Mary Mother of GOD
15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary 
Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!  (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
R.  Deo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
January is the month of the Holy Name of Jesus since 1902;
2024
23,658  Lives Saved Since 2007

1918 Blessed Mother Marianne Cope of Molokai  Virgin (Optional Memorial)

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

6th v. Martyrius of Valeria hermit -- Gregory the Great extols in his Dialogues (Dial. I, II)
667 St. Ildephonsus Archbishop Blessed Virgin devotion Our Lady's appearance present him with a chalice; prolific writer
880 Maimbod martyr  miracles occur at his tomb blind Bishop Berengarius received sight from relics
1266 Baba Sheikh Farid Ji  On the banks of the river Sutlej at a place called Pak Pattan (Province Punjab, also known as the city of saints), tamerlane horses (1398) suddenly stopped. The horsement whipped their animals. The stallions started bleeding but refused to move further voice came from somewhere and called, "Baba Farid, the King of Kings"
1505 Blessed Margaret of Ravenna patience and humility
1918 Blessed Mother Marianne Cope of Molokai  faced everything with unflinching courage smiling sweetly throughall

January 23: Mission in Jesus' name.
"So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost" (Matthew 18: 14).

January 23 - Feast of Our Lady's Espousals to Saint Joseph (1546)
January 23 - The Virgin Mary is betrothed to Saint Joseph
 
  All the good contained in marriage was accomplished by Christ’s parents

From that moment on, the Most Blessed Virgin was entrusted to Saint Joseph, her Most Chaste spouse. This union was celebrated in the manner of ancient times: the future spouses held hands; the husband-to-be put a ring on the finger of his betrothed, and the blessing of the high priest gave a spiritual seal to the mutual promise to live together for eternity.

Some time later, the wedding of the Holy Virgin and Saint Joseph took place in Jerusalem. The wedding feast lasted seven days; then the holy spouses returned to Nazareth. Since the 16th century, the Catholic Church has been celebrating this holy engagement (which of course is a model for all engaged people) on January 23rd:
"All the good contained in marriage is accomplished by the parents of Christ: a child, mutual faithfulness, and a sacrament. We can see the child in the person of the Lord Jesus; faithfulness in that no adultery occurred; and the sacrament in that they did not separate. One thing only is missing: carnal union."
(Saint Augustine, bishop of Hippo- Father and Doctor of the Church)
http://notredamedesneiges.over-blog.com/article-11883784.html
 
- Saint Ildephonsus of Toledo (d. 677) Prayer to the Mother of Jesus
O Holy Virgin, I beg you, enable me to receive Jesus from the Spirit, according to the same process by which you bore Him.
May my soul possess Jesus thanks to the Spirit through whom you conceived Jesus.
May the grace to know Jesus be granted to me through the Spirit who enabled you to know, To have and to bring forth Jesus.
May my lowliness show forth the greatness of Jesus in virtue of the Spirit in whom you recognized yourself
to be the servant of the Lord, choosing that it be done unto you according to the angel's word.
May I love Jesus in that Spirit in which you adored Him as your Lord and contemplated Him as your Son.
May I have holy fear of Jesus, just as He, being God, submitted Himself to his parents.  Amen.
        Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Glories of Mary (1750)

   98 St. Parmenas  1/7 deacons appointed by Apostles minister to Hellenized Jews of Jerusalem
 287 St. Asclas Martyr concerning Arrian governor of Egypt
 304 St. Emerentiana Martyr of Rome
 309 St. Agathangelus Martyr baptized by St. Clement of Ancyra died with him
4th v. St. Eusebius Syrian hermit
 356 St. Amasius Bishop of Teano exile involved in the Arian persecution of his era 
6th v. Martyrius of Valeria hermit -- Gregory the Great extols in his Dialogues (Dial. I, II)
6th v. St. Ormond French abbot
  616 St. John Almoner Patriarch of Alexandria generosity to the poor family died entered religious life known holiness
 667 St. Ildephonsus Archbishop Blessed Virgin devotion Our Lady's appearance present him with a chalice; prolific writer
 702 St. Colman of Lismore Abbot bishop monastery of Lismore
 841 St. Barnard Benedictine archbishop founder member of the court of Charlemagne 
 850  St. Lufthildis of Cologne she lived as an anchorite
 880 Maimbod martyr  miracles occur at his tomb blind Bishop Berengarius received sight from relics
       St. Severian & Aquila martyrs
1266 Baba Sheikh Farid Ji  On the banks of the river Sutlej at a place called Pak Pattan (Province Punjab, also known as the city of saints), tamerlane horses (1398) suddenly stopped. The horsement whipped their animals. The stallions started bleeding but refused to move further voice came from somewhere and called, "Baba Farid, the King of Kings"
1275 ST RAYMUND OF Peñafort.
1366 St. Henry Suso, Blessed Famed German Dominican mystic
        St. Maimbod Irish martyr
1505 Blessed Margaret of Ravenna patience and humility
1918 Blessed Mother Marianne Cope of Molokai  faced everything with unflinching courage smiling sweetly through all
The Protestant Soldier and the Icon of Our Lady (I) Commemoration of Mary's Marriage to Saint Joseph
(The year was 1939.) Our (German) troops occupied a small town near Warsaw. Exhausted after a long and difficult march, we moved into the house of some wealthy citizens. Although the noise of the whistling of bullets and explosion of bombs was getting more and more frequent and violent, our only thought was of getting some sleep.
Suddenly, there was a terrible crack and the ceiling collapsed. Then an explosion, throwing out shrapnel in a cloud of dust, left me trapped between a beam and some broken chairs, next to a few dead comrades.
I managed to wriggle loose from underneath the debris and catch my breath.
The whole house had been reduced to rubble. Only one wall remained, where an icon of the Mother of God, venerated by Catholics, still hung, intact. Mary held a Rosary in her hand and looked at me with love.
I, myself, am a Protestant, raised with little or no religion. During the campaign I had noticed that most of my Catholic comrades had an image of the Virgin Mary or a Rosary they trustingly pulled out of their pockets in times of trouble. I was actually studying the icon when heard a second bomb looming. I instinctively rushed to the wall; I took the icon down and pressed it against my heart. The bomb loudly exploded, its shrapnel killing three more of my comrades.
Saarbrucken (Germany), November 22, 1948 (by A. Dewald).
Reported and translated by Brother Albert Plfeger, Marist, in his Recueil Marial 1980

The saints are a “cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us that a life of Christian perfection is not impossible.
January 23 - Our Lady of Damascus (Syria, 1203)   Two Ladders
It is told in the Franciscan Chronicles that Brother Leon one day saw two ladders: a red one, on which Jesus-Christ stood; the other a white one where Mary was standing. He then saw souls who tried to climb the red ladder. They managed to go up a few rungs, but then fell; they kept trying again and again, but they always ended up falling down. Then one of them tried to climb the white ladder, and Brother Leon saw that they went up swiftly, because the Blessed Virgin lent them a hand. On this ladder, they arrived with little difficulty in paradise. 

1266Baba Sheikh Farid Ji Holy Sufi Saint
Baba Sheikh Farid Ji  On the banks of the river Sutlej at a place called
Pak Pattan (Province Punjab, also known as the city of saints),
Tamerlane horses (1398) suddenly stopped. The horsement whipped their animals.
The stallions started bleeding but refused to move further voice came from somewhere and called,
 "Baba Farid, the King of Kings" 

98 St. Parmenas  1/7 deacons appointed by Apostles minister to Hellenized Jews of Jerusalem
 Philíppis, in Macedónia, sancti Pármenæ, qui fuit unus de septem primis Diáconis.  Hic, tráditus grátiæ Dei, injúnctum sibi a frátribus offícium prædicatiónis plena fide consúmmans, martyrii glóriam, sub Trajáno, est adéptus.       At Philippi in Macedonia, St. Parmenas, one of the first seven deacons, who by the grace of God faithfully discharged the office of preaching committed to him, and obtained the glory of martyrdom in the time of Trajan.
Converted to the Christian faith. Their labors were reported in the Acts of the Apostles. Parmenas is said to have to have spent many years preaching in Asia Minor before receiving martyrdom in Philippi, Macedonia, under Emperor Trajan (98-117).
287 St. Asclas Martyr miracle concerning Arrian governor of Egypt crossing Nile
 Apud Antínoum, Ægypti urbem, sancti Asclæ Mártyris, qui, post divérsa torménta, pretiósam Deo ánimam, in flumen præcipitátus, réddidit.
       At Antinoum, a city of Egypt, St. Ascla, martyr, who, after various torments, was thrown into a river and gave up his precious soul unto God.
who performed a miracle concerning Arrian, the governor of Egypt. Asclas was brought before Arrian during the persecutions instituted by Emperor Diocletian. Asclas was tortured for a time by Governor Arrian, until Arrian started to cross the Nile but found himself unable to do so. Asclas informed the governor that he would never cross the Nile unless he acknowledged Christ in writing. Arrian wrote this tribute and crossed the Nile. However, once safe, he commanded that Asclas be tortured and thrown into the Nile.   [It can hardly be disputed from the very form of the story that a considerable legendary element is present.]
3rd v.    ST ASCLAS, MARTYR
THE fame of St Asclas was great in Egypt and throughout the East, and he is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology. His story, as epitomized in the synaxaries, runs as follows “Asclas, a native of the Thebaid, was denounced for his faith in Christ and brought before Arrian the governor. Boldly confessing his belief, he was strung up, scourged until the flesh was torn in strips from his ribs, and then cast into prison. But the governor had to pass over the River Nile in a boat, and the saint prayed that he might never reach the opposite shore until he expressly acknowledged in writing the divinity of Christ. Arrian embarked, but the boat was held up and he could get no farther; whereupon the saint, learning of this, sent him word that only by confessing the divinity of Christ could he reach dry land once more. Then the governor called for paper, and he wrote down that mighty was the God of the Christians and that there was no other beside Him. Straightway the boat made the passage, the governor landed, and sending for the saint caused his ribs to be burnt with torches. Then he had a great stone tied to him and cast him into the river. Thus it was that Asclas gained his crown of martyrdom.” It can hardly be disputed from the very form of the story that a considerable legendary element is present.

In the above quoted Synaxary of Constantinople (ed. H. Delehaye, p. 698) the feast is commemorated on May 20, but in the West on January 23. See also the Acta Sanctorum for this day, and Cheneau d’Orléans, Les saints d’Égypte, vol. i, pp. 183 seq.
304 St. Emerentiana Martyr of Rome  invoked against colic and stomach ache
 Romæ sanctæ Emerentiánæ, Vírginis et Mártyris; quæ adhuc catechúmena, dum oráret ad sepúlcrum sanctæ Agnétis, cujus fúerat collactánea, a Gentílibus lapidáta est.
       At Rome, the holy virgin and martyr, St. Emerentiana.  Being yet a catechumen, she was stoned to death by the heathens while praying at the tomb of St. Agnes, her foster sister.

 304? ST EMERENTIANA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR
According to the Roman Martyrology and the Breviary lesson for this day, St Emerentiana was the foster-sister of St Agnes, and consequently was of much the same age, but as yet only a catechumen. She was stoned to death two days after St Agnes’s martyrdom, when praying beside her grave, and in this way received the baptism of blood. This story, which forms a kind of supplement to the “acts” of St Agnes, cannot be accepted as it stands, but there is evidence that there was a St Emerentiana, martyr, who was originally buried in the Coemeterium majus, a little farther along the Via Nomentana than the spot where the basilica dedicated to St Agnes was erected.
Emerentiana was apparently honoured on September 16 with SS. Victor, Felix and Alexander, but for some reason her remains were later transferred to the basilica just mentioned, and her story by means of legendary embellishments became entwined with that of St Agnes.

See the Acta Sanctorum for January 23 and F. Jubaru, St Agnes (1909), pp. 145-156.
In some traditions the foster sister of St. Agnes, stoned to death when discovered praying at Agnes’ grave. Emerentiana was possibly martyred elsewhere. Her cult was confined to local calendars in 1969. It is claimed by Alban Butler that her relics were recovered with those of her sister in Christ near the Church of Saint Agnes on the Via Nomentana when it was being restored during the reign of Pope Paul V. Farmer reports that they were found nearby. Her connection with Saint Agnes ensured her popularity (Attwater2, Benedictines, Coulson, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth). Saint Emerentiana is pictured as a young maiden with a stone or being stoned by a mob at Saint Agnes's tomb (Roeder). She is invoked against colic and stomach ache (Roeder).
309 St. Agathangelus Martyr baptized by St. Clement of Ancyra died with him
 Ancyræ, in Galátia, sancti Cleméntis Epíscopi, qui, sæpius cruciátus, tandem, sub Diocletiáno Imperatóre, martyrium consummávit.
       At Ancyra in Galatia, St. Clement, bishop.  After enduring frequent torments, he finally completed his martyrdom under Diocletian.
 Ibídem sancti Agathángeli, qui eódem die, sub Lúcio Præside, passus est.
       In the same place, and on the same day, St. Agathangelus who suffered under the governor Lucius.

 308? SS. CLEMENT AND AGATHANGELUS, MARTYRS
Concerning these two martyrs, although they are held in high honour in some oriental churches, and are commemorated on this day in the Roman Martyrology, we have no reliable knowledge of any sort. Clement is supposed to have devoted himself to the instruction of children and of the poor, to have been made bishop of Ancyra in Galatia at the age of twenty, and then, after arrest, to have been dragged from city to city, enduring incredible torments for years together, but repeatedly saved from death by a series of stupendous miracles.

Agathangelus was a convert whom Clement made when he was brought to Rome. Having been ordained deacon Agathangelus shared the subsequent sufferings of his master. Both are said ultimately to have perished by the sword at Ancyra. The quite untrustworthy character of their “acts” has been recognized by all critics from Baronius and Tillemont downwards.

See the Acta Sanctorum for January 23, and DHG., vol. i, c. 906.
Agathangelus met Clement in Rome.
When Clement was taken to Ancyra, Agathangelus went with him, sharing in his martyrdom there.
After Bishop Saint Clement of Ancyra, Galatia (Ankara, Turkey), miraculously survived torture, he was taken to Rome. While in prison there he met, converted, and baptized Saint Agathangelus, then ordained him deacon. He followed the bishop to the East, and both were martyred at Ancyra under Diocletian. Their Acta are most romantic, but unfortunately spurious. Their relics were venerated in Pera, a suburb of Constantinople, until they were taken by the Latins (Benedictines, Coulson, Husenbeth).
356 St. Amasius Bishop of Teano exile involved in the Arian persecution of his era
Amasius was a Greek who had to flee his homeland because of the Arian heresy.
He went to Italy and was named the bishop of Teano in 346.  His cult is still flourishing in several dioceses of central Italy (Benedictines).
6th v. Martyrius of Valeria hermit Gregory the Great extols in his Dialogues Dial. I, II M RM also known as Martory
 In Província Valériæ sancti Martyrii Mónachi, cujus méminit beátus Gregórius Papa.
       In the province of Valeria, St. Martyrius, monk, mentioned by Pope St. Gregory.
A hermit at Valeria in the Abruzzi, whom Saint Gregory the Great extols in his Dialogues (Dial. I, II) (Benedictines).
6th v. St. Ormond French abbot also listed as Armand.
He was elected abbot of the monastery of Saint Maire, circa 587.
 Ormond was a patron of the monastic expansion and evangelization programs of his era. Ormond of Mairé, Abbot (AC) (also known as Armand) 6th century. Saint Ormond was a monk at the abbey of Saint Mairé. He became abbot in 587 and was eminently successful in that position (Benedictines).
4th v. St. Eusebius Syrian hermit
who established his holy refuge on Mount Coryphe, near Antioch. He himself ate only once every four days, but he would not allow his monks to fast for more than two days at a time. Although he advocated the benefits of penitential mortification of the senses, he more highly recommended perpetual prayer. He was harsh with himself. His mind wondered as he was listening to his abbatial predecessor read the Scriptures aloud. To punish himself for his inattention to the Word of God, he locked a heavy iron collar around his neck, which was connected by a stiff chain to an iron girdle around his wait. For the rest of his life--more than 40 years--he wore this contraption which prevented him from looking at his feet. Thereafter, he left his cell only to visit the chapel (Attwater2, Benedictines, Husenbeth).
616 St. John the Almoner Patriarch of Alexandria generosity to the poor.
 Alexandríæ sancti Joánnis Eleemosynárii, ejúsdem urbis Epíscopi, misericórdia in páuperes celebérrimi.
       At Alexandria, St. John the Almoner, bishop of that city, celebrated for his charity towards the poor.
 Egypt, called “the Almoner” because of his generosity to the poor. He was born into a noble family of Cyprus and was briefly married. When his wife and child died, he entered the religious life, and in 608 was named patriarch of Alexandria. He aided refugees from the Persian assaults on the Holy Land and built charitable institutions. John predicted his own death. He had to leave Alexandria when a Persian invasion troubled the region and had a vision of his demise. John went to Amathus, on Cyprus, where he died on November 11.

In this 14th-century Russian icon with Saints Barlaam Khutynski, Paraskeva and Anastasia.
616 John the Almsgiver family died entered religious life widely known for his holiness and charity
Born in Amathus (Old Limaasol), Cyprus, c. 550; died November 11, c. 616-19; feast day formerly April 9; feast in the East is November 11.

Two near contemporary vitae about Saint John the Almsgiver-- one by John Moschus and the other by Sophronius--tend to give credence to the story of John the Almsgiver. John, the son of noble Epiphanius, governor of Cyprus, married while he was still quite young, but when his wife and two children died he entered the religious life, gave his income to the poor, and became widely known for his holiness and charity. When John was about 50 (c. 608) and still a layman, he was chosen patriarch of Alexandria by his adopted brother Nicetas, who had helped the Emperor Heraclius to come to power. This church had been very greatly reduced by the Monophysite heresy, and John set himself to commend orthodoxy by an example of virtuous living and most liberal almsgiving.

On his arrival, Patriarch John ordered an exact list to be taken of his "masters," i.e., the poor, whom John said had much power in heaven to help those who had been good to them on earth. The list John compiled named 7,500 poor of the diocese, who he fed every day. One of his first episcopal acts was the distribution of 80,000 pieces of gold to hospitals and monasteries. When some protested this action, he answered by telling of a vision he had experienced. A beautiful woman appeared to him representing Charity who said to him: "I am the eldest daughter of the King. If you will be my friend, I will lead you to Him." Thereafter, he followed this policy of charity systematically until his death. It is said that his own charity spurred others on to do likewise.

He was inspired by the thought that in helping the poor he was giving thanks to Jesus, who sacrificed so much for our salvation. When someone privately tried to thank John, the saint cut him short, saying, "Brother, I have not yet spilled my blood for you, as Jesus Christ, my master and my God, commands me."

Every Wednesday and Friday he sat on a bench outside the church and adjudicated disputes, dispensed advice, listened to the complaints of the needy and aggrieved, and immediately sought to redress the wrongs that they had experienced. Nothing and nobody was too insignificant for his attention.

The functions of his office, prayer, and pious reading occupied all his time, so that he never spoke an idle word. He turned out of the church those whom he saw talking, and forbade all detractors to enter his house. Avoiding idle conversation was perhaps aided by his appointment of a man to remind him on all occasions of pomp: "My lord, your tomb is unfinished; be pleased to give your orders to have it completed, for you know not the hour when death will seize you."

Known for his humility, John regarded injuries as his greatest gain and happiness. He always disarmed his enemies of their rancor by meekness, and frequently fell at the feet of those who insulted him to beg their pardon.

When he noticed that many amused themselves outside the church during Mass, he went out and seated himself amongst them, saying: "My children, the shepherd must be with his flock." This action, which covered them with confusion, prevented them from being guilty of that ever again. He also forbade meeting in the sanctuary, saying, "If you come here to pray, occupy your mind and heart with that, but if you come merely to meet someone, remember it is written that the house of God shall be called a house of prayer; do not turn it into a den of thieves."

The saint also insisted the believers should never under any circumstances receive Holy Communion with heretics. He said, "Communion is so called because he who has communion has things in common and agrees with those with whom he has communion; therefore I implore you never to go near the oratories of heretics in order to communicate there."

He found and endowed seven lying-in and other hospitals of 40 beds each (with a 'maternity benefit'), homes for the aged and infirm, and lodgings for travellers, and built churches (over 60 of them according to one source). He also helped the poor by regulating weights and measures and making individual gifts, and taxed his clergy to help pay for it all. John fought simony, rigorously forbade all his officers and servants to take presents that he saw as bribes, and ended corruption in his diocese. Throughout his patriarchate, he labored to end Monophysitism and restore orthodoxy by peaceful means.

Patriarch John worked to alleviate the onerous new taxes levied by Governor Nicetas. The governor left John in a passion. Saint John sent him a message toward evening saying, "The sun is going to set. Let not the sun set on your anger." The admonition had its intended effect. The governor returned to John and asked for pardon.

One of his beneficiaries was a trader who had fallen on hard times after two shipwrecks: John provided him with a ship and a cargo of corn that the man bartered for its weight in tin in the British Isles, which was experiencing a famine. Legend says the tin turned to finest silver on the return journey.

John's open hand never closed. Sometimes he was deceived by impostors who kept returning for alms in disguise when he had already helped them generously: even when he knew he was imposed upon he still gave again and again.

Though he was not a monk himself, he came to respect them and founded two new monasteries in the city. Once a young monk begged alms for several days accompanied by an attractive young woman. As a result of the consequent scandal, John had the woman beaten and separated from the monk, who was scourged and placed in solitary confinement. That night John had a dream in which he saw the monk who told him that he had made a mistake. Upon awakening John called for the badly lacerated monk. He told John that he was a eunuch and that the young woman was a Jew who wish to be baptized. John apologized, offered compensation (which was refused), and admonished the monk that it was unseemly for those clad in angelic robes to wander about the city, especially with a woman. Thereafter the saint showed special honor and hospitality to monks.

A rather cute story is told about a wealthy admirer, who upon learning that John had but one ragged blanket on his bed, begged John to accept one of great value and use it for the sake of the donor. John accepted it, but spent a night in uneasiness and self- reproaches for being so richly covered while his 'masters' (the poor) were so ill-accommodated. The next day John sold it and gave the money to the poor. The donor bought it from the vendor, and gave it again to John. The cycle of giving, accepting, selling, and rebuying the blanket continued for quite a time.

When the Persians sacked Jerusalem in 614, he succored the refugees and sent large amounts of money, and food for the relief of that city and workmen to rebuild its churches. In a letter to Bishop Modestus of Jerusalem, he wrote that he wished it had been in his power to come in person and contribute by the labor of his hands. Five years later the invaders were threatening Egypt. He was on his way to Constantinople with Nicetas to visit Emperor Heraclius, when at Rhodes a vision of his own impending death caused him to return to his native Amathus, where he died.

In his last will and testament he said that he had found the treasury of his church full and left it empty: "I have done my best to render to God the things that were God's."
John the Almsgiver was the original patron saint of the Order of Saint John at Jerusalem (later, the Knights of Malta).

His relics were carried to Constantinople, where they remained until the Turkish emperor presented them to Matthias, king of Hungary. They then made their way from to Tall (near Presbourg/Bratislava, Hungary) and then to the cathedral of Presbourg in 1632. The Orthodox Church honors John on his dies natalis, while the R.M. celebrates the date of the translation of his relics (Attwater, Benedictines, Butler, Coulson, Dawes, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Gill, Husenbeth, Walsh).

In art, Saint John is a bishop with a wallet or loaf holding a rosary in his hand. Sometimes he is shown giving alms to a cripple (Roeder). In this 14th-century Russian icon with Saints Barlaam Khutynski, Paraskeva and Anastasia.
667 St. Ildephonsus Archbishop Blessed Virgin devotion Our Lady's appearance present him with a chalice prolific writer
 Toléti, in Hispánia, sancti Ildefónsi Epíscopi, qui, ob singulárem vitæ integritátem, susceptámque fídei defensiónem advérsus hæréticos, sanctíssimæ Dei Genitrícis virginitátem impugnántes, ab eádem Vírgine María donátus est candidíssima veste, ac demum, sanctitáte célebris, in cælum vocátus.
       At Toledo, St. Ildefonse, bishop, renowned for sanctity.  On account of his great purity of life, and his defence of the virginity of the Mother of God, against the heretics who denied it, he received from her a brilliant white vestment, and was called to heaven.
St. Ildephonsus is highly regarded in Spain and closely associated with devotion to the Blessed Virgin which he fostered by his famous work concerning her perpetual virginity. Born around 607, Ildephonsus came from a noble family and was probably a pupil of St. Isidore of Seville. While still quite young, he entered the Benedictine monastery of Agalia near Toledo and went on to become its Abbot. In that capacity he attended the Councils of Toledo in 653 and 655.

In 657 the clergy and people elected this holy man to succeed his uncle, St. Eugenius, as Archbishop of Toledo. He performed his episcopal duties with diligence and sanctity until his death in 667. This saint was a favorite subject for medieval artists, especially in connection with the legend of Our Lady's appearance to present him with a chalice. St. Ildephonsus was a prolific writer, but unfortunately only four of his works have survived. Among these are the one already mentioned and an important document of the history of the Spanish Church during the first two-thirds of the seventh century, entitled Concerning Famous Men.

Ildephonsus of Toledo B (RM)
(also known as Alphonso, Ildefonsus, Ildephonse)
Born in Toledo, Spain, in 607; died there on January 23, 667; Doctor of the Church.

    "Virgin Mother of God: may I bind myself to God and to you, serve your own Lord and serve you too, obey your own Son and so obey you. May I worship Him as my Maker and you as the mother of my Maker. May I venerate Him as the Lord of Hosts and you as the handmaid of the Lord. May I adore Him as my God and you as the mother of my God." --Saint Ildefonsus.

Ildefonsus, born of a noble Spanish family, was the nephew of Saint Eugene of Toledo and may have studied under Saint Isidore of Seville. He longed to become a monk. His family opposed his wishes. Nevertheless, the saint professed himself in his youth as a member of the monastery at Agli (Agalia) near his hometown of Toledo and was ordained about 637. The other monks recognized his deep spirituality and wisdom by making him their abbot about 650. Ildephonsus attended the council of Toledo in 653 and 655. About 657, he was consecrated archbishop of Toledo to succeed his uncle Eugenius.

Saint Ildefonsus was sitting on the bishop's throne in his cathedral when he was granted a vision in which the Blessed Virgin presented him with a chasuble of heavenly tissue. The gift was a fitting one, for Ildefonsus adored the Virgin and wrote a defense of her perpetual virginity. He saw worship of Jesus as the supreme duty of a Christian; and he believed that one could do so by meditating on Jesus through the eyes of His virgin mother. He also had a special devotion to Saint Leocadia, patroness of Toledo.

For nine years he governed the church wisely, until his peaceable death. His successor to the see of Toledo gave high praise to Ildefonsus's virtues and abilities. The Ramsgate Benedictines say that he was responsible for the unification of the Spanish liturgy. He was also a musician. The grateful Spaniards dubbed him a Doctor of the Church and his memory is still revered.

Ildephonsus was an outstanding writer as well as a devoted pastor. His treatise on Baptism was followed by one of the spiritual journey of the soul after receiving the Sacrament. In De viris illustribus he compiled short biographies of notables in the 7th-century Church in Spain. He devotion to Mary led him to write several theological treatises, including De virginitate perpetua sactae Mariae, a work of exuberant enthusiasm, rather than of sober thought. This work was written as a defense of the perpetual virginity of the Blessed Mother against the heresy of Helvidius, Jovinian, and a Jew. His fervor had a marked effect on Spanish piety.

A short vita of Saint Ildephonsus was written by his successor, Bishop Saint Julian, 23 years after his death (Attwater, Attwater2, Benedictines, Bentley, Braegelmann, Coulson, Delaney, Farmer, Husenbeth, Tabor).

The investiture of Saint Ildephonsus is a favorite subject of Spanish artists, who depict him as a cardinal archbishop receiving a chasuble from the Blessed Virgin. His hat is near him. He may also be shown mitred with his abbot's crozier, chasuble, pallium, book, and cardinal's hat, or writing before an image of the Blessed Virgin (Roeder, Tabor). He is venerated throughout Spain but especially in Toledo and Seville (Roeder).
702 St. Colman of Lismore Abbot bishop monastery of Lismore.
Ireland. He succeeded St. Hierlug in 698.
841 St. Barnard Benedictine archbishop founder member of the court of Charlemagne
He was born in the Frene province of Lyonnais, in 777, and was educated at court. He became a Benedictine and restored Ambronay Abbey, becoming abbot of the monks. In 810, Barnard was made the archbishop of Vienne, France, where he founded Romans Abbey in 837. He died there. He was canonized in 1907.
850 Lufthildis of Cologne she lived as an anchorite V (AC)
(also known as Lufthild)
Died c. 850. Saint Lufthild has an active cultus in the environs of Cologne, Germany, where she is said to have lived as an anchorite, but nothing is know with certainty about her life because there was no contemporary account. Legend says that she was persecuted by her stepmother for persistently giving their possessions to the poor (Attwater2, Benedictines, Coulson).
880 Maimbod martyr  miracles occur at his tomb blind Bishop Berengarius received sight from relics  M (AC)
Died January 23, c. 880. Saint Maimbod was a martyr who went to Alsace from Ireland as a missionary. Maimbod was a pilgrim to the tombs of many saints, as he wandered he spread the faith throughout northern Italy and Gaul. In Burgundy a nobleman gave him hospitality and unsuccessfully pressed him to settle there. Upon Maimbod's departure, the nobleman gave Maimbod a pair of gloves as a reminder to pray for him. He was praying at the church of Domnipetra near Katlenbrunn eight miles from Besançon, when he was set upon by some robbers who believed he had money because he was wearing gloves. When miracles began to occur at his tomb in Domnipetra, Count Aszo of Monteliard asked the blind Bishop Berengarius for a gift of the saint's relics. Berengarius delegated the translation ceremony to his coadjutor, Bishop Stephen. During the rite, Berengarius miraculously received his sight and instituted a feast in honor of the saint. Although Maimbod's relics were destroyed in the 16th century, his feast his commemorated in the diocese of Besançon (Attwater2, Benedictines, Coulson, D'Arcy, Encyclopedia, Fitzpatrick, O'Hanlon, O'Kelly).
St. Severian & Aquila martyrs.
 Cæsaréæ, in Mauritánia, sanctórum Mártyrum Severiáni et Aquilæ uxóris, ígnibus combustórum.
       At Caesarea in Morocco, the holy martyrs Severian and his wife Aquila, who were consumed by fire.
Two martyrs put to death in Roman Africa. They were probably husband and wife.
1266 Baba Sheikh Farid Ji  On the banks of the river Sutlej at a place called Pak Pattan (Province Punjab, also known as the city of saints), tamerlane horses (1398) suddenly stopped. The horsement whipped their animals. The stallions started bleeding but refused to move further voice came from somewhere and called, "Baba Farid, the King of Kings"
Farid was to Punjabi what Chaucer was to English.
He made Punjabi poetry and poetry Punjabi. Later when Adi Granth (Sikh scripture) was compiled by the fifth Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Arjun Dev Ji, Farid’s ‘slokas’ (sacred couplets) were given the place of honour along with those of Kabir, Ramdev and Guru Ravidas. "Farid return thou good for evil; In thy heart bear no revenge. Thus thy body will be free of maladies, And thy life have all blessings." Baba Sheikh Farid Ji was a great Sufi saint, very sweet of tongue and who lived an austere life. He asked for only one blessing from God....a life of prayer and meditation. His following insight forms the subject of the painting above- "Sweet are candy, sugar, honey, and buffalo's milk. Yea, sweet are these but sweeter by far is God."

The year was 1398. Timur was returning home after ransacking Delhi -light of mind but laden with gold, trampling corn, killing men and cattle alike. It was a typical Punjab winter and the air in the fields mingled with the blood of the innocents. On the banks of the river Sutlej at a place called Pak Pattan, his horses suddenly stopped. The horsement whipped their animals. The stallions started bleeding but refused to move further. There was panic among the soldiers, hysteria among the officers, total confusion in the army. There was consternation and alarm writ large on every face.
Not used to such unscheduled halts, the Turk chief leapt forward, roared like a lion and demanded answers.

Nobody replied. He shouted again. Everyone remained totally speechless. At last an old man came forward and said, "Your honour, this place is sanctified". "By one saint whose ancestors had migrated from Iran to escape death at the hands of your ancestors", the old man replied. Everyone looked at everyone else. The general’s hands reached for his sword but before they could go any further, a miracle happened. As goes the legend, a voice came from somewhere and called, "Baba Farid, the King of Kings". Every tongue felt that it had an ear on it. A vision came to the advancing marauder. He felt elated. The armies were ordered to spare the town. Timur bowed low in the ‘Khanqah’, heard the Sufi hymns, spent the night in the ‘dargah’. He ate the same austere food, which the Devotees ate, slept on the same mat and pledged not to kill any more innocents, only to break the pledge later.
St. Maimbod Irish martyr.
also called Mainboeuf, missionary to Kaltenbrunn. Alsace, France.
He was martyred by local pagans while preaching to them.
1275 ST RAYMUND OF Peñafort.
THE family of Peñafort claimed descent from the counts of Barcelona, and was allied to the kings of Aragon. Raymund was born in 1175, at Peñafort in Catalonia, and made such rapid progress in his studies that at the age of twenty he taught philosophy at Barcelona. This he did gratis, and with great reputation. When he was about thirty he went to Bologna to perfect himself in Canon and civil law. He took the degree of doctor, and taught with the same disinterestedness and charity as he had done in his own country.
In 1219 Berengarius, Bishop of Barcelona, made Raymund his archdeacon and “official”. He was a perfect model to the clergy by his zeal, devotion and boundless liberalities to the poor. In 1222 he assumed the habit of St Dominic at Barcelona, eight months after the death of the holy founder, and in the forty-seventh year of his age. No one of the young novices was more humble, obedient or fervent than he. He begged of his superiors that they would enjoin him some severe penance to expiate the complacency which he said he had sometimes taken in his teaching. They, indeed, imposed on him a penance, but not quite such as he expected.
It was to write a collection of cases of conscience for the convenience of confessors and moralists.
 This led to the compilation of the Summa de casibus poenitentialibus and the first work of its kind.

Raymund joined to the exercises of his solitude an apostolic life by labouring without intermission in preaching, instructing, hearing confessions, and converting heretics, Jews and Moors; and he was commissioned to preach the war of the Spaniards against the last-named. He acquitted himself of his new duties with much prudence, zeal and charity, and in this indirect manner paved the way for the ultimate overthrow of the infidel in Spain. His labours were no less successful in the reformation of the morals of the Christians detained in servitude under the Moors, which had been corrupted by their long slavery and intercourse with these infidels. Raymund showed them that to triumph over their political foes they must first conquer their spiritual enemies, and subdue sin in themselves. Incul­cating these and the like spiritual lessons, he journeyed through Catalonia, Aragon, Castile and other countries. So general a change was wrought hereby in the manners of the people that it seemed incredible to all but those who were witnesses of it.

It is commonly said that St Raymund of Peñafort was associated with St Peter Nolasco in the foundation of the Order of Our Lady of Ransom, usually called the Mercedarians, who were particularly concerned with ransoming captives among the Moors. This has given rise to keen controversy. The representatives of the order, and notably Father Gazulla, in several works contend that the Mercedarian Order was founded in 1218, at a date earlier than that at which St Raymund became a Dominican. They allege further that a vision of our Lady was vouch­safed to St Peter Nolasco, their founder, and also simultaneously to King James of Aragon and to St Raymund, and that the institute which came into existence in consequence of this vision was originally a military order which owed nothing to Dominican influences. All these points have been strongly contested, more particularly in the works of Father Vacas Galindo, O.P. This writer urges that the Mercedarians, at first simply a confraternity, were not organized as a religious congregation before 1233, that St Raymund had founded the confraternity in 1222 and had given it rules based upon the Dominican constitutions and office, that the supposed triple vision of our Lady was never heard of until two or three hundred years later, and so on.

Pope Gregory IX, having called St Raymund to Rome in 1230, nominated him to various offices and took him likewise for his confessor, in which capacity Raymund enjoined the pope, for a penance, to receive, hear and expedite im­mediately all petitions presented by the poor. Gregory also ordered the saint to gather into one body all the scattered decrees of popes and councils since the collection made by Gratian in 1150. In three years Raymund completed his task, and the five books of the “Decretals” were confirmed by the same Pope Gregory in 1234. Down to the publication of the new Codex Juris Canonici in 1917 this compilation of St Raymund was looked upon as the best arranged part of the body of canon law, on which account the canonists usually chose it for the text of their commentaries. In 1235 the pope named St Raymund to the archbishopric of Tarragona, the capital of Aragon: the humble religious was not able to avert the blow, as he called it, by tears and entreaties; but the anxiety brought on a serious illness. To restore him to health his Holiness was obliged to consent to excuse him, but required that he should recommend a proper person.

For the recovery of his health St Raymund returned to his native country, was received with as much joy as if the safety of the kingdom depended on his presence. Being restored again to his dear solitude at Barcelona be continued his former contemplation, preaching and work in the confessional. The number of conversions of which he was the instrument is known only to Him who by His grace was the author of them. Raymund was employed frequently in important commissions, both by the Holy See and by the king. In 1238, however, he was thunderstruck by the arrival of deputies from the general chapter of his order at Bologna with the news that he had been chosen third master general, Bd Jordan of Saxony having lately died. He wept and entreated, but at length acquiesced in obedience. He made the visitation of his order on foot without discontinuing any of his austerities or religious exercises. He instilled into his spiritual children a love of regularity, solitude, studies and the work of the ministry, and reduced the constitutions of his order into a clearer method, with notes on the doubtful passages. The code which he drew up was approved in three general chapters. In one held at Paris in 1239 he procured the establishment of this regulation, that the voluntary resignation of a superior, founded upon just reasons, should be accepted. This he contrived in his own favour, for in the year following he resigned the generalship which he had held only two years. He grounded his action on the fact that he was now sixty-five years old.

But St Raymund still had thirty-four years to live, and he spent them in the main opposing heresy and working for the conversion of the Moors in Spain. With this end in view, he engaged St Thomas to write his work Against the Gentiles; he contrived to have Arabic and Hebrew taught in several convents of his order; and he established friaries, one at Tunis, and another at Murcia, among the Moors. In 1256 he wrote to his general that ten thousand Saracens had received baptism. He was active in getting the Inquisition established in Catalonia; and on one occasion he was accused—it is to be feared not without some reason—of com­promising a Jewish rabbi by a trick.

A famous incident in St Raymund’s life is said to have taken place when he accompanied King James to the island of Majorca. The king, very loose in his relations with women, promised amendment, but failed to implement his promise; whereupon Raymund asked leave to go back to Barcelona. The king not only refused, but threatened to punish with death any person who attempted to convey him out of the island. Full of confidence in God, Raymund said to his companion, “An earthly king withholds the means of flight, but the King of Heaven will supply them.” He then walked to the sea and, we are told, spread his cloak upon the water, tied up one corner of it to a staff for a sail, and having made the sign of the cross, stepped upon it without fear whilst his companion stood trembling on the shore. On this new kind of vessel the saint was wafted with such rapidity that in six hours he reached the harbour of Barcelona, sixty leagues distant from Majorca. Those who saw him arrive in this manner met him with acclama­tions. But he, gathering up his cloak dry, put it on, stole through the crowd and entered his monastery. A chapel and a tower, built on the place where he is supposed to have landed, transmitted the memory of this miracle to posterity. During the saint’s last illness, Alphonsus, King of Castile, and James of Aragon visited him, and received his final blessing. St Raymund gave up his soul to God on January 6 in the year 1275, the hundredth of his age. The two kings, with all the princes and princesses of their royal families, honoured his funeral with their presence but his tomb was rendered far more illustrious by miracles. Several (including the one related above) are recorded in the bull of his canonization, published in 1601.

The principal materials for the life of St Raymund of Peñafort have been printed by Fathers Balme and Paban under the title Raymundiana in the Monumenta Historica OP., vols. iv and vi, and an excellent general summary will be found in Mortier, Histoire des maîtres généraux OP., especially vol. i, pp. 225—272 and 400. The best life is said to be by F. Valls Taberner, San Ramón de Penyafort (1936). As for the connection of the saint with the Order of Our Lady of Ransom, whatever be the truth of the case there can be no doubt that a large number of spurious documents, mysteriously found at the right moment in an iron casket at the beginning of the seventeenth century, have been made use of in support of the Mercedarian thesis. The evidence upon many points is so unsatisfactory that it becomes extremely difficult to give unreserved credence to such incidents in St Raymund’s life as his miraculous voyage from Majorca. See the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxxix (1921), pp. 209 seq. and vol. xl (1922), pp. 442 seq. Cf. St Peter Nolasco, on January 28.
1366 St. Henry Suso, Blessed Famed German Dominican mystic
wrote many classic books. Born Heinrich von Berg in Constance, Swabia, he entered the Order of Preachers, the Dominicans, at an early age. Undergoing a conversion, he developed an abiding spiritual life and studied under Meister Eckhart in Cologne from 1322-1325. He then returned to Constance to teach, subsequently authoring numerous books of spirituality. As he supported Meister Eckhart  who was then the source of some controversy and had been condemned by Pope John XXII in 1329  Henry was censured by his superiors and stripped of his teaching position. He subsequently became a preacher in Switzerland and the Upper Rhine and was a brilliant spiritual advisor among the Dominicans and the spiritual community of the Gottesfreunde . He endured persecution right up until his death at Ulm. Pope Gregory XVI beatified him in 1831.
1505 Blessed Margaret of Ravenna patience and humility V (PC)
Born at Russi (near Ravenna), Italy; died 1505. From her youth Margaret was almost blind, who not only suffered from a lack of empathy from her neighbors, but even injustice. Nevertheless, many of them were eventually won to friendship through her patience and humility. With the help of a priest, she formed a religious association of secular laity, but it did not survive (Attwater2, Benedictines).
1918 Blessed Mother Marianne Cope of Molokai  faced everything with unflinching courage smiling sweetly through it all
Though leprosy scared off most people in 19th-century Hawaii, that disease sparked great generosity in the woman who came to be known as Mother Marianne of Molokai. Her courage helped tremendously to improve the lives of its victims in Hawaii, a territory annexed to the United States during her lifetime (1898).

Mother Marianne’s generosity and courage were celebrated at her May 14, 2005, beatification in Rome. She was a woman who spoke “the language of truth and love” to the world, said Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes. Cardinal Martins, who presided at the beatification Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, called her life “a wonderful work of divine grace.” Speaking of her special love for persons suffering from leprosy, he said, “She saw in them the suffering face of Jesus. Like the Good Samaritan, she became their mother.”

On January 23, 1838, a daughter was born to Peter and Barbara Cope of Hessen-Darmstadt, Germany. The girl was named after her mother. Two years later the Cope family immigrated to the United States and settled in Utica, New York. Young Barbara worked in a factory until August 1862, when she went to the Sisters of the Third Order of Saint Francis in Syracuse, New York. After profession in November of the next year, she began teaching at Assumption parish school.

Marianne held the post of superior in several places and was twice the novice mistress of her congregation. A natural leader, three different times she was superior of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse, where she learned much that would be useful during her years in Hawaii.

Elected provincial in 1877, Mother Marianne was unanimously re-elected in 1881. Two years later the Hawaiian government was searching for someone to run the Kakaako Receiving Station for people suspected of having leprosy. More than 50 religious communities in the United States and Canada were asked. When the request was put to the Syracuse sisters, 35 of them volunteered immediately. On October 22, 1883, Mother Marianne and six other sisters left for Hawaii where they took charge of the Kakaako Receiving Station outside Honolulu; on the island of Maui they also opened a hospital and a school for girls.

In 1888, Mother Marianne and two sisters went to Molokai to open a home for “unprotected women and girls” there. The Hawaiian government was quite hesitant to send women for this difficult assignment; they need not have worried about Mother Marianne! On Molokai she took charge of the home that Blessed Damien DeVeuster (d. 1889) had established for men and boys. Mother Marianne changed life on Molokai by introducing cleanliness, pride and fun to the colony. Bright scarves and pretty dresses for the women were part of her approach.

Awarded the Royal Order of Kapiolani by the Hawaiian government and celebrated in a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson, Mother Marianne continued her work faithfully. Her sisters have attracted vocations among the Hawaiian people and still work on Molokai.

Mother Marianne died on August 9, 1918.
Comment: The government authorities were reluctant to allow Mother Marianne to be a mother on Molokai. Thirty years of dedication proved their fears unfounded. God grants gifts regardless of human short-sightedness and allows those gifts to flower for the sake of the kingdom.

Quote: Soon after Mother Marianne died, Mrs. John F. Bowler wrote in the Honolulu Advertiser, “Seldom has the opportunity come to a woman to devote every hour of 30 years to the mothering of people isolated by law from the rest of the world. She risked her own life in all that time, faced everything with unflinching courage and smiled sweetly through it all.”


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 244

O Lady, we have heard with our ears: and our fathers have told it unto us.

For thy merits are ineffable: and thy wonders exceedingly stupendous.

O Lady, innumerable are thy virtues: and inestimable are thy mercies.

Exult, O my soul, and rejoice in her: for many good things are prepared for those who praise her.

Blessed be thou, O Queen of the Heavens and the angels: and let those who praise thy magnificence be blessed by God.

Let every spirit praise Our Lady

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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