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Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!  (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
RDeo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
January is the month of the Holy Name of Jesus since 1902;
2023
22,600 lives saved since 2007

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


    "Give as if every pasture in the mountains of Ireland belonged to you." --Saint Aidan 626

Menuthis is now known as Abukir, meaning 'Father Cyrus,' Nelsons Victory

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Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary .

  

 Eódem die Translátio sancti Marci Evangelístæ, cum sacrum ejus corpus ex Alexandría, a bárbaris tunc occupáta, Venétias allátum, ibídem in majóri Ecclésia, ejus nómine consecráta, honorificentíssime cónditum fuit.

The same day, the transfer of the revered body of the Evangelist St. Mark from the city of Alexandria in Egypt, then occupied by barbarians, to Venice, and with the greatest honours placed in the large church dedicated to his name.




January 31 - Saint John Bosco   Two Columns
On May 30, 1862, Don Bosco spoke to his boys and young clerics he was training about a dream he had dreamt. He said, "Try to picture yourselves with me on a seashore, or better still, on a outlying cliff with no other land in sight. The vast expanse of water is covered with a formidable array of ships in battle formation, prows fitted with sharp spear-like beaks capable of breaking through any defense. All are headed toward one stately flagship, mightier than them all. As they try to close in, they try to ram it, set it on fire, and destroy it as much as possible.

This stately vessel is shielded by a flotilla escort. Winds and waves are with the enemy. In the midst of this endless sea, two solid columns a short distance apart, soar high into the sky: one is surmounted by a statue of the Immaculate Virgin with a rosary at whose feet a large inscription reads: Help of Christians; the other, far loftier and sturdier supports a (Communion) Host of proportionate size and bears beneath it the inscription Salvation of Believers."

The saint continued explaining that the assault turned to the advantage of the aggressors, but the Pope, in white, on the bow of the great ship, summoned his commanders for a conference, but a furious storm broke out and they had to return to their ships. Standing at the helm the Pope strained every muscle to steer his ship between the two columns from whose summits hung many anchors and strong hooks linked to chains.

At this point Don Bosco asked one of the priests present for his views. He replied that he thought that the flagship symbolized the Church headed by the Pope, with the ships representing mankind and the sea as an image of the world. The ships defending the flagship he equated with the laity and the attackers with those trying to destroy the Church, while the two columns represented devotion to Mary and the Eucharist.
Adapted from www.theotokos.org.uk
January 31 - St John Bosco (d. 1888)
  Two Mighty Columns of Great Height

(I saw) an innumerable fleet of ships in battle array…
As escorts to that majestic fully equipped ship (the Church), there are many smaller ships, which receive commands by signal from it and carry out movements to defend themselves from the opposing fleet.

In the midst of the immense expanse of sea, two mighty columns of great height arise a little distance the one from the other. On the top of one, there is the statue of the Immaculate Virgin, from whose feet hangs a large placard with this inscription: Auxilium Christianorum – ‘Help of Christians’; on the other, which is much higher and bigger, stands a Host of great size proportionate to the column and beneath is another placard with the words: Salus Credentium –‘Salvation of the Faithful.’

(…) The new Pope, putting the enemy to rout and overcoming every obstacle, guides the ship right up to the two columns and comes to rest between them; he makes it fast with a light chain that hangs from the bow to an anchor of the column on which stands the Host; and with another light chain which hangs from the stern, he fastens it at the opposite end to another anchor hanging from the column on which stands the Immaculate Virgin.

Then a great convulsion takes place. All the ships that until then had fought against the Pope's ship are scattered; they flee away, collide and break to pieces one against another.     Don Bosco’s Prophetic Dream (May 30, 1862)


 250 St. Metranus Egyptian martyr in Alexandria
 250 Sts. Saturninus, Thrysus, & Victor Martyrs at Alexandria
 303 St. Cyrus Alexandrian doctor monk converted patients to Christianity and John Arab soldier Martyrs
 309 St. Julius of Novara  Missionary confessor with his brother, Julian deacon
 348 St. Geminian Bishop of Modena, Italy
       St. Tryphaena martyr at Cyzicus on the Hellespont patroness nursing mothers

       St. Tarskius Martyr with Zoticus Cyriacus & companions
 410 St. Marcella Roman matron gave to the poor martyred
 626 St. Aidan Monastic & Church founder bishop miracle worker great charity kindness to animals
 680 St. Adamnan of Coldingham Confessor gift of prophecy
 750 St. Ulphia Hermitess
  766 St. Bobinus Benedictine bishop of Troyes
  884 St. Eusebius hermit Martyred Irish Benedictine
 885 St. Athanasius Bishop caught in the Saracen invasion of Sicily 
1050 Bessed John of Angelus, 
1107 St. Nicetas Bishop of Novgorod miracle worker 
1156 St. Martin Manuel Portuguese martyr

1515 Blessed Paula Gambara-Costa won bad husband over to Christ
1533 Blessed Louise degli Albertoni Widow spent her life in works of charity
       St. Madoes honored in the Carse of Gowrie, Scotland
1815 St. Francis Xavier Bianchi Bamabite priest called “the Apostle of Naples”  stopped lava from Vesuvius 1805
1836 Blessed Mary Christina, Queen
1888 John Bosco, Priest Founder great lover of children (RM)
"All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations shall worship before him"
(Psalm 21:28)

1888 John Bosco, Priest Founder great lover of children (RM)
 Augústæ Taurinórum sancti Joánnis Bosco, Confessóris, Societátis Salesiánæ ac Institúti Filiárum Maríæ Auxiliatrícis Fundatóris, animárum zelo et fídei propagándæ conspícui, quem Pius Papa Undécimus Sanctórum fastis adscrípsit.
       At Turin,the birthday of St. John Bosco, confessor, founder of the Salesian Congregation and of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians.  Conspicuous for his zeal for souls and for the propagation of the faith, he was canonized by Pope Pius XI.
Born at Becchi (near Turin), Piedmont, Italy, August 15, 1815; died in Turin on January 31, 1888; both beatified in 1929 and canonized April 1, 1934, by Pope Pius XI as the "Father and Teacher of Youth."

1888 ST JOHN BOSCO, FOUNDER OF THE SALESIANS OF DON Bosco
“IN his life the supernatural almost became the natural and the extraordinary ordinary.” These were the words of Pope Pius XI in speaking of that great lover of children, Don Bosco. Born in 1815, the youngest son of a peasant-farmer in a Piedmontese village, John Melchior Bosco lost his father at the age of two and was brought up by his mother, a saintly and industrious woman who had a hard struggle to keep the home together. A dream which he had when he was nine showed him the vocation from which he never swerved. It was the precursor of other visions which, at various critical periods of his life, indicated the next step he was to take. In this first dream he seemed to be surrounded by a crowd of fighting and blaspheming children whom he strove in vain to pacify, at first by argument and then with his fists. Suddenly there appeared a mysterious lady who said to him “Softly, softly... if you wish to win them Take your shepherd’s staff and lead them to pasture.” As she spoke, the children were transformed into wild beasts and then into lambs. From that moment John recognized that his duty was to help poor boys, and he began with those of his own village, teaching them the catechism and bringing them to church. As an encouragement, he would often delight them with acrobatic and conjuring tricks, at which he became very proficient. One Sunday morning, when a perambulating juggler and gymnast was detaining the youngsters with his performances, the little lad challenged him to a competition beat him at his own job, and triumphantly bore off his audience to Mass.

Whilst he was staying with an aunt who was servant to a priest, John had learnt to read and he ardently desired to become a priest, but he had many difficulties to over­come before he could enter on his studies. He was sixteen when he entered the seminary at Chieri and so poor that his maintenance money and his very clothes had to be provided by charity, the mayor contributing his hat, the parish priest his cloak, one parishioner his cassock, and another a pair of shoes. After his ordination to the diaconate he passed to the theological college of Turin and, during his residence there, he began, with the approbation of his superiors, to gather together on Sundays a number of the neglected apprentices and waifs of the city.

His attention was confirmed in this field by St Joseph Cafasso, then rector of a parish church and the annexed sacerdotal institute in Turin. It was he who persuaded Don Bosco that he was not cut out to be a missionary abroad “Go and unpack that trunk you’ve got ready, and carry on with your work for the boys. That, and nothing else, is God’s will for you.” Don Cafasso introduced him, on the one hand, to those moneyed people of the city who were in time to come to be the generous benefactors of his work, and on the other hand to the prisons and slums whence were to come the beneficiaries of that work.

His first appointment was to the assistant chaplaincy of a refuge for girls founded by the Marchesa di Barola, the wealthy and philanthropic woman who had taken care of Silvio Pellico after his release. This post left him free on Sunday to look after his boys, to whom he devoted the whole day and for whom he devised a sort of combined Sunday-school and recreation centre which he called a “festive oratory”. Permission to meet on premises belonging to the Marchesa was soon withdrawn because the lads were noisy and some of them picked the flowers, and for over a year they were sent from pillar to post—no landlord being willing to put up with the lively band, which had increased to several hundred. When at last Don Bosco was able to hire an old shed and all seemed promising, the Marchesa, who with all her generosity was somewhat of an autocrat, delivered an ultimatum offering him the alternative of giving up the boys or resigning his post at her refuge. He chose the latter.

In the midst of his anxiety, the holy man was prostrated by a severe attack of pneumonia with complications which nearly cost him his life. He had hardly recovered when he went to live in some miserable rooms adjoining his new oratory, and with his mother installed as his housekeeper he applied himself to consolidating and extending his work. A night-school started the previous year took permanent shape, and as the oratory was overcrowded, he opened two more centres in other quarters of Turin. It was about this time that he began to take in and house a few destitute children. In a short time some thirty or forty neglected boys, most of them apprentices in the city, were living with Don Bosco and his devoted mother, “Mamma Margaret”, in the Valdocco quarter, going out daily to work. He soon 

realized that any good he could do them was counterbalanced by outside influences, and he eventually determined to train the apprentices at home. He opened his first two workshops, for shoemakers and tailors, in 1853.

The next step was to construct for his flock a church, which he placed under the patronage of his favourite saint, Francis de Sales, and when that was finished he set to work to build a home for his increasing family. The money came—miracu­lously as it often seemed. The boys were of two sorts little would-be appren­tices, and those in whom Don Bosco discerned future helpers and possible vocations to the priesthood. At first they attended classes outside, but, as more help became available, technical courses and grammar classes were started in the house and all were taught at home. By 1856 there were 150 resident boys, with four workshops including a printing-press, and also four Latin classes, with ten young priests, besides the oratories with their 500 children. Owing to his intense sympathy and marvellous power of reading their thoughts, Don Bosco exercised an unbounded influence over his boys, whom he was able to rule with an apparent indulgence and absence of punishment which rather scandalized the educationists of his day.

Over and above all this work, he was in constant request as a preacher, his fame for eloquence being enhanced by the numerous miracles—mostly of healing—which were wrought through his intercession. A third form of activity which he pursued for years was the writing of popular books, for he was as strongly convinced of the power of the press as any member of the Catholic Truth Society. Now it would be a work in defence of the faith, now a history or other lesson book, now one of a series of Catholic readings which would occupy him for half the night, until failing sight in later life compelled him to lay down his pen.

For years St John Bosco’s great problem was that of help. Enthusiastic young priests would offer their services, but sooner or later would give up, because they could not master Don Bosco’s methods or had not his patience with often vicious young ruffians or were put off by his scheme for schools and workshops when he had not a penny. Some even were disappointed because he would not turn the oratory into a political club in the interests of “Young Italy”. By 1850 he had only one assistant left, and he resolved to train young men himself for the work. (It was in consequence of this that St Dominic Savio came to the oratory in 1854.) In any case something in the nature of a religious order had long been in his mind and, after several disappointments, the time came when he felt that he had at last the nucleus he desired.            “On the night of January 26, 1854, we were assembled in Don Bosco’s room,” writes one of those present. Besides Don Bosco there were Cagliero, Rocchetti, Artiglia and Rua. “It was suggested that with God’s help we should enter upon a period of practical works of charity to help our neighbours. At the close of that period we might bind ourselves by a promise, which could subsequently be transformed into a vow. From that evening, the name of Salesian was given to all who embarked upon that form of apostolate.”

The name, of course, came from the great Bishop of Geneva. It seemed a most unpropitious moment for launching a new congregation, for in all its history Piedmont had never been so anti-clerical. The Jesuits and the Ladies of the Sacred Heart had been expelled, many convents had been suppressed, and law after law was passed cur­tailing the rights of the religious orders. Nevertheless it was the statesman Rattazzi, one of the ministers most responsible for that legislation, who, meeting Don Bosco one day, urged him to found a society to carry on his valuable work, promising him the support of the king.

In December 1859, with twenty-two companions, he finally determined to proceed with the organization of a religious congregation, whose rules had received the general approval of Pope Pius IX but it was not until fifteen years later that the constitutions received their final approbation, with leave to present candidates for holy orders. The new society grew apace: in 1863 there were 39 Salesians, at the founder’s death 768, and today they are numbered by thousands, all over the world. One of Don Bosco’s dreams was realized when he sent his first missionaries to Patagonia, and others soon spread over South America. He lived to see twenty-six houses started in the New World and thirty-eight in the Old. Today Salesian establishments include schools from the primary grade to colleges and seminaries, adult schools, technical schools, agricultural schools, printing and bookbinding shops, hospitals, to say nothing of foreign missions and pastoral work.

His next great work was the foundation of an order of women to do for poor girls what the Salesians were doing for boys. This was inaugurated in 1872 with the clothing of twenty-seven young women to whom he gave the name of Daughters of Our Lady, Help of Christians. This community increased almost as fast as the other, with elementary schools in Italy, Brazil and the Argentine, and other activi­ties. To supplement the work of these two congregations, Don Bosco organized his numerous outside helpers into a new sort of third order to which he attached the up-to-date title of Salesian Co-operators. These were men and women of all classes, pledged to assist in some way the educational labours of the Salesians.

The dream or vision previously referred to struck the note for all Don Bosco’s dealings with boys. It is a platitude that to do anything with them you must have a liking for them; but the love must also be seen. It radiated from Don Bosco, and incidentally helped to form his ideas about punishment at a time when the crudest superstitions on that subject were still almost unquestioned. Fostering of a sense of personal responsibility, removal of occasions of disobedience, appre­ciation of effort, friendliness these were his methods. In 1877 he wrote, “I do not remember ever to have used formal punishment. By God’s grace I have always been able to get not only observance of rules but even of my bare wishes.” There went with that an acute awareness of the harm done by misdirected kindness, as he was not slow to point out to parents. One of the pleasantest pictures that St John Bosco’s name conjures up is those Sunday excursions into the country with a gang of boys, when he would celebrate Mass in the village church, then breakfast and games out-of-doors, a catechism lesson, and the singing of Vespers to end up— Don Bosco was a firm believer in the civilizing and spiritualizing effects of good music.

Any account of Don Bosco’s life would be incomplete without some mention of his work as a church-builder.
His first little church soon proving insufficient for its increasing congregation, the founder proceeded to the construction of a much larger one which was completed in 1868. This was followed by another spacious and much-needed basilica in a poor quarter of Turin, which he placed under the patronage of St John the Evangelist. The effort to raise the necessary money had been immense, and the holy man was out of health and very weary, but his labours were not yet over. During the last years of Pius IX, the project had been formed of building in Rome a church in honour of the Sacred Heart, and Pius had given the money to buy the site. His successor was equally anxious for the work to proceed, but it seemed impossible to obtain funds to raise it above the foundations. 

“What a pity it is that we can make no headway,” remarked the pope after a consistory.

“The glory of God, the honour of the Holy See and the spiritual good of so many are involved in the undertaking. I can see no way out of the difficulty.”
“I could suggest one”, said Cardinal Alimonda.
“And what might that be?”
“Hand it over to Don Bosco: he could do it.”
“But would he accept”
“I know him: a wish expressed by your Holiness would be honoured as a command.”
The task was accordingly proposed to him and he undertook it.

When he could obtain no more funds from Italy he betook himself to France, the land where devotion to the Sacred Heart has always flourished pre-eminently. Everywhere he was acclaimed as a saint and a wonder-worker, and the money came pouring in. The completion of the new church was assured, but, as the time for the consecration approached, Don Bosco was sometimes heard to say that if it were long delayed he would not be alive to witness it. It took place on May 14, 1887, and he offered Mass in the church once shortly after but as the year drew on it became evident that his days were numbered. Two years earlier the doctors had declared that he had worn himself out and that complete rest was his only chance, but rest for him was out of the question. At the end of the year his strength gave way altogether, and he became gradually weaker until at last he passed away on January 31, 1888, so early in the morning that his death has been described, not quite correctly, as occurring on the morrow of the feast of St Francis de Sales. Forty thousand persons visited his body as it lay in the church, and his funeral resembled a triumph, for the whole city of Turin turned out to do him honour when his mortal remains were borne to their last resting-place. St John Bosco was canonized in 1934.

A full biography of Don Bosco in Italian, by G. B. Lemoyne, has had an enormous sale, but the standard life is that by A. Auffray (1929). Biographies and studies are numerous in many languages. Among the more recent in French are those by D. Lathoud (1938), F. Veuillot (1943), and P. Crass Fidéle histoire de St Jean Bosco (1936), and such shorter works in English as H. Ghéon’s Spirit of St John Bosco and those of F. A. Forbes and Fr H. L. Hughes. St John Bosco’s Early Apostolate (1934), by Fr G. Bonetti, is an exhaustive study of the first quarter-century of the saint’s priesthood. A new English edition of Auffray’s work is in preparation.

John Melchoir Bosco was a great lover of children, and such was the gentleness and sweetness of his life that Pius XI, in proclaiming him a saint, said that "in his life the supernatural almost became the natural and the extraordinary ordinary." Born of peasant stock, his father died when John was two, leaving his valiant wife Margaret to care for her stepson, Antonio, and her own two sons, Giovanni (John) and Giuseppe (Joseph), and her mother-in-law. She raised the children vigorously and lovingly in the poor cottage.

At age nine John had a dream in which he saw himself changing children from beasts into lambs. He decided immediately to become a priest and devote his life to children, and began at once. He haunted every circus and fair; learned to walk tight-ropes, do acrobatics, and become a conjurer at the cost of an often broken nose. He was then able to provide fascinating entertainment that would end with the rosary and a verbatim repetition of the previous Sunday's sermon.
 
In addition to his physical prowess, John Bosco possessed great mental acumen, a formidable memory, good looks, a sense of humor, and charm. These also attracted others. As a young man, he was of medium height with curly, chestnut hair. He had his problems, too. He was a passionate young man and, like Saint Peter, impetuous. He judged himself so full of pride that he feared he would use his position as a parish priest to feed his cravings for prestige. Yet he learned to control his passions so that calmness and peacefulness characterized his whole life and his relationships with others.

Saint John Bosco Courtesy of the Salesians
Having set his sights on the priesthood, John also learned his lessons well. John left home at age 13 to earn money for his schooling. He hired himself out to farmers, then a tailor, and later worked in a confectionery. These trades served him well later in life.
When he entered the seminary at Chieri at 20 (some say 16), he wore clothes and shoes that were provided by charity. He was ordained in 1841 by Archbishop Fransoni. He had retained his irrepressible gaiety, despite the stiff, semi-Jansenism of his professors. The young priest had thought of becoming a missionary but Saint Joseph Cafasso, the rector of the seminary and John's spiritual director for over twenty years, persuaded him to remain in Italy. He is reported to have said, "Don Bosco, you can't even take a coach ride without getting an upset stomach. How will you ever be a missionary? No, you will not go; but you will send out many to preach and teach the word of God." Father Cafasso eventually introduced John to the wealthy who would support his work with children, and showed him the immense harvests to be gathered among the slums of Turin.

Shortly after his ordination, the archbishop approved Bosco for an intensive five-year course of post-graduate theological study at Turin's Ecclesiastical College. While finishing his education, John also studied the slums of Turin, where many peasant and orphaned lads had come to try their luck. Their degradation was appalling. He could achieve no contact until one day a sacristan smacked the head of a big oaf who stood staring and had answered that he didn't know how to serve the Mass John was about to offer. "I won't have my friends treated like that," John exclaimed. "Your friend?" "The moment anyone is ill-used he becomes my friend." The lad was brought back; next Sunday he fetched others; in but a few months over a hundred were arriving. For three years this uproarious horde had the courtyard of the college for a playground.

 
At first he brought the boys together only on Sundays in one church or another in Turin or near by; he prayed with them, gave them brief, trenchant instruction in the Christian faith, prepared them to receive the sacraments, then allowed them to romp in the open countryside. An early disciple reminisced, "At the end of each Sunday excursion, Don Bosco always told us to plan for the next Sunday. He gave us advice as to our conduct and asked us, if we had any friends, to invite them, too. Joy reigned among us. Those happy days are engraved in our memories and influenced our lives.
Courtesy of  St. Charles Borromeo Church 
"Arriving at some church in the outskirts of town, Don Bosco would ask permission of the parish priest to play. The permission was always granted, and then at a signal the noisy band gathered together. Catechism followed breakfast: the grass and rocks supplied the plates and tables. It is true, bread failed now and then, but cheerfulness, never. We sang while walking, and at sunset we marched back again into Turin. We were fatigued, but our hearts were content."
Don Bosco believed in the value, especially for deprived urban boys, both of contact with natural beauty and the uplifting power of music. That worked well during the summer, the winter was a different story. In winter, Father John had difficulty finding accommodation for the hundreds of boys who "went to don Bosco's."

Other sites were offered and soon withdrawn. No less than ten people within a space of five months had offered John the use of their facilities. Every one of them, after a few experiences, withdrew the promise. Imagine 400 young, energetic boys gathered in one place! No wonder it seemed impossible to accommodate them all. Finally he rented a roomy old shed. The number of boys at Easter time in 1846 was about 800.

Some spread the rumor that don Bosco was organizing a political conspiracy. In the unstable political climate of northern Italy, such an assumption was not unreasonable. To add to the suspicions, anti-clericalism had been rising in the wake of the desire for unification of the seven Italian states and the ousting of the Austrian and French royal houses, while the unarmed papal states benefitted from the occupation of the Austrian army. So, Don Bosco was watched by police. But the police were converted rather than Don Bosco being arrested.

When he visualized and announced what the future held, others said he was a megalomaniac. Well-meaning friends tried to have him committed to an asylum. Two priests were sent as an escort but Bosco intuited their errand. He followed them to their carriage, politely allowed them to enter first, slammed the door, and called out to the driver: "To the asylum." Well, it took a while to get the poor men out (personally, I know that Italians have a caustic sense of humor). Don Bosco had scored.

In 1844, Don Bosco was appointed chaplain of Saint Philomena's Hospice for girls, and housed his boys in an old building on the grounds of the hospice. When they became too unruly he was ordered to give up his care of the boys or resign as chaplain. He resigned and was forced to leave his apartment.

Thus, remembering Palm Sunday of 1846, when John felt his work might come to an end, he wrote: "As I looked at the crowd of children, the thought of the rich harvest they promised, I felt my heart was breaking. I was alone, without helpers. My health was shattered, and I could not tell where to gather my poor little ones anymore."

John urged the urchins to pray, and God answered the cry of the poor. Mr. Pinardi offered to rent John a piece of property in Turin's marshy Valdocco area, which had a small hayshed that could be used as a chapel. They had to dig out the floor so that John could stand upright in the shed, but it worked. Easter Mass was celebrated in the new chapel.

Three months later the exhausted young priest contracted pneumonia. Leaders sprung up among the young men who kept watch outside the hospital. They organized all-night prayer vigils, hounding heaven with sincere promises, fasting, and other penances. The boys were determined to wrestle Don Bosco from death's grip by their prayers and penances. When death seemed inevitable, John's friend Father Borel whispered: "John, these children need you. Ask God to let you stay. Please, say this prayer after me, 'Lord, if it be your good pleasure, cure me. I say this prayer in the name of my children.'" After the prayer, John's fever broke and he recovered.

When John Bosco left the hospital, like his Master before him, he had no place to lay his head. He went to his mother's farm to recuperated. Finally, in November 1846, Mr. Pinardi offered to rent John four rooms on the property in an unseemly neighborhood for a priest living alone. He asked his mother to give up her beloved farm and come with him to the city. Believing it was God's will, Margaret Bosco followed her son. They walked the 20 miles into the city because they had no money for transportation. Thus, with his mother's help, John Bosco established himself in the slum- center of Valdocco and started what he called his oratory. Until then working with the youths was extracurricular, now he could devote himself to his true apostolate.

With his mother as housekeeper and later renting the whole house, he opened a boarding-house for 40 destitute apprentices, who lived with them. This ministry began on a cold rainy night in May 1847, when Mama Margaret welcomed a youngster, chilled to the bones, who stood trembling on the doorstep. She immediately took him in and cared for "the boy who came to dinner." Mama Margaret seems to me to be a saint herself. She toiled endlessly to care for these children. When she was exhausted and frustrated, ready to return to the quiet life of the farm, she would persist for love of Jesus and the sacrifice He made for her.

Soon hundreds of waifs were crowded in the center that Don Bosco opened for instruction in the faith, for training in the crafts, and for recreation. The most gifted pupils were given additional instruction in languages and mathematics and became teachers of the others. And, of course, they were taught music, because, he said, "an Oratory without singing is like a body without a soul." If a child had a vocation for the priesthood, the way with smoothed for him.

It was a turbulent time (does Italy know any other?) and several attempts were made on the saint's life. Once a man shot him through the window as he sat teaching. The bullet passed under his arm, ripping the cloth. "A pity," said he, "it is my best cassock." And he continued the lesson. He also had a mongrel, stray dog named Grigio, who several times saved his life. No one ever saw the dog eating anything, and no one knew where it slept.

The oratory was so successful that another had to be founded, even though there was no money. That never worried Don Bosco; he knew that God would provide. And so He did. Two workshops for shoemakers and tailors were opened in 1853. By 1856, the 40 boys became 150 residents with four workshops, 10 priests, and a group of 400 of the roughest lads attached to the oratories. John's schools were considered among the best in Turin. A distinguished professor explained Bosco's success, "His love shone forth from his looks and his words so clearly, and all felt it and could not doubt it. . . . They experienced an immense joy in his presence."

In order to pay for this work, Don Bosco preached in numerous places, his reputation for oratory increasing daily as the stories spread of miraculous cures attributed to his prayers and intercession; and in addition, wrote numerous pamphlets and nearly 100 book that were distributed throughout Italy. He cured a man with paralysis and another who was blind. Another time, when there were not enough Hosts for the large crowd going to Communion, the Blessed Sacrament was miraculously multiplied so that all the people were able to receive our blessed Lord.

One of Don Bosco's greatest problems was getting help in his work, and to solve that difficulty, in 1859, he opened a religious seminary (later to be called the Society of Saint Francis de Sales or the Salesians). In 1874 this group received the approbation of the Holy Father, and before the founder's death, there were 768 members with 26 houses in the New World and 38 in the Old. Today there are almost 40,000 Salesian fathers, brothers, and sister working in 120 countries. They specialize in pastoral work and schools of all kinds. They staff 220 orphanages, 219 clinics and hospitals, 864 nurseries, and 3,104 schools (287 are technical schools and 59 are agricultural schools).

Another great work begun by Don Bosco was the foundation of a religious order for women. Together with a peasant woman from near Genoa, Saint Mary Mazzarello, in 1872, he began the congregation called Daughters of Our Lady Help of Christians, dedicated to working with poor girls--specializing in elementary schools, instruction centers in the faith, and the like.

A radical idea of Don Bosco, and one which shocked many of his contemporaries was his attitude toward corporal punishment of children. "I do not remember ever to have used formal punishment," he wrote. "By God's grace I have always been able to get not only observance of rules but even of my bare wishes." His educational method, still employed by the Salesians, tries to eliminate conditions leading to delinquency, to influence the pupils by good example and trust, and to make goodness attractive through religious motives, and easy to practice by religious means. "Frequent confession, daily Mass, these are the pillars supporting the whole structure of education," said the saint.

Such was Don John's unique power over the human heart that, having after great difficulty obtained permission to take 300 convicts, to whom he had preached a retreat, on a whole day's excursion to the country as a reward for good behavior, without any guards whatsoever, not a single one made any attempt to escape.

Towards the end of his life don Bosco's missionary spirit developed two special interests: one was England, to which the Salesians came in 1887, and the other was Latin America--he sent ten missionaries to Argentina in 1875. So, while he remained in Italy to work in the slums of Turin, he actually established the framework for the missionary work he originally wanted to undertake.

The Salesians arrived in Argentina at an important time. Many Italians had been migrating to the country during the last quarter of the 19th century, and there were not enough churches and schools to meet their needs. Half of the group travelled south to minister to the indigenous people whose land had been confiscated by the immigrants and led to war. They were instrumental in bringing about a peace, in addition to establishing schools and evangelizing as far south as Puente del Fuego.

Why did such homage surround his last years? In 1883, Pope Leo XIII asked Don Bosco to beg for funds to complete the construction of Sacro Cuore (Sacred Heart Basilica) in Rome. John readily agreed because it would provide him with an opportunity to serve and to visit his spiritual sons who had already spread into France as well as Spain (where he preached a similar mission later). Everywhere he was greeted by warm, enthusiastic crowds who responded generously.

When he was in Lyons the poor cabdriver lost his temper at the encroaching crowds, saying, "I had rather drag the devil than drive a saint." And in Paris the Church of Our Lady of Victories was crammed two hours before the Mass he came to say in that "refuge of sinners," and a poor woman exclaimed to a questioner: "You see, it is the Mass for sinners, and it is to be offered by a saint. . . ."

Don Bosco's health was giving way under the demands of so many well-wishers. His right eye pained him terribly and continuously. Although he was only in his 60's, he was so troubled by phlebitis that two Salesians had to steady him as he meandered through the crowds blessing and greeting people.

As his health continued to deteriorate, his doctors urged Don Bosco to rest. He always responded that he had too much work to do. Until the moment of his death, Don Bosco, supported by two Salesian companions, would journey through Turin visiting the poor, begging from the rich, cheering the hearts of the sad. When he knew his death was imminent, he would say, "I want to go to heaven for there I shall be able to work much better for my children. On earth I can do nothing more for them." His famous sense of humor did not fade with his body: Gasping for breath, he whispered to a son anxiously bending over him, "Do you know where there is a good bellowsmaker?" "Why?" came the puzzled response. "Because I need a new pair of lungs, that's why!"

His successor Don Rua requested that every Salesian try to come to Turin to say farewell to Don Bosco. They entered his room two-by- two to receive his blessing--the priests, the brothers, the farmers and street urchins that had been helped by him to grow into a deep, abiding love of God.

In a way Bosco lived in four worlds simultaneously--the exterior one, symbolized by the town into which his Turin Oratory had grown, the world of dreams (an exact scientific study of which would be infinitely more valuable to psychologists than that of diseased mentalities in Viennese hospitals), the world of souls into which he read with an accuracy far beyond telepathy, and the world of God.

His purity, perfect to the very roots of his thought, enabled him, as our Lord promised, to "see God," and therefore, perhaps, to read so clearly within his fellow-men; his total trust was such that he literally built up his entire life's work out of nothing; his lovable sarcasms that never hurt; his transparent simplicity; his bluff gaiety, despite terrific work (he never slept for more than five hours) and great physical pain and complete self-denial--all this was not an matter of temperament or merely talent, but a gift from God.

He wrote a little, including biographies of Saint Joseph Cafasso and Saint Dominic Savio, one of Bosco's pupils whom Bosco hoped to train to be a helper in his work, but the boy died at age 15.

Church-builder, reformer, educator, leader of the young and of religious working for the young: when Don Bosco died on January 31, 1888, he left all of Europe startled with his accomplishments-- deeds of lasting and heroic importance. Forty thousand (Martindale reports 100,000) people visited his body as it lay in the church at Turin, and the entire city assembled to see him carried to his grave. It is said that more than 200,000 people at his funeral prayed to him rather than for him (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Butler, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Karp, Martindale, Melady, Salesian, Schamoni, Sheppard).

St. John Bosco 1815-1888
John Bosco’s theory of education could well be used in today’s schools. It was a preventive system, rejecting corporal punishment and placing students in surroundings removed from the likelihood of committing sin. He advocated frequent reception of the sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion. He combined catechetical training and fatherly guidance, seeking to unite the spiritual life with one’s work, study and play.
Encouraged during his youth to become a priest so he could work with young boys, John was ordained in 1841. His service to young people started when he met a poor orphan and instructed him in preparation for receiving Holy Communion. He then gathered young apprentices and taught them catechism.

After serving as chaplain in a hospice for working girls, John opened the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales for boys. Several wealthy and powerful patrons contributed money, enabling him to provide two workshops for the boys, shoemaking and tailoring.

By 1856, the institution had grown to 150 boys and had added a printing press for publication of religious and catechetical pamphlets. His interest in vocational education and publishing justify him as patron of young apprentices and Catholic publishers.
John’s preaching fame spread and by 1850 he had trained his own helpers because of difficulties in retaining young priests. In 1854 he and his followers informally banded together under Francis de Sales.
With Pope Pius IX’s encouragement, John gathered 17 men and founded the Salesians in 1859. Their activity concentrated on education and mission work. Later, he organized a group of Salesian Sisters to assist girls.

Comment: John Bosco educated the whole person—body and soul united. He believed that Christ’s love and our faith in that love should pervade everything we do—work, study, play. For John Bosco, being a Christian was a full-time effort, not a once-a-week, Mass-on-Sunday experience. It is searching and finding God and Jesus in everything we do, letting their love lead us. Yet, John realized the importance of job-training and the self-worth and pride that comes with talent and ability so he trained his students in the trade crafts, too.
Quote: “Every education teaches a philosophy; if not by dogma then by suggestion, by implication, by atmosphere. Every part of that education has a connection with every other part. If it does not all combine to convey some general view of life, it is not education at all” (G.K. Chesterton, The Common Man).
St. Tarskius Martyr with Zoticus Cyriacus & companions.
  Item Alexandríæ sanctórum Mártyrum Tharsícii, Zótici, Cyríaci et Sociórum.
       Also at Alexandria, the holy martyrs Tharsicius, Zoticus, Cyriacus, and their companions.

They were put to death in an unknown year at Alexandria, Egypt.

250 Sts. Saturninus, Thrysus, & Victor Martyrs at Alexandria MM (RM)
 Ibídem sanctórum Mártyrum Saturníni, Thyrsi et Victóris.
       In the same place, the holy martyrs Saturninus, Thyrsus, and Victor.

put to death at Alexandria, Egypt, perhaps during the severe persecutions launched by Emperor Trajanus Decius.  (Benedictines).

250 St. Metranus Egyptian martyr in Alexandria
 Alexandríæ natális sancti Metráni Mártyris, qui, sub Décio Imperatóre, cum ad jussiónem Paganórum nollet ímpia verba proférre, hi totum ejus corpus fústibus collisérunt, vultúmque et óculos præacútis cálamis terebrántes, cum cruciátibus expulérunt ipsum extra urbem, ibíque lapídibus oppréssum interemérunt.
      At Alexandria, in the time of Emperor Decius, the birthday of St. Metran, martyr, who, because he refused to utter blasphemous words at the bidding of the pagans, had his body all bruised with blows, and his face and eyes pierced with sharp pointed reeds.  He was then driven out of the city and stoned to death.
sometimes called Metras. St. Dionysius of Alexandria wrote an account of his martyrdom  left a vivid account of Saint Metranus's martyrdom  in the reign of Emperor Trajanus Decius. (Benedictines)
303 St. Cyrus Alexandrian doctor monk converted patients to Christianity and John Arab soldier Martyrs
 Romæ, via Portuénsi, sanctórum Mártyrum Cyri et Joánnis, qui pro confessióne Christi, post multa torménta, cápite truncáti sunt.
       At Rome, on the road to Ostia, the holy martyrs Cyrus and John, who were beheaded after suffering many torments for the name of Christ.
St. Cyrus was an Alexandrian doctor who used his calling to convert many of his patients to Christianity. He joined an Arabian physician named John in encouraging Athanasia and her three daughters to remain constant in their faith under torture at Canopus, Egypt. They were both seized and tortured, and then all six were beheaded.
303 SS. CYRUS AND JOHN, MARTYRS
CYRUS, a physician of Alexandria, who by the opportunities which his profession gave him had converted many persons to the faith, and John, an Arabian, hearing that a lady called Athanasia and her three daughters, of whom the eldest was only fifteen, were suffering grievous torment for the name of Christ at Canopus in Egypt, went thither to encourage them. They were apprehended themselves, and cruelly beaten their sides being burnt with torches, while salt and vinegar were poured into their wounds in the presence of Athanasia and her daughters, who were also tortured after them. At length the four women, and a few days after, Cyrus and John, were beheaded, the two latter on this day. The Syrians, Egyptians, Greeks and Latins all venerate their memory.

Concerning these saints who, like SS. Cosmas and Damian, were specially honoured among the Greeks as anárgnoi (physicians who took no fees), there is a fairly abundant literature. Of special interest are three short discourses of St Cyril of Alexandria, and a panegyric and relation of miracles by St Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem (fl. 638). In these last, strong traces are said to be found of practices resembling the incubation familiar in the temples of Aesculapius. A certain authority accrues to the writings of Sophronius, who had himself been healed at the shrine of these martyrs, by the citation of extracts from them in the proceedings of the second Council of Nicaea in 787.

From St Cyril we learn the interesting fact that when at Menuthi in Egypt, at the beginning of the fifth century, superstitious rites were still observed by the populace in honour of Isis, St Cyril could think of no better plan for counteracting the mischief than by translating thither a great part of the relics of SS. Cyrus and John. At Menuthi, consequently, a great shrine grew up which became a famous place of pilgrimage. The spot is now known as Abukir, well remembered from Nelson’s great naval victory in 1798 and the landing of Sir Ralph Abercrombie in 1801. Abukir is simply AbbáKqroz, Abba-cyrus, from the name of the first of the two saints. Strangely enough, outside Rome is a little church known as Santa Passera, which represents another transformation of the same name: Abbáciro, Pácero, Passera.

See P. Sinthern in the Römische Quartalschrift, vol. xxii (1908), pp. 196—239; H. Delehaye in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxx (1911), pp. 448—450, and Legends of the Saints (1907), pp. 152 seq.; P. Peeters in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxv (1906), pp. 233—240; and BHG., pp. 33-34. St Cyril’s discourses are in Migne, PG., vol. lxxxvii, c. 1110; and St Sophronius relation in the same, cc. 33—79.
Cyrus and John MM (RM)
There is little information regarding these saint and that is unreliable, even though Saint Sopronius wrote their acta, which were commended in the seventh ecumenical council. Cyrus was an Alexandrian doctor who became a monk and John, his friend, was a Arab soldier (or both were physicians). It is said that Cyrus had many opportunities to witness to Christ's saving love as he ministered to the sick and, thus, converted many.
Upon hearing that a Christian woman, Athanasia, and her young three daughters (the eldest was 15) were suffering for their faith at Canopus, they went there to help and encourage them. They themselves were captured, beaten, scorched, and suffered other tortures in the sight of Athanasia and her children. The torture of the four females followed. Cyrus and John were beheaded a few days after the execution of the mother and daughters.

In order to discourage the worship of Isis that still lingered in Menuthis, near Canopus, Saint Cyril translated the relics of Cyrus and John from Alexandria to the church at Menuthis as a counter- attraction. It became a much frequented shrine; but pagan superstitions were not so easy to displace, for customs endured very like incubation (a sick person slept in the saints' church hoping to be favored with a dream that would lead to a cure). The relics of Cyrus and John were eventually taken to Rome, although they were greatly venerated in Egypt and the East. Menuthis is now known as Abukir, meaning 'Father Cyrus,' was the scene of Nelson's victory in 1798 (Attwater, Attwater2, Benedictines, Coulson, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).

309 St. Julius of Novara  Missionary confessor with his brother, Julian deacon
In Província Mediolanénsi sancti Júlii, Presbyteri et Confessóris, témpore Imperatóris Theodósii.
       In the province of Milan, St. Julius, priest and confessor, in the reign of the emperor Theodosius.
Julius was a priest, and Julian a deacon. They converted pagan temples into churches, commissioned to this undertaking by Emperor Theodosius I.
348 St. Geminian Bishop of Modena, Italy
When St. Athanasius was entering exile in France, he passed through Modena and was received kindly by Geminian.
St. John Chrysostom received the same hospitality in Modena. Geminian did not waver in opposing heresy.

Geminian of Modena B (RM) (also known as Gimignano)
Saint Geminian was a deacon who became bishop of Modena in northern Italy, where he bravely opposed Jovinianism. He gave shelter to Saint Athanasius as he passed through Italy on his way into exile in Gaul. When the city was threatened by the Huns, he saved it through his intercession (Attwater2, Benedictines, Tabor).
Saint Geminian is pictured as a bishop holding a mirror in which the Virgin Mary is reflected. He may also be shown (1) holding the town of San Gimignano; (2) exorcising the emperor's daughter; or (3) calming a storm at sea (Roeder). He is the patron of Modena and San Gimignano, Italy (Roeder).

410 St. Marcella Roman matron gave to the poor
 Romæ sanctæ Marcéllæ Víduæ, cujus præcláras laudes beátus Hierónymus scripsit.
       At Rome, St. Marcella, widow, whose meritorious deeds are related by St. Jerome.
410 ST MARCELLA, WIDOW
ST Marcella is styled by St Jerome the glory of the Roman ladies. Having lost her husband in the seventh month of her marriage, she rejected the suit of Cerealis the consul, and resolved to imitate the lives of the ascetics of the East. She abstained from wine and flesh, employed her time in reading, prayer and visiting the churches of the martyrs, and never spoke with any man alone. Her example was followed by other women of noble birth who put themselves under her direc­tion, and Rome witnessed the formation of several such communities in a short time. We have sixteen letters of St Jerome to her in answer to her questions on religious matters, but she was by no means content simply to “sit at his feet” she examined his arguments closely and rebuked him for his hasty temper. When the Goths plundered Rome in 410 they maltreated St Marcella to make her disclose her supposed treasures, which in fact she had long before distributed among the poor. She trembled only for her dear pupil Principia (not her daughter, as some have erroneously supposed), and falling at the feet of the soldiers she begged that they would offer her no insult. God moved them to compassion: they conducted them both to the church of St Paul, to which Alaric had granted the right of sanctuary. St Marcella survived this but a short time, and died in the arms of Principia about the end of August in 410; her memory is honoured on this day in the Roman Martyrology.

All that we know of St Marcella is practically speaking derived from the letters of St Jerome, especially from letter 127 entitled “Ad Principiam virginem, sin Marcellae viduae epitaphium” (Migne, PL., vol. xxii, cc. 1087 seq.). See also Grützmacher, Hieronymus; eine biographische Studie, vol. i, pp. 225 seq.; vol. ii, pp. 173 seq.; vol. iii, pp. 195 seq.Cavallera, Saint Jérôme (2 vols., 1922) ; and DCB, vol. iii, p. 803.

626 St. Aidan Monastic & Church founder bishop miracle worker great charity kindness to animals
680 ST ADAMNAN OF COLDINGHAM
THE monastery of Coldingham, on the coast of Berwick, was a double one, for both men and women, and among its monks was an Irishman named Adamnan (Ewian), who lived a life of great austerity. One day, returning from a walk with one of his brethren, they stopped to look at the group of monastic buildings, and Adamnan suddenly burst into tears. Turning to his companion he said “The time is approaching when a fire shall consume all the buildings that we see.” The other monk reported this prediction to the abbess, St Ebba, “the mother of the con­gregation”, and she naturally questioned Adamnan closely about it, with the result that is related in the account of Ebba herein (August 25). There seems to have been no liturgical cultus of Adamnan of Coldingham.

This St Adamnan is, of course, an entirely different person from St Adamnan of Iona. All we know of him comes from Bede, Ecclesiastical History, bk iv, ch. 23. See Plummer’s edition and notes, together with KSS., p. 264, and the Bollandists (Acta Sanctorum, Jan., vol. iii).
Known as Edan, Modoc, and Maedoc in some records, Aidan was born in Connaught, Ireland. Tradition states that his birth was heralded by signs and omens, and he showed evidence of piety as a small child. Educated at Leinster, Aidan went to St. David monastery in Wales. He remained there for several years, studying Scriptures, and his presence saved St. David from disaster. Saxon war parties attacked the monastery during Aidan's stay, and he supposedly repelled them miraculously. In time, Aidan returned to Ireland, founding a monastery in Ferns, in Wexford. He became the bishop of the region as well. His miracles brought many to the Church. Aidan is represented in religious art with a stag. He is reported to have made a beautiful stag invisible to save it from hounds.

Aidan of Ferns B (AC) (also known as Aedan, Aedh, Maedoc-Edan, Moedoc, Mogue)
Born in Connaught, Ireland; died 626.

"Give as if every pasture in the mountains of Ireland belonged to you." --Saint Aidan 626.

The Irish Saint Aidan loved animals. His fellow Irishmen were fond of hunting. Aidan so protected them that his emblem in art is a stag. Legend has it that as he sat reading in Connaught, a desperate stag took refuge with him in the hope of escaping pursuing hounds. Aidan by a miracle made the stag invisible, and the hounds ran off.

There were several Irish saints named Aidan but this one seems to have been the most important. As a youth he spent some time in Leinster but, 'desirous of becoming learned in holy Scripture,' Aidan went to Wales to study under Saint David (Dewi) at Menevia in Pembrokeshire for several years. His only difference from his fellow monks is that he brought his own beer from his native land.

The inspiration of Saint David caused him to return to Ireland with several other monks to built his own monastery at Ferns, County Wexford, on land given to him by Prince Brandrub (Brandubh) of Leinster together with the banquet halls and champions' quarters of the royal seat of Fearna. He also founded monasteries at Drumlane and Rossinver, which disputed Ferns' claim to his burial site. In addition to abbeys, Aidan is credited with founding about 30 churches in Ireland. One source claims that Aidan became the first bishop of Ferns (which is not that unlikely because many abbots were treated as bishops during the period), which displaced Sletty of Fiach as the bishop's seat.

Later in life he returned to Saint David's for a time, and it is said that Saint David died in the arms of Aidan. Welsh tradition maintains that Aidan succeeded David as abbot of Menevia, and on that basis Wales later claimed jurisdiction over Ferns because a Welsh abbot founded it. In fact, in Wales they regard Aidan as a native and provide him with a geneaology that includes Welsh nobility. There his great reputation for charity still survives, for he taught his monks to give their last bits of food to those in need.

The written vitae of Saint Aidan are composed mostly of miracles attributed to him. His is attributed with astonishing feats of austerity, such as fasting on barley bread and water for seven years, as well as reciting 500 Psalms daily. An odd tale is related in another. Some spurious beggars hid their clothes, donned rags, and then begged for alms. Knowing what they had done, Aidan gave their clothes to the poor and sent the impostors away with neither their clothing nor alms.

One story reports that he bequeathed his staff, bell (Bell of Saint Mogue), and reliquary to his three monasteries of Ferns, Drumlane, and Rossinver. All have survived the fates of time. The staff can be found in the National Museum in Dublin; the other two in the Library of Armagh cathedral. The bell had been in the hereditary keepership of the MacGoverns in Templeport, County Cavan. Another of his personal belongings, the Breac Moedoc, is in the National Museum. This stamped leather satchel and shrine that encased the relics of Saint Laserian of Leighlin was brought from Rome and given to Aidan, who placed it in the church of Drumlane. A bronze reliquary that contained his remains in the 11th century is preserved in Dublin. In addition to having a cultus in Ireland and Wales, Saint Aidan was venerated in Scotland in the 12th century.

He is represented in art by a stag because of the story related above (Attwater, Attwater2, Benedictines, Bentley, Coulson, D'Arcy, Delaney, Farmer, Husenbeth, Kenney, Montague, Neeson, Porter, Stokes).
680 St. Adamnan of Coldingham  pilgrim priest Confessor gift of prophecy
who was born in Ireland and undertook a series of penitential pilgrimages. Adamnan arrived on the southwest coast of Scotland where he met St. Ebba at the Monastery of Coldingham. He became a monk in this monastery and lived a life of severe austerity. Adamnan was noted for the gift of prophecy until his death.

680 ST ADAMNAN OF COLDINGHAM
THE monastery of Coldingham, on the coast of Berwick, was a double one, for both men and women, and among its monks was an Irishman named Adamnan (Ewian), who lived a life of great austerity. One day, returning from a walk with one of his brethren, they stopped to look at the group of monastic buildings, and Adamnan suddenly burst into tears. Turning to his companion he said “The time is approaching when a fire shall consume all the buildings that we see.” The other monk reported this prediction to the abbess, St Ebba, “the mother of the con­gregation”, and she naturally questioned Adamnan closely about it, with the result that is related in the account of Ebba herein (August 25). There seems to have been no liturgical cultus of Adamnan of Coldingham.

This St Adamnan is, of course, an entirely different person from St Adamnan of Iona. All we know of him comes from Bede, Ecclesiastical History, bk iv, ch. 23. See Plummer’s edition and notes, together with KSS., p. 264, and the Bollandists (Acta Sanctorum, Jan., vol. iii).
Adamnan of Coldingham, OSB, Monk (AC)
cultus confirmed by Pope Leo XIII in 1897. Saint Adamnan was an Irish pilgrim priest who became a monk at the double monastery of Coldingham near Berwick, Scotland, which was ruled by the abbess-founder, Saint Ebba.
He should not be confused with the Adamnan who wrote the biography of Saint Columba of Iona.

Today's Adamnan established a reputation for his extreme austerity and the rigor with which he kept the Rule, which went beyond even that of traditional Irish monasticism. He was a very serious man, who criticized those whose actions he saw as frivolous. In a vision he learned that the monastery would be destroyed by fire because of "senseless gossip and fivolities." For this reason he insisted that monastic discipline be maintained more stringently. This omen unsettled the abbess, who was reassured by Adamnan that the event would not occur in her lifetime. Unfortunately, despite her personal holiness and renewed efforts to enforce the rule, Saint Ebba was not a gifted administrator. After her death the fervor of the community declined again and was destroyed in 683, shortly after Adamnan's death (Attwater2, Benedictines, Coulson, D'Arcy, Montague, Montalembert).

750 St. Ulphia Hermitess
also called Wulfe and Wulfia. She lived as a recluse near Amiens, France, spending many years as a disciple of St. Domitius at Sr. Acheul Abbey. When disciples began to build hermitages around her, Ulphia organized them into a community. She then resumed her eremetical life alone.
750 ST ULPHIA, VIRGIN
THE feast of St Ulphia, whose name is written in many forms (Wulfe, Olfe, etc.), is kept in the diocese of Amiens. The late medieval biography we possess of her is of little historical value, but it is no doubt true that she led the life of a solitary under the direction of the aged hermit St Domitius. According to the legend, they both dwelt at no great distance from the church of our Lady, on the site of the present Saint-Acheul. Domitius in passing used to awaken Ulphia by knocking with his stick so that she might follow him to the offices in the church. On one occasion the frogs had croaked so loud during the greater part of the night that Ulphia had had no sleep, and the knocking failed to wake her. She accordingly forbade them to croak again, and we are assured that in that locality they are silent even to this day. After the death of Domitius, St Ulphia was joined by a disciple named Aurea, and a community was formed at Amiens under her guidance; but she eventually returned to her solitude, and it was only in 1279, some hundreds of years after her death, that her remains were translated to Amiens cathedral.

See the Acta Sanctorum for January 31 and Corblet, Hagiographie du diocese d’Amiens (1869).

Ulphia of Amiens V (RM) (also known as Olfe, Wulfe, Wolfia, Wulfia)
Died 995 (or c. 750?). Saint Ulphia was a solitary at Saint-Acheul near Amiens under the spiritual direction of Saint Domitius. Towards the end of her life, she formed and directed a community at Amiens. The convent of Paraclete was built over her tomb (Attwater2, Benedictines, Coulson, Roeder). In art, Saint Ulphia is a young nun seated in prayer on a rock with a frog in the pool near her (Roeder). She is venerated at Amiens, France (Roeder).

766 St. Bobinus Benedictine bishop of Troyes
France. Born in Aquitaine, he became a monk at Moulier-la-Celle. As the bishop of Troyes, Bobinus lavished treasures upon his former monastery.

884 St. Eusebius hermit Martyred Irish Benedictine
884 ST EUSEBIUS, MARTYR
IN spite of his name this St Eusebius, we are told, was an Irishman who left his country like so many other peregrini, and eventually took the monastic habit in the famous abbey of Saint-Gall in Switzerland. He did not, however, remain there, but was permitted to go apart to lead the life of a hermit in the solitude of Mount St Victor near Röttris, in the Vorarlberg. After some thirty years it happened that when he, one day, denounced the godless lives of some of the neighbouring peasantry, one of them struck him with a scythe and killed him. A “monasterium Scottorum” (monastery for the Irish) was erected there by Charles the Fat at about the same date.

See the Acta Sanctorum for January 31 MGH., Scriptores, vol. ii, p. 73 and L. Gougaud, Gaelic Pioneers of Christianity (1923), pp. ii, 82, 90.
While traveling from Ireland to Switzerland, Eusebius became a Benedictine at Saint-Gall Monastery, Switzerland. He spent thirty years as a hermit on Mt. St. Victor and was cut down by a scythe when he preached to a group of pagan peasants.
Eusebius of Saint Gall, OSB M (AC) (also known as Eusebius of Mount Saint Victor)
Montague shows his feast on January 30.
The Irishman Eusebius, called Scotigena by Ratpert of Saint Gall, was a pilgrim who took the Benedictine habit in the Swiss abbey of Saint Gall. Ekkehard, another chronicler of the abbey, reports that Eusebius was from Ireland.
He was highly venerated in his lifetime by King Charles, son and successor to King Louis. In 883, the emperor founded an Irish monastery, Raetia, for him on the mountain. Two years later Charles deeded by royal charter the revenues of one of his villas near Rottris in the Voralberg to the monastery for a hospice for Irish pilgrims. Here 12 pilgrims could be accommodated on their way to Rome.

When he was denouncing the sins of some godless peasants, one of them struck and killed him with a scythe; hence, he is venerated as a martyr (Attwater2, Benedictines, Coulson, D'Arcy, Encyclopedia, Gougaud, Montague, O'Hanlon, Tommasini).

885 St. Athanasius Bishop caught in the Saracen invasion of Sicily
Athanasius was born in Catania, Sicily, and had to flee to Patras in Greece when the Saracens invaded his lands. He became a Basilian monk and was named the bishop of Modon.

St. Tryphaena martyr at Cyzicus on the Hellespont patroness of nursing mothers
Cyzici, in Hellespónto, sanctæ Tryphǽnæ Mártyris, quæ, plúrimis torméntis superátis, a tauro demum necáta, martyrii palmam proméruit.
      At Cyzicum in the Hellespont, St. Triphenes, martyr, who overcame various torments, but was finally killed by a bull, and thus merited the palm of martyrdom.

She was reputedly tortured and then gored to death by a bull at Cyzicus on the Hellespont (in modern Turkey).
Tryphaena of Cyzicus, Matron M (RM) (also known as Triphenes)
A matron of Cyzicus on the Hellespont who, after having been tortured in various ways, was thrown to a savage bull and gored to death (Benedictines).
Saint Tryphena is pictured with an ox and a furnace near her. Sometimes there is a fountain springing at the scene of her martyrdom, giving milk to women. For this reason, she is the patroness of nursing mothers (Roeder).

St. Madoes honored in the Carse of Gowrie, Scotland
 Mútinæ sancti Geminiáni Epíscopi, miraculórum glória conspícui.
       At Modena, St. Geminian, bishop, made illustrious by his miracles.
also listed as Madianus. He may be identified with St. Modoc. One tradition makes him a companion of St. Boniface Quiritinus. Many legends offer other identities, none substantiated.  Madoes (Madianus) (AC) A place in the Carse of Gowrie takes it's name from Madoes. Some believe he is identical to Saint Moedoc or Aidan of Ferns. Another tradition makes of him a fellow missionary Saint Boniface Quiritinus or Curitan, who appears to have been sent from Rome to preach in Scotland. Legend and fact have become entangled in his story (Benedictines).

1050 Bessed John of Angelus, OSB (AC)
Born in Venice, Italy; John was a Benedictine at Pomposa in the diocese of Ferrara, Italy, under the rule of Saint Guy (Benedictines).

1107 St. Nicetas Bishop of Novgorod miracle worker
A native of Kiev, Ukraine, he became a monk in the Monastery of the Caves, but then embraced the life of a hermit. According to custom, Nicetas was much plagued by demonic torments and returned to the monastery. Named in 1095 to the office of bishop of Novgorod, he acquired a reputation for performing miracles.

1107 ST NICETAS, BISHOP OF Novgorod
Nicetas (Nikita), a native of Kiev, while still a young man became a monk in the monastery of the Caves there and conceived the ambition of becoming a solitary. In spite of the contrary advice of the abbot and other experienced monks he insisted on shutting himself away. Whereupon he was subjected to a remarkable tempta­tion. An evil spirit of angelic appearance suggested that he should give himself to reading instead of prayer. The first book to which Nicetas devoted himself was the Old Testament: he learned much of it by heart and received preternatural insight, so that people came to the monastery to consult him. The older monks warned him of what would come of studying only Jewish books: he came to dislike the New Testament, and would neither read it nor hear it read. But the prayers of his brethren at last brought him to his senses, he lost his deceptive wisdom, and humbly began his monastic life all over again, becoming a model for the whole community.

In 1095 Nicetas was made bishop of Novgorod, and in that charge his holiness was manifested by miracles: he was said to have put out a great fire by his prayers and to have obtained rain in time of drought. He was bishop for twelve years before he died, and about four hundred and fifty years later his relics were translated to the cathedral of the Holy Wisdom at Kiev. In the Russian use of the Byzantine Mass, St Nicetas of Novgorod is commemorated at the preparation of the holy things.

See Martynov’s Annus ecclesiasticus graeco-slavicus in Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. xi. For other examples of dissuasion from the solitary life and of the significance of the Old Testament in early Russian Christianity, see Fedotov, The Russian Religious Mind (1946).
Nicetas of Novgorod B (RM)  Left to his own devices and preferences, Nicetas gave in to the temptation to read rather than pray. This is a danger to many who would abuse a good thing (learning, good works) and omit a better one (prayer, contemplation), for the one tends to serve the creature, rather than God. Learning tempered by prayer and charity leads to wisdom; by itself, it tends to hubris. So intense was his study of the Old Testament that Nicetas came to despise the New. It was only the prayers of his abandoned brothers in the monastery that saved poor Nicetas.
Finally he overcame the dangers of misapplied study, rejoined his community, and, in 1095, was made bishop of Novgorod (Attwater2, Coulson).

1156 St. Martin Manuel Portuguese martyr
He was an archpriest of Siure. Born in Auranca, near Coimbra, he answered the desire for a priestly vocation and served the Church until captured by the Saracens. He died in Cordoba, Spain, as a result of cruel treatment by his captors.
Martin Manuel M (AC) (Benedictines).

1515 Blessed Paula Gambara-Costa won bad husband over to Christ, OFM Tert. Matron (AC)

1515 BD PAULA GAMBARA-COSTA, MATRON
THIS holy Franciscan tertiary, the example of whose married life stands out in acute contrast to the laxity of the age in which she lived, was born near Brescia in 1473.
Strange and quite incredible things were afterwards related of the piety shown by her in early childhood, when, for example, she is said as an infant at the breast to have displayed her sympathy for the law of the Church by a marked abstemiousness on Fridays.

She was married at the age of twelve to a young nobleman, Lodovicantonio Costa, after all the formalities customary at that period had been duly observed. The famous Franciscan, Bd Angelo of Chiavasso, was called into consultation, and in spite of the little maid’s reluctance he formally pronounced that “the Lord had called His servant to the married state”, and wedded she accordingly was, with a splendour suited to the high rank of both families, even the wheels of the coaches, we are told, being gilded. One authentic document is a copy of the rule of life which the bride seems to have submitted to Bd Angelo when she first settled down in her husband’s home. She was to rise every morning at day-break and say her morning prayers and rosary. A little later she was to visit the Franciscan church in the neighbourhood, and assist at two Masses. In the afternoon she was to recite the office of our Lady and before she went to bed she said another rosary and her night prayers. There were also two periods of spiritual reading. She was to fast on all vigils of our Lady and a number of other vigils, and to go to confession once a fortnight. But the most illuminative clause is the following: “I will always obey my husband, and take a kindly view of his failings, and I will do all I can to prevent their coming to the knowledge of anyone.” Her eldest son was born in 1488, she herself being then barely fifteen.

It was not long, however, before the young wife found that sad troubles were in store for her. It seems to have been her incorrigible habit of giving lavishly to the poor which first awakened her husband’s resentment. As long as food was plentiful this did not so much matter, but in seasons of scarcity—and we hear of many such about this time—beggars swarmed and the worldly-wise hoarded all that their barns contained. It is true that Paula’s biographers declare that in her case grain, oil and wine were supernaturally multiplied in proportion to the gener­osity of her alms, so that her household was not the poorer but actually the richer for her charities. We must confess, however, that the evidence is open to some suspicion. For example, there is told of Paula a story which is the exact counter­part of a well-known incident in the life of St Elizabeth of Hungary, viz, that going out one day with her apron full of loaves Paula met her husband, who rudely forced her to show him what she carried, whereupon he found, in that winter season, a great heap of rose blossoms. If this miracle really happened to as many saints as it is attributed to, it must have been of rather frequent occurrence.

What was quite unpardonable was Lodovicantonio’s introduction into his home of a young woman of bad character, who poisoned his mind against his wife, served him as a spy, and became the actual mistress of the household. After inflicting incredible humiliation upon his wife, this young woman fell ill and died very soon afterwards, having been devotedly nursed by Paula, who brought a priest to her and obtained for her the grace of conversion. It is a curious illustration of the social life of that period, the age of the Borgias, that Paula was accused of poisoning her rival because the body was found much swollen and the illness had terminated more quickly than was expected. In the end, however, Paula, by her unalterable patience and charity, regained her husband’s affection. He himself turned sincerely to God and allowed his wife to practise her devotions and to exercise charity as she pleased. Apart from other austerities she used to rise in the night to pray, kneeling without support with hands uplifted in the middle of the room; more than once in the cold of winter she was found unconscious upon the floor, stiff and almost frozen to death. Many stories are told of her charities, as, for example, that meeting a beggar-woman in the road who had no shoes, she gave her those she was wearing, and herself returned to the castle bare-foot. We cannot be surprised that Bd Paula died in her forty-second year, on January 24, 1515. Her cult was confirmed in 1845.

See R. Bollano, Vita . . . della B. Paola Gambara-Costa (1765) Leon, Aureole Seraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. i, pp. 534—536.
Born in Brescia, Italy, in 1473; died at Benasco, Italy, on January 24, 1515; cultus confirmed by Gregory XVI in 1845; feast day formerly March 29. When the 12-year-old Paula unhappily married a young nobleman, Count Louis Costa of Benasco, she was given a rule of life by Blessed Angelo Carletti. Her husband continued his dissolute life, was unfaithful to her, treated her as a servant, and objected to her lavish charities. He even put another woman in charge of their household. By her heroic patience she won him over to Christ and passed the remainder of an austere life in peaceful wedlock. She died worn out with self- imposed penances (Attwater2, Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
1533 Blessed Louise degli Albertoni Widow spent her life in works of charity
 Item Romæ beátæ Ludovícæ Albertóniæ, Víduæ Románæ, ex tértio Ordine sancti Francísci, virtútibus claræ.
       Also at Rome, blessed Louise Albertonia, a Roman widow, member of the Third Order of St. Francis, distinguished for her virtues.
(RM)
Born in  Rome, Italy, 1474;cultus approved in 1671. Louise married James de Citara and bore him three children. After his death, Louise put on the habit of the Franciscan tertiary and spent her life in works of charity (Benedictines).

1815 St. Francis Xavier Bianchi; Barnabite priest, called “the Apostle of Naples.” stopped lava
 Neápoli sancti Francísci Xavérii-Maríæ Biánchi, Confessóris, Clérici reguláris sancti Pauli, signis, donis cæléstibus et admirábili patiéntia illústris, quem Pius Papa Duodécimus ad suprémos honóres Sanctórum éxtulit.
       At Naples, St. Francis Xavier-Maria Bianchi, confessor, cleric regular of St. Paul, renowned for miracles, heavenly gifts and an admirable patience, whom Pope Pius XII raised to the supreme honour of sainthood.
Born in Arpino, Italy, in 1743, he became a Barnabite and was ordained in 1767. Francis worked endlessly for the poor and abandoned. His work load and austerities ruined his health, and though he lost the use of his legs, he continued in his labors. He was canonized in 1951.

1815 ST FRANCIS XAVIER BlANCHI

ST FRANCIS BlANCHI was born in 1743 at Arpino, in what was then the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and was educated as an ecclesiastical student at Naples, receiving the tonsure when he was only fourteen. His father, however, would not hear of his entering a religious order, and the boy had to pass through a period of great mental anguish in the conflict between duty to his parents and what seemed the call of God. Taking counsel at last with St Alphonsus Liguori, to whom he found access during one of the saint’s missions, Francis became sure of his vocation, and overcoming all opposition he entered the Congregation of Clerks Regular of St Paul, commonly called Barnabites. Inconsequence probably of the ordeal through which he had passed, he then fell seriously ill and suffered acutely for three years, but he recovered eventually, and was able to make great progress in his studies, distinguishing himself particularly in literature and science. He was ordained priest in 1767, and the trust which his superiors reposed in his virtue and practical ability was shown not only by his being deputed to hear confessions at an early age, a rare concession in Italy, but also by his appointment as superior to two different colleges simultaneously, a charge which he held for fifteen years.

Many important offices were conferred upon him in the order, but his soul seems to have felt more and more the call to detach himself from external things, and to devote all his energies to prayer and the work of the ministry. He began to lead an extremely mortified and austere life, spending also long hours, in the confessional, where his advice was sought by thousands. His health suffered, and his infirmities became so great that he could hardly drag himself from place to place nevertheless he persisted, and his unflinching resolution in placing himself at the service of all who needed his help seems to have lent a wonderful efficacy to his words and his prayers, so that he was universally regarded as a saint, At the time when the religious orders were dispersed and driven from their houses in Naples, Father Bianchi was in a most pitiable condition. His legs were terribly swollen and covered with sores, and he had to be carried to the altar. Some advantage, however, came to him from his very afflictions, for he was allowed to retain his habit and remain in the college where, all alone, he lived a life of the strictest religious observance.

There are many stories of his miraculous and prophetic powers. Two very remarkable cases of the multiplication of inadequate sums of money put aside in a drawer to meet a debt were recounted in the process of beatification, and it was also affirmed that in 1805, when Vesuvius was in eruption, Father Bianchi, at the earnest petition of his fellow townsfolk, had himself carried to the edge of the lava stream, and blessed it, with the result that the flow was stayed. Towards the end of his days the veneration he inspired in Naples was unbounded. “There may have been a Neri (black) in Rome”, the people said, “but we have our Bianchi (white) who is just as wonderful.”

Many years previously, a penitent of his, now known as St Mary Frances of Naples, who went to God in 1791, had promised Father Bianchi that she would appear to him three days before his death. The good priest was convinced that she would keep her word, and we are told that this visit actually took place three days before January 31, 1815, when he breathed his last. He was canonized in 1951.

See P. Rudoni, Virtu e meraviglie del yen. Francesco S. M. Bianchi (1823) C. Kempf, The Holiness of the Church in the Nineteenth Century (1916), pp. 96—97 Analecta Ecclesiastica, 1893, pp. 54 seq.

Francis Xavier Bianchi, Barn. (AC)
Saint Francis studied in Naples, was tonsured at 14 and, despite his father's objections, joined the Congregation of Clerks Regular of Saint Paul (the Barnabites). After his ordination in 1767, Francis served as president of two colleges, and became famous for his gift of prophecy and the miracles credited to him (he is reported to have stopped the flow of lava from the erupting Vesuvius in 1805). He was considered and acclaimed 'Apostle of Naples' for his work among the poor and abandoned and to preserve girls from the danger of an immoral life. Owing to overwork and to his austere lifestyle, he ruined his health and lost the use of his legs. Unable to be moved because of his health, he was left alone at his college when his order was expelled from Naples and died there. He inspired boundless veneration in Naples and miracles were attributed to him (Attwater2, Benedictines, Coulson, Delaney).

1836 Blessed Mary Christina, Queen (AC)
Born in Cagliari, Sardinia, in 1812; beatified in 1872.
In 1832, Mary Christina, daughter of King Victor Emmanuel of Savoy and Maria Teresa (niece of Emperor Joseph II), married Ferdinand II, king of the two Sicilies. She had one son before her death at age 23 (Benedictines).



THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 251

Why dost thou glory in malice: O malignant serpent and infernal dragon?

Submit thy head to the Woman: by whose power thou art plunged into hell.

Crush him, O Lady, with the foot of thy power: arise and scatter his malice.

Extinguish his might: and reduce his strength to ashes,

That living, we may exult in thy name: and with joyful soul we may give praise to thee.


Let every spirit praise Our Lady

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

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


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

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost as it was in the beginning and will always be.


God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique, for each is the result of a new idea. 
As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike. It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints. Dear Lord, grant us a spirit that is not bound by our own ideas and preferences. 
Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves.
O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory. Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.  Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.   God calls each one of us to be a saint in order to get into heavenonly saints are allowed into heaven.
The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.
There are over 10,000 named saints beati  from history
 and Roman Martyology Orthodox sources

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

Widowed Saints  html
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  UniateChalcedon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

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


God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

On the List Are Lay Founder of a Hospital and Eastern Catholic Religious
VATICAN CITY, June 12, 2014 (Zenit.org) - Today, the Vatican announced that during the celebration of the feast of Christ the King on Sunday, November 23, an ordinary public consistory will be held for the canonization of the following six blesseds, who include a lay founder of a hospital for the poor, founders of religious orders, and two members of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See:
-Giovanni Antonio Farina (1803-1888), an Italian bishop who founded the Institute of the Sisters Teachers of Saint Dorothy, Daughters of the Sacred Hearts
-Kuriakose Elias Chavara (1805-1871), a Syro-Malabar priest in India who founded the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate
-Ludovico of Casoria (1814-1885), an Italian Franciscan priest who founded the Gray Sisters of St. Elizabeth
-Nicola Saggio (Nicola da Longobardi, 1650-1709), an Italian oblate of the Order of Minims
-Euphrasia Eluvathingal (1877-1952), an Indian Carmelite of the Syro-Malabar Church
-Amato Ronconi (1238-1304), an Italian, Third Order Franciscan who founded a hospital for poor pilgrims

CAUSES OF SAINTS July 2015.
Pope Recognizes Heroic Virtues of Ukrainian Archbishop
Recognition Brings Metropolitan Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky Closer to Beatification
By Junno Arocho Esteves Rome, July 17, 2015 (ZENIT.org)
Pope Francis recognized the heroic virtues of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky. According to a communique released by the Holy See Press Office, the Holy Father met this morning with Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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