THE ROMAN MARTYROLOGY

The Nineteenth Day of September

At Pozzuoli in Campania, the holy martyrs Januarius, Bishop of the city of Benevento; Festus, his Deacon; and Desiderius, a Lector; Sosius, a Deacon of the church of Miseno; Proculus, a Deacon of Pozzuoli; Eutychius and Acutius. All these being fettered and imprisoned were beheaded, under the Emperor Diocletian. The body of St. Januarius was borne to Naples and buried with honour in the church. There the blood of the blessed martyr is still kept in a vessel of glass, and when placed near his head is seen to liquefy and boil as if newly shed.
In Palestine, the holy martyrs Peleus, Nilus and Elias, Bishops of Egypt, who were consumed in the fire for Christ's sake in the time of the persecution of Diocletian, together with many clerics.
At Nocera, the birthday of the holy martyrs Felix and Constantia, who suffered under Nero.
Nucériæ natális sanctórum Mártyrum Felícis et Constántiæ, qui passi sunt sub Neróne.
At Nocera, the birthday of the holy martyrs Felix and Constantia, who suffered under Nero.
On the same day, the holy martyrs Trophimus, Sabbatius and Dorymedon, under the Emperor Probus. Of these Sabbatius was by command of the governor Atticus at Antioch beaten with scourges until he gave up the ghost; Trophimus was sent to the governor Perennius at Synnada and after many torments consummated martyrdom by beheading, together with Dorymedon, a senator.
At Eleutheropolis in Palestine, St. Susanna, Virgin and Martyr; she was the daughter of Arthemius, a pagan priest, and of Martha, a Jewish woman, and after the death of her parents was converted to the Christian faith. Because of this she was tortured in various ways and cast into prison by the prefect Alexander, and there she gave up the ghost while at prayer.
At Cordova in Spain, St. Pomposa, Virgin and Martyr. In the Arab persecution she was beheaded because of her fearless witness to Christ and so obtained the palm of martyrdom.
At Canterbury, St. Theodore, Bishop, who was sent into England by Pope Vitalian and was renowned for learning and holiness. At Tours, France, St. Eustochius, Bishop, a man of great virtues.
In the district of Langres, St. Seine, Priest and Confessor.
At Barcelona in Spain, blessed Mary of Cervellione, Virgin, of the Order of our Lady of Ransom for the Redemption of Captives, who because of her help now to them that invoke her is commonly called Mary of Help.

And elsewhere many other holy martyrs, confessors and holy virgins. Thanks be to God.

277 Saints Trophimus Martyr, with Sabbatius and Dorymedon
Eódem die sanctórum Mártyrum Tróphimi, Sabbátii et Dorymedóntis, sub Probo Imperatóre. Ex eis Sabbátius Antiochíæ, jussu Attici Præsidis, támdiu flagris cæsus est, donec emítteret spíritum; Tróphimus vero, Synnadam, in Phrygia, ad Perénnium Præsidem missus, ibi, post multos cruciátus, cum Dorymedónte Senatóre, cápitis decollatióne martyrium consummávit.
Also, the holy martyrs Trophimus, Sabbatius, and Dorymedon, senator, under Emperor Probus. By command of the governor Atticus at Antioch, Sabbatius was scourged until he expired. Trophimus was sent to the governor Perennius at Synnada, where he and the senator Dorymedon completed their martyrdom by being beheaded after enduring many torments.
put to death under Emperor Probus (r. 276- 282). They were executed at Antioch (modern Turkey).
Trophimos, Sabbatios, & Dorymedon the Martyrs

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
Thy Martyrs, O Lord, in their courageous contest for Thee received as the prize the crowns of incorruption and life from Thee, our immortal God. For since they possessed Thy strength, they cast down the tyrants and wholly destroyed the demons' strengthless presumption. O Christ God, by their prayers, save our souls, since Thou art merciful.
Kontakion in the Fourth Tone

As a mighty river full of the divine gifts of the Holy Spirit's grace, O valiant athletes of the Lord, ye richly water all of the world with the beneficent floods of your miracles.
Reading: In 278, during the reign of Probus, Saints Trophimus and Sabbatius came to Antioch, and seeing the city celebrating the festival of Apollo at Daphne lamented the blindness of the people, and presented themselves as Christians to Atticus the Governor.
Saint Trophimus was stripped of his clothing, and was stretched out and beaten until the earth was red with his blood. Then he was hung up, scraped on his sides, and imprisoned in torments.
Saint Sabbatius was tortured so savagely that he gave up his spirit in his sufferings.
Trophimus was sent to Synnada, wearing iron shoes fitted with sharp iron nails within; he was further tormented without mercy, then cast into prison.
Saint Dorymedon, a counsellor, senator, and a pagan, came to the prison and cared for Trophimus. When a certain feast came, Dorymedon was asked why he did not sacrifice to the idols; he proclaimed himself a Christian, for which he was imprisoned, pierced with heated spits, frightfully punished, and finally beheaded with Saint Trophimus.

305 St. Januarius born Italy bishop blood liquefies; Sossus, deacon of Miseno, Proculus, deacon of Pozzuoli, and Euticius and Acutius, laymen, imprisoned at Pozzuoli by order of the governor of Campania, before whom they had confessed their faith. Sossus by his wisdom and sanctity had earned the friendship of St Januarius who came and tended to them in prison.
Putéolis, in Campánia, sanctórum Mártyrum Januárii, Beneventánæ civitátis Epíscopi, ejúsque Diáconi Festi, et Desidérii Lectóris, Sósii, Diáconi Ecclésiæ Misenátis; Próculi, Diáconi Puteoláni; Eutychii et Acútii. Hi omnes, post víncula et cárceres, cápite cæsi sunt, sub Diocletiáno Príncipe. Corpus sancti Januárii delátum fuit Neápolim, atque honorífice in Ecclésia tumulátum; ubi étiam beatíssimi Mártyris sanguis in ampúlla vítrea adhuc servátur, qui, in conspéctu cápitis illíus pósitus, velut recens liquéscere et ebullíre conspícitur.
At Pozzuoli in Campania, the holy martyrs Januarius, bishop of Benevento; Festus, his deacon, and Desiderius, a lector, together with Sosius, a deacon of the Church of Miseno; Proculus, deacon of Pozzuoli; Eutychius, and Acutius, who were bound and imprisoned and then beheaded during the reign of Diocletian. The body of St. Januarius was brought to Naples and buried in the church with due honours, where even now the blood of the blessed martyr is kept in a vial, and when placed close to his head is seen to become liquid and bubble up as if it were just taken from his veins.

JANUARIUS, BISHOP OF BENEVENTO, AND HIS COMPANIONS,
ST JANUARIUS (Gennaro), a native some say of Naples, others of Benevento, was bishop of this latter city when the persecution of Diocletian broke out. Sossus, deacon of Miseno, Proculus, deacon of Pozzuoli, and Euticius and Acutius, laymen, were imprisoned at Pozzuoli by an order of the governor of Campania, before whom they had confessed their faith. Sossus by his wisdom and sanctity had earned the friendship of St Januarius, and upon the news that this servant of God and several others were fallen into the hands of the persecutors, the bishop determined to make them a visit to comfort and encourage them. He did not escape the notice of the keepers, who gave information that someone from Benevento had visited the Christian prisoners. The governor gave orders that Januarius, whom he found to be the person, should be arrested and brought before him at Nola, which was accordingly done. Festus, the bishop’s deacon, and Desiderius, a lector of his church, were also taken, and had a share in the interrogatories and torments that the good bishop underwent at Nola.
   Some time after the governor went to Pozzuoli, and these three confessors, loaded with irons, were made to walk before his chariot to that town, where they were thrown into the same prison where the four martyrs already mentioned were detained. They had been condemned to be torn in pieces by wild beasts, and were then lying in expectation of the execution of their sentence. The day after the arrival of St Januarius and his two companions all these champions of Christ were exposed to the beasts in the amphitheatre, but none of the animals could be provoked to touch them. The people were amazed and imputed their preservation to magic, and the martyrs were condemned to be beheaded. This sentence was executed near Pozzuoli, and the martyrs were buried near that town.
   The city of Naples eventually got possession of the relics of St Januarius, which in the fifth century were brought from the little church of San Gennaro near the Solfatara. During the wars of the Normans they were removed, first to Benevento, and some time after to the abbey of Monte Vergine; but in 1497 they were brought back to Naples, where he has long been honoured as principal patron.
   No reliance can be placed upon the above particulars of the martyrdom of St Januarius; all the recensions of his “acts” are late and untrustworthy; nothing certain is known of him or of those who suffered with him. All the fame of Januarius rests upon that “standing miracle” (as Baronius called it), the liquefaction of the alleged relic of his blood which is preserved in the chapel of the treasury of the cathedral-church of Naples, a happening of which there are records for the past four hundred years. The relic consists of a dark, solid, opaque mass which half fills the small glass phial in which it is contained, the phial itself being fixed in a metal reliquary. Eighteen times a year, in connexion with the feast of the translation of the relics to Naples (Saturday before the first Sunday in May), the feast of the saint (September 19), and the anniversary of the averting of a threatened eruption of Vesuvius in 1631 (December 16), this relic is brought out and held by a priest in the presence of what is believed to be the martyr’s head, exposed in a silver reliquary on the altar. Prayers are said by the people, especially as represented by a number of poor women who have a privileged position in the church and are known as the “aunts of St Januarius” (zie di San Gennaro). After a varying interval, from two minutes to an hour as a rule, the priest from time to time turning the reliquary upside down, the dark mass, hitherto solid and immovable, detaches itself from the sides of the glass, becomes liquid and reddish in colour, and sometimes froths, bubbles up, and increases in volume. This takes place not only in full view of the people but also in close proximity to any accredited persons who may have been admitted to the sanctuary. The priest then announces,
“The miracle has happened”, Te Deum is sung, and the relic venerated by the congregation and clergy. Few, if any, alleged miracles have been examined more carefully, more often, or by people of more divergent views than this of the blood of St Januarius, and it may be safely affirmed that no expert inquirer, however rationalist in temper he may be, now denies that what is said to take place does take place. There is no trick, and there is as yet no completely satisfactory explanation (though many have been advanced, both by Catholics and others), except the explanation of miracle. But before a miracle may be certainly recognized all natural explanations must have been examined and found wanting, and all objections answered. Among the undoubted facts concerning this relic are the following

1. The dark substance alleged to be the blood of St Januarius (which for more than 300 years has remained sealed up in a glass phial immovably set in a metal reliquary) does not always occupy the same volume. Sometimes the black and hard mass is seen almost completely to fill the phial, at other times there is a vacant space above it of more than a third of its bulk.
2. Concurrently with this variation in volume there is a variation in weight, which of late years has been tested in an accurate chemical balance. Taking the extremes, which have been recorded, this variation has amounted to as much as 27 grammes.
3. The rapidity of the liquefaction seems to bear no ratio to the temperature of the atmosphere. Sometimes when the temperature has stood as high as 86⁰ Fahrenheit, more than two hours have passed before any signs of liquefaction were observed. On the other hand, when the temperature has been 15⁰ or even 20⁰ lower than this, complete liquefaction has occurred in from 10 to 15 minutes.
4. The liquefaction does not always take place in the same way. Instances are recorded in which the liquefied contents seem almost to boil and are of a vivid crimson colour, while in other cases the colour is dull and the movement sluggish.
   On the other hand, among the difficulties in the way of accepting the phenomenon as a miracle the following have been pointed out. The fact that a very large majority of all other blood-relics of which similar behaviour seems to be true are found in the neighbourhood of Naples; and some of the relics, e.g. those of St John Baptist, St Stephen, St Ursula, are almost certainly spurious. The relic has seven times been known to liquefy while a jeweler was repairing the reliquary, but often during the December exposition it has failed to liquefy at all. The authenticity of the relic itself is extremely problematical; we have no record of the cultus of St Januarius before the fifth century. Moreover there is the consideration, of yet greater weight if the relic be not authentic, of the seeming purposelessness of the marvel. Such a criticism may be levelled at many other alleged miracles we cannot search the ways of God; and it is true that for centuries the liquefaction has been a standing manifestation of His omnipotence for thousands of Neapolitans. But it must also be remembered that marvels of this kind, so far from being a help, are a definite hindrance to the faith of other people, of different temperament but of no less good will: and these also have souls to be saved.
   Miracles recorded in Holy Scripture are revealed facts and an object of faith. Other miracles are not considered in the same light, neither does our faith in part rest upon them as upon the former, though they illustrate and confirm it; nor do they demand or admit any higher assent than that which prudence requires and which is due to the evidence of human authority, upon which they depend. When such miracles are propounded, they are not to be rashly admitted the evidence of the fact and circumstances ought to be examined to the bottom, and duly weighed; where that fails it is the part of prudence to suspend or refuse our assent. If human evidence set the certainty of a miracle above the reach of doubt, it must more powerfully excite us to raise our minds to God in humble worship, love and praise, and to honour Him in His saints, when by such wonderful means He gives us tangible proofs of the glory to which He exalts them.

The unsatisfactory “acts” of St Januarius and companions are preserved to us in varying forms. The texts printed in the Acta Sanctorum, September, vol. vi (but out of place, at the end of the volume), sufficiently illustrate this diversity. On the other hand there can be no serious doubt that a bishop named Januarius was really martyred somewhere near Naples, and that he was venerated at an early date. Not only does the priest Uranius, shortly after the year 431, allude to him in terms which imply that he was a saint in Heaven, on a footing with the famous St Martin of Tours, but a fifth-century representation of him in the so-called “catacomb of St Januarius” at Naples depicts him with a nimbus. His name also is entered on this day in the early calendars both of East and West. See the Acta Sanctorum, November, vol. ii, part 2, p. 517 and Fin Franchi de’ Cavalieri, in Studi e Testi, vol. xxiv (1912), pp. 79—114. The question of the liquefaction of the blood has of course been discussed again and again. For a vindication of the supernatural character of the prodigy, consult especially Taglialatela, Memorie storico-critiche del culto e del sangue di S. Gennaro (1893) Cavène, Le célèbre miracle de S. Janvier a Naples et à Pouzzoles (1909); Alfano e Amitrano, Il miracolo di S. Gennaro (1924)—this last includes a bibliography of 1346 entries—and for English readers, Bishop E. P. Graham, The Mystery of Naples (1909); and Ian Grant, The Testimony of Blood (1929). The view of those who question the miraculous nature of the liquefaction is set out in lsenkrahe, Neapolitanische Blutwunder (1912), and in The Month, January, February and March 1927 and February 1930, by Fr Thurston, who also contributes the article in the Catholic Encyclopaedia, vol. viii, pp. 295—297. The Kirchliches Handlexikon states (vol. ii, col. 25), “a conclusive judgement in this matter can hardly be arrived at, but so far no natural explanation has been found.

St. Januarius of Benevento martyred during the Emperor Diocletion persecution. Bishop Januarius went to visit two deacons and two laymen in prison. He was then also imprisoned along with his deacon and lector. They were thrown to the wild beasts, but when the animals did not attack them, they were beheaded. What is believed to be Januarius' blood is kept in Naples, as a relic. It liquifies and bubbles when exposed in the cathedral. Scientists have not been able to explain this miracle to date. St. Januarius lived and died around 305 A.D.
Nothing is known of Januarius's life. He is believed to have been martyred in the Diocletian persecution of 305. Legend has it that after Januarius was thrown to the bears in the amphitheater of Pozzuoli, he was beheaded, and his blood ultimately brought to Naples.

Comment: It is defined Catholic doctrine that miracles can happen and can be recognized—hardly a mind-boggling statement to anyone who believes in God. Problems arise, however, when we must decide whether an occurrence is unexplainable in natural terms, or only unexplained. We do well to avoid an excessive credulity, which may be a sign of insecurity. On the other hand, when even scientists speak about "probabilities" rather than "laws" of nature, it is something less than imaginative for Christians to think that God is too "scientific" to work extraordinary miracles to wake us up to the everyday miracles of sparrows and dandelions, raindrops and snowflakes.

Quote: “A dark mass that half fills a hermetically sealed four-inch glass container, and is preserved in a double reliquary in the Naples cathedral as the blood of St. January, liquefies 18 times during the year....This phenomenon goes back to the 14th century....Tradition connects it with a certain Eusebia, who had allegedly collected the blood after the martyrdom.... The ceremony accompanying the liquefaction is performed by holding the reliquary close to the altar on which is located what is believed to be the martyr's head. While the people pray, often tumultuously, the priest turns the reliquary up and down in the full sight of the onlookers until the liquefaction takes place....Various experiments have been applied, but the phenomenon eludes natural explanation. There are, however, similar miraculous claims made for the blood of John the Baptist, Stephen, Pantaleon, Patricia, Nicholas of Tolentino and Aloysius Gonzaga—nearly all in the neighborhood of Naples” (Catholic Encyclopedia).

19 Holy Martyrs Trophimus, Sabbatius And Dorymedon St Theodore, Prince Of Smolensk And His Two Sons David And Constantine
Troparion of the Feast: O Lord, save... Troparion of the Martyrs tone 3

Adorned with the might of the Trinity you cut off the thorns of error,/ blessed Trophimus delight of the Church,/ wise Sabbatius adornment of athletes,/ and Dorymedon glory of the faithful./ We praise you with hymns.
Troparion of St Theodore and his sons David and Constantine tone 4
You clung to Christ's love from your youth and eagerly kept His laws./ You were enriched with miraculous gifts and now pour forth healings, Theodore, David and Constantine./ Pray to Christ our God to save those who venerate you.
Kontakion of the Feast: O Christ our God...Kontakion of the Martyrs tone 4
O Martyrs Trophimus, Sabbatius and Dorymedon,/ you were a river flowing with the gifts of the Spirit/ and now you water the world with miracles.
Kontakion of Ss Theodore, David Constantine tone 8
While in the flesh you were radiant lamps and lived like the Angels./ By fasting, vigil and faith you grew like the tree in paradise./ You, blossomed forth in prayer through the grace you received./ You have become mighty physicians, healing infirmity of souls./ Glorious wonderworkers Theodore, David and Constantine,/ pray to Christ our God for the forgiveness of those who venerate your relics.
http://users.netmatters.co.uk/davidbryant/C/TropKon/Sept.htm#Sep19

310 St. Peleus bishop Martyr in Egypt with Nilus bishop, Elias priest, and an Egyptian layman; THE confessors who were condemned to the mines (i.e. quarries) in Palestine during the course of the last general persecution built little oratories where they met for divine service, which was their chief comfort under their sufferings
In Palæstína sanctórum Mártyrum et Ægypti Episcopórum Pélei, Nili et Elíæ; qui, témpore persecutiónis Diocletiáni, cum plúrimis Cléricis, pro Christo sunt igne consúmpti.
In Palestine, the holy martyrs Peleus, Nilus, and Elias, bishops in Egypt, with many others of the clergy, who were consumed by fire for the sake of Christ during the persecution of Diocletian.
310 SS. PELEUS AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS
THE confessors who were condemned to the mines (i.e. quarries) in Palestine during the course of the last general persecution built little oratories where they met for divine service, which was their chief comfort under their sufferings. Firmilian, governor of Palestine, informed the Emperor Galerius of the liberty they had taken, and the tyrant sent an order that they should be sent, some to the mines in Cyprus, others to those in the Lebanon, and others to other places. The officer upon whom the command devolved removed the servants of God to the new places of banishment; but first he caused four of their number to be burnt alive. These were Peleus and Nilus, two Egyptian bishops, Elias, a priest, and an Egyptian layman. These probably suffered at Phunon, near Petra, at the same time as St Tyrannio of Gaza and his companions.

Eusebius, De Martyribus Palaestinae (xiii, 3), is the main authority. See also B. Violet, Die palästinischen Märtyrer des Eusebius von Cäsarea, pp. 105-107.

The three were Egyptian bishops who, with a group of priests and probably some laymen, were arrested and imprisoned for being Christian leaders. They spent time as common laborers before being burned alive near Petra for saying a Mass during the reign of Emperor Galerius.

580 St. Sequanus Abbot, also Seine; God was pleased to honour him with the gift of miracles; perfected himself in the study of the Holy Scriptures, and in the practice of all religious virtues

In território Lingoniénsi sancti Sequáni, Presbyteri et Confessóris.
In the diocese of Langres, St. Sequanus, priest and confessor.

580 ST SEQUANUS, OR SEINE, ABBOT
This holy monk was born in the little town of Mesmont in Burgundy. He was for a time a solitary at Verrey-sous-Drée, where he lived in a hut that he built himself from forest timber, and was said to break his fast every day only after having recited the whole psalter. The bishop of Langres promoted him to the priesthood at a very early age.
The saint having suffered some persecution in consequence from the local clergy, he put himself under direction of the holy abbot John, who governed the monastery of Réomé. Here he perfected himself in the study of the Holy Scriptures, and in the practice of all religious virtues. After some time he built a monastery in the forest of Segestre, near the source of the river Seine, and the monks did much to civilize the people of the neighbourhood, who were said to be cannibals.
A Village, which grew up around the abbey, became known as Saint-Seine, after the founder, and the regular discipline, which he established there, rendered it famous and drew to it a number of disciples. God was pleased to honour him with the gift of miracles. He is mentioned in early martyrologies under the name of St Sigon.

Under the form “depositio sancti Sigonis, presbyteri et confessoris”, St Sequanus was commemorated in the Hieronymianum but he is called “Sequanus” by St Gregory of Tours, who mentions him at a still earlier date. There is an anonymous life printed in the Acta Sanctorum, September, vol. vi, but its value as an historical source is very questionable.

Originally a monk at Reomay, he later founded the monastery at Segreste, which attracted many monks and over which he became abbot. He was born at Mesmont, in Burgundy, France, and lived as a hermit for a time at Verreysous-Dree. The monastery was renamed Saint-Seine in his honor.

647 St. Goeric Bishop; successor of St. Arnulf at Metz; went blind; cured by praying in church; became priest
647 ST GOERICUS, OR AEBO, Bishop OF METZ
DURING the seventh century there were two great saintly families in Aquitaine, Salvia and Ansbertina, and in the second of these was born St Goericus. He became an officer in the palace of Dagobert I and was a soldier of distinction, when he was suddenly smitten with blindness. After bearing his affliction with patience for a time he decided to make a pilgrimage to the church of St Stephen at Metz of which city his relative St Arnulf was bishop, in consequence of a vision which he believed he had. He therefore set out with his two daughters, Precia and Victorina, and, while praying in the church, his sight was restored. In thanksgiving Goericus became a priest, and when St Arnulf resigned his see in the year 629 he succeeded to it. St Goericus as a bishop followed the golden example of his predecessor, whom he would often visit in his retreat at Remiremont and when Arnulf died he translated his body to his cathedral city, an occasion said to have been marked with miracles. St Goericus founded a nunnery at Epinal, of which his daughter Precia was first abbess.

A medieval life of the usual unsatisfactory type is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, September, vol. vi. Goericus was in correspondence with St Desiderius of Cahors (Migne, PL., vol. lxxxvii, cc. 218 seq.). See also Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux, vol. iii, p. 56.

France. He is sometimes called Abbo or Goericus. He was supposedly a courtier at the court of King Dagobert, who went blind and was cured miraculously. He then became a priest and bishop and founded a convent.

690 St. Theodore of Tarsus Archbishop of Canterbury, England; one of the greatest; St Theodore was the first bishop whom the whole English church obeyed, the first metropolitan of all England, and his fame penetrated into the remotest corners of the land. Many students gathered round these two foreign prelates who knew Greek as well as Latin, for Theodore and Adrian themselves expounded the Scriptures and taught the sciences, particularly astronomy and arithmetic (for calculating Easter), and to compose Latin verse. Many under them became as proficient in Latin and Greek as they were in their own tongue. Britain had never been in so happy a condition as at this time since the English first set foot in the island. The kings were so brave, says Bede, that the barbarous nations dreaded their power; and men such good Christians that they aspired only after the joys of the kingdom of Heaven which had been but lately preached to them. All who desired to learn could find instructors.
690 ST THEODORE, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
THEODORE was a Greek, born at Tarsus in Cilicia (birthplace of St Paul) and a student at Athens: the last early bishop of foreign birth to occupy the metropolitan throne of Canterbury and one of the greatest of its archbishops.
   After death of St Deusdedit, sixth archbishop, in 664, Oswy, King of Northumbria, and Egbert, King of Kent, sent a priest named Wighard to Rome that he might be consecrated and duly confirmed to the see by the pope himself. Wighard died in Italy, and Pope St Vitalian, who then sat in St Peter’s chair, chose Adrian, abbot of a monastery near Naples, to be raised to that dignity. This abbot was by birth an African, understood Greek and Latin perfectly, was thoroughly versed in theology and in the monastic and ecclesiastical discipline. But so great were his fears of the office that the pope was compelled to yield to his excuses. He insisted, however, that Adrian should find a person equal to the charge, and Adrian first named a monk called Andrew; but he was judged incapable on account of his bodily infirmities. Adrian then suggested another monk, Theodore of Tarsus. He was accepted, but on condition that Adrian should accompany him to Britain, because he had already travelled twice through France and also to watch over Theodore lest he introduce into his church anything contrary to the faith (“as the Greeks have a habit of doing”, comments St Bede).
Theodore was at that time sixty-six years old, well instructed in secular and sacred learning, and of exemplary life, but not in holy orders. Being ordained subdeacon, he waited four months for his hair to grow, that it might be shaved in the form of a crown according to the Roman custom: from which it may be gathered that he had hitherto been a monk of the Eastern obedience and that his promotion involved what we should now call a “change of rite”** The first Catholic church of Byzantine rite in England, in Saffron Hill, London, was appropriately given St Theodore as its titular saint in 1949.

At length Pope Vitalian consecrated him bishop recommending him to St Benedict Biscop, who was then in Rome and whom the pope obliged to return to England with SS. Theodore and Adrian in order to be their guide and interpreter. They set out on May 27, 668, went by sea to Marseilles, and from thence by land to Arles, where they were entertained by archbishop, John. St Theodore passed the winter at Paris with St Agilbert, formerly been bishop of Wessex. From his conversation the new archbishop informed himself of the circumstances and necessities of the church of which he was going to take charge, and he also began to learn the English language. Egbert, King of Kent, hearing his new archbishop had arrived at Paris, sent his reeve to meet him, who took him to the port of Quentavic, now called Saint-Josse-sur-Mer. Theodore, falling sick, was obliged to stay there some time. As soon as he was able to travel he proceeded on his voyage with St Benedict Biscop, and took possession of his see of Canterbury on May 27, 669, a year to a day after leaving Rome.
   St Adrian meanwhile was detained in France for some time. St Theodore made a general visitation of all the churches of the English nation, taking Abbot Adrian with him. He was everywhere well received and heard with attention; and wherever he came he taught sound morality, confirmed the discipline of the Church in the celebration of Easter, and introduced the Roman chant in the divine offices, till then known in few English churches except those of Kent. He regulated other things belonging to the divine service, reformed abuses, and ordained bishops in places where they were wanting. When he came into Northumbria he had to deal with the difficulties that had arisen between St Wilfrid and St Chad, both of whom laid claim to the see of York. St Theodore judged that Chad had been improperly consecrated, to which he replied that he had been ordained against his inclination, and retired to his monastery of Lastingham. But St Theodore made him bishop of the Mercians when that see became vacant. St Wilfrid was confirmed as the true bishop of York, to ensure the support of whose pro-Roman policy against the Celtic elements in Northumbria was probably the principal reason for St Adrian’s being sent to England with Theodore. Theodore penetrated to the stronghold of Celtic influence at Lindisfarne and there consecrated the church in honour of St Peter. During these journeys he is said to have ordered that every head of a household should each day say with his family the Lord’s Prayer and the Creed in the vulgar tongue.
   St Theodore was the first bishop whom the whole English church obeyed, the first metropolitan of all England, and his fame penetrated into the remotest corners of the land. Many students gathered round these two foreign prelates who knew Greek as well as Latin, for Theodore and Adrian themselves expounded the Scriptures and taught the sciences, particularly astronomy and arithmetic (for calculating Easter), and to compose Latin verse. Many under them became as proficient in Latin and Greek as they were in their own tongue. Britain had never been in so happy a condition as at this time since the English first set foot in the island. The kings were so brave, says Bede, that the barbarous nations dreaded their power; and men such good Christians that they aspired only after the joys of the kingdom of Heaven which had been but lately preached to them. All who desired to learn could find instructors.
   Theodore gave the long vacant see of Rochester a bishop in the person of Putta, and authorized the inclusion of all Wessex in the see of Winchester. Then, in 673, he held the first national council of the English Church, at Hertford. There were present at this council Bisi, Bishop of the East Angles, Putta of Rochester, Eleutherius of Wessex, Winfrid of the Mercians, and the proxies of St Wilfrid. St Theodore addressed them, saying: “I beseech you, most dear brethren, in the love and fear of our Redeemer, that we may all treat in common of our faith to the end that whatsoever has been decreed and defined by the holy and venerable fathers may be inviolably observed by all.” He then produced a book of ecclesiastical canons of which ten were marked as being of special importance to England. The first one was that Easter should everywhere be kept on the Sunday after the full moon, which occurs, on or next after March 21, in accordance with the Council of Nicaea and against the Celtic recalcitrants. Other canons had the effect of consolidating in England the common diocesan system of the Church; and their adoption by the bishops can be looked on as the first legislative act, ecclesiastical or civil, for the whole English people. With these canons was approved one that provided for an annual synod of the bishops, to meet every August 1 at Clovesho. *[ * The identity of this place has never yet been discovered, but a number of these synods were held there. The first of which we have any authentic evidence was, however, sixty-nine years after the Council of Hertford, in 742 between that date and 825 six more are known, and they are of considerable importance in the history of the early English church.]
   Another provincial council held by St Theodore, seven years later at Hatfield, was convened in order that he might safeguard the purity of the faith of his clergy from any taint of Monophysite error. After discussing the theology of the mystery of the Incarnation the members of the council expressed their adherence to the five oecumenical councils and their abhorrence of the heresies condemned thereat.
   Two years previously, 678, “the year of the comet”, trouble had arisen between Egfrid, King of the Northumbrians, and St Wilfrid, who had supported the king’s wife, St Etheldreda, in her desire to retire to a convent. St Wilfrid’s administration of his huge diocese had not been altogether well received, even by those who sympathized with his aims, and St Theodore took this to be a good opportunity to assert his metropolitan authority in the north. He therefore ordered that three sees should be carved out of the diocese of York, and in concert with King Egfrid proceeded to appoint bishops thereto.
   St Wilfrid objected and appealed to Rome, going off to conduct his case in person, while Theodore consecrated new bishops in the cathedral of York. Pope St Agatho decided Wilfrid was to be restored to his see but that he should choose suffragan bishops to assist in its government. However, King Egfrid refused to accept the pope’s decision on the charge that it had been bought, and St Wilfrid went into exile, eventually to evangelize the South Saxons.
   St Theodore, so far as is known, did not attempt to stop Egfrid’s highhanded action, and a few years later consecrated St Cuthbert as bishop of Lindisfarne in the cathedral of York. Any injustice that he may have been guilty of herein was atoned for in the closing years of his life, when with St Erconwald he met St Wilfrid in London, and it was agreed that he should again govern York but in its smaller extent.   St Theodore wrote to King Ethelred of Mercia and to King Aldfrid of Northumbria recommending St Wilfrid to them, and to St Elfleda, abbess of Whitby, and others who had opposed Wilfrid or were interested parties.
   St Theodore’s great achievements were all in the sphere of active organization and administration, and the only literary work that bears his name is a collection of disciplinary decisions and canons called the Penitential of Theodore, and this was his work only in part, if that. It is sometimes said that St Theodore of Canterbury organized the parochial system in England, but this is far from being true. The parish system in this country was one of very slow growth, over a long period of time and under several influences, and was not the work of any one man. What he did do was to find the Church in this country a missionary body, distressed by faction and with no particular cohesion, and to leave it, after twenty-one years’ episcopate, a properly organized province of the Catholic Church, divided into dioceses which looked to Canterbury as their metropolitan see.
   The work he did remained for eight hundred and fifty years his monument, and is still the basis of the hierarchical organization of the Established Church of England. He died on September 19, 690, and was buried in the abbey-church of SS. Peter and Paul at Canterbury, the Greek monk nigh to his first predecessor the Roman monk, Augustine. “To say all in a few words”, says St Bede, “the English churches prospered more during the pontificate [of Theodore] than ever they had done before.”And Stubbs writes that “It is difficult, if not impossible, to overstate the debt which England, Europe and Christian civilization owe to the work of Theodore”. This has not been forgotten, and his feast is today observed in six of our English dioceses and by the English Benedictines.

The main authority, of course, is Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, which has been in many points elucidated by C. Plummer’s valuable commentary and second to this Eddius’s Vita Wilfridi. Much has been published in England bearing upon the period of St Theodore’s activities, but apart from some fresh archaeological illustrations, such books as C. F. Browne’s Theodore and Wilfrith, Sir Henry Howorth’s Golden Days of English Church History and Canon Bright’s Chapters on Early English Church History are apt to exhibit a pronounced anti-Roman bias. As for Theodore’s share in the “Penitential” attributed to him, the researches of Paul Fournier, culminating in his Histoire des Collections canoniques en Occident (1931—32), tend to render the archbishop’s personal connexion with even that part of the code assigned him by Wasserschleben and Stubbs extremely doubtful. See W. Stubbs in DCB., vol. iv, pp. 926—932; F. M. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England (1943), pp. 131—141 and passim. A biography by Dr W. Reany was published in 1944.

A memorable figure in the English Church. A native of Tarsus, Turkey, he was a Greek by descent. After studying in Tarsus and Athens, Greece, he went to Rome, where he became so respected that Pope St. Vitalian (r. 657-672) appointed him to succeed to the see of Canterbury in 667. After receiving consecration on March 26, 668, he set out for England in the company of Sts. Dominic Biscop and Hadrian the African, both of whom were to provide assistance and helped guarantee that Theodore's administration remained entirely orthodox. They arrived at Canterbury in May 669 and Theodore moved immediately to consolidate his position as primate of England and the metropolitan status of the see of Canterbury. To promote further unity, he convened two synods, at Hereford in 673 and at Hatfield in 680. Such was the success of his programs that the Venerable Bede wrote that Theodore was "the first archbishop obeyed by all the English Church."

Theodore, seventh Archbishop of Canterbury, b. at Tarsus in Cilicia about 602; d. at Canterbury 19 September, 690; was a monk (probably of the Basilian Order) but not yet in Holy Orders, living at Rome in 667, when Pope Vitalian chose him for the See of Canterbury in place of Wighard, who had died before consecration. After receiving orders, Theodore was consecrated by the Pope himself, on 26 March, 668, and set out for England, but did not reach Canterbury until May, 669.
The new primate found the English Church still suffering from the jealousies and bitterness engendered by the long Paschal controversy, only lately settled, and sadly lacking in order and organization. The dioceses, coterminous with the divisions of the various kingdoms, were of unwieldy size, and many of then were vacant. Theodore, says Bede, at once "visited all the island, wherever the tribes of the Angles inhabited", and was everywhere received with respect and welcome.
He made appointments to the vacant bishoprics, regularized the position of St. Chad, who had not been duly consecrated, corrected all that was faulty, instituted the teaching of music and of sacred and secular learning, throughout the country, and had the distinction of being, as Bede specifically mentions, "the first archbishop whom all the English obeyed".
In 673 he convoked at Hertford the first synod of the whole province, an assembly of great importance as the forerunner and prototype of future English witenagemotes and parliaments. Going later to the court of the King of Northumbria, which country was entirely under the jurisdiction of St. Wilfrid, he divided it into four dioceses against the will of Wilfrid, who appealed to Pope Agatho.
The pope's decision did not acquit Theodore of arbitrary and irregular action, although his plan for the subdivision of the Northumbrian diocese was carried out. For St. Cuthbert in 685, and in the following year he was fully reconciled to Wilfrid, who was restored to his See of York. Thus, before his death, which occurred five years later, Theodore saw the diocesan system of the English Church fully organized under his primatical and metropolitical authority. Stubbs emphasizes the immensely important work done by Theodore not only in developing a single united ecclesiastical body out of the heterogeneous Churches of the several English kingdoms, but in thus realizing a national unity which was not to be attained in secular matters for nearly three centuries.

Apart from the epoch-making character of his twenty-one years' episcopate, Theodore was a man of commanding personality: inclined to be autocratic, but possessed of great ideas, remarkable powers of administration, and intellectual gifts of a high order, carefully cultivated. Practically his only literary remains are the collected decisions in disciplinary matters, well known as "The Penitential of Theodore". It was first published complete by Wasserschleben in 1851, and several editions of it have been printed during the past sixty years. Theodore was buried in St. Augustine's Monastery, Canterbury, a long poetical epitaph, of which Bede has preserved only eight verses, being inscribed upon his tomb.

Who was St Theodore of Tarsus?
The gospel first came to England some time before the end of the second Century, however it was restricted largely to the South-west.
During the next 4 centuries the Angles, Saxons and Picts, worshippers of pagan deities, took over the Eastern seaboard of England.
In 597 Pope Gregory sent Augustine and some 40 other clergy to England with two tasks: to bring the gospel to the pagan tribes and to gather the existing English churches together into a unified Church.
On their arrival they were welcomed by Ethelbert, the King of Kent, whose wife was a Christian, and he gave Augustine permission to settle and preach in Canterbury, the main city of Kent. Augustine was then consecrated as bishop of Canterbury. Augustine invited the English Bishops to meet with him to convince them to join together, and in particular to conform their churches to the practices and traditions of Rome which were slightly different to those followed in England at the time.
English Bishops, however, decided that Augustine's approach was too autocratic, as he refused to rise to greet them when they entered the assembly, and so they refused his request.

Although he failed in this part of his mission, Augustine was successful in taking the gospel to many parts of England that had not previously accepted it. The joining of the English churches thus had to wait for another hundred years, until the coming of Theodore.
In 664 a new Bishop of Canterbury was needed.
The priest sent by the English Church to be consecrated by the Pope died of the Plague. The Pope then chose Hadrian, the Abbot of a Monastery near Naples but he excused himself as not being up to the job. He recommended a monk named Theodore from Tarsus of Cilicia.

Theodore was 66 when he left Rome for Canterbury.
On his arrival in Canterbury in 668, accompanied by Hadrian, he proceeded to visit every part of the island occupied by the English people and was welcomed everywhere. He consecrated new bishops to fill vacant sees, and created new dioceses where necessary.
In 673 Theodore summoned the English Bishops and theologians to Hertford, to the first ever synod of a unified English church. There they agreed to work together as a unified church, meeting yearly in convocation at Cloveshoch (probably near London). This meeting of bishops and their clergy marks an epoch in the Church of England. For the first time Angles and Saxons met for common consultation, not as fellow countrymen, but as fellow Churchmen.

150 years before the English came together as a nation, thanks to Theodore of Tarsus, there was one united Church of England, obeying one set of canons, acknowledging the authority of one archbishop, using the same prayers and ceremonies from the Firth of Forth to the English Channel. There were still 7 kingdoms but only one Church.
Sources: The Layman's History of the Church of England, G.R. Balleine, Church Bookroom Press, 1961. A History of the English Church and People, Bede, Penguin Books, 1955

835 St. Pomposa Martyred nun; Pomposa refused to deny the faith and was slain by the Muslims.
Córdubæ, in Hispánia, sanctæ Pompósæ, Vírginis et Mártyris; quæ in persecutióne Arábica, ob impávidam Christi confessiónem decolláta gládio, palmam consecúta est.
At Cordova in Spain, St. Pomposa, virgin and martyr. Because of her fearless witness to Christ she was beheaded in the Arab persecution, and thus obtained the palm of martyrdom.
She was a nun in a convent near Cordoba who was beheaded by the Moorish rulers of the city. Pomposa refused to deny the faith and was slain by the Muslims.
Columba, the sixth Orthodox to be martyred under Muhammad I, was the sister of Elizabeth and Martin, two of the co-founders of Tabanos. Having evaded her mother’s plan to give her away in marriage, Columba followed her siblings into their monastery. When the Muslims arrived to close Tabanos, she took up residence at the basilica of St. Cyprian, where she prepared herself penitentially for a martyr’s death. On 17 September that year she was beheaded.

Columba’s example in turn prompted the nun Pomposa to seek martyrdom. Her parents had founded the monastery of St. Salvador at Pinna Mellaria which had already contributed the martyr Fandila. Now, three months later, Pomposa prepared to follow his example. Despite the efforts of her fellow nuns to dissuade her, she escaped to Cordoba where she was martyred on 19 September 853 .

1070 St. Arnulf Benedictine bishop patron saint of Gap, France. He was born in Vendôme and became a Benedictine there at the abbey of the Holy Trinity. In 1063, he was appointed bishop of Gap, and he restored the cathedral of the city.

1290 St. Maria de Cerevellon Spanish, foundress of Mercedarian sisters; In 1265 she joined a community of women who lived under the direction of Bernard and reinforced the work of the Mercedarians by their prayers. These were formed into a third order regular of our Lady of Ransom, and Mary of Cerevellon was their first prioress. The assiduity of her prayers and her generosity in temporal good works caused her to be called Maria de Socós, Mary of Help, the name by which she is still commonly known in Spain, where she is venerated also as a patroness of seamen, especially those in danger of shipwreck.
Barcinóne, in Hispánia, beátæ Maríæ de Cervellióne, ex Ordine beátæ Maríæ de Mercéde redemptiónis captivórum, Vírginis; quæ, ob præséntem quam invocántibus confert opem, María de Subsídio vulgo nuncupátur.
At Barcelona in Spain, blessed Mary de Cervellione, virgin, of the Order of Our Lady of Ransom. She is commonly called Mary of Help on account of the prompt assistance she renders to those who invoke her.

1290 ST MARY OF CEREVELLON, VIRGIN

THIS Mary is venerated as the first nun of the Order of our Lady of Ransom (Mercedarians). She was the daughter of a Spanish nobleman of Barcelona, and is said born to her childless parents at the prayer of St Peter Nolasco, who is credited with founding that order. A sermon by the Mercedarian Bernard Corbaria on the hardships and outrages suffered by Christian slaves at hands of the Moors and Saracens inspired her to devote her life to their cause. In 1265 she joined a community of women who lived under the direction of Bernard and reinforced the work of the Mercedarians by their prayers. These were formed into a third order regular of our Lady of Ransom, and Mary of Cerevellon was their first prioress. The assiduity of her prayers and her generosity in temporal good works caused her to be called Maria de Socós, Mary of Help, the name by which she is still commonly known in Spain, where she is venerated also as a patroness of seamen, especially those in danger of shipwreck. St Mary died at Barcelona in 1290. Many miracles were claimed at her tomb and her cultus was confirmed in 1692. The Roman Martyrology says that she is called Mary of Help “because of her present aid to them that call upon her”.

A short Latin life by Juan de Laes and Guillermo Vives was printed in the Acta Sanctorum, September, vol. vii, but its apocryphal character is now hardly disputed by serious investigators. The fact is that the story of Maria de Socós has got mixed up with the notorious forgeries which marked the attempts to create an imposing record for the early developments of the Mercedarian Order: see January 28, under Peter Nolasco. It was in the folio Vida de Maria de Corveilon, by Estevan de Corbera (1639), that many of the impugned documents, together with that known as “de los selos”, first saw the light. The author of the life, and other biographers who followed, may have been imposed upon, but it is only too plain that the hechos mararvillosos attributed to Maria de Socós must be for the most part suspect.

Superior of the Mercedarians, the order of Our Lady of Ransom, also called Maria de Socos, “Mary of Help.” Born into a noble family of Barcelona, Mary formed a group that evolved into the Mercedarians. She labored among the Christian slaves of the Moors, and she is the patroness of sailors in Spain. Maria died at Barcelona. Her cult was confirmed in 1690.

1299, 1321 SS THEODORE, DAVID AND CONSTANTINE; On the death of his first wife, mother of his son Michael, Theodore married again, and of this second wife his sons David and Constantine were born. They died in 1321 and were buried with their father, and were equally with him venerated as saints, the relics of all three being solemnly enshrined in 1464. Throughout their lives Theodore and his sons walked worthily of their calling, both as Christians and as noblemen; they were forgiving of injuries, and more mindful of their own obligations than of the delinquencies of others.
Cantuáriæ sancti Theodóri Epíscopi, qui, a beáto Vitaliáno Papa in Angliam missus, doctrína et sanctitáte refúlsit.
At Canterbury, the holy bishop Theodore, who was sent to England by Pope Vitalian, and who was renowned for learning and holiness.
ST THEODORE, called “the Black”, duke of Yaroslavl and Smolensk, was a great-grandson of that Kievan prince, Vladimir Monomakh, whose “Charge to my Children” is one of the most precious documents of early Russian Christianity. As a ruler Theodore was sincerely concerned for the poor and the uncared-for. He defended his people against the Tartars, and did all he could for the promotion of religion, building a church in honour of St Michael and several others. A few days before his death, which happened on September 19, 1299, he was clothed with the monastic habit, and buried in the monastery of the Transfiguration at Yaroslavl. On the death of his first wife, mother of his son Michael, Theodore married again, and of this second wife his sons David and Constantine were born. They died in 1321 and were buried with their father, and were equally with him venerated as saints, the relics of all three being solemnly enshrined in 1464. Throughout their lives Theodore and his sons walked worthily of their calling, both as Christians and as noblemen; they were forgiving of injuries, and more mindful of their own obligations than of the delinquencies of others. Accordingly a troparion (hymn) of their office says of them: “From your youth up you loved Christ with all your heart, most carefully did you observe His law and ordinances: therefore have you received the gift of miracles, and do pour out healing benefits upon us, 0 ye holy ones, Theodore, David and Constantine.”

See Martynov’s Annus Ecclesiasticus Graeco-Slavicus, in Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. xi; and cf. note to St Sergius on September 25. Vladimir Monomakh referred to above, married Gytha, daughter of Harold II Godwinson, king of the English, who was slain at Hastings in 1066.

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

Born in 1500 in Oropesa, Spain. He studied at Talavera, Toledo, and Salamanca, and became an Augustinian at the age of twenty-two. St. Thomas of Villanova was one of his instructors, imbuing him with a spirit of recollection and prayer. Alphonsus, a popular preacher and confessor, served as prior of the Augustinians in Seville and then in 1554, at Valladolid. In 1556 he became a court preacher, and in 1561 accompanied King Philip II of Spain to Madrid. Throughout his court life, he did not engage in the pleasures or intrigues around him. His example of holiness made a great impression on the royal family and the nobles of Madrid. Alphonsus was given a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and wrote treatises on prayer and penance as Our Lady instructed him. He was beatified in 1881.

He was sent by his parents to study at the University of Salamanca, but while there he entered the Augustinian novitiate, together with his brother Francis. In common with his superior, St. Thomas of Villanova, he valued his Augustinian vocation as one of God's greatest gifts to him. In the Order he chose to make preaching and writing his main apostolates. He had special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and saw his literary work as an act of obedience to her command. Although he was chosen as royal preacher at the Court of Spain, he preferred to speak to poor and simple people, to the sick in hospitals, to prisoners in jails and to religious in their convents. He had a great wish to go to Mexico as a missionary, but poor health prevented this. In his religious life with the brethren, he was notable for his spirit of fraternity, gospel simplicity, and moderation in speech. As an ascetic and great mystic, he suffered crises and spiritual aridity from 1522 to 1551. During this period he was often tempted to abandon the religious life. Still desiring to work for souls in imitation of Christ, he died in Madrid on September 19, 1591. His remains are preserved in the Augustinian church as Valladolid. He was beatified by Pope Leo XIII on January 15, 1882.
1591 BD ALPHONSUS DE OROZCO
IN the task of maintaining a high standard of austerity and devotion among a sixteenth-century aristocracy no Spanish churchman was more enthusiastic or more effective than this Augustinian friar, Alphonsus (Alonso) de Orozco. He was born at Oropesa in the diocese of Avila in the year 1500. Early as six Alonso made up his mind he wanted to be a priest. He studied at Talavera and Toledo, and then went on to the University of Salamanca, where he attended the sermons of St Thomas of Villanova. By him he was attracted to the religious life and to the Hermits of St Augustine in particular. When he was twenty-two he was clothed with the habit of that order.
For thirty years after his profession Friar Alphonsus was engaged in teaching, preaching, and the other activities of his state. His success and shining goodness made him in great request as a confessor.
He was four times prior of different houses. In 1554, the year Philip II married Queen Mary of England; he was sent to take charge of the Augustinian priory in the royal city of Valladolid. Two years later he was appointed court preacher. At once he began exercising his beneficent influence over the nobility, attracting them to his sermons by the quality both of his preaching and of his music, of which he was very fond.
In 1561 King Philip established his court at Madrid, and Bd Alphonsus went along with the court. He had a cell in the friary of San Felipe el Real, where he lived a life of great austerity and simplicity, in sharp contrast with the official functions of the court in which of necessity he had to take part. While he was prior at Seville in his earlier days Bd Alphonsus had a vision of our Lady, in which she had told him that he was to use his pen for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. This he did thenceforth with great application. Every year he produced a work on the Mother of God herself, and was the author of numerous mystical and other treatises which fill seven large volumes, and range him among the great Spanish mystics of the sixteenth century. At the order of his superiors he also wrote an account of his own religious experiences which, lest he should seem to lack in humility, he called his “Confessions”. For thirty-five years he continued his good work in maintaining Christian life among the nobility and gentry and also among the lesser folk of the Spanish court. They flocked to his sermons, his confessional, read his writings, and when he died at the age of ninety-one followed his coffin to its burial with unfeigned lamenting. Bd Alphonsus was beatified in 1881.

The literary quality of the Augustinian friar’s writings as well as their devotional appeal have helped to make him well remembered. T. Cámara in 1882 brought out a volume dealing with his Vida y Escritos, which has been translated into German, See also J. A. Fariña, Doctrina de Oración del B. Alfonso (1927), and further a sketch in the Katholik of Mainz, 1882, vol. ii, pp. 375—411.

Alfonso de Orozco, O.S.A. (also known as Alonso de Orozco) is the newest Augustinian saint.
Pope John Paul II on the Feast of Pentecost, May 19, 2002, canonized this Spanish follower of Saint Augustine .

Alfonso de Orozco was born October 17, 1500 in Oropesa, Spain.
His father sent him to study in Salamanca. There, inspired by the preaching of the Augustinian Thomas of Villanova, Alfonso entered the Order of St. Augustine in 1522.
Alfonso was a gifted preacher. He preached to Kings and simple people alike. For Alfonso preaching was a necessity inspired by the love of Jesus and done for the love of Jesus.

Alfonso was also a prolific writer. He had a dream in which the Mother of Jesus told him, "Write." So he began to write. He produced numerous books on Christian spirituality. At age 90, he was still writing.
Respect and love for the human person was a strong characteristic. Alfonso wished to remedy the needs and overcome the difficulties of everyone. The fact that he was not able to do this caused him great sorrow.
All this preaching, writing and caring for others flowed from Alfonso's prayer and contemplation. He felt a responsibility to transmit to others what he had received in prayer.
Alfonso's spiritual life was not without trials. For many years he battled scrupulosity and felt tormented by Satan. He overcame these difficulties with the strength that he found in prayer. He continued to seek God in prayer even when prayer brought him no pleasure.
At the age of 91, Alfonso became quite ill. It is said that at this time he became very aware of the presence of Jesus, Mary and St. Augustine helping him prepare for death.
Alfonso entered eternal life September 19, 1591. He was declared "Blessed" in 1882 .

1622 Bl. Thomas Akafuji martyr Japanese nobleman and devoted Christian
Thomas served as catechist to Blessed Leonard Kimura until his arrest by government authorities. Condemned for being a Christian, he was burned alive at Nagasaki.

1852 St. ST EMILY DE RODAT, VIRGIN, FOUNDRESS OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE HOLY FAMILY OF VILLEFRANCHE: “It is good to be an object of contempt”, St Emily declares; “Don’t you know that we are the scum of the earth, and that anyone is entitled to tread on us?” Such abnegation can be sustained by no ordinary means, and it is not surprising to learn that it was often impossible to interrupt St Emily at prayer until her state of ecstasy had passed.
In vico Druelle, in diœcési Ruthenénsi, in Gállia, sanctæ Maríæ Guliélmæ-Æmíliæ de Rodat, Vírginis, Congregatiónis Sorórum a sancta Família Fundatrícis, puéllis erudiéndis et egénis sublevándis addictíssimæ, quæ a Pio Duodécimo, Pontífice Máximo, inter sanctas Vírgines reláta est.
    In the village of Druelle, in the diocese of Rodez in France, St. Marie Guillemette Emilie de Rodat, virgin, and foundress of the Congregation of Sisters of the Holy Family, which was established to teach poor and orphaned girls. Pius XII added her name to the number of holy virgins.

FACING the plateau on which stands the ancient city of Rodez in the south of France is a handsome manor-house called Druelle, and it was here that Marie Guillemette (Wilhelmina) Emilie de Rodat was born in 1787. When she was only eighteen months old Emily was taken to live with her maternal grandmother in the château of Ginals, on a hill outside Villefranche-de-Rouergue, and she was here at the time of the revolution, which passed lightly over the household in that somewhat remote spot. Though by no means free from youthful tantrums Emily was certainly what would be called a pious child, and a cousin who tried to kiss her received an impressively heavy smack.
   When she was sixteen she began to see something of life in society, and her devotion cooled a little: she found her confessor over-strict, and sought another, she made her prayers as short as possible and so on. The vigilant grandmother did not fail to notice this and, as she rejected the company of “nuns and pious females” in Villefranche, Emily had to go back to the austere and monotonous life at Ginals, where her parents were now living. Here she gradually realized where her happiness and duty really lay, and from about Corpus Christi 1804, when she underwent a sudden and definitive spiritual experience, she never looked back: “I was so wrapped-up in God that I could have gone on praying for ever, especially in church…I was bored only once in all my life, and that was when I had turned away from God.”
In the following year, when she was eighteen, Emily returned to Villefranche to help the nuns at the establishment, Maison Saint-Cyr, where she had herself been to school. No doubt she hoped to find her own vocation there, but the community was not an entirely satisfactory one, being composed of nuns of some age dispersed from various convents at the revolution and now gathered fortuitously under one roof. Their lack of internal unity was reflected in their treatment of Emily: some approved of her, others found her enthusiasms exaggerated. She had charge of the children’s recreation, prepared them for first communion, and taught them geography; and the second of these duties spilled over into the third, for the names of saints in places were made the occasion of drawing edification from the life of the saint concerned—a proceeding for which the place-names of France give ample scope. But the important thing that happened was her meeting with the Abbé Marty, the spiritual director of the establishment. Three times during her eleven years at the Maison Saint-Cyr Emily left, with his permission, to try elsewhere: at Figeac with the Ladies of Nevers, at Cahors with the Picpus Sisters, at Moissac with the Sisters of Mercy and each time she was disappointed and restless, and came back to Villefranche reproaching herself for instability.
Then one day in the spring of 1815 Emily de Rodat, calling on a sick woman, found a number of the neighbours there they were discussing (with more vigour than discretion and. charity) the near impossibility of getting schooling for their children because they had no money for it. In a flash it came to her: “I will teach these poor children”, she said to herself, and straightway opened her mind to the Abbé Marty. This was the very thing he had been hoping for, and within a few weeks Emily had started teaching in her own room at the Maison Saint-Cyr.
   It was only a small room, but somehow she got forty children into it, as well as three young women to help her with the teaching. This was the beginning of what was to become the Congregation of the Holy Family, and there was the usual opposition.*{* There are other congregations of this name, e.g. the one founded by the Abbé Noailles and his sister in 1820, and the Negro sisters at New Orleans in 1842.} Parents of one of the assistants, Eleanor Dutriac, threatened legal proceedings to get her away since she was only sixteen. Some of the other inmates of the house behaved very unkindly, public opinion was critical, and some of the clergy did not recognize a good thing when they saw it. But, with the quiet encouragement of the Abbé Marty, Emily went ahead, rented premises on her own, and in May 1816 her free school was started.
   Meanwhile the community at the Maison Saint-Cyr was breaking up, and less than eighteen months after leaving it Sister Emily (who had now taken public vows) returned to take possession of that house, with eight other sisters and a hundred pupils. People no longer laughed at them in the street or let their children follow them with catcalls and jeering.
   Two years later Sister Emily was enabled to buy better buildings, a disused monastery with its chapel and garden. There soon followed a disaster that threatened to put an end to the growing community. Starting with Sister Eleanor Dutriac there was a series of deaths that physicians were unable properly to account for and that the famous priest Mgr Alexander von Hohenlohe    attributed to diabolic influence. Sister Emily was inclined to take this as a sign that she was not called to make a foundation, and she seriously thought of uniting her community with the Daughters of Mary, newly established by Adèle de Batz de Trenquelléon. This probably would have happened except that the Villefranche sisters refused any mother superior but Emily de Rodat, and so the installation in the new house was carried through in the autumn of 1820 perpetual vows were taken. The habit adopted of which the distinguishing feature is the transparent edge of the veil covering the upper part of the face.
   During the next seven years Mother Emily suffered cruelly in body, firstly from cancerous growths in the nose and then from a complaint that left her with permanent and incurable noises in the ears (from the description it sounds rather like the obscure Menier’s Disease). It was this ill-health that led to the establishment of the first daughter house, at Aubin, whither Mother Emily had gone to consult a doctor. The Abbé Marty was not altogether in favour of this foundation, because of legal difficulties, but Mother Emily, although she had not hitherto envisaged more than a single community and school, followed her own judgement. Afterwards she blamed herself for insufficient docility, declaring, “The word ‘Aubin’ sounds in my ears like the crowing of a cock”. A few months afterwards M. Marty’s direct supervision was withdrawn from the congregation, he having been appointed vicar general to the bishop of Rodez. ** Near Aubin was a coal-mining centre where there were a number of English workers with their families. These were among the beneficiaries of the convent, and indirectly they contributed to the formation in the new congregation of unenclosed as well as enclosed choir-sisters, to meet their needs at a distance from the convent. England repaid her debt when she welcomed the Sisters expelled from France in 1904.

There was now added to Mother Emily’s physical ill-health a prolonged and severe “dark night of the soul”, but she continued to expand her congregation and to make further foundations (there were thirty-eight of them before her death).
   “It is good to be an object of contempt”, St Emily declared, and certainly the slanders and misunderstandings that gathered round her from time to time showed contempt in those who circulated them. People used to write her abusive letters, and when her secretary protested at her respectful and gentle replies, Mother Emily answered, “Don’t you know that we are the scum of the earth, and that anyone is entitled to tread on us?” Such abnegation can be sustained by no ordinary means, and it is not surprising to learn that it was often impossible to interrupt St Emily at prayer until her state of ecstasy had passed.
   The Sisters of the Holy Family lost the care and love of the Abbé Marty, so far as this world is concerned, when he died in 1835. He had not always seen eye-to-eye with Mother Emily, nor had she always dissembled her disagreement (“A saint, but a headstrong saint”, as somebody said of her to his successor). But affection, respect and common purpose had bound them together, and not the least thing that Mother Emily owed to the Abbé Marty was a deep appreciation of the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit and His significance for Christians. Mother Emily outlived her old friend by seventeen years.
   It was in April 1852 that a cancerous growth appeared in her left eye, and she knew that her course was nearly run. She resigned the government of the congregation into the hands of Mother Foy, leaving herself, as she said, nothing else to do but to suffer. And it was so, for her physical sufferings and weakness increased terribly day by day. For nearly three weeks from September 3 Mother Emily lay patiently awaiting the day that should be her last. Among the things she thought of was the Confraternity of the Holy Childhood and its work for abandoned babies in China: “Keep up interest in that among the children, and teach them to love it”, she said to her daughters. “The wall is crumbling”, she told them in the evening of September 18 and on the following day it fell, to be rebuilt in the streets of the heavenly Jerusalem where play those children to whom she had devoted her earthly life. Emily de Rodat was canonized in 1950.

There are lives in French by L. Aubineau (1891), by L. Raylet (1897), by Mgr Ricard in the series “Les Saints” (1912), by the Abbé Barthe, L’Esprit de... Emilie de Rodat (2 vols., 1897), and by M. Arnal (1951). Her letters were published separately in 1888. But for ordinary purposes the most useful and readable book is Marie-Emilie de Rodat, by Marguerite Savigny-Vesco (1940). In addition to all the printed sources the authoress had access to certain manuscript material, and it may be questioned if she makes the best possible use of her opportunities but the work has been crowned by the French Academy. In English, Doris Burton’s St Emilie de Rodat (1955) is useful for the facts.

Born near Rodez, France, she became a nun at Maison St. Cyr when eighteen. In 1815 after much dissatisfaction, she decided that her vocation was in teaching poor children. With the approval of Abbe Marty, her spiritual adviser, and the aid of three young assistants, she began this work in her room at St. Cyr. This was the start of the Congregation of the Holy Family of Villefranche. It grew rapidly, establishing its own mother house and branches. In time, St Emily extended its activities to caring for unfortunate women, orphans and the aged. She saw thirty eight institutions established before she died. She was canonized in 1950.
St. Emily de Rodat belonged to a prominent and prosperous French rural family. Although by nature an independent person, she was raised devoutly. True, in her mid teens she became for a while attracted by the charms of a "worldly" life, and it even led to her cutting down on her daily prayers. However, she had a spiritual experience in 1804 that convinced her that God intended her for some special service. Later on, speaking of her most "worldly" period, she confessed, "I was bored only once in all my life, and that was when I had turned away from God."
God wanted her, but He let her find out for herself why He wanted her. She sensed that her vocation was to educational work. First she became a lay teacher in her own convent school at Villefranche. Then she tried out living for a while, successively, in convents of three religious orders. None of them had exactly what she wanted.
However, one spring day in 1815, Emily overheard mothers complaining they could not send their daughters to school because tuition was beyond their means. At once she was inspired: "I will teach poor children!"

Mlle. De Rodat opened her first poor-school in May 1816, with two other young laywomen as a staff. The enterprise had many difficulties to hurdle, but by 1820 she and her companions had taken final vows as members of a new religious community, the Congregation of the Holy Family. As time went on, despite her own uncertain health (cancer and a constant ringing in her ears), plus a period of spiritual anguish, Mother Emily set up 38 new convents. Schools were her principal labor, but the Holy Family nuns gradually expanded their efforts to cover most of the corporal works of mercy: visiting the jailed, sheltering orphans, and caring for endangered women. Along with her convents of very active sisters, she also established groups of contemplative sisters to pray for the aims of their congregation.
     Because they were to see themselves as servants of the poor, St. Emily firmly insisted that her nuns live a life without frills. Even their chapels, she said, were to be poor: no expensive statues or rich marbles. The Abbe Marty, her spiritual director, disagreed with her in the matter of chapel décor, and on other points as well. But he and this very positive woman ("a saint, but a headstrong saint") got along very well together, and his guidance was crucial in the development of her community. Emily de Rodat died of cancer on September 18, 1852, after a long illness patiently borne. Pope Pius XII canonized her during the Holy Year of 1950.
     St. Emily was noted for her crisp common sense. For instance, although many young women applied to enter her religious order, she rarely invited them to "leave the world." That invitation, she said is God's business. "Religious vocations are brought about by the grace of God, not by any words of ours."
     Mother Emily also had a flair for being quotable.
     "It is good to be an object of contempt," she said at times when many people were criticizing her. When her secretary deplored the criticism, Emily retorted, "don't you know that we are the scum of the earth, and that anyone is entitled to tread on us?" (So much for human pride!)
     "There are some people," she once observed, "who are not good for a convent, but a convent is good for them; they would be lost in the world and they don't do much good in a convent, but at least they keep out of mischief." "Confession," she admonished one nun, "is an accusation, not a conversation." "Keep your enthusiasm," she wrote to one discouraged postulant. "Be brave. Put all your trust in God. And always maintain a holy cheerfulness." And as if to illustrate her respect for the church whose poor she served, Emily once said, "If I meet an angel with a priest, I bow to the priest first."
     No namby-pamby person, Mother Emily de Rodat. But God doesn't intend for us to be namby-pamby. He gives us all a certain number of talents to invest. He jolly well expects us to produce dividends. Saints Alive Copyright 1984-2006 Rev. Robert F. McNamara

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

THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 70

I cried to Our Lady when I was in trouble: and she heard me.

Lady, deliver us from all evil: all the days of our life.

Crush the head of our enemies: with the insuperable power of thy foot.

As thy spirit hath rejoiced in God thy Savior: so do thou deign to pour true joy into my heart.

Approach to Our Lord to pray for us: that by thee our sins may be blotted out.

Let every spirit praise Our Lady

Glory be to thee forever, O Queen of Heaven: and never forget us at any time.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Saint Frances Xavier Seelos Practical Guide to Holiness

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meeting of the Saints walis (saints of Allah)

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

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

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

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

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Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey

Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament

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

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

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

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

America's First Basilica Largest Nave in the World

August 7, 1907-ground broke for the foundation

by Archbishop Ireland-laying cornerstone May 31, 1908

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

Index to Part I and Part II 1932

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

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

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

Member -- St. Paul Seminary faculty.

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

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

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

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

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

THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi.

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

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

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

By Father John Corapi

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

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

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

About Father John Corapi.

Father Corapi is a Catholic priest .

The pillars of father's preaching are basically:

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

God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MIRACLES
– Blessed Alfonso Maria Fusco, diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. John the Baptist (1839-1910);
– Venerable Servant of God John Sullivan, professed priest of the Society of Jesus (1861-1933);
MARTYRDOM
– Servants of God Nikolle Vinçenc Prennushi, O.F.M., archbishop of Durres, Albania, and 37 companions killed between 1945 and 1974;
– Servants of God José Antón Gómez and three companions of the Benedictines of Madrid, Spain, killed 1936;
HEROIC VIRTUES
– Servant of God Thomas Choe Yang-Eop, diocesan priest (1821-1861);
– Servant of God Sosio Del Prete (né Vincenzo), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Congregation of the Little Servants of Christ the King (1885-1952);
– Servant of God Wenanty Katarzyniec (né Jósef), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (1889-1921);
– Servant of God Maria Consiglia of the Holy Spirity (née Emilia Pasqualina 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, PSALTER OF BLESSED VIRGIN MARY   39 2019

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

THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 79

Give ear to me, thou who rulest Israel: praise thy Mother with me.

Arise and shake thyself from the dust, O my soul: go forth to meet the Queen of Heaven.

Loose the bands of thy neck, O poor little soul of mine: and welcome her with glorious praises.

The odor of life comes forth from her: and all salvation springs out of her heart.

By the sweet fragrance of her spiritual gifts: dead souls are raised to life.

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.

Saint Frances Xavier Seelos Practical Guide to Holiness

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

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

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

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)

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

Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac

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.

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

Meeting of the Saints walis (saints of Allah)

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

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

Eternal Word Television Network 5817 Old Leeds Rd. Irondale, AL 35210 USA
Catholic Television Network Supported entirely by donations from viewers help spread the Eternal Word, online Here

Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey

Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament

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

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

America's First Basilica Largest Nave in the World

August 7, 1907-ground broke for the foundation

by Archbishop Ireland-laying cornerstone May 31, 1908

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

Index to Part I and Part II 1932

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

Member -- St. Paul Seminary faculty.

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

Father Corapi is a Catholic priest .

The pillars of father's preaching are basically:

God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi

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).