Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!  (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
RDeo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
April is dedicated to devotion of the Holy Eucharist and to the Holy Spirit.
2022
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.

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

  May our witness unveil the deception of the "pro-choice" slogan.
  Campaign saves lives Shawn Carney Campaign Director www.40daysforlife.com
Please help save the unborn they are the future for the world

It is a great poverty that a child must die so that you may live as you wish -- Mother Teresa
 Saving babies, healing moms and dads, 'The Gospel of Life'

April 22 – Discovery of the Treatise on True Devotion by St Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort in 1842,
 "inside a chest" as he had prophesied
 
Your mercy is sweeter and more valuable…  
Let no one ever speak again of your mercy, O Blessed Virgin, if a single person in need can say that they have invoked you in vain. We, your little servants, praise you for your other virtues, but are grateful for your mercy as well.
We praise your virginity, we admire your humility, but for the unfortunate ones that we are, your mercy is sweeter and more valuable…  It was your mercy that obtained the redemption of the world, the salvation of all mankind…

Who then, O Blessed Virgin, can measure the length and the width, the height and the depth of your mercy?
(Cf. Eph., III, 18). Because of its length, your mercy reaches all who call upon it up to the very end;
by its width, it covers the entire surface of the globe and fills the earth;
by its height, it contributes to the restoration of the heavenly city;
by its depth, it obtains the redemption of those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death (Luke 1:79).
Indeed, through you Heaven is populated, hell emptied, the heavenly Jerusalem raised up from its ruins,
and life restored to the unfortunate ones who had lost it.
 Father Jacques Olivier, FSSP www.salve-regina.com


CAUSES OF SAINTS April 

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

Acts of the Apostles

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

How many these days say, " I wish I could see His form, His appearance, His sandals!"
Only look! You see Him! You touch Him! You eat Him! -- St. John Chrysostom


The Holy Apostles Nathaniel, Luke and Clement of the Seventy: See June 11, Oct 18 and Sept 10.  
Holy Myrrh-bearing women Sts Mary Magdalene
St. Tamara is commemorated on the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women
1st v. St. Apelles first bishop of Smyrna Laodicea mentioned by St. Paul in Romans

 174 Soter, Pope charity personal kindness care for persecuted condemned Montanists (RM)
282 The Departure of the Holy Father Anba Maximus The Fifteenth Pope of Alexandria.
 296 Saint Caius, Pope Dalmatian M (RM)

 342 St. Abdiesus deacon in the Christian community of Persia martyrdom w/others by King Shapur II
 342 Abrosimus of Persia priest stoned to death with many of his flock M (RM)

 613 St. Theodore of Sykeon (Galatia) Abbot bishop cured a royal prince of leprosy gifts of prophecy and miracles bestowed on him by God
997 Adalbert of Prague bishop founder  composition of Czech and Polish hymns preaching Poland Prussia Hungary;  Russia missionaries martyred there Saint_of_the_DayApril23.html
1091 BD WOLFHELM, ABBOT was remarkable for devotion to the rule and love of the Bible, the study of which he urged upon all those under his charge. An admirable superior, he instilled into others what he practised himself——a life well balanced between action and contemplation;
1466 BD BARTHOLOMEW OF CERVERE, MARTYR
he attained the unusual distinction of receiving on one and the same day his licentiate, his doctor’s degree, and his admission to the magisterial college
1834 The Transfer of the Relics of Holy Prince Vsevolod-Gabriel of Pskov
: See February 11.

April 22 – Discovery of the Treatise of True Devotion to the Virgin Mary
of Saint Louis de Monfort in 1842 “inside a chest,” as the saint had prophesied 
 
A true prophecy 
The manuscript of the Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin was found buried in a field in 1842. It had been hidden there since the French Revolution, "in the darkness and silence of a chest" as its author Saint Louis de Montfort had himself prophesied (No. 114). The Treatise is his most universally known writing, available in more than 300 editions and published in thirty languages.

Saint Louis de Montfort points out Mary’s essential role in God's plan and in guiding souls on the difficult path to holiness. The three Persons of the Trinity continue to work the same wonders started at Creation and the Incarnation through the Virgin. If we seek to fully engage ourselves in the service of God and achieve union with Christ the Savior by imitating Mary’s humility, the surest way is to devote ourselves completely to Him through her hands. "True God and true man, our unique all... He must be the ultimate end of all our other devotions."(No. 61)  www.montfort.org

April 22 - OUR LADY OF SPLENDOR (Italy, 1557)
Mary is a Woman who Loves (III)
Benedict XVI Deus est caritas # 41
Finally, Mary is a woman who loves. How could it be otherwise? As a believer who in faith thinks with God's thoughts and wills with God's will, she cannot fail to be a woman who loves. We sense this in her quiet gestures, as recounted by the infancy narratives in the Gospel. We see it in the delicacy with which she recognizes the need of the spouses at Cana and makes it known to Jesus. We see it in the humility with which she recedes into the background during Jesus' public life, knowing that the Son must establish a new family and that the Mother's hour will come only with the Cross, which will be Jesus' true hour (cf. Jn 2:4; 13:1). When the disciples flee, Mary will remain beneath the Cross (cf. Jn 19:25-27); later, at the hour of Pentecost, it will be they who gather around her as they wait for the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14).
April 22 – Our Lady of Splendor (Italy, 1557)
 
Silver Medalist at Sochi wears Rosary ring for the love of Virgin Mary
At the Sochi Winter Olympics, the Ladies’ single figure skating gold medal went to Russian champion Adelina Sotnikova, 17, and the silver one to the 23 year-old South Korean Yuna Kim, Olympic champion Gold Medalist at Vancouver in 2010.
Yuna, who now lives in Canada, became a Roman Catholic in 2008, taking as her confirmation name Stella, from “Stella maris” meaning Our Lady, Star of the Sea, an ancient title of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She prays and makes the sign of the cross out of religious conviction during competitions, to give witness of her love for the Virgin Mary. She also wears a Rosary ring on one of her fingers.
She told the journalists: “When I was baptized, I felt a huge sense of consolation in my heart.
I know that it was God's love and I promised him to always turn to him in prayer.”

Yuna became a Roman Catholic after she was treated by a devout Catholic doctor for severe skating injuries incurred in 2006-2007. She was wearing a Miraculous Medal on her skating outfit
she received from a nun during the 2007 World Figure Skating Championships.
 Adapted from Zenit.org, February 21, 2014

 
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.

"Men of Alexandria, judge not beforehand, til cometh the Lord, the Righteous Judge".  Saint Vitalius
And from that time many of the Alexandria people made themselves a promise to judge no one.
April 22 - Discovery of the Treatise on The True Devotion of Mary in 1842,
found “in a trunk” according to a prophesy
(Saint Louis Grignion de Monfort)
                     The Conversion of Robert Hossein
As unlikely as it may seem, the French actor Robert Hossein, born in 1927, has produced a large number of movies and plays with a religious theme in the past thirty years. This is because he suddenly discovered the Catholic faith in 1971, on a visit to San Damiano, a small town in Lombardy, Italy, where the Blessed Virgin appeared for the first time on October 16, 1964.
The "seer", a fifty-four year old peasant woman called "Mamma Rosa", died in 1984. The Blessed Virgin asked Mamma Rosa to turn her garden into a place of worship and to invite crowds of people to come and pray the Rosary there.
Now each month French trains and buses leave Paris carrying pilgrims on their way to spend 3 days in San Damiano.
Robert Hossein has never joined these "organized pilgrimages". In fact, on the day of his conversion, he simply decided to visit San Damiano while vacationing in the area of Plaisance, Italy. Since that day, he has kept a photo by an amateur photographer in his wallet taken of the village in 1971. The photo shows the sun strangely deformed, which believers in San Damiano do not hesitate calling an apparition of the Blessed Virgin. The photo was appraised at that time by technicians from Leiz, France, and they certified that it is authentic.
Robert Hossein asked to be "re-baptized” after this experience and he has assured the public on many occasions that he truly lives his faith.
       Taken from an article by Emmanuel Peze, published in the Marian Collection (1985) by Brother Albert Pfleger, Marist

The Holy Apostles Nathaniel, Luke and Clement of the Seventy: See June 11, October 18 and September 10. 
      Holy Myrrh-bearing women Sts Mary Magdalene
       The Holy Apostles Nathaniel, Luke and Clement of the Seventy
       St. Tamara is commemorated on the Sunday of the Myrrh-beating Women
1st v. St. Apelles first bishop of Smyrna Laodicea mentioned by St. Paul in Romans
 174 Soter, Pope charity personal kindness care for persecuted condemned Montanists (RM)
 178 St. Epiphanius and Alexander young Martyrs of Lyons
 202 St. Leonides of Alexandria noted scholar Martyred father of Origen
 202 Rufus of Glendalough, Hermit at Glendalough (AC)
 250 St. Parmenius, Chrysoteins, and Helimenas died for the Faith
 282 The Departure of the Holy Father Anba Maximus The Fifteenth Pope of Alexandria.
 296 Saint Caius, Pope Dalmatian M (RM)
 342 St. Abdiesus deacon in the Christian community of Persia martyrdom w/others by King Shapur II
 342 Abrosimus of Persia priest stoned to death with many of his flock M (RM)
 342 Azadanes (Azadames) Azades Tharba & Companions Died in Persia MM (RM)
 342 Mareas and Companions 21 bishops 250 priests monks nuns vast number of laity MM (RM)
 345 St. Tarbula Virgin martyr sister of St. Simeon, the Persian bishop and martyr
 376 St. Acepsimas Bishop (80 yr) martyr victim of the Persian persecutions in Hnaita, Persia
       St. Bicor A Persian martyr bishop
 376 St. Joseph of Persia with St. Acepsimas Martyred
 377 Aithalas of Persia priest M (RM)
       St. Mareas Martyred bishop of Persia with 21 companion bishops 250 priests monks nuns and laypeople
 380 St. Milles bishop Martyr of Persia
 4th v. Abdiesus the Deacon Persian martyr M (RM)
 536 Pope Agapitus I archdeacon opposed Monophysites Pope (RM)
in the opinion of Pope St Gregory I he was “a trumpet of the gospel and a herald of righteousness”.
 541 St. Leo of Sens Bishop of Sens defended the rights of his see
7th v. St. Authaire Confessor and patron of La-Feste-sur-Jouarre
 610 Saint Vitalius monk Alexandria when St John the Merciful was Patriarch converted harlots "Men of Alexandria, judge not beforehand, til cometh the Lord, the Righteous Judge".
 613 St. Theodore of Sykeon (Galatia) Abbot bishop cured a royal prince of leprosy gifts of prophecy and miracles bestowed on him by God
 686 Saints Arwalds Martyrs slain after Baptism by pagan King Cadwall
 770 St. Opportuna Benedictine abbess
 982 St. Senorina Benedictine abbess
  997 Adalbert of Prague bishop founder  composition of Czech and Polish hymns preaching Poland Prussia Hungary Russia missionaries martyred there Saint_of_the_DayApril23.html
1091 BD WOLFHELM, ABBOT was remarkable for devotion to the rule and love of the Bible, the study of which he urged upon all those under his charge. An admirable superior, he instilled into others what he practised himself——a life well balanced between action and contemplation; In a letter which he addressed to the abbot of Gladbach upon the errors of Berengarius he said: “In order to see the bread and the wine, he [Berengarius] uses the eyes of the body, but at the same time he closes the eyes of the soul and so he does not see the Body and Blood of the Lord”.
1322 Blessed Francis Venimbene Franciscan a great devotion to the holy souls for whom he celebrated requiem Mass
with the utmost fervour OFM (AC) (also known as Francis of Fabriano)

1466 BD BARTHOLOMEW OF CERVERE, MARTYR he attained the unusual distinction of receiving on one and the same day his licentiate, his doctor’s degree, and his admission to the magisterial college
1834 The Transfer of the Relics of Holy Prince Vsevolod-Gabriel of Pskov : See February 11.

  167 to 175 Pope Soter and Caius, Saints and Popes
They have their feast together on 22 April, on which day they appear in most of the martyrologies, though Notker and a few others give Soter on the 21st and Caius on the 19th or 21st.

Soter was pope for eight years, c. 167 to 175 (Harnack prefers 166-174). We possess a fragment of an interesting letter addressed to him by St. Dionysius of Corinth, who writes: "From the beginning it has been your custom to do good to all the brethren in many ways, and to send alms to many churches in every city, refreshing the poverty of those who sent requests, or giving aid to the brethren in the mines, by the alms which you have had the habit of giving from old, Romans keeping up the traditional custom of the Romans; which your blessed Bishop Soter has not only preserved, but has even increased, by providing the abundance which he has sent to the saints, and by further consoling with blessed words with brethren who came to him, as a loving father his children." "Today, therefore, we have kept the holy Lord's day, on which we have read your letter, which we shall always have to read and be admonished, even as the former letter which was written to us by the ministry of Clement." (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., IV, xxiv.) The letter which Soter had written in the name of his church is lost, though Harnack and others have attempted to identify it with the so-called "Second Epistle of Clement" (see CLEMENT OF ROME). The reverence for the pope's paternal letter is to be noticed. The traditional generosity of the Roman Church is again referred to by St. Dionysius of Alexandria to Pope Dionysius in the middle of the third century, and Eusebius says it still continued in his time. Nothing further is known of this pope.
According to the Roman Martyrology, St. Sotor was martyred on April 22 on the Appian Way in Rome. He is buried in the church of St. Sixtus; in the cemetery of St. Callistus, there is a cella (a memorial chapel) dedicated to his memory.

283, to 22 April, 296 Pope Caius lived in the time of peace before the last great persecution. He was pope for twelve years, four months, and seven days, from 17 December, 283, to 22 April, 296, according to the Liberian catalogue (Harnack, Chronol., I, 155, after Lipsius and Lightfoot); Eusebius is wrong in giving him fifteen years. He is mentioned in the fourth-century "Depositio Episcoporum" (therefore not as a martyr): X kl maii Caii in Callisti. He was buried in the chapel of the popes in that cemetary. Nothing whatever is known of his life.
He lived in the time of peace before the last great persecution.

John II Pope 533-535 Pope Agapitus I archdeacon opposed Monophysites Pope (RM) in the opinion of Pope St Gregory I he was “a trumpet of the gospel and a herald of righteousness”.

536 Pope Agapitus I archdeacon opposed Monophysites Pope (RM)
Constantinópoli sancti Agapíti Papæ Primi, cujus sánctitas a beáto Gregório Magno commendátur.  Ipsíus autem corpus, póstea Romam relátum, in Vaticáno cónditum est.
    At Constantinople, Pope St. Agapitus the First, whose sanctity was praised by St. Gregory the Great.  His body was afterwards taken to Rome and buried in the Vatican.

BD BARTHOLOMEW OF CERVERE ancient cultus was approved by Pope Pius IX. 1846--1878 Pius IX (Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, devotion to Mary led him to favor the Proclamation of the Immaculate Conception (December 8, 1854)


"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)



Today we commemorate the Holy Myrrh-bearing women Sts Mary Magdalene (July 22), Mary the wife of Clopas, Joanna (June 27), Salome, mother of the sons of Zebedee (August 3), Martha and Mary, sisters of Lazarus (June 4). Also St Joseph of Arimathea (July 31), and Nicodemus.

The holy right-believing Queen Tamara of Georgia is commemorated twice during the year: on May 1, the day of her repose, and also on the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women.
Synaxis of all Saints of Thessalonica.
St Seraphim Bishop of Phanar (December 4, 1610)
New Martyr Elias Ardunis (January 31, 1686)
New Martyr Demetrius of the Peolponnesos (April 13, 1803)
St. Tamara is commemorated on the Sunday of the Myrrh-beating Women in addition to her regular commemoration on May 1.
In 1166 a daughter, Tamar, was born to King George III (1155–1184) and Queen Burdukhan of Georgia. The king proclaimed that he would share the throne with his daughter from the day she turned twelve years of age.

The royal court unanimously vowed its allegiance and service to Tamar, and father and daughter ruled the country together for five years. After King George’s death in 1184, the nobility recognized the young Tamar as the sole ruler of all Georgia. Queen Tamar was enthroned as ruler of all Georgia at the age of eighteen. She is called “King” in the Georgian language because her father had no male heir and so she ruled as a monarch and not as a consort.

At the beginning of her reign, Tamar convened a Church council and addressed the clergy with wisdom and humility: “Judge according to righteousness, affirming good and condemning evil,” she advised. “Begin with me—if I sin I should be censured, for the royal crown is sent down from above as a sign of divine service. Allow neither the wealth of the nobles nor the poverty of the masses to hinder your work. You by word and I by deed, you by preaching and I by the law, you by upbringing and I by education will care for those souls whom God has entrusted to us, and together we will abide by the law of God, in order to escape eternal condemnation.… You as priests and I as ruler, you as stewards of good and I as the watchman of that good.”

The Church and the royal court chose a suitor for Tamar: Yuri, the son of Prince Andrei Bogoliubsky of Vladimir-Suzdal (in Georgia Yuri was known as “George the Russian”). The handsome George Rusi was a valiant soldier, and under his command the Georgians returned victorious from many battles. His marriage to Tamar, however, exposed many of the coarser sides of his character. He was often drunk and inclined toward immoral deeds. In the end, Tamar’s court sent him away from Georgia to Constantinople, armed with a generous recompense. Many Middle Eastern rulers were drawn to Queen Tamar’s beauty and desired to marry her, but she rejected them all. Finally at the insistence of her court, she agreed to wed a second time to ensure the preservation of the dynasty. This time, however, she asked her aunt and nurse Rusudan (the sister of King George III) to find her a suitor. The man she chose, Davit-Soslan Bagrationi, was the son of the Ossetian ruler and a descendant of King George I (1014–1027).

In 1195 a joint Muslim military campaign against Georgia was planned under the leadership of Atabeg (a military commander) Abu Bakr of Persian Azerbaijan. At Queen Tamar’s command, a call to arms was issued. The faithful were instructed by Metropolitan Anton of Chqondidi to celebrate All-night Vigils and Liturgies and to generously distribute alms so that the poor could rest from their labors in order to pray. In ten days the army was prepared, and Queen Tamar addressed the Georgian soldiers for the last time before the battle began. “My brothers! Do not allow your hearts to tremble before the multitude of enemies, for God is with us.… Trust God alone, turn your hearts to Him in righteousness, and place your every hope in the Cross of Christ and in the Most Holy Theotokos!” she exhorted them.
Having taken off her shoes, Queen Tamar climbed the hill to the Metekhi Church of the Theotokos (in Tbilisi) and knelt before the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. She prayed without ceasing until the good news arrived: the battle near Shamkori had ended in the unquestionable victory of the Orthodox Georgian army.

After this initial victory the Georgian army launched into a series of triumphs over the Turks, and neighboring countries began to regard Georgia as the protector of the entire Transcaucasus. By the beginning the 13th century, Georgia was commanding a political authority recognized by both the Christian West and the Muslim East.
Georgia’s military successes alarmed the Islamic world. Sultan Rukn al-Din was certain that a united Muslim force could definitively decide the issue of power in the region, and he marched on Georgia around the year 1203, commanding an enormous army.
Having encamped near Basiani, Rukn al-Din sent a messenger to Queen Tamar with an audacious demand: to surrender without a fight. In reward for her obedience, the sultan promised to marry her on the condition that she embrace Islam; if Tamar were to cleave to Christianity, he would number her among the other unfortunate concubines in his harem. When the messenger relayed the sultan’s demand, a certain nobleman, Zakaria Mkhargrdzelidze, was so outraged that he slapped him on the face, knocking him unconscious.

At Queen Tamar’s command, the court generously bestowed gifts upon the ambassador and sent him away with a Georgian envoy and a letter of reply. “Your proposal takes into consideration your wealth and the vastness of your armies, but fails to account for divine judgment,” Tamar wrote, “while I place my trust not in any army or worldly thing but in the right hand of the Almighty God and the infinite aid of the Cross, which you curse. The will of God—and not your own—shall be fulfilled, and the judgment of God—and not your judgment—shall reign!”

The Georgian soldiers were summoned without delay. Queen Tamar prayed for victory before the Vardzia Icon of the Theotokos, then, barefoot, led her army to the gates of the city.

Hoping in the Lord and the fervent prayers of Queen Tamar, the Georgian army marched toward Basiani. The enemy was routed. The victory at Basiani was an enormous event not only for Georgia, but for the entire Christian world.
The military victories increased Queen Tamar’s faith. In the daytime she shone in all her royal finery and wisely administered the affairs of the government; during the night, on bended knees, she beseeched the Lord tearfully to strengthen the Georgian Church. She busied herself with needlework and distributed her embroidery to the poor.
Once, exhausted from her prayers and needlework, Tamar dozed off and saw a vision. Entering a luxuriously furnished home, she saw a gold throne studded with jewels, and she turned to approach it, but was suddenly stopped by an old man crowned with a halo. “Who is more worthy than I to receive such a glorious throne?” Queen Tamar asked him.
He answered her, saying, “This throne is intended for your maidservant, who sewed vestments for twelve priests with her own hands. You are already the possessor of great treasure in this world.” And he pointed her in a different direction.
Having awakened, Holy Queen Tamar immediately took to her work and with her own hands sewed vestments for twelve priests.

History has preserved another poignant episode from Queen Tamar’s life: Once she was preparing to attend a festal Liturgy in Gelati, and she fastened precious rubies to the belt around her waist. Soon after she was told that a beggar outside the monastery tower was asking for alms, and she ordered her entourage to wait. Having finished dressing, she went out to the tower but found no one there. Terribly distressed, she reproached herself for having denied the poor and thus denying Christ Himself. Immediately she removed her belt, the cause of her temptation, and presented it as an offering to the Gelati Icon of the Theotokos.
During Queen Tamar’s reign a veritable monastic city was carved in the rocks of Vardzia, and the God-fearing Georgian ruler would labor there during the Great Fast. The churches of Pitareti, Kvabtakhevi, Betania, and many others were also built at that time. Holy Queen Tamar generously endowed the churches and monasteries not only on Georgian territory but also outside her borders: in Palestine, Cyprus, Mt. Sinai, the Black Mountains, Greece, Mt. Athos, Petritsoni (Bulgaria), Macedonia, Thrace, Romania, Isauria and Constantinople. The divinely guided Queen Tamar abolished the death penalty and all forms of bodily torture.
A regular, secret observance of a strict ascetic regime—fasting, a stone bed, and litanies chanted in bare feet—finally took its toll on Queen Tamar’s health. For a long time she refrained from speaking to anyone about her condition, but when the pain became unbearable she finally sought help. The best physicians of the time were unable to diagnose her illness, and all of Georgia was seized with fear of disaster. Everyone from the small to the great prayed fervently for Georgia’s ruler and defender. The people were prepared to offer not only their own lives, but even the lives of their children, for the sake of their beloved ruler.
God sent Tamar a sign when He was ready to receive her into His Kingdom. Then the pious ruler bade farewell to her court and turned in prayer to an icon of Christ and the Life-giving Cross: “Lord Jesus Christ! Omnipotent Master of heaven and earth! To Thee I deliver the nation and people that were entrusted to my care and purchased by Thy Precious Blood, the children whom Thou didst bestow upon me, and to Thee I surrender my soul, O Lord!”
The burial place of Queen Tamar has remained a mystery to this day. Some sources claim that her tomb is in Gelati, in a branch of burial vaults belonging to the Bagrationi dynasty, while others argue that her holy relics are preserved in a vault at the Holy Cross Monastery in Jerusalem.
The Holy Apostles Nathaniel, Luke and Clement of the Seventy: See June 11, October 18 and September 10.        Luke

1st v. St. Apelles first bishop of Smyrna Laodicea mentioned by St. Paul in Romans
Smyrnæ sanctórum Apéllis et Lúcii, ex primis Christi discípulis.   At Smyrna, the Saints Apelles and Lucius, who were among the first disciples of Christ.
1st century martyr associated with Sts. Lucius and Clement. Apelles was the first bishop of Smyrna, Turkey, and was mentioned by St. PaulRomans(16 Verses 5-15 " Greet Ampliatus whom I love in the Lord." Lucius was the bishop of Laodicea. All three were martyred for the faith. St. Lucius and Apelles share the same feast day.

 174 Soter, Pope charity personal kindness care for persecuted; condemned Montanists (RM)
Romæ, via Appia, natális sancti Sotéris, Papæ et Mártyris.    At Rome, on the Appian Way, the birthday of St. Soter, pope and martyr.
Born at Fondi (near Gaeta), Italy; After the death of Pope Anicetus in the middle of the 2nd century, Soter was elected to this danger-fraught office about 166-167. His influence was widespread, partly because of his charity (known from a letter of Bishop Saint Dionysius of Corinth), his personal kindness, and especially his care for those who had been persecuted for their faith by being deported to the mines and prisons.
This kindliness did not mean that Pope Soter looked kindly on error. During his pontificate, a number of Christians, known as Montanists, were preaching that the heavenly Jerusalem would soon descend near Pepuza, a town in Phrygia. These Montanists condemned their fellow - Christians as far too lax: they did not fast enough, it was alleged; they should never marry again if one partner had died; they did not prophesy enough, for they lacked the gift of the Holy Spirit.
in
The movement was dividing the Church and causing violent quarrels among the faithful.
Soter did not hesitate to condemn its leaders, sending round an encyclical outlining their errors.

Soter may have died a martyr's death (Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia).
167 to 175 Pope Soter and Caius, Saints and Popes
Item Romæ sancti Caji, Papæ et Mártyris; qui martyrio coronátus est sub Diocletiáno Príncipe.
    In the same city, Pope St. Caius, who was crowned with martyrdom under Emperor Diocletian.

Smyrnæ sanctórum Apéllis et Lúcii, ex primis Christi discípulis.
    At Smyrna, the Saints Apelles and Lucius, who were among the first disciples of Christ.
They have their feast together on 22 April, on which day they appear in most of the martyrologies, though Notker and a few others give Soter on the 21st and Caius on the 19th or 21st.
174 AND 296 SS. SOTER AND CAIUS, POPES AND MARTYRS
ST SOTER was raised to the papacy upon the death of St Anicetus. Eusebius has preserved parts of a letter of thanks addressed to the Romans by St Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, in which allusion is made to the pope’s fatherly kindness and liberality, especially to those who suffered for the faith. St Dionysius promises that a letter which St Soter had written to him should be read in the assemblies of the Corinthians together with that of Pope St Clement. It has been contended by some that what is known to us as the second epistle of St Clement is no other than this letter. The church honours Soter as a martyr, but no account of his death has been preserved.
Of the life of St Caius, the successor of St Eutychian in the apostolic see, nothing is known. According to a late tradition he was a Dalmatian and a relation of the Emperor Diocletian. Owing to the fury of the persecution in his days, he is said to have lived for eight years concealed in the catacombs and to have been honoured as a martyr because of his sufferings. His epitaph, found in a fragmentary state in the catacomb of St Callixtus, clearly names, in accord with the “Depositio Episcoporum” of the Philocalian calendar, April 22 as the date of his interment.
The little we know about these two popes will be found in the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. iii ; and in the text and notes of Duchesne’s edition of the Liber Pontificalis. See also on St Caius—De Rossi, Roma Sotterranea, vol. iii, pp. 115, 120, and 263 seq.; G. Schneider in Nuovo Bullettino di archeolog. crist., vol. xiii (1902), pp. 147—168 and Leclercq in DAC., vol. ii, cc. 1736—1740; and vol. vi, cc. 33—37.

Soter was pope for eight years, c. 167 to 175 (Harnack prefers 166-174). We possess a fragment of an interesting letter addressed to him by St. Dionysius of Corinth, who writes: "From the beginning it has been your custom to do good to all the brethren in many ways, and to send alms to many churches in every city, refreshing the poverty of those who sent requests, or giving aid to the brethren in the mines, by the alms which you have had the habit of giving from old, Romans keeping up the traditional custom of the Romans; which your blessed Bishop Soter has not only preserved, but has even increased, by providing the abundance which he has sent to the saints, and by further consoling with blessed words with brethren who came to him, as a loving father his children." "Today, therefore, we have kept the holy Lord's day, on which we have read your letter, which we shall always have to read and be admonished, even as the former letter which was written to us by the ministry of Clement." (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., IV, xxiv.) The letter which Soter had written in the name of his church is lost, though Harnack and others have attempted to identify it with the so-called "Second Epistle of Clement" (see CLEMENT OF ROME). The reverence for the pope's paternal letter is to be noticed. The traditional generosity of the Roman Church is again referred to by St. Dionysius of Alexandria to Pope Dionysius in the middle of the third century, and Eusebius says it still continued in his time. Nothing further is known of this pope.
According to the Roman Martyrology, St. Sotor was martyred on April 22 on the Appian Way in Rome. He is buried in the church of St. Sixtus; in the cemetery of St. Callistus, there is a cella (a memorial chapel) dedicated to his memory.

283, to 22 April, 296 Pope Caius lived in the time of peace before the last great persecution. He was pope for twelve years, four months, and seven days, from 17 December, 283, to 22 April, 296, according to the Liberian catalogue (Harnack, Chronol., I, 155, after Lipsius and Lightfoot); Eusebius is wrong in giving him fifteen years. He is mentioned in the 4th-century "Depositio Episcoporum" (therefore not as a martyr): X kl maii Caii in Callisti. He was buried in the chapel of the popes in that cemetary. Nothing whatever is known of his life.
He lived in the time of peace before the last great persecution.
178 St. Epiphanius and Alexander young Martyrs of Lyons France
They were young when they died. Epidodius was beheaded.
178 SS. EPIPODIUS AND ALEXANDER, MARTYRS
THE persecution of Christians during the reign of Marcus Aurelius raged with special severity in the city of Lyons. Amongst the victims were two young men, Epipodius and Alexander. They had been friends from childhood, and after the martyrdom of St Pothinus and his companions they left Lyons for a neighbouring town, where they lay hid in the house of a widow. They were eventually arrested, Epipodius in trying to escape losing a shoe, which was treasured as a relic. When brought before the governor they readily acknowledged themselves to be Christians. The people raised an outcry, but the governor marvelled that in spite of the tortures and executions which had already taken place men were still willing to profess Christianity. Having separated the two, he addressed Epipodius, who as the younger appeared the weaker, and by cajolery sought to overcome his resolution. The martyr remaining unmoved, the exasperated magistrate ordered him to be struck on the mouth, but with bleeding lips Epipodius continued to profess his faith until he was stretched on the rack and his sides torn by iron claws. Then, to satisfy the people who clamoured for his death, the governor ordered him to be beheaded.
Two days later came the turn of his friend. Reminded of the fate of Epipodius, he thanked God for his example and expressed a fervent desire to join him. Although three executioners took turns in scourging Alexander as he lay on the rack with his legs extended, yet with undaunted courage he repeated his declaration of faith and his abhorrence of idols. He was sentenced to be crucified, but died the moment his mutilated limbs were fastened to the cross.

The acts of these martyrs have been printed both in the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. iii, and by Ruinart. Delehaye describes them as “pas trés importants” (Origines du Culte des Martyrs, p. 352).

Epipodius and Alexander MM (RM) Died 178. Epipodius and Alexander were young, unmarried men, friends of long standing. They lived at Lyons, France, as good Christians and tried to avoid capture by the pagans during the persecution of Marcus Aurelius by hiding with a widow who lived just outside the city. When they were captured, the judge mocked Epipodius, saying:
"We worship the gods with revels and jollity and festivity. You people follow a somber and sorrowful religion: you worship a man who was nailed to a cross, who could not endure that one enjoy all of life's pleasures, who condemns joy and is pleased to have worshippers exhausted by fastings. After all, what can one expect from a God who could not guarantee his own life.
"Too bad that a young man like you should perish for the defense of a bad cause. Do you take us for atheists? Do we not also have a religion and gods? Our gods love joy, banquets, the succulent pleasures of life form part of their cult."
The crowd cried out. Epipodius said nothing in reply, and the judge order him to be killed by the sword. Two days later his friend Alexander was flogged and then crucified (Attwater2, Benedictines, Bentley, Encyclopedia).

202 St. Leonides of Alexandria noted scholar Martyred father of Origen
Alexandríæ natális sancti Leónidæ Mártyris, qui sub Sevéro passus est.
    At Alexandria, the birthday of the martyr St. Leonides, who suffered under Severus.
A noted scholar in his own right, Leonides was imprisoned in Alexandria, Egypt, and was beheaded.
202 ST LEONIDES, MARTYR
THE most illustrious of the Alexandrian martyrs who suffered during the reign of the Emperor Severus was a learned Christian philosopher called Leonides. He was a married man, and the eldest of his seven sons was the great scholar Origen, whom he loved dearly and educated himself with the utmost care. When the persecution was at its height at Alexandria under Laetus, governor of Egypt, Leonides was cast into prison.
Origen, at that time only seventeen years old, was consumed by a desire for martyrdom, and so eager to go forth to seek it that his mother locked up all his clothes to keep him at home. He then wrote a touching letter to his father exhorting him to accept with courage and joy the crown that was offered him, adding, “Take heed, sir, that you do not, for our sakes, change your mind”. Leonides was beheaded in the year 202, his property being confiscated and his family reduced to great poverty.

Nearly all that we know of St Leonides is derived from bit vi of Eusebius’s Ecclesiastical History.

Leonides of Alexandria M (RM) (also known as Leonidas)The Alexandrian martyr Leonides was the father of seven children, one of whom was Origen whose clothes had to be concealed by his mother in order to prevent him from accompanying his father to his martyrdom. He was himself a distinguished philosopher. Prior to his beheading under Laetus, governor of Egypt, during the reign of Septimus Severus, his property was confiscated and he was imprisoned for being a Christian (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).

The Holy Martyr Leonidas  April 22  SerbianOrthodoxChurch.net
The father of Origen, he suffered for Christ in Alexandria in 202. First, by imperial decree, all his goods were confiscated and then he was condemned to death.
Origen wrote to his father in prison: `Father, do not worry about us, and do not flee from martyrdom on our account.' 
202 Rufus of Glendalough, Hermit at Glendalough (AC)
(also known as Rufin). Saint Rufus was a hermit at Glendalough, where he was buried. Some writers call him a bishop (Benedictines, Husenbeth).
250 St. Parmenius, Chrysoteins, and Helimenas died for the Faith
Three priests who, with the deacons Luke and Mucius, were put to death for the Faith. Probably beheaded, they died near Babylon during the Roman invasion of Mesopotamia by Emperor Trajanus Decius.
Parmenius and Companions MM (RM) The priests Parmenius, Helimenas, and Chrysotelus, and the deacons Luke and Mucius were beheaded near Babylon when Emperor Decius invaded Mesopotamia (Benedictines).
282  The Departure of the Holy Father Anba Maximus The Fifteenth Pope of Alexandria.

On this day, that coincides with the ninth of April, 282 A.D., the holy father Anba Maximus, 15th Pope of Alexandria, departed. This father was born in Alexandria from Christian parents who raised and educated him well. He excelled in the Greek language. Then he learned the doctrine of the church and was a man that feared God.

Pope Heraclas, 13th Pope, ordained him deacon on the church of Alexandria. Then Pope Dionysius, 14th Pope, ordained him priest. Because of his advancement in virtues and knowledge, the fathers the bishops chose him for the Episcopal Chair after the departure of Pope Dionysius, and he was ordained on the twelfth of Hatour (November 9th., 264 A.D.).

Shortly after his enthronement, he received a letter from the council of Antioch, which included the grounds for excommunicating Paul of Samosata and his followers. He read it to the priests of Alexandria and issued a letter and sent it along with the letter of the council to all the cities of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Nuba. This was to warn them from the heresy of Paul of Samosata, which was abolished by the death of this heretic.
Pope Maximus fought and guarded his flock, confirmed them in the faith with sermons and admonitions for seventeen years and five days, then departed in peace.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.

296 Saint Caius, Pope Dalmatian M (RM)
Item Romæ sancti Caji, Papæ et Mártyris; qui martyrio coronátus est sub Diocletiáno Príncipe.
  In the same city, Pope St. Caius, was crowned with martyrdom under Emperor Diocletian.

All that is known about Saint Caius has come to us through unreliable tradition. It is said that Pope Caius was a Dalmatian and a relative of Emperor Diocletian. December 17, 283, he became pope. During the tranquil initial years of his pontificate, Caius decreed that bishops must be priests before consecration to the episcopacy. He is honored as a martyr because of his sufferings: During Diocletian's persecution of Christians, he fled and was forced to live for eight years in concealment in a cave or the catacombs. The degree of unreliability of this tradition is demonstrated by the fact that the Diocletian persecution did not begin until six or seven years after his death (Attwater2, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).
Saint Caius is portrayed in art wearing the papal tiara with Saint Nereus. He is venerated in Dalmatia and Venice (Roeder).
342 St. Abdiesus deacon in the Christian community of Persia martyrdom w/others by King Shapur II
Eódem die sanctórum plurimórum Mártyrum, qui, sequénti anno post óbitum Simeónis, ánnuo item die quo passiónis Domínicæ memória celebrabátur, per totam Pérsidis regiónem, pro Christi nómine, sub Rege Sápore, gládio cædi jussi sunt.  In quo fídei certámine passus est Azades eunúchus, Regi caríssimus; Milles Epíscopus, sanctitáte et miraculórum virtúte insígnis; Acépsimas Epíscopus, cum Presbytero suo Jacóbo, item Aíthala et Josépho Presbyteris, Azadáne et Abdiéso Diáconis, et complúribus áliis Cléricis; Maréas quoque et Bicor Epíscopi, cum áliis vigínti Epíscopis, et Cléricis fere ducéntis quinquagínta, Mónachis étiam et sacris Virgínibus plúrimis.  Has inter Vírgines fuit étiam sancti Simeónis Epíscopi soror, nómine Tárbula, cum pedíssequa sua; quæ, stipítibus alligátæ serráque scissæ, crudelíssime necátæ sunt.
    The same day, many holy martyrs who, the year following the death of St. Simeon, and on the anniversary of the Passion of our Lord, were put to the sword for the name of Christ throughout Persia, under King Sapor.  Among those who then suffered for the faith were the eunuch Azades, a favorite of the king; Milles, a bishop renowned for sanctity and miracles; Bishop Acepsimas with one of his priests named James; also Aithalas and Joseph, priests; Azadan and Abdiesus, deacons, and many other clerics; Mareas and Bicor, bishop, with twenty other bishops, and nearly two hundred and fifty clerics; many monks and consecrated virgins, among whom was the sister of St. Simeon, called Tarbula, with her maid, who were both killed in a most cruel manner by being tied to stakes and sawn asunder.
Also called Hebed Jesus, a deacon in the Christian community of Persia who was caught up in the persecutions conducted by King Shapur II(310–379). Records indicate that Abdiesus was accompanied in his martyrdom by Abrosimus, Acepsimus, Azadanes, Azades, Bicor, Mareas, Milles, and a women named Tarbula. Some were Persian courtiers, others priests and bishops. Tarbula was the sister of St. Simeon, and suffered a particularly cruel death by sawing.
342 Abrosimus of Persia priest stoned to death with many of his flock M (RM)
Item in Pérside sanctórum Parménii, Heliménæ et Chrysóteli Presbyterórum, Lucæ et Múcii Diaconórum; quorum triúmphus martyrii in passióne sanctórum Abdon et Sennen habétur.
    Also in Persia, Saints Parmenius, Helimenas, and Chrysotelus, priests; Lucas and Mucius, deacons, whose triumph is related in the Acts of Saints Abdon and Sennen.

(also known as Abrosima) feast day is November 10 in the Orthodox Church. Saint Abrosimus, a Persian priest, was stoned to death with many of his flock under King Shapur II (Benedictines).
342 Azadanes (Azadames) Azades Tharba & Companions Died in Persia MM (RM)
Azadanes, a deacon, and Azades, a high- standing officer at the court of the Persian King Shapur II, were martyred together with Abdeisus and others (Benedictines).
342 Mareas and Companions 21 bishops 250 priests monks nuns vast number of laity MM (RM)
Bishop Mareas was another martyr under King Shapur II. Together with him suffered 21 others bishops, nearly 250 priests, many monks and nuns, and a vast number of laity. The church of Persia was brought to the verge of extinction (Benedictines).
345 St. Tarbula Virgin martyr sister of St. Simeon, the Persian bishop and martyr
also listed as:, Tarba or Tarbo. The sister of St. Simeon, the Persian bishop and martyr, she was consecrated a virgin and met her own martyrdom soon after the death of her brother. Accused of practicing witchcraft and of causing sickness to befall the wife of the ardently anti-Christian Persian king Shapur, she was condemned and executed by being sawed in half.
Tarbula of Persia VM (RM)(also known as Pherbutha, Tarbo, Tarba)
Died May 5, 345. Tarbula was the virgin sister of the great bishop-martyr Saint Simeon Barsabba'e. After her brother's death, Tarbula was accused by the Jews of having used witchcraft to cause King Shapur's wife to sicken. She was sawn in half together with her sister and another woman (Attwater, Benedictines).
376 St. Acepsimas Bishop (80 yr) martyr victim of the Persian persecutions in Hnaita, Persia
He was arrested during the anti-Christian campaigns of King Shapur II and was taken before a court where he publicly announced his faith. Records indicate that Acepsimas, the local bishop, was more than eighty when he was arrested. As a result of his steadfastness, he was tortured to death.
Acepsimas of Hnaita BM (RM) (also known as Acesimus of Honit)
Died October 10, 376. Saint Acepsimas, an octogenarian bishop of Hnaita (Honita) in Assyria (western Persia), was racked and flogged to death under Shapur II. His acta are quite authentic-- recorded by Saint Maruthas, a near contemporary, and mentioned by Sozomen. The priests Aithala and Joseph suffered with him. The Roman Martyrology commemorates many others who suffered about this time in the same persecution.
Maruthas writes that in the 37th of the 40 years of persecution a new edict was published that stated: "They abolish our doctrine; they teach men to worship one only God, and forbid them to adore the sun or fire; they use water for profane washing; they forbid persons to marry, to be soldiers in the king's armies, or to strike any one; they permit all sorts of animals to be killed, and they suffer the dead to be buried; they say that serpents and scorpions were made, not by the devil, but by God himself."
These were the charges laid upon the ancient Bishop Acepsimas, who was arrested and taken to the governor in Arbela. When asked how he could deny the divinity of the sun, the bishop expressed astonishment that any man would prefer a creature to the Creator. For this insolence he was thrown to the ground, scourged, and then imprisoned.
Meanwhile the priest Joseph of Bethcatuba and Deacon Aithalas of Beth-nudra, who was renowned for his eloquence, sanctity, and learning, were brought before the same governor. Joseph answered the charges much as Acepsimas did: that he was a Christian, and had always taught the sun to be an inanimate creature. This response resulted him Joseph being stretched on the ground and beaten successively by ten executioners until his body seemed to be one open wound. Seeing what they had done to his body, Joseph said: "I return you the greatest thanks I am able, Christ, the Son of God, who have granted me this mercy, and washed me with this second baptism of my blood, to wipe away my sins." This infuriated his persecutors, who redoubled their efforts to tear his body apart (Benedictines). In art, Saint Acepsimas is an Oriental bishop loaded with chains. He is venerated in the Eastern Church (Roeder).
St. Bicor A Persian martyr bishop unknown
Bicor was a bishop who was martyred in the persecution conducted by the Sassanid King Shapur II (310–379).
376 St. Joseph of Persia with St. Acepsimas Martyred
He suffered with St. Acepsimas under King Shapur II(310–379) in the remorseless persecution of Christians conducted by that ruler.
377 Aithalas of Persia priest M (RM)
(also known as Aithilahas) Aithalas was a Persian priest (or deacon) of bishop Acepsimas (Benedictines).
St. Mareas Martyred bishop of Persia with 21 companion bishops 250 priests monks nuns and laypeople
King Shapur II(310–379) conducted this dreadful martyrdom, which brought the Church in Persia to the verge of extinction.
380 St. Milles bishop Martyr of Persia
He was a Persian bishop put to death by King Shapur II of Persia with St. Abdiesus and many other companions.
4th v. Abdiesus the Deacon Persian martyr M (RM)
(also known as Hebedjesus) 4th century. Abdiesus was one of the vast multitude of Persians martyred under King Shapur II. This persecution lasted from 341 to 380. Abdiesus is styled a deacon in the Roman Martyrology, and is probably not to be confused with another martyr of the same name who was bishop of Cashcar (Benedictines).
536 Pope Agapitus I archdeacon opposed Monophysites Pope (RM) in the opinion of Pope St Gregory I he was “a trumpet of the gospel and a herald of righteousness”.
Constantinópoli sancti Agapíti Papæ Primi, cujus sánctitas a beáto Gregório Magno commendátur.  Ipsíus autem corpus, póstea Romam relátum, in Vaticáno cónditum est.
    At Constantinople, Pope St. Agapitus the First, whose sanctity was praised by St. Gregory the Great.  His body was afterwards taken to Rome and buried in the Vatican.
536  ST AGAPITUS I, POPE   
ST AGAPITUS, son of a Roman priest called Gordian, was a deacon of the church of SS. John and Paul when he was elected to the chair of St Peter on the death of John II in 535. He was already an old man, and he survived for less than eleven months, most of which time was taken up by a visit to Constantinople on behalf of the Ostrogothic King Theodahad. Agapitus had to pawn some church vessels to pay the expenses of his journey, and his political mission was not successful. But he did manage, by standing up to the great Justinian, to get the monophysite patriarch Anthimus removed from the see of Constantinople, and Agapitus himself consecrated the monk St Mennas in his place He died in Constantinople, and his body was brought back to Rome. The most important thing known about St Agapitus personally is that in the opinion of Pope St Gregory I he was “a trumpet of the gospel and a herald of righteousness”.

St Agapitus was formerly named in the Roman Martyrology on September 20, and the notice of him in the Acta Sanctorum will be found under that day (vol. vi). See also the Liber Pontificalis with Duchesne’s notes; Grisar, Geschichte Roms and der Päpste (Eng. trans.), § 326, etc. ; and DHG., vol. i, cc. 887—890.

Died in Constantinople on April 22, 536. The Roman Agapitus, son of a murdered priest named Gordian, was archdeacon of the Roman clergy and an old man when elected pope on May 13, 535. As pope he showed great vigor in opposing the Monophysites. He died while on a mission for the Ostrogoth King Theodahad to convince Justinian to forego a threatened invasion of Italy. Agapitus was unsuccessful, but while there he convinced Justinian to remove Patriarch Anthimus, a Monophysite, and replace him with Mennas, whom Agapitus consecrated. His body was taken back to Rome on September 20, on which date a second feast is celebrated in the Roman Martyrology. Like many other Italian saints on the period, he owes his cultus to the devotion of Saint Gregory the Great (Benedictines, Delaney).
541 St. Leo of Sens Bishop of Sens defended the rights of his see
Apud Senónas sancti Leónis, Epíscopi et Confessóris.    At Sens, St. Leo, bishop and confessor.
France, who defended the rights of his see against the claims of the Frankish king Childebert
Leo of Sens B (RM) Saint Leo was bishop of Sens for 23 years defending the rights of his own see against the pretensions of King Childebert and reproved Saint Remigius (530) (Attwater2, Benedictines).
7th v. St. Authaire Confessor and patron of La-Feste-sur-Jouarre 7th century
in France. He was a courtier of King Dagobert I, ruler of Frankish Austrasia and king of the Franks and was a father of St. Oys of Rouen.
610 Saint Vitalius, a monk of the monastery of St Seridus, arrived in Alexandria when St John the Merciful (November 12) was Patriarch of Alexandria.    John_the_Merciful_by_Titian many miraculous healings over his grave;
Vitalius, monk at Gaza. He lived under the abbot Serid(i)on near Gaza. Vitalius went to Alexandria, he was then about sixty years. John the Almoner was at that time bishop of Alexandria (610-619). Vitalius feigned a licentious life and he visited the house of the harlots to convert them. After his death in Alexandria, his innocence was proved; and his accuser converted and entered the monastery at Gaza under the abbot Serid(i)on, and he occupied the cell that was once occupied by Vitalius. The feast of Vitalius is on Jan 11 in the Greek synaxaria.

When he was sixty years old, undertook an extraordinary task: he wrote down from memory the names of all the prostitutes of Alexandria and he began to pray for them. He worked from morning to evening, earning twelve copper coins each day. In the evening the saint bought a single bean, which he ate after sunset. Then he would give the rest of the money to one of the harlots, whom he visited at night and said, "I beg you, take this money and do not sin with anyone tonight." Then he stayed with the harlot in her room. While she slept, the Elder spent the whole night at prayer, reading the Psalms, and quietly left in the morning.

He did this each day, visiting all the harlots in turn, and he made them promise to keep the purpose of his visit secret. The people of Alexandria, not knowing the truth, became indignant over the the monk's behavior, and they reviled him. However, he meekly endured their scorn, and he only asked that they not judge others.

The holy prayers of St Vitalius saved many fallen women. Some of them went to a monastery, others got married, and others found respectable work. But they were forbidden to tell anyone the reason why they had changed their life, and thereby stop the abuse heaped upon St Vitalius. They were bound by an oath they had made to the saint. When of the woman began to break her oath and stood up to defend the saint, she fell into a demonic frenzy. After this, the people of Alexandria had no doubt concerning the sinfulness of the monk.

Certain of the clergy, scandalized by the behavior of St Vitalius, reported him to the holy Patriarch John the Merciful. But the Patriarch did not believe the informers and he said, "Cease to judge, especially monks. Don't you know what happened at the First Council of Nicea? Some of the bishops and the clergy brought letters of denunciation against each other to the emperor St Constantine the Great (May 21). He commanded that a burning candle be brought, and not even reading the letters, he burned them and said, "If I had seen with my own eyes a bishop sinning, or a priest, or a monk, then I would have veiled such with his garb, so that no one might see his sin." Thus the wise hierarch shamed the calumniators.
St Vitalius continued on with his difficult exploit: appearing himself before people under the guise of a sinner and a prodigal, he led the prodigal to repentance.

One time, emerging from an house of ill repute, the monk encountered a young man going there -- a prodigal fellow, who with an insult struck him on the cheek and cried out, that the monk was a disgrace to the Name of Christ. The monk answered him: "Believe me, that after me, humble man that I be, thou also shalt receive such a blow on the cheek, that will have all Alexandria thronging to thine cry".
A certain while afterwards St Vitalius settled into a small cell and in it at night he died. At that very hour a terrifying demon appeared before the youth who had struck the saint, and the demon struck the youth on the cheek and cried out: "Here is a knock from St Vitalius." The youth went into a demonic madness. In a frenzy he thrashed about on the ground, tore the clothing from himself and howled so loudly, that a multitude of people gathered.
When the youth finally came to his senses after several hours, he then rushed off to the cell of the monk, calling out: "Have mercy on me, O servant of God, for I have sinned against thee." At the door of the cell he came fully to his senses and he told those gathered there about his former encounter with St Vitalius. Then the youth knocked on the door of the cell, but he received no answer. When they broke in the door, they then saw, that the monk was dead, on his knees before an icon. In his hand was a scroll with the words: "Men of Alexandria, judge not beforehand, til cometh the Lord, the Righteous Judge".

At this moment there came up the demon-possessed woman, punished by the monk for wanting to violate the secret of his exploit. Having touched the body of the saint, she was healed and told the people about everything that had happened with her.
When the women who had been saved by St Vitalius learned about his death, they gathered together and told everyone about the virtues and mercy of the saint.

St John the Merciful also rejoiced, in that he had not believed the calumniators, and that a righteous man had not been condemned. And then together with the throng of repentant women, converted by St Vitalius, the holy Patriarch solemnly conveyed his remains throughout all the city and gave them reverent burial. And from that time many of the Alexandria people made themselves a promise to judge no one.

Our Holy Father, the Monk Vitalis  April 22)  SerbianOrthodoxChurch.net
In the time of Patriarch John the Merciful a young monk appeared, who, as soon as he arrived, compiled a list of all the prostitutes in Alexandria. His way of asceticism was exceptional and singular. During the day he hired himself out for the heaviest work, and at night he went into the brothels, gave the money he had earned to some prostitute and shut himself in her room with her for the whole night. As soon as he had shut the door, Vitalis begged the woman to lie down and sleep, while he spent the entire night in a corner of the room in prayer to God for that sinner. So he kept the sinner from sinning even for one night. The second night he would go to another, the third to another, and so on in order until he had gone through them all, then he went back to the one with whom he had started. By his counsel, many of these sinners left their foul calling; some married, others went to a monastery and others began some honest work for payment. All these women were forbidden by Vitalis to say why he came to them. As a result, he became a scandal to the whole of Alexandria. People reviled him in the streets, spat on him and buffeted him. But he bore it all patiently, revealing his good works to the Lord but concealing them from men. When he died, all became known about him. There began to be many miraculous healings over his grave; people came from various places, bringing their sick to it. Spat on by men, he was and is glorified by the all-seeing God. 
613 St. Theodore of Sykeon (Galatia) Abbot bishop cured a royal prince of leprosy gifts of prophecy and miracles bestowed on him by God
Anastasiópoli, in Galátia, sancti Theodóri Epíscopi, miráculis clari.         At Anastasiopolis in Galatia, St. Theodore, a bishop well known for his miracles.

613 ST THEODORE OF SYKEON, BISHOP OF ANASTASIOPOLIS

ST THEODORE was born in the Galatian town of Sykeon in Asia Minor, the son of a harlot who kept an inn. From infancy he was so given to prayer that as a schoolboy he often deprived himself of his meal to spend the dinner hour in church. At an early age he shut himself up, first in a cellar of his mother’s house and then in a cave under a disused chapel.. The desire to escape still more completely from the world led him subsequently to take up his abode for a time on a desert mountain. He assumed the monastic habit when on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and received ordination to the priesthood from his own bishop. His life was extremely austere. Vegetables were his only food, but of these he partook most sparingly, and he wore an iron girdle about his body. Endowed with the gifts of prophecy and of miracles, he obtained by his prayers, when on a second visit to the Holy Land, an abundant fall of rain after a severe drought.

Several monasteries were founded by St Theodore, notably one near an ancient chapel dedicated in honour of St George, to whom he had a great devotion, and another at his native town of Sykeon. Over the latter he ruled as abbot, although he continued to reside mainly in a remote and secluded cell. Maurice, the general of the armies of the Emperor Tiberius, upon his return from his victorious cam­paign in Persia, visited the saint, who foretold to him his accession to the imperial throne. When the prophecy was fulfilled in 582, Maurice did not fail to commend himself and his empire to the holy man’s prayers. By main force Theodore was consecrated bishop of Anastasiopolis—a post for which he felt himself totally unfitted—but after ten years he succeeded in obtaining leave to resign. From Sykeon whither he joyfully retired he was recalled to Constantinople to bless the emperor and senate, and he then cured one of the emperor’s sons of a skin disease, supposed to be leprosy. St Theodore died at Sykeon on April 22, 613. He had done much to propagate and popularize the cultus of St George.

There is a long account of this St Theodore, written by a contemporary. Perhaps for modern taste it is too much a succession of wonders, anecdotes and encounters with demoniacs, and it is not free from what Dr Baynes calls that “portentous rhetoric which often makes the reading of Byzantine hagiography a weariness of the flesh”. But it is a fascinating work for all that and, again to quote Dr. Baynes, “the best picture known to us of life in Asia Minor in the Byzantine period before the Arab invasions of the empire”.
In the Acta Sanctorum for April, vol. iii, is the Latin translation of the Greek biography, which purports to have been written by a disciple of the saint, Eleusius, called George. The Greek text has been published by Theophilus Joannis, and there is an excellent English version, a little abridged, in E. Dawes and N. H. Baynes, Three Byzantine Saints (1948). There is also the Greek text of a lengthy “Encomium” by Nicephorus Scevophylax which adds other details. This has been edited in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xx (1901), pp. 249—272.

Saint Theodore the Sykeote was born in the mid-sixth century in the village of Sykeon, not far from the city of Anastasiopolis (in Galatia, Asia Minor), into a pious family. When his mother Maria conceived the saint, she had a vision of a bright star overshadowing her womb. A clairvoyant Elder, whom she consulted, explained that this was the grace of God being poured forth on the infant in her womb.

When the boy reached the age of six, his mother presented him with a golden belt, since she intended that her son should become a soldier. That night the Holy Great Martyr George (April 23) appeared to her in a dream, and he told her not to consider military service for her son, because the boy was destined to serve God. The saint's father, Cosmas, had served as a messenger of the emperor Justinian the Great (527-565), and he died at an early age. The boy remained in the care of his mother, and his grandmother Elpis, his aunt Dispenia and his little sister Vlatta also lived with them.
In school, St Theodore displayed great apptitude in his studies, chief of which was an uncommon ability for reasoning and wisdom. He was quiet, mild, he always knew how to calm his comrades, and he did not permit fights or quarrels among them.
The pious Elder Stephen also lived at his mother's house. Imitating him, St Theodore at the age of eight began to eat only a small morsel of bread in the evening during Great Lent. So that his mother should not force him to take supper with everyone, the boy returned home from school only toward evening, after he had partaken of the Holy Mysteries with Elder Stephen. At the request of his mother, the teacher began to send him home to supper at the end of his lessons. St Theodore, however, ran to the church of the Great Martyr George, where the saint appeared to him in the form of a youth, and ushered him into the church.
When St Theodore turned ten, he fell deathly ill. They brought him to the church of St John the Baptist and placed him in front of the altar. The boy was healed by two drops of water that fell from the face of the Savior in the dome of the temple. At this time the Great Martyr George began appearing to the boy at night, and also leading him to his own temple to pray until morning. His mother, fearing the dangers of the forest at night, urged her son not to go at night.
Once, when the boy had already gone, she angrily followed him to the church, and she dragged him out by the hair and tied him to his bed. But that very night the Great Martyr George appeared to her in a dream, and commanded her not to hinder the child from going to church. Both Elpis and Dispenia had the same vision. The women then understood St Theodore's special calling, and they no longer hindered him. Even his little sister Vlatta began to imitate him.
At twelve years of age, the saint had a dream in which he saw Christ on the Throne of Glory, Who said to him, "Struggle, Theodore, so that you may obtain a perfect reward in the Kingdom of Heaven."

theodore_sykeote.jpg
From that time, St Theodore began to intensify his labors. He spent both the First Week of Great Lent and the Week of the Veneration of the Cross in complete silence.
The devil considered how to destroy him. He appeared to the saint in the form of his classmate Gerontius, and urged him to jump off a precipice, but the Great Martyr George saved the boy.

Another time, the boy went into the desert to obtain the blessing of the Elder Glycerius. Then there was a terrible drought throughout the land, and the Elder said, "Child, let us pray to the Lord on bended knee, asking Him to send rain. Then we shall learn whether our prayers are pleasing to the Lord." The old man and the boy began to pray, and immediately it began to rain. Then the Elder said to St Theodore, that the grace of God was upon him, and he blessed him to become a monk when the time came.

When he was fourteen, St Theodore left home and lived near the church of the Great Martyr George. His mother brought him food, but St Theodore left everything on the stones by the church, and he ate only a single prosphora each day. Even at such a young age, St Theodore was granted the gift of healing. Through his prayers a demon-possessed youth was restored to health.  St Theodore then fled human glory and he withdrew into complete solitude. Under a large boulder not far from the church of St George, he dug a cave and persuaded a certain deacon to cover over the entrance with earth, leaving only a small opening for air. The deacon brought him bread and water and he told no one,where the monk had hidden himself.  For two years St Theodore lived in this seclusion and complete quiet. His relatives mourned for the saint, thinking that he had been devoured by wild beasts.
The deacon finally revealed the secret, since he was afraid that St Theodore would perish in the narrow cave, and moreover he pitied the weeping mother. They took St Theodore out of the cave barely alive.
The mother wanted to take her son home and nurse him back to health, but the saint remained near the church of St George, and after several days he was completely well.

News of the youth's exploits reached the local bishop Theodosius, who ordained him to the diaconate, and later to the holy priesthood, although the saint was only seventeen years old at the time.
After a certain while St Theodore went to venerate the holy places in Jerusalem, and there at the Chozeba Lavra near Jordan, he received monastic tonsure.
When he returned to his native land, he again continued to live near the church of St George.
His grandmother Elpis, his sister Vlatta and his mother entered a women's monastery on the saint's advice, and his aunt died in a good confession.

The ascetic life of the young hieromonk attracted to him people seeking salvation. The saint tonsured the youth Epiphanius, and later on a pious woman, healed by the saint from her sickness, brought him her son Philoumenus. Then the virtuous youth John also came to him. Thus brethren gradually gathered around the monk.
St Theodore continued in his harsh labors. At his request a blacksmith made him an iron cage without a roof, and so narrow that it was scarcely possible to stand. In this cage the monk stood in heavy chains from Holy Pascha until the Nativity of Christ. From the Baptism of the Lord until Holy Pascha he secluded himself in his cave, from which he emerged only for church services on Saturdays and Sundays. Throughout the whole of the forty-day Fast the saint ate only greens, and bread on Saturdays and Sundays.
Living in such manner, he received from the Lord the power over wild animals. Bears and wolves came up to him and took food from his hand. Through the saint's prayers, those afflicted with leprosy were healed, and demons were cast out from whole districts. In the nearby village of Magatia, when locusts threatened the crops, people turned to St Theodore for help. He sent them to church. After Divine Liturgy, which he served, the villagers returned home and learned that during the service all the locusts had died.
When the military commander Mauricius was returning to Constantinople by way of Galatia after a Persian war, the monk predicted that he would become emperor. The prediction came true, and the emperor Mauricius (582-602) fulfilled the saint's request: he sent bread to the monastery each year for the multitude of people being fed there.  The small temple of St George could not accommodate all those who wanted to pray in it. Then through the efforts of the saint a beautiful new church was built. During this while the Bishop of Anastasiopolis happened to die. The people of the city requested Metropolitan Paul of Ancyra to install St Theodore as their bishop.
So that the saint would not resist, the messengers of the Metropolitan and the people of Anastasiopolis dragged him out of his cell by force and carried him into the city.

As bishop, St Theodore toiled much for the welfare of the Church, but his soul yearned for solitary communion with God. After several years he went to venerate the holy places in Jerusalem. And there, concealing his identity, he settled at the Lavra of St Sava, where he lived in solitude from the Nativity of Christ until Pascha. Then the Great Martyr George led him to return to Anastasiopolis.
Secret enemies tried to poison the saint, but the Mother of God gave him three small pieces of grain. The saint ate them and remained unharmed. St Theodore felt weighed down with the burden of being a bishop and he asked Patriarch Cyriacus of Constantinople (595-606) for a release to return to his own monastery and celebrate the services there.

Theodore's sanctity was so evident that when he celebrated the Eucharist, the grace of the Holy Spirit appeared as a radiant purple light, overshadowed the Holy Gifts.
One time, when the saint elevated the discus with the holy Lamb and proclaimed "Holy things are for the holy," the holy Lamb floated up in the air, and then settled again upon the discus.
The Orthodox Church venerated St Theodore as a saint, even while he was still alive.

In one of the cities of Galatia, a terrible event occurred: during a church procession the wooden crosses being carried began to strike each other by themselves, with the result that Patriarch Thomas (607-610, March 21) summoned St Theodore, asking him the meaning of this terrible portent. Having the gift of foresight, St Theodore explained that this indicated coming misfortunes for the Church of God (he was prophetically indicating the future heresy of the Iconoclasts). In his grief the holy Patriarch Thomas begged the saint to pray that he would soon die, so that he would not witness the coming woe.
In the year 610 the holy Patriarch Thomas reposed, having asked the blessing of St Theodore. St Theodore also departed to the Lord.

A native of Sykeon, in Galatia, Asia Minor, he was the son of a Byzantine imperial messenger and possibly of a prostitute. Entering a monastery in Jerusalem, he served there for many years until becoming abbot of a number of monastic institutions. He predicted the rise of Emperor Maurice and cured a royal prince of leprosy. About 590, he was appointed bishop of Anastasiopol in Galatia.

Theodore of Sykeon (Sikion) B (RM) (also known as Theodore of Sikion) Born in Sykeon, Galatia, Asia Minor; died April 22, 613. The beginning of Theodore's life was infortuitous: He was the bastard child of a girl named Mary who, with her sister, kept an inn at the village of Sykeon. They prostituted themselves to their customers. His father was a circus artist, who specialized in acrobatic camel- riding and had nothing to do with his son. Perhaps his mother was a nominal Christian--she had her son baptized.
When Theodore was only six, Mary wanted him to enter the service of the emperor. She prepared for him a gold belt and expensive clothing to make him presentable at court. Then Saint George (303 1/14 helpers) appeared to her in a dream and she abandoned this plan. Instead she arranged for Theodore's education with a local teacher.
About this time, the inn was transformed by the arrival of an elderly man, named Stephen, whose cooking transformed the inn into a place renowned for its cuisine. Thus, the women were able to forego prostitution as an additional source of income.
Even as a child, Theodore showed a propensity for holiness, which was encouraged by Stephen and heightened following his recovery from a near fatal attack of the bubonic plague. Theodore would skip dinner, depriving himself of nourishment, in order to spend the time in church praying at the shrine of Saint George. He would shut himself up in the cellar or in a cave under a disused chapel at Arkea, about eight miles from home. Later his mother married a prominent businessman of Ankara and left him with his grandmother and aunt, whom as a young man he converted to better ways.
Theodore himself became a monk when on a visit to Jerusalem. Reputedly at the age of 18, he was ordained to the priesthood by his own bishop. Theodore exercised considerable influence, perhaps because of the gifts of prophecy and miracles bestowed on him by God. It is said that he grew suspicious of a finely wrought chalice that turned out to have been made from a prostitute's chamber pot. As a priest-monk he led an austere life: He lived on vegetables, fasted frequently, and wore an iron girdle. When he settled in Mossyna, he helped in the treatment of girls believed to be troubled by unclean spirits.
Strangely, it is recorded that he requested that he be placed in a wooden cage from Christmas to Palm Sunday. Later, he moved into an iron cage suspended on the face of the rock in mid-air above his cave. As a penance he wore an iron breastplate (perhaps in remembrance of his favorite Saint George?) and iron rings for his hands and feet and an iron collar and belt. As is recorded of many Irish saints and desert Fathers, Saint Theodore is said to have been familiar with wild animals--even bears and wolves.
He founded monasteries in his own country and governed the one in his native town, although he frequently retired to a remote and secluded cell because his hermitage, transformed by many visitors seeking his counsel and disciples, had become a complex of buildings including a large church, monastery, and guest house.
In spite of his strong objection, about 590, Theodore was elected bishop of Anastasiopolis, not far from Turkey's capital of Ankara, and consecrated by Archbishop Paul of Ankara.

His episcopate was marked by a long series of miracles. An African monk, Antiochus, who came to see Theodore on behalf of a town pillaged by barbarians describes the saint: "He had eyebrows that met each other . . . was about a hundred years old, the hair of his head was as white as wool and hung down to his loins; so too did his beard, and his nails were very long. It was about sixty years since he had touched wine or oil, thirty since he had tasted bread. His food was uncooked vegetables with salt and vinegar; his drink water." Theodore helped Antiochus with his mission and consulted him about the possibility of resigning his episcopate.
Theodore wanted to resign because competing demands on his time-- governing his abbey and diocese--left too little time for prayer. Often his prayers were interrupted to settle disputes or deal with administrative details. The final straw was civil unrest in the villages that belonged to the Church and were entrusted to laymen who oppressed the villagers. Theodore was accused by one of them, Theodosius, with instigating the peasants to revolt. Theodosius finally kicked away the chair on which the bishop was sitting and knocked him on his back.
After 10 years Theodore resigned this office and retired to Saint Michael at Acrena (Akreina) near Pidrum (Tchardak) and Heliopolis. He visited his patron Emperor Maurice at Constantinople and healing one of the princes of a skin disease (leprosy or elephantiasis?). The emperor and empress invited him to their table. There it was decided that all the monasteries should have the power of sanctuary and that the appointment of abbots should be in the jurisdiction of the patriarch rather than the local bishops. Returning to his oratory, he lived as a monk again and continued to work miracles until his death at Sykeon. He was also a great promoter of the cultus of Saint George.
A long vita of Saint Theodore was written by one of his disciples; it is mostly a record of healings of the sick and the possessed and other marvels attributed to this holy man, and of anecdotes illustrating the virtues of his character. He seems to have become a physician and had the gift of reconciling married couples which led to barren wives having children. It does, however, provide a lively picture of life in Asia Minor just before the Arab occupation. Theodore's relics were translated to Constantinople (Attwater, Benedictines, Dawes, Farmer, Walsh).
686 Saints Arwalds Martyrs slain after Baptism by pagan King Cadwall
sons of Arwald, the prince of the Isle of Wight, just off the English coast. The martyrs are called Arwald because their proper names are not known. They were slain after Baptism by King Cadwall, who was a pagan.
Arwald and Arwald MM (AC) These martyrs are called by the name of their father, a prince of the Isle of Wight, whose proper names were lost. They were put to death by soldiers of King Ceadwalla, then a pagan, on the day after their baptism (Benedictines).
770 St. Opportuna Benedictine abbess many reputed miracles after death,

770 ST OPPORTUNA, VIRGIN AND ABBESS a life of humility, obedience, mortification and prayer; many reputed miracles after death,

ST OPPORTUNA was born near Hyesmes in Normandy. At an early age she entered a Benedictine convent near Almenèches, receiving the veil from her brother Chrodegang, bishop of Séez. As a simple nun and afterwards as abbess she edified the whole community by her piety and austerity. Her brother the bishop came to a violent end: he was murdered; and the tragic fate of this brother to whom she was warmly attached was so great a shock to St Opportuna that she died shortly afterwards, leaving behind the memory of a life of humility, obedience, mortification and prayer. The legends which grew up about her after her death, as well as many reputed miracles, made the saint very popular in France.
There is a life by Adelelmus, Bishop of Séez (best text in Mabillon, vol. iii, part a, pp. 222—231), but the prominence given to the miraculous element does not inspire confidence.  See also L. de Ia Sicotière, La vie de ste Opportune (1867), and Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux, vol. ii, pp. 231--234.

Born near Hyesmes, Normandy, she was the sister of St. Chrodegang, bishop of Seez, and entered a Benedictine convent at Monteuil, eventually becoming abbess. She died of shock after learning of her brother’s murder.
Opportuna of Montreuil, OSB V, Abbess (AC) Born near Ayesmes, Normandy; Saint Opportuna was the sister of Saint Chrodegang, bishop of Séez. When she was still very young, Opportuna received the veil from her brother and entered the Benedictine convent of Montreuil at Almenèches, three miles from Séez, where her cousin Saint Lantildis governed. (Chrodegang was killed on the way to visit the abbey.) Later Opportuna succeeded her cousin as abbess. Opportuna, a model of humility, obedience, mortification, and prayer, is described as "a true mother to all her nuns."
Her cultus has always flourished in France. In 1009, during the invasion of the Normans in the reign of Charles the Bald, her relics were translated to the priory of Moussy between Paris and Senlis. Later they were moved to Senlis. In 1374, her right arm and a rib were enshrined in a small church dedicated to her in Paris near a hermitage called Notre Dame des Bois Paris. As the city grew, so did the church. Most of Opportuna's head still rests at Moussy; her left arm and part of her skull at Almenèches; and a jaw bone in the priory of Saint Chrodegang at Île-Adam. The Parisien shrine is carried in processions with those of Saints Honoratus and Geneviève (Attwater2, Benedictines, Coulson, Husenbeth).
In art, Saint Opportuna holds an abbess's crozier and a casket of relics. She may also be shown with the Virgin appearing at her deathbed or as a princess with a basket of cherries and a fleur-de- lys (Roeder). She is venerated at Ayesmes in Normandy (Roeder).
982 St. Senorina Benedictine abbess
A relative of St. Rudesind of Mondonedo, Italy. She was placed into the care of her aunt, the abbess Godina, at a convent in Venaria and later entered the community and served as its abbess.
Segnorin of Basto, OSB V (AC) (also known as Senorina) Segnorin, related to Saint Rudesind of Mondoñedo, was entrusted to the care of her aunt, the abbess Godina of the convent of Saint John-de-Vieyra (Venaria). Segnorin later joined the community and succeeded her aunt. As abbess she moved the community to Basto in the diocese of Braga, Portugal (Attwater2, Benedictines). Saint Segnorin is depicted in art as an abbess reading in a library with a crucifix before her and a large jar at her side (Roeder).

1091 BD WOLFHELM, ABBOT was remarkable for devotion to the rule and love of the Bible, the study of which he urged upon all those under his charge. An admirable superior, he instilled into others what he practised himself——a life well balanced between action and contemplation; In a letter which he addressed to the abbot of Gladbach upon the errors of Berengarius he said: “In order to see the bread and the wine, he [Berengarius] uses the eyes of the body, but at the same time he closes the eyes of the soul and so he does not see the Body and Blood of the Lord”.

BD WOLFHELM was educated at the cathedral school of Cologne, and after his confirmation, which made a great impression upon him, he determined to conse­crate himself to God. He secretly left Cologne where he was well known, and received the habit from Abbot Bernard in the monastery of St Maximinus at Trier. Powerful representations led to his recall to Cologne, where he became a monk in the abbey of St Pantaleon, then under the rule of his uncle Henry. He had been there but a short time when he was made abbot of Gladbach, from whence he was chosen to rule the abbey of Siegburg; but he found himself overburdened with secular affairs and preferred to retire to the secluded monastery of Brauweiler, where he remained until his death.

He was remarkable for his devotion to the rule and for his love of the Bible, the study of which he urged upon all those under his charge. An admirable superior, he instilled into others what he practised himself——a life well balanced between action and contemplation. He was unflinching in maintaining the rights of the Church, whilst never resenting personal slights. Moreover, although he was intensely strict with himself, he was considerate with others and as lenient as was compatible with discipline. In a letter which he addressed to the abbot of Gladbach upon the errors of Berengarius he said: “In order to see the bread and the wine, he [Berengarius] uses the eyes of the body, but at the same time he closes the eyes of the soul and so he does not see the Body and Blood of the Lord”.  Bd Wolfhelm died at the age of seventy-one. His literary activity was consider­able and has left many traces in the controversies of the time.
A full but rather characterless life of Wolfhelm, written for edification after the manner of that period by Conrad, a monk of Brauweiler, is printed by Mabillon, by the Bollandists, and in Pens, MGH., Scriptores, vol. xii, pp. 180-195. Wolfhelm played a sufficiently conspicuous part in the history of the times to be noticed in such a work as Hauck’s Kir­chengeschichte Deutschlands, vol. iii, pp. 964-965.
1322 Blessed Francis Venimbene Franciscan; wrote defense of Portiuncula indulgence a great devotion to the holy souls for whom he celebrated requiem Mass with the utmost fervour OFM (AC) (also known as Francis of Fabriano)

1322 BD FRANCIS OF FABRIANO

IN the year 1251 there was born at Fabriano to a physician Compagno Venimbeni and his wife Margaret a baby who received the name of Francis. The child, who is said to have come into the world laughing instead of crying, grew up a devout and studious boy. He entered the Order of Friars Minor when only sixteen, and became equally distinguished for his sanctity and for his learning. At the close of his novitiate he went to Assisi to gain the Portiuncula indulgence. There he met Brother Leo, the secretary and confessor of the holy founder, and as the result of their conversations he afterwards wrote a treatise in defence of the indulgence. Bd Francis, who dearly loved books, is said to have been the first Franciscan to form a library. An eloquent and persuasive preacher, he succeeded in inducing three of his nephews to relinquish worldly prospects and to become Minorites like him­self. He had a great devotion to the holy souls for whom he celebrated requiem Mass with the utmost fervour. His own death took place after a lingering fever when he was seventy-one years of age, and his ancient cultus was approved in 1775. A life of Blessed Francis was written by Dominic of Fessis, one of the nephews mentioned above.
This was printed in the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. iii, from a very unsatisfactory copy. See also Léon, Aureole Seraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. ii, pp. 171—175; Tassi, Vita del B. Francesco Venimbeni (1893); and especially the few pages devoted to Bd Francis by Sabatier in his edition of Francis Bartholi, Tractatus de Indulgentia S. Mariae de Portiuncula, preface, pp. lxvi—lxix.
Born at Fabriano, Italy, in 1251; cultus confirmed in 1775. Francis, the son of a doctor, joined the Franciscans in 1267. He was a disciple of Saint Bonaventure (1221-1274). He founded the first Franciscan library and wrote a defense of the Portiuncula indulgence (Attwater2, Benedictines).

1466 BD BARTHOLOMEW OF CERVERE, MARTYR he attained the unusual distinction of receiving on one and the same day his licentiate, his doctor’s degree, and his admission to the magisterial college

The Dominican priory of Savigliano in Piedmont has had three martyrs, all in­quisitors. Bartholomew of Cervere was actually born at Savigliano, his father being lord of Ruffia, Cervere and Rosano. At an early age he entered the priory, and was sent to study at Turin, where he attained the unusual distinction of receiving on one and the same day his licentiate, his doctor’s degree, and his admission to the magisterial college, as may be seen in the university register. His exceptional qualifications led to his appointment to the position of inquisitor, which was one fraught with considerable danger, owing to the number of determined heretics in Piedmont. Bartholomew himself was aware of the fate that awaited him. On the morning after he had received a summons to go to Cervere, he made what was intended to be a last confession to one of his brethren, adding, “They call me Bartholomew of Cervere, although I have never been in the place. But I am going there to-day as inquisitor, and there I shall die.” His enemies were in fact lying in wait for him, and Bartholomew was murdered as he approached the town. His ancient cultus was approved by Pope Pius IX.
There is a short account of the beato in the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. ii, and in Procter, Lives of Dominican Saints, pp. 103—105. See also Taurisano, Catalogus Hagiographicus OP., p. 42, and C. F. Savio, Storia Compendiosa di Savigliano (1925).
1834 The Transfer of the Relics of Holy Prince Vsevolod-Gabriel of Pskov : See February 11.


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 132

To thee have I raised up mine eyes, O Queen: who reignest in Heaven.

Let our help be in the power of thy name: let all our works be directed by thee.

Blessed be thou in Heaven and on earth: in the sea and in all abysses.

Blessed be thy fecundity: blessed be thy virginity and purity.

Blessed be thy holy body: blessed be thy most holy soul.


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 heavenonly saints are allowed into heaven. The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.
There are over 10,000 named saints beati  from history
 and Roman Martyology Orthodox sources

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

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

My God, I believe, I adore, I trust and I love Thee.  I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not
O most Holy trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly.  I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the Tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended, and by the infite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  I beg the conversion of poor sinners,  Fatima Prayer, Angel of Peace
The voice of the Father is heard, the Son enters the water, and the Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove.
THE spirit and example of the world imperceptibly instil the error into the minds of many that there is a kind of middle way of going to Heaven; and so, because the world does not live up to the gospel, they bring the gospel down to the level of the world. It is not by this example that we are to measure the Christian rule, but words and life of Christ. All His followers are commanded to labour to become perfect even as our heavenly Father is perfect, and to bear His image in our hearts that we may be His children. We are obliged by the gospel to die to ourselves by fighting self-love in our hearts, by the mastery of our passions, by taking on the spirit of our Lord.
   These are the conditions under which Christ makes His promises and numbers us among His children, as is manifest from His words which the apostles have left us in their inspired writings. Here is no distinction made or foreseen between the apostles or clergy or religious and secular persons. The former, indeed, take upon themselves certain stricter obligations, as a means of accomplishing these ends more perfectly; but the law of holiness and of disengagement of the heart from the world is general and binds all the followers of Christ.
God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique each the result of a new idea.
As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike.
It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints.

Dear Lord, grant us a spirit not bound by our own ideas and preferences.
 
Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves.

O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory.
 
Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.
Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.
The 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary ) Revealed to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan)
1.    Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces. 2.    I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary. 3.    The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies. 4.    It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things.  Oh, that soul would sanctify them by this means.  5.    The soul that recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish. 6.    Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying themselves to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune.  God will not chastise them in His justice, they shall not perish by an unprovided death; if they be just, they shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life. 7.    Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church. 8.    Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise. 9.    I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary. 10.    The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.  11.    You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary. 12.    I shall aid all those who propagate the Holy Rosary in their necessities. 13.    I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death. 14.    All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ. 15.    Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
His Holiness Aram I, current (2013) Catholicos of Cilicia of Armenians, whose See is located in Lebanese town of Antelias. The Catholicosate was founded in Sis, capital of Cilicia, in the year 1441 following the move of the Catholicosate of All Armenians back to its original See of Etchmiadzin in Armenia. The Catholicosate of Cilicia enjoyed local jurisdiction, though spiritually subject to the authority of Etchmiadzin. In 1921 the See was transferred to Aleppo in Syria, and in 1930 to Antelias.
Its jurisdiction currently extends to Syria, Cyprus, Iran and Greece.
Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac
The exact date of the introduction of Christianity into Edessa {Armenian Ourhaï in Arabic Er Roha, commonly Orfa or Urfa, its present name} is not known. It is certain, however, that the Christian community was at first made up from the Jewish population of the city. According to an ancient legend, King Abgar V, Ushana, was converted by Addai, who was one of the seventy-two disciples. In fact, however, the first King of Edessa to embrace the Christian Faith was Abgar IX (c. 206) becoming official kingdom religion.
Christian council held at Edessa early as 197 (Eusebius, Hist. Ecc7V,xxiii).
In 201 the city was devastated by a great flood, and the Christian church was destroyed (“Chronicon Edessenum”, ad. an. 201).
In 232 the relics of the Apostle St. Thomas were brought from India, on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written.

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

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

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

Thus began a great adventure that would eventually result in the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, a Temple dedicated to the Divine Child Jesus, a place of refuge for all. Use this link to read a remarkable story about
The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament
Father Reardon, Editor of The Catholic Bulletin for 14 years Lover of the poor; A very Holy Man of God.
Monsignor Reardon Protonotarius Apostolicus
 
Pastor 42 years BASILICA OF SAINT MARY Minneapolis MN
America's First Basilica Largest Nave in the World
August 7, 1907-ground broke for the foundation
by Archbishop Ireland-laying cornerstone May 31, 1908
James M. Reardon Publication History of Basilica of Saint Mary 1600-1932
James M. Reardon Publication  History of the Basilica of Saint Mary 1955 {update}

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

The Church of Saint Mary of Saint Paul 1875-1922;
  (1932)
The Vikings in the American Heartland;
The Catholic Total Abstinence Society in Minnesota;
James Michael Reardon Born in Nova Scotia, 1872;  Priest, ordained by Bishop Ireland;
Member -- St. Paul Seminary faculty.
Affiliations and Indulgence Litany of Loretto in Stained glass windows here.  Nave Sacristy and Residence Here
Sanctuary
spaces between them filled with grilles of hand-forged wrought iron the
life of our Blessed Lady After the crucifixon
Apostle statues Replicas of those in St John Lateran--Christendom's earliest Basilica.
Ordered by Rome's first Christian Emperor, Constantine the Great, Popes' cathedral and official residence first millennium of Christian history.

The only replicas ever made:  in order from west to east {1932}.
Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel
 
It Makes No Sense
Not To Believe In GOD
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi
  June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.
By Father John Corapi
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi
  June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.
By Father John Corapi
Among the most important titles we have in the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of the most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom. The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7 (date of feast of Our Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for the Christian forces against the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope Pius V led a procession around St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral leadership in recognizing the danger posed to Christendom by the radical Muslim forces, and in using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles require spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that had its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.

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

No other issue, not all other issues taken together, can constitute a proportionate reason for voting for candidates that intend to preserve and defend this holocaust of innocent human life that is abortion.

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

About Father John Corapi.
Father Corapi is a Catholic priest .
The pillars of father's preaching are basically:
Love for and a relationship with the Blessed Virgin Mary 
Leading a vibrant and loving relationship with Jesus Christ
Great love and reverence for the Most Holy Eucharist from Holy Mass to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
An uncompromising love for and obedience to the Holy Father and the teaching of the Magisterium of the Church


God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

Pope Francis will beatify these martyred Greek-Catholic bishops in Romania
May 30, 2019 - 03:01 pm .- On Sunday in Blaj, Pope Francis will beatify seven Greek-Catholic bishops of Romania who were killed by the communist regime between 1950 and 1970.
 
Woman who served Brazil’s poorest to be canonized
May 14, 2019 - 06:53 am .- Pope Francis Tuesday gave his approval for eight sainthood causes to proceed, including that of Bl. Dulce Lopes Pontes, a 20th-century religious sister who served Brazil’s poor.

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

Pope advances sainthood causes of 17 women
Jan 15, 2019 - 11:12 am .- Pope Francis approved Tuesday the next step in the canonization causes of 17 women from four countries, including the martyrdom of 14 religious sisters killed in Spain at the start of the Spanish Civil War.
 
Nineteen Algerian martyrs beatified
Dec 10, 2018 - 03:08 pm .- Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, were beatified Saturday during a Mass in Oran.

The Algerian martyrs shed their blood for Christ, pope says
Dec 7, 2018 - 10:02 am .- Ahead of the beatification Saturday of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, Pope Francis said martyrs have a special place in the Church.
Algerian martyrs are models for the Church, archbishop says
Nov 16, 2018 - 03:01 am .- Archbishop Paul Desfarges of Algiers has said that Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, are “models for our lives as disciples today and tomorrow.”
 
Francesco Spinelli to be canonized after healing of a newborn in DR Congo
Oct 9, 2018 - 05:01 pm .- Among those being canonized on Sunday are Fr. Franceso Spinelli, a diocesan priest through whose intercession a newborn was saved from death in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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

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

Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under ‘offering of life’
Jul 11, 2017 - 06:22 am .- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called “offering of life” – in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor.
 
Twentieth century Polish nurse among causes advancing toward sainthood
Jul 7, 2017 - 06:14 am .- Pope Francis on Friday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Hanna Chrzanowska, a Polish nurse and nursing instructor who died from cancer in 1973, paving the way for her beatification.
 
Sainthood causes advance, including layman who resisted fascism
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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.

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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
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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.

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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.
 
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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.

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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.

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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).
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