Wednesday Saints of 15 decimo quinto kalendas martii  
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.
February is dedicated to the Holy Family since the 17th century and by Copts from early times.
2023
22,600 lives saved since 2007
http://www.haitian-childrens-fund.org/

For the Son of man ... will repay every man for what he has done.

The saints are a “cloud of witnesses over our head”,
showing us that a life of Christian perfection is not impossible.

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
Mary's Divine Motherhood
He is most famous for his accounts of the lives of many hermits of the Egyptian desert, such as Saint Onuphrius.   His feast is celebrated on 15 Meshir in the Coptic Orthodox Church.
6th v St. Faustus An abbot believed to be a disciple of St. Benedict, Italy He was the biographer of St. Maurus,  according to Abbot Odo of Glanfeuil.

Have Compassion on the Heart of Your Most Holy Mother
Our Lady rested her hand on Lucia's shoulder, revealing a heart encircled by thorns.
On February 15, 1926, returning from the garden after doing her chores, Sister Lucia saw the Child Jesus who asked her, "Have you showed the world what the Mother of Heaven has asked? Lucia acknowledged that no, she had not. Then Jesus said, "It's true that many people already receive me every first Saturday, in honor of Our Lady and the 15 mysteries of the Rosary, but unfortunately few of them go all the way, and those who do persevere only to receive the pardons that are promised.
I love the souls who practise the first 5 Saturdays fervently in order to repair the heart of the Mother of Heaven,
rather than those who make 15 Saturdays with indifference."

Eight years later, on December 10, 1925, Mary and the Child Jesus appeared to Lucia,
the sole surviving Fatima visionary, at a convent in Pontevedra, Spain.
Our Lady rested her hand on Lucia's shoulder, revealing a heart encircled by thorns.
The Child Jesus said: "Have compassion on the heart of your most holy Mother, covered with thorns with which ungrateful men pierce it at every moment, and there is no one to make an act of reparation..."
Apparition of the Child Jesus to Sister Lucia of Fatima (Pontevedra, 1926) February 15

February 15 – Apparition of the Child Jesus to Lucia of Fatima (Spain, 1926) – 6th apparition of Banneux (Belgium)  
 
The Virgin Mary will assist us at the time of our death 
At the end of 1925, Sister Lucia of Fatima (Portugal), received an apparition of the Child Jesus, who came to explain the conditions to fulfill the observance of the reparatory devotion of the five first Saturdays of the month requested by the Virgin Mary during a previous apparition on July 13th:

"It is true that many souls have already given me every first Saturday in honor of Our Lady and the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary, but sadly few finish them, and those who persevere do it in order to receive the graces that are promised. The souls who make the five first Saturdays with fervor and with the intention of making reparation to the Heart of your Heavenly Mother please me more than those who make fifteen with indifference."

What conclusion can we draw? A simple practice: every first Saturday of the month for 5 consecutive months:
go to confession; receive Holy Communion; pray the Rosary; meditate for 15 minutes
on the 15 Mysteries of the Rosary in a spirit of reparation.
In this way we will be assisted by the Blessed Virgin at our death,
with all the graces necessary for the salvation of our soul.
 www.fatima.be

121 St. Faustinus & Jovita martyrs
273 St. Agape Martyr follower of St. Valentine

273 St. Saturninus martyr with Castulus, Magnus, and Lucius members of Saint Valentine of Terni
       St. Joseph Josippus of Antioch Martyred deacon
3rd v  St. Craton Martyr in Rome converted by St. Valentine
In Província Valériæ sancti Sevéri Presbyteri, qui (ut beátus Gregórius Papa scribit), fusis lácrimis, defúnctum revocávit ad vitam.
      St. Modestus, a Sardinian, deacon and martyr
4th v Saint Paphnutius Ascetic Egyptian anchorite of the fourth century.
473 St. Dochow Monastic founder from Wales bishop
500 St. Georgia virgin hermitess nun near Clermont
6th v St. Faustus An abbot believed to be a disciple of St. Benedict
579 St. Quinidius Hermit bishop second patron of Vaison-la-Romaine
       St. Berach Irish abbot nephew of St. Freoch
695 St. Decorosus 30 years Bishop of Capua, Italy Council of Rome in 680
765 St. Walfrid a great and good pastor
808 ST TANCO, BISHOP OF VERDEN, MARTYR  it was a great grief to him to see so many nominal Christians enslaved to degrading passions.
1040 Sts. Winaman  Unaman and Sunaman, martyrs of Sweden
1045 ST SIGFRID, BISHOP OF Växjö: a spring bore Sigfrid’s name was the channel of many miracles
1046 St. Druthmar Benedictine abbot of Corvey Fervor and good observance
1237 Bl. Jordan of Saxony thousand novices to the Dominicans established new foundations Germany and Switzerland It was a sermon of Jordan’s that decided Albertus Magnus to enter the order

1306 BD ANGELO OF BORGO SAN SEPOLCRO the body of Bd Angelo remained entire down to the year 1583, exhaling, it is asserted, a sweet fragrance, and that the veneration paid to his remains at Borgo San Sepolcro as those of a saint has been continuous.
1367 BD JULIA OF CERTALDO, VIRGIN

1682 St. Claude la Colombière special day for the Jesuits spiritual companion, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque.

121 St. Faustinus & Jovita martyrs
Bríxiæ natális sanctórum Mártyrum Faustíni et Jovítæ fratrum, qui sub Hadriáno Imperatóre, post multa præclára ob Christi fidem suscépta certámina, victrícem martyrii corónam accepérunt.
At Brescia, in the time of Emperor Adrian, the birthday of the holy martyrs Faustinus and Jovita, who received the triumphant crown of martyrdom after many glorious combats for the faith of Christ.
SS FAUSTINUS AND JOVITA, MARTYRS
AUSTINUS and Jovita were brothers, nobly born and natives of Brescia. All the incidents in their reputed “acts” are of doubtful authority, and we can only be sure of their names and martyrdom. According to the tradition of Brescia, they preached Christianity fearlessly while their bishop lay in hiding. Their zeal excited the fury of the heathen against them, and they were arrested by a heathen lord called Julian. They were tortured and dragged to Milan, Rome and Naples, and then brought back to Brescia. A single feature may be cited to illustrate the extravagance which characterizes these hagiographical romances. When taken to Rome and Naples the martyrs are represented as having baptized in the course of their journey 191,128 persons in all, 42,118 at the place called Lubras, 22,600 at the Milvian bridge, 73,200 in the city of Rome and 53,210 at Naples. As neither threats nor torments could shake their constancy, the Emperor Hadrian, who happened to be passing through Brescia, commanded them to be beheaded. The city of Brescia honours them as its chief patrons and claims to possess their relics.

On April 18 the Roman Martyrology names the martyr St Calocerus, who figures largely in the legendary history of S. Faustinus and Jovita, whose heroic confession he is said to have witnessed when, as a court official, he accompanied Hadrian to his native city Brescia and was present in the amphitheatre. The constancy of the two confessors and the refusal of the wild beasts to touch them brought about his conversion, and he was baptized by Bishop Apollonius with 12,000 other citizens. He was tortured and imprisoned in several Italian towns, notably in Asti, where he instructed St Secundus who visited him in gaol. Event­ually, we are told, he was taken to Albenga in Liguria and beheaded on the seashore.

A careful study of the text of the fuller “acts” of SS. Faustinus and Jovita with all their intricate ramifications involving the story of 58. Calocerus, Calimerus, Afra, etc., has been made by Fr Fedele Savio in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xv (1896) and in subsequent publications. No good purpose could be served by attempting to summarize his conclusions here. Although it would perhaps be rash to deny the real existence of Faustinus and Jovita and that they suffered at Brescia, still the difficulties involved are serious. As F. Lanzoni in his essay, Le origini della diocesi antiche d’Italia (1923), has pointed out (pp. 532—533), the two early ecclesiastical writers of Brescia, Philastrius and Gaudentius, make no reference to these local patrons, and in the case of Gaudentius; at least, who was a great preacher and a devout collector of relics, this omission is surprising. Though the “Hieronymianum” apparently contained an entry of their names, this entry in most of our best and oldest manuscripts describes them as suffering not in Brescia but in “Brittania” (I) CMH., p. 99. However, St Gregory in his Dialogues refers to a church of St Faustinus at Brescia, and in the episcopal lists of that city the sixth bishop bears the same name. This seems to show that the martyr was honoured there at an early date. St Calocerus, like the story of St Innocent of Tortona, is an excrescence upon the legend of Faustinus and Jovita. Fr Savio maintained that the supposed martyr of Albenga was identical with St Calocerus, Bishop of Ravenna, whose remains were in the eighth century translated to Albenga. As is pointed out in CMH., p. 197, this Calocerus of Brescia cannot be said to be commemorated in the “Hieronymianum”, but he figures prominently in the acta of St Secundus of Asti.

Faustinus and Jovita were brothers, nobly born and natives of Brescia. According to the tradition of Brescia, they preached Christianity fearlessly while their bishop lay in hiding. Their zeal excited the fury of the heathens against them, then they were arrested by a heathen lord called Julian. They were tortured and dragged to Milan, Rome and Naples, and then brought back to Brescia. As neither threats nor torments could shake their constancy, the Emperor Hadrian, who happened to be passing through Brescia, commended them to be beheaded.
   The city of Brescia honors them as its chief patrons and claims to possess their relics.  On April 18 the Roman Martyrology names the martyr St. Calocerus, who figures largely in the legendary history of St. Faustinus and Jovita, whose heroic confession he is said to have witnessed when, as a court official, he accompanied Hadrian to his native city Brescia and was present in the amphitheatre. The constancy of the two confessors and the refusal of the wild beasts to touch them brought about his conversion, and he was baptized by Bishop Apollonius with twelve thousand other citizens. He was tortured and imprisoned in several Italian towns notably in Asti, where he instructed St. Secundus who visited him in gaol. Eventually, we are told, he was taken to Albanga in Liguria and beheaded on the seashore.
273 St. Saturninus martyr with Castulus, Magnus, and Lucius members of Saint Valentine of Terni
Interámnæ natális sanctórum Mártyrum Saturníni, Cástuli, Magni et Lúcii.
At Teramo, the birthday of the holy martyrs Saturninus, Castulus, Magnus, and Lucius.
 They were disciples of St. Valentine at Terni, Italy.
Saturninus, Castulus, Magnus & Lucius MM (RM). These martyrs were members of Saint Valentine of Terni's flock. They were buried at Passae (Rocca San Zenone) (Benedictines).
273 St. Agape Martyr follower of St. Valentine
Ibídem sanct æ Agapis, Vírginis et Mártyris.
 In the same place, St. Agape, virgin and martyr.

 ST AGAPE, VIRGIN AND MARTYR
THIS Agape is mentioned in many of the early martyrologies, sometimes alone, and sometimes with companions. She is specially honoured at Terni in Umbria, and is one of the patrons of that town. According to a tradition of doubtful authen­ticity she lived at Interamna (Terni) in the days of the martyred bishop St Valentine, under whose direction she formed a kind of community of women who lived like nuns. When persecution against the Christians broke out, it was particularly fierce at Terni and, after a bold witness for Christ, Agape received the martyr’s crown, not long after the death of St Valentine. A church was built at Interturres in her honour. It is probable that she actually suffered at Antioch.

The fact that a St Agape is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on this day and is said to have suffered at Interamna does not go far towards vindicating her historical existence. No liturgical tradition supports it. There has probably been some confusion with other martyrs of the same name. See Delehaye in Bulletin d’ancienne littérature et d’archéologie chrétiennes, vol. i (1911), pp. 161—168, and P. Franchi de’ Cavalieri in Studi e Testi, no. ix, pp. 1—20.
She belonged to a group of virgins started by St. Valentine. A church in Termi was dedicated to her until the twelfth century, and she is listed in early martyrologies. Agape of Terni VM (RM). The maiden, Agape, was martyred at Terni, Italy. She belonged to a group of virgins formed by Saint Valentine into a community.
From the 6th to the 12th century, there was a church at Terni dedicated to her (Benedictines).
3rd v St. Craton Martyr in Rome converted by St. Valentine
Romæ sancti Cratónis Mártyris, qui, cum uxóre sua et univérsa domo a beáto Valentíno Epíscopo baptizátus, non multo post, una cum illis, martyrio consummátus est.
       At Rome, St. Craton, martyr.  A short time after being baptized with his wife and all his household by the holy bishop Valentine, he was put to death with them.
He was a well-known philosopher, converted by St. Valentine, the bishop of Termi, Italy. Caught up in the persecutions, Craton was martyred with his wife and family.
In Província Valériæ sancti Sevéri Presbyteri, qui (ut beátus Gregórius Papa scribit), fusis lácrimis, defúnctum revocávit ad vitam.
In the province of Valeria, St. Severus, priest, of whom St. Gregory says that by his tears he recalled a dead man to life.
St. Modestus, a Sardinian, deacon and martyr,  At Rome, the martyrdom of who was racked and burned with fire by Emperor Diocletian.  His holy body was afterwards translated to Benevento and buried there in a church named after him.
Romæ pássio sancti Modésti Sardi, Levítæ et Mártyris; qui, sub Diocletiáno Imperatóre, equúleo tortus atque igne adústus est.  Ipsíus vero corpus, Benevéntum póstea translátum, in Ecclésia suo insigníta nómine collocátum fuit.
St. Joseph Josippus of Antioch Martyred deacon
 Antiochíæ sancti Joséphi Diáconi.       At Antioch, St. Joseph, deacon.
He was slain at Antioch with seven companions. He is sometimes called Josippus.
4th v Saint Paphnutius Ascetic Egyptian anchorite of the fourth century.
He is most famous for his accounts of the lives of many hermits of the Egyptian desert, such as Saint Onuphrius.
His feast is celebrated on 15 Meshir in the Coptic Orthodox Church.
The Departure of St. Abba Nofer the Anchorite.
On this day, the ascetic father, Abba Nofer the Anchorite, departed at a good old age, and of a glorious memory, in the desert of Upper Egypt. The grace of God had moved St. Paphnoute (Paphnutius), and he longed to see the servants of God, the Anchorites.
He saw many of them, among them St. Abba Nofer, and wrote their biographies.
    He said that once he went into the desert and found a well of water and a palm tree. Then he saw the saint coming to him, naked, and the hair of his head and beard covered his body. When St. Paphnutius saw him, he was afraid and thought that he was a spirit. Saint Abba Nofer encouraged him, made the sign of the cross, and prayed the Lord's prayer, then said to him, "Welcome O Paphnoute."
When he called him by his name, St. Paphnutius calmed down. They prayed together, then sat, and talked about the greatness and goodness of God.
     St. Paphnutius asked Abba Nofer to tell him about his life and how he came to that place. Abba Nofer replied, "I was in a monastery wherein lived holy and righteous monks. I heard them talking about the greatness of those anchorites who dwelled in the desert and their good virtues. I said to them, 'Are there any who are better than you?' They said to me, 'Yes, those anchorites who dwell in the wilderness. We live near the world, if we are sorrowful or sad, we find someone to console us; if we are sick, we find someone to visit and treat us; if we are naked, we find someone to clothe us.
Those who live in the wilderness lack all these things.' When I heard that from them, my heart became anxious.
   "When the night came, I took a little bread and I went out from the monastery. Then I prayed to the Lord Christ and asked Him to guide me to the place where I was to live. The Lord facilitated my way and I found a holy and righteous man. I dwelt with him, and he taught me all about the life and the ways of the hermits and the anchorites. After I came to this place, I found a palm tree, and a well. The tree bore twelve clusters of dates each year. One cluster of dates is enough food for me for a month, and I drink water from this well. I have lived here for sixty years during which I have never seen the face of a man except yours."
   While they were talking together the angel of the Lord came down, and told St. Abba Nofer that his departure was near. Straightway, his color changed and became like fire, then he bowed his knees and worshipped God. After he embraced St. Paphnutius, he delivered up his pure soul. St. Paphnutius wrapped him, and buried him in his cave. St. Paphnutius wished to live in the place of Abba Nofer. But after he had buried him, the palm tree dried and fell down and the water of the well dried up. That happened by the Will of God, so St. Paphnoute would return to the world and tell us about the holy hermits that he had seen.
May their prayers be with us and Glory be to g
God forever. Amen.
473 St. Dochow Monastic founder from Wales bishop
Dochow formed a monastery in Cornwall, England. The Ulster Annual describes him as a bishop.
Dochow (also known as Dochau, Dogwyn) Date unknown. According to the life of Saint Samson, Dochow travelled from Wales to Cornwall and founded a monastery there.
In the Ulster Annal, he is styled bishop. Saint Dochtwy appears to be another saint altogether (Benedictines).
500 St. Georgia virgin hermitess nun near Clermont
 Arvérnis, in Gállia, sanctæ Geórgiæ Vírginis.       In Auvergne in France, St. Georgia, virgin.
Auvergne, France. No other details are extant. 
Georgia of Clermont V (RM). Young nun who became a hermit near Clermont, Auvergne, France (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
6th v St. Faustus An abbot believed to be a disciple of St. Benedict at Monte Cassino, Italy He was the biographer of St.  Maurus, according to Abbot Odo of Glanfeuil.
579 St. Quinidius Hermit bishop second patron of Vaison-la-Romaine
Vasióne, in Gálliis, sancti Quinídii Epíscopi, cujus mortem in conspéctu Dómini pretiósam mirácula crebra testántur.
At Vaison in France, St. Quinidius, bishop, whose death was precious in  the sight of God, as is shewn by frequent miracles.
He was originally a hermit in the region of Aix in Provence, France, becoming bishop of Vaison in that region.
Quinidius of Vaison B (RM). Quinidius was a hermit at Aix, Provence, until he was raised to the episcopacy of the see of Vaison, also in Provence, France.
He is the second patron of Vaison-la-Romaine (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
6th v St. Berach Irish abbot nephew of St. Freoch
He was raised by his uncle and became a disciple of St. Kevin. Berach, who is sometimes called Barachias or Berachius, founded an abbey at Clusin-Coirpte, in Connaught, Ireland.
He is the patron saint of Kilbarry, County Dublin.
695 St. Decorosus 30 years Bishop of Capua, Italy Council of Rome in 680
Cápuæ sancti Decorósi, Epíscopi et Confessóris.     At Capua, St. Decorosus, bishop and confessor.
He attended the Council of Rome in 680 in the reign of Pope St. Agatho.. (The council, attended in the beginning by 100 bishops, later by 174, was opened 7 Nov., 680, in a domed hall (trullus) of the imperial palace and was presided over by the (three) papal legates who brought to the council a long dogmatic letter of Pope Agatho and another of similar import from a Roman synod held in the spring of 680. )
Decorosus of Capua B (RM) bishop of Capua, Italy, for 30 years. He was one of the prelates who assisted at the council of Rome in 680 under Pope Saint Agatho (Benedictines).
765 St. Walfrid a great and good pastor

 765 ST WALFRID, ABBOT
WALFRID or Galfrido della Gherardesca was born in Pisa, of which he became a prosperous and honoured citizen. He married a wife to whom he was deeply attached, and they had five sons and at least one daughter. After a time, Walfrid and his wife Thesia felt that God was calling them to enter the religious life. Walfrid had two friends—a kinsman named Gunduald and a certain Fortis, a native of Corsica like him they were living in the world, but were drawn to a closer service of God under monastic discipline. Together they discussed the future, and were led by a dream to choose Monte Verde, between Volterra and Piombino, as the site of their future monastery.

They decided to follow the Benedictine rule of Monte Cassino and, besides their own abbey of Palazzuolo, they built at a distance of about eighteen miles a convent for women, in which their wives and Walfrid’s daughter Rattruda took the veil. 

The new foundation attracted many novices, and before long there were sixty monks, including Walfrid’s favourite son Gimfrid and Gunduald’s only son Andrew, who became the third abbot and wrote the history of St Walfrid.
Gimfrid was made priest, but in an hour of temptation he fled from the monastery, taking with him men, horses and papers which belonged to the community. Walfrid, greatly distressed, sent a search party after the fugitive, On the third day, when he was praying in the midst of his monks for his son’s repentance and return, he besought God also to send Gimfrid a sign which would be constantly before him as a reminder and a warning for the rest of his life. That same day Gimfrid was caught and brought back penitent, but with the middle finger of his right hand so mutilated that he could never use it again. Walfrid ruled the abbey wisely and well for ten years, and after his death was succeeded by Gimfrid, who in spite of his earlier lapse became, as Andrew records, a great and good pastor. St Walfrid’s cultus was confirmed in 1861.

The life by Andrew is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, February, vol. ii, and also by Mabillon, vol. iii, Pt 2, pp. 178—184.

Walfrid or Galfrido della Gherardesca was born in Pisa, of which he became a prosperous and honored citizen. He married a wife to whom he was deeply attached, and they had five sons and at least one daughter. After a time, Walfrid and his wife Thesia felt that God was calling them to enter the religious life. Walfrid had two friends - A kinsman named Gunduald and a certain Fortis, a native of Corsica: like him they were living in the world, but were drawn to a closer service of God under monastic discipline. Together they discussed the future, and were led by a dream to choose Monte Verde, between Volterra and Piombino, as the site of their future monastery. They decided to follow the Benedictine Rule of Monte Casino and, besides their own Abbey of Palazzuolo, they built at a distance of about eighteen miles a convent for women, in which their wives and Walfrid's daughter Rattruda took the veil.
     The new foundation attracted many novices, and before long there were sixty monks including Walfrid's favorite son Gimfrid and Gunduald's only son Andrew, who became the third Abbott and wrote the history of St. Walfrid. Gimfrid was made priest, but in an hour of temptation he flew from the monastery, taking with him men, horses and papers which belonged to the community. Walfrid, greatly distressed, sent a search party after the fugitive.

     On the third day, when he was praying in the midst of his monks for his son's repentance and return, he besought God also to send Gimfrid a sign which would be constantly before him as a reminder and a warning for the rest of his life. That same day Wimfrid was caught and brought back penitent, but with the middle finger of his right hand so mutilated that he could never use it again. Walfrid ruled the Abbey wisely and well for ten years, and after his death, was succeeded by Gimfrid, who inspite of his earlier lapse became, as Andrew records, a great and good pastor. St. Walfrid's cultus was confirmed in 1861.

Walfrid della Gheradesca, OSB Abbot (AC) (also known as (Gualfredo, Galfrido) Born in Pisa, Italy; died c. 765; cultus confirmed in 1861. Walfrid, the eldest of five children and one of the wealthier citizens of the area, had five or six children of his own. After some years of married life, Walfrid and his wife decided to establish separate Benedictine monasteries on adjoining hills near Pisa. Walfrid was joined by two other married men to found his abbey of Palazzuolo, between Volterra and Piombino, and one for their wives nearby. Novices joined the foundations in large numbers, among them Walfrid's daughter, Rattruda, and his favorite son, Gimfrid, who became a priest.
The Acta Sanctorum relates that Walfrid ruled the abbeys well for at least ten years before he was succeeded by his son Gimfrid, who was "a great and good pastor." Apparently Gimfrid questioned his vocation and ran away from monastic life and the priesthood for a time, but that the prayers of his father and the monks brought him back wiser and stronger in the ways of grace.
We do not have any exact record of when Walfrid died, but legend relates that it was on February 15 that both he and his wife died and were buried together (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
808 ST TANCO, BISHOP OF VERDEN, MARTYR  it was a great grief to him to see so many nominal Christians enslaved to degrading passions.
ST TANCO (or Tatto) was a “Scottish” monk—almost certainly a native of Ireland. Moved by missionary zeal he went over to Germany, to the abbey of Amalbarich, near Verden in Saxony. Here he gained a great reputation for learning and piety, and he was made abbot after the resignation of St Patto, who afterwards became bishop of Verden. Through an ardent desire for martyrdom Tanco also vacated his office; and after preaching in Cleves and in Flanders succeeded Patto as bishop of Verden. His success in propagating the gospel was great, but it was a great grief to him to see so many nominal Christians enslaved to degrading passions. In order to convert or at least to confound them, he preached strenuously against the vices to which they were prone. The mob was so enraged that they attacked him fiercely, and one man stabbed him to death with a lance, thus procuring for him the martyr’s crown. According to another account he overturned the statues of some false gods, and the barbarians beat out his brains with clubs and cut off his arms and legs.
There seems to be no contemporary evidence to substantiate this story, but the legend is duly recounted in the Acta Sanctorum, February, vol. ii; and LIS., vol. ii, P. 567.
1040 St. Winaman  Unaman and Sunaman, martyrs of Sweden
The nephews of St. Sigfrid of Wexiow, they followed in his missionary path, going to Sweden where they were martyred by local pagans.
   Winaman, Unaman & Sunaman, OSB Monks MM (AC). Rather this trio of nephews of Saint Sigfrid of Wexlow, followed their uncle to the Swedish mission. The Benedictine monks were martyred at Wexlow (Växjö) by beheading. There bodies were buried deep in the forest but the heads, which had been thrown into the nearby lake, were recovered and enshrined in the church at Växjö until the Lutherans removed them. These three are venerated in Sweden (Benedictines, Husenbeth).
1045 ST SIGFRID, BISHOP OF Växjö: a spring bore Sigfrid’s name was the channel of many miracles.
THE history of St Sigfrid is somewhat obscure, owing to conflicting narratives. One account states that after King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway had been converted to Christianity (he was confirmed at Andover by St Alphege the martyr who then was bishop of Winchester), he asked the English king, Ethelred, to send him missionaries. Sigfrid, said to have been a priest of York (or possibly Glastonbury), went out from England as a missionary bishop, and with him also went two other bishops, John and Grimkel. They did not confine themselves to Norway, but passed on to Sweden which, after having been in part evangelized by St Anskar, had relapsed into idolatry. There they laboured under the protection of the archbishop of Bremen, and Sigfrid made his headquarters at Växjö.

The king of Sweden, whose name also was Olaf, was himself converted by St Sigfrid, who baptized him at Husaby in a spring which afterwards bore Sigfrid’s name and was the channel of many miracles. St Sigfrid continued his labours successfully for many years, and at his death was buried in the church of Växjö. Tradition has added many details to the accounts of St Sigfrid’s labours. It is said that when he first arrived at Växjö he began by planting a cross and building a wooden church in which he celebrated the divine mysteries and preached. The twelve principal men of the district were converted by him, and one of them, who died almost immediately, received Christian burial and had a cross placed on his grave. So wonderfully did the truth spread, that within a short time the faith was planted in all Varend. The fountain in which St Sigfrid baptized the catechumens long retained the names of the first twelve converts, engraved on a monument. It is said that he ordained two bishops, for East and West Gothland. His three nephews, Unaman a priest, Sunaman a deacon, and Vinaman a subdeacon, were his chief assistants.

After a time, St Sigfrid entrusted the care of his diocese to these three and set off to carry the light of the gospel into more distant provinces. During his absence, a troop, partly out of hatred for Christianity and partly for booty, plundered the church of VaxjO and murdered Unaman and his brothers, burying their bodies in a forest and placing their heads in a box which they sank in a pond. The heads were duly recovered and placed in a shrine, on which occasion, we are told, the three heads spoke. The king resolved to put the murderers to death, but St Sigfrid induced him to spare their lives. Olaf compelled them, however, to pay a heavy fine which he wished to bestow on the saint, who refused to accept a farthing of it, notwithstanding his extreme poverty and the difficulties with which he had to contend in rebuilding his church. He had inherited in an heroic degree the spirit of the apostles, and preached the gospel also in Denmark. Sigfrid is said, but doubtfully, to have been canonized by Pope Adrian IV, the Englishman who had himself laboured zealously for the propagation of the faith in the North over one hundred years after St Sigfrid. The Swedes honour St Sigfrid as their apostle.

It would be impossible here to discuss the extremely intricate and contested history of the conversion of Sweden. It must be sufficient to refer to two valuable articles, the one by Edmund Bishop in the Dublin Review, January, 1885, especially PP. 182—189; the other by L. Bril, “Les premiers temps du Christianisme en Suede” in the Revue d’histoire ecclésias­tique, October, 1911. Both writers are agreed that Adam of Bremen, to whom commonly appeal is made as a primary authority, has to be used with great caution, it being his obvious purpose to glorify the share of the see of Bremen in the conversion of Scandinavia and to belittle the efforts made by English missionaries. Secondly, they both attach importance to the data furnished by the lives of Sigfrid, though it is admitted that the earliest of these dates only from the beginning of the thirteenth century and that they embody much which is purely legendary. The lives may best be consulted in the Scriptores Rerum Suecicarum, vol. ii, Pt 5, PP. 345—370; and cf. “Trois légendes de St Sigfrid” in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lx (1942), pp. 82—90. The best account is said to be in Swedish, T. Schmid, Den hl Sigfrid (1931). On C. J. A. Oppermann’s English Missionaries in Sweden (1937), see Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lvii (1939), PP. 162—164. There seems to be considerable doubt whether Sigfrid was an Englishman.
1046 St. Druthmar Benedictine abbot of Corvey Fervor and good observance in Saxony, in Germany, by Emperor St. Henry II.
Druthmar of Lorsch, OSB Abbot (AC). In 1014, Saint Druthmar, a Benedictine of Lorsch, was appointed abbot of Corvey, Saxony, by emperor Saint Henry II. Fervor and good observance were marks of his rule (Benedictines).
1237 Bl. Jordan of Saxony more than a thousand novices to the Dominican Order establishing many new foundations in Germany and Switzerland It was a sermon of Jordan’s that decided Albertus Magnus to enter the order

1237 BD JORDAN OF SAXONY
BD JORDAN was St Dominic’s immediate successor, and was therefore the second master general of the Dominicans. Nothing is actually known as to the place and date of his birth; but his name was really Gordanus, or Giordanus, and we know that he was a Saxon and that he was a bachelor of divinity in Paris by 1219, at which date St Dominic sent to him Reginald, one of his first scholars. Apparently it was thus that he first became known to St Dominic. On Ash Wednesday of the following year, he and his friend Henry were clothed with the Dominican habit, and he at once came to the fore from his extraordinary eloquence. While he was yet a novice, as he himself relates in his Life of St Dominic (one of the main sources for that saint’s career), and before he had been two months in the order, he was summoned from Paris, with three other brothers, to attend the first general chapter at Bologna. At the following chapter, at which he was not present, he was chosen prior provincial of Lombardy, and in 1222, after the death of St Dominic, he was elected master general.

Bd Jordan did great things to extend and strengthen the order, and many friaries were founded under him, notably those at Regensburg, Constance, Bale, Freiburg and Strasbourg, and the brothers eventually extended their labours to Denmark and other distant lands. He used to frequent places where young students foregathered, and his eloquence won them in crowds he has been called “the first university chaplain”, and on one occasion he preached the University Sermon at Oxford it was perhaps here that he met and impressed Bishop Grosse­teste.

It was a sermon of Jordan’s that decided Albertus Magnus to enter the order. One learned professor, Walter the German, who had solemnly warned his pupils against the wiles and snares of the Dominican who was coming amongst them, was himself the first to fall into the net. Not that Bd Jordan cared only for the wise and learned. While he was still in Paris, complaints were made to him that there were some sixty novices so uninstructed or of such poor intellect that it was only with the greatest difficulty that they could be taught to read one lesson of the office. He replied, “Let them be—despise not one of these little ones. I tell you that many amongst them will become excellent preachers,” and his words proved true. Not only could he win men, but he knew how to retain them, and he could make allowance for human weakness. Once he had collected a number of postulants or novices in a place where there was no Dominican house. In the evening, when he began Compline in the lodging where they were assembled, one of the young men under emotional strain began to giggle and all the others followed suit. One of the brothers, greatly shocked, made gestures to try to stop them. Jordan finished the office and gave the blessing then, addressing the brother, he asked, “Who made you novice master?” and turning to the young men he said, “Laugh on You may well laugh, for you have escaped from the Devil who formerly held you in bondage. Laugh away, dear sons.”

Many of his sayings which have been preserved are full of religious common sense. Someone asked him whether a paternoster on the lips of an ignorant layman could possibly have as much value as a paternoster in the mouth of a learned cleric who understood it. He replied that a gem lost none of its value when it was in the hand of one who could not appreciate its worth. When asked which was better—studying the Scriptures or praying—he made answer, “You might as well ask me which is better—eating or drinking.” Upon being questioned as to the best way of praying, he said, “The way in which you can pray most fervently.”

Friar Jordan was on his way to the Holy Land in 1237 with two of the brothers when they encountered a great storm off the coast of Syria, and the ship was wrecked, all lives being lost. The body of Bd Jordan was washed ashore and was interred in the Dominican church at Akka. It is said that within a few days of his death he appeared in a vision or dream to a young Carmelite at Akka who was troubled about his vocation and had said, “This Friar Jordan was a good man—and all he got for it was to be drowned.” “Fear not, brother”, said Jordan to the doubter, “Everyone who serves Jesus Christ to the end will be saved.” It has been suggested as an hypothesis that this was the origin of the tradition of St Simon Stock’s scapular-vision of our Lady. The ancient cultus of Bd Jordan was con­firmed in 1828.

The main original sources for a life of Jordan are his own letters and such early Dominican chronicles as the Vitae Fratrum, or the Chronica of Galvagno de La Flamma, with the Acta Capitulorum, both general and provincial, etc. Fr Berthier printed in 1891 a good edition of Bd Jordan’s Opera ad res OP spectantia there is a very useful German volume, Die Briefe Jordans von Sachsen, with comments by B. Altaner (1925), and an edition, B. Jordani de Saxonia epistulae (1950), by A. Walz. The most systematic study of Bd Jordan in his public capacity has been made by Mortier in his Histoire des Maitres Généraux OP., vol. i, pp. 137—274, and there are several special biographies by Danzas, Mothon and others, including M. Aron, Un animateur de la jeunesse . . . (1931). Fr Reichert compiled a valuable Itmerarium of Jordan which was included in the Festschrift zur Jubiläum des deutsches Campo-Santo, pp. 153—160. For a fuller bibliography, see Taurisano, Catalogus, pp. 10—11.

Blessed Jordan of Saxony died in 1237. A Saxon named Gordanus or Giordanus, he received his bachelor of divinity degree at Paris. He met St. Dominic there and in 1220, became a Dominican. He was elected prior provincial of Lombardy the next year, and in 1222, on the death of Dominic, was elected second master general of the Dominicans. He expanded the Order, establishing many new foundations in Germany and Switzerland. He sent missionaries to Denmark, and frequently preached at universities to young students.
      He was a powerful preacher, and St. Albert the Great became a Dominican after hearing one of his sermons. He was on his way to the Holy Land in 1237 when his ship was wrecked on the coast of Syria and all aboard perished. He is the author of a life of St. Dominic that is one of the main sources of information about the founder of the Dominicans. Jordan's cult was approved in 1825.

Blessed Jordan of Saxony, OP (AC) Born in Germany, 1190; died 1237; cultus confirmed in 1828.
Men prayed for strength to resist Jordan's burning eloquence, and mothers hid their sons when Master Jordan came to town. Students and masters warned each other of the fatal magnetism of his sermons. The sweetness of his character and the holiness of his life shone through his most casual words in a flame that drew youth irresistibly to the ideal to which he had dedicated his own life. In his 16 years of preaching, Jordan is said to have drawn more than a thousand novices to the Dominican Order, among whom were two future popes, two canonized saints (e.g., Albert the Great), numerous beati, and countless intellectual lights of his dazzling century.
    Of Jordan's childhood, nothing is known, except that he was born of a noble family. He was drawn to the order in 1220 by the preaching of Blessed Reginald, the beloved son of Dominic, brought back from death by Dominic's and Our Lady's prayers. Jordan was at that time about 30, a student at the University of Paris, and his reputation for sanctity had preceded him into the order.
    He had worn the habit for only two months when he was sent to Bologna as a delegate to the first general chapter of the order. The following year he was elected provincial of Lombardy, Italy, and on the death of Saint Dominic, succeeded him as master general.
    The Order of Preachers was only six years old when Jordan became master general. He carried out the yet untried plans of Dominic, who had hurried off to heaven when many of his dreams were just beginning to open out into realization, and still more vistas beckoned beyond. Under him the new order advanced apace, spreading throughout Germany and into Denmark. Jordan will always be remembered for his work in increasing the manpower of the order, but his contribution to its quality should never be forgotten.
      He added four new provinces to the eight already in existence; he twice obtained for the order a chair at the University of Paris and helped found the University of Toulouse; and he established the first general house of studies of the order. He was a spiritual guide to many, including Blessed Diana d'Andalo; and somewhere in his busy lifetime he found time to write a number of books, including a life of Saint Dominic.
      Jordan was regarded as a menace by the professors of universities where he recruited novices. He emptied classrooms of their most talented students, stole their most noted professors. Young men by the hundreds besieged the order for admittance. Some were mere children, some famous lawyers and teachers, and some were the wealthy young bearers of the most famous names in Christendom. One and all, they were drawn to a life of perfection by this man who preached so well, and who practiced what he preached with such evident relish.
     All the old writers speak of the kindness and personal charm of Jordan. He had the ability to console the troubled and to inspire the despondent with new hope. At one time, a discouraged student was busily saying the Office of the Dead when Master Jordan sat down beside him and began alternating verses with him. When he came to the end of Psalm 26, Jordan said the verse with emphasis: "Oh, wait for the Lord!" Wherewith the sorrows of the young man departed. Another student was rid of troubled thoughts by the mere imposition of Jordan's hands. To bring peace to the brothers who were being annoyed by the devil, Jordan established the beautiful custom of singing the Salve Regina after Compline each night.
Jordan was shipwrecked and drowned when returning from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land (Benedictines, Dorcy).

1306 BD ANGELO OF BORGO SAN SEPOLCRO the body of Bd Angelo remained entire down to the year 1583, exhaling, it is asserted, a sweet fragrance, and that the veneration paid to his remains at Borgo San Sepolcro as those of a saint has been continuous.

THE decree emanating from the Congregation of Sacred Rites, which in 1921 confirmed the cultus of this Augustinian hermit, frankly admits that the life of Angelo said to have been written by John of St William has perished. We are consequently very ill-informed regarding his career. His family name was Scar­petti, and he was born at Borgo San Sepolcro in Umbria. He seems to have taken the Augustinian habit about the same time as his more famous contemporary St Nicholas of Tolentino. The decree referred to states that he spent part of his religious life in England and was instrumental in founding several Augustinian houses in this country. Two anecdotes are also recorded which are believed to illustrate the high favour he enjoyed with Almighty God. We are told that once when he had sternly rebuked a man of scandalous life the offender in a passion raised his arm to strike him. It was, however, instantaneously paralysed, and the miscreant only recovered the use of it by the prayer of Bd Angelo. On another occasion an innocent man who had been sentenced to death recommended himself to Angelo’s prayers. He was hanged in accordance with the sentence, but when the Brothers of the Misericordia came to cut him down and bury him, they found him still alive, and the man declared that Angelo had supported him all the time so that his neck was not broken. Obviously such stories, reported at fourth or fifth hand, are not very convincing but there appears to be better evidence that the body of Bd Angelo remained entire down to the year 1583, exhaling, it is asserted, a sweet fragrance, and that the veneration paid to his remains at Borgo San Sepolcro as those of a saint has been continuous.

See L. Torelli, Ristretto delle vite degli huomini etc. deli’ Online Agostiniano, pp. 165—166, and the decree of confirmation in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 1921, pp. 443—446.

1367 BD JULIA OF CERTALDO, VIRGIN

THIS is another case of confirmation of cult where very little detail seems available regarding the life of the beata thus honoured. Her surname is said to have been della Rena, and it has been hastily assumed that she was a kinswoman of that noble family. However, Julia was at first a domestic servant in the household of some people called Tinolfi, but in 1337 at the age of eighteen she joined the third order of the Augustinians at Florence. Finding that the distractions of a great city interfered with her recollection, she returned to Certaldo, and there, owing to her heroic and, as men believed, miraculous rescue of a child left in a burning house, she was sought out by many as a soul marvellously privileged. This decided her to avoid, as far as could be, intercourse with her fellow-men, and she had herself walled up as a recluse in a cell beside the sacristy of the church of SS. Michael and James at Certaldo. She wished in this, we are told, to follow in the footsteps of Bd Verdiana of Castelfiorentino. In this same tiny anchorage she lived for nearly thirty years, dying on January 9, 1367, at the age of forty-eight. There seems to be good evidence that after her death she was honoured as a saint, and her cultus was accordingly confirmed in 1819.

See I. Malenotti, Vita delta beata Giulia, vergine da Certaldo (1819) and N. Risi. Un giglio tra te spine (1919). F. Dini has shown in Miscellanea storica delta Valdelsa (1902), pp. 56—61, that Julia did not belong to either branch of the great family della Rena.
1682 St. Claude la Colombière special day for the Jesuits spiritual companion, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque.
 (1641-1682 )

1682 BD CLAUD LA COLOMBIERE He so accustomed himself to refer everything to God that human respect and worldly motives became impossible to him.

A CONTEMPORARY artist has left us the portrait of Bd Claud taken when he was between thirty-five and forty-one years of age—a longish face, eyes small but bright and penetrating, a broad forehead, a well-proportioned mouth and rather a pointed chin. We are told that when he entered the Society of Jesus he was fairly strong physically, of a lively disposition, with very high ideals and in every way wise and gracious. Such gifts were to be carefully cultivated in the religious life. His intellect was trained and developed so that his outlook was broad and his judgement acute and sound. He was a lover of the fine arts; and Olivier Patru, a member of the French Academy in 1640, corresponded with him and speaks of his writings in high praise. But these gifts would have been of little use in his work for souls if they had not been united to the interior spirit of the perfect religious animated by zeal for the glory of God. The source of his inner life was union with God in prayer, which occupied him continually. He so accustomed himself to refer everything to God that human respect and worldly motives became impossible to him. This wonderful detachment was indeed his distinguishing feature.

Bd Claud was born at Saint-Symphorien d’Ozon near Lyons in 1641. His family was well-connected, pious and in easy circumstances. There are no special records of his childhood till he was sent to the Jesuit college at Lyons for his studies. Though he acknowledged a strong aversion to the idea of a religious vocation, he conquered himself, and when he applied to be received into the Society he was at once accepted. He made his novitiate at Avignon, and after the usual two years passed into the college in that city to complete his course of philosophy. When this was ended, he was at first put to teach grammar and then the humanities, in which occupations he spent the years from 1661 to 1666. Since 1659 Avignon had been in a state of unrest there was continuous friction between the nobles and the people. In 1662 came the unfortunate affray in Rome between the papal guard and the suite of the French ambassador, which resulted in the occupation of Avignon, at that date still papal territory, by the troops of Louis XIV. The pupils’ studies, however, were not interfered with, and the simultaneous increase of Calvinism only served to redouble the zeal of the Jesuit fathers who spent themselves in apostolic labours in the town and in the neighbouring country.

With the return of peace the townspeople of Avignon celebrated the canoniza­tion of St Francis de Sales, and the older of the two convents of the Order of the Visitation in that city was the scene of a great ecclesiastical function. This was the first occasion on which Bd Claud’s gifts of oratory were displayed. He, though not yet ordained, was one of those chosen to preach the saint’s panegyric in the convent church. His text was: “Out of strength has come sweetness” (Judges xiv, 14), and the sermon was pronounced magnificent. Meanwhile it had been decided to send the young Claud to Paris to finish his course of theology, and here he found himself in the very centre of the intellectual life of France. Here also a great honour was conferred on him the two sons of the famous Colbert were put under his care. Most probably Colbert realized how gifted his sons’ tutor was, and therefore, though he was no friend to the Jesuits, he had chosen Claud for such an important post. However, his connection with the Colbert family came to an abrupt conclusion, as unfortunately a satirical phrase in an article which Claud had written was brought to the great minister’s knowledge. He was much offended, and asked that Claud might be recalled to his own province. This, however, could not be till 1670.

The young priest was in 1673 appointed festival preacher in the college church at Avignon. He took immense pains with his sermons, which are models of the art of preaching both for their sound doctrine and their beauty of language. The same sermons seem to have been preached later in England, and the name of the Duchess of York (Mary of Modena, afterwards queen when James II succeeded to the throne), in whose chapel they were delivered, is traditionally attached to them in the printed editions. During his time in Paris he had come into contact with Jansenism with its network of untruths and calumnies. He could now from the pulpit combat these errors, animated as he was by that special love of the Sacred Heart which was to prove a most potent antidote. At the end of 1674 Father La Chaise, Bd Claud’s rector, was directed by the father general to admit him to solemn profession after he had made a month’s retreat at the outset of what is called the third probation. The retreat brought Claud many graces. He was led to consecrate himself specially to the Sacred Heart, and in addition to the vows of profession he took a private vow to practise exact obedience to the rule of the Society of Jesus in every detail which it prescribed. He notes that he had for some time lived as he was now pledged by this vow to live, and that he had bound himself thus formally in order to insure his perseverance. At this date he was just thirty-three years old, the age at which our Lord died, and the inspiration came to him that he must now die still more completely to the world and to himself. As a spiritual note of his records “It seems right, dear Lord, that I should begin to live in thee and for thee alone, at the age at which thou didst die for all and for me in particular.”

Two months after his solemn profession in February, 1675, Claud was made superior of the college at Paray-le-Monial. It was unusual to put a young professed at the head of a house, and on the other hand gifts such as he possessed seemed hardly to have sufficient scope in a small residence of only four or five fathers such as was Paray. We may well believe that he was sent by God for the sake of an elect soul who needed him. That soul was St Margaret Mary Alacoque. She was suffering and perplexed because of the extraordinary revelations of the Sacred Heart which were granted her and which became every day clearer and more intimate. In obedience to her superior, Mother de Saumaise, she had told everything to a priest, a learned man, but one who had no knowledge of these extraordinary ways. He insisted that she was suffering from delusions, and her distress was only in­creased. She prayed for help and believed that our Lord answered that His faithful servant and perfect friend should be sent her.

Father La Colombière*]* The “de “ was added after his death.] came one day to give the community an instruction. “As he spoke”, the saint tells us, “I heard in my soul the words ‘He it is I send you’.” The first time she went to confession to him he behaved as if he knew what was passing within her. She felt a repugnance and shrank from speaking openly to him, though she knew it was God’s will she should do so. When next he came he told her he was glad to be the means of giving her an opportunity of making a sacrifice to God, and thereupon “without my feeling any pain”, she says, “he opened out my heart and showed me its depths, good and bad. He consoled me greatly and told me not to fear God’s leading as long as I was obedient, that I must give myself entirely to Him to be treated as He willed. He taught me to cherish the gifts of God and to receive His communications with faith and humility.”

Thus he was of the greatest service to her personally, and he did much to further the devotion to the Sacred Heart in the Church in general, realizing that this devotion was the best antidote to Jansenism.

Father La Colombière was not long at Paray. His next mission was very different on the recommendation of Father La Chaize, the confessor of Louis XIV of France, he was sent to London as preacher to Mary Beatrice d’Este, Duchess of York. In England he preached by word and by the example of his holy life. The love of the Sacred Heart became his favourite subject. His process tells us of his work for souls in this country and of the many Protestants he converted. The position of Catholics in England was extremely difficult as the hostile feeling against them was just then intense. An agitation was set on foot to exclude the Duke of York, who had become a Catholic, from the royal succession and to put the Prince of Orange or some other in his place. The story of a spurious “Popish Plot”, a tale fabricated by the infamous Titus Oates and his abettors, convulsed the country and in this Father La Colombière amongst the rest was supposed to be implicated. The object of the plot was said to be the murder of King Charles II and the destruction of the Established Church. Claud La Colombière was accused of having exercised his ministry and of having converted Protestants and lapsed Catholics. He was imprisoned in the King’s Bench, but did not win the martyr’s crown, as through the intervention of Louis XIV he was simply banished from England. His already bad health was completely broken by his imprisonment, and when he returned to France at the beginning of 1679 it was only to lead the life of an invalid. Although there were intervals when he rallied and active work was possible, his lungs were seriously attacked. His superiors, hoping that the air of his native province would be beneficial, sent him to Lyons and to Paray, and it was on a second visit to Paray that by the direct counsel of St Margaret Mary he remained there to die. After setting an example of great humility and perfect patience he passed away on the evening of February 15, 1682, and it seems that the next morning St Margaret Mary was supernaturally assured that his soul was in Heaven and needed no prayers. Bd Claud was beatified in 1929.

See A Jesuit at the English Court, by Sister Mary Philip (1922), and the lives written in French by Fr Seguin and by Fr Charrier, the former of which exists in an English translation but the most up-to-date biography, fully-documented, is by Fr C. Guitton (1943), Mrs M. Yeo’s These Three Hearts is a reprint of a life published first in 1940. See also Frs Monier­-Vinard and Condamin, Bx. Claude...Notes spirituelles (1929), and the Dictionnaire de spiritualité, vol. ii, cc. 939-941. Bd Claud’s complete works, containing a good deal of autobiographical detail, have been more than once published, and some of them translated.

In the decree of beatification Bd Claud is described as the “coadjutor” of St Margaret Mary in propagating devotion to the Sacred Heart, and as one chosen by God to direct her in the time of her trouble and vexation of spirit. For his part in spreading the devotion, ef. P. Pourrat, La spiritualité chrétienne (Paris, 1947 Eng. trans.), vol. iv, pp. 420-423.

This is a special day for the Jesuits, who claim today’s saint as one of their own. It’s also a special day for people who have a special devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus—a devotion Claude la Colombière promoted, along with his friend and spiritual companion, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. The emphasis on God’s love for all was an antidote to the rigorous moralism of the Jansenists, who were popular at the time.
     Claude showed remarkable preaching skills long before his ordination in 1675. Two months later he was made superior of a small Jesuit residence in Burgundy. It was there he first encountered Margaret Mary Alacoque. For many years after he served as her confessor.
     He was next sent to England to serve as confessor to the Duchess of York. He preached by both words and by the example of his holy life, converting a number of Protestants. Tensions arose against Catholics and Claude, rumored to be part of a plot against the king, was imprisoned. He was ultimately banished, but by then his health had been ruined. He died in 1682.
Pope John Paul the Second canonized Claude la Colombière in 1992.


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 265

Shout with joy to Our Lady, all the earth: sing ye a psalm to her name: give honor to her majesty.

Blessed be thy heart, O Lady: with which thou hast ardently and sincerely loved the Son of God.

Look upon my poverty, O glorious Virgin: delay not to remove my misery and my difficulties.

Take away my tribulations: sweeten my weariness.

Let all flesh bless thee: let every tongue glorify thee.

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.

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

Saint Frances Xavier Seelos  Practical Guide to Holiness
1. Go to Mass with deepest devotion. 2. Spend a half hour to reflect upon your main failing & make resolutions to avoid it.
3. Do daily spiritual reading for at least 15 minutes, if a half hour is not possible.  4. Say the rosary every day.
5. Also daily, if at all possible, visit the Blessed Sacrament; toward evening, meditate on the Passion of Christ for a half hour, 6.  Conclude the day with evening prayer & an examination of conscience over all the faults & sins of the day.
7.  Every month make a review of the month in confession.
8. Choose a special patron every month & imitate that patron in some special virtue.
9. Precede every great feast with a novena that is nine days of devotion. 10. Try to begin & end every activity with a Hail Mary
My God, I believe, I adore, I trust and I love Thee.  I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not
O most Holy trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly.  I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the Tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended, and by the infite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  I beg the conversion of poor sinners,  Fatima Prayer, Angel of Peace
The voice of the Father is heard, the Son enters the water, and the Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove.
THE spirit and example of the world imperceptibly instil the error into the minds of many that there is a kind of middle way of going to Heaven; and so, because the world does not live up to the gospel, they bring the gospel down to the level of the world. It is not by this example that we are to measure the Christian rule, but words and life of Christ. All His followers are commanded to labour to become perfect even as our heavenly Father is perfect, and to bear His image in our hearts that we may be His children. We are obliged by the gospel to die to ourselves by fighting self-love in our hearts, by the mastery of our passions, by taking on the spirit of our Lord.
   These are the conditions under which Christ makes His promises and numbers us among His children, as is manifest from His words which the apostles have left us in their inspired writings. Here is no distinction made or foreseen between the apostles or clergy or religious and secular persons. The former, indeed, take upon themselves certain stricter obligations, as a means of accomplishing these ends more perfectly; but the law of holiness and of disengagement of the heart from the world is general and binds all the followers of Christ.
God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique each the result of a new idea.
As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike.
It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints.
Dear Lord, grant us a spirit not bound by our own ideas and preferences.
 Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves.
O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory.
 Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.
Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.
The 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary ) Revealed to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan)
1.    Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces. 2.    I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary. 3.    The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies. 4.    It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things.  Oh, that soul would sanctify them by this means.  5.    The soul that recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish. 6.    Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying themselves to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune.  God will not chastise them in His justice, they shall not perish by an unprovided death; if they be just, they shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life. 7.    Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church. 8.    Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise. 9.    I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary. 10.    The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.  11.    You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary. 12.    I shall aid all those who propagate the Holy Rosary in their necessities. 13.    I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death. 14.    All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ. 15.    Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
His Holiness Aram I, current (2013) Catholicos of Cilicia of Armenians, whose See is located in Lebanese town of Antelias. The Catholicosate was founded in Sis, capital of Cilicia, in the year 1441 following the move of the Catholicosate of All Armenians back to its original See of Etchmiadzin in Armenia. The Catholicosate of Cilicia enjoyed local jurisdiction, though spiritually subject to the authority of Etchmiadzin. In 1921 the See was transferred to Aleppo in Syria, and in 1930 to Antelias.
Its jurisdiction currently extends to Syria, Cyprus, Iran and Greece.
Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac
The exact date of the introduction of Christianity into Edessa {Armenian Ourhaï in Arabic Er Roha, commonly Orfa or Urfa, its present name} is not known. It is certain, however, that the Christian community was at first made up from the Jewish population of the city. According to an ancient legend, King Abgar V, Ushana, was converted by Addai, who was one of the seventy-two disciples. In fact, however, the first King of Edessa to embrace the Christian Faith was Abgar IX (c. 206) becoming official kingdom religion.
Christian council held at Edessa early as 197 (Eusebius, Hist. Ecc7V,xxiii).
In 201 the city was devastated by a great flood, and the Christian church was destroyed (“Chronicon Edessenum”, ad. an. 201).
In 232 the relics of the Apostle St. Thomas were brought from India, on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written.

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

680 Shiite saint Imam Hussein, grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad Known as Ashoura and observed by Shiites across the world, the 10th day of the lunar Muslim month of Muharram: the anniversary of the 7th century death in battle of one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints.  Imam Hussein died in the 680 A.D. battle fought on the plains outside Karbala, a city in modern Iraq that's home to the saint's shrine.  The battle over a dispute about the leadership of the Muslim faith following Muhammad's death in 632 A.D. It is the defining event in Islam's split into Sunni and Shiite branches.  The occasion is the source of an enduring moral lesson. "He sacrificed his blood to teach us not to give in to corruption, coercion, or use of force and to seek honor and justice."  According to Shiite beliefs, Hussein and companions were denied water by enemies who controlled the nearby Euphrates.  Streets get partially covered with blood from slaughter of hundreds of cows and sheep. Volunteers cook the meat and feed it to the poor.  Hussein's martyrdom recounted through a rich body of prose, poetry and song remains an inspirational example of sacrifice to many Shiites, 10 percent of the world's estimated 1.3 billion Muslims.
Meeting of the Saints  walis (saints of Allah)
Great men covet to embrace martyrdom for a cause and principle.
So was the case with Hazrat Ali. He could have made a compromise with the evil forces of his time and, as a result, could have led a very comfortable, easy and luxurious life.  But he was not a person who would succumb to such temptations. His upbringing, his education and his training in the lap of the holy Prophet made him refuse such an offer.
Rabia Al-Basri (717–801 C.E.) She was first to set forth the doctrine of mystical love and who is widely considered to be the most important of the early Sufi poets. An elderly Shia pointed out that during his pre-Partition childhood it was quite common to find pictures and portraits of Shia icons in Imambaras across the country.
Shah Abdul Latif: The Exalted Sufi Master born 1690 in a Syed family; died 1754. In ancient times, Sindh housed the exemplary Indus Valley Civilisation with Moenjo Daro as its capital, and now, it is the land of a culture which evolved from the teachings of eminent Sufi saints. Pakistan is home to the mortal remains of many Sufi saints, the exalted among them being Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, a practitioner of the real Islam, philosopher, poet, musicologist and preacher. He presented his teaching through poetry and music - both instruments sublime - and commands a very large following, not only among Muslims but also among Hindus and Christians. Sindh culture: The Shah is synonymous with Sindh. He is the very fountainhead of Sindh's culture. His message remains as fresh as that of any present day poet, and the people of Sindh find solace from his writings. He did indeed think for Sindh. One of his prayers, in exquisite Sindhi, translates thus: “Oh God, may ever You on Sindh bestow abundance rare! Beloved! All the world let share Thy grace, and fruitful be.”
Shia Ali al-Hadi, died 868 and son Hassan al-Askari 874. These saints are the 10th and 11th of Shia's 12 most revered Imams. Baba Farid Sufi 1398 miracle, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki renowned Muslim Sufi saint scholar miracles 569 A.H. [1173 C.E.] hermit gave to poor, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti greatest mystic of his time born 533 Hijri (1138-39 A.D.), Hazrat Ghuas-e Azam, Hazrat Bu Ali Sharif, and Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia Sufi Saint Hazrath Khwaja Syed Mohammed Badshah Quadri Chisty Yamani Quadeer (RA) 1236-1325 welcomed people of all faiths & all walks of life.
801 Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya Sufi One of the most famous Islamic mystics
(b. 717). This 8th century saint was an early Sufi who had a profound influence on later Sufis, who in turn deeply influenced the European mystical love and troubadour traditions.  Rabi'a was a woman of Basra, a seaport in southern Iraq.  She was born around 717 and died in 801 (185-186).  Her biographer, the great medieval poet Attar, tells us that she was "on fire with love and longing" and that men accepted her "as a second spotless Mary" (186).  She was, he continues, “an unquestioned authority to her contemporaries" (218).
Rabi'a began her ascetic life in a small desert cell near Basra, where she lost herself in prayer and went straight to God for teaching.  As far as is known, she never studied under any master or spiritual director.  She was one of the first of the Sufis to teach that Love alone was the guide on the mystic path (222).  A later Sufi taught that there were two classes of "true believers": one class sought a master as an intermediary between them and God -- unless they could see the footsteps of the Prophet on the path before them, they would not accept the path as valid.  The second class “...did not look before them for the footprint of any of God's creatures, for they had removed all thought of what He had created from their hearts, and concerned themselves solely with God. (218)
Rabi'a was of this second kind.  She felt no reverence even for the House of God in Mecca:  "It is the Lord of the house Whom I need; what have I to do with the house?" (219) One lovely spring morning a friend asked her to come outside to see the works of God.  She replied, "Come you inside that you may behold their Maker.  Contemplation of the Maker has turned me aside from what He has made" (219).  During an illness, a friend asked this woman if she desired anything.
"...[H]ow can you ask me such a question as 'What do I desire?'  I swear by the glory of God that for twelve years I have desired fresh dates, and you know that in Basra dates are plentiful, and I have not yet tasted them.  I am a servant (of God), and what has a servant to do with desire?" (162)
When a male friend once suggested she should pray for relief from a debilitating illness, she said,
"O Sufyan, do you not know Who it is that wills this suffering for me?  Is it not God Who wills it?  When you know this, why do you bid me ask for what is contrary to His will?  It is not  well to oppose one's Beloved." (221)
She was an ascetic.  It was her custom to pray all night, sleep briefly just before dawn, and then rise again just as dawn "tinged the sky with gold" (187).  She lived in celibacy and poverty, having renounced the world.  A friend visited her in old age and found that all she owned were a reed mat, screen, a pottery jug, and a bed of felt which doubled as her prayer-rug (186), for where she prayed all night, she also slept briefly in the pre-dawn chill.  Once her friends offered to get her a servant; she replied,
"I should be ashamed to ask for the things of this world from Him to Whom the world belongs, and how should I ask for them from those to whom it does not belong?"  (186-7)
A wealthy merchant once wanted to give her a purse of gold.  She refused it, saying that God, who sustains even those who dishonor Him, would surely sustain her, "whose soul is overflowing with love" for Him.  And she added an ethical concern as well:
"...How should I take the wealth of someone of whom I do not know whether he acquired it lawfully or not?" (187)
She taught that repentance was a gift from God because no one could repent unless God had already accepted him and given him this gift of repentance.  She taught that sinners must fear the punishment they deserved for their sins, but she also offered such sinners far more hope of Paradise than most other ascetics did.  For herself, she held to a higher ideal, worshipping God neither from fear of Hell nor from hope of Paradise, for she saw such self-interest as unworthy of God's servants; emotions like fear and hope were like veils -- i.e., hindrances to the vision of God Himself.  The story is told that once a number of Sufis saw her hurrying on her way with water in one hand and a burning torch in the other.  When they asked her to explain, she said:
"I am going to light a fire in Paradise and to pour water on to Hell, so that both veils may vanish altogether from before the pilgrims and their purpose may be sure..." (187-188)
She was once asked where she came from.  "From that other world," she said.  "And where are you going?" she was asked.  "To that other world," she replied (219).  She taught that the spirit originated with God in "that other world" and had to return to Him in the end.  Yet if the soul were sufficiently purified, even on earth, it could look upon God unveiled in all His glory and unite with him in love.  In this quest, logic and reason were powerless.  Instead, she speaks of the "eye" of her heart which alone could apprehend Him and His mysteries (220).
Above all, she was a lover, a bhakti, like one of Krishna’s Goptis in the Hindu tradition.  Her hours of prayer were not so much devoted to intercession as to communion with her Beloved.  Through this communion, she could discover His will for her.  Many of her prayers have come down to us:
       "I have made Thee the Companion of my heart,
        But my body is available for those who seek its company,
        And my body is friendly towards its guests,
        But the Beloved of my heart is the Guest of my soul."  [224]
To Save A Life is Earthly; Saving A Soul is Eternal Donation by mail, please send check or money order to:
Eternal Word Television Network 5817 Old Leeds Rd. Irondale, AL 35210  USA
  Catholic Television Network  Supported entirely by donations from viewers  help  spread the Eternal Word, online Here
Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey  Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament
Colombia was among the countries Mother Angelica visited. 
In Bogotá, a Salesian priest - Father Juan Pablo Rodriguez - brought Mother and the nuns to the Sanctuary of the Divine Infant Jesus to attend Mass.  After Mass, Father Juan Pablo took them into a small Shrine which housed the miraculous statue of the Child Jesus. Mother Angelica stood praying at the side of the statue when suddenly the miraculous image came alive and turned towards her.  Then the Child Jesus spoke with the voice of a young boy:  “Build Me a Temple and I will help those who help you.” 

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

Brief History of our Beloved Holy Priest Here and his published books of Catholic History in North America
Reardon, J.M. Archbishop Ireland; Prelate, Patriot, Publicist, 1838-1918.
A Memoir (St. Paul; 1919); George Anthony Belcourt Pioneer Catholic Missionary of the Northwest 1803-1874 (1955);
The Catholic Church IN THE DIOCESE OF ST. PAUL from earliest origin to centennial achievement 1362-1950 (1952);
The Church of Saint Mary of Saint Paul 1875-1922;  (1932)
The Vikings in the American Heartland;
The Catholic Total Abstinence Society in Minnesota;
James Michael Reardon Born in Nova Scotia, 1872;  Priest, ordained by Bishop Ireland;
Member -- St. Paul Seminary faculty.
Affiliations and 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).
LINKS:
Marian Apparitions (over 2000)  India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes Feb 11- July 16, Loreto, Italy 1858 
China Marian shrines May 23, 1995 Zarvintisya Ukraine Lourdes Kenya national Marian shrine    Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798  
Links to Related Marian Websites  Angels and Archangels
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  Uniates, 265 2023