptures; penance provided him experiential knowledge paths of interior life ability to direct souls; tears shed offering Mass affected all who assisted awakened in them renewed faith. In 1433 Pope Eugenius IV appointed St Laurence to the bishopric of Castello, a diocese which included part of Venice. He tried hard to avoid this dignity and responsibility, and he took possession of his cathedral-church so privately that his own friends knew nothing of the matter till the ceremony was over. As a religious so as a prelate he was admirable for his sincere piety towards God and the greatness of his charity to the poor. He remitted nothing of the austerities which he had practised in the cloister, and from his prayer drew a light, courage and vigour which directed and animated him in his whole conduct; he pacified dissensions in the state and governed a diocese in most difficult times with as much ease as if it had been a single well-regulated convent. The popes of his time held St Laurence in great veneration. Eugenius IV, meeting him once at Bologna, saluted him with the words, “Welcome, ornament of bishops!” His successor, Nicholas V, equally esteemed him and in 1451 recognized his worth in no uncertain fashion.

1838 St. Joseph Canh native Martyr of Vietnam physician. He was a native physician of Vietnam, a Dominican tertiary, and was beheaded by the Japanese authorities because of his refusal to deny Christ. Joseph was canonized in 1988 by Pope John Paul II.

1838 St. Peter Tu Vietnamese martyr native priest; Vietnamese, joined became a priest in his own country. He was beheaded. Pope John Paul II canonized him in 1988.

Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta September 5, 2006 1910-1997

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 04 2016

78 St. Candida the Elder cured of an illness by St. Peter. In the 9th century, her relics were enshrined in Saint Praxedes church by Pope Saint Paschal I (Benedictines, Encyclopedia) .

423 Pope St. Boniface I; gently, but firmly, defended the rights of the Holy See; a strong supporter of St Augustine in his opposition to Pelagianism (RM)

515 St. John, the Short, Arrival of the Holy Relic to the Wilderness of Scetis. On this day also, in the year 515 A.D., the body of the great saint Anba John, the Short, was relocated from Al-Qulzum (Red Sea) to the wilderness of Scetis. When Pope John (Youhanna), 48th Pope of Alexandria, was in the wilderness of Scetis, some of the monks expressed their wish to relocate the relics of St. John, the Short, to his monastery. The Grace of God moved the Pope, and he wrote a letter by the hand of the Hegumen Kosman and Hegumen Boctor, from the elders, and sent them to Al-Qulzum.

1160 St. Rosalia hermit; descendant great Charlemagne; Pope Urban VIII entered her name in the Roman Martyrology, wherein she is mentioned twice, on this date (said to be of her death) and on July 15, the anniversary of the finding of her relics. With the bones were found a crucifix of terra-cotta, a Greek cross of silver, and a string of beads, twelve small and a large one, which was doubtless a rosary in one of its many early forms. The feast of St Rosalia on September 4 is still the principal popular festa among the Panormitans, who always look for a cleansing rain on the preceding days.
Her body was discovered several centuries later, in 1625, during the pontificate of Pope Urban VIII.

1251 St. Rose of Viterbo; At Viterbo, the translation of St. Rose the Virgin, of the Third Order of St. Francis, during the pontificate of Pope Alexander IV. St Rose therefore returned to her parents' house, where she died on March 6 1252, about the age of seventeen. She was buried in the church of Santa Maria in Podio, but her body was on September 4 in 1258 translated to the church of the convent of St Mary of the Roses, as she had foretold. This church was burnt down in 1357 but her body was preserved and is annually carried in procession through the streets of Viterbo. Pope Innocent IV immediately after her death ordered an inquiry into the virtues of St Rose, but her canonization was not achieved until 1457.

1711 Blessed Joseph Vaz, the "Apostle of Sri Lanka several miracles attributed registered in Sri Lanka. "These records are regularly sent to Rome," few pilgrims from Goa visit his country, because "we don't have anything of Blessed Vaz." By Vatican proclamation, the venerated native son was declared patron of Goa in 2000. Blessed Vaz died in Kandy, central Sri Lanka, which remained an independent kingdom during the time of Dutch rule over the rest of the island. The late Pope John Paul II beatified him, declaring him blessed, in Colombo in 1995.

1926 Blessed Dina Bélanger her devotion to the Blessed Sacrament transformed her into a woman of infectious joy despite illness; Born in Québec, Canada, 1897; died 1929; beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1993. When Dina joined the Sisters of Jesus-Marie in Rome (founded by Saint Claudine Thevenet), she took the name Marie Sainte-Cecile of Rome to honor the patron of musicians because she was herself an accomplished pianist. During the course of her life as a sister, her devotion to the Blessed Sacrament transformed her into a woman of infectious joy despite illness. Her autobiography was published in Québec in 1984 (Catholic World News, May 1, 1997).

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 03 2016

604 Saint Gregory, the raising to the Sovereign Pontificate of Great Pope and Doctor of the Church. After the death of Pelagius, St. Gregory was chosen Pope by the unanimous consent of priests and people. Now began those labors which merited for him the title of Great. His zeal extended over the entire known world, he was in contact with all the Churches of Christendom and, in spite of his bodily sufferings, and innumerable labors, he found time to compose a great number of works. He is known above all for his magnificent contributions to the Liturgy of the Mass and Office. He is one of the four great Doctors of the Latin Church. He died March 12, 604. He is the patron of teachers.

1315 St. Andrew Dotti mystic granted visions Servite missionary. He was buried in the church at Borgo San Sepolcro, where the popular veneration for his holiness was confirmed by miracles, and in 1806 Pope Pius VII approved the ancient cultus.

Pope St. Pius X, whose birthday is mentioned on the 20th of August.
Sancti Pii Papæ Décimi, cujus natális dies tertiodécimo Kaléndas Septémbris recensétur. THAT distinguished historian of earlier popes, Baron von Pastor, has written of Pope Pius X:

He was one of those chosen few men whose personality is irresistible. Everyone was moved by his simplicity and his angelic kindness. Yet it was something more that carried him into all hearts: and that “something” is best defined by saying that all who were ever admitted to his presence had a deep conviction of being face to face with a saint. And the more one knows about him the stronger this Conviction becomes.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today September 01 2016

520 St. Constantius Bishop of Aquino; renowned for the gift of prophecy. many virtues; mentioned by Pope St. Gregory the Great in his Dialogues.

543-615 'St Columbanus Was a 'Privileged Channel of God’s Grace' . “Saint Columbanus, who according to Benedict XVI we can truly consider one of the ‘Fathers of Europe,’ was convinced that there can be fraternity in the heart of Europe between people only if a civilization exists that is open to God.”
This statement was made by Pope Francis in a letter that Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, sent on Francis' behalf for the 18th International Meeting of the Columbanus Community, on the 1400th anniversary of the death of the saint. It was sent to Bishop Gianni Ambrosio of Piacenza-Bobbio, Italy.

1490 St. Beatrice da Silva Meneses foundress. canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1976. In 1484, Beatrice founded the Congregation of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The groups first house was the castle of Galliana, a gift from Queen Isabel. Beatrice died at Toledo on September 1, 1490

1367 BD JOAN SODERINI, VIRGIN her tomb at once became a place of pilgrimage.. In 1828 Count Soderini, a relative of Joan, petitioned Pope Leo XII for confirmation of this cultus, which was duly granted.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today June 30

From Pope Clement I, successor of St. Peter: “It was through envy and jealousy that the greatest and most upright pillars of the Church were persecuted and struggled unto death.... First of all, Peter, who because of unreasonable jealousy suffered not merely once or twice but many times, and, having thus given his witness, went to the place of glory that he deserved. It was through jealousy and conflict that Paul showed the way to the prize for perseverance. He was put in chains seven times, sent into exile, and stoned; a herald both in the east and the west, he achieved a noble fame by his faith....”

250 Saint Martial Bishop of Limoges one of the first apostles of France; It is stated that Pope John XIX gave permission for the term “apostle" to be applied to St Martial, but the Congregation of Rites in 1854 refused to ratify this, deciding that he was to be venerated in the Mass, the litanies, and office as an ordinary bishop and confessor. It would seem, however, that the bishop of Limoges, in answer to a remonstrance and appeal addressed to Pius IX in the same year, was gratified with a favourable answer permitting that in that diocese St Martial should enjoy the style and precedence of an apostle.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today; April 29

Pope Alexander II -- Nothing less than a decree issued by Pope Alexander II was required before Robert (1110 Robert of Molesme one of Cistercian founders movement a great reformer OSB Cist. Abbot RM) and the hermits could come together again; the decree appointed him their superior. But they did not last long in Collan, since Robert decided to leave that unhealthy site for a more salubrious setting in the forest of Molesmes (c. 1075).

Honoured as adviser by nine popes, consulted and venerated by all the sovereigns of western Europe, entrusted with the ultimate control of two hundred monasteries, St Hugh during the sixty years that he was abbot of Cluny raised its prestige to extraordinary heights.

Pope Gregory IX -- the year 1234, he (1252 St Peter of Verona inquisitor inspiring sermons martyr accepted into the Dominican Order by St. Dominic) was appointed by Pope Gregory IX as inquisitor of Northern Italy, where many Catharists lived. Peter's preaching attracted large crowds, but as inquisitor he made many enemies.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today; April 30

Eutropius sent by Pope Saint Clement (100) as first bishop in Saintes evangelized inhabitants BM (RM)

1572 St. Pius V, Pope from 1566-1572 Catholic Reformation leader taught theology philosophy 16 years excessive zeal
as grand inquisitor wholeheartedly devoted to the religious life published Roman Catechism revised Roman Breviary and Roman Missal organized Battle of Lepanto

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today; April 28

Pope Pius XII -- 1716 Saint Louis de Monfort founded the Congregation of the Daughters of Divine Wisdom. He was renowned for his preaching and devotion to the Blessed Mother, and was added to the number of the saints by Pope Pius XII.
Pope Clement XI -- 1775 Sancti Pauli a Cruce, Presbyteri et Confessóris; qui Congregatiónis a Cruce et Passióne Dómini nostri Jesu Christi
Cross was endowed with extraordinary gifts. He prophesied future events, healed the sick, and even during his lifetime appeared on various occasions in vision to persons far away In 1714 Paul went to Venice in response to the appeal of Pope Clement XI for volunteers to fight in the Venetian army against the Turks

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today; April 27

Pope Innocent XII. -- 1485 Blessed James of Bitetto heroic humility; levitate during prayer; accurately predict the future; incorrupted body remains; many miracles Many miracles were ascribed to his intercession, and in the garden at Bitetto there used to be a juniper tree which he had planted, the berries of which were said to possess healing properties. He was beatified by Pope Innocent XII. The notice of James de Bitetto in the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. iii, is interesting because this is one of the cases in which the Bollandists have had access to the documents submitted for the beatification process, and have been able to print the evidence of the various witnesses.

Nazareth is the School of the Gospel (II)

It is first a lesson of silence.
May the esteem of silence be born in us anew, this admirable and indispensable condition of the spirit, in us who are assailed by so much clamor, noise and shouting in our modern life, so noisy and hyper sensitized. O silence of Nazareth, teach us recollection, interiority, disposition to listen to the good inspirations and words of the true masters; teach us the need and value of preparation, study, meditation, personal and interior life, and prayer that God alone sees in secret.
It is a lesson of family life.
May Nazareth teach us what a family is, with its communion of love, its austere and simple beauty, its sacred and inviolable character; let us learn from Nazareth how sweet and irreplaceable is the formation one receives within it; let us learn how primordial its role is on the social level.
It is a lesson of work. Nazareth, the house of the carpenter's son; it is there that we would like to understand and celebrate the severe and redeeming law of human labor; there, to reestablish the conscience of work's nobility; to remind people that working cannot be an end in itself, but that its freedom and nobility come, in addition to its economic value, from the value that finalize it; how we wish to salute here all the workers of the world and show them their great model, their divine brother, the prophet of all their just causes, Christ Our Lord.

Homily of Paul VI in Nazareth January 5, 1964

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today; April 26

91 St. Cletus Pope eminent virtue martyr canon of the Roman mass among St. Peter's 1st disciple 3rd Pope after Linus
304 Marcellinus Pope M (RM)
Pope Saint Gregory VII 860 Paschasius Radbertus abandoned at convent asked to be forgotten simply asks for prayers to God left works dealing with the body and blood of Christ the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist (De Corpore et Sanguine Christe) commentary on Saint Matthew's Gospel (12 volumes) composed treatise on the Virgin defend her perpetual virginity long exposition on Psalm 44 and another on the Lamentations of Jeremiah wrote biographies of 2 abbots -Corbie OSB Abbot (AC) -- Radbertus was buried in Saint John's Chapel. His body was translated into the great church, in 1073, by authority of the Pope Saint Gregory VII.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today; April 25

From that time Photius's life 891 Photius career of scholarship and public service at the imperial court legitimate patriarch of Constantinople Orthodox objection to doctrine of the Holy Spirit (Filioque) is one of difficulties between himself and Pope Saint Nicholas I and his successor Adrian II, complicated by the fluctuations of Byzantine politics--a long, complex, and often obscure struggle that is a matter of ecclesiastical history. It did not end until 879 when, Ignatius being dead, Pope John VIII recognized Photius as the legitimate patriarch of Constantinople and peace was restored between the churches.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today; April 24

Pope St Gregory the Great despatched to England in 601: 624 St Mellitus of Canterbury missionary Archbishop of Canterbury from 619

Pius XII, Sovereign Pontiff, enrolled among the number of the saints at Angers in France, St. Mary Euphrasia Pelletier, virgin and foundress of the Institute of the Good Shepherd Sisters.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today; April 22

174 Soter, Pope charity personal kindness care for persecuted condemned Montanists (RM)
282 The Departure of the Holy Father Anba Maximus The Fifteenth Pope of Alexandria.
296 Saint Caius, Pope Dalmatian M (RM)
167 to 175 Pope Soter and Caius, Saints and Popes
They have their feast together on 22 April, on which day they appear in most of the martyrologies, though Notker and a few others give Soter on the 21st and Caius on the 19th or 21st.
536 Pope Agapitus I archdeacon opposed Monophysites Pope (RM) in the opinion of Pope St Gregory I he was “a trumpet of the gospel and a herald of righteousness”.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today; April 21

Pope Clement XI in 1720, 1109 Anselm of Canterbury Doctor of the Church OSB B Cur Deus Homo, the most famous treatise on the Incarnation ever written; canonized and included among the Doctors of the Church by Pope Clement XI in 1720. An attempt to persuade Pope Urban II to depose the saint was equally futile. After due consideration Paschal II confirmed his predecessor’s decisions, and Henry thereupon sent word to St Anselm forbidding his return if he continued recalcitrant, and pronouncing the confiscation of his revenues.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today; April 21

Pope St. Gregory the Great. -- 599 St. Anastasius XI Antioch Patriarch learning holiness comforting afflicted observed perpetual silence except for charityIn 593 Anastasius was restored to his see by Pope St. Gregory the Great.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today; April 21

Pope Pius XI -- 1163 Blessed Fastred of Cambron abbot-founder of Cambron obligation to poverty OSB Cist. Abbot (AC) Being renowned for miracles, Pope Pius XI enrolled him among the number of the saints.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today; April 20

On April 20, 1940, Pope Pius XII fittingly addressed these eloquent words in the city of Genoa for the anniversary of this event: "Genoese, bow down to Columbus, not only to the bold navigator who overcame opposition from scientists and the fury of the ocean, but also to a great servant of Our Lady. He placed his expedition under Mary's protection and gave his caravel the name of Santa Maria. When he climbed aboard his ship, he said farewell to a surprised and skeptical Europe; he ventured on the fierce waves and reaching the end of his journey
he kneeled before Jesus, who calmed the storms, and before Mary, the star of the sea."
Encyclopedia Maria Vol. IV - Beauchesne 1956.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today; April 19

1054 Leo IX "the pilgrim pope" - reformer deacon a stern bishop holy man & army officer Pope (RM)

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints today; April 18

Alexander III 1159-81: granted privileges were to the abbey of 1167 Idesbald of Dunes court of Flanders OSB Cist. Abbot

Popes mentioned in todays articles of Saints April 13

655 Saint Martin the Confessor, Pope of Rome native of the Tuscany convened Lateran Council at Rome condemn Monothelite heresy last martyred Pope
Pope Paschal II,

{Pope Paschal II Succeeded Urban II, and reigned from 13 Aug., 1099, till he died at Rome, 21 Jan., 1118.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints April 12

649-655 Pope St. Martin I defender of the faith; buried in the church of Our Lady, called Blachernæ, near Cherson
Sancti Martíni Primi, Papæ et Mártyris, cujus dies natális sextodécimo Kaléndas Octóbris recensétur.
The Feast of St. Martin I, pope and martyr, whose birthday is mentioned on the 16th day of September.

Many miracles are related wrought by St Martin in life and after death; Pope St. Martin I of noble birth, great student, commanding intelligence, profound learning, great charity to the poor Saint Martin the Confessor, Pope of Rome native of the Tuscany convened Lateran Council at Rome condemn Monothelite heresy;

Last martyred Pope.
655 Martin I, Pope died in the Crimea great intellect and charity the last pope to die a martyr M (RM)
Born in Todi in Umbria, Italy; died in the Crimea, September 16, 655; feast day was previously November 12 (November 10 in York);
the Eastern Church celebrates his feast on September 20.

336 St. Julius elected Pope to succeed Pope St. Mark on February 6, 337 built several basilicas and churches in Rome
declared that Athanasius was the rightful bishop of Alexandria and reinstated him

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints

Pope St. Leo I (the Great) April 11
"And to the angel of the Church of Pergamum write: the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword. I know where you live, where the throne of Satan is, and you cleave unto My Name, and have not renounced My faith, even in those days when Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwells" (Rev 2:12-13). St. Antipas

Pope Urban V, in 1360, appointed 1374 Blessed Antony of Pavoni consistent poverty of Antony's life & example of Christian virtue combatting heresies of Lombards OP inquisitor-general of Lombardy and Genoa, making him one of the youngest men ever to hold that office. It was a difficult and dangerous job for a young priest of 34. Besides being practically a death sentence to any man who held the office, it carried with it the necessity of arguing with the men most learned in a twisted and subtle heresy. Antony worked untiringly in his native city, and his apostolate lasted 14 years.

432 Saint Celestine Pope of Rome (422-432) zealous champion of Orthodoxy virtuous life theologian authority denounced the Nestorian heresy

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints

180 Saint Hegesippus Father of Church History Jewish convert {Eusebius drew heavily on his writings for Ecclesiastical History (Book I through Book X)}

432 Celestine I Pope treatise against semi-Pelagianism

Born in Campania, Italy; died at Rome, July 27, 432; feast day formerly on July 27 and/or August 1. Saint Celestine was a deacon in Rome when he was elected pope on September 20, 422, to succeed Saint Boniface. He was a staunch supporter of Saint Germanus of Auxerre in the fight against Pelagianism, and a friend of Saint Augustine with whom he corresponded, and which demonstrates that the bishop of Rome was the central authority even at that early date.

About the year 1234 Pope Gregory IX appointed 1252 St. Peter of Verona inquisitor inspiring sermons martyr accepted into the Dominican Order by St. Dominicinquisitor general for the Milanese territories.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints

St Leo IX -- 1095 Saint Gerald of Sauve-Majeure monk cellarer of abbey Corbie; founded, directed, Benedictine Abbey of Grande -Sauveabbot author of a hagiology His abbot chose him as companion to go with him to Rome, where he hoped the sufferer might be cured.Together they visited the tombs of the Apostles, and at the hands of St Leo IX Gerald was ordained priest.
Pope Urban IV) -- 1258 Blessed Juliana of Mount Cornillon visions in which Jesus pointed out that there was no feast in honor of the Blessed Sacrament OSA V (AC) her mission to some of her friends, notably to Bd Eva, a recluse who lived beside St Martin’s church on the opposite bank of the river, and to a saintly woman, Isabel of Huy, whom she had received into her community. Encouraged no doubt by the support of these two, she opened her heart to a learned canon of St Martin’s, John of Lausanne, asking him to consult theologians as to the propriety of such a feast. James Pantaleon (afterwards Pope Urban IV), Hugh of St Cher, the Dominican prior provincial, Bishop Guy of Cambrai, chancellor of the University of Paris, with other learned men, were approached, and decided that there was no theological or canonical objection to the institution of a festival in honour of the Blessed Sacrament.

127 Sixtus I, Pope survived as pope for about 10 years before being killed by the Roman authorities M (RM)
Romæ natális beáti Xysti Primi, Papæ et Mártyris; qui, tempóribus Hadriáni Imperatóris, summa cum laude rexit Ecclésiam, ac demum, sub Antoníno Pio, ut sibi Christum lucrifáceret, libénter mortem sustínuit temporálem.
At Rome, the birthday of blessed Pope Sixtus the First, martyr, who ruled the Church with distinction during the reign of Emperor Hadrian, and finally in the reign of Antoninus Pius he gladly accepted temporal death in order to gain Christ for himself. (also known as Xystus)

Saint Leo the Great -- 469 St. Abundius Greek priest bishop noted theologian obvious intellect and holiness attended Councils of Chalcedon and Milan, Hermit (RM) (also known as Abondius, Abundias) Died c. 500. Saint Abundius, a Greek priest, was consecrated bishop of Como in northern Italy. Because he was an able theologian, Saint Leo the Great entrusted him with a mission to Emperor Theodosius the Younger, which led to the convening of the Council of Chalcedon in 451. At the council, Abundius presided as the pope's legate (Attwater2, Benedictines).

6th v. St. Musa Virgin child of Rome; a great mystic, visions and ecstasies, reported by St. Gregory I the Great

1220 Jacqueline V Hermit recluse in Sicily reprimanded Pope Innocent III

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints

During his 52-year episcopacy, 1132 St. Hugh of Grenoble Benedictine bishop amazing modesty took upon himself all sins of others the cross he carried was heavy laden holy and redemptive great reputation for miracles:
vainly tendered his resignation to each pope--Gregory VII, Gelasius II, Calixtus II, Honorius II, Innocent II, and others--and they refused him because of his outstanding ability. He never ceased imploring them to release him from the duties of his episcopal office up to the day of his death. During his last, painful illness he was tormented by headaches and stomach disorders that resulted from his long fasts and vigils, yet never complained. For a short time before his death, he lost his memory for everything but prayer, and would recite the Psalter and the Our Father unceasingly.

440 Pope St. Sixtus III approved Acts of the Council of Ephesus endeavoured to restore peace between Cyril of Alexandria and John of Antioch prominent among the Roman clergy and in correspondence with St. Augustine

Romæ sancti Xysti Tértii, Papæ et Confessóris. At Rome, St. Sixtus III, pope and confessor.

Pope Martin V -- The Observant reform which had been initiated in the middle of the fourteenth century still found itself hampered in many ways by the administration of superiors general who held a different standard of perfection, and on the other hand there had also been exaggerations in the direction of much greater austerity culminating eventually in the heretical teachings of the Fraticelli. All these difficulties required adjustment, and Capistran, working in harmony with St Bernardino of Siena, was called upon to bear a large share in this burden. After the general chapter held at Assisi in 1430, St John was appointed to draft the conclusions at which the assembly arrived, and these “Martinian statutes”, as they were called, in virtue of their confirmation by Pope Martin V, are among the most important in the history of the order.
Aeneas Sylvius (the future Pope Pius II) -- St John Capistran was sent as commissary and inquisitor general, and he set out for Vienna in 1451 with twelve of his Franciscan brethren to assist him. It is beyond doubt that his coming produced a great sensation. Aeneas Sylvius (the future Pope Pius II) tells us how, when he entered Austrian territory, “priests and people came out to meet him, carrying the sacred relics. They received him as a legate of the Apostolic See, as a preacher of truth, as some great prophet sent by God. They came down from the mountains to greet John, as though Peter or Paul or one of the other apostles were journeying there. They eagerly kissed the hem of his garment, brought their sick and afflicted to his feet, and it is reported that very many were cured. . . . The elders of the city met him and conducted him to Vienna. No square in the city could contain the crowds. They looked on him as an angel of God.”

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints

St. Venturino of Bergamo is also known for helping to organize a crusade, at the behest of Pope Clement VI (r. 1342-1352), against the Turks who were then menacing Europe.

150 St. Mark & Timothy Roman martyrs of post-apostolic times mentioned in a letter by Pope St. Pius I

752 Pope St. Zachary 741 - 752 Zachary I, Pope known for his learning & sanctity chosen pope in 741 to succeed Saint Gregory III (RM)

Pope Zacharias_Zachary Pope Zachary was a peace-maker and judged no man without a hearing.

Zachary was also responsible for restoring Montecassino under Saint Petronax and himself consecrated its abbey church in 748. The saint was known for aiding the poor, provided refuge to nuns driven from Constantinople by the iconoclasts, ransomed slaves from the Venetians, forbade the selling of Christian slaves to the Moors of Africa, and translated Saint Gregory the Great's Dialogues into Greek. Since "Zacharias embraced and cherished all people like a father and a good shepherd, and never allowed even the smallest injustice to happen to anyone," he was venerated as a saint immediately after his death (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Farmer, Husenbeth, Schamoni).

Frequent and daily Communion is greatly desired by our Lord and the Church. Pope St. Pius X

A meditation during the Great Fast...

“It is necessary most of all for one who is fasting to curb anger,
to accustom himself to meekness and condescension,
to have a contrite heart,
to repulse impure thoughts and desires, to examine his conscience,
to put his mind to the test and to verify what good has been done by us in this or any other week,
and which deficiency we have corrected in ourselves in the present week.
This is true fasting.” – Saint John Chrysostom

March 21 – Our Lady of Nowy Swierjan (Russia)
Hail, Holy Mother of God -- Pope Francis

Jesus Christ is the blessing for every man and woman ... The Church, in giving us Jesus, offers us the fullness of the Lord’s blessing. This is precisely the mission of the people of God: to spread to all peoples God’s blessing made flesh in Jesus Christ. And Mary, the first and most perfect disciple of Jesus, the first and most perfect believer, the model of the pilgrim Church, is the one who opens the way to the Church’s motherhood and constantly sustains her maternal mission to all mankind. Mary’s tactful maternal witness has accompanied the Church from the beginning. She, the Mother of God, is also the Mother of the Church, and through the Church, the mother of all men and women, and of every people. …

Let us look to Mary, let us contemplate the Holy Mother of God. I suggest that you all greet her together, just like those courageous people of Ephesus, who cried out before their pastors when they entered Church: “Hail, Holy Mother of God!” What a beautiful greeting for our Mother. There is a story – I do not know if it is true – that some among those people had clubs in their hands, perhaps to make the Bishops understand what would happen if they did not have the courage to proclaim Mary “Mother of God”! I invite all of you, without clubs, to stand up and to greet her three times with this greeting of the early Church: “Hail, Holy Mother of God!” Pope Francis; Homily, Holy Mass on the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

Vatican Basilica, January 1, 2015

Pope’s Prayer in Pompeii
Saturday, March 21, 2015

Virgin of the Holy Rosary, Mother of the Redeemer, our earthly Lady raised above the heavens, humble servant of the Lord, proclaimed Queen of the world, from the depth of our miseries we turn to you. With the faithfulness of children we look to your sweet gaze.

Crowned with twelve stars, you bring us to the mystery of the Father, you shine the splendor of the Holy Spirit, you give us our Divine Child, Jesus, our hope, our only salvation in the world. Comforted by your Rosary, you invite us to be fixed to his gaze. You open to us His heart, abyss of joy and sorry, of light and glory, mystery of the son of God, made man for us. At your feet in the footsteps of the saints, we feel as God’s family.

Mother and model of the Church, you are our guide and secure support. Make us one heart and one mind, a strong people on the way towards the heavenly homeland. We entrust our miseries, the many streets of hate and blood, the thousands of ancient and new poverties and above all, our sins. To you we entrust ourselves, Mother of Mercy: grant us the forgiveness of God, help us to build a world according to your heart.

O Blessed Rosary of Mary, sweet chain that ties us to God, chain of love that makes us brothers, we will not leave you again. You will be in our hands a weapon of peace and forgiveness, star that guides our path. And the kiss to you with our last breath, we plunge into a wave of light, in the vision of the beloved Mother and the Son of God, the desire and joy of our heart, with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

1086 ST ANSELM, BISHOP OF Lucca
IT was in 1036 that St Anselm was born in Mantua, and in 1073 his uncle, Pope Alexander II, nominated him to the bishopric of Lucca, left vacant by his own elevation to the chair of St Peter, and sent him to Germany to receive from the Emperor Henry IV the crozier and the ring— in accordance with the regrettable custom of the time. Anselm, however, was so strongly convinced that the secular power had no authority to confer ecclesiastical dignities that he could not bring himself to accept investiture from the emperor and returned to Italy without it. Only after he had been consecrated by Alexander’s successor, Pope St Gregory VII, did he consent to accept from Henry the crozier and the ring, and even then he felt scruples of conscience on the subject. These doubts led him to leave his diocese and to withdraw to a congregation of Cluniac monks at Polirone. A dignitary of such high-minded views could ill be spared, and Pope Gregory recalled him from his retirement and sent him back to Lucca to resume the government of his diocese. Zealous with regard to discipline, he strove to enforce among his canons the common life enjoined by the decree of Pope St Leo IX. In acute discordance with the edifying example accredited to them above in our notice of St Frediano, the canons refused to obey, although they were placed under an interdict by the pope and afterwards excommunicated. Countess Matilda of Tuscany undertook to expel them, but they raised a revolt and, being supported by the Emperor Henry, drove the bishop out of the city in 1079.

752 Zachary I, Pope known for his learning & sanctity chosen pope in 741 to succeed Saint Gregory III (RM)
(also known as Zacharias) Born at San Severino, Calabria, Italy; died 752; feast day formerly on March 22; feast day in the East is September 5.

St. Irenaeus of Lyons, writing in the latter quarter of the second century, reckons him as the fifth pope in succession from the Apostles, though he says nothing of his martyrdom. His pontificate is variously dated by critics, e. g. 106-115 (Duchesne) or 109-116 (Lightfoot). In Christian antiquity he was credited with a pontificate of about ten years (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. IV, i,) and there is no reason to doubt that he was on the "catalogue of bishops" drawn up at Rome by Hegesippus (Eusebius, IV, xxii, 3) before the death of Pope Eleutherius (c. 189). According to a tradition extant in the Roman Church at the end of the fifth century, and recorded in the Liber Pontificalis he suffered a martyr's death by decapitation on the Via Nomentana in Rome, 3 May. The same tradition declares him to have been a Roman by birth and to have ruled the Church in the reign of Trajan (98-117). It likewise attributes to him, but scarcely with accuracy, the insertion in the canon of the Qui Pridie, or words commemorative of the institution of the Eucharist, such being certainly primitive and original in the Mass. He is also said to have introduced the use of blessing water mixed with salt for the purification of Christian homes from evil influences (constituit aquam sparsionis cum sale benedici in habitaculis hominum). Duchesne (Lib. Pont., I, 127) calls attention to the persistence of this early Roman custom by way of a blessing in the Gelasian Sacramentary that recalls very forcibly the actual Asperges prayer at the beginning of Mass. In 1855, a semi-subterranean cemetery of the holy martyrs Sts. Alexander, Eventulus, and Theodulus was discovered near Rome, at the spot where the above mentioned tradition declares the Pope to have been martyred. According to some archaeologists, this Alexander is identical with the Pope, and this ancient and important tomb marks the actual site of the Pope's martyrdom. Duchesne, however (op. cit., I, xci-ii) denies the identity of the martyr and the pope, while admitting that the confusion of both personages is of ancient date, probably anterior to the beginning of the sixth century when the Liber Pontificalis was first compiled [Dufourcq, Gesta Martyrum Romains (Paris, 1900), 210-211]. The difficulties raised in recent times by Richard Lipsius (Chronologie der römischen Bischofe, Kiel, 1869) and Adolph Harnack (Die Zeit des Ignatius u. die Chronologie der antiochenischen Bischofe, 1878) concerning the earliest successors of St. Peter are ably discussed and answered by F. S. (Cardinal Francesco Segna) in his "De successione priorum Romanorum Pontificum" (Rome 1897); with moderation and learning by Bishop Lightfoot, in his "Apostolic Fathers: St. Clement ' (London, 1890) I, 201-345- especially by Duchesne in the introduction to his edition of the "Liber Pontificalis" (Paris, 1886) I, i-xlviii and lxviii-lxxiii. The letters ascribed to Alexander I by PseudoIsidore may be seen in P. G., V, 1057 sq., and in Hinschius, "Decretales Pseudo-Isidorianae" (Leipzig, 1863) 94-105. His remains are said to have been transferred to Freising in Bavaria in 834 (Dummler, Poetae Latini Aevi Carolini, Berlin, 1884, II, 120). His so-called "Acts" are not genuine, and were compiled at a much later date (Tillemont, Mem. II, 590 sqq; Dufourcq, op. cit., 210-211).

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints

the monothelite heresy condemned by Pope St Martin I at the Council of the Lateran in 649.

604 Saint Gregory Dialogus granted a vision of the Lord Himself Pope of Rome used inheritance to establish 6 monasteries
Romæ sancti Gregórii Primi, Papæ, Confessóris et Ecclésiæ Doctóris exímii; qui, ob res præcláræ gestas atque Anglos ad Christi fidem convérsos, Magnus est dictus et Anglórum Apóstolus appellátus.
At Rome, St. Gregory, pope and eminent doctor of the Church, who on account of his illustrious deeds and the conversion of the English to the faith of Christ, was surnamed the Great, and called the Apostle of England.
Born in Rome around the year 540. His grandfather was Pope Felix, and his mother Sylvia (November 4) and aunts Tarsilla and Emiliana were also numbered among the saints by the Roman Church. Having received a most excellent secular education, he attained high government positions.

604 ST GREGORY THE GREAT, POPE, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
POPE GREGORY I, most justly called “the Great”, and the first pope who had been a monk, was elected to the apostolic chair when Italy was in a terrible condition after the struggle between the Ostrogoths and the Emperor Justinian, which ended with the defeat and death of Totila in 562.

The saint’s family, one of the few patrician families left in the city, was distinguished also for its piety, having given to the Church two popes, Agapitus I and Felix III, Gregory’s great-great-grandfather

Popes mentioned in articles of todays Saints

Pope Benedict XIV placed him 1456 St. Peter Regulatus noble family Franciscan reformer severe asceticism levitate ecstasies SEE ALSO MAY 13 At Aquileria in Spain, the confessor St. Peter Regulatus, priest of the Order of Friars Minor. He was born in Valladolid, and restored the regular discipline in the Spanish monasteries. Pope Benedict XIV placed him on the roll of saints. b. 1390

the monothelite heresy condemned by Pope St Martin I at the Council of the Lateran in 649.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints

Pope Leo XIII --1550 St. John of God impulsive love embraced anyone in need St. John of God, founder of the Order of Brothers Hospitallers, famed for his mercy to the poor, and his contempt of self. Pope Leo XIII appointed him as heavenly patron of the sick and of all hospitals.

260 Pontius of Carthage Deacon; graphic account of the life and passion of Saint Cypri

254 St. Lucius I a Roman elected Pope to succeed Pope St. Cornelius

Pope St Gregory VII-- 1123 St. Peter of Pappacarbone Benedictine bishop leadership, care, and wisdom The abbot’s opinion was abundantly justified, for Peter proved himself well among that household of holy men and he remained there for some six years. He was then recalled to Italy, having been released by St Hugh apparently at the request of the archdeacon of Rome, Hildebrand (who was afterwards Pope St Gregory VII).

Pope St Silvester; -- 803 St. Anselm of Nonantola Benedictine abbot duke
St. Anselm also received from Pope Stephen III permission to remove to Nonantola the body of Pope St Silvester; and Langobard King Aistulf enriched the abbey with gifts and granted it many privileges it became very celebrated throughout all Italy.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints

492 ST. FELIX III Pope helped to get the Church in Africa on its feet

492 ST. FELIX III Pope helped to get the Church in Africa on its feet
Romæ natális sancti Felícis Papæ Tértii, qui sancti Gregórii Magni átavus fuit; qui étiam (ut ipse Gregórius refert), sanctæ Tharsíllæ nepti appárens, illam ad cæléstia regna vocávit.
At Rome, the birthday of Pope St. Felix III, ancestor of St. Gregory the Great, who relates of him that he appeared to St. Tharsilla, his niece, and called her to the kingdom of heaven.
492 ST FELIX II (III), POPE 483 - 492

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints

468 St. Hilary, Pope from 461-468 guardian of Church unity sent decree to Eastern bishops validating decisions of General Councils Nicaea Ephesus and Chalcedon. Hilary consolidated the Church in Sandi, Africa, and Gaul

731 Saint Pope Gregory II served St Sergius I next 4 popes as treasurer of the Church, then librarian, Held synods to correct abuses, stopped heresy, promoted discipline, morality in religious and clerical life

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints

Benedict VII -- 1011 St. Willigis Bishop missionaries to Scandinavia, founded churches chaplain to Emperor Otto II
On the death of Otto, Willigis became one of the most important and influential people in the empire.
Confirmed by Benedict VII in the right to coronate emperors, Willigis crowned Otto III and later influenced him in favor of abandoning Italy and concentrating his resources north of the Alps. Otto III died young in 1002. The succession was disputed but ended with Willigis crowning Saint Henry II and his wife Saint Cunegund at Paderborn. He then served his third monarch faithfully.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints

Ordained by Pope Vigilius in 546. 556 St. Maximian of Ravenna Bishop of Ravenna erected St. Vitalis Basilica, which was dedicated in the presence of Emperor Justinian and his wife, Theodora Maximianus of Ravenna B (RM) Born in Pola, Italy, 499; died February 22, 556; feast day formerly February 21. Maximianus was consecrated bishop of Ravenna in 546 by Pope Vigilius.

79 Irene Spanish Sister of Pope Saint Damasus

Pope Julius II died on this day in 1513. During his reign as pope he laid the cornerstone for St. Peter's Basilica.
He also commissioned Michelangelo Buonarotti to paint the frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chaper.

Pope Leo XIII. 1233 7 Founders of the Order of Servites On the Feast of the Assumption ; canonized in 1887 by Pope Leo XIII.

Clement VII in 1533 approved The cultus of Bd Verdiana who appears in the habit of a Vallombrosan nun, carrying a basket with two snakes in it. It seems certain she was associated with the Vallombrosan Order, but her connection with the Franciscan third order is by no means so clearly established.

Pope Callistus III allowed BD EUSTOCHIUM OF MESSINA, VIRGIN to found another convent to follow the first rule of St Francis under the Observants.

Quote: Pope Paul VI’s 1969 Instruction on the Contemplative Life includes this passage:
"To withdraw into the desert is for Christians tantamount to associating themselves more intimately with Christ’s passion, and it enables them, in a very special way, to share in the paschal mystery and in the passage of Our Lord from this world to the heavenly homeland" (#1).

"Christianity is not a moral code or a philosophy, but an encounter with a person" -- Benedict XVI

"To withdraw into the desert is for Christians tantamount to associating themselves more intimately with Christ’s passion, and it enables them, in a very special way, to share in the paschal mystery and in the passage of Our Lord from this world to the heavenly homeland" (#1).

731 Pope Gregory II, 89th Pope: educated at the Lateran restore clerical discipline, fought heresies helped restore and rebuild churches (including Saint Paul-Outside-the-Walls), hospitals, and monasteries, including Monte Cassino under Petrona The outstanding concern of his pontificate was his difficulties with Emperor Leo III the Isaurian (RM)

824 Pope St. Paschal elected as the 94th pope on the day Pope Stephen IV (V) died, January 25, 817 unsuccessful in attempts to end the iconoclast heresy of Emperor Leo V, encouraged SS. Nicephorous and Theodore Studites in Constantinople to resist iconoclasm, and gave refuge to the many Greek monks who fled to Rome to escape persecution from the iconoclasts. Popes Html link here:

731 Gregory II, 89th Pope educated at the Lateran restore clerical discipline, fought heresies helped restore and rebuild churches (including Saint Paul-Outside-the-Walls), hospitals, and monasteries, including Monte Cassino under Petrona The outstanding concern of his pontificate was his difficulties with Emperor Leo III the Isaurian (RM)
824 St. Paschal elected as the 94th pope on the day Pope Stephen IV (V) died, January 25, 817

Pope Innocent III had experienced a similar vision. Without hesitation Innocent provided papal approval for the Order of the Most Holy Trinity for the Redemption of Captives (the Trinitarians), with John of Matha as superior.

824 St. Paschal elected as the 94th pope on the day Pope Stephen IV (V) died, January 25, 817 unsuccessful in attempts to end the iconoclast heresy of Emperor Leo V, encouraged SS. Nicephorous and Theodore Studites in Constantinople to resist iconoclasm, and gave refuge to the many Greek monks who fled to Rome to escape persecution from the iconoclasts.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints

1198 - 1216 Pope Innocent III;
One of the greatest popes of the Middle Ages; a learned theologian; one of the greatest jurists of his time; held various ecclesiastical offices during short reigns of Lucius III, Urban III, Gregory VIII, and Clement III; re-established papal authority in Rome; scarcely a country in Europe over which Innocent III did not in some way or other assert supremacy he claimed for the papacy;
During his reign two great founders of the mendicant orders, St. Dominic and St. Francis, laid before him their scheme of reforming the world. Innocent was not blind to the vices of luxury and indolence which had infected many of the clergy and part of the laity.
In Dominic and Francis he recognized two mighty adversaries of these vices and he sanctioned their projects with words of encouragement. He wrote "De quadripartita specie nuptiarum" (P. L., CCXVII, 923-968), an exposition of the fourfold marriage bond, namely, between man and wife, between Christ and the Church, between God and the just soul, between the Word and human nature - - entirely based on passages from Holy Scripture. Popes Html link here:

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints

Gregory IV (827-44) # 102

Elected near the end of 827; died January, 844. When Gregory was born is not known, but he was a Roman and the son of John. Before his election to the papacy he was the Cardinal-Priest of the Basilica of St. Mark, which he adorned with mosaics yet visible. For his piety and learning he was ordained priest by Paschal I. This man, of distinguished appearance and high birth, was raised to the chair of Peter, despite his protestations of unfitness, mainly buy the instrumentality of the secular nobility of Rome who were then securing a preponderating influence in papal elections. But the representatives in Rome of the Emperor Louis the Pious would not allow him to be consecrated until his election had been approved by their master. This interference caused such delay that it was not, seemingly, till about March, 828, that he began to govern the Church.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints

Clement IX 1667-1669: 1670 St. Charles of Sezze Franciscan Pope Clement IX called Charles to his bedside for a blessing;

Pope Pius XI -- 1888 ST JOHN BOSCO, FOUNDER OF THE SALESIANS OF DON Bosco
“IN his life the supernatural almost became the natural and the extraordinary ordinary.” These were the words of Pope Pius XI in speaking of that great lover of children, Don Bosco.

At Paris St. Thomas was honored with the friendship of the King, St. Louis, with whom he frequently dined. In 1261, Urban IV called him to Rome where he was appointed to teach, but he positively declined to accept any ecclesiastical dignity. St. Thomas not only wrote (his writings filled twenty hefty tomes characterized by brilliance of thought and lucidity of language), but he preached often and with greatest fruit. Clement IV offered him the archbishopric of Naples which he also refused. He left the great monument of his learning, the "Summa Theologica", unfinished, for on his way to the second Council of Lyons, ordered there by Gregory X, he fell sick and died at the Cistercian monastery of Fossa Nuova in 1274.

St. Thomas declared Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius V.

Romæ sancti Vitaliáni Papæ. At Rome, St. Vitalian, pope.

Whereas in the Lord's Prayer, we are bidden to ask for 'our daily bread,' the Holy Fathers of the Church all but unanimously teach that by these words must be understood, not so much that material bread which is the support of the body, as the Eucharistic bread, which ought to be our daily food. -- Pope St. Pius X

Then in 1525, since it was a Holy Year of Jubilee, Angela Merici went as a pilgrim to Rome to gain the great jubilee indulgence. When she had an audience with the Pope Clement VII, he tried to persuade her to stay at Rome and head a congregation of nursing sisters. But she was still convinced of her calling to education work. In fact, years before, she had experienced a vision in which she saw a group of young women ascending to heaven on a ladder of light. A voice had then said:

“Take heed, Angela; before you die you will found at Brescia a company of maidens similar to those you have just seen.”

It was April 1533 that she made this prophecy come true. The Ursalines

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints

Pope Gregory IX 1227-1241 , having called St Raymund to Rome in 1230, nominated him to various offices and took him likewise for his confessor, in which capacity Raymund enjoined the pope, for a penance, to receive, hear and expedite immediately all petitions presented by the poor. Gregory also ordered the saint to gather into one body all the scattered decrees of popes and councils since the collection made by Gratian in 1150. In three years Raymund completed his task, and the five books of the “Decretals” were confirmed by the same Pope Gregory in 1234. Down to the publication of the new Codex Juris Canonici in 1917 this compilation of St Raymund was looked upon as the best arranged part of the body of canon law, on which account the canonists usually chose it for the text of their commentaries.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints

250 St. Fabian layperson dove descended this stranger was elected Pope able built Church of Rome
Pope ST FABIAN succeeded St Antherus in the pontificate about the year 236. Eusebius relates that in an assembly of the people and clergy held to elect the new pope, a dove flew in and settled on the head of St Fabian.

Pope Paschal II 1086 St. Canute IV Martyred king of Denmark -- authorized the veneration of St Canute, though it is not easy to see upon what his claim to martyrdom rests. Aelnoth adds that the first preachers of Christianity in Denmark and Scandinavia were Englishmen, and that the Swedes were the most difficult to convert.

Pope Leo XIII 1924 Saint Joseph Sebastian Pelczar; Bishop of Przemysl in 1900 until his death in 1924. He made frequent visits to the parishes, supported the religious orders, conducted three synods, and worked for the education and religious formation of his priests.
He worked for the implentation of the social doctrine described in the writings of Pope Leo XIII.

The Church without Mary is an orphanage
Pope Francis:

“It is very different to try and grow in the faith without Mary's help. It is something else. It is like growing in the faith, yes, but in a Church that is an orphanage. A Church without Mary is an orphanage. With Mary—she educates us, she makes us grow, she accompanies us, she touches consciences. She knows how to touch consciences, for repentance.”

Pope Francis Speech of October 25, 2014, to the Schönstatt Apostolic Movement on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of its founding

Pope Clement IX -- 1670 St. Charles of Sezze Franciscan Pope Clement IX called Charles to his bedside for a blessing.
Pope Paul V -- St. Joan de Lestonnac The congregation was affiliated with the Benedictines, but its rule and constitutions were founded on those of Saint Ignatius Loyola. Her scheme was approved by Pope Paul V in 1607. The following year the sisters received the habit from the cardinal and, in 1610, Joan became the mother superior on the first house in Bordeaux of the Sisters of Notre Dame.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints

Pope St. Stephen. -- 155? SS. SPEUSIPPUS, ELEUSIPPUS AND MELEUSIPPUS, MARTYRS
Romæ Invéntio sanctórum Mártyrum Diodóri Presbyteri, Mariáni Diáconi, et Sociórum; qui, sancto Stéphano Papa Ecclésiam Dei regénte, martyrium Kaléndis Decémbris sunt assecúti.
At Rome, the finding of the holy martyrs Diodorus, priest, and Marian, deacon, and their companions. They suffered martyrdom on the 1st of December during the pontificate of Pope St. Stephen.

308-309 Pope St. Marcellus I

Romæ, via Salária, natális sancti Marcélli Primi, Papæ et Mártyris; qui, ob cathólicæ fídei confessiónem, jubénte Maxéntio tyránno, primo cæsus est fústibus, deínde ad servítium animálium cum custódia pública deputátus, et ibídem, serviéndo indútus amíctu cilícino, defúnctus est.

At Rome, on the Salarian Way, the birthday of Pope St. Marcellus I, a martyr for the confession of the Catholic faith. By command of the tyrant Maxentius he was beaten with clubs, then sent to take care of animals, with a guard to watch him. In this servile office, dressed in haircloth, he departed this life.

Popes mentioned in articles of Saints

Pope Innocent III : 1208 Bl. Peter of Castelnau Martyred Cistercian papal legate and inquisitor
To him, aided by another of his religious brethren, Pope Innocent III in 1203 confided the mission of taking action as apostolic delegate and inquisitor against the Albigensian heretics, a duty which Peter discharged with much zeal, but little success.

Pope Sylvester I (r. 314-335) named St. Agrecius Bishop to this see of Treves (modern Trier), Germany Agrecius missionary trusted associate of St. Helena

Pope Alexander VI.
Several times Christ gave to St. Martha, blessed Veronica of Binasco, virgin, of the Order of St. Augustine.in prayer important messages which she carried to influential persons such as the Duke of Milan and Pope Alexander VI.

Pope St. Innocent I 401-41 ; Pope St. Celestine I 422-432;

681 Pope St. Agatho 678-681 a holy death, concluded a life remarkable for sanctity and learning.
1276 Teobaldo Visconti Pope St. Gregory X 1210-1276; Arriving in Rome in March, he was first ordained priest, then consecrated bishop, and crowned on the 27th of the same month, in 1272. He took the name of Gregory X, and to procure the most effectual succour for the Holy Land he called a general council to meet at Lyons. This fourteenth general council, the second of Lyons, was opened in May 1274. Among those assembled were St Albert the Great and St Philip Benizi; St Thomas Aquinas died on his way thither, and St Bonaventure died at the council. In the fourth session the Greek legates on behalf of the Eastern emperor and patriarch restored communion between the Byzantine church and the Holy See.; miraculous cures performed by him

Saints of Previoius Days

St. Hyginus, Pope Greek 137-140 confront Gnostic heresy
Romæ sancti Hygíni, Papæ et Mártyris; qui, in persecutióne Antoníni, glorióse martyrium consummávit.
At Rome, St. Hyginus, pope, who suffered a glorious martyrdom in the persecution of Antoninus.
Pope from 137-140, successorto Pope St. Telesphorus. He was a Greek, and probably had a pontificate of four years. He had to confront the Gnostic heresy and Valentinus and Cerdo, leaders of the heresy, who were in Rome at the time. Some lists proclaim him a martyr. His cult was suppressed in 1969.

Quote: Pope Paul VI’s 1969 Instruction on the Contemplative Life includes this passage:

"Christianity is not a moral code or a philosophy, but an encounter with a person" -- Benedict XVI

Christianity is not a moral code or a philosophy, but an encounter with a person” -- Benedict XVI

Nazareth is the School of the Gospel (II)

Homily of Paul VI in Nazareth January 5, 1964

Pope Warns Against Domesticating Memory of Salvation
At Morning Mass, Says It's 'So Wonderful to Be Saved' That We Must Feast
- Pope Francis reflected today on the joy of the Christian life, specifically, the awareness that Christ came to save us.

He celebrated his habitual morning Mass in the Domus Sanctae Marthae with the eight cardinals who he has chosen to be his advisory council. The council is meeting these days at the Vatican.

Vatican Radio reported that the Holy Father's homily was drawn from the First Reading, from Chapter 8 of Nehemiah, which describes the people's rejoicing as Ezra read from the Book of the Law.

The People of God, he said, “had the memory of the Law, but it was a distant memory.” The recovery of the Law brought them "the experience of the closeness of salvation."
“This is important not only in the great moments in history, but also in the moments of our life: we all have the memory of salvation, everyone. I wonder, though: is this memory close to us, or is it a memory a bit far away, spread a little thin, a bit archaic, a little like a museum [piece]… it can get far away [from us]… and when the memory is not close, when we do not experience the closeness of memory, it enters into a process of transformation, and the memory becomes a mere recollection.”
When memory is distant, Francis added, “it is transformed into recollection, but when it comes near, it turns into joy, and this is the joy of the people.” This, he continued, constitutes “a principle of our Christian life.” When memory is close, said Pope Francis, “it warms the heart and gives us joy.”:

“This joy is our strength. The joy of the nearness of memory. Domesticated memory, on the other hand, which moves away and becomes a mere recollection, does not warm the heart. It gives us neither joy nor strength. This encounter with memory is an event of salvation, it is an encounter with the love of God that has made history with us and saved us. It is a meeting of salvation - and it is so wonderful to be saved, that we need to make feast.”

The Church, said Pope Francis, has “[Christ’s] memory”: the “memory of the Passion of the Lord.” We too, he said, run the risk of “pushing this memory away, turning it into a mere recollection, in a rote exercise."
“Every week we go to church, or perhaps when someone dies, we go to the funeral … and this memory often times bores us, because it is not near. It is sad, but the Mass is often turned into a social event and we are not close to the memory of the Church, which is the presence of the Lord before us. Imagine this beautiful scene in the Book of Nehemiah: Ezra who carries the Book of Israel’s memory and the people once again grow near to their memory and weep, the heart is warmed, is joyful, it feels that the joy of the Lord is its strength – and the people make a feast, without fear, simply.”

“Let us ask the Lord,” concluded Pope Francis, “for the grace to always have His memory close to us, a memory close
and not domesticated by habit, by so many things, and pushed away into mere recollection.”
Pope Francis VATICAN CITY, October 03, 2013 (Zenit.org)

"Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you shall receive it, and it shall come to you. St. Mark 11:24"

"Christianity is not a moral code or a philosophy, but an encounter with a person" -- Benedict XVI

Pope Francis

1913 Saint Barsanuphius of Optina

The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR benefit of others. Non est inventus similis illis

THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 99

Sing a new song to Our Lady: her praise in the congregation of the just.

Let the heavens rejoice in her glory: the isles of the sea and the whole world.

Fire and water praise her: cold and heat, splendor and light.

Let her praises be in the mouth of the just: and her glory in the band of the triumphant.

City of God, be joyful in her: and for thy dwellers sing her a constant song.

Let the heavens and the earth bless thee: the sea and the world.

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

Our Father, who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name, Thy Kingdom come Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven; give us this day our daily Bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil; Amen

Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with thee, Blessed art Thou amoung women, and Blessed is the fruit of Thy womb JESUS, Holy Mary, Mother of God pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death; Amen

Eternal rest, grant unto them of Lord, and let Thy Perpetual Light shine upon them; Amen.
Indulgence of 500 days for each of these prayers.

Cross Not Optional, Says Benedict XVI

Reflects on Peter's "Immature" Faith CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, AUG. 31, 2008 (Zenit.org).-
Taking up one's cross isn't an option, it's a mission all Christians are called to, says Benedict XVI.

The Pope said this before reciting the midday Angelus with several thousand people gathered in the courtyard of the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome.

Christ also knew that "the resurrection would be the last word," Benedict XVI added.

"In fact, it is with his death and resurrection that Jesus defeated sin and death, reestablishing the lordship of God."

Quote: Pope Paul VI’s 1969 Instruction on the Contemplative Life includes this passage:

“To withdraw into the desert is for Christians tantamount to associating themselves more intimately with Christ’s passion, and it enables them, in a very special way, to share in the paschal mystery and in the passage of Our Lord from this world to the heavenly homeland”

God calls each one of us to be a saint in order to get into heaven.

"The answers to many of life's questions can be found by reading the Lives of the Saints. They teach us how to overcome obstacles and difficulties, how to stand firm in our faith, and how to struggle against evil and emerge victorious." 1913 Saint Barsanuphius of Optina

The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR benefit of others.
Non est inventus similis illis

Paul VI_Athenagoras_05_01_1964

Quote: Pope Paul VI’s 1969 Instruction on the Contemplative Life includes this passage:

March 22 - Marialis Cultus by Paul VI (1974) – Birth of Lucia of Fatima (1907)
A culminating moment in the salvation dialogue between God and man

With regard to Christ, the East and the West, in the inexhaustible riches of their liturgies, celebrate this solemnity as the commemoration of the salvific "fiat" of the Incarnate Word, who, entering the world, said: "God, here I am! I am coming to obey Your will." They commemorate it as the beginning of the redemption and of the indissoluble and wedded union of the divine nature with human nature in the one Person of the Word.

With regard to Mary, these liturgies celebrate it as a feast of the new Eve, the obedient and faithful virgin, who with her generous "fiat" became through the working of the Spirit the Mother of God, but also the true Mother of the living, and, by receiving into her womb the one Mediator, became the true Ark of the Covenant and true Temple of God. These liturgies celebrate it as a culminating moment in the salvific dialogue between God and man, and as a commemoration of the Blessed Virgin's free consent and cooperation in the plan of redemption.

Pope Paul VI
Apostolic Exhortation Marialis Cultus on the devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary §6, February 1974

Christianity is not a moral code or a philosophy, but an encounter with a person”
-- Benedict XVI

Benedict_XVI_Patriarch_Bartholomew

Benedict XVI_Archbishop_Hilarion

Benedict XVI receives Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion n September 18th, Pope Benedict XVI; Archbishop Hilarion, president of the Department for External Church Affairs of the Patriarchate of Moscow.
The Orthodox Archbishop is currently visiting the Vatican at the invitation of Cardinal Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
This Pontifical Council underlined that the visit will confirm the ties of friendship between the Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church, with a view to closer collaboration and to favor the presence of the Church in the lives of the peoples of Europe and the world.
In addition, a further step in ecumenical relations is scheduled for the month of October in Cyprus: the meeting of the Joint International Commission for the Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, which will address the theme of Petrine Primacy.

Benedict XVI met with Aram I Catholicos of Cilicia, the highest authority of the Orthodox Church. The Pope remembered the martyrs of the Armenian Church and the Armenian genocide, without explicitly mentioning it, and denounced the persecution of Christians in modern times. Benedict XVI
That testimony culminated in the twentieth century, which proved a time of Unspeakable suffering for your people. Most recently we have all been saddened by the escalation of persecution and violence against Christians in parts of the Middle East and elsewhere.
The Catholicos is based in Lebanon. That is why, the Pope said, he prays every day for peace in this country and throughout the Middle East. Benedict XVI said there will only be peace in the region when each country is free to decide its own destiny and when every ethnic and religious group accepts and respects the others. Aram I emphasized that the churches must be means for peace and to achieve that they must recognize “all” genocides, even the Armenian.. The Catholicos recalled his meeting with John Paul II, adding that this visit represents a new step for ecumenical dialogue.

Aram I Catholicos
Our meeting is an opportunity to pray and reflect together, and to renew our commitment and efforts for Christian unity.
Armenian church members from all over the world join with Catholicos in making pilgrimages to Rome.

Father Corapi's Biography