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!)
R.  Deo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
December is the month of the Immaculate Conception.
2023
23,658  Lives Saved Since 2007

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

Acts of the Apostles

Nine First Fridays Devotion to the Sacred Heart From the writings of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
 How do I start the Five First Saturdays?

Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary
 
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas (Mexico, 1531)
I am the Mother of Ipalnemohuani (IV)
But the Blessed Virgin came down the hill to meet him, and blocking his way, she said,
"Where are you going, my dearest and humblest son? Where are you headed to?"
He bowed and greeted the Lady and told her that although it would make her sad, he must tell her that his uncle was very ill and he would surely die from it soon,
so he must go quickly and call a priest.
He assured her that he would come back again tomorrow for her.
The merciful and ever-virgin Saint Mary replied, "Listen and understand, my humblest and dearest son: what has troubled you, what has afflicted you is nothing. Do not let it disturb you. Do not fear this illness or any other illness. Am I not here? Am I not your mother? Aren't you under my shadow and protection?
Am I not the source of your joy?(...)
As Juan Diego listened to the Lady from Heaven, he felt comforted and his heart became peaceful.
And at that very moment his uncle became well, as they later found out.
Excerpt and adapted from La Dame du Ciel (The Lady from Heaven),
by Jean-Pierre Rousselle and Jean Mathiot, Editions Téqui 2004

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.
According to the witness of Church historians, St Spyridon> participated in the sessions of the First Ecumenical Council in the year 325. At the Council, the saint entered into a dispute with a Greek philosopher who was defending the Arian heresy. St Spyridon's plain, direct speech showed everyone the impotence of human wisdom before God's Wisdom:
"Listen, philosopher, to what I tell you. There is one God Who created man from dust. He has ordered all things, both visible and invisible, by His Word and His Spirit. The Word is the Son of God, Who came down upon the earth on account of our sins. He was born of a Virgin, He lived among men, and suffered and died for our salvation, and then He arose from the dead, and He has resurrected the human race with Him. We believe that He is one in essence (consubstantial) with the Father, and equal to Him in authority and honor. We believe this without any sly rationalizations,
for it is impossible to grasp this mystery by human reason."
On Death and Life
"Man Needs Eternity -- and Every Other Hope, for Him, Is All Too Brief"
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 love Thee.  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,  Amen Fatima Prayer, Angel of Peace
Mary's Divine Motherhood

Our Lady of Guadalupe (Feast)
It Makes No Sense Not To Believe In GOD 
Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel

Third  week of Advent Everyday the Church offers us riches   December 12, 2016

When faith is strong it works wonders ( Mk 16:17 ).
 Please pray for those who have no one to pray for them.

  250 St. Alexander & Martyrs  companion of St. Epimachus  divine revelation condemned to be eaten by wild beasts, but they did not harm him 
 275 Synetus {means  "man of reason"} The Holy Martyr reader in the Roman Church under Pope Sixtus II
 287 St. Maxentius Martyr with Constantius at Trier, Germany
 347 Saint Spyridon Bishop of Tremithus miracle worker Through his prayer, drought was replaced by abundant rains, and incessant rains were replaced by fair weather the sick healed and demons cast out gave away most of his shepherding and farming items; raised dead; miracle of breaking idol; life of miracles;
 360 St. Abra Consecrated virgin, the daughter of St. Hilary of Poitiers
 490 St. Corentin Bishop  or Corentinus or Cury
 549 St. Finian of Clonard  The “Teacher of the Irish Saints.”
 659 St. Colman of Glendalough An abbot mentioned in the Irish calendars 
 751 St. Edburga Benedictine abbess /disciple of St. Mildred
      St. Hermogenes Martyr with Donatus and 22 companions
 790 St. Agatha Nun and missionary aide to St. Boniface
9th v. John, Abbot of Zedazeni Monastery murdered by Muslims
1154 St. Vicelin Missionary and bishop
1531 Our Lady of Guadalupe
1597 Saint Therapon of Monza labored in asceticism until the end of his life gift of wonderworking  
1642 Bl. Thomas Holland English martyr
Our Lady of Guadalupe: Historical Sources (IV) December 12 - OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE (Mexico, 1531)
The results of the examination of the sources show convergence on the essentials. At the beginning of the Spanish presence in Mexico and precisely in the Anahuac Valley, after a dramatic conquest and divisions in the "Nahuatl" political world, a church was built in a place of religious significance to the indigenous community: the hills of Tepeyac. This church was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary with the title of "Guadalupe",
and coincides only in name with the one in Spain. (...)

The Shrine of Guadalupe became an incredibly powerful symbol of a new history of Christianity and of the convergence between two worlds, which until then had been tragically opposed, as Fr Toribio de Benavente Motolinia recognizes in his Memoriales. No one, not even the influential mendicant missionary friars, could stop the continuous flow of pilgrims to the shrine on Tepeyac that became "the common home of all," where Mary was recognized as "the Mother of the One for whom one lives," as she is called in the Nican Mopohua.

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 lived extraordinary lives.
Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his/ her unique gifts.
250 St. Alexander & Martyrs  companion of St. Epimachus  divine revelation condemned to be eaten by wild beasts, but they did not harm him
250 St. Epimachus Martyr of Alexandria, Egypt, with Alexander

Romæ, via Latína, natális sanctórum Mártyrum Gordiáni et Epímachi, quorum prior, pro confessióne nóminis Christi, témpore Juliáni Apóstatæ, diu plumbátis cæsus et ad últimum cápite truncátus, noctu a Christiánis sepúltus eádem via fuit in crypta, in quam beáti Epímachi Mártyris relíquiæ paulo ante translátæ fúerant ab Alexandría, ubi ipse, pro Christi fide, martyrium compléverat prídie Idus Decémbris.
 At Rome, on the Via Latina, the birthday of the holy martyrs Gordian and Epimachus.  In the time of Julian the Apostate, the former was a long time scourged and finally beheaded for confessing the name of Christ.  He was buried at night by the Christians, in a crypt to which, shortly before, the remains of the blessed martyr Epimachus had been transferred from Alexandria, where he had been martyred for the faith of Christ on the 12th of December.

Alexandríæ sanctórum Epímachi et Alexándri, qui, sub Décio Imperatóre, cum fuíssent multo témpore in vínculis, atque, divérsis supplíciis affécti, perdurássent in fide, ígnibus tandem consúmpti sunt.  Sanctus vero Epímachus, simul cum sancti Gordiáno Mártyre, festíva celebritáte cólitur sexto Idus Maji.
    At Alexandria, in the time of Decius, the holy martyrs Epimachus and Alexander, who were kept in chains a long time and subjected to various torments, but as they persevered in the faith, they were finally consumed by fire.  The feast of St. Epimachus together with that of St. Gordian the martyr is observed on the 10th of May.
Four women suffered the same martyrdom with Epimachus: Ammonaria, Mercuria, Dionisia, and a second Ammonaria. Epimachus and Alexander were burned to death after being imprisoned and cruelly tortured. 250 Epimachus Epimachus was a martyr of Alexandria, Egypt His relics were brought to Rome, and those of Gordian were placed in his tomb. This cult is now confined to local calendars.
Alexander and Epimachus lived in Alexandria, Egypt. They were taken prisoner during the reign of Emperor Decius, then tortured and burned to death.  4 women shared their martyrdom: Ammonaria, Mercuria, Dionisia, a mother, and another woman, thought by some to have been named Ammonaria.

The Hieromartyr Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem, was a disciple of the great teacher and writer of the Church, Clement of Alexandria. At the beginning of the third century he was chosen bishop of Flavia, Cappadocia. He was arrested during the reign of the emperor Septimus Severus (193-211) and spent three years in prison.

After his release from prison he went to Jerusalem to venerate the holy places, and was told to remain there through a divine revelation. In 212 he was chosen as coadministrator with the elderly Patriarch Narcissus, an unusually rare occurrence in the ancient Church. Following the death of St Narcissus (August 7), St Alexander succeeded him and governed the Church of Jerusalem for thirty-eight years, working for the enlightenment of Christians. He also established the first library of Christian theological works at Jerusalem.
St Alexander was arrested during the persecution of the Church under the emperor Decius (249-251). The holy martyr was sent to Cappadocia, where he suffered many tortures. He was condemned to be eaten by wild beasts, but they did not harm him. St Alexander was cast into prison, where he surrendered his soul to God.  The hieromartyr Alexander is also commemorated on May 10 & 16.

250 SS. EPIMACHUS AND ALEXANDER AND OTHER MARTYRS
WHILST the persecution set on foot by Decius raged at Alexandria in 250 and the magistrates were active in searching for Christians, Alexander and Epimachus fell into their hands. Upon confessing the name of Jesus Christ they were loaded with chains and suffered a long and rigorous con­finement. After this trial of their faith and patience they were beaten, their sides were torn with iron hooks, and they achieved their martyrdom by fire.

   St Epi­machus is the same mentioned in the Roman Martyrology, with St Gordian, on May 10 as having had his relics translated from Alexandria to Rome. St Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, an eyewitness of part of their sufferings, gives this short account of them, and also mentions four women martyrs who were crowned on the same day, and at the same place.

   Ammonaria, the first of them, was cruelly tortured, but declared that nothing could make her repeat the blas­phemies dictated by the judge, and was at length led to execution, being, as it seems, beheaded. The second was named Mercuria, a woman of considerable age; the third was Dionysia who, though a mother of children, cheerfully com­mended them to God and suffered for His love; the name of the fourth is not recorded. The judge was furious at not being able to break down the resolution of Ammonaria, and to save his face ordered the other three to be executed at once without preliminary torture.

We know no more regarding SS. Epimachus and Alexander than we are told in a long extract which Eusebius (Eccles. Hist., bk vi, ch. 41) makes from a letter of St Dionysius of Alexandria. 
250 St. Ammonaria and Companions Alexandrian martyrs
Alexandríæ sanctárum Ammonáriæ Vírginis, Mercúriæ, Dionysiæ et altérius Ammonáriæ.  Harum prima, in persecutióne Décii, inaudítis tormentórum genéribus superátis, beátum vitæ finem, ferro cædénte, percépit; tres vero áliæ, cum Judex a féminis superári erubésceret, ac dubitáret, ne, eádem in illas exércens cruciaménta, viríli eárum étiam constántia vincerétur, statim jussæ sunt decollári.
    At Alexandria, the holy women Ammonaria, virgin, Mercuria, Dionysia, and another Ammonaria.  The first named, after having triumphed over unheard-of kinds of torments, in the persecution of Decius, ended her blessed life by beheading.  As to the three others, the judge, being ashamed to be overcome by women, and fearing that by resorting to tortures he would be vanquished by their constancy, ordered them to be beheaded immediately.
Two women named Ammonaria, and two others named Mercuria and Dionysia were martyred in the persecution of Emperor Decius. Dionysia was a mother. The two Ammonarias were very young.
275 The Holy Martyr Synetus reader in the Roman Church under Pope Sixtus
Romæ sancti Synésii Mártyris, qui, beáti Xysti Papæ Secúndi témpore ordinátus Lector, et, cum multos convertísset ad Christum, apud Aureliánum Imperatórem accusátus, martyrii corónam gládio percússus accépit.
    At Rome, the holy martyr Synesius, who was ordained lector in the time of blessed Pope Sixtus II 257-258 .  Having converted many to Christ, he was accused before Emperor Aurelian, and being put to the sword, received the crown of martyrdom.
 (the name is derived from the Greek word meaning "man of reason") was a Roman by birth, and was a reader in the Roman Church under Pope Sixtus (257-258). He was subjected to torture, and was beheaded for his brave confession of faith in the time of the emperor Aurelian (270-275).
287 St. Maxentius Martyr with Constantius at Trier, Germany.  
Tréviris sanctórum Mártyrum Maxéntii, Constántii, Crescéntii, Justíni et Sociórum; qui in persecutióne Diocletiáni, sub Rictiováro Præside, passi sunt.
    At Treves, the holy martyrs Maxentius, Constantius, Crescentius, Justinus, and their companions, who suffered in the persecution of Diocletian, under the governor Rictiovarus, Crescentius, Justin, and companions .
360 St. Abra Consecrated virgin, the daughter of St. Hilary of Poitiers
born before he became a bishop. Little is known about Abra, who became a consecrated virgin, dedicated to good works among the Christians of Poitiers, in France. Abra died at the age of eighteen.
St. Hermogenes Martyr with Donatus and 22 companions.  
Eódem die sanctórum Mártyrum Hermógenis, Donáti et aliórum vigínti duórum.
    On the same day, the holy martyrs Hermogenes, Donatus, and twenty-two others.
They were driven into a barren marshland to die of exposure.
347 Saint Spyridon Bishop of Tremithus miracle worker Through his prayer, drought was replaced by abundant rains, and incessant rains were replaced by fair weather the sick healed and demons cast out
born towards the end of the third century on the island of Cyprus. He was a shepherd, and had a wife and children. He used all his substance for the needs of his neighbors and the homeless, for which the Lord rewarded him with a gift of wonderworking. He healed those who were incurably sick, and cast out demons.

After the death of his wife, during the reign of Constantine the Great (306-337), he was made Bishop of Tremithus, Cyprus. As a bishop, the saint did not alter his manner of life, but combined pastoral service with deeds of charity.

According to the witness of Church historians, St Spyridon participated in the sessions of the First Ecumenical Council in the year 325. At the Council, the saint entered into a dispute with a Greek philosopher who was defending the Arian heresy. St Spyridon's plain, direct speech showed everyone the impotence of human wisdom before God's Wisdom: "Listen, philosopher, to what I tell you. There is one God Who created man from dust. He has ordered all things, both visible and invisible, by His Word and His Spirit. The Word is the Son of God, Who came down upon the earth on account of our sins. He was born of a Virgin, He lived among men, and suffered and died for our salvation, and then He arose from the dead, and He has resurrected the human race with Him. We believe that He is one in essence (consubstantial) with the Father, and equal to Him in authority and honor. We believe this without any sly rationalizations, for it is impossible to grasp this mystery by human reason."

    As a result of their discussion, the opponent of Christianity became the saint's zealous defender and later received holy Baptism. After his conversation with St Spyridon, the philosopher turned to his companions and said, "Listen! Until now my rivals have presented their arguments, and I was able to refute their proofs with other proofs. But instead of proofs from reason, the words of this Elder are filled with some sort of special power, and no one can refute them, since it is impossible for man to oppose God. If any of you thinks as I do now, let him believe in Christ and join me in following this man, for God Himself speaks through his lips."
   At this Council, St Spyridon displayed the unity of the Holy Trinity in a remarkable way. He took a brick in his hand and squeezed it. At that instant fire shot up from it, water dripped on the ground, and only dust remained in the hands of the wonderworker. "There was only one brick," St Spyridon said, "but it was composed of three elements. In the Holy Trinity there are three Persons, but only one God."

The saint cared for his flock with great love. Through his prayer, drought was replaced by abundant rains, and incessant rains were replaced by fair weather. Through his prayers the sick were healed and demons cast out.

   A woman once came up to him with a dead child in her arms, imploring the intercession of the saint. He prayed, and the infant was restored to life. The mother, overcome with joy, collapsed lifeless. Through the prayer of the saint of God the mother was restored to life.

  Another time, hastening to save his friend, who had been falsely accused and sentenced to death, the saint was hindered on his way by the unanticipated flooding of a stream. The saint commanded the water: "Halt! For the Lord of all the world commands that you permit me to cross so that a man may be saved." The will of the saint was fulfilled, and he crossed over happily to the other shore. The judge, apprised of the miracle that had occurred, received St Spyridon with esteem and set his friend free.

  Similar instances are known from the life of the saint. Once, he went into an empty church, and ordered that the lampadas and candles be lit, and then he began the service. When he said, "Peace be unto all," both he and the deacon heard from above the resounding of "a great multitude of voices saying, "And with thy spirit." This choir was majestic and more sweetly melodious than any human choir. To each petition of the litanies, the invisible choir sang, "Lord, have mercy." Attracted by the church singing, the people who lived nearby hastened towards it. As they got closer and closer to the church, the wondrous singing filled their ears and gladdened their hearts. But when they entered into the church, they saw no one but the bishop and several church servers, and they no longer heard the singing which had greatly astonished them."

  St Simeon Metaphrastes (November 9), the author of his Life, likened St Spyridon to the Patriarch Abraham in his hospitality. Sozomen, in his CHURCH HISTORY, offers an amazing example from the life of the saint of how he received strangers. One time, at the start of the Forty-day Fast, a stranger knocked at his door. Seeing that the traveller was very exhausted, St Spyridon said to his daughter, "Wash the feet of this man, so he may recline to dine." But since it was Lent there were none of the necessary provisions, for the saint "partook of food only on certain days, and on other days he went without food." His daughter replied that there was no bread or flour in the house. Then St Spyridon, apologizing to his guest, ordered his daughter to cook a salted ham from their larder. After seating the stranger at table, he began to eat, urging that man to do the same. When the latter refused, calling himself a Christian, the saint rejoined, "It is not proper to refuse this, for the Word of God proclaims, "Unto the pure all things are pure" (Titus 1:15).

   Another historical detail reported by Sozomen, was characteristic of the saint. It was his custom to distribute one part of the gathered harvest to the destitute, and another portion to those having need while in debt. He did not take a portion for himself, but simply showed them the entrance to his storeroom, where each could take as much as was needed, and could later pay it back in the same way, without records or accountings.

   There is also the tale by Socrates Scholasticus about how robbers planned to steal the sheep of St Spyridon. They broke into the sheepfold at night, but here they found themselves all tied up by some invisible power. When morning came the saint went to his flock, and seeing the tied-up robbers, he prayed and released them. For a long while he advised them to leave their path of iniquity and earn their livelihood by respectable work. Then he made them a gift of a sheep and sending them off, the saint said kindly, "Take this for your trouble, so that you did not spend a sleepless night in vain."

   All the Lives of the saint speak of the amazing simplicity and the gift of wonderworking granted him by God. Through a word of the saint the dead were awakened, the elements of nature tamed, the idols smashed. At one point, a Council had been convened at Alexandria by the Patriarch to discuss what to do about the idols and pagan temples there. Through the prayers of the Fathers of the Council all the idols fell down except one, which was very much revered. It was revealed to the Patriarch in a vision that this idol had to be shattered by St Spyridon of Tremithus. Invited by the Council, the saint set sail on a ship, and at the moment the ship touched shore and the saint stepped out on land, the idol in Alexandria with all its offerings turned to dust, which then was reported to the Patriarch and all the bishops.

St Spyridon lived his earthly life in righteousness and sanctity, and prayerfully surrendered his soul to the Lord. His relics repose on the island of Corfu (Kerkyra), in a church named after him (His right hand, however, is located in Rome). His memory is also celebrated on Cheesefare Saturday.
1531 Our Lady of Guadalupe
The feast in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe goes back to the sixteenth century. Chronicles of that period tell us the story.

A poor Indian named Cuauhtlatohuac was baptized and given the name Juan Diego. He was a 57-year-old widower and lived in a small village near Mexico City. On Saturday morning, December 9, 1531, he was on his way to a nearby barrio to attend Mass in honor of Our Lady.

He was walking by a hill called Tepeyac when he heard beautiful music like the warbling of birds. A radiant cloud appeared and within it a young Native American maiden dressed like an Aztec princess. The lady spoke to him in his own language and sent him to the bishop of Mexico, a Franciscan named Juan de Zumarraga. The bishop was to build a chapel in the place where the lady appeared.

Eventually the bishop told Juan Diego to have the lady give him a sign. About this same time Juan Diego’s uncle became seriously ill. This led poor Diego to try to avoid the lady. The lady found Diego, nevertheless, assured him that his uncle would recover and provided roses for Juan to carry to the bishop in his cape or tilma.

When Juan Diego opened his tilma in the bishop’s presence, the roses fell to the ground and the bishop sank to his knees. On Juan Diego’s tilma appeared a painting of Mary as she had appeared at the hill of Tepeyac. It was December 12, 1531.

Comment:  Mary's appearance to Juan Diego as one of his people is a powerful reminder that Mary and the God who sent her accept all peoples. In the context of the sometimes rude and cruel treatment of the Indians by the Spaniards, the apparition was a rebuke to the Spaniards and an event of vast significance for Native Americans. While a number of them had converted before this incident, they now came in droves. According to a contemporary chronicler, nine million Indians became Catholic in a very short time. In these days when we hear so much about God's preferential option for the poor, Our Lady of Guadalupe cries out to us that God's love for and identification with the poor is an age-old truth that stems from the Gospel itself.
Quote:  Mary to Juan Diego: “My dearest son, I am the eternal Virgin Mary, Mother of the true God, Author of Life, Creator of all and Lord of the Heavens and of the Earth...and it is my desire that a church be built here in this place for me, where, as your most merciful Mother and that of all your people, I may show my loving clemency and the compassion that I bear to the Indians, and to those who love and seek me...” (from an ancient chronicle).

Our Lady of Guadalupe December 12 (USA) When we reflect on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe we learn two important lessons, one of faith and one of understanding.

Missionaries who first came to Mexico with the conquistadors had little success in the beginning. After nearly a generation, only a few hundred Native Mexicans had converted to the Christian faith. Whether they simply did not understand what the missionaries had to offer or whether they resented these people who made them slaves, Christianity was not popular among the native people.

Then in 1531 miracles began to happen. Jesus' own mother appeared to humble Juan Diego. The signs -- of the roses, of the uncle miraculously cured of a deadly illness, and especially of her beautiful image on Juan's mantle -- convinced the people there was something to be considered in Christianity. Within a short time, six million Native Mexicans had themselves baptized as Christians.

The first lesson is that God has chosen Mary to lead us to Jesus. No matter what critics may say of the devotion of Mexicans (and Mexican descendants) to Our Lady of Guadalupe, they owe their Christianity to her influence. If it were not for her, they would not know her son, and so they are eternally grateful. The second lesson we take from Mary herself. Mary appeared to Juan Diego not as a European madonna but as a beautiful Aztec princess speaking to him in his own Aztec language. If we want to help someone appreciate the gospel we bring, we must appreciate the culture and the mentality in which they live their lives. By understanding them, we can help them to understand and know Christ. Our Lady of Guadalupe is patron of the Americas.
490 St. Corentin Bishop  or Corentinus or Cury
He was the first Bishop of Cornouaille, now known as Quimper, in Brittany. He had been a recluse at Plomodiern. His cult spread throughout S. W. England, where he was known as St. Cury. It appears that his cult received a boost from the preaching of Blessed Julian Maunoir who lived in the 17th century.

6th v. ST CORENTIN, of CURY, BISHOP
FROM early in the middle ages St Corentin was venerated as the first bishop of Cornouaille, whose see is now at Quimper, and during the seventeenth century his cultus became yet more popular owing to the preaching of the great missioner, Bd Julian Maunoir. But nothing can be said with certainty of the life of the saint. A number of legends about him are current in Brittany and are found in his vita, which probably was not written before the thirteenth century. It relates that the people of Cornouaille eventually drew him from his hermitage and sent him to Tours to be consecrated as their bishop by St Martin. By the chapel of St Corentin at Plomodiern there is a “holy well”, and in this stream he used to keep a marvellous fish; he could cut from it every day sufficient for his require­ments, return the fish to the water, and next morning it was whole again. * {* Miraculous fish are common in Celtic folklore; cf. the Irish myth of the “salmon of knowledge”. Several holy wells of Wales had eels in them, and two trout were kept in Flynnon Beris at Llanberis down to our own day. The eponymous saint of this place, Pens, was commemorated on December 11. Nothing whatever is known about him; in old Welsh references he was commonly called “the Cardinal”.} On one occasion he was able from this fish alone to feed the ruler of the neighbourhood, Grallon, and all his attendants. But one of them tried to verify this miracle for himself and so mutilated the fish that St Corentin, having healed it, dismissed it down the stream forever, lest worse should befall it. This Grallon is supposed to have endowed his host with land, and Plomodiern belonged to the diocese of Cornouaille until the Revolution. During the Norman invasion the relics of St Corentin were taken from Quimper to the abbey of Marmoutier for safety, from whence an arm was brought back early in the seventeenth century. Veneration of St Corentin was known in the west of England, and he is the eponymous patron of Cury in Cornwall. The confusion of Menez Horn in Cornouaille with Men­heniot in Cornwall (which is nowhere near Cury) has given rise to a baseless legend that he was once a hermit there.

The Latin life has been printed by Dom Plaine in the Bulletin de la Société Archeologique du Finistère, vol. xiii (1886), pp. 118—152. See Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux, vol. ii, pp. 242 and 371—375; LBS., vol. ii, pp. 181-182; F. Duine, Memento…, vol. i, n. 55, 222; but especially Canon G. H. Doble, St Corentin (1925); and also A. Oheix and E. C. Fawtier­-Jones, La Vita ancienne de S. Corentin (1925); and R. Largillière, S. Corentin et ses Vies latines (1925).  

549 St. Finian of Clonard The “Teacher of the Irish Saints.”.  
549 ST FINNIAN OF CLONARD, BISHOP   
FINNIAN of Clonard was the outstanding figure among the holy men of Ireland in the period following St Patrick, but the accounts of his life contain many inconsistencies and anachronisms. Three hundred years after his death it was believed that, after becoming a monk, he made a long stay in Wales. He is said to have spent some time at St Cadoe’s monastery at Nantcarfan and on the island in the Severn estuary now called Flatholm, which he miraculously cleared of vermin.
   Many other marvels were attributed to him, including deliverance of his hosts from Saxon marauders by causing the raiders’ camp to be swallowed up by an earthquake. Together with St Cadoc he projected a pilgrimage to Rome, but was admonished by an angel not to undertake it, and to return to Ireland instead. The details are quite unreliable, but it seems that Finnian may have come under the influence of St Cadoc, St Gildas and other Britons, with their emphasis on studies and on the superiority of the monastic state.
When he got back to Ireland Finnian founded churches in Leinster, including schools and monasteries at Aghowle and Mugna. At this last he was the object of a conspiracy, the chieftain’s son Cormac provoking his elder brother Crimthann to persecute the saint, in the hope that Finnian would bring misfortune on Crimthann. We are told that this amiable plan succeeded. Crimthann tried to expel Finnian by force, and in the struggle got his leg broken, which accident Finnian named as an omen of the young man’s future. But his great monastery was on the Boyne, at Clonard in Meath. Soon after he came here he was visited by a pagan elder, named Fraechan, who was reputed a magician. Finnian asked him from whom came his art, whether from God or another. “You ought to be able to find that out for yourself”, replied Fraechan. “Very well,” said the saint, “tell me where is the place of my resurrection.” “Not on earth, but in Heaven”, was the reply. “Try again.” Fraechan answered as before. “Try yet again said St Finnian, rising from his seat. Then it dawned on the magician that he was being made fun of: “It is from where you were sitting!” he exclaimed.

Yet St Finnian had spoken truly in a double sense, for when disciples gathered round him at Clonard there was indeed a resurrection of religion and learning from his teacher’s chair. These are said eventually to have numbered three thousand. Finnian was to be known as the “Teacher of the Saints of Ireland”; he was “The Master”; and “like the sun in the high heavens he sent forth rays of goodness and holy teaching to give light to the world”.

Education of saints who lived long after his time came to be credited to St Finnian. He was famed for his knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, and Clonard for centuries perpetuated the renown of his biblical studies. The school suffered much from the Danes and then the Normans, till in the beginning of the thirteenth century it ceased to be the religious centre of the diocese of Meath, and the foundation of St Finnian became a monastery of Augustinian canons: this remained till the sixteenth century.

Both on his missions and teaching at Clonard many surprising miracles were attributed to Finnian, especially when it was a question of overcoming the hard-heartedness of some chieftain. He died during the epidemic of yellow-plague in the middle of the sixth century, offering his life for his countrymen: “As Paul died in Rome for the sake of the Christian people, lest they should all perish in Hell, so Finnian died at Clonard for the sake of the people of the Gael, that they might not all perish of the yellow-pest”, says his Irish life. The feast of St Finnian of Clonard is kept throughout Ireland; he is venerated as a bishop, but it is doubtful if he ever was one.

There is a life in Irish which has been edited by Whitley Stokes in his Lives of Saints from the Book of Lismore (Anecdota Oxoniensia), pp. 75—83 and 222—230. A life in Latin in the Codex Salmanticensis has been printed by De Smedt in Acta SS. Hiberniae Cod. Sal., cc. 189—210. Some portions of these are translated in Wade-Evans, Life of St David, pp. 43—46, and other references will be found in R. A. S. Macalister, The Latin and Irish Lives of Ciaran (1921), especially pp. 76—79. See also J. Ryan, Irish Monasticism, pp. 115—117 and passim; L. Gougaud, Christianity in Celtic Lands, pp. 67—70; and J. F. Kenney, Sources for the Early History of Ireland, vol. i. The Penitential ascribed to “Vinnianus” may possibly be a compilation by St Finnian (or Findan) of Clonard, but cf. note under St Finnian of Moville (September 10). The whole subject of Finnian of Clonard has been excellently studied by Miss Kathleen Hughes see her paper on the cult in Irish Historical Studies, vol. ix (1954), pp. 13 seq., and on the historical value of the Lives in the English Historical Review, vol. lxix (1954), pp. 353 seq. 

He was born in Myshall, in County Carlow, Ireland. Trained by Sts. Cadoc and Gildas in Wales, Finian returned to Ireland where he built schools, monasteries, and churches. Clonard at Meath was his most famous foundation, and under his direction it became a renowned scriptural school. He is listed as a bishop, but it is possible that he was not consecrated in the office. St. Columba was one of his students, as he trained the “Twelve Apostles of Ireland” at Clonard. He died there during a plague.

Finnian (Finian, Finden) of Clonard B Born c. 470; died c. 549-52. Irish monk who followed in the path of Saint Patrick and began the initiator of a strict form of Irish monasticism. Finnian had close relations with the British Church. The contemporary collection of regulations for penitents, ascribed to Vinnianus, was probably not the work of this Finnian but perhaps by Finnian of Moville.

Unreliable legend has him born at Myshall, County Carlow, Ireland, and spending several years in Wales at monasteries under Saint Cadoc and Saint Gildas. He became a monk in Wales, returned to Ireland, and founded several monasteries, most notably Clonard in Meath, which was the greatest school of the period, renowned chiefly for its biblical studies (Finnian was a great Biblical scholar). He died at Clonard of the yellow plague, which swept Ireland. Though called a bishop in Ireland, it is doubtful if he was ever consecrated. He is often called the "Teacher of Irish Saints" and at one time had as pupils at Clonard the so- called Twelve Apostles of Ireland, including Saint Columba of Iona, Saint Ciaran of Clommacnois, and Saint Brendan the Voyager (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).
659 St. Colman of Glendalough An abbot mentioned in the Irish calendars.
751 St. Edburga Benedictine abbess /disciple of St. Mildred
A member of the royal family of Kent, England, she succeeded St. Mildred as abbess of Minster-in-Thanet. She also conducted a correspondence with St. Boniface, whom she met while on a pilgrimage to Rome. A noted calligrapher, Edburga sent supplies to St. Boniface’s missions and built a church for her convent.

751 ST EDBURGA, ABBESS OF MINSTER, VIRGIN
This Edburga, belonging to the royal family of Kent, was a disciple of St Mildred, whom she succeeded in the abbacy of Minster-in-Thanet. She is chiefly known as a friend and correspondent of St Boniface, who on one of his visits to Rome met her on pilgrimage there; but her letters are not extant. After the death of Radbod, which enabled him to return to Frisia, Boniface wrote at once to tell Edburga the news, and asked her to send him a copy of the Acts of the Martyrs; with her reply she sent him fifty pieces of gold and a carpet, and asked him to pray for the souls of her parents. Edburga seems to have had some reputation as a calligrapher, for later on St Boniface writes from Thuringia again asking for books, to be sent by the priest Eoba, this time the epistles of St Peter, which he would have her write out for him in golden letters. “Gifts of books and clothes, tokens of your affection, have often been a consolation to me in my troubles”, he says.
Boniface’s companion St Lull, too, included a silver stilus for writing on wax among the presents that he sent to St Edburga. Boniface wrote again thanking her for “holy books”, with which and with “spiritual light” she had  “comforted his exile in Germany”. “Fully trusting in your love, I implore you to pray for me, for I am shaken by my shortcomings.” Once more, in a letter full of quotations from the Scriptures, he urges the abbess to pray for him, some years before the end came in blood and glory at Dokkum. The life of St Edburga was apparently as peaceful as that of St Boniface was eventful. Nothing more is known of her except that she had a new monastery built on a fresh site, where the present Benedictine convent at Minster stands.

There is a short Latin life, printed in Capgrave’s Nova Legenda Angliae, on which see T. D. Hardy, Descriptive Catalogue of Materials (Rolls Series), vol. i, pp. 475—477. A fragment in Anglo-Saxon referring to St Mildred and St Edburga has also been printed by Cockayne in his Leechdoms, vol. iii, pp. 422—433. But these tell us very little. The only reliable material is to be found in the letters of St Boniface and St Lull quoted above. This Edburga is a different person from the Eadburh who is made the subject of a romantic account by Asser; see R. M. Wilson, Lost Literature of Medieval England (1952), pp. 36—38.  
790 St. Agatha Nun and missionary aide to St. Boniface
Agatha was a member of a Benedictine convent in England, a disciple of St. Lisba. When St. Boniface was conducting his missionary labors, Agatha went to Germany to assist him.
9th v. John, Abbot of Zedazeni Monastery
The life of the holy martyr , has not been preserved, but the list recalling “the names of the holy fathers who reposed at Zedazeni Monastery after John of Zedazeni,”
which was compiled by Catholicos Arsenius II,
tells us that Abbot John was “murdered at Zedazeni by Muslims.”
St. John was martyred in the 9th century.
1154 St. Vicelin Missionary and bishop
Born 1086 at Hemeln, Lower Saxony, Germany, he studied in the cathedral school of Paderborn and possibly at Laon, France. He received an appointment as a canon at Bremen, Germany, where he became head of the local school. Ordained by St. Norbert at Magdeburg, he embarked upon a missionary life among the Wends in northern Germany, founding monasteries at Holstein, Segeberg, and Hogersdorf, Unfortunately, most of his work and missionary accomplishments were laid waste in 1147 by a terrible onslaught by marauding pirates. Escaping with some of his priests, he fled to safety in the Holy Roman Empire. In 1149, he was named bishop of Staargard, although he met resistance to his appointment by Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa who prevented him from occupying his see. He died at Neumunster, Lorraine, France, paralyzed the last three years of his life, and is honored as the Apostle of Holstein.

1154 ST VICELIN, BISHOP OF STAARGARD
VICELIN, who was to be the apostle of the Wends of what is now Holstein and district, was born at Hameln on the Weser about the year 1086. He studied in the cathedral school at Paderborn, and became in due course head of the school at Bremen and a canon of the cathedral there. It is said, but it is not certain, that he studied at Laon in France; he was ordained priest by St Norbert at Magdeburg, and in 1126 began those missionary labours among the heathen Wends and other Slavonic tribes that lasted for over twenty years.

The first centre of St Vicelin was at Lübeck, that lovely city that was one of the first victims of “saturation-bombing” in the Second World War, on whose site he founded the first church. But his protector died soon after, and Vicelin moved to Wippenthorp, near Bremen.

He was a tireless preacher and teacher and a most successful missionary; but like other missionaries his work was interrupted and undone from time to time by war. To provide a more permanent centre he founded in Holstein a monastery (afterwards called Neumünster) for Augustinian canons, where one of his pupils was the chronicler Helmold; later he established another at Högersdorf, and began a third at Segeberg. The missionaries made many converts and all seemed going well when a dire catastrophe blighted their efforts. Obotrite pirates descended upon the whole district, devastating the country and burning and sacking the houses. Their fury was especially directed against the Christians, most of whom were killed or driven out. The priests from Lübeck managed to escape and hid in the marshes, with water up to their necks, until at last they reached safety at Bishorst. But at Segeberg Bd Volker, who is described as “a brother of great simplicity”, was killed by the sword, whilst the other monks took to flight, bearing away the books and relics of the monastery that was utterly destroyed.

In spite of opposition from Frederick Barbarossa, St Vicelin was in 1149 made bishop of Staargard (now Oldenburg) in Holstein, but there is some doubt whether he ever took over his see. In any case he was struck down by paralysis three years later, and spent the last two years of his life in sickness and suffering at the abbey of Neumünster, where he died on December 12 1154. It is rather curious that this missionary should not be mentioned in the Roman Martyrology, but his feast is observed on this day in northwestern Germany.

Helmold, mentioned above, gives an account of St Vicelin’s missionary work in his Chronica Slavorum, which incorporates much other matter that he learned from the saint himself: it is printed in MGH., Scriptores, vol. xxi. See also Kreusch, Kirchengeschichte der Wendenlande (1902); Krimphove, Die Heiligen und Seligen des Westfalenlandes; A. Hauck, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands, vol. iv; and the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. i (Bd Volker).  

1597 Saint Therapon of Monza labored in asceticism until the end of his life
 gift of wonderworking

A monk in the monastery of St Adrian (May 5) at the River Monza. The monk began his ascetic deeds in Moscow, and then transferred to the city of Kostroma at the Elevation of the Cross monastery, and was tonsured there.

The pious monks Adrian and Paphnutius, from the monastery of St Paul of Obnora (January 10). Seeking solitude, they moved to the Monza and founded a monastery 25 versts from Galich. St Therapon transferred to this monastery, where he labored in asceticism until the end of his life. Each day, with the blessing of the igumen, he withdrew into a forest thicket and prayed. By night he read and transcribed copies of spiritually useful books.

In his life he emulated Blessed Basil of Moscow (August 2), whom he called his friend, although personally he never saw him. Even during his life, St Therapon was glorified with a gift of wonderworking. Before his death he predicted a year of famine (1601). He surrendered his soul to God in the year 1597. The monastery at the River Monza was called after him the Theraponov.
1642 Bl. Thomas Holland English martyr
Also known as Thomas Sanderson and Thomas Hammond, he was born at Sutton, near Prescot, Lancashire, England, in 1600. Thomas left England to study at St. Omer, France, and Valladolid, in Spain, and entered the Jesuits after ordination in 1624. Going home, circa 1635, he worked to aid the Church in the isles for seven years until his arrest in London. Thomas was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn.

1642 BD THOMAS HOLLAND, MARTYR
THOMAS HOLLAND was born in 1600 at Sutton, near Prescot in Lancashire, and was educated in the English colleges at Saint-Omer and Valladolid. When in 1623 the Prince of Wales, Charles Stuart, came to Madrid to negotiate for the hand of the Infanta Maria, Mr Holland was chosen to go and welcome him on behalf of the English students, which he did in a Latin address “which is said to have given great satisfaction to his royal highness and his attendants”. Holland was fluent in French, Flemish and Spanish as well as Latin, and for his learning and goodness was dubbed Bibliotheca pietatis, “the library of goodness”, by his fellows.

He entered the Society of Jesus, and was sent on the English mission in 1635. He ministered with considerable fruit for seven years, though handicapped by poor health, which was aggravated by the conditions of life of a missionary priest in London in those days. On October 4, 1642, he was arrested on suspicion, and brought to trial at the Old Bailey two months later on the charge of being a priest from overseas. The evidence of four witnesses against him was insufficiently cogent; but upon his refusing to make oath that he was not a priest the jury found him guilty, a verdict that gave dissatisfaction to the Lord Mayor and others on the bench, so that the Recorder’s deputy gave sentence with reluctance.

Many people visited Mr Holland in prison during the two days before his execution, among them the Duke of Vendôme, who offered to intercede on the prisoner’s behalf, an offer that was courteously refused. On the Sunday he heard many confessions and was able to celebrate Mass, which he did again the next day, just before he was led off to Tyburn. At the scaffold it was remarked that neither the sheriff of London nor of Middlesex was present, nor it was freely canvassed that this was because they were not satisfied with the justice of the proceedings. The martyr now declared openly before the people that he was a Catholic, a priest and a Jesuit, and prayed aloud for the king and his people, “for whose prosperity and conversion to the Catholic faith, if I had as many lives as there are hairs on my head, drops of water in the ocean, or stars in the firmament, I would most willingly sacrifice them all”. “Which last words were received with a shout of the people.” The hangman allowed him to hang till he was dead, before carrying out the rest of the bloody business.

See Challoner in MMP., where he made use of a Latin life published at Antwerp in 1645. Also Pollen, Acts of English Martyrs, and Foley, REPSJ., vol. i.  




THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 218

Why have our enemies raged and our adversaries devised vain things?

May thy right hand protect us, O Mother of God:
 as a line of battle terrible in aspect, confounding and destroying them.

Come ye to her, all who labor and are in trouble: and she will give refreshment to your souls.

Draw nigh to her in your temptations: and the serenity of her countenance will bring you peace and confidence.

Bless her with your whole heart: for the earth is full of her mercy.

Let every spirit praise Our Lady

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 heaven:  only saints are allowed into heaven.
The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.
There are over 10,000 named saints beati  from history
 and Roman Martyology Orthodox sources
Patron_Saints.html  Widowed_Saints html  Indulgences The Catholic Church in China
LINKS: Marian Shrines   India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes 1858  China Marian shrines 1995
Kenya national Marian shrine  Loreto, Italy  Marian Apparitions (over 2000)  Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798
  Links to Related MarianWebsites  Angels and Archangels  Saints Visions of Heaven and Hell
Widowed Saints  html
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  Uniates  Chalcedon
Mary the Mother of Jesus Miracles_BC  Lay Saints  Miraculous_Icons  Miraculous_Medal_Novena Patron Saints
Miracles by Century 100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000    1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800  1900 2000
Miracles 100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000  
 1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800   1900 Lay Saints

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

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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 Indulgences  Litany of Loretto in Stained glass windows here.  Nave Sacristy and Residence Here
Sanctuary spaces between them filled with grilles of hand-forged wrought iron the life of our Blessed Lady After the crucifixon
Apostle statues Replicas of those in St John Lateran--Christendom's earliest Basilica.
Ordered by Rome's first Christian Emperor, Constantine the Great, Popes' cathedral and official residence first millennium of Christian history.
The only replicas ever made:  in order from west to east {1932}.
Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel
 It Makes No Sense Not To Believe In GOD
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi. 
  June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.
By Father John Corapi
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi. 
  June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.
By Father John Corapi
Among the most important titles we have in the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of the most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom. The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7 (date of feast of Our Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for the Christian forces against the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope Pius V led a procession around St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral leadership in recognizing the danger posed to Christendom by the radical Muslim forces, and in using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles require spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that had its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

Father Corapi's academic credentials are quite extensive. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Pace University in the seventies. Then as an older man returned to the university classrooms in preparation for his life as a priest and preacher. He received all of his academic credentials for the Church with honors: a Masters degree in Sacred Scripture from Holy Apostles Seminary and Bachelor, Licentiate, and Doctorate degrees in dogmatic theology from the University of Navarre in Spain.
Father John Corapi goes to the heart of the contemporary world's many woes and wars, whether the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, or the Congo, or the natural disasters that seem to be increasing every year, the moral and spiritual war is at the basis of everything. “Our battle is not against human forces,” St. Paul asserts, “but against principalities and powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness...” (Ephesians 6:12). 
The “War to end all wars” is the moral and spiritual combat that rages in the hearts and minds of human beings. The outcome of that  unseen fight largely determines how the battle in the realm of the seen unfolds.  The title talk, “With the Moon Under Her Feet,” is taken from the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation, and deals with the current threat to the world from radical Islam, and the Blessed Virgin Mary's role in the ultimate victory that will result in the conversion of Islam. Few Catholics are aware of the connection between Islam, Fatima, and Guadalupe. Presented in Father Corapi's straight-forward style, you will be both inspired and educated by him.

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

God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under ‘offering of life’
Jul 11, 2017 - 06:22 am .- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called “offering of life” – in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor.
 
Twentieth century Polish nurse among causes advancing toward sainthood
Jul 7, 2017 - 06:14 am .- Pope Francis on Friday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Hanna Chrzanowska, a Polish nurse and nursing instructor who died from cancer in 1973, paving the way for her beatification.
 
Sainthood causes advance, including layman who resisted fascism
Jun 17, 2017 - 09:22 am .- Pope Francis on Friday recognized the heroic virtue of six persons on the path to canonization, as well as the martyrdom of an Italian man who died from injuries of a beating he received while imprisoned in a concentration camp for resisting fascism.
 
Solanus Casey, Cardinal Van Thuan among those advanced toward sainthood
May 4, 2017 - 10:47 am .- Pope Francis on Thursday approved decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints advancing the causes for canonization of 12 individuals, including the American-born Capuchin Solanus Casey and the Vietnamese cardinal Francis Xavier Nguen Van Thuan.
 
Pope clears way for canonization of Fatima visionaries
Mar 23, 2017 - 06:44 am .- On Thursday Pope Francis approved the second and final miracle needed to canonize Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the shepherd children who witnessed the Fatima Marian apparitions.
Surgeon and father among sainthood causes moving forward
Feb 27, 2017 - 11:03 am .- Pope Francis recognized on Monday the heroic virtue of eight persons on the path to canonization, including an Italian surgeon and father of eight who suffered from several painful diseases throughout his life.
8 Martyrs Move Closer to Sainthood 8 July, 2016
Posted by ZENIT Staff on 8 July, 2016

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

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

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

On the List Are Lay Founder of a Hospital and Eastern Catholic Religious
VATICAN CITY, June 12, 2014 (Zenit.org) - Today, the Vatican announced that during the celebration of the feast of Christ the King on Sunday, November 23, an ordinary public consistory will be held for the canonization of the following six blesseds, who include a lay founder of a hospital for the poor, founders of religious orders, and two members of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See:
-Giovanni Antonio Farina (1803-1888), an Italian bishop who founded the Institute of the Sisters Teachers of Saint Dorothy, Daughters of the Sacred Hearts
-Kuriakose Elias Chavara (1805-1871), a Syro-Malabar priest in India who founded the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate
-Ludovico of Casoria (1814-1885), an Italian Franciscan priest who founded the Gray Sisters of St. Elizabeth
-Nicola Saggio (Nicola da Longobardi, 1650-1709), an Italian oblate of the Order of Minims
-Euphrasia Eluvathingal (1877-1952), an Indian Carmelite of the Syro-Malabar Church
-Amato Ronconi (1238-1304), an Italian, Third Order Franciscan who founded a hospital for poor pilgrims
CAUSES OF SAINTS July 2015.
Pope Recognizes Heroic Virtues of Ukrainian Archbishop
Recognition Brings Metropolitan Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky Closer to Beatification
By Junno Arocho Esteves Rome, July 17, 2015 (ZENIT.org)
Pope Francis recognized the heroic virtues of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky. According to a communique released by the Holy See Press Office, the Holy Father met this morning with Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MIRACLES
– Blessed Alfonso Maria Fusco, diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. John the Baptist (1839-1910);
– Venerable Servant of God John Sullivan, professed priest of the Society of Jesus (1861-1933);
MARTYRDOM
– Servants of God Nikolle Vinçenc Prennushi, O.F.M., archbishop of Durres, Albania, and 37 companions killed between 1945 and 1974;
– Servants of God José Antón Gómez and three companions of the Benedictines of Madrid, Spain, killed 1936;
HEROIC VIRTUES
– Servant of God Thomas Choe Yang-Eop, diocesan priest (1821-1861);
– Servant of God Sosio Del Prete (né Vincenzo), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Congregation of the Little Servants of Christ the King (1885-1952);
– Servant of God Wenanty Katarzyniec (né Jósef), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (1889-1921);
– Servant of God Maria Consiglia of the Holy Spirity (née Emilia 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).
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