Et
álibi
aliórum
plurimórum
sanctórum
Mártyrum
et Confessórum,
atque
sanctárum
Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins. Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас! (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!) R.
Deo
grátias. R.
Thanks be to God.
April is dedicated to devotion of the Holy Eucharist and to the Holy Spirit. 
202322,600 lives saved From 2007 to 2021 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. litanaie_majores_papal_procession.jpg
When all people believe in my power, there will be peace The Virgin Mary appeared in Marienfried, Germany, in 1946, to a 22-year old woman called Bärbel Ruess. There were three apparitions in all: on April 25, May 25 and June 25 of the same year. In the first apparition, Mary told Bärbel: Bishop Venancio Pereira of Fatima wrote: "For me, the shrine of Marienfried is a synthesis of Marian devotion in our time. It is one of the most important Marian shrines of the Church." Bishop Rudolf Graber of Regensburg wrote on July 25, 1976: On March 20, 2000, the local bishop, from the diocese of Augsburg, authorized pilgrimages to Marienfried, though the Church has not taken an official position yet. 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 . CAUSES OF SAINTS April 2014 Mary's Divine Motherhood
April 25 - Apparitions of the Great Mediatrix of Graces of Marienfried to Bärbel Ruess (Germany, 1946) I bring you the Peace of Christ The Virgin Mary appeared in Marienfried, Germany, a parish of Pfaffenhofen (district of Neu-Ulm), to a 22 year-old visionary named Bärbel Ruess. She had three apparitions in the course of 1946: on April 25, May 25, and June 25. During the first apparition, the Virgin Mary told Bärbel: “Where we find the utmost trust and where the people are taught that I can do everything, I will bring peace. When all people have faith in my power, peace will come. I am the sign of the living God. I imprint my sign on my children's foreheads. The star will hunt down my sign, but my sign will overcome the star.” When Bärbel asked her, “Who are you?” the Virgin answered: “If I were not wearing a veil, you would have recognized me.” Before leaving, the Lady also said: “May the peace of Christ be with you and with all those who come here to pray.” This place later received the name of “Marienfried” (Mary's peace) to recall the words of the Blessed Virgin Mary: “I bring you the Peace of Christ.” Maria Hepp Excerpt from The Message of Marienfriend, published by Paul Geiselmann, Laupheim, 1969 (Germany). pierre2.net April 24 – Our Lady of Miracles (Italy, 1583) When Sri Lanka was preserved from foreign invasion by the Virgin Mary In February of this year, the Holy Father Pope Francis addressed a group of faithful from Sri Lanka on pilgrimage in Rome to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the consecration of the Church in Sri Lanka to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Here is an excerpt from his speech: (…) You have come on pilgrimage to Rome to render homage to Our Lady, at the end of the celebrations to mark the 75th anniversary of the consecration to her of the Church in Sri Lanka. Seventy-five years ago, the dark clouds of what would be the second world conflict were thickening in the skies and the faithful, guided by a sure intuition of faith, entrusted themselves to Our Lady, who always defends her children from dangers. In 1940, in the dramatic circumstances of the war, the Archbishop of Colombo, Mgr Jean Marie Masson, of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, made a vow to build a shrine in honor of Our Lady if the island were preserved from foreign invasion. So it came about, and after the end of the war the beautiful Shrine of Our Lady of Lanka at Tewatte was built, and was consecrated forty years ago. (…) I entrust you to the maternal intercession of Mary, Our Lady of Lanka. I ask you to pray for me and from my heart I bless you. Pope Francis Zenit.org, February 10, 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. Dearly beloved, today our Saviour is born; let us rejoice. Sadness should have no place on the birthday of life. Let the sinner be glad as he receives the offer of forgiveness. Let us give thanks to God the Father, through his Son, in the Holy Spirit, because in his great love for us he took pity on us. -- Pope St. Leo the Great Mary Our Mother of Love April 25 - Our Lady of Good Counsel (Italy, Genazzano, 1476) Needless
to say, Our Lady is the mother of humankind and she particularly
favors mothers and those who live and care for their families and
children, as she lived in close union with her Son and husband.
Mary's love is the love of a mother for us her children and the love
of Jesus' mother for her Son.
It is
through the love of Jesus that we experience complete joy. "I have told you
this so that my own joy may be in you and your joy be complete. This is my
commandment: love one another, as I have loved you" (Jn 15:11-12).It's the pure love which brought up the Savior of the World and which now points us, her children, towards Him. The way to God is through Jesus (cf Jn 14:6) and His mother wants to lead us by the hand to her Son, where we will find eternal peace and joy. See http://www.maryslove.com/html/links.html |
|
| Dedication of the Lower Holy Chapel of Paris
in honor of Our Lady (France, 1248) Mary, for Jesus My Redeemer, Make My Heart White
like a Lily (I) O Blessed Virgin, my tender Mother, for Jesus my Redeemer make my heart like a violet and white like a very pure lily. For Him, O my Mother, make my whole being white and humble. When the pain causes me atrocious suffering,
I think that Our Lord, who is so good, has me suffer in proportion
to the love I feel for Him and that He feels for me. This is why I
am always smiling and I always feel peaceful inside! I live for Jesus,
to be united with Him! This is what I ask him: to die in His Love.
Marthe Robin Private Diary, January 3,
1930
|
|
|
St.
68 Mark, Evangelist
1st v. St Anianus
Bishop St Mark shoemaker aide great fervor and virtue
150 St. Philo and Agathopodes Antiochene deacons authored Acts recounting life and death of St. Ignatius of Antioch Evodius, Hermogenes & Callistus MM (RM) 4th v. Kebius preached conversion in Cornwall B (AC) 
Saturninus, Theophilus & Revocata MM (RM) 300 Theophilus of Caesarea M (RM) 312 Saturninus, Theophilus & Revocata MM (RM) Antiochíæ sancti Stéphani, Epíscopi et Mártyris, qui ab hæréticis Synodum Chalcedonénsem impugnántibus, multa passus 392 St. Phaebadius one of “the illustrious men” of the Church extirpated Arianism heresy 480 St. Macedonius Patriarch of Constantinople Council of Chalcedon defender 489 St. Macaille Bishop of Croghan prelate vows of St. Brigid 5th v. Mun of Lough Ree hermit another nephew of Saint Patrick B (AC) 5th v. Dyfnan saintly son of Welsh chieftain Brychan (AC) 525 Deodatus of Blois, Abbot (AC) 539 Vedast of Arras holy from childhood instrumental in the conversion of Clovis I to Christianity B (AC) 7th v. Authaire of La Ferté courtier at King Dagobert Ipalace France (AC) 7th v. Bova (Beuve, Bona) abbess & Doda rejected marriage proposals she devote to service of God OSB VV (RM) 729 Egbert of Rathemigisi Northumbrian monk of Lindisfarne OSB (RM) 737 Erminus of Lobbes practicing apostolic zeal as abbot and regional bishop OSB B (RM) 750 Saint Relindis of Eyck abbess OSB, Abbess (AC) 780 St. Mella Widow abbess Blessed Corona of Elche Benedictine nun OSB V (AC) 857 Heribald of Auxerre Benedictine monk abbot love of well-regulated lives ceremonies well-built churches 891 Photius career of scholarship and public service at the imperial court legitimate patriarch of Constantinople Orthodox objection to doctrine of the Holy Spirit 1000 St. Robert of Syracuse Benedictine abbot He headed the monastery at Syracuse, Sicily. 1243 Blessed Boniface of Valperga monk bishop of Aosta B (PC) 1586 Bl. William Marsden & Blessed Robert Anderson priest Martyr of England 1586 Bl. Robert Anderton Jesuit Cardinal theology professor notable figure Catholic Reformation defended Gallileo 1597 Philip of Jesus friar Miracles attested the power before God of these first martyrs of Japan patron of Mexico City, Mexico 1913 Blessed Giovanni Battista Piamarta (AC) |
|
From Lives of Saintes by Alban Butler
ST. MARK, EVANGELIST. From Eusebius, St. Jerome, &C., collected
by Tillemont, t. 2. P.80 Calmet, t 7, &c.
St. MARK was of Jewish extraction. The style of his gospel, abounding
with Hebraisms, shows that he was by birth a Jew, and that the Hebrew language
was more natural to him than the Greek. His acts say he was of Cyrenaica,
and Bede from them adds, of the race of Aaron. Papias, quoted
by Eusebius, St. Austin, Theodoret, and Bede, say he was converted by the
apostles after Christ's resurrection. St. Irenaeus calls him the disciple
and interpreter of St. Peter, and, according to Origen and St. Jerome, he
is the same Mark whom St. Peter calls his son. By his office of interpreter
to St. Peter, some understood that St. Mark was the author of the style of
his epistles others, that he was employed as a translator into Greek or Latin,
of what the apostle had written in his own tongue, as occasion might require
it. St Jerome and some others take him, to be the same with, that
John, surnamed Mark, son to the sister of St. Barnabas but it is generally
believed they were different persons and that the latter was with St. Paul
in the East, at the same time that the Evangelist was at Rome, or at Alexandria.
According to Papias and St. Clermont of Alexandria, he wrote his gospel at
the request of the Romans who, as they relate, desired to have that committed
to writing which St. Peter had taught them by word of mouth. Mark, to whom
this request was made, did accordingly set himself to recollect what he had
by long conversation learned from Peter: for it is affirmed by some,
that he had never seen our Saviour in the flesh. St. Peter rejoiced
at the affection of the faithful and having revised the work, approved of
it, and authorized it to be read in the religious assemblies of the faithful.
Hence it might be, that, as we learn from Tertullian, some attributed his
gospel to St. Peter himself. Many judge by comparing the two gospels,
that St. Mark abridged that of St. Matthew for he relates the same things,
and often uses the same words but he adds several particular circumstances
and changes the particular order of the narration with he agrees with St.
Luke and St. John He relates two histories not mentioned by Sr.
Matthew namely, that of the widow giving two mites and that of Christ’s appearing
to the two disciples going to Emmaus. St. Austin calls him the Abridger of
St. Matthew. But Ceillier and some others think nothing clearly proves that
he made use of St. Matthews’s gospel. This evangelist is concise in his narrations,
and writes with a most pleasing simplicity and elegance. St. Chrysostom
admires the humility of St. Peter, (we may add also of his disciple
St .Mark,) when he observes, that this evangelist makes no mention of the
high commendations which Christ gave that apostle on his making that explicit
confession of his being the Sort of God; neither does he mention his walking
on the water; but gives at full length the history of St. Peter's denying
his Master, with all its circumstances, he wrote his gospel in Italy, and,
in all appearance, before the year of Christ 49St. Peter sent his disciples from Rome to found other churches. Some modern’s say St. Mark founded that of Aquileia. It is certain at least that he is as sent by St. Peter into Egypt, and was by him appointed bishop of Alexandria which, after Rome, was accounted the second city of the world,) as Eusebeus. St. Epiphanius, St. Jerom and others assure us. Pope Gelasius, in his Roman council, Palladius, and the Greeks, universally add that he finished his course at Alexandria by a glorious martyrdom. St. Peter left Rome, and returned into the East in the ninth year of Claudius, and forty-ninth of Christ. About that time St. Mark went first into Egypt, according to the Greeks. The Oriental Chronicle, published by Abraham Eckellensis, places his arrival at Alexandria only in the seventh year of Nero, and sixtieth of Christ. Both which accounts agree with the relation of his martyrdom, contained in the ancient acts published by the Bollandists which were made use of by Bede and the Oriental Chronicle, and seem to have been extant in Egypt in the fourth and filth centuries. By them we are told that St. Mark landed at Cyrene, in Pentapolis, a part of Libya bordering on Egypt, and, by innumerable miracles, brought many over to the faith and demolished several temples of the idols. He likewise carried the gospel into other provinces of Libya, into Thebais, and other parts Egypt. This country was heretofore, of all the others, the most superstitious but the benediction of God promised to it by the prophets plentifully showered down on it during the ministry of this apostle. He was employed twelve years preaching in these parts before by a particular call by God called into Alexandria where he soon assembled a very numerous church of which it is thought by Fleury that the Jewish converts made up the greatest part. And it is the opinion of St. Jerome and Eusebius, that these were the Therapeutes described by Philo, and the first founders of the ascetic life in Egypt. The prodigious progress of the faith in Alexandria stirred up the heathens against this Galilean. The apostle therefore left the city, having ordained St. Anianus bishop, in the eighth year of Nero, of Christ the sixty-second, and returned to Pentapolis, where he preached two years, and then visited his church of Alexandria, which he found increased in faith and grace, as well as in numbers. He encouraged the faithful and again withdrew; the Oriental Chronicle says to Rome. On his return to Alexandria, the heathens called him a magician, on account of his miracles, and resolved upon his death. God, however, concealed him long from them. At last, on the pagan (east of the idol Serapis, some that were employed to discover the holy man, found him offering to God the prayer of the oblation, or the mass. Overjoyed to find him in their power, they seized him, tied his feet with cords, and dragged him about the streets, crying out, that the ox must be led to Bucoles, a place near the sea, full of rocks and precipices, where probably oxen were fed. This happened on Sunday, the 24th of April, in the year of Christ 68, of Nero the fourteenth, about three years after the death of SS. Peter and Paul. The saint was thus dragged the whole day, staining the stones with his blood, and leaving the ground strewed with pieces of his flesh; all the while he ceased not to praise and thank God for his sufferings. At night he was thrown into prison, in which God comforted him by two visions, which Bede has also mentioned in his true Martyrology. The next day the infidels dragged him, as before, till he happily expired on the 25th of April, on which day the Oriental and Western churches keep his festival. The Christians gathered up the remains of his mangled body, and buried them at Bucoles, where they afterwards usually assembled for prayer. His body was honorably kept there, in a church built on the spot, in 310; and towards the end of the fourth age, the holy priest Philoromus made a pilgrimage thither from Galatia to visit this saint's tomb, as Palladius recounts. His body was still honored at Alexandria, under the Mahometans, in the eighth age, in a marble tomb." It is said to have been conveyed by stealth to Venice nice, in 815. Bernard, a French monk, who travelled over the East in 870, writes, that the body of St. Mark was not then at Alexandria, because the Venetians had carried it to their isles. It is said to be deposited in the Doge's stately rich chapel of St. Mark, in a secret place, that it may not be stolen, under one of the great pillars. This saint is honored by that republic with extraordinary devotion as principal patron. The great litany is sung on this day to beg that God would be pleased to avert from us the scourges which our sins deserve. The origin of this custom is usually ascribed to St. Gregory the Great, who, by public supplication, or litany, with a procession of the whole city of Rome, divided into seven bands, or companies, obtained of God the extinction of a dreadful pestileuce.t |
|
Alexandríæ natális beáti
Marci Evangelístæ. Hic, discípulus et
intérpres Apóstoli
Petri, rogátus Romæ a frátribus scripsit
Evangélium, quo assúmpto, perréxit in Ægyptum,
primúsque Alexandríæ Christum annúntians,
constítuit Ecclésiam; ac póstea, pro fide Christi
tentus, fúnibus vinctus et per saxa raptátus, gráviter
afflíctus est; deínde, reclúsus in cárcere,
primo angélica visitatióne confortátus est, et demum,
ipso Dómino sibi apparénte, ad cæléstia regna
vocátus, octávo Nerónis anno.At Alexandria, the birthday of St. Mark the Evangelist, disciple and interpreter of the apostle St. Peter. He wrote his gospel at the request of the faithful at Rome, and taking it with him, proceeded to Egypt and founded a church at Alexandria, where he was the first to preach Christ. Afterwards, being arrested for the faith, he was bound, dragged over stones, and endured great afflictions. Finally he was confined to prison, where, being comforted by the visit of an angel, and even by an apparition of our Lord himself, he was called to the heavenly kingdom in the eighth year of the reign of Nero. 63 [74] ST MARK, EVANGELIST
(c. A.D.)
FOR our knowledge of the personal history of St Mark, the author of the second gospel, we are dependent more or less upon conjecture. It is generally believed that he must be identical with the “John surnamed Mark” of Acts xii 12 and 25, and that the Mary whose house in Jerusalem was a kind of rendezvous for the apostles was consequently his mother. From Col. iv 10 we learn that Mark was a kinsman of St Barnabas who, as stated in Acts iv 36, was a Levite and a Cypriot, and from this it is not unlikely that St Mark was of a levitical family himself. When Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch, after leaving in Jerusalem the alms they had brought, they took John surnamed Mark with them, and in their apostolic mission at Salamis in Cyprus, Mark helped them in their ministry (Acts xiii 5), but when they were at Perga in Pamphylia he left and returned to Jerusalem (Acts xiii 13). St Paul seems consequently to have suspected Mark of a certain instability, and later, when preparing for a visitation of the churches in Cilicia and the rest of Asia Minor, he refused to include John Mark, though Barnabas desired his company. The difference of opinion ended in Barnabas separating from St Paul and going with Mark again to Cyprus. None the less when Paul was undergoing his first captivity in Rome, Mark was with him and a help to him (Col. iv 10). Also in his second Roman captivity, shortly before his martyrdom, St Paul writes to Timothy, then at Ephesus, enjoining him to “take Mark and bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me for the ministry”. On the other hand tradition
testifies strongly in the sense that the author of the second gospel was
intimately associated with St Peter. Clement of Alexandria (as reported by
Eusebius), Irenaeus and Papias speak of St Mark as the interpreter or mouthpiece
of St Peter, though Papias declares that Mark had not heard the Lord and
had not been His disciple. In spite of this last utterance, many commentators
incline to the view that the young man (Mark xiv 51) who followed
our Lord after His arrest was no other than Mark himself. What is
certain is that St Peter, writing from Rome (I Peter v 13), speaks
“my son Mark” who apparently was there with him. We can hardly doubt
that this was the evangelist, and there is at any rate nothing which
conclusively shows that this young man is a different person from the
“John surnamed Mark” of the Acts.
Turning to more uncertain documents, we have in the first place to note a curiously sober narrative—sober in the sense that the miraculous element is very restrained and the local knowledge exceptional—which purports to have been written by the same John Mark to give an account of that second visit of Barnabas and himself to Cyprus, which ended in the martyrdom of the former, here assigned to A.D. 53. It is noteworthy that the compiler of this apocryphal “passion” had apparently no idea that Mark was himself the author of the second gospel, for great prominence is given to the possession by Barnabas of a record of our Lord’s sayings and doings which he had obtained from St Matthew. This seems an unlikely detail to be invented and put in the mouth of one who was himself known to be one of the four evangelists. On the other hand the concluding passage represents Mark as sailing for Alexandria and there devoting himself to the work of teaching others “what he had learned from the apostles of Christ”. That St Mark lived for some
years in Alexandria and became bishop of that see is an ancient tradition,
though his connection with their native city is not mentioned either by Clement
of Alexandria or by Origen. Eusebius, however, records it, and so also does
the ancient Latin preface to the vulgate of St Mark’s Gospel. This last notice,
referring to some personal deformity of the evangelist, mentioned
also at an earlier date by Hippolytus, suggests that it was a mutilation
self-inflicted to prevent his ordination to the priesthood of which
he deemed himself unworthy. But while it is quite probable that St
Mark did end his days as bishop of Alexandria, we can put no confidence
in the “acts” of his supposed martyrdom. These are briefly summarized
in the notice which still stands in the Roman Martyrology:
“At Alexandria, the birthday of St Mark the Evangelist, who was the disciple and interpreter of Peter the Apostle. He was sent for to Rome by the brethren and there wrote a gospel, and having finished it, went into Egypt. He was the first to preach Christ at Alexandria and formed a church there. Later he was arrested for his faith in Christ, bound with cords and grievously tortured by being dragged over stones. Then, while shut up in prison, he was comforted by the visit of an angel, and finally, after our Lord Himself had appeared to him, he was called to the heavenly kingdom in the eighth year of Nero.” The city of Venice claims to possess the body of St Mark which is supposed to have been brought there from Alexandria early in the ninth century. The authenticity of the remains preserved for so many hundred years has not passed unquestioned, and in any case it may be doubted whether the percolation of water, which for long periods rendered the subterranean confessio where they repose quite inaccessible, has not wrought irreparable damage to the frail contents of the shrine. It is certain, however, that St Mark has been honoured from time immemorial as principal patron of the city. St Mark’s emblem, the lion, like the emblems of the other evangelists, is of very ancient date. Already in the time of St Augustine and St Jerome, “the four living creatures” of Apoc. iv 7—8 were held to be typical of the evangelists, and these holy doctors were reduced to tracing a connection between St Mark and his lion by the consideration that St Mark’s Gospel begins with a mention of the desert and that the lion is lord of the desert. On St Mark’s day are celebrated the litaniae majores, but it should be pointed out that this solemn procession, formerly associated with a fast, has no connection of origin with the festival of the holy evangelist. It is not improbable that the litaniae majores date back in Rome to the time of St Gregory the Great or even earlier, whereas the liturgical recognition of St Mark on this day was only introduced at a much later period. There can be no reasonable doubt, as Mgr Duchesne long ago pointed out, that the ceremony and prayers of the litany (i.e. supplications) are no more than the christianized adaptation of the Robigalia occurring on the same day, which are commemorated in Ovid’s Fasti. Of this pagan procession and lustration something has been said under Candlemas day, February 2. In the martyrologies and liturgical tradition of both East and West, Mark the Evangelist and John Mark are regarded as being separate persons. John Mark is in the Greek Menaon on September 27, and on the same date the Roman Martyrology has: “At Byblos in Phoenicia, St Mark the bishop, who by blessed Luke is also called John and who was the son of that blessed Mary whose memory is noted on June 29”. That he became a bishop at Byblos or elsewhere is a tradition of the Greeks, from whom the West acquired it. The so-called
“acts” and other apocryphal documents connected with St Mark are
printed in the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. iii see
also September, vol. vii. The text of the passio of
St Barnabas attributed to John Mark will be found in the same collection
in the second volume for June, under Barnabas, and it has also been
edited by Tischendorf in his Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha,
vol. iii, pp. 292 seq. See further
the Dictionnaire de Ia Bible and DTC., under “Marc”; and
amongst non-Catholic contributions to the subject the introduction
to St Mark’s Gospel by C. H. Turner in Bishop Gore’s New
Commentary on Holy Scripture (1928) may be specially recommended,
as well as the article by F. Chase in Hastings’s Dictionary
of the Bible. For the relics of St Mark at Venice cf. G. Pavanello, in the Rivista della
Città di Venezia, August, 1928; and Moroni, Dizionario
di Erudizione, vol. xc, pp. 265—268.
St.
Mark April 25,
2007
Most of what we know about Mark comes directly from the New Testament. He is usually identified with the Mark of Acts 12:12. (When Peter escaped from prison, he went to the home of Mark's mother.) Paul and Barnabas took him along on the first missionary journey, but for some reason Mark returned alone to Jerusalem. It is evident, from Paul's refusal to let Mark accompany him on the second journey despite Barnabas's insistence, that Mark had displeased Paul. Later, Paul asks Mark to visit him in prison so we may assume the trouble did not last long. The oldest and the shortest of the four Gospels, the Gospel of Mark emphasizes Jesus' rejection by humanity while being God's triumphant envoy. Probably written for Gentile converts in Rome—after the death of Peter and Paul sometime between A.D. 60 and 70—Mark's Gospel is the gradual manifestation of a "scandal": a crucified Messiah. Evidently a friend of Mark (Peter called him "my son"), Peter is only one of the Gospel sources, others being the Church in Jerusalem (Jewish roots) and the Church at Antioch (largely Gentile). Like one other Gospel writer, Luke, Mark was not one of the 12 apostles. We cannot be certain whether he knew Jesus personally. Some scholars feel that the evangelist is speaking of himself when describing the arrest of Jesus in Gethsemane: "Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. They seized him, but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked" (Mark 14:51-52). Others hold Mark to be the first bishop of Alexandria, Egypt. Venice, famous for the Piazza San Marco, claims Mark as its patron saint; the large basilica there is believed to contain his remains. A winged lion is Mark's symbol. The lion derives from Mark's description of John the Baptist as a "voice of one crying out in the desert" (Mark 1:3), which artists compared to a roaring lion. The wings come from the application of Ezekiel's vision of four winged creatures (Ezekiel, chapter one) to the evangelists. Comment: Mark fulfilled in his life what every Christian is called to do: proclaim to all people the Good News that is the source of salvation. In particular, Mark's way was by writing. Others may proclaim the Good News by music, drama, poetry or by teaching children around a family table. Quote: There is very little in Mark that is not in the other Gospels—only four passages. One is: “...This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come” (Mark 4:26-29). 75
Mark, Evangelist according to Papias,
"he had neither heard the Lord, nor ever been his disciple, but
later had attended Peter, who composed his teachings to suit the
needs of the moment, but did not profess to make a regular collection
of the Lord's sayings. And so Mark made no mistakes; writing down the
particulars just as he remembered them."(RM)
In the city of Paphos Saint Mark was an eye-witness,
of how Apostle Paul had struck blind sorcerer Elymas (Acts 13: 6-12).The Holy Disciple and Evangelist Mark, named also John-Mark (Acts 12: 12), was a Disciple from among the Seventy, and was also a nephew of the Disciple Barnabas (Comm. 11 June). He was born at Jerusalem. The house of his mother Mary adjoined the Garden of Gethsemane. As Church Tradition relates, on the night of the Sufferings of Christ on the Cross he followed after Him, wrapped in a linen winding-cloth, and he fled from the soldiers catching hold of him (Mk. 14: 51-52). After the Ascension of the Lord, the house of his mother Saint Mary became a place of prayerful gatherings of Christians and a lodging for certain of the Apostles (Acts 12: 12). Saint Mark was a very close companion of the Apostles Peter and Paul (Comm. 29 June) and of the Disciple Barnabas. Saint Mark was at Seleucia together with Paul and Barnabas, and from there he set off to the island of Cyprus, and he crossed over the whole of it from East to West. After working with the Apostle
Paul, Saint Mark returned to Jerusalem, and then with the Apostle
Peter he arrived in Rome, from whence at the latter's bidding he set
out for Egypt, where he became founder of the Church. During time
of the second evangelic journey of the Apostle Paul, Saint Mark met
up with him at Antioch. From there he set out preaching with the Disciple
Barnabas to Cyprus, and then he went off again to Egypt, where together
with the Apostle Peter he founded many churches, and then also at Babylon.
From this city the Apostle Peter directed an Epistle to the Christians
of Asia Minor, in which he points to Saint Mark as his spiritual son (1
Pet. 5: 13). When the Apostle Paul came in chains to Rome, the Disciple
Mark was at Ephesus, where the cathedra-seat was occupied by Saint Timothy
(Comm. 4 January). The Disciple Mark arrived together with him in Rome.
There also he wrote his holy Gospel (c. 62-63).
From Rome Saint Mark again set off to Egypt. At Alexandria he made the beginnings of a Christian school, from which later on emerged such famous fathers and teachers of the Church, as Clement of Alexandria, Sainted Dionysios (5 October), Sainted Gregory Thaumatourgos ("Wonderworker", Comm. 5 November), and others. Zealous with the arranging of Church Divine-services, the holy Disciple Mark compiled the order of Liturgy for the Alexandrian Christians. Later on in preaching the Gospel, Saint Mark also visited the inner regions of Africa, and he was in Libya at Nektopolis. During the time of these journeys, Saint Mark received inspiration of the Holy Spirit to go again to Alexandria and confront the pagans. There he visited at the home
of the dignitary Ananias, for whom he healed a crippled hand. The
dignitary happily took him in, hearkened with faith to his narratives,
and received Baptism. And following the example of Ananias, many
of the inhabitants of that part of the city where he lived were baptised
after him. This roused the enmity of the pagans, and they gathered
to kill Saint Mark. Having learned of this, the holy Disciple Mark made
Ananias bishop, and the three Christians: Malchos, Sabinos and Kerdinos
– presbyters.
The pagans pounced upon Saint Mark when he was making Divine-services. They beat him, dragged him through the streets and threw him in prison. There Saint Mark was granted a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who strengthened him before his sufferings. On the following day the angry crowd again dragged the holy disciple through the streets towards the court-room, but along the way Saint Mark died with the words: "Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit". The pagans wanted to burn the body of the holy disciple. But when they lit up the bon-fire, everything grew dim, thunder crashed and an earthquake occurred. The pagans fled in terror, and Christians took up the body of the holy disciple and buried it in a stone crypt. This was on 4 April in the year 63. The Church
celebrates his memory on 25 April.
In the year 310, a church was built over the relics of the holy Disciple Mark. In the year 820, when the Mahometan Arabs had established their rule in Egypt and those of this different faith oppressed the Christian Church, the relics of Saint Mark were transferred to Venice and placed in the church of his name. In the ancient iconographic tradition, which adopted symbols for the holy Evangelists borrowed from the vision of Saint John the Theologian (Rev. 4: 7), the holy Evangelist Mark is depicted by a lion – symbolising the might and royal dignity of Christ (Rev. 5: 5). Saint Mark wrote his Gospel for Christians from among the gentile-pagans, since he emphasises predominantly the words and deeds of the Saviour, in which particularly is manifest His Divine Almightiness. The many particularities of his account can be explained by his proximity to the holy Apostle Peter. All the ancient writers testify, that the Gospel of Mark represents a concise writing-down of the preaching and narratives of the first-ranked Apostle Peter. One of the central theological themes in the Gospel of Saint Mark is the theme of the power of God, doing the humanly impossible, wherein the Lord makes possible that which of man is impossible. By the efficacy of Christ (Mk. 16: 20) and the Holy Spirit (Mk. 13: 11), His disciples are to go forth into the world and preach the Gospel to all creatures (Mk. 13: 10, 16: 15).© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos. |
and all the families of the nations shall worship before him" (Psalm 21:28)
Mark's Gospel starkly sets out the demands of Jesus on
his followers. Jesus had suffered, says Mark; His followers
will suffer similarly.
An early uncertain tradition, recorded by Eusebius, renders
Mark the first bishop of Alexandria, but neither Papias nor Clement
of Alexandria mentions it. 
Christian
council
held
at
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.