"spe salvi facti sumus" (in hope we are saved)
Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary
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.
December is the month of the Immaculate Conception.
2023
23,658  Lives Saved Since 2007

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
  Goodbye Vern Bartholomew 1917-2017 between All Saints and All Souls day  Requiescat in pace;
Thanks for being such a great Dad

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

“One hour overtaketh another...and though never so long at last cometh death. And yet not death; for death is the gate of life unto us whereby we enter into everlasting blessedness. And life is death to those who do not provide for death, for they are ever tossed and troubled with vexations, miseries, and wickedness.
To use this life well is the pathway through death to everlasting life.”
1612 St. John Almond

Pope Benedict XVI to The Catholic Church In China {whole article here }

The saints “a cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.
The saints have always been the source and origin of renewal
 in the most difficult moments in the Church's history. -- Pope John Paul II


Please pray for those who have no one to pray for them.
December 5
St. Sabas (Sava) one of the founders of Eastern monasticism Many miracles healing sick and demoniacs
late 4th v. Saints Karion and son Zachariah Holy Spirit Descended upon in Scetis in Egypt lower Thebaid
650 ST BIRINUS, Dorchester Bishop; preach the word of God to idoliters.
1280 Holy Monastic Martyrs of Karyes martyred by Latins on Mount Athos devastated Church of the Protaton only basilica on the Holy Mountain, built in 965
1391 BD NICHOLAS OF SIBENIK, MARTYR; Franciscan friars; Bd Nicholas, who laboured 20 years in Bosnia;  sent to the Franciscan mission in Palestine, imprisoned and hacked to pieces, with 3 other friar.
1942 Father Narcyz Putz The Rosary in Dachau 
 
Our Lady of the Jesuits College (Rome, 1584)  The Three Ducats (I)

December 5 - Our Lady of the Annunciation (1470)
A Time of Waiting Unique in World History (IV) The amazing prophecy of the 77 day periods

  Through the prophecy of the seventy seven-day periods,
Daniel’s prophecy most amazingly describes the coming of the Messiah. This well-known passage in Daniel 9 begins thus:
   “Seventy weeks are decreed on your people and on your holy city, to stop disobedience, and to make an end to sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.”
   The new world (the iniquity which ceases and is expiated, the sin which is “sealed” and the reign of eternal justice) will come about when Christ has “received his anointing.” It is then that the visions of the prophets will be realized.
And all of this will happen after the “70 seven-day periods.”
   This indication of time, the only one in the whole of the Old Testament has never given rise to excessive controversy among Old Testament interpreters. It is clear that this involves seven-day periods, that is to say periods of seven years, and that it refers to the coming of the Messiah after 490 years. But where should we count from? “From the going forth of the commandment to restore and to re-build Jerusalem,” after the exile in Babylon, according to the Bible. Some experts counted from the decree of Artaxerxes in 458 BC, others from Cyrus in 538 and the liberation of Israel, others still in solar years and others in lunar years.
   The discovery of parchments from the first century B.C. found at Qumran show that the community living there was preoccupied with signs of the times and that they also made much of the “70 seven-day period” prophecy. They had calculated that the Messianic period would begin in the year 26 B.C. and in view of this expectancy, retired to the desert. There was still a small “error” of 20 years in their calculations; according to Hugh Schonfield: “We can clearly see today the degree to which, almost with pinpoint accuracy, Jesus could proclaim at the beginning of his mission:
‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is close at hand” (Mk 1:15).
Source: Jesus Hypotheses by Vittorio Messori, Saint Paul Pubns. (1978)

The Mother of Mercy   December 5 - Our Lady of the Jesuit College (Rome, 1584)
Mary is the antithesis of Satan, because she not only accepted God's grace, which Satan refused,
but also the perfect forgiveness offered to her in the very creation of her soul.
She welcomed the purity of her immaculate conception, not just as a free gift, but as a gift of mercy, a grace of forgiveness, since it would have been right for her to be included in the fall of the sons and daughters of Adam.
Though she had never been defiled by sin, she was forgiven in a greater measure than anyone else,
for she has been the object of a prepossessing forgiveness when she was shielded from the corruption of mankind,
not only without any claim from her part, but also against the law which normally,
had she not been made an exception, would have swallowed her.  D. Lallement

 250 St. Bassus Martyred bishop of Nice France
 302 St. Julius martyrs w/Potamia Felix Crispin Gratus & companions
 304 St. Dalmatius Bishop martyr of Monza Lombardy
 304 St. Crispina Martyr praised by St. Augustine
 361 St. Pelinus martyr
St. Anastasius turned himself in joyfully received martyrdom  relics were glorified by many miracles
late 4th v. Saints Karion and his son Zachariah whom the Holy Spirit Descended upon in Scetis in Egypt lower Thebaid
 
532 St. Sabas (Sava) one of the founders of Eastern monasticism Many miracles took place through his prayers healings of the sick and the demoniacs
 566   St. Nicetius of Trier bishop
650 ST BIRINUS, BISHOP OF DORCHESTER on his arrival in England in 634 he found the West Saxons so sunk in idolatry that “he thought it better to preach the word of God there, rather than to go further looking for others to evangelize”. One of the first fruits of his labours was the king himself of the West Saxons, Cynegils, at whose baptism St Oswald, King of Northumbria, was sponsor. The presence of Oswald in Wessex must have been a great help to St Birinus, and the two kings gave him the town of Dorchester* {* The Dorchester in Oxfordshire, on the borders of Mercia and Wessex, which had been an important Roman centre. It remained a bishopric till 1085, when it was merged in Lincoln for his see. From thence he is said to have converted large numbers of people, so earning himself the title of Apostle of Wessex.
655 ST SIGIRAMNUS, OR CYRAN, ABBOT; Several striking stories are told of his sympathy with the hard-working peasants and with poor criminals
 690 St. Gerbold Benedictine founded abbey of Livray
6th v. St. Cawrdaf Welsh chief

6th v. St. Firminus 7th Bishop of Verdun
 750 St. John the Wonder-Worker  Bishop of Polybatum Phrygia
 780 St. Basilissa Benedictine abbess Trier
1109 St. Gerald Abbott of Moissac influence people for good
1181 St. Galagnus Hermit of Siena, Italy
1280 Holy Monastic Martyrs of Karyes were martyred by the Latins who came with fire and sword onto Mount Athos devastated Church of the Protaton only basilica on the Holy Mountain, built in 965
1391 BD NICHOLAS OF SIBENIK, MARTYR; Franciscan friars. The last-named were particularly successful, and among their foremost missioners was Bd Nicholas, who laboured for twenty years in Bosnia. At the end of that time he was sent to the Franciscan mission in Palestine, where he was thrown into prison and afterwards hacked to pieces, with three other friars, for publicly preaching to the Mohammedans.
1490 Saint Philotheus of Karyes lived an ascetic life on Athos in the cell of Iagari near Karyes granted clairvoyance
1495 BD BARTHOLOMEW OF MANTUA; he showed himself a preacher of great power, with a burning devotion to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament: it was by anointing with oil taken from the lamp burning before the Most Holy that Bd Bartholomew brought about several among his miracles of healing; Bd Baptist Spagnuolo; Baptist speaks of him as a “most holy guide and spiritual master”.
 1500 Saint Nectarius of Mount Athos holy relics uncovered four years later exuding wondrous fragrance
1563 Saint Gurias 1st Archbishop of Kazan pious humble and gentle igumen 9 years of St Joseph of Volokolamsk monastery received the great schema from St Barsanuphius incorrupt  30 yrs
1612 St. John Almond; “One hour overtaketh another...and though never so long at last cometh death. And yet not death; for death is the gate of life unto us whereby we enter into everlasting blessedness. And life is death to those who do not provide for death, for they are ever tossed and troubled with vexations, miseries, and wickedness. To use this life well is the pathway through death to everlasting life.”  1/40 Martyrs of England and Wales
        St. Nicholas Tavigli Franciscan martyr of Jerusalem
“The saints must be honored as friends of Christ and children and heirs of God, as John the theologian and evangelist says: ‘But as many as received him, he gave them the power to be made the sons of God....’ Let us carefully observe the manner of life of all the apostles, martyrs, ascetics and just men who announced the coming of the Lord. And let us emulate their faith, charity, hope, zeal, life, patience under suffering, and perseverance unto death, so that we may also share their crowns of glory” Exposition of the Orthodox Faith

1942 Father Narcyz Putz The Rosary in Dachau 
She Became For Us a Mediator (II) December 5 - Our Lady of the Annunciation (Italy, 1470)   
From her we have plucked the fruit of 1ife.  From her we have received the seed of immortality.
She is the channel of all our goods.  In her God was man and man was God.
Saint John of Damascus  Homily on the Dormition of the Theotokos  Source Chretienne # 80, Paris, Cerf, 1961
< St Sava (Sabas) founded several monasteries. 531
Many miracles took place through the prayers of St Sava: at the Lavra a spring of water welled up, during a time of drought there was abundant rain, and there were also healings of the sick and the demoniacs. St Sava composed the first monastic Rule of church services,
the so-called "Jerusalem Typikon", accepted by all the Palestine monasteries.

SPE SALVI, THE POPE'S ENCYCLICAL ON CHRISTIAN HOPE
 Benedict XVI's second Encyclical, "Spe Salvi" which is dedicated to the theme of Christian hope, was published Nov 30, 2007. The document - which has an introduction and eight chapters - begins with a quote from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans: "spe salvi facti sumus" (in hope we are saved).
The chapter titles are as follows: "1. Faith is Hope; 2. The concept of faith-based hope in the New Testament and the early Church; 3. Eternal life - what is it?; 4. Is Christian hope individualistic?; 5. The transformation of Christian faith-hope in the modern age; 6. The true shape of Christian hope; 7. 'Settings' for learning and practicing hope: i) Prayer as a school of hope, ii) Action and suffering as settings for learning hope, iii) Judgement as a setting for learning and practicing hope; 8. Mary, Star of Hope."
VATICAN CITY, NOV 30, 2007 (VIS)
December 5 - Our Lady of the Jesuits College (Rome, 1584)
The Three Ducats (I)
He was a man like you or me, neither better nor worse, a poor wretch of a sinner. What had he done? I have no idea. A crime more grievous than the others, a sin more serious than the others, committed, no doubt, on a day when God had left him to himself for too long. And he was being led to the gibbet in the good city of Toulouse, with the executioner on one side and the Consuls on the other, in the midst of a crowd of naughty, inquisitive boys, who had no doubt come running to see what awaited them on the morrow.

Now King René was making his entrance into Toulouse that day, with the fair Aude, whom he had just married in a nearby land. As she passed by the gibbet, the Queen saw the condemned man already perched on the steps, his head in the noose. A cry escaped from her and she hid her head in her hands.   The King halted all of his train, made a signal to the executioner to stay his hand and, turning to the Consuls, said, “My Lords, the Queen asks whether, as a token of the warmth of your welcome, you would be pleased to grant mercy on this man.”
But the Consuls replied, “Sire, this man has committed a crime for which there is no pardon, and however much we may wish to please our Lady the Queen, the law requires that he should be hanged.”
“Is there then a crime so great in the world that it cannot be pardoned?” the fair Aude asked, shyly.
“Certainly not,” replied one of the King’s Councelors, pointing out that according to the custom of the land of Toulouse, any condemned person could redeem himself for the sum of a thousand ducats.
“This is true,”replied the Consuls. “But where would you expect this rascal to find a thousand ducats?” 
Excerpt from “Contes de la Vierge” written in the 12th century by Gauter de Coincy, prior at Vic sur Aisne, brought up to date in the 19th century by the Taraud brothers of the Académie Française.


St. Anastasius the Fuller  missionary activity in Salona joyfully received martyrdom  relics were glorified by many miracles
Item sancti Anastásii Mártyris, qui, præ ardóre martyrii, sponte se persecutóribus óbtulit.
    Also, St. Anastasius, martyr, who in his ardent desire for martyrdom gave himself up voluntarily to the persecutors.
Martyr whose death was recorded in the Roman Martyrology. The account states that Anastasius turned himself into the authorities joyfully
The Martyr Anastasius the Fuller lived at Salona in Dalmatia during the third century. He was arrested and brought to trial because of his missionary activity in Salona. St Anastasius, boldly and with out fear, confessed Christ as the true God and Creator of all. He even painted a cross on his door during the persecution of Diocletian (284-311).
St Anastasius was sentenced to death by the decision of the court, and the pagans tied a stone around his neck and threw his body into the sea. A righteous Christian, the rich matron Ascalopia, found the body of St Anastasius and reverently buried him in her estate church. The relics of the holy martyr were glorified by many miracles.
St Anastasius the Fuller is also commemorated on October 25.
250 St. Bassus Martyred bishop of Nice France
Níciæ, apud Varum flúvium, sancti Bassi Epíscopi, qui, in persecutióne Décii et Valeriáni, a Perénnio Præside, ob Christi fidem, equúleo tortus, láminis candéntibus ustus, fústibus et scorpiónibus cæsus, in ignem missus, et, cum inde evasísset illæsus, duóbus clavis confíxus, illústre martyrium consummávit.
    At Nice, near the river Var, St. Bassus, bishop.  In the persecution of Decius and Valerian, he was tortured by the governor Perennius for the faith of Christ, burned with hot plates of metal, beaten with rods and whips garnished with pieces of iron, and thrown into the fire.  When he came out of it unhurt, he was pierced with two spikes, and thus completed an illustrious martyrdom.
In persecutions instituted by Emperor Trajanus Decius, Bassus was nailed by two large metal brads to a board.
302 St. Julius  martyrs w/Potamia Felix Crispin Gratus & companions.
Thagúræ, in Africa, sanctórum Mártyrum Júlii, Potámiæ, Crispíni, Felícis, Grati et aliórum septem.
    At Thagura in Africa, the holy martyrs Julius, Potamias, Crispin, Felix, Gratus, and seven others.
martyrs of Thagura, in Numidia, Africa.
304 St. Dalmatius Bishop martyr of Monza Lombardy Italy
Papíæ sancti Dalmátii, Epíscopi et Mártyris; qui in persecutióne Maximiáni passus est.
    At Pavia, St. Dalmatius, bishop and martyr, who suffered in the persecution of Maximian.
He converted to Christianity and preached in northern Italy and in France. In 303, he was named the bishop of Pavia, Italy. The following year he was martyred in the persecution of co-Emperor Maximian.
Dalmatius of Pavia BM (RM)Born at Monza. Born of pagan parents, he was converted and preached in Gaul and northern Italy until his election as bishop of Pavia, a position he held for less than a year before he was martyred under Maximian Herculeus (Benedictines).
304 St. Crispina Martyr praised by St. Augustine
Thebéste, in Numídia, sanctæ Crispínæ, nobilíssimæ féminæ, quæ, tempóribus Diocletiáni et Maximiáni, cum sacrificáre nollet, jussu Anolíni Procónsulis decolláta est; quam sanctus Augustínus sæpe láudibus célebrat.
    At Thebaste in Africa, St. Crispina, a woman of the highest nobility who refused to sacrifice to idols during the reign of Diocletian and Maximian, and was beheaded by order of the proconsul Anolinus.  Her praises are often celebrated by St. Augustine.

304 ST CRISPINA, MARTYR
ST AUGUSTINE frequently mentions St Crispina as one well known in Africa in his time, and we learn from him that she was a woman of rank, native of Thagara in Numidia, married, with several children, and worthy of estimation with such famous martyrs as St Agnes and St Thecla. During the persecution of Diocletian she was brought before the proconsul Anulinus at Theveste, charged with ignoring the imperial commands. When she came into court Anulinus asked: “Have you understood the meaning of the decree?” Crispina replied: “I do not know what that decree is.”
Anulinus: It is that you should sacrifice to all our gods for the welfare of the emperors, according to the law given by our lords Diocletian and Maximian, the pious Augusti, and Constantius, the most illustrious Caesar.
Crispina: I will never sacrifice to any but the one God and to our Lord Jesus Christ His Son, who was born and suffered for us.
Anulinus: Give up this superstition and bow your head before our sacred gods.
Crispina: I worship my God every day, and I know no other.
Anulinus: You are obstinate, disrespectful and you will bring upon yourself severity of the law.
Crispina: If necessary I will suffer for the faith that I hold.
Anulinus: Are you so vain a creature that you will not put away your folly and worship the sacred deities?
Crispina: I worship my God every day, and I know no other.
Anulinus: I put the sacred edict before you for your observance.
Crispina: I observe an edict, but it is that of my Lord Jesus Christ.
Anulinus: You will lose your head if you do not obey the emperors’ commands. All Africa has submitted to them and you will be made to do the same.
Crispina: I will sacrifice to the Lord who made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all things that are in them. But I will never be forced to sacrifice to evil spirits.
Anulinus: Then you will not accept those gods to whom you must give honour if you would save your life?
Crispina: That is no true religion that forces the unwilling.
Anulinus: Will you not comply, and with bent head offer a little incense in the sacred temples?
Crispina: I have never done such a thing since I was born, and I will not do it so long as I live.
Anulinus: Do it, however, just to escape the penalty of the law.
Crispina: I do not fear what you threaten, but I fear the God who is in Heaven. If I defy Him then shall I be sacrilegious and He will cast me off, and I shall not be found in the day that He comes.
Anulinus: You cannot be sacrilegious if you obey the law.
Crispina: Would you have me sacrilegious before God that I may not be so before the emperors? No indeed! God is great and almighty: He made the sea and the green plants and the dry land. How can I consider men, the work of His hands, before Himself?
Anulinus: Profess the Roman religion of our lords the unconquerable emperors, as we ourselves observe it.
Crispina: I know one only God. Those gods of yours are stones, things carved by hands of men.
Anulinus: You utter blasphemy. That is not the way to look after your own safety.
Then Anulinus ordered her hair to be cut off and her head shaved, exposing her to the derision of the mob, and when she still remained firm asked her: “Do you want to live? Or to die in agony like your fellows Maxima, Donatilla and Secunda?”
Crispina: If I wanted to die and abandon my soul to loss and endless fire I should treat your demons in the way you wish.
Anulinus: I will have you beheaded if you persist in mocking at our venerable gods.
Crispina: Thank God for that. I should certainly lose my head if I took to worshipping them.
Anulinus: Do you then persist in your folly?
Crispina: My God, who was and who is, willed that I be born. He brought me to salvation through the waters of baptism. And He is with me to stay my soul from committing the sacrilege that you require.
Anulinus: Can we endure this impious Crispina any longer?
The proconsul ordered the proceedings that had taken place to be read over aloud, and he then sentenced Crispina to death by the sword. At which she exclaimed: “Praise to God who has looked down and delivered me out of your hands”.  She suffered at Theveste on December 5, in the year 304.
The passio of this martyr is printed in Ruinart’s Acta Sincera, but a more critical text has been edited by P. Franchi de’ Cavalieri in Studi e Testi, vol. ix (1902), pp. 23-31. Among similar records, which are so often overlaid with wordy declamations and extravagant miracles, the document ranks high. Still, as Delehaye has pointed out, it cannot in its entirety be accepted as a faithful transcript of an official procès verbal preserved as a legal record of the trial. See the valuable comments in his Les passions des martyrs...(1921), pp. 110-114. Consult also P. Monceaux in Mélanges Boissier (1903), pp. 383-389. From the Calendar of Carthage and the Hieronymianum, it seems probable that Crispina was one of a group of other martyrs. There was a great basilica at Theveste (Tabessa) which probably contained her shrine; see Gsell, Les monuments antiques de l’Algérie, vol. ii, pp. 265—291.
Crispina was a wealthy Roman wife and mother of several children in Thagara, Africa. Arrested for being a Christian, she was taken before Proconsul Anulinus at Thebaste, in Numidia, and was ordered to deny Christ. Crispina refused and was tortured and publicly ridiculed. On December 5, she was beheaded.

Crispina was a Roman woman of rank who lived at Thacora, in Numidia, North Africa. We can learn much of her deep Christian conviction from the minutes other court trial which, fortunately, have been preserved.
In 304 A.D., the persecution of Emperor Diocletian was well under way. In an attempt to reach a "final solution" with regard to Christians, Diocletian had imposed on everybody the "patriotic" duty of offering sacrifice to the pagan gods. Proconsul (governor) Anullinus sat as magistrate in the city of Thebessa on December 5. We give key passages from his dialogue with Domina Crispina.
The clerk announced to Anullinus: "Crispina, a lady of Thacora, is to be tried at your good pleasure. She has spurned the laws of our lords the emperors."  "Bring her in," said the proconsul. When she stood before him, he first made sure that she understood the decree demanding sacrifice.
"I have never sacrificed," said Crispina, "and I shall not do so, save to the one true God and to our Lord, Jesus Christ, His son, who was born and died.  You are a stubborn and insolent woman," Anullinus rejoined, "and you will soon begin to feel the force of our laws against your will.  Whatever happens," Crispina replied, "I shall be glad to suffer on behalf of the faith which I hold firm." "I will have you beheaded. All Africa has offered sacrifice, as you are well aware.  May they never find it easy," she answered, "to make me offer sacrifice to demons; but I sacrifice to the Lord who has made heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them"' (Acts 4:24).
     "You utter blasphemy," said Anullinus, "in not honoring what is conducive to your safety." To bring pressure, therefore, he ordered his aides, "Let her be completely disfigured by having her hair cut and her head shaved with a razor till she is bald, that her beauty might thus be brought to shame." Apparently this was done, but Crispina's attitude remained unchanged. So the pro-consul repeated his threat: "If you despise the worship of our venerable gods, I shall order your head cut off."
"I should thank God," she retorted, "if I obtained this. I should be very happy to lose my head for the sake of my God. For I refuse sacrifice to these ridiculous deaf and dumb statues."
"So you absolutely persist in this foolish frame of mind'?"
Crispina responded with feeling: "My God who is and who abides forever ordered me to be born; it was He who gave me salvation through the saving waters of baptism. He is at my side, helping me, strengthening His hand-maid in all things so that I will not commit sacrilege."
Anullinus asked wearily, "Why should we suffer this impious Christian woman any further?" He commanded that the court record be read back to him. Then he wrote his sentence on a tablet and read it aloud: "Seeing that Crispina has persisted in infamous superstition and refuses to offer sacrifice to our gods in accordance with the heavenly decrees of Augustan law, I have ordered her to be executed with the sword."
Crispina was exultant: "I bless God who has designed to free me from your hands. Thanks be to God! " A Christian hand later added to these minutes: "And making the sign of the cross on her forehead and putting out her neck, she was beheaded for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honor for ever. Amen."
The notes of Crispina's trial are the record of a monstrous act of cruelty, couched in bureaucratic language. But out of this banal dialogue there shines forth the utter faith of a woman who believed in the God revealed by the Holy Scriptures, and who trusted, not in vain, that when called upon to bear witness to Him, "it would not be herself speaking, but the Holy Spirit." (Mk 13:11). --Father Robert F. McNamara

Saint Crispina lived at Thacora (Tagora) in Africa, and was arrested for professing Christianity. The proconsul Annius Anullinus presided at her trial at Theveste (or Tebessa) in December of 304.  Anullinus asked her if she was aware that she was required by law to offer sacrifice to the gods for the welfare of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian. She said that she did not know of this decree, and that her Christian faith would not allow her to offer sacrifice to false gods.
"Turn away from this superstition," Anullinus said, "and submit to the sacred rites of the Roman gods."

St Crispina replied that she knew no other god but the God worshiped by Christians. The proconsul threatened her with torture, and the saint said that she would gladly endure this for the sake of Christ.
Anullinus told her to stop being stubborn and to obey the edict.
Crispina answered, "I will obey the edict given me by my Lord Jesus Christ."

The proconsul repeated his threat of torture, saying that she would be forced to obey the edict. He also pointed out that the entire province of Africa had offered sacrifice, but St Crispina remained firm in her faith, saying that she would never offer sacrifice to demons.
Enraged that she would not accept the pagan gods, Anullinus said that she would be forced to bow before the idols and to offer incense. The courageous woman retorted that she would never do so as long as she lived.  Then the proconsul sought to persuade her that it would not be a sacrilege to offer sacrifice to the gods as required by law. She said, "May those gods, who have not made heaven and earth, perish."
Anullinus urged Crispina to respect the Roman religion, but she said, "I have told you again and again that I am ready to endure any tortures rather than worship the idols which are the work of men's hands."
Anullinus told her that she spoke blasphemy and was not acting in a way which would ensure her safety. He then tried to humiliate her by ordering her head to be shaved. The holy martyr replied, "If I were not seeking my own well-being, I would not be on trial before you now. Let your gods speak, then I shall believe."
The proconsul told her she could either live a long life, or die in agony before being beheaded. St Crispina told him, "I would thank my God if I obtained this. I would gladly lose my head for the Lord's sake, for I refuse to offer sacrifice to those ridiculous deaf and dumb statues."
Anullinus lost patience with her and ordered that the minutes of the trial be read back before he pronounced sentence. "Since Crispina persists in her superstition and refuses to offer sacrifice to the gods in accordance with our law, I order her to be executed by the sword."
St Crispina said, "Thanks be to God, Who has deigned to free me from your hands." She made the Sign of the Cross and stretched forth her neck to the executioner.
St Crispina was beheaded on December 5, 304 in accordance with the fourth edict of Diocletian.
St Augustine mentions her in Sermons 286 and 354.
361 St. Pelinus martyr.
Corfínii, in Pelígnis, sancti Pelíni, Epíscopi Brundusíni, qui, cum ob ejus oratiónem, sub Juliáno Apóstata, templum Martis corruísset, a templórum Pontifícibus diríssime cæsus est, atque, octogínta et quinque vulnéribus confóssus, martyrii corónam proméruit.
    At Corfinio in Peligno, St. Pelinus, bishop of Brindisi, at the time of Julian the Apostate.  When the temple of Mars fell to the ground at his prayer, he was severely scourged by the priests of the temple, and being pierced with eighty-five wounds, he merited the crown of martyrdom.
 who was put to death in Confinium during the reign of Emperor Julian the Apostate.
late 4th v. Saints Karion and son Zachariah whom the Holy Spirit Descended upon in Scetis Egypt lower Thebaid
St Karion lived in Scetis in Egypt during the fourth century. He became a monk and left his wife and two children behind in the world. When a famine struck Egypt, 'St Karion's wife brought the children to the monastery and complained of their poverty and difficulties. The saint took his son, and the daughter remained with the mother.

He raised his son at the skete, and everyone knew that Zachariah was his son. When the lad grew up, the brethren began to grumble. The father and his son then went into the Thebaid, but complaints about them arose there, too. Then St Zachariah went to Lake Nitria, immersing himself in the foul-smelling water up to his nostrils and he stayed there for an hour. His face and his body were covered with welts, and he looked like a leper. Even his own father hardly recognized him.

The next time St Zachariah came for Holy Communion, it was revealed to the St Isidore the Presbyter what Zachariah had done. The holy priest said to him, ""Child, last Sunday you communed as a man, but now you receive as an angel."

After the death of his father, St Zachariah began to struggle together with St Moses the Black (August 28). "What must I do, to be saved?" asked St Moses. Hearing this, St Zachariah fell to his knees and said: "Why do you ask this of me, Father?"
"Believe me, my child, Zachariah," St Moses said, "I saw the Holy Spirit come down upon you, and that is why I ask you."
St Zachariah then took the koukoulion (cowl) from his head, trampling it under his feet. After putting it on again he said,
"If a man is not willing to be treated this way, he cannot be a monk."
St Moses asked Zacharias just before his death, "What do you see, brother?"
"Isn't it better if I keep silent, Father?" St Zachariah replied.
"Yes, child, remain silent", agreed St Moses.
When the soul of St Zachariah was leaving his body, Abba Isidore lifted his gaze toward the heavens and said,
"Rejoice, Zachariah my child, for the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven are opened to you."
St Zachariah died towards the end of the fourth century and was buried in Skete with the Fathers.
6th v. St. Cawrdaf Welsh chief
the successor of Caradog in Brecknock and Hereford.
He entered a monastery after retiring, serving under St. lIltyd.

532 St. Sabas (Sava) one of the founders of Eastern monasticism Many miracles took place through his prayers healings of the sick and the demoniacs
In Judæa sancti Sabbæ Abbátis, in óppido Cappadóciæ Mútala orti, qui miro sanctitátis exémplo refúlsit, et pro fide cathólica, advérsus impugnántes sanctam Synodum Chalcedonénsem, strénue laborávit, ac tandem in ea diœcésis Hierosolymitánæ laura, quæ ipsíus sancti Sabbæ nómine póstmodum est insigníta, requiévit in pace.
    In Judea, St. Sabbas, abbot, who was born in the town of Mutala in Cappadocia.  He gave a wondrous example of holiness and laboured most zealously for the Catholic faith against those who attacked the holy Council of Chalcedon.  He rested in peace in the monastery later named for him in the diocese of Jerusalem.


532 ST SABAS, ABBOT
ST SABAS, one of the most renowned patriarchs of the monks of Palestine, was born at Mutalaska in Cappadocia, not far from Caesarea, in 439. His father was an officer in the army and, being obliged to go to Alexandria, took his wife with him and recommended his son Sabas, with the care of his estate, to his brother-in-law. This uncle’s wife used the child so harshly that, when he was eight, he ran away, went to another uncle, called Gregory, brother to his father, hoping there to live more happily. Gregory, having the care of the child, demanded also the administration of the property, whence lawsuits and animosity arose between the two uncles. Sabas, who was of a quiet disposition, was upset at these discords and ran away again, this time to a monastery near Mutalaska. His uncles, after some years, ashamed of their conduct, agreed together to take him out of his monastery, restore him his property, and persuade him to marry. But young Sabas had tasted the bitterness of the world and the sweetness of the yoke of Christ, and his heart was so united to God that nothing could draw him from his new home. Though he was the youngest in the house he surpassed the rest in fervour and virtue. Once, when he was serving the baker, this monk put his wet clothes into the oven to dry, and then, forgetting them, put in fire. Seeing him much troubled for his clothes Sabas crawled into the oven and fetched them out through the flames, without hurt.
   When Sabas had been ten years in this monastery, being eighteen years old, he went to Jerusalem to learn from the example of the solitaries of that country. He passed the winter in a monastery governed by the holy abbot Elpidius, whose monks desired earnestly that he would fix his abode among them. But his love of silence and retirement made him prefer the manner of life practised by St Euthymius, who even when a monastery was built for him refused to abandon his complete solitude. When Sabas asked to be accepted as his disciple St Euthymius judged him too young for an absolutely solitary life, and therefore recommended him to his monastery below the hill, about three miles distant, which was under the conduct of St Theoctistus.
Sabas consecrated himself to God with new fervour, working all day and watching in prayer a good part of the night. As he was very energetic and strong he assisted his brethern in their heavier work, and himself prepared the wood and water for the house. Once his abbot as companion sent him to another monk on business to Alexandria. There his parents met him and desired him to accept his father’s profession and influence in the world. When he refused they pressed
him at least to accept money for his necessaries ; but he would only take three pieces of gold, and those he gave to his abbot on his return. When he was thirty he obtained leave of St Euthymius to spend five days a week in a remote cave, which time he passed in prayer and manual labour. He left his monastery on Sunday evening carrying with him bundles of palm-twigs, and came back on Saturday morning with fifty baskets which he had made, imposing upon himself a task of ten a day. St Euthymius chose him and one Domitian for his companions in his yearly retreat in the desert of Jebel Quarantal, where Christ is said to have made His forty-days’ fast. They entered this solitude together on the octave-day of the Epiphany and returned to their monastery on Palm Sunday.
   In the first retreat Sabas collapsed in the wilderness, almost dead with thirst. St Euthymius, moved with compassion, prayed to Christ that He would take pity on His fervent soldier, and it is said that, striking his staff into the earth, a spring gushed forth; of which Sabas drinking a little, he recovered his strength.
   After the death of Euthymius, St Sabas retired further into the desert towards Jericho. Four years he spent in this wilderness in total separation from intercourse with men, when he chose a new dwelling in a cave on the face of a cliff, at the bottom of which ran the brook Cedron. He was obliged to hang a rope down the descent to hold on by when going up and down. Wild herbs that grew on the rocks were his food, till certain countrymen brought him sometimes a little bread, cheese, dates and other things, which he might want. Water he had to fetch from a considerable distance.
After Sabas had lived here some time many came to him, desiring to serve God under his direction. He was at first unwilling to consent, but eventually founded a new laura.*{* A laura was a monastery in which the monks lived in separate huts or cells, grouped around the church without any definite plan. The maximum of solitude possible in such circumstances was aimed at.}
 One of the first difficulties was shortage of water. But having noticed a wild ass pawing and nosing at the ground, Sabas caused a pit to be dug at the spot, where a spring was discovered which subsisted to succeeding ages. The number of his disciples was increased to one hundred and fifty, but he had no priest in his community, for he thought no religious man could aspire to that dignity without presumption. This provoked some of the monks to complain of him to Sallust, Patriarch of Jerusalem. The bishop found their grievances groundless, except that the want of a priest was a trouble in the community. He therefore compelled Sabas to receive ordination at his hands in 491. The abbot was then fifty-three years old. The reputation of his sanctity drew persons from remote countries to his laura, and among the monks were Egyptians and Armenians, for whom special arrangements were made so that they could celebrate the offices in their own tongues.
   After the death of the saint’s father, his mother came to Palestine and served God under his direction. With the money that she brought he built two hospitals, one for strangers and another for the sick, and also a hospital at Jericho and another monastery on a neighbouring hill. In 493 the patriarch of Jerusalem established St Sabas as archimandrite over all the monks of Palestine who lived in separate cells (hermits), and St Theodosius of Bethlehem over all who lived in community (cenobites).
St Sabas, after the example of St Euthymius, left his disciples every year, or oftener, and at least passed Lent without being seen by anyone, and this was one of the things complained of by some of his monks. As they got no sympathy from the patriarch some sixty of them left the laura, and settled themselves in a ruined monastery at Thecua, where the prophet Amos was born. When he heard that these malcontents were in sore straits, St Sabas gave them supplies and repaired their church. He himself had been driven for a time from his own monastery by the factions therein, but returned at the command of St Elias, the successor of Sallust at Jerusalem.
   Among the stories told of St Sabas is that he once lay down to sleep in a cave that happened to be the den of a lion. When the beast came in it clawed hold of the monk’s clothes and dragged him outside. Nothing perturbed, Sabas returned to the cave and eventually reduced the lion to a considerable degree of friendliness. But it was still a rather troublesome companion, and at length Sabas told it that if it could not live with him in peace it had better go away. So the lion went away.

At this time the Emperor Anastasius was supporting the Eutychian heresy, and banished many orthodox bishops. In 511 the Patriarch Elias sent to him as deputies St Sabas, with other abbots, to endeavour to stop this persecution. Sabas was seventy years old when he undertook this journey to Constantinople. As he looked like some beggar the officers at the gate of the palace admitted the rest but stopped him. Sabas said nothing, but withdrew. When the emperor had read the letter of the patriarch, in which great commendations were bestowed on Sabas, he asked where he was. The saint was sought, and at length found in a corner saying his prayers.
    Anastasius gave the abbots liberty to ask what they wanted for themselves; they presented their petitions, but Sabas had no request to make in his own name. Being pressed, he only begged that Anastasius would restore peace to the Church and not disturb the clergy.
   Sabas stayed the winter in Constantinople, and often visited the emperor to argue against heresy. But Anastasius for all that procured the banishment of Elias of Jerusalem and put one John into his place. Whereupon St Sabas and other monks hastened to Jerusalem and persuaded the intruder at least not to repudiate the Council of Chalcedon. Sabas is said to have been with the exiled Elias at his death at Aïla on the Red Sea. In the following years he went to Caesarea, Scythopolis and other places, preaching the true faith, bringing back many to orthodoxy and right living.
In his ninety-first year, at the request of Patriarch Peter of Jerusalem, St Sabas undertook a second journey to Constantinople, in connection with troubles arising out of the Samaritan revolt and its violent repression by the emperor. Justinian received him with honour and offered to endow his monasteries. Sabas gratefully replied that they stood not in need of such revenues so long as the monks should faithfully serve God. But he begged a remission of taxes in favour of the people of Palestine in consideration of what they had suffered on account of the Samaritans; that he would build a hospital at Jerusalem for pilgrims and a fortress for the protection of the hermits and monks against raiders; and that he would authorize further strong measures for the putting down of the Samaritans. All which things were granted.
   It happened one day, the emperor being busy dispatching certain affairs of St Sabas, who was himself present, that when it was the third hour the abbot went out to his prayers. His companion, Jeremy, said it was not well done to leave the emperor in this way. “My son”, replied Sabas, “the emperor does his duty, and we must do ours.”
   Very shortly after his return to his laura he fell sick, and the patriarch persuaded him to let himself be taken to a neighbouring church, where he served him with his own hands. The sufferings of Sabas were
very sharp, but God supported him under them in perfect patience and resigna­tion. Finding his last hour approach, he begged the patriarch that he might be carried back to his laura. He appointed his successor, gave him instructions, and then lay four days in silence without seeing anyone, that he might concern himself with God alone. On December 5, 532, in the evening, he departed to the Lord, being ninety-four years old. His relics were venerated at his chief monastery until the Venetians carried them off.

St Sabas is one of the outstanding figures of early monasticism, and his feast today is kept throughout the Church both in the East and the West; he is named at the preparation in the Byzantine Mass. The Typikon of Jerusalem, setting out the rules for the recitation of the Divine Office and carrying out of ceremonies, which is the norm in nearly all churches of the Byzantine rite, bears his name, as does a monastic rule; but his part in their composition is a matter of doubt. His chief monastery, called after him Mar Saba and sometimes distinguished as the Great Laura, still exists in a gorge of the Cedron, ten miles southeast of Jerusalem in the desert country towards the Dead Sea. Among its monks were St John Damascene, St John the Silent, St Aphrodisius, St Theophanes of Nicaea, St Cosmas of Majuma and St Theodore of Edessa.

   After a period of ruin it was restored by the Russian government in 1840 and is now inhabited by monks of the Eastern Orthodox Church, whose life is not unworthy of the example of the holy founder.

 After St Catherine’s on Mount Sinai (and perhaps Dair Antonios and Dair Boulos in Egypt) Mar Saba is the oldest inhabited monastery in the world, and the most remarkable; the wildness of its situation and grandeur of its fortress-like buildings at least equal those of St Catherine’s. St Sabas’s spring still flows there, his palm-tree still bears stoneless dates, and the dark blue grackles that abound are called “his blackbirds”, and are daily fed by the monks.

The Life of St Sabas, written in Greek by Cyril of Scythopolis, is one of the most famous and trustworthy of early hagiographical documents. The full text has to be sought either in Cotelerius, Ecclesiae Graecae Monumenta, vol. iii, pp. 220—376; or in Kyrillos von Skytho­polis, ed. E. Schwartz (1939). Another biography, an adaptation attributed to the Meta­phrast, has been printed by Kleopas Koikylides as an appendix to the two first volumes of the Greek review, Nea Sion (1906). The Life of St Sabas at a relatively early date was also translated into Arabic. On the chronology of the life see Loofs in Texte und Untersuchungen, vol. iii (dealing with Leontius of Byzantium), pp. 274—297; and on the literary and liturgical work ascribed to Sabas consult A. Ehrhard in the Kirchenlexikon, vol. x (1897), cc. 1434—1437, or his fuller article in the Römische Quartalschrift, vol. vii (1893), pp. 31—79. J. Phokylides at Alexandria published an exhaustive and satisfactory account of Sabas himself and of his monastery in Greek in 1927. Cyril of Scythopolis had been impressed even as a boy by a casual meeting with St Sabas; he seems to have entered the monastery of St Euthymios in 544 and to have passed on to Mar Saba not long before his death in 558.  

Sabas was born at Mutalaska, Cappadocia, near Caesarea. He was the son of an army officer there who when assigned to Alexandria, left him in the care of an uncle. Mistreated by his uncle's wife, Sabas ran away to another uncle, though he was only eight. When the two uncles became involved in a lawsuit over his estate, he again ran away, this time to a monastery near Mutalaska. In time the uncles were reconciled and wanted him to marry, but he remained in the monastery. In 456, he went to Jerusalem and there entered a monastery under St. Theoctistus. When he was thirty, he became a hermit under the guidance of St. Euthymius, and after Euthymius' death, spent four years alone in the desert near Jericho. Despite his desire for solitude, he attracted disciples, organized them into a laura in 483, and when his one hundred fifty monks asked for a priest and despite his opposition to monks being ordained, he was obliged to accept ordination by Patriarch Sallust of Jerusalem in 491.He attracted disciples from Egypt and Armenia, allowed them a liturgy in their own tongue, and built several hospitals and another monastery near Jericho. He was appointed archimandrite of all hermits in Palestine who lived in separate cells, but his custom of going off by himself during Lent caused dissension in the monastery, and sixty of his monks left to revive a ruined monastery at Thecuna. He bore them no illwill and aided them with food and supplies.
In 511, he was one of a delegation of abbots sent to Emperor Anastasius I, a supporter of Eutychianism, which Sabas opposed, to plead with the Emperor to mitigate his persecution of orthodox bishops and religious. They were unsuccessful.
Sabas supported Elias of Jerusalem when the Emperor exiled him, was a strong supporter of theological orthodoxy, and persuaded many to return to orthodoxy. He was a vigorous opponent of Origenism and monophysitism.
In 531, when he was ninety-one, he again went to Constantinople, this time to plead with Emperor Justinian to suppress a Samaritan revolt and protect the people of Jerusalem from further harassment by the Samritans. He fell ill soon after his return to his laura from this trip and died on December 5 at Laura Mar Saba, after naming his successor. Sabas is one of the most notable figures of early monasticism and is considered one of the founders of Eastern monasticism. The laura he founded in the desolate, wild country between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, named Mar Saba after him, was often called the Great Laura for its preeminence and produced many great saints. It is still inhabited by monks of the Eastern Orthodox Church and is one of the three or four oldest monasteries in the world.

532 Saint Sava the Sanctified
born in the fifth century at Cappadocia of pious Christian parents, John and Sophia. His father was a military commander. Journeying to Alexandria on military matters, his wife went with him, but they left their five-year-old son in the care of an uncle. When the boy reached eight years of age, he entered the monastery of St Flavian located nearby. The gifted child quickly learned to read and became an expert on the Holy Scriptures. In vain did his parents urge St Sava to return to the world and enter into marriage.
When he was seventeen years old he received monastic tonsure, and attained such perfection in fasting and prayer that he was given the gift of wonderworking. After spending ten years at the monastery of St Flavian, he went to Jerusalem, and from there to the monastery of St Euthymius the Great (January 20). But St Euthymius sent St Sava to Abba Theoctistus, the head of a nearby monastery with a strict cenobitic rule. St Sava lived in obedience at this monastery until the age of thirty.

After the death of the Elder Theoctistus, his successor blessed St Sava to seclude himself in a cave. On Saturdays, however, he left his hermitage and came to the monastery, where he participated in divine services and ate with the brethren. After a certain time St Sava received permission not to leave his hermitage at all, and he struggled in the cave for five years.

St Euthymius attentively directed the life of the young monk, and seeing his spiritual maturity, he began to take him to the Rouba wilderness with him. They set out on January 14, and remained there until Palm Sunday. St Euthymius called St Sava a child-elder, and encouraged him to grow in the monastic virtues.

When St Euthymius fell asleep in the Lord (+ 473), St Sava withdrew from the Lavra and moved to a cave near the monastery of St Gerasimus of Jordan (March 4). After several years, disciples began to gather around St Sava, seeking the monastic life. As the number of monks increased, a lavra sprang up. When a pillar of fire appeared before St Sava as he was walking, he found a spacious cave in the form of a church.

St Sava founded several more monasteries. Many miracles took place through the prayers of St Sava: at the Lavra a spring of water welled up, during a time of drought there was abundant rain, and there were also healings of the sick and the demoniacs. St Sava composed the first monastic Rule of church services, the so-called "Jerusalem Typikon", accepted by all the Palestine monasteries.
The saint surrendered his soul to God in the year 532.

 December 5, 2009 St. Sabas (b. 439)  
Born in Cappadocia (modern-day Turkey), Sabas is one of the most highly regarded patriarchs among the monks of Palestine and is considered one of the founders of Eastern monasticism.

After an unhappy childhood in which he was abused and ran away several times, Sabas finally sought refuge in a monastery. While family members tried to persuade him to return home, the young boy felt drawn to monastic life. Although the youngest monk in the house, he excelled in virtue.

At age 18 he traveled to Jerusalem, seeking to learn more about living in solitude. Soon he asked to be accepted as a disciple of a well-known local solitary, though initially he was regarded as too young to live completely as a hermit. Initially, Sabas lived in a monastery, where he worked during the day and spent much of the night in prayer. At the age of 30 he was given permission to spend five days each week in a nearby remote cave, engaging in prayer and manual labor in the form of weaving baskets. Following the death of his mentor, St. Euthymius, Sabas moved farther into the desert near Jericho. There he lived for several years in a cave near the brook Cedron. A rope was his means of access. Wild herbs among the rocks were his food. Occasionally men brought him other food and items, while he had to go a distance for his water.

Some of these men came to him desiring to join him in his solitude. At first he refused. But not long after relenting, his followers swelled to more than 150, all of them living in individual huts grouped around a church, called a laura.

The bishop persuaded a reluctant Sabas, then in his early 50s, to prepare for the priesthood so that he could better serve his monastic community in leadership. While functioning as abbot among a large community of monks, he felt ever called to live the life of a hermit. Throughout each year —consistently in Lent—he left his monks for long periods of time, often to their distress. A group o f 60 men left the monastery, settling at a nearby ruined facility. When Sabas learned of the difficulties they were facing, he generously gave them supplies and assisted in the repair of their church.

Over the years Sabas traveled throughout Palestine, preaching the true faith and successfully bringing back many to the Church. At the age of 91, in response to a plea from the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Sabas undertook a journey to Constantinople in conjunction with the Samaritan revolt and its violent repression. He fell ill and, soon after his return, died at the monastery at Mar Saba. Today the monastery is still inhabited by monks of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and St. Sabas is regarded as one of the most noteworthy figures of early monasticism.
Comment:  Few of us share Sabas’s yearning for a cave in the desert, but most of us sometimes resent the demands others place on our time. Sabas understands that. When at last he gained the solitude for which he yearned, a community immediately began to gather around him and he was forced into a leadership role. He stands as a model of patient generosity for anyone whose time and energy are required by others—that is, for all of us.
566 St. Nicetius of Trier Germany bishop
Tréviris sancti Nicétii Epíscopi, miræ sanctitátis viri.    At Treves, St. Nicetius, bishop, a man of great sanctity.

566 ST NICETIUS, BISHOP OF TRIER
SEVERAL distinguished men of his age, among them St Gregory of Tours and St Venantius Fortunatus, bear witness to the merits and deeds of Nicetius of Trier, who was the last Gallo-Roman bishop of Trier in the early days of Frankish domination in Gaul. He was born in Auvergne, with a corona of hair around his head, which was taken to be an omen of his future ecclesiastical state. He did in fact become a monk, and abbot of his monastery, apparently at Limoges, and attracted the notice of King Theoderic I. When the bishop of Trier, St Aprunculus, died, the clergy and people sent a deputation to the king asking him to appoint St Gallus of Clermont. Theoderic refused, and named Nicetius.
   Already while the royal officers were escorting the bishop elect to Trier, he showed what sort of a prelate he was going to be. When they halted for the night the escort turned their horses out in the fields of the neighbouring peasants. Nicetius ordered them to be removed, and the officers laughed at him. So Nicetius, threatening excommunication for those who oppressed the poor, drove the horses out himself. He had often preached to his monks from the text that “a man may fall in three ways—by thought, word and deed”, and he did not fear to rebuke the irregularities of Theoderic and his son Theodebert. These princes perhaps profited by his reproofs, but Clotaire I was less tractable and, when St Nicetius excommunicated him for his crimes, unjustly banished him. The exile continued but a very short time, for Clotaire soon died and Sigebert, one of his sons who succeeded him in that part of his dominions, saw that Nicetius was restored.

The bishop assisted at several important synods at Clermont and elsewhere, and was indefatigable in restoring discipline to a diocese that had suffered much from civil disorders. He called in Italian workmen to rebuild his cathedral and fortified the city on the side of the Moselle. He founded a clergy-school, but 
himself was the best lesson to clerics and laity alike. Though he enjoyed the favour and protection of King Sigebert his zeal did not fail to raise more persecu­tion, but no human respect or fear could make him abandon the cause of God. The extirpation of incestuous marriages cost him many difficulties, and he freely excommunicated the offenders. 
   Several letters of St Nicetius have been preserved. One, written about the year 561, was to Clodesindis, daughter to Clotaire I and married to Alboin, the Arian king of the Lombards. He tells her to endeavour to convert her husband to the orthodox faith, pointing out the miracles wrought in the Catholic Church through the relics of saints which the Arians themselves venerated. “Let the king”, he says, “send messengers to the church of St Martin. If they dare enter it they will see the blind enlightened, the deaf recover their hearing, and the dumb their speech: the lepers and sick are cured and return home sound, as we see…What shall I say of the relics of the holy bishops Germanus, Hilary and Lupus at which so many miracles are wrought that we cannot recount them all? The very demoniacs are forced to confess their virtue. Do they do so in the churches of the Arians? They do not. One devil never exorcises another.” 

   Another letter is addressed to the Emperor Justinian, who had been led by his wife into a semi-Monophysism. In it Nicetius tells him that his lapse was bewailed throughout Italy, Africa, Spain and Gaul, and that did he not repudiate his errors he would be lost. St Nicetius died about the year 566, perhaps on October 1, the day on which his feast is kept at Trier (today in the Roman Martyrology).

Most of what we know of St Nicetius comes to us from the Vitae Patrum of Gregory of Tours. The saint’s correspondence, or what survives of it, may best be studied in MGH., Epistolae, vol. iii, pp. 116, etc. See also Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux , vol. iii, pp. 37—38

Born at Auvergne, he entered the monastic life, probably at Limoges, and became an abbot. Ordained in 532, he was the last Gallo Roman named bishop of Trier, his elevation coming through the influence of the Ostrogothic King Theodoric I. Nicetius endured the oppression of several Frankish kings and was exiled by King Clotaire after the bishop excommunicated the ruler. Recalled after Clotaire’s death, he labored to improve ecclesiastical discipline and condemned all forms of vice and corruption. He also restored the city cathedral and founded a school for clerics.

St. Nicetius A Bishop of Trier, born in the latter part of the fifth century, exact date unknown; died in 563 or more probably 566.
   Saint Nicetius was the most important bishop of the ancient See of Trier, in the era when, after the disorders of the Migrations, Frankish supremacy began in what had been Roman Gaul. Considerable detail of the life of this vigorous and zealous bishop is known from various sources, from letters written either by or to him, from two poems of Venantius Fortunatus (Poem., Lib. III, ix, X, ed. Leo, in Mon. Germ. Hist.: Auct. antiq., IV (1881), Pt. I, 63-64 sq.) and above all from the statements of his pupil Aredius, later Abbot of Limoges, which have been preserved by Gregory of Tours (De vitis Patrum, xvii; De Gloria Confessorum, xciii-xciv).

   Nicetius came from a Gallo-Roman family; his home was apparently in Auvergne. The Nicetius mentioned by Sidonius Apollinaris (Epist. VIII, vi) may have been a relative. From his youth he devoted himself to religious life and entered a monastery, where he developed so rapidly in the exercise of Christian virtue and in sacred learning that he was made abbot. It was while abbot that King Theodoric I (511-34) learned to know and esteem him, Nicetius often remonstrating with him on account of his wrong-doing without, however, any loss of favour. After the death of Bishop Aprunculus of Trier, an embassy of the clergy and citizens of Trier came to the royal court to elect a new bishop. They desired Saint Gallus, but the king refused his consent. They then selected Abbot Nicetius, whose election was confirmed by Theodoric.
About 527 Nicetius set out as the new bishop for Trier, accompanied by an escort sent by the king, and while on the journey had opportunity to make known his firmness in the administration of his office.

   Trier had suffered terribly during the disorders of the Migrations. One of the first cares of the new bishop was to rebuild the cathedral church, the restoration of which is mentioned by the poet Venantius Fortunatus. Archæological research has shown, in the cathedral of Trier, the existence of mason-work belonging to the Frankish period which may belong to this reconstruction by Nicetius. A fortified castle (castellum) with a chapel built by him on the river Moselle is also mentioned by the same poet (Poem., Lib. III, n. xii).

   The saintly bishop devoted himself with great zeal to his pastoral duty. He preached daily, opposed vigorously the numerous evils in the moral life both of the higher classes and of the common people, and in so doing did not spare the king and his courtiers. Disregarding threats, he steadfastly fulfilled his duty. On account of his misdeeds he excommunicated King Clotaire I (511-61), who for some time was sole ruler of the Frankish dominions; in return the king exiled the determined bishop (560). The king died, however, in the following year, and his son and successor Sigebert, the ruler of Austrasia (561-75), allowed Nicetius to return home. Nicetius took part in several synods of the Frankish bishops: the synod of Clermont (535), of Orléans (549), the second synod of Clermont (549), the synod of Toul (550) at which he presided, and the synod of Paris (555).

   Nicetius corresponded with ecclesiastical dignitaries of high rank in distant places. Letters are extant that were written to him by Abbot Florianus of Romain-Moûtier (Canton of Vaud, Switzerland), by Bishop Rufus of Octodurum (now Martigny, in the Canton of Valais, Switzerland), and by Archbishop Mappinius of Reims. The general interests of the Church did not escape his watchful care. He wrote an urgent letter to Emperor Justinian of Constantinople in regard to the emperor's position in the controversies arising from Monophysitism. Another letter that has been preserved is to Clodosvinda, wife of the Lombard King Alboin, in which he exhorts this princess to do everything possible to bring her husband over to the Catholic faith.

   In his personal life the saintly bishop was very ascetic and self-mortifying; he fasted frequently, and while the priests and clerics who lived with him were at their evening meal he would go, concealed by a hooded cloak, to pray in the churches of the city. He founded a school of his own for the training of the clergy. The best known of his pupils is the later Abbot of Limoges, Aredius, who was the authority of Gregory of Tours for the latter's biographical account of Nicetius.

   Nicetius was buried in the church of St. Maximin at Trier. His feast is celebrated at Trier on 1 October; in the Roman Martyrology his name is placed under 5 December. The genuineness of two treatises ascribed to him is doubtful: "De Vigiliis servorum Dei" and "De Psalmodiæ Bono".
6th v. St. Firminus 7th Bishop of Verdun
France, the seventh of that see.

650 ST BIRINUS, BISHOP OF DORCHESTER on his arrival in England in 634 he found the West Saxons so sunk in idolatry that “he thought it better to preach the word of God there, rather than to go further looking for others to evangelize”. One of the first fruits of his labours was the king himself of the West Saxons, Cynegils, at whose baptism St Oswald, King of Northumbria, was sponsor. The presence of Oswald in Wessex must have been a great help to St Birinus, and the two kings gave him the town of Dorchester* {* The Dorchester in Oxfordshire, on the borders of Mercia and Wessex, which had been an important Roman centre. It remained a bishopric till 1085, when it was merged in Lincoln for his see. From thence he is said to have converted large number sof people, so earning for himself the title of Apostle of Wessex.
BIRINUS was a priest at Rome, probably of Germanic stock, who heard God’s call to offer himself for the foreign missions and was recommended by Pope Honorius I to go to the island of Britain. In preparation for his mission Asterius, Bishop of Genoa, consecrated him to the episcopate.
   There is a story told that after he had gone aboard ship he found he had left behind a sort of pyx, given to him by Honorius, containing the Corpus Domini. Though they were well out to sea he jumped overboard, waded ashore, recovered the pyx, and returned to the vessel— without getting wet and to the great admiration of the sailors.

St Birinus announced to the pope he intended to preach the gospel “in the inner parts, beyond the dominions of the English, where no other teacher had been before” perhaps he meant by this the midlands, or even the Britons of Wales and the marches, for he may well have been ignorant of the fact that they were Christians already. But on his arrival in England in 634 he found the West Saxons so sunk in idolatry that “he thought it better to preach the word of God there, rather than to go further looking for others to evangelize”. One of the first fruits of his labours was the king himself of the West Saxons, Cynegils, at whose baptism St Oswald, King of Northumbria, was sponsor. The presence of Oswald in Wessex must have been a great help to St Birinus, and the two kings gave him the town of Dorchester* {* The Dorchester in Oxfordshire, on the borders of Mercia and Wessex, which had been an important Roman centre. It remained a bishopric till 1085, when it was merged in Lincoln for his see. From thence he is said to have converted large number s
of people, so earning for himself the title of Apostle of Wessex. St Birinus died on December 3, about the year 650, and was buried at Dorchester; but thirty years later St Hedda translated his relics to Winchester. The Roman Martyrology mentions St Birinus on the day of his death; his feast is kept in the dioceses of Birmingham and Portsmouth today.

Although there are several manuscript lives of St Birinus, telling substantially the same story with slight variations, we know little for certain of his history beyond what we learn from Bede and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. On these manuscript lives, of which the earliest is not older than the eleventh century, consult Hardy, Descriptive Catalogue (Rolls Series) vol. i, pp. 235—239. See also the notes in Plummer’s edition of Bede; Howorth, The Golden Days of Eng. Church Hist., vol. i, pp. 35-46; DCB., vol. i, p. 318 ; and Bright, Chapters of Eng. Church Hist. There is also a short Anglican life by J. E. Field, and another by T. Varley, St Birinus and Wessex (1934).

655 ST SIGIRAMNUS, OR CYRAN, ABBOT; Several striking stories are told of his sympathy with the hard-working peasants and with poor criminals
SIGIRAMNUS belonged to a noble Frankish family of Berry, and went to the court of Clotaire II, whose cupbearer he became. He was drawn to the religious rather than secular life, but his father insisted on his being betrothed to the daughter of an influential nobleman and paid no attention to his son’s wishes. At length Sigiramnus broke his engagement, withdrew from the court, and went to the church of St Martin at Tours where he received tonsure and vowed himself to God.
   But his father was now bishop of Tours, and so Sigiramnus could not escape preferment even in his new state. He was a great friend of the poor, and distributed alms with such recklessness when he inherited his father’s estate (and his father was no longer there to protect him) that he was for a time put under restraint as a lunatic.
   Sigiramnus then joined a bishop, an Irishman called Falvius (Failbe), who was on a pilgrimage to Rome. They travelled during the vintage, and Sigiramnus would stop and do a day’s work with the peasants and serfs in the vineyards, and in the evening gather them round him to hear the word of God. On his return to France he received a piece of land at Méobecq, amid the forests of Brenne, whereon he first built himself a wooden cell and then founded a monastery. This prospered, and St Sigiramnus was able to found another, on the royal estate of Longoretum, whither he removed himself.
   Several striking stories are told of his sympathy with the hard-working peasants and with poor criminals; and his later years were darkened by the misfortunes of his former guardian and close friend. This man lived a more and more careless life, till at last he killed an innocent man. Eleven days later he was dead himself, to the great grief of St Sigiramnus who had so often tried to bring him to his own way of life.
There is a Latin life, written seemingly in the ninth or tenth century, but compiled, so the author insists, from an earlier text, which had become almost illegible through age. It was printed by Mabillon from an incomplete copy, but the whole has since been recovered, and it has been edited by the Bollandists in their Analecta, vol. iii (1884), pp. 378—407. The abbey at Longoretum, which later took the name of Saint-Cyran (du-Jambot) after its founder, was dissolved in 1712. John Duvergier de Hauranne, famous as one of the authors of the Jansenist faction, took his name “Abbe de Saint-Cyran “from this monastery, which he held in commendam.
690 St. Gerbold Benedictine founded abbey of Livray.
and then was made the bishop of Bayeux, France.

750 St. John the Wonder-Worker  Bishop of Polybatum Phrygia
Polyboti, in Asia, sancti Joánnis Epíscopi, cognoménto Thaumatúrgi.
    At Polybotum in Asia, St. John, bishop, surnamed the Wonderworker.
  He was a defender of sacred images in the face of the ascendancy of the Iconoclasts.
His position placed him in considerable danger with the Ionoclast Emperor Leo V the Armenian, but he performed so many miracles that the ruler did not dare to persecute him.

780 St. Basilissa Benedictine abbess Trier.
Germany. She was the abbess of Oehren Abbey.

1181 St. Galagnus Hermit of Siena, Italy.
who lived on Mount Siepe in Tuscany. After his death he was canonized by Pope Alexander III. His shrine was given to the Cistercians in 1201, including a church built on the site of his hermitage.

1109 St. Gerald Abbott of Moissac influence people for good
In the latter half of the eleventh century, the archbishop of Toledo named Bernard, was delegated by the Pope to bring about an ecclesiastical reform in Spain. He called in various French clerics and monks, among whom was St. Gerald who was appointed choir director of  the Cathedral of Toledo.
So well did this saintly man fulfil his duties and so much did he influence the people for good, that when the See of Braga became vacant, Gerald was selected by the clergy and people of that city to be their bishop. Gerald visited his diocese eradicating abuses that cropped up, especially that of the administering of ecclesiastical investiture by laymen.
This man of God was called to his heavenly reward on December 5, 1109, at Bornos, Portugal.

1280 Holy Monastic Martyrs of Karyes were martyred by the Latins who came with fire and sword onto Mount Athos devastated Church of the Protaton only basilica on the Holy Mountain, built in 965
during reign of Byzantine Emperor Michael Paleologos (1259-1282), an apostate from Orthodoxy.

Bursting in upon the Karyes monastery, the Latins burned and devastated the Church of the Protaton [the only basilica on the Holy Mountain, built in 965], "leaving no one alive." The Protos of the Holy Mountain, who had denounced the Latin rationalising as heresy, was after much torture hanged before the Protaton at the place called Chalkhos. Those hidden in caves around Karyes were cut down with swords. See October 10.

1391 BD NICHOLAS OF SIBENIK, MARTYR; Franciscan friars. The last-named were particularly successful, and among their foremost missioners was Bd Nicholas, who laboured for twenty years in Bosnia. At the end of that time he was sent to the Franciscan mission in Palestine, where he was thrown into prison and afterwards hacked to pieces, with three other friars, for publicly preaching to the Mohammedans.
NICHOLAS TAVILIC was born at Sibenik in Dalmatia during the first half of the fourteenth century and became a friar minor at Rivotorto, near Assisi. At this time, and for long before, Bosnia and the Dalmatian coast was the prey of the mischievous sect of Bogomili or Paterines. Even bishops became infected, and the task of restoring Christian faith and life was entrusted to the Dominican and Franciscan friars. The last-named were particularly successful, and among their foremost missioners was Bd Nicholas, who laboured for twenty years in Bosnia. At the end of that time he was sent to the Franciscan mission in Palestine, where he was thrown into prison and afterwards hacked to pieces, with three other friars, for publicly preaching to the Mohammedans. He has ever since been venerated as a martyr and this cultus was confirmed in 1888.

The surname of this martyr appears in several forms, e.g. Tavigli; Mazzara (Leggendario Francescano,1680, vol. iii, p. 413) and others give it as Taulici. The Franciscan annalists with Wadding speak of this group of martyrs under the year 1391. See also an article by P. Durrien in the Archiv. Soc. Orient-latin for 1881, vol. i, pp. 539—546; but especially G. Golubovich, Biblioteca bio-bibliografica della Terra Santa, vol. v (1927), pp. 282—295. There seems to be a reference to these martyrs in the almost contemporary Kirkstall Chronicle; cf. the Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, vol. xv (1931), pp. 118—119.
1490 Saint Philotheus of Karyes lived ascetic life on Athos in cell of Iagari near Karyes granted clairvoyance.
He was the Spiritual Father of St Nectarius. Because of the purity of his life, he was granted the gift of clairvoyance.

1495 BD BARTHOLOMEW OF MANTUA; he showed himself a preacher of great power, with a burning devotion to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament: it was by anointing with oil taken from the lamp burning before the Most Holy that Bd Bartholomew brought about several among his miracles of healing; Bd Baptist Spagnuolo; Baptist speaks of him as a “most holy guide and spiritual master”.
NOT much is known of the life of Bartholomew Fanti, who was one of several notably holy Carmelites who adorned the city of Mantua during the fifteenth century. He was born there in 1443, and joined the order when he was seventeen years old. After his ordination he showed himself a preacher of great power, with a burning devotion to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament: it was by anointing with oil taken from the lamp burning before the Most Holy that Bd Bartholomew brought about several among his miracles of healing. At Mantua he instituted for lay-people the confraternity of our Lady of Mount Carmel, whose statutes and devotional exercises he drew up himself.
  Bartholomew is generally said to have been novice-master of the Carmelite poet, Bd Baptist Spagnuolo; Baptist speaks of him as a “most holy guide and spiritual master”. Bd Bartholomew died on December 5, 1495, and his cultus was confirmed in 1909.
See C. de Villiers, Bibliotheca Carmelitana, vol. i, p. 243 Il Monte Carmelo, vol. i (1915), pp. 362—365; and Il Mosé Novello ossia il B. Bartolomeo Fanti (1909).
1500 Saint Nectarius of Mount Athos; holy relics were uncovered 4 years later exuding wondrous fragrance
was raised by his father, who became a monk at the monastery of the holy Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian in Bitolia (Bulgaria). He himself was tonsured on Mount Athos, and performed his obedience under experienced spiritual guides, St Philotheus and the Elder Dionysius.
Like Job, the monk experienced exceptional bodily afflictions, and he peacefully gave up his soul to the Lord on December 5, 1500. The holy relics of the saint were uncovered four years later, exuding a wondrous fragrance.

1563 Saint Gurias 1st Archbishop of Kazan; pious, humble and gentle igumen; 9 yrs of St Joseph of Volokolamsk monastery received the great schema from St Barsanuphius incorrupt 30 yrs
(in the world Gregory Rugotin), was the first archbishop of the Kazan diocese, established in 1555. He was born in the town of Radonezh outside Moscow into the family of a courtier. His parents were not wealthy, and so from his early years he had to serve Prince Ivan Penkov as steward of his estates.

From his youth, Gregory was pious, humble and gentle, and he preserved his chastity. Accused of improprieties with the prince's wife, Gregory was locked up in an underground dungeon for two years. This undermined his health, but it also intensified and deepened his religious fervor. In prison, he wrote a small booklet to teach children how to read and write. He donated the proceeds from his primer to the needy.

Released from prison, Gregory was tonsured with the name Gurias at the St Joseph of Volokolamsk monastery, known for its strict monastic rule. In 1543, he was chosen by the brethren as igumen of this monastery. He administered it for almost nine years, and then he resigned as igumen and lived for two years as a simple monk.

Before becoming bishop, St Gurias directed the Trinity Selizharov monastery in Tver diocese for one year. He was chosen by lot to the See of Kazan. Assisted by St Barsanuphius (April 11), St Gurias devoted himself to missionary activity. In his eight years as bishop there, four monasteries were organized, and the Annunciation cathedral church and ten more city churches were built.

In 1561 the saint fell grievously ill and could no longer perform the divine services himself. On feastdays they carried him into the church, and he either sat or lay down, since he did not have the strength to walk or even stand.

Shortly before his death (1563), he received the great schema from St Barsanuphius, and he was buried in the Savior-Transfiguration monastery. On October 4, 1595, the incorrupt relics of the holy hierarchs Gurias and Barsanuphius were uncovered. St Hermogenes, Metropolitan of Kazan (May 12), was present at the uncovering of their relics, and he described this event in the lives of these saints.

On June 20, 1613, the relics of St Gurias were transferred from the Savior-Transfiguration monastery to the Annunciation cathedral church. At present, the relics rest in Kazan in a cemetery church named for the holy Princes Theodore of Murom and his sons David and Constantine (May 21).
1612 St. John Almond; “One hour overtaketh another...and though never so long at last cometh death. And yet not death; for death is the gate of life unto us whereby we enter into everlasting blessedness. And life is death to those who do not provide for death, for they are ever tossed and troubled with vexations, miseries, and wickedness. To use this life well is the pathway through death to everlasting life.”  1/40 Martyrs of England and Wales
BD JOHN ALMOND, MARTYR (A.D. 1612)
JOHN ALMOND was a Lancashire man, born at Allerton, near Liverpool, and he went to school at Much Woolton. While still a boy he went to Ireland and remained there till he entered the English College at Rheims and from thence was sent to Rome, where he completed his training by a brilliant disputation which called forth the praise of Cardinal Baronius, who presided.
   Mr Almond was ordained in 1598 and four years later was sent on the English mission. During his ten years’ apostolate he “exercised a holy life with all sincerity, and a singular good content to those that knew him, and worthily deserved both a good opinion of his learning and sanctity of life; a reprover of sin, a good example to follow; of an ingenious and acute understanding, sharp and apprehensive in his conceits and answers, yet complete with modesty, full of courage, and ready to suffer for Christ that suffered for him”.
Mr Almond was arrested in March 1612, and examined by Dr John King, Bishop of London, upon which occasion he demonstrated very forcibly in several passages with his inquisitor the “acute understanding, sharp and apprehensive answers” of which the just-quoted panegyrist speaks. He was tendered the oath of allegiance in an impossible form and refused it, offering to swear, “I do bear in my heart and soul so much allegiance to King James (whom I pray God to bless now and evermore) as he, or any Christian king, could expect by the law of nature, the law of God, or the positive law of the true Church, be it which it will, ours or yours”. This was not accepted, and he was committed to Newgate. Nine months later he was tried for high treason as a seminary priest, and sentenced to death. He was drawn to Tyburn on December 5, 1612, and, after addressing the people, publicly answered the objections of a minister who stood by. Then he emptied his pockets, throwing their contents to the crowd, including three or four pounds in silver, complaining the while that the keeper of Newgate had not left him much. “One hour overtaketh another”, he said, “and though never so long at last cometh death. And yet not death; for death is the gate of life unto us whereby we enter into everlasting blessedness. And life is death to those who do not provide for death, for they are ever tossed and troubled with vexations, miseries, and wickedness. To use this life well is the pathway through death to everlasting life.” He asked for a handkerchief from among the crowd, wherewith to cover his eyes, and he died with the name of Jesus on his lips.

A good account is furnished in MMP., pp. 329—338. See also Pollen, Acts of English Martyrs (1891), pp. 170—194; and Bede Camm, Forgotten Shrines (1910), pp. 164, 357, 378. 
A native of Allerton, England, he was educated in Ireland and then at Reims and in Rome. After his ordination in 1598, he returned to England as a missionary, and was arrested in 1602. John was imprisoned in 1608 for a time and arrested again in 1612. He was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn.
St. Nicholas Tavigli Franciscan martyr of Jerusalem
also called Nicholas Tavelic. A native of Dalmatia, he entered the Franciscans and subsequently worked in the region around Bosnia, especially among the Paterine heretics. He then went to the Holy Land to preach among the Muslims and was martyred at Jerusalem. He was canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI

Father Narcyz Putz The Rosary in Dachau
  As a priest serving the diocese of Poznan, Father Narcissus Putz was in charge of a parish when the troops of the Third Reich invaded Poland, on September 1, 1939. From day one of the Occupation, the most influential parish priests were arrested, deported or executed without trial, in an effort to strike the Catholic resistance at the head.

On November 9th, feast of the Dedication of the Temple, it was Father Narcissus’ turn to be arrested. Along with thousands other Catholic priests, he was deported to Dachau, held hostage by Hitler in an effort to curtail the protestations of the Pope and the bishops against his atrocities.
Indeed, the speeches of Pope Pius XII on the Vatican Radio against the policies of the Führer triggered retaliatory measures against the prisoners.

Under extreme conditions, Narcissus Putz exhibited a profound spiritual maturity.
While working in stone quarries, he secretly prayed the Stations of the Cross and the Rosary.
Putz gave up his soul to God on December 5, 1942, exhausted by illness and all the abuses endured in the camp.


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 215

My soul, praise Our Lady: I will glorify her as long as I live.

Never cease from her praises: and think of her every moment.

When my spirit shall go forth, Lady, let it be commended to thee: and in the unknown land be thou its guide.

Let not past sins trouble it: nor let it be disturbed by the meeting with the malignant one.

Lead it to the harbor of salvation: there let it await securely the coming of the Redeemer.


For thy spirit is kind: thy grace fills the whole world.

Thunder, ye heavens, from above, and give praise to her: glorify her, ye earth, with all the dwellers therein.


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

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


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
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1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800   1900 Lay Saints

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

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


God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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
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May 23, 1995 Zarvintisya Ukraine Lourdes Kenya national Marian shrine    Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798  
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