Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!  (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
R.  Deo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
April is dedicated to devotion of the Holy Eucharist and to the Holy Spirit.
2023
23,658  Lives Saved Since 2007

Haitian Help Funding Seeds Haitian Geology AND Haitian Paintings
http://www.haitian-childrens-fund.org/

For the Son of man ... will repay every man for what he has done.

God Bless Mother Angelica 1923-2016
ewtnmissionaries.com

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

The saints are a “cloud of witnesses over our head”,
showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.

Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary

The Christian life is a continuation and completion of the life of Christ in us. We should be so many Christs here on earth, continuing His life and His works, laboring and suffering in a holy and divine manner in the spirit of Jesus.
-- St. John Eudes

April 6 - Black Virgin of Mende (France, 1857) –
The Mother of God of Ingolstadt, Mary of the Snow, Thrice Admirable (Germany, 1604)
 
The Virgin Mary and the Soccer Player
Diego Alves, a 30-year old Brazilian soccer player of Italian origin, is a talented goalkeeper who attended a good soccer school in Rio de Janeiro. Since 2011, he has been playing for Valencia CF (Club de Futbol), a Spanish professional soccer club.
Diego is known in his country for his deep Christian faith. On his first day in Valencia, as journalists assailed him with questions, he confided rather matter-of-factly: “The Virgin Mary is always with me. I am a very religious person, and she will always be with me.”
Diego is very attached to the Virgin of Aparecida. Before each game, he always kisses a small medal originating from her shrine in Brazil, the same shrine where Pope Francis dedicated his pontificate.

“My aunt, who was very devout, gave me this medal at a time when I was going through difficult things in my life,” he explained during a meeting with young Catholics in Spain. “It has brought me a lot of consolation. I have had many beautiful experiences and I’m getting to know the Virgin better.” An image of the Virgin is also printed on his goalkeeper's gloves: “I always keep her near me, at all my games. She gives me confidence and inner peace.”

Federico Cenci Zenit.org, February 7, 2014
 
April 6 - Our Lady of the Conception (Douai, France)
Mary's 15 Promises to Those Who Recite the Holy Rosary
1) Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive special 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 weapon against evil; it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies.
4) The Rosary will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to desire for eternal things.
5) The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish.
6) Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its sacred mysteries, shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish; if he be just he 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 reciting the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plenitude 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) All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be aided by me 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 sons and daughters, and brothers and sisters of my only Son Jesus Christ.
15) Devotion of my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
Mary's Divine Motherhood
Called in the Gospel "the Mother of Jesus," Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as "the Mother of my Lord" (Lk 1:43; Jn 2:1; 19:25; cf. Mt 13:55; et al.). In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity.
Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos).
Catechism of the Catholic Church 495, quoting the Council of Ephesus (431): DS 251.

April 6 – Black Virgin of Mende (France, 1857) – Apparition to Father Jakob Rem (Ingolstadt, Germany, 1604) 
 
Mater admirabilis (Mary thrice admirable).
In Germany in the 17th century, Father Jakob Rem, a great devotee of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was favored with several apparitions of the Mother of God. One of particular note was the apparition of April 6, 1604, in the chapel of Ingolstadt.
Our Lady appeared to him in such splendor that the priest asked her what invocation would befit her best. Our Lady replied, "Mater admirabilis." Therefore, Father Jakob had his disciples repeat this invocation three times, and the Virgin of Ingolstadt, Our Lady of the Snows, was given the honorary title of "Maria ter admirabilis" (Mary thrice admirable).
In France, there is a very special reason to admire Our Lady, because of a king who had a greatly inspired intuition. His name was King Louis XIII and he expanded his kingdom in the most peaceful manner by consecrating the whole kingdom to Our Lady, Queen of France through a vow. He then instituted August 15th as a national feast day in her honor. The French Revolution made no changes to this, since the commitments of Heaven are without repentance.
A monk
Adapted from his homily for the Assumption, August 15, 2010
Ganagobie Abbey, France www.ndganagobie.com

 3rd v. Jeremiah and the Priest Archilius (Alchimius) The Holy Martyrs suffered martyrdom
 308 St. Platonides Deaconess foundress Mesopotamia
 345 The 120 Martyrs in Persia under King Shapur II
4th century St. Rufina Martyr with 10 companions province of Pannonia
4th v. St. Florentius with Geminianus and Saturus Martyrs. They suffered at Sirmium.
 345 Sts. Timothy & Diogenes murdered by pagans at Philippi In Macedonia
 413 Marcellinus of Carthage ordered Donatists return to the Catholic faith; Agustine dedicated City of God to him
 432 Celestine I Pope treatise against semi-Pelagianism
       St. Ulehad Patron saint of Liechulched church on Anglesey Island, Wales (Uchal in some lists).
 515 Amandus of Bergamo Count of Grisalba near Bergamo (Benedictines)
 582 Eutychius of Constantinople worked many miracles; healings; opposed Justinian's interference; vigorously denounced Aphthartodocetism [asartodoketai] or "imperishability" which taught that the flesh of Christ, before His death on the Cross and Resurrection, was imperishable and not capable of suffering
 650 St. Winebald Hermit abbot Benedictine
 720 Saint Gennard of Flay monk OSB Abbot
       St. Brychan King of Wales, undocumented but popular saint credited with having 24 children, all saints.
 840 St. Berthane monk of Iona bishop of Kirkwall in the Orkneys
 861 ST PRUDENTIUS, Bishop of Troyes
 885 Saint Methodius, Archbishop of Moravia Life found May 11, when commemorated with Cyril, Teacher of Slavs
 861 Prudentius Galindo became widely known by his writings
 912 Notker Balbulus originator of the liturgical sequences composed both words and music OSB
 940 Urban of Peñalba initiate a revival within the Benedictine order OSB Abbot
 981 St. Elstan Benedictine Bishop of Winchester model of blind obedience
1203 St. William of Eskilsoe reforming the canons life of prayer and austere mortification never approached the altar without watering it with his tears, offering himself to God in the spirit of adoration and sacrifice
1252 St. Peter of Verona inquisitor inspiring sermons martyr accepted into the Dominican Order by St. Dominic
Medioláni pássio sancti Petri, ex Ordine Prædicatórum, Mártyris, qui ab hæréticis, ob fidem cathólicam, interémptus est.  Ipsíus tamen festívitas recólitur tértio Kaléndas Maji.
       At Milan, the passion of St. Peter, a martyr belonging to the Order of Preachers, who was slain by the heretics for his Catholic faith.  His feast, however, is kept on the 29th of April.
       Saint Gregory native of Constantinople pursued an ascetic life on Mt. Athos in the Lavra of St Athanasius
1478 Blessed Catherine of Pallanza hermit commune under Augustinian Rule fought epidemics
1744 St. Crescentia Hoess, humble, crippled; wise enough to balance worldly skills with acumen in spiritual matters; heads of State and Church both sought her advice.
1857 St. Paul Tinh native Vietnamese priest martyr
1896 Blessed Zefirino Agostini first priority to develop relationship with God through personal prayer because God was the source of joy and power to do good
432 Celestine I Pope treatise against semi-Pelagianism
Born in Campania, Italy; died at Rome, July 27, 432; feast day formerly on July 27 and/or August 1. Saint Celestine was a deacon in Rome when he was elected pope on September 20, 422, to succeed Saint Boniface. He was a staunch supporter of Saint Germanus of Auxerre in the fight against Pelagianism, and a friend of Saint Augustine with whom he corresponded, and which demonstrates that the bishop of Rome was the central authority even at that early date.
Benedict_XVI_Patriarch_Bartholomew

 "To withdraw into the desert is for Christians tantamount to associating themselves more intimately with Christ’s passion, and it enables them, in a very special way, to share in the paschal mystery and in the passage of Our Lord from this world to the heavenly homeland" (#1).
"The answers to many of life's questions can be found by reading the Lives of the Saints. They teach us how to overcome obstacles and difficulties, how to stand firm in our faith, and how to struggle against evil and emerge victorious."  1913 Saint Barsanuphius of Optina
Quote: Pope Paul VI’s 1969 Instruction on the Contemplative Life includes this passage:
 "To withdraw into the desert is for Christians tantamount to associating themselves more intimately with Christ’s passion, and it enables them, in a very special way, to share in the paschal mystery and in the passage of Our Lord from this world to the heavenly homeland" (#1). 
Mary Mother of GOD Mary's Divine Motherhood
15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary

  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.
"All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations shall worship before him" (Psalm 21:28)
3rd v. Jeremiah and the Priest Archilius (Alchimius) The Holy Martyrs suffered martyrdom.
St Gregory Dialogus (March 12) mentions them.
The Fourth Sunday of Lent is dedicated to St John of the Ladder (Climacus).
Author of the work, The Ladder of Divine Ascent. The abbot of St Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai (6th century) stands as a witness to the violent effort needed for entrance into God's Kingdom (Mt.10: 12). The spiritual struggle of the Christian life is a real one, "not against flesh and blood, but against ... the rulers of the present darkness ... the hosts of wickedness in heavenly places ..." (Eph 6:12).
Saint John encourages the faithful in their efforts for, according to the Lord, only "he who endures to the end will be saved" (Mt.24:13).
308 St. Platonides Deaconess foundress Mesopotamia
Ascalóne, in Palæstína, pássio sanctórum Platónidis et aliórum duórum Mártyrum.
 At Ascalon in Palestine, the passion of St. Platonides and two other martyrs.
She was possibly a martyr, put to death at Ascalon with companions. She was most likely the founder of a convent at Nisibis, in Mesopotamia.
Platonides & Companions MM (RM). Saint Platonides was a deaconess and the founder of a convent at Nisibis, Mesopotamia.
The entry in the Roman Martyrology is apparently wrong. It describes her as a martyr and places her death in Ascalon. Nothing is known of her companions (Benedictines).

Saint Platonida was at first a deaconess, but afterwards withdrew into the Nisibis desert, where she organized a women's monastery.  The Rule of her monastery was distinguished for its strictness. The sisters partook of food only once a day. When they were not praying, they spent their time in monastic labors and various obediences.
On Fridays, the day commemorating the sufferings of Christ the Savior on the Cross, all work stopped, and the monks were in church from morning until evening, where between services they read from Holy Scripture and from commentaries on it.
St Platonida was for all the sisters a living example of strict monastic asceticism, meekness, and love for neighbor.

Having reached a great old age, St Platonida died peacefully in the year 308.

4th century St. Rufina Martyr with 10 companions province of Pannonia
Moderata, Secundus, Romana, and seven companions. They are believed to have been put to death at Sirmium, in the Roman province of Pannonia

345 Sts. Timothy & Diogenes murdered by pagans at Philippi In Macedonia
In Macedónia sanctórum Mártyrum Timóthei et Diógenis. In Macedonia, the holy martyrs Timothy and Diogenes.
Two martyrs who were murdered by a group of pagans at Philippi In Macedonia (modern Greece).
Timothy and Diogenes MM (RM). Timothy and Diogenes were martyred in Macedonia. They were probably victims of the Arians (Benedictines).
345 The 120 Martyrs in Persia at Seleucia under King Shapur II
In Pérside sanctórum centum vigínti Mártyrum. In Persia, one hundred and twenty holy martyrs. 

From Lives of Saints by Alban Butler
  A HUNDRED AND TWENTY MARTYRS OF HADIAB, OR HADIABENA, IN PERSIA.
From their genuine acts In Syriac, published by Assemani t .1, p. 105.
AD 345
In the fifth year of our persecution, say the acts, Sapor being at Seleucia, caused to be apprehended in the neighboring places one hundred and twenty Christians, of which nine were virgins, consecrated to God; the others were priests, deacons, or of the inferior clergy.  They lay six months in filthy stinking dungeons, till the end of winter: during all which space Jazdundocta, a very rich virtuous lady of Arbela, the capital city of Hadiabena supported them by her charities, not admitting of a partner in that good work. During this interval they were often tenured, but always courageously answered the president that they would never adore the sun, a mere creature for God; and begged he would finish speedily their triumph by death, which would free them from dangers and insults. Jazdundocta, hearing from the court one day that they were to suffer the next morning, flew to the prison, gave to every one of them a fine white long robe, as to chosen spouses of the heavenly bridegroom; prepared for them a sumptuous supper, served and waited on them herself at table, gave them wholesome exhortation., and read the holy scriptures to them.  They were surprised at her behavior, but could not prevail on her to tell them the reason. The next morning she returned to the prison, and told them she had been informed that that was the happy morning in which they were to receive their crown, and be joined to the blessed spirits.  She earnestly recommended herself to their prayers for the pardon of her sins, and that she might meet them at the last day, and live eternally with them.   Soon after, the king's order for their immediate execution was brought to the prison.   As they went out of it Jazdundocta met them at the door, fell at their feet, took hold of their hands, and kissed them. The guards hastened them on, with great precipitation, to the place of execution; where the judge who presided at their tortures asked them again if any of them would adore the sun, and receive a pardon.   They answered, that their countenance must show him they met death with joy, and contemned this world and its light, being perfectly assured of receiving an immortal crown in the kingdom of heaven.      He then dictated the sentence of death, whereupon their heads were struck off.    Jazdundocta, in the dusk of the evening, brought out of the city two undertakers, or embalmers for each body, caused them to wrap the bodies in fine linen, and carry them in coffins, for fear of the Magians, to a place at a considerable distance from the town. There she buried them in deep graves, with monuments, five and five in a grave.   They were of the province called Hadiabena, which contained the greatest part of the ancient Assyria, and was in a manner peopled by Christians.   Helena, queen of the Hadiabenians, seems to have embraced Christianity in the second century.   Her son Izates, and his successors, much promoted the faith; so that Sozomen says 2 the country was almost entirely Christian.  These one hundred and twenty martyrs suffered at Seleucia, in the year of Christ 345, of king Sapor the thirty-sixth, and the sixth of his great persecution, on the 6th day of the moon of April, which was the 21st in that month.  They are mentioned in the Roman Martyrology on the 6th.
1  See Baronius ad an 44 n 66  2 Sozomen . b2. C. 19


345 CXX MARTYRS IN PERSIA
WE do not know the names of any of these martyrs, but it was generally believed that at Seleucia-Ctesiphon under the Persian King Sapor II more than a hundred victims were put to death on the same day. There were among them nine consecrated virgins, and the rest were priests, deacons or monks. Refusing to worship the sun, they had been left for six months in filthy dungeons. However, a wealthy and devout woman, Yazdandocta by name, came to their aid by sending them food. She seems to have managed to discover the date which was fixed for the final ordeal. Arranging that a generous meal should be provided for them on the day before, she came herself to visit them and presented to each one a suit of festival white garments. On the morrow at dawn she came again, and gave them the news that this was the day on which they were to suffer, urging them to implore with all their hearts the support of God’s fortifying grace so that they might be ready to shed their blood in so glorious a cause. “As for myself”, she added, “I ask most earnestly that you by your prayers will obtain for me from God the happiness of meeting you all again before His heavenly throne.”
At the place of execution the confessors were again promised their freedom if only they would worship the sun, but they proudly replied that the robes they wore were only the outward expression of the feelings with which they were prepared to surrender their lives in the cause of their Master. The martyrs perished by decapitation; and that night Yazdandocta found means to remove their bodies and to bury them at a distance where they would be safe from profanation.
Although this story is free from the sort of miraculous element which usually awakens suspicion, it contains certain improbabilities, and, as Father Peeters has shown (Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xliii, 1925, pp. 261—304), the Adiabene cycle of martyr-acts to which this belongs is by no means uniformly trustworthy. The Syriac text was first published by E. Assemani in his Acta martyrum orientalium, I, p. 100, and it has also been edited by Bedjan without a translation. The early Greek versions of the same acts have been edited by Delehaye in the Patrologia Orientalis, vol. ii (1905). French translation in H. Leclercq, Les Martyrs, t. iii.
This group includes 120 martyrs--nine virgins, and many priests and deacons--who were beheaded in Persia after six months in prison under King Shapur II. (RM)
Throughout their imprisonment, a virtuous lady of Arbela, Hadiabena (Assyria), named Yasandocht or Jazdundocta, supported them by her charity.

When she heard that they were to be executed the following day, Yasandocht flew to the prison and gave each a long white robe. That evening she prepared and served a sumptuous banquet for them. As they ate, she exhorted them to triumph and read Scripture to them. On the day they were to meet their Maker, she begged their prayers and pardon, threw herself on the ground before each and kissed their feet. The evening following their beheading, Yasandocht came with undertakers to embalm the bodies, wrap them in fine linen, and buried them (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).

The Holy 120 Martyrs suffered under the Persian emperor Sapor. They were taken into captivity during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Constantios (337-361). They were consigned to the flames after firmly confessing their faith (c.344-347). St Shandulios (November 3) concealed their relics from desecration by the pagans.
Among the holy martyrs were ten virgins, who had dedicated themselves to the service of God.
4th v. St. Florentius Martyr with Geminianus and Saturus. They suffered at Sirmium.
413 Marcellinus of Carthage ordered Donatists return to the Catholic faith Agustine dedicated City of God to him
Carthágine sancti Marcellíni Mártyris, qui, ob cathólicæ fidei defensiónem, ab hæréticis occísus est.

413 ST MARCELLINUS, MARTYR
SEVERAL of the works of St Augustine, including his great book On the City of God, are dedicated to his friend Marcellinus, secretary of state to the Emperor Honorius. Moreover we still have the encomiums upon St Marcellinus pronounced by St Augustine and St Jerome after his martyrdom.
  In the year 409, the emperor had granted liberty of public worship to the Donatists, an ultra-puritan party in the Church who refused to readmit to communion penitents who, after baptism, had fallen into mortal sin, and especially those who had failed in time of persecution. The Donatists in North Africa had taken advantage of this permission to oppress and illtreat the orthodox, who appealed to the emperor. Marcellinus was sent to Carthage to preside over a conference of Catholic and Donatist bishops and to act as judge. After a three days’ parley he decided against the Donatists, whose privileges were revoked and who were ordered to return to the communion of their Catholic brethren. It fell to the lot of Marcellinus and of his brother Apringius to enforce the decision, and they proceeded to do so with a severity which the Roman law justified but which, it must be admitted, drew upon them remonstrances from St Augustine. In revenge the Donatists accused them of being implicated in the rebellion of Heraclian, and the general Marinus, who was dealing with the insurrection, cast them both into prison. St Augustine, who visited them in their captivity, tried in vain to save them: they were taken from prison and executed without a trial. The emperor afterwards severely censured Marinus and vindicated Marcellinus as “a man of glorious memory”; his name was added to the Roman Martyrology by Cardinal Baronius.
See the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. i, where the more relevant passages in the corre­spondence and writings of St Augustine and St Jerome are collected ; and also DCB., vol. iii, pp. 806—807.

 At Carthage, St. Marcellin, who was slain by the heretics for defending the Catholic faith.
As tribunal secretary to Emperor Honorius in Africa, the married Marcellinus and his brother, the judge Apringius (Agrarius), were sent to Carthage to preside over a meeting between Catholic and Donatist bishops. At the end of the conference, Marcellinus ordered the Donatists to return to the Catholic faith and with his brother Apringius enforced his decree with severity. The angry Donatist sought revenge. Before Marinus, the general in charge of quelling the insurrection, the Donatists accused the brothers of conspiracy in the rebellion led by Heraclius. Marinus had Marcellinus and Apringius peremptorily executed at Carthage, an action for which he was later reprimanded by the emperor. M (RM)

Saint Augustine dedicated his greatest work City of God to "My dear friend Marcellinus" (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).
432 Celestine I Pope treatise against semi-Pelagianism (RM)

Lives of Saints by Alban Butler

ST. CELESTINE, POPE, C.   He was a native of Rome, and held a distinguished place in the clergy in that city, when, upon the demise of Pope Boniface, he was chosen to succeed him, in September, 422, by the wonderful consent of the whole city.  As St. Austin writes.  That father congratulated him upon his exaltation, and conjured him, by the memory of St. Peter, who abhorred all violence and tyrants, not to patronize Antony, bishop of Fossella, who had been convicted of those crimes, and on that account condemned, in a council of Numidia, to make satisfaction to those whom he had oppressed by rapine and extortion.  This Antony was a young male, and was formerly a disciple of St. Austin, by who he had been recommended to the episcopal dignity. This promotion made him soon forget himself, and lay aside his virtuous dispositions and failing, first by pride, he abandoned himself to covetousness and other passions. St. Austin, fearing lest by the share he had in his promotion his crimes would be laid to his own charge, was of all others the most zealous and active to see them checked. Antony had gained his primate, the metropolitan of Numidia who presided in the council by which he was condemned. Hoping also to surprise the pope by his artful pretenses, he appealed to Rome. Boniface seeing the recommendation of his primate, wrote to the bishops of Numidia, requiring them to reinstate him in his see, provided he had represented matters as they truly were.  Antony returning to Fossella, threatened the inhabitants that, unless they consented to receive him as their lawful bishop, in compliance with the orders of the apostolic see, he would call in the imperial troops and commissaries to compel them. Pope Boniface dying, St. Austin informed St. Celestine of these proceedings, who finding Antony fully convicted of the crimes with which he was charged, confirmed the sentence of the council of Numidia, and deposed him. "From these letters, that were written by the Africans on this occasion," says Mr. Bower, 1 "it appears, that the bishops of Rome used in those days to send some of their ecclesiastics into Africa, to see the sentences which they had given executed there and that those ecclesiastics came with orders from the court for the civil magistrates to assist them, where assistance should be required." Saint Celestine wrote to the bishops of Illyricum, confirming archbishop of Thessalonica vicar of the apostolic see in those parts. To the bishops of the provinces of Vienne and Narbonne in Gaul, he wrote, to correct several abuses, and ordered, among other things, that absolution or reconciliation should never be refused to any dying sinner, who sincerely asked it; for repentance depends not so much on time, as on the heart. In the beginning of this letter he says: “by no limits of place is my pastoral vigilance confined: it extended itself to all places where Christ is adored”.  He received two letters from Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople which his, heresy was artfully couched also information from St. Cyril patriarch of Alexandria, concerning his errors.  Wherefore he assembled a synod at Rome, in 430, in which the writings of that heresiarch were examined, and his blasphemies in maintaining in Christ a divine and a human person were condemned.      The pope denounced au excommunication against him, if he did not repent of his errors within ten days after the  sentence should be notified to him, and wrote to St. Cyril, commissioning him, in his name, and by the authority of his see, to execute the same.*  
                           Lives, of the Popes, t. I, p. 369, Lond. edit.
          Authoritate tecum nostre sedis adscitianostra vice usus hanc wxwqueris sentiatem.
ApRIL 6.]                      S. WILLIAM, A. C.                            41
 Nestorius remaining obstinate, a general council was convened at Ephesus, to winch St. Celestine sent three legates from   Rome, Arcadius and Projectus, bishops and Philip, priest, with instructions to join themselves to St. Cyril. He also sent a letter to the council, in which he said that he had commissioned legates to see executed what had been already decreed by him in his council at Rome.  He exhorts the fathers to charity, so much recommended by the apostle St. John, "whose relics," as he writes "were there the object of their veneration." *  This letter was read in the council with great acclamations. The synod was held in the great church of the Blessed Virgin on the 22d of June, 431 in the first session one hundred and ninety-eight bishops were present. St. Cyril sat first as president  in the name of St. Celestine. 3 Nestorius refused to appear, though in the city, and show an excess of madness and obstinacy, was excommunicated and deposed.  It cost the zeal of the good pope much more pains to reconcile the Oriental bishops with St. Cyril which, however, was at length effected. Certain priests in Gaul continued still to cavil at the doctrine of St Austin, concerning the necessity of divine grace  St. Celestine therefore wrote to the bishops of Gaul, ordering such scandalous novelties to be repressed highly extolling the piety and learning of St Austin, whom his predecessors had honored among the most deserving and eminent doctors of the church, and whose character rumor could never asperse nor suspicion tarnish.4  Being informed that one Agricola, the sun of a British bishop called Severianus, who had been married before he was raised to the priesthood, had spread the seeds of the Pelagian heresy in Britain, he sent thither, in quality of his vicar, St. Germanous of Auxerre, whose zeal and conduct happily prevented the threatening danger.  He also sent St. Palladius, a Roman, to preach the faith to the Scots, both in North Britain and in Ireland.   Many authors of the life of St. Patrick say that apostle likewise received his commission to preach to the Irish from St. Celestine, in 431. This holy pope died on the 1st of August, in 432, having sat almost ten years.  He was buried in the cemetery of Priscilla, which, to testify his respect for the council of Ephesus, he had ornamented with paintings, in which that synod was  represented. His remains were afterwards translated into the church of St Praxedes. His ancient original epitaph testifies that he was an excellent bishop honored and beloved of every one, who for the sanctity of his life.
He now enjoys the sight of Jesus Christ, and the eternal honors of the saints. The same is now the testimony of the Roman Martyrology on this day.  See Tillemont. T 14, p. 148; Ceillier, t. 13, p. 1.



432 ST CELESTINE I, POPE
IN the Roman Martyrology the commemoration of this pope, which formerly occurred on April 6, has been transferred to July 27, the day of his death. It is, however, on April 6 that his feast is still observed in Ireland.
Of his private life we know little or nothing. He was born in Campania, and he had been for some time a conspicuous figure as deacon in Rome before he was elected pope in September 422. During the ten years of his pontificate he showed considerable energy and he had often to encounter opposition, The bishops of Africa, who had previously raised difficulties about the appeals of priests to Rome, remonstrated again at the pope’s seemingly precipitate and ill-advised action in the case of Apiarius, but it seems certain that St Augustine in particular entertained for Celestine an affectionate veneration which is conspicuous in his letters. In counteracting the heretical movements of his times, notably in the measures taken against Pelagianism and against Nestorius, Celestine acted vigorously. A council held at Rome in 430 may be regarded as a preliminary to the oecumenical assembly at Ephesus, and to this last vitally important gathering he despatched three legates of high standing to represent the Apostolic See.
He encouraged St Germanus of Auxerre to make vigorous opposition to the spread of Pelagianism and wrote himself a tractate of dogmatic importance dealing with the heresy in its more diluted form known as semi-Pelagianism. We may trace to him the germs of the recognition of the Divine Office as an obligation incumbent upon all clergy of the higher ranks. There seems little likelihood that it was Pope Celestine who sent St Patrick to Ireland, but he must have had the spiritual needs of that country in his thoughts, for he commissioned Palladius to minister there to the people who already believed in Christ, just before St Patrick began his great work.
See the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. i; Duchesne’s notes in his edition of the Liber Pontificalis, vol. i, pp. 230—231 Hefele-Leclercq, Conciles, vol. ii, pp. 196 seq.; Cabrol in DAC., vol. ii, cc. 2794—2802; Portalié in DTC., vol. ii, cc. 2052—2061 and Revue Bénédictine, vol. xli, pp. 156—170. The so-called Capitula Caelestini condemning semi­-Pelagian doctrine are probably not the work of Celestine himself, but rather have St Prosper of Aquitaine for their author.

Born in Campania, Italy; died at Rome, July 27, 432; feast day formerly on July 27 and/or August 1. Saint Celestine was a deacon in Rome when he was elected pope on September 20, 422, to succeed Saint Boniface. He was a staunch supporter of Saint Germanus of Auxerre in the fight against Pelagianism, and a friend of Saint Augustine with whom he corresponded, and which demonstrates that the bishop of Rome was the central authority even at that early date.
Augustine exhorts Celestine not to fall under the spell of Bishop Antony of Fussala, who had been convicted by a council at Numidia of tyranny and violence against his flock. Augustine was particularly concerned because he had originally nominated Antony for episcopal consecration. Antony appealed to Celestine's predecessor, who, unaware of the decision of the synod, pressed for Antony's reinstatement.
 The matter was not fully settled at Boniface's death, but at Augustine's urging, Celestine deposed the unseemly prelate.

Celestine also wrote to the bishops of Vienne and Narbonne in Gaul to correct several abuses, and ordered, among other things, that absolution should never be refused to the dying who sincerely asked for it. He stated that repentance does not depend on timing but rather on the heart. In the beginning of this letter he says:
  "By no limits of place is my pastoral vigilance confined: it extends itself to all places where Christ is adored."
After receiving two artful letters from Patriarch Nestorius of Constantinople, and further information from Patriarch Saint Cyril of Alexandria regarding the errors proposed by the first, Celestine convened a council in Rome, in 430, to condemn Nestorianism. He threatened Nestorius with excommunication if he did not desist from his heretical teaching.
In 431, Celestine sent three legates to and appointed Cyril president of the General Council of Ephesus, which formally condemned the heresy.
Saint Prosper of Aquitaine recorded that, acting on Saint Palladius's suggestion, Celestine sent Saint Germanus of Auxerre to Britain in 429 to deal with Pelagianism there.
He also wrote a treatise against semi-Pelagianism and, in 431, sent Palladius to Ireland to evangelize that people. Some scholars think that Celestine may also have sent Patrick there, but this is unlikely.
Saint Celestine was buried in the cemetery of Priscilla in a tomb decorated with paintings representing the Council of Ephesus. Later his relics were translated into the church of Saint Praxedes. His ancient original epitaph testifies that he was an excellent bishop, honored and beloved of every one, who for the sanctity of his life now enjoys the sight of Jesus Christ, and the eternal honors of the saints; however, very little is known of person named Celestine (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Husenbeth).  In art, Saint Celestine is a pope with a dove, dragon, and flame (Roeder).

Pope Saint Celestine I was pope from 422 until April 6, 432.
Celestine I was a Roman and was supposed to have been a near relative of the Roman Emperor Valentinian III. Nothing is known of his early history except that his father's name was Priscus. He is said to have lived for a time at Milan with St. Ambrose. The first notice, however, concerning him that is known is in a document of Pope Innocent I, in the year 416, where he is spoken of as Celestine the Deacon.

Various portions of the liturgy are attributed to him, but without any certainty on the subject. Though he did not attend personally, he sent delegates to the Council of Ephesus in which the Nestorians were condemned, in 431. Four letters written by him on that occasion, all dated March 15, 431, together with a few others, to the African bishops, to those of Illyria, of Thessalonica, and of Narbonne, are extant in retranslations from the Greek, the Latin originals having been lost.

St. Celestine actively persecuted the Pelagians, and was zealous for orthodoxy. He sent Palladius to Ireland to serve as a bishop in 431. Bishop Patricius (Saint Patrick) continued this missionary work. Pope Celestine raged against the Novatians in Rome, imprisoning their bishop, and forbidding their worship. He was zealous in refusing to tolerate the smallest innovation on the constitutions of his predecessors, and is recognized by the Church as a saint.

St. Celestine died on April 6, 432. He was buried in the cemetery of St. Priscilla in the Via Salaria, but his body, subsequently moved, now lies in the Basilica di Santa Prassede.
St. Ulehad Patron saint of Liechulched church on Anglesey Island, Wales (Uchal in some lists).
515 Amandus of Bergamo Count of Grisalba near Bergamo (Benedictines).
582 Eutychius of Constantinople worked many miracles healings opposed Justinian's interference vigorously denounced Aphthartodocetism [asartodoketai] or "imperishability" which taught that the flesh of Christ, before His death on the Cross and Resurrection, was imperishable and not capable of suffering.

582 ST EUTYCHIUS, PATRIARCH Of CONSTANTINOPLE
ALTHOUGH the name of this Eutychius is not commemorated in the Roman Martyrology, and although his career belongs more to church history than to hagiography, still he has always been honoured as a saint among the Greeks (and at Venice, which claims his relics), and he set a noble example of resistance to the Emperor Justinian’s pretensions to figure as arbiter in theological matters.
Eutychius became a monk at Amasea in Pontus, having previously been ordained priest; and in 552 he was sent to Constantinople as the representative of his bishop; he there attracted the notice of Justinian who, on the death of the Patriarch Mennas, had Eutychius consecrated in his place. At the fifth oecumenical council, which met at Constantinople in 553, Eutychius presided along with the patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch, Pope Vigilius having, for reasons readily intelligible in view of the complications of that disturbed period, refused to attend. Some years later in the intricate theological controversies still connected with the monophysite heresy, Eutychius found himself in conflict with the emperor. The patriarch would not give way, and he was banished to an island in the Propontis. There he is stated by his biographer to have worked many miracles. He was only restored to his see when Justinian was dead, after twelve years of exile.
Towards the end of his days Eutychius was engaged in controversy with Gregory, then the representative of the Holy See at Constantinople, better known after his succession to the papacy as Pope St Gregory the Great. Eutychius before his death is said to have admitted his error.
There is a fairly lengthy biography of the saint by his chaplain Eustratius printed in Greek with a Latin translation in the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. i. For the controversies of the times, consult Hefele-Leclercq, Conciles, vol. iii, pp. 1—145 and also Duchesne, L’Eglise au VIeme siècle (1925), pp. 156—218.

 After he was appointed patriarch of Constantinople in 552, Saint Eutychius bravely opposed Emperor Justinian's interference in Church affairs. For this reason, he was exiled for twelve years. Eutychius is highly honored in the Eastern Church (Benedictines). B (AC)

Saint Eutychius, Archbishop of Constantinople, was born in a village called "Divine" in the province of Phrygia. His father Alexander was a soldier, and his mother Synesia was the daughter of the priest Hesychius of Augustopolis. St Eutychius received the first rudiments of his education and a Christian upbringing from his grandfather the priest.  Once, while playing a childhood game, the boy wrote his own name with the title of Patriarch. By this he seemed to predict his future service. He was sent to Constantinople at age twelve for further education. The youth persevered in his study of science and realized that human wisdom is nothing in comparison to the study of divine Revelation. Therefore, he decided to dedicate himself to monastic life. St Eutychius withdrew into one of the Amasean monasteries and received the angelic schema.
For his strict life he was made archimandrite of all the Amasean monasteries, and in 552 was appointed to the Patriarchal throne.

When the Fifth Ecumenical Council prepared to assemble during the reign of the holy emperor Justinian (527-565), the Metropolitan of Amasea was ill and he sent St Eutychius in his place. At Constantinople the aged Patriarch St Menas (August 25) saw St Eutychius and predicted that he would be the next Patriarch.

After the death of the holy Patriarch Menas, the Apostle Peter appeared in a vision to the emperor Justinian
and, pointing his hand at Eutychius, said, "Let him be made your bishop."

At the very beginning of his patriarchal service, St Eutychius convened the Fifth Ecumenical Council (553), at which the Fathers condemned the heresies cropping up and anathematized them. However, after several years a new heresy arose in the Church:  Aphthartodocetism [asartodoketai] or "imperishability" which taught that the flesh of Christ, before His death on the Cross and Resurrection, was imperishable and not capable of suffering.  St Eutychius vigorously denounced this heresy, but the emperor Justinian himself inclined toward it, and turned his wrath upon the saint.
By order of the emperor, soldiers seized the saint in the church, removed his patriarchal vestments, and sent him into exile to an Amasean monastery (565).

The saint bore his banishment with meekness, and lived at the monastery in fasting and prayer, and he worked many miracles and healings.
Thus, through his prayer the wife of a devout man, Androgenes, who had given birth only to dead infants, now gave birth to two sons who lived to maturity. Two deaf-mutes received the gift of speech; and two grievously ill children were restored to health. The saint healed a cancerous ulcer on the hand of an artist. The saint also healed another artist, anointing his diseased hand with oil and making over it the Sign of the Cross.
The saint healed not only bodily, but also spiritual afflictions: he banished the devil out of a girl that had kept her from Holy Communion; he expelled a demon from a youth who had fled from a monastery (after which the youth returned to his monastery); he healed a drunken leper, who stopped drinking after being cleansed of his leprosy.
During the Persian invasion of Amasea and its widespread devastation, they distributed grain to the hungry from the monastery granaries on the saint's orders, and by his prayers, the stores of grain at the monastery were not depleted.
St Eutychius received from God the gift of prophecy. He revealed the names of two of Emperor Justinian's successors: Justin (565-578) and Tiberias (578-582).

After the death of the holy Patriarch John Scholastikos, St Eutychius returned to the cathedra in 577 after his twelve year exile, and he again wisely ruled his flock.
Four and a half years after his return to the Patriarchal throne, St Eutychius gathered together all his clergy on Thomas Sunday 582, blessed them, and peacefully fell asleep in the Lord.
650 St. Winebald Hermit abbot Benedictine
He served as abbot of the monastery of Saint-Loup-de-Troyes.
Winebald of Troyes, OSB Abbot (AC) also known as Vinebaud a hermit who later became a Benedictine at Saint-Loup-de-Troyes, where he was chosen abbot (Benedictines).
720 Saint Gennard of Flay monk OSB Abbot (AC)
Saint Gennard was educated at the court of Clotaire III at Rouen. Thereafter he was trained as a monk by Saint Wandrille (600 - 668) at Fontenelle. Eventually, he became abbot of Saint-Germer-de-Flay (Beauvais), but he returned to Fontenelle to die (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
St. Brychan King of Wales, undocumented but popular saint credited with having 24 children, all saints.
840 St. Berthane monk of Iona bishop of Kirkwall in the Orkneys
A bishop of Scotland, called Ferda-Leithe, "the Man of Two Countries." Berthane was a monk of Iona and the bishop of Kirkwall in the Orkneys, Scotland. He died in Ireland and was buried at Irishmore in Galway Bay, hence his name. He is sometimes listed as Berchan.

Berthane Fer-da-Leithe B (AC)(also known as Berchan of Kirkwall)Born in Scotland; died in Ireland. Saint Berthanc was reputedly a monk of Iona and later bishop of Kirkwall in the Orkneys.
He was buried at Inishmore in Galway Bay. Sometimes he is given the surname of "Fer-da-Leithe," meaning "the man of two parts (or countries) (Benedictines, Montague).
861 ST PRUDENTIUS, Bishop of Troyes
ST PRUDENTIUS was one of the most learned prelates of the Gallican church in the ninth century; and if, amid the intricacies of the predestination controversy in which he was involved, he steered a somewhat wavering course, it must be remembered that the question was a difficult one and that Prudentius appears to have been willing to accept the verdict of the Church even when it ran counter to his own conclusions.
He was by birth a Spaniard, christened Galindo. About the year 840 or 845 he was elected bishop of Troyes, and in a sermon he preached upon St Maura he speaks of himself as occupied in hearing confessions and administering the last sacraments in addition to performing his strictly episcopal duties. He must already have won a considerable reputation as a theologian, for he was summoned by Bishop Hincmar of Reims to consider the case of the monk Gottschalk who had been condemned for teaching that Christ had died only for the elect, whilst the greater part of mankind had been irredeemably doomed by God from all eternity to sin and Hell.
Gottschalk had been tortured and imprisoned, and Prudentius thought the punishment excessive—especially the excommunication which Hincmar had launched—and he seems to have been among those who suspected Hincmar of inclining towards the contrary error of semi-Pelagianism or the denial of the necessity for divine grace. In the disputes that followed St Prudentius played a conspicuous part, and a book he wrote to correct the errors of John Scotus Erigena is still extant.
Apart from his controversial efforts St Prudentius worked hard for the discipline of the Church and for the reformation of manners. He died on April 6, 861, and his feast is still kept at Troyes, but he is not commemorated in the Roman Martyrology, nor is he included by the Bollandists in their Acta Sanctorum.
The life of St Prudentius has to be pieced together front the chronicles and documents of the period, but the editors of his theological tractates and other works have generally prefaced them by some kind of memoir. See e.g. Migne, PL., vol. cxv, and Ebert, Literatur des Mittelalters, vol. ii. There is a full bibliography of the Predestination controversy in Hefele. Leclercq, Conciles, vol. iv, p. 138, and cf. the whole of Book xxii.
885 Saint Methodius, Archbishop of Moravia His Life is found on May 11, when he is commemorated with St Cyril, Teacher of the Slavs
Velehrádii, in Morávia, natális sancti Methódii, Epíscopi et Confessóris, qui, una cum sancto Cyríllo, item Epíscopo et fratre suo, cujus natális sextodécimo Kaléndas Mártii recensétur, multas Slávicas gentes earúmque Reges ad fidem Christi perdúxit.  Horum autem Sanctórum festum Nonis Júlii celebrátur.
 In (Velehrádii) Moravia, the birthday of St. Methodius, bishop and confessor.  Together with his brother, the bishop St. Cyril, whose birthday was the 14th of February, he converted many of the Slav races and their rulers to the faith of Christ.  Their feast is celebrated on the 7th day of July.

912 Notker Balbulus originator of the liturgical sequences composed both words and music OSB (AC) (also known as Notker the Stammerer)
912 BD NOTKER BALBULUS
IN the days when Grimoald was abbot of Saint-Gall, the parents of Bd Notker placed their young son in its school. The boy was delicate, with an impediment in his speech from which he derived his nickname of Balbulus, and he seems to have been already what the monk Ekkehard (IV) described him to have been in later life, “weakly in body but not in mind, stammering of tongue but not of intellect, pressing forward boldly in things divine—a vessel filled with the Holy Ghost without equal in his time”. With his companions and lifelong friends, Tutilo and Radpert, he studied music under Marcellus, the Irishman, and the trio afterwards did much to develop the singing-school of Saint-Gall which had hitherto mainly confined itself to trying to maintain north of the Alps the form of ecclesiastical music as used in Rome. They were all three professed, and afterwards taught in the schools; Notker was also librarian and guest-master.
Charles the Fat, who was fond of visiting Saint-Gall, had a great regard for Notker whom he often consulted in his spiritual and even in his temporal difficulties, without, however, always following his advice. One day a messenger arrived from the monarch while the holy man was busy weeding his garden and planting and watering. “Tell the emperor to do what I am now doing”, was the answer he sent back, and Charles, who was no fool, was not at a loss to understand his meaning. The court chaplain, a learned but conceited man, thought to confound the monk whose influence with his master he resented. “Tell me, you who are so learned, what God is now doing”, he asked him in the presence of a large gathering. “He is doing now what He has done in the past He is putting down the proud and exalting the humble” was the ready reply: the chaplain beat a hasty retreat amid general laughter.
It was thought at one time that Notker was the inventor of the sequence or “prose” which fits into the music of the Alleluia jubilus between the epistle and the gospel at Mass, but it is now established that he composed his sequences on a model he found in an antiphonary brought to Saint-Gall by a fugitive monk when Jumièges was burnt down.
To Notker belongs the credit of introducing sequences into Germany, of developing them, and of composing some thirty-eight or more original ones of his own. His other works comprise a martyrology, some hymns, and the completion of Echambert’s Chronicle. A metrical biography of St Call is also attributed to him as well as the Gesta Caroli Magni by an anonymous monk of Saint-Gall, but, as there were several other monks there of the name of Notker who also were writers, it is extremely difficult to allocate the works which became connected with their name.
So greatly was Bd Notker beloved that for a long time after his death in 912 his brethren could not speak of him without tears. His cultus was confirmed in 1512.
The life of Notker by Ekkehard V, who lived long after his time, is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. i, but the biographical notice in Mabillon’s Acta Sanctorum O.S.B. is also valuable. On Notker’s musical and literary work much has been written. P. von Winterfeld in the Neues Archiv (1902) does not hesitate to call him the greatest poet of the middle ages. Valuable bibliographical references will be found in Julian’s Dictionary of Hymnology; in W. H. Frere, The Winchester Troper (H. Bradshaw Society); in DIC., vol. xi, cc. 805—806; DAC., vol. xi, cc. 1615—1623, and vol. xii. cc. 1727—1732; and in the Analecta Hymnica of Dreves and Blume, vol. liii. See also Manitius, Geschichte des lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters, vol. i, § 48.
Born in Heiligau (Elk), Canton of Zurich, Switzerland, c. 840; died on April 6, 912; cultus confirmed in 1512. Saint Notker was placed in Saint Gall's Abbey as a child and remained there for the rest of his life as a lay brother. He held the offices of librarian, guest-master, and precentor. He excelled as a musician and was the originator of the liturgical sequences of which he composed both the words and the music. His literary works include an anthology of the writings of the Fathers of the Church and a method for learning Gregorian chant (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
Notker's emblem in art is a rod. He can be recognized as a Benedictine with a book in one hand and a broken rod in the other with which he strikes the devil. He is venerated at Saint Gall. Notker is the patron of musicians and invoked against stammering (Roeder).
940 Urban of Peñalba initiate a revival within the Benedictine order OSB Abbot (AC)
Saint Urban was a Benedictine abbot of Peñalba in Astorga, Spain. He helped Saint Gennadius (Died c. 936) initiate a revival within the Benedictine order (Benedictines).
981 St. Elstan Benedictine Bishop of Winchester model of blind obedience
England celebrated as a model of blind obedience. Elstan succeeded St. Ethelwold as bishop and as abbot.

Elstan of Winchester, OSB B (AC) Died 981. Saint Elstan was a model of obedience at Abingdon Abbey under the direction of its founder Saint Ethelwold, whose example he followed both as abbot and, from 970, as bishop of Winchester or Ramsbury. Before he attained these dignities, Elstan was the community's cook, who is reputed to have plunged his hands into boiling water at the command of Ethelwold-- and removed them unscathed! It may be that he cultus is not well documented because his see was poor (Benedictines, Farmer).
861 Prudentius Galindo became widely known by his writings B (AC)
(also known as Prudentius of Troyes) Born in Spain; died in Troyes, France, April 6.

From Lives of Saintes by Alban Butler

ST. PRUDENTIUS, BISHOP OF TROYES, C.
HE was by birth a Spaniard; but fled from the swords of the infidels into France, where in 840, or 815, he was chosen bishop of Troyes.  He was one of the most learned prelates of the Galician church, and was consulted as an oracle.  By his sermon on the Virgin St. Maura, we are informed that, besides his other functions and assiduity in preaching, he employed himself in hearing confessions, and in administering the sacraments of the holy Eucharist and extreme unction.  In his time Gotescale awandering monk of the abbey of Orbasis, in the diocese of Soissons, advanced, in his travels, the errors of predestinarianism, blasphemously asserting that reprobates were doomed by God to sin and hell without the power of avoiding either. Nottinge, bishop either of Brescia or Verona, sent an information of these blasphemies to Rabanus Maurus, archbishop of Mentz, one of the most learned and holy men of that age, and who had while abbot of Fulde, made that house the greatest nursery of science in Europe.*   Rabanus examined Gotescale in a synod at Mentz in 848, condemned his errors, and sent him to his own metropolitan Hincmar archbishop of Rheims, a prelate also of great learning and abilities. By him and Wenilo, archbishop of Sens, with several other prelates, the monk was again examined in a synod held at Quiercy on the Oise, in the diocese of Soissons, a royal palace of King Charles the Bald, in 849. Gotescale being refractory, was condemned to be degraded from the priesthood, and imprisoned in the abbey of Haut-Villiers in the diocese of Hincmar. By the advice of St. Prudentius , whom Hincmar consulted, he was not deprived of the lay-communion till after  some time Hincmar, seeing his obstinacy invincible, fulminated against him a sentence of excommunication, under which this unhappy author of much scandal and disturbance died, after twenty-one years of rigorous confinement, in 870. Some suspected Hincmar to lean towards the, contrary SemiPelagian error against the necessity of divine grace and Ratramnus of Corbie took up his pen against him. St. Prudentius wrote to clear up the point, which seemed perplexing by much disputing, and to set the Catholic doctrine in a true light, showing on one side a free will in man, and that Christ died for the salvation of all men and on the other, proving the necessity of divine grace, and that Christ offered up his death in a special manner for the salvation of the elect.  When parties are once stirred up in disputes, it is not an easy matter to dispel the mist which prejudices and heat raise before their eyes. This was never more evident than on that occasion.  Both sides agreed in doctrine, yet did not understand one another.  Lupus Servatus, the famous abbot of Ferrieres, in Gatintois, Amnolan, archbishop of Lyons, and his successor St. Remigius, wrote against Rabanus and Hincmar, in defense of the necessity of divine grace, though they condemned the blasphemies of the predestinarians.   

Even Amnolan of Lyons and his church, who seem to have excused Gotescale in the beginning, because they had never examined him, always censured the errors condemned in him: for the divine predestination of the elect is an article of faith; but such a grace and predestination as destroy free-will in the creature, are a monstrous heresy. Neither did St. Remigius of Lyons, nor St. Prudentius, interest themselves in the defense of Gotescale, which shows the inconsistency of those moderns, who, in our time, have undertaken his justification *  In 853, Hincmar and other bishops published, in a second assembly at Quiercy, four Capitula, or assertions, to establish the doctrines or free-will, and of the death of Christ for all men.  To these St. Prudentius subscribed, as Hincmar and the annals of St. Bertin testify.  The church of Lyons was alarmed at these assertions, fearing they excluded the necessity of grace: and the council of Valence, in 855, in which St. Remigius of Lyons presided, established six canons, explaining, in very strong terms, the articles of the necessity of grace, and of the predestination of God's elect.  St. Prudentius procured the confirmation of these canons by Pope Nicholas I. in 859.    Moreover, fearing the articles of Quiercy might be abused in favor of Pelagianisum, though he had before approved them, he wrote his Tractatoria to confute the erroneous sense which they might bear in a Pelagist' mouth, and to give a full exposition the doctrine of divine grace.  He had the greater reason to be upon his guard, seeing some, on the occasion of those disputes openly renewed the Pelagian errors.  John Scotus Erigena, an Irishman in the court of Charles the Bald, a subtle sophist, infamous for many absurd errors, both in faith and in philosophy published a book against Gotescale, On Predestination, in which he openly advanced the SemiPelagian errors against grace, besides other monstrous heresies.    Wenilo, archbishop of Sens, having extracted nineteen articles out of this book, sent them, to his oracle St. Prudentius, who refuted the entire book of Scotia by a treatise which is still extant. This saint, having exerted his zeal also for the disciple of the church, and the reformation of manners among the faithful, was named with Lupus, abbot of Perrier’s, to superintend and reform all the monasteries of France; of which commission he acquitted himself with great vigor and prudence.  He died on the 6th of April, 861, and is named in, the Galician, Martyrologies, though not in the Roman   At Troyes he is honored with an office of nine lessons, and his relics are exposed in a shrine  See Ceillier, t. 19,


In the days of the Franks, there came from Spain to the court of France a young and gifted lawyer named Prudentius, baptized Galindo, who was a patriotic citizen of the Roman Empire. He had come to Gaul fleeing the persecutions of the Saracens and studied at the Palatine school, where he changed his name to Prudentius.
He had distinguished gifts and rose to high office. In the course of time he held, we are told, "the reins of power over famous cities." In later middle life, however, he turned from his public offices to the Church and devoted himself and his talents to the service of God.

He now came to regard the empire that he had served so well as an instrument in God's hands for the advancement of Christianity, and he lived to see the tide turn against Julian the Apostate, who had bee "faithful to Rome, but faithless to God." He was appointed chaplain to the Frankish court and, in 840 or 845, was elected bishop of Troyes, thus becoming a leading member of the episcopate.

Prudentius was appointed by Bishop Hincmar of Rheims to judge the case of a monk named Gottschalk, whom Hincmar had tortured, imprisoned, and excommunicated for teaching that God would save only the elect and condemn most of humanity. Prudentius defended the theory of double predestination and that Christ died only for those who are saved--a theory that set off a widespread dispute.

Known for his learning and as a theologian, Prudentius was also a poet, and one of his poems reflects his experience:

Now then, at last, close on the very end of life, May yet my sinful soul put off her foolishness; And if by deeds it cannot, yet, at least, by words give praise to God, Join day to day by constant praise, Fail not each night in songs to celebrate the Lord, Fight against heresies, maintain the catholic faith.
 
He became widely known by his writings, including a history of the Western franks called Annals of Saint Bertin, an extant treatise against John Scotus Erigena De praedistinatione contra Johannem Scotem (851), a defense of his own theory in Epistola tractoria ad Wenilonem (856).
Prudentius was the best author of his day--"the prince of Christian poets," and "the Homer and the Virgil of the Christians." Today he is chiefly remembered for his fine hymn, Of the Father's love begotten, Ere the worlds began to be.
The feast of Prudentius is still kept at Troyes (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Gill).
869 & 884 St. Cyril And St. Methodius, Archbishop Of Sirmium
 Velehrádii, in Morávia, natális sancti Methódii, Epíscopi et Confessóris, qui, una cum sancto Cyríllo, item Epíscopo et fratre suo, cujus natális sextodécimo Kaléndas Mártii recensétur, multas Slávicas gentes earúmque Reges ad fidem Christi perdúxit.  Horum autem Sanctórum festum Nonis Júlii celebrátur.
 In Moravia, the birthday of St. Methodius, bishop and confessor.  Together with his brother, the bishop St. Cyril, whose birthday was the 14th of February, he converted many of the Slav races and their rulers to the faith of Christ.  Their feast is celebrated on the 7th day of July. 
These brothers, natives of Thessalonika, are venerated as the apostles of the Southern Slavs and the fathers of Slavonic literary culture.
Cyril, the younger of them, was baptized Constantine and assumed the name by which he is usually known only shortly before his death, when he received the habit of a monk.  At an early age he was sent to Constantinople, where he studied at the imperial university under Leo the Grammarian and Photius. Here he learned all the profane sciences but no theology however, he was ordained deacon (priest probably not till later) and in due course took over the chair of Photius, gaining for himself a great reputation, evidenced by the epithet " the Philosopher". For a time he retired to a religious house, but in 861 he was sent by the emperor, Michael III, on a religio-political mission to the ruler of the judaized Khazars between the Dnieper and the Volga.   This he carried out with success, though the number of converts he made to Christianity among the Khazars has doubtless been much exaggerated.
The elder brother, Methodius, who, after being governor of one of the Slav colonies in the Opsikion province, had become a monk, took part in the mission to the Khazars, and on his return to Greece was elected abbot of an important monastery.
  In 862 there arrived in Constantinople an ambassador charged by Rostislav, prince of Moravia, to ask that the emperor would send him missionaries capable of teaching his people in their own language.   Behind this request was the desire of Rostislav to draw nearer to Byzantium as an insurance against the powerful German neighbours on his west, and this was a good opportunity for the Eastern emperor to counterbalance the influence of the Western emperor in those parts, where German missionaries were already active.
      It favoured too the ecclesiastical politics of Photius, now patriarch of Constantinople, who decided that Cyril and Methodius were most suitable for the work: for they were learned men, who knew Slavonic, and the first requirement was the provision of characters in which the Slav tongue might be written.
   The characters now called "cyrillic ", from which are derived the present Russian, Serbian and Bulgarian letters, were invented from the Greek capitals, perhaps by the followers of St Cyril ; the" glagolitic " alphabet, formerly wrongly attributed to St Jerome, in which the Slav-Roman liturgical books of certain Yugoslav Catholics are printed, may be that prepared for this occasion by Cyril himself, or, according to the legend, directly revealed by God.* {* Like so much to do with these brothers, the history of these alphabets is a matter of debate.  The southern Slavonic of SS. Cyril and Methodius is to this day the liturgical language of the Russians, Ukrainians, Serbs and Bulgars, whether Orthodox or Catholic.}

  In 863 the two brothers set out with a number of assistants and came to the court of Rostislav; they were well received and at once got to work.  The position was very difficult. The new missionaries made free use of the vernacular in their preaching and ministrations, and this made immediate appeal to the local people. To the German clergy this was objectionable, and their opposition was strengthened when the Emperor Louis the German forced Rostislav to take an oath of fealty to him.  The Byzantine missionaries, armed with their pericopes from the Scriptures and liturgical hymns in Slavonic, pursued their way with much success, but were soon handicapped by their lack of a bishop to ordain more priests.
The German prelate, the bishop of Passau, would not do it, and Cyril therefore determined to seek help elsewhere, presumably from Constantinople whence he came.

On their way the brothers arrived in Venice. It was at a bad moment. Photius at Constantinople had incurred excommunication; the East was under suspicion the proteges of the Eastern emperor and their liturgical use of a new tongue were vehemently criticized.  One source says that the pope, St Nicholas I, sent for the strangers.  In any case, to Rome they came, bringing with them the alleged relics of Pope St Clement, which St Cyril had recovered when in the Crimea on his way back from the Khazars.
Pope Nicholas in the meantime had died, but his successor, Adrian II, warmly welcomed the bearers of so great a gift.  He examined their cause, and he gave judgement: Cyril and Methodius were to receive episcopal consecration, their neophytes were to be ordained, the use of the liturgy in Slavonic was approved.  Although in the office of the Western church both brothers are referred to as bishops, it is far from certain that Cyril was in fact consecrated.  For while still in Rome he died, on February 14, 869.
    The "Italian legend "of the saints says that on Cyril's death Methodius went to Pope Adrian and told him, "When we left our father's house for the country in which, with God's help, we have laboured, the last wish of our mother was that, should either of us die, the other would bring back the body for decent burial in our monastery.   I ask the help of your Holiness for me to do this."   The pope was willing; but it was represented to him that "It is not fitting that we should allow the body of so distinguished a man to be taken away, one who has enriched our church and city with relics, who by God's power has attracted distant nations towards us, who has been called to his reward from this place.   So famous a man should be buried in a famous place in so famous a city."  And so it was done. 
St Cyril was buried with great pomp in the church of San Clemente on the Coelian, wherein the relics of St Clement had been enshrined.

  St Methodius now took up his brother's leadership.
  Having been consecrated, he returned, bearing a letter from the Holy See recommending him as a man of "exact understanding and orthodoxy ".
Kosel, prince of Pannonia, having asked that the ancient archdiocese of Sirmium (now Mitrovitsa) be revived.  Methodius was made metropolitan and the boundaries of his charge extended to the borders of Bulgaria.
     But the papal approval and decided actions did not intimidate the Western clergy there, and the situation in Moravia had now changed. Rostislav's nephew, Svatopluk, had allied himself with Carloman of Bavaria and driven his uncle out.   In 870 Methodius found himself haled before a synod of German bishops and interned in a leaking cell.      Only after two years could the pope, now John VIII, get him released; and then John judged it prudent to withdraw the permission to use Slavonic (" a barbarous language ", he called it), except for the purpose of preaching.  * For Methodius, as a Byzantine, the alternative to Slavonic was of course not Latin but Greek.}
At the same time he reminded the Germans that Pannonia and the disposition of sees throughout Illyricum belonged of old to the Holy See.

     During the following years St Methodius continued his work of evangelization in Moravia, but he made an enemy of Svatopluk, whom he rebuked for the wickedness of his life,  Accordingly in 878 the archbishop was delated to the Holy See both for continuing to conduct divine worship in Slavonic and for heresy, in that he omitted the words " and the Son " from the creed (at that time these words had not been introduced everywhere in the West, and not in Rome).  John VIII summoned him to Rome.  Methodius was able to convince the pope both of his orthodoxy and of the desirability of the Slavonic liturgy, and John again conceded it, with certain reservations, for God, "who made the three principal languages, Hebrew, Greek and Latin, made others also for his honour and glory". Unfortunately, in accordance with the wishes of Svatopluk, the pope also nominated to the see of Nitra, which was suifragan to Sirmium, a German priest called Wiching, an implacable opponent of Methodius. This unscrupulous prelate continued to persecute his metropolitan, even to the extent of forging pontifical documents.  After his death, Wiching obtained the archiepiscopal see, banished the chief disciples of his predecessor, and undid much of his work in Moravia.
  During the last four years of his life, according to the " Pannonian legend ", St Methodius completed the Slavonic translation of the Bible (except the books of Machabees) and also of the Nomohanon, a compilation of Byzantine ecclesiastical and civil law.
     This suggests that circumstances were preventing him from devoting all his time to missionary and episcopal concerns in other words, he was fighting a losing battle with the German influence.
He died, probably at Stare Mesto (Velehrad), worn out by his apostolic labours and the opposition of those who thought them misdirected, on April 6, 884. His funeral service was carried out in Greek, Slavonic and Latin: The people, carrying tapers, came together in huge numbers; men and women, big and little, rich and poor, free men and slaves, widows and orphans, natives and foreigners, sick and well-all were there.  For Methodius had been all things to all men that he might lead them all to Heaven."
  The feast of SS. Cyril and Methodius, always observed in the land of their mission, was extended to the whole Western church in 188o by Pope Leo XIII. As orientals who worked in close co-operation with Rome they are regarded as particularly suitable patrons of church unity and of works to further the reunion of the dissident Slav churches ; they are venerated alike by Catholic Czechs and Slovaks and Croats and Orthodox Serbs and Bulgars.  According to Slavonic usage they are named in the preparation of the Byzantine Mass.
  The political and ecclesiastical rivalries behind these events have a long and complex history, and in spite of all the recent work on the conflicting evidence it is difficult to disentangle the details.  The task is complicated by the judgements of some writers on the subject having tended to be moved by nationalist considerations.  The sources represent a double tradition.
   For the so-called Pannonian legend there are lives of Constantine (Cyril) and of Methodius (Mikiosich, Die Legende von hi. Cyrillus and Vita S. Methodii russico- slovenice et latine, Vienna, 1870), and a Greek life of St Clement of Okhrida (Migne, PG., vol. cxxvi, cc. 1194-1240).  For the so-called Italian legend, there is the life of St Cyril cum translatione sancti Clementis, in Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. ii.  The "Moravian legend " is of a much later date than the ninth and tenth centuries represented above. For discussion of these sources reference may be made to F. Dvornik, Les Slaves, Byzance et Rome au IXe siècle (1926) and Les legendes de Constantin et de Methode vues de ByzanceHistory of the Eastern Roman Empire (1912)    A. Lapôtre, Le pape ,Jean VIII (1897); L. K. Goetz, Geschichte der Slavenapostel K. mid M. (1897)  F. Grivec, Die hi. Slawenapostel K. und M. (I928) Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xlvii (1929), pp. 178-181 and Fliche and Martin, Histoire de l'Eglise, t. vi, pp. 451-463.
ST. CELSUS, IN IRISH, CEALLACH,
Archbishop of Armagh is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on this day.
   He died on the 1st of April in 1129, at Ard-Patrick, (that is, Patrick's Mount,) in Munster.
 See the life of St. Malachy, his successor, and Sir James Ware.
1203 St. William of Eskilsoe reforming the canons life of prayer and austere mortification never approached the altar without watering it with his tears, offering himself to God in the spirit of adoration and sacrifice
In Dánia sancti Guliélmi Abbátis, vita et miráculis clari.
        In Denmark, St. William, an abbot renowned for his saintly life and miracles.

From Lives of Saintes by Alban Butler
WILLIAM, ABBOT OF ESKILLE, CONFESSOR.
He was born of an illustrious family in Paris, about the year 1105, and received his education in the abbey of St. Germain-des-Prez, under his uncle, the abbot.   By the regularity of his conduct, and the sanctity of his manners, he was the admiration of the whole community.  Having finished his studies, he was ordained sub-deacon and installed Canon in the church of St. Genevieve-du-Mont. His assiduity in prayer, love of retirement and mortification, and exemplary life, seemed a troublesome censure of slothful and worldly life of his colleagues and what ought to have him their esteem and affection, served to provoke their envy and malice against him.    Having in vain endeavored to prevail on this reformat of their chapter, as they culled him, to resign his canonry, in order to remove him at a distance, they presented him to the curacy of Epinay, a church five leagues from Paris, depending on their chapter.  But not Long after, pope Eugenius III coming to Paris, in 1147, and being informed of the irregular conduct of these canons, he commissioned the celebrated Suger, abbot of St. Denys and prime minister to King Louis the Young, to expel them, and introduce in their room regular canons from the abbey of St. Victor: which was happily carried into execution, Eudo of St. Victor's being made the first abbot.  St. William with joy embraced this institute, and was by his fervor and devotion a pattern to the most perfect.  He was in a short time chosen sub-prior.   The perfect spirit of religion and regularity which he established in that community was an illustrious proof of the incredible influence which the example of a prudent superior has over docile religious minds.  His zeal for regular discipline is tempered with so much sweetness and modesty in his injunctions, that made all to love the precept itself, and to practice with cheerfulness whatever was prescribed them. The reputation of his wisdom and sanctity reached the ears of Absalon, bishop of Roschild, in Denmark, who, being one of the most holy prelates of his age, earnestly sought to allure him into his diocese,  he sent the provost of his church, who seems to have been the learned historian Saxo the Grammarian, to Paris on this errand.  A prospect of labors and dangers for the glory of God was a powerful motive with the saint, and he cheerfully undertook the voyage.   The bishop appointed him abbot of Eskille, a monastery of regular canons which he had reformed. Here St. William sanctified himself by a life of prayer and austere mortification; but had much to suffer from the persecutions of powerful men, from the extreme poverty of his house in a severe climate, and, above all, from a long succession of interior trials: but the most perfect victory over himself was the fruit of his constancy, patience, and meekness.    On prayer was his chief dependence, and it proved his constant support.   During the thirty years of his abbacy, he had the comfort to see many walk with fervor in his steps.     He never left off wearing his hairs shirt, lay on straw, and fasted every day.  Penetrated with a deep sense of the greatness and sanctity of our mysteries, he never approached the altar without watering it with his tears, making himself a victim to God in the spirit of adoration and sacrifice, together with, and through the merits of the holy victim offered thereon: the dispositions in which every Christian ought to assist at it.  He died on the 6th of April, 1203, and was canonized by Honorius III in 1224. See his life by a disciple in Surius, and at large in Pembroke’s Continuation of Bollandists, t. 1, Apr. p. 620.  Also M. Gourdan in his MSS. Lives of illustrious Men among the regular Canons at St. Victor's, in Paris, kept in the library of 3188. In that house, in fol. t. 2, pp. 324 and 814.

1203 ST WILLIAM OF ESKILL, ABBOT
ON this day the Roman Martyrology mentions the death in Denmark of St William, “famous for his life and miracles”. He was born about 1125 at Saint-Germain, Crépy-en-Valois, and became a canon of the collegiate church of St Genevieve in Paris. In 1148 Suger, abbot of Saint-Denis, carrying out the wishes of the pope, Bd Eugenius III, established canons regular in this church, and William was one of those who accepted a more austere and regular life with enthusiasm.
   In time his reputation for canonical discipline and holiness of life reached so far as Denmark, for, about 1170, he received a visit from a young Dane, Saxo Grammaticus, who was to become famous as an historian. Saxo had been sent by the bishop of Roskilde, Absalom or Axel, to invite William to undertake the restoration of discipline in the monastic houses of his diocese. William agreed, and began his labours with the canons regular at Eskilsoe on the Ise fiord where his delicate task was successfully carried out, but only after a hard struggle. His so-called canons regular followed no rule, kept no enclosure, and observed no discipline. Two of them he was obliged to expel, but gradually by patience he won over the rest to a stricter life. He had many other difficulties created by the severity of the climate, the persecutions of powerful men, and his own interior trials. Nevertheless in the thirty years that he discharged the office of abbot, he had the consolation of seeing many of his brethren walk with fervour in his footsteps.
   Having established the monastery of St Thomas on Seeland, William undertook to reform other religious houses, and in all his very considerable difficulties he had the support of Axel, who had become archbishop of Lund. During his later years he left Denmark for a time, having embroiled himself in some semi-political affairs but he returned to his abbey, where he died peacefully on April 6, 1203.
   St William of Eskill (who must be distinguished from St William of Roskilde, September 2) was canonized in 1224. His feast is observed in the modern diocese of Copenhagen, which in 1952 replaced the vicariate apostolic of Denmark, on the occasion of the eighth centenary of the Scandinavian ecclesiastical reorganization by Nicholas Breakspear.
William’s biography, written by one of his canons some years after the saint’s death, is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. i but a better text has been edited by C. Gertz in his Vitae Sanctorum Danorum (1910) the writer seems to have considerably embellished his facts. For the writings attributed to St William, see Migne, PL., vol. ccix, cc. 655—746.

Missionary. Born at Saint-Germain, France, circa 1125, he served as a canon at the church of St. Genevieve, Paris, under the great Abbot Suger until about 1170, when he was sent to Denmark with the mission of reforming the canons at Eskilsoe at the request of the bishop of Roskilde. He became abbot there and, during his three decades among the Danes, he also reformed many other communities. He also founded the abbey of St. Thomas, in Zeeland. He died in Denmark.

William of Eskhill, OSA Abbot (RM) (also known as William of Aebelholt or Eskilsoë) Born in Paris, France, c. 1125; died in Denmark, on April 6, 1203; canonized in 1224 by Pope Honorius III.
William of Eskilsoë, the English equivalent of Eskiloë (Ise Fjord), a Danish town that once housed an abbey, was one of the most revered saints of Denmark, and his extant letters are a valuable source for the history of the Danish church. His early experiences stood him in good stead in Denmark. After being educated by the monks of Saint-Germain-des-Pres in Paris under the direction of his uncle Hugh, he became a canon of the church of Sainte-Geneviève-du-Mont. But his fellow-canons were lax, and frequently mocked their new recruit for his disciplined life. They so disliked him that William was forced to resign and take a living at Epinay outside Paris.

Fortunately, Pope Eugenius III visited Paris in 1148, perceived the laxity of the canons of Sainte-Geneviève-du-Mont, and replaced them with more devout men. William rejoined the canons and became the sub-prior, where he reputation for canonical discipline and holiness grew and reached the ears of Bishop Axel (or Absalom) of Roskilde, Denmark. About 1170, the bishop sent a young Dane, Saxo Grammaticus, who became a leading historian, to invite William to undertake the reformation of the monasteries in his diocese. William accepted the invitation.

His early trials in Paris fitted him for reforming the abbey of Eskilsoë. William first expelled two monks, setting about the reformation of the rest. His enemies tried to overcome his zeal by appealing to powerful lords, but for 30 years William unflinchingly persisted, in spite of inner strain and painful illnesses. He also founded the Abbey of St. Thomas in Aebelhold (Ebelholt), Zeeland.

William sanctified himself by a life of prayer and austere mortification, added to the suffering caused by extreme poverty and a severe climate. He wore a hair-shirt, lay on straw, and fasted every day. Imbued with a deep sense of the greatness and sanctity of our mysteries, he never approached the altar without watering it with his tears, offering himself to God in the spirit of adoration and sacrifice.

About 1194, William went to Rome on behalf of Ingelburga, sister of the Danish king, who had been repudiated by her husband, King Philip Augustus of France, but he returned to Eskilsoë to die (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth, Walsh).

In art, Saint William has a torch which lights itself on his grave. Sometimes he is shown as Saint Geneviève appears to him (Roeder).
Medioláni pássio sancti Petri, ex Ordine Prædicatórum, Mártyris, qui ab hæréticis, ob fidem cathólicam, interémptus est.  Ipsíus tamen festívitas recólitur tértio Kaléndas Maji.
At Milan, the passion of St. Peter, a martyr belonging to the Order of Preachers, who was slain by the heretics for his Catholic faith. His feast, however, is kept on the 29th of April.
Peter was born at Verona, Italy, in 1205. Both of his parents were Catharists, a heresy that denied God created the material world. Even so, Peter was educated at a Catholic school and later at the University of Bologna. While in Bologna, Peter was accepted into the Dominican Order by St. Dominic. He developed into a great preacher, and was well known for his inspiring sermons in the Lombardy region. In addition, around the year 1234, he was appointed by Pope Gregory IX as inquisitor of Northern Italy, where many Catharists lived. Peter's preaching attracted large crowds, but as inquisitor he made many enemies.

1252  St Peter Of Verona, Martyr; Having received the habit from St Dominic himself;  Once, as he knelt before the crucifix, he exclaimed, “Lord, thou knowest that I am not guilty. Why dost thou permit me to be falsely accused?” The reply came, “And I, Peter, what did I do to deserve my passion and death?” Rebuked yet consoled, the friar regained courage.

St Peter Martyr was born at Verona in 1205 of parents who belonged to the sect of the Cathari, a heresy which closely resembled that of the Albigenses and included amongst its tenets a denial that the material world had been created by God. The child was sent to a Catholic school, in spite of the remon­strances of an uncle who discovered by questioning the little boy that he had not only learnt the Apostles’ Creed, but was prepared stoutly to maintain in the orthodox sense the article “Creator of Heaven and earth”.

At Bologna University Peter found himself exposed to temptations of another sort amid licentious companions, and soon decided to seek admission into the Order of Preachers. Having received the habit from St Dominic himself, the young novice entered with zeal into the practices of the religious life. He was always studying, reading, praying, serving the sick, or performing such offices as sweeping the house.

Later on we find him active as a preacher all over Lombardy. A heavy trial befell him when he was forbidden to teach, and was banished to a remote priory on a false accusation of having received strangers and even women into his cell. Once, as he knelt before the crucifix, he exclaimed, “Lord, thou knowest that I am not guilty. Why dost thou permit me to be falsely accused?” The reply came, “And I, Peter, what did I do to deserve my passion and death?” Rebuked yet consoled, the friar regained courage, and soon afterwards his innocence was vindicated. His preaching from that time was more successful than ever, as he went from town to town rousing the careless, converting sinners, and bringing back the lapsed into the fold. To the fame of his eloquence was soon added his reputa­tion as a wonder-worker. When he appeared in public he was almost crushed to death by the crowds who flocked to him, some to ask his blessing, others to offer the sick for him to cure, others to receive his instruction.

About the year 1234 Pope Gregory IX appointed Peter inquisitor general for the Milanese territories. So zealously and well did he accomplish his duties that his jurisdiction was extended to cover the greater part of northern Italy. We find him at Bologna, Cremona, Ravenna, Genoa, Venice and even in the Marches of Ancona, preaching the faith, arguing with heretics, denouncing and reconciling them. Great as was the success which everywhere crowned his efforts, Peter was well aware that he had aroused bitter enmity, and he often prayed for the grace to die as a martyr. When preaching on Palm Sunday, 1252, he announced publicly that a conspiracy was on foot against him, a price having been set on his head. “Let them do their worst”, he added,  “I shall be more powerful dead than alive”.

As he was going from Como to Milan a fortnight later Peter was waylaid in a wood near Barlassina by two assassins, one of whom, Carino, struck him on the head with a bill-hook and then attacked his companion, a friar named Dominic. Griev­ously wounded, but still conscious, Peter Martyr commended himself and his murderer to God in the words of St Stephen.  Afterwards, if we may believe a very old tradition, with a finger dipped in his own blood he was tracing on the ground the words Credo in Deum when his assailant despatched him with another blow. It was April 6, 1252, and the martyr had just completed his forty-sixth year. His companion, Brother Dominic, survived him only a few days.

In 1252, while returning from Como to Milan, he was murdered by a Catharist assassin at the age of forty-six. The following year, he was canonized by Pope Innocent IV. Although his parents were members of a heretical sect, St. Peter of Verona was strong in his Catholic Faith. However, his faithfulness to the Gospel message in his preaching as a Dominican, brought about much opposition, and eventually Peter paid with his life for preaching the truth. One of the hazards of preaching and living the Gospel is that we must be considered undesirable according to worldly values. With faith in the Father, and as his children, we are called to stand firm and never waver from the truth in the face of death. Canonized the year after his death by Pope Innocent IV, he was also named the patron saint of inquisitors. Since 1969, his cult has been locally confined.

Pope Innocent IV canonized St Peter of Verona in the year after his death. His murderer, Carino, fled to Forli, where repentance overtook him; he abjured his heresy, became a Dominican lay-brother, and died so holy a death that his memory was venerated. So recently as 1934 his head was translated from Foril to Balsamo, his birthplace near Milan, where there is some cultus of him.

In the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. iii, are printed a number of documents, including the bull of canonization and a biography by Fr Thomas Agni of Lentino, a contemporary.  See also Mortier, Maîtres Généraux  O.P., vol. iii, pp. 140—166; Monumenta Historica O.P., vol. i, pp. 236 seq. A fuller bibliography will be found in Taurisano, Catalogus Hagio­graphicus O.P., p. 13. St Peter is depicted by Fra Angelico in a famous painting with wounded head and his finger on his lips, but there are many other types of representation, for which see Kunstle, Ikonographie, vol. ii. See S. Orlandi, S. Pietro martire da Verona Leggenda di fr. Tommaso Agni . . . (1952), and other recent work.
Saint_Gregory_ascetic
Saint Gregory native of Constantinople pursued an ascetic life on Mt. Athos in the Lavra of St Athanasius (July 5).

He was the spiritual guide of St Gregory Palamas (November 14).
1478 Blessed Catherine of Pallanza hermit commune under Augustinian Rule, fought epidemics, endowed with the gift of prophecy OSA V (AC)

1478 BD CATHERINE OF PALLANZA, VIRGIN During her life Blessed Catherine was endowed with the gift of prophecy
MORE destructive than the many wars which devastated medieval Europe was the dread disease called plague which, with varying severity, was of constant recurrence, sometimes sweeping away entire populations. During one of these epidemics there perished near Pallanza in the diocese of Novara a whole family except one little child of the name of Catherine. She was rescued by the local lord, who entrusted her to a Milanese lady who adopted and educated her.
When Catherine was in her fifteenth year she was so profoundly touched by a sermon on the sufferings of our Lord that she then and there resolved to consecrate her life to His service. Her benefactress was now dead and there was no one to hinder her, so she withdrew to the mountain district above Varese, where the great St Ambrose, it was said, had once erected an altar in honour of the Mother of God. From time to time men had lived there as hermits, but she was the first woman to settle in that wilderness, and for the next fifteen years she led a life of the utmost austerity. She fasted for ten months of the year, living even at less penitential seasons on presents of fish which were brought to her, for she seldom left her retreat. Hidden as she strove to be, other women collected round Catherine to imitate her example and to become her disciples. Eventually she gathered them into a community which adopted the Augustinian rule and was known as the convent of Santa Maria di Monte. She died at the age of forty, after being prioress for four years. During her life Blessed Catherine was endowed with the gift of prophecy, and her cultus was approved in 1769.
See the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. i, where a life of the beata written in Italian by Cesare Tettamanzi has been translated into Latin. Cf. also Sevesi in Studi Francescani, vol. xxv (1928), pp. 389—449.

Born in Pallanza, Novara, Italy, c. 1437; died 1478; cultus confirmed in 1769. At age 14, Catherine began to live the life of a hermit in the mountain district above Varese, near Milan. Disciples gathered around her, whom she gathered into a community under the Augustinian Rule. She fought epidemics, which wiped out her entire family, and against wicked tongues that spread slander about her little convent of Santa Maria di Monte (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
1744 St. Crescentia Hoess wise enough to balance worldly skills with acumen in spiritual matters; heads of State and Church both sought her advice.
(1682-1744)
   
Crescentia was born in 1682 in a little town near Augsburg, the daughter of a poor weaver. She spent play time praying in the parish church, assisted those even poorer than herself and had so mastered the truths of her religion that she was permitted to make her holy Communion at the then unusually early age of seven. In the town she was called "the little angel."

As she grew older she desired to enter the convent of the Tertiaries of St. Francis. But the convent was poor and, because Crescentia had no dowry, the superiors refused her admission. Her case was then pleaded by the Protestant mayor of the town to whom the convent owed a favor. The community felt it was forced into receiving her, and her new life was made miserable. She was considered a burden and assigned nothing other than menial tasks. Even her cheerful spirit was misinterpreted as flattery or hypocrisy.

Conditions improved four years later when a new superior was elected who realized her virtue. Crescentia herself was appointed mistress of novices. She so won the love and respect of the sisters that, upon the death of the superior, Crescentia herself was unanimously elected to that position. Under her the financial state of the convent improved and her reputation in spiritual matters spread. She was soon being consulted by princes and princesses as well as by bishops and cardinals seeking her advice. And yet, a true daughter of Francis, she remained ever humble.

Bodily afflictions and pain were always with her. First it was headaches and toothaches. Then she lost the ability to walk, her hands and feet gradually becoming so crippled that her body curled up into a fetal position. In the spirit of Francis she cried out, "Oh, you bodily members, praise God that he has given you the capacity to suffer." Despite her sufferings she was filled with peace and joy as she died on Easter Sunday in 1744.

She was beatified in 1900 and canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2001.

Comment:    Although she grew up in poverty and willingly embraced it in her vocation, Crescentia had a good head for business. Under her able administration, her convent regained financial stability. Too often we think of good money management as, at best, a less-than-holy gift. But Crescentia was wise enough to balance her worldly skills with such acumen in spiritual matters that heads of State and Church both sought her advice.
1857 St. Paul Tinh native Vietnamese priest martyr
Born in Vietnam, he was converted to the Catholic faith and was ordained a priest. Seized by anti-Catholic forces, Paul was beheaded. Pope John Paul II canonized him in 1988.

Blessed Paul Tinh M (AC) Born in Trinh-ha, Tonkin (Vietnam); died 1857; beatified in 1909. Paul became a priest and was beheaded at Son-tay in West Tonkin (Benedictines).
1896 Blessed Zefirino Agostini first priority to develop relationship with God through personal prayer because God was the source of joy and power to do good (AC)
Born in Verona, Italy, September 24, 1813; died there on April 6, 1896; beatified October 24, 1998.
Blessed Zefirino was the elder son of the physician Antonio Agostini and his wife Angela Frattini. Upon the death of the pious Antonio, the two boys were raised by their mother with a gentleness and wisdom that left its mark on the souls of her children and led Zefirino to his priestly vocation. Following his ordination on March 11, 1837, at the hands of Bishop Grasser of Verona, Zefirino was assigned to the poor parish of Saint Nazarius, where he had been baptized on September 28, 1813. The first eight years he had responsibility for teaching the catechism and running the recreational program for boys. In 1845, he was named pastor. Although the parish was large and poor, Father Agostini never allowed his fatherly heart to be overcome by its problems. He knew that his first priority was to develop his relationship with God through personal prayer because God was the source of his joy and power to do good. God filled Father Agostini with apostolic zeal. He established an after-school program for girls and catechetical instruction for their mothers. To inspire women, he held up the ideal of Saint Angela Merici and celebrated her feast. Three young women followed that inspiration and devoted themselves to the neediest in the community.

Realizing that this was indeed God's will, Father Agostini founded the Pious Union of Sister Devoted to Saint Angela Merici, even though he lacked the means to support them. Their rule was approved by Bishop Ricabona in 1856 and the first charitable school was opened in November. The first women who assisted him in this endeavor continued to live with their families until after 1860 when Father Agostini wrote a rule that was approved for the first Ursuline community. On September 24, 1869, the first twelve Ursuline Daughters of Mary Immaculate made their professions. They had the option of living in community or with their families.

Father Agostini's humility and trust in the providence of God was revealed clearly in his 1874 statement to the sisters: "Do not be dismayed by toil or suffering, nor by the meager fruit of your labors. Remember that God rewards not according to results, but effort" (L'Observattore Romano). Blessed Zefirino Agostini


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 326

Praise ye our Lady, all ye nations: glorify her, all ye peoples.

For her grace and her mercy are confirmed upon us: and her truth remaineth forever.

He who shall worthily have venerated her, will be justified: but he who shall have neglected her, will die in his sins.

The lips of angels shall relate her wisdom: and all the citizens of Paradise will sing her praises.

Those who approach her with a good soul: will not be seized by the devastating angel.

Let every spirit praise Our Lady

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

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

God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique, for each is the result of a new idea.  As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike. It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints. Dear Lord, grant us a spirit that is not bound by our own ideas and preferences.  Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves. O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory. Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.  Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.   God calls each one of us to be a saint in order to get into heaven:  only saints are allowed into heaven. The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.
There are over 10,000 named saints beati  from history
 and Roman Martyology Orthodox sources
Patron_Saints.html  Widowed_Saints html  Indulgences The Catholic Church in China
LINKS: Marian Shrines   India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes 1858  China Marian shrines 1995
Kenya national Marian shrine  Loreto, Italy  Marian Apparitions (over 2000)  Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798
  Links to Related MarianWebsites  Angels and Archangels  Saints Visions of Heaven and Hell
Widowed Saints  html
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  Uniates  Chalcedon
Mary the Mother of Jesus Miracles_BC  Lay Saints  Miraculous_Icons  Miraculous_Medal_Novena Patron Saints
Miracles by Century 100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000    1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800  1900 2000
Miracles 100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000  
 1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800   1900 Lay Saints

The great psalm of the Passion, Chapter 22, whose first verse “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Jesus pronounced on the cross, ended with the vision: “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations shall worship before him” For kingship belongs to the LORD, the ruler over the nations. All who sleep in the earth will bow low before God; All who have gone down into the dust will kneel in homage. And I will live for the LORD; my descendants will serve you. The generation to come will be told of the Lord, that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn the deliverance you have brought.
Pope Benedict XVI to The Catholic Church In China {whole article here} 2000 years of the Catholic Church in China
The saints “a cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.

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

Saint Frances Xavier Seelos  Practical Guide to Holiness
1. Go to Mass with deepest devotion. 2. Spend a half hour to reflect upon your main failing & make resolutions to avoid it.
3. Do daily spiritual reading for at least 15 minutes, if a half hour is not possible.  4. Say the rosary every day.
5. Also daily, if at all possible, visit the Blessed Sacrament; toward evening, meditate on the Passion of Christ for a half hour, 6.  Conclude the day with evening prayer & an examination of conscience over all the faults & sins of the day.
7.  Every month make a review of the month in confession.
8. Choose a special patron every month & imitate that patron in some special virtue.
9. Precede every great feast with a novena that is nine days of devotion. 10. Try to begin & end every activity with a Hail Mary
My God, I believe, I adore, I trust and I love Thee.  I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not
O most Holy trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly.  I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the Tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended, and by the infite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  I beg the conversion of poor sinners,  Fatima Prayer, Angel of Peace
The voice of the Father is heard, the Son enters the water, and the Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove.
THE spirit and example of the world imperceptibly instil the error into the minds of many that there is a kind of middle way of going to Heaven; and so, because the world does not live up to the gospel, they bring the gospel down to the level of the world. It is not by this example that we are to measure the Christian rule, but words and life of Christ. All His followers are commanded to labour to become perfect even as our heavenly Father is perfect, and to bear His image in our hearts that we may be His children. We are obliged by the gospel to die to ourselves by fighting self-love in our hearts, by the mastery of our passions, by taking on the spirit of our Lord.
   These are the conditions under which Christ makes His promises and numbers us among His children, as is manifest from His words which the apostles have left us in their inspired writings. Here is no distinction made or foreseen between the apostles or clergy or religious and secular persons. The former, indeed, take upon themselves certain stricter obligations, as a means of accomplishing these ends more perfectly; but the law of holiness and of disengagement of the heart from the world is general and binds all the followers of Christ.
God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique each the result of a new idea.
As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike.
It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints.
Dear Lord, grant us a spirit not bound by our own ideas and preferences.
 Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves.
O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory.
 Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.
Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.
The 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary ) Revealed to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan)
1.    Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces. 2.    I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary. 3.    The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies. 4.    It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things.  Oh, that soul would sanctify them by this means.  5.    The soul that recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish. 6.    Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying themselves to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune.  God will not chastise them in His justice, they shall not perish by an unprovided death; if they be just, they shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life. 7.    Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church. 8.    Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise. 9.    I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary. 10.    The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.  11.    You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary. 12.    I shall aid all those who propagate the Holy Rosary in their necessities. 13.    I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death. 14.    All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ. 15.    Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
His Holiness Aram I, current (2013) Catholicos of Cilicia of Armenians, whose See is located in Lebanese town of Antelias. The Catholicosate was founded in Sis, capital of Cilicia, in the year 1441 following the move of the Catholicosate of All Armenians back to its original See of Etchmiadzin in Armenia. The Catholicosate of Cilicia enjoyed local jurisdiction, though spiritually subject to the authority of Etchmiadzin. In 1921 the See was transferred to Aleppo in Syria, and in 1930 to Antelias.
Its jurisdiction currently extends to Syria, Cyprus, Iran and Greece.
Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac
The exact date of the introduction of Christianity into Edessa {Armenian Ourhaï in Arabic Er Roha, commonly Orfa or Urfa, its present name} is not known. It is certain, however, that the Christian community was at first made up from the Jewish population of the city. According to an ancient legend, King Abgar V, Ushana, was converted by Addai, who was one of the seventy-two disciples. In fact, however, the first King of Edessa to embrace the Christian Faith was Abgar IX (c. 206) becoming official kingdom religion.
Christian council held at Edessa early as 197 (Eusebius, Hist. Ecc7V,xxiii).
In 201 the city was devastated by a great flood, and the Christian church was destroyed (“Chronicon Edessenum”, ad. an. 201).
In 232 the relics of the Apostle St. Thomas were brought from India, on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written.

Under Roman domination martyrs suffered at Edessa: Sts. Scharbîl and Barsamya, under Decius; Sts. Gûrja, Schâmôna, Habib, and others under Diocletian. 
In the meanwhile Christian priests from Edessa evangelized Eastern Mesopotamia and Persia, established the first Churches in the kingdom of the Sassanides.  Atillâtiâ, Bishop of Edessa, assisted at the Council of Nicæa (325). The “Peregrinatio Silviæ” (or Etheriæ) (ed. Gamurrini, Rome, 1887, 62 sqq.) gives an account of the many sanctuaries at Edessa about 388.
Although Hebrew had been the language of the ancient Israelite kingdom, after their return from Exile the Jews turned more and more to Aramaic, using it for parts of the books of Ezra and Daniel in the Bible. By the time of Jesus, Aramaic was the main language of Palestine, and quite a number of texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls are also written in Aramaic.
Aramaic continued to be an important language for Jews, alongside Hebrew, and parts of the Talmud are written in it.
After Arab conquests of the seventh century, Arabic quickly replaced Aramaic as the main language of those who converted to Islam, although in out of the way places, Aramaic continued as a vernacular language of Muslims.
Aramaic, however, enjoyed its greatest success in Christianity. Although the New Testament wins written in Greek, Christianity had come into existence in an Aramaic-speaking milieu, and it was the Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac, that became the literary language of a large number of Christians living in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire and in the Persian Empire, further east. Over the course of the centuries the influence of the Syriac Churches spread eastwards to China (in Xian, in western China, a Chinese-Syriac inscription dated 781 is still to be seen); to southern India where the state of Kerala can boast more Christians of Syriac liturgical tradition than anywhere else in the world.

680 Shiite saint Imam Hussein, grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad Known as Ashoura and observed by Shiites across the world, the 10th day of the lunar Muslim month of Muharram: the anniversary of the 7th century death in battle of one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints.  Imam Hussein died in the 680 A.D. battle fought on the plains outside Karbala, a city in modern Iraq that's home to the saint's shrine.  The battle over a dispute about the leadership of the Muslim faith following Muhammad's death in 632 A.D. It is the defining event in Islam's split into Sunni and Shiite branches.  The occasion is the source of an enduring moral lesson. "He sacrificed his blood to teach us not to give in to corruption, coercion, or use of force and to seek honor and justice."  According to Shiite beliefs, Hussein and companions were denied water by enemies who controlled the nearby Euphrates.  Streets get partially covered with blood from slaughter of hundreds of cows and sheep. Volunteers cook the meat and feed it to the poor.  Hussein's martyrdom recounted through a rich body of prose, poetry and song remains an inspirational example of sacrifice to many Shiites, 10 percent of the world's estimated 1.3 billion Muslims.
Meeting of the Saints  walis (saints of Allah)
Great men covet to embrace martyrdom for a cause and principle.
So was the case with Hazrat Ali. He could have made a compromise with the evil forces of his time and, as a result, could have led a very comfortable, easy and luxurious life.  But he was not a person who would succumb to such temptations. His upbringing, his education and his training in the lap of the holy Prophet made him refuse such an offer.
Rabia Al-Basri (717–801 C.E.) She was first to set forth the doctrine of mystical love and who is widely considered to be the most important of the early Sufi poets. An elderly Shia pointed out that during his pre-Partition childhood it was quite common to find pictures and portraits of Shia icons in Imambaras across the country.
Shah Abdul Latif: The Exalted Sufi Master born 1690 in a Syed family; died 1754. In ancient times, Sindh housed the exemplary Indus Valley Civilisation with Moenjo Daro as its capital, and now, it is the land of a culture which evolved from the teachings of eminent Sufi saints. Pakistan is home to the mortal remains of many Sufi saints, the exalted among them being Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, a practitioner of the real Islam, philosopher, poet, musicologist and preacher. He presented his teaching through poetry and music - both instruments sublime - and commands a very large following, not only among Muslims but also among Hindus and Christians. Sindh culture: The Shah is synonymous with Sindh. He is the very fountainhead of Sindh's culture. His message remains as fresh as that of any present day poet, and the people of Sindh find solace from his writings. He did indeed think for Sindh. One of his prayers, in exquisite Sindhi, translates thus: “Oh God, may ever You on Sindh bestow abundance rare! Beloved! All the world let share Thy grace, and fruitful be.”
Shia Ali al-Hadi, died 868 and son Hassan al-Askari 874. These saints are the 10th and 11th of Shia's 12 most revered Imams. Baba Farid Sufi 1398 miracle, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki renowned Muslim Sufi saint scholar miracles 569 A.H. [1173 C.E.] hermit gave to poor, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti greatest mystic of his time born 533 Hijri (1138-39 A.D.), Hazrat Ghuas-e Azam, Hazrat Bu Ali Sharif, and Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia Sufi Saint Hazrath Khwaja Syed Mohammed Badshah Quadri Chisty Yamani Quadeer (RA) 1236-1325 welcomed people of all faiths & all walks of life.
801 Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya Sufi One of the most famous Islamic mystics
(b. 717). This 8th century saint was an early Sufi who had a profound influence on later Sufis, who in turn deeply influenced the European mystical love and troubadour traditions.  Rabi'a was a woman of Basra, a seaport in southern Iraq.  She was born around 717 and died in 801 (185-186).  Her biographer, the great medieval poet Attar, tells us that she was "on fire with love and longing" and that men accepted her "as a second spotless Mary" (186).  She was, he continues, “an unquestioned authority to her contemporaries" (218).
Rabi'a began her ascetic life in a small desert cell near Basra, where she lost herself in prayer and went straight to God for teaching.  As far as is known, she never studied under any master or spiritual director.  She was one of the first of the Sufis to teach that Love alone was the guide on the mystic path (222).  A later Sufi taught that there were two classes of "true believers": one class sought a master as an intermediary between them and God -- unless they could see the footsteps of the Prophet on the path before them, they would not accept the path as valid.  The second class “...did not look before them for the footprint of any of God's creatures, for they had removed all thought of what He had created from their hearts, and concerned themselves solely with God. (218)
Rabi'a was of this second kind.  She felt no reverence even for the House of God in Mecca:  "It is the Lord of the house Whom I need; what have I to do with the house?" (219) One lovely spring morning a friend asked her to come outside to see the works of God.  She replied, "Come you inside that you may behold their Maker.  Contemplation of the Maker has turned me aside from what He has made" (219).  During an illness, a friend asked this woman if she desired anything.
"...[H]ow can you ask me such a question as 'What do I desire?'  I swear by the glory of God that for twelve years I have desired fresh dates, and you know that in Basra dates are plentiful, and I have not yet tasted them.  I am a servant (of God), and what has a servant to do with desire?" (162)
When a male friend once suggested she should pray for relief from a debilitating illness, she said,
"O Sufyan, do you not know Who it is that wills this suffering for me?  Is it not God Who wills it?  When you know this, why do you bid me ask for what is contrary to His will?  It is not  well to oppose one's Beloved." (221)
She was an ascetic.  It was her custom to pray all night, sleep briefly just before dawn, and then rise again just as dawn "tinged the sky with gold" (187).  She lived in celibacy and poverty, having renounced the world.  A friend visited her in old age and found that all she owned were a reed mat, screen, a pottery jug, and a bed of felt which doubled as her prayer-rug (186), for where she prayed all night, she also slept briefly in the pre-dawn chill.  Once her friends offered to get her a servant; she replied,
"I should be ashamed to ask for the things of this world from Him to Whom the world belongs, and how should I ask for them from those to whom it does not belong?"  (186-7)
A wealthy merchant once wanted to give her a purse of gold.  She refused it, saying that God, who sustains even those who dishonor Him, would surely sustain her, "whose soul is overflowing with love" for Him.  And she added an ethical concern as well:
"...How should I take the wealth of someone of whom I do not know whether he acquired it lawfully or not?" (187)
She taught that repentance was a gift from God because no one could repent unless God had already accepted him and given him this gift of repentance.  She taught that sinners must fear the punishment they deserved for their sins, but she also offered such sinners far more hope of Paradise than most other ascetics did.  For herself, she held to a higher ideal, worshipping God neither from fear of Hell nor from hope of Paradise, for she saw such self-interest as unworthy of God's servants; emotions like fear and hope were like veils -- i.e., hindrances to the vision of God Himself.  The story is told that once a number of Sufis saw her hurrying on her way with water in one hand and a burning torch in the other.  When they asked her to explain, she said:
"I am going to light a fire in Paradise and to pour water on to Hell, so that both veils may vanish altogether from before the pilgrims and their purpose may be sure..." (187-188)
She was once asked where she came from.  "From that other world," she said.  "And where are you going?" she was asked.  "To that other world," she replied (219).  She taught that the spirit originated with God in "that other world" and had to return to Him in the end.  Yet if the soul were sufficiently purified, even on earth, it could look upon God unveiled in all His glory and unite with him in love.  In this quest, logic and reason were powerless.  Instead, she speaks of the "eye" of her heart which alone could apprehend Him and His mysteries (220).
Above all, she was a lover, a bhakti, like one of Krishna’s Goptis in the Hindu tradition.  Her hours of prayer were not so much devoted to intercession as to communion with her Beloved.  Through this communion, she could discover His will for her.  Many of her prayers have come down to us:
       "I have made Thee the Companion of my heart,
        But my body is available for those who seek its company,
        And my body is friendly towards its guests,
        But the Beloved of my heart is the Guest of my soul."  [224]
To Save A Life is Earthly; Saving A Soul is Eternal Donation by mail, please send check or money order to:
Eternal Word Television Network 5817 Old Leeds Rd. Irondale, AL 35210  USA
  Catholic Television Network  Supported entirely by donations from viewers  help  spread the Eternal Word, online Here
Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey  Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament
Colombia was among the countries Mother Angelica visited. 
In Bogotá, a Salesian priest - Father Juan Pablo Rodriguez - brought Mother and the nuns to the Sanctuary of the Divine Infant Jesus to attend Mass.  After Mass, Father Juan Pablo took them into a small Shrine which housed the miraculous statue of the Child Jesus. Mother Angelica stood praying at the side of the statue when suddenly the miraculous image came alive and turned towards her.  Then the Child Jesus spoke with the voice of a young boy:  “Build Me a Temple and I will help those who help you.” 

Thus began a great adventure that would eventually result in the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, a Temple dedicated to the Divine Child Jesus, a place of refuge for all. Use this link to read a remarkable story about The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament
Father Reardon, Editor of The Catholic Bulletin for 14 years Lover of the poor; “A very Holy Man of God.”
Monsignor Reardon Protonotarius Apostolicus
  Pastor 42 years BASILICA OF SAINT MARY Minneapolis MN
America's First Basilica Largest Nave in the World
August 7, 1907-ground broke for the foundation
by Archbishop Ireland-laying cornerstone May 31, 1908
James M. Reardon Publication History of Basilica of Saint Mary 1600-1932
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}.
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  BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 326 2023