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
Mary Mother of GOD
Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!  (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
RDeo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
September is the month of Our Lady of Sorrows since 1857
2023
22,013  Lives Saved Since 2007

CAUSES OF SAINTS April  2014

Our Bartholomew Family Prayer List  Here
Joyful Mystery on Monday Saturday   Glorius Mystery on Sunday Wednesday
  
Sorrowful Mystery on Friday Tuesday   Luminous Mystery on Thursday Veterens of War

Nine First Fridays Devotion to the Sacred Heart From the writings of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
How do I start the Five First Saturdays?
Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary

Acts of the Apostles
The Abbey of Fuldaburial place of Saint Boniface
September 3 - Consecration of Germany to the Immaculate Heart of Mary (1954)
- Saint Gregory the Great (d. 604)

 At the heart of Marian Germany
 Germany was consecrated to the Virgin Mary in Fulda, a city in central Germany, during the Marian Year of 1950, by Cardinal Frings.  It was in the 8th century that the country’s first spiritual center was founded in Fulda—a Benedictine abbey built for missions in northern Germany. The burial place of Saint Boniface, the Abbey of Fulda flourished after 754 and became a kind of national religious shrine for the Germans.
A large basilica was built there, between 791 and 819. The school in Fulda began to thrive under Charlemagne and was developed by one of its great monks, Rabanus Maurus (856) who was a wonderful champion of the Virgin Mary:

"Mary, you deserved to host the promise announced to the world so many centuries ago;
you became the House of the immense majesty; you alone, by special privilege,
possessed for nine months the hope of the world, the honor of the centuries, the common joy of all,"

he exclaimed in one of his many homilies to the glory of the Mother of God.

    "In the name of the most holy and undivided Trinity."
Thus began the Treaty of Paris which ended the Revolutionary War. The Treaty continued:
"It having pleased the Divine Providence to dispose the hearts of the most serene and most potent Prince George the Third...and of the United States of America, to forget all past misunderstandings and differences....Done at Paris,
this THIRD DAY of SEPTEMBER, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three."
The Treaty was signed by Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, later the 2nd President, John Jay, the first Chief Justice.

 On January 27, 1983, declaring a National Day of Prayer, President Ronald Reagan stated: "Prayer is the mainspring of the American spirit, a fundamental tenet of our people since before the Republic was founded. A year before the Declaration of Independence, in 1775, the Continental Congress proclaimed the first National Day of Prayer as the initial positive action they asked of every colonist." Reagan concluded: "Two hundred years ago in 1783, the Treaty of Paris officially ended the long, weary Revolutionary War during which a National Day of Prayer had been proclaimed every spring for eight years."


1st v. St. Phoebe brought Paul's epistle to the Romans a deaconess of the Church at Cenchreae, the port of Corinth. She was recommended to the Christian congregation at Rome by St. Paul, who praised her for her assistance to him and to many others.  Saint Phoebe the Deaconess is mentioned by the holy Apostle Paul (Romans 16:1-2).
1st v. Euphemia, Dorothy, Thecla, and Erasma At Aquileia, the holy virgins and martyrs   Under Nero, after enduring many torments, they were slain with the sword and buried by St. Hermagoras.
119 St. Serapia, virgin and martyr,  translation of At Rome, suffered on the 29th of July. St. Serapia; slave, also called Seraphia servant of St. Sabina; responsible for the Roman noblewoman’s conversion to Christianity.  Both Sabina and Serapia were subsequently beheaded during the persecutions of Emperor hadrian
3rd v. Saint Aristion bishop of lesser Alexandria in Cilicia (Asia Minor); Aristion stood before the eparch and his counselors, gazing at them with love and concern for their salvation. Even in his weakness, this captive was stronger than his captors, and refused to offer sacrifice to pagan gods.
 303 Zeno boldly denounced emperor Maximian; and Chanton + 20,000 Christian Martyrs
284 -311 Anthimus, Bishop of Nicomedia, and those with him The Hieromartyr suffered during the persecution against Christians under the emperors Diocletian (284-305) and Maximian (305-311). The persecution became particularly intense after a fire at the imperial court at Nicomedia. The pagans accused the Christians of setting the fire and reacted against them with terrible ferocity.
4th v. St. Basilissa At Nicomedia, the passion; virgin and martyr, in persecution of Diocletian, under governor Alexander.  At age nine, after having, through the power of God, overcome scourging, fire, and the beasts—by which she converted the governor to the faith of Christ—she at length gave up her soul to God at prayer outside the city.
 350 St. Mansuetus Bishop of Toul
 425 St. Senan Natalis Priest of great sanctity renowned for learning
 425 St. Angus MacNisse baptized by St. Patrick 1st bishop
 467 Saint Theoctistus of Palestine great ascetic in Judean wilderness Wadi Mukellik companion five years of St Euthymius the Great
 514 St. Macanisius  Patrick;  baptized Macanisius bishop founder of Kells Monastery
; many spectacular miracles attributed to him.
6th v. The Pisidia Icon of the Mother of God glorified by miracles in the city of Sozopolis; St Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople mentions "the icon of the All-Pure Virgin Mother of God at Pisidian Sozopolis" in letters on veneration of icons read at the Seventh Ecumenical Council said myrrh flowed from the hands," described the icon as "ancient."  miracles date back to the sixth century
  568 St. Auxanus Bishop a revered bishop of that city
 580 St. Maurilius Bishop of Cahors knowing the entire Bible by heart
 592 ST SIMEON STYLITES THE YOUNGER
 604  Saint Gregory, the raising to the Sovereign Pontificate of  Great Pope and Doctor of the Church
        St. Balin Confessor and disciple of St. Colman
 663 St. Remaclus Benedictine missionary bishop
 675 St Remaclus, Bishop
 675 St. Frugentius Benedictine martyr of Fleury
7th v. St. Balin Confessor and disciple of St. Colman;  acconipanied St. Colman to lona, in Scotland, and then took up residence in Connaught, Ireland.
  676 St. Aigulf Abbot and reformer sent to Montecassino attempt obtain relics of St Benedict; later Abbot of Lérins
 
690 St. Hereswitha Benedictine princess of Northumbria ngland, sister of St. Hilda and mother of Sts. Sexburga, Withburga, and Ethelburga
 698 St. Regulus Benedictine monk and archbishop
 717 St Hildelitha, Abbess Of Barking, Virgin took the veil, either at Chelles or at Faremoutier.  There she remained until requested by St Erconwald to return to England to train his sister Ethelburga, for whom he had built a convent at Barking, but who was quite inexperienced in the religious life. When the training was completed and St Ethelburga had taken her place as abbess, her instructress became one of the nuns.  After the death of St Ethelburga, St Hildelitha was elected her successor, and continued to rule the community for the rest of her life.
 725 St Cuthburga, Absess Of Wimborne, Widow she was a novice under St Hildelitha
 855 St. Sandila A Spanish martyr
1200 St. Martin de Hinojosa Cistercian bishop
1231 St. John of Perugia & Peter of Sassoferrato Franciscan martyrs sent by St. Francis of Assisi
1244 Bd Guala, Bishop of Brescia; two ladders let down from the heavens, top of one of stood our Lord and of the other His holy Mother.  Angels were going up and down the ladders, and at their foot there sat between them a figure in the Dominican habit, his face covered with his hood as if for burial.   Then the ladders were drawn up and with them the friar, borne up by the angels to the feet of Christ -- Dominic.
1315 St. Andrew Dotti mystic granted visions Servite missionary
1349 Saint Joannicius, Patriarch of Serbia, a native of the city of Prizren secretary under king Karl (Charles) of Serbia, later  guided the Church in as Archbishop. In the year 1346 a Council of all the Serbian archpastors, including Patriarch of Bulgaria, at wish of King Dushan, chose Archbishop Joannicius Patriarch of Serbian Orthodox Church.
1580 Blessed John the Merciful of Rostov; "Merciful" was given to Blessed John because many healings occurred at his grave, and with  the memory of holy Patriarch John the Merciful (Nov 12), whose name he shared
17th v.  Aristaeus, bishop, and Antoninus, a young boy At Capua, the holy martyrs
1632
St. Anthony Ishida and Companions  Japanese Jesuit martyr died with Franciscans/Augustinians Nagasaki
1632 Bl. Bartholomew Gutierrez Augustinian martyr of Japan
1632 St. Gabriel of St. Magdalen, Blessed Franciscan martyr of Japan

 
        Pope St. Pius X, whose birthday is mentioned on the 20th of August.
Sancti Pii Papæ Décimi, cujus natális dies tertiodécimo Kaléndas Septémbris recensétur.
    Pope St. Pius X, whose birthday is mentioned on the 20th of August.


Mary's Divine Motherhood
Called in the Gospel "the Mother of Jesus," Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as "the Mother of my Lord" (Lk 1:43; Jn 2:1; 19:25; cf. Mt 13:55; et al.). In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh,
was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity.
Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos).

Catechism of the Catholic Church 495, quoting the Council of Ephesus (431): DS 251.
The saints are a “cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.
15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary
The Many Titles of Mary
Sept 3 - Our Lady of the Divine Shepherd (France) Love gave her a thousand names.
>From an old Flemish Hymn

Sept 3 - OUR LADY OF THE DIVINE SHEPHERD (France)
The Role of the Blessed Mother in the Economy of Salvation
In the public life of Jesus, Mary makes significant appearances. This is so even at the very beginning, when at the marriage feast of Cana, moved with pity; she brought about by her intercession the beginning of miracles of Jesus the Messiah.  In the course of her Son's preaching she received the words whereby in extolling a kingdom beyond the calculations and bonds of flesh and blood, He declared blessed those who heard and kept the word of God, as she was faithfully doing. After this manner the Blessed Virgin advanced in her pilgrimage of faith, and faithfully persevered in her union with her Son unto the cross, where she stood, in keeping with the divine plan, grieving exceedingly with her only begotten Son, uniting herself with a maternal heart with His sacrifice, and lovingly consenting to the immolation of this Victim which she herself had brought forth.
Finally, she was given by the same Christ Jesus dying on the cross, as a mother to His disciple,
with these words: "Woman, behold thy son".
Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium #58
Solemnly promulgated by His Holiness Pope Paul VI on Nov. 21, 1964



1st v. St. Phoebe brought Paul's epistle to the Romans a deaconess of the Church at Cenchreae, the port of Corinth. She was recommended to the Christian congregation at Rome by St. Paul, who praised her for her assistance to him and to many others
Corínthi natális sanctæ Phœbes, cujus méminit beátus Apóstolus Paulus ad Romános scribens.
    At Corinth the birthday of St. Phoebe, mentioned by the blessed apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Romans.
 She may have brought Paul's epistle to the Romans to Rome with her.

St Phoebe
In the last chapter of his letter to the Christians of Rome St Paul sends his greetings to many of his friends there, but first of all refers to one Phoebe, of whom he writes:   "And I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is in the ministry of the church that is in Cenchrae, that you receive her in the Lord as becometh saints and that you assist her in whatsoever business she shall have need of you. For she also hath assisted many, and myself also." Cenchrae was the port of Corinth from whence the Epistle to the Romans was written about the year 57, and it would appear that St Phoebe was the bearer of the letter.  Beyond what St Paul tells us in his testimonial nothing is known of her; she is named in the Roman Martyrology on this day, and St John Chrysostom eulogized her merits.
  The Bollandists devote a few pages to St Phoebe, refuting in particular the allegation that she had been the wife of St Paul, but ministeced to him afterwards as a dear sister. The notion that St Paul had been married seems to have been suggested by a phrase in the interpolated letter of St Ignatius to the Philadelphians, and by a remark of Clement of Alexandria.  The insertion of Phoebe's name (as well as that of other New Testament characters) in the martyrology is due to Ado in the ninth century.   See Dora H. Quentin, Les martyrologes historiques, p. 665
.
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.
1st v. Euphemia, Dorothy, Thecla, and Erasma At Aquileia, the holy virgins and martyrs   Under Nero, after enduring many torments, they were slain with the sword and buried by St. Hermagoras.
      Aquiléjæ sanctárum Vírginum et Mártyrum Euphémiæ, Dorótheæ, Theclæ et Erásmæ, quæ, sub Neróne Imperatóre et Sebásto Præside, post multa supplícia, gládio cæsæ sunt, et a sancto Hermágora sepúltæ
.
At Rome, the translation of St. Serapia, virgin and martyr, who suffered on the 29th of July. 119 St. Serapia A slave and martyr, also called Seraphia servant of St. Sabina and was responsible for the Roman noblewoman’s conversion to Christianity. Both Sabina and Serapia were subsequently beheaded during the persecutions of Emperor hadrian
      Romæ Translátio sanctæ Serápiæ, Vírginis et Mártyris; quæ passa est quarto Kaléndas Augústi.
Serapia of Syria VM (RM) Saint Serapia (Seraphia) was a Syrian slave who converted Saint Sabina and was martyred with her under Hadrian (Benedictines, Encyclopedia). In art, Saint Serapia holds a tablet or book; sometimes she appears with Saint Sabina (Roeder).
Seraphima the Virgin, a native of Antioch The Holy martyr lived at Rome during the reign of the emperor Hadrian (117-138) with the illustrious Roman Sabina, whom the saint converted to Christianity. During the persecution against Christians begun by order of the emperor, the governor Virilus gave orders to bring St Seraphima to trial. Desiring a crown of martyrdom from the Lord, she fearlessly went to the executioner at the first summons.
The devoted Sabina accompanied her. Seeing that illustrious lady, Virilus at first set the maiden free, but after several days he again summoned St Seraphima and began the trial.
3rd v. Saint Aristion bishop of lesser Alexandria in Cilicia (Asia Minor); Aristion stood before the eparch and his counselors, gazing at them with love and concern for their salvation. Even in his weakness, this captive was stronger than his captors, and refused to offer sacrifice to pagan gods.
Thektistos  Orthodoxe Kirche: 3. September
Theoktistos lebte als Einsiedler am Toten Meer. Hier traf er mit Euthymios zusammen. Er zog mit ihm in eine Höhle, um die herum eine Mönchskolonie entstand, die Theoktistos leitete. Er starb 467. Das neu entstandene Kloster wurde nach ihm benannt.
He was born in the small town of Aribazo in the eparchy of Apamea, Syria at the beginning of the second century. His parents were pagans, and he spent his early years in an atmosphere of idolatry.
We do not know what sort of early education St Aristion received, nor where he studied, but it did not satisfy his search for the truth. A ten-year-old boy who lived in the same town, the future martyr Anthony, showed him the path which led to the truth. Anthony instructed him in the true Faith, and Aristion increased in piety and zeal for God.
It is significant that Anthony, despite the constant fear of persecution, exile and even danger to his own life, was not just a member of the local church, but also preached the Faith to others. It is certain that Aristion prayed for his young friend and remembered his courage and strength, for Anthony's efforts to bring Aristion to the saving Faith had born fruit and were not in vain. Not only did Anthony give himself to the Church through his martyrdom at the age of twenty, he also gave it another saint and martyr: St Aristion.
Years later, St Aristion was consecrated bishop for Isso in Cilicia, which is found in lesser Alexandria. He was a good shepherd to his flock, and cared diligently for their souls.
One day the ruler of Alexandria had St Aristion arrested because he was a Christian. Although he was placed on public trial, the holy bishop was calm and showed no fear. His whole demeanor made the Roman eparch realize that it would not easy to deal with this man who stood before him. He tried to turn Aristion from Christ through flattery and promises of reward, but the saint stood firm. Seeing that his words had no effect on the bishop, he threatened him with fierce tortures. He was not influenced by these threats, however.
St Aristion stood before the eparch and his counselors, gazing at them with love and concern for their salvation. Even in his weakness, this captive was stronger than his captors, and he refused to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods.
Before a multitude of idolaters, St Aristion spoke of the Triune God, by Whom all things were created. He also told them about the Incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ, which was accomplished through God's saving dispensation. He explained that Christ brings salvation to fallen man, thereby giving him another chance to attain the true purpose of his life - theosis.
"How poor these soulless statues of the gods are," the bishop said, "and how helpless the eparch looks in his radiant apparel."
All who heard the saint speak were amazed and asked one another where he got such courage. Aristion invited them to believe in the truth which he was revealing to them. Those who watched understood that this holy man was someone special, and they wanted to hear more about his beliefs.
The Roman eparch could not find any way to resist Aristion except through violence, so he sentenced him to death. He commanded his soldiers to prepare a large furnace and then throw him into the flames.The saint went to his martyrdom without resistance, remaining brave and strong until the end. The few Christians who were present tried not to weep.They whispered prayers for him, and were saddened because their father was leaving them. They knew, however, that their archpastor would not cease praying for them, especially now that he was going to Christ. They could hear St Aristion singing hymns in the fire until his last breath.
The eparch did not know what a terrible mistake he had made. He did not realize that death is not the end for men, nor for the truth. Nothing could separate St Aristion from the Fountain of Life, and so the Lord bestowed upon him an imperishable crown of glory.
After the flames died down, his spiritual children approached the furnace and collected as many of his bones as they could. With great reverence they put the holy relics in a secret place, which remains unknown to the present day.
A more detailed biography of the saint has been published (in Greek): THE HOLY HIEROMARTYR ARISTION, by John G. Thalassinos (Athens, 2003). This volume also contains the Service to the saint, which was composed by Hieromonk Athanasius of Simonopetra Monastery on Mt. Athos.
303 Zeno boldly denounced emperor Maximian; and Chanton + 20,000 Christian Martyrs
Item sanctórum Mártyrum Zenónis et Charitónis; quorum alter in lebétem liquáti plumbi conjéctus est, alter in ignis fornácem immíssus.
    Also, the holy martyrs Zeno and Chariton.  The one was cast into a cauldron of melted lead, the other into a burning furnace.
Put to death during the reign of Emperor Diocletian (r.284.305) .
Saint Zeno suffered with the hieromartyr Anthimus during the persecution against Christians under the emperors Diocletian (284-305) and Maximian (305-311). The persecution became particularly intense after a fire at the imperial court at Nicomedia. The pagans accused the Christians of setting the fire and reacted against them with terrible ferocity.

In Nicomedia alone, on the day of the Nativity of Christ, as many as twenty thousand Christians were burned inside a church. However, this monstrous inhumanity did not frighten the Christians, who firmly confessed their faith and endured martyrdom for Christ.
The soldier Zeno boldly denounced the emperor Maximian, for which he was stoned, and then beheaded.
284 -311 Anthimus, Bishop of Nicomedia, and those with him The Hieromartyr suffered during the persecution against Christians under the emperors Diocletian (284-305) and Maximian (305-311). The persecution became particularly intense after a fire at the imperial court at Nicomedia. The pagans accused the Christians of setting the fire and reacted against them with terrible ferocity.

Orthodoxe Kirche: 3. September - Anthimos  Orthodoxe Kirche: 28. Dezember - 20.000 Märtyrer von Nikomedia
Katholische Kirche: 25. Dezember - Märtyrer von Nikomedia

In Nicomedia alone, on the day of the Nativity of Christ, as many as twenty thousand Christians were burned inside a church. However, this monstrous inhumanity did not frighten the Christians, who firmly confessed their faith and endured martyrdom for Christ.

Sts Dorotheus, Mardonius, Migdonius, Peter, Indes and Gorgonius died during this period. One of them was beheaded by the sword, others perished by burning, or being buried alive, or by drowning in the sea. The soldier Zeno boldly denounced the emperor Maximian, for which he was stoned, and then beheaded.

Then the holy Virgin Martyr Domna, a former pagan priestess, perished at the hands of the pagans, and also St Euthymius, because of their concern that the bodies of the holy martyrs should be buried. Bishop Anthimus, who headed the Church of Nicomedia, hid himself in a village not far from Nicomedia at the request of his flock. From there he sent letters to the Christians, urging them to cleave firmly to the holy Faith and not to fear tortures.

One of his letters, sent with Deacon Theophilus, was intercepted and given to the emperor Maximian. Theophilus was interrogated and died under torture, without revealing to his torturers the whereabouts of Bishop Anthimus. After a while Maximian managed to learn where St Anthimus was, and sent a detachment of soldiers after him.

The bishop met them along the way, but the soldiers did not recognize the saint. He invited them to join him and provided a meal, after which he revealed that he was the one they sought. The soldiers did not know what to do. They wanted to leave him and tell the emperor that they had not found him. Bishop Anthimus was not one to tolerate a lie, and so he would not consent to this.

The soldiers came to believe in Christ and received holy Baptism. The saint ordered them to carry out the emperor's instructions. When Bishop Anthimus was brought before the emperor, the emperor ordered that the instruments of execution be brought out and placed before him. "Do you think, emperor, to frighten me with these tools of execution?" asked the saint. "No indeed, you cannot frighten one who wishes to die for Christ! Execution is frightening only for the cowardly, for whom the present life is most precious." The emperor then directed that the saint be fiercely tortured and beheaded by the sword.

Bishop Anthimus joyfully glorified God with his last breath, and received the crown of martyrdom. (See December 28 for another account of the Nicomedian martyrs.)
Saint Theophilus was a deacon who endured martyrdom during the persecution against Christians under the emperors Diocletian (284-305) and Maximian (305-311). The persecution became particularly intense after a fire at the imperial court at Nicomedia. The pagans accused the Christians of setting the fire and reacted against them with terrible ferocity.

St Anthimus, who was Bishop of Nicomedia, took refuge in a neighboring village during the persecution, and encouraged his flock through letters. One of his letters, sent with Deacon Theophilus, was intercepted and given to the emperor Maximian. Theophilus was interrogated and died under torture, without revealing the whereabouts of Bishop Anthimus.

Unter den Kaisern Diokletian und Maximinian feierten (303 oder 304) 20.000 Christen (andere Quellen nennen 2.000) in Nikomedia, der Residenz von Diokletian, in der Kirche das Weihnachtsfest. Maximinian (oder Diokletian?), der in Nikomedia seinen Sieg über die Äthiopier feiern wollte, befahl, Brennholz um die Kirche zu schichten und dieses anzuzünden. Als Bischof Anthimos den Anschlag bemerkte, feierte er die Liturgie zu Ende und taufte alle noch nicht getauften Katechumenen. Alle Gottesdienstbesucher verbrannten außer Bischof Anthimos, der durch ein Wunder vor den Flammen bewahrt wurde. Anthimos stärkte seine Herde in der weiteren Verfolgung. Viele Christen wurden geköpft oder verbrannt, lebendig begraben oder ertränkt. Schließlich wurde auch Bischof Anthimos gefangengenommen und schwer gefoltert und geköpft.
In Berichten werden aus den Märtyrern die Namen Agape, Agathia, Antonia, Domna, Dorotheius, Euthymios, Glycerius, Gorgonios, Indes, Mardonius, Migdonius, Nikostrates, Peter, Secundos, Theophila und Zeno genannt. Da um 303 das Weihnachtsfest noch nicht gefeiert wurde, wird es sich wohl um einen anderen Festtag gehandelt haben. Zu den Christenverfolgungen unter Diokletian siehe auch Märtyrer der heiligen Bücher.
4th v. At Nicomedia, the passion of St. Basilissa, virgin and martyr, in the persecution of Diocletian, under the governor Alexander.  At the age of nine years, after having, through the power of God, overcome scourging, fire, and the beasts—by which she converted the governor to the faith of Christ—she at length gave up her soul to God while at prayer outside the city.
     Nicomedíæ pássio sanctæ Basilíssæ, Vírginis et Mártyris; quæ, annos novem nata, cum in persecutióne Diocletiáni Imperatóris, sub Alexándro Præside, vérbera, ignes ac béstias divína virtúte superásset, ipsum Præsidem ad Christi fidem convértit, ac tandem extra urbem in oratióne spíritum Deo réddidit.

The Martyr Basilissa of Nicomedia suffered for her faith in Christ under the emperor Diocletian. The Nicomedia governor Alexander gave orders to arrest the nine-year-old Basilissa and force her to renounce Christ. But the young maiden displayed unshakable firmness in fidelity to her Lord, and so she was subjected to protracted and intense torture.

Through the grace of God, the holy martyr remained alive and unharmed. This was evident to all those present as a manifestation of the power of God, and it so upset the governor Alexander, that he also came to believe in Christ and confessed himself a Christian.

Baptized later by Bishop Anthimus, he lived for a short while in deep repentance, and then departed peacefully to the Lord, as did St Basilissa some while after him. Her death was peaceful and accompanied by miraculous signs of God's mercy
.
350 St. Mansuetus Bishop of Toul
Tulli, in Gállia, sancti Mansuéti, Epíscopi et Confessóris.    At Toul in France, St. Mansuetus, bishop and confessor.
France, also called Mansuy. He served as bishop from about 338 until his death.
425 St. Senan Natalis Priest of great sanctity renowned for learning
He was born in Benevento, Italy, and was a priest at Casale, in Piedmont. Life of St Senan, Bishop, Patron Saint of West Clare St. Patrick foretells the coming of St. Senan

When St. Patrick was preaching the good tidings of the Gospel throughout Ireland, and had reached that part of Munster inhabited by the people called the Ui Figente, his fame reached to the people of Corcabhaiscinn on the Northern shores of the river Shannon. (The territory of the Ui Figente corresponds to the present Diocese of Limerick. Findinne is supposed by competent authorities to be KnockPatrick, which is not far from the present town of Foynes. Corcabhaiscinn: the tribe of Baiscinn, son of Conaire Mor, King of Ireland (c.A.D. 165). It meant also the territory inhabited by this race who claimed descent from Baiscinn. Corabhaiscinn comprised the present baronies of Clonderlaw, Ibrickan and Moyarta. These three baronies comprise sixteen parishes extending westwards from Killadisert to Loop Head and from Kilfarboy (Miltown Malbay) on the north to Killard.)

Led by their chieftain, they took to their fishing craft and in great numbers came across the river to meet the great teacher. They came to the place where St. Patrick was preaching, which was the place later called Domnachmore. There the apostle instructed them in the truths of the Christian faith and duly baptized them.

So deeply impressed were these persons at all they had seen and heard that they earnestly besought Patrick to come with them to their district, and teach their kinsfolk the truths of salvation. This, however, was not possible. Yet, to satisfy in some measure their desires, the saint accompanied them to the high hill, called Findinne, from which he could view their lands. He looked into the future with prophetic gaze and solemnly assured them that in due time one would be born among them who would speak and act for them in his stead. He promised them that if they remained faithful to his teaching all would be well with them. Should they turn aside from the way he would lead them, then hunger and want and slavery would be their lot. Meanwhile, he, Patrick, would send two of his disciples to instruct them and their families in the Christian way of life.

How many years went by between St. Patrick prophecy and its fulfillment? Probably not so many as within a generation. Colgan is of the opinion that, since Senan is said to have lived at the same time as Saints Brendan and Kieran, he was born at the end of the 5th century, about the year 488.

The metric life, which Colgan considers to be very ancient commences with the following words:
‘Senanus ex nobilibus procreatur parentibus, et ab ipsis cunabulis fidelibus christicolis; qui magna Dei gratia habebantur in Scotia, quorum haec sunt vocabula, Ercanus et Coemgella’.
Which stanza may be freely translated:
Senan is of noble parents born; faithful Christians they from childhood morn.  By God’s great grace in Scotia was their home.  As Ercan and Coemgella they are known.

According to the prose life, he was born in a place called Moylougha, (Magh-locha), which is about four miles east of the present town of Kilrush. His mother, while walking through the nearby woods, was seized with the pangs of childbirth. A branch of a tree which she grasped for support is said to have blossomed, as if to signify the virtues which her child would show forth in future years.
Of his childhood it is stated that he grew in virtue as in age, a source of joy to his parents and companions alike. As a youth, he was convinced of the need of that self-denial which is part of the Christian way of life. To illustrate this, it is related that on one occasion, while accompanying his mother on a journey, he reproved her for picking berries and reminded her that God, in his providence, had ordained times for abstinence as well as for refection.
Many are the ‘legenda’ which transcribers recount of this saint’s youth.
On one occasion he was summoned to take part in a foray into the neighboring territory of Corcomore, for he was bound to serve his chieftain in time of battle.
The metric life thus tersely tells the result of the raid:
‘Tandem commisso praelio, justo Dei judicio, Vehementer exterritus, rex terga dedit hostibus.  Ex omni vero populo, a nece vel periculo, Solus immunis fuerat qui fuga labi poterat’.
(The battle joined, but then by God’s decree, seized with dismay, the leader turned to flee.  Then he alone might ‘scape his deadly plight who slipped aside to save himself by flight.)

However, before the raid had begun, the pious youth, who had no heart in this kind of work, already slipped aside and lay down in a heap of straw, intending to join his companions on their return. There a band of enraged inhabitants of Corcomore discovered him. Suddenly, to their astonishment, the heap of straw seemed all ablaze while the young man himself seemed to be unharmed. When he candidly confessed that he was one of the raiders they were even more mystified. Convinced that he was protected by some strange power, they spared his life and sent him on his way.
On another occasion, while driving cattle from a district called the Irros, to the west of his home, the oncoming tide flowing into an estuary prevented him from proceeding any further. Because it was late in the evening, he decided to seek shelter for the night at a fort called Dun Mechair. When they refused to give him hospitality, he returned to guard his herd. Then, to his surprise, he saw a path through the estuary which seemed quite dry. When he had driven his cattle to the other side he saw the tide swiftly overflowing the passage he had just used. Seeing in this occurrence the kindly providence of God, he stuck his spear into the ground, and making the sign of the cross, resolved there and then to dedicate his life to the service of God. And so the young farmer from Moylougha, who had hitherto kept himself uncontaminated, now forsook wordly pursuits to follow where the Spirit of God directed him.
Animated with this desire, he sought the spiritual guidance of a monk, named Cassidus. (Colgan, in his notes to the metric life, tells us that this holy man had come from Kerricurichy to live in the Irrus - or Peninsula - of West Clare). From this saintly man he received the habit and tonsure of a monk. From him he learnt also the reading and understanding of the sacred scriptures, as well as the principles and practices of the religious life.
So rapidly did the zealous novice advance along the path of perfection that Cassidus was inspired to direct him to a still greater teacher. There was then in Ossory the great monastery of Kilnamanagh. The abbot was a man already renowned for learning and sanctity? known later as St. Natalis. According to the author of the metric life the community of Kilnamanagh numbered then a hundred and fifty. To this centre of religion came young men who desired to dedicate their whole lives to the service of God. From such centres they went forth to enlighten those who were ‘in darkness and in the shadow of death’. It was there the youth from Corcabaiscinn completed his studies and in due time became a priest.
Those chroniclers, who later wrote the story of his life tell us that already in this monastery miracles testified to his virtue. Two examples will here suffice to indicate how greatly his biographers wished to enhance his prestige.
One day, when he was appointed to ‘mind the cows’ in the monastery pasture, the persistent efforts of young calves seeking their mothers interfered with his prayers. So he drew a line with his stick between these thirsty young animals and their mothers. He continued praying with no further interruptions!
Then there was the incident of the three robbers who came by night to the monastery mill to steal corn. Peering through a slit in the door, they saw two persons within, one a monk, reading, and the other nearby a man of splendid appearance.
The robbers decided to wait until the door was unbolted. However, when morning came and the door was opened they found to their amazement only one person. When Senan explained that the other person whom they had seen was one who came to his aid in time of need, and, indeed would come to anyone who, needing help called upon him, the robbers were so deeply impressed that they abandoned their life of crime to follow the narrow way of Christian virtue of the monastery.
How many years the future abbot of Iniscathaigh spent in Kilnamanagh is not stated. In the metric life unfortunately not a few chapters are missing, and these, most probably, the very ones that would tell us of his life from the time he left Kilnamanagh until, after many years he came to Iniscathaigh.
The Irish life, however, though less ancient and less reliable than the metric one, supplies to some extent this information. In it we are informed that the fame of Senan’s sanctity and miracles spread abroad so that many flocked to the monastery to be healed of their infirmities. At length, the abbot Natalis decided that this saintly monk was now so well and truly advanced in monastic discipline that he was quite capable of leading others on that road. He therefore informed Senan that such a time had now come, and so, he bade farewell to the monastery where he had received so many and so great graces. He directed his steps eastwards until he reached the river Slaney. There in a green island called Iniscoirithe, (the present Enniscorthy), he had a cell. During his stay in that place he became acquainted with the abbot of Ferns, later known as St. Maidoc, or Aidan.
Prompted with a great longing to visit the places hallowed by the Apostles, he undertook a pilgrimage to Rome. On his return journey he spent some time in Gaul (France), and visited the shrine of St. Martin of Tours. Before coming back to Ireland he went to Menevia to meet the abbot David, the future archbishop and patron saint of Menevia. It seems very probable that he had been consecrated bishop before he returned to Ireland.
In the second, or prose, life of the saint we are told that he came from Wales to the south coast of Ireland, and landed at an island called Ardmenedh, in the present Co. Cork. (Ardmenedh has been identified as the ‘Great Island’ near Cork.) After spending some days there he was urged by an interior spirit to proceed further. He continued on his journey until he came to the river Lee. Here, on the Island of Iniscarra, he set up a monastic settlement. While he was staying here there came fifty monks from the continent, for the fame of Ireland as a centre of Christian learning and culture was well known in Gaul and Rome. Ten of these monks placed themselves under the direction of St. Senan.
From Iniscarra he went to Inisluinghe on the river Shannon, where he established a ‘cell’ or church. (Inisluinghe has not been identified.) While he was in this island the daughters of the local chieftain received from him the veil of religious life. (Some authorities deduce from this event that St. Senan was a bishop at this time). From Inisluinghe to Inismore (Deer Island?) and from Inismore to Iniscaorach (lit. ‘Sheep-island’, now mis-named Mutton Island) and from there to Iniscunla (now Inisconla). Iniscaorach has an oratory of St. Senan, as has Bishops Island. Finally, this zealous and untiring apostle proceeded to the island which he knew by revelation would be the centre of his greatest apostolate and his last resting place on earth.
425 St. Angus MacNisse baptized by St. Patrick the first bishop
According to unreliable legends, Angus MacNisse was baptized by St. Patrick, who years later consecrated him bishop. After a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in Rome, he founded a church and monastery at Kells, which developed into Connor, of which he is considered the first bishop. His story is filled with extravagant miracles, such as changing the course of a river for the convenience of his monks and rescuing a child about to be executed for his father's crime by causing him to be carried by the wind from his executioners to his arms
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467 Saint Theoctistus of Palestine a great ascetic lived in the Judean wilderness Wadi Mukellik. At first, he was the companion  five years of St Euthymius the Great (January 20) in the ascetic lfe. So great was their mutual affection and oneness of mind that they seemed to live as one soul in two bodies. They were persons of similar virtue and holiness, and they encouraged one another in their struggles. Each year after the Leave-taking of Theophany, they would go into the desert to struggle and pray in solitude, returning to their cells on Palm Sunday.
After five years together, Sts Euthymius and Theoctistus went into the desert for Great Lent, and in a wadi they discovered a large cave which later became a church. They decided to remain there, believing that they had been led there by God. They ate wild herbs to sustain themselves, and met with no other people for some time.

The Lord did not wish these great luminaries to remain hidden, however. He wanted their wisdom and holiness of life to become known in order to benefit others. One day, shepherds from Bethany found the ascetics and went back to their village and told others about them. After that, many people came to hear of them, and monks came from other monasteries to visit them. Some even stayed there in order to be instructed by them.

So many monks gathered around them that they were obliged to build a lavra over the cave church. St Euthymius made Theoctistus the igumen of the lavra, while he himself lived in seclusion in the cave. The wise Theoctistus accepted all who came to him, confessing them and treating the infirmities of their wounded souls with appropriate spiritual remedies.

When he had reached an advanced old age, St Theoctistus became very ill. St Euthymius (who was ninety years old himself) visited him and took care of him. When St Theoctistus went to the Lord in 467, Patriarch Anastasius of Jerusalem came and presided at his burial service.
St Theoctistus of Palestine should not be confused with St Theoctistus of Sicily (January 4).
514 St. Macanisius Patrick baptized Macanisius bishop founder of Kells Monastery; many spectacular miracles attributed to him.
Ireland, which became the diocese of Connor. Tradition states that St. Patrick baptized Macanisius as an infant and then consecrated him later as a bishop. He is also listed as Aengus McNisse in some documents, and many spectacular miracles are attributed to him.

St Macanisius, Bishop
The records of St Macanisius (Aengus MacNisse) consist chiefly of miracles, many of them fantastic, and conflicting references.  He is said to have been baptized by St Patrick, who in due course consecrated him bishop. It is related that he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and on the way back made a stay at Rome. He returned to Ireland, where he established a church and monastery which developed into the diocese of Connor, of which see he is venerated as the first bishop. The original foundation was perhaps not at Connor itself but at Kells, close by, where, according to a Latin life, he changed the course of the river Curi, perhaps by natural means later regarded as miraculous, for the convenience of his monks. While journeying through Munster with St Patrick and St Brigid, Macanisius had a vision of angels at Lynally in Offaly, in consequence of which St Patrick wished to establish a monastery there.  But St Macanisius dissuaded him, prophesying that that was to be the work of a bishop who would follow them sixty years after. This prophecy was duly verified in the person of St Colman Elo, who is venerated on the 26th of this month.  Among the more incredible legends about St Macanisius is that his reverence for the Holy Scriptures was so great that it would not allow him to carry them in a wallet when on his journey instead he proceeded on all fours, balancing the precious book on his back. He is also alleged to have saved the life of the child who was to become St Colman of Kilruaidh. Colman's father was guilty of parricide and was sentenced to lose his own son. Macanisius in vain interceded for his innocent life, so when the child was tossed into the air to be caught on the spear-points of the waiting tribesmen, the saint, standing on an adjacent hillock, prayed with such fervour that Colman's body was blown by the wind safely into his arms, at which miracle the executioners abandoned their purpose. The feast of St Macanisius is kept on this day throughout Ireland.
The Latin legend of St MacNisse has been printed by the Bollandists in the Acta Sanctorum, September, vol. i, and again in their edition of the Codex Salmanticensis, pp. 925-930. The saint is commemorated in the Felire of Oengus. See also O'Hanlon, LIS., vol. ix, pp. 62 seq .
6th v. The Pisidia Icon of the Mother of God was glorified by miracles in the city of Sozopolis; St Germanus, the Patriarch of Constantinople (May 12), mentions "the icon of the All-Pure Virgin Mother of God at Pisidian Sozopolis" in his letters on the veneration of icons which were read at the Seventh Ecumenical Council. He said that myrrh flowed from the hands," and described the icon as "ancient."  miracles of the icon date back to the sixth century
Its origin is unknown.

The miracles of the icon date back to the sixth century. One of the miracles was reported by the presbyter Eustathius, who was a contemporary of Patriarch Eutychius (April 6). At Amasea, near Sozopolis, there was a certain married couple, whose children were all stillborn. Grieving over their misfortune, they turned to Patriarch Eutychius for advice. St Eutychius prayed and anointed them with holy oil from the Cross of the Lord and from the holy icon of the Mother of God saying, "In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

"Name your child Peter, and he will live," he said to them. Soon the couple gave birth to a son whom they did indeed name Peter. Later, they had a second son, whom they named John. The people of the city glorified God when they heard of this miracle.

For about 600 years myrrh flowed from the Pisidian Icon of the Mother of God, Eleusius, a disciple of St Theodore the Sykeote (April 22), was a witness to this. A copy of this ancient wonderworking icon was made in Russia in 1608, at Moscow's Novospassky (New Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Savior) monastery. The Mother of God is depicted with the Divine Infant on Her left arm, and with Her right hand She gives a blessing
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568 St. Auxanus Bishop a revered bishop of that city
Medioláni deposítio sancti Auxáni Epíscopi.    At Milan, the death of St. Auxanus, bishop.
Also called Sant' Ansano in Milan, Italy. He was a revered bishop of that city.
580 St. Maurilius Bishop of Cahors knowing the entire Bible by heart
 He was venerated in his era for being able to recite passages entirely from memory
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592 ST SIMEON STYLITES THE YOUNGER
SIMEON was born about the year 517
at Antioch, and his mother Martha was revered as a saint. His father, who was from Edessa, was killed in an earthquake when Simeon was five years old. The child, of whom strange things were already recorded, eventually wandered off into the mountains, where he came to a small monastery and put himself in the care of a well known stylite called John. For the rest of his life John looked after the boy, who also had his pillar near by, on which he took up his abode at the age of seven, “before he had lost his first teeth”. The reputation, not simply of his eccentricity, but of his holiness and powers was such that, to avoid if he might the attentions of pilgrims, Simeon retired to live on a rock in a more inaccessible place on another mountain, which became known as the Hill of Wonders. He was then twenty. Ten years later, in consequence of a vision, he established a monastery for his disciples, and had a new column built for himself to which he was solemnly conducted by two bishops.

Simeon lived in this extraordinary but indubitably historically true fashion for another forty-five years; from time to time he moved to another pillar, and without coming down to the ground he was ordained priest when he was thirty-three, the bishop going up to impose hands on him. Apparently there was a platform on his pillar sufficiently large to enable him to celebrate the Holy Mysteries there, and his disciples climbed up by a ladder to receive communion at his hands.

It is recorded that God manifested his sanctity by a number of miracles, which he performed chiefly in curing the sick, foretelling things to come, and knowing the secret thoughts of others. Evagrius, the Syrian historian, was an eye-witness to many and assures us that he had experienced Simeon’s knowledge of the thoughts of others in himself, when he visited him for spiritual advice, and that the fame of his holiness was unsurpassed.

Crowds of people of many races flocked to St Simeon for his spiritual advice and hoping to witness or be healed by a miracle. After the death of St John Stylites there was no one who could or would restrain his austerities, and Evagrius says that he supported life entirely on one sort of fruit or vegetable. He wrote to the Emperor Justin II urging him to punish the Samaritans who had attacked their Christian neighbours, and St John Damascene attributes to Simeon a passage praising the veneration of sacred images: there are other writings, homilies and hymns, also attributed to him but without sufficient reason. Simeon had foretold that Justin II would succeed Justinian, and told John the Scholastic that he would be elected to the see of Constantinople: and so he was.

That he became a stylite when a child and displayed spiritual understanding from his tenderest years, that he came to live almost without sleep and nourishment, that the contests with evil spirits, physical mortifications and numerous miracles are of so startling a character, may well make the reader of St Simeon’s life ask whether it be not entirely a work of imagination: and Father Delehaye did not fail to re­mark that it is an unusual document that must be read with corresponding discrimin­ation. But many of its statements can be checked and compared, and it certainly is not entirely wanting in historical value. The saint fell ill in the May of 592, and the Patriarch Gregory of Antioch, being told that he was at the point of death, went in haste to assist at his last moments; but before he arrived St Simeon was dead.

Dr P. van den Ven has long had in preparation the full Greek text of the contemporary Life of St Simeon; cf. his article in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lxvii (1949), pp. 435—443. Fr Delehaye edited the more historical portions in his Saints stylites (1923), pp. 238—271, and he gives a summary account of Simeon’s history in the preface (pp. lix—lxxv). There is a Greek life of the saint’s mother, St Martha, which, with the biography of Simeon himself by Nicephorus Ouranus, can be found in the Acta Sanctorum, May, vol. v. For some particulars of a stylite’s pillar see under the elder St Simeon herein, on January 5.
604  Saint Gregory , the raising to the Sovereign Pontificate of  Great Pope and Doctor of the Church
Also at Rome, the raising to the Sovereign Pontificate of St. Gregory the Great.  This incomparable man, being forced to take that burden upon himself, sent forth from the exalted throne brighter rays of sanctity upon the world.
  Item Romæ Ordinátio incomparábilis viri sancti Gregórii Magni in Summum Pontíficem; qui, onus illud subíre coáctus, e sublimióri throno clarióribus sanctitátis rádiis in Orbe refúlsit.
Orthodoxe und Evangelische Kirche: 12. März
Katholische und Anglikanische Kirche: 3. September
Born at Rome about the year 540, was the son of Gordianus, a wealthy senator, who later renounced the world and became one of the seven deacons of Rome. After he had acquired the usual thorough education, Emperor Justin the Younger appointed him, in 574, Chief Magistrate of Rome, though he was only thirty-four years of age.
After the death of his father, he built six monasteries in Sicily and founded a seventh in his own house in Rome, which became the Benedictine Monastery of St. Andrew. Here, he himself assumed the monastic habit in 575, at the age of thirty-five.
After the death of Pelagius, St. Gregory was chosen Pope by the unanimous consent of priests and people. Now began those labors which merited for him the title of Great. His zeal extended over the entire known world, he was in contact with all the Churches of Christendom and, in spite of his bodily sufferings, and innumerable labors, he found time to compose a great number of works. He is known above all for his magnificent contributions to the Liturgy of the Mass and Office. He is one of the four great Doctors of the Latin Church. He died March 12, 604. He is the patron of teachers.
Comment: Gregory was content to be a monk, but he willingly served the Church in other ways when asked. He sacrificed his own preferences in many ways, especially when he was called to be Bishop of Rome. Once he was called to public service, Gregory gave his considerable energies completely to this work.
Quote: "Perhaps it is not after all so difficult for a man to part with his possessions, but it is certainly most difficult for him to part with himself. To renounce what one has is a minor thing; but to renounce what one is, that is asking a lot" (St. Gregory, Homilies on the Gospels).

Gregor I. der Große
Gregor wurde um 540 in einer sehr reichen, dem Hochadel angehörenden römischen Familie geboren. Schon als junger Mann wurde er Präfekt von Rom. Als er feststellte, daß ihn die umfangreiche Arbeit von seiner Hingabe an Gott abhielt, legte er mit 35 Jahren sein Amt nieder und wandelte seinen Grundbesitz in Klöster um. Aus dem Palast seines Vaters wurde das Andreaskloster, in dem er selber mit Freunden nach der Regel Benedikts lebte. Papst Pelagius II. ernannte ihn zum Gesandten in Byzanz. Nachdem Pelagius 590 starb, wurde Gregor gegen seinen Willen zum Bischof von Rom berufen. Gregor ordnete die Finanzen der Kirche neu. Die erzielten Einnahmen retteten die Kirche und die Stadt in Zeiten des Hungers und der Pest und ermöglichten Tributzahlungen an die Langobarden.

Gregor war sicher einer der größten Päpste des ersten christlichen Jahrtausends. Er ordnete die Kirche und ihre Finanzen und verschaffte ihr durch seine Diplomatie weltliches Ansehen. Er erneuerte auch die Liturgie, übertrug die Kirchenmusik an geschulte Chöre und bevorzugte den einstimmigen Gesang ohne Instrumente. Hieraus entstand die Form des gregorianischen Chorals.

Die Zukunft der Kirche sah Gregor bei den im Norden lebenden Völkern. 596 sandte er deshalb 36 Mönche mit ihrem Abt Augustinus als Missionare nach England. Schon fünf Jahre später konnte er zwei Bistümer einrichten. Gregor nannte sich auch als erster Papst "Diener der Diener Gottes". Er starb am 12. März 604 in Rom.

Der Titel Dialogus, den Gregor in dere orthodoxen Kirche trägt, entstand nach dem Erscheinen seines Werkes "Dialogi de vita et miraculis patrum Italiorum"

1295 wurde ihm der Titel eines Kirchenlehrers verliehen. Wegen seiner großen Gelehrsamkeit wurde er zum Patron des Schulwesens, der Lehrer, Studenten und Schüler. In den Schulen wurde lange Zeit am 12. März ein Schülerfesttag gefeiert, an dem die Rollen der Schüler und Lehrer getauscht wurden. Dieser Tag wurde auch in evangelischen Gebieten noch gefeiert. Bei der Kalenderreform wurde sein Gedenktag in der katholischen Kirche aus der Fastenzeit auf den Tag seiner Papstweihe verlegt .
663 St. Remaclus Benedictine missionary bishop; a wide cultus in Belgium
675 St Remaclus, Bishop
   Remaclus, a native of Aquitaine, became a priest, and after, it is said, having spent some time under St Sulpicius of Bourges, was appointed by St Eligius first abbot of the monastery which he founded at Solignac, near Limoges. The saint was afterwards obliged to take upon him the government of the abbey of Cugnon, in the duchy of Luxemburg; but was soon after called to the court of King Sigebert III, who followed the advice of St Remaclus in founding the double abbey of Stavelot and Malmedy in Ardenne, to help forward the evangelization of that still pagan district. The direction of these foundations was committed to St Remaclus. It does not appear that he was ever bishop of Tongres-Maestricht, but may have been a missionary monastic bishop. His association with Stavelot-Malmedy procured him a wide cultus in Belgium.
  The reputation of his sanctity moved many noblemen and others to embrace a penitential state under his direction. Remaclus walked before them in the narrow paths of Christian perfection, encouraging them both by words and example. He modified nothing of his austerities on account of old age, but rather strove continüally to increase his pace as he drew nearer to the end of his course, lest by sloth at the last he should forfeit his crown.  He strongly exhorted his religious brethren to perfect self-denial, obedience, poverty, patience in adversity, and constant peace and union, virtues in which he had been to them a shining example, and died about the year 675.  He was buried at Stavelot.  There are a number of legends and places still connected with the name of St Remaclus in the province of Liege.
No confidence can be placed in any of the medieval biographies which purport to describe the career of St Remaclus.  A list of them will be found in BHL., nn. 7113-7141. The more important have been printed by Mabillon and the Bollandists (Acta Sanctorum, September, vol. i). G. Kurth seems the first to reveal the untrustworthy character of the principal document. His paper is printed in the Bulletin de La Commission roy. d'hist, de Belgique, 4 série, vol. iii.  See also Van der Essen, Étude critique sur In vies des saints méroving., pp. 96-105  and Revue benedictine, vol. lx (1Q50), pp. 120-147.
Born in Aquitaine, France, and raised in the local court, he studied under St. Sulpicius of Bourges and received ordination. Named the first abbot of Solignac, near Lirnoges by St. Eligius, he later headed the abbey of Cougnon, Luxembourg, and joined the court of King Sigebert II of Austrasia. Under the royal influence, he founded and served as the abbot of the double monas­tery of Stavelot, Belgium, and Malmedy, France, in the Ardennes. Remaclus was appointed bishop of Maastricht, Netherlands, in 652, earning fame for his missionary zeal, austerities, and devout demeanor. Resigning after 11 years, he retired to Stavelot, where he died .
675 St Remaclus, Bishop
Remaclus, a native of Aquitaine, became a priest, and after, it is said, having spent some time under St Sulpicius of Bourges, was appointed by St Eligius first abbot of the monastery which he founded at Solignac, near Limoges. The saint was afterwards obliged to take upon him the government of the abbey of Cugnon, in the duchy of Luxemburg; but was soon after called to the court of King Sigebert III, who followed the advice of St Remaclus in founding the double abbey of Stavelot and Malmedy in Ardenne, to help forward the evangelization of that still pagan district. The direction of these foundations was committed to St Remaclus. It does not appear that he was ever bishop of Tongres-Maestricht, but he may have been a missionary monastic bishop. His association with Stavelot­-Malmedy procured him a wide cultus in Belgium.

The reputation of his sanctity moved many noblemen and others to embrace a penitential state under his direction. Remaclus walked before them in the narrow paths of Christian perfection, encouraging them both by words and example. He modified nothing of his austerities on account of old age, but rather strove continually to increase his pace as he drew nearer to the end of his course, lest by sloth at the last he should forfeit his crown. He strongly exhorted his religious brethren to perfect self-denial, obedience, poverty, patience in adversity, and constant peace and union, virtues in which he had been to them a shining example, and died about the year 675. He was buried at Stavelot. There are a number of legends and places still connected with the name of St Remaclus in the province of Liege.

No confidence can be placed in any of the medieval biographies which purport to describe the career of St Remaclus. A list of them will be found in BHL., nn. 7113—7141. The more important have been printed by Mabillon and the Bollandists (Acta Sanctorum, September, vol. i). G. Kurth seems to have been the first to reveal the untrustworthy character of the principal document. His paper is printed in the Bulletin de Ia Commission roy. d’hist. de Belgique, 4 série, vol. iii. See also Van der Essen, Étude critique sur les vies des saints méroving., pp. 96—105 ; and Revue Bénédictine, vol. lx (1950), pp. 120—147.
7th v. St. Balin Confessor and disciple of St. Colman;  acconipanied St. Colman to lona, in Scotland, and then took up residence in Connaught, Ireland.
of Lindisfarne. He was the brother of St. Gerald. Balm was the son of an Anglo-Saxon king. He acconipanied St. Colman to lona, in Scotland, and then took up residence in Connaught, Ireland.
675 St. Frugentius Benedictine martyr of Fleury
France, killed with St. Aigulphus, the abbot of Lerins, off the coast of Cannes. They were martyred on the island of Capria near Corsica, after being cruelly tor­tured, possibly by the Moors.
676 St. Aigulf Abbot and reformer sent to Montecassino to attempt to obtain the relics of St Benedict and later became Abbot of Lérins
Eódem die natális sanctórum Mártyrum Aigúlfi, Abbátis Lirinénsis, et Sociórum ipsíus Monachórum, qui, linguis præcísis oculísque effóssis, gládio obtruncáti sunt.
    Also, the birthday of the holy martyrs Aigulphus, abbot of Lerins, and the monks, his companions, who, after their tongues were cut off and their eyes plucked out, were killed with the sword.

676 St Aigulf, Martyr then in its first fervour of Benedictine observance
Aigulf was born at Blois, and became a monk at Fleury.  About 670 a new abbot was required at Lérins, where the passage of time and the ravages of the Moors had impaired discipline, and Aigulf, now a monk of twenty years' experience with a reputation for solid virtue and stability, was sent to fill the office. But as is usual in such circumstances some of the religious were well content with the old ways and willing to go to a good deal of trouble to frustrate the efforts to improve their observance. In this case two of them, Arcadius and Columbus, went too far. They appealed to the local governor against the abbot, and when he sent a company of soldiers to keep order they used them to kidnap St Aigulf and four of his chief supporters. and carry them off to sea. They were landed on the island of Capraia, between Corsica and the coast of Tuscany, where their eyes and tongues were torn out and they were put to death. But one of the monks escaped and brought word to Lérins of what had taken place.
   It has been suggested, not without reason, that even were the abbot and his companions carried off by the soldiers, it is more likely that they were massacred by some marauding party of Moors. The bodies were brought back to Lérins and their transportation was reported to be the occasion of many miracles. Later, a controversy arose between Lérins and Fleury as to which abbey really possessed the body of St Aigulf.
According to a biography of St Aigulf written by a monk of Fleury about the year 850 the saint was put in charge of the party of monks from Fleury and Le Mans which Mommolus, abbot of the first named, sent to Italy to save the relics of St Benedict from the hands of the Lombards. The rights of this affair and the resting-place or places of the relics of St Benedict do not concern us here.  It is sufficient to notice that this St Aiguif almost certainly had nothing to do with it.
A somewhat lyrical account of AiguIf written by Adrevaldus, a monk of Fleury who lived two centuries later, does not inspire confidence. The Bollandists print it in the Acta Sanctorum, September, vol. i, together with a shorter narrative which they believe to be of earlier date and more reliable. See also H, Moris, L'Abbaye de Lérjns (1909), and DHG., vol. i, cc. 1141-1142.
St. Aigulf whose efforts to monastic purity led to his death. Aigulf was born in Blois, France, and became a Benedictine monk in Fleury. About 670, Aigulf became the abbot of the Benedictine monastery at Lerins. A biography of Aigulf shows that at this time he was sent to rescue the relics of St. Benedict in Italy as the Lombards were in control of that region. What is known is that Aigulf instituted serious reforms in Lerins, France, bringing him enemies and displays of resistance. In 676 some monks rioted in protest, alarming the local governor, who sent a troop of soldiers to the monastery to restore order. Two of the monks opposed to Aigulf are reported to have turned Aigulf and four companions over to the soldiers as the real troublemakers. Aigulf and his followers were taken to the island of Capri, Italy, where they were blinded and murdered. There are reports about roving Saracens in the area, so it is possible that Aigulf fell into their hands on the island and suffered the usual death they meted out to Christians.

Aigulphus (Ayou, Ayoul) Sept 3
c 630-676. Born in Blois in France, at the age of twenty he became a monk at Fleury. He was sent to Montecassino to attempt to obtain the relics of St Benedict and later became Abbot of Lérins. With four of his monks he was taken by evildoers to an island near Corsica where they were all martyred .
690 St. Hereswitha Benedictine princess of Northumbria ngland, sister of St. Hilda and mother of Sts. Sexburga, Withburga, and Ethelburga
England, sister of St. Hilda and mother of Sts. Sexburga, Withburga, and Ethelburga. A widow, Hereswitha spent the last years of her life as a Benedictine in Chelles, France
.
698 St. Regulus Benedictine monk and archbishop
also listed as Reol. He was appointed circa 670 to serve as archbishop of Reims, France, and was responsible for the founding of the famed abbey of Orbais
.
717 St Hildelitha, Abbess Of Barking, Virgin took the veil, either at Chelles or at Faremoutier.  There she remained until requested by St Erconwald to return to England to train his sister Ethelburga, for whom he had built a convent at Barking, but who was quite inexperienced in the religious life. When the training was completed and St Ethelburga had taken her place as abbess, her instructress became one of the nuns.  After the death of St Ethelburga, St Hildelitha was elected her successor, and continued to rule the community for the rest of her life.

At a date when there were not many nunneries in England, a young Anglo-Saxon princess called Hildilid or Hildelitha went over to France and took the veil, either at Chelles or at Faremoutier.  There she remained until requested by St Erconwald to return to England to train his sister Ethelburga, for whom he had built a convent at Barking, but who was quite inexperienced in the religious life. When the training was completed and St Ethelburga had taken her place as abbess, her instructress became one of the nuns.  After the death of St Ethelburga, St Hildelitha was elected her successor, and continued to rule the community for the rest of her life.  Her contemporary the Venerable Bede writes of her with great admiration, and St Aldhelm dedicated to her a metrical treatise on virginity. In one of his letters St Boniface speaks of her in the highest terms and mentions a wonderful vision which she had described to him with her own lips.  She is known to have lived to extreme old age, but the exact date of her death is uncertain.   Her feast is kept in the diocese of Brentwood together with St Cuthburga.
See the Acta Sanctorum March, vol. iii, where such casual references to Hildelitha as have been made by Capgrave and other later writers will be found.  Cf. also Plummer's edition of Bede's Ecclesiastical History, and Stanton's Menology, p. 131 .
725 St Cuthburga, Absess Of Wimborne, Widow she was a novice under St Hildelitha
This saint was sister to the great King Ine of Wessex and was married to Aldfrid, who became king of Northumbria in 685.  At her suit he allowed her to retire to the monastery of Barking in Essex, where she was a novice under St Hildelitha.  Some time after the year 705 she founded, together with her sister St Quenburga, the abbey of Wirnborno in Dorset, of whkh the rule of enclosure was so strict that not even prelates on their lawful occasions were allowed to enter it.  This abbey St Cuthburga governed, giving herself up totally to fasting and prayer; humble both to God and man, meek and tender to others, but always austere to herself.  Under her successor, St Tetta, Wimborne contributed to the conversion of Germany by sending nuns to assist St Boniface there.  The feast of St Cuthburga is kept in the diocese of Brentwood on September 3 with St Hlildelitha (above).
There is an unpublished early life, BHL. 2033 see further Analecta, Bollandiana, vol. lvi (1938), p. 336, and lviii, p. 100. Summary by Capgrave is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, August, vol. vi, with the usual prolegomena.   See also Stanton's Menology, pp. 431-432.
855 St. Sandila A Spanish martyr
Córdubæ, in Hispánia, sancti Sándali Mártyris.    At Cordova in Spain, St. Sandal the martyr.
He was put to death at Cordoba by the Islamic Moors for being a conspicuous Christian.
1200 St. Martin de Hinojosa Cistercian bishop
of Siguenza, Spain. He was a Castilian, born into a prominent aristocratic family. After becoming a Cistercian, he founded the abbey of Huerta, near Soria, in 1164. In 1185, he was made bishop, but he resigned seven years later to return to monastic life
.
1231 St. John of Perugia & Peter of Sassoferrato  Franciscan martyrs sent by St. Francis of Assisi
They were sent by St. Francis of Assisi in 1216 to preach among the Moors of Spain and worked in Tervel and Valencia until seized by Muslims and beheaded
.
1244 Bd Guala, Bishop of Brescia; two ladders let down from the heavens, top of one of stood our Lord and of the other His holy Mother.  Angels were going up and down the ladders, and at their foot there sat between them a figure in the Dominican habit, his face covered with his hood as if for burial.   Then the ladders were drawn up and with them the friar, borne up by the angels to the feet of Christ -- Dominic.
When St Dominic came to Bergamo towards the end of the year 1217 the first there to offer themselves as his disciples and to receive the habit of his new order from his hands were Guala Romanoni, a man already nearly forty years of age, and his brother Roger.  Guala went with St Dominic to Bologna, and afterwards to Brescia for the establishment of the friars there, and of that house he became prior. While he was fulfilling that office St Dominic was struck down by his last sickness, and on August 6, 1221, Bd Guala was praying for his recovery in the church, believing him to be still alive. Falling asleep, he seemed to see two ladders let down from the heavens, at the top of one of which stood our Lord and of the other His holy Mother.  Angels were going up and down the ladders, and at their foot there sat between them a figure in the Dominican habit, his face covered with his hood as if for burial. Then the ladders were drawn up and with them the friar, borne up by the angels to the feet of Christ. This vision would seem to have only one possible meaning, and Guala went in great haste and alarm to Bologna, where he learned that at the very hour of his dream St Dominic had gone to God. The third antiphon at Lauds in the office of St Dominic refers to this: Scala caelo prominens fratri revelatur, per quam pater transiens sursum ferebatur: "A brother is shown a ladder hanging from Heaven, on which our dying father was carried up."  When this office was solemnly sung for the first time, after the canonization of St Dominic in 1234, Bd Guala was present in the choir at Bologna and himself precented this antiphon.
He was, we are told, a man of remarkable prudence and of much experience in the world a good religious and eloquent preacher and of impressive personality, qualities sufficiently strong to get him noticed at both the papal and imperial courts. In the midst-of the struggle between the Holy See and the Emperor Frederick II, Guala was, about 1230, promoted to the see of Brescia, which he governed successfully for some twelve years, the beloved father of the poor and unfortunate. But strife continued to distract Lombardy; Guala was exiled from Brescia and retired to a monastery of the Vallumbrosan Benedictines at Astino. Here he lived in prayer and study till his death.   The ancient cultus of Bd Guala was confirmed in 1868.
See the Acta Sanctorum, September, vol. i   Masetti, Memorie storico-biografico-critiche del B. Guala Romanoni (1868) and a life in French by J. Kuczynski (1916). This last writer seems to have been successful in exonerating Bd Guala from the charge of having prompted Pope Gregory IX to enforce throughout Lombardy the death penalty against heretics; cf. the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxxix (1921), p. 223.  A short account of the career of this holy bishop will be found in Procter, Dominican Saints, pp. 247-249.
1315 St. Andrew Dotti mystic granted visions Servite missionary; He was buried in the church at Borgo San Sepolcro, where the popular veneration for his holiness was confirmed by miracles, and in 1806 Pope Pius VII approved the ancient cultus.

1315 Bd Andrew of Borgo San Sepolcro
Andrew Dottri was born at Borgo San Sepolcro in Tuscany about the year 1250. His family was distinguished (Andrew's brother was a captain in the bodyguard of King Philip the Fair), and the young man was brought up accordingly, with no thought of the religious life. When he was seventeen he became a secular tertiary of the Servites, and when, a few years afterwards, a general chapter of that order was held at Borgo San Sepolcro, Andrew naturally went to hear the prior genetal, St Philip Benizi, preach.  His text was, "Every one of you that doth not renounce all that he possesseth cannot be my disciple", and his eloquence and fire touched Andrew's heart; he offered himself to St Philip, was accepted, and became a Servite friar.  After he was ordained he was attached to a monastery governed by St Gerard Sostegni, one of seven founders of the order, and from thence he preached with success throughout the surrounding country and accompanied St Philip Benizi on several of his missionary journeys. Bd Andrew prepared a number of hermits who were living a rather go-as-you-please life at Vallucola to affiliate themselves to the Servites and submit to their discipline, and over these he was appointed superior, until his services were again required for preaching and as prior of various houses. In 1310 he was present at the death of St Alexis Falconieri, the principal founder of the Servites, at Monte Senario, and so great was the impression made on him that he asked permission to retire to a hermitage and prepare for his own end, though he was barely sixty.
Bd Andrew lived with great penance and was the recipient of many visions, including a forewarning of his own death;  when the day came he was apparently in good health, and he went out to a certain rock where he was wont to give conferences to his brethren. When they assembled there they found their beloved father kneeling motionless on the rock apparently in ecstasy;  but he was dead.  He was buried in the church at Borgo San Sepolcro, where the popular veneration for his holiness was confirmed by miracles, and in 1806 Pope Pius VII approved the ancient cultus.
A full account is given in A. Giani, Annales Ordinis Servorum B.V.M., vol. i, especially pp. 230-231; see also DHG., vol. ii, c. 1663; and P. Battini, Vita del b. Andrea Dotti (1808).
Companion of St. Philip Benizi  He was born in San Sepolcro, Tuscany, Italy, to a noble family, becoming a Servite religious at the age of seventeen and later one of the Seven Founders of the congregation of St. Gerard Sostengi Monastery. He also accompanied St. Philip Benizi on his monastery journeys. Andrew served as a superior of several Servite monasteries but retired in 1310 to a hermitage at Montevecchio. He was a mystic and was granted visions .
1349 Saint Joannicius, Patriarch of Serbia, was a native of the city of Prizren. At first, he was a secretary under king Karl (Charles) of Serbia, and later on from the year 1339, he guided the Church in as Archbishop. In the year 1346 a Council of all the Serbian archpastors, and including also the Patriarch of Bulgaria, at the wish of King Dushan, chose Archbishop Joannicius as Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church. St Joannicius reposed on September 3, 1349 and was buried in the Pech monastery.
1580 Blessed John the Merciful of Rostov; "Merciful" was given to Blessed John because many healings occurred at his grave, and with the memory of holy Patriarch John the Merciful (November 12), whose name he shared
Blessed John struggled at Rostov in the exploit of holy foolishness, enduring much deprivation and sorrow.
He did not have a permanent shelter, and at times took his rest at the house of his spiritual Father, a priest at the church of the All-Holy, or with one of the aged widows.

Living in humility, patience and unceasing prayer, he spiritually nourished many people, among them St Irenarchus, Hermit of Rostov (January 13).
After a long life of pursuing asceticism, he died on September 3, 1580 and was buried, according to his final wishes, beside the church of St Blaise beyond the altar.

He had "hair upon his head abundantly," therefore he was called "Vlasatyi" -- "the Hairy"

 The title "Merciful" was given to Blessed John because of the many healings that occurred at his grave, and also in connection with the memory of the holy Patriarch John the Merciful (November 12), whose name he shared

17th v.  Aristaeus, bishop, and Antoninus, a young boy At Capua, the holy martyrs
Cápuæ sanctórum Mártyrum Aristǽi Epíscopi, et Antoníni púeri.


Aristaeus may have been a bishop of Capua, Italy, but it is more likely that he is the Egyptian martyr Aristaeus, who is honored by the Greeks today. In 1621, he went to Mexico and two years later continued on to Japan (Benedictines, Delaney). Antoninus is a child martyr, perhaps identical to Saint Antoninus of Apamea
.
1632 St. Anthony Ishida and Companions Japanese Jesuit martyr died with Franciscans/Augustinians Nagasaki
Anthony was known for his scholarship and eloquence. He and his companions had boiling hot water poured on them for a period of thirty-three days. When they still refused to deny Christ, they were burned alive
.
1632 Bl. Bartholomew Gutierrez Augustinian martyr of Japan
Born in 1538, in Mexico, he became an Augustinian in 1596 and was ordained. In 1606, he went to Manila, working there until transferred to Japan as superior in 1612. Bartholomew served this mission until his arrest in 1629. He was then imprisoned in Omura and was burned alive in Nagasaki. He was beatified in 1867
.
1632 St. Gabriel of St. Magdalen, Blessed Franciscan martyr of Japan
A native of Foncesa, Spain, he was sent as a Franciscan lay brother to Manila, Philippines, in 1612 where he studied medicine. In Japan he ministered to the sick despite persecution. Gabriel was burned alive in Nagasaki, Japan. He was beautified in 1867
.
Sancti Pii Papæ Décimi, cujus natális dies tertiodécimo Kaléndas Septémbris recensétur.
Pope St. Pius X, whose birthday is mentioned on the 20th of August
.

1914  ST PIUS X, POPE
THAT distinguished historian of earlier popes, Baron von Pastor, has written of Pope Pius X:

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

He was born in 1835, son of the municipal messenger and postman of the big village of Riese in Venetia, and was then known as Giuseppe Sarto (i.e. “Joseph Taylor); he was the second of ten children, and the circumstances of the family were very poor. Young Joseph went to the local elementary school, from thence, through the encouragement of his parish priest, to the “grammar school” at Castelfranco, walking five miles there and back every day, and then by bursary to the seminary at Padua. He was ordained priest by dispensation at the age of twenty-three, and for seventeen years gave himself wholeheartedly to the pastoral ministry; then he became a canon of Treviso, where his hard work and generous charities were very marked, and in 1884 bishop of Mantua, a diocese then in a very low state, with a negligent clergy and two towns in schism. So brilliantly successful was he in handling this charge that in 1892 Pope Leo XIII appointed Mgr Sarto cardinal-priest of St Bernard-at-the-Baths and promoted him to the metropolitan see of Venice, which carries with it the honorary title of patriarch. Here he became a veritable apostle of Venetia, his simplicity and forthrightness standing out in a see that rather prided itself on its pomp and magnificence.

On the death of Leo XIII in 1903 it was generally believed that Cardinal Rampolla del Tindaro would succeed him, and the first three ballots of the conclave so far bore this out that Cardinal Puzyna, Archbishop of Cracow, communicated to the electors the formal veto against Rampolla of the Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria. There was a profound sensation, and the cardinals solemnly protested against the interference: but Rampolla withdrew his candidature with great dignity, and after four more ballots Cardinal Sarto was elected.*[* It seems now to be generally agreed that Rampolla would not have been elected anyhow.]

Thus there came to the chair of Peter a man of obscure birth, of no outstanding intellectual attainments, and with no experience of ecclesiastical diplomacy, but one who, if ever man did, radiated goodness: “a man of God who knew the unhappiness of the world and the hardships of life, and in the greatness of his heart wanted to comfort everybody.”

One of the new pope’s earliest acts, by the constitution “Commissum nobis”, was to put an end once for all to any supposed right of any civil power to interfere in a papal election, by veto or in any other way; and later he took a cautious but definite step towards reconciliation between church and state in Italy by relaxing in practice the “Non expedit”.+ [+ i.e. the Holy See’s ruling that it was inexpedient for faithful Catholics to associate themselves publicly with the despoilers of the papal states,. e.g. by voting in parliamentary elections. For what a wise man thought about this policy, cf. Bd Contardo Ferrini (October 17).]

His way of dealing with the most critical situation that soon arose in France was more direct and assuredly not less effective than ordinary diplomatic methods would have been. After a number of incidents the French government in 1905 denounced the concordat of 1801, decreed the separation of church and state, and entered on an aggressive campaign against the Church. For dealing with ecclesiastical property it proposed an organization called associations cultuelles, to which many prominent French Catholics wanted to give a trial; but, after consultation with the French episcopate, Pope Pius in two strong and dignified pronouncements condemned the law of separation and forbade the associations as uncanonical. Of those who complained that he had sacrificed all the possessions of the Church in France he said, “They are too concerned about material goods, and not enough about spiritual”.

A good aspect of the separation was that the Holy See could now appoint French bishops direct, without nomina­tion by the civil power. “Pius X”, declared the bishop of Nevers, Mgr Gauthey, “at the cost of sacrificing our property emancipated us from slavery. May he be blessed for ever for not shrinking from imposing that sacrifice on us.” The pope’s strong action caused the French government such difficulties that twenty years later it agreed to another and canonical arrangement for the administration of church property.

The name of Pius X is commonly and rightly associated with the purging of the Church of that “synthesis of all heresies”, somewhat unhappily called Modernism. A decree of the Holy Office in 1907 condemned certain writers and propositions, and it was soon followed by the encyclical letter “Pascendi dominici gregis”, wherein the far-reaching dangerous tendencies were set out and examined, and manifestations of Modernism in every field were pointed out and condemned. Strong disciplinary measures were also taken and, though there was some fierce opposition, Modernism was practically killed in the Church at one blow. It had made considerable headway among Catholics, but there were not wanting those even among the orthodox who thought the pope’s condemnation was excessive to the verge of an obscurantist narrowness.* [* Partly because of the excesses of the, inevitable groups of those who were “more Catholic than the pope”. These had on their lists of “suspects” Cardinal della Chiesa, who was to become Benedict XV.]

How far he could be from that was seen when in 1910 his encyclical on St Charles Borromeo had been misunderstood and given offence to Protestants in Germany Pius had his official explanation of the misunderstood passages published in the Osservatore Romano, and recommended the German bishops not to give the encyclical any further publication in pulpit or press.

In his first encyclical letter Pius X had announced his aim to be to “renew all things in Christ”, and nothing was better calculated to do that than his decrees concerning the sacrament of the Eucharist. These formally recommended daily communion when possible, +[+ In the middle ages, and later under the influence of Jansenism, communion was a rare occurrence for the ordinary Catholic. Daily or very frequent communion was looked on as extraordinary, and even improper. When the Catholics of the west of England rose against Protestant innovations in 1549 one of their expressed grievances was being expected to communicate more often than at Easter or thereabouts.] directed that children should be allowed to approach the altar upon attaining, the use of reason, and facilitated the communion of the sick. But there is a ministry of the word as well as of the altar, and he also strongly urged daily reading of the Bible—but here the pope’s words did not receive so much heed. With the object of increasing the worthiness of divine worship he in 1903 issued on his own initiative (motu proprio) an instruction on church music which struck at current abuses and aimed at the restoration of congregational singing of the Roman plainchant.

He encouraged the work of the commission for the codifying of canon law, and was responsible for a thorough reorganization of the tribunals, offices and congregations of the Holy See. Pius also set up a commission for the revision and correction of the Vulgate text of the Bible (this work was entrusted to the monks of St Benedict), and in 1909 founded the Biblical Institute for scriptural studies in charge of the Society of Jesus.

Pius X was ever actively concerned for the weak and oppressed. He strongly denounced the foul ill-treatment of the Indians on the rubber-plantations of Peru, and greatly encouraged the Indian missions in that country. He sent a commission of relief after the earthquake at Messina, and sheltered refugees at his own expense in the hospice of Santa Marta by St Peter’s, while his general charities, in Rome and throughout the world, were so great that people wondered where all the money came from. The quiet simplicity of his personal habits and the impressive holiness of his character were both exemplified in his custom of preaching publicly on the day’s gospel in one of the Vatican courtyards every Sunday.

Pius was embarrassed—perhaps a little shocked—by the ceremoniousness and some of the observances of the papal court. At Venice he had refused to let anyone but his sisters cook for him, and now he declined to observe the custom of conferring titles of nobility on his relatives. “The Lord has made them sisters of the pope”, he said, “that should suffice”. “Look how they have dressed me up”, he exclaimed to an old friend, and burst into tears. And to another he said, “It is indeed a penance to be forced to accept all these practices. They lead me about surrounded by soldiers like Jesus when he was seized. in Gethsemane.”

Those are not merely entertaining anecdotes. They go right to the heart of Pius’s single-minded goodness. To an English convert who wished to be a monk but had made few studies, he said, “To praise God well it is not necessary to be learned”. At Mantua infamous charges were made against him in print. He refused to take any action; and when the writer went bankrupt, the bishop privately sent him money: “So unfortunate a man needs prayers more than punishment.”

Already during his lifetime Almighty God used Pope Pius as an instrument of miracles, and these occurrences are stamped with the same perfection of modest simplicity. A man at a public audience pointed to his paralysed arm, saying, “Cure me, holy Father”. The pope smiled, stroking the arm gently: “Yes, yes, yes”, he said. And the man was healed. A paralysed child, 11-years old, at a private audience, suddenly and unprompted asked the same thing. “May God grant your wish”, said Pius. She got up and walked. A nun, in an advanced stage of tuberculosis, made the same request. “Yes”, was all Pius replied, laying his hands on her head. That evening her doctor verified her recovery.

On June 24, 1914, the Holy See signed a concordat with Serbia; four days later the Archduke Francis of Austria and his wife were assassinated at Sarajevo by the midnight of August 4 Germany, France, Austria, Russia, Great Britain, Serbia, Belgium were at war: it was the eleventh anniversary of the pope’s election. Pius X had not merely foreseen this European war—many people had done that— he had foretold it definitely for the summer of 1914, but its outbreak was neverthe­less a blow that killed him: “This is the last affliction that the Lord will visit on me. I would gladly give my life to save my poor children from this ghastly scourge.” After a few days’ illness he developed bronchitis on August 19: next day he was dead—the first great victim of a war called great. “I was born poor, I have lived poor and I wish to die poor”, he said in his will: and its contents bore out the truth of his words, so that even the anti-clerical press was moved to admiration.

After the funeral in St Peter’s Mgr Cascioli wrote, “I have no doubt whatever that this corner of the crypt will before long become a shrine and place of pil­grimage...God will glorify to the world this pope whose triple crown was poverty, humility and gentleness.” And so indeed it came about. The pontificate of Pius X had not been a quiet one, and the pope had been resolute in his policies. If he had no enemies—for it takes two to make an enemy—he had many critics, inside the Church as well as outside. But now the voice was unanimous: from all quarters, from high and low, came a call for the recognition of the sanctity of Pius X, once Joseph Sarto, the postman’s little boy. In 1923 the cardinals in curia decreed that his cause be introduced, Cardinal Aidan Gasquet representing England among the twenty-eight signatories; and in 1954 Pope Pius XII solemnly canonized his predecessor before a vast multitude in St Peter’s Square at Rome— the first canonized pope since Pius V in 1672.

On Pope St. Pius X  A Pontificate "Characterized by a Notable Effort of Reform"

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, AUG. 18, 2010 (Zenit.org).
 Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today during the general audience held at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo.
Dear brothers and sisters, 
Today I would like to reflect on the figure of my predecessor St. Pius X, whose liturgical memorial will be observed Saturday, to emphasize some of his characteristics that can also be useful for the pastors and faithful of our time.
 
Giuseppe Sarto -- that was his name -- was born in Riese, Treviso, in 1835 to a peasant family. After studying in the Seminary of Padua, he was ordained a priest at age 23. First he was vice-parish priest in Tombolo, then parish priest in Salzano, then canon of the cathedral of Treviso with the office of episcopal chancellor and spiritual director of the diocesan seminary. During those years of rich and generous pastoral experience, the future Pontiff showed that profound love of Christ and of the Church, that humility and simplicity and that great charity toward the neediest, which were characteristics of his whole life.

In 1884 he was appointed bishop of Mantua and in 1893 patriarch of Venice. On Aug. 4, 1903, he was elected Pope, a ministry that he accepted with hesitation, because he did not think he measured up to the loftiness of such a task.

St. Pius X's pontificate has left an indelible mark on the history of the Church, and was characterized by a notable effort of reform, synthesized in the motto "Instaurare omnia in Christo," (To Renew All Things in Christ.) His intervention, in fact, embraced various ecclesial ambits. From the beginning he dedicated himself to the reorganization of the Roman Curia; then he gave a green light to the work of writing the Code of Canon Law, promulgated by his successor, Benedict XV. Moreover, he promoted the revision of studies and of the iter of formation for future priests; he also founded several regional seminaries, equipped with good libraries and competent professors.


Another important sector was the doctrinal formation of the People of God. In the years he was a parish priest, he himself wrote a catechism, and during his episcopacy in Mantua he worked to establish a single catechism, if not universal, at least Italian. As a genuine pastor, he understood that the situation of the age, also because of the phenomenon of emigration, made necessary a catechism that all the faithful could refer to, regardless of the place and circumstances of life. As Pontiff he prepared a text of Christian doctrine for the Diocese of Rome, which later spread to the whole of Italy and the world. The catechism called "of Pius X" was for many a sure guide in learning the truths of the faith because of its simple, clear and precise language and its explanatory effectiveness.
 
He dedicated notable attention to the reform of the liturgy, in particular sacred music, to lead the faithful to a life of more profound prayer and to fuller participation in the sacraments. In the motu proprio "Tra le sollecitudini" (1931), he stated that the true Christian spirit has its first and indispensable source in active participation in the sacred mysteries and in the public and solemn prayer of the Church (cf. ASS 36 [1903], 531). That is why he recommended the frequent reception of the sacraments, fostering daily, well-prepared reception of Holy Communion, and opportunely moving earlier children's First Communion to around 7 years of age, "when," he said, "the child begins to reason." (cf. S. Congr. de Sacramentis, Decretum Quam singulari: ASS 2 [1910], 582).
 
Faithful to the task of confirming brethren in the faith, St. Pius X intervened with determination in the face of tendencies that manifested themselves in the theological realm at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th, condemning Modernism, to defend the faithful from erroneous concepts and to promote scientific reflection on revelation in harmony with the tradition of the Church. On May 7, 1909, with the apostolic letter "Vinea electa," he founded the Pontifical Biblical Institute. The last months of his life were embittered by the outbreak of the War. An appeal to the Catholics of the world launched on Aug. 2, 1914, to express "the acute grief" of that hour, was the suffering cry of a father who sees his children confront one another. He died shortly after, on Aug. 20, and his reputation for sanctity soon began to spread among the Christian people.

 
Dear brothers and sisters, St. Pius X teaches all of us that, at the foundation of our apostolic action, in the various fields in which we work, there must always be an intimate personal union with Christ, which must be cultivated and enhanced day after day. This is the kernel of all his teaching, of all his pastoral commitment. Only if we are enamored of the Lord will we be able to lead men to God and open them to his merciful love, and thus open the world to God's mercy.
 
[In English, he said:] 
My dear brothers and sisters, today we recall Pope Saint Pius the Tenth, whose feast we celebrate this coming Saturday. He left an indelible mark in very many aspects of the Church’s life and activity, his overarching goal being to "renew all things in Christ" through our intimate personal union with our Saviour. By Pope Saint Pius’s prayers, may we grow daily in love for Christ and help open others to his love. God’s abundant blessings upon you all!  © Copyright 2010 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

[At the end of the audience, the Pope made this final appeal:] 
My thoughts go at this moment to the beloved peoples of Pakistan, affected recently by great floods, which have caused numerous victims and left many families homeless.
While I entrust to the merciful goodness of God all those who have passed away so tragically, I express my spiritual closeness to their families and to all those suffering because of this calamity. May these brothers of ours, so harshly tested, not lack our solidarity and the concrete aid of international solidarity.

It is not to be expected that there should be a full and frank biography of a pontiff who died so lately as 1914. A short life by Abbot Pierami, the postulator of the cause, was published in 1928: it was written in a “devotional” style that the English translation did little to modify, but it is valuable as a reliable factual record.  See also Cardinal Merry del Val, Memories of Pope Pius X (1939); R. M. Huben, Symposium of the Life and Work of Pius X (1947); V. Marmoiton, Pie X (1951); and for good popular accounts in English, Katherine Burton, The Great Mantle (1951), and E. A. Forbes, Pope St Pius X (1954). See also the 2-volume work in French by Professor Fernessole (1953), and the life by H. Dal-Gal, published in English in 1954. There were of course a number of other new works in various languages during those years.



THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 54

In the going forth of my soul from this world: meet it, O Lady, and receive it.

Console it with thy holy countenance: let not the sight of the demons terrify it.

Be to it a ladder to Heaven: and a straight way to the Paradise of God.

Obtain for it from the Father the pardon of peace: and a throne of light among the servants of God.

Uphold the devout before the tribunal of Christ: take their cause into thy hands.


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 heavenonly 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 htmIndulgences 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 2000Quang 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  UniateChalcedon

Mary the Mother of Jesus Miracles_BLay Saints  Miraculous_IconMiraculous_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 Nizamuddin 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]

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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
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 Indulgence 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}.
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, 54 2023