Mary Mother of GOD
Aug. 9 - Our Lady of the Burning Cloud (Japan, 1945)

 
Learn to live at God’s hands.”
1942 Saint Teresa Benedicta  (Edith Stein) of the Cross

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.
August is the month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary;
2023
10,000  Lives Saved Since 2007

Because the Redeemer was born of a woman
 
Authentic feminism finds in Edith's life and writings valuable guidance to live and promote the dignity and role of women through her identity and mission, springing from the very depths of her being. We can say the same for the meaning of consecrated life which, considered as a gift of self to God and others, is a full realization of women's aspirations: commitment, maternity, service.

For Edith Stein, the ideal model of these feminine values was the Virgin Mary. In her, the feminine sex is ennobled by virtue of the Savior's being born of a human mother; a woman was the gateway through which God found entrance to humankind. With the gift of herself she committed herself to this mission, which she accepted with silent trust, putting her whole being at the service of the Lord for the foundation of the Kingdom of God.

This commitment of Mary makes her a model for women in all areas of human life:
family, social and ecclesiastical, since she shows interest in the social and political problems in the middle verse of the Magnificat, dethroning the mighty.


CAUSES OF SAINTS

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

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

August 8 – Our Lady of Scheidam (Netherlands) – Our Lady of Lavang (Vietnam) – Our Lady of Laeken (Belgium) –
Saint Dominic of Guzman, Founder of the Order of Preachers (d. 1221) 
Indians travel 3000 miles in search of Book to Heaven

American Minute with Bill Federer Saturday, August 09, 2014

In 1831, three Nez Perce Indians and one Flathead Indian, traveled from the Oregon Territory to St. Louis, Missouri,
looking for the "book to heaven."
The Bishop of St. Louis was Rev. Joseph Rosati (1789-1843), who later sent Pierre De Smet
as one of the "Black robe" missionaries to the Indians.

Bishop Rosati wrote in annals of the Association of the Propagation of the Faith, December 31, 1831:
 
 "Some three months ago four Indians who live across the Rocky Mountains near the Columbia River (Clark's Fork of the Columbia) arrived at St. Louis.
After visiting General Clark who, in his celebrated travels, has visited their country...they came to see our church and appeared to be exceedingly well pleased with it...

Two of our priests visited them...
They made the sign of the Cross and other signs which appeared to have some relation to baptism. The sacrament was administered to them."
 
Wyandot Indian chief, William Walker (1800-1874), met the same Indians at the home of Territorial Governor William Clark, of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1805-1806).
His account was printed, March 1, 1833, in the Christian Advocate & Journal and Zion's Herald of New York, a Methodist Episcopal publication which at the time had the largest circulation of any periodical in the world:

"Immediately after we landed in St. Louis, on our way to the west, I proceeded to Gen. Clark's, superintendent of Indian affairs...
While in his office...he informed me that three chiefs from the Flat-Head nation were in his house, and were quite sick, and that one (the fourth) had died a few days ago. 

 
They were from the west of the Rocky Mountains.
Curiosity prompted me to step into the adjoining room to see them, having never seen any, but often heard of them. I was struck by their appearance...
The distance they had traveled on foot was nearly three thousand miles to see Gen. Clarke, their great father, as they called him, he being the first American officer they ever became acquainted with..."

William Walker continued:
"Gen. C. related to me the object of their mission, and, my dear friend, it is impossible for me to describe to you my feelings while listening to his narrative...

(They had heard) the white people away toward the rising of the sun had been put in possession of the true mode of worshiping the great Spirit. They had a book containing directions how to conduct themselves in order to enjoy his favor and hold converse with him;
 and with this guide, no one need go astray, but every one that would follow the directions laid down there, could enjoy, in this life, his favor; and after death would be received into the country where the great Spirit resides, and live forever with him.

 Upon receiving this information, they called a national council to take this subject into consideration...
They accordingly deputed four of their chiefs to proceed to St. Louis to see their great father, Gen. Clarke, to inquire of him..."

William Walker wrote further:
"They arrived at St. Louis, and presented themselves to Gen. C. the latter was somewhat puzzled being sensible of the responsibility that rested on him; he however proceeded by informing them that what they had been told by the white man in their own country, was true.
 
Then went into a succinct history of man, from his creation down to the advent of the Saviour; explained to them all the moral precepts contained in the Bible, expounded to them the decalogue.


Informed them of the advent of the Saviour, his life, precepts, his death, resurrection, ascension, and the relation he now stands to man as a mediator-that he will judge the world, & c."

The publishing of these accounts inspired Dr. Marcus Whitman and his wife Narcissa to leave Massachusetts and became a missionary to the Indians of Oregon and Washington.
 
President Warren G. Harding, dedicating the Oregon Trail Monument, July 3, 1923, recounted how Dr. Marcus Whitman traveled, clad in buckskin breeches, fur leggings and moccasins,

"...in the dead of winter 1842, struggled through...blinding storms, 4,000 miles...from Walla Walla...past the Great Salt Lake, to Santa Fe...to St. Louis and finally...to Washington, D.C...It was a race against time.

Public opinion was...that Oregon was not worth claiming...Turning to President Tyler, Whitman added...
'All I ask is that you will not barter away Oregon or allow English interference until I can lead...settlers across the plains.'"

President Warren Harding continued:

"Such was Marcus Whitman, the missionary hero...to plead that the state should acquire...the empire that the churches were gaining for Christianity...
 
Never in the history of the world has there been a finer example of civilization following Christianity. The missionaries led under the banner of the cross and the settlers moved close behind under the star-spangled symbol of the nation."

 The State of Washington placed the statue of Dr. Marcus Whitman in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall. 


Order AMERICA'S GOD AND COUNTRY Encyclopedia of Quotations

 August 9 – Our Lady of the Parish (Italy, 1829)
Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), Martyr at Oswiecin (Auschwitz, Poland, d. 1942) 
 
If you are attentive, you will discover how Mary gives birth to us
“Behold your mother…” Let us not be afraid to accept Mary as our Mother. Let us not be afraid to ask her to form us and teach so we may become children of God, brothers of Jesus open to Salvation, men and women who are docile to the Holy Spirit like Mary and the saints were.
Let us stand under the protection of this Mother whom Jesus gave us, and let us learn to obey her. Do not ask me how it happens I do not know how to explain it in words. Simply pray Mary that that she will introduce Jesus to you, and, if you are attentive, you will discover how Mary births us into the life in the Spirit.
The Cross is the brightest expression of God's love. Let Him attract us, under Mary's guidance and lessons of saints.

(In the same homily, Archbishop Legrez also evoked the example of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross - Edith Stein - "identified" with the suffering Servant, who is Christ nailed to the Cross and who gave his life for his people.)
 
Archbishop Jean Legrez
Homily given during the mass at the Grotto of Lourdes, France, on August 9, 2012  catholique-tarn.cef.fr 

 Why I am not afraid of dying anymore
You asked me to write a short account about the divine protection that I received in August 1958, during the Algerian War. At the time, I was serving in the military medical unit. One evening, an Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) commando attacked our village. It didn't take long until I was overpowered. They put me in front of a door with five other soldiers who took shots at us.
Immediately, I had an out-of-body experience. I saw my body lying on the ground, covered with blood, amidst the bodies of my comrades who had been killed, too. Then I saw Mary, incredibly beautiful in her mantle of light.
She was welcoming me with an indescribable smile. Behind her stood Jesus, so handsome, and further away, a zone of light that I knew was the Father… I immersed myself in this light.

I experienced perfect bliss... and suddenly, I found myself on earth again, with my face in the dust,
next to the bloody corpses of my comrades...
It's easy to understand why I'm not afraid of dying anymore—now I know what is on the other side.
 
Father Jean Derobert
Testimonial (belonging to) given at the ‘Minutes of the Process of the Cause of Canonization for Padre Pio’
www.parvis.ch 

 
The Message of the Immaculate Virgin Mary at Lourdes
August 9 - Our Lady of the Parish (Italy, 1829)

Faith is like sight, it can be sharp and clear but it can also be short-sided and deficient. One of the graces to ask from Christ during a pilgrimage to Lourdes is to sharpen our sight in our need to be cured and above all to widen our field of vision. (...)
When we have received the gift of faith, not only do we see things differently than before, but most of all, we cannot go on living as we did previously. We start to understand better the advice of Saint Paul to the Christians of Ephesus, "You were in darkness once, but now you are in the light of the Lord; behave like children of the light, for the effects of the light are seen in complete goodness and uprightness and truth.
Try to discover what the Lord wants of you; take no part in futile works of darkness" (Eph 5: 8-10).
The message of the Apostle is clear: it means that we must live according to the grace of our baptism. It is also the message of the Immaculate Virgin Mary at Lourdes. Mary had but one wish: to allow all pilgrims to experience the same grace as the man who was born blind so that we could say with him: "I went there, and when I washed myself I regained my sight" (Jn 9:11).
Adapted from a text by Father Raymond Zambelli, Rector of Lourdes  150th Anniversary of the Apparitions (1858 - 2008)


Why I am not afraid of dying anymore.
You asked me to write a short account about the divine protection that I received in August 1958, during the Algerian War. At the time, I was serving in the military medical unit. One evening, an Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) commando attacked our village. It didn't take long until I was overpowered. They put me in front of a door with five other soldiers who took shots at us.
Immediately, I had an out-of-body experience. I saw my body lying on the ground, covered with blood, amidst the bodies of my comrades who had been killed, too. Then I saw Mary, incredibly beautiful in her mantle of light. She was welcoming me with an indescribable smile. Behind her stood Jesus, so handsome, and further away, a zone of light that I knew was the Father… I immersed myself in this light.
I experienced perfect bliss... and suddenly, I found myself on earth again, with my face in the dust, next to the bloody corpses of my comrades...It's easy to understand why I'm not afraid of dying anymore—now I know what is on the other side. -- Father Jean Derobert

Testimonial (belonging to) given at the ‘Minutes of the Process of the Cause of Canonization for Padre Pio’  www.parvis.ch 


Aug. 9 - Our Lady of the Burning Cloud (Japan, 1945)
Our Lady's Pain and Pity
On Thursday, August 9, 1945, at two minutes past eleven in the morning, the Urakami district of Nagasaki was wiped out by a plutonium bomb. Among the wounded on that fateful day was Dr. Takashi Hagai.
His wife was buried in the ruins of their home and he would also die five years after the explosion.
Surely his body that gradually wasted away was a ray of love inspired by Our Lady.

Our Lady looked upon that scene with pain and pity. She is unable to stop sufferings as the atom bomb, but that does not mean that she wasn't instantly giving her mother's care to the stricken city, to Nagasaki, which was the ancestral seat of Japanese Catholicism.  Our Lady's hand stretched out of the burning cloud: reached down out of the same symbol of destruction.
From such a devastation of many, may come, through Mary, the resurrection of many to Eternal Life.
Read: The Bells of Nagasaki by Takashi Nagai (1949)

Father Hubert Schiffer (1915 - March 27, 1982). One of eight German Jesuits who survived the nuclear bomb "Little Boy" dropped on Hiroshima. He was only eight blocks away from ground zero when the explosion occurred.   Catholics believe the survival of the priests a miracle. The group of Jesuits survived not only the explosion, but also the effects of the radiation (the doctors were amazed they did not present any radiation illness.
http://holysouls.com/sar/rosarymiracle.htm

August 9 – OUR LADY OF THE BURNING CLOUD (Nagasaki, Japan, 1945) -
 Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, (Edith Stein, Martyr in Auschwitz, Poland, d. 1942) 
Inside the Heart’s Quiet Dialogue with God
From the overflowing heart of the Virgin Mary blessed by God streamed the exultant hymn of the “Magnificat.” When the angel’s mysterious word became visible reality, the prophetic “Benedictus” hymn unsealed the lips of the old priest Zechariah, who had been struck dumb.  Whatever arose from spirit-filled hearts found expression in words and melodies and continues to be communicated from mouth to mouth. The “Divine Office” is to see that it continues to resound from generation to generation.
So the mystical stream forms the many-voiced, continually swelling hymn of praise to the triune God,
the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Perfecter.
Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)

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

Catechism of the Catholic Church 495, quoting the Council of Ephesus (431): DS 251.

        Afterfeast of the Transfiguration of our Lord
   63 Saint Matthias The Holy Apostle was born at Bethlehem Tribe of Judah. From early childhood studied the Law of God under guidance of St Simeon the God-Receiver (February 3).  When the Lord Jesus Christ revealed Himself to the world, St Matthias believed Him as the Messiah,  followed constantly after Him. numbered among the Seventy Apostles, whom the Lord "sent them two by two before His face" (Luke 10:1).
 116 Departure of Pope Abriamus (Primus), Fifth Patriarch of Alexandria.  {Coptic}
 250 St. Secundian Senator With Marcellian and Verian, martyrs under Emperor Trajanus Decius. Little  known about them; they came from Tuscany.
Secundian a Senator or government official, other 3 scholars or students
Anthony The Martyr, native of Alexandria, a Christian. For his confession of faith they tied him to a tree and tore
at his body with iron hooks, then sentenced him to burning. Standing in the fire, he calmly exhorted those standing about to toil not for body for soul in aspiring towards God. After fire flared, the body remained unharmed
        Vigília sancti Lauréntii Mártyris.      The vigil of St. Lawrence, martyr.
251 In Africa Numidicus & many holy martyrs commemoration of many holy martyrs; Numidicus restored and deserved afterwards by his virtue to be made priest of the Church of Carthage by blessed Cyprian.
 258 St Romanus, Martyr doorkeeper of the Roman church; baptized in prison by St Laurence
 290 St. Firmus & Rusticus Martyrs of Bergamo, in Lombardy, Italy, supposedly related to each other and prominent citizens of  that city. They died in Verona.
304 St Emygdius (Emidius) , Martyr beheaded together with three companions, SS. Eupolus, Germanus and Valentinus.
4th v. St. Rusticus A martyr who was put to death in the area of Sirmium, in Pannonia.
4th v.
St. Domitian of Chalons Successor to St. Donation as the bishop of Chalons-sur-Mame, France.
4th v.  Saint Psoes was a disciple of St Pachomius the Great (May 15) lived during 4th century in the Egyptian desert.
491-582 The Restoration of the Temple of the 40 Martyrs (March 9); 2 churches dedicated to them at Constantinople: one, built by emperor Anastasius I (491-518), and the other, by the emperor Tiberius (578-582).  There is a service for this Feastday in a Greek Menaion of the thirteenth century.
5th century
St. Autor Bishop also called Adinctor or Auteur. He was a bishop of Metz, France. In 830, his remains were enshrined in Marmoutier Abbey.
496 St. Samuel of Edessa Ecclesiastical writer, mentioned by the fifth-century priest and historian Gennadius of Marseilles. Samuel authored works against the Nestorians and other heretics
6th v. Century SS Nathy and  Felim, Bishops
6th v. 
St. Phelim Irish monk and disciple of St. Columba. He is honored as a patron saint of Kilmore and is also listed as Fidleminus and Felix.
  556 St. Bandaridus Bishop of Soissons founded Crépin Abbey and served the area until King Clotaire I banished him over a disagreement. He went to England and became a gardener in an abbey, living there anonymously
  606 St. Serenus Bishop Bishop of Marseilles, France. He is best known for having been a correspondent with Pope St. Gregory I the Great (r. 590-604) who sent him several letters. One endorsed the Roman missionanes who were then on their way to Britain
  642 St Oswald Of Northumbria, Martyr
7th v. Constantinópoli sanctórum Mártyrum Juliáni, Marciáni et aliórum octo; qui, ob Salvatóris imáginem, quam in porta  ǽnea constitúerant, omnes, ímpii Leónis Imperatóris jussu, post multa torménta, gládio necáti sunt.
     At Constantinople, the holy martyrs Julian, Marcian, and eight others.  For having set up the image of our Saviour on the brass gate, they were exposed to many torments, and then beheaded by order of the impious emperor Leo.

730 St. Julian anti-Iconoclast Martyr with Marcian and John, James, Alexius, Demetrius, Photius, Peter, Leontius, Maria the Patrician, the Protospatharios ("Sword-Captain") of Constantinople; martyred by Emperor Leo III the Isaurian for opposing Iconoclasts; Gregory and Others suffered for holy icons in the year 730 under the Iconoclast emperor Leo the Isaurian 717-741 The emperor deposed the holy Patriarch Germanus (715-730) from the patriarchal throne and sent him off to prison, raising up onto the patriarchal throne the iconoclast Athanasius (730-753); Martyrs discovered incorrupt 139 years later.
St. Amor a martyr venerated in the Franche-Comté province of France with St.  Viator. The relics of these two martyrs are enshrined in Saint-Amour, in Burgundy.
1067 St. Maurilius Benedictine archbishop A leading churchman of his era. native of Reims served the Benedictines in many administrative capacities in Normandy, and Florence, Italy. In 1055, he became archbishop of Rouen and was considered an outstanding churchman of his era.
1242 Bd John of Salerno
; gift of reading minds and consciences.
1350 Bd John Of Rieti; joined Hermits of St Augustine (Austin friars) at Rieti ever at the service of his neighbour, especially sick, strangers, delighted to wait on guests who came to the monastery; spent long hours in contemplation; especially valued opportunities provided serving Mass in friary church; for loving converse with God; had gift of tears, not only for his own faults but for those of others; when walking in the garden he would say, "How can one not weep? For we see all around us trees and grass and flowers and plants germinating, growing, producing their fruit, and dying back again into the earth in accordance with the laws of their Creator: while men, to whom God has given a reasoning intelligence and the promise of a transcendent reward, continually oppose His will." his holy life and the miracles taking place at his tomb were the cause of a cultus which persisted
1482 St. Amedeus  Franciscan founder Portugal; born to a noble family 1420 entered the Franciscans as a lay brother at Assisi, Italy. After some time as a hermit, Amedeus was ordained and founded Franciscan monasteries; revered by Pope Sixtus IV.
1532 Saint Macarius of Oredezhsk disciple of St Alexander of Svir (August 30). He pursued asceticism at the River Oredezha at Lake Ladoga, where he founded a monastery.
1837 Venerable Herman of Alaska, Wonderworker of All America
1942 Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein). Beatified in the Cologne cathedral by Pope John Paul II; canonized on October 11, 1998.

        St. Simon (Simeon) the Stylite to the city of Antioch Relocation of the Body of  {Coptic}
Aug. 9 - Our Lady of the Burning Cloud (Japan, 1945)


Afterfeast of the Transfiguration of our Lord.
The Church's hymns today invite us to "ascend the holy mountain" and "with the eyes of faith," to "behold the radiant Transfiguration of the Lord." Christ has transformed our fallen human nature and restored its original beauty "by the burning radiance of His divinity.
"
63 Saint Matthias The Holy Apostle was born at Bethlehem of the Tribe of Judah. From his early childhood he studied the Law of God under the guidance of St Simeon the God-Receiver (February 3).  When the Lord Jesus Christ revealed Himself to the world, St Matthias believed in Him as the Messiah, followed constantly after Him and was numbered among the Seventy Apostles, whom the Lord "sent them two by two before His face" (Luke 10:1).  

After the Ascension of the Savior, St Matthias was chosen by lot to replace Judas Iscariot as one of the Twelve Apostles (Acts 1:15-26). After the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Matthias preached the Gospel at Jerusalem and in Judea together with the other Apostles (Acts 6:2, 8:14). From Jerusalem he went with the Apostles Peter and Andrew to Syrian Antioch, and was in the Cappadocian city of Tianum and Sinope.
Here the Apostle Matthias was locked into prison, from which he was miraculously freed by St Andrew the First-Called.

The Apostle Matthias journeyed after this to Amasea, a city on the shore of the sea.

During a three year journey of the Apostle Andrew, St Matthias was with him at Edessa and Sebaste. According to Church Tradition, he was preaching at Pontine Ethiopia (presently Western Georgia) and Macedonia. He was frequently subjected to deadly peril, but the Lord preserved him to preach the Gospel.

Once, pagans forced the saint to drink a poison potion. He drank it, and not only did he himself remain unharmed, but he also healed other prisoners who had been blinded by the potion. When St Matthias left the prison, the pagans searched for him in vain, for he had become invisible to them.
Another time, when the pagans had become enraged intending to kill the Apostle, the earth opened up and engulfed them.

The Apostle Matthias returned to Judea and did not cease to enlighten his countrymen with the light of Christ's teachings. He worked great miracles in the Name of the Lord Jesus and he converted a great many to faith in Christ.

The Jewish High Priest Ananias hated Christ and earlier had commanded the Apostle James, brother of John, to be flung down from the heights of the Temple, and now he ordered that the Apostle Matthias be arrested and brought for judgment before the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem.

The impious Ananias uttered a speech in which he blasphemously slandered the Lord. Using the prophecies of the Old Testament, the Apostle Matthias demonstrated that Jesus Christ is the True God, the promised Messiah, the Son of God, Consubstantial and Coeternal with God the Father.
After these words the Apostle Matthias was sentenced to death by the Sanhedrin and stoned.
When St Matthias was already dead, the Jews, to hide their malefaction, cut off his head as an enemy of Caesar. (According to several historians, the Apostle Matthias was crucified, and indicate that he instead died at Colchis.)
 The Apostle Matthias received the martyr's crown of glory in the year 63.

116 Departure of Pope Abriamus (Primus), Fifth Patriarch of Alexandria.
On this day also, in the year 116 A.D., Pope Aprimos (Primus), Fifth Patriarch of Alexandria, departed. He was baptized by St. Mark the Apostle. He was one of the three who were ordained priests by St. Mark the Apostle, along with Bishop Anianus, the Second Patriarch. Pope Aprimos was ascetic, pious, and filled with good deeds. He was ordained to the apostolic chair on the 22nd day of Baounah (June 16th, 16 A.D.). During his papacy, the church was in peace and tranquility. May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen
.
251 In Africa Numidicus & many holy martyrs commemoration of many holy martyrs Numidicus restored and deserved afterwards by his virtue to be made priest of the Church of Carthage by blessed Cyprian.
In Africa commemorátio plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum, qui, in persecutióne Valeriáni, hortánte eos ad constántiam sancto Numídico, in ignem conjécti, martyrii palmam adépti sunt.  Ipse autem Numídicus, licet cum áliis in rogum injéctus et lapídibus óbrutus fuísset, a fília tamen, effóssus et semivívus repértus, curátus est; ac póstea, ob ejus virtútem, in Ecclésiæ Carthaginénsis Presbyterum a beáto Cypriáno méruit cooptári.
    In Africa, the commemoration of many holy martyrs during the persecution of Valerian.  Being exhorted by St. Numidicus, they obtained the palm of martyrdom by being cast into the fire, but Numidicus, although thrown into the flames with the others and overwhelmed with stones, was nevertheless taken out by his daughter.  Found half dead, he was restored and deserved afterwards by his virtue to be made priest of the Church of Carthage by blessed Cyprian.
    In Africa, the commemoration of many holy martyrs during the persecution of Valerian.  Being exhorted by St. Numidicus, they obtained the palm of martyrdom by being cast into the fire, but Numidicus, although thrown into the flames with the others and overwhelmed with stones, was nevertheless taken out by his daughter.  Found half dead, he was restored and deserved afterwards by his virtue to be made priest of the Church of Carthage by blessed Cyprian.

In Africa commemorátio plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum, qui, in persecutióne Valeriáni, hortánte eos ad constántiam sancto Numídico, in ignem conjécti, martyrii palmam adépti sunt.  Ipse autem Numídicus, licet cum áliis in rogum injéctus et lapídibus óbrutus fuísset, a fília tamen, effóssus et semivívus repértus, curátus est; ac póstea, ob ejus virtútem, in Ecclésiæ Carthaginénsis Presbyterum a beáto Cypriáno méruit cooptári
.
250 St. Secundian Senator With Marcellian and Verian, martyrs put to death under Emperor Trajanus Decius. Little is known about them except that they came from Tuscany. Secundian was a Senator or government official, and the other two were scholars or students.
In Túscia natális sanctórum Mártyrum Secundiáni, Marcelliáni et Veriáni; qui, témpore Décii, a Promóto Consulári primum cæsi sunt, deínde in equúleo suspénsi, et abrási úngulis, atque latéribus appósito assáti, ac tandem triumphálem martyrii palmam, cápite cæsi, meruérunt.
    In Tuscany, the birthday of the holy martyrs Secundian, Marcellian, and Verian.  In the time of Decius, they were scourged by the exconsul Promotus, then racked and torn with iron hooks.  Being burned with fire applied to their sides, they merited the triumphant palm of martyrdom by being beheaded
.
Vigília sancti Lauréntii Mártyris.      The vigil of St. Lawrence, martyr.





















258 St Romanus, Martyr doorkeeper of the Roman church; baptized by him in prison by St Laurence.
Romæ sancti Románi, mílitis et Mártyris; qui, confessióne beáti Lauréntii compúnctus, pétiit ab eo baptizári, et, mox exhíbitus ac fústibus cæsus, ad últimum decollátus est.
    At Rome, St. Romanus, a soldier, who was moved by the torments of blessed Lawrence to ask for baptism from him.  He was immediately prosecuted, scourged, and finally beheaded.
According to the Liber Pontificalis Romanus was a doorkeeper of the Roman church who suffered martyrdom at the same time as St Laurence, whose unreliable acta make of him a soldier in Rome at the time of the martyrdom of Laurence.
   Seeing the joy and constancy with which that holy martyr suffered persecution, he was moved to embrace the faith, was instructed and baptized by him in prison.  Confessing aloud what he had done, he was arraigned, condemned and beheaded the day before the execution of St Laurence.  Thus he arrived at his crown before his guide and master. The body of St Romanus was buried on the road to Tivoli in the cemetery of Cyriaca, and his grave is mentioned as being there in the itineraries of the seventh century.
Mgr Duchesne's note in his edition of the Liber Pontificalis, vol. i, p.156, supplies all the information which is available; and see CMH., p. 428.
Anthony The Martyr, a native of the city of Alexandria, was a Christian. For his confession of faith they tied him to a tree and tore at his body with iron hooks, and then sentenced him to burning. Standing in the fire, he calmly exhorted those standing about to toil not for body for soul in aspiring towards God. After the fire flared up, the body of the saint remained unharmed.
290 St. Firmus & Rusticus Martyrs of Bergamo, in Lombardy, Italy, supposedly related to each other and prominent citizens of that city. They died in Verona.  
Verónæ sanctórum Mártyrum Firmi et Rústici, qui, témpore Maximiáni Imperatóris, sub Anolíno Júdice, cum sacrificáre idólis renuérunt et constánter in Christi fide persísterent, ambo jussi sunt, post ália superáta supplícia, fústibus cædi et cápite amputári.
    At Verona, the holy martyrs Firmus and Rusticus.  When they refused to sacrifice to idols and remained constant in confessing Christ, after they had overcome many other torments, they were condemned to be scourged and beheaded by Anolinus, a judge, during the reign of Emperor Maximian.

Firmus and Rusticus MM (RM). The stories that have come down to us about these kinsmen are unreliable. It is said that they were prominent citizens of Bergamo, who were martyred at Verona under Maximian. It is possible that the relics of two African martyrs of these names were translated to Verona and appropriate stories developed to make them local heroes (Benedictines)
.
304 St Emygdius (Emidius), Martyr beheaded with three companions, SS. Eupolus, Germanus and Valentinus.
    Chiefly because he is regarded as patron against earthquakes, St Emygdius (Emidius) is greatly honoured in Italy: for the same reason his cultus has, in later years, been extended to San Francisco and Los Angeles in the United States.  The saint's true history has long since been forgotten, but his legend is preserved in his so-called "acts".  He is there described as a German who, after being converted to Christianity, left his native city of Trier and came to Rome during the pontificate of Pope Marcellus I. Full of zeal for the faith, Emygdius entered a heathen temple and dashed a statue of Aesculapius to the ground.  Pagans of Rome were so incensed by this action that Pope Marcellus, in order to protect Emygdius from their vengeance, ordained him, consecrated him a bishop, and sent him to evangelize the territory of Ascoli Piceno.  There he laboured with success, making many converts.
   He was beheaded during the persecution of Diocletian, together with three companions, SS. Eupolus, Germanus and Valentinus.  Seeing that St Marcellus did not occupy the chair of St Peter until 308, he could scarcely have been the pope who ordained St Emygdius, but popular tradition is notoriously indifferent to chronology.   On the other hand, it is possible that a careless scribe may have substituted the name of Marcellus for that of Marcellinus, who was his predecessor.  The festival of St Emygdius is kept throughout Italy on August 9 and other dates, in accordance with local use and tradition.
The Bollandists have printed the supposed passio of St Emygdius in the Acta Sanctorum, August, vol. ii, but they regard the story as altogether untrustworthy.  Several booklets have been written by devout inhabitants of Ascoli and others about their patron, but most of these are entirely uncritical.  The most considerable seem to be the volumes by P. A. Appiani (1702), A. G. Andreucci (1729), C. Masdeu (1794) and C. Levis (1809)
.
4th v. St. Rusticus A martyr who was put to death in the area of Sirmium, in Pannonia.  
4th v. St. Domitian of Chalons Successor to St. Donation as the bishop of Chalons-sur-Mame, France.  
Cataláuni, in Gállia, sancti Domitiáni, Epíscopi et Confessóris.
    At Chalons in France, St. Domitian, bishop and confessor.
Saint Psoes disciple of St Pachomius the Great (May 15) and lived during the fourth century in the Egyptian desert.
5th century St. Autor Bishop also called Adinctor or Auteur. He was a bishop of Metz, France. In 830, his remains were enshrined in Marmoutier Abbey.
496 St. Samuel of Edessa Ecclesiastical writer, mentioned by the fifth-century priest and historian Gennadius of Marseilles. Samuel authored works against the Nestorians and other heretics.
6th v. Century SS Nathy and  Felim, Bishops.
Though not associated with one another so far as is known, these two saints are celebrated throughout Ireland by a common feast on this day. St Felim (Fedhlimidh) was the son of Dediva, a lady who was married four times, and had several saints among her children, including Dermot, Abbot of Inis Clothrann, brother-german to Felim.  We have no particulars or even legends of St Felim, but he is traditionally venerated as the first bishop of Kilmore; he was probably a regionary bishop in the Breffney country.  Another FELIM, named on the 18th or 28th of this month, was king of Munster in the ninth century; according to the exploits of his life he must have been included in the Martyrology of Gorman either in error or as a penitent.
   St Nathy Cruimthir, that is "the Priest", was a native of the Luigline district in Sligo and is mentioned in the life of St Attracta, who was probably his contemporary.  He is said to have been put at Achonry by St Finnian of Clonard, though the name by which he was known makes it unlikely that he was a bishop.
No biography either in Latin or Irish seems to be available in either case. Nathy is commemorated under this day in the Félire of Oengus. See O'Hanlon, LIS., vol. viii.
St. Nathy surnamed Cruimthir (the priest) Irish Nathy  was born at Luighne, Sligo, Ireland and became a disciple of St. Finnian of Clonnard, who made him a bishop. He was founder-abbot of a monastery, which is questioned by some in view of his surname. His cult was confirmed in 1903
6th v.  St. Phelim Irish monk and disciple of St. Columba. He is honored as a patron saint of Kilmore and is also listed as Fidleminus and Felix.
556 St. Bandaridus Bishop of Soissons founded Crépin Abbey and served the area until King Clotaire I banished him over a disagreement. He went to England and became a gardener in an abbey, living there anonymously.
also called Banderik, Bandarinus, and Bandery. In 540, Bandaridus was made bishop of Soissons, France. He founded Crépin Abbey and served the area until King Clotaire I banished him over a disagreement. He went to England and became a gardener in an abbey, living there anonymously. When he was recognized after seven years, Bandaridus was recalled by the king.  Bandaridus was buried in Crépin Abbey.
606 St. Serenus Bishop Bishop of Marseilles, France. He is best known for having been a correspondent with Pope St. Gregory I the Great (r. 590-604) who sent him several letters. One endorsed the Roman missionanes who were then on their way to Britain.
642 St Oswald Of Northumbria, Martyr.  
   After death of King St Edwin in the year 633 in battle against Penda and Cadwailon, Oswald, nephew of Edwin, prepared to regain possession of both parts of Northumbria; he had received Christianity with his whole heart and, far from forsaking Christ as his unhappy brothers had done to court the favour of his subjects, he wished to bring them to the spiritual kingdom of divine grace.
  While Cadwallon ravaged the Northumbrian provinces, Oswald assembled what troops he was able, and marched confidently, though with a small force, against his enemy.  In 634 battle was joined some three miles south of Hexham, near Rowley Burn.  The evening before the engagement, the king caused a great wooden cross to be made, and he held it up whilst the hole dug in the earth to plant it in was filled up round the foot.  When it was fixed, St Oswald cried out to his army (in which only a handful of individuals were Christians), "Let us now kneel down, and together pray to the almighty and only true God that He will mercifully defend us from our enemy; for He knows that we fight in defence of our lives and country".
   All the soldiers did as he commanded, and that same night Oswald had a vision wherein St Columba of Jona appeared to stretch his cloak over his sleeping troops and to promise them victory on the morrow.
  And so it fell out.  God blessed Oswald's faith and the superior forces of Cadwallon were muted and himself killed in the battle. It was a happy omen, says St Bede, that the place where this cross was set up was called in English Hefenfelth, that is. "Heaven field" (though doubtless in fact it was given that name later), because there was erected the first heavenly trophy of faith: before that time no church or altar was known to have been raised in the kingdom of the Bernicians.  This cross of St Oswald was afterwards very famous.
  In St Bede's time little chips of it were steeped in water, and drunk by sick persons, or sprinkled upon them, and many recovered their health.  After death of King Oswald, the monks of Hexham used to come to the place on the day before the anniversary of his death, there to sing the night-office and to celebrate Mass the next morning.  A church was built on the spot some time before Bede wrote.

  St Oswald immediately set himself to restore good order throughout his dominions, and plant in them the faith of Christ. Naturally enough he looked not to Canterbury but to Scotland, where he had received the faith himself, for help in this task, and asked for a bishop and assistants by whose preaching the people whom he governed might be grounded in the Christian religion and receive baptism.
   St Aidan, a native of Ireland and a monk of Iona, was chosen for the arduous undertaking, and he by his mildness repaired the mischief done by another monk, sent before him, whose harshness had alienated many from the gospel which he professed to preach.  The king bestowed on Aidan the isle of Lindisfarne for his episcopal see, and, before the bishop could sufficiently speak the English language, he would himself be his interpreter and explain his sermons and instructions to the people.
"From that time many of the Scots [Irish] came daily into Britain and preached the word with great devotion to those provinces of the English over which King Oswald reigned...Churches were built in a number of places; the people gladly gathered to hear the gospel; money and land were given by the king to build monasteries; and the English, high and low, were instructed by their Scottish teachers in the rules and observance of regular discipline, for most of them that came to preach were monks" (Bede).
  Oswald, whilst he was governing his temporal kingdom, was intent to labour and pray also for an eternal crown; and by reason of his praying and giving thanks at all times, it is said that whenever he was sitting he would have his hands on his knees turned upwards, toward Heaven.  The kingdom of Northumberland then extended as far as the Firth of Forth, and so great was his power that the other kings of England recognized in him some sort of nominal overlordship (bretwalda), so that St Adamnan, in his life of St Columba, styles him" Emperor of all Britain".
Bede gives the following example of the charity of this great king amidst his prosperity. 
One Easter day, whilst he was sitting down to dinner, an officer came in and told him there was a multitude of poor people at his gate, asking alms. The king sent them a large silver dish full of meat, and ordered the dish to be broken into small pieces and distributed among them. Upon this, St Aidan, who happened to be at table, taking him by the right hand, said, "May this hand never perish."
After St Oswald's death his right arm was cut off and remained incorrupt at least till the time of Simeon of Durham (d.c. 1135), when it was kept at the minster of Peterborough.
  St Oswald married Cyneburga, daughter of Cynegils, the first Christian king of Wessex; he stood sponsor for him at his baptism.  They had one child, a son, Ethelwald, who became king of Deira and was little credit to his father.

   When St Oswald had reigned some years war broke out with the pagan Penda of Mercia.  Penda again allied himself with the Welsh and the struggle lasted until a decisive battle was fought at Maserfield (probably Oswestry in Shropshire).  St Oswald met him with an inferior force, and was killed in the battle.  When he saw himself surrounded with his enemies, he offered his last prayer for the souls of his soldiers, and it became a proverb:
"O God, be merciful to their souls, as said Oswald when he fell."
He was slain in the thirty-eighth year of his age, on August 5, 642.
His relics were eventually distributed to various places and St Bede chronicles some of the many miracles of which they were the occasion; nor is it to be wondered at that the sick should be healed by him when dead, for while he lived he never ceased to provide for the poor and infirm.
   St Oswald was formerly remembered as one of the great national heroes of England, and his veneration extended to Scotland, Ireland, Portugal, northern Italy, Bohemia, southern Germany and Switzerland, where he is patron of Zug.  His memory is now somewhat dim but his feast is observed in several English dioceses and in Argyll (with a proper Mass) on August 9; and at Meissen and Trier. He is named in the Roman Martyrology on the 5th.

We know little of St Oswald beyond what has been recorded in Bede's Ecclesiastical History, bk iii, but C. Plummer gives (vol. ii, p. 161) a list of subsequent lives of the holy king.  That by Drogo (eleventh century) is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, August,vol. ii; that by Reginald of Durham may be found in Arnold's edition of Simeon of Durham (Rolls Series). Plummer points out in detail (pp. 159-160) how widespread was the cultus of St Oswald in central Europe. Plummer's notes upon Bede's text are also valuable, as well as those in the edition of Mayor and Lumby (1881). For the Swiss cultus, see E. P. Baker`s article in Archaeologia, vol. xciii (1949), pp. 103-123, and for northern Italy, the same writer in Archaeologia, vol. xciv (1951), pp. 167-194.
730 St. Julian anti-Iconoclast Martyr with Marcian and ten Christians of Constantinople. They were martyred by Emperor Leo III the Isaurian for opposing Iconoclasts.  The Martyrs Julian, Marcian, John, James, Alexius, Demetrius, Photius, Peter, Leontius, Maria the Patrician, the Protospatharios ("Sword-Captain") Gregory and Others suffered for holy icons in the year 730 under the Iconoclast emperor Leo the Isaurian (717-741). The emperor deposed the holy Patriarch Germanus (715-730) from the patriarchal throne and sent him off to prison, raising up onto the patriarchal throne the iconoclast Athanasius (730-753); discovered incorrupt 139 years later.

Constantinópoli sanctórum Mártyrum Juliáni, Marciáni et aliórum octo; qui, ob Salvatóris imáginem, quam in porta ǽnea constitúerant, omnes, ímpii Leónis Imperatóris jussu, post multa torménta, gládio necáti sunt.
    At Constantinople, the holy martyrs Julian, Marcian, and eight others.  For having set up the image of our Saviour on the brass gate, they were exposed to many torments, and then beheaded by order of the impious emperor Leo.

By decree of the emperor, all icons were to be confiscated from homes and churches and then destroyed. At Constantinople from the time of the holy Emperor Constantine the Great (324-337) there was over the so-called "Copper Gates" a wonderworking icon of the Savior, made of copper.

The emperor and heretical Patriarch Anastasius gave orders to seize this icon. The gathered crowd became outraged at this sacrilege. In the crowd was the Patrician Maria, a woman of illustrious family, who with many others rushed to the ladder and pulled it from the wall to keep the soldier from touching the icon. The ladder came down, and the soldier standing on it fell to his death. This occurred on January 19, 730. The Protospatherios ("Sword-Captain") Gregory and the nun St Theodosia (May 29) also took part in the defense of the icon.

Learning of this, the emperor executed a multitude of the faithful, the names of whom are known only to the Lord. The Protospatherios Gregory also received a martyr's death. Some of the Orthodox are known, however: Julian, Marcian, John, James, Alexius, Demetrius, Leontius, Photius and Peter, who were locked up in prison and kept there for about eight months, each day receiving 500 blows. In these torments they remained alive by the power of Christ and bravely endured their sufferings.

By order of the emperor they were burned with a red-hot iron and their heads cut off. St Maria the Patrician, who had not been locked up in prison, learning about the executions, voluntarily accepted a martyr's death. The bodies of the martyrs were buried in a coastal area near the church of the holy Martyr Theodore, and were discovered incorrupt 139 years later .
St. Amor a martyr venerated in the Franche-Comté province of France with St.  Viator. The relics of these two martyrs are enshrined in Saint-Amour, in Burgundy.
1242 Bd John Of Salerno; gift of reading minds and consciences.
John Guarna was born at Salerno about 1190.  While studying at Bologna he met St Dominic; they were mutually attracted one to the other, and John received the habit of the new order.  In 1219 thirteen friars were sent to preach in Etruria and of these, though he was easily the youngest, John of Salerno was made superior.  A house was given them at Ripoli, near Florence, from whence they went out to the whole neighbourhood, but particularly to Florence itself, where John every day preached in the streets and sought the sheep that were lost.  This arrangement was soon found to be too inconvenient and wasteful of time, and the community moved to San Pancrazio, adjoining the walls of the city.   Here Bd John had a trying experience with a young woman of undisciplined desires who had given herself up to a passion for him.   She pretended she was ill, went to bed, and sent for Brother John to hear her confession; the friar went at once, only to discover his "penitent" taking brazen advantage of their being alone. He rebuked the girl severely and tried to bring her to reason but she took no notice, so he could only go away and leave her. But he did not forget her, and his prayers eventually brought the girl to repentance towards God and humble apology to himself. This incident is said to have been made public in the following way. A possessed woman was being exorcized by a priest when the evil spirit, speaking by her mouth, exclaimed, "Only he who was unburned in the fire can drive me out!"  He was adjured to explain who and what he meant, and he named the prior of the Dominicans and told the story; Bd John was sent for and the woman was freed.
   He had the gift of reading minds and consciences, and would sometimes abash or enlighten a penitent or one of his subjects by his knowledge of them.  In 1221 he found his community turned out of the church in which they had been wont to sing the Divine Office; he soon established them at Santa Maria Novella, whose famous present church was begun fifty years later. Florence was troubled at this time by the Patarines, a sect which had penetrated into Italy from Bosnia; Pope Gregory IX. commissioned Bd John to deal with these heretics, whose tenets and life were similar to those of the Albigensians who had first exercised St Dominic.  They were indignant at his campaign but he refused to be intimidated by their threats or ruffled by their insults, and succeeded in bringing numbers back to the Church and to a Christian life.
   While he lay dying Bd John reminded his brethren that no action requires so much care, devotion and purity as the reception of holy communion.  His cultus was approved in 1783.
A life by John Caroli has been printed in the Acta Sanctorum, September, vol. iii, but with lacunae, which in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. vii (1888), pp. 85-94, have been made good from a recovered copy of the text.  Mortier speaks of Bd John in his Histoire des maître, généraux O.P., vol. i, pp. 106 seq.  See also Procter, Lives of Dominican Saints, pp. 326-228.  A fuller bibliography is supplied in Taurisano, p. 11.
1067 St. Maurilius Benedictine archbishop A leading churchman of his era. He was a native of Reims and served the Benedictines in many administrative capacities in Normandy, and in Florence, Italy. In 1055, he became archbishop of Rouen and was considered an outstanding churchman of his era.
1350 Bd John Of Rieti  joined the Hermits of St Augustine (Austin friars) at Rieti.  He was ever at the service of his neighbour, especially the sick and strangers, and delighted to wait on guests who came to the monastery;  he spent long hours in contemplation and especially valued the opportunities provided by serving Mass in the friary church for loving converse with God.   He had the gift of tears, not only for his own faults but for those of others; when walking in the garden he would say, "How can one not weep...?" His holy life and miracles taking place at his tomb were the cause of a cultus which persisted.

John Bufalari was born about the beginning of the fourteenth century at Castel Porziano in Umbria, brother to Bd Lucy of Amelia. Little is known of his life, except that it was uneventful, but none the less significant in that he grew daily in grace and virtue.  He early determined to leave the world and joined the Hermits of St Augustine (Austin friars) at Rieti.  He was ever at the service of his neighbour, especially the sick and strangers, and delighted to wait on guests who came to the monastery;  he spent long hours in contemplation and especially valued the opportunities provided by serving Mass in the friary church for loving converse with God.  He had the gift of tears, not only for his own faults but for those of others; when walking in the garden he would say,
"How can one not weep? For we see all around us trees and grass and flowers and plants germinating, growing, producing their fruit, and dying back again into the earth in accordance with the laws of their Creator: while men, to whom God has given a reasoning intelligence and the promise of a transcendent reward, continually oppose His will."
"A simple reflection whose force, if rightly understood, is not lessened by the consideration that the vegetable creation could not do otherwise if it would."
The exact date of the death of Bd John is not known, but his holy life and the miracles taking place at his tomb were the cause of a cultus which persisted and was formally confirmed in 1832.
See Torelli, Secoli Agostiniani, vol. ii, and P. Seeböck, Die Herrlichkeit day Katholischen Kirche (1900), pp. 299-300.
1482 St. Amedeus  Franciscan founder Portugal He was born to a noble family 1420 and entered the Franciscans as a lay brother at Assisi, Italy. After some time as a hermit, Amedeus was ordained and founded Franciscan monasteries. He was revered by Pope Sixtus IV.
1532 Saint Macarius of Oredezhsk was a disciple of St Alexander of Svir (August 30). He pursued asceticism at the River Oredezha at Lake Ladoga, where he founded a monastery. He died in the year 1532.
1837 Venerable Herman of Alaska, Wonderworker of All America.
A spiritual mission was organized in 1793, made up of monks of the Valaam Monastery. They were sent to preach the Word of God to the native inhabitants of northwestern America, who only ten years before had come under the sovereignty of Russia. St Herman was among the members of this Mission.

St Herman came from a family of merchants of Serpukhov, a city of the Moscow Diocese. His name before he was tonsured, and his family name are not known. (The monastic name is given when a monk takes his vows). He had a great zeal for piety from youth, and at sixteen he entered monastic life. (This was in 1772, if we assume that Herman was born in 1756, although sometimes 1760 is given as the date of his birth.) First he entered the Trinity-Sergius Hermitage which was located near the Gulf of Finland on the Peterhof Road, about 15 versts (about 10 miles) from St Petersburg.
MIRACULOUS HEALING OF HERMAN
At the St Sergius Hermitage there occurred the following incident to Father Herman. On the right side of his throat under his chin there appeared an abcess. The swelling grew rapidly, disfiguring his face. It became difficult for him to swallow, and the odor was unbearable. In this critical condition Father Herman awaited death. He did not appeal to a physician of this world, but locking his cell he fell before an lcon of the Queen of Heaven. With fervent tears he prayed, asking of Her that he might be healed. He prayed the whole night. Then he took a wet towel and with it wiped the face of the Most Holy Mother, and with this towel he covered the swelling. He continued to pray with tears until he fell asleep from sheer exhaustion on the floor. In a dream he saw the Virgin Mary healing him.
When Herman awoke in the morning, he found to his great surprise that he was fully healed. The swelling had disappeared, even though the abscess had not broken through, leaving behind but a small mark as though a reminder of the miracle. Physicians to whom this healing was described did not believe it, arguing that it was necessary for the abscess to have either broken through of its own accord or to have been cut open. But the words of the physicians were the words of human experience, for where the grace of God operates there the order of nature is overcome. Such occurrences humble human reason under the strong hand of God's Mercy.
HERMAN'S LIFE AT VALAAM
 For five or six years Father Herman continued to live in the St Sergius Hermitage, and then he transferred to the Valaam Monastery, which was widely scattered on the large islands in the waters of the great Lake Ladoga. He came to love the Valaam haven with all his soul, as he came to love its unforgettable Superior, the pious Elder Nazarius, and all the brethren. He wrote to Father Nazarius later from America, "Your fatherly goodness to me, humble one, will be erased out of my heart neither by the terrible, unpassable Siberian lands, nor by the dark forests. Nor will it be wiped out by the swift flow of the great rivers; nor will the awful ocean quench these feelings. In my mind I imagine my beloved Valaam, looking to it beyond the great ocean." He praised the Elder Nazarius in his letters as,"the most reverend, and my beloved father." (Batushka) and the brethren of Valaam he called, "my beloved and dearest." The place where he lived in America, deserted Spruce Island, he called "Now Valaam." And as we can see, he always remained in spiritual contact with his spiritual homeland', for as late as 1823, that is after thirty years of his life within the borders of America, he wrote letters to the successor of Father Nazarius, the lgumen Innocent.
Father Barlaam, later lgumen of Valaam, and a contemporary of Father Herman, who accepted his tonsure from Father Nazarius, wrote thus of the life of Father Herman.
"Father Herman went through the various obediences here, and being ‘well disposed toward every thing’ was in the course of events sent to Serdobol to oversee there the work of quarrying marble. The Brothers loved Father Herman, and awaited impatiently his return to the cloisters from Serdobol. Recognizing the zeal of the young hermit the wise elder, Father Nazarius, released him to take abode in the wilderness. This wilderness was in the deep forest about a mile from the cloister: to this day this place has retained the name 'Herman's.' On holy days, Father Herman returned to the monastery from the wilderness. Then it was that at Little Vespers he would stand in the choir and sing in his pleasant tenor the responses with the brethren from the Canon, 'O Sweetest Jesus, save us sinners. Most Holy Theotokos, Save us,' and tears would fall like hail from his eyes."
THE FIRST MISSION TO AMERICA
 In the second half of the 18th century the borders of Holy Russia expanded to the north. In those years Russian merchants discovered the Aleutian Islands which formed in the Pacific Ocean a chain from the eastern shares of Kamchatka to the western shares of North America. With the opening of these islands there was revealed the sacred necessity to illumine with the light of the Gospel the native inhabitants. With the blessing of the Holy Synod, Metropolitan Gabriel gave to the Elder Nazarius the task of selecting capable persons from the brethern of Valaam for this holy endeavor. Ten men were selected, and among them was Father Herman. The chosen men left Valaam for the place of their great appointment in 1793. (The members of this historical mission were: Archimandrite Joseph (Bolotoff), the Hieromonks, Juvenal, Macarius, Athanasius, Stephan and Nectarius, Hierodeacons, Nectarius and Stephen, and the monks Joasaph, and Herman.)

As a result of the holy zeal of the preachers the light of the evangelic sermon quickly poured out among the sons of Russia, and several thousand pagans accepted Christianity. A school for the education of newly-baptized children was organized, and a church was built at the place where the missionaries lived. But by the inscrutable providence of God the general progress of the mission was unsatisfactory. After five years of very productive labor, Archimandrite Joasaph, who had just been elevated to the rank of bishop, was drowned with his party. (This occurred on the Pacific Ocean been Kamchatka and the Aleutian Islands. The ship, Phoenix, one of the first sea-going ships built in Alaska, sailed from Okhotsk carrying the first Bishop for the American Mission and his party. The Phoenix was caught in one of the many storms which periodically sweep the northern Pacific, and the ship and all hands perished together with Bishop Joasaph and his party.) Before this the zealous Hieromonk Juvenal was granted the martyr's crown. The others died one after another until in the end only Father Herman remained. The Lord permitted him to labor longer than any of his brethren in the apostolic task of enlightening the Aleutians.
THE NEW VALAAM - SPRUCE ISLAND
 In America Father Herman chose as his place of habitation Spruce Island, which he called New Valaam. This island is separted by a strait about a mile and a quarter wide from Kodiak Island on which had been built a wooden monastery for the residence of the members of the mission, and a wooden church dedicated to the Resurrection of the Savior. (New Valaam was named for Valaam on Lake Ladoga, the monastery from which Father Herman came to America. It is interesting to note that Valaam is also located on an island, although, this island is in a fresh water lake, whereas, Spruce Island is on the Pacific Ocean, although near other islands and the Alaskan mainland.)
   Spruce Island is not large, and is almost completely covered by a forest. Almost through its middle a small brook flows to the sea. Herman selected this picturesque island for the location of his hermitage. He dug a cave out of the ground with his own hands, and in it he lived his first full summer. For winter there was built for him a cell near the cave, in which he lived until his death. The cave was converted by him into a place for his burial. A wooden chapel, and a wooden house to be used as a schoolhouse and a guest house were built not too distant from his cell. A garden was laid out in front of his cell. For more than forty years Father Herman lived here.
FATHER HERMAN'S WAY OF LIFE
  Father Herman himself spaded the garden, planted potatoes and cabbage and various vegetables in it. For winter, he preserved mushrooms, salting or drying them. The salt was obtained by him from ocean water. It is said that a wicker basket in which the Elder carried seaweed from the shore, was so large that it was difficult for one person to carry. The seaweed was used for fertilizing the soil. But to the astonishment of all, Father Herman carried a basket filled with seaweed for a long distance without any help at all. By chance his disciple, Gerasim, saw him one winter night carrying a large log which normally would be carried by four men; and he was bare footed. Thus worked the Elder, and everything that he acquired as a result of his immeasurable labors was used for the feeding and clothing of orphans and also for books for his students.
   His clothes were the same for winter as for summer. He did not wear a shirt; instead he wore a smock of deer skin, which he did not take off for several years at a time, nor did he change it, so that the fur in it was completely worn away, and the leather became glossy. Then there were his boots or shoes, cassock (podrasnik), an ancient and faded out cassock (riasa) full of patchwork, and his headdress (klobuk). He went everywhere in these clothes, and at all times; in the rain, in snowstorms, and during the coldest freezing weather. In this, Father Herman followed the example of many Eastern Ascetic Fathers and Monks who showed the greatest concern for the welfare and needs of others. Yet, they themselves wore the oldest possible clothes to show their great humility before God, and their contempt for worldly things.
  A small bench covered with a time-worn deerskin served as Father Herman's bed. He used two bricks for a pillow; these were hidden from visitors by a skin or a shirt. There was no blanket. Instead, he covered himself with a wooden board which lay on the stove. This board Father Herman, himself called his blanket, and he willed that it be used to cover his remains; it was as long as he was tall. "During my stay in the cell of Father Herman," writes the creole Constantine Larionov, "I, a sinner, sat on his 'blanket'-and I consider this the acme of my fortune!" ('creole' is the name by which the Russians referred to the children of mixed marriages of native Indians of Alaska, Eskimo and Aleuts with Russians.)
   On the occasions when Father Herman was the guest of administrators of the American Company and in the course of their soul-saving talks he sat up with them until midnight. He never spent the night with them, but regardless of the weather he always returned to his hermitage. If for some extraordinary reason it was necessary for him to spend the night away from his cell, then in the morning the bed which had been prepared for him would be found untouched; the Elder not having slept at all. The same was true in his hermitage where having spent the night in talks, he never rested.
   The Elder ate very little. As a guest, he scarcely tasted the food, and remained without dinner. In his call his dinner consisted of a very small portion of a small fish or some vegetables.  His body, emaciated as a result of his labors, his vigils, and fasting, was crushed by chains which weighed about sixteen pounds. These chains are kept to this day in the chapel.
Telling of these deeds of Father Herman, his disciple, the Aleut lgnaty Aligyaga, added, "Yes, Apa led a very hard life, and no one can imitate his life!" (Apa, Aleutian word means Elder or grandfather, and it is a name indicative of the great affection in which he was held).
   Our writing of the incidents in the life of the Elder deal, so to speak, with the external aspects of his labor. "His most important works," says the Bishop Peter, "were his exercises in spiritual endeavor in his isolated cell where no one saw him, but outside the cell they heard him singing and celebrating services to God according to the monastic rule." This witness of the Bishop is supported by the following answers of Father Herman, himself, "How do you manage to live alone in the forest, Father Herman? Don't you ever become lonesome?" He answered, "No I am not there alone! God is here, as God is everywhere. The Holy Angels are there. With whom is it better to talk, with people, or with Angels? Most certainly with Angels."
FATHER HERMAN AND THE NATIVES
  The way in which Father Herman looked upon the natives of America, how he understood his own relations with them, and how he was concerned for their needs he expressed himself in one of his letters to the former administrator of the colony, Simeon Yanovsky.  He wrote,
 "Our Creator granted to our beloved homeland this land which like a newly-born babe does not yet have the strength for knowledge or understanding. It requires not only protection, because of its infantile weakness and impotence, but also his sustenance. Even for this it does not yet have the ability to make an appeal on its own behalf. And since the welfare of this nation by the Providence of God, it is not known for how long, is dependent on and has been entrusted into the hands of the Russian government which has now been given into your own power, therefore I, the most humble servant of these people, and their nurse (nyanka) stand before you in their behalf, write this petition with tears of blood. Be our Father and our Protector. Certainly we do not know how to be eloquent, so with an inarticulate infant's tonque we say: Wipe away the tears of the defenseless orphans, cool the hearts melting away in the fire of sorrow. Help us to know what consolation means."

   The Elder acted the way he felt. He always interceded before the governors in behalf of those who had transgressed. He defended those who had been offended. He helped those who were in need with whatever means he had available. The Aleuts, men, women and children, often visited him. Some asked for advice, others complained of oppression, others sought out defense, and still others desired help. Each one received the greatest possible satisfaction from the Elder. He discussed their mutual difficulties, and he tried to settle these peacefully. He was especially concerned about reestablishing understanding in families. If he did not succeed in reconciling a husband and wife, the Elder prevailed upon them to separate temporarily. The need for such a procedure he explained thus, "it is better to let them live apart, or believe me, it can be terrible if they are not separated. There have been incidents when a husband killed his wife, or when a wife destroyed her husband."
   Father Herman especially loved children. He made large quantities of biscuits for them, and he baked cookies (krendelki) for them; and the children were fond of the Elder. Father Herman's love for the Aleuts reached the point of self-denial.
AN EPIDEMIC STRIKES
A ship from the United States brought to Sitka Island, and from there to Kodiak Island, a contagious disease, a fatal illness. It began with a fever, a heavy cold, and difficult respiration, and it ended with chills; in three days the victim died. On the island there was neither a doctor nor medicine. The illness spread rapidly through the village, and then throughout the nearby areas. The disease affected all, even infants. The fatalities were so great that for three days there was no one to dig graves, and the bodies remained unburied. An eyewitness said,
 "I cannot imagine anything more tragic and horrible than the sight which struck me when I visited an Aleutian 'Kazhim'. This was a large building, or barracks, with dividing sections, in which the Aleuts lived with their families; it contained about 100 people. Here some had died, their cold bodies lay near the living; others were dying; there were groans and weeping which tore at one's soul."

   "I saw mothers over whose bodies cold in death crawled a hungry child, crying and searching in vain for its food...My heart was bursting with compassion! It seemed that if anyone could paint with a worthy brush the full horror of this tragic scene, that he would have successfully aroused fear of death in the most embittered heart."
   Father Herman, during this terrible sickness which lasted a whole month, gradually dying out towards the end, visited the sick, never tiring. He admonished them in their fear, prayed, brought them to penance, or prepared them for death. He never spared himself.

FATHER HERMAN AS A SPIRITUAL TEACHER 
The Elder was concerned in particular for the moral growth of the Aleuts. With this end in mind a school was built for children-the orphans of the Aleuts. He himself taught them the Law of God and church music. For this same purpose he gathered the Aleuts on Sunday and Holy Days for prayer in the chapel near his cell. Here his disciple read the Hours and the various prayers while the Elder himself read the Epistle and Gospel. He also preached to them. His students sang, and they sang very well. The Aleuts loved to hear his sermons, gathering around him in large numbers. The Elder's talks were captivating, and his listeners were moved by their wonderous power. He himself writes of one example of the beneficial results of his words.
   "Glory to the holy destinies of the Merciful God! He has shown me now through his unfathomable Providence a new occurence which I, who have lived here for twenty years had never seen before on Kodiak. Recently after Easter, a young girl about twenty years of age who knows Russian well, came to me. Having heard of the Incarnation of the Son of God and of Eternal Life, she became so inflamed with love for Jesus Christ that she does not wish to leave me. She pleaded eloquently with me. Contrary to my personal inclination and love for solitude, and despite all the hindrances and difficulties which I put forward before accepting her, she has now been living near the school for a month and is not lonesome."
   "I, looking on this with great wonder, remembered the 'words of the Savior: that which is hidden from the wise and learned is revealed to babes." (Matt. 11:25)
This woman lived at the school until the death of the Elder. She watched for the good conduct of the children who studied in his school. Father Herman willed that after his death she was to continue to live on Spruce Island. Her name was Sophia Vlasova.
Yanovsky writes about the character and the eloquence of the talks of the Elder thus:
   "When I met Father Herman I was thirty years old. I must say that I was educated in the naval corps school; that I knew many sciences having read extensively. But to my regret, the Science of sciences, that is the Law of God, I barely remembered the externals - and these only theoretically, not applying them to life. I was a Christian in name only, but in my soul and in reality, I was a freethinker. Furthermore, I did not admit the divinity and holiness of our religion, for I had read through many atheistic works. Father Herman recognized this immediately and he desired to reconvert me. To my great surprise he spoke so convincingly, wisely - and he argued with such conviction- that it seemed to me that no learning or worldly wisdom could stand one's ground before his words. We conversed with him daily until midnight, and even later, of God's love, of eternity, of the salvation of souls, and of Christian living. From his lips flowed a ceaseless stream of sweet words! By these continual talks and by the prayers of the holy Elder the Lord returned me completely to the way of Truth, and I became a real Christian. I am indebted for all this to Father Herman he is my true benefactor."
   "Several years ago," continues Yanovsky, "Father Herman converted a certain naval captain G. to Orthodoxy from the Lutheran Faith. This captain was well educated. Besides many sciences, he was well versed in languages. He knew Russian, English, German, French, Italian and also some Spanish. But for all this he could not resist the convictions and proofs of Father Herman. He changed his faith and was united to the Orthodox Church through Chrismation. When he was leaving America, the Elder said to him while they were parting, "Be on guard, if the Lord should take your wife from you then do not marry a German woman under any circumstance. If you do marry a German woman, undoubtedly she will damage your Orthodoxy." The Captain gave his word, but he failed to keep it. The warning of the Elder was prophetic. Indeed, after several years the Captain's wife did die, and he married a German woman. There is no doubt that his faith weakened or that he left it; for he died suddenly without penance."
Further on Yanovsky writes,
   "Once the Elder was invited aboard a frigate which came from St Petersburg. The Captain of the frigate was a highly educated man, who had been sent to America by order of the Emperor to make an inspection of all the colonies. There were more than twenty-five officers with the Captain, and they also were educated men. In the company of this group sat a monk of a hermitage, small in stature and wearing very old clothes. All these educated conversationalists were placed in such a position by his wise talks that they did not know how to answer him. The Captain himself used to say, 'We were lost for an answer before him.'
   "Father Herman gave them all one general question: 'Gentlemen, What do you love above all, and what will each of you wish for your happiness?' Various answers were offered...Some desired wealth, others glory, some a beautiful wife, and still others a beautiful ship he would captain; and so forth in the same vein. 'It is not true,' Father Herman said to them concerning this, 'that all your various wishes can bring us to one conclusion - that each of you desires that which in his own understanding he considers the best, and which is most worthy of his love?' They all answered, 'Yes, that is so!' He then continued, 'Would you not say, Is not that which is best, above all, and surpassing all, and that which by preference is most worthy of love, the Very Lord, our Jesus Christ, who created us, adorned us with such ideals, gave life to all, sustains everything, nurtures and loves all, who is Himself Love and most beautiful of all men? Should we not then love God above every thing, desire Him more than anything, and search Him out?' "
   All said, "Why, yes! That's self-evident!" Then the Elder asked, "But do you love God?" They all answered, "Certainly, we love God. How can we not love God?" "And I a sinner have been trying for more than forty years to love God, I cannot say that I love Him completely," Father Herman protested to them. He then began to demonstrate to them the way in which we should love God. "if we love someone," he said, "we always remember them; we try to please them. Day and night our heart is concerned with the subject. Is that the way you gentlemen love God? Do you turn to Him often? Do you always remember Him? Do you always pray to Him and fulfill His holy commandments?" They had to admit that they had not! "For our own good, and for our own fortune," concluded the Elder, "let us at least promise ourselves that from this very minute we will try to love God more than anything and to fulfill His Holy Will!" Without any doubt this conversation was imprinted in the hearts of the listeners for the rest of their lives.
   "In general, Father Herman liked to talk of eternity, of salvation of the future life, of our destinies under God. He often talked on the lives of the Saints, on the Prologue, but he never spoke about anything frivolous. It was so pleasant to hear him that those who conversed with him, the Aleuts and their wives, were so captivated by his talks that often they did not leave him until dawn, and then they left him with reluctance;" thus witnesses the creole, Constantine Larionov.
A DESCRIPTION OF FATHER HERMAN
Yanovsky writes a detailed description of Father Herman.
  "I have a vivid memory," he said, "Of all the features of the Elder's face reflecting goodness; his pleasant smile, his meek and attractive mien, his humble and quiet behavior, and his gracious word. He was short of stature. His face was pale and covered with wrinkles. His eyes were greyish-blue, full of sparkle, and on his head there were a few gray hairs. His voice was not powerful, but it was very pleasant."
Yanovsky relates two incidents from his conversations with the Elder. "Once,
 " he writes, "I read to Father Herman the ode, 'God,' by Derzhavin. The Elder was surprised, and entranced. He asked me to read it again. I read it once more, "Is it possible that a simple, educated man wrote this?" he asked. "Yes, a learned poet," I answered. "This has been written under God's inspiration," said the Elder.

THE MARTYRDOM OF PETER 
   "On another occasion I was relating to him how the Spanish in California had imprisoned fourteen Aleuts, and how the Jesuits were forcing all of them to accept the Catholic Faith. But this Aleut would not agree under any circumstances, saying, 'We are Christians.' The Jesuits protested, 'That's not true; you are heretics and schismatics. If you do not agree to accept our faith then we will torture all of you.' Then the Aleuts were placed in cells until evening; two to a cell. At night the Jesuits came to the prison with lanterns and lighted candles. They began to persuade the Aleuts in the cell once again to accept the Catholic Faith. 'We are Christians,' was the answer of the Aleuts, 'and we will not change our Faith.' Then the Jesuits began to torture them, at first the one while his companion was the witness. They cut the toes off his feet, first one joint and then the other joint. And then they cut the first joint on the fingers of the hands, and then the other joint. Afterwards they cut off his feet, and his hands; the blood flowed. The martyr endured all and steadfastly insisted on one thing: "I am a Christian.' In such suffering, he bled to death. The Jesuit promised to torture to death his comrades also on the next day.
   But that night an order was received from Monterey stating that the imprisoned Aleuts were to be released immediately, and sent there under escort. Therefore, in the morning all were dispatched to Monterey with the exception of the martyred Aleut. This was related to me by a witness, the same Aleut who was the comrade of the tortured Aleut. Afterwards he escaped from imprisonment, and I reported this incident to the supreme authorities in St Petersburg. When I finished my story, Father Herman asked, 'And how did they call the martyred Aleut?' I answered, 'Peter; I do not remember his family name.' The Elder stood up before an icon reverently, made the sign of the Cross and pronounced, "Holy newly-martyred Peter, pray to God for usl"
THE SPIRIT OF FATHER HERMAN’S TEACHING
In order to express the spirit of Father Herman's teaching, we present here a quotation from a letter that was written by his own hand.
   "The empty years of these desires separate us from our heavenly homeland, and our Love for these desires and our habits clothe us, as it were, in an odious dress; it is called by the Apostle 'the external (earthy) man.' (I Cor. 15:47). We who are wanderers in the journey of this life call to God for aid. We must divest ourselves of this repulsiveness, and put on new desires, and a new love for the coming age. Thus, through this we will know either an attraction or a repulsion for the heavenly homeland. It is possible to do this quickly, but we must follow the example of the sick, who wishing for desired health, do not stop searching for means of curing themselves. But I am not speaking clearly."
   Not desiring anything for himself in life; long ago when he first came to America having refused, because of his humility, the dignity of hiero-monk and archimandrite; and deciding to remain forever a common monk, Father Herman, without the least fear before the, powerful, strove with all sincerity for God. With gentle love, and disregarding the person, he criticized many for intemperate living, for unworthy behalvor, and for oppressing the Aleuts.
   Evil armed itself against him and gave him all sorts of trouble and sorrow. But God protected the Elder. The Administrator of the Colony, Yanovsky, not having yet seen Father Herman, after receiving one of those complaints, had already written to St Petersburg of the necessity of his removal. He explained that it seemed that he was arousing the Aleuts against the administration. But this accusation turned out to be unjust, and in the end Yanovsky was numbered among the admirers of Father Herman.

Once an inspector came to Spruce Island with the Administrator of the Colony N. and with company employees to search through Father Herman's call.
This party expected to find property of great value in Father Herman's call. But when they found nothing of value, an employee (of the American Company), Ponomarkhov, began to tear up the floor with an axe, undoubtedly with the consent of his seniors. Then Father Herman said to him, "My friend, you have lifted the axe in vain; this weapon shall deprive you of your life." Some time later people were needed at Fort Nicholas, and for that reason several Russian employees were sent there from Kodiak; among them was Ponomarkhov; there the natives of Kenai cut off his head while he slept.
THE TEMPTATIONS OF FATHER HERMAN
 Many great sorrows were borne by Father Herman from evil spirits. He himself revealed this to his disciple, Gerasim. Once when he entered Father Herman's cell without the usual prayer he received no answer from Father Herman to any of his questions. The next day Gerasim asked him the reason for his silence. On that occasion Father Herman said to him, "When I came to this island and settled in this hermitage the evil spirits approached me ostensibly to be helpful. They came in the form of a man, and in the form of animals. I suffered much from them; from various afflictions and temptations. And that is why I do not speak now to anyone who enters into my presence without prayer." (It is customary among devout laymen, as well as clergy, to say out loud a prayer, and upon hearing a response ending with Amen, to enter and go to the icon in the room to reverence it, and to say a prayer before greeting the host).
SUPERNATURAL GIFTS FROM GOD
   Herman dedicated himself fully for the Lord's service; he strove with zeal solely for the glorification of His Most Holy Name. Far from his homeland in the midst of a variety of afflictions and privations Father Herman spent several decades performing the noblest deeds of self-sacrifice. He was privileged to receive many supernatural gifts from God.
   In the midst of Spruce Island down the hill flows a little stream into the sea. The mouth of this stream was always swept by surf. In the spring when the brook fish appeared the Elder raked away some of the sand at its mouth so that the fish could enter, and at their first appearance they rushed up the stream'. His disciple, lgnaty, said, "it was so that if 'Apa' would tell me, I would go and get fish in the streaml" Father Herman fed the birds with dried fish, and they would gather in great numbers around his call. Underneath his cell there lived an ermine. This little animal can not be approached when it has had its young, but the Elder fed it from his own hand. "Was not this a miracle that we had seen?" said his disciple, lgnaty. They also saw Father Herman feeding bears. But when Father Herman died the birds and animals left; even the garden would not give any sort of crops even though someone had willingly taken care of it, lgnaty insisted.
   On Spruce Island there once occurred a flood. The inhabitants came to the Elder in great fear. Father Herman then took an icon of the Mother of God from the home where his students lived, and placed it on a "laida" (a sandy bank) and began to pray. After his prayer he turned to those present and said, "Have no fear, the water will not go any higher than the place where this holy icon stands." The words of the Elder were fullfilled. After this he promised the same aid from this holy icon in the future through the intercessions of the Most Immaculate Queen. He entrusted the icon to his disciple, Sophia; in case of future floods the icon was to be placed on the "laida."
  At the request of the Elder, Baron F.P. Wrangel wrote a letter to a Metropolitan - his name is not known - which was dictated by Father Herman. When the letter was completed and read, the Elder congratulated the Baron upon his attaining the rank of admiral. The Baron was taken aback. This was news to him. It was confirmed, but only after an elapse of some time and just before he departed for St. Petersburg.
   Father Herman said to the administrator Kashevarov from whom he accepted his son from the font (during the Sacrament of Baptism), "I am sorry for you my dear 'kum.' It's a shame, the change will be unpleasant for you!" In two years during a change of administration Kashevarov was sent to Sitka in chains.
   Once the forest on Spruce Island caught fire. The Elder with his disciple, Ignaty, in a thicket of the forest made a belt about a yard wide in which they turned over the moss. They extended it to the foot of the hill. The Elder said, "Rest assured, the fire will not pass this line." On the next day according to the testimony of lgnaty there was no hope for salvation (from the fire) and the fire, pushed by a strong wind, reached the place where the moss had been turned over by the Elder. The fire ran over the moss and halted, leaving untouched the thick forest which was beyond the line.
   The Elder often said that there would be a bishop for America; this at a time when no one even thought of it, and there was no hope that there would be a bishop for America; this was related by the Bishop Peter and his prophecy was fulfilled in time.
"After my death," said Father Herman, "there will be an epidemic and many people shall die during it and the Russians shall unite the Aleuts." And so it happened; it seems that about a half a year after his passing there was a smallpox epidemic; the death rate in America during the epidemic was tremendous. In some villages only a few inhabitants remained alive. This led the administration of the colony to unite the Aleuts; the twelve settlements were consolidated into seven.
   "Although a long time shall elapse after my death, I will not be forgotten," said Father Herman to his disciples. "My place of habitation will not remain empty. A monk like myself who will be escaping from the glory of men, will come and he will live on Spruce Island, and Spruce Island will not be without people."
(This prophecy has now been fulfilled in its entirety. Just such a monk as Father Herman described lived on Spruce Island for many years; his name was Archimandrite Gerasim, who died on October 13, 1969. This monk took on himself the responsibility of taking care of the Chapel under which at first was buried the Elder Herman. Metropolitan Leonty soon after his elevation to the primacy of the Russian Orthodox Church in America made a pilgrimage to Spruce Island, and the grave of Herman.)
HERMAN'S PROPHECIES FOR THE FUTURE 
The creole Constantine, when he was not more than twelve years old, was asked by Father Herman, "My beloved one, what do you think; this chapel which they are now building, will it ever stand empty?" The youngster answered, "I do not know, 'Apa.' "And indeed," said Constantine, "I did not understand his question at that time, even though that whole conversation with the Elder remains vivid in my memory." The Elder remained silent for a short time, and then said, "My child remember, in time in this place there will be a monastery."
   Father Herman said to his disciple the Aleut lgnaty Aiigyaga,
  "Thirty years shall pass after my death, and all those living on Spruce Island will have died, but you alone will remain alive. You will be old and poor when I will be remembered." And indeed after the death of Father Herman thirty years passed when they were reminded of him, and they began to gather information and facts about him; on the basis of which was written his life.
   "It is amazing," exclaims lgnaty, "how a man like us could know all this so long before it happened! However, no, he was no ordinary man! He knew our thoughts, and involuntarily he led us to the point where we revealed them to him, and we received counsel from him!"

   "When I die," said the Elder to his disciples, "you will bury me alongside Father Joasaph. You will bury me by yourself, for you will not wait for the priest! Do not wash my body. Lay it on a board, clasp my hands over my chest, wrap me in my 'mantia' (the monk's outer cloak), and with its wings cover my face and place the 'kiobuk' on my head. (The 'klobuk' is the monastic head-dress.) If anyone wishes to bid farewell to me, let them kiss the Cross. Do not show my face to anyone..."
THE DEATH OF FATHER HERMAN
The time of the Elder's passing had come.
    One day he ordered his disciple, Gerasim, to light a candle before the icons, and to read the Acts of the Holy Apostles. After some time his face glowed brightly and he said in a loud voice, "Glory to Thee, O Lord!" He then ordered the reading to be halted, and he announced that the Lord had willed that his life would now be spared for another week.
   A week later again by his orders the candies were lit, and the Acts of the Holy Apostles were read. Quietly the Elder bowed his head on the chest of Gerasim; the cell was filled with a pleasant smelling odor; and his face glowed, and Father Herman was no more! Thus in blessedness he died, he passed away in the sleep of a righteous man in the 81st year of his life of great labor, the 25th day of December, 1837. (According to the Julian Calendar, the 13th of December 1837, although there are some records which state he died on the 28th of November, and was buried on the 26th of December).

   Those sent with the sad news to the harbor returned to announce that the administrator of the colony Kashevarov had forbidden the burial of the Elder until his own arrival. He also ordered that a finer coffin be made for Father Herman, and that he would come as soon as possible and would bring a priest with him. But then a great wind came up, a rain fell, and a terrible storm broke. The distance from the Harbor to Spruce Island is not great - about a two hour journey - but no one would agree to go to sea in such weather. Thus it continued for a full month and although the body lay in state for a full month in the warm house of his students, his face did not undergo any change at all, and not the slightest odor emanated from his body. Finally through the efforts of Kuzma Uchilischev, a coffin was obtained. No one arrived from the Harbor, and the inhabitants of Spruce Island alone buried in the ground the remains of the Elder. Thus the words which Herman uttered before his death were fulfilled.
 After this the wind quieted down, and the surface of the sea became as smooth as a mirror.
   One evening from the village Katani (on Afognak) was seen above Spruce Island an unusual pillar of light which reached up to heaven. Astonished by the miraculous appearance, experienced elders and the creole Gerasim Vologdin and his wife, Anna, said, "it seems that Father Herman has left us," and they began to pray. After a time, they were informed that the Elder had indeed passed away that very night. This same pillar was seen in various places by others. The night of his death in another of the settlements on Afognak was seen a vision; it seemed as though a man was rising from Spruce Island into the clouds.
   The disciples buried their father, and placed above his grave a wooden memorial marker. The priest on Kodiak, Peter Kashevarov, says, "I saw it myself, and I can say that today it seems as though it had never been touched by time; as though it had been cut this day."
   Having witnessed the life of Father Herman glorified by his zealous labors, having seen his miracles, and the fulfillment of his predictions, finally having observed his blessed falling-asleep, "in general all the local inhabitants" witnesses Bishop Peter, "have the highest esteem for him, as though he was a holy ascetic, and are fully convinced that he has found favor in the presence of God."
   In 1842, five years after the passing away of the Elder, Innocent, Archbishop of Kamchatka and the Aleutians, was near Kodiak on a sailing vessel which was in great distress. He looked to Spruce Island, and said to himself, "if you, Father Herman, have found favor in God's presence then may the wind change!" It seems as though not more than fifteen minutes had passed, said the Bishop, when the wind became favorable, and he successfully reached the shore. In thanksgiving for his salvation, Archbishop Innocent himself conducted a Memorial Service over the grave of the Blessed Elder Herman.
In 1970, the Orthodox Church in America glorified the monk Herman
as the Venerable Herman of Alaska, Wonderworker of All America.

1859 Sancti Joánnis Baptístæ-Maríæ Vianney, Presbyteri et Confessóris, cæléstis ómnium parochórum Patróni; cujus dies natális prídie Nonas mensis hujus recensétur.
   
St. John Baptist-Mary Vianney, priest and confessor, and heavenly patron of all parish priests, whose birthday is remembered on the 4th day of this month. 

1942 Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein). Beatified in the Cologne cathedral by Pope John Paul II; canonized on October 11, 1998.
Katholische und Evangelische Kirche: 9. August
Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)Virgin and Martyr Edith Stein, born in 1891 in Breslau, Poland, was the youngest child of a large Jewish family. She was an outstanding student and was well versed in philosophy with a particular interest in phenomenology. Eventually she became interested in the Catholic Faith, and in 1922, she was baptized at the Cathedral Church in Cologne, Germany. Eleven years later Edith entered the Cologne Carmel. Because of the ramifications of politics in Germany, Edith, whose name in religion was Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, was sent to the Carmel at Echt, Holland. When the Nazis conquered Holland, Teresa was arrested, and, with her sister Rose, was sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz. Teresa died in the gas chambers of Auschwitz in 1942 at the age of fifty-one. In 1987, she was beatified in the Cologne cathedral by Pope John Paul II. Out of the unspeakable human suffering caused by the Nazis in western Europe in the 1930's and 1940's, there blossomed the beautiful life of dedication, consecration, prayer, fasting, and penance of Saint Teresa. Even though her life was snuffed out by the satanic evil of genocide, her memory stands as a light undimmed in the midst of evil, darkness, and suffering. She was canonized on October 11, 1998.
Edith Stein Katholische und Evangelische Kirche: 9. August

Edith Stein wurde am 12.10.1891 in Breslau geboren. Ihre Eltern waren Juden und sie wurde im jüdischen Glauben erzogen. Edith war sehr klug, sie entwickelte sich während der Schulzeit zu einer radikalen Frauenrechtlerin, wandte sich aber vom Glauben ab. Sie studierte zunächst in Breslau, ging dann 1913 nach Göttingen, um bei Edmund Husserl zu studieren. 1922 konvertierte sie zur katholischen Kirche, 1933 wurde sie Karmelitin in Köln und nahm den Namen Teresia Benedicta a Santa Cruce an. Als sie wegen ihrer jüdischen Abstammung im Kloster nicht mehr sicher war, floh sie nach Holland. Aber dort wurde sie verhaftet und nach Ausschwitz verschleppt und 1942 vergast.
1987 wurde Edith Stein selig gesprochen und 1999 zusammen mit Birgitta von Schweden und Katharina von Siena zur Patronin Europas ernannt.
  St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)
(1891-1942)

A brilliant philosopher who stopped believing in God when she was 14, Edith Stein was so captivated by reading the autobiography of Teresa of Avila that she began a spiritual journey that led to her Baptism in 1922. Twelve years later she imitated Teresa by becoming a Carmelite, taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.
Born into a prominent Jewish family in Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland), Edith abandoned Judaism in her teens. As a student at the University of Göttingen, she became fascinated by phenomenology, an approach to philosophy. Excelling as a protégé of Edmund Husserl, one of the leading phenomenologists, Edith earned a doctorate in philosophy in 1916. She continued as a university teacher until 1922 when she moved to a Dominican school in Speyer; her appointment as lecturer at the Educational Institute of Munich ended under pressure from the Nazis.

After living in the Cologne Carmel (1934-38), she moved to the Carmelite monastery in Echt, Netherlands. The Nazis occupied that country in 1940. In retaliation for being denounced by the Dutch bishops, the Nazis arrested all Dutch Jews who had become Christians. Teresa Benedicta and her sister Rosa, also a Catholic, died in a gas chamber in Auschwitz on August 9, 1942.
Pope John Paul II beatified Teresa Benedicta in 1987 and canonized her in 1998.
Comment:  The writings of Edith Stein fill 17 volumes, many of which have been translated into English. A woman of integrity, she followed the truth wherever it led her. After becoming a Catholic, Edith continued to honor her mother’s Jewish faith. Sister Josephine Koeppel, O.C.D. , translator of several of Edith’s books, sums up this saint with the phrase,
“Learn to live at God’s hands.”
Quote:  In his homily at the canonization Mass, Pope John Paul II said: “Because she was Jewish, Edith Stein was taken with her sister Rosa and many other Catholics and Jews from the Netherlands to the concentration camp in Auschwitz, where she died with them in the gas chambers. Today we remember them all with deep respect. A few days before her deportation, the woman religious had dismissed the question about a possible rescue: ‘Do not do it! Why should I be spared? Is it not right that I should gain no advantage from my Baptism? If I cannot share the lot of my brothers and sisters, my life, in a certain sense, is destroyed.’” Addressing himself to the young people gathered for the canonization, the pope said: “Your life is not an endless series of open doors! Listen to your heart! Do not stay on the surface but go to the heart of things! And when the time is right, have the courage to decide! The Lord is waiting for you to put your freedom in his good hands.”
1942 Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) Katholische und Evangelische Kirche: 9. August
Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)Virgin and Martyr Edith Stein, born in 1891 in Breslau, Poland, was the youngest child of a large Jewish family. She was an outstanding student and was well versed in philosophy with a particular interest in phenomenology. Eventually she became interested in the Catholic Faith, and in 1922, she was baptized at the Cathedral Church in Cologne, Germany. Eleven years later Edith entered the Cologne Carmel. Because of the ramifications of politics in Germany, Edith, whose name in religion was Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, was sent to the Carmel at Echt, Holland. When the Nazis conquered Holland, Teresa was arrested, and, with her sister Rose, was sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz. Teresa died in the gas chambers of Auschwitz in 1942 at the age of fifty-one. In 1987, she was beatified in the Cologne cathedral by Pope John Paul II. Out of the unspeakable human suffering caused by the Nazis in western Europe in the 1930's and 1940's, there blossomed the beautiful life of dedication, consecration, prayer, fasting, and penance of Saint Teresa. Even though her life was snuffed out by the satanic evil of genocide, her memory stands as a light undimmed in the midst of evil, darkness, and suffering. She was canonized on October 11, 1998.
Edith Stein Katholische und Evangelische Kirche: 9. August
Edith Stein wurde am 12.10.1891 in Breslau geboren. Ihre Eltern waren Juden und sie wurde im jüdischen Glauben erzogen. Edith war sehr klug, sie entwickelte sich während der Schulzeit zu einer radikalen Frauenrechtlerin, wandte sich aber vom Glauben ab. Sie studierte zunächst in Breslau, ging dann 1913 nach Göttingen, um bei Edmund Husserl zu studieren. 1922 konvertierte sie zur katholischen Kirche, 1933 wurde sie Karmelitin in Köln und nahm den Namen Teresia Benedicta a Santa Cruce an. Als sie wegen ihrer jüdischen Abstammung im Kloster nicht mehr sicher war, floh sie nach Holland. Aber dort wurde sie verhaftet und nach Ausschwitz verschleppt und 1942 vergast.
1987 wurde Edith Stein selig gesprochen und 1999 zusammen mit Birgitta von Schweden und Katharina von Siena zur Patronin Europas ernannt.
  St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) (1891-1942)
A brilliant philosopher who stopped believing in God when she was 14, Edith Stein was so captivated by reading the autobiography of Teresa of Avila that she began a spiritual journey that led to her Baptism in 1922. Twelve years later she imitated Teresa by becoming a Carmelite, taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.
Born into a prominent Jewish family in Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland), Edith abandoned Judaism in her teens. As a student at the University of Göttingen, she became fascinated by phenomenology, an approach to philosophy. Excelling as a protégé of Edmund Husserl, one of the leading phenomenologists, Edith earned a doctorate in philosophy in 1916. She continued as a university teacher until 1922 when she moved to a Dominican school in Speyer; her appointment as lecturer at the Educational Institute of Munich ended under pressure from the Nazis.
After living in the Cologne Carmel (1934-38), she moved to the Carmelite monastery in Echt, Netherlands. The Nazis occupied that country in 1940. In retaliation for being denounced by the Dutch bishops, the Nazis arrested all Dutch Jews who had become Christians. Teresa Benedicta and her sister Rosa, also a Catholic, died in a gas chamber in Auschwitz on August 9, 1942.
Pope John Paul II beatified Teresa Benedicta in 1987 and canonized her in 1998.
Comment: The writings of Edith Stein fill 17 volumes, many of which have been translated into English. A woman of integrity, she followed the truth wherever it led her. After becoming a Catholic, Edith continued to honor her mother’s Jewish faith. Sister Josephine Koeppel, O.C.D. , translator of several of Edith’s books, sums up this saint with the phrase,
“Learn to live at God’s hands.”
Quote: In his homily at the canonization Mass, Pope John Paul II said: “Because she was Jewish, Edith Stein was taken with her sister Rosa and many other Catholics and Jews from the Netherlands to the concentration camp in Auschwitz, where she died with them in the gas chambers. Today we remember them all with deep respect. A few days before her deportation, the woman religious had dismissed the question about a possible rescue: ‘Do not do it! Why should I be spared? Is it not right that I should gain no advantage from my Baptism? If I cannot share the lot of my brothers and sisters, my life, in a certain sense, is destroyed.’”

    Addressing himself to the young people gathered for the canonization, the pope said: “Your life is not an endless series of open doors! Listen to your heart! Do not stay on the surface but go to the heart of things! And when the time is right, have the courage to decide! The Lord is waiting for you to put your freedom in his good hands.”
St. Edith Stein Catholic Church - Katy, TX 
"Are you new looking for a new parish to call home?  If so, please consider joining our community at St. Edith Stein. We are located in Katy, Texas and our parish serves the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. We are home to more than 1500 families and we celebrated our 10 year anniversary in October of 2009. Although our parish has grown in size over the last decade, one thing we continue to do is try to make every effort to welcome new members with open  hearts and to maintain a friendly, encouraging place of worship for everyone."
Life
Stein was born in Breslau (Wrocław), in the German Empire's Prussian Province of Silesia, into an observant Jewish family. Born on October 12, 1891, Edith was a very gifted child who enjoyed learning. She greatly admired her mother's strong faith; however, by her teenage years Stein had become an atheist.
In 1916, she received a doctorate of philosophy from the University of Göttingen, with a dissertation under Edmund Husserl, Zum Problem der Einfühlung (On the Problem of Empathy). She then became a member of the faculty in Freiburg. In the previous year she had worked with Martin Heidegger in editing Husserl's papers for publication, Heidegger being appointed similarly as a teaching assistant to Husserl at Freiburg in October 1916. But she was rejected as a woman with further habilitational studies at the University of Freiburg and failed to successfully reach in a habilitational study "Psychische Kausalität" (Psychic Causality) at the University of Göttingen in 1919.
Relief of Edith SteinWhile Stein had earlier contacts with Catholicism, it was her reading of the autobiography of the mystic St. Teresa of Ávila on a holiday in Göttingen in 1921 that caused her conversion. Baptized on January 1, 1922, she gave up her assistantship with Husserl to teach at a Dominican girls' school in Speyer from 1922 to 1932. While there, she translated Thomas Aquinas' De Veritate (On Truth) into German and familiarized herself with Catholic philosophy in general and abandoned the phenomenology of her former teacher Husserl for Thomism. She visited Husserl and Heidegger at Freiburg in April 1929, in the same month that Heidegger gave a speech to Husserl (like Stein, a Jewish convert to Christianity) on his 70th birthday. In 1932 she became a lecturer at the Institute for Pedagogy at Münster, but anti-Semitic legislation passed by the Nazi government forced her to resign the post in 1933: the same year in which her former colleague Martin Heidegger became Rector at Freiburg and stated that "The Führer, and he alone, is the present and future law of Germany." In a letter to Pope Pius XI, she denounced the Nazi regime and asked the Pope to openly denounce the regime "to put a stop to this abuse of Christ's name."
Stein's letter received no answer, and it is not known for sure whether Pius XI even read it. However, in 1937, Pope Pius XI issued an encyclical written in German, Mit brennender Sorge, in which he criticized Nazism, listed breaches of an agreement signed between Germany and the Church and condemned anti-semitism.
She entered the Discalced Carmelite monastery St. Maria vom Frieden (Our Lady of Peace) at Cologne in 1933 and took the name Teresia Benedicta a cruce (Teresia Benedicta of the Cross). There she wrote her metaphysical book Endliches und ewiges Sein, which tries to combine the philosophies of Aquinas and Husserl.
To avoid the growing Nazi threat, her order transferred Sr. Teresia Benedicta to the Carmelite monastery at Echt in the Netherlands . There she wrote Studie über Joannes a Cruce: Kreuzeswissenschaft (The Science of the Cross: Studies on John of the Cross). Her testament of June 6, 1939 states, "I beg the Lord to take my life and my death … for all concerns of the sacred hearts of Jesus and Mary and the holy church, especially for the preservation of our holy order, in particular the Carmelite monasteries of Cologne and Echt, as atonement for the unbelief of the Jewish People and that the Lord will be received by his own people and his kingdom shall come in glory, for the salvation of Germany and the peace of the world, at last for my loved ones, living or dead, and for all God gave to me: that none of them shall go astray."
However, Sr. Teresia Benedicta was not safe in the Netherlands—the Dutch Bishops' Conference had a public statement read in all the churches of the country on July 20, 1942, condemning Nazi racism. In a retaliatory response on July 26, 1942, the Reichskomissar of the Netherlands, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, ordered the arrest of all Jewish converts, who had previously been spared. Sr. Teresia Benedicta and her sister Rosa, also a convert, were captured and shipped to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where they were gassed on August 9, 1942 when Edith was 50. They received no numbers, as these were only for prisoners who were to be kept alive to work.
Legacy
Edith Stein and Maximilian Kolbe, are represented in stained glass by Alois Plum in Kassel.
Teresia Benedicta of the Cross was beatified as a martyr on May 1, 1987, in Cologne, Germany, by Pope John Paul II, and canonized by him on October 11, 1998. The miracle which was the basis for her canonization was the cure of Teresa Benedicta McCarthy, a little girl who had swallowed a large amount of paracetamol which causes hepatic necrosis in small children. Her father, Rev. Emmanuel Charles McCarthy, a Melkite Catholic, immediately rounded up relatives and prayed for Edith Stein's intercession. Shortly thereafter the nurses in the intensive care unit saw her sit up completely healthy. Dr. Ronald Kleinman, a pediatric specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston who treated Teresa Benedicta, testified about her recovery to Church tribunals, stating "I was willing to say that it was miraculous." Teresa Benedicta would later attend Sr. Teresia Benedicta's canonization ceremony in the Vatican.
Today, there are many schools named in tribute to Edith Stein, for example in Darmstadt, Germany, Hengelo, the Netherlands, and Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Also named for her are a women's dormitory at the University of Tübingen and a classroom building at The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA.
The philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre published a book in 2006 entitled, Edith Stein: A Philosophical Prologue, 1913-1922, in which he contrasted Stein's living out of her own personal philosophy with Martin Heidegger, whose actions during the Nazi era according to MacIntyre suggested a "bifurcation of personality."
In 2009, her bust was introduced to the Walhalla temple near Regensburg.
 Controversy
The Anti-Defamation League challenges the beatification of Edith Stein as a martyr, stating Stein was killed for her Jewish nationality rather than for her faith, and that the misappropriation and Christianization of an event that targeted Jews diminishes the memory of the Holocaust.
The position of the Catholic Church hierarchy is that Edith Stein also died because of the Dutch hierarchy's public condemnation of Nazi racism in 1942; in other words, that she died to uphold the moral position of the Church, and is thus a true martyr.
 Writings
Memorial to Edith Stein in PragueLife in a Jewish Family: Her Unfinished Autobiographical Account, translated by Josephine Koeppel, 1986
On the Problem of Empathy, Translated by Waltraut Stein 1989
Essays on Woman, translated by Freda Mary Oben, 1996
The Hidden Life, translated by Josephine Koeppel, 1993
The Science of the Cross, translated by Josephine Koeppel, 1998
Knowledge and Faith
Finite and Eternal Being: An Attempt to an Ascent to the Meaning of Being
Philosophy of Psychology and the Humanities, translated by Mary Catharine Baseheart and Marianne Sawicki, 2000
An Investigation Concerning the State, translated by Marianne Sawicki, 2006
Martin Heidegger's Existential Philosophy, translated by Mette Lebech, 2007
Self-Portrait in Letters, 1916-1942
The Hidden Life
 References
1.^ "Patron Saints Index: Saint Teresia Benedicta of the Cross" Accessed 26 January 2007.
2.^ http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_19981011_edith_stein_en.html
3.^ “ As a child of the Jewish people who, by the grace of God, for the past eleven years has also been a child of the Catholic Church, I dare to speak to the Father of Christianity about that which oppresses millions of Germans. For weeks we have seen deeds perpetrated in Germany which mock any sense of justice and humanity, not to mention love of neighbor. For years the leaders of National Socialism have been preaching hatred of the Jews. But the responsibility must fall, after all, on those who brought them to this point and it also falls on those who keep silent in the face of such happenings.
Everything that happened and continues to happen on a daily basis originates with a government that calls itself "Christian." For weeks not only Jews but also thousands of faithful Catholics in Germany, and, I believe, all over the world, have been waiting and hoping for the Church of Christ to raise its voice to put a stop to this abuse of Christ’s name." —Edith Stein, Letter to Pope Pius XI.
4.^ Popham, Peter (February 21, 2003). "This Europe: Letters reveal Auschwitz victim's plea to Pope Pius XI". London: The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/this-europe-letters-reveal-auschwitz-victims-plea-to-pope-pius-xi-598301.html. Retrieved 2003-02-21.
5.^ "Edith Stein". Internationaal College Edith Stein. http://www.edithsteincollege.nl/engels/edithe.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-17.
6.^ María Ruiz Scaperlanda, Edith Stein: St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor, 2001), 154.
7.^ a b "Jewish-born nun gassed by Nazis is declared saint; Prayer to Edith Stein sparked tot's 'miraculous' recovery". The Toronto Star: pp. A22. May 24, 1997.
8.^ Edith-Stein-Schule
9.^ Hogeschool Edith Stein
10.^ St. Edith Stein Elementary School
11.^ Edith-Stein-Studentinnen-Wohnheim
12.^ [1] Alasdair MacIntyre, Edith Stein: A Philosophical Prologue, 1913-1922, Rowman and Littlefield, 2006, pg. 5
13.^ Canonization Homily
14.^ Biography on the Vatican's website
 Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Edith Stein
 Intellectual and spiritual contemporaries of note
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Lutheran pastor, and theologian.
Simone Weil, philosopher, and theological writer.
Jan Tyranowski, hermit layman and mentor to John Paul II.
Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker Movement.
Catherine Doherty, founder of the Madonna House Apostolate.
Martin Heidegger, philosopher, Rector of University of Freiburg (1933/34)
Dietrich von Hildebrand, philosopher and theologian.
Edmund Husserl, founder of Phenomenology.
491 582  The Restoration of the Temple of the 40 Martyrs (March 9) is celebrated on this day. There were two churches dedicated to them at Constantinople: one, built by the emperor Anastasius I (491-518), and the other, by the emperor Tiberius (578-582). There is a service for this Feastday in a Greek Menaion of the thirteenth century.
St. Simon (Simeon) the Stylite to the city of Antioch Relocation of the Body of
On this day, St. Simeon (Simon) the Stylite, departed. He was from Syria and he had shepherded his father's flocks since he was young. He regularly attended the church. The Grace of God moved him and he came to one of the monasteries, where he stayed and worshiped God in great asceticism. He exerted himself with much fasting and excessive thirst. Then he tied a rope around his loins until it pierced his flesh, and a repulsive smell came out of him. When the other monks were offended by his smell, he left the monastery and came to a pit where he dwelt for a short time. The abbot of the monastery saw in a vision, as someone was telling him, "Why did you send away My servant Simon? Seek him, and bring him back," as if the voice was rebuking them for his dismissal from the monastery. The abbot informed the brethren of this vision and they became troubled and they began to look for St. Simeon until they found him in the pit, without food or water. They confessed to him their transgression, asked for his forgiveness, and brought him back to the monastery. When they started to exalt him, he felt that he was unworthy, so he left the monastery secretly, and came to a certain rock, where he lived for sixty days without sleeping. Afterwards, the Angel of the Lord came to him, comforted him, and told him that God had called him for the salvation of many souls. Then he dwelt over a pillar, thirty cubits in height, for fifteen years. He performed many signs and great wonders, and preached to all those who came to him.
His father sought him, but did not find him and he died without seeing him. His mother, after a long time, found out about him, so she came to him where he was staying on that pillar. There she wept greatly, then she slept under that pillar. The Saint asked the Lord Christ to have mercy on her. His mother died while she was sleeping, and they buried her under the pillar.
Satan became envious of the saint for all his good deeds, and moved against him. He smote him in one of his legs with ulcerations which forced him to use the other leg for many years, until the diseased leg rotted, and worms dropped from it under the pillar. A chief of a band of thieves came to him and slept under his pillar. The Saint prayed to Christ on his behalf, and he stayed for a few days, and died. The Saint asked Christ to supply him with water, and a spring of water sprang up at the foot of the pillar. Then he moved to a taller pillar, where he stayed on top for thirty years. After he completed forty-eight years in worshipping, he departed to the Lord. He preached many people, taught them, and brought many back to the knowledge of Christ.
When the patriarch of Antioch heard about his departure from this world, he came to him and took his body to Antioch in great veneration.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.



THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 30

O Lady, thou art made unto us refreshment: in all our needs.

The diffusion of thy grace produces thy holy operations in us:
and the gentle dropping of thy sweetness maketh holy affections.

I will be mindful, O Lady, of thy tender mercies: I will sing unto thee a sacrifice of praise and a song of joy.

They who honor thee will obtain a perennial crown for ashes: and the mantle of praise for the spirit of mourning.

They who hope in thee will be clothed with light: joy and perpetual rejoicing will be their lot.


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

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

God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique, for each is the result of a new idea.  As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike. It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints. Dear Lord, grant us a spirit that is not bound by our own ideas and preferences.  Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves.
O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory. Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.  Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.   God calls each one of us to be a saint in order to get into heavenonly saints are allowed into heaven. The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.
There are over 10,000 named saints beati  from history
 and Roman Martyology Orthodox sources

Patron_Saints.html  Widowed_Saints htmIndulgences The Catholic Church in China
LINKS: Marian Shrines  
India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes 1858  China Marian shrines 1995
Kenya national Marian shrine  Loreto, Italy  Marian Apparitions (over 2000Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798
 
Links to Related MarianWebsites  Angels and Archangels  Saints Visions of Heaven and Hell

Widowed Saints  html
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  UniateChalcedon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To Save A Life is Earthly; Saving A Soul is Eternal Donation by mail, please send check or money order to:
Eternal Word Television Network 5817 Old Leeds Rd. Irondale, AL 35210  USA
  Catholic Television Network  Supported entirely by donations from viewers  help  spread the Eternal Word, online Here
Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey  Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament
Colombia was among the countries Mother Angelica visited. 
In Bogotá, a Salesian priest - Father Juan Pablo Rodriguez - brought Mother and the nuns to the Sanctuary of the Divine Infant Jesus to attend Mass.  After Mass, Father Juan Pablo took them into a small Shrine which housed the miraculous statue of the Child Jesus. Mother Angelica stood praying at the side of the statue when suddenly the miraculous image came alive and turned towards her.  Then the Child Jesus spoke with the voice of a young boy:  “Build Me a Temple and I will help those who help you.” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

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


God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under ‘offering of life’
Jul 11, 2017 - 06:22 am .- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called “offering of life” – in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor.
 
Twentieth century Polish nurse among causes advancing toward sainthood
Jul 7, 2017 - 06:14 am .- Pope Francis on Friday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Hanna Chrzanowska, a Polish nurse and nursing instructor who died from cancer in 1973, paving the way for her beatification.
 
Sainthood causes advance, including layman who resisted fascism
Jun 17, 2017 - 09:22 am .- Pope Francis on Friday recognized the heroic virtue of six persons on the path to canonization, as well as the martyrdom of an Italian man who died from injuries of a beating he received while imprisoned in a concentration camp for resisting fascism.
 
Solanus Casey, Cardinal Van Thuan among those advanced toward sainthood
May 4, 2017 - 10:47 am .- Pope Francis on Thursday approved decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints advancing the causes for canonization of 12 individuals, including the American-born Capuchin Solanus Casey and the Vietnamese cardinal Francis Xavier Nguen Van Thuan.
 
Pope clears way for canonization of Fatima visionaries
Mar 23, 2017 - 06:44 am .- On Thursday Pope Francis approved the second and final miracle needed to canonize Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the shepherd children who witnessed the Fatima Marian apparitions.
Surgeon and father among sainthood causes moving forward
Feb 27, 2017 - 11:03 am .- Pope Francis recognized on Monday the heroic virtue of eight persons on the path to canonization, including an Italian surgeon and father of eight who suffered from several painful diseases throughout his life.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under ‘offering of life’
Jul 11, 2017 - 06:22 am .- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called “offering of life” – in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor.
 
Twentieth century Polish nurse among causes advancing toward sainthood
Jul 7, 2017 - 06:14 am .- Pope Francis on Friday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Hanna Chrzanowska, a Polish nurse and nursing instructor who died from cancer in 1973, paving the way for her beatification.
 
Sainthood causes advance, including layman who resisted fascism
Jun 17, 2017 - 09:22 am .- Pope Francis on Friday recognized the heroic virtue of six persons on the path to canonization, as well as the martyrdom of an Italian man who died from injuries of a beating he received while imprisoned in a concentration camp for resisting fascism.
 
Solanus Casey, Cardinal Van Thuan among those advanced toward sainthood
May 4, 2017 - 10:47 am .- Pope Francis on Thursday approved decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints advancing the causes for canonization of 12 individuals, including the American-born Capuchin Solanus Casey and the Vietnamese cardinal Francis Xavier Nguen Van Thuan.
 
Pope clears way for canonization of Fatima visionaries
Mar 23, 2017 - 06:44 am .- On Thursday Pope Francis approved the second and final miracle needed to canonize Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the shepherd children who witnessed the Fatima Marian apparitions.
Surgeon and father among sainthood causes moving forward
Feb 27, 2017 - 11:03 am .- Pope Francis recognized on Monday the heroic virtue of eight persons on the path to canonization, including an Italian surgeon and father of eight who suffered from several painful diseases throughout his life.

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

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

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

Servant of God Alfonse Gallegos of the Order of Augustinian Recollects, Titular Bishop of Sasabe, auxiliary of Sacramento; born Feb. 20, 1931 and died Oct. 6, 1991
Servant of God Rafael Sánchez García, diocesan priest; born June 14, 1911 and died on Aug. 8, 1973
Servant of God Andrés García Acosta, professed layman of the Order of Friars Minor; born Jan. 10, 1800 and died Jan. 14, 1853
Servant of God Joseph Marchetti, professed priest of the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles; born Oct. 3, 1869 and died Dec. 14, 1896
Servant of God Giacomo Viale, professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, pastor of Bordighera; born Feb. 28, 1830 and died April 16, 1912
Servant of God Maria Pia of the Cross (née Maddalena Notari), foundress of the Congregation of Crucified Sisters Adorers of the Eucharist; born Dec. 2, 1847 and died on July 1, 1919
Sunday, November 23 2014 Six to Be Canonized on Feast of Christ the King.

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

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

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

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic prelate was also an ardent supporter of the Jewish community in Ukraine, going so far as to learn Hebrew to better communicate with them. He also was a vocal protestor against atrocities committed by the Nazis, evidenced in his pastoral letter, "Thou Shalt Not Kill." He was also known to harbor thousands of Jews in his residence and in Greek Catholic monasteries.
Following his death in 1944, his cause for canonization was opened in 1958.
* * *
The Holy Father authorized the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees regarding the heroic virtues of:
- Servant of God Andrey Sheptytsky, O.S.B.M., major archbishop of Leopolis of the Ukrainians, metropolitan of Halyc (1865-1944);
- Servant of God Giuseppe Carraro, Bishop of Verona, Italy (1899-1980);
- Servant of God Agustin Ramirez Barba, Mexican diocesan priest and founder of the Servants of the Lord of Mercy (1881-1967);
- Servant of God Simpliciano della Nativita (ne Aniello Francesco Saverio Maresca), Italian professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Hearts (1827-1898);
- Servant of God Maria del Refugio Aguilar y Torres del Cancino, Mexican founder of the Mercedarian Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament (1866-1937);
- Servant of God Marie-Charlotte Dupouy Bordes (Marie-Teresa), French professed religious of the Society of the Religious of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (1873-1953);
- Servant of God Elisa Miceli, Italian founder of the Rural Catechist Sisters of the Sacred Heart (1904-1976);
- Servant of God Isabel Mendez Herrero (Isabel of Mary Immaculate), Spanish professed nun of the Servants of St. Joseph (1924-1953)
October 01, 2015 Vatican City, Pope Authorizes following Decrees
(ZENIT.org) By Staff Reporter
Polish Layperson Recognized as Servant of God
Pope Authorizes Decrees
Pope Francis on Wednesday authorised the Congregation for Saints' Causes to promulgate the following decrees:

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

HEROIC VIRTUES
- Servant of God Giovanni Folci, Italian diocesan priest and founder of the Opera Divin Prigioniero (1890-1963);
- Servant of God Franciszek Blachnicki, Polish diocesan priest (1921-1987);
- Servant of God Jose Rivera Ramirez, Spanish diocesan priest (1925-1991);
- Servant of God Juan Manuel Martín del Campo, Mexican diocesan priest (1917-1996);
- Servant of God Antonio Filomeno Maria Losito, Italian professed priest of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (1838-1917);
- Servant of God Maria Benedetta Giuseppa Frey (nee Ersilia Penelope), Italian professed nun of the Cistercian Order (1836-1913);
- Servant of God Hanna Chrzanowska, Polish layperson, Oblate of the Ursulines of St. Benedict (1902-1973).
March 06 2016 MIRACLES authorised the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
Pope Francis received in a private audience Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, during which he authorised the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
MIRACLES

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

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

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

MIRACLES
– Blessed Alfonso Maria Fusco, diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. John the Baptist (1839-1910);
– Venerable Servant of God John Sullivan, professed priest of the Society of Jesus (1861-1933);
MARTYRDOM
– Servants of God Nikolle Vinçenc Prennushi, O.F.M., archbishop of Durres, Albania, and 37 companions killed between 1945 and 1974;
– Servants of God José Antón Gómez and three companions of the Benedictines of Madrid, Spain, killed 1936;
HEROIC VIRTUES
– Servant of God Thomas Choe Yang-Eop, diocesan priest (1821-1861);
– Servant of God Sosio Del Prete (né Vincenzo), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Congregation of the Little Servants of Christ the King (1885-1952);
– Servant of God Wenanty Katarzyniec (né Jósef), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (1889-1921);
– Servant of God Maria Consiglia of the Holy Spirity (née Emilia Paqualina Addatis), founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Addolorata, Servants of Mary (1845-1900);
– Servant of God Maria of the Incarnation (née Caterina Carrasco Tenorio), founder of the Congregation of the Franciscan Tertiary Sisters of the Flock of Mary (1840-1917);
– Servant of God , founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Family of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1851-1923);
– Servant of God Ilia Corsaro, founder of the Congregation of the Little Missionaries of the Eucharist (1897-1977);
– Servant of God Maria Montserrat Grases García, layperson of the Personal Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei (1941-1959).
LINKS:
Marian Apparitions (over 2000)  India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes Feb 11- July 16, Loreto, Italy 1858 
China
Marian shrines
May 23, 1995 Zarvintisya Ukraine Lourdes Kenya national Marian shrine    Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798  
Links to Related
Marian Websites  Angels and Archangels
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  Uniates, PSALTER  BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 30 2023