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.
January is the month of the Holy Name of Jesus since 1902;
2023
22,260 lives saved since 2007

Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary
Mary is the Queen and Lady and Mother of the King of Angels (II) 


The Epiphany of the Lord, his manifestation to the nations
January 4 – Epiphany – Our Lady of Roses (Italy, 1418)
- Saint Angela of Foligno
– Blessed Manuel González García (1877-1940) 
 
This faith is fulfilled in the Virgin Mary
 Today we are celebrating above all the Epiphany of the Lord, his manifestation to the nations, while many Eastern Churches, according to the Julian Calendar, celebrate the Birth. … It is a juxtaposition which also makes us reflect also from the viewpoint of faith. Moreover, at Christmas in front of Jesus, we see the faith of Mary, of Joseph and of the shepherds; and today on the Epiphany the faith of the three Magi, come from the East to worship the King of the Jews.
The Virgin Mary, together with her husband, represents the “stump” of Israel, the “remnant” foretold by the prophets, from which the Messiah was to spring. Instead the Magi represent the peoples, and we can say even civilizations… on their way to God, searching for his kingdom of peace, justice, truth and freedom.
There was first a nucleus, embodied above all by Mary, the “daughter of Zion”: a nucleus of Israel, the people that know and have faith in that God who revealed himself to the Patriarchs and on the path of history. This faith is fulfilled in Mary, in the fullness of time; in her, “blessed because she believed,” the Word was made flesh, God “appeared” in the world.
Mary’s faith becomes the first fruits and the model of the faith of the Church, the People of the New Covenant. But from the beginning this people is universal and we can see this today in the figures of the Magi who arrive in Bethlehem…

 St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (Memorial)

CAUSES OF SAINTS

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

Acts of the Apostles

How do I start the Five First Saturdays?
Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary .

Pope Benedict XVI to The Catholic Church In China {whole article here }
The saints “a cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.

January 4 – Our Lady of Roses (Italy, 1418) – Saint Angela of Foligno 
 
Become the “Marys” of abandoned tabernacles 
 Blessed Manuel Gonzalez Garcia (d. January 4, 1940), Bishop of Malaga, is an outstanding figure of the Spanish Church. The two salient features of his spirituality are the devotions to the Blessed Sacrament and the Virgin Mary.
He was ordained a priest in 1901. The vision of an abandoned tabernacle marked him deeply and from that time, he devoted himself to spreading Eucharistic devotion by proclaiming everywhere a phrase that he repeated till his death: "Jesus is here! He is here! Do not abandon him!"

In 1910, he addressed a group of devout women and said, "Let me seek your attention and your help today for the most abandoned of all the poor—the Blessed Sacrament! For the love of Mary Immaculate and for the Sacred Heart who is so ill-rewarded, I ask you to become the Marys of those abandoned tabernacles."
He was alluding to the three "Marys" who were at the foot of the Cross. Thus was born the association of "Marys of Tabernacles-Calvaries" in a spirit of reparation to imitate the Virgin Mary, Saint John and the Holy Women,
who remained faithful to Jesus on Calvary.
 www.abbaye-saint-benoit.ch
 

  Pope Francis  PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR  January 2023

For educators
We pray that educators may be credible witnesses, teaching fraternity rather than competition and helping the youngest and most vulnerable above all.

January is the month of the Holy Name of Jesus since 1902;

Please pray for those who have no one to pray for them.


  539 ST GREGORY, Bishop of Langres miracles recorded after death he seemed to give the preference to captives who had been arrested by the officers of human justice
 Apud Língonas, in Gállia, sancti Gregórii Epíscopi, miráculis clari.
       At Langres in France, St. Gregory, a bishop renowned for miracles.

THIS saint is welt known to us from the writings of St Gregory of Tours, who was his great-grandson. Of very distinguished birth, he for forty years governed the district of Autun as count (comes), administering justice equitably but sternly. It was only late in life, after the death of his wife Armentaria that he turned from the world and gave himself unreservedly to God.
1821 St. ELIZABETH ANN SET0N
1821 Bd ELIZABETH ANN SET0N (née Bayley). Born in New York City, 1774; married William Seton, 1794; widowed in 1803; received into the Catholic Church in 1805; made religious vows, 1809; died at Emmetsburg in Maryland, 4 January 1821. Mother Seton founded the American Sisters of Charity and was the first native-born American citizen to be beatified, in 1963.
1897 Birthday of Thérèse de Lisieux (2 January 1873 Alençon, France – 30 September 1897).


January 4 - Our Lady of Roses (Italy, 1418) - Blessed Angela of Foligno (1248-1309)
  Humility is a Prerequisite for Peace
Verily, verily, the Savior of the world has raised meekness and humility to the foundation of all virtue. Abstinence, fasting, austerity, internal or external poverty, good works, miracles, all is nothing without a humble heart. But all these things will take on new life and receive blessings, if humility supports them.
A humble heart is the generating force of virtue; the stem and branches can only come from the roots. Because its price is infinite and because it is the foundation upon which any spiritual perfection must rise, the Lord reserved only for himself the task of telling us to be humble.
And because humility is the universal guardian, the Virgin Mary, as if she overlooked all the other virtues of her soul and body, admired only one of her own qualities, and gave only one reason for the Incarnation of the Son of God in her: "Because He looked upon the humility of his servant..."
For this, and no other reason, all generations have called her blessed.
Excerpt from Blessed Angela of Foligno (d. 1309),
The Book of Visions and Instructions

The saints are a “cloud of witnesses over our head”,
showing us that a life of Christian perfection is not impossible.
Her Son placed seven lilies in the crown, and between the lilies he placed seven gems. The first lily is her humility; the second, fear; the third, obedience; the fourth, patience; the fifth, steadfastness; the sixth, kindness, for she kindly gives to all who ask; the seventh is mercy in necessities, for in whatever necessity a person may find himself, if he invokes her with all his heart, he will be rescued.
  From the Blessed Virgin according to Saint Bridget of Sweden, Saint Bride and Her Book: Birgitta of Sweden's Revelations, Book 1, ch.31 January 4 - Our Lady of Roses (Italy, 1418)

Saints must be honored as friends of Christ and children and heirs of God, as John the theologian and evangelist says:
‘But as many as received him, he gave them the power to be made the sons of God....’
Let us carefully observe the manner of life of all the apostles, martyrs, ascetics and just men who announced the coming of the Lord. And let us emulate their faith, charity, hope, zeal, life, patience under suffering, and perseverance unto death, so that we may also share their crowns of glory” (Exposition of the Orthodox Faith).

Saint John, Son of Mary (IV)  January 4 - Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord
>From 27 to 30 A.D., John spent 3 years following Christ and received with the refreshing purity of his young soul the teachings of the Divine Master. He grew up to become the beloved, preferred or, more precisely according to Eastern tradition, the chosen disciple because he penetrated the Master's thought the deepest
and because he could quote his Master's own exact words.

His love was so strong that he was the only Apostle to be present at the foot of the Cross, at a time of darkness that dispersed all the others in fear. "Mary, the Mother of the Lord was standing before the Cross of her Son; no one else told me this except Saint John the Evangelist. John explained to me how Jesus on the Cross spoke to his mother.
This is the testament of Christ on the Cross, and John signed it. He is a worthy witness of such a great testator.
This valuable testament is not the legacy of money but of eternal life, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God. While the other Apostles fled, Mary stood at the foot of the Cross,
and her maternal eyes contemplated the wounds of her Son.
She wasn't waiting for her Beloved's death, but for the salvation of the world." (Saint Ambrose of Milan, d. 397)

"In the person of John, as the Church has always believed," stated Leo XIII,
"Christ designated the human race, especially those who believed in him."
1st v. Synaxis der Siebzig Apostel; Orthodoxe Kirche: 4. Januar - Katholische Kirche: 15. Juli 
1st v. birthday of St. Titus, consecrated bishop of Crete by the apostle St. Paul; In the Christian New Testament, Saint Titus, (a common Roman first name) was a companion of Paul of Tarsus, mentioned in several of Paul's epistles, including the Epistle to Titus. Titus was with Paul and Barnabas at Antioch and accompanied them to the Council of Jerusalem, although his name nowhere occurs in the Acts of the Apostles.
   211 St. Mavilus, martyr, who, being condemned by the very cruel governor Scapula to be devoured by wild beast received the crown of martyrdom.
   300  Saints Hermes, Aggaeus, and Caius, martyrs, who suffered under Emperor Maximian
 4th v.  Romæ sanctórum Mártyrum Prisci Presbyteri, et Priscilliáni Clérici, ac Benedíctæ, religiósæ féminæ; qui, témpore impiíssimi Juliáni, gládio martyrium complevérunt.
At Rome, in the reign of the impious Julian, the holy martyrs Priscus, a priest, Priscillian, a cleric; and Benedicta, a religious woman, whose martyrdom was ended by the sword.
   340 St. Anastasia Martyrdom of; Coptic  -- visit those imprisoned for their faith ministered to them, comforted them, offered them whatever they needed; her husband shut her up in house placed guards over her; distributed wealth among poor and those in prison, confessors and strivers, for sake of the faith Commemoration of St. Juliana the Martyr.  On this day also is the commemoration of St. Juliana the martyr.
   484 St. Aquilinus Martyr with Sts. Geminus & companions
         St. Dafrosa Martyred mother of St. Bibiana
  539 ST GREGORY, Bishop of Langres miracles recorded after death; he seemed to give the preference to captives arrested by the officers of human justice
  745 St. Rigobert Benedictine archbishop of Reims; patient acceptance of all trials, love of retirement and prayer, miraculous cures attributed to him, gained him the repute of high sanctity.
  740 St. Pharaildis A Flemish maiden a miracle worker
800 Theoktistos gründete im 8, Jahrhundert ein Kloster in Cucuma (Sizilien) und war auch dessen Leiter. In dem Kloster lebten vor allem griechische Mönche, die vor dem Bildersturm geflohen waren. Theoktistos starb 800.Orthodoxe Kirche: 4. January

1160 BD ROGER OF ELLANT sick and the suffering were the object of his particular care

1309 Bl. Angela of Foligno Franciscan tertiary and mystic Many miracles

1310 BD ORINGA, VIRGIN The Augustinians keep her feast on January 4

1570 Bl. Thomas Plumtree English martyr
1821 St. ELIZABETH ANN SET0N (née Bayley). Born in New York City, 1774; married William Seton, 1794; widowed in 1803; received into the Catholic Church in 1805; made religious vows, 1809; died at Emmetsburg in Maryland, 4 January 1821. Mother Seton founded the American Sisters of Charity and was the first native-born American citizen to be beatified, in 1963.
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton; At the suggestion of the president of St. Mary's College in Baltimore, Maryland, Elizabeth started a school in that city. She and two other young women, who helped her in her work, began plans for a Sisterhood. They established the first free Catholic school in America.
1897 Birthday of Thérèse de Lisieux (2 January 1873 Alençon, France – 30 September 1897).
1946 Fritz von Bodelschwingh; When Bodelschwingh got to know in May, 1940 from the euthanasia actions, he exerted himself vehement with the highest places against these people-despising measures, however, reached only to be stamped as a public enemy.


1st v. Orthodoxe Kirche: 4. Januar - Synaxis der siebzig Apostel Katholische Kirche: 15. Juli
Lukas berichtet (Kapitel 10), dass Jesus weitere 70 (oder 72) Jünger einsetzte und aussandte. Die orthodoxe Kirche gedenkt dieser Apostel an verschiedenen Tagen und außerdem am 4. Januar ihrer Synaxis (Zusammenkommen). Gemeint ist damit eine Kommemoration, ein gemeinsames Gedenken aller 70 Apostel.

Eusebius von Cäsarea (263-339) schreibt in seiner Kirchengeschichte: "Es existiert kein Katalog der siebzig Jünger. Barnabas ... wird einer gewesen sein, ... ebenso wird Sosthenes, der den Brief an die Korinther mit Paulus schrieb, einer von ihnen gewesen sein. Clemens schreibt ... Cephas sei einer der siebzig Jünger ... auch Thaddäus soll einer von ihnen gewesen sein."

Die älteste Namensliste der Siebzig stammt nach der Überlieferung von Dorotheus von Tyre. Diese Liste wurde in späteren Zeiten ergänzt und abgeändert. So entfielen die von Dorotheus angeführten Apostel, die sich dem Zauberer Simon anschloßen (siehe unten). Bei einigen Namen ist unklar, ob es sich wirklich um verschiedene Personen handelt (z. B. Markus Johannes und Evangelist Markus oder Silas und Silvanus). Sie werden in einigen Listen als eine Person gezählt. So ergibt sich bei einer Zusammenstellung der Namen aus den verschiedenen Quellen eine höhere Zahl als Siebzig bzw. Zweiundsiebzig. Im folgenden sind die tradierten Namen in alphabetischer Reihenfolge aufgeführt. Die Links führen dann zu dem Gedenktag des jeweiligen Apostels.
1st v. birthday of St. Titus, consecrated bishop of Crete by the apostle St. Paul; In the Christian New Testament, Saint Titus, (a common Roman first name) was a companion of Paul of Tarsus, mentioned in several of Paul's epistles, including the Epistle to Titus. Titus was with Paul and Barnabas at Antioch and accompanied them to the Council of Jerusalem, although his name nowhere occurs in the Acts of the Apostles.
 In Creta natális sancti Titi, qui, ab Apóstolo Paulo Epíscopus Creténsium ordinátus, et, post prædicatiónis offícium fidelíssime consummátum, finem beátum adéptus, in ea sepúltus est Ecclésia, ubi a beáto Apóstolo dignus miníster fúerat constitútus.  Ipsíus tamen festívitas octávo Idus Februárii celebrátur.
      In Crete, the birthday of St. Titus, who was consecrated bishop of that island by the apostle St. Paul.  After having faithfully performed the duty of preaching the Gospel, he reached the end of his saintly life, and was buried in the church of which he had been made a worthy minister by the holy apostle.

He appears to have been a Gentile – for St. Paul sternly refused to have him circumcised, because Paul believed Christ's gospel freed believers from the requirements of the Mosaic Law – and to have been chiefly engaged in ministering to Gentiles. At a later period, Paul's Epistles place him with St. Paul and Timothy at Ephesus, whence he was sent by Paul to Corinth for the purpose of getting the contributions of the church there in behalf of the poor Christians at Jerusalem sent forward.[2] He rejoined the apostle when he was in Macedonia, and cheered him with the tidings he brought from Corinth.[3] After this his name is not mentioned till after Paul's first imprisonment, when we find him engaged in the organization of the church in Crete, where the apostle had left him for this purpose.[4] The last notice of him is in 2 Timothy 4:10, where he appears with Paul at Rome during his second imprisonment. From Rome he was sent into Dalmatia, no doubt on some important missionary errand. The New Testament does not record his death.

According to church tradition, Paul ordained Titus Bishop of Gortyn in Crete. He died in the year 107, aged about 95.

The feast day of St Titus was not included in the Tridentine Calendar. When added in 1854, it was assigned to 6 February. In 1969, the Roman Catholic Church assigned the feast to 26 January so as to celebrate the two disciples of Paul the Apostle, Titus and Timothy, on the day after the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America celebrates these two together with Silas on the same date (see Calendar of Saints).
211 St. Mavilus, martyr, who, being condemned by the very cruel governor Scapula to be devoured by wild beasts, received the crown of martyrdom.
Adruméti, in Africa, commemorátio sancti Mávili Mártyris, qui in persecutióne Sevéri Imperatóris, a sævíssimo Præside Scápula damnátus ad béstias, martyrii corónam accépit.
       At Adrumetum in Africa, in the persecution of Severus, the commemoration of St. Mavilus, martyr, who, being condemned by the very cruel governor Scapula to be devoured by wild beasts, received the crown of martyrdom.
Severus 193-211
300  Saints Hermes, Aggaeus, and Caius, martyrs, who suffered under Emperor Maximian.
 Bonóniæ sanctórum Hermétis, Aggǽi et Caji Mártyrum, qui sub Maximiáno Imperatóre passi sunt.
       At Bologna, the Saints Hermes, Aggaeus, and Caius, martyrs, who suffered under Emperor Maximian.
4th v.  Romæ sanctórum Mártyrum Prisci Presbyteri, et Priscilliáni Clérici, ac Benedíctæ, religiósæ féminæ; qui, témpore impiíssimi Juliáni, gládio martyrium complevérunt.
       At Rome, in the reign of the impious Julian, the holy martyrs Priscus, a priest, Priscillian, a cleric; and Benedicta, a religious woman, whose martyrdom was ended by the sword.
340 St. Anastasia Martyrdom of; visit those imprisoned for their faith ministered to them, comforted them, offered them whatever they needed; her husband shut her up in house placed guards over her; distributed wealth among poor and those in prison, confessors and strivers, for sake of the faith Coptic

On this day, of the year 340 A.D., St. Anastasia, was martyred. She was born in the city of Rome in the year 275 A.D., to a pagan father whose name was "Britastanos" and a Christian mother whose name was "Flavia". Her mother baptized her secretly without her father's knowledge and she brought her up in the teachings of the Christian faith. She was steadfast in her faith and no one was able to dissuade her.

When she was of marriage age, her father gave her in marriage to a pagan youth, against her wishes. St. Anastasia prayed to the Lord Christ with fervent supplications, asking Him to separate her from this pagan youth who was away from the faith.

When her husband left to go to his work, she also left to visit those who were imprisoned for their faith and she ministered to them, comforted them, and offered them whatever they needed. When her husband learned about this, he shut her up in the house and placed guards over her. She continued to pray and ask God with tears and supplications to save her from the hands of her husband. God answered her prayer and speeded up his death. She distributed her wealth among the poor and those who were in prison, the confessors and the strivers, for the sake of the faith. When her fame reached "Florus", the Governor, he brought her before him to inquire about her religion. She confessed that she was a Christian. He tried to entice her to leave her faith by promising her many precious gifts. When she did not listen to his promises, he punished her by torturing her with various tortures and when he became weary of her he ordered her to be drowned. She came out from the sea unharmed with the grace of God. When the governor learned that she was still alive, he ordered that she be tied up to four pegs on the ground and be beaten ferociously, then be thrown into a pit of fire. They did so until she gave up her pure soul and received the crown of martyrdom.
484 St. Aquilinus Martyr with Sts. Geminus & companions
 Item in Africa præclarissimórum Mártyrum Aquilíni, Gémini, Eugénii, Marciáni, Quincti, Theódoti et Tryphónis.
       Also in Africa, the most renowned martyrs Aquilinus, Geminus, Eugenius, Marcian, Quinctus, Theodotus, and Tryphon.
Eugene, Marcian, Quintus, Theodotus, and Tryphon. These martyrs were executed by the Arian Hunneric, the king of the Vandals. St. Bede wrote of their hero
ic deaths
St. Dafrosa Martyred mother of St. Bibiana
 Item Romæ beátæ Dafrósæ, uxóris sancti Flaviáni Mártyris, ac matris sanctárum Bibiánæ et Demétriæ, Vírginum et Mártyrum; quæ, post interfectiónem viri sui, primum exsílio relegáta, deínde, sub præfáto Príncipe, cápite plexa est.       Also at Rome, under the same emperor, blessed Dafrosa, wife of the martyr St. Flavian, and mother of Saints Bibiana and Demetria, virgin martyrs.  After her husband had been killed, she was first banished and then beheaded.
sometimes called Aifrosa. The Acts of Bibiana provide untrustworthy documentation of this martyr­dom which supposedly took place in the reign of Julian the Apostat

539 ST GREGORY, Bishop of Langres miracles recorded after death he seemed to give the preference to captives who had been arrested by the officers of human justice
 Apud Língonas, in Gállia, sancti Gregórii Epíscopi, miráculis clari.
       At Langres in France, St. Gregory, a bishop renowned for miracles.

THIS saint is welt known to us from the writings of St Gregory of Tours, who was his great-grandson. Of very distinguished birth, he for forty years governed the district of Autun as count (comes), administering justice equitably but sternly. It was only late in life, after the death of his wife Armentaria that he turned from the world and gave himself unreservedly to God.

The clergy and people then elected him bishop of Langres, and for the rest of his days he showed an admirable example of devotion to his pastoral duties.

   His abstemious­ness in food and drink, which he was ingenious in concealing from the knowledge of others, was remarkable, and he often gave the hours of the night to prayer, frequenting especially the baptistery of Dijon, in which town he commonly lived. There the saints came to visit him and join him in chanting the praises of God in particular St Benignus, the apostle of Burgundy, whose cultus he had at first neglected, after some words of fatherly rebuke directed him to restore his dilapidated shrine, which has ever since been so famous in Dijon. It was here that Gregory himself, who died at Langres in 539, was brought to be buried in accordance with his own desire.
His epitaph, composed by Venantius Fortunatus, suggests that any severity he had displayed as a secular ruler was expiated by the tender charity he showed to all in his last years. Even in the miracles recorded after death he seemed to give the preference to captives who had been arrested by the officers of human justice.

See Gregory of Tours, Vitae patrum, bk vii; Historia Francorum, bks iii, iv and v; and De Gloria martyrum, li. L. Duchesne, Pastes Episcopaux, vol. ii, pp. 185—186; DCB., vol. ii, p. 770.
745 St. Rigobert Benedictine archbishop of Reims His patient acceptance of all trials, his love of retirement and prayer, and the miraculous cures attributed to him, gained him the repute of high sanctity.
 Rhemis, in Gállia, sancti Rigobérti, Epíscopi et Confessóris.
      At Rheims in France, St. Rigobertus, bishop and confessor.
also known as Robert of Reims. After serving for a time as abbot of Orbais, he was appointed archbishop of Reims, France. As a result of a dispute with Charles Martel, the powerful Frankish mayor of the palace, he was banished and the see was bestowed upon the prelate Muon. When the matter was resolved and Rigobert returned to Reims, he chose not to pursue his rightful claim to the see and instead became a hermit. Rigobert was long venerated as a model of patience and was credited with many miracles.

 745 ST RIGOBERT, ARCHBISHOP OF RHEIMS
RIGOBERT seems to have been first of all abbot of Orbais, and afterwards to have been elected to the see of Rheims, but it is not easy to adjust the chronology, and his life, written much later, at the close of the ninth century, cannot be depended upon. St Rigobert, it would appear, offended Charles Martel because he would not takes sides against Raganfred, the mayor of Neustria. Charles accordingly banished Rigobert to Gascony and gave his bishopric to Milon, who already held the temporalities of the see of Trier. In the end some compromise was effected, and the saint was allowed again to officiate in Rheims. His patient acceptance of all trials, his love of retirement and prayer, and the miraculous cures attributed to him, gained him the repute of high sanctity. He must have died between 740 and 750.

See Acta Sanctorum, January 4; Levison in MGH., Scriptores Merov., vol. vii, pp. 54—80; and Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux vol. iii, pp. 85-86. There is a very important general paper on Charles Martel and his bishops: "Milo at eiusmodi similes", by Eugen Ewig, in St Bonifatius. Gedenkgabe zum zwölfhundertjährigen Todestag (Fulda, 1954), pp. 412—440.

740 ST PHARAILDIS, Vipois A Flemish maiden a miracle worker

THERE is a great deal which is extremely confused and improbable in the accounts preserved to us of this Belgian saint, and it is difficult to know how much of her legend can be regarded as based on historical fact. The main feature of her story is that, though she had secretly consecrated her virginity to God, she was given in marriage by her parents to a wealthy suitor, without any adequate consent on her part. Resolutely determined to keep her vow, she refused to live with him maritaleinent, and he on his part treated her brutally. God protected her, until at last the husband died. Little else is recorded of her except miracles and the numerous translations of her remains. There cannot, however, be any doubt that she became a very popular saint in Flanders, and that her cultus supplies abundant matter of interest to the student of folklore.
  Among her own countryfolk she is called most commonly St Varelde, Verylde or VeerIes She is represented some­times with a goose, sometimes with loaves of bread, and more rarely with a cat. The goose may have reference to a story told of her, as also of St Werburga, that when a goose had been plucked and cooked the saint restored it to life and full plumage. But it may also be connected with the city of Ghent or Gand, where her relics repose, for in Flemish, as in German, gans (cf. English “gander“) means a goose. The bread without doubt must have been suggested by a miracle said to have been worked beside her tomb, when an uncharitable woman who had been asked to give a loaf to a beggar declared that she had none, and then discovered that the loaves she had been hiding were turned into stones.
   St PharaIldis is also supposed to have caused a fountain of water to spring out of the ground at Bruay, near Valenciennes, to relieve the thirst of the harvesters who were reaping for her. The water of this spring is believed to be of efficacy in children’s disorders, and she is constantly invoked by mothers who are anxious about the health of their little ones.

See Hautecceur, Actes de Ste Pharalidis (1882); Destombes, Vies des saints de Cambrai et Arras, voi. i, pp. 30-36; L. van Der Essen, Étude critique cur les Vitae des saints mérovingiens (1907), pp. 303 seq. H. Detzel, Christliche Ikonographie (1896), vol. ii, p. 583.

740 St. Pharaildis A Flemish maiden a miracle worker
Also called Vareide, Varelde, Veerle, and Verylde, a patron saint of Ghent, she was compelled to marry against her will and was subsequently abused by her husband for refusing to consummate the union. She also apparently irritated her husband with her nighttime visits to churches. Pharaildis is honored as a miracle worker.

1160 BD ROGER OF ELLANT sick and the suffering were the object of his particular care

Bd ROGER OF ELLANT takes his name from the monastery of Ellant in the diocese of Rheims, founded by him in the twelfth century. By birth an Englishman, he had crossed over to France and entered the Cistercian monastery of Lorroy in Berry. Noted for his poverty and his exactness in carrying out the rule, he was chosen to found and build a new monastery at Ellant. The sick and the suffering were the object of his particular care. A chapel was dedicated in his honour in the abbey church where his body was buried. He died January 4, 1160.

See Acta Sanctorum, January 4 and Gallia Christiana, vol. ix, p. 310.
1309 Bl. Angela of Foligno Franciscan tertiary and mystic Many miracles
Born in Foligno, Italy, in 1248, Angela married and had several children. Wealthy, she took part in the social events of the city until 1285, when she had a vision. Following that mystical experience, Angela became a member of the Franciscan Third Order. When her husband died, she gave away her possessions and started a community of tertiaries devoted to the care of the needy. Her visions, which were recorded by her confessor, demonstrated a mature mystical union with Christ and the gift of revelation. She is sometimes called "the Mistress of Theologians."
Her tomb is in the church of St. Francis in Foligno. Many miracles have been recorded there.

1310 BD ORINGA, VIRGIN The Augustinians keep her feast on January 4

ALTHOUGH there is no reason to doubt her historical existence, the story of Bd Oringa’s life, told by biographers of late date, is little more than legend. She seems to have been born and also to have spent her last years at Castello di Santa Croce in the valley of the Arno. It is also probably true that she gathered round her a band of devout women and lived with them under the Rule of St Augustine.
  But the rest is a patchwork of vague traditions worked up with fictitious embellish­ments. As a child, when she tended the cattle, we are told that she went aside to pray, bidding the dumb beasts not to touch the crops, and that they always obeyed her. Her brothers beat her because she refused to marry, but she took refuge in the river, or crossed it, without ever getting wet. At length Oringa ran away from home. Night came upon her before she could reach Lucca, her destination, but a hare came to her, played with her, and finally went to sleep in her arms. In the morning it ran before her and guided her safely to the town for which she was bound. After many pilgrimages and adventures, during which she was always protected from harm, leading a life of extreme poverty and continual prayer, she returned to her native place and founded a convent there.

See Acta Sanctorum, under January 10 (The Augustinians keep her feast on January 4) and a popular sketch by M. Baciocchi de Peon, La vergine Oringa (1926).
1570 Bl. Thomas Plumtree English martyr
Born in Lincoinshire, he studied at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and was rector of Stubton. A dedicated Catholic, he took part in the uprising launched by northern Catholics, the Rising of the North against Queen Elizabeth I (r. 1558-1603), but was captured as the revolt failed completely. He was offered his freedom if he abjured the faith and he refused. He was hanged in Durham Castle.
1821 Bd ELIZABETH ANN SET0N (née Bayley). Born in New York City, 1774; married William Seton, 1794; widowed in 1803; received into the Catholic Church in 1805; made religious vows, 1809; died at Emmetsburg in Maryland, 4 January 1821. Mother Seton founded the American Sisters of Charity and was the first native-born American citizen to be beatified, in 1963.
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton; At the suggestion of the president of St. Mary's College in Baltimore, Maryland, Elizabeth started a school in that city. She and two other young women, who helped her in her work, began plans for a Sisterhood. They established the first free Catholic school in America.
Elizabeth Bayley Seton was the first native born American to be canonized by the Catholic Church.  Born two years before the American Revolution, Elizabeth grew up in the "cream" of New York society. She was a prolific reader, and read everything from the Bible to contemporary novels.  In spite of her high society background, Elizabeth's early life was quiet, simple, and often lonely. As she grew a little older, the Bible was to become her continual instruction, support and comfort; she would continue to love the Scriptures for the rest of her life.In 1794, Elizabeth married the wealthy young William Seton, with whom she was deeply in love. The first years of their marriage were happy and prosperous. Elizabeth wrote in her diary at first autumn, "My own home at twenty-the world-that and heaven too-quite impossible."

This time of Elizabeth's life was to be a brief moment of earthly happiness before the many deaths and partings she was to suffer. Within four years, Will's father died, leaving the young couple in charge of Will's seven half brothers and sisters, as well as the family's importing business. Now events began to move fast - and with devastating effect. Both Will's business and his health failed. He was finally forced to file a petition of bankruptcy. In a final attempt to save Will's health, the Setons sailed for Italy, where Will had business friends. Will died of tuberculosis while in Italy. Elizabeth's one consolation was that Will had recently awakened to the things of God.

The many enforced separations from dear ones by death and distance, served to draw Elizabeth's heart to God and eternity. The accepting and embracing of God's will - "The Will," as she called it - would be a keynote in her spiritual life.  Elizabeth's deep concern for the spiritual welfare of her family and friends eventually led her into the Catholic Church.  In Italy, Elizabeth captivated everyone by her own kindness, patience, good sense, wit and courtesy. During this time Elizabeth became interested in the Catholic Faith, and over a period of months, her Italian friends guided her in Catholic instructions.  Elizabeth's desire for the Bread of Life was to be a strong force leading her to the Catholic Church. Having lost her mother at an early age, Elizabeth felt great comfort in the idea that the Blessed Virgin was truly her mother. She asked the Blessed Virgin to guide her to the True Faith. Elizabeth finally joined the Catholic Church in 1805.

At the suggestion of the president of St. Mary's College in Baltimore, Maryland, Elizabeth started a school in that city. She and two other young women, who helped her in her work, began plans for a Sisterhood. They established the first free Catholic school in America. When the young community adopted their rule, they made provisions for Elizabeth to continue raising her children. On March 25, 1809, Elizabeth Seton pronounced her vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, binding for one year. From that time she was called Mother Seton.

Although Mother Seton was now afflicted with tuberculosis, she continued to guide her children. The Rule of the Sisterhood was formally ratified in 1812. It was based upon the Rule St. Vincent de Paul had written for his Daughters of Charity in France. By 1818, in addition to their first school, the sisters had established two orphanages and another school. Today six groups of sisters trace their origins to Mother Seton's initial foundation.
For the last three years of her life, Elizabeth felt that God was getting ready to call her, and this gave her joy. Mother Seton died in 1821 at the age of 46, only sixteen years after becoming a Catholic. She was canonized on September 14, 1975.
Also known as:  Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton; Mother Seton

January 4, 2010 St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821) 
Mother Seton is one of the keystones of the American Catholic Church. She founded the first American religious community for women, the Sisters of Charity. She opened the first American parish school and established the first American Catholic orphanage. All this she did in the span of 46 years while raising her five children.

Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton is a true daughter of the American Revolution, born August 28, 1774, just two years before the Declaration of Independence. By birth and marriage, she was linked to the first families of New York and enjoyed the fruits of high society. Reared a staunch Episcopalian by her mother and stepmother, she learned the value of prayer, Scripture and a nightly examination of conscience. Her father, Dr. Richard Bayley, did not have much use for churches but was a great humanitarian, teaching his daughter to love and serve others.

The early deaths of her mother in 1777 and her baby sister in 1778 gave Elizabeth a feel for etern ity and the temporariness of the pilgrim life on earth. Far from being brooding and sullen, she faced each new “holocaust,” as she put it, with hopeful cheerfulness.

At 19, Elizabeth was the belle of New York and married a handsome, wealthy businessman, William Magee Seton. They had five children before his business failed and he died of tuberculosis. At 30, Elizabeth was widowed, penniless, with five small children to support.

While in Italy with her dying husband, Elizabeth witnessed Catholicity in action through family friends. Three basic points led her to become a Catholic: belief in the Real Presence, devotion to the Blessed Mother and conviction that the Catholic Church led back to the apostles and to Christ. Many of her family and friends rejected her when she became a Catholic in March 1805.

To support her children, she opened a school in Baltimore. From the beginning, her group followed the lines of a religious community, which was officially founde d in 1809.

The thousand or more letters of Mother Seton reveal the development of her spiritual life from ordinary goodness to heroic sanctity. She suffered great trials of sickness, misunderstanding, the death of loved ones (her husband and two young daughters) and the heartache of a wayward son. She died January 4, 1821, and became the first American-born citizen to be beatified (1963) and then canonized (1975). She is buried in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
Comment: Elizabeth Seton had no extraordinary gifts. She was not a mystic or stigmatic. She did not prophesy or speak in tongues. She had two great devotions: abandonment to the will of God and an ardent love for the Blessed Sacrament. She wrote to a friend, Julia Scott, that she would prefer to exchange the world for a “cave or a desert.” “But God has given me a great deal to do, and I have always and hope always to prefer his will to every wish of my own.” Her brand of sanctity is open to everyone if we love God and do his will.
Quote:  Elizabeth Seton told her sisters, “The first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God; secondly, to do it in the manner he wills it; and thirdly, to do it because it is his will.”

Profile
Born into a wealthy and influential Episcopalian family, the daughter of a physician, and raised in the New York high society of the late 18th century. Her mother died when Elizabeth was three years old, her baby sister a year later. She married the wealthy businessman William Magee Seton at age 19, and was the mother of five.

About ten years into the marriage, William's business failed, and soon after he died of tuberculosis, leaving Elizabeth an impoverished widow with five small children. For years Elizabeth had felt drawn to Catholicism, believing in the Real Presence in the Eucharist and in the lineage of the Church going back to Christ and the Apostles. She converted to Catholicism, entering the Church on 14 March 1805, alienating many of her strict Episcopalian family in the process.

To support her family, and insure the proper education of her children, she opened a school in Boston. Though a private and secular institution, from the beginning she ran it along the lines of a religious community. At the invitation of the archbishop, she established a Catholic girl's school in Baltimore, Maryland which initiated the parochial school system in America. To run the system she founded the Sisters of Charity in 1809, the first native American religious community for women.
 
Born:  28 August 1774, New York City, New York, USA as Elizabeth Ann Bayley Died:  4 January 1821 Beatification:  17 March 1963 by Pope John XXIII Canonization:  14 September 1975 by Pope Paul VI Patronage:  death of children, in-law problems, loss of parents, opposition of Church authorities, people ridiculed for their piety, diocese of Shreveport Louisiana, widows.

Readings
We must pray without ceasing, in every occurrence and employment of our lives - that prayer which is rather a habit of lifting up the heart to God as in a constant communication with Him.  Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton.  
Our God is God. All is as He pleases. I am the happiest creature in the thought that not the least thing can happen but by His will or permission; and all for the best.  Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton.  
The first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God; secondly, to do it in the manner he wills it; and thirdly to do it because it is his will.  Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

What was the first rule of our dear Savior's life? You know if was to do his Father's will. Well, then, the first purpose of our daily work is to do the will of God; secondly, to do it in the manner he wills; and thirdly, to do it because it is his will.  We know certainly that our God calls us to a holy life. We know that he gives us every grace, every abundant grace; and though we are so weak of ourselves, this grace is able to carry us through every obstacle and difficulty.  from the writings of Elizabeth Ann Seton

1897 Birthday of Thérèse de Lisieux (2 January 1873 Alençon, France – 30 September 1897).
Or Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, born Marie-Françoise-Thérèse Martin, was a French Carmelite nun who was canonised in 1925 and declared a Doctor of the Church, one of only three women to receive that honour, in 1997. In 1927 she was named co-patron of the missions with St. Francis Xavier, and, in 1944, co-patron of France with St. Joan of Arc. She is also known as "The Little Flower of Jesus".[1]
1946 Fritz von Bodelschwingh; When Bodelschwingh got to know in May, 1940 from the euthanasia actions, he exerted himself vehement with the highest places against these people-despising measures, however, reached only to be stamped as a public enemy.
Evangelische Kirche: 4. Januar

Fritz von Bodelschwingh wurde am 14.8.1877 in Bethel geboren. Seine vier älteren Geschwister starben früh. 1910 übernahm er das Werk seines Vaters, Friedrich von Bodelschwingh und baute Bethel in den Folgejahren aus. Der über den ganzen Erdball reichende Freundeskreis half ihm, Bethel in den Jahren des 1. Weltkrieges und der Inflation zu erhalten. 1933 wurde Bodelschwingh zum Reichsbischof gewählt. Der zunehmende staatliche Druck auf die Kirche und die Gegnerschaft der Deutschen Christen ließ ihn das Amt 1936 zurückgeben. Als Bodelschwingh im Mai 1940 von den Euthanasie-Aktionen erfuhr, setzte er sich vehement bei höchsten Stellen gegen diese menschenverachtenden Maßnahmen ein, erreichte aber nur, als Staatsfeind abgestempelt zu werden. Bodelschwingh weigerte sich, die von der Behörde geforderten Fragebögen über die Bewohner von Bethel ausfüllen zu lassen. Ein Haftbefehl gegen ihn wurde ausgestellt, allerdings nicht vollzogen. Bodelschwinghs unermüdlicher Einsatz und das beharrliche Gebet der Anstaltsgemeinde bewirkten endlich die Einstellung der Euthanasie in Bethel.

Nach dem Krieg wandte sich Bodelschwingh dem Aufbau Bethels, das zum Teil zerstört worden war, zu. Die Christvesper 1945 stellte er schwerkrank unter das Motto "Aus tausend Traurigkeiten zur Krippe gehn wir still; das Kind der Ewigkeiten uns alle trösten will.". Seine Weisung für den Weg der Kirche nach 1945: "Jede Sicherheit der Welt ist für die Kirche Christi eine ernste Gefahr. Alles, was sie ganz auf den Weg des Glaubens stellt, ist heilsames Geschenk. Je weniger äußere Hilfsmittel, desto mehr echte Liebe. Laßt uns um Weisheit und Zucht bitten, daß wir gründlich dem absagen, was so oft der tödliche Schaden der Kirche gewesen ist: Ein jeder sah auf seinen Weg. Wo immer in den verschiedenen Arbeitskreisen der Kirche Männer und Frauen zusammenkommen, um über den Neuanfang ihres Dienstes zu sprechen, da sollte man sich zuerst in der Stille unter Gottes Wort sammeln, die Vergangenheit unter seine Vergebung und die Zukunft in sein Licht stellen.". Bodelschwingh starb am 4.1.1946 in Bethel.

Beispielhaft zwei Arbeiten zu der Euthanasie im Nationalsozialismus:
Die Innere Mission und ihre Rolle bei der Zwangssterilisation und den nationalsozialistischen Krankenmorden
Patientenschicksale 1933 bis 1945 in der Landesheilanstalt Uchtspringe


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 225

To thee, O Lady, have I lifted up my soul: in the judgment of God, by the help of thy prayers, I shall not be ashamed.

Let not my adversaries make game of me: for those who trust in thee are strengthened.

Let not the snares of death prevail against me: and the camps of the malignant not hinder my steps.

Crush their violence in thy might: and with mildness meet my soul.

Be my guide unto my fatherland: and deign to join me to thy angelic hosts.

Let every spirit praise Our Lady

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

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

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

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost as it was in the beginning and will always be.
God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique, for each is the result of a new idea. 
As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike. It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints. Dear Lord, grant us a spirit that is not bound by our own ideas and preferences. 
Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves. O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory. Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.  Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.   God calls each one of us to be a saint in order to get into heaven:  only saints are allowed into heaven.
The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.
There are over 10,000 named saints beati  from history
 and Roman Martyology Orthodox sources
Patron_Saints.html  Widowed_Saints html  Indulgences The Catholic Church in China
LINKS: Marian Shrines   India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes 1858  China Marian shrines 1995
Kenya national Marian shrine  Loreto, Italy  Marian Apparitions (over 2000)  Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798
  Links to Related MarianWebsites  Angels and Archangels  Saints Visions of Heaven and Hell
Widowed Saints  html
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  Uniates  Chalcedon
Mary the Mother of Jesus Miracles_BC  Lay Saints  Miraculous_Icons  Miraculous_Medal_Novena Patron Saints
Miracles by Century 100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000    1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800  1900 2000
Miracles 100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000  
 1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800   1900 Lay Saints

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

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

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

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

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

Brief History of our Beloved Holy Priest Here and his published books of Catholic History in North America
Reardon, J.M. Archbishop Ireland; Prelate, Patriot, Publicist, 1838-1918.
A Memoir (St. Paul; 1919); George Anthony Belcourt Pioneer Catholic Missionary of the Northwest 1803-1874 (1955);
The Catholic Church IN THE DIOCESE OF ST. PAUL from earliest origin to centennial achievement 1362-1950 (1952);
The Church of Saint Mary of Saint Paul 1875-1922;  (1932)
The Vikings in the American Heartland;
The Catholic Total Abstinence Society in Minnesota;
James Michael Reardon Born in Nova Scotia, 1872;  Priest, ordained by Bishop Ireland;
Member -- St. Paul Seminary faculty.
Affiliations and Indulgences  Litany of Loretto in Stained glass windows here.  Nave Sacristy and Residence Here
Sanctuary spaces between them filled with grilles of hand-forged wrought iron the life of our Blessed Lady After the crucifixon
Apostle statues Replicas of those in St John Lateran--Christendom's earliest Basilica.
Ordered by Rome's first Christian Emperor, Constantine the Great, Popes' cathedral and official residence first millennium of Christian history.
The only replicas ever made:  in order from west to east {1932}.
Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel
 It Makes No Sense Not To Believe In GOD
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi. 
  June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.
By Father John Corapi
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi. 
  June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.
By Father John Corapi
Among the most important titles we have in the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of the most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom. The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7 (date of feast of Our Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for the Christian forces against the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope Pius V led a procession around St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral leadership in recognizing the danger posed to Christendom by the radical Muslim forces, and in using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles require spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that had its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MIRACLES
– Blessed Alfonso Maria Fusco, diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. John the Baptist (1839-1910);
– Venerable Servant of God John Sullivan, professed priest of the Society of Jesus (1861-1933);
MARTYRDOM
– Servants of God Nikolle Vinçenc Prennushi, O.F.M., archbishop of Durres, Albania, and 37 companions killed between 1945 and 1974;
– Servants of God José Antón Gómez and three companions of the Benedictines of Madrid, Spain, killed 1936;
HEROIC VIRTUES
– Servant of God Thomas Choe Yang-Eop, diocesan priest (1821-1861);
– Servant of God Sosio Del Prete (né Vincenzo), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Congregation of the Little Servants of Christ the King (1885-1952);
– Servant of God Wenanty Katarzyniec (né Jósef), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (1889-1921);
– Servant of God Maria Consiglia of the Holy Spirity (née Emilia Paqualina Addatis), founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Addolorata, Servants of Mary (1845-1900);
– Servant of God Maria of the Incarnation (née Caterina Carrasco Tenorio), founder of the Congregation of the Franciscan Tertiary Sisters of the Flock of Mary (1840-1917);
– Servant of God , founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Family of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1851-1923);
– Servant of God Ilia Corsaro, founder of the Congregation of the Little Missionaries of the Eucharist (1897-1977);
– Servant of God Maria Montserrat Grases García, layperson of the Personal Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei (1941-1959).
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