Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!  (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
RDeo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
January is the month of the Holy Name of Jesus since 1902;
2023
22,260 lives saved since 2007

Mary Mother of GOD
"Mary is The Incarnation of the Human Values Necessary to My Life."  Field Marshal Hindenburg

The fourth day of the Afterfeast of Theophany

St. Gregory of Nyssa (395) is seen not simply as a pillar of orthodoxy
but as one of the great contributors

to the mystical tradition in Christian spirituality and to monasticism itself.

Saint Philomena.html HERE


15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary

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

Acts of the Apostles

Nine First Fridays Devotion to the Sacred Heart From the writings of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
How do I start the Five First Saturdays?
Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary .

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

When we resist something offered as truth without knowing exactly why,
 it may be because our faith has settled in our bones.

For He bore witness to the truth but refused to use force to impose it on those who spoke against it.
His kingdom... grows by the love with which Christ, lifted up on the cross, draws men to Himself  
-- Dignitates Humanae


    Pope Francis  PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR  January 2020 Promotion of World Peace
 We pray that Christians, followers of other religions, and all people of good will may promote peace and justice in the world.


January is the month of the Holy Name of Jesus since 1902;
Please pray for those who have no one to pray for them.
January 10
St John has appeared many times in the history of the Church:
from the third century, to Gregory the Thaumaturges to St Andrew the bishop in the Blachernes Church of Constantinople to St Catherine of Siena and Saint John of God, to Pope Celestine V (1215-1296), Ferdinand of Portugal (1402-1443), and a young Cistercian called Saint Bernard, to Flodoard of Reims (c.893-966) to Gherardesca Pisa (d. 1269), to Mary Picard Amice (May 19 1634), to Saint Seraphim of Sarov (d. 1833), to Knock in Ireland August 21, 1879, and to Heroldsbach (1949-1952).
"If I want him to stay behind till I come, what does it matter to you?"
Christ had prophesied in response to Peter about John, who lived to a very old age and was the last living Apostle. The Gospel tells that by correcting him
"the rumour then went out among the brothers that this disciple would not die."
John finally died in Ephesus, during the reign of Trajan, according to Saint Irenaeus, i.e. after the year AD.104; he was almost 100 years old. His tomb is still venerated in Ephesus at the Basilica of Saint John.

Mary's Divine Motherhood
Saint John, Son of Mary (X)   - Our Lady of Tears (Italy, 1546)
January 10 – Our Lady of Tears (Italy, 1546) 
 All the tears belong to her
 The tears of the Mother of Sorrows fill up the Scriptures and spill over the centuries. ...
Whenever someone breaks into tears in the middle of a crowd or in solitude, it is Mary who is crying, because all tears are hers in her capacity as Empress of Beatitude and Love.  Mary’s tears are the very Blood of Christ, poured out in a different way, in the same way that her Compassion was a kind of interior crucifixion for the Sacred Humanity of Her Son.
Mary’s Tears and Jesus’ Blood are the double outpouring of one same heart, and one can say that the Compassion of the Blessed Virgin was the passion in its most terrible form.  This is expressed in these words addressed to Saint Bridget: "As Adam and Eve sold the world for one apple, my Son and I redeemed the world with a single Heart."
 Léon Bloy In Mary’s Tears  

 
"If I want him to stay behind till I come, what does it matter to you?" Christ had prophesied in response to Peter about John, who lived to a very old age and was the last living Apostle. The Gospel tells that by correcting him
"the rumour then went out among the brothers that this disciple would not die."
John finally died in Ephesus, during the reign of Trajan, according to Saint Irenaeus, i.e. after the year AD.104; he was almost 100 years old. His tomb is still venerated in Ephesus at the Basilica of Saint John. On May 8th, the Eastern Church celebrates the Synaxis in honor of the Holy Ash or "manna" that the tomb of the saint produced.
After the wonderful burial of the Holy Apostle John the Theologian in Ephesus (celebrated each year on September 26th), his tomb was found empty and became the source of many miracles. In particular, each year on May 8th, it was suddenly covered with a kind of ash that the local Christians called the "manna," which had the virtue to cure diseases of body and soul of those who anointed themselves faithfully with it.

This miracle has therefore given the Church an opportunity to solemnly celebrate
a second time, every year, the beloved disciple of the Lord, beloved son of the Mother of God.
St John has appeared many times in the history of the Church: from the third century, to Gregory the Thaumaturge to St Andrew the bishop in the Blachernes Church of Constantinople to St Catherine of Siena and Saint John of God, to Pope Celestine V (1215-1296), Ferdinand of Portugal (1402-1443), and a young Cistercian called Saint Bernard, to Flodoard of Reims (c.893-966) to Gherardesca Pisa (d. 1269), to Mary Picard Amice (May 19 1634), to Saint Seraphim of Sarov (d. 1833), to Knock in Ireland August 21, 1879, and to Heroldsbach (1949-1952).
  But in these apparitions John was always accompanied by the Blessed Virgin Mary his mother, as to emphasize the unique relationship that he had with the Mother of God, who gave him such an astonishing place in God's plan.
The Revelation of God ends with Saint John's writings, definitively ending at the death of Saint John.


O faithful virgin and glorious martyr, Saint Philomena, who works so many miracles
on behalf of the poor and the sorrowing, have pity on us.
You know the multitude and diversity of our needs. Behold us at your feet, full of misery, but full of hope.
We entreat your charity, O great Saint. Graciously hear us and obtain from God
a favorable answer to the requests which we now humbly lay before you.
(mention your requests)
We are firmly convinced that through your merits, through the scorn, the sufferings and death you endured,
united to the merits of the Passion and Death
of Jesus your spouse, we shall obtain what we ask of you, and in the joy of our hearts we will bless God,
 who is admirable in His Saints.  Amen.
Imprimatur: + Carolus Hubertus Le Blond, Episcopus Sancti Josephi, January 1952

January 10 - Our Lady of Tears (Italy, 1546)   She Far Surpasses all Creatures
The Virgin Mary, who at the message of the angel received the Word of God in her heart and in her womb and gave Life to the world, is acknowledged and honored as being truly the Mother of God and Mother of the Redeemer. Redeemed by reason of the merits of her Son and united to Him by a close and indissoluble bond, she is endowed with the high office and dignity of being the Mother of the Son of God, by which account she is also the beloved daughter of the Father and the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Because of this gift of sublime grace she far surpasses all creatures, both in heaven and on earth.
Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, Chapter VIII §53
His Holiness Pope Paul VI, November 21, 1964
>
The fourth day of the Afterfeast of Theophany;  The fourth day of the Afterfeast of Theophany falls on January 10. Some of the hymns of this period compare the streams of the Jordan to the life-giving waters of Baptism.


      St. Nicanor Early martyr 1/7 deacons of Jerusalem
       St. Paul, the first hermit who lived alone in the desert from the sixteenth to the one hundred and thirteenth year of his age.  His soul was seen by St. Anthony carried by angels among the choirs of apostles and prophets.  His feast is kept on the 15th of this month.
385 Saint Theosebia the Deaconess; virgin served the Holy Church caring for the sick, distributing food to vagrants, raising orphans and preparing women for holy Baptism; sister of Sts Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, and Peter, Bishop of Sebaste
395 St. Gregory of Nyssa  {lower Armenia where Nathaniel was martyred}
      
January 10 (Eastern Christianity, Lutheranism)  Catholic, March 9
463 St. Petronius Monk bishop of Die
471 St. Marcian Confessor hymnist - Constantinople famous for miracles; received gift of wonderworking, St Marcian healed the sick and cast out devils
6th v. St. Dermot Abbot monastery founder
601 Saint Dometian, Bishop of Melitene Armenia miracles glorified by God
660 St. Saethryth  Benedictine abbess
660 St. Thomian Armagh Archbishop
660 St. John Camillus the Good Bishop of Milan
681  Pope St. Agatho  678-681 a holy death, concluded a life remarkable for sanctity and learning.
987 St. Peter Orsini Venetian Admiral Benedictine hermit  
1209 St. William of Bourges canon monk Cistercian many miracles deaf, dumb, blind, the mentally ill became sound.
The stone of his tomb in the Cathedral Church of Bourges cured mortal wounds and illnesses and delivered possessed persons; the deaf and dumb, the blind, the mentally ill became sound. So many miracles occurred there that the monks could not record them all, and he was canonized nine years after his death, in 1218, by Pope Honorius III.
1276 Teobaldo Visconti Pope St. Gregory X 1210-1276; Arriving in Rome in March, he was first ordained priest, then consecrated bishop, and crowned on the 27th  of the same month, in 1272. He took the name of Gregory X, and to procure the most effectual succour for the Holy Land he called a general council to meet at Lyons. This fourteenth general council, the second of Lyons, was opened in May 1274. Among those assembled were St Albert the Great and St Philip Benizi; St Thomas Aquinas died on his way thither, and St Bonaventure died at the council. In the fourth session the Greek legates on behalf of the Eastern emperor and patriarch restored communion between the Byzantine church and the Holy See.;  miraculous cures performed by him
1429 Saint Paul of Obnora famed disciple of St Sergius of Radonezh; spent years as a hermit; His final words were, "Brethren, have love one for another and keep to the rule of the monastic community."; died at 112;
15th v. Saint Macarius of Pisma and Kostroma A fellow ascetic of St Paul of Obnora. In the second half of the 15th century, he founded the Makariev Transfiguration monastery at the River Pisma on the outskirts of Kostroma.
1882 Saint Antipas of Romania; came to Valaam Monastery from Mt Athos 1865; spent rest of life in the skete at Valaam, living like a hermit.  Blessed with the gift of clairvoyance
1884 Alphonse Ratisbonne With Theodore elder brother Theodore, he founded the Congregation of Our Lady of Zion.
 January 10 - Our Lady of the Guides (Constantinople, 1570)
            The Incarnation of the Human Values Necessary to My Life
A German Catholic priest told that one day he saw a painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary hanging in place of honor in the cabinet of Field Marshal Hindenburg. As the priest did not hide his surprise, Hindenburg (who was a Lutheran) said, "I see in the Blessed Virgin the incarnation of the human values necessary to my life."

It is possible to dream of a better definition of what Mary has brought to the world? To a world completely abandoned to proud egoism, Mary teaches the humility of Bethlehem. To a world dominated by money and greed, she recalls the poverty of Nazareth. To a twisted, dishonest world, she brings truth and simplicity. To a world that gets more and more hardened by hatred every day, she repeats her lessons of gentleness. To an impure and vain world,
she offers the testimony of her fertile virginity. To an aged world, she brings her eternal youth.  
H. Engelmann 
Excerpt from his book I Lost the Faith (J’ai perdu la foi, p.91) 

Called in the Gospel "the Mother of Jesus," Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as "the Mother of my Lord" (Lk 1:43; Jn 2:1; 19:25; cf. Mt 13:55; et al.). In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos). Catechism of the Catholic Church 495, quoting the Council of Ephesus (431): DS 251.
Saint_Gregory_Bishop_of_Nyssa
 
  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 we may understand saints 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
The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.

The fourth day of the Afterfeast of Theophany. falls on January 10.
Some hymns of this period compare streams of Jordan to life-giving waters of Baptism.

 In Thebáide natális beáti Pauli, primi Eremítæ, Confessóris, qui, a sextodécimo ætátis suæ anno usque ad centésimum décimum tértium, solus in erémo permánsit; cujus ánimam, inter Apostolórum et Prophetárum choros, ad cælum ferri ab Angelis sanctus Antónius vidit. 
Ejus autem festívitas décimo octávo Kaléndas Februárii celebrátur.
      In Thebais, the birthday of St. Paul, the first hermit who lived alone in the desert from the sixteenth to the one hundred and thirteenth year of his age.
His soul was seen by St. Anthony carried by angels among the choirs of apostles and prophets.  His feast is kept on the 15th of this month.


St. Nicanor Early martyr 1/7 deacons of Jerusalem
 In Cypro beáti Nicánoris, qui fuit unus de septem primis Diáconis; atque, grátia fídei et virtúte admirándus, gloriosíssime coronátus est.
       In Cyprus, blessed Nicanor, one of the first seven deacons, a man of admirable faith and virtue, who received the crown of glory.
A resident of Jerusalem, he was chosen by the Apostles to minister to the needs of those requiring assistance in the Holy City. According to tradition, he went to Cyprus where he was put to death during the reign of Emperor Vespasian, although this is now believed unlikely.
385 Saint Theosebia the Deaconess; virgin served the Holy Church caring for the sick, distributing food to vagrants, raising orphans and preparing women for holy Baptism; sister of Sts Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, and Peter, Bishop of Sebaste
She was the sister of Sts Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, and Peter, Bishop of Sebaste. She was a virgin and served the Holy Church as a deaconess, caring for the sick, distributing food to vagrants, raising orphans and preparing women for holy Baptism.

When her brother, St Gregory of Nyssa, was in exile for three years, St Theosebia was with him and she shared in all the tribulations of a life of wandering. St Theosebia died in 385, and St Gregory the Theologian praised her in a eulogy.

395 St. Gregory of Nyssa {lower Armenia where Nathaniel was martyred) January 10 (Eastern Christianity, Lutheranism)  Catholic, March 9
The son of two saints, Basil and Emmilia, young Gregory was born 330,raised by his older brother, St. Basil the Great, and his sister, Macrina, in modern-day Turkey.
 
Gregory's success in his studies suggested great things were ahead for him. After becoming professor of rhetoric, he was persuaded to devote his learning and efforts to the Church. By then married, Gregory went on to study for the priesthood and become ordained (this at a time when celibacy was not a matter of law for priests).
He was elected Bishop of Nyssa (in Lower Armenia) in 372, a period of great tension over the Arian heresy, which denied the divinity of Christ. Briefly arrested after being falsely accused of embezzling Church funds, Gregory was restored to his see in 378, an act met with great joy by his people.

Gregory really came into his own. after the death of his beloved brother, Basil.
He wrote with great effectiveness against Arianism and other questionable doctrines, gaining a reputation as a defender of orthodoxy. He was sent on missions to counter other heresies and held a position of prominence at the Council of Constantinople. His fine reputation stayed with him for the remainder of his life, but over the centuries it gradually declined as the authorship of his writings became less and less certain. But, thanks to the work of scholars in the 20th century, his stature is once again appreciated. Indeed, St. Gregory of Nyssa is seen not simply as a pillar of orthodoxy but as one of the great contributors to the mystical tradition in Christian spirituality and to monasticism itself.
Comment:  Orthodoxy is a word that raises red flags in our minds. It connotes rigid attitudes that make no room for honest differences of opinion. But it might just as well suggest something else: faith that has settled deep in one’s bones. Gregory’s faith was like that. So deeply imbedded was his faith in Jesus that he knew the divinity that Arianism denied. When we resist something offered as truth without knowing exactly why, it may be because our faith has settled in our bones.

Saint Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, was a younger brother of St Basil the Great (January 1). His birth and upbringing came at a time when the Arian disputes were at their height. Having received an excellent education, he was at one time a teacher of rhetoric. In the year 372, he was consecrated by St Basil the Great as bishop of the city of Nyssa in Cappadocia.

St Gregory was an ardent advocate for Orthodoxy, and he fought against the Arian heresy with his brother St Basil. Gregory was persecuted by the Arians, by whom he was falsely accused of improper use of church property, and thereby deprived of his See and sent to Ancyra.

In the following year St Gregory was again deposed in absentia by a council of Arian bishops, but he continued to encourage his flock in Orthodoxy, wandering about from place to place. After the death of the emperor Valens (378), St Gregory was restored to his cathedra and was joyously received by his flock. His brother St Basil the Great died in 379.

Only with difficulty did St Gregory survive the loss of his brother and guide. He delivered a funeral oration for him, and completed St Basil's study of the six days of Creation, the Hexaemeron. That same year St Gregory participated in the Council of Antioch against heretics who refused to recognize the perpetual virginity of the Mother of God. Others at the opposite extreme, who worshipped the Mother of God as being God Herself, were also denounced by the Council. He visited the churches of Arabia and Palestine, which were infected with the Arian heresy, to assert the Orthodox teaching about the Most Holy Theotokos. On his return journey St Gregory visited Jerusalem and the Holy Places.

In the year 381 St Gregory was one of the chief figures of the Second Ecumenical Council, convened at Constantinople against the heresy of Macedonius, who incorrectly taught about the Holy Spirit. At this Council, on the initiative of St Gregory, the Nicean Symbol of Faith (the Creed) was completed.

Together with the other bishops St Gregory affirmed St Gregory the Theologian as Archpastor of Constantinople.

In the year 383, St Gregory of Nyssa participated in a Council at Constantinople, where he preached a sermon on the divinity of the Son and the Holy Spirit. In 386, he was again at Constantinople, and he was asked to speak the funeral oration in memory of the empress Placilla. Again in 394 St Gregory was present in Constantinople at a local Council, convened to resolve church matters in Arabia.

St Gregory of Nyssa was a fiery defender of Orthodox dogmas and a zealous teacher of his flock, a kind and compassionate father to his spiritual children, and their intercessor before the courts. He was distinguished by his magnanimity, patience and love of peace.

Having reached old age, St Gregory of Nyssa died soon after the Council of Constantinople. Together with his great contemporaries, Sts Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian, St Gregory of Nyssa had a significant influence on the Church life of his time. His sister, St Macrina, wrote to him: "You are renowned both in the cities, and gatherings of people, and throughout entire districts. Churches ask you for help." St Gregory is known in history as one of the most profound Christian thinkers of the fourth century. Endowed with philosophical talent, he saw philosophy as a means for a deeper penetration into the authentic meaning of divine revelation.

St Gregory left behind many remarkable works of dogmatic character, as well as sermons and discourses. He has been called "the Father of Fathers."

463 St. Petronius Monk bishop of Die
Petronius was the son of a Roman senator from the area of modern Avignon who became a monk at Lerins. He later became bishop of Die about 456.
 
471 St. Marcian Confessor hymnist - Constantinople famous for miracles; received a gift of wonderworking, St Marcian healed the sick and cast out devils
 Constantinópoli sancti Marciáni Presbyteri.       At Constantinople, St. Marcian, priest.
He was a member of a Roman family of Constantinople, related to Emperor Theodosius II. Ordained in 455, he was so ascetical that he was wrongly accused of Novatianism.
Marcian was the treasurer of Hagia Sophia, was appointed Oikonomos - second only to the patriarch and restored several churches.   He is also believed to have composed hymns and was a famous miracle worker.


471 ST MARCIAN
M ARCIAN was born, and spent his life, in Constantinople, of a Roman family related to the imperial house of Theodosius. From his childhood he served God, and he secretly gave away great sums to the poor. About the year 455 the Patriarch Anatolius, disregarding the saint’s protests of unworthi­ness, ordained him priest. In this new state Marcian saw himself under a stricter obligation than before of labouring to reach the summit of Christian perfection; and whilst he made the instruction of the poor his favourite employment, he redoubled his earnestness in providing for their bodily needs, and was careful to relax no part of his own austerities. The severity of his morals was made a handle, by those who resented the tacit censure of such an example, to fasten upon him a suspicion of Novatianism, but his meekness at length triumphed over the slander. This persecution served more and more to purify his soul. His virtue only shone forth with greater lustre than ever when the cloud was dispersed, and the Patriarch Gennadius, with the great applause of the whole body of the clergy and people, conferred on him the dignity of Oikonomos, which was the second in that church. St Marcian built or restored a number of churches in Constantinople, notably that known as the Anastasis, and was famous for miracles both before and after his death, which probably occurred in 471. He has been regarded by some as a writer of liturgical hymns.

He is honoured both in the Greek Menaion and Roman Martyrology. See his ancient anonymous life in Surius and in the Acta Sanctorum, January 10. Cf. also DCB., vol. iii, p. 185; and K. Krumbacher, Geschichte der Byzantinischen Literatur, p. 663.

Saint Marcian, Presbyter of the Great Church
Born at Rome and in his youth he received a first-rate education in Constantinople. After the death of his parents, St Marcian used his inheritance on the building, renovation and embellishment of churches. Thus, he built a church dedicated to the holy Martyr Anastasia (December 22), richly adorned it, and had the holy relics of the saint transferred to it. He also built a church of the Great Martyr Irene (May 5), and the church of St Isidore.

His moral purity and strict asceticism were resented by those who were slothful and avaricious, for they regarded his life as an unspoken criticism of their own lack of virtue. However, his meekness and silence overcame their slanders and brought him to the attention of the Patriarch, who ordained St Marcian a presbyter and appointed him treasurer of the Church of Constantinople.

From his wealth St Marcian distributed generous alms, and distinguished himself by non-covetousness, denying himself in everything. In accord with the command of the Savior, he did not even have an extra set of clothes, which he might need should he be caught in inclement weather. Having received a gift of wonderworking, St Marcian healed the sick and cast out devils. St Marcian died between 472-474 and was buried at the monastery of St John the Forerunner at Constantinople. 
Saint Marcian, Presbyter of the Great Church, was born at Rome and in his youth he received a first-rate education in Constantinople. After the death of his parents, St Marcian used his inheritance on the building, renovation and embellishment of churches. Thus, he built a church dedicated to the holy Martyr Anastasia (December 22), richly adorned it, and had the holy relics of the saint transferred to it. He also built a church of the Great Martyr Irene (May 5), and the church of St Isidore.

6th v. St. Dermot Abbot monastery founder.
on Innis-Closran Island, Ireland. He is listed also as Diarmis or Diarmaid.  Dermot trained St. Kiernan of Clonrnacnois.
601 Saint Dometian, Bishop of Melitene Armenia glorified by God with miracles
was born and lived during the sixth century, in the time of the emperor Justin the Younger. He was married, widowed, thereafter a monk and lived a strict and holy life.

At thirty years of age he was chosen bishop of the city of Melitene (in Armenia). Wise and zealous in questions of faith, strong in word and deed, St Dometian quickly gained fame as a good and dedicated pastor. More than once he carried out government commissions in Persia to avoid conflict with the Greeks. Beloved by all, St Dometian often received rich gifts, which he distributed to the poor. Both during his life and after his death in 601, St Dometian was glorified by God with miracles.


Saint Dometian, Bishop of Melitene, was born and lived during the sixth century, in the time of the emperor Justin the Younger. He was married but was widowed, and thereafter he became a monk and lived a strict and holy life.

At thirty years of age he was chosen bishop of the city of Melitene (in Armenia). Wise and zealous in questions of faith, strong in word and deed, St Dometian quickly gained fame as a good and dedicated pastor. More than once he carried out government commissions in Persia to avoid conflict with the Greeks. Beloved by all, St Dometian often received rich gifts, which he distributed to the poor. Both during his life and after his death in 601, St Dometian was glorified by God with miracles. 

660 St. Saethryth Benedictine abbess
also called Sethrida. The stepdaughter of a local king of the Angles, she entered a convent in Gaul (modern France) eventually becoming abbess. Sts. Ethelburga and Ethelfreda were half-sisters.

660 St. Thomian Armagh Archbishop
Sometimes called Toiman Ireland, from about 623. He is remembered for a letter he composed to the Holy See concerning the paschal controversy, namely the date to be followed for the celebrating of Easter.

660 St. John Camillus the Good Bishop of Milan
 Medioláni sancti Joánnis Boni, Epíscopi et Confessóris.       At Milan, St. John the Good, bishop and confessor.
The Lombard invasion had left Milan a vacant see, and John was chosen to fill the position. He was a relentless enemy of the heresies of his era and was called “the Good” for conspicuous holiness.

660 St John The Good, Bishop of Milan
The see of the leading bishopric of Liguria had been transferred in the earlier part of the seventh century from Milan to Genoa. In the pontificate of St John Camillus Bonus it was again restored to Milan. We are told that he was a strenuous defender of orthodoxy against the monothelites, and that he took part in the Council of the Lateran in 649. Beyond this we know very little of the saint who is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on this day. There is not much indication of cultus until after Archbishop Aribert in the eleventh century discovered the body of St John. A second translation was carried out by St Charles Borromeo in 1582. St John is said to have died on January 3, 660.
See Acta Sanctorum, January 10; and Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xv (1896), p. 357. Cf. P. Olcese, Biografia di S. Giovanni Bono (1894).










681  Pope St. Agatho  678-681 a holy death, concluded a life remarkable for sanctity and learning.
 Romæ sancti Agathónis Papæ, qui, sanctitáte et doctrína conspícuus, quiévit in pace.
       At Rome, Pope St. Agatho, who, by a holy death, concluded a life remarkable for sanctity and learning.
681  ST AGATHO, POPE
AGATHO, a Sicilian Greek by birth, was remarkable for his benevolence and an engaging sweetness of temper. He had been married and engaged in secular pursuits for twenty years before he became a monk at Palermo; and was treasurer of the Church at Rome when he succeeded Donus in the pontificate in 678. He presided by his three legates at the sixth general council (the third of Constantin­ople) in 680 against the monothelite heresy, which he confuted in a learned letter by the tradition of the apostolic church of Rome “acknowledged”, says he, “by the whole Catholic Church to be the mother and mistress of all churches, and to derive her superior authority from St Peter, the prince of the apostles, to whom Christ committed His whole flock, with a promise that his faith should never fail”. This epistle was approved as a rule of faith by the same council, which declared, “Peter spoke by Agatho”.

This pope restored St Wilfrid to the see of York, and granted privileges to several English monasteries. A terrible plague, which devastated Rome at this period may have been at least, the indirect cause of his own death, which occurred in 681.

St Agatho lived in troubled times. The reason he alleges in excusing the bad Greek of the legates whom he sent to Constantinople was that the graces of speech could not be cultivated amidst the incursions of barbarians, whilst with much difficulty they earned their daily subsistence by manual labour; “but we preserve”, said he with simplicity of heart, “the faith which our fathers have handed down to us”. The bishops, his legates, say the same thing: “Our countries are harassed by the fury of barbarous nations. We live in the midst of battles, raids and devastations: our lives pass in continual alarms, and we subsist by the labour of our hands.” Pope Agatho himself had died before the council concluded its sessions.

See the Acta Sanctorum for January 10, and especially Duchesne, Liber Pontificalis, vol. i, pp. 350—358 cf. Mann, Lives of the Popes, vol. ii, pp. 23—48.

987 St. Peter Orsini Venetian Admiral Benedictine hermit
 In monastério Cuxanénsi, in Gállia, natális sancti Petri Urséoli Confessóris, qui, antea Venetiárum Dux et deínde Mónachus ex Ordine sancti Benedícti, pietáte et virtútibus cláruit.
       In the monastery of Cusani in France, the birthday of St. Peter Orsini, confessor, previously the Doge of Venice and afterwards monk of the Order of St. Benedict, renowned for piety and miracles.

Also called Peter Orseolo, he was a member of one of the most noble houses of Venice born 928 and, at the age of twenty, became an admiral in the Venetian Navy. After a series of successful campaigns against the Dalmatian pirates, he was elected Doge of Venice in 967, supposedly securing his elevation by poisoning his predecessor Peter Candiani IV, as was charged by St. Peter Damian.

For two years Peter ruled with consummate skill, assisting Venice to weather a series of political crises. Then, without any warning and without informing his family, he disappeared from Venice and secretly entered the Benedictine abbey of Cuxa, in the Spanish Pyrenees. There he devoted himself to a life of severe austerity and asceticism, working as a humble sacrist until St. Romuald suggested that he become a hermit. He lived alone until his death.

987 ST PETER ORSEOLO
THE vocation of St Peter Orseolo (Urseolus) must count among the strangest of those recorded in ecclesiastical history. Born in 928 of a distinguished Venetian family, he seems already at the age of twenty to have been appointed to the command of the fleet of the city of the lagoons, in which office he conducted a successful campaign against the Dalmatian pirates who infested the Adriatic. How far he was personally involved in the popular outbreak of 976, which ended in the violent death of the Doge Peter Candiani IV, and in the destruction by fire of a large part of the city, cannot be clearly determined. The testimony of St Peter Damian, which attributes the responsibility to Orseolo, can only be accepted with reserve.

It was, however, Orseolo who was chosen doge in place of the murdered Candiani, and the best modern authorities pay a high tribute to his energy and tact during his brief administration. “He was”, we are told, “a man of saintly character, but like all his race possessing higher qualities of statesmanship than were to be found in his predecessors in the ducal chair. His first care was to repair the damage wrought by the fire. He began the building of a new palace and church. He renewed the treaty with Istria. But his great service to the state lay in this, that he met and settled, to the nominal satisfaction of Otto II, the claims of the widowed dogaressa Gualdrada. . . . On these terms Gualdrada signed a quittance of all claims against the State of Venice.” The grievances of Gualdrada had created a great political crisis, but this was now safely tided over.

Then an astounding thing happened. On the night of September 1, 978, Peter Orseolo secretly left Venice and took refuge in the Benedictine abbey of Cuxa, in Roussillon on the borders of France and Spain. His wife, to whom he had been married for thirty-two years, and his only son, who was himself destined to become one of the greatest of the Venetian doges, were apparently for a long time in entire ignorance of the place of his retreat. Still, Peter’s apparently sudden resolution may not have been so entirely unpremeditated as it seems. There is early evidence for the belief that he and his wife had lived as brother and sister ever since the birth of their only child, and it has also been suggested that a letter of Ratherius, addressed to him possibly as early as 968, shows that Peter had already entertained the idea of becoming a monk. There is in any case no doubt that at Cuxa Orseolo led for a while a life of the strictest asceticism and self-effacement under the holy Abbot Guarinus; and then, desirous of still greater solitude, he built a hermitage for himself, probably at the urging of St Romuald, whom he met at Cuxa, and who was the great propagator of this particular development of the Benedictine vocation. St Peter died in 987, and many miracles were said to have taken place at his tomb.

See Mabillon, vol. v, pp. 851 seq.; Tolra, Saint Pierre Orseolo (1897); Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xvii (1898), P. 252 BHL., n. 986. And cf. H. F. Brown in the Cambridge Mediaeval History, vol. iv, p. 403 (quoted above).

1209 St. William of Bourges canon monk Cistercian many miracles deaf and dumb, the blind, the mentally ill became sound.
 Bitúricis, in Aquitánia, sancti Willhélmi, Epíscopi et Confessóris, signis et virtútibus clari; quem Honórius Papa Tértius in Sanctórum cánonem adscrípsit.
       At Bourges in Aquitaine, St. William, archbishop and confessor, renowned for miracles and virtues.  He was canonized by Pope Honorius III.
William de Don Jeon was born at Nevers France. He was educated by his uncle Peter, archdeacon of Soissons, became a canon of Soissons and of Paris and then became a monk at Grandmont Abbey. He became a Cistercian at Pontigny, served as Abbot at Fontaine-Jean in Sens, and in 1187 became Abbot at Chalis near Senlis. He was named Archbishop of Bourges in 1200, accepted on the order of Pope Innocent III and his Cistercian superior, lived a life of great austerity, was in great demand as a confessor, aided the poor of his See, defended ecclesiastical rights against seculars, even the king, and converted many Albigensians during his missions to them.

When he drew near his end, he was, at his request, laid on ashes in his hair cloth, and in this posture expired on the 10th of January, 1209. While this holy bishop was laid out for veneration, an infirm young boy who wanted to venerate him, but had to be carried to the church by his mother, was completely cured of his infirmities, and ran about proclaiming the miracle. The stone of his tomb in the Cathedral Church of Bourges cured mortal wounds and illnesses and delivered possessed persons; the deaf and dumb, the blind, the mentally ill became sound. So many miracles occurred there that the monks could not record them all, and he was canonized nine years after his death, in 1218, by Pope Honorius III.

1209 St William, Archbishop of Bourges
William De DonJeon belonging to an illustrious family of Nevers, was educated by his uncle, Peter, Archdeacon of Soissons, and he was early made canon, first of Soissons and afterwards of Paris; but he soon took the resolution of abandoning the world altogether, and retired into the solitude of Grandmont Abbey, where he lived with great regularity in that austere order, till, seeing its peace disturbed by a contest which arose between the choir monks and lay-brothers, he passed into the Cistercians, then in wonderful repute for sanctity. He took the habit in the abbey of Pontigny, and was after some time chosen abbot, first of Fontaine-Jean, in the diocese of Sens, and secondly in 1187 of Châlis, near Senlis, a much more numerous monastery, also a filiation of Pontigny, built by Louis the Fat in 1136, a little before his death. St William always reputed himself the last among his brethren; and the sweetness of his expression testified to the joy and peace that overflowed his soul, and made virtue appear engaging even in the midst of formidable austerities.
On the death of Henry de Sully, Archbishop of Bourges, the clergy of that church requested his brother Eudo, Bishop of Paris, to assist them in the election of a pastor. Desirous to choose some abbot of the Cistercian Order, they put on 
the altar the names of three, written on as many slips of parchment. This manner of election by lot would have been superstitious had it been done relying on a miracle without the warrant of divine inspiration. But it did not deserve this censure, when all the persons proposed seemed equally worthy and fit, as the choice was only recommended to God, and left to this issue by following the rules of His ordinary providence and imploring His light.

Eudo accordingly, having made his prayer, drew first the name of the abbot William, to whom also the majority of the votes of the clergy had been already given. It was on November 23, 1200. This news overwhelmed William. He never would have acquiesced had he not received a double command in virtue of obedience, on~ from Pope Innocent III, the other from his superior, the Abbot of Citeaux. He left his solitude with tears, and soon after was consecrated.

In this new dignity St William’s first care was to bring both his exterior and interior life up to the highest possible standard, being very sensible that a man’s first task is to honour God in his own soul. He redoubled his austerities, saying it was now incumbent on him to. do penance for others as well as for himself. He always wore a hair-shirt under his religious habit, and never added or diminished anything in his clothing whatever the season of the year; and he never ate any flesh-meat, though he had it at his table for guests. The attention he paid to his flock was no less remarkable, especially in assisting the poor both spiritually and corporally, saying that he was chiefly sent for them. He was most gentle in dealing with penitent sinners, but inflexible towards the impenitent, though he refused to have recourse to the civil power against them, the usual remedy of that age. Many such he at last reclaimed by his sweetness and charity. Certain great men abusing his leniency, usurped the rights of his church; but William strenuously defended them even against the king himself, notwithstanding his threats to confiscate his lands. By humility and patience he overcame, on more than one occasion, the opposition of his chapter and other clergy. He converted many Albigensian heretics, and was preparing for a mission among them at the time he was seized with his last illness. He persisted, nevertheless, in preaching a farewell sermon to his people, which increased his fever to such a degree, that he was obliged to postpone his journey and take to his bed. The night following, perceiving his last hour was at hand, he desired to anticipate the Nocturns, which are said at midnight; but having made the sign of the cross on his lips and breast, he was unable to pronounce more than the first two words. Then, at a sign, which he made, he was laid on ashes, and thus St William died, a little past midnight, on the morning of January lo, 1209. His body was interred in his cathedral, and being honoured by many miracles it was enshrined in 1217, and in the year following he was canonized by Pope Honorius III.

See the Acta Sanctorum for January 10, and the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. iii (1884), pp. 271—361 BHL., nn. 1283—1284.

1276 Teobaldo Visconti Pope St. Gregory X 1210-1276; Arriving in Rome in March, he was first ordained priest, then consecrated bishop, and crowned on the 27th  of the same month, in 1272. He took the name of Gregory X, and to procure the most effectual succour for the Holy Land he called a general council to meet at Lyons. This fourteenth general council, the second of Lyons, was opened in May 1274. Among those assembled were St Albert the Great and St Philip Benizi; St Thomas Aquinas died on his way thither, and St Bonaventure died at the council. In the fourth session the Greek legates on behalf of the Eastern emperor and patriarch restored communion between the Byzantine church and the Holy See.;  miraculous cures performed by him
 Arétii, in Túscia, beáti Gregórii Décimi, civis Placentíni, qui, ex Archidiácono Leodiénsi Summus Póntifex renuntiátus, Concílium Lugdunénse secúndum celebrávit, Græcísque ad unitátem fídei recéptis, compósitis Christianórum dissídiis, Terræ Sanctæ recuperatióne institúta, de universáli Ecclésia, quam sanctíssime gubernávit, óptime méritus est.
       At Arezzo in Tuscany, blessed Gregory X, a native of Piacenza, who was elected Sovereign Pontiff while he was archdeacon of Liege.  He held the second Council of Lyons, received the Greeks into the unity of the Church, appeased discords among the Christians, made generous efforts for the recovery of the Holy Land, and governed the Church in a most holy manner.
 1283 BD JOHN OF VERCELLI Immediately on his election to the see of Rome, Bd Gregory X imposed on John of Vercelli and his friars the task of again pacifying the quarrelling states of Italy, and three years later he was ordered to draw up a schema for the Second Ecumenical Council of Lyons. At the council he met Jerome of Ascoli (afterwards Pope Nicholas IV), who had succeeded St Bonaventure as minister general of the Franciscans, and the two addressed a joint letter to the whole body of friars. Later on they were sent together by the Holy See to mediate between Philip III of France and Alfonso X of Castile, continuing the work of peace-maker, in which John excelled.

1276 Bd Gregory X, Pope
Theobald Visconti belonged to an illustrious Italian family and was born at Piacenza in 1210. In his youth he was distinguished for his virtue and his success as a student. He devoted himself especially to canon law, which he began in Italy and pursued at Paris and Liege. He was acting as archdeacon of this last church when he received an order from Pope Clement IV to preach the crusade for the recovery of the Holy Land. A tender compassion for the distressed situation of the servants of Christ in those parts moved the holy archdeacon to undertake a dangerous pilgrimage to Palestine, where Prince Edward of England then was. At this time the see of Rome had been vacant almost three years, from the death of Clement IV in November 1268, since the cardinals who were assembled at Viterbo could not come to an agreement in the choice of a pope. At last, by common consent, they referred the election to a committee of six amongst them, who on September 1, 1271 nominated Theobald Visconti.
Arriving in Rome in March, he was first ordained priest, then consecrated bishop, and crowned on the 27th  of the same month, in 1272. He took the name of Gregory X, and to procure the most effectual succour for the Holy Land he called a general council to meet at Lyons. This fourteenth general council, the second of Lyons, was opened in May 1274. Among those assembled were St Albert the Great and St Philip Benizi; St Thomas Aquinas died on his way thither, and St Bonaventure died at the council. In the fourth session the Greek legates on behalf of the Eastern emperor and patriarch restored communion between the Byzantine church and the Holy See. Pope Gregory, we are told, shed tears whilst the Te Deum was sung. Unhappily the reconciliation was short-lived.
After the council, Bd Gregory devoted all his energies to concerting measures for carrying its decrees into execution, particularly those relating to the crusade in the East, which, however, never set out. This unwearied application to business, and the fatigues of his journey across the Alps on his return to Rome brought on a serious illness, of which he died at Arezzo on January 10, 1276. The name of Gregory X was added to the Roman Martyrology by Pope Benedict XIV; his holiness was always recognized, and had he lived longer he would doubtless have left a deeper mark on the Church.

 The account of his life and miracles in the archives of the tribunal of the Rota may be found in Benedict XIV, De canoniz., bk ii, appendix 8. See likewise his life, copied from the MS. history of several popes by Bernard Guidonis, published by Muratori, Scriptor. Ital., vol. iii, p. 597, and another life, written before 1297, in which mention is made of miraculous cures performed by him (ibid., pp. 599--604). There is also, of course, a copious modern literature regarding Bd Gregory X, dealing more especially with his relation to politics and his share in the election of the Emperor Rudolf of Hapsburg. It may be suffi­cient to mention the works of Zisterer, Otto and Redlich. The Regesta of Gregory X have been edited by Jean Guiraud. 
1429 Saint Paul of Obnora famed disciple of St Sergius of Radonezh; spent years as a hermit; His final words were, "Brethren, have love one for another and keep to the rule of the monastic community."; died after 112 years on earth
Born at Moscow in the year 1317. From his youth he distinguished himself by his piety and kindliness towards the poor and suffering. His rich parents prepared him for a secular life, but at twenty-two years of age he secretly left his parental home and received tonsure at the Nativity monastery on the Volga (in the Yaroslav diocese).

From there Paul transferred to the Holy Trinity monastery to St Sergius of Radonezh, spending several years with him as his disciple, obeying the holy Elder in all things. With the blessing of St Sergius, he settled a short distance from the monastery in a separate cell, where he spent fifteen years as a hermit. Having asked the blessing of St Sergius to go off into the wilderness for a quiet and solitary life, St Paul wandered about for a long while, seeking a place of solitude. He wandered a great deal in the wilderness.
He spent time with St Abraham of Chukhloma (July 20) and he remained in the Komel forest.
At the Gryazovitsa River, in the hollow of an old linden tree, the monk built a small cell and dwelt there for three years in complete silence, "not giving his body rest, that he might receive future rest." Then he moved on to the River Nurma, where he built a hut and dug a well, spending his days in vigil and prayer.

Five days out of the week he went without food, and only on Saturday and Sunday did he partake of some bread and water. The news about the hermit spread abroad, and those wishing spiritual guidance began coming to him. Despite his love for the solitary life, St Paul never refused anyone spiritual consolation and guidance. He was also visited by St Sergius of Nurma (October 7), who sought solitude with the blessing of St Sergius of Radonezh, and who also spent his ascetic life in these places.

With the blessing of St Sergius and the agreement of Metropolitan Photius, St Paul built the Holy Trinity church in 1414, around which a monastery sprang up (later called the Monastery of St Paul of Obnora). Having written a strict monastic Rule for the brethren, St Paul entrusted the guidance of the new monastery to his disciple Alexis, while he himself continued as before to live in a solitary cell on a hill. He remained a responsive and good counsellor for anyone needing his help. St Paul died at 112 years of age. His final words were, "Brethren, have love one for another and keep to the rule of the monastic community."
The Life of the saint was written in about the year 1546, and his glorification occurred in 1547.
15th v. Saint Macarius of Pisma and Kostroma A fellow ascetic of St Paul of Obnora. In the second half of the 15th century, he founded the Makariev Transfiguration monastery at the River Pisma on the outskirts of Kostroma.
1882 Saint Antipas of Romania; came to Valaam Monastery from Mt Athos 1865; spent rest of life in the skete at Valaam, living like a hermit.  Blessed with the gift of clairvoyance

Born in Moldavia, Romania in 1816. His father was a deacon in the village church, and his mother ended her life in a women's monastery as a schemanun.
St Antipas came to Valaam Monastery from Mt Athos on November 6, 1865. He spent the rest of his life in the skete at Valaam, living like a hermit.  Blessed with the gift of clairvoyance, St Antipas fell asleep in the Lord on January 10, 1882.

1884 Alphonse Ratisbonne With Theodore elder brother Theodore, he founded the Congregation of Our Lady of Zion.
On his deathbed, Ratisbonne received the Last Sacraments from the Archbishop of Paris, Joseph Hippolyte Guibert, and a final blessing from Pope Leo XIII. He died in Paris on January 10, 1884.
“She didn’t speak to me, but I understood everything," the young Alphonse Ratisbonne said about the supernatural experience he had in Rome, in the church of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, on January 20, 1842. Today is the anniversary of his meeting with the Virgin Mary that profoundly changed his life.

This is what he said about the encounter: "I was scarcely in the church when a total confusion came over me. When I looked up, it seemed to me that the entire church had been swallowed up in shadow, except one chapel. It was as though all the light was concentrated in that single place. I looked over towards this chapel whence so much light shone, and above the altar was a living figure, tall, majestic, beautiful and full of mercy. It was the most holy Virgin Mary, resembling her figure on the Miraculous Medal. She made a sign for me to kneel down, and I felt pushed towards her by a force I couldn’t resist. She seemed to say to me: ‘Very good!’ She didn’t speak to me, but I understood everything."

On January 31st, Ratisbonne was baptized in the church of the Gesu, and he, who before hated the Church, became a priest, like his elder brother Theodore. With Theodore, he founded the Congregation of Our Lady of Zion. His resting place is not far from Jerusalem, at Ain Karim.


Théodor Ratisbonne was one of the 13 children born in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, to Auguste Ratisbonne and his wife, Adelaide Cerfbeer, who were members of a noted Jewish banking family. His father additionally served as president of the Provincial Council of Alsace.

Conversion
At the age of 22, Ratisbonne gained the acquaintance of a local Catholic, Louise Humann, who was a catechist and active in works of charity. After the conversion of his friends, Emile Dreyfus, Alfred Mayer and Samson Liebermann to Christianity, Théodor spent two years under her guidance studying the Scriptures, both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, which eventually led him to embrace Christianity. He was baptized in 1826, at which time he added the name Marie (Mary) to his given name, and was ordained as a priest in 1830.

This step by Théodor caused his family to reject him.

Through his embrace of Christianity, Théodor Ratisbonne joined a wave of conversions then taking place in the French Jewish community, triggered by a sense that the Jews could not achieve full integration in French society as long as they remained Jews. He had reached the conclusion that there was a fundamental incompatibility between Judaism and French citizenship. Until his conversion, he was active in the Societe d'Encouragement au Travail en Faveur des Israelites du Bas-Rhin (Society for the Advancement of the Israelites of the Lower Rhine). He later felt that this involvement in Jewish communal affairs was a preparatory step to his baptism.

Ministry
Théodor Ratisbonne published a biography of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, A Life of St. Bernard, in 1841. During a visit to Rome the following year, this work drew the admiration of Pope Gregory XVI, for which the Pope made him a Knight of the Order of St. Sylvester in recognition of his contribution to the Catholic faith. Ratisbonne was still very conscious of his Jewish roots and how his heritage was the basis for his faith as a Catholic. He wanted to work to help other Jews who would embrace Christianity. After his own sudden conversion, Alphonse had proposed to his brother the founding of schools for providing a Christian education to Jewish children. The Pope gave his blessing and authorization for this mission.

The first concrete step was accomplished with his founding of the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion in 1847, the first members being two Jewish sisters who converted to Catholicism and committed themselves to the education of Jewish children in a Christian setting. Not long after Alphonse's ordination in 1850 as a Jesuit priest, he left his Order to join his brother in their shared vision. In 1852 Theodore and Alphonse led the small community of men who had gathered to share in the work to form a new congregation, the male branch of the Congregation of Our Lady of Sion.

The Ratisbonne brothers obtained permission to work as missionaries in Jerusalem. There Alphonse went to establish a convent for the Sisters to carry out their mission in the heart of the Jewish homeland. The Sisters arrived in Jerusalem in 1856, while he sought to purchase the ruined Church of Ecce Homo to serve as their home. The Sisters then devoted their lives to hastening the "fulfilment of the promises concerning the Jews and the Gentiles" while avoiding all proselytism through the education of girls regardless of creed. Ratisbonne's directive was: "Remain firm in your own faith without attempting to impose it on others."

The esteem Ratisbonne received from Pope Gregory was shared by his successors.
He was honored repeatedly by Pope Pius IX and was named a Protonotary Apostolic by Pope Leo XIII.
 



THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 230

In thee, O Lady, have I hoped, let me never be confounded: receive me in thy grace.

Thou art my strength and my refuge: my consolation and my protection.

To thee, O Lady, have I cried, when my heart was in anguish:
and thou hast heard me from the heights of the eternal hills.

Thou shalt draw me out of the snares which they hid for me: for thou art my helper.

Into thy hands, O Lady, I commend my spirit: my whole life and my last day.

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 heavenonly saints are allowed into heaven.
The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.
There are over 10,000 named saints beati  from history
 and Roman Martyology Orthodox sources

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

Widowed Saints  html
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  UniateChalcedon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

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


God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***
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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