223 St. Asterius Martyr priest who buried the remains of Pope St. Callistus.
Apud Ostia Tiberína sancti Astérii, Presbyteri et Mártyris; qui (ut in passióne beáti Callísti Papæ légitur) sub Alexándro Imperatóre passus est.
At Ostia, St. Asterius, priest and martyr, who suffered under Emperor Alexander, as we read in the Acts of blessed Pope Callistus.
after the pontiff's execution by the Romans.Asterius was arrested for a pious act and drowned in the Tiber River at Ostia, Italy. His remains are enshrined in the cathedral of that city.

Asterius of Ostia M (RM). Asterius secretly buried the body of Pope Saint Callistus, under whom he served as a Roman priest. For this act of Christian charity, Asterius was himself cast into the Tiber River at Ostia by order of Emperor Alexander.
Christians recovered and buried his body at Ostia, where it is now enshrined in the cathedral (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).

291-371 St. Hilarion Abbot; many miracles disciple of St. Anthony the Great
In Cypro natális sancti Hilariónis Abbátis, cujus vitam, virtútibus atque miráculis plenam, sanctus Hierónymus scripsit.
In Cyprus, the birthday of the holy abbot Hilarion. His life, full of virtues and miracles, was written by St. Jerome.

HILARION was born in a village called Tabatha, to the south of Gaza, his parents being idolaters. He was sent by them to Alexandria to study, where, being brought to the knowledge of the Christian faith, he was baptized when he was about fifteen. Having heard of St Antony, he went into the desert to see him, and stayed with him two months, observing his manner of life. But Hilarion found the desert only less distracting than the town and, not being able to bear the concourse of those who resorted to Antony to be healed of diseases or delivered from devils, and being desirous to begin to serve God in perfect solitude, he returned into his own country.

Finding his father and mother both dead, he gave part of his goods to his brethren and the rest to the poor, reserving nothing for himself (for he was mindful of Ananias and Sapphira, says St Jerome). He retired into the desert seven miles from Majuma, towards Egypt, between the seashore on one side and a swamp on the other. He was a comely and even delicate youth, affected by the least excess of heat or cold, yet his clothing consisted only of a sackcloth shirt, a leather tunic which St Antony gave him, and an ordinary short cloak. He never changed a tunic till it was worn qut, and never washed the sackcloth which he had once put on, saying, “It is idle to look for cleanliness in a hair-shirt”, which mortifications, comments Alban Butler, “the respect we owe to our neighbour makes unseasonable in the world and then cut off part of his scanty meal.”
His occupation was tilling the earth and, in imitation of the Egyptian monks, making baskets, whereby he provided himself with the necessaries of life. During the first years he had no other shelter than a little arbour, which he made of woven reeds and rushes. Afterwards he built himself a cell, which was still to be seen in St Jerome’s time it was four feet broad and five in height, and a little longer than his body, like a tomb rather than a house. Soon he found that figs alone were insufficient to support life properly and permitted himself to eat as well vegetables, bread and oil. But advancing age was not allowed to lessen his austerities. St Hilarion underwent many grievous trials. Sometimes his soul was covered with a dark cloud and his heart was dry and oppressed with bitter anguish; but the deafer Heaven seemed to his cries on such occasions, the more earnestly he persevered in prayer. St Jerome mentions that though he lived so many years in. Palestine Hilarion only once went up to visit the holy places at Jerusalem, and then stayed one day. He went once that he might not seem to despise what the Church honours, but did not go oftener lest he should seem persuaded that God or His worship is confined to any particular place.

St Hilarion had spent twenty years in the wilderness when he wrought his first miracle. A certain harried woman of Eleutheropolis (Bait Jibrin, near Hebron) was in despair for her barrenness, and prevailed upon him to pray that God would bless her with fruitfulness; and before the year’s end she brought forth a son. Among other miraculous happenings, St Hilarion is said to have helped a citizen of Majuma, called Italicus, who kept horses to run in the circus against those of a duumvir of Gaza. Italicus, believing that his adversary had recourse to spells to stop his horses, came for aid to St Hilarion, by whose blessing and pouring water over the chariot wheels his horses seemed to fly, while the others seemed fettered upon seeing which the people cried out that the god of the duumvir was vanquished by Christ. From the model, which he set, other settlements of hermits were founded in Palestine, and St Hilarion visited them all on certain days before the vintage. In one of these visits, watching the pagans assembled at Elusa, south of Beersheba, for the worship of their gods, he shed tears to God for them. He had cured many of their sick, so he was well known to them and they came to ask his blessing. He received them with gentleness, beseeching them to worship God rather than stones. His words had such effect that they would not suffer him to leave them till he had traced the ground for the foundation of a church, and till their priest, all dressed for his office as he was, had become a catechumen.

St Hilarion was informed by revelation in 356 of the death of St Antony. He was then about sixty-five years old, and had been long afflicted at the number of people, especially women, who crowded to him; moreover, the charge of his disciples was a great burden. “I have returned to the world”, he said, “and received my reward in this life. All Palestine regards me, and I even possess a farm and household goods, under pretext of the brethren’s needs.”
So he resolved to leave the country, and the people assembled in great numbers to stop him. He told them he would neither eat nor drink till they let him go; and seeing him pass seven days without taking anything, they left him. He then chose some monks who were able to walk without eating till after sunset, and with them he travelled into Egypt and at length came to St Antony’s mountain, near the Red Sea, where they found two monks who had been his disciples.

St Hilarion walked all over the place with them. “ Here it was”, said they, “that he sang, here he prayed there he laboured and there he reposed when he was weary. He himself planted these vines, and these little trees; he tilled this piece of ground with his own hands he dug this pond to water his garden, and he used this hoe to work with for several years.”

On the top of the mountain (to which the ascent was very difficult, twisting like a vine) they found two cells to which he often retired to avoid visitors and even his own disciples; and near by was the garden where the power of Antony had made the wild asses respect his vegetables and young trees. St Hilarion asked to see the place where he was buried. They led him aside, but it is unknown whether they showed it him or no; for they said that St Antony had given strict charge that his grave should be concealed, lest a certain rich man in that country should carry the body away and build a church for it.

    St Hilarion returned to Aphroditopolis (Atfiah), and thence went into a neighbouring desert and gave himself with more earnestness than ever to abstinence and silence. It had not rained there for three years, ever since the death of St Antony, and the people addressed themselves to Hilarion, whom they looked upon as Antony’s successor, imploring his prayers. The saint lifted up his hands and eyes to heaven, and immediately obtained a plentiful downpour. Anointing their wounds with oil that he had blessed cured many laborers and herdsmen who were stung by serpents and insects. Hilarion, finding himself too popular also in that place, spent a year in an oasis of the western desert. But finding that he was too well known ever to lie concealed in Egypt, he determined to seek some remote island and embarked with one companion for Sicily. From Cape Passaro they travelled twenty miles up the country and stopped in an unfrequented place here; by gathering sticks Hilarion made every day a faggot, which he sent Zananas to sell at the next village to buy bread. St Hesychius, the saint’s disciple, sought him in the East and through Greece when, at Modon in Peloponnesus, he heard from a Jewish peddler that a prophet had appeared in Sicily who wrought many miracles. He arrived at Passaro and, inquiring for the holy man at the first village, found that everybody knew him: he was not more distinguished by his miracles than by his disinterestedness, for he could never be induced to accept anything from anyone.
   He found that St Hilarion wanted to go into some country where not even his language should be understood, and so Hesychius took him to Epidaurus in Dalmatia (Ragusa). Miracles again defeated the saint’s design of living unknown.
   St Jerome relates that a serpent of enormous size devoured both cattle and men, and that Hilarion induced this creature to come on to a pile of wood and then set fire to it so that it was burnt to ashes. He also tells us that when an earthquake happened the sea threatened to overwhelm the city. The affrighted inhabitants brought Hilarion to the shore, as it were to oppose him as a strong wall against the waves. He made three crosses in the sand, then stretched forth his arms towards the sea which, rising up like a mountain, returned back.

St Hilarion, troubled over what he should do or whither he should turn, going alone over the world in his imagination, mourned that though his tongue was silent yet his miracles spake. At last he fled away in the night in a small vessel to Cyprus. Arrived there, he settled at a place two miles from Paphos. He had not been there long when his identity was discovered, so he went a dozen miles inland to an inaccessible but pleasant place, where he at last found peace and quietness.

Here after a few years Hilarion died at the age of eighty; among those who visited him in his last illness was St Epiphanius, Bishop of Salamis, who afterwards wrote about his life to St Jerome. He was buried near Paphos, but St Hesychius secretly removed the body to the saint’s old home at Majuma.

The life by St Jerome is our primary source and there is no reason to doubt that much of his information was derived from St Epiphanius, who had had personal contact with Hilarion. The historian Sozomen also gives independent testimony, and there are other references elsewhere, which have all been carefully collected in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. ix. See especially Zockler, "Hilarion von Gaza“ in Neue Jahrbucher für deutsche Thealogie, vol. iii (1894), pp. 146-178 Delehaye, Saints de Chypre in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxvi (1907), pp. 245—242 Schiwietz, Das Morgenlandische Monchtum, vol. ii, pp. 95—126 ; and H. Leclercq, “Cenobitisme “in DAC., vol. ii, cc. 3157—3158.

Companion of St. Hesychius. He was born in Tabatha, Palestine, and was educated in Alexandria, Egypt. He stayed with St. Anthony in the desert there before becoming a hermit at Majuma, near Gaza, Israel. In 356, Hilarion returned to St. Anthony in the Egyptian desert and found that his fame had Spread there too.
He fled to Sicily to escape notice, but Hesychius traced him there. The two went to Dalmatia, Croatia, and then to Cyprus. Hilarion performed so many miracles that crowds flocked to him when it was discovered he was in any region. He died on Cyprus, and St. Hesychius secretly took his remains back to Palestine. His cult is now confined to local calendars.
Saint Hilarion the Great was born in the year 291 in the Palestinian village of Tabatha. He was sent to Alexandria to study. There he became acquainted with Christianity and was baptized. After hearing an account of the angelic life of St Anthony the Great (January 17), Hilarion went to meet him, desiring to study with him and learn what is pleasing to God. Hilarion soon returned to his native land to find that his parents had died. After distributing his family's inheritance to the poor, Hilarion set out into the desert surrounding the city of Maium.
In the desert the monk struggled intensely with impure thoughts, vexations of the mind and the burning passions of the flesh, but he defeated them with heavy labor, fasting and fervent prayer. The devil sought to frighten the saint with phantoms and apparitions. During prayer St Hilarion heard children crying, women wailing, the roaring of lions and other wild beasts. The monk perceived that it was the demons causing these terrors in order to drive him away from the wilderness. He overcame his fear with the help of fervent prayer. Once, robbers fell upon St Hilarion, and he persuaded them to forsake their life of crime through the power of his words.
Soon all of Palestine learned about the holy ascetic. The Lord granted to St Hilarion the power to cast out unclean spirits. With this gift of grace he loosed the bonds of many of the afflicted. The sick came for healing, and the monk cured them free of charge, saying that the grace of God is not for sale (MT 10:8).
Such was the grace that he received from God that he could tell by the smell of someone's body or clothing which passion afflicted his soul. They came to St Hilarion wanting to save their soul under his guidance. With the blessing of St Hilarion, monasteries began to spring up throughout Palestine. Going from one monastery to another, he instituted a strict ascetic manner of life.
About seven years before his death (+ 371-372) St Hilarion moved back to Cyprus, where the ascetic lived in a solitary place until the Lord summoned him to Himself.
October 21, 2011

St. Hilarion (c. 291-371)
Despite his best efforts to live in prayer and solitude, today’s saint found it difficult to achieve his deepest desire. People were naturally drawn to Hilarion as a source of spiritual wisdom and peace. He had reached such fame by the time of his death that his body had to be secretly removed so that a shrine would not be built in his honor. Instead, he was buried in his home village.
St. Hilarion the Great, as he is sometimes called, was born in Palestine. After his conversion to Christianity he spent some time with St. Anthony of Egypt, another holy man drawn to solitude. Hilarion lived a life of hardship and simplicity in the desert, where he also experienced spiritual dryness that included temptations to despair. At the same time, miracles were attributed to him.

As his fame grew, a small group of disciples wanted to follow Hilarion. He began a series of journeys to find a place where he could live away from the world. He finally settled on Cyprus, where he died in 371 at about age 80.

Hilarion is celebrated as the founder of monasticism in Palestine. Much of his fame flows from the biography of him written by St. Jerome.

303 St. Dasius Martyred with 15 soldiers with Gaius, Zoticus, and companions at Nicomedia.There were fifteen soldiers in this group.

Nicomedíæ natális sanctórum Dásii, Zótici, Caji et aliórum duódecim mílitum; qui, post divérsa torménta, in mare demérsi sunt.
At Nicomedia, the birthday of Saints Dasius, Zoticus, Caius, and twelve other soldiers, who, after suffering various torments, were drowned in the sea.

390 St. Viator lector in Church where St. Justus presided in Lyons
Lugdúni, in Gállia, sancti Viatóris, qui éxstitit miníster beáti Justi, Lugdunénsis Epíscopi.
At Lyons in France, St. Viator, deacon of blessed Justus, bishop of that city.
St. Justus died about the year 390, and St. Viator survived him only a few weeks. He is named in the Roman Martyrology on October 21, and the translation of their bodies together to Lyons on September 2nd and buried in the church of the Machabees.

4th v. St. Maichus A Syrian hermit; in the Roman Martyrology, we are indebted to St Jerome, who says he had it from the lips of the man himself.
Maróniæ, prope Antiochíam, in Syria, sancti Malchi Mónachi.
At Maronia, near Antioch in Syria, St. Malchus, a monk.
St Malchus

For the story of St Malchus, who is mentioned today in the Roman Martyrology, we are indebted to St Jerome, who says he had it from the lips of the man himself.
When he was in Antioch about the year 375 he visited Maronia, some thirty miles away, where his attention was attracted to a very devout old man whose name, he discovered, was Maichus (Malek). St Jerome was interested in what he heard about him, went to the old man for more information, and was told the following tale of his life. Malchus was born in Nisibis, the only son of his parents, who when he had reached the requisite age wanted him to marry. He, however, had already resolved to give himself wholly to the direct service of God, so he ran away and joined some hermits in the wilderness of Khalkis. Some years later he learned of the death of his father, and he went to his superior and told him that he wished to go home in order to comfort and look after his mother. The abbot was unsympathetic and represented the inclination to Malchus as a subtle temptation. Malchus pointed out that he was now entitled to some property and that with it he would enlarge the monastic buildings, but the abbot was an honest man who had made up his mind, and it was not altered by a consideration of that sort. He implored his young disciple to stay where he was, but Malchus was as persuaded of his duty as the abbot, and he started off without his permission.

Between Aleppo and Edessa the caravan to which Malehus had attached himself was attacked and plundered by Beduin. Malchus and a young woman were carried off by one of the marauding chiefs. They were carried on camels to the heart of the desert beyond the Euphrates, and Malchus was set to work as a sheep and goatherd. He was not unhappy; certainly he did not like living among heathens and in a greater heat than that to which he was accustomed, but

“it seemed to me that my lot was very like that of holy Jacob, and I remembered Moses, both of whom had been shepherds in the wilderness. I lived on dates and cheese and milk; I prayed endlessly in my heart; and I sang the psalms I had learned among the monks.”

   No doubt his master was pleased with Malchus—men carried off as slaves were rarely so obedient and contented—and he sought to arrange a marriage for him. It is incredible to the wandering tribes of the desert that any man should choose to live alone, and the unmarried man must live as a servant in the tent of another, for none but women do what we should call domestic work, and much more.*{* See C. M. Doughty’s Arabia Deserta, vol. i, pp. 321—322. The life described by Doughty is much the same as that lived fifteen hundred years ago by Malchus among the black tents.} So Malchus was told to marry his fellow captive, and thereupon he was very alarmed: not only was he a monk and so had put marriage behind him, but he also knew that the girl was already married in her own country. It would seem, however, that she was not altogether unwilling. But when Malchus threatened he would rather kill himself, the girl declared (over the centuries can be heard the note of wounded amour propre in her voice) that she was quite indifferent to him and that she was prepared to live with him under a mere appearance of matrimony, and so satisfy their master. This they did, though neither of them found the arrangement completely satisfactory. “I loved the woman as a sister,” declared Malchus to St Jerome, “but I never entirely trusted her as a sister.”
   One day Malchus was watching a crowd of ants at work in their heap and the thought came to him how like the sight was to that of a busy and orderly company of monks. Thereupon he sudden1y became very homesick, the memory of his past happiness with the hermits more than he could bear, and when he had driven in his flocks that evening he went and told his companion that he had made up his mind to escape. She too was anxious to find her real husband again and was willing enough to adventure with Malchus, so they made their preparations secretly and ran away one night, carrying their provisions in two goatskins. By means of these skins, which they inflated, they crossed the Euphrates in safety, but on the third day they saw their master and another man, on camels, coming up with them. They hid themselves near the mouth of a cave, and the chief, thinking he saw them go into the cave itself, sent his man in to fetch them out. When he did not reappear, the chief himself approached and went in, but neither did he come out again. Instead there issued from the cave a lioness with a cub in her mouth, and she leaped off among the rocks, leaving the two Arab intruders dead on the floor of her den. Malchus and the woman ran to the tethered camels, mounted them, and set off at a great pace.
   After ten days’ riding they came to a Roman station in Mesopotamia, where the officer in charge listened to their story and sent them on to Edessa. From there St Malchus made his way back to the hermit colony by Khalkis and eventually went to end his days at Maronia, where St Jerome talked with him. His companion never found her husband, and in her sorrow and disappointment her mind turned to the friend who had shared her captivity and helped her escape; she went and settled down near him, giving her time to the service of God and her neighbor, and there she died at a great age.

The text of St Jerome is printed with a full commentary in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. ix. Reginald, a monk of Canterbury (d. c. 1110), wrote several poems treating of St Malchus; cf. The Oxford Book of Medieval Latin Verse (1928), pp. 73—75 and p. 222, n. 50. For the text with an English translation, see the Classical Bulletin, 1946 (Saint Louis, U.S.A.), pp. 31—60. But the text is of little value, possibly a mere romance composed for purposes of edification see Comm. Mart. Rom, and P. Van den Ven, in Le Muséon, vol. xix (1900), pp. 413 seq. and xx, 208 seq.

Captured by Saracens and sold as a slave. Malchus told St. Jerome that he was born in Nisibia. {Nisibis (Nusaybin, province Mardin, south-eastern Turkey is the ancient Mesopotamian city, which Alexander's successors refounded as Antiochia Mygdonia and is mentioned for the first time in Polybius } and he was taken prisoner.
While a captive, Malchus was forcibly married to a young woman who was already married. They lived as brother and sister until fleeing into the region of caves. While hunting them, their master was killed by a lioness. Malchus went back to Khalkis, and the woman, unable to find her true husband, became a hermitess.

Malchus later went to Maronia where he was honored by St. Jerome.

4v. St. Agatho Early Christian hermit abbot Egyptian desert
Agatho lived in the Egyptian desert. He is mentioned frequently in the Lives of the Fathers of the Desert. Such saints evolved the modern monastic ideals in their own eras, using the Egyptian wilderness as their hermitage.
Agatho of Egypt, Abbot Hermit (AC). Agatho, a hermit and abbot in Egypt, is often quoted in the Lives of the Fathers of the Desert (Benedictines). He is portrayed as a hermit with a pitcher near him (Roeder) .

4th century St. Ursula the legend of
Apud Colóniam Aggripínam item natális sanctárum Ursulæ et Sociárum ejus; quæ, pro Christiána religióne et virginitátis constántia ab Hunnis interféctæ, martyrio vitam consummárunt, earúmque plúrima córpora fuérunt Colóniæ cóndita.
    At Cologne, the birthday of St. Ursula and her companions, who gained the martyr's crown by being slain by the Huns for the Christian religion and their constancy in keeping their virginity. Many of their bodies are buried in Cologne.
According to a legend that appeared in the tenth century, Ursula was the daughter of a Christian king in Britain and was granted a three year postponement of a marriage she did not wish, to a pagan prince. With ten ladies in waiting, each attended by a thousand maidens, she embarked on a voyage across the North sea, sailed up the Rhine to Basle, Switzerland, and then went to Rome. On their way back, they were all massacred by pagan Huns at Cologne in about 451 when Ursula refused to marry their chieftain.
   According to another legend, Amorica was settled by British colonizers and soldiers after Emporer Magnus Clemens Maximus conquered Britain and Gaul in 383. The ruler of the settlers, Cynan Meiriadog, called on King Dionotus of Cornwall for wives for the settlers, whereupon Dionotus sent his daughter Ursula, who was to marry Cynan, with eleven thousand maidens and sixty thousand common women. There fleet was shipwrecked and all the women were enslaved or murdered. The legends are pious fictions, but what is true is that one Clematius, a senator, rebuilt a basilica in Cologne that had originally been built, probably at the beginning of the fourth century, to honor a group of virgins who had been martyred at Cologne.
   They were evidently venerated enough to have had a church built in their honor, but who they were and how many of them there were, are unknown. From these meager facts, the legend of Ursula grew and developed.

458 St. Cilinia mother of St. Principius and St. Remigius who died at Laon, France.
In castro Laudunénsi sanctæ Cilíniæ, matris beáti Remígii, Epíscopi Rheménsis.
At Laon, St. Cilinia, mother of blessed Remigius, bishop of Rheims.

607 St. Wendalinus Holy shepherd and possible hermit
also called Wendelinus. According to tradition, Wendolinus came from Ireland. After years as a shepherd recluse, he may have served as abbot of a monastery near Trier. He has long been venerated at St. Wendel, in Germany.

635 St Fintan, Or Munnu, of Taghmon, Abbot; Extreme austerity

Extreme austerity was an outstanding characteristic of the early Irish monks, and this St Fintan or Munnu was reported to be of them one of the most austere, and bodily sicknesses was added to his voluntary mortifications. For eighteen years he was a monk under St Senell at Cluain Inis, and then crossed to Iona with the object of joining the community there. Irish accounts say that St Columba was dead when Fintan arrived and that his successor, St Baithen, sent him back, saying that Columba had prophesied that he should found a monastery in his own country and be himself a father of monks.
   The Scots tradition is that he lived on Iona for a time, and returned home on St Columba’s death in the year 597. Somewhere about the beginning of the seventh century Fintan founded the monastery of Taghmon (Tech Munnu) in county Wexford, and while governing this abbey was a zealous upholder of the Celtic method of computing Easter and other local customs.
   At the synod held at Magh Lene in 630, and others, he strongly opposed on this matter St Laserian and those who wished to comply with the wish of Pope Honorius I that Ireland should come into line with the rest of Christendom.
   The monastery of Taghmon soon became famous, and there are references to its founder in the Lives of St Canice, St Mochua and St Molua.
The last two state that St Fintan was for some time a leper, and there seems to have been a known rivalry between him and Molua for when an angel who was supposed to visit Fintan twice a week missed a day, and explained subsequently that he had been detained by the necessity of receiving the soul of the recently dead Molua into Heaven. Fintan is represented as being distinctly “put out” about it. His desire to emulate the merits of the abbot of Clonfert caused him to pray to be stricken with disease, that by his patient bearing of it he should deserve a similar welcome to the Celestial City. Munnu is sometimes confused with St Mundus in Scotland.

Three Latin lives of this saint are available (see Plummer, Miscellanea Hagiographica Hibernica, p. 252). The longest has been printed in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. ix, and the third has been edited by Plummer see VSH., vol. ii, pp. 226—239, and also the introduction, pp. 84 seq. J. F. Kenney, Sources for the Early History of Ireland, vol. i, p. 450, quotes with approval Plummer’s comment “Speaking generally the historical element in this life is larger than in some others, and we get an impression of Munnu as a real man and not merely a peg to hang miracles on, a man of somewhat harsh and hasty temper, but placable and conciliatory when the momentary irritation was over”. There is considerable difficulty in identifying the Scottish St Mundus, and A. P. Forbes, in KSS., pp. 412—416, considers that he is no other than Fintan Munnu. See, however, the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. ii, and O’Hanlon, LIS., vol. iv, p. 173.

664 St. Tuda Irish monk and bishop succeeded St. Colman
as bishop of Lindisfarne, and he was a supporter of the Roman Rite versus the Celtic Church in England. He died after only one year in his see from an outbreak of plague. No other facts are available about him, owing to the destruction of so many records in the sacking of Lindisfarne by the Danes in the ninth century.

685 St Condedus a Briton hermit at Fontaine Saint Valery
CONDEDUS, called in French Condé or Condéde, is said to have been an Englishman who, wandering about in search of a place of complete seclusion, came to France and settled down at a spot called Fontaine-Saint-Valery. After some years he heard of the great reputation of the abbey of Fontenelle, which was at that time governed by St Lambert, and set out to visit it. On his way Condedus came to a place where the inhabitants were so suspicious that they would not give him shelter for the night, although the weather was very threatening. At last he found a woman who took pity on him, and we are told that her kindness was rewarded by a revelation of her guest’s holiness. For the storm broke during the night, and when the good woman got up to cover her window she saw a great column of light reaching from the sleeping-place of Condedus to the sky above. That this was probably lightning or another phenomenon of the storm does not alter the significance that it had for the woman.
After being a monk at Fontenelle for a short time he returned to a solitary life on an island called Belcinac, in the Seine near Caudebec. King Thierry III soon after made the acquaintance of the saint, and was so pleased with him that he gave the island and other land as endowment for the hermitage. St Condedus built two chapels thereon, to which people came from all around to get his direction and listen to his preaching. After his death he was buried on the island, but afterwards was translated to Fontenelle. Belcinac has disappeared, swallowed by the waters of the Seine.

A short Latin life of St Condedus printed by Mabillon and in tbç Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. ix, has been re-edited by W. Levison in the MGH., Scriptores Merov., vol. v, pp. 644—651. As the writer lived more than a century after the subject of his biography, the narrative cannot claim any great authority. Consult, on the other hand, Legris in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xvii (1898), pp. 282—287, and Vacandard, St Ouen (1902), pp. 198—201. But Levison in the Neues Archiv, vol. xxv, vindicates his own earlier conclusions.

France and then a Benedictine monk at Fontenelle. After a time there, he resumed his eremitical life on the island of Belcinae in the Seine near Caudebec, and when King Thierry III granted him the island for a hermitage, he built two chapels on it. He is also known as Conde or Condede.

804 St. Maurontus Benedictine bishop of Marseilles
France. He was originally abbot of St. Victor in that city.

9th century St. Hugh of Ambronay Benedictine abbot
of Ambronay, in Belley, France.

1087 St. Gebizo Benedictine monk who crowned the king of Croatia; a monk at Monte Cassino, Italy under St. Desiderius, who became Pope Victor III; sent by Pope St. Gregory VII to the coronation in Croatia
Also called Gerizo, he was a native of Colonge, Germany, and a monk at Monte Cassino, Italy under St. Desiderius, who became Pope Victor III. Gebizo was sent by Pope St. Gregory VII to the coronation in Croatia.

1111 St. Berthold Benedictine lay brother service of the nuns
An Anglo-Saxon by descent, Berthold was born in Parma, Italy, where his parents resided. They had left England because of the Norman conquest. Berthold spent his entire life in the service of the nuns of St. Alexander Convent in Parma.

1379 ST JOHN OF BRIDLINGTON Many miracles wrought through his intercession.

THOUGH it has been often said that St Thomas of Hereford was the last English saint of the middle ages to be formally canonized (Osmund, in 1457, was a Norman), there is a bull of Pope Boniface IX that canonized John of Bridlington in 1401 his feast is now celebrated in the diocese of Middlesbrough and by the Canons Regular of the Lateran (on October to). He was surnamed Thwing, from the place of his birth near Bridlington, on the coast of Yorkshire, and the little which is known of his life presents nothing of unusual interest. At about the age of seventeen he went for two years to study at Oxford. When he returned from the university he took the religious habit in the monastery of regular canons of St Augustine at Bridlington. In this solitude he advanced daily in victory over himself and in the experimental knowledge of spiritual things. John was successively precentor, cellarer, and prior of his monastery. This last charge he had averted by his protests the first time he was chosen; but upon a second vacancy his brethren obliged him to take up the office. His application to prayer showed how much his conduct was regulated by the spirit of God, and a great spiritual prudence, peace of mind and meekness of temper were the fruits of his virtue. When he had been seventeen years prior and had earned a universal esteem and reverence he was called to God on October 10, 1379.

Many miracles wrought through his intercession are mentioned by the author of his vita and by Thomas of Walsingham, who testifies that by order of Pope Boniface IX, Richard Scrope, the greatly venerated archbishop of York, assisted by the bishops of Lincoln and Carlisle, translated his relics to a more worthy shrine. This took place on March II, 1404. The shrine attracted many pilgrims, among them King Henry V, who attributed his victory at Agincourt to the intercession in Heaven of two English Johns, of Bridlington and of Beverley. The nave of the priory church in which St John Thwing presided is now the Anglican parish church of Bridlington.

See the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. v, where a life by one Hugh, himself a canon regular, is printed. There is also a shorter summary by Capgrave in his Nova Legenda Angliae. But most important of all is the article of Fr. Paul Grosjean in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. liii (1935), pp. 101—129. He has gathered up much new material, while expressing his indebtedness to the book, St John of Bridlington (1924), and other papers by J. S. Purvis. Mr Purvis published the text of the canonization document from the Lateran Regesta.

1409 BD JAMES STREPAR, ARCHBISHOP OF Galich; joined the Franciscans and became guardian of their friary at Lvov; a zealous defender of the mendicant friars; the miracles at his tomb showed that he was still mindful of his people.
THE Friars Minor entered Poland not many years after their foundation and when they were well established extended their preaching to the reconciliation of dissident Orthodox and the conversion of pagans in Lithuania. Thus was inaugurated the Latin church in Galician Ukraine, which was organized into dioceses during the fourteenth century. Bd James Strepar was a member of a noble Polish family settled in Galicia. He joined the Franciscans and became guardian of their friary at Lvov, where he played a conspicuous part in very troubled ecclesiastical affairs, the city having been laid under an interdict.
He was a zealous defender of the mendicant friars, who were bitterly attacked by the secular clergy, and at the same time keenly concerned about the dissident Orthodox. He worked among these for over ten years, making great use of the Company of Christ’s Itinerants, a sort of missionary society of Franciscan and Dominican friars, and put at the head of the Franciscan “mission” in western Russia. As a missionary preacher and organizer Bd James had great success, and in 1392 called to govern the see of Galich. He had himself evangelized a considerable part of his diocese, and was now in a position to consolidate his work.
He built churches in remote districts and obtained experienced priests from Poland to take charge of them, founded religious houses, and established hospitals and schools. Though a senator of the realm as well as archbishop he sometimes carried out visitations on foot, and always wore the modest habit of his order at a time when prelates not infrequently copied the ostentatious clothes of lay lords. Bd James governed his large diocese till his death at Lvov on June 1, in 1409 or 1411. During his life he had been called “protector of the kingdom” and the miracles at his tomb showed that he was still mindful of his people. His cultus was confirmed in 1791.

There is more than one life in Polish, but only summaries seem to be available in languages more generally known. See, however, Scrobiszewski, Vitae episcoporum Halicensium (1628) Stadler, Heiligen Lexikon, vol. iii, pp. 111 seq.; Léon, Auréole séraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. ii, pp. 312—315.

1445 BD PETER OF TIFERNO; Dominican; the friary of Cortona, where he spent the greater part of his life.

VERY few particulars of the life of this confessor have been preserved, in part no doubt owing to the destruction by fire of the archives of the friary of Cortona, where he spent the greater part of his life. He belonged to the family of the Cappucci and was born at Tiferno (Citta di Castello) in 1390. When he was fifteen he received the Dominican habit and was sent to Cortona, where he was trained under the direction of Bd Laurence of Ripafratta and in company of many other famous friars, including St Antoninus and Fra Angelico.
Bd Laurence recommended him to devote himself to contemplation rather than to activity, but the lessons of his office note that he was as ready to minister to those who required his services outside his monastery as within it. Several miracles are remembered of Bd Peter. He once met a young man of bad character in the street, stopped him, and said, “What wickedness are you up to now? How much longer are you going on adding sin to sin ? You have just twenty-four hours to live, and at this time tomorrow you’ll have to give God an account of yourself.” The man was frightened but took not more notice, till that night he had a bad accident; Peter was sent for, and he received the sinner’s humble penitence before he died. The cultus of Bd Peter, who used to hold a skull in his hands while preaching, was confirmed by Pope Pius VII.

Information regarding Bd Peter was certainly not widely disseminated. In the, vast collection of names which figure in the book of G. Michele Pio, printed at Bologna in 1607, Delle vite degli huomini illustri di S. Domenico, there is no mention of him. We have to fall back upon the lessons of the Dominican breviary, the Année Dominicaine, and such summaries as Procter, Lives of the Dominican Saints, pp. 294—297. Consult, however, Taurisano. Catalogus hagiographicus OP.

1450 BD MATTHEW, BISHOP OF GIRGENTI; habit of St Francis amongst the Conventuals; left the Conventuals to join the Observants; travelled Italy with St Bernardino of Siena; taught and preached up and down, rousing priests and people from their apathy and spreading everywhere devotion to the Holy Name; care was to restore discipline and check simony

Bd MATTHEW was born at Girgenti in Sicily. Renouncing riches and worldly hopes, he took the habit of St Francis amongst the Conventuals at the age of eighteen. Some time after, he heard the fame of St Bernardino of Siena and he left the Conventuals to join the Observants, becoming one of St Bernardino’s closest friends. With him Matthew travelled about Italy and before long shared his fame as a preacher. The disturbances of the time had led to a great slackening of discipline, and in Sicily in particular simony was rampant among the clergy and indifference among the laity. Matthew, touched by the misery of his country, returned to Sicily and taught and preached up and down, rousing priests and people from their apathy and spreading everywhere devotion to the Holy Name.

The inhabitants of Girgenti desired to have Bd Matthew as their bishop and, although he himself was most unwilling, Pope Eugenius IV insisted upon his acceptance. His first care was to restore discipline and check simony, but by so doing he aroused bitter opposition. His enemies calumniated him, and he had to go to Rome to defend his cause before the pope, who recognized his innocence and restored him to his see. Again he set about reforming scandals, but he was accused of being a firebrand and of disturbing the peace. He concluded that he was incapable of governing and asked for his release, which the pope, after some demur, granted. Matthew returned to the convent which he had founded, but the superior, who had been prejudiced against him, refused him admittance, saying that he had, through ambition, accepted a bishopric which he could not govern, that he would only destroy the harmony of the community and that he had better go elsewhere. Matthew found a refuge with his old friends the Conventuals, but before long the minister provincial of the Observants begged him to return—which he did. He lived several years longer; but when he was afflicted by a malady which the Observants, owing to their poverty and distance from medical advice, were unable to tend, they took him back to the house of the Conventuals, where he died. The cultus of Bd Matthew was confirmed in 1767.

See J. E. Stadler, Heiligen-Lexikon, and Leon, Auréole Séraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. i.

1556-1597 St. Margaret Clitherow; the “Pearl of York”; continually risking her life by harbouring and maintaining priests, was frequently imprisoned, sometimes for two years at a time, yet never daunted, and was a model of all virtues; she kept priests hidden and had Mass continually celebrated through the thick of the persecution. Some of her priests were martyred, and Margaret who desired the same grace above all things, used to make secret pilgrimages by night to York Tyburn to pray beneath the gibbet for this intention; Her indictment - harboured priests, heard Mass, and the like; she refused to plead, since the only witnesses against her would be her own little children and servants, whom she could not bear to involve in the guilt of her death. She was therefore condemned to the peine forte et dure, i.e. to be pressed to death. “God be thanked, I am not worthy of so good a death as this”, she said. Although she was probably with child, this horrible sentence was carried out on Lady Day, 1586 (Good Friday according to New Style); sons Henry and William became priests, and daughter Anne a nun at St. Ursula's, Louvain.

Martyr, called the “Pearl of York”, born about 1556; died 25 March 1586. She was a daughter of Thomas Middleton, Sheriff of York (1564-5), a wax-chandler; married John Clitherow, a wealthy butcher and a chamberlain of the city, in St. Martin's church, Coney St., 8 July, 1571, and lived in the Shambles, a street still unaltered. Converted to the Faith about three years later, she became most fervent, continually risking her life by harbouring and maintaining priests, was frequently imprisoned, sometimes for two years at a time, yet never daunted, and was a model of all virtues.
Though her husband belonged to the Established Church, he had a brother a priest, and Margaret provided two chambers, one adjoining her house and a second in another part of the city, where she kept priests hidden and had Mass continually celebrated through the thick of the persecution. Some of her priests were martyred, and Margaret who desired the same grace above all things, used to make secret pilgrimages by night to York Tyburn to pray beneath the gibbet for this intention. Finally arrested on 10 March, 1586, she was committed to the castle. On 14 March, she was arraigned before Judges Clinch and Rhodes and several members of the Council of the North at the York assizes. Her indictment was that she had harboured priests, heard Mass, and the like; but she refused to plead, since the only witnesses against her would be her own little children and servants, whom she could not bear to involve in the guilt of her death. She was therefore condemned to the peine forte et dure, i.e. to be pressed to death. “God be thanked, I am not worthy of so good a death as this”, she said. Although she was probably with child, this horrible sentence was carried out on Lady Day, 1586 (Good Friday according to New Style).
She had endured an agony of fear the previous night, but was now calm, joyous, and smiling. She walked barefooted to the tolbooth on Ousebridge, for she had sent her hose and shoes to her daughter Anne, in token that she should follow in her steps. She had been tormented by the ministers and even now was urged to confess her crimes. “No, no, Mr. Sheriff, I die for the love of my Lord Jesu”, she answered. She was laid on the ground, a sharp stone beneath her back, her hands stretched out in the form of a cross and bound to two posts. Then a door was placed upon her, which was weighted down till she was crushed to death. Her last words during an agony of fifteen minutes, were “Jesu! Jesu! Jesu! have mercy on me!” Her right hand is preserved at St. Mary's Convent, York, but the resting-place of her sacred body is not known. Her sons Henry and William became priests, and her daughter Anne a nun at St. Ursula's, Louvain.

Her life, written by her confessor, John Mush, exists in two versions. The earlier has been edited by Father John Morris, S.J., in his "Troubles of our Catholic Forefathers", third series (London, 1877). The later manuscript, now at York Convent, was published by W. Nicholson, of Thelwall Hall, Cheshire (London, Derby, 1849), with portrait: "Life and Death of Margaret Clitherow the martyr of York". It also contains the "History of Mr. Margaret Ward and Mrs. Anne Line, Martyrs".

St. Margaret Clitherow was canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970.

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

THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 101

Blessed is the man, O Virgin Mary, who loves thy name; thy grace will comfort his soul.

He will be refreshed as by fountains of water; thou wilt produce in him the fruit of justice.

Blessed art thou among women; by the faith of thy holy heart.

By the beauty of thy body thou surpassest all women;
by the excellence of thy sanctity thou surpassest all angels and archangels

Thy mercy and thy grace are preached everywhere; God has blessed the works of thy hands.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Saint Frances Xavier Seelos Practical Guide to Holiness

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meeting of the Saints walis (saints of Allah)

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

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

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

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

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Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey

Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament

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

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

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

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

America's First Basilica Largest Nave in the World

August 7, 1907-ground broke for the foundation

by Archbishop Ireland-laying cornerstone May 31, 1908

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

Index to Part I and Part II 1932

James M. Reardon Publication History of the Basilica of Saint Mary 1955 {update}

Brief History of our Beloved Holy Priest Here and his published books of Catholic History in North America
Reardon, J.M. Archbishop Ireland; Prelate, Patriot, Publicist, 1838-1918.
A Memoir (St. Paul; 1919); George Anthony Belcourt Pioneer Catholic Missionary of the Northwest 1803-1874 (1955);
The Catholic Church IN THE DIOCESE OF ST. PAUL from earliest origin to centennial achievement 1362-1950 (1952);
The Church of Saint Mary of Saint Paul 1875-1922; (1932)
The Vikings in the American Heartland;
The Catholic Total Abstinence Society in Minnesota;

James Michael Reardon Born in Nova Scotia, 1872; Priest, ordained by Bishop Ireland;

Member -- St. Paul Seminary faculty.

Affiliations and Indulgences Litany of Loretto in Stained glass windows here. Nave Sacristy and Residence Here
Sanctuary spaces between them filled with grilles of hand-forged wrought iron the life of our Blessed Lady After the crucifixon

Apostle statues Replicas of those in St John Lateran--Christendom's earliest Basilica.
Ordered by Rome's first Christian Emperor, Constantine the Great, Popes' cathedral and official residence first millennium of Christian history.

The only replicas ever made: in order from west to east {1932}.

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

Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel
It Makes No Sense Not To Believe In GOD

THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi.

June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.

By Father John Corapi
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi.

June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.

By Father John Corapi

Among the most important titles we have in the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of the most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom. The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7 (date of feast of Our Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for the Christian forces against the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope Pius V led a procession around St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral leadership in recognizing the danger posed to Christendom by the radical Muslim forces, and in using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles require spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that had its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.

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

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

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

Talk is weak. Prayer is strong. Pray! God bless you, Father John Corapi

Father Corapi's Biography

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

Father Corapi's academic credentials are quite extensive. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Pace University in the seventies. Then as an older man returned to the university classrooms in preparation for his life as a priest and preacher. He received all of his academic credentials for the Church with honors: a Masters degree in Sacred Scripture from Holy Apostles Seminary and Bachelor, Licentiate, and Doctorate degrees in dogmatic theology from the University of Navarre in Spain.

Father John Corapi goes to the heart of the contemporary world's many woes and wars, whether the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, or the Congo, or the natural disasters that seem to be increasing every year, the moral and spiritual war is at the basis of everything. “Our battle is not against human forces,” St. Paul asserts, “but against principalities and powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness...” (Ephesians 6:12).
The “War to end all wars” is the moral and spiritual combat that rages in the hearts and minds of human beings. The outcome of that unseen fight largely determines how the battle in the realm of the seen unfolds. The title talk, “With the Moon Under Her Feet,” is taken from the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation, and deals with the current threat to the world from radical Islam, and the Blessed Virgin Mary's role in the ultimate victory that will result in the conversion of Islam. Few Catholics are aware of the connection between Islam, Fatima, and Guadalupe. Presented in Father Corapi's straight-forward style, you will be both inspired and educated by him.

About Father John Corapi.

Father Corapi is a Catholic priest .

The pillars of father's preaching are basically:

Love for and a relationship with the Blessed Virgin Mary
Leading a vibrant and loving relationship with Jesus Christ
Great love and reverence for the Most Holy Eucharist from Holy Mass to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
An uncompromising love for and obedience to the Holy Father and the teaching of the Magisterium of the Church

God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi

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

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

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

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

Pope Francis will beatify these martyred Greek-Catholic bishops in Romania
May 30, 2019 - 03:01 pm .- On Sunday in Blaj, Pope Francis will beatify seven Greek-Catholic bishops of Romania who were killed by the communist regime between 1950 and 1970.

Woman who served Brazil’s poorest to be canonized
May 14, 2019 - 06:53 am .- Pope Francis Tuesday gave his approval for eight sainthood causes to proceed, including that of Bl. Dulce Lopes Pontes, a 20th-century religious sister who served Brazil’s poor.

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

Pope advances sainthood causes of 17 women
Jan 15, 2019 - 11:12 am .- Pope Francis approved Tuesday the next step in the canonization causes of 17 women from four countries, including the martyrdom of 14 religious sisters killed in Spain at the start of the Spanish Civil War.

Nineteen Algerian martyrs beatified
Dec 10, 2018 - 03:08 pm .- Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, were beatified Saturday during a Mass in Oran.

The Algerian martyrs shed their blood for Christ, pope says
Dec 7, 2018 - 10:02 am .- Ahead of the beatification Saturday of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, Pope Francis said martyrs have a special place in the Church.
Algerian martyrs are models for the Church, archbishop says
Nov 16, 2018 - 03:01 am .- Archbishop Paul Desfarges of Algiers has said that Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, are “models for our lives as disciples today and tomorrow.”

Francesco Spinelli to be canonized after healing of a newborn in DR Congo
Oct 9, 2018 - 05:01 pm .- Among those being canonized on Sunday are Fr. Franceso Spinelli, a diocesan priest through whose intercession a newborn was saved from death in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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

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

Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under ‘offering of life’
Jul 11, 2017 - 06:22 am .- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called “offering of life” – in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor.

Twentieth century Polish nurse among causes advancing toward sainthood
Jul 7, 2017 - 06:14 am .- Pope Francis on Friday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Hanna Chrzanowska, a Polish nurse and nursing instructor who died from cancer in 1973, paving the way for her beatification.

Sainthood causes advance, including layman who resisted fascism
Jun 17, 2017 - 09:22 am .- Pope Francis on Friday recognized the heroic virtue of six persons on the path to canonization, as well as the martyrdom of an Italian man who died from injuries of a beating he received while imprisoned in a concentration camp for resisting fascism.

Solanus Casey, Cardinal Van Thuan among those advanced toward sainthood
May 4, 2017 - 10:47 am .- Pope Francis on Thursday approved decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints advancing the causes for canonization of 12 individuals, including the American-born Capuchin Solanus Casey and the Vietnamese cardinal Francis Xavier Nguen Van Thuan.

Pope clears way for canonization of Fatima visionaries
Mar 23, 2017 - 06:44 am .- On Thursday Pope Francis approved the second and final miracle needed to canonize Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the shepherd children who witnessed the Fatima Marian apparitions.
Surgeon and father among sainthood causes moving forward
Feb 27, 2017 - 11:03 am .- Pope Francis recognized on Monday the heroic virtue of eight persons on the path to canonization, including an Italian surgeon and father of eight who suffered from several painful diseases throughout his life.

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

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

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

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

Pope Francis will beatify these martyred Greek-Catholic bishops in Romania
May 30, 2019 - 03:01 pm .- On Sunday in Blaj, Pope Francis will beatify seven Greek-Catholic bishops of Romania who were killed by the communist regime between 1950 and 1970.

Woman who served Brazil’s poorest to be canonized
May 14, 2019 - 06:53 am .- Pope Francis Tuesday gave his approval for eight sainthood causes to proceed, including that of Bl. Dulce Lopes Pontes, a 20th-century religious sister who served Brazil’s poor.

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

Pope advances sainthood causes of 17 women
Jan 15, 2019 - 11:12 am .- Pope Francis approved Tuesday the next step in the canonization causes of 17 women from four countries, including the martyrdom of 14 religious sisters killed in Spain at the start of the Spanish Civil War.

Nineteen Algerian martyrs beatified
Dec 10, 2018 - 03:08 pm .- Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, were beatified Saturday during a Mass in Oran.

The Algerian martyrs shed their blood for Christ, pope says
Dec 7, 2018 - 10:02 am .- Ahead of the beatification Saturday of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, Pope Francis said martyrs have a special place in the Church.
Algerian martyrs are models for the Church, archbishop says
Nov 16, 2018 - 03:01 am .- Archbishop Paul Desfarges of Algiers has said that Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, are “models for our lives as disciples today and tomorrow.”

Francesco Spinelli to be canonized after healing of a newborn in DR Congo
Oct 9, 2018 - 05:01 pm .- Among those being canonized on Sunday are Fr. Franceso Spinelli, a diocesan priest through whose intercession a newborn was saved from death in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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

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

Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under ‘offering of life’
Jul 11, 2017 - 06:22 am .- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called “offering of life” – in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor.

Twentieth century Polish nurse among causes advancing toward sainthood
Jul 7, 2017 - 06:14 am .- Pope Francis on Friday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Hanna Chrzanowska, a Polish nurse and nursing instructor who died from cancer in 1973, paving the way for her beatification.

Sainthood causes advance, including layman who resisted fascism
Jun 17, 2017 - 09:22 am .- Pope Francis on Friday recognized the heroic virtue of six persons on the path to canonization, as well as the martyrdom of an Italian man who died from injuries of a beating he received while imprisoned in a concentration camp for resisting fascism.

Solanus Casey, Cardinal Van Thuan among those advanced toward sainthood
May 4, 2017 - 10:47 am .- Pope Francis on Thursday approved decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints advancing the causes for canonization of 12 individuals, including the American-born Capuchin Solanus Casey and the Vietnamese cardinal Francis Xavier Nguen Van Thuan.

Pope clears way for canonization of Fatima visionaries
Mar 23, 2017 - 06:44 am .- On Thursday Pope Francis approved the second and final miracle needed to canonize Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the shepherd children who witnessed the Fatima Marian apparitions.
Surgeon and father among sainthood causes moving forward
Feb 27, 2017 - 11:03 am .- Pope Francis recognized on Monday the heroic virtue of eight persons on the path to canonization, including an Italian surgeon and father of eight who suffered from several painful diseases throughout his life.

8 Martyrs Move Closer to Sainthood 8 July, 2016
Posted by ZENIT Staff on 8 July, 2016

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

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

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

Sunday, November 23 2014 Six to Be Canonized on Feast of Christ the King.

On the List Are Lay Founder of a Hospital and Eastern Catholic Religious
VATICAN CITY, June 12, 2014 (Zenit.org) - Today, the Vatican announced that during the celebration of the feast of Christ the King on Sunday, November 23, an ordinary public consistory will be held for the canonization of the following six blesseds, who include a lay founder of a hospital for the poor, founders of religious orders, and two members of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See:
-Giovanni Antonio Farina (1803-1888), an Italian bishop who founded the Institute of the Sisters Teachers of Saint Dorothy, Daughters of the Sacred Hearts
-Kuriakose Elias Chavara (1805-1871), a Syro-Malabar priest in India who founded the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate
-Ludovico of Casoria (1814-1885), an Italian Franciscan priest who founded the Gray Sisters of St. Elizabeth
-Nicola Saggio (Nicola da Longobardi, 1650-1709), an Italian oblate of the Order of Minims
-Euphrasia Eluvathingal (1877-1952), an Indian Carmelite of the Syro-Malabar Church
-Amato Ronconi (1238-1304), an Italian, Third Order Franciscan who founded a hospital for poor pilgrims

CAUSES OF SAINTS July 2015.
Pope Recognizes Heroic Virtues of Ukrainian Archbishop
Recognition Brings Metropolitan Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky Closer to Beatification
By Junno Arocho Esteves Rome, July 17, 2015 (ZENIT.org)
Pope Francis recognized the heroic virtues of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky. According to a communique released by the Holy See Press Office, the Holy Father met this morning with Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

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

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

October 01, 2015 Vatican City, Pope Authorizes following Decrees
(ZENIT.org) By Staff Reporter
Polish Layperson Recognized as Servant of God
Pope Authorizes Decrees
Pope Francis on Wednesday authorised the Congregation for Saints' Causes to promulgate the following decrees:

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

HEROIC VIRTUES
- Servant of God Giovanni Folci, Italian diocesan priest and founder of the Opera Divin Prigioniero (1890-1963);
- Servant of God Franciszek Blachnicki, Polish diocesan priest (1921-1987);
- Servant of God Jose Rivera Ramirez, Spanish diocesan priest (1925-1991);
- Servant of God Juan Manuel Martín del Campo, Mexican diocesan priest (1917-1996);
- Servant of God Antonio Filomeno Maria Losito, Italian professed priest of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (1838-1917);
- Servant of God Maria Benedetta Giuseppa Frey (nee Ersilia Penelope), Italian professed nun of the Cistercian Order (1836-1913);
- Servant of God Hanna Chrzanowska, Polish layperson, Oblate of the Ursulines of St. Benedict (1902-1973).

March 06 2016 MIRACLES authorised the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
Pope Francis received in a private audience Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, during which he authorised the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
MIRACLES

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

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

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

MIRACLES
– Blessed Alfonso Maria Fusco, diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. John the Baptist (1839-1910);
– Venerable Servant of God John Sullivan, professed priest of the Society of Jesus (1861-1933);
MARTYRDOM
– Servants of God Nikolle Vinçenc Prennushi, O.F.M., archbishop of Durres, Albania, and 37 companions killed between 1945 and 1974;
– Servants of God José Antón Gómez and three companions of the Benedictines of Madrid, Spain, killed 1936;
HEROIC VIRTUES
– Servant of God Thomas Choe Yang-Eop, diocesan priest (1821-1861);
– Servant of God Sosio Del Prete (né Vincenzo), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Congregation of the Little Servants of Christ the King (1885-1952);
– Servant of God Wenanty Katarzyniec (né Jósef), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (1889-1921);
– Servant of God Maria Consiglia of the Holy Spirity (née Emilia Paqualina Addatis), founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Addolorata, Servants of Mary (1845-1900);
– Servant of God Maria of the Incarnation (née Caterina Carrasco Tenorio), founder of the Congregation of the Franciscan Tertiary Sisters of the Flock of Mary (1840-1917);
– Servant of God , founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Family of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1851-1923);
– Servant of God Ilia Corsaro, founder of the Congregation of the Little Missionaries of the Eucharist (1897-1977);
– Servant of God Maria Montserrat Grases García, layperson of the Personal Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei (1941-1959).

LINKS:
Marian Apparitions (over 2000) India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes Feb 11- July 16, Loreto, Italy 1858
China Marian shrines May 23, 1995 Zarvintisya Ukraine Lourdes Kenya national Marian shrine    Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798
Links to Related Marian Websites Angels and Archangels
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Apostles Roman Catholic Popes Purgatory Uniates, 101 2022